The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-23 00:00:00

IMPORTANT.

NEGRO EMANCIPATION.
AT a MEETING of DELEGATES from va-
rious parts of ENGLAND, IRELAND, and SCOT-
LAND, assemblerl at Fendall's Hotel, on the 22d of March,
WILLIA3I Dit.t.wonni CREWDSON, Esq., of Kendal, in the

Chair,
The substance of the Marquis cf Sligo's Speech, just delivered in
thA douse of Lords, having been communicated to the Meeting,
It rag unanimously resolved,
" That the Delegates now assembled in London to promote the
immediate anJ entire freedom of the Negro Apprentices in the
British Colonies, having heard that the Marquis of Sligo has this
day made the Nobh and patriotic declaration, in his place in the
House of Lords, that Negroes on his estates shall be made free
on the Ist of August next,' are desirous to embrace the earliest op-
portunity of assuring his Lorclithip that they consider him entitled
to the warmest thanks of the eni!aved. in all parts of the world."
(Signed) W. DILLWORTIT. CREWDSON, Chairman.
March 22, 1838.

Just published at 35., and in Folio at is. 6d.
Part IV of

SAUNDERS' POLITICAL REFORMERS,
containing Portraits and Memoirs of
GEORGE BYNG, Esq., M.P.
Right Hon. C. P. THOMSON, M.P.
(From Paintings by George Hayter, Esq.)
And THOMAS WYSE, Esq., 31. P.

•4• Parts Ito 111 may be had of all Booksellers ; also thick Folio
Proof Impressions of the Portraits at ss. each.
Now ready, No. 1., at 6d., Part I. at 25., with
PORTRAIT OF PAPINEAU,
THE CIVIL WAR IN THE CANADAS,
With a general and a highly interesting Account of the Pro-
vinces and their Inhabitants ; comprising :
I Historical Sketch of the Progress of Settlement. 2. Re.
sources and Trade of the Country. 3. Description of the Country
and Climate. 4. Social Condition of the People, Manners,
Habits, Customs, Amusements, Songs, &c. 5. Religion, Educa-
tion, the Press, &c. 6. Population. 7. Information for Emi-
grants. 8. Memoirs of the Canadian Leaders, 81e. with
VIEWS, MAPS, PLAYS, AND PORTRAITS.
London : J. Saunders, Jun. 7, Dyer's Buildings, Holborn Bars.

On April 2, in royal Svo,
THE MONTHL
PRINCIPAL
Are the Planets inhabited!
Zicci, a Tale (continued).
Architecture of London.
Manners.

price 2s. &1., No. H. of
Y CHRONICLE.
ARTICLES.
Negro Apprenticeship.
Coal Monopoly.
Reviews, Music, Notes,

Bce. &c.
, Orme, and Co.

London: Longm:

EDINBURGH REVIEW, No. CXXXV.
Messrs. LONGMAN and CO. request that Advertise-
ments for the forthcoming No. may be sent to them not later than
Wednesday, March 28 ; 3.nd Bills not later than Saturday, March 31.
Paternoster-row, March .22, 1838.

The publication of Tag Sox NSWiPAPTIR commenced this day
at 10 minutes past Three 0' Clock.

WITH WHICH
" THE TRUE SUN" IS NOW

INCORPORATED.

LONDON :
FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 23, 1838.

