The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-19 00:00:00

[MORNING POST.]

Mr. Brougham presented to the House of
Commons last night the Petition from the lead-
ing Members of the Irish Catholic Association,
praying to be heard by Counsel at the Bar against
the Bill now in progress through Parliament.
The Learned Gentleman urged his motion in a
long and eloquent speech, and pledged himself
that both sides would come out of the proposed
inquiry with a much better feeling towards each
other. The motion was very justly opposed by
Mr. Secretary Peel, on the ground that imtead
of compliance with the prayer of the Petition
being required in conformance with the usage of
Parliament, it would be in direct opposition to
that wage. It was contrary to every existing
precedent. The general rule of the House was,
that when a measure was introduced affecting
the interests of private parties, the House
would regard itself as in the situation of a
Court of-Judicature, and would not pass the Bill
without hearing evidence at the Bar upon which
to decide. But here no individual interests were
involved, and if the inquiry were granted what
Bill for the general tranquillity of the country
could pass for the future without a similar course
being observed ? If Counsel were once admitted
to the Bar upon Bills of general enactments, it
would become impossible to draw the line of re-
fusal, and the House, instead of exercising its own
deliberative functions, would be occupied in
listening to legal arguments. 'i'i►e popular Con-
stitution of Parliament would he to cut up by the
roots if such a practice were to prevail.—The
Solicitor-General and Mr. Wynn algo ably ex-
posed the inutility and inconvenience of adopting
the course pointed out by the Learned Mover,
and the • House, convinced by their arguments,
rejected the motioui by a majority of 133, the
numbers being.--for it 89, against it 229.. The
speech of Mr. Secretary Peel affords a most able
exposition of the evil tender.cy of the Associa-
tion ; it is altogether of a most masterly descrip-
tion, and will be read with high interest.

LTIIE PUBLIC LEDGER.]
The report, which has appeared iri the French
Papers, that M. Pinheiro Ferreira, the present
Portuguese 'Minister for Foreign Affairs,-would
accompany the mission. of Sir C. Stuart, is not
confirmed by the last letters that have reached
this country froM Lisbon.---They also contain no
allusion to another rumour, which has prevailed
here, and according to which, the Minister of his
Most Faithful` Majesty in this country was to be
recalled, for the purpose of confiding to him, on
Itis return, the direction of the Foreign De-
partment. It is-true that the duty of arranging
in an amicable manner the differences exist-
ing between Portugal and' Brazil, could not
be confided to a more competent person than
M. Ferreira, who had been left at the head.
of the Brazilian GOvernment, on the de-
parture of the King for Europe,'and in which
situation he had.rendered-himseffeXtremely ,po-
But he has establishe-d an equal
claim to confidence at home, on account of
his moderation, talents, and attachment to
constitutional principles of Government ; and. it
would not be
perhaps wise to send, at a junc-
ture like the present, such a. man out of the'king-
dorn, let the object be ever so important. 'But
the mission of Sir G. Stuart, ostentatiously as it
was announced some time; since, has not made
much progress towards-its' completion ; and this
distinguished Diplomatist, nottVithstrlnding the
breathless haste " with 'which he was to set
Out, still loiters in this country, for some cause,
that, we think, wants explanation ; for; the idea
of a ship of the line is not quite satisfactory.—

The latter may be the reason of the delay ; but,
whilst it would excuse Mr. Canning, it would
not be very complimentary to the vigilance of
the Admiralty, , which had not a vessel of this
description ready to meet a sudden emergency.
This, however, would not be the first imputa-
tion, we are sorry to say, against the alertness
of the Board ; though we had thought that the
investigation which took place into the delay,
which marked the departure of Sir Edward
Thornton, would have pretend a recurrence of
so unpleasant a charge. In the mean time it
strikes us, that no blame attaches to the Admi-
ralty on the present occasion ; but that the mis-
sion is retarded, in consequence of some political
reasons, which may never be fully explained to
the Public. If our conjecture be wrong, the
I error, no doubt, will be pointed out; and, in the
mean time, we shall adhere to the opinion, that
something has intervened, if not of such para-
mount importance as to form a sufficient motive
for altering, at least grave enough to retard, the
departure of the mission.

[NEW TIMES.]

We received last night the French Papers of
Wednesday, with the Eteile of Thursday. This
Paper contains a Report of the Sitti►►g of the 16th
of the Chamber of Deputies. The Minister of
Finances presented the Budget for 1826, with a
projet of Law of Finance for next year, of which
the first Article fixes the expences of the
Consolidated Debt and the Sinking Fund at
241,585,785 franks, being something more than
nine millions and a half sterling. Article 3d,
enumerates the taxes which shall continue to
be levied in 1826, agreeable to the existing laws;
and their amount is estimated at 924,095,704 f.,
that is, nearly 37 millions sterling. A projet of
Law was also presented for the final regulation of
the Budget of 1823, annulling the credits opened
for the different Departments, and regulating the
appropriation. In another column we have given
two articles from the adverse Journals, the
Quotidie lute and the Constitutionnel, which are
quite characteristic of the different manner in
which the violence of party spirit, which still
prevails in France, has caused our recognition of
the South American States to be viewed, and the
absurd censure and high sounding praise which
the rival Journalists in consequence bestow. It
is amusing to see the Quotidienne drawing in-
, ferences from the circumstance of the Lord
Chancellor being seated on a wool sack.

[MORNING HERALD. 1
Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Shiel, Mr. Bric, and other
Gentlemen, parties to the Petition the object of
Mr. Brougham's motion, last night were under
the gallery of the House of Commons during the
discussion. The motion did not come on till
late in the evening, owing to the vast quantity of
private business before the House; in the mean
time Mr. O'Connell, Stc. were in the lobby lead-
ing to the House, several Members coming out to
speak to them. Mr. O'Connell was taken into
the House by Mr. C. Hutchinson. The seats
under the gallery are granted, by courtesy, to
Peers, to the eldest sons of Peers, to the sons of
Members, &c. and the same indulgence is ex-
tended to all petitioners whose petitions may be
under the consideration of the House, as petition-
ers against election returns, petitioners praying to
he heard against any Bill in progress, &c. In
obedience to this species of privilege, the peti-
tion►ers in question were permitted to take their
seats under the gallery during the motion that
the prayer of their petition be complied with.—
It may be added, that Mr. Brougham's notice by
no means excited that interest which might have
been expected from the crowds who flocked to,
the gallery on Mr. Goulburn's motion ; yester-
day the gallery was not opened till the usual
hour, and it was not then above two-thirds filled.
In the course of the evening it became full, but
not remarkably crowded. In the House there
was not an extraordinary attendance of Members.