The Sun.
London, England, 1822-02-27 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

itoust dF COMMONS.
‘..26? die Pebruarii,lB22.
Th 2 house met, and Forty Members: not being present at
Four'o'Clock, Mr. Speaker adjourned the House.

NOTICES OF MOTIONS for THIS DAY.
1: Mr. Ilume,—Returns from .Hawkers and Pedlars, and
Hackney Coach Offices.
311.....Creevey,—Alotion on Act for remuneration of persons
who have held high-Official Situations.
3. Air. Spring Rice,-;:'Papers relating to Courts of Justice in
Ireland. • • •
4. Mr. Dickinson,—Cdnunittee to inquire into the Law of
Sewers. • -' •
ORDERS OF THE DAY- for,THIS DAY.
1. Ways and deans—Committee. • . .
-Supply—Committee. •*

- liropped,Notiees of Illotia:rs of Yesterday.
I Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer,—Bill to amend Superan-
. ruation Act. •
2. M.r. Alderman Wood,--To move for certain Evidence taken
at Ilehester Gaol before the Coroner on the'l9th and 2llth
-January last:
Mr. Ilumei—Returns, Land Tax Redemption Office, and
other Returns.
4. Mr. William Smith,—To move for Papers relative to the
present state of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa.
Dropped Orders of the Day of Yestentrey.
•1. ArMs Importation (Ireland) Bill—Second Reading.
2. Navy Five per Cents. Acts—Report :hereupon.
3. Annual Malt Tax Act—Report thereupon.
4. Population (Ireland) Bill—Committee..
4. Arms Seizure Indemnity (Ireland) Bill—Committee.
Dropped Second Readings of Private Bills.
1. Chappel Bar Road. 4.. Norfolk Gaol.
2. :)over Roads. • 5. Tawey Bridge.
3, Stockport Roads.' i. Barnsley Paving.

.I.* POT FOREIGN LITErtATCRE, see the Fourth Page,

PRICE OF STOCKS
THIS DAY AT (20-I.::O'CLOCK.

clank Stock 94%31 Bank Long Ann. `)O!i
i! per Cent... Red. .
o per Cent. C0n5....79,1 79 714 India Stock '243 247
33 per Cent 903; India Bonds 47s. 4.55.
A per Cent 9B 961; Excheq. Bills 1 dis. 1 pr.
5 per Cent. Navy Ann.... 10% Cons. for Account-73i', 79 M
103 1033

lliG II WATER AT LOSDO
Morning, 52 minutes after 8.

'N BRIDGE TO-MORROW.
I Evening, 18 minutes after 8

THE SUN.

SOLEM BUIS DICEILE FALSUJI AUDt.ir ?

• - LONDON, •
WEDNESDAY, :FEBRUARY 27, 1822

Lord LIVERPOOL'S motion last night for Pa-
pers, illustrative of the State of the Country, was
not calculated to provoke any opposition ; but it
led to a fall and calm discussion of our domestic
circumstances, the principal stress of the debate
lying, as might be expected, upon the expe-
diency and practicability of reducing the taxes,
the means by which that reduction should be
effected, and the extent to which it should be
carried. Lord LIVERPOOL, after enlarging on
the general prosperity of the country, adverted to
the distressed state of our agricultural class,
and argued at considerable length that the evil
did not arise from taxation. He first pointed out
the present distress of the Agricultural interest
in other countries, even those least oppressed
s ith taxes ; he then disputed the proposition
that our national burdens had been rendered more
•
intolerable by the alteration or the currency, ob-
Serving that even if that alteration were taken at
the greatest alleged amount, namely 25 per cent.,
(though he considered it to be only five per
cent.) still, as the taxes had been reduced in the
same proportion since 1816, the unfavourable
chancre could not be ascribed to the increased
value of the circulating medium. Adverting to
the growth of taxation since 179, he urged that
the effect of taxes on a country is not to be esti-
Mated by their mere amount at one period or ano-
ther, but by the relation which they bear at each
time to the public wealth and resources, and he
Proceeded to shew the vast augmentation of these in
Grt.3at Britain within the last twenty years. He
then inquired what real good would result to the
Agriculturist from any practicable reduction
of expenditure,' and from an application of the
live millions' surplus revenue to an abatement
(I the taxes, rather than to the maintenance of a
°lnking Fund. The immediate effect of a re-
duction in public expenditure, he observed, was
to aggravate the distress complained of, by di-
minishing consumption ; and he stated, in illus-
tration, that during the last year of the war, the
demand of Government for provisions alone.
amounted to more than two millions; at present
it Was only two hundred thousand pounds. On
the other hand, five millions diverted from the
Sinking Fund to the diminution of taxes, would
frO rd a very inconsiderable relief to the country,
'lnd to the agriculturists in particular, though
t a great sacrifice of public credit. To this
argument Lord LaissnowmE replied, that if the
`Urn in question was too trifling to be an object
the distreSsed classes, it must also be too mi-
nute to have any sensible effect as a security to
the Fundholder. We conceive the Noble Marquis
to have taken an erroneous view of this point,be-
Cause the withdrawing of the 5 millions destined to
the Sinking Fund, as it involves the desertion of
a principle, may materially affect our national
eredit, and the value of property dependent upon
it, while the same five millions, as a mere sum
Of money, distributed among the people in the way
of a remission of taxes, may have no perceptible
nfluenee upon the present distresses. The Noble