In the Second Edition of The San of last night, we re-
ported a speech delivered by the Marquis of SLIGO in the
House of Lords yesterday evening, on the Slavery Eman-
cipation Amendment Bill, in which the Noble Marquis
announced, that whatever measures the Legislature might
adopt, the Negroes upon his Lordship's estates should be
made wholly and unconditionally free from the Ist of
August next. We will not attempt to describe the effect
which this noble and magnanimous declaration produced
upon those friends of the enslaved coloured race, to whom
we were so happy as to make it known in an incredibly
short time after its delivery. A faint idea may be formed
of it from the fact, that a meeting of the delegates from
various parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, to pro-
mote the entire emancipation of the Negroes, assembled at
Fendall's Hotel, and in_ the course of a few hours after the
delivery of the Marquis of SuGo's speech, resolved that his
Lordship was entitled to the " warmest thanks of the friends
of the enslaved in all parts of the world." The Noble Mar-
quis has set a gloriousexample to all slave-owners—an ex-
ample which we would fain hope will exercise a salutary
influence upon the future proceedings of the British Le-
gislature. The Marquis of SLIGO is no dreamy enthusiast,
whose notions of slavery are gathered from the narratives
of Missionaries, and the turgid declamations of one-ideaed
political fanatics. In his official capacity of Governor of
Jamaica he had the fullest opportunities of carefully noting
the working of the slave system—of witnessing its equally
fell influence upon the moral nature of the oppressor and
the oppressed ; while, as the actual owner of a numerous
body of apprentices, his experience is not less con-
clusive of the superiority, in a mercantile point of view, of
free over slave labour. The abolition of the apprenticeship
system throughout the West Indies, on the Ist of August
next, would be attended with no deprivation to the
planters, but that of the demoniac- pleasure they receive
from the torture of the negroes. They have been so
accustomed to the music of groans and the handling of the
cat, that they cannot endure the prospect of being deprived
of the darling amusement of their leisure and drunken
hours. No appetite is sharper or more insatiable than that
engendered by a long course of irres;ionsible cruelty ; and
to limit the duration of its exercise, has ever had, and will
ever have, the effect of increasing ita intensity. Without
referring to the numerous proofs of this fact, to be found
in almost every page of the history of tyranny, ancient and
modern, we need only point to the ease of Mr. and Miss
SENIOR, in Part V. of the Papers relating to slavery in
Jamaica, now on the table of the House of Commons. Ac-
cording to the evidence therein reported, Mr. SENIOR cal-
culates the expense at which he may purchase the pleasure
of flogging his apprentices, and has even threatened to render
them worthless to themselves by the infliction of excessive pu-
nishments before the expiration of ti-,e period at which the
Legislature declares they shall be free. The case of Mr.
SENIOR is not an isolated one—most of the planters lay
more stress upon the amount of suffering they may inflict
for the remaining two years, than upon the profits to be
derived from Slave labour. This considerstion should in-
duce the Legislature to abridge the term of Negro appren-
ticeship, had England never given sixpence by way of
compensation to the slave-owners. But if to this we add
our right of purchase, and the moral fitness of the slaves—
ai attc,ted by the most satisfactory evidence—to enter
upon the unrestricted enjoyment of liberty, we cannot
without incurring the guilt of the planters, consent to the
extension of the apprenticeship system beyond the first of
August next.

,•
We implore the Government to attend to the surges-
tions of the Marquis of SLIGO, Lord 131toccatam, and the
Christi in com.nunity of the United Kingdom, upon this im-
portant subject. On the lst of August next the appren-
tices upon the Noble Marquis's estates will be declared
free, and it is probable that other proprietors, in
imitation of so excellent an example, will also loose the
chains which now confine the limbs of the coloured race.
The Anabaptist planters have already set their apprentices
at liberty ; so that to add to the anguish of such as the
law may continue in bondage, they will be surrounded on
all sides by a fre coloured population. Will not such a
spectacle drive them to despair—stimulate them to take
a dreadful revenge upon their ruthless oppressors ? We warn
the Government to beware of becoming accessory to a
crime which may be followed by the most dreadful conse-
quences, and which can only be avoided by the full, free

and u.lconditional emancipation of the negroes throughout
the dominions of Great Britain.

Mr. WARD'S motion for a Committee to inquire into
the grievance complained of by the British-born inhabi-
tants of India was withdra-vn, after a discussion which we
think will be productive of considerable advantage. The
attention of Parliament and of the contry has been drawn
to the subject, which must now be inrcstigated some way
or other. It seemed in leed to be the general opinion of
those Honourable Members who, from having filled judi-
cial situations in India, miy be supposed to be most com-
petent to decide on a question of this sort, that a Commit-
tee of the house of Commons is not the most prorer
organ of inquiry. This may perhaps be so, but it will not
exctre the intemperate and, we must be allowed to add,
unbecoming tone assumed by Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE in his
speech of last night—a speech which will add nothing
to the Right Honourable Baronet's reputation either as a
statesman or logician. The President of the Board of
Controul may perhaps not feel himself called upon to
remember the sayings and doings of the candidate for the
Radical votes of Westminster, as the full-fledged butterfly
sporting in the sunshine is, we suppose, oblivious of its
pre-existent acts in the larva state ; but some friend ought
to admonish him of the indecency of talking with contempt
of the petitions of any portion of her MAJESTY'S subjects.
It may appear " rather extraordinary" to Sir JOHN " that
the time of the House should be taken up in this way
absolutely about nothing ;" but there was a time when if
any Member Df the House of Commons had uttered such
a sentiment respecting the petition of a single individual—
much more of a numerous body of our fellow subjects in
a distant. land—the first man to protest against such an un-
constitutional proceeding would have been JOHN CAM
HODHOUSE.

