The Sun.
London, England, 1823-08-29 00:00:00

[NEW TIMFS.]

The Meeting of Merchants and Bankers to
which we yesterday alluded, was yesterday held
at the London Tavern, and was most respectably
attended. There was but one unanimous feel-
ing on the importance of the Act of last SP/10010,
amending the law of principal, and factor ;
and no less unanimous an opinion that the
same principle ought to be carried further
by the Legislature at their next assem-
blage. What has been done, and what re..
mains to be done, cannot be more clearly stated
than in the concluding words of Abe Report,
which was read yesterday at the Meeting. The
first provision gives, by the new Act, to the
consignee of goods which do not belong to the
consignor, but which shall have been intrusted to

the latter for sale, the same lien for his general
balance that he would acquire if the consignor
had been the true owner, provided, however,
that the consignee has no notice that the goods
are not the property of the consignor.—The next
clause enables the consignee to deposit the goods
►vith any person or corporation, as a security
for any sum not exceeding his own lien
at the time, whether such goods were the
property of the consignor or not.—But this
Act does not, in either case, protect the
consignee or the pledgee in the event of goods
being shipped, without having been Intrusted by
the true owner for the purpose o( sale, although
the consignee may trot have notice that the con.
signor is not the owner, and it therefore conti-
nues to such foreign owner a right against a 13ri.
tish consignee, which, in his own country, and
according to his own law, he could not enforce.
Nor does-the Act protect the purchaser of goods
either from a consignee in this country, or from
a consignor abroad, if the true owner has not au.
thorised the sale, but such purchaser may be eons.
polled to pay a second time for the same goods,

'although he was not aware that the teller was an
agent. The partial remedy, provided by the
Act, applies only to consignments by bill of
lading, and leaves all transactions relating to
goods by land carriage untouched, nor does it
meet the numerous cases of goods represented
by other symbols of property. The defects
already pointed out apply principally to mer-
chants (though not exclusively), who are not
safe in making advances upon goods consigned to
them from abroad, unless they shall be satisfied
that the consignor is the owner, or, if not the
owner, that the goods were intrusted by the
owner to the consignor for sale ; but the Act is
particularly deficient in not affording protection
to the capitalist, who may be and is so frequently
called upon to afford assistance to consignees and
holders of goods, upon which it is only necessary
to say, that he can in no case lend his money,
with perfect safety, upon the credit of the goods
or the symbol of property, but his security is
made to depend entirely upon the fact which he
cannot possibly ascertain, of the borrower having
a valid lien to the extent represented by him, the
legality of which lien again depends upon the con-
signor being the owner, or, if not, then that the
goods were intrusted to him by the owner for sale ;
and therefore he must make his advance in a great
measure upon the credit of that borrower. The
capitalist is also exposed to the risk of making
advances upon goods, of which the borrower ap-
pears to be the true owner, and possesses the
strongest evidence of title, but which he 'may have
purchased for another person,though no industry
could enable the citpitalist to discover that fact.
The Act in question, defective as it is, was
the result of a great variety of circumstances
which it would be uninteresting to detail, and is
not to be received as the measure of the Com-
mittee's Solicitor, or of either of the able States-
men connected with his Majesty's Government;
but the Committee stated candidly the ground
upon which the Bill, as modified, was acceded
to by them ; because, it became impossible, at so
late a period of the Session, to combat the se-
veral inconsistent and contradictory grounds of
opposition, which prejudice and want of prac-
tical information led some persons to offer ;
and the Committee would in all probability
have sacrificed those objects, important in
principle though defective in detail and extent,
attained by the Bill, had they at that time per-
sisted in their application for a more perfect
measure ; but by acceding to that which they
now present, they have succeeded in disposing of
some leading grounds of risk, and have shessiv
that those who appeared in the character of op-
ponents have either abandoned their opposition,
or left themselves without the means of support-
ing it ;' because the principle for which the Com-
mittee contended has now received the sanction
of the Legislature, and no doubt can be reason-
ably entertained that, in a future Session, the
full, simple, and effectual relief will be secured.
To obtain so important en object, it is indispen-
sably necessary that the attention of the Mer-
chants and other Capitalists in London, should
continue, during the recess, to be applied to the
subject, so as to be prepared to renew their ap.
petition to Parliament at an early period of the
ensuing Session, when They may rely with con.
fidence upon the continued co-operation of the
Committee in Liverpool, and may hope to derive
additional assistance from the mercantile corn
munity in various parts of the United Kingdom

