The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-27 00:00:00

Oltening 2int

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 1850.

An interesting but desultory discussion enlivened
yesterday's proceedings in the House of Commons, in
_consequence of a motion made by the Honourable
Member for Montrose with a view to obtain cer-
tain, accounts relating to the receipts and expenditure
of the Royal Academy. Although several of the re-
presentatives, and among them the Prime Minister,
objected that it was scarcely reasonable to expect that
a private body like the Royal Academy
would publish to the world the particulars of
their own secret affairs and pecuniary position,
we cannot but think with Mr. HOME that
such a demand is, nevertheless, both comprehensible
and judicious in reference to the particular association
Teferred to. Let it be remembered that the Royal
Academy, though to a certain extent a private asso-
ciation, occupies one of our public buildings, at very
great inconvenience to the nation—at such inconve
nience that a valuable national property like the
Vernon Collection is doomed to an untimely burial in
a cellar, while the marries from Nineveh are equally
treated with contempt, being jumbled together in
some of the inaccessible recesses of the British Museum.
Let it be remembered, moreover, that these paintings
left to the nation by Mr. VERNON, and these curiosities
forwarded to this country by Mr. LAYARD, might all
be distributed in' appropriate places of shelter and
exhibition but for the inconvenient occupation of at
least one-half of the National Gallery by the so-
called private body referred to, the Royal Academy.
Let these particulars be borne in recollection, and
then we are satisfied that no one will be rash enough
to assert that the request made by the Honourable
Member for Montrose was in any respect
injudicious, unreasonable, or unjustifiable. For,
again, it cannot be forgotten that while
the Royal Academy is permitted to monopolise a
large portion of one of our most important, though,
at the same time, it must be confessed, one of our
most. unsightly public buildings, we, the people, obtain
from the-members of this academy no compensative
advantage whatever. We have no free ingress to the
examination of the annual collection displayed upon
the walls of this public edifice! On the contrary,
a . paltry collection of another sort is made
at the doors before any one is per-
mitted to inspect the pictures hanging there
for purchase. The incongruity of this arrange-
ment, not to say it 3 pitiful evidence of econo-
mizing, was too apparent to be passed over in silence
yesterday by the Prime Minister of England. The
Noble Lord acknowledged that, upon this matter, he
bad already himself spoken to the President of the
Academy. The reply made by Sir Meanie ARCHEI
SagE is as miserably evasive as it is contrary to the
attestations of all experience. He, the President of the
Royal Academy,: objected against the free ad-
mission_ of the public, because, of what ?—be-
cause many of the pictures would be injured, and
some of them stolen! Why, what a gross and enor-
mous insult is this to that public which has free access

to the inestimable collection of paintings in the
National Gallery itself, in Hampton Court, mad in
others of the palaces of England! Are the pictures
at Hampton Court stolen ? Are they injured ? Are
the pictures in the publichartrnents of the National
Gallery stolen ? Are they injured ? Is this wanton
destruction, is this popular larceny, exhibited
in such matters elsewhere ? No. And yet
we conceive that the collection of paintings
displayed, for example, in the large rooms of the
National Gallery are a trifle more tempting than
those shown for the charge of one shilling in the
rooms allotted to the Royal Academy. There are
larger temp..ations to cupidity in the CLAUDES and
the CORREGIOS, the TMANS and the DA VINCIS, the
GUIDO 3 and the PIOMBOS, the CUTPS and the VANDYKES,
the RuuENs and the CARE ACCIS, the MuxiLLos and
the PAEMEGlANo3—than—but it is unnecessary to be
invidious. These illustrious masters are displayed in all
their glory, unharmed and unstolen, as the little boy
says in one of LEECLI'S caricatures, "free, gratis,
for nothink." Yet the President of the Royal
Acadcroy objects to resign the dole of a shilling a
head through fear that the pictures of the associates
and members of the academy should get robbed or
damaged ! Now, we would see this matter definitively
adjusted. We would see the Government assume
the position which, for the sake of the public,
we conceive to be demandtd under the circum-
stances. It should be officially intimated to the
Royal Academy, —Unless you admit the public gra-
tuitously to your annual exhibitions that public will
not consent henceforth to supply you with room for
those exhibitions. At the very least, it is assuredly
but reasonable on the part of the population to ex-
pect a ready and untaxed access to the collection of
the Royal Academy, when that academy is permitted
to monopolise a very considerable portion of
a national building to great public inconvenience.
Then again it is pretended that the public can hardly
be justified in prying into the affairs of a private
body like the Royal Academy, as desired by the
Honourable Gentleman the Representative of Mont-
rose. As if the public had any morbid curiosity to
satisfy, after the fashion of Mr. Paul Pry in the farce,
in reference to the private affairs of that private
body called the Royal Academy ! As if any-
thing but a regard for public convenience would
actuate Mr. HUME in his demand yesterday.
" What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba ?"
or rather " What's the Royal Academy to him,
or he to the Royal Academy ?" But enough
of this. We shall look for a re-organization of
the management of the Royal Academy, private
body though it be, through the assistance of the Le-
gislature, if not with the aid of the Government, at
least if the Royal Academy is still to be allowed to
occupy one-half of the National Gallery.

