The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-05 00:00:00

[NEW. TIMES.]

The Debates, alt-eady commenced with so much
spirit, and at so early a period ot the Session of
Parliament, have excited that interest which
might naturally be expected. The expres-
sions which intimated a possibility of war (al-
though the hope of continued peace was at the
same time declared to be sanguine) appear to
have created, in the minds of some persons, ap-
prehensions which we look upon to be erroneous.
To this cause may be ascribed the slight altera-
tion which took place Yesterday in -Consols : they
opened at g312,-;, andw closed at 933 buyers for
the account. The observations of the Lord
Chancellor relative to the shares in the va-
rious new speculations, and the measures which
are likely to arise from the late mania
prevailing for , speculating in these under-,
takiogs to au extent previously unknown, have
produced no inconsiderable degree of alarm
amongsi the parties interested, which will pro- 1
bably be increased by what fell from the Lord
Chief Justice yesterday, in the case of Josephs
v. Leprer.c. The prices have materially de-
dined, as will be perceived by our list ; and in
many instances sales could not be • effected
without submitting to a ruinous los9; so that the
prices itay be considered nominal. The Thal.'
joyzakua Shares, which two days previously were
60,tiere sold .yesterday at 125 ; and if we may
judge croin the terms of the prospectus itself,
are not likely to support even this price. Se-
veral new speculations, which were in formation,
will, it is expected, be now laid aside. The
Rail Road and :other speculations requiring the
permission of Parliament to their completion have
declined materially, and several have been got
rid of at a discount. In the Foreign Securities
e:are was no particular alteration.

[TH E TIMES.]
appears that a Spanish Ambassador, a M.
Rios, has actually arrived in London, to " re.
inonstra te" with his Majesty's Government against
the recognition of the South American Republic.
The Embassy is somewhat late. Ferdinand and
his Ministers were apprized long ago, that after
the independence of South America should be-
cornea clear and positive fact, England would of
necessity regard it as a duty, both to her own
subjects and to the world, to secure by the ac-
customed forms of regular compact and of di-
plomatic intercourse, the maintenance of those
ilMelations, political as well as commercial,
#ttich it is -Om. tmidoulated. right
„of
,a 4 sove-
reign States to establish with each. other. Eng-
land, again, with a liberality and indulgence
whiChhave been but ill-requited, offered to make,
ht,r -own enjoyment of those benefits subordinate
iu somt degree to the interests of Spain herself,
if-the latter Power .would• only &midi-scent! to
ow the advantages that might stilt be open to her,
and wisely anti honestly to- forego such as it
was manifest to all mankind she never coul,l
by any human • means recover. Spanish ar-
rogance and folly would not hear the consi-
derate proposals of the British • Government.
Ferdinand and his Ministers rejected the pro-
position to treat South America as an inde-
pendent power, not only within the time allowed
by Mr. Canning, but at any given period, or under
any definite circumstances. 'They turned aside
from the subject of colonial freedom as ,from
the contemplation of some horrible spectre wkrich
*fel, could annihilate by shutting it from their
s4lolt- England, it was obvious, could not sacri-
fice herself nor her prosperity to these miserable.
delusions in the Spaniards. The period must
come, sooner or later, when, morally speaking, it

would be no more possible to deny the inde-
pendence of South America than that of North
America ; but it was easy to see, that if Spain
were to be the arbitrator for other Governments,
the recognition of the new Republics would be
delayed as long as had peen that of the United
Provinces in the 17th century. And on what pre-
text was it that this big and boastful tyrant re-
jected so scornfully the amicable solicitations
of his allies ? Why, that he intended to re-
conquer the /1 millions of insurgents ! A pretty
conqueror, truly 1 without a league of land on
earth which he could call his own, or defend if in-
vaded by the most feeble enemy—a man without a
ducat to buy his dinner, without credit or cha-
racter to procure him 61 by way of loan—with-
out a house in which to shelter himself from his
own Spanish countrymen, but by virtue of a guard
of foreign soldiers—without physical means to
enforce his authority over a menial servant, but
through the bayonets of French troops—terror-
stricken at the bare suspicion that the strangers
were about leaving him to the mercy of his mis-
called subjects—an animal such as this to in-
sult Great Britain by daring to talk of his
dominions in America ! Well was it said by
the mover of the Address in the House of Lords,
that the independence of the American States
was unquestionable ; but not so was that of Spain
herself—now a poor appendage of the French
monarchy. What, then, is the business of this
Ambassador here ? He comes, we are told, with
some tale of a tub, that our " recognition was
" at the time in progress between the Spanish
66 Government and the South Americans, for ad-
" jesting their differences by treaty—that the
66 Colonists were to be independent by Spain, but
" to submit to be governed by Spanish Vice-
" rot's !" Who will believe such a gross, such a
stupid, such a self-contradicting falsehood ? Two
parties are necessary to a neguciation. That
Spain may have been weak or impudent enough
to make this kind of overture for the occa-
sion, that she might have some quibble where-
with to exercise the cunning of the Jesuits about
her high-minded Sovereign, and to stave off, for
perhaps a fortnight longer, the sad moment of
irretrievable despair, is not out of character for
her present politics ; but to whom was the offer
made ? How has it been received And by
whom ? And how are the South American Go-
vernments parties to it ? Of all these particu-
lars, so essential to the thing called " negocia-
tion," we shall hear, no doubt, an edifying history
from his Excellency M. Rios. But the farce is
too gross, and Mr. Canning is fully competent to
treat it as it deserves.

