The Sun.
London, England, 1819-04-10 00:00:00

FOR

THOUGHTS ON THE PROPOIED EQUALIZATION
OF PARLI ANI ENTARY QUA LIFIC ATIONS.
R . EDlTOR—Occupied as the Houses of Par-

limn( ul "e in to by with concet lig of lie a eates;

impftrt.nce, it would appear to tHe not merely
rolgatory, but as sa%oring of the highest absur
ditv, th it their valuable time should be expended
in framing a new la a+ for the Equalization of Qtm•
lifif•atitots tur seats in the Lower flume ; when
it .s well known that such (hr the amount more
o es-) are to be had by any one who obtains a
se .1, a 3 a Mt' re matter of course. The qualified-
Volt is,lent with the Borough if purchased, or to
be had of any friend fur the purpose of temporary
accommodation, upoto the honour of the party ac-
commodated, to return the saute the moment the

purpose shall have been answered.
I do not deny the propriety of equalizing Qiut-
lifications throughout every portion of the Empire,
sending Deputies to l'arliament ; but then such
qualifications should be teal ones, and not a mere
mockery of the law, to be lent one day for the
purpose of enabling the Member to take the oaths,
and then to be immediately returned to the real
proprietor. A short pamphlet was published two
or three years since, entitled " Reform, without
Innovation," which sets this matter in a clear

point of view, and to Which reference might be
Lad by any party taking an interest in the ques-
tion. The purport was to show the perfect inuti-
lity of qualifications under existing circumstances,
and to propose a register of the same, by which
the property constituting the qualification should
remain vested in the Member who gives it in upon
oath, and be always attachable by any fair credi-
tor. When reduced by legal judgment below the
amount required for the-qualification, the Member
should have three months' notice of the same, and
his seat at the end of that term be ipso facto va-
cated, in case the deficiency of qualification were
pot (My supplied.

This would be at once an honourable and a

conscientious adherence to the oath taken, and

not a mere Equivocal evasion, as the case at pre-
sent sands ; for how can a man honourably and
conscientiously finest that he is possessed of 3001.
or 6001. per annum, beyond all reprisals, when
he knows that he only possesses such property for
a day, or an hour, to answer the purpose of the
mouttnt, and then re-assign it to the real Pro-
prietor ?

, h is now urged, and with some appearance of
crush, that the Lower House is occasionally ren-
dered an asylum for embarrassed and unprincipled
debtors, who have no option but that of a seat in
Parliament, or one in the King's Bench. Very
glaring instances of the truth of this assertion have
occurred of late yenta. In one of public notoriety
the party gave a ,thousand pounds for a tempo-
rary seat of six weeks, an interval which he em-
ployed in making his arrangements, and then de-
parted tor one of the Colonies, I think Jamaica,
leaving debts behind him to the amount of 30,0001.

Even in the course of this Session, a question
was raised whether an imprisoned Member were
eligible, which being decided in the affirmative,
that Member was transferred from a seat in one
of the Prisons of the Metropolis, to one on the
Bench of British Rep►esentatives.
Two objections have been raised in argument
against any propOsal of this description, which 1
conceive may be easily removed. The one
thAt so small a qualification as one of 3001. or
6001 per annum could not exempt a man from the
infinence of corruption, but would leave him just
as open to tunptations held out, as be could be
without any qualification at all; but, were the
tvri•et'a plan carried into full effect, very different
conc!ticiOltS .Wollld follow from it. For then no

niAn indebied a single guinea to any fair creditor,
who :e demands he was unable to satisfy, could
enjoy the benefit of his seat, without thatcredi-
tor's concurrence, as he, the creditor, would he
elkvAys ati!e to proceed to judgment, and copse-
quently.reduce the qualification below its legal
ahlowit. Were that *mount 3001. or 1001. per
annum, the difference would be none ; the Mem-
ber must possess his qualification at all times,
clear of teprisali, and that qualification being
registered, would be always as a mark to shoot
at, 'awl most effectushly obviate any evasion of
the Nlember's oath.