The Bill introduced by the Solicitor-General on
Monday evening for the purpose of providing more
simple and effectual securities for advances to pur-
chasers of the encumbered estates in Ireland, the
discussion of which was brought to a premature ter-
mination by the counting out of the House, is one
worthy of the most serious:and attentive consideration.
It is of a mixed character, and if fully carried into oper-
ation, would afford many unquestionable advantages
to the purchasers of property under " the Commis-
sion," and as a natural consequence to the proprietor's
of such estates, and persons having charges affecting
the sane, by materially increasing the purchase
money. It cannot, however, be denied that
it appears to be strongly opposed to the
principles on which recent legislation for
Ireland has been founded, and that, to a certain ex-
tent at least, it is calculated to perpetuate the
greatest social evil by which the sister kingdom has
been affected—an embarrassed and encumbered pro-
prietary, who would be unable to discharge effi-
ciently the duties incidental to the possession of their

estates. The gOod and evil are, in fact, so nicely
counterpoised, that it will require no ordinary care
to discover to which side the balance will ultimately
incline, and whether it will prove beneficial or the
reverse for the great body of the Irish people, for it
is their interests that must be chiefly
regarded in any future enactments that
may be sanctioned by the Imperial Parliament.
By some persons it will be regarded as a retrograde
movement, likely to retard and neutralize the good
effects of the Act of last year, while by others it will
be looked upon as the necessary corollary and supple-

ment of that measure, without which it could never

be fully and fairly carried into practical operation.
Whatever may be the ultimate decision on the point,
it should not be rashly or hastily rejected until its
real merits be fully canvasse3, and the public gene-
rally' have time to make up their minds on a question
of such magnitude, on which such conflicting views
may be fairly and reasonably entertained. For our-
selves, we must say that on the superficial
examination which we have been enabled to
bestow upon the provisions of the Bill, we are
disposed to regard it favourably and to believe that
its results will, on the whole, prove advantageous to
the best interests of the sister kingdom.
The great end and object of the Act for facilitating

the sale of encumbered estates in Ireland was to
afford the blessings of a solvent and unembarrassed
proprietary—men who were possessed of resources
sufficient to enable them to develope the natural ca-
pabilities of the soil, and to bring the land into a
state of the utmost fertility and productiveness. At first
sight, however, the present proposition appears to be
diametrically opposed to such a result. The Legislature
solemnly decided, in 1849, that if the yearly interest
on the encumbrances and other annual payments (if
any) in respect of charges payable out of the income
of any land or lease, exceed one-half the income after
the payment of all tithe rent-charge, such part of the
county cess and poor's-rate as is payable by the
owner, and all Crown, quit, and head rent,
.the pro-
prietor is no longer qualified to perform his duties
with benefit to himself and advantage to the commu-
nity, and that he must therefore be contented to
make way fur better men, who could come into the
full enjoyment of the rents, issues, and profits of the

