Star.
London, England, 1831-07-15 00:00:00

A NEW.FASHIONED FRENCHMAN.

We Intl, in the Crawler des Elate Otis, the following
imaginary anecdote of what wok plea on the occasion of a
strange brig entering the port of Constantinople, with the
tri-coloured flag and pendant floating from her wizen mast
and main-mast. It does not appear from what paper it is
copied ; but for the amusement of our readers, we trans-
late it.
" Of what nation ? " asked the Captain of Port.
" Fransaouy," said the captain of the brig.
" Francais ? " and the Turk opened his big eyes and
pondered.
a The name of your vessel P "
" The Allah-Kerim, Captain lamed-Ben. Moussah.—
You can read it on the stern of my brig, if you know the'
Arabic alphabet."
"And you are a Frenchmen ?"
*4 on el rassoul, by pop's permission and
the Prophet's, as good a Frenchman isw►y Parisian."
The Turk stoed in a state of stupefaction.
At this moment, twenty-five sailors, constituting the crew
of she Allah Kerim, made their appearance on deck, and ar-
ranged themselves along the starboard railing. They were
tawny-skinned Moors, with eyes glistening and fallow, like
a hyena's, blue and red turbans, and black beards, huge stuff
coats and ornamented sadarys ; and with three hums they
saluted Istamboul, the beautiful, long.sighed for Istamboul,
the dwelling-place of the Commander of the Faithful, the
city of gorgeous palaces and golden minarets; Istamboul
reclining voluptuously on the banks of the Bosphorus, like
an Odalisque, dreaming of love, by the margin of a foun-
tain in the gardens of the Seraglio.
" The French have left the religion of CHRIST, to em-
brace Islamism ? Praised be the name of the Prophet !
They have abandoned the hat for the turban ?
" They have abandoned neither their hats nor Christianity.
For the matter of that they are about as much Christians
as itluselinen.

" You blaspheme,—you are no better than a pirate and
an impostor, and no Frenchman at all."

" Ifeis, I swear to you by the Prophet who reposes at
Medina, that I am a French citizen; and I glory in it.—
It is as true as that you are a slave of the Sultan.
Look at the cockade in my aamamale, and at the flag which
my vessel carries."
" I see them. But your crew."
" Frenchmen, like me."

"Why they talk Mogrebblin Arabic!''
" What of that ?"
" Why, it is true I have known more sailors than one,
who could talk German, Italian, Greek and Spanish, and
did not understand a word of French, who proved to me
that they belonged to your nation. Twenty years ago
almost all the vessels I overhauled, from all parts of Europe,
called themselves French."

"The unconquerable soldiers in my country, say that
those times may come about again."
" Have yen got your papers ?"
" Dil-hacq.—to be sure. They arc all according to law,
made out by the authorities of my nation; by the °act&
el-bahor, Commissary of Marine at my port, under the
King of the French."
" And, pray, where do you come from, my worthy Cap-
tain ? From Marseilles, or Cette, or Toulouse
Keyaltjy min Djezair. I come from Algiers ; but you
see I am a Frenchman for all."
The Turk was dumfoundered. And when the vessel was
moored in the harbour, and the people of Constantinople
saw the Algerinca walking about the streets, and going to
the Mosques with their tri-coloured cockades stuck in their
turbans, their curiosity and astonishment were a good deal
excited, as may be su ; for it was the first visible
proof the Munebnen Zdsrad, that Algiers had been con-
quered by the French, and was in their possession.

• A favourite female slave of the Sultan.

ROUSE OF LORDS.

On what grounds does the House of Peers
claim a right to regulate, in any degree, the re-
presentation of the People in the House of
Commons?

In reason they have no such right; in law, the
only claim they can advance, arises from their
having done so by sufferance in a few very equivo-
cal instances.

The foundation of the Lex Parliontentaria,
according to Coke, in his Institutes, is, that—
" if any thing arises concerning the privileges of
either House of Parliament, the matter ought to
be examined, discussed, and adjudged by that house
to which it relates, and no where else."
A Committee of the House of Commons, by its
own authority, first limited the claims of the
Sovereign to disfranchise burghs; and, since the
power of amending or confirming the decision of a
former ComnAttee of the I-louse must lie in the
House, I affirm that the power of issuing or with-
holding writs for the election of Members of Par-
liament, does and ought to exist in his Majesty
alone, upon petition from the House of Commons
only.
The last addition to the'English Members of the
House of Commons was made by the Act 25th
Charles 11. by which additional Members were
given to Durham, to place it on an equality with
Chester.

This is a precedent for the course which Minis-
ters have hitherto pursued.
The triennal and septennial Acts, and some
others, also appear to have decided points relative
to the pi ivileges of the Ilouse of Commons, by
Act of Parliament.

These Acts either related to Parliaments in ge-
noral, of which the House of Lords formed a part,
or they came under that description to which, if
the Lords should not allind as opportunity of set-
tling the question, by a declaratory act, the pre-
sent Bill will in future be referred, viz. that of
cases on which the Lords have legislated by suf-
ferance.

The Lords having concurred or compromised with
the Commons on these occasions, did not render it
necessary to dispute their authority ; and the car-
rying of such measures occasionally by Bill, no
more renders it necessary, in all such cases, to
proceed in the same manner, than the reference of
a particular case in equity to the Lord Chancellor,
precludes the reference of a similar ca•e to the
Court of Exchequer. It no more establishes a
right in the Lords to legislate in matters solely
relating to the Commons, than a long course of
precedents, and even of parliamentary declara-
' tions, proved the legality of the various arbitrary
acts for which the Stuarts lost the crowns of these
kingdoms.
The unions of Scotland and Ireland were
international treaties, accompanied by legislative
acts.

In the legislative acts accompanying the treaties
of union, which acts were in fact the treaties them-
selves, the Lords and Commons of England con-
curred as parties to the bargain, made for the mu-

tual advantage, on the one part, of the Lords and
Commons ofScot land, sitting in one House of Par-
'lament, and, on the other part, of the Lords and
Commons of Eni;land, sitting in separate Houses ;
the Queen bearing a similar relation to either
party.
By such an act the Lords can never be understood
to have acquired the power of regulating the House
of Commons, any more than the House of Com-
mons, in consequence of the introduction of repre-
sentative Peers, can be supposed to have acquired
the power of introducing Members into the House
of Lords.

On these points, if tho Lords should not con-
sent to pass the Bill without material alteration,
Ministers ire expected to Insist ienuecllaielyikad
effectually.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS, JOLY 14.
The Earl of SH AFTESBURY presided upon the wool-
sack in the absence of the Lord Chancellor.
Col. WOOD, and other Members from the Commons,
brought up several private bills, which were read the first
time.