[MORNING HERALD.]
A decision of very considerable importance
was made yesterday by the Court of King's
Bench, with respect to the Shares of the Equitable
Loan Bank Company. That Company was de-
clared to be illegal, inasmuch as it issued trans-
ferable shares, and by naming Directors, and
requiring of the holders of its shares to obey the
rules and orders issued by those Directors, as.
sumed !o itself the character of a corporate body,
without having any legal authority so to do.—
We refer to the report of the decision,
and to the abstract of those sections of the
Act upon which it is founded, for the de-
tails of the subject. The importance of the
decision arises not so much from the effect,
which it will have upon the shares of the Equi-
table Loan Bank Company, as from the death-
blow which is gives to all internal speculations
of Companies which issue transferable shares, or
in other respects act like corporate bodies, with.
out having been previously sanctioned by Royal
charter or statute. It applies to the Railway
Companies, to the Promoter's Society, and, in
short, to all those projects which are confined
in their objects to the United Kingdom,
and which are not expressly authorised as the
Act requires. That section of the Act which
subjects brokers dealing in such illegal shares to
a penalty of five hundred pounds, is deserving
of the immediate attention of that class of men
whom it may affect so severely. We must add,
that never was a decision of a Court of Law more
seasonable than this, or more likely to produce
effects of a beneficial nature.

kBRITISti PRESS.]
The Lord Chancellor has intimated his inten-
tion to bring in a Bill relating to Joint Stock
Companies, which he considers at this moment
as carrying on to a most mischievous extent. In
this opinion we perfectly agree, and therefore it
was that we took so much pains to put the un-
wary on their guard against risking their pro-
perty in the unsafe security of projected South
American Mines. We knew the greater part of
them to have originated in the sordid spirit of
gain, with very Little care for the fate of those at
whose espence such gain might be made. But we
are by no means prepared to concur in theexpedi-
ency of legislative interference,and more especially
of those sort of peremptory and directorial man-
dates, which this Noble Lord seems likely to
issue upon this subject.. Judging from the spe-;
cimen which was given to the public in the Re-
solution !Aught forward by his Lordship at the
close of the iast—Session, we should,_ certainly,
not be inclined to think very highly of the ser-,
vice which his Lordship will render to the pub-
lic by his intended Bill. As a lawyer, Lord
.Eldon has no superior; in legal learning he is be-
Jon(' all comparison, and in judicial integrity he
is beyond all praise; but in matters connected
• with the mechanism of society and the concerns
Of commerce, we must be excused if we augur no
good from his Lordship's interposition. The pre-
cedents which govern the Court of Chancery, and
the principles which regulate the Stock Exchange,
arise out of different operations, and affect very
ititferent interests. he two eons of policy move
on a quite different parallel. A cts of Parliament
are quite beside their object when they begin to
interfere with the speculations of commercial en-
terprise, or to regulate, the investment of redund-
ant capital. It may be that many projects may
he brought before the public, which, although
promising great advantage, are at bottom delu-
sive. But leave the delusion to itself, and it
will soon work its own cure. Some Joint Stock
Companies. may come in an insidious si.lapp,

and may promise a return of profit which they
will never realize ; others, equally questionable,
at their first establishment, may be ultimately
productive of great profit to the shareholders, and
of inestimable benefit to the nation. Then comes
the evil of legislating on emergencies ; the con.
troulling and restrictive enactments strike at all
alike. To remedy an evil which was temporary,
you intercept improvements which would have
been permanent. It is essential to the interests
of commerce, that capital should be left free. Let
every man invest his money as he pleases. If, in so
doing, he places confidence where he ought not to
place it, it is better that his credulity should
teach him wisdom, than that the Lord Chancellor
should bring a Bill into Parliament to fetter, for
ever hereafter, the freedom of speculation ; to
draw up articles of faith which shall govern the
operations and investment of all monied capital ;
and to decide on all the sanctions which, in the
wide range of projected establishments, shall
be demanded as a preliminary guarantee.—
All this intermeddling with private property
we consider as utterly unjustifiable on any
principle of wise policy, and wholly uncalled-
for on any ground of protective justice. The lan-
guage made use of by his Lordship, in detailing
the object of his proposed Bill, was not so ex-
plicit as might have been wished. We under-
stciod him to say—and we believe the public so
understand him—that "in these Joint-Stock
Companies, before their information takes place,
the shares become objects of sale, to the enor-
mous profit of the persons by whom they %Ma
first projected ; that it was his intention to bring
in a Bill that would put an end to these projects ;
and he thought proper to mention it. on the first
day of the Session, in order that those persons
whom the Bill might affect should have early
notice of it. The operation of the Bill would
affect all sales of shares in those Companies
that were merely proposed, but not yet in reality
formed, and its operation was to begin from and
after the first day of the Session." Now, by
" those companies merely proposed, but not in
reality formed," must be understood, we pre-
sume, those Joint Stock Companies recently
created, which are not established under the
sanction of Parliament, and which may possibly
never obtain that sanction. But, to our appre-
hension, this appears the height of injustice, nor
do we know how it can be reconciled to any
sound and obvious views either of justice or ex-
pediency. The sudden and extensive alarm which
this threatened measure is likely to produce,
have a direct tendency to depreciate the value of
the shares in the hands of the present holders,
and consequently to, make them inevitable
sufferers ; and, what is still worse, it secures com-
plete security to the original projectors,who, hay.
ing planned the scherne,and sold the shares a t a high
premium before the first day of the Session, when
the proposed Bill is to commence its retrospective
operation, are not only absolved from all conse-
quences, supposing it turns to be ultimately a
bubble, but the whole loss consequent on the
fraud is fixed by Act of Parliament, on those who
alone ought to have been protected against it !
Those who committed the breach of faith are
saved harmless, while those who were deceived
are exclusively made to suffer ! The policy of
this proceeding appears to us inexplicable. We
have no time at present to discuss it further, but
we shall not fail to attend the proposed Bill
through all the stages of its progress.