The Sun.
London, England, 1824-02-25 00:00:00

LAW.

The Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic
of Colombia in Congress assembled, having examined the
Message of the Executive Power and the documents thereunto
annexed, and in which the conduct pursued by the late Mi-
nister of Colombia, as regards his financial operations in Eu-
rope, is submitted to a resolution of the Legislative Body, and
taking also into consideration—
' Ist. That even if the Ex-Minister Zea had been legally au.
thorized for finance operations, and with competent power to
solicit loans in the name of the Republic of Colombia, he only
could have negotiated and contracted for diem ; but in no way
definitely concluded them, and much less receivcd and dis-
posed of the amount thereof, without having obtained the pre-
vious consent and approbation of the Congress, or its express
authority to receive and dispose of the same, without which the
lenders could not advance the said amount, without spontane-
ously subjecting themselves to the contingency of an approba-
tion or disapprobation which subsequently might be expressed
by the Legislative Body, exclusively authorized by the funda-
mental laws of the Republic to contract debts 'Ai the credit of
the nation, and dispose of the treasure thereof;
2dly. That the Ex-Minister Zea, not only contracted in Eu-
rope a loan of two millions sterling in the name of the Republic,
but he has also received, distributed, and consumed the greatest
part of the same on his own authority, in making compromises
of anterior demands not competently settled, and of subsequent
ones which he himself has created by operations enormous-
ly burdensome to the State, either by increasing the capi-
tals, gratuitously doubling the intererest, and by acknowledg-
ing debts, some without the necessary vouchers, others purely
gratuitous, and with exorbitant additions to many ; and, in
fine, by receiving as money the obligations and bonds which
the said Zea himself had given, by virtue of an agreement en-
tered into in London, on the Ist of August, 1820, to the cre-
ditors of the Republic, without their respective accounts hav-
ing been legally audited and passed ; together with other ob-
ligations lie also put into circulation in the same arbitrary man-
ner, without having in due time solicited, waited for, or ever
obtained the approbation indispensably necessary for similar
operations.
idly. That the two countrier of New Grenada and Venezuela
being united into one body of a nation, under the denomination
of Republic of Colombia, on the 12th July, 1821, by a solemn
act of their legitimate representatives, assembled for the pur-
pose of sanctioning this new political association anti its funda-
mental institutions; by the said act, the powers of all the pre-
-rious Functionaries and Public Agents ceased, and in conse-
-quence thereof also terminated the powers conferred under date
of the 24th December, 1819, in the city of Angostura, on the
Lt- Ylinister Zea, not only so as to disable him from continu-
:by virtue thereof, the diplomatic operations to which his
iTlatructions were confined, but also chiefly from entering into
Tiancial negotiations to whieh he afterwards sought to extend
the said powers, at the time he was already informed of the
substantial change above-mentioned, as is proved by the allu-
sions he makes to the new laws, in the bonds he issued on the
• 13th March, 1822.
4thly. In short, that at the same time it is the duty of the
congress to guard against the waste or malyersation of the pro.
Perty of the nation, whose rights are deposited in their hands ;
it is equally so religiously to comply with the just obligations
in which their responsibility, honour, and reputation, are im.
Plicated ; and wishing to consult and abide by these considera.
licins, and not defraud private individuals out of their just
rights ;

