The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-28 00:00:00

BELGIUM.

BRUSSELS, DEC. 26.—A report is spread, which we be-
lieve to be in part, at least, destitute of foundation ; it is
said that M. Charles de Brouckere has given in his resig-
nation of the offices of Director of the Bank of Belgium,
Director of the Mint, Aide-de-Camp of his Majesty,
Colonel of Artillery, and Professor in the Free University.
A letter from Liege of the 24th says, that in the course
of next week 20,000 men will be assembled in the camp at
Beverloo, at Deest, and the environs.
CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES.
SITTING OP DEC. 26.—THREE O'CLOCK.
The commencement of the sittinc, was extremely interest-
ing. We hasten to publish the following report, which was
followed by a sitting with closed doors :
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO
EXAMINE THE PROJECT OF LAW RELATIVE
TO THE BANK OF BELGIUM.
M. DEVAUX, Reporter.
Gentlemen,—The Committee appointed to examine
the project of law, the object of which is to enable
the Bank of Belgium to resume its payments, has endea-
voured to reconcile the strictness which the proposed
measures regarded, with the necessity of procuring
all the information requisite in so short a space of
time. For this purpose, in the five sittings which the
Committee has had in three days, it has communicated with
the Minister Officiare, and with the Commissioners dele-
gated by the creditors and the Members of the Council of
Administration of the Bank.

The first care of your Committee' was to ascertain the
precise object of the measures proposed, and the effects
expected from them. It convinced itself that this object
might be stated in the following terms---' To enable the
Bank of Belgium to pay promptly what it owes ; to pay
the bills which have not yet come in ; and to attain that
result without endangering the manufacturing establish-
ments, which are its debtors, by requiring them to fulfil
their partial obligations deprived of the patronage which
facilitated their operations.
_ _

No Member of your Committee was insensible
to the fact, that the interference of the Government
in private affairs is frequently speaking extraordinary and
dangerous ; but we have also thought that the temporarily
extraordinary situation of Belgium authorised this inter-
ference, and deprived it of its danger as a precedent.
To convince ourselves that the object proposed was
really attainable, we have had before us detailed statements
of the assets and debts presented by the administration of
the Bank, and attested.

As it was impossible for us, in so limited a trial, to refer
ourselves to the books of the Bank, we have interrogated
the representatives of the creditors, and the administration
of the Bank, respecting the elements of this calculation.
The estimate of the resources which it depends on re-
alising in five months has appeared.. to be on the whole by
no means exaggerated. If we have had doubts of the pos-
sibility of realising, without inconvenience, some of the re-
sources indicated, we have perceived that the reality may
really surpass the expectations held out.
Thus, then, in the time' of the. respite granted, all the
creditors of the Bank of gelgium, with the exception of a
small number, will be paid, without requiring from the ma-
nufacturing establishments which are debtors to the Bank
a reimbursement which might embarrass them.
BELGIAN I. U NDS—BRUSsELB, 26.
Actual Debt, •2Y per Cent.
Rothschild's Loan, 5 per Cent 97
Loan of Thirty Millions, 4 per Cent.
3 r .
Loan of Cite, 1839., 4 per Cenpet Cent ......
Society of Commerce, 4 si,per Cent 139
Bank of 132Igiinn, 5 per Cent 66
—Brussels Papers, Dec. 26.
_ _

It was intimated at Westminster Sessions yesterday,
officially, that Henry Pownall, Esq., the Rev. Dr. Walm-
sley, and Edmund Halswell, Esq., had retired from the
Committee of Visiting Justices of the County Lunatic
Asylum, at Hanwell.
'IOBBERy or THE HOLYHEAD MAIL.—A
large quantity of bank notes and other property was lost
from the Holyhead mail, on Saturday night last, between
Shiffnal and Birmingham. A long investigation took place
on Monday at Birmingham, and two pen,ons were remanded
until Thursday. The number and descriptions of the
notes, &c., are known, and payment is stopped at the dif-
ferent banks. The total amount of property lost is nearly
2,000/.-IVolverhampton Chronicle.
An inquest was held last night in Blackfriars-road,
on the body of a carman named Hawkins, whose death
was occasioned by a wound in the head, received through
falling down some steps in the York-road, Lambeth. It
appeared that the footpath of that particular spot is quite
unprotected, and the jury animadverted strongly on its
dangerous condition. Any person would be liable to be
killed under similar circumstances. Verdict—" Died in
consequence of a fall from the unprotected condition of the
footpath in Vine-street, in the parish of Lambeth." The
Coroner said he would take the necessary steps to remedy
the evil. The deceased has left a widow and five children.
The jury subscribed 20s. for the poor woman.