The Sun.
London, England, 1825-03-22 00:00:00

fessional skill. He very properly contrasted the
inferior description of persons who were Magis-
trates when the establishment was first instituted,
with the description now acting :—" Lord
Sidmouth and himself (he said) had confined
themselves strictly to the appointment of
Barristers alone, and had not nominated any
to the office of Magistrate who were of
less than three years standing." lie very
properly observed, that Country Gentlemen were
unfit for the Magistracy of the Metropolis ; and
he might have added, that they are any thing
but fit for the Magistracy any where, though as
aids to the ordinary administration of justice they
may occasionally be useful. lie observed (and
we go along with him heartily) " :.hat this
Country was more parsimonious in its provisions
upon the administration of justice than any other,
and he was sure that there could not be a worse
economy than sut h saving, either with regard to
the highest or to the inferior officers." Mr. [lob-
house made an objection on the score of the
increase of the influence of the Crown. So the
people are to be abandoned to all the miseries of
imperfect and inadequate Judicature, because
proper appointments would increase the influence
of the Crown ! IVe are much more jealous of the
influence of Country Gentlemen than of the in-
flence of Ministers, who have the eye of the pub-
tic on them, the only efficient controul. Judica-
ture we must have ; if we trust Ministers we
have a chance of good appointments; if we leave
the matter to country gentlemen, we shall have
local jobbing and grossly improper appointments.

[THE TIMES.]
An express arrived yesterday from Madrid,
with a confirmation, almost to the letter, of what
we stated on Saturday respecting the determina-
tion of Ferdinand never to do any act which
should give the smallest value to the bonds issued
by him under the Cortes. He has rejected all the
various propositions made to him for patching up,
by a loan, the tattered finance system of Spain,
because all of them required, as an indispenable
condition, that these securities, in some shape
or other, should be acknowledged—a con-
dition, by the way, which it was impe-
rative on all the proposers to introduce, that
being the only chance for a favourable recep-
tion of the loan in the money-market of England,
or indeed of any on the Continent. So little is the •
wretched Ferdinand aware of his own situation,
or of the principles by which public credit is
sustained, that he is said to have exhibited a vio-
lent paroxysm of Royal indignation, on finding
how uniform the tenour of all the propositions
submitted was, in relation to the acknowledgment
of the Constitutional bends. The number of pro-
positions made to Ferdinand for supplying him with
money appears to have given strength to his obsti.
nacy on this point. Not being able to distinguish
between those which proceeded from respectable
capitalists and the reverse, he can only draw one
conclusion from the absurd eagerness which was
manifested to obtain the contract—that the
English are so anxious for the honour of lend-
ing money, that the point of the Constitu-
tional bonds, the great obstacle to its accomplish-
ment, must in the end be given up, and his Royal
vow to annihilate them, a thousand times re-
prated, preserved from violation. It is fortunate
for England, for South America, and for the
parties who are making such liberal tenders of
English mooey, that he is likely long to persist
in this notion. We have been favoured with an
account of the nature of some of the proposed
contracts for a Spanish loan, of the best of
which we give an abstract, that it may be
seen what degree of the rational faculty per-
vades the Royal Councils of Spain. It was
proposed on the part of certain capitalists, that
five millions of money should be advanced to Fer-
dinand, for which stock was to be issued at a
fired price. The whole pre-existing debt of
Spain, both Royalist and Constitutional, was to
he collected into one amount, of which 25 per
cent, was to be paid to the holders in money,
with the option of taking subscriptions on new
bonds at the same rate as the contractors for
the five millions before stated. On the remaining
75 per cent. of capital all interest was to cease, but
1 per cent. of its amount was to be formed every
year into stock bearing interest, the particular
bonds to be so favoured being to be determined
by lot. At this rate, it would require 100 years
to bring the whole of the Spanish debt into one
stock, baring interest at five per cent. This is
a very favourable mode of composition for the
Royal bankrupt ; but the plan appears just as im-
practicable as any others we have heard analyzed.
Not to mention the fallacy of putting forward a
project for Spain, the completion of which
would require 100 years, we know of no security
that could be given for the payment even of the
interest which would become annuallydueafter the
composition for t:ie whole debt had been effected.
Spain would then have about 1,500,0001. to pay
the first year in dividends, with the increase to
be added in the following years on account of the
increase of the debt. Respecting this proposition,
of which we have given the substance, there does '
not appear to have any chance of acceptance.
We have no doubt, if Spain continued to he go-
verned by the same principles, that the money
so raised would in a few years be as completely
lost as that which was lent to the Cortes. •

LTHE PUBLIC LEDGER.]
We see, by the Paris Papers of Saturday, which,
with the Etoile of Sunday's date, reached us last
night, that the King of France has conferred
upon Prince Metternich the Order of the Holy
Ghost. As this Order, like that of the Garter,
is distributed with a very sparing hand, and only
to persons, whether natives or foreigners, the
most illustrious for their rank or services, it shews
that the visit of the Prince to the French
capital is not for any purpose that can give
offence to the Court of the Thuilleries. It may he
said to contain the most complete refutation of a
statement which has appeared in a Morning
Paper, and in which V;t4laid that the object of
the visit was to make n large pecuniary demand
on the French Government in behalf of young.
Napoleon, or, according to another version, to
rettuke some modification; in the Charter,
by which it would be rendered less unpa-