THEY HEREBY DO DECREE,
" Art. 1. The compromises made with creditors, Loans con.
'oluded, and all other financial operations carried into effect in
Europe by the Ex-Minister, Francisco Antonio Zea, are hereby
disapproved.
" Art. 2. Nevertheless, all the amounts which the creditors
can legally prove to have been furnished for the Republic, in
money and effects, together with their respective interest, are
acknowledged.
" Art. 3. For their settlement the Executive power is hereby
fully authorised, so as to be able to do the same in the manner
they may think most expedient.
" Art.. 4. The executive power is hereby in like manner
authorized to approve and ratify, themselves, or through the
medium of such person or persons to whom for this purpose
they may delegate their powers, the result of the said settle-
ment, so that they may call in the' obligations, bonds, or bills,
put in circulation by the deceased Francisco Antonio Zea, and
issue such as they may deem necessary as far as the amount
aettled and approved of, which said bonds are to be signed by
The President of the Republic, or the person exercising the
Executive Power, or by the person by him duly authorized, so
as to receive these new obligations or bonds as numerical
amounts in any other loan that may be decreed; and, finally,
in order that they may name arbitrators, or friendly and conci-
liating referees, in the case or cases of any disputes arising with
The creditors, whether in the territory of Colombia, or in any
other country of Europe.
- " Art. b. The aforesaid Executive Power shall be authorized
to agree as to the term for the paying off of the amount which
may be thus settled, as to the mortgages by which the demands
are to be secured, and as to the manner in which the interest
is to be paid, until the consolidation of the national debt has
been completed, in which the Congress are engaged.
`'
Art. 6. Finally, the Executive Power is hereby autlio-
ved to remove all difficulties which may occur in the execu-
lion of the present decree.
" Done in Bogota apital of the Republic, this Ist day of
"uIY, 1623, and 13th of Independence.
(Signed) " JERONIMO TORRES, Vice-President of
the Senate.
" DOMINGO CAECEDO, President of the

House of Representatives.
" ANTONIO JOSE CARO, Secretaryof the
Senate.
" JOSE JOAQUIN SUARES, Deputy and
Secretary. " Palace of Government in Bogota, this 7th day of July,
1323. Let the same be executed.
(Signed) 4: FRANCISCO DE P. SANTANDER.
Jc.'SE MARIA DEL CASTELLO, Secre-
tary of State for the Finance Department.

..... For LITERARY No ICE, see our Fourth Page.

THE SUN.

SOLEM QUIS DICERE FALSUM AUD 2EAT •

LONDON,
tV.EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1824.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.
'We have received by Express the Etoile of
Yesterday and the Courier Franpis, from which
the following are extracts :
[From the Etoile of yesterday]
Tile Journal du _Midi, received to-day at Paris,
has published, under the date 12th February,
fronl Madrid, a Decree of Amnesty, which is not
helieved to be authentic.
"ere arrived yesterday at the Bank of France
alz. Cart loads of money in gold and silver, to the
;""ut Rf 25 millions. This treasure comes
1° Toulouse, and was deposited at the Bank
for the Baron Rothschild.
~ft"tes, on the 25th February, 99f. 50c. for
'44°°eY ; Time, 99f. 75c.
M[Prom the Memorial! Bo7delais of thelsth ult.]
. Paez de la Cadena, who we announced
re time ago was appointed Spanish Minister at
14°n, is expected daily at Bordeaux, on his
vaY to his post. We understand that the Duke
sp° Carlos will proceed shortly to London, on a
,-cret mission, and afterwards return to his Em-
'Jassy at Paris.
holl'he Crown Prince of Sweden will leave 11Stock-
towards the end of March, for Norway, to _

preside at the Storthing in his character o

Viceroy.

[From the Courier Francais.]
PETERSBUReII, FEB. 2.—The Emperor has fal-
len suddenly ill, and is confined to his chamber.—
The state of his Majesty is not however danger-
ous. The Grand Duke Michael is also indis-
posed, and his marriage with the Princess Char-
lotte of Wirtemberg is still deferred. The
whole body of merchants of Odessa, as well as
the Magistrates of that city, have just ad-
dressed a memorial to Government, in which they
complain of the vexations the commerce of Russia
is continually experiencing from the Turks. We
are assured that this memorial has made a most
serious impression on the feelings of the Emperor,
and the Members of his Council. Some very par-
ticular instructions have, in consequence, been
sent by Count Nesselrode to the Consul-General,
M. de Minziaky, who is supposed by this time
to have arrived at Constantinople.
They direct him to require, as a previous con-
dition and a sine qua 710 N of any treaty with the
Porte, the redressing of the wrongs complained of
by his Majesty's subjects at Odessa, and other
maritime places on the coast of the Black Sea.