The other ohject.ion stands founded on very
different grounds, yet, in the writer's humble
n►eut, to he met with equal facility. It is,
that were the qualification laws strictly enforced,
n►any rising geniuses night be nips in the bud,
told prevented frnm entering on the Parliamen-

tart'' career, in which alone pre-eminent abilities
Cmdfl tilid (heir proper market. Messrs. PITT,

THE SUN.

110LUM—Q1,is ',MERE FALSUM AUDEAT ?

LONDON,
SATUIZDAY, APRIL 10, 1819.

tie received this morning the Paris Papers of
Wednesday last. We lament to observe in them
having been set on font
the report of a con piracy
at Mantua, to dispatch the Emperor of AUSTRIA
by means of poison, which, it is added, was only
discovered half an hour before it was to have
been carded into execution. It has lately been

mentioned, that a Secret Society exists in Italy
under the title of Caxbonari, consisting of a great
number of members in different parts of the coun-
try, whose object is to destroy all the Sovereigns
who hold dominion in Italy, and to overturn all
the Italian Governments for the purpose of esta-
blishing one system of rule for the whole
of that territory. To this Society the con-
spiracy alluded to is attributed, and a great
number of Members of that Sect (as it is called)
have in consequence been arrested. Our Readers
would also have observed, that the assassination
of the unfortunate KOTZEBUE was likewise attri-
buted to the machinations of a Secret Society in
Germany, the objects of which are precisely si-
-milar to those of the Carbonari in Italy—
Revolation, nothing but revolution—bringing
with it, as. unhappily it is proved in letters of
blood, not only a contempt for ail the moral and
social duties of life, but the entire up rooting of
all the great principles of religion and moral Go-
vernment, of all the ties that bind men together
in the links of amity and good offices, and sub-
stituting for these real advantages the worst of
all possible tyrannies, the tyranny of abstract
principles, with the destitution of all feeling.
The following are extracts :

" CHAMBER OF PEEM, TUESDAY, APRIL 6.

" Marshal. the Count Jourdan, one of the new
Peers, was (the necessary documents having been
verified) ordered to be admitted.
" The Report of the Special Committee was
received on the projet for opening Auxiliary
Books in the Departments, for the transfer of five
per cents., and the discussion postponed for a
week.

" The Marquess de Marbois developed his pro-
position for praying his Majesty to propose a pro-
jet for, tobstituting some other punishment for
Deportation.—Ordered to be plinked and distri-
buted.—Adjourned till Tuesday next.

" CHAMBER. OF DEPUTIES.
" M. Benjamin Constant took the oaths and

Liis seat.

" The discussion was resumed on the Tobacco
Projet.- M. roteau trliaacardefie, N. de Saiutc

Aldegonde, and M. Kern, supported the limited
monopo'y proposed by the Committee, and the
Count Beugnot and M. Jard Panvilliers the ori-
ginal Projet.
" The discussion was adjourned till to-morrow.

PARIS, APRIL '/".—Ycsterday the King re.
ecived the Ambassadors and Foreign Ministers.
His Majesty afterwards transacted business with
the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
" The King, it is said, removes to St. Cloud
the beginning of May, and remains there till
Angus%

" Letters received yesterday from Italy
state, that a conspiracy bad been discovered
at Mantua, the object of which was, to put an
end by poison to the lite of an august traveller
now in that quarter. A great number of persons
of the Sect of Carbonari have in consequence
been arrested. It appears according to these
letters, that the conspiracy was only discovered
half an hour previous to the period when it was
to be attempted to be carried into execution. This
intelligence certainly wants confirmation, but it
is circulated with great confidence, and obtains
credit.

" According to fresh reports in circulation at
Nfanheim, respecting the assassin •tion of Kotze-
bue, five young men were the deputies, chosen by
lot, in five different towns, to execu►e this fatal mis-
sion, and they, assembled at Erlangen, in order to
choose from amongst them the individual who
was to be finally employed to effect the assas-

sination.

