The Sun. — London, England, 1830-03-09 00:00:00

SPI PT- i OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. The French Chamber of Deputies, as appears by the account of its proceedings in the Paris Papers 0 ! Thersday, Friday, and Saturday, has determined its organization, and probably decided its physiognomy for the session. In England all the officers of Par- • liament remain during the interval between the ses sions, if there is no dissolution ; and, except in the case of the death or resignation of the Speaker, th( House of Commons immediately proceed; to busi ness, on the first day of its meeting, as if it had only adjourned the previous evening. In France, on th contrary, a great many formalities have to be ob served, and a considerable number of arrangements effected, before the business of the nation can com mence. Candidates for the offices of President, Vice-president, and Secretaries, have to be elected ; the Chamber must be divided into bureaux, or com mittees, for that and other purposes; and out of de five candidates presented to him, the King must se lect a President for the year. Thus, before the bu siness of the session begins, or before any proposi tion is submitted to the Chamber by the Crown, the division of interests and the strength of parties may be ascertained by the very manner of constitut ing the assembly. In the present year, when the Legislature has met under such particular excite ment, and when it was of so much consequence for the Ministry to obtain a numerical ascendancy irr the preliminary proceedings, the Constitutionalists have again obtained the victory. On Wednesday (the flag after the Royal Speech) the Chamber of De puties was divided, for the convenienee of business, into nine committees or bureaux, each of which chose its Chairman or President, and Secretary ; and nothing probably can evince mere decidedly the spirit of the majority than the character of these honorary office-bearers. With cute exception, they are all either Liberals or members of the late Ministry, as the following list will show :—Of the first bureau, M. Augustin Perrier is President, its Secretary being Count de Preissec te—of the third bureau, M. Lafitte, the banker, is Presi dent, and M. Koratrv, one of the proprietors of the Courier Francais, Secretary; of the 4th, the President is General Lafayette, and the Secre tary M. Grea;—of the sth, M. de Martignac, the ex-Minister, is President, and M. de Belleyme, the ex-Prefect of Police, Secretary ;—at the head of the 6th is M. Rover-Collard, the late President of the Chamber; while M. Bourdeau, the late Keeper of the Seals, is its Secretary ;—; he 7th has M. Cassaignolles for its President, and the liberal Pro fessor of History, M. Guizot, for its Secretary;— Baron Louis is the President of the Bth, and M. de Saint Crier', the ex-Mitiister of Trade, of the Oth, with secretaries equally liberal. After a con etitution- of the Bureaux like that above described, it wax not difficult to foresee from what party the candidates for the Presidency would he selected. Accordingly, the Chamber met on Thursday to choose the list of five, out of which the King has to elect the President. The number of members present amounted to 361, out of whom 225 gave their suffrages for M. Royer Collard; 190 for M. Caasimtr Perrier; and, on a second scrutiny, 189 for M. Delalot. None of the other candidates having obtained the absolute majo rity of the votes present, the ballot for the two remaining names was postponed till Friday, when M. Agier and General Sebastiani were elected to complete the list. As the King generally takes the name at the head of the list pre sented to him, there is scarcely any doubt that M. Royer Collard will again occupy the presidential chair, which he has so satisfactorily filled for the two last sessions;- but even though he should be passed over, the Chamber is sure to have a constitutional President selected from the opponents of the Mi nistry; for, of the remaining four candidates, two (namely, General Sebastiani end M. Cassirnir Per rier) belong decidedly to the left side, and the other two (M. Agier and M. Delalot) to the Constitu tional Royalists. The Vice-President was not elected on Friday, because none of the candidates had an absolute majority of the Chamber; but on Saturday M. Dupin, the Liberal Paris barrister, was placed at the head of the list. -Thus, if the anti ministerial mode in which the Chamber is consti tuted is to be taken as a test of its disposition to oppose the Ministry, there is little chance that the Government and the Legislature can long act in ',meson. The first display of temper or trial of strength between the parties will take place on the address in answer to the Royal speech. Though the Ministry have used every precaution, in framing it, to exclude topics calculated to provoke discussion er to`occasion dissent, it seems to be thought that they have not succeeded. The settlement of Greece and the projected expedition to Algiers tire not exempt from criticism ; and the entire omis sion of every allusion to the departmental or communal laws promised last session, may of itself lay the foundation for an amendment, the language of which will probably be exasperated by the stinging defiance at the end of the Royal Speech. Accordingly, all of the Ministerial journals anticipate a hostile address; and one of them, the Drapean Blanc, begins to call aloud for the dissolution of the Chamber, without considering the consequences of such a measure. At any other time, or under any other Ministry, the expedition to Algiers might have become a title to popularity with a gallant nation, jealous of its honour, and proud of its military re nown. To chastioe the insolence of a barbarous Corsair, who places his turban above the crown of Kinge,--whoexacts the payment of tribute from Christians on the highway of nations,—who con siders the Mediterranean as a kind of lake within his domain,—and who exercises upon it the infamous trade of a robber and a slave-dealer,—is an enterprise, the successful accomplishment of which might well be purchased at the expence of considerable sacrifices. It was therefore to be sup posed that the Government of Charles X. might calculate on the sympathies of his own people, as Ise scents to expect those of Europe, in a crusade of civilization against barbarism, and of freedom against slavery. From the character of the Ministry, how ever, the project has been received with coldness by one part of the nation, and will be opposed with %eel by another. But if the necessary supplies aro not refused by the Chamber, and Prince ['olignac suc ceeds in an undeitaking where St. Louis, Charles the Fifth, and the Grande Monarque failed, he may reckon his power as secure for many years.