The Sun. — London, England, 1819-04-10 00:00:00

it- We noticed this valuable pamphlet three or four years ago. when it wac first published; and a few itiontli previ:ius to tlle list General Election we submitted the whole of it to our 12,aders. • Considerin4 the stmject of great importance, rrhaps 4: shall reprint it. Fox, BoRKE, and others, have been ranked un der this predicament ; not one of whom ever pos• sessed the qualification strictly within the spirit of the Act, Hot this objection would not only lie against all qualification law , : in gviteial, which, under the present Constriletion, and according to. preseut practice, are merely waste paper, but is not substantially founded either in reason or ex perience. Is it fur a moment to be supposed, that, out of 658 Members, selected by different communities of the great body of the nation, there wotrld not he found a sufficient number of able men to mattage its concerns, but that the gaols of the Icnviont must be ransacked to sup ply the deficiency ; or, if that be thought too strong an expression, as at all applicable to the great characters above mentioned, that men, qua lified by their property, - should not be as responsi ble guardians of a nation's security, as others of a different description ? I confess I see no rea son why individuals thus qualified should not be able to exercise as sane a judgment, and even, if necessary, which I think by no means the case, to make speeches of one, or two, or three hours' length, as paupers who have no interests beyond their own to look to, and who bring their talents to market, as is done by other classes of the community, with commodities of a' very different description. I should wish, Sir, that these opinions might be weighed in the scale of candour and strict im partiality, and such a judgment given as might best tend to support the rights of individuals, and the general interests of the community. PUB LI (JS. FOR THOUGHTS ON THE PROPOIED EQUALIZATION OF PARLI ANI ENTARY QUA LIFIC ATIONS. R . EDlTOR—Occupied as the Houses of Par- limn( ul "e in to by with concet lig of lie a eates; impftrt.nce, it would appear to tHe not merely rolgatory, but as sa%oring of the highest absur ditv, th it their valuable time should be expended in framing a new la a+ for the Equalization of Qtm• lifif•atitots tur seats in the Lower flume ; when it .s well known that such (hr the amount more o es-) are to be had by any one who obtains a se .1, a 3 a Mt' re matter of course. The qualified- Volt is,lent with the Borough if purchased, or to be had of any friend fur the purpose of temporary accommodation, upoto the honour of the party ac commodated, to return the saute the moment the purpose shall have been answered. I do not deny the propriety of equalizing Qiut lifications throughout every portion of the Empire, sending Deputies to l'arliament ; but then such qualifications should be teal ones, and not a mere mockery of the law, to be lent one day for the purpose of enabling the Member to take the oaths, and then to be immediately returned to the real proprietor. A short pamphlet was published two or three years since, entitled " Reform, without Innovation," which sets this matter in a clear point of view, and to Which reference might be Lad by any party taking an interest in the ques tion. The purport was to show the perfect inuti lity of qualifications under existing circumstances, and to propose a register of the same, by which the property constituting the qualification should remain vested in the Member who gives it in upon oath, and be always attachable by any fair credi tor. When reduced by legal judgment below the amount required for the-qualification, the Member should have three months' notice of the same, and his seat at the end of that term be ipso facto va cated, in case the deficiency of qualification were pot (My supplied. This would be at once an honourable and a conscientious adherence to the oath taken, and not a mere Equivocal evasion, as the case at pre sent sands ; for how can a man honourably and conscientiously finest that he is possessed of 3001. or 6001. per annum, beyond all reprisals, when he knows that he only possesses such property for a day, or an hour, to answer the purpose of the mouttnt, and then re-assign it to the real Pro prietor ? , h is now urged, and with some appearance of crush, that the Lower House is occasionally ren dered an asylum for embarrassed and unprincipled debtors, who have no option but that of a seat in Parliament, or one in the King's Bench. Very glaring instances of the truth of this assertion have occurred of late yenta. In one of public notoriety the party gave a ,thousand pounds for a tempo rary seat of six weeks, an interval which he em ployed in making