The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-22 00:00:00

SPANISH AMNESTY..

The Royal Pardon, dated the 24:h OF February;
tibia') the KING of SPAIN proditiriled on the oc-
casion o the double marriage of himself and his
brother Don Carlos with the infanta's- of P .rto.
gal, to all criminals who were Imp isoned is
Spain oi► charges short of high treason) murder,
forgery, arson, blasphemy, perjury, Btc. has been
extended to his American dOminioni, according
. .
to its original provisions, and with additional
clauieS, and was published by the Authorities iu
Caraceas on the 20th of September last.
article in the clauses-of the original proclamation,
applied to the foreign possessions of his Majesty;
held out the Royal indulgence to all persons cOn-
fined for the crime 'of ininrreel'ion, whether pro-
ceeded against or not, whether present or absent,
provided that crime was committed anterior to
its publication. The Authorities in the Caraccas,
to prevemt all doubt, and to remove all 01)561-
rity on a point so important, add the follow-
ing interpretation of the Royal elethency
, That the pardon whichhis Majesty graiits
to those guilty of insurrection being gene-
ral and without any limitation whatever, these
shall he Comprehended in it and enjoy
benefits, all persons implicated in revolu-
tions anterior to its publication, whatever may
have been their speeches car their actions, sinless
time be -seine other cause for their detention
than their insurrectionary conduct.
2. For the same reason, those shall remain free
and unmolested who remain in the province with-
out having been incarcerated.
3. That tie restriction of the Royal pardon,
with a 'reference to former provincial laws, shall
be literally 'observed, only sending to Spain such
pardoned persons as may be thought dangerous to
the tranquillity of the provinces by remaining in
them.

The 4tlx

The fourth article regards the mode in which
the claims of delinquents to pardon shall be
ascertained.
5. Six months are allowed to those who have
fled to foreign countries to return and share the
Royal clemency.
6. The property that had been confiscated on
account of rebellion shall be restored to its owners
on their acceptance of the Royal p4l chin.

7. An pending prusecutions shah cease, and
not he reness'c►l.

S. This proclamation and explanation shall be
published with the greatest so!emnity in the ca-
pital, and towns or the province, and the neigh-
bouring colonies, &c.
Signed by the Authorities of the Caraceas, Sept. Co, 1817.

Yesterday a Court of Dire toes was held t the
East India-Honse, when the following Com-
manders took leave of the Court ptevions to de-
p►arting for their respective destination!, viz. :
Captain M. Hamilton, thinira, and Captain It
A. Ditunmond, Castle 11111411 y, for Ben;!al and
China ; Captain IV. Campbell, London, and Cap-
tain E. Ralston. Princess Amclia, for Madras and
China. The ship Perseverance, of 1200 tons,
was taken up for one vo)age in the Company's
service.

HUNTING ExznA.---,A bag fox was turned out,
on Saturday last, before the East Essex Fox
hounds, near Troy's Wood: At this moment
the Chace received the addition at Mc.-Dowiszs,
a Gentleman of fortune, well known in the
1-lertfoidshire Hunt, and his Lady. -Mrs.
DOWNEs was mounted on a very fide hunter, and
sheaved great courage in her leaps, and much
ability in the management of her horse. AC
Bishop's Mill Wood, in Muth Leigh s, the hounds
experienced a short check. Airs. Dow NES'S horn
tell by some accident, and the Ludy was thrown.
A Gentleman close at hand assisted her in re-
mounting. At the same moment the fox again
broke cover, when Mrs DowNu was obsetveci
"to lead the field, top the barr'd gate,
O'er the deep ditch exulting bound, and brush
The thorny twining hedges,''— _

keeping. close with the-hounds, And leaving twiny
gentlemen in the rear, and was well up to receive
the brush, which was instantly placed in tbe
front of her horse's head,

A YonKsmas cause c:►tne on to be
tried a few Circuits back at the York Assizes, in
which the defendant had noth;og to say against a,
verdict in favour of the Iclaintifl.
The Attorney,
however, was to be paid, anti the Counsel to be
feed, but to neither could the full quantum be due
without a lit lel.. A Btief was accordine,ly drawn,
and presented to the Counsel, worded as fol-
lows t--`‘ We have no defence to this action, but
please to abuse the Attorney on the opposite side."