—Times. We are astonished that a man who, like Mr Hume, has been in Ind;a, and knows what an Eng lish Court is, could even for a moment identify, as be did last night, the, proceedings of the Court of Bombay with . the protection of the natives from op pression. As to Mr. O'Connell, who succeeded biro, he evidently knows nothing at all of India. • From the establishment of the Supreme,Coures, they haie been Objects of terror and alarm to the natives of India. Mr. Bankes said truly, that in the case. al luded to, the issuing habeas corpus to a man who was not a British subject, and did not reside within their jurisdiction, was a violation of the compact entered into with the people, and that the Govern ment were against the Judges solely because the Judges were against the people. See the picture which Mr.• Mill, in his " History of British India,' draws of the sufferings of the people from the ope rations of the Supreme Court at Calcutta. " The evils," he observes, " not of apprehension merely, hut of actual suffering to which the Supreme Court exposed them, were deplorable. They were dragged from their families and affairs, with the frequent cer tainty of leaving them to disorder and ruin, any diF tance, even as great as five hundred miles, either to give bail at Calcutta—a thing which, if they were strangers, and the sum more than trifling, it was next to impossible they should have in their pottier —or be consigned to prison for. all the many months which the delays of English judicature might inter pose between this calamitous stage, and the final ter- • mination of the suit."—Morning Chronicle. Lord Althorp iast night, on presenting two peti tions from the county of Norfolk, " expressed a hope that, from the early period of the Session at e 'ltch the Audati wee anuouneed, it'svas intendee to pro- Mse some considerable reduction of taxation. Thu 1 neatest possible reduction ought to be effec!ed ccn -;stent with the public service, and he hoped that would be done. 11, had no desire to see the pre .ent Ministry removed ; he had no wish to corn( nto office himself; but it was his duty, and ore , prom which nothing could induce him to deviate, to press upon the advisers of the Crown, and upoe- Parliament, the absolute necessity of effecting further eduction , , and that to a large amount." His Lord -hip on this occasion spoke, we believe, the senti ments of the Division of the House of Commons of which he is generally considered the head ; a most respectable and highly honourable body of men, who wish well to their country, and disdain to embroil themselves in the petty warfare of faction. The nation gives his Lordship, and those who share his views, full credit for a sincere desire to effect, if pos sible, a relief from the overwhelming taxation which )resses on it. What is more, the nation gives to the men now in power credit for a disposition to reduce expenditure as far as they can. But we wish we could share Lord Althorp's hope, that any considerable re duction of taxation will be effected by Ministers, how ever desirous the hitter might be to retrench. It is not so much because Ministers personally differ from Lord Aithorp as to the benefit which would accrue from reduction, or as to the possibility of a great reduction, as because there are comparatively so few men in Pailiament who dare to think with his Lord .6ip, that Ministers are compelled to refuse a con siderable reduction. The root of the evil is in Par liament—Parliament must be moved : and the force necessary to move it is found in the overwhelming taxation necessary to support the extravagant ex pend:ture for the establishments of the country at home and abroad. Sir 11. Parnell may demonstrate the practicability of reduction; but can he demon strate how Ministers can move Parliament with less money ? Mr. Hume may show in detail, night after night, the extravagance of the Estimates ; but the ti4er does not cling more desperately to its prey, than the House to every item. Liberal speeches are to be had in abundance from all sides; but whenever there is money in the case, the vote will be found to speak volumes. Last night, for instance, Mr. iltime objected to the garrisons which were kept up merely for sinecures. Sir Henry Hardinge admitted that they were military sinecures; but there were not above seventy of them. But why one ? There should be no sinecures, civil or military. The services of military men ought to be paid according to fixed rates. Again, on the ques tion. for granting 720,859/. for the half-pay and military allowances to reduced and retired officers, Mr. Hume " complained that there had been no reduction in the charge for half-pay, while in the French army the whole of the vast number of officers who had been on helf-pay at the conclusion of the war had been worked off." Sir H. liar dinge observed, that "in 1815 the number of officers on full and half-pey was 18,405, and now there was only 14,910, making a reduction of 3,595 since the peace. As large reductions had been made as possible, though they were not perceptible by many of the casualties on the half-pay l'st having been absorbed by placing people on it from half pay." It is not an easy matter to understand how, in fifteen years, there should only have been a falling in of 38,000/. in this branch of expenditure, without supposing much jobbing. If the French have worked off, as Mr. Hume termed it, the vast number of offi cers who had been on half-pay at the conclusion of the war, this affords a presumption that those who administer the affairs of France are exposed to a more efficient check on the part of the representatives of the nation, than any check to which our public men are exposed. When we hear Honour able Members sneering at the representative sys tems of Americo and France, we cannot help think ing it would not be amiss if they asked themselves, what is the great, object for which a netion wishes to be represented in a Parliament ? There may be more fustian and bombast in Congress than in the English Parliament, and the French Chamber of Deputies may not always be a model for discretion and good order; but though we have often heard a comparison instituted in these respects, it is quite beside the purpose. The question is not whether this or that mode of representation