The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-04-11 00:00:00

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

•
To-morrow Evening, WEDNF:SDA V, April 12, will be performed (firet
time) a Grand Romantic and Fairy Opera, entitled
OBERON ; or, TIM ELF-KING'S OATH.
The Overture and the whole of the hlu,ic composed by Carl Maria Von

Weber.

The principal Characters by Messrs. Brabant( Cooper, Fawcett, C.
Bland, .1. Isaacs, and Tinney ; 111kies Paton, Lacy, and H. Canse;
Madame Ve4trls, and Mrs. fotrenport.
After which the new Piece of
I.IIE SCAPF-GOAT.
•

~,,, ..... . .
The Clutraattni by Messrs. 13.anehard, W. Farren, Cooper, and Widows;
111 ~e. June. and A. Jone,.

The Samoa Prices commenced publishing yesterday morning
at five o'clock.

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 18516.

We have received the French papers of Saturday, but
they contain nothing of general interest. We extract from
the Courricr Francais an account of the various armaments
which have been fitted out for the Pacha of Egypt in the
port of Marseilles. These armaments, and the number of
French officers in the service of the Pacha, are circum-
stances well calculated to rouse the jealousy of the people
of England.

The speech of the Duke of BROGLIO, in the sitting of the
7th of March, is said to have been the most remarkable
which has yet been made on the subject of the Law of Pri-
mogeniture. His argument was founded on a dilemma
which must have occurred to every one who read the pro-
visions of the law as detailed in a former paper. If the
principle, upon which the law was founded were correct,
be argued, the law itself ought to be rejected, " because it
does nothing, absolutely nothing, to insure its existence
for two minutes." If the principles are bad, on the other
hand, it must be rejected of course, " because it is highly.
imprudent to take poison in hopes of procuring a counter-
poison."
The French journalists continue to hold up the Jesuits
to public odium. An account is given in the Constitutionnel
by which it seems they have returned to the old scheme of
taking advantage of the terrors of a death-bed to procure
legacies for their Society.
[From the Courricr Francais of Saturday, April 81

PARIS, APRIL 7.

We have uniformly announced in this journal the arms.
meats making at Marseilles for the Pacha of Egypt. The Aria.
torque has collected them, with some others, and has formed out
of them the following table, which it is not useless to place before
the public afte► the language which has been held in both Chem.
bevy by the Members :—Builling at Marseilles, two large frigates
of 60 guns (26 pounders); a corvette, with 26 carronsdes-24
pounders ; two corvettes of 22 guns-24 pounders ; two brigs of
16 guns-18 pounders.

The house of Binal, Daniel, and Epic, hag contracted for the
building of the frigates, and the Government has permitted it to
take the timber required from the arsenal at Toulon, a favour
not granted to our merchants even in cases of urgency.
The contract for the two brigs is given to the house of Lizini
Brothers, who are Greeks, but one of whom is agent to the Pacha
of Egypt, and was arrested at Syra, and owed his safety only to
the protection of the Commander of the French squadron itt the
Levant. The Government, besides the timber for building the
two frigates, has furnished workmen, shipwrights, and caulkers.
The builder is the Chevalier Cerisi, a relation of M. de Cler-
mont Tonnerre. He has obtained leave of absence for a year, and
he has received orders from the Ministry to go to Marseilles to give
the plans and direct the building. The inspector of the works is
an old Captain of the Royal Navy.

The French General Livron has been at Marseilles ever since the
22d of March : he went to be present at the launching ot one of the
corvettes, which took place on the 211. A second corvette will be
launched in a fortnight ; and the other vessels on the stocks will
be entirely finished by the 21st of August. The two first will be
at Toulon the 15th ; to be thence taken to Alexandria, in Egypt,
by French crews, taken for French merchantmen, under the French
flag, and they will be convoyed by a ship of the royal navy. These
ships an to be armed in Egypt.
General Livron has engaged several French officers : he has also
engaged many musicians, who, with the officers, are to accompany
him to Egypt.
Can we be surprised, after this, that a report has been spread
that a good number of officers and soldiers of the French artillery
have been embarked, without being made acquainted with their
destination, and that they have been conveyed to Egypt? Such is
the strict neutrality observed 1 No permission could be obtained
to build a ship at Marseilles for the Greeks.
After these facts, it is surely wrong to accuse the Ministry
of favouring the Crescent against the Cross, and foreigh policy
against French policy.

