The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-03 00:00:00

PRIVATE CORRESPONDEXCE.

There haw just been published in this capital a Pontifical Decree
of the highest importance to the administration of justice, the
cwt.he of legal frroeccdingq and the charges upon them. By this
Atom Pln es roin to s Holiness first of all recalls all that his predeces-
sors, 0111Caally Pius VII., after the rereshablisment of his autho-
rity, had undertaken on the same subject, for the sole purpose of
tendering the benefits of justice more acceptable to the people, by
simplifying tht farms and diminishing the es iienses.
.• Persuaded," says his Holiness, .‘ that hi so weighty a matter
we could not take too many precautions, nor avail ourselves of too
much information, we begun by forming a Conmiittee of Roman
lawyers, the most respectable for their learning, their wisdom, and
their attachment to the Holy Sm. We have charged them to lay
before us a plan adapted to our object, protesting before.luoul that
no personal sacrifice would be thought ton great by us to cause the
esecution of it, whatever additional expense it n.ight muse our tree-
miry, haring nothing so much at heart as to procure to our sub-
j-rts the greatest good-will, at the least oxamire to them."
Prom the labours of this Committee, and the approbation given
to its Report by the Consultative Committee of Cardinals, a new
Code has resulted. ecintaited and published tinder three heads :
Reformation of the a: stem of public administration; reforms.
t of the civil procedure; reformation of the Tarifrof taxes in jig-
dtial p.m-et-dings. By this new plan the too great number of
deiegations is reduced; special judges have been substituted to some
trinuntls of r..e end instance. The cumber of 3lagistratrs has
been reduced in some places, some insignificant tribunals sup-
pressed, and, what Rome has long wanted, a tribunal of commerce
has been erected. it better composition of the Councils is provided
for, by proportioning in theni the member of persons belonging to
sh;diferent t irders of the State.
The Nobility, says the Motu Proprio, preserves in them the
tiestioation winch it should enjoy in all civilised states ; this class
of proprietors acquires, besides its rights of suffrage in common
ditsberation, mare ample and unrestricted attributes for the
'rue of its own affairs. Bat what has chiefly elicited our vigilance,
continuos his Holiness, is to maintain in all its lustre anti trigour
Episcopal Jurisdiction, re-estalitahed in the exercise of all its
p.-,mgativea, as it enjoyed already in the time of our predecessor
frneftiet XI V. of blessed memory.
Lastly, the costs are redeeed to a certain and moderate standard.
EmleAastical causes are to be pleaded as hitherto, in Latin, and
soeular causes in the vulgar tongue; in order (says the decree)
t 3 -seprrn, that. o'd'eosive absurdity, contrary to the good adminis-
tration of justice, in which every thing should he regular nod uni.
f.trftl to him at ores. in the sante sitting; and rot two deerent
141 ;eager. when affairs of the subjects of the same Govmnment are
treated of."
This Afore Proprto, which will i'nfl'ate an err in our illeiCl3l
legislation, is given at the Vatican, Oct.., with this cLuoieL.- The
Anniversary of our Coronation."
Vroto the Biotic, dated Wedpfaday.:l

3bariab. Nor. 25.

Stace the 16th the King, who still resides at the Lsenrial.has suf-
fered from fits of the gout. The bulietit, of to-day states his almost
entire restoration to health.
The Peninsula, and the whole of Enrop.:, witnessed with horror
the tennis which took plat:, in the Castle :o Corm:nu, it the nh
of July. UM. Th: reb ds. whn .44,1 them, Ives t'ons:itii-
Vocalists. destroyed in cold blood the lives of their
fellow-citizens, whore only rune was that or Ii tent; to their King.
So horrible a crime demanded the vengeoace of the I.iwe ; the
guilty have at ltngih been prniched. Nine of the principal .1.414„% -
sins have been condemned to be hang. One of them, a sin:on...lt-1-
by trade, sunF the Tragala at the fax of the gallows.
FIIENCH UNDS.—PAit:s, Nov. 30.—F.se Cents. Tend
at 1:•"1. ilk., closed et soi r. 80e. ; hank 1970 f. ; Nea-
politan Ilentes. ; h Rents, ; Hovel spanieh Loan,
Eeeitonge on Lioolan—Oi.e mouth, •.:a.; three months,
24E. first.—C'oars tlathratilisr,