would give the ablest men, but which is best calculated to protect the pockets of the people. We have no doubt that even in point of abilities an English Parliament would be greatly improved by Reform—but that is not the quc;tion. No one who has paid the least attention to the proceedings of the French Chamber of Deputies and the American Congress can have the least doubt that they are trusty guardians of the money of the people; while no men will say the English Parliament, as at present constituted, is, er without reform ever can be. We see, too, a constant improvement taking place in the composition of the Chamber of Deputies—in its character of guardian of the public purse. When we see these things, and know by how small a portion of the people of France the Deputies are returned, we cannot help thinking that our neighbours owe much more to their ballot at elections than many Han. Members are willing to allow. We cannot help thinking that those who object to the ballot, as likely to create hypocrisy, are something like those who should object to the offering of rewards as being calculated to produce treachery. The security of the public is, however, the great object ; and not the security of the powerful man who wishes to compel his fellow-citizens to vote against their con science, or the security of those who lire by plunder. On this point, however, we have received a masterly communication from a respected Correspondent, which we shall here lay before our readers. It com pletely exhausts the question : To the EDITOR of the MORNING CHRONICLE read with much interest in your Paper of yesterday the Debate on Mr. O'Conneli's preposition for taking the Votes at East Retford by Ballot. Had you Reported that Debate at greater length, I would fain per suade myself that the speeches of those who opposed the Motion would have appeared not so wholly destitute of sense or reason as I read them in your columns. Your Reporter must surely :have libelled Honourable Members when he announced them as rising only to proclaim their antipathies, and as scouting, in language at once so vehe ment and so unmeaning, a remedy fur some of the grossest abases connected with the Elective Franchise. Mr. Western detests voting by ballot as "not Eng lish," as " cowardly and double dealing." Mr. George Lamb cannot tolerate the idea of voters "sneaking up to the hustings" to give their votes in secret. What ! Pro vide a means of evasion for the coward ! Enable a man to promise his vote to one candidate, and to bestow it upon another ! Not to be endured. It seems to escape these 'gentlemen, in their zeal for discrediting and exposing all cowards, that even accord ing to their own supposition, the same voters, who would act like cowards under the system of secret voting, are already acting like cowards under the present system of open voting. They who now vote viva voce for candi date A, from genuine preference, would of course con tinue to v,te for him under the ballot. They are not cowards either in the one case or in the other. It is only those who now vote for A, while their hearts and convictions are for B, whom the introduction of the ballot would convert into " sneaks and cowards," by empowering them to do that secretly which they are afraid to do openly. But does not the very statement of the fact imply that these are the voters who at present disguise and belie their conscientious convictions, from the fear of injury at the hands of a patron? If such voters would he cowards under the secret system of vot ing, it is only because they are already cowards under the open system ; and were I to concede that the ballot would open the door to cowardice in one way, I should yet con tend that it would put an end to exactly as much cowardice in another. _ . ...... But it is a manifest misemployment . of an obnoxious term to characterise secret voting as " cowardly"—a prac tice uniform among all Clubs of English Gentlemen, and adopted both in France and in the United States. When there are two modes of effecting the same end—the one safe and easy, the other fraught with injury and danger— it is not timidity, but wisdom, to choose the former.— U , ( l * open voting, the honest voter must make up his mind to serious loss, perhaps even to ruin ; and none but men of uncommon firmness and high principle can give an honest vote. ..This is wh i t, I presume, Gentlemen mean when they t a lk about open voting as " suitable to English spirit and manliness"' that such a degree of courage, un known in France and America, is to be found only in nut bite fact notoriously proves thit it is as rare here as any where eke. Out of one hundred et:t es , you ;et ninety-nine over-awed, seduced, or silenced, and o ne honest martyr. Substitute the b :11ot, and 3,11 have one -.undred conscientious votes, without danger to any one._ You make the ninety-nine act honestly, though you cannot nake them firm and high-principled. Again—Gentlemen are pleased to denounce the ballot is a mask for hypocrisy and fraud. The reply here is the tame as in the former ease. Those who would be hvpo ..rites under the s:,stem of secret voting, are at this nwment hypocrites under open voting. Their genuine preference is for one candidate, their vote for another. Under secret voting, they might possibly be induced (though I shall presently show that even this would be r.: re) to prsfess in words a preference for the worse candidate ; but at any rate, their votes would follow their convictions in favour of the better. Which of these two acts of hypocrisy is the more pernicious? That in which the voter may be compeled to make false professions, but is sure to give an honest vote; or that in which he gives a dist:tallest vote, and is very likely to make false professions besides ? maintain that the latter is, beyond all comparison, the wore mischievous of the two. What the people want is good legislators; certain electors are entrusted with the sacred duty of recommending such ; and if these electors employ their votes not to return, but to drive away the fittest candidate, they are guilty not only of the violation of their special trust, but of the greatest injury which they can possibly- commit against every individual in the British do :ninions. The evil of fal-e professions, followed by a sincere vote, is a trifle compared to the evil of a perverted vote alone. What misleads some really well-meaning objectors to the ballot is the insecurity which they anticipate from it as to the observance of peomises. An elector who has promised his vote in favour of a candidate ought not (they think) to have the means of evading his promise with impunity. But how, if he cannot fulfil the promise without commit tin a greater evil than his violation of it would be? Let us apply the reasoning to the case of some other trust. I am trustee to an insolvent estate, or treasurer to a public institution. A superior, on whom I am greatly dependant, awl whose displeasure it would be ruin to me to provoke, apprises me that he has sent in a fraudulent cliim upon the funds under my administration, and insists upon my admitting it. Were I a man of thorough virtue and firmness, I should scout the idea with indignation ; but by the supposition this is not the case. My princip'es are overborne by the fear of ruin, and I promise to second his guilty designs. Here, then, commences the difficulty.