Marquis adverted to the proposed reduction of
the 5 per cents., and expressed himself satisfied
with the principle of this measure, though he
could not approve of its details.

The judgment of the House of Lords, in the
great case of NUGENT, the lessee of Galway,
against CUTHBERT and others, on a writ of error
from the Exchequer Chamber of Ireland, was
given this morning in favour of the defendants,
thereby affirming the judgment of the Court be-
low, and confirming the existing leases. The
Logi") CHANCELLOR and Lord REDESD ALE de-
tailed at considerable length their reasons for
affirming the judgment of the Exchequer Cham-
ber of Ireland in this important case.

Mr. JAMES'S Speech of Monday night, on the
interruption of Correspondence between Pri-
soners and Members of Parliament, afforded a
whimsical specimen of the disa&antages to
which art orator exposes himself when he ven-
tures beyond his depth in the Statute book. Mr.
JAMES contended, that the order signed by two
Judges in
.1820, for the government of Lancaster
Castle, was, so far as it authorized the opening
of letters, not only contrary to Parliamentary
privilege, but at variance with the Statute law.
To prove this latter point, he cited the Post-
Office Act, 9 Anne, c. 10, which contains a
clause against those who shall open,• detain,
or delay letters,and he triumphantly held up this
proviso in terrorem of all persons acting upon such
directions as had been put in force at Lancaster.
Mr. JAMES unfortunately considered it as super-
fluous to look beyond the first few words of the
clause, and therefore did not discover that the
offence provided against is the opening, detaining
or delaying of a letter or packet " after the same
is or shall be delivered into the General or other
Post-Office, or into the hands of any person or
persons employed for the receiving or carrying
post-letters, and before delivery to the persons to
whom they are directed or for their use." That
is to say, so long as they are under the charge of
the Post-Office and its agents. After the letters
have been taken in, whether at a gaol, an hotel,
or a private dwelling, the Statute evidently does
not interfere for their protection, unless any per-
son believes that its severities are directed
against the petty domestic meannesses of school-
masters, who open the letters directed to their
boys, or suspicious husbands, who pry into the
correspondence of their wives.. Nor would it be
very easy, upon this supposition, to apply the
rigours of the Statute to the gaoler, pedagogue,
or husband, for it is ordained in the clause, first,
that persons offending shall forfeit twenty
pounds for each offence, and " over and
above such penalty," that they " shall be
for ever incapable of having, using, exercising, or
enjoying any office, trust, or employment in or
relating to the Post-office or any branch thereof."
How it could be supposed that this enactment
applied to offences committed by any but persons
in the Post-office, is difficult to divine ; the clause
is so plain that he who runs may read, unless, in-
deed, be runs with more speed than discretion.
—ls it so light a matter, then, to reproach the
Judges with having signed an illegal order,
that their accuser should not even bestow the
labour of one attentive perusal on the law
which he produces for their condemnation i