;Suring Wednesday and yesterday the rumours were
carrent in the City that des; etches had been received at
the India House, overland from Calcrtta ; and though no
one caufd give any accurate account of th-ir cent-nit, the'
gimeral impression was, that they rero uticevourah:e, and
in e:mitilimmee of this impresnien a weat meny rate; of
India stock have trben place during these two flays,
rt a depreciation of tilinut twelve per cent. At the India
I tqlsa it was strenuously declared that no such despatches
had Leen received. New, whetbtv the llonourabfe Coln-
psit y have received official despatches or not, we have good
reasan to believe that intelligence has arrived in town from
India, within the last two or three days. What the pre-
cise nature of the Dews may be we know not, lett we are
firmly of opinion that nothitig satisfactsry can be looked fur

from that quarter. The Burmese expedition was ►ent at
the very beginning of the rainy season, which will not only
put a stop to, or at least greatly retard, all military
operations, but leave the troops exposed to the malignant
influence of the weather, during the month of September,
and thereby necessarily subject them to the dangerous
diseases of the climate—ague, dysentery, and the jungle
fever. lire should therefore not be surprised to hear,
that by the beginning of October not one-fourth of the
troops sent on that expedition will be effective. If to this
reasonable apprehension we add the facts that the Gover-
nor-General and the Commander-in-Chief are at variance,
(for it will require a tolerable portion of the virtue of faith
to make any man believe that Sir EDWA!D PAGET would
give up the office of Commander-in-Chief in India for the
sake of returning home to become Governor of the Military
College), and that it is well understood in the Indian circles
that Lord Am Heave has quarrelled with his Council, and
more particularly with that member of it to whom he was
especially referred for advice in the conduct of his Go-
vernment, it must be obvious that the affairs of our Oriental
Empire are not in the most flourishing condition. Nor is it
at all likely that the Mahrattas and Pintlarries, when
they see us fully employed in the east, will remain peaceable
spectators in the west and north. At this moment we
cannot help thinking that the factious cavillers of the
India House would feel their property much safer, were the
distinguished Nobleman, whom they have treated with
such ingratitude and neglect, once more at the head of
their affairs ; and that if instead of attempting to cast
obloquy on the name of a man who has done more for them
than any Governor-General (not even excepting the Marquis
%Vs huts LEY) ever did before, had they honoured him in
his retirement, and bestowed upon him, in the shape of an
acknowledgement, one-half of the sum they have expended
in printing the voluminous documents to impeach his
acknowledged integrity, they would have acted more
wisely as well as more justly. As it is, we may say with
Coritdanus's friends—
" Vs have made fine week of it."

The Princess Sophia visited his Majesty yesterday.
The Duke of Gloucester visited his Royal Duchess yester-
day, who passed a g. xl night on Wednesday, mid was
much better yesterday. Iler Royal Highness also received
visits from the Duchess of Kent, the Princess Sophia, and
the Princess Feorlore.
Yesterday the Duke of IVellington bad an audience of
the King.
Yesterday afternoon, at two o'clock, a Cabinet Council
assembled at the Foreign Office, Downing-street, which
was attended by the same Cabinet Ministers who attended
the Cabinet Council on Wednesday, with the addition of
Lord Besley and Mr. Iluskisson. The Cabinet continued
iu deliberation till half-past five o'clock.
Though a rise in the Consols was confidently anticipated
yesterday, it being closing day in that market, no such im-
provement occurred. Consols for account remained pretty
steadily during the whole of the day at 9511 ; Mexican
Stock rather improved, having of rued at 66i, and closed at
604 buyers. There has been rather a depreciation in
Canada shares, but very little was done in them.
It was stat:d in an snide in the Timeg newspaper, about
a fortnight or three weeks ago, that Mr. Freshfield, the so-
licitor of the Bank of England, had not:tied to the parties
whose stock had been withdrawn by forged powers of at-
torney, fabricated by Mr. Fauntleroy, that the Directors
bad resolved to replace the autos in every instance, without
attempting to tak-b advantage of any legal difficulty
' which might be urged against the claimants. 'The Tinter,
ou giving this information (which, as we she. show pre-
sently, was wholly incorrect), warmly eulogists' the gene-
rosity of the Bank. Unfortunately, like all the ran of
the statements in that jourm 1, connected with this case,
this announcement of the 'Pi...a, o &gni:cable to the de-
frauded stockholders, was put forth only to deceive. We
understand that in reply to an application for the restitu-
tion of some property in the public funds, said out by Mr.
Faittitleroy, under a forged power of attorney, Mr. tresh-
field, on the part of the Bank, has directed the applicant to
set tip his claim on the bankrupt's estate, as a creditor to
the extent of his loss ; nor is any expectation held out to
him that the Bank will make good any deficiency in the
dividend.

.....
Despatches, dated the of B;ptemher, were received
yesterday, at the India Board, from Persia.
We have received Madras Gazettes, to the Ilth of July.
Their contents bring no fresh intelligence as to the state of
the Burmese tvar. Some letters from Chittagong had re-
ported that the enemy had evacuated Ramo, in order, as it
was said, to avoid Sir Archibald Campbell, who was pro-
ceeding up the Irrawaddy, but in subsequent letters, the
retreat of the Burmese was not confirmed, and it was stated
that the force at Chittagong was to march on Itamoo, as
soon as the Madras troops joined.
The Lisbon Gtmette of the 16th ult. remarks, on the dan-
ger of employing slaves as seamen in the Brazilian navy.
The want of sailors had, it toms, been such, that the
Minister was driven to the necessity of issuing an edict,
requiring such persons as had slaves tit for the sea service,
to sell them to the government for that purpose.