".Lord Whitworth had a private audience of
the King on Monday, and yesterday accompanied
to Court the English Ambassador.

" The Persian Ambassador is.expected to set
out after Easter. His Excellency, it is believed,
will have an audience of the King before his de-

parture.

FIVE PER CENTS.

Tuesday ... . 66 f. 90 c.

DEFPRRED STOCK
Of the 22d March, 1817, 84 f. 10 c.
22d Sept. 1817,
5241 March, 1818, YO f. 10 c.
22d Sept._ 1818, —
22d March, 1819, 76f. 2:5c.

"BERLIN, MARCH 26.—There is a report here
that the King intends to take a journey to Italy.
" It is also said, that his Majesty intends to
issue an edict for establishing by law the entire
liberty of the press."

By accounts frohi Spain, which we have jult
received, we understand that the Expedition from
Cadiz is certainly to go immediately. The Count
of Aistsaat., distinguished during the Peninsula
War, as a Patriot, a Regent, and a General„ was
expected at Madrid to receive his final instruc-
tions, and to take his leave of the KING. From
our knowledge of this Officer's talents, character,
and habits, we do not hesitate to believe, that
had he been prevailed on to go with the Expedition
which General MORILLO commanded from Cadiz
in 1815, the Affairs' in South America would
have worn a very different 'aspect at this moment.
But after all, the hopes of Spain, however she
may defy us by such acts as the cession of the Flo-
ridas, can only rest on the neutrality of Eng-
land, and the differences between the Insurgent
Leaders, and various pretensions of the Insurgents
themselves. Spain sadly complains of tl►e
viru-
lent and low abuse used by some London Prints
against her Sovereign and her Government ; and
it would, perhips, not be too much to suppose
that the Floridas were ceded in moments of angry
resentment. We only want, Sir (said the Prime
Minister of Spain the other day), that the English
Newspapers should represent the real state of our
differences in South America ; but many of their
statements are gross, injurious, false, and ridi-
culous.

The Marquess of CASA lauso is a practical and
fair-man ; he has seen England, he can at least
estimate her power, and he Is disposed to respect
and conciliate it.—The people of Spain are de-
cidedly English—how different do they feel, and
speak, and act, from those of France.—lf Spain
commits errors, they are the errors of her Go-
vernment, of her Head—but, body and soul, she
is grateful to this Country—and we verily be-
lieve • it would be. impossible„ even by the
powerful engines of her faith and devo,
tion, or her proverbial attachment to her King,
to stir them to an act of hostility to their, Allies.
These People do draw a line between what Eng-
land intended to give them, and what they have
got, and to the letter of the meaning take the
for the Deed. Such being the inclination of
the ►Minister and the disposition of the People,
could not an effort at least be made to re-
claim .the King ? The first step to it must be to
re-establish the British tone at the Palace
of Madrid, which has for some time yield-
ed to the powerful voice of Russia. lii closing
this subject for the moment, we take occasion to

admire the skill with which Sir CnAlO.l3
STUART manages this particular branch 01 big
business at the Court of Louts the Eighteenth.

This morning we received Boston Papers, three
days later than the former arrival.
(From the Boston Centinel qf the 10th Hareh
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MArscu
OCCUPATION OF-THE FLORIDAS.--The Bill 011
this subject was ordered to be re-engrossed. IEI
a debate on it, Mr. CLAY retrial ked, reTecting the
Spanish Claims, that it the claimants got their
principal, they would do very well.
THE SLAVE TRADE.—The Bill to prohibit t"
Slave Trade passed to be engrossed. The 1011°`".
ing section was added :
"That every person who shall import into the
United States, or knowingly aid or abet the irir
portation into the United States, of any African
Negro, or other person, with intent to sell or 09.
such Negro, or other person so to be imported'
as a , slave, or shall purchase any such slate'
knowing him or ber to be thus imported, sbilii
on conviction'thereof in any Circuit Court of the