',From the Conslitatioxtrell
NAPLES, 17th /41Ancu.

The public but been anxious for some time about the health of
the King and Queen. The following official bulletin has 'been
published this morning. •
"The King was attacked on•the 13th of this month by a ca.
tatvhal fever. His Majesty continues to be in a state of sensible
amelioration. The fever still diminishes.

" The Queen, not having been able to attend the spiritual set.
vice which was celebrated today, in the royal ehypel, on account
of the morbillo which she laboured under, her Majesty, actuated by
those sentiments of Christian piety which she has in common with
her aupst husband, was pleased to perform her religious duties in
her private oratory."
Fatxxctt FONDS.—PARII, APRIL 8 —Five per Cents., 97f.
20c.; Three per Cents., 66t. dc. ; Bank Stoat 2,055 f. t Bente. de
Naples, 711. Mc.; Royal Spanish Loan, 50ef--Exehange on
London, one month, 23f. 88c.; Three ditto, 23f. 40c.—Coatre
Antkenfigitc.

In the Jeerer! des Debuts of Saturday, a supplemental
folio Ie devoted to the speech of M. de Sr. CAICQ on the
five trade system. The following is the substance of his
observations. It was agreed, he observes, that the agricul-
twill and manufacturing labour or the country. ought to
find a certain protection, and estarnarcommerce a certain
In the lawo. The swami arrntrente for free trade

may be reduce lto three propositions :—lst. Franceas :ft
excess of agricultural and manufacture 1 produce; to whom
can these be sold if she be not permitted to make pur.
Awe Prohibitions give rise to reprisals, and re..
phials counteract the good effects which might be ex.
pected from prohibitions. 3d. Excessive prohibitions
create menop,i:ies, anti monopolies prevent improve-
ment, at die came time that they ruin the consumer.
He observed, in regard to the first argument, that the oily
cases to which it could apply were those of corn and wine.
In the former, Prance could not afford that article at so
cheap a rate as many other countries, and even in the case
of wine, there were many substitutes which renderesi.the
advantages of French wines in cheapness of little impor-
tance. He maintained that reprisals on the part of Eng-
lima were little to be dreaded, u the articles which
France tkernished to England were articles of luxury, nor
likely to have a large sale; while the enormous quantity of
cottons which England exported would render the balance
in her favour on the free trade system extremely confider.
able, and very injurious to Prance. On the third head,
that of monopolies and their tendency to improvement, Ls
remarked, that a trade confined to 30 millions of people
could scarcely be considered in the light of a moccpo:y,
and that England had carried her manufactures to a inch
degree of perfection while under the exclusive system. lie
concluded by observing that this country had not even now
abandoned the exclusive system entirely; but still conti-
nued her ditties to such an amount as would place her own
manufactureni on a level with foreigners.

In considering this subject we mnat agree to a certain
extent with the observations of the French Deputy. There
must be regulations for commerce. Liberty of trade, like
personal liberty, must be guarded and modified by certain
restrictions, which are necessary to prevent the liberty of one
individual from interfering with the interest of another, and
consequently no trade is to be permitted which can prove
injurious to our fellow-citizens, without securing a public
advantage sufficient to counterbalance their private loss.
Those who argue for a trade absolutely free, argue there-
fore for a sort of commercial anarchy, and reason as if i:
were proper to reduce man back to a state of war, which.
according to HOBBES, was the state of nature in which all
laws had their origin; for the principles of morality and
those of commercial policy have equally their basis in the
nature of things, and are equally secured by mutual actions
and re-actions. After admitting this, however, we are
very far from going the lengths of our French reasoner.
IVe admit that trade must be restricted where its freedom
would be incompatible with the interests of a portion of
the public, if the paramount consideration of the public
good did not outweigh private interest. Freedom of trade,
in the abstract, is as much the right of every run
as personal liberty and security; and to force a man to
purchase only at particular marts is at once an infringe.
ment of his rights of liberty and of property. As to the
other arguments in favour of a qualified freedom of trade,
the abstract which M. Dc Sr. CRICQ has given is an ex-
tremely fair compendium of them ; but he forgets one
most important consideration. Industry is often forced
into channels by restriction, to which the country pre-
sents peculiar obstacles, and in consequence of this a vast
capital is swallowed up in manufacturing at home what
could have been obtained abroad at an expense compara-
tively trifling. All this capital is of course uithdrawn from
those branches in which it would have been most benefi-
cial, and the community sustains a loss equal to the diffe-
rence between the price at which the goods manefactured
could have been imported, and the price at which they are
actually sold. Since it is evident that the price at which
they must he sold, must be made sufficiently high to com-
pensate the manufacturer for withdrawing his capital from
other branches. The capital being withdrawn from more
productive branches, all the produce which could %aro
been raised in these branches would necessarily be lost to
time country.