[ On the point of privilege there may be more
room for dispute. It would, however, be extra-
, vagant (as the • House in effect declared it by
their vote) to assert that as many letters as may
be sent into a prison under franks from Members
of Parliament must, in spite of all regulations
and of any exigency of affairs, pass unexamined
to their destination. how, in fact, could such
an exertion of privilege be justified, unless
Members would hold themselves responsible for
the innocence of communications thus protected'
There appears less inconvenience in allowing
the free passage of letters actually addressed to
gentlemen in Parliament ; but the question re-
curs, is this right available in opposition to an
order promulgated by the Magistrates and con-
firmed by the Judges, in the exercise of an au-
thority entrusted to them by Statute ? It is
answered that Parliamentary privilege is not to
be " ridden down" by the operation of a law in
which that privilege is not expressly abolished.
This would perhaps be true of what may be termed
the defensive privileges of Parliament, which
are essential to its independence, and to the ex-
ercise of its proper and necessary functions; but
the argument may not be equally applicable to
cases in which that body, or its members, claim
an interfering or controlling power. Matters not
necessarily, and by their very nature, falling
within the scope of Parliamentary authority, may
perhaps be regulated by Statute, in such a man-
ner as to preclude the interposition of privilege,
without any precise enactment for that purpose.
But whether this distinction be just or otherwise is
of little consequence to the present argument, for
the House of Commons has already, in the Re-
golution of 1735, allowed that its privileges in
. some particulars may be " ridden down" by a
Statute not expressly taking them away. In the
Resolution of 1688, the House declared it gene-
rally a breach of privilege to open any letter
addressed to a Member of Parliament. The 9th
of ANNE was subsequently passed, which for-
bade the opening or detaining of any letters,
unless by warrant from the Secretary of State.
And afterwards, in voting the Resolution of 1735
(when the right of franking was in question) the
Commons, attentive to the words of this Act, de-
clared it a breach of privilege for any Postmaster or
his deputie%to open or detain any letter addressed
to or by a Member, unless by warrant from one
of the Secretaries of State; thus acknowledging
that, wlien the Statute of ANNE was passed, the

House had, in fact, circumscribed its own privi-
,
lege to a certain degree, though no precise worlds
had been inserted with that view.

IRELAND.—We yesterday gave At account of
the proceedings of the Special Commission at Cork
to the evening of the 22d inst. and we received
this day The Cork Adverhser of the 23d inst. It
contains a copious account of the ;t•oceedings in
the County Court, en the affair at Coolgea, on
the 21st. and those of the 22d on the huriiing of
the Barracks at Churchtown, the particulars of
which have already been reported. The latest
news in The Cork advertiser is the trial of Roger
Heffernan, for the unlawful sale of-gun-powder,
on Saturday last. The Cork Advertiser, pro-
mising a continuance of the legal proceedings on
this case, concludes as follows :

" We shall now merely add, that lieffvrnan
was found Ottiky.

At a little after tfiree o'clock this day, the
Judge; left town, escorted by a party of dra-
goons" • •

A. Meeting of the Magistrates of Cork took
place the same day, to deliberate upon the expe-
diency of memorializing the Lord Lieutenant
relatively to the insurrection. It was decidedly
the sense of the Meeting, that no time should be
lost in proclaiming the Liberties of the City, and
a Special Sesions for memorializing the Lord
Lieutenant was to be held on Monday last.

The French Papers of Sunday' have been re
ceived. The followinz are pm:acts :--

PARIS, FEB. 24.-IVe have received further particulars of
the earthquake felt at Lyons, about 9, A.M. on the 18th. It
was so violent that several houses in the streets Bombarde and
St. John appared to be shaken. At the same time a noise was
heard like that of a loaded waggon passing over a draw-bridge.
It was also felt by some persons in St. John's Church. The
same shock was felt pretty severely, at the same hour, at Bourg
and Valence, where it also lasted only about a minute.
Dupuy, fbrmerly an officer of cavalry, and at present
merchant at Nantes, has just been arrested by the genre arms
and confined in the prison at Bouffray, as implicated in the plot
some time since discovered in that city.

PARIS, FEB. 23.