That the late change in the state of the law in India, as I
regards the right of appeal to the Supreme Civil Court,
felt as a grievance, the numerously signed petition to which
we have alluded is sufficient evidence. This circumstance
alone, ought to have procured the petition both a patient
and a respectful.hearing. Neither can the main argument
of the President of the Board of Control that the necessity
of putting all classes on an equal footing called for the
change be held valid, because this necessity was just as
great at any former period as when the law was altered.
Why, it may be asked, were British residents ever ex-
empted from the jurisdiction of the native Courts? Is it
just, or fair, that those who have taken up their abode in
India, and purchased property there, on the faith of being
under the protection of British law by an appeal to
British Judges, should be deprived of this pro-
tection and that, too, without any object to
be gained.? The conciliation of the natives is, no doubt,
held out as a reason for this infringement at once of the
Royal prerogative and of the right of the subject ; but the
natives do not regard the alteration of the law as any boon
to them. So far from it, a great many of the wealthiest
and most respectable native merchants at Calcutta have
joined in the petition of the British-born residents.

Colonel THOMPSON, if not right, is certainly indefati-
gable. He is always on the watch, and always first to fly
at game. Before it is settled that the Committee on the
Hull Election will unseat Mr. WILBERFORCE, he offers
himself as a candidate to fill the anticipated vacancy. His
address will be found elsewhere, and in it he states that
there is a possibility of another election, and on that possi-
bility he acts. If activity only deserved the suffrages of
the Hull electors, Colonel THOMPSON would be sure of
every vote ; but even the Hull people are now blind to
his merits, and we are assured that he has no chance
of success. Poor Colonel THoMP3oN we shall miss
him much—the House will miss him—but alas ! like
PETER BORTHWICK—poor PETER!—he is doomed to
rejection, and the House and the public must support, as
they best can, the absence of these great men from Par-
liament. We should hope, however, that no exertions
will be wanting on the part of the Hull electors to elect
Reformers—men who, like the Colonel, will put down, if
they can, the iniquitous Corn-law, and who, unlike the
Colonel, will on other questions act with discretion and
prudence. Our Correspondent points to Mr. 1-IuTT and
Mr. `Noon as having a prior claim on the suffrages of the
electors ; and, than the former gentleman—the latter is
less known to us—a more stanch, and a more prudent
Reformer, cannot, we believe, be found.

Lord ELIOT'S motion, which is fixed for Tuesday, is
thus announced in the votes of the House of Commons :
" That an Humble Address be presented to her Majesty,
expressing to her Majesty the opinion of this House, that no
advantage, either to the interests of this country or to those
of Spain, has resulted from the employment of her Majesty's
subjects in the service of her Catholic Majesty, in consequence
of the su;pension, by Order in Council, of the provisions of
the Foreign Enlistment Act : and, since: the continuance of
such Order in Council is not required by the obligations of
existing Treaties, humbly praying that her Majesty will be
graciously pleased not to renew it."
His Lordship, therefore, takes a more limited range than
we supposed, and is only to re-discuss the question of the
employment of the Legion, and the suspension of the Order
in Council. We that thought these questions, as far as the
House of Commons is concerned, had been discussed and
settled over and. over again. But his Lordship, like other
wise men, means, now that he has the advantage of four
years' additional experience, to condemn the conduct of
those who were obliged to act without it. We have an
opinion, that such conduct is hardly fair—but it is the usual
practice. The fairer plan is to divest ourselves, if possible,
of the knowledge subsequently acquired, and to judge of
the conduct of politicians by the light they possessed when
they acted. But whether the conduct of the Ministers be
fairly or unfairly judged, we have not the slightest sus-
picion that tile poor benighted Tories will persuade the
House of Commons to censure well meant but not very
successful efforts, to support the principles of liberty, and
promote peace in Spain.