For some time past one Mark Kingston and
Edward Peacock, two coal.porters, working at
the wharf the bottom of Water-lane, Fleet-street,
have been paying their addresses to a young
widow, the wife of a brother workman deceased.
She pail) attention to boGi, declaring .she did not
know which she liked best, but she could have but
one, according to the laws of matrimony : hut,
if they would take a chance who vilOuld be the
happy mail between them, ebe would be agreeable.
They accordingly agreed to fight, which battle
took place on Friday last on the Coal AVhart.
when, after a struggle of 13 rounds, victory was
declared in favour of Mark Kingston, who went
orf in great triumph to see the young widow.—
They are to be asked three times in church, and
to be married on Shrove Monday.

FiRE.--The prem;ses of J. N. EIRLRY, Esti,
n • r i i~Ylefield Inclosure, Surrey, ‘‘ ere cite
tire on Nionday night, which vi as oe••asioned hy
beam in the laundry flue taking fire, The inte-
rior ot, the house, which was ncUi, and had re-
ceti ly been purchased by the owner, and it e
greater part of the furniture, was destroyed, Ore
tiawrs being so rapid, that the inmates hod to
look first for self-protection.

EWERS

Ai we totve dri en the rotent,on of the Public

thr Incm/poly a the FRS. am!

the -mbitrAry ‘vijr.li they as line fixifliz

Its! it OWN on a DF:TFIIIorNTI-D BEVERAGE,

to lie great ioinrst of the oliddliog awl lo,\ er

dq'ces of tire community, eve decni it our ditty to
ir=ert the ft iio ink exrract from Tilt? IIEroRT of

POLICE C"MMITTEE of last year, as it con-
tains the sentiments of the Gentleman who is
tmderstond to have caned the treetin!z for Mondly

n 011 t',ii intetectina sobi-rt. and qngaests
Ih . emedv ior the removal Of Hil intolerabk
iet a-re which has too lona been cuircreti to
exist, and whi;•h'io forcihist demands the inter-
. po,i'ion of Government

