The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-30 00:00:00

the whole amount of such advance should be repaid;
2dly, the high rate of interest payable thereon ; 3dly,
the great increase in the value of the lands that
should, to justify an advance, be consequent on the
improvements to be thereby effected; and 4thly, the
contract with two sufficient securities, to be approved
of by the Commissioners, for the execution of the

work within a time not exceeding seven years, to be
fixed by the Commissioners. The two first of these
difficulties will be entirely removed by the Bill pro-
posed to be brought in by the Government. By the
former Act the whole amount should be repaid
within three years after the a ork would be completed,
with interest thereon in the meanwhile at a rate of
not less than five per centum per annum, payable half-
yearly, as the Commissioners should fix and appoint.
It is intended to adopt the principle of the 9th and
10th Victoria, cap. 101, as to repayment by equal
half-yearly .instalments of 3/ ss. each, distributed
over a period of twenty-two years, with a power of
redemption as provided in the Act, unless the bor-
rowers should themselves desire that a shorter period
should be fixed. The time will, therefore, be extended
from ten years, at the outside, to twenty-two years,
and the interest in every case be reduced to 3i per
cent., in place of a minimum of 5 per cent., which
might be increased by the board. Provision will
also be made for apportioning, on the various parties
who will derive benefit from the improvements, a pro-
portionate contribution towards the repayment of the
loan—the whole being payable to tilt Government by
the proprietor of the laud drained or improved, and
the contribution on the part of the occupier being
in the shape -of increased rent to the pro-
prietor. These are just and equitable provi-
sions, against which no possible objection can
fairly be raised. The interest on the loans made to the
Board of Works for drainage to be executed by them
under the 5 and 6 Vic., c. 89 ; 8 and 9 Vic., c. 69 ;
and 9 Vic., c. 4, will be repayable by half-yearly in-
stalments, according to an award of the Commis-
sioners, with interest at the rate of 4 per cent. We
do not see clearly the reason of the distinction as to
the rates of interest to be thus charged, or why an
additional one-half per cent. per annum should be
charged on the money advanced to the board ; per-
haps it may be that grants may be made by the
board, as sanctioned by the 1 and 2 Will. IV., c. 33,
which are to be met by the increased rate of interest.
If this be so it will in some degree account fur the
lifference. We are not aware of any remedy being
proposed for the third and fourth difficulties which
interfere with the loan ; 10 per cent. is a large in-
crease in value to be required as an essential to a
loan. The Act is propsed as much for the purpose
of affording employment to the labourer as of yield-
ing extraordinary profit to the proprietor, and
we think that if a permanent improvement
of even 5 per cent. could be obtained by
the expenditure, that it would be highly beneficial for
all parties, and quite sufficient to justify the advance.
The powers about to be taken are certainly of an ex-
tensive character, hut it was necessary to provide
ample means for the recovery of the large advances
that are to be made. We are sure that they will not
he abusel by the Government, and cases may arise
in which, by taking the property oat of the hands of an
-mbarrassed and heavily encumbered proprietor, much
service may be done to the country. We shall here-
after examine these powers more fully than our space
at present permits.

Madrid papers of the 22d have been received.

A royal decree, proroguing the Cortes from the
25th, the day originally fixed for its meeting, to
the 31st, is published in the Gaceta. The QUEEN'S
Speech, which will be very short, has been already
mange(' by the Ministers.

The Clamor Publico states that a Carlist insurrec-
Aon is on the eve of breaking out in Navarre. Car-
ist bands have appeared in considerable force in Ca-
talonia, and have excited so much uneasiness, that
he Captain-General has felt it necessary himself to
.ake the field against them.

