The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-28 00:00:00

PORTUGUESE REGENCY LOAN.

(From the Morning Herald.)
The advocates of the Portugu• se Regency Loan
are filling the Newspapers with all sorts of puffs, in
order to induce the publ'c to embark their motley in
that concern. Those who recollect and act upon
the old proverb of " The more cry the less wo.il"
will, doubtlessly, rather be deterred than i,therwise, by
the noise of the contractors, Irvin parting with their.
money. To enable, however, our readers to come to a just
conclusion on this subject, we will lay before them the
history of this transaction. A Portuguese Loan was con-
tracted in 1823, at which time Brazil was not recognised
as an independent State. In 1825 a treaty was con-
cluded through the mediation of Great Britain; and under
the agency of our Ambassador, Sir Charles Stuart, (most
important facts as respects the claims of the ogi:sit
holders of ti:e Bonds), by which treaty the terms of the
separation between Portugal and Brazil were euttlid. Ore
of the stipulations was that Brazil should take upon her-
self the Portuguese London Loan, which was accordingly
registered in the great book of the Empire, and three
half-yearly dividends were regularly paid. Whets, how-
ever Don Miguel usurped the throne of Poe ugal the pay-
ments were "temporarily suspended," and from that pe-
riod to this, upwards of three years, no money has been
forthcoming. During all this time, however, the
Chambers, with that regard for fulfilling the engagements
of the nation which might be expected from the represen-
tatives of a free State, regularly voted the money for the
payment of the dividends, and also the money necessary
to meet the expense of transferring it to the bondholders
—namely, the expense of agency. It afterwards came to
the knowledge of the Chambers that the dividends of the
Portuguese bondholders remained unpaid, and the affair
was consequently brought before them. Upon this occasion
M. Calmon stated, in effect, that the non-payment of the
loan had t of been authorised by the Brazilian Govern-
ment, but, on the contrary, they had twice ordered the
dividends to be paid. As, however, he continued, the
usurpation had been since consummated, lest the money
should get into improper hands, and be appropriated ns
improper purposes, it wits considered expedient to lodge it
in the Bank of England. Now all this was very proper,
there being 'at that time no Regency-, or persons autho-
rised by the legitimate Sovereign to receive it, and, conse-
quently, no one that could be properly authorised to pay
it to the bondholders. A Regency, however, has sirice
been appointed, and that Regency, to all intents and pur-
poses, is de jure the Government of Portugal, and, there-
fore, fully authorised to pay the dividends to the bondhol-
ders. But, instead of doing this,—instead of acting in
an honourable and straight•forward manner—this Regency
not only refuse to pay the bondholders, but actually, in
the face of the world, attempt to raise another loan, the
interest of which is to be paid out of the money unjustly
withheld from the bondholders. When speaking upon
this affair on a former occasion, we designated it as irre-
yular—a term infinitely too mild, unless, indeed, it is
considered as of that species of irregularity by which
money is transferred by a certain description or persons
from its rightful owners to those who have no right to it.
A case, however, has been laid before the King's
Advocate by the bondholders, and without pretending
to the gift of prophecy, we have no hesitation in
saying that his answer will fully corroborate the view
which we have taken of it. I', instead of appropriating
time money of the bondholders to other purposes, they had
honestly paid it to its rightful owners, the probabili'y it
that they would have been able to obtain a loan upon
much better terms than those of the one now before the

public. Our readers will be able to appreciate " the sym-
pathy, the patriotism, and generosity" of a set of stock-
jobbers, who seek to realise an interest of ten or twelve
per cent. upon their outlays ; or, in other words, ;:re
willing to give forty or fifty pounds for a security of one
hundred pounds ; thus doubling their capital when the
debt is paid, and, in the mean time, getting three times as
much interest for their money as the current price in the
market ! ! In conclusion, we ought to observe that one of
the princiral bondholders has regularly protested a coupon,
and that it is intended to send out a deputy to Rio de Ja-
neiro with a protest against the Regency Loan, and the
misappropriation of the money set apart for the pa) anent
of the bonds. By the way, if this money be lodg:d in the
Bank cf England, cannot it be attached by the bond-
holders ?