Our readers will perceive by the proceedings in Parlia-
ment last night, that upon the Civil List Report being
brought up, and on the motion that the resolution for
5000/. per annum be settfed on the President of the Board
of Trade being read, the House divided, and the preposi-
tion was carried by a majority of eleven; upon which Mr.
CANNING observed, that although technically speaking
the majority expressed the opinion of the House, still with
such a division he would not persevere. As a matter of
principle he regretted being obliged to do so. A resolution
was subsequently passed, attaching 2000/. per annum to the
office of President of the Board of Trade, which, with the
emoluments of the Treasurer of the Navy, make up an in-
collie of .5000/. a year between the two appointments
which are annexed in the person of Mr. liessl9so sr. itie,
in common with the Right Hon. Secretary, lament that
the opinion of the Legislature was not more unequivocally
expressed regarding a measure which we consider sound
in principle, and which could never have bePti carried
at a more suitable period than the present. The most de-
termined opponents of Mr. 11179 K issos are ready to admit
that his zeal and industry in office are unprecedented,
and bad we not felt convinced of the utility of the grant.
we should have been inclined to have conceded largely fee
the purpose of offering a boon to a Minister who has la-
boured so sedulously, and acted so firmly, in the service of
his country. As it is, however, we think the Ministers
have done wisely in abandoning the motion, notwithstand-
ing they laid a majority. This ciranmstance is an addi-
tional proof, if one were wanting, of the independence of
the House of Commons, and falsifies the assertions of the
annual Parliament advocates, that the Legislature is
under the control of the Crown. However this, like all
preceding facts of a similar nature, which every Session
produces, will pus unheeded by these candid and sapient
State Physicians, and we shall hear again, berm many
months are over our heads, Palace-yard echoing with the
corruption of Parliament. and that the Minister can buy
every Member in either House, with the exception of the
few upright patriots who figure on the Covent Gartlenhu,.
,tings, and are eloquent at the windows of the King .
Arms Tavern.

CITY, MONDAY I:VVNIMG.

The English Stock Market has fully maintained Satur-
day's improvement. Consols opened at 793, but they soon
rose to 804; however, they declined from that price, and
finally closed at 791 I. This depression may be attributed
principally to the paucity of business, in consequence of
brokers and jobbers being so much engaged in mat iat 111)
their accounts for the settling day, that they bad no time
for attending to general business. Exchequer Dills were
7s. 61. premium, and India Bonds 7s. Gs. premium. Bank
Stock was 2021 20 4, and the Yew Four per Cents. 961.
In the Foreign Market quotations continued stationam
Colombian Bonds were 46 4, Mexican Six per Cents, 6311,
and Peruvian Beads 264 9. Greek Bonds were under sr
vere depression: notwithstanding the statefitent of a Liver:
pool Journal that Lord COCIRRANE had arrived at Nark
di Romania, they was reported to-day at 141 jr. Butr'iln
Bonds were 801. In Spanish DO transactions took Ow
wwsmnowssr"""'"'.
yesterday daimamial tam received at the Foreign OS"
from the British Ambseadoe at Paris. •