The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-17 00:00:00

EDUCATION.

Mr. M. MILNES presented a petition from certain
Roman Catholic clergymen is favour of the Poor Roman
Catholics participating in the vote for education.
PORTUGAL

Mr. B. OSBORNE gave notice of a motion in oppo-
sition to the amendment of the Hon. Member for Fins-
bury, to the effect that, as Government had interfered
in the affairs of Portugal, it was just and proper for the
intervening parties to guarantee the full constitutional
rights and liberties of the people of Portugal, and, if
necessary, to enforce the same.
Mr. HUTT said he wished to ask the Noble Lord (Lord
Palmerston) whether the blockade was likely to continue,
as it would effect the interests of the British merchants.
Lord PALMERSTON said that as the Junta had
accepted the terms offered by the Government he hoped
that the blockade had been taken off before this time.

Mr. B. OSBORNE said that the Queen had issued a
decree infringing the personal freedom and the liberty
of the press, and he wished to ask the Noble Lord if it
was the intention of the Government to support this
policy ?
Lord PALMERSTON said that the latest advices
received at Bristol contained no account of what the
Hon. Member alluded to.
Sir DE LACY EVAN3—Sir, I would observe with
respect to the prisoners now confined in Fort St. Julian,
that I trust they will not be deprived of their liberty
after the official assent of the Junta has been recognised
by the Government of this country.—(Hear.)
Mr. B. OSBORNE—Has the Noble Lord any objec-
tion to state, in conclusion, what course he intends to
pursue for the future with respect to the affairs of For-
tu; al and cries of " Oh! Oh I '')
Lord PALMERSTON.—It is quite unusual to make a
statement of what a Government intends to do, especially
in a matter of this kin d
what we have done s (Loud cheers)—we cannot state
%hat we intend to d kind—(Loud cheers)—we
is sufficient to state
you
auppceressfully, and to ask, after such an
explanation, if ove of the course we have taken.
The subjectthendropped
CURRENCY OF
bPeORTUG AL.
On the order of the day in
Committee on the Poor Relief Bill,
read for going into
l,
Lord GEORGE BENTINCK. rose to call the atten•
tion of the House to the infraction of the Ist, 17th,342
and 18th Articles of the Treaty of Lisbon, of July'
1842,
and to ask her Majesty s Ministers whether any and what
for thepast, and •
steps have been taken to obtain from the Government of
the Queen of Portugal, redress security
against future injuries of a like kind done to pritio4 in.