— Am I to fulfil this wrongful promise, to the grievous in jury of those who trust me with their property? Or if there be any means whereby I can refrain from seconding the des'gn, without suffering my superior to know how I have acted, will it not be the least evil that I should leave the promise unperformed, and stick to my duty as trustee ? I believe there are few who would not prescribe to m e th e latter alternative, and who will not readily admit that a promise which cannot he fulfilled without violating duty to third parties, ought not to be fulfilled at all. It is one wrong act to make such a promise ; hut it is a second, and a still greater, to execute it. 'By holding out the means of evading it with impunity, you divert a min from the .se cond act of guilt, without offering any new motive to the commission of the first. The whole moral harm—the conflict of obligations— arises, it is eel lent, out of the original exaction of the pro mise. It is an unwarrantable artifice, employed to seduce or deter the elector from the due exercise of his trust. The great object, therefore, with those who would make elections as little as possible subservient to immorality, ought to be to prevent such promises from being given; and there is no way of preventing them from being given, except by diminishing the motive for asking them. This motive will be at its minimum, if the system of voting be such as to make promise no security for performance; and the ballot, therefore, instead of familiarising people with the evasion_ of their engagements, would obviate almost wholly a class of criminal engag-ments which in their very essence imply the breach of a momentous trust. You strengthen the respect for promises in general, by ex tinguishing all such as you are obliged to tell a man that he ought not to fulfil. By the vehement 1 ingunge of lion. Gentlemen one might imagine that elections by open voting were a school of morality. Yet electioneering tricks and manoeuvres have passed into an absolute byeword; and the gross ina morality generated by the present system is to be traced not only in the conduct of the election itself, but in the discussions respecting elections, whenever the subject is broached. The sole ends for which an elective system is desirable—the attainment of good legislators, and of a se curity for their continuing good--is altogether banished out of sight. The character of the elector, as a trustee for the people, and the people for whom he is a trustee, are utterly forgotten. Were not the habit of putting the peo ple out of the question so incurably rooted, the obvious truth, that fidelity cannot be expected where the trustee has every thing to lose by being faithful, and every thing to gain by being otherwise, could not be thus overlooked or controverted. If, out of each pair of candidates, the Government were to choose their man, and fine every elector who voted for his opponent, gentlemen could not shut their eyes either to the efficacy or to the injustice of this bias. Yet the motives against honest voting are just as constant, and just as overwhelming, under the present system, as they would be then. One cannot doubt that the exiled tenants under the Duke of Newcastle's Govern ment at Newark would cheerfully have ransomed them selves by a moderate fine. G ABINIUS. Match 7, 1930. —[Morning Chronicle.] Not long since, as we lately mentioned, a m an who had been convicted of sheep-stealing at the Old Bailey had his judgment respired because the animal he had stolen turned out to be a ewe sheep, but was not called a ewe in the indictment ; and last week anothor of these marauders was actually acquitted at the Berkshire Assizes because the animal was a lamb, while in the indictment it was described only as a sheep. If this be not solemn trifling we knoW not what is. Acts are passed to simplify the criminal law, but which only make them more complex and absurd, we see no use in people being paid to prepare such Acts of Parliament, or in the time of the Legislature being taken up i n discussing them. The drawers-up of Acts of Par liament, by the bye, have lately hit upon an expe dient for explaining their own verbiage, which forms the best satire and commentary in the world upon much of its absurdity. It is by framing what they call an " interpretation cause," in which they pro fess to give the extended meaning which certain words are meant to convey. Now that a law, more especially a criminal law, which may affect the life, the liberty, or property of every man, should require a glossary to explain the meaning of its commonest terms, is as absurd, upon the face of it, as it would be for an apothecary to send round a dictionary to his patients with every phial and pill-box. Laws should be clear and intelligible to the meanest capacity , yet few men, of even the best sense and education, can now-a-days, take up an Act of Parliament with the least chance of unravelling its real meaning. A. dextrous obscurity generally runs through the whole; and a good per centage upon law-making falls to the lot of the opinion-givers, who have to unravel the labyrinth of uncertainty in which most of the fruits of modern legislation are involved. Need this be so ? Certainly not. But the truth is, we are the most law-ridden nation upon earth, and the trade in useless and obscure verbosity is allowed to supersede the plain and obvious use of common language Ind common sense. There are some standing Committees in the House of Commons— many of which have duties which are more matters of form than substance. If a Common-sense Com mittee were appointed, whose.duty it should be to see that the language of proposed laws was plain and intelligible before they became such, a great boon would be afforded to those who are, on the one hand, to execute, or, on the other, to he bffee7ed by them.