TRIBUNAL OF THE FIRST INSTANCE.
AFFAIR OF THE WILL OF BUONAPART E.—A considera•
ble number of persons had collected to hear this singular law.
suit between M. Latitte and the executors of Buonaparte's last
will. When the cause was called, M. Dupin, Counsel for Ge-
nerals Bertram: and Montholon, desired it might be now plead-
ed, if the time of the Court permitted.
31. Champanhel, King's Counsel, immediately rose, and
strangely disappointed the curious spectators by the following
motion :--

" As the publicity of this cause might bring with it serious
inconveniences,•we require that it be pleaded with closed doors,
on the day which it shall please the Court to determine."
After a short consultation, the Court, by the organ of M.
Moreau, its President, pronounced the following decision :
" Considering the requisition of the King's Attorney (pro-
cureur) on the
.117th Article of the Penal Code, which is as fol-
lows t

The pleadings shall be public, except in cases where the
law orders' that they shall be private. The Court may, how-
ever, order that they shall be with closed doors, if the public
discussion may occasion .scandal, or serious inconveniences ;
but, in this, case, the Court Shall be bound to deliberate on it,
and to render an account of its deliberation to the Attorney-
General of the Royal Court,' &c.
" The Court, after having deliberated according to the law,
considering that, it results from the arguments respectively ad-
duced, and the consultations entered upon, on occasion of the
demand made by Messrs. the Count de Monthol.-,0, Count Bei_
trawl, and Marchand, in the names and qualities in which they
proceeded against Sieur Lafitte, that the public discussion of this
cause would lead to serious inconveniences, orders that the
pleadings of this cause shall take place with closed doors, on
Monday, the 25th of this month, at ten o'clock in the morn-
ing; and further orders, that a copy of the present deliberation
be delivered, in the course of the day, by the Clerk, and by him
handed to the King'S Attorney, to be by him delivered to the
Attorney-General."
B. Monday is generally a day of vacation for the Cham-
ber of the Civil Tribunal.

_Extract of a Letter from Charleston, Jan. 9,1.'
" It is reported that the French Government
has determined to send Commissioners to Hayti,
to treat with the existing Authorities there, and
it is expected that our Government will take
suitable measures to secure every commercial
privilege at that important Island which may be
granted to the French, British, or any other
nation."

FROM PENSACOLA, DEC. 25.---We learn from
unquestionable authority, that the President of
the United States approves the conduct of Go-
vernor JACKSON, in the affair of Callava through-
out ; and further, that the President considers
.Judge FROMENTIN'S jurisdiction exclusively con-
fined to the laws in relation to the revenue and
slave trade.

BOSTON, JAN. 15.—The navigation continues
open ; the ice has all been driven out of the river,
by a north-west wind; all the outward-bound
vessels have sailed.

The friends of the late NAPOLEON BOONA-
PARTE, residing in New. Orleans, walked in pro-
cession on the 10th Dec. to the Catholic Church,
which was hung in black on the occasion, and a
funeral service was performed.

A commercial letter, dated Lisbon the 24th
ult., reports, that the State Gazette had an-
nounced, that 1223 actions or shares had been
inscribed for, as Stock to the Bank projected in
that capital. The amount of these 1223 actions
was 611,500,000 rees. Though sanguinely hoped
for, it was not finally determined whether Lis-
bon would be made a free port. Should the
Bank scheme succeed, it would doubtless pro-
duce a favourable impression on the Government;
and we might (says the letter) be the more jus-
tilicAl in looking forward to the Portuguese capi-
tal being made a free entrepot. It would create
a new life in commercial traffic.

As a certain proof that this is not the only
country in which agriculture is languishing at the
present moment, it is deserving of mention, that
several Petitions were recently laid before the
Government of the Netherlands, from Land-
owners in Zealand, complaining of the depressed
prices of corn and the continuance of tithes : the
latter, in particular, it was asserted, contributed
very much to the ruinous state of things apper-
taining to rural economy.
The Ordnance Estimates have been printed.
The sum voted for 1821 was 1,095,000/. ; to be
voted for 1822, 1,200,000/.—difference in favour
of the former year 105,0001.
Lord Onsonn's " Memoires of his Own Times,"
will be published on Saturday,

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