lands and tenements, and not be the merely nominal
owners thereof; while the present measure provides
that the new blood thus infused may be affected
with the same taint as that necessarily removed, and
that the only change will be one of men, the.new corners
being but little better in their circtilmitances than

those for whom they are substituted. On the other
hand, however, it may be said, that the Legislature
go as► far as possible in providing for a change ; and
that it would not be consistent with the rights of
property to impose any obstacle or• impediment in
the way of purchasers dealing with, or disposing of,
their estates as they think fit. By the former Act a
Parliamentary title is conferred upon the pur-
chaser, and if he deem it advisable, he
may, the very next day, charge or encumber the
lands in any manner, and he can find no difficulty in
obtaining the money he may require, at any rate of
interest, and on very favourable terms in other re-
spects. All, then, that the present measure contem-
plates is, to give to such persons additional facilities
for obtaining such advances, by the issue of deben-
tures to an amount not exceeding one-half the amount
of the purchase-money, of such a nature as to pass
from hand to hand by a simple endorsement. Such
debentures, being based on unquestionable real secu-
rity, would circulate freely in the money market ; they
would not, like judgments, affect the person or personal
property of the party, but would merely attach on the
estate so purchased, and being limited to one-half its
actual value, there would be no great probability, in-
deed, scarcely a possibility, of their deterioration, or
of any loss accruing to the holder. As the Solicitor-
General truly remarked, when introducing the Bill,
" the great object of giving a Parliamentary title to
land was to afford a ready means, as far as possible, of
making it a mercantile commodity ;" and that object
would be effected in the cheapest and most unobjec-
tionable manner by the proposed Bill. When the
debentures were issued the rate of interest and the
instalments, by which the principal was to be paid
off, would be arranged, and if any default was made
in the payment of either interest or instalment, the
holder might compel the sale of the land made liable
for the payments; and even if the Commission ter-
minated while such debentures were outstanding, a
power was to be given to the Court of Chancery to
sell the lands on such applications, similar to that
about to be conferred upon the Commissioners.
There can be no doubt that the Bill, if it should
pass into a law, will give an additional
stimulus W purchasers, and make many parties

anxious to invest their capital in Ireland who might
not otherwise be willing to do so. An English mer-
chant or manufacturer might see a desirable property,
the entire purchase money of which he could not im-
mediately pay, but which he could liquidate by
reasonable instalments, paying half the amount down
in hard cash. An inheritor might by the same means
retrieve an estate that bad belonged to his family for
eenturies, and which would, in his sight, possess a
value far beyond its selling price. Are not such
desires perfectly legitimate, and should not
every possible facility be given for their
gratification? Besides, in consequence of the late
Act, an enormous amount of property is brought
into the market for sale, and there is at least a danger
that the supply may exceed the demand, so as mate-
rially to depreciate the value of the commodity, and
to prevent the creditors from receiving the full amount
of their claims, or the former proprietor from saving
any balance out of the wreck of his affairs. Pro-
perty to the value of 13,000,0001. or 14,000,0001.
sterling has already been brought under the juris-
diction of the Commissioners., and will be sub-
mitted to public competition with all con-
venient speed, and surely anything calcu-
lated to increase that competition must have
an operation beneficial to the interests of all parties
concerned, creditors as well as owners.