MADRID BOLSA, DEC. 22.—The Three per Cents.
were done, on the 22d at 33i- for cash ; the Four per
Cents. at 21; the Five per Cents. at 21 ; the Coupons,
t 19 ; the Vales, at Si ; the Debt without Interest,
at

We have received the Paris papers of Monday.
In the course of an article on the affairs of Cracow
he National .says—m' All the incidents of the affair
lead us to believe that M. GUIZOT was not aware of
what was about to happen, but that the irresponsible
power at Paris (the KING) was not ignorant of it."
It would appear from the revelations which have
taken place at Toulon, that the French naval officers
are in a very demoralised state. We extract the
following account of the transaction to which we
allude from the Constitutionnel:—
" An ensign (midshipman) of the navy, M. Beeson,
was lately tried by a court-martial at Toulon for striking
his superior, and acquitted, the members of the court
having divided, four against four. Captain Lavasseur,
who acted as reporter on the occasion, submitted various
considerations,. which we deem important to notice in
the interest of our navy. It appears certain that the
discipline is not as rigorously observed as it should be
by the officers of the fleet, and M. Levasseur declared
that the latter generally evinced little respect for their
•uperiors, particularly when ashore. We have been
likewise assured that their orders and acts are the object
of unpleasant criticism, and the commanders, aware of
this, are, to a certain degree, kept in check. We have
seen superior officers, whose authority was actually
paralyzed by the certainty that their acts and orders
would be made the subject of a malevolent and sar
(lonic scrutiny by those Rho surrounded them. At sea,
in particular, the necessity of union should be under
stood by all. It is not a purely material obedience the
country expects from the corps of officers of the navy,
in which it places so much confidence and hope; it is a
devoted and cordial obedience, without which nothing
great can be achieved. The nglish officers, less well-
informed than ours (I), are remarkable for their anxious
and, we may say, sympathetic submission to the orders
of their chiefs. This would suffice, on certain occasions,
to secure to them an advantage over us. We accord-
ingly trust that the reflections of M. Levasseur will not be
lost, and that they will inspire with sentiments of mutual
benevolence men who share the same dangers."

These papers contain fearful accounts of the
ravages caused by a dreadful hurricane on the night
of the 22d. The neighbourhoods of Bordeaux and
Toulouse suffered greatly. There have been several
shipwrecks along the west coast of France.
The Bey of TUNIS was to sail for Marseilles on
the 24th.

The French Money and Share-markets, influenced
by the rise of prices in London on Saturday, evinced
much firmness for some time after the commencement
of business on Monday. Towards the close, how-
ever, a decline took place, the only reasons stated for
which were the renewed report that the KING was
ill, and that the firm DE ROTHSCHILD, Brothers,
had demanded of the Bank of France 20,000,000 in
ingots, lodged by that house some time since.

The Three, per Cents, closed on the Paris Bourse, on
Monday, at :30f, soc. ; the Five per Cants. 118 f. 75c. ; the
(Mean,' BaAmd'Shares, 1,2671. 50o,; 927 f. 5001;

circumstances call for special exception, the improved
outfall for his drainage having been afforded, if neces-
sary, by the more general operations of the Board of
Works), is extremely valuable. It enables each person
to get rid of the extraordinary expense that would be
occasioned by unnecessary inspectors ; besides, if all
that is to be done could only be eftected through the
board, great delays would necessarily be occasioned.
It would be impossible for any public body, ro matter
how zealous and efficient, to do everything. No staff
could be procured sufficiently numerous for the
arduous duties that would thus be cast upon it. The
labourer too will be more active and less inclined to
attempt any tricks when working under his employer's
eye. There will be a better feeling between them, a
better relationship of master and servant, than if he
were to be entirely under the control of a public
officer. It will appear more as if the work was
afforded by the landowner, and that he is consequently
entitled to a greater degree of gratitude than if
the works were directed and the wages paid by a

stranger.
The Ist and 2d Will. IV., chap. 33, sec. 32,
amended by 9th Vic. 1., sec. 6, by which loans may
be made to individuals to enable them to effect the
improvement of their estates forthemselves by drainage,
reclaiming waste lands, or other works of substantial
improvement, is the foundation of the new regulations;
and advances will be made to proprietors who comply
with the conditions therein contained, and who can
obtain from a competent person, approved of by the
Board of Works, the certificate of increased value to
be given to the land so improved, as prescribed by
that Act. There were several stipulations unneces-
sarily disadvantageous to the borrower, which pre-
vented the great advantages that would otherwise have
been obtained from its adoption. These disadvan-
tages may be stated to be-Ist, the time within which