—Morning Herald. The calendar for this (Spring) Assizes contains only the comparatively trifling lumber of 69 cases for trial. It must be a source of gratification to those who have the interest of the county at heart, that the generality of these are devoid of any thing like atrocity..—. Limerick Evening Post. Herrings are caught at present in such abun dance io the Frith of Forth, that seven and eight of them may be bought at Kirkaidy for H. : a matter of no small importance to the poor weavers, whose visits to the fleshers' .hops are necessarily "few and far betweer."— A r Advertiser. DISTRESS OF THE COUNTRY-REDUC TION OF TAXATION, CU it RENcY—EQ UITABLE ADJUSTMENT. TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE. SIR,—It is agreed upon by all who are acquainted with the kubject, that the resumption, by Mr. Peel's Bill of 1819, of the lost standard of value, enhanced the value of the currency at least 25 per cent.—and that to this measure principally may be attributed the general distress felt by the landed proprietor— the farmer—the merchant—the manufacturer—and the whole operative classes of the community. The landholder and the monied interest, and others whose annual receipts were fixed during the depreciation, alone exempted front the general calamity —nay, these have benefited nearly in proportion as the others have been injured. I am well aware of the absoltre nere'sity that existed for a return to a metallic standard, and wish to be completely understood as in no way approving, far less advocating, a small paper currency, issued under any circumstances—on the contrary, I am convinced that a return in any shape to such a cur rency, issued in such an amount as to raise prices, would occasion, and that speedily, a similar or greater catastrophe than that of 1825-6—or end in Bank Restriction as in 1797. Rather• than run the risk of either probabilities, were it necessary, I would prefer that the Government, by Act of Par liament, or by Order in Council, would at once de clare that the Sovereign should circulate at 265. Bd., and be received as such in payment of taxes, and a new coinage issued containing 15s. worth of gold to the sovereign ; that is, thinning the present coinage one-fourth. I observe that some of the English Members of Parliament have an idea, that the general pressure is felt less in Scotland than in England, anti this they attribute to the one-pound notes not being withdrawn, and I have no doubt but that many bankers in England, and some in Scotland, having an interest in paper money, foster the delusion. Are prices of grain, or stock, or commodities in general, higher here than in the south ? Are wages of labour higher ? I answer they are not. The truth is, Scotland is a poorer country. She has long suffered, and still suffers in even a greater degree than England, but from the length of suffering has been more accustomed to it, and this may in some degree account for less noise being made about it. It is possible, that the landlords in Scotland may of late have been receiving their rents better than their brethren in England, owing to the very inadequate provision made for the poor in the one country as compared with the other, and this may also apply in even a greater degree to Ireland,—but alas! at what an amount of misery may not such a distinction have been obtained ? Although, then, a return to a metallic standard and currency became indispensably necessary, it is much to be regretted that the old standard of 3/. 17s. 10fd. per oz. for gold was adopted i►► preference to a standard of similar value to about the average depreciation of the paper; had such variation been trifling in amount, or had the effects of such a mea sure extended to no more than three per cent., as erroneously held out and believed in by Mr. Ricardo, and acted on by both Houses of Parliament in 1819, the resumption of the. ancient standard, even with out an equitable rectification of contracts, wrold have been productive of comparative little injury— but as it has turned out, ale evils that have followed are tremendous, and ought yet to be dimished. The petition of the county of Norfolk (Mr. Cob bett's) of 3d January, 1823, contained by far the most honest and strictly equitable proposition, that has yet appeared, calculated to answer the object in view, and to remedy the error (for error it was both as to intent and effect) of the Act of 1819,—seven years, however, having elapsed since that petition was adopted, many of the advantages that might have been derived from acting on it at that time are lessened. Were the fundholdcrs to be in part sacrificed at the altar of national distress, and taxes repealed to an amount equal to what was kept off them, the na tion to that extent would be benefitted, but this alone would not remedy the evil, on account of the innumerable mortgage., and other fixed monied in cumbrances of the landed interest, all increased by the Act of 1819, and which in annual amount may be taken at as great, if not greater, than the annual dividends payable on account of the funded debt. Without any alteration in our present currency, far less without the slightest intention of at all tam pering with it in any shape, it may be advis able to consider in what way the landed and farm ing interest, and the nation at large, may be re lieved honourably from a considerable portion of the evils that afflict them. A great error has been com mitted by Parliament, and it is surely reasonable to expect that, having the power, the disposition will not be wanting to rectify the evil now so apparent, and universally admitted— " There was a man in Thessally, And he was wondrous wise; He jump'd into a quickset hedge, And scritch'd out both his eyes. And when he saw his eyes were out, With all his might and main He jurnp'd into another hedge, And scratch'd them in again." It was at the time of, or immediately subsequent to, the Bank Restriction in 1797, that the depreciation of the paper currency became apparent; it is there fore but just that all money engagements, leases, &C., contracted previous to that time, should be held sacred. Mr. Ainslie, in his travels, has proved that the fundholder, and, of course, all other annuitants, have been remunerated by the enhanced value of the currency from what they sustained of loss, whilst it was depreciated. It is understood that