A short discussion took place in the House of Commons
last night, on a motion made by the Hon. Member for
Greenock, for a Select Committee to enquire into the pro-
priety of continuing the Scottish Sheriff system on its pre-
sent footing. There are at present thirty Sheriffs in Scot-
land, who are assisted in their judicial functions by fifty-
two substitutes. Mr. WALLACE'S charge against the
former class is, that they receive pay for doing nothing,
or next to nothing, while the whole weight of the duties
which they ought to perform, falls upon the Substitutes.
Mr. R. STEUART pointed out the causeof the evil complained
of, which lies in the non-residence of the Sheriffs. These
gentlemen find it more pleasant to live in the Scottish capi-
tal than in their respective counties ; and the only reason
assigned for this is the rather odd one—that they may by
attending the Court of Session, keep their legal know-
ledge up to the mark of the times. Of what use, we should
l'ke to know, is thelegal knowledge which is never called into
action? It appears from the returns before the House, that in
the coo rse of last year, the Substitutes have disposed of 44,000
cases, while the Sheriffs had disposed of only 3,674.
There certainly does seem, from this statement to
be a great disproportion between the labours of
the two classes of officers, and there must be some-
thing wrong in the system which gives such a result.
The Hon. Member conceiving that there were already
before the House ample means of judging of the efficiency
of the Sheriffs' Courts, did not 'feel himself justified in vot-
ing for the Committee of Inquiry. The remedy is short and
easy. Let a Bill be brought in to abolish non-residence.
It is fully as objectionable in the Law as in the Church.

At the Marylebone Conservative Festival, which took
place yesterday, three speakers particularly distinguished
themselves by the lively and luminous character of their
oratory. These " three shining ones"—to quote old Be-
NY AN'S description of the three angels whom he saw on the
hill called " Beautiful"—were, the Rev. Dr. SPRY, Si:
FRANCIS BURDETT, and Lord TEIGNMOUTEI. To begin
with the former—as in justice to the cloth we are bound to
do—this ghostly Conservative, in returning thanks fur the
high Tory toast of " Church and State," dwelt with in-
finite complacency on the manifold virtues of that venerable
gentlewoman, Mother Church. " She was Conservative,'
he said emphatically, " in her doctrines ; she was Conser-
vative in her principles, in her practices, in her affections.
Every thing she did was Conservative." Dr. SPRY i!
right. The good old dame is just what he describes her
to be. All she does or says is strictly of a Conservative
tendency. See, for instance, how Conservative she is of
her own apostolic pockets! Mark with what holy zeal
she clings to the conservation of her plurality and non-
resident systems ! Can the Conservative principle be
carried to a greater extent than in her wrestling% with the