[mottNiNo uiguAt,D.]
We lost night received thefollowing letter from
our Madrid Correspondent :---
Mannto, Au a. 14.7,The order of the Duke d'Angouleme
for the release of the prisoners for opinion has not yet been ex-
ecuted.
The order is dated from Andujar, the Duke's head-quarters,
on the Bth inst. Besides what I have communicated in my
former of the ltlth ult., it further commands that all periodicals
and other publications be under the vigilance and censorship
of the French Authorities ; and that those who oppose the exe-
cution of the orders be proceeded against immediately. The
Duke tie Reggio, to whom it is addressed, immediately com-
municated it to the Regency and the Ambassadors. The Re-
gency sent it to the Council of Castile for their report. The
report, I understand, amounts to this—that the nation being in
the same circumstances as in 1814, when the King ordered the
release of the prisoners for political opinions, the same degree
of mercy may he dispensed now. Some little difference between
the cases, but any thing to enable them to conform to the French
Mandate, without lowering their dignity. The Judges visited
the prisons to-day, to accelerate theists l.of the whole for what-
ever crime, which the Duke Reggio required. According to
Spanish equity, a great many have been arrested without any
cause being known or assigned by those that arrested them,
other than for having been Constitutionalists. Stone delay is
therefore necessary for the lawyers in taking their declarations
to worm out something or other from them, in order that the
cause of their imprisonment may be designated. Time is also
obtained for remonstrances to be made and answers to be re-
ceived from the Duke d'Angouleme, who, by this measure, has
taken the Government. of the country into his own hands, pass-
ing by entirely the Regency.
The Duke has found his honour compromised. In his first
Proclamation on entering Spain he promised that none should
be vexed or molested for their former opinions. This has no
where been complied, and very likely some sharp observations
may have been made thereon in the communications previous
to the surrender of Hallasteros.
The Absolutists are extremely angry, but as they cannot
express their resentment openly, they wisely have kept
away from public places these two days past. Moreover, there
has been a_paper circulated about as the basis of a treaty be-
tween the King, and the French, sanctioned by the Cortes, as
follows :---.

" Two ChaMbers.—The first will beoomposed of fifty Oran.
delis ten Bishops, and forty (Prohotilbres) principal men of
consideration, or gentlemen in the country, to-be appointed by
the King.
" The second will consist or one hundred Deputies elected
by the people-,the clergy to be incapable of sitting, or voting
at elections.
" The -Decrees of the Cortes, until the 7th July, 1822, to be
in due force..

..
" The 20th of August the treaties will be recognised by the
Duke d'Angouleme on the Bridge of Suezo."
The Allied Powers may
have decreed something
of the kind, or- it may be' perhaps,
a tub thrown to the whale but
f
at present I conceive it to be a hoax similar to the King's
liberty on the 9th.
The Friars say, if the Kin hack absolute,Spain alive— does net come
they don't know
-
not a Frenchman will go out o Si
whether to believe it the work of the Constitutionals to create
dissensions between the Royalists and French, or that there is
a portion of truth in it.
Letters from Cadiz received to-day, of the Bth, mention
nothing particular. A great quantity of wheat and flour had
arrived, and they
expected not to feel any want of supplies of
all kinds of provision*. The difficulty would be in finding the
money to pay for them,
From Seville of the.9th they mention that the Royalist Militia,
fifteen hundred strong, would be completely clothed and equip-
ped, to receive the Duke d'A ngoul eme-, who was toUrrive there
on the 113th.
If he does notarrive there • sooner, it is impossible for him
to be at the Puente de Suazo on the Nth. The news was
current there that Zaps capitulated had
. on the same terms as
Ilallasteros.

A beginning is making for the raising and equipping of
30,000 Royalists, to he, paid b the French. The te
wished to have the disposal of the money, but the Irenert
will not agree to this; they will liar the disbursement in
y ligene7
their own hands; in consequence, French and• Spanish Cam.
mistaries nave been appointed .to intervene and keep the
accounts.