comparatively only a small proportion of the 800 millions of debt is in a state of transference. The same remark will be found to apply to mortgages on land, payments arising from family contracts, &c. It may be assumed that the dividends payable to the public creditor amount to twenty-eight millions of pounds per annum, and that the fixed annual payments arising from mortgage, feu-duties, leases, wills, contracts, and family settle ments, amount to as large a sum, viz. other 28 mil lions, making a total of 56 millions per aria= of fix'td engagements, and representing a capital of 1200 to 1600 millions, which presses on the nation as a millstone, in consequence of the resumption of the old standard of value, by the act .of 1819, in place of adopting a depreciated standard, on the faith of which nearly all such engagement., public and private, were contracted. Of the funded debt,-from 80 to 100 millions, may be supposed as in a state of transference, arising from sales of stock, jobbing in the funds, and operations on account of bankers; and as to mortgages on land, and transference of contracts, an equal amount of 80 to 100 millions may of late years have changed hands. In order, then, to grant a just and practical relief to the public at large paying taxes, and also to re• lieve the landed interest and others, including far mers, from the unjust demands now made on them, which has been, and still is, attended with such ruinous effects, an equitable and practicable adjust ment is.here proposed, and which is not only due to the debtor, but also fair and honourable to the credi tor, national and private. Ist. That all contracts, public and private, with the exceptions following, should be held sacred and inviolable. 2d. That contracts arising from the public Iliad!, or otherwise previous to 31st Dec. 1797, the year of the Bank Restriction, be held sacred, and to be liquidated only in terms of the contract. 3d. Contracts entered into, arising out of mort gage, leases, wills, &c., at, or subsequent to Ist Ja nuary, 1829, to be also held sacred, and this to app 7 y to all property in the funds sold or transferred sub sequent to that date. 4th. That the present holders of funded property, mortgages, and others in whose favour fixed pay ments are made, and who have by purchase, bequest, or transference, acquired right to such stock, or pro perty between the years 1798 and J 28, both inclu sive, shall be paid by the nation, or by the private debtors, conformably with the following scale. The transfer hooks to l)' proof as to funded property. The redaction of the atitittal payment arising from interest of money; leaseg, and all other contracts to be adjusted according to the scale, and the principal sum to be a' the sam' ratio :- 1797.... .20s. 01. 1814 15s. Od. 1798 19.. 61. 1815 15 , 0,1 1799 I9s Od. ISIS I ss. 0;1. ISOO 18s. Oil. 1817 15s 041. 1901 I'3o - 17s. 6 , 1. 1819 15s. 0;1. 1803 17s. Od. 1820 15s. 61. 19044......165. 6d. , 1921 16. 0;1. 1805 16s. Od. 162' , 16.. 6;1. 1305......155. 6d. 1893 174. 041. 1807 I ss. Od. 1821. 17s 61. 1808 lss. Od. 1825 194 Od. 1809 15s. Od. 1826 18s 641. 1810 15s. Od. 1827 I 9s. Od. 1811 15s. Od. 18.28 19=. 6;1. 181 0 15s 041. 1829 9 0s Od. 1813 15s. Od. 1830 20. Od. For example, all proprietors of stock in the Three per Cents, who acquired stock from 1808 to 1819, inclusive, such stock not having been trans• ferred subsequently to 1819, would now have to be paid at the rate of 2/. ss. per cent. in place of 3/., while such as acquired stock in 1824, and not since sold or transferred, would be paid at the rate of 21. 12s. 6d. per cent. per annum. In the same way money lent on land from 1808 till 1819 inclusive, might be discharged at the rate of 7.5/. per cent., or if lent in 1824, at 871. 10s., and the interest p:►y able to be in proportion to the reduction of the principal. Existing contracts of all descriptions to be similarly adjusted, and this to be applied to all salaries and Government pay, and taxes to be re duced accordingly. _ . The relief that should thus be afforded to the country by so large a reduction of the taxes (and in poor rates which would follow) would in a great degree compensate the monied interest from any nominal reduction of income, besides the additional security that would be extended to all funded pro perty. Considering all circumstances, especially that an Order in Council in 1797 led to the ern, why, if necessary, might not another Order in Council be now passed to carry the object into effect immediately, following it up by an Act of Parlia ment ?—I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, Glasgow, Mach 1, 1830. A MANUFACTURER. ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. George the Fourth, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of "Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. To the Right Rev. Father in God, our right-trusty and well-beloved Councillor Charles Jame,, Bishop of London; the Right Rev. Fathers in God, William, Bishop of Durham ; John, Bishop of Lincoln ; William, Bishop of Exeter ; Christopher, Bishop of Glou cester ; our right-trusty and well-beloved Coun cillors Charles Lord Tenterden, Chief Justice of our Court of King's Bench; William Draper, Lord Wynford; Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, Knight, Chief Justice of our Court of Common Pleas ; Sir William Alexander, Knight, Chief Baron of our Court of Exchequer ; sir John Nichol, Knight, Doctor of Laws; Sir Christopher Robinson, Knight, Doctor of Laws; our trusty and well-beloved Sir Herbert Jenner, Knight, Doctor of Laws ; arid Stephen Lushington, Doctor of Laws, greeting— Whereas we have thought it expedient, for divers good causes and considerations us thereunto mov ing, that an inquiry should forthwith be made into the course of proceedings in suits and other mat ters instituted or carried on in the Ecclesiastical Courts of England and Wales, from the first process and commencement to the termination thereof, and into the process, practice, pleading, and other things connected therewith, and whether any and what parts thereof may be conveniently arid beneficially discontinued or altered, and what (if any) alterations may be beneficiaily made therein, and how the same may be best carried into effect; and that inquiry should be made into the jurisdiction of such Courts, and whether such jurisdiction may in any and what cases be conveniently and beneficially taken away or altered—)snow ye that we, reposing great trust and confidence in your fidelity, discretion, and