terest. He said that this was a question in which the
British merchants, resident in Portugal and in this
country were deeply interested.—(Hear.) It would
be within the recollection of all those who had
read the papers which had been presented to the
House, with respect to the affairs of Portugal,
that Mr. Southern, on the 16th of November last, ad-
dressed a letter to Viscount Palmerston, informing him
that a decree had been proclaimed by the Queen of Por-
tugal, which compromised the interests of British mer-
chants resident in that country.—(Cries of " Hear,
hear.") The Noble Lord then read a long
statement made by Mr. Southern, pointing out
the disadvantages under which they were labouring by
the compulsory use of the bank notes of Portugal, which,
as they were of much less value than the sums for which
they were issued, materially interfered with their opera-
tions, because it compelled them to take paper which
would shortly be valueless ; and the consequence would
be that they would be compelled to suspend their opera-
tions. Now, the first article of that decree runs in
these words—" Any person who from any motive
should reject the notes of the Lisbon bank, will
be liable to transportation, and subjected to a
fine of from 50,000 grains to 500 grains of gold,
to be placed to the public account. The fine in every
case to be regulated by the judge, according to the amount
of the transaction and the sentence of the transgressor.
The 15th article provided, that under the engagement
of the Queen of Portugal the commerce of British sub-
jects in the Portuguese dominions should not be re-
strained or interrupted by any monopoly of the Lisbon
notes; that they should have unrestrained permission to
buy from and sell to whomsoever they pleased, and in
whatever form or manner was agreed upon by the pur-
chaser. An article of the 17th of December had abro-
gated that to a great extent, and at present the British
subjects in Portugal were compelled to take payment
in notes of Lisbon, which were depreciated in
value to the enormous amount of fifty-four per
cent. This was fully stated in a dispatch of
Sir George H. Seymour, dated April the 9th.
Although by the articles of this commercial treaty, con•
eluded by Lord Waldegrave, they were entitled to buy
and sell, and to receive in exchange, auy payment
which might be agreed upon between the purchaser and
the seller. He should have occasion afterwards to
refer, as regards the seventeenth and eighteenth
articles of the treaty to trial by jury. By those articles,
as Honourable Members would know, all British
subjects were entitled to trial by jury, but of that they
were deprived. So, then, all British merchants or ma-
nufacturers should have suffered a depreciation at the
present time, on the whole amount of 54 per cent.,
if they had contracted any bargains with Lisbon
houses since November last. This state of mat-
ters continued to exist, and to be tolerated;
notwithstanding the frequent protests of Mr. Southeron,
addressed to the Queen and her Ministers. He could
not avoid drawing a contrast between the conduct of
British Ministers in regard to the Court of Portugal,
and their energy, when the Junta appeared to them to be
guilty of any infraction of the rights of the British sub-
jects, or of the law of nations. On the 4th of March,
Colonel Johnson wrote to Mr. Southeron, stating that
the Junta had seized stores in the town, part of which
belonged to a Mr. Russell. This was instantly com-
municated to her Majesty's Ministers, and Lord
Palmerston, on the 26th of March, had sent off dis-
patches to Mr. Southern relative to his communications.
Now, he wished to ask Hon. Members would this stipu-
lation in the treaty, signed by the Queen in 1842, be
permitted to be violated without any explana-
tion being demanded by her Majesty's Govern•
ment ? So much for the infraction of the
treaty as regarded the rights of British mer-
chants to deal in any way they pleased with the
Portuguese merchants. He would now proceed to deal
with other infractions of the treaty. On the 30th of
December Mr. Southeron wrote from Lisbon that a
violation of trial by jury had taken place in Portugal,
and that British subjects were placed in a different posi-
tion to that intended by the 17th and 18th articles of the
treaty of 1842. It might not be known to many
Honourable Members of that House that in 1842 there
existed a Court of Justice in Portugal for the
trial of British subjects; but by that treaty pri-
vileges were granted to British subjects by the
institution of Conservatorial Courts. As far as
he had been able to gather from these papers,
no remonstrance had ever been entered into upon the
subject. He wished to know whether any steps, and if
any, what steps, and when, had been taken to redress
these wrongs of British subjects in Portugal ?
Lord PALMERSTON said that he understood the
Noble Lord to ask him a question relating to the decree
which had been passed, giving force to the paper cur-
rency of the Bank of Portugal at a forced or a
nominal value, and, secondly, with regard
to certain suspended guarantees with regard
to the British subjects in Portugal. Now with regard
to the first point, without pretending, as he had at firrt
thought of doing, to justify the Portuguese Govern-
ment for the financial measures which it bad resorted
to in its pecuniary embarrassments, he would call
the attention of the Noble Lord to other facts.
The Noble Lord would admit that this was not
The first instance in the history of nations of Govern-
ments being obliged to give by law a forced value to a
paper currency which was suffering from considerable
depreciation, and that paper had been received at a value
somewhat different to that which, according to the free-
trade notions of the Noble Lord it would fetch in the
market.

(LETT BITTING.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL.

The nineteenth anniversary festival of this excellent
society was held yesterday at the London Tavern,
Bishopsgate•street.
B. B. Cabbell, Esq., M.P., F.R.S., occupied the chair
on the occasion, and was supported by T. Wakley, Esq.,
M.P., J. Masterman4Esq., M.P., Mr. Pendarves, M.P., H.
Humfrey, Esq., Q.C., Mr. Bain, M.P., Edward Wigram,
Esq., Dr. Rice, Rev. D. Major, Rev. J. Briscoe, Rev.
Sidney Turner, Charles Pearson, Esq., J. Braithwaite,
C.E., &c., &c.
On the removal of the cloth, the Benedictus having
been sung, and the usual loyal and national toasts dis-
posed of,
The CHAIRMAN proposed " Prosperity to the Free
Hospital, and associated with it the name of Dr. Rice,"
and, in doing so, alluded to the benefits which -this
society had conferred upon the public; it had released
more cases than the three other kindred institutions in
the metropolis, viz., King's College, Charing-cross, and
University Hospitals; and he was sorry that Sir Robert
Peel, in presiding at the festival of the King's College
Hospital, had omitted to make any allusion to the bene-
fits conferred upon the poor by it. The present society
was essentially one for the poor; its doors were open
for their admission without any letter or recommenda-
tion whatever. Poverty and sickness were the only
requisites for admission into the asylum. Since the
foundation of :this charity, in the month of February,
1828, ho was happy to say that 231,725 persons had
participated in its benefits, and he found that during
the past year, according to the medical report, the
number of patients relieved by means of the charity had
been—