The Sun.
London, England, 1818-04-27 00:00:00

PRIVATE AND AUTHENTIC CORRESPONDENCE.

We received yesterday the Pal is Papers of
Thursday last. Those of Friday, which were due
this morning, have not come to hand. The Cham-
ber of Deputies continued to be occupied with
the Budget. On Wednesday, they proceeded to
vote further sums for the expences'of the res-
pective Ministerial Departments. On the article
respecting the Ministry of Justice, a long digres-
sion took place respecting the affairs of Lyons.
It was affirmed on the one side and denied on the
other, that there had been a dreadful conspiracy
at Lyons, but no new light was thrown upon the
actual state of that city. Respecting the ex-
Fences of the Ministry of Finance, a long discus-
sion took place, chiefly technical, in the midst of
which, the dinner hour having arrived, the Cham-
ber adjourned till Thursday. •
One of the Journals says—" A Letter from
Frankfort, of the 18th April, announces that the
marriage of her Highnetis MARIA LOUISA VIC-
TORIA, Princess of Linange, Princess by birth of
Saxe Coburg!) Saalfeldt, with his Royal Highness
the Duke of KENT, is at length determined upon.
The Pt ivy Councillor, the Baron (le SCHAIITZ, set
out on the 17th for Stutgarel, to concert measures
upon this subjecf. with the English Minister who
resides.in that city."

An afftay recently took place at Marseilles
be-
,tt'teen some seamen belonging to. an Austrian
vessel in the harbour and some of the inhabitants
of that city, in which one of the latter was killed.
The seamen have been in consequence taken into
custody.

The Emperor of AUSTRIA, it is said, in the
course of his journey, means to establish some
new commercial regulations in his provinces on
the Adriatic.

The Decree of the Spanish Government respect-
ing the Public Debt was published on the 9th in-
stant. The chief feature of it is what is called
the consolidation of the Royal Va;es, or Govern-'
ment Paper in circulation, by placing to account
One-third only of the nominal value, and allow-
ing four per cent. interest upon this reduced capi-
tal. The remaining amount of the Royal Vales
thus consolidated not to bear any interest, but
to have a contingency of succeeding the former
Vales at interest upon their being extinguished.
A third class of Vales are only to be paid inte-

rest when the Government possesses the means.
Elie whole object of the Decree is, in point of
I act, and in the present state of the Spanish
finance, to reduce the Public Debt by a mere
stroke of the pen to one,third of its amount.

FIVE PER CENtS.

Tuesday..... •
Wednesday.

67 f. 70 c.
67 f. 90 c.

PARIS, APRIL 21.—1 t is painful to see hew fre-
quently the most serious matters are treated with
levity in the Chamber of Deputies, and vice versa.
M. de Puvraoeue had the happy idea of propos-
ing, in the Sittings of the 1 Sth, a Stamp Duty on
all small pamphlets ; this created a great rumour
in the House, yet, in the present state of France,
nothing was more reasonable. But M. BEUGNOT,
who has become a most doughty champion for
the Liberty of the Press, since be is no longer at
the head of the Police, exclaimed, that it was
intended to put new shackles upon it, that the
measure proposed would not only fall upon poli-
tical pamphlets, but also on the productions of the
learned, published periodically, &c. &c. The
measure would no doubt diminish the number of
political pamphlets ; but where would be the
harm ? The facility of printing at a low price,
induces a number of school-boys, without know-
ledge or talent, to essay to be literary characters.
They take on themselves to defend the most ex-
travagant opinions, and decide as Doctors on the
profoundest political questions, without having
the least knowledge of the subject or of mankind;
hence this prodigious quantity of contemptible
writings with which Paris is inundated. The
evil is great, but not where it is generally sup-
posed to lie. These writings, devoid of wit and
art, do not act on public opinion, nor in the least
compromise the safety of the State, or even its
tranquillity. The Printers and Booksellers accept
indiscriminately all that is presented to them, and
a trifling profit is the salary of these beardless poli-
ticians, who, for the pleasure of printing nonsense,
and being stiled men of letters, neglect all serious
study, and renounce useful professions. It is-
therefore for the interest of families, which is in-
timately connected with that of society, that M.
PUYMORIN'S proposal merited attention, as well
as for the interest of literature. There can be no
_doubt that this shoal of .pamphlets, in which the
French language and common sense are equally
outraged, will contribute to corrupt the taste, and
thus be a real injury to letters. I can scarcely
fancy that it is in favour of such productions that
M. Bsuowyr wishes 'minting to be at a low price,
for as to those which possess real merit, it is not the
augmentation of a farthing or a halfpenny a sheet
that will prevent the sale of a work ; stamped or
not stamped, the pamphlets of CONSTANT, CHA.•
TEAUBRIANT, BENABEN, &C. will always find nu-
merous purchasers. Besides, the measure propos-
ed is a guarantee to the public, and a means of
assuring the sale of pamAlets worth the printing,
paper, and stamp duty. It being well understood
that this 'condition of a stamp duty shall not
bring in its train the Censorship, the fear of in-
juring the publication of small works on the
Sciences, the Arts, &c. has no foundation. There
are scarcely any publications of this kind that do
not receive great encouragement from the French
Government, either in pensions, indemnities, or
in subscribing for a large number of copies. The
measure, therefore, is without any inconveniences,
and presents great advantages ; but even did it
press hard in some particular cases, an exception
ought to have no effect on a general rule. In
England, pamphlets are subject to a duty of 2d.
per sheet ; yet the most violent defenders of an
unlimited liberty of the Press do not complain of
it. The fact is, we have an old experience of our
rights, but the French are as yet only chihh en in
legislation, and are frightened at phantoms created
by their own imaginations. The proposal of M.
Puymmtt4 has bee❑ referred to the examination
.of the commissimr ; hence we may expect its far-
ther discussion.

PARIS, APRIL 22.—1 have not yet mentioned the
trial of FIEYEE, there is no doubt of its being an
evil-disposed work ; there is but one opinion on
the subject, but ought he to have been tried for
it 1 1 think not ; the work is brilliant in wit, but
feeble, and even false, in reasoning; tiresome to
read, because perpetual attempts at wii but ill
supply the want of good sense. The work ought
to have been suffered to die a natural death ; but
the officers of the tribunals thought otherwise, and
have given a prodigious vogue to a paltry pro-
duction, the author of which they cannot punish ,
but these Gentlemen possess more zeal than know-
ledge, they know nothing of sound and enlight-
ened policy, and they know not how to discrimi-
nate between what should be tolerated and what
proscribed, in abuses of the Press.

In the audience of the Iltb FIEVEB was ridicu-
lous, through excess of impudence ; he got into a
passion, and his fatuity, which never abandons
him, revolted the whole Court. In that of the
18th he was more calm and firm, and, no longer
trusting to his oratorical powers, he read a long
discourse, pretty well and ingeniously written,
but, as usual, full of paradoxes. According to
him Governments maintain themselves only by