integrity, have authorised and appointed, and do by these presents authorise and appoint you, the said Charles James, Bishop of London ; William, Bishop of Dur ham ; John, Bishop of Lincoln ; William, Bishop of Exeter; Christopher, Bishop of Gloucester; Charles, Lord Tenterden ; William Draper, Lord Wynford ; Sir Nicolas Conyngham Tindal, Sir William Alex ander, Sir John Nichol!, Sir Christopher Robin son, Sir Herbert Jenner, and Stephen Lushington, or any three or more' of you, to make a diligent and full inquiry into the course of proceedings in suits and other matters instituted or carried on in the Ecclesiastical Courts of England and Wales, from the first process and commencement to the termination thereof, and in the process, practice,plead ings, and other things connected therewith, and to in quire whether any and what parts thereof may be conveniently and beneficially discontinued or altered, and what (if any) alterations may be beneficially made therein, and how the same may be best carried into effect; and further, to inquire into the jurisdic tion of such Courts, and whether such jurisdiction may in any and what respects, and in any and what cases, be conveniently and beneficially taken away or altered; and for the better discovery of the truth in the premises, we do by these presents give and grant to you, or any three or more of you, full power arid authority to call before you, or any three or more of you, such and so many of the Officers, Clerks, and Ministers of our said Courts, and other persons, as you shall judge necessary, by whom you may be better informed of the truth in the premises, and to inquire of the premises, and every part there of, by all other lawful ways and means what soever; and we do hereby give and grant unto you, or any three or more of you, full power and authority, when the same shall appear to be re quisite, to administer an oath or oaths to any person or persons whatsoever to be examined before you, or any three or more of you, touching or concerning the premises; and we do also give and grant unto you, or any three or more of you, full power and authority to cause all and singular the officers, clerks, and ministers, of our said Courts, to bring and pro duce upon oath before you, or any three or more of you, all and singular rolls, records, orders, books, papers, or other writings, belonging to the said . Courts, or to any of the Officers within the same, as such Officers; and our further will and pleasure is, that you, or any three or more of you, upon due examination of the premises, do, and shall, within the space of two years after the date of this our Commission, or sooner if the same can reasonably be, certify unto to, in our Court of Chancery, or Parliament, under your hands and seals respectively, what you shall find touching or concerning the pre mises upon such inquiry as aforesaid, and what alterations, improvements, and regulations, re specting such matters as aforesaid, you shall think fit to be made and established; and we further will and command, and by these presents or dain, that 116 , , our Commission shall continue in full force and virtue, and that you, our Commis sioners, or any three or more of you, shall and may, from time to time, proceed in the execution thereof, and of every matter and thing therein con tained, although the same be not continued from time to time by adjournment ; and we do hereby direct and appoint that you, or any three or more of you, may have liberty to certify your several proceedings from time to time, to us, in our said Court of Chancery, as the same shall be respec tively completed and perfected; and we hereby command all and singular our Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Mayors, Bailiffs, Constables, Officers, Mi nisters, and all other our loving subjects whatsoever, as well within Liberties as without, that they be as sistant unto you, and each of you, in the execution of these presents; and for your assistance in the execution of this our Corninissioa we have made choice of our - trusty and well-be-loved Charles Knight Murray, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, to be Sc ctetary to this our Commis ion, and to attetui Sort whose service and assistatire we require you to use from time to time, ns OCCatilllll t.hall require. I" %vim si whereof we have caused these our letterg to be tn.,de patent. 11'ttnec oorFelf, at Wer,trnin . ,ter, the 28th thy of January, in the 10th y • ea r . Of lur reign. By writ of Privy St!-il, BATHURST. :. , ;EC;;:c.;,!) EDITION SUN OFFIC E, Seven o' niE LONDON GAZETTE OF TIII I / 4 ; EVENING. Foreign-(.ffice, 1 , 0). 20, 1830. The Kin has been graciously pleased to nominate and app , int Williaor Sharp nrcleay, E4l. to be hi. MajestO Comni,siry Judge, in the room or Henry Theophilno Kilbee, Esq. au I C - itir!e: Mackenzie, Esq. to be his Ma jesty's Cu,nmi•sinner of Arbi'ration, in the room of WO- Sharp Mackay, E-9. to the mixed British and Spa ni.:ll Commission esta!,li•hed at tire Havana, tinder the Treaty between Gre it Britain and Spain, of the 234 of September 1817. Crown-Offive, March 9. MEMBFR RETUN,NED TO SERVE IN THIS PRESENT PARLIM M F NT. COUNTS' OF WATEFLFOIOL The Right Hon. George Thomas Beresf,rd, commonly called Lord George Thomas Beresfbrd, of Currighmore, ip the said cowry of Curra7hmore, in the said county of Water f;o1, in the room of Henry Villiers Stuart, Esq., who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. DECLARATION OF INSOLVENCY. James Ki:ner, Cantle-street, Leicester-square, button' seller. BANKRUPTCIES SUPERSEDED. John Glover, , tailor. Julin Walker, Clellanger, I Irreford,hire, BANKRUPTS. Thomas Jackson Cirter-street, IValworth, Surrey, master-mariner, to surrender M.wch 16, 19, at two, and April 20, at three, at the Court of Commissioners.