The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-17 00:00:00

able, in the present state of things, to' negotiate
more loans in England wherewith to meet dividend's;
wn should think that quite out of the ,question.
We have till along said that the time, was fast
approaching when nit more loans for the Con-
tineot ersidd be raised—that dividends would cease
being paid, mid then what will the Securities be
good for ? France, by the late accounts, appears to
be in a dileinitia with respect to her finances-
-200,0001000 francs deficient, which is equal to
about 8,000,0004 sterling—sit tolerably large sum
for France, whose Debt dots not exceed 200,000,0001.
sterling. But with such a deficit as this staring M.
VilHe in the face soma time since, what could have
induced him to think that he could carry the project
into effeet of turning. the French Five per Cent,
Annuities into Three per Cent, Antalitles?
Though the ltrenvh CioVerniiient will meet this de-
fieit halt of Royal Bonds, which are the
samti thing: es promissory notes, payable at an inde
finite time with interest; yet those Royal Bonds,
like our Exchequer Bills, must be at last what is
called funded—that is, a new debt to the amount of
the deficit must be tittered in the National book of
Frantel and new taxes laid on the people to meet
the interest of such new debt to the amount of.nearly
half a million a year. We should not be surprised if
the Bourbons were making a nest egg, to make use of.
a familiar expression, to priivlde fur such another ac-
cident taking plate Its a Revolution, Well, who
could titanic them if they were ? Thefinancial situa-
tion, however, of all Europe appeara to be in a very
bad state ; and, should the war with the Russians
and the Turks lead to a general war, a break up of the
Continental Annuity system, and the taxing system
to sieoport it, would inevitably take place. Even
we should not he exempt from the general fete
though, as 1)r. Johnson, or some one else, said, an
Act of Parliament could easily reduce. the stint to
be paid to annuitants. To this, there can be no doubt,
our debt will come at last. But everybody says
they hope it will not happen in their time: Every-
body wishes to put off the evil day to those who
are to come after. That the various securities do
not fall more than they have done is rather singular;
but the fall will not take place, in any great degree,
till more loani are called for by our Government,
that of Fiance, Russia, Austria, Denmark, Naples,
&c. &c., or till we receive the account of war having
commenced between Russia and Turkey, and sail-
ings of ships, and the conveyance of troops on our
part and on that of France, then, we think, the
Continental Securities will decline, though gradually,
in value.—lbitl.
The Penryn Disfranchisement Bill was read a
second time last night. The experiments which
have lately been made with the never-failing key—
money, in the way of entering a number of places
long deemed to be closely dependent on particular
familles,'have opened the eyes of the great families
of this country to the evils of bungling bribery. hlr.
D. Barclay last night very naively obserVed, " the
fact was, that, Penryn formerly was a close Borough
es close as Knaresbormigh, Old Sarum, Appleby and
a hundred others; the two Members were returned
by two Baronets, each elector regularly receiving 12
guineas for his vote. In 1807 an attempt was made to
open the Borough, and it then run considerable risk of
disfranchisement. In 1818 the same danger was in-
curred." In fact, the cause of complaint is not the ,
bribery, but the openeess ; the circiimstance of t Bp- ,
rough being at the command of any purchaser in the I
market, and not vendible only to particular classes.
In the Parliamentary Review for 18244, there is
an artitie on the subject of Constitutional Legislation,
in which the pretexts of the House are exposed in a
very masterly manner. " The object of the shaken- '
ehisement, as they say (observes the writer), is to '
prevent bribery. The real object, as the course of
the proceedings dettares, is to prevent the discredit
attic House, and to prevent Parliamentary Reform.
It is not calculated—no, not in the slightest degree,
for the attainment of either of those objects. - • •
What, then, is the genuine 'effect of the operation?
Thar, we think, sufficiently appears upon the face
of it. "So long and as often as this same bribery
remains in a certain degree latent; or, to speak more
correctly, so long. es it exhibits only. such and such
signs of its existence, not certain other peculiar signs
—though such last signs are not in the least degree
more perfect evidence of its existence than the former
—so long no disfranchisement is required ; so long no
call upon the attention of the House at all exists. The
consequence is inevitable ; it is not bribery that is
punished by disfranchisement of the devoted Borough
:---the scupe-goat of the Constitution: Publicity is
the critne. The defect of the concealment the
imperfection of the framl is the object of ,
the punishment. But punishment of imper-
feet fraud is by consequence a premium
upon the perfect. Such is the morality of
electioneering legislation ! Exjferience fully displays,
the natural consequence. The practice of penish-
ing awkward fraud has had its proper effect in im-
proving the art.. There is no such complicated
scheme of perfidy: exemplified in the whole field of
human 'depravity, as exists in she electioneering
traffic of Englund, and is shared in, without the
slightest scruple, -by two-thirds of the Members of
both Houses of Parliament. And these are the
men who are shocked at the immorality of secret
voting."—MOraing Chronicle.
We were sure that the number of Dissenters in
this country was very much underrated in the House
of Commons, on the first dismission on the proposed
'Repeal of the 'Pest and Corporation Acts ; and we
have since made inquiries, in quarters in which ac-
curate information on the subject is possessed. The
various sects know pretty accurately the numbers
of the different congregations belitting to thcun
throughout the country ; and those, therefore, who,
taking ts leading part in, the management of the
affuirs of the:Dissenters, possess the means of ascer-
taining, with tolerable exuetness, the number of the
Dissenting Bodies of all. descriptions. WO have
been assured by a gentleman-of the highest respecta-
bility, who has long interested himself much in the af-
fairs of the Dissenters, that, according to the latest
accounts, the numbers of Dissenters in. Great Britain,
including the Scotch Presbyterians in both kingdoms,
amounts to ten 'Millions of souls. It would appear,
therefore, that without including the Catholics or
Irish Presbyterians, the Dissenters are to the Non-
Dissenters (for all who are not Dissenters are not
Churchmen) as two to one. Including the Irish
Catholics, the Separatists are more than three to
one. It is certain that the proportions were
very different about the beginning of the war
of the French Revolution: 'Since that period,
Chapels have sprung up in every direction; nn4
even m small agricultural parishes there arc often
two or three Chapels. What will, this at last come
to ? The Chtireh ought, indeed, to. pacify the Dis-
senters in time; for these comparisons are indeed
Loril Lansdowne presented last night a, petition
from the Medical and Surgical Society of Wont's.
tershire, complaining that, from the circumstances
under which they were placed, they suffered 'from
the absence of all means of procuring bodies for
dissection. As the law now stood, they said, a
nosu fault
tt
off'
might
own ;ar
tbe cttllecil on to answer for what was
d while_he was debarred of
the means of study, he wits made professionally
liable for accidents and injuries arising from igno-
' ranee which lie could not help, and which was the
,result of , that embarrassment the profession, suffered
in obtaining: the means of instruction. His lords
ship, observed, " it was not his opinion that it
was not possible to. find out some means of giv-
ing relief to these professional wants and sup-
plying the professional demand; and he was pre7
pored to state that it was not impossible, as he knew
from Mt itybrmatiou lie acquired in the ece he
had latelyfted." We have great faith in the old
proverb, " Where there is a will there is a way,"
and we have always believed that if Mr. Peel, or
tiny other Minister filling the office of Home Secres
tars', considered the improveinent of anatomical' sci.
ence, and the alleviation of the sufferings of their
fellow-creatures, worthy of a moment's regard, he
could easily r‘figne the difficulties in the way of