то OUR GREAT AND DEAR FRIEND THE LANDAMMAN OF SWITZERLAND.

"Very dear and great friend,-At the "moment when it pleased Divine Provi"dence to call me to the throne of France, "nothing could be more pleasing to me, "than the expression of the sentiments with "which you participate in the event. Your "deputies have delivered your letter of con"gratulation, and in the manner in which "they have discharged their mission, have

fully justified the confidence you placed "in them. During their stay here, they "have been able to assure you of my un"changeable intentions to preserve the "friendly relations between the two states. "I wish they may convey to you these as

surances, as also those of my esteem and "regard for you. I pray God, my dear and great friend, to have you in his holy keep"ing." (Signed) NAPOLEON.

FRENCH FINANCES.- Report of a Discussion and Statement in the Legislative Body of France, 21 Feb. 1805.

The order of the day was read for the discussion of the bill presented on the 22d Pluviose, concerning the finances of the year 13.-M. ARNAUD, orator of the section of finances, investigated the bill under these four points of view: 1. The divers distributions of funds anterior to the current year. 2. The expense of the political establishment during the year 13. 3. The ways and means, or receipts in the year 13. 4. The present views of amelioration and forecast for the year 14; he successively presented, under these head, all the general and particular reflexions made by the section of the finances of the Tribunate. We shall notice the 2d and 3d heads, as being the most important ones. Expenses of the Political Establishment during the Year 13.

The Expenses of the Political Establishment is fixed by Art. VIII, IX, X, Cap IV of the present? Bill, at a sum for the year 13, of 684,000,000 «r.

.

The general amount of these Expenses for the year 12, with the augmentation which has been accounted for, is

Whence ir follows that the Expense of the Political Establishment in the year 13, is less than that of the year 12, by....

762,000,000

78,000,000

M. Arnaud then examined in what proportion the different branches of public service are diminished.--Such a dimmution, said he, which leaves, to our means of defence against the enemy their full activity, a diminution from which the service of no administration nor any interior amelioration

will suffer, a diminution which exists atter our consideration abroad has been insured by a formidable establishment of land and sea forces, by means of the abundance of the ordinary and extraordinary receipts of the year 12, such a diminution forms the compleatest eulogy of the creative and restorative genius of the destiny of the French empire. The section of the finances of the Tribunate cannot therefore but congratulate itself on submitting to the approbation of the Legislature, cap. iv. of the present bill, which exhibits such a glorious, and at the same time economical employment of the public taxes.-M. Arnaud then presented the ways and means, or receipts of the year 13.--The following is the estimate presented by the accounts of the minister of finances, with regard to the effective produce of the year 12, and to the circumstances which must have an influence upon the same returns during the year 13.

finances of the Tribunate feels a satisfaction in proclaiming the perfect accord which subsists between the prerogative of the throne and the right of the Legislative power, at a moment when acclamations welcomed by the Tribunate, have elevated to the empire the great Napoleon. Yes, gentlemen, this is the first time since that memorable period, that you are called on to seal with the Legislative power the alliance of the throne under the fourth dynasty, with the free and annual votes of supplies. It is in this charter of emancipation of the property and industry of Frenchmen that consists the gua rantee of the glory and duration of the dynasty of the Buonapartes, who have conquered our hearts in as much as they have cemented our rights.Gentlemen, I believe I have clearly stated to you that the present bill regulates the distribution of the returns anferior to the year 13, and provides for the urgent expenses of war, by sufficient receipts to keep up such a formidable establishment by land and sea as cannot fail of giving weight to future negotiations for peace. Lastly, you will not fail to remark that the concluding heads of the bill will be the means of conducting the financial administration towards a system of amelioration, gradually progressive.--The section of finances of the Tribunate, actuated by these considerations, proposes to the Legislative Body, the adoption of the present bill. No orator from the Council of State, or Tribunate speaking, the discussion was closed.-The members then proceeded to give their votes upon the bill passing into a law, when it was decreed by 260 against 12...

General Result of the Accompts of the Treasury for the Year XII.

REFUSAL OF BANK NOTES.

SIR,I am much obliged to Agricola (See p. 3) for the attention he has paid to ny queries, and for the trouble he has taken in answering them; at the same time, I must observe, that there appears to me a more summary method of acting applicable to the first query, viz. by commencing an action against the chief clerk of the court upon the cheque, given for the amount of the debt paid to him by the defendant, which, I presume, the banker upon whom it is drawn: will refuse to pay in specie. As the costs of such action must be paid by the chief clerk, it would necessarily induce him to direct, that in future no money should be received into court, unless paid in specie, and thus not alone would satisfaction be obtained in the particular case, but the paper system would receive a 'drep, if not a deadly wound. --Now, I am writing you will permit me to observe, that in the latter part of Agricola's letter, he has fallen into a very considerable error. The act of parliament passed for the purpose of alleviating, in some degree, the severity of the laws, which admit of imprisonment for debt, does not at all take away the necessity of special bail; it only provides, that instead of giving bail to the sheriff, a person, on being arrested, may pay the sum sworn to be owing, into the hands of that officer, together with a certain sum for costs, and in default of special bail being put in in due time, the debt, together with the taxed costs, will be ordered by the court, on motion, to be paid to the plaintiff. If special bail be regularly put in then upon the like motion, the money will be ordered. to be repaid to the defendant. In order to try the merits of the action, special bail must, of necessity, be put in; and, therefore, in no instance, dces a plaintiff lose any part of the security to which he was entitled