--' Hewitt, Tokenhonse-yard. Peter Smyth Sampson, Brighthelmstone, bookseller, ALircli 16, at tee, 23, at eleven, and April 20, at ten, .0 the Court of Commissioners. Wootton, Tokenhouse-yard• Charles Woodward, Manchester, innholder, March 22, 23, and April 20 at two, at the Palace Inn, Manchester. Appleby and Chatuock, Raymond-bindings, Gray's-int', London ; Whitehead,. Manchester. Joseph William Cattell, Huggin-lane, London, sil k manufacturer, March 12, at one, 16, and April 20, at ten, at the Court of Commissioners. Austen and Hobson, Rlyni.md-buildin4s, Gray's-inn. Joseph L,Ts, Newton-mcor, Hyde, Cheshire, cotton' spinner, March 21, 25, and April 20, at eleven, at the Yo , k Hotel, Manchester. Makinson and Saunders, Elan court, Temple; Atkinso❑ and Birch, Manchester. James Mullowny, Bristol, merchant, March 19, 20, and April 20, at one, at the Bush Tavern, Bristol. Pear' son, Pump-court, Temple; Daniels, Bristol. James Isherwood, Bolton, Lancashire, victualler, March 22, 23, and April 20, at one, at the King's Arms, Mut chestt,r. Hurd and Johnson, Temple, London ; Walker, Manchester. Thomas Burden, St. Philip and Jacob, Gloucestershire , grocer, Alsreh 15, at two, 16, at one, and April 20, at two, at the Commercial Rooms, Bristol. Brittan, Ba singliall-street ; Bevan and Brittan, Bristol. Louis Pulti, Bristol, carver and gilder, March 16, at ten, 23, at (levet', and April 20, at ten, at the Court of Commissioners. Castle. street, Holborn. 'Thomas Binney, Wakefield, Yorkshire; Richard Binneff Morton, Lincolnshire ; and Mordecai Binney, Morton , corn. factors, Maids 19, 20, and April 20, at eleven, at eleven, at the Sessions-house, Wakefield. Adlingtoo , Grepry, and Faulkner, Bedford-row, London ; T a ylor, Wakefield. Henry Dench, Seymour-place, Bryanstonr-squares upholsterer, March 16, 23, at ten, end April 20, at elevens at the Court of Commissioners. Williams, Alfred-places Bedford-square. Willi un Thompson, Rochester, Kent, dealer in glass, 2,14re1i 19, 26, at twelve, and April 20, at eleven, at the Gmrt of Commissioners. Ralph, Rochester, Stone's-end , Borough. Henry Petifer, High-holborn, cheesemonger, March 16, at eleven, 26, and April, 20, at ten, at the Court of Commissioners. Brough, Fleet-street. Edward Foster, B!ackrod, Lancaster, shoe-maker, March 23, at six, 24, at ten, and April 20, at eleven, at the Eagle and Child Inn, Wigan, Lancaster. Milne and Parry, Temple; Hopwood, Wigan. William Will, Oldham, Lancashire, cotton-spinner, March 19, 22, and April 20, at three, at the Palace Inn, Manchester. Ellis and Walmaley, Chancery-lane ; Hamp son, Manchester. John Mellor, Lingards, Yorkshire, dyer, March 16, at nix, 17, and April 20, at ten, at the Pack-Horse Inn. Stephenson, Holmfirtli ; B.lttye, Fisher, and Sudlow, Chancery-lane, London. John Simon, Regent-street, Oxford-street, hosier, March 12, at two, 23, and April 20, at eleven, at the Court of Commissioners. Burkitt, Taylor, and Cox, Cloak-lane._. James Conliffe, Rainhill, Lancashire, miller, March 27, 29, and April 20, at one, at the Clarecdon-buildings, Liverpool. Blackstoek and Bunce, Temple; Currey, Liverpool. Thomas Wilkinson, Audenshaw, Lancashire, gingham manufacturer, March 22, 24, and April 20, at nine, at the York Hotel, Manchester. Chew, Manchester; Adlington, Gregory, and Faulkner, Bedford-row. George Admiral Pocock, Dartford, Kent, printer, March 16, 26, at twelve, and April 20, at eleven, at the Court of Commissioner.. T (mks, Dartford. William Wallace, Workington, Cumberland, shipwright, March 22, at eleven, 23, and April 20, at three, at Mrs. Edkin's, Workington. Falcon, Elm-court, Templer London ; Thompsuns, Workington. I M PE RIAL PARLIAMENT THIS EVENING. HOUSE OF LORDS. The Honse was occupied up to the poriod of our going to Press in hearing Counsel and evidence on Lord Ellen' borough's Divorce Bill. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Several petitions were presented, but nothing of im' portance took place up to the Dour of our going to press• LONDON MARKETS. COAL MARK Adair's 32s Od. lleatimeta*..,—. 29 6 East 23 0 HelAmrn Main 32 0 iiolywell 3l 6 Kenton West.. 32 0 Killingworth 91 9 Liddell' s Maim.. Ord's liedhugh 26 6 Vontop Windsor 30 0 31 0 SI 6 37 6 Willington 39 0 Wylain 82 0 Walls End liewicke& Co. 33 6 Ditto Bell Itolason & Co. 31 0 Walls End Brown's :12 0 Ditto Burraton SI 9 Walls End Boundary 28 9 Ditto Brown's unser.-- 31 0 Ditto Clarke and Co..— 30 6 Walls End Carr and Co. 30 0 Ditto Cramlitigton:.—.. 37 0 Ditto Ellison .. 32 0 Ditto Gosforth 33 6 Ships at market, 138ti—Shi RT.—March S. Walls rlnd Newmareh— 335. 6(I. Ditto Heworth 31 6 Ditto Heaton. 33 0 Ditto Linda 32 0 Ditto Hotspur..---. 32 3 Ditto Northuinherland 32 6 Ditto Peareth...--..—. 30 0 Ditto Perkins and C 0... 32 6 Ditto VI 6 Ditto Russell's 33 6 Ditto Walkirr 33 6 Stewart's 80we5.........,.. 23 0 Walls Eiid 81 6 Walls End Lainbton—... 84 6 Walls End 33 0 Walls End Stewart's 31 6 Russell's Hetton's W:E. 33 6 Cinders 21 0 Cowiieu. .23 6 Hartley P rt : 30 o nLlangennech - 31 0 silmkstron Warde's Llanelly 33 0 Ellison small 93 0 Hebburn small *2 6 iips sold, 57--.. Unsold. 8154. BIRTHS. On the sth hilt. at Vale Cottage, Hornsey; the lady of J. Thorp, Esq., of a son. At Catnho House, Fifeshire, the lady of Sir D. Braise , Bart., of a daughter. MARRIED. On the 6th inst. at S . !. Dunstan's, Stepney; Mr. Christopher Buckle, to Min Jane Riddell, of Trafalgar' equ ,re, Stepney. On the Bth inst. et Camberwell, !ttr:'R. C.'Bucknall, of Winchester-place, Pentomile, to Citherine, Eleventh daughter of L. Pingo, Eq., Camberwell. DIED. On the sth inst. at Chelsea, S. Lancaster, Esq•, id his 67th year. On the Sth inst. in St. Helen's-plaee, .T. Letvii Shrdtto EMq., aged 66. On the 4th inst. at Tannington, Stiffolk, "Charles Rsy, surgeon of the Hon. East India Contpany'of ikttgitl EetV blisinnent. PRINTED AND PUBLISITIED 111URD0 'YOUNG, AS TUE Sin Orrivz, 112, STD AND, 1,01.11)01+16 , _./ ~ 2 ~ No cies for To his i and Islam Bedford Berke Or !own ford) Bucks CzTlbridi ing th Newmi Chester Cornwall Scilly) Cumberli Lerby r eroß Corset Durham Holy I c..ssex (e Tilbur , In tL And As also To hi s 11 menu, Bedford Berke; Rung e Berwick Bucks cambridp ing N o Chester ornlv.,ll uurnb er k Der* Devon Dorset Durham Ess ex. Gloueestf in g Brl Oats, n Artilli Coanl Berke • Cor nwall boron koi ex Manta (ir tale of That thy o f , 1), and cei red lit of Marc &dock • PrOpo LIMA, e 3 Vale s , a l tiise the the ser t r , mutt hav filled up came boi in the pt. Contract on a p words at continua by virtue Contract tractor, Partif accordin applicati Four ' • Gueraa e be am WAI This da) W is prefixt that Or Surgery, Eighteer Print Simpkin The folk the pr ORM T", The 1 CANNI Foreign his Deat view of hie late STAN. The CATHI Illustrat, 1 vol n SIR 13y the , 12mo. RAI; THOM! In 1 vol LITE PH ICA F. A. S. The 1 the Flov ranged 1 JACKS 1 vol. r The the fits Atomics, tinct yol " Englh The PORT] A PI the EY . the Eye SEL: CHAU LL. D., " Aikin A TI RICAL JOHN The' Tour a A. Di., The as a Al i the G o Co more la Bra REs of AN( Colo /le i Th. Say o f VIE 114)44 4 nen ( Liens. _1 on t liarities have b By Sir F.L.S. LIAI Author A s CASE: Plates, PLA ADMI; late of Edition The NISII Origin, of Lin( A by Ca LARD COVF J. MA 8-9.