The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-26 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY

the hands of one FERRARI, an Italian banker in Lis- I
bon, seized with all the forms of constitutional
justice, and applied to inaugurate the government of
Donna MARIA DA GLORIA. Expostulation was vain.
The banker was not amenable to the laws fur sur-
rendering his ducats to those who enforce them, and
the government had grave and weighty reasons,
which it was not prudent to disclose, for applying
the property of an individual to the welfare of the
community.
The Baron, however, does not appear to have
acquiesced in this philanthropic view of the ease; for
hearing last July that Senor BRITT°, the Portuguese
agent in London, was for the first time in possession of ,
monies accredited to him by the Junta and the '
committee of public credit, he sought to attach them
through the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor's Court
of this metropolis. The suit came off a few days
ago, when J. Burro put in a plea that the
action lay against the Queen DONNA MARIA DA
GLORIA, whereas the monies in his possession were
held in trust for the government, and consequently
could not be involved in a claim which concerned
the liabilities of an individual. As an additional

reason why the Baron's suit should not obtain, it
was alleged, that the money sought to be attached
was already appropriated, the Junta's to the payment
of the dividend, that of the finance committee to de-
fray the expense of the foreign service of the coun-
try. The Itzeotiinat seems to have admitted the
conclusiveness of this reasoning, and treating the
Baron's claim in the light of a private account, as if
it were a milliner's bill, dissolved the attachment,
leaving the plaintiff no redress, except to a clamour
against absolute wrong.
Now, if this verdict holds, the Court of Attachment
my close its dusty archives for ever, for no foreign
potentate or provincial merchant transmits money to
their London bankers for the mere pleasure of open-
ing an account, but either to liquidate some pressing
debt or to meet some future liability ; consequently,
if no money can he attached which is not unappro-
priated, and if the head of the government cannot
be accountable for the transactions of its ministers,
the bondholders who have met with bad faith
slay whistle fur their dividends, and the un-
fortunate individual whose property has been
seized to improvisa'ise a constitutional government,
has no resource left but to send in his bills from a
most respectful distance, and wait his share of the
quarterly dividend of the appanage with the tailor
and the milliner. The Baron, however, is not con-
tent to put his claim on this footing, and with the
hope that some distinction will prevail in the minds
of an English jury between Donna M tRIA DA GLORIA
instructing her milliner, and Donna MARIA DA
GLORIA opening the Cortes, he has again attached
the moneys, directing his suit this time against the
UCEEN not as llonna MARIA at GLORIA, but as head
of the Portuguese nation.
To meet this new emergency, it will be seen that
Sir F. TIIESIGER, Senor Macro's counsel, has ob-
tained a rule in the Court of Queen's Bench, to test
the jurisdiction of the Court of Attachment, in cases
where foreign sovereigns are concerned. Now, con-
sidering that this is the only protection the English
bondholder has against the mala fides of foreign
states, it is rather cool for a government to ask us to
forego this security in favour of a State that has plea-
sured us in nothing in return for our loans and pro-
tection but broken promises, repudiated dividends,
and the pursuit of a policy in every way hostile to
our interests. Is it not the request of the de-
frauder, who, having plundered us of our chat-
tels, piously entreats that the gaols may be thrown
open, and the courts of justice pulled down, in order
!that he may revel in unbridled indulgence? Before
we assent to such a proposition, we should like to
know if Lord PALMERSTON Will see in every de-
frauded creditor a new PACIFICO, and send out a
fleet to enforce his claims. Until we are assured
of this resolution on the part of the FOREIGN SECRE-
TARY, it is a matter of prudence to uphold the juris-
diction of a court in cases that will prevent foreign
Mutes, whose memories are inclined to be oblivious,
from so easily breaking faith with English creditors,
by rendering them liable for every such offence to
the seizure of their property, and wiping them out
from the financial relatiousof Great Britain.