wicked in defence of the abuses of her Establishment ?
We give Dr. SPRY great credit for the rigid justice of his
description of Mother-church, and arc delighted to find
that he exhibits so much true filial affection. In these'
callous times a display of sensibility of this sort is realy
touching, ani moves one to tears. But the good Doctor
is decidedly in error when he states in the next sentence,
that tile venerable dame " glories in being the
Church of the poor." She gloiies in no such thing ;
but on the contrary, makes it her chief boast that she
is the Church of the rich, and as such, is privileged to " up-
lift her mitred head in courts and palaces." We grant
that she is ready enough to accept tithes, and is thankful
for tile smallest donation, from the poor ; but she has no
other connexion with them that we know of. Church
of the poor indeed! Who ever sees or hears of the beads
of the Establishment praying by the bed-side of the sick
and indigent cottager ? It is the humble, working clergy
—the industrious, scantily paid curates—that perform these
duties, and these are scarcely recognized .by the wealthy,
aristocratic dignitaries of the Establishment. Had the Church
been really, what she is always professing to be, the
" Church of the Poor," never should we have seen Dissent
spreading to the enormous extent that it has done of lute
years. Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, who spoke after Dr. SPRY,
as a matter of course, abused that " detestable Agi'ator,"
O'CosNeei.. With DANIEL he commenced, and with
DANIEL he concluded ; which strongly induces us to be-
lieve that DANIEL is the only idea he has left. Poor Sir
FRANCIS ! We will back him for talking nonsense against
any faded old beau in Christendom. He still, we see, calls
himself a Reformer, and this at tile very moment when he is
holding a knife to the throat of Reform! Lord TEIGN MOUTH'S
speech was as warlike in its character as one of NAPOLEON'S
bulletins. "By perseverance," observed the Noble Lord,
" they had got rid of every obstacle, and now their flags,
which had been scorched by the sun of July, and drenched
with the rains of March, waved proudly over the well-
contested field which they had won. They should be pre-
pared to rise simultaneously at the sound of the first trum-
pet that summoned them to arms. They had nothing to
fear—they had fought and conquered in a great constitu-
tional battle, and the result of their success had made the
heart of Old England thrill with joy." This is a fine sample
of that lofty and heroic style, which we so deservedly ad-
mire in Turn Thumb. The allusion to " Old England," in
particular, is thrilling and patriotic to the last degree.
Imagine BRITANNIA shaking her trident above her head,
and leaping mast-high, for joy that Lord TEIGNMOUTH
has beaten Colonel THOMPSON in Marylebone ! His Lord-
ship concluded his chivalrous, and Faorssawr-like oration,
by declaring it as his fixed opinion that Ministers " pos-
s2ssed neither breath nor stomach !!"

Genuine Toryism, which is heartless oppression, natu-
rally hates all the classes which remind it of its misdeeds.
Its victims are the poor and the honest, and it finds in the
vulgarity which is the necessary consequence of its own op-
pressions—an admirable reason for depreciating those whom
it fears and hates. Its organs of course turn up their noses
at those who arc not skilled in Court dress and Court
phraseology. In its genuine spirit the Post this morning
entertains the public with a long tirade against the some-
what humble persons whom Lord MORPETH and Mr. Pou-
LETT THOMSON, much to their credit, have presented at
Court. According to the champion of offended Bed-
chamber Lords, the DE ROOSES and the WATERFORDS are
the proper ornaments of our young QUEEN'S Court, but
those who enrich the nation by their skill, or bestow on
it scientific reputation by their own discoveries, or improve
its institutions, if they happen to be lowly born,
uncouth in gait and rude in speech, are unworthy to be
honoured by her MAJESTY'S notice. The Court may be
crowded with demireps and black legs, so they be titled ;
but the hardy sons of toil, with their honest partners and
offspring, must not be admitted. If they wish to avoid bad
company, they ought, perhaps, to keep away from the
haunts of the aristocracy ; but her MAJESTY we hope will
always receive with pleasure those whom the representa-
tives of the great manufacturing interests of the State,
such as Lord NIORPETH and Mr. P. THOMSON think worthy
of being presented to her.

Under the head " Ireland," in a communication from our
Correspondent at Dublin, will be found some intelligence
relating to the city of Kilkenny, which will be read with
interest. The Corporation of Kilkenny, fortified by the
advice of Mr. PIGOTT, Counsel to the Castle, has restored
to the citizens at large their ancient powers and privileges—
thus, as it would appear, proving that the power of reform-
ing the municipality is in the Corporation per se, and re-
quires not the interposition of the Legislature for its own
regeneration and improvement. At all events, we have
the fact that the bye-laws of the Corporation of Kilkenny,
which took from the Mayor and citizens at large the
pow er of framing laws for the government of the City,
and vested such. authority in the Mayor, Aldermen and
Common Council, were repealed last Monday at a public
meeting over which the Mayor presided.
Our Dublin letter to-day, furnishes us also with some
facts relative to the case of a " rebellion ruffian," MICHAEL
KAVANAGH by name, who was sentenced at the Carlow
Assizes, last Wednesday, to be transported for seven yeara.
This tithe-server and commissioner of rebellion was actually
found guilty, last Wednesday, by a Jury of his country-
men, not only of theft, but of perjury also. We cannot
but condole with the tithe-process-serving clergy on the
loss of their immaculate agent and very worthy ally, whom
two juries, blind to his virtues, have pronounced a thief
and a perjurer. A cormorant clergy, and a convicted cri-
minal, combined nn the same canvas, form no very pleasing
picture, or enviable asioeiation.