his arrangements, and then de parted tor one of the Colonies, I think Jamaica, leaving debts behind him to the amount of 30,0001. Even in the course of this Session, a question was raised whether an imprisoned Member were eligible, which being decided in the affirmative, that Member was transferred from a seat in one of the Prisons of the Metropolis, to one on the Bench of British Rep►esentatives. Two objections have been raised in argument against any propOsal of this description, which 1 conceive may be easily removed. The one thAt so small a qualification as one of 3001. or 6001 per annum could not exempt a man from the infinence of corruption, but would leave him just as open to tunptations held out, as be could be without any qualification at all; but, were the tvri•et'a plan carried into full effect, very different conc!ticiOltS . Wollld follow from it. For then n o niAn indebied a single guinea to any fair creditor, who :e demands he was unable to satisfy, could enjoy the benefit of his seat, without thatcredi tor's concurrence, as he, the creditor, would he e lkvAys ati!e to proceed to judgment, and copse quently.reduce the qualification below its legal ahlowit. Were that *mount 3001. or 1001. per annum, the difference would be none ; the Mem ber must possess his qualification at all times, clear of teprisali, and that qualification being registered, would be always as a mark to shoot at, 'awl most effectushly obviate any evasion of the Nlember's oath. The other ohject . ion stands founded on very different grounds, yet, in the writer's humble n►eut, to he met with equal facility. It is, that were the qualification laws strictly enforced, n►any rising geniuses night be nips in the bud, tol d prevented frnm entering on the Parliamen- tart'' career, in which alone pre-eminent abilities Cmdfl tilid (heir proper market. Messrs. PITT, THE SUN. 110LUM — Q1 , is ',MERE FALSUM AUDEAT ? LONDON, SATUIZDAY, APRIL 10, 1819. tie received this morning the Paris Papers of Wednesday last. We lament to observe in them having been set on font the report of a con piracy at Mantua, to dispatch the Emperor of AUSTRIA by means of poison, which, it is added, was only discovered half an hour before it was to have been carded into execution. It has lately been mentioned, that a Secret Society exists in Italy under the title of Caxbonari, consisting of a great number of members in different parts of the coun try, whose object is to destroy all the Sovereigns who hold dominion in Italy, and to overturn all the Italian Governments for the purpose of esta blishing one system of rule for the whole of that territory. To this Society the con spiracy alluded to is attributed, and a great number of Members of that Sect (as it is called) have in consequence been arrested. Our Readers would also have observed, that the assassination of the unfortunate KOTZEBUE was likewise attri buted to the machinations of a Secret Society in Germany, the objects of which are precisely si -milar to those of the Carbonari in Italy— Revolation, nothing but revolution—bringing with it, as. unhappily it is proved in letters of blood, not only a contempt for ail the moral and social duties of life, but the entire up rooting of all the great principles of religion and moral Go vernment, of all the ties that bind men together in the links of amity and good offices, and sub stituting for these real advantages the worst of all possible tyrannies, the tyranny of abstract principles, with the destitution of all feeling. The following are extracts : " CHAMBER OF PEEM, TUESDAY, APRIL 6. " Marshal. the Count Jourdan, one of the new Peers, was (the necessary documents having been verified) ordered to be admitted. " The Report of the Special Committee was received on the projet for opening Auxiliary Books in the Departments, for the transfer of five per cents., and the discussion postponed for a week. " The Marquess de Marbois developed his pro position for praying his Majesty to propose a pro jet for, tobstituting some other punishment for Deportation.—Ordered to be plinked and distri buted.—Adjourned till Tuesday next. " CHAMBER. OF DEPUTIES. " M. Benjamin Constant took the oaths and Liis seat. " The discussion was resumed on the Tobacco Projet. - M. roteau trliaacardefie, N. de Saiutc Aldegonde, and M. Kern, supported the limited monopo'y proposed by the Committee, and the Count Beugnot and M. Jard Panvilliers the ori ginal Projet. " The discussion was adjourned till to-morrow. PARIS, APRIL '/".