previous to the passing of that act. The permission to make the lodgment in bank notes is entirely referable to the bank restriction act, and any loss which may arise on that account, must be registered amongst the number of good things which that act has occasioned. But, in truth, no evil can.. arise to a plaintiff from the lodgment being made in bank notes, for he is certainly not bound to accept from the sheriff any thing but specie; and, therefore, should any loss be sustained by the depreciation of bank paper, it must be borne by that officer.In a practical point of view, perhaps, nothing can be more embarrassing and dangerous than the ambiguous and deceitful way in which bank notes are now considered as a payment. It is true, that a man who tenders the amount of a debt in bank paper cannot be afterwards arrested for that debt, but such tender does not at all prevent the creditor from commencing an action against him; and thus, by this half measure of the legislature, a debtor may be put to an'immense expense, at the option, and merely to gratify the revenge of an obdurate creditor. He cannot procure specie from the Bank, and his creditor will accept of nothing else. He is perfectly remediless, and has not even the privilege of going to jail; for the creditor will issue his execution against his goods, and not against his person. The creditor will be justified in selling property worth, I will say, £300 in paper money, for £200, or even 100, in order to procure species and, indeed, I know not that any extent of loss would make him liable to pu nishment; and, thús a man might be absolutely ruined, without any possibility of redress or prevention. Every man who contracts a debt tacitly promises to pay it in legal-com, and if the creditor insist upon such payment, he is strictly right in so doing. It is no fault of his that the government has given any corporate body a right of issuing paper, without being bound to repay it in specie, and yet have declined to make such paper a legal payment. Should the Bank Paper ever be refused payment, (which no man can tell how soon may be the case) the public injury would for a time, be incalculable. Each man would then insist upon payment in a coin able to no depreciation, and no man would be able so to pay. The trading part of the community must inevitably be ruined. It is true, that upon a representation of these effects to the legislature, some new regula tion would be made: but, who does not know, what immense loss and injury might be sustained, before such a measure could be agreed upon and passed into a law. For

my part, I know of no other measures that are passed quicker than the ordinary forms of practice allow, except acts for the suspenspion of the habeas corpus act, for the proclaiming of martial law, and such like popu lar measures. It is now alone, however, that there is an opportunity, in some degree, to avert these alarming consequences. The evils I have described are yet in embryo, and with attention may be crushed in the bud let them attain a little more strength, and nothing will be able to prevent their grow. ing to their full extent. As a trifling flake of snow which, when it first begins to move, might be stopped with a feather, in its progress down the Alps, increases to a size so as to overpower all resistance, and cause the most horrible destruction; so will this system increase, until it absolutely overwhelms the kingdom in ruin. It must be concluded, that these things are not unknown to minis ters; and yet, if they are known, why are they not placed beyond the possibility of happening? Is it want of boldness or of sense that induces them to be so indolent and inattentive? God knows, that in some cases they display no want of boldness. How far they may be in want of sense, it is not, perhaps, prudent, to say. Time will, however, show, and it seems that to time we must look for all remedy.With regard to the act" for the more effectual preven"tion of frivolous and vexatious arrests and "suits," instead of objecting to it, those who are in any wise acquainted with the evils which it was intended to remedy, will think the original framers and promoters of it entitled to no small share of public praise and approbation.--I am, Sir, &c.

CRITO.

SUMMARY OF POLITICS. MIDDLESEX ELECTION.--The Com. mittee of the House of Commons, appointed to examine into, and report upon, the grounds of the petition of certain freeholders of the county of Middlesex, made their report to the House, on the 5th instant, which report places Sir Francis Burdett in that seat, out of which, to the great injury and disgrace of the county, he has been kept during the former part of the session.--It will be remembered, that there were, upon this subject, to petitions presented to the House of Commons, by the freeholders in the interest of Sir Francis Burdett; but, the petition which produced the report we are now speaking of, was presented by Lord William Russel, on the 25th of January; and, as it should now be read through with aft ntion, it may be useful to remind the

reader, that it is inserted in the present volume, p. 161. That petition states, that Sir Francis Burdett ought to have been returned to serve in this present parliament, and that the Sheriffs did, illegally, wrongfully, wilfully, and falsely declare the majority of numbers to be in favour of Mr. Mainwaring, and illegally, wrongfully, wilfully, and falsely returned Mr. Mainwaring to serve for the said county in the present parliament. This was denied by Mr. Mainwaring; and, thereon the parties were at issue before the committee, who were appointed to try the merits of the petition, and whose report thereon was in substance as follows: "That

George Boulton Mainwaring was not duly "elected, and ought not to have been re"turned; that Sir Francis Burdett was "duly elected, and ought to have been re"turned; and, of course, that the petition "against the said return was not frivolous "and vexatious." Thus, then, the House of Commons have decided in favour of the petitioners; and, in that decision, the House has given its sanction to the statement of the petitioners relative to the conduct of the Sheriffs. Nevertheless, as if with a view of censuring and setting at defiance the House of Commons, the writers on the side of the Sheriffs (which writers, be it observed, are all ministerial opes) have most impudently put forward assertion upon assertion, that no blame whatever is imputable to the Sheriffs, for having made a return exactly the contrary of that which they ought to have made. The tone of these writers; the broad hints they throw out against the decision of the committee of the House of Commons; the reluctance with which they acknowledge that Sir Francis Burdett has a majority (for "such we