The horrible cruelties committed in cold blood by both
parties in Spain, and which are every day increasing in
atrocity, are sufficient grounds, independent of all other
considerations, for the immediate interference of the prin-
cipal European States. The condition of that country is
a disgrace to civilized Europe. The Great Powersinter-
fered between the SULTAN and his Greek subjects, and not
only compelled him to put a stop to the cruelties he had for
years inflicted on that people, but to recognise them as a
distinct nation, and independent of- Turkey. They also
came to an understanding for the definitive settlement of
the differences between Holland and Belgiun', and the
articles of agreement which they recommended will in all
probability be ratified by both parties in a few months.
England proffered her good offices to prevent a war be-
tween France and America, and with the concurrence of
the other Powers has been instrumental in preserving the
peace of the world during the last seven years so full of
feverish excitement. Every country in Europe, in fact,
has been restored to a state of peace and security, and
perhaps at no former period did good order more generally
prevail, with the exception of the Peninsula. For the last
four years the contest between the two great parties in
Spain and Portugal has been carried on with partial as-
sistance from one state or another ; and at the present
moment the condition of both, in place of holding
out any prospect of a favourable issue, leads to
the conviction, that without interference there is not
the slightest hope of amendment—nay, that the longer the
civil war is allowed to continue, the passions on each side
will become more exasperated, and reconciliation more
difficult. If ever interference were justifiable, it would Le
in such a case. The horrible system sanctioned by the
Durango decree is now
regularly carried on by both
parties.
The monster who issued that decree proclaimed
that it was directed only against foreigners, and, according
to Colonel EVANS'S admission, nearly fifty of his followers
were sacrificed in that way during his stay in the Peninsula ;
but now that foreigners are expelled, the leaders on both
side; direct it aganst their own countrymen. Tau, o DA'
or Basit.to, or some leader that would disgrace more
savage tribes in Africa, orders half-a-dozen officers or
men, without distinction, to be shot one day, and on an-
other, when the news arrives at the enemy's camp, an equal
number of innocent captives is selected by the Christino-
General for the same horrible and unavailing punishment.
There appears no hope of change. Tho people of that
country seem destined to he their own scourge, and to
fulfil the denunciation that the sins of the fathers shall
he visited upon their children. The crimes com-
mitted by the invaders of South America are now
avengedhundred years afterwards, by the
blood of their descendants, !inles4 the Great Powers
interfere, they will be more than avenged. tior &sr sake
of humanity-r-for the sake of their ftwo subjects, whose
minds will become brutalized by the endless recital of such
barbarities—they are imperatively called upon to interfere,
and put an end to a system which is such a foul stain on

civilization and Christianity. After a trial of four years
without effect, delay would only be a crime.

We have received letters and papers from Madrid of the
13th inst. The only excitement that then prevailed in that
capital originated in ESPARTERO'S address to the amy, in
which, as we noticed a few days ago, the Commander-in-
Chief charged the Government with indifference to the
wants of the soldiery. The Minister of Finance, in expec-
tAion that the que.tion would be raised in the Cortes, had
armed himself with documents, by which he could show
that even within the last three months, twelve millions of
reals had been remitted by the Treasury for the of the
army of the north. _

On the 9th, Brigadier FI.INTER marched from Almagro
towards Ciudad Real, then threatened with a visit fromi
BAsuto and his bands. FLINTEK had augmented his little
force to about 2,200 infantry, and 400 cavalry. It was
the intention of the War Minister to strengthen this little
force by an augmentation of 1,300 troops of the line,
FLINTEIt is a gallant soldier, and a good officer. llad
he half the forces under him commanded by ESPAR.
TERO, the chit war in Spain would be brought to
a successful issue in one campaign. But, unfortunately,
FLINTICR is an Irishman—a foreigner of whose success
the Spanish Generals are so jealous, that we question
whether they would not prefer the triumph of Pon CARLos
to owing the deliverance of their country to his valour.

M. MENDIZABAL and Count TORENO have once more
shaken hands. They had resolved to pistol one another,
but their friends interfered, and persuaded them that fight-
ing was a bad business at any time, but especially in such
a case as theirs, there being no justifiable warrant for it.
So the quondam friends and Ministerial colleagues em-
braced ! What a farce is this law of honour, which makes
gunpowder the grand purifier of the foulest reputation !