—Ycsterday the King re. ecived the Ambassadors and Foreign Ministers. His Majesty afterwards transacted business with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. " The King, it is said, removes to St. Cloud the beginning of May, and remains there till Angus% " Letters received yesterday from Italy state, that a conspiracy bad been discovered at Mantua, the object of which was, to put an end by poison to the lite of an august traveller now in that quarter. A great number of persons of the Sect of Carbonari have in consequence been arrested. It appears according to these letters, that the conspiracy was only discovered half an hour previous to the period when it was to be attempted to be carried into execution. This intelligence certainly wants confirmation, but it is circulated with great confidence, and obtains credit. " According to fresh reports in circulation at Nfanheim, respecting the assassin •tion of Kotze bue, five young men were the deputies, chosen by lot, in five different towns, to execu►e this fatal mis sion, and they, assembled at Erlangen, in order to choose from amongst them the individual who was to be finally employed to effect the assas- sination. ".Lord Whitworth had a private audience of the King on Monday, and yesterday accompanied to Court the English Ambassador. " The Persian Ambassador is . expected to set out after Easter. His Excellency, it is believed, will have an audience of the King before his de- parture. FIVE PER CENTS. Tuesday ... . 66 f. 90 c. DEFPRRED STOCK Of the 22d March, 1817, 84 f. 10 c. 22d Sept. 1817, 5241 March, 1818, YO f. 10 c. 22d Sept._ 1818, — 22d March, 1819, 76f. 2:5c. "BERLIN, MARCH 26.—There is a report here that the King intends to take a journey to Italy. " It is also said, that his Majesty intends to issue an edict for establishing by law the entire liberty of the press." By accounts frohi Spain, which we have jult received, we understand that the Expedition from Cadiz is certainly to go immediately. The Count of Aistsaat., distinguished during the Peninsula War, as a Patriot, a Regent, and a General„ was expected at Madrid to receive his final instruc tions, and to take his leave of the KING. From our knowledge of this Officer's talents, character, and habits, we do not hesitate to believe, that had he been prevailed on to go with the Expedition which General MORILLO commanded from Cadiz in 1815, the Affairs' in South America would have worn a very different 'aspect at this moment. But after all, the hopes of Spain, however she may defy us by such acts as the cession of the Flo ridas, can only rest on the neutrality of Eng land, and the differences between the Insurgent Leaders, and various pretensions of the Insurgents themselves. Spain sadly complains of tl►e viru lent and low abuse used by some London Prints against her Sovereign and her Government ; and it would, perhips, not be too much to suppose that the Floridas were ceded in moments of angry resentment. We only want, Sir (said the Prime Minister of Spain the other day), that the English Newspapers should represent the real state of our differences in South America ; but many of their statements are gross, injurious, false, and ridi culous. The Marquess of CASA lauso is a practical and fair - man ; he has seen England, he can at least estimate her power, and he Is disposed to respect and conciliate it.—The people of Spain are de cidedly English—how different do they feel, and speak, and act, from those of France.—lf Spain commits errors, they are the errors of her Go vernment, of her Head—but, body and soul, she is grateful to this Country—and we verily be lieve • it would be. impossible„ even by the powerful engines of her faith and devo, tion, or her proverbial attachment to her King, to stir them to an act of hostility to their, Allies. These People do draw a line between what Eng land intended to give them, and what they have got, and to the letter of the meaning take the for the Deed. Such being the inclination of the ►Minister and the disposition of the People, could not an effort at least be made to re claim .the King ? The first step to it must be to re-establish the British tone at the Palace of Madrid, which has for some time yield ed to the powerful voice of Russia. lii closing this subject for the moment, we take occasion to admire the skill with which Sir CnAlO.l3 STUART manages this particular branch 01 big business at the Court of Louts the Eighteenth. This morning we received Boston Papers, three days later than the former arrival. (From the Boston Centinel qf the 10th Hareh HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MArscu OCCUPATION OF-THE FLORIDAS.--The Bill 011 this subject was ordered to be re-engrossed. IEI a debate on it, Mr. CLAY retrial ked, reTecting the Spanish Claims, that it the claimants got their principal, they would do very well. THE SLAVE TRADE.