,United States, be punished by death."
„TATE/
LAST DAY OF THE SESSION—IN THE

3d OF MARCH.
The Bill from the House, fixing on the se'
cond Monday. of November for the next Meetiugi
of Congress, was indefinitely postponed. The °llt
authorising the establishment of a Provision°
Government of Florida passed.—(lt has bec°llls
a law.)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCHS'
Me"' A,
The Bill from the Senate, changing the
of disposing of the Public Lands, was debated'
but there. was not time to complete it. to
The Bills concerning Invalid Pensioners ;
d t
establish certain Post Roads ; and to amen;
Act incorporating the Subscribers to the Battle
of the United States—have all beCome Laws•
At a late hour both Houses of Congress
journed sine die.
; c
The Public Meeting of the Roman Catholics
Liverpool, a few days since, has excited ther-'
and in other plus of Lancashire, great atitenden:
and the Protestants of various denorninad°
throughout that populous Duchy are not it
w re
said, determined to petition the Legislatu
against the admission of the Papists to the P°s;
session of POLITICAL POWER; whilst the Rtjal6..p
Catholic Dinner, which is to be shortly
more of tbeir%
City of London, is another ins
ticipation of a successful issue of this thseartitho
and we believe it is the first public dinner ilia
kind ever held; in the Metrop
held in toP,

The Newspapersvocation it was' s°l°
whose
years since, to point out to their Readers tife(11411111
gers to which the Country will be liable bi
t'•4
admission of the Papists into the Legislature
to the possession of Judicial and High(°cish
wh
Situations, are now silent on the inrOada ic
of
are attempting to be Made on the Constitution
the Country in Church and State, and °" tbiefire'
St
isitgriaoituists
Ltoibwelritiycila,
‘`vciltihebeFiriiaetn)ltels, of Civil a""
present used by the ci. deva' nt Whiigta:l,l)"%eti:)o7llo4)6
Old Aristocracy, -and a few rich
man Catholic Families, are successful. • 1,1
The bold and assuming attitude take" .fig
is
pro'
adherents of the Catholic Question
testants, who, up
and convincing proof of theliberality of the
_e to
hold Public Meetings in opposition to
leadtbe,i'' to
crisis has arisen when forbearance Will ad
to this period, have forburilo.
sacrifice of great Constitutional rinelPleg'iteli•
gion will, by the loss of them, be
the tolerated and mild spirit of Our Holy
altogeill'er
and powerful It
ent
r
troulable by the INTOLERANCE of the :
which will prevail when-, the Papists Weill- -
as
gislators of Great Britain. ,
We have not been accustomed to use ti" f lb.
guage of complaint, or to entertain fears of
t 1
decay of the influence; spirit, awl rwel:,:istia
under -
_ego
Nation ; yet we cannot refrain,
we lalP,,
circumstances, from observing, 1-" t
thethe Gapotehiy.rttehtitctil, nisotsio'enwlynobnyrlCY2l•:beirviti:
61"
tion, but on other subjects of general at''
importance to the Empire. The tote l csr,); JO'
of the independence of our faithful Allies, t`tocji
dians of the Continent of Ametica, o°lrrltbs
Mg the stipulations of the Treaty of Ghent' 3°,40/
the Cr%otel
previous Treaties between them atol
the .abandonment of the/ Fisheries on the 5
coo
of the Labrador, in the Gulf of Saint 1,0.
and Newfoundland—the surrender of the 191811)e
whole ok it
in the Bay of Fundy, and of the
tt
North-West Coast of A Medea to the
(11-/11.
110,1
States, with the other I3oundaries whicl)
them from the King's Colonies on
that C"; 10
nent—all conspire to excite tears in
our (#
to the injurious effect they will -have on
lifical and commercial interests of the Coo l I'o,
The negociation for the surrender of th,
rictus by Spain to the United States, as n