By the General Steam Navigation Company's packet
the Giraffe, from Rotterdam, arrived off the Custom-house
last night, we have received Dutch and Brussels Papers of
the 20th instant. The following are important extracts :
BRUSSELS, MARCH 2. —ln the Chamber of Representa-
tives, yesterday, the debate on the project of law relative to
linen thread was interrupted by the following incident :
M. d'Hoffschmidt said—Gentlemen,, the news published
yesterday by the Journals, that King William had accepted
the 24 articles, is of too great importance for the nation and
the Chamber, not to desire to know whether the Government
has received any official communications on this subject, and
I desire to ask the Ministers to be so good as to inform us.
My only object in putting this question, is to relieve the public
from the painful anxiety in which it still is, respecting a politi-
cal event which would be of most serioes importance to the
nation. It is not my intention, and doubtless it cannot be
the intention of any of us, to give rise on this occasion to a
discussion on our situation with respect to Holland ; such
a discussion would be premature and, perhaps, imprudent,
even supposing that the news of the acceptance of the twenty-
four articles were official, and without restriction.
At present I will only say that, at all events, this acceptance
could not lead in 1838 to the deplorable results which it might
have produced in 1831, for, Gentlemen, many facts have sit.ce
occurred which have changed our political situation ; and I
have pleasure in believing that the Government will know how
to defend the sacred rights of all the Belgians, whatever it may
cost.

The Minister of the Interior and Foreign' Affairs said :-
--Gentlemen,—The Honourable Member asks if the Belgian
Government has received the official news that the Netherlands
Government has accepted, without alteration, the treaty of the
Twenty-four Articles.
The Government has not received an official notice, but
an unofficial notice (Avis Officieux). The Netherlands Go-
vernment has not yet accepted the Treaty of the Twenty-
four Articles, but has shown itself disposed to accept it.
This is the only information that we can give the Chamber.
With regard to the reserve which the Hon. Member used
in his question I cannot but invite the Chamber to imitate it.
It will recollect that on a recent occasion the reserve which it
adopted on a diplomatic affair, left the Government all the li-
berty that it had need of to negotiate, and that the result of
the negotiation was satisfactory.
M. Dumortier—l am certainly one of those who are of opi-
nion that in such circumstances the greatest reserve is neces-
sary. I could have wished, too, that in the serious situation
which the country now is, and on view of the danger which
might result from certain facts, which I propose to point out,
I could have wished, I say, that the Chamber should go
into a Secret Committee to receive from the Government the
information which it cannot give in a public sitting. Since it
has turned out otherwise, I think it my duty to add some
words to what M. d'Hoffschmit has said. The Government
says the Minister for Foreign Affairs had received, not
official, but inofficial (dficieux friendly) information, that the
Dutch Government showed itself inclined to accept the 24
Articles. Here very serious questions arise, and 1 will sly in
the first place, that that which strikes me the most is, whether
the Dutch Government can still sign, without modification.
The Treaty of the 24 Articles was drawn up under circum-
stances different from those in which we sow are, and con-
tains stipulations which cannot now exist. Hence, as a treaty
forms an insisible whole, if one stipulation cease to exist, a
new treaty must be made, and for this the Government needs
the intervention of the Legislature.
The Government must b.: fully sensible of one thing, that
it cannot make a treaty with Holland, as the Convention of
May 21 indicates, without the intervention of the Legislature.
Thus we shall have to examine what are the bases on which
our separation from Holland shall be regulated.
The Treaty of 15th November does not contain 24 articles
only ; there is a 25th article, stipulating an engagement which
the contracting powers entered into at that time to effect the
execution of that treaty %I ithin a short period. The Powers
have not fulfilled their promises—have not executed, though
it was possible for them to have done so, the stipulations which
bound them. It remains to be seen how far the stipulations
of this Treaty, which were to bind us, are still obliga-
tory upon us. It is an acknowledged principle in the
law of nations, that a Treaty is not real until it has been
executed. Now the treaty in question has not been executed ;
therefore it cannot be considered as anything more than a
project ; and since there must be sooner or later a treaty be-
tween Belgium and Holland, the Government, I repeat it, must
bear in mind that it exhausted its powers in November 1831,
and that to conclude a new treaty it must have frosh powers
from the Legislature.—Moniteur Beige. Here the subject
dropped.
The Moniteur quotes from the Ilandlesblild of the 19th its
articles relative to the acceptance of the 24 articles by King
William.