—The Bill to prohibit t" Slave Trade passed to be engrossed. The 10 11 °`" . ing section was added : "That every person who shall import into the United States, or knowingly aid or abet the ir ir portation into the United States, of any African Negro, or other person, with intent to sell or 09 . such Negro, or other person so to be impo rted' as a , slave, or shall purchase any such sla te ' knowing him or ber to be thus imported, sb ilii on conviction'thereof in any Circuit Court of the ,United States, be punished by death." „ TA TE/ LAST DAY OF THE SESSION—IN THE 3d OF MARCH. The Bill from the House, fixing on the se' cond Monday. of November for the next Mee tiug i of Congress, was indefinitely postponed. Th e °ll t authorising the establishment of a Provision° Government of Florida passed.—(lt has bec °llls a law.) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCHS' Me"' A, The Bill from the Senate, changing the of disposing of the Public Lands, was debated' but there. was not time to complete it. to The Bills concerning Invalid Pensioners ; d t establish certain Post Roads ; and to am en ; Act incorporating the Subscribers to the Bat t le of the United States—have all beCome Laws• At a late hour both Houses of Congress journed sine die. ; c The Public Meeting of the Roman Cat h o l i c s Liverpool, a few days since, has excited ther-' and in other plus of Lancashire, great atitenden: and the Protestants of various denor ninad° throughout that populous Duchy are not it w re said, determined to petition the Legislatu against the admission of the Papists to th e P°s ; session of POLITICAL POWER; w hilst th e Rtjal6 ..p Catholic Dinner, which is to be s hortly more of tbeir% City of London, is another ins ticipation of a successful issue of this thsea r ti t ho and we believe it is the first public dinner ilia kind ever held; in the Metrop held in toP, The Newspapersvocation it was' s°l° whose years since, to point out to their Readers tife(11411111 gers to which the Country will be l iable bi t'•4 admission of the Papists into the Legislature to the possession of Judicial and High(°cish wh Situations, are now silent on the in rOada ic of are attempting to be Made on the Constitution the Country in Church and State, and °" tb i e fi re' S t i s i t g r i a o it u i s ts L to ib w e l r i t i y c i la , ‘`vciltihebeFiriiaetn)ltels, of Civil a"" present used by the ci. deva' nt Whi i g t a: l , l) " %eti:)o7ll o 4)6 Old Aristocracy, -and a few rich man Catholic Families, are successful. • 1,1 The bold and assuming attitude take" . fi g is pro' adherents of the Catholic Question testants, who, up and convincing proof of theliberality of the _ e to hold Public Meetings in opposition to leadt be,i' ' to crisis has arisen when forbearance Wil l ad to this period, have forburilo. sacrifice of great Constitutional rinelPleg'iteli• gion will, by the loss of them, be the tolerated and mild spirit of Our H oly a ltoge ill ' er and powerful It e nt r troulable by the INTOLERANCE o f the : which will prevail when - , the Papists W eill- - as gislators of Great Britain. , We have not been accustomed to use ti" f lb . guage of complaint, or to enterta in fears o f t 1 decay of the influence; spirit, awl rwel:,:istia un der - _ eg o Nation ; yet we cannot refrain , we la lP , , circumstances, from observing , 1-" t the the G ap ote h i y. r t te h t i t c t il , n is ot si o 'e n w ly n o b n y r lCY2l•:be i rviti: 61" tion, but on other subjects of g enera l a t '' importance to the Empire. The to te l csr , ) ; JO' of the independence of our faithful Allies, t`tocji dians of the Continent of Ametica, o°lrrltbs Mg the stipulations of the Treaty of Ghen t ' 3 ° ,40 / the C r % ot el previous Treaties between them atol the .abandonment of the / Fisheries on th e 5 co o of the Labrador, in the Gulf of Saint 1,0. and Newfoundland —the surrender of the 191811)e whol e ok it in the Bay of Fundy , and of the tt North-West Coast of A Medea to the (11-/11. 1 1 0 ,1 States, with the other I3oundaries whicl) them from the K in g' s Colonies on that C"; 10 nent—all conspire to exc ite tears in our (# to the injurious effect they will -have on lifical and commercial interests of the Coo l I' o , The negociation for the surrender of t h , rictus by Spain to the United States, as n •, For LITERARY REVIEW, see the Last Page. PRICE 01 THIS nAY AT r rank Stock 253 k 254 3 per Cent. 'Red........73M 5 per Cent. C0n5.....74qh1 3% per Cent 8 9 i 83 4 per Cents 9?-{ F STOCKS 'weLvv 0 cfpcK. S per Cent. Nary Ann. Mil Bank Long I9i India Bonds, 38s. 89s. pr. Exth. Bills, 2d..... 4s. 2s. pr. Cons. for Account.....74itii AtiRIVED-2 . M1b1111, 1 Waterford. I Guernsey and Jersey, 1 Fia nce. Due-1 Waterford, 1 Guernsey And Jersey, ISwedeu. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO.MoRnoW. Morning, 50 minutes after 2. I Evening, IS minutes after 3.