Crrr, , Twelve o'Clock.—Consols opened at 918
for the Account, and tali for April. In the
earlier part of the morning there was little doing,
but within this half hour an eminent Broker pur-
chased 120,000 Consols, which has not had much
effect on the Market, and Consols remain steady
at the above prices. The Express from Paris
brings the Rentes 100 f. 25c. after 'Change on
Monday. Spanish not known.
FORNION MARKET.-In the earlier part of the
morning 50,000 Austrian Scrip was purchased,
after which little was doing. Most of the Fo-
reign Securities are rather dull this morning.

The following Letter from the Admiralty was
his morning received at Lloyd's :

Admiralty Office, Feb. 24, 1824.
SIR-1 am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty to acquaint you, that one of his Majesty's ships will
give Convoy from Falmouth to the Trade bound to the Straits
of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, and will sail from Fal-
mouth as soon after the Ist of March as the Trade shall be
assembled there, and wind and weather allow ; and that an-
other Convoy will be dispatched in about a fortnight after,
and so on as the state of affairs and the wants of the Trade
may seem to require.

(Signed) JOHN BARROW.
To the Chairman of the Committee for
managing the Affairs of Lloyd's.

In offering to our Readers a few observations
on the Financial Expose of the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER, it is but an act of justice to
premise that some share of the disappointment
felt by the public, on this subject, should perhaps
be attributed to the circumstance that public
expectation had been too highly raised, in CON..
sequence of the known prosperity of the finances,
and of the brilliant, but illusory, because ex-

cessi ve prospects, of progressi;e activity in
all the great branches of the national in-
dustry, and of extensive and rapid diminu-
tions of taxation, which had taken such

strong possession of the imaginations of the
great majority of all classes of the people. Even
now, however, the feeling of disappointment is
not so much occasioned by the aggregate amount
of taxation which it, is proposed to remit having
fallen in any considerable degree short of that
which was anticipated, as from the proposed re-

missions themselves being such as the people ge-
nerally do not regard as being materially benefi-
cial to their welfare, or as calculated either to in-
crease the comforts or to advance the industry of
the great mass of the community. The trifling
reduction of the duty on Coals, for example, is a
boon to the inhabitants of London alone, who,
although they have hitherto been subjected to an
exclusive tax upon this necessary article, are, it
must be admitted, mach better able to sustain
an exclusive burthen upon Coals, than many dis-
tricts of the country in which the working classes,

from the low price of their labour, are
able to afford the charge for fuel, even at
the pit's mouth. Instead of the insignificant boon
of 3s. 4(1. per chaldron to the inhabitants of the
Metropolis, it certainly seems to us that the ge-

'feral welfare of the country, as well as the inte-
rests of the revenue, would be better consulted by
a general remission of the tax on coals carried
coastwise,—a measure which would not only be
immediately advantageous to all the maritime dis-
tricts, but by confining the consumption of the
coals found in the manufacturing districts to the
countries in which they are raised, and of course
lowering their price there, would have a direct
and importantly beneficial influence on the
manufactures, and consequently on the general
industry and prosperity of the whole Kingdom.--
The diminution of the duty on Rum, as a boon,
however trifling, to the West India Interest, is less
objectionable than that given to the Metropolis;
and for this reason, that the West India Interest
is still suffering under the distress occasioned by
the depression of its produce, and therefore re-
quires the fostering consideration of Parliament,
whilst the population of London, although not so

flourishing as to despise any additional advantage
that may be thrown to it, is certainly not at pre-

sent in such circumstances as to render necessary
the remission of a tax exclusively in its favour.
Upon this point we will just add, that as the
CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER assigns 83 his
reason for diminishing the duty ott Rum,—not the
distresses of the West India Interest, but the
principle, that it is no more than just that the
West India agriculturists should be put on the

