The Sun.
London, England, 1825-03-29 00:00:00

Cabinet, was present. The motive of their
absence is rather curious than important,
as the Prince is too strict an observer of
of what the French call convenance, to discuss
any subject in the French capital, at which the
French Government could take umbrage. As
the Pope's Nuncio assisted at the conference, as
well as the Ministers of Bavaria and Naples, to-
gether with those of Russia, Austria, and Prus-
sia, it probably related to some arrangements,
in which the Holy See is immediately con-
cerned. Or it may have had relation to the
departure of the Austrian troops from Na-
ples ; but, in this case, the English Ambassa-
dor would have probably attended ; and, no
doubt, some person would have appeared on the
part of the French Cabinet. Therefore the former
supposition is the more probable of the two, par-
ticularly as it agrees with the exorbitant claims
which the present Pontiff has thought proper to
put forth, in his negotiations with some of the
German Powers, respecting the extent of his
spiritual jurisdiction in their respective States.
As the Holy Alliance have raised him to
the Pontifical Throne, on account of his hor-
ror of innovation, they must bear with him
as well as they can, as he only shews, in his
particular province, the same uncompromising
spirit which they display in their own. There
appears to have been another revolution in the
Cabinet of Madrid, by which Ugarte, so power-
ful lately, on account of the special favour of his
Sovereign, and, what was deemed not less in-
fluential, the support of Russia, has been dis-
graced ; and, what is more, ordered to quit the
capital. The latter part of his punishment is is
ea tempted to soften down, by saying that he has
been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at Turin;
but it is well known how these appointments
are carried into effect. In the meantime, his
disgrace seems to indicate a decline of Russian
influence ; arid it is possible that Ferdinand has
at length discovered that it only served to involve
him more and more in difficulties, and that, in-
stead of advancing his views, with respect to the
recovery of his former American possessions, it
contributed to accelerate the resolution which
this country has taken to recognize their inde-
pendence.

[MORNING HERALD.]
The Catholic Bill, of which we gave a tran-
script the other day, is a very different kind of
document to that which we should have expected
from the persons who had the task of preparing
it. To us it has much more the appearance of a
polemical dissertation, than of a measure calcu-
lated to receive the stamp of legislative wisdom.
If there is any thing which more than another re-
quires to be clear, concise, and intelligible, it
is the law which men of all ranks and under..
standings are requited to obey. Whoever looks
into the Statutes -of former times, will see
that this used to 'be 'the case, and that from the
period of the abolition of Law-French, till with-
in the last fifty or sixty years, laws were com-
posed in language which most men could compre-
hend. An age of legal and technical jargon has
since arisen, and the sense and meaning of modern
laws evaporate in their verbosity, just as certain li-
quids, &c. lose their virtue by excessive dilution.
NVithout going through the whole of the Bill,
which would require more space and leisure than
we can at present bestow upon it, there is one
part (and that the most important), which strikes
us as particularly' objectionable, we mean the
substitution of a long argumentation Oath to be
taken by Roman Catholics, instead of the pre-
sent Oath of Abjuration. Lord Hale, speak-
ing of the ancient Oath of Allegiance, which
continued above 600 years, says, that " therein
the prudence of the Common Law is observable,
that it was short and plain, not entangled
with long and intricate clauses or declarations,
but that the sense of it was obvious to the most
common understanding, arid yet withal compre-
hensive of the whole duty of a subject to his
Prince." And why all oaths should not be so
too, we cannot imagine. We had hoped that one
consequence of passing the present or any other
measure for the relief of Roman Catholics
would have been the repeal of the present
long oaths (as they are technically call-
ed), and the substitution of one short one in
their stead : for if these oaths were established
for the protection of a Protestant Government
against the errors of Popery, and the Catholics
are now (very wisely, as we think) to be
excused from taking them, surely they need
riot continue to be taken by Protestants,
as a security for whose fidelity to the
State they were never necessary. Instead
of the present three oaths of allegiance, supre-
macy,and abjuration, which we should like to see
abolished, we should think that one oath might
be framed to be taken by all his Majesty's sub-
jects indiscriminately ; and which, we conceive,
might be couched in the following terms, viz.—

" 1, A. 8., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be
faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King George,
who I do hereby solemnly testify and declare is sole lawful and
rightful King of this Realm and all other his 3lajesty's domi-
nions and countries thereunto belonging, and over all persons
and in all causes ecclesiastical as well as civil within his domi-
nions supreme."
--•- •

An oath framed in these terms (of which it will
be seen, that we are only the selectors) would,
we think combine all the requisites of such a
solemn obligation, would be intelligible to all
capacities, and therefore more likely to be morally
binding than long historical argumentative ones
can generally be expected to be.

A letter to an eminent French House in the
City states, that the question respecting the re-
duction of the Rentes will be postponed till after
the Coronation, and that to insure the measure
being carried, thirty new Peers will be created.
Lady BAYNTON, while hunting with Sir T.
SyxEs's hou►►ds a few days ago, was thrown from
her horse at Burton Agnes, and dislocated her
right shoulder. Medical aid was immed►ately
procured, and her Ladyship is doing well.

Mr. KEAN has entered into another engage-
ment with Mr. ELLISTON, to commence early in
July, during the whole of which month, and the
greater part of August, Drury-Lane Theatre is
to he kept open.