There is even a still more important view of the
subject, into which our space will not permit us to
enter at present—the effects on the general money-
market of the country. A new description of cur-
rency will be established based on unquestionable
security, which will circulate freely from hand to
hand, without any expense or diculty beyond
a simple endorsement. There is nothing to limit
the amount for which such debentures may be
issued, and if given for small sums, they
will constitute a valuable auxiliary to the
circulating medium of the country, and a profitable
mode of investment for the small capitalist.
It may to a great extent counteract the pernicious
operation of our present monetary code, and prove
the forerunner of a currency not convertible into
gold, but based upon the real property of the entire
country. If this were once brought into operation, it
is impossible to foresee the incalculable benefits that
would result to the entire community from the
change.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Committee on the Law of the Press has ap-
pointed Count Morx reporter, and M. DE LARDY
secretary.
The whole of the Committee appointed to consider
the Ministerial measure for the suppression of elec-
toral meetings are in favour of the Bill.
It was said to be the intention of M. DE LAROCHE-

JAQUELIN to lay on the table of the Assembly a pro-
position that, on the Ist of lune, the sense of France
shall be taken, by universal suffrage, on the question
whether the republican form of government is to be
maintained, or whether a monarchic form is to be es-
tablished in its place, and that as soon as this question
has been settled in the way described, a new Consti-
tuent Assembly be convoked on the Ist July.
There was again a heavy fall in the price of public
securities yesterday at the Bourse; the fall is attri-
buted by some to the withdrawal of the Avignon and
Paris Railway Bill, by others to a threat of M.
FouLD that he will resign if the Assembly, on the
third reading of the Stamp Duties Bill does
not reverse its vote imposing a duty on the transfer
of stock, and by others to the symptoms of insubor-
dination which had been manifested by the 55th
Regiment at Caen, in consequence of those soldiers
of the regiment who had voted for democratic can-
didates having been sent off to Africa.
The Ministerial Pattie publishes the following for
the purpose of calming the public mind :--
"The heavy fall in the French funds at the Bourse to-
day is not to be attributed to any political event ; the
only cause of it is the embarrassment of some Lyonese
speculators, which caused 'executions,' or forced sales of
stock, and the abundance of stock thrown on the market
by foreign speculators who have become alarmed by the
vote of the Assembly placing a duty on transfers."
M. FERDINAND FOY, the Orleanist rejected of Paris,
seems to be in ill-luck during this present month of
March. He was a candidate for the captaincy of a
company in the 10th Legion of National Guards
against M. RAMOND DE LA CROISETTE, a Democrat.
The' election took place on Sunday, and notwith-
standing the prestige attached to the name of For,
the Royalist son of the old Republican General was
defeated, the numbers being at the close of the poll :
For M. de la Croisette (Democrat) ... ... 103
For M. Foy (Royalist) .. 33

- -
M. FRANgESQUE BOUVET has proposed to the Assem•
bly en amendment having for its object the reduction
of 24 millions of the war budget, to be realised by
disbanding, on the. 13t of May next, the soldiers of
the class 1843.

The editor of the Temps, who had been con-
demned by default on the 25th of February last to
6,000 f. fine and three years' imprisonment, was on
Monday sentenced by the Assize Court of the Seine
to six months' imprisonment, and 5,000 f. fine and
costs, for having published seditious articles in his
journal.
PARIS BOURSE, MARCH 26.—LATEST
Five per Cents., 89f. 85c. ; Three per Cents., 5.5 r.
40c.; Bank of France, 2,175 f.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE

LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE. MAR-C-11 26.
-

Boulogne and Amiens, 614 —East -Indi;;;;si/2-71,uxem-
bourg, I%—Northern of France, 12—Orleans and Bordeaux,
214—Rouen and Havre. 84.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 21st have arrived.
The Herald() states, after the oflicial,journal of the
province of Granada, that extensive gold deposits had
been discovered in that province, and a considerable
quantity of gold obtained from them. The accounts
given are in fact almost as marvellous as some of
those from California. All the inhabitants of
a village called Huetot had proceeded to the " dig-
gings."

- The Prince and Princess DE JOINVILLE, who are
at Seville, will not visit Madrid. They go from
Seville to Granada and Malaga, and from thence to
Cadiz, whence they embark for England.
MADRID BOLSA, MARCH 21.—Three per Cents.,
28 13-16 ; Five per Cents., 12} both paper. Ex-
change on London, 50 25.