‘` As yon Ibave-given a good deal ofattention'to the
sohlistt of r he licts.cin,! laws,what appear to von to
he the chief detects of the present system ?--I have
flows:lit otheln on the subject of public-house its
cenci • and regolstioir, and have conceived seve-
ral modes of modi!ving .the present system of
I:cencint: so as to mend it ; but we have alre.rdy
rebuilt twenty Arts of Parl;ament on the subject,
• and all 'hat has come of the patchwork is to pro-
• three a climax of error. I think the system is
essentiAlly the very worst which man's evil genius.
coold have slevisrd. The only use of it that I
could ryes discover, was to raise and preserve mo-
pubtic interest, to put money
into the pockets of individuals, to promote hard
drinking, and to prwect disorderly boost's. Ir
does !hat which the Legislature ought never to
it endows certain men with the privilege
of forbidding competition in the supply of victuals;
and it leaves tondone that which 1 think it is
the bounden duty of the Legislature to provide,
viz. wholesome regulitions to di:courage, and
prompt remedies to correct, drunkenness, obsce-
nity, and other disorders. What but public and
private wrongs can be expected of such a system ?
So long as particular. sets of men are privileged to
limit to particsdarperions and places the supply of
a necessary of life, corrupt connections and mono-
polies will be formed to the injury of the public.
So long as such persons m ty uphold ot: put down
•Victu iline houses at pleasure, the worst houses
will find supporters, and the best lie insecure of
`protertion ; so long Iss this money-making and
uncontronlable power is vested in Justices of the
Peace, sordid and tyrannical men will struggle to
'get in, and often still succeed iii getting into the
Commission, and the office will be one of suspi-
cion, with the public Then as to the use of the
system for suppressing disorders. Strong and un-
constitutional as it is, agair.st the property of in-
dividuals, a.id against the interest of 'be public, it.
is impotence itself for the object of keeping poblic- •
houses in order; if, firr instance, bad practices
prevail in October, the cognizance of them is de-
ferrtd until the 'next September ; by that time,
.the victualler has learnt bow to make his peace,
or at worst, he shifts the occupation to a new -
tenant just before the licencing day, and there is
an end of the sin; but should the Justices deter-
mine on a strictly severe course, and take away
the licence, the owner of :fie house who tnay have
had the misfortune to'get a had tenant, is punish-
ed for his snisfortune by the deprivation of his pro-
perty, while the transgressor walks off with impu-
nity. Anti how is an" imputed transgression as-
certained ; a fair trial never takes place ; the suf.,
ferer seldom knows who is iris accuser or what is
the accusation; the organ of information is usually
the High Constable, a man who may be said to
he corrupt by virtoe of his office, for lie under-
takeslaborious dirties without any ostensible re-
Near(' ; his remoneration being derived from the
custom of the poldican, whom he•generally holds,
in contributioo lis; setting np mire trade Ora coal-
t,,,,,kkos-; the Ju.tices therefore are liable to be
imposed on by interested and fake information,
and from the manner in which the issuing of li-
-evinces is run through, there is not even- time to
enter into- a proper investigation ; "furthermore,
if the complaint be truly averred,"whether it be
on a trifling halt, or a series of climes, there is
but one measure of punishment, viz. the depriva-
tion of the licence; when sentence is pronounced
tto reason is given,lest the falseness or other bad-
ness of it may be used as a means of arraigning
the judgment ; the sufferer therefore is set adrift,
a rained and perhaps innocent man ; not an ex-
ample lo the world of -retributive justice on a
trausgression of laws, hut the victim of a secret
tribuiral. Sthh are.t he flagrant errors of this sys-
tem even inn good hands ; how much worse it is in
other hands, I need scarcely describe, after the
evidence which has been exhibited before the
Committee ; dens of wickedness, the lurking
places and rallying points of thieves and women
of the worst kind, are upheld in their licences, in
spite Of the remonstrances of the suffering neigh-
bourhoods aroond them, while at the same t=ine
licences are withheld from persons of . faultless
conduct, and in disregard of the evident wants
and annual petitions of large and respectable
neighb rerhoods.

Do you consider the laws subjecting Magis-
trates to au enquiry into their conduct,- in the na-
ture of a criminal information, effectual for the
protection of the public against their acts ?--By
no means; a criminal information is a mere brutum
fulmen ; there have been a few cases, to be sure,
in ‘v±lidi the litencers have committed themselves
the reach of the ; some have gone
open-mouthed to the victuallers, telling them,
that unless they voted for a particular candidate,
they would ruin them by taking away
,their li-
censes, and afterwards taking them away, upon
the victuallers no doing as they were bade ; but
with common caution in abstaining from declar-
ing reasons, it is next to an impossibility legally
to prove a corrupt taw ive ; the greatest inconsist-
e ,ey a-d error 1113 y be wannest, but while these
are capable of explanation as errors of judgment,
the law will lint visit them as sins of the 'heart ;
besidei, a man ruined or seriously injured by the
withholding of a license, is not in a condition to
go to law with a •Bench of Justices ; and if he
;10es, and succeeds in convicting them, he can get
no rtliel for himself; all that be can procure is a
puilisho,eut for his oppressors.
What powers strike you to be necessary for

the better protection of individuals and the public,
tt regliil tt► vietualling-!.ooseq?-7—ln the first place%
would subject vic:stiillers to the goverutnent of

laws,. like other tradesmen ; not to the wills of
,00lividitals, who are oftentimes int,rested in de-
stroying their property, on the one hand, or on
the other, in supporting them in the most perni-
ciotis courses : I Would re-admit them withie the
p,le and protection of the Constitution, and at
the same time subject the exercise of their trade
• to legal guards., fur the preservation of public mo-
rals : I would prohibit the victualler from:supply-
ing liquor on his premises to
.any person
intoxicated, or acting in any way disorderly, or
to 'routed thieves; and I would furnish him with
the powers of a peace officer, to take any one
mi,liehaving on his premises ioto custody ;
would place before his eyrs full and clear regula-
tions for his guidance, and subject the breach of
them to penaltieS (quickly recoverable) propor-
tioned to the offence ; and further; upon the ver-
dict of a Jury, to tie forteitine of his licence : to
discourage the setting up of houses where there
may not be a good prospect of a trade, without
descending to bad means: I would. require a duty
of 2001. to be paid on every new house to be li-
censed. With these guards and remedies provid-
ed, but not other wise, I should have no tear in
emancipating victuallers and the piddle front their
present state of bondage. I
would break sip the
existing monopoly, and leave the setting up the
trade of victualling, like that of other trades, to •
the free operations of the wants of neighbour-1
hoods, and the judgment of the individuals who
embark in it. Mash-houses and (riser disorderly
houses would disappear owler the coercion of
laws ; competition, left.to its 'fair and,•beneficial
course, would raise new bosses in places where
injurious monopolies are now upheld ; the public
se,aild he victualled at a better and chestier rate ;
publicans. would become, comparatively, inde-
pendent and respect side ; and the office of Jus-
tice of the Peace, rett of the miconstitution tl and
corruptible licensing power with which it is now
enveloped, would rise in the estimation of the
public, and in the characters who would resort to
• it. I took the liberty to express my ideas on this
subject, in a letter to Lord Sidinotoh, last year,
These are the regulations which I suggested. I
would just observe, that the regulations for the
ultimate exclusion of brewers from the ownership
of public-houses would be less necessary than at
present, it the monopoly system be thrown open.
" The throwing open of the monopoly system,
however, I 3111 well aware, will be strongly re-
sisted by the great brewers, the distillers. and the
license jobbers, who have fed and thriven so
largely on it. It will be said, that persons who
have given large sums for licences, upon the ex-
pectation that they would be defended from ri-
valrypwill be injured, if otheri in their trade are
allowed to oppose them ; but they con only he in-
jured where the public is benefited ; their cus-
tomers will not leave them to be worse off. 'rite
Government yields no protection to bluchers,
bakers, and others, against the rivalry of their
fellow tradesmen; what especial merit then is in
these speculators to entitle them, above all men,
to a perpetual monopoly, I am at a loss to 'con-
ceive ; they ought to be thankful for the rich liar.
vests which they have already collected, and ad-
ditionally so, if their monopoly he still in a degree
favoured by the imposition of a fine of 2001. upon
any one who would have permission to compete
with them.

" It will also be pretended, that if the discre-
tionary power of Ihniting the number of victual-
ling-houses be taken away from the licensers, there
will he an excess of such. houses ; but the propos-
ed 2001. and other expellees incidental to .the
opening of a victualling-house, are pledges against
establishments rising where they cannot thrive by
' orderly means, when regulations are provided for
slmt.ting them tip immediately if disoldedy.
Where injurious monopolies exist, if persons
should come forward and pay Government 2001,
each for pernris'sion to victual neighbourhoods
cheaper, better, or more conveniently, no public
,interest can have cause of regret. Even If the de-
mands of particular places should give rise to two
or three 1)10)1k-houses, which are at present li-
mited to one, it by no meths follows that the fre-
quenters of the one house will be more disorderly
if divided and dispersed in two or three. On the,
contrary, experience proves that the worst prac-
tices prevail at houses enjoying most custom..
" But if the principle of taking off the restraint
on the supply of victuals, and laying it on the dis-
orders that may arise in the delivery of them
(and the latter is all that is found necessary, or
thought wi•e in countries whose, public-houses'
are well conducted) he thought too radical an
alteration to be adopted throughout England, I
submit that it ought, at any rate, to be adopted
in and about the Matropoiis ; say within the li-
mits of the London Police. No alteration can
make things worse in. the licensing ways of that
district. It is a peculiar jurisdiction ; the magis-
terial ditties are chiefly performed by gentlemen
who arc paid for their labour, they, therefore,
have no claim on the patronage or indirect gains'
of licensing,"