8E1.61 A N I. UNDS—Baussets, Ma [tot 21.
Actual Debt, 24. per Cent.
Rothschild's Loan, 5 per Cent. lOl
Loan of Thirty Millions 9414
Loan of City, 1832 , 4 per Cent 9B}2
Society of Commerce, Paper Cent 16114
Bank of Belgium, 5 per Cent l5O
National Society .
—Brussels Papers, March 21.
HA NIBURG BORSEN HALLE. MARCH 17.
Mlle. Money.
%
Austrian MetxPiques, 5 per cent.
Dis_ ditto 3 per cent.
Ditto gitto 23 per cent
Ditto flank shares
Aoglo_Russian Loan 103% 118%
Paper Inscription, 6 per cent —
Russian 5 per cents. Metal.
Russian Inscription, Hope and Co., 3d and 4th
Series
Ditto, Certificates
Bortuguese Regency Bends, 5 per cent 29
Ditto, 3 per cent, l9
Dutch *, per Cents,
Ditto 5 per Cents —
Polish Bonds, 3 per cents.
New Tickets
.. 159 15.ei
Anglo-Danish Loan, 3 per cents 71% 7134
Norwegian Lean of 1834, 4 per cents
Spanish, in piastres, 3 per Cents.... .....
Cortes Loan, 5 per Cent lB
Greek 4 per cents. 1g33, guaranteed by France
PRUSSIAN FUNDS.—Beaus, Mancit 15.
Bills. Money.
St. Schuld. Sch., 4 per cent lO3 10234
Prussian English Loan, 1830, 4 per cent 1044 102
Exchange on London, three months .., 6 26X 6 26X,
—Prussian State Gazette, March 16.

The Paris Journals of Wednesday circulate fresh ru-
mours of an expected change in the Cabinet, for which we
arc inclined to believe there is no real foundation. The
Nnois!ers have a clear majority in the Chambers, and so
long as they have that, and are supported by the KING, they
will keep their places. The following are extracts from the
Journals :

It should seem that the Minister of the United States of
North America has taken much amiss the notice of the Mi-
nister of Commerce respecting the financ;al affairs of the
Union. " General Cass" says a journal " finds a degree of ex-
aggeration by no means friendly or disinterested in their gloomy
picture on which M. Martin (de Nord) has lavished the blackest
colours. In fact it was very difficult for the American Minister
not to see in it a kind of interdict upon the United States ; and
without waiting for instructions from the Cabinet at Washing-
ton, he has thought it his duty to require an explanation from
the President of the Council. In the diplomatic note addressed
to Count Mole, General Cass loudly complains of the declara-
tion of war drawn up by M. Martin (du Nord), against the
states of the Union, which are pointed out as objects of distrust
to the commercial world. Count Mole has given the General
an answer, which is said to be very evasive ; but the latter is
not content with this__he requires an official disavowal, which
will doubtless cost but little to M. Mole and his system of
yielding."—Le Commerce.
Galignani's Messenger thinks that the above statements
are erroneous, and even believes that it may affirm that there
has been no written correspondence, and no misunderstanding
whatever, and that if there has Leen any conversation on the
subject between persons in office it has been of a very satis-
factory nature.
The Ficlaireur de la Mediterrenes announces that a oorps of
6,000 men is forming at Ain, to reinforce, and if it should be
necessary, the army in Africa.—ConstitutionneL
FRENCH FUNDS. -Nitta, MARCH 21.
LAST PRICES.
five per C 044. pr. op. •
Three percents., FIX qsc,
Stank Aetioni, '1,6 of,
191114111/4102.
Belgian Loan, 10414.
Belgian Bank, 1,5701.
Port4gueae Three per Cents., 20)i,
Haytian Loan,
Smnyoll A4ttyq.‘2lk.
Spanish FassiVes, 4,4;

• -
~•441"".'`61 • /-cp.

Z 1 f;