same footing as their competitors in this country,
by an assimilation of the duties on British and
Colonial Spirits (tha differences between them as
to local taxation, &c. &c. being probably thought
to be compensated by freight, port charges, &G.)—
we will just add, we say, that this principle ap-
plies squally to the agriculturists of Canada and
of all our other transmarine possessions, and that
we do not see, how, consistently with the propo-
sition laid down by the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER, the admission of their corn, and
other produce, into this country, subject only to
such charges as their distance renders unavoid-
able, can continue to be refused to them ! Not

that we are so silly as to imagine that such
a demand will ever he acceded to, or even to
think, that except under safe and just modifica-
tions, really calculated to place the agriculturists
of the Mother Country and of the Colonies on
the same footing, it ought to be acceded to,—
but that this is one of the innumerable facts
which prove the utter absurdity of that general
principle of unrestricted freedom of trade, on
which it has in an evil hour become the fashion
to legislate as well as to declaim, and that it is
one of those innumerable facts which demon-
strate that every particular question of legislation,
affecting the interests, the industry, or the rights)
of any portion of the people, ought not to be,
and cannot possibly be, determined on any ge-
neral princz:ple, but on its own particular merits,
and on a wise and just estimate of the amount
of advantage or disadvantage likely to ensue
from its decision.—The next point to which
" be: leave to advert, is the proposed remis-
sion of (he duty on the importation on Foreign
Wool, accompanied by a proposition for permit-
ting the free exportation of British Wool. It
is admitted by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
that the duty on the importation of Wool was
imposed,
not for the protection of the native wool

grower, but merely for the sake of the benefit to

be derived from it to the Revenue. Why,
then, a proposition for the remission of a duty,

which was imposed for the sake of the revenue,
should be accompanied, now that the revenue
does not require the continuance of the impost,

by a condition, the execution of which will sub

ject the Woollen Manufacture of the country to
the hazard,—aye to the certainty,—of suffering an
irreparable and extensive injury-, is to us, we con-
fess, perfectly inexplicable. The very mention of
the thing,---the mere revival of a project which
has already been so often frustrated by the great
exertions of the manufacturers, and by the
good sense of Parlia►nent, will excite the
greatest alarm in Yorkshire and in the West

of England. Mr. STUART WORTLEY, one
of the Members for the County of York,
hip place, against the
pharoip al pd, praontdesteidll,tshi
demanded a previous
inquiry, before Parliament proceeds to the

project
fe cat
tcoonasitleetrattii,oen calculated so deeply
large body of his ionfteraescon-
stituents, and, through them, of the community
at large, declaring that lie would rather consent

o a perpetual duty on the importation of foreig

wool, than consent to the exportation of woo

of our own growth.

(We shall resume this subject to-morrow.)

EAST INDIA Houst.—A Meeting of the Pro

prietors took place this morning, at the Com-
pany's house, in Leadenhall-street, for the pur-
pose of taking into consideration the laws re-
specting llayleybury College. No allusion
to the Marquis of HASTINGS had occured when
our Paper went to press. The Court were occu-
pied with the subject of the College.

The tribute which Mr, CANNING last night paid
to the professional wisdom and rectitude of the
LORD CHANCELLOR was liberal and just,as well as
eloquent in a high degree. It was well merited by
the distinguished i►►dividual, and proved the
falsehood, if not malignity, of those rumours
which were in circulation a few months ago, im-
plying that the LORD CHANCELLOR objected to
the introduction of Mr. CANNING into the Ca-
binet, and that differences subsisted between these
eminent characters, were wholly destitute of all
solid foundation.

Mr. BRouGHToN, who so long and so ably
discharged the duties of his station at the Foreign
Office, bas retired to the enjoyment, as all
who know him must sincerely desire, of Otiunz
cum dignitate, but his zeal for the welfare of the
country will, doubtless, induce him to employ
his literary talents whenever there may he occa-
sion to call them into action. Wo heartily wish
that. the young men who may obtain the patron-
age of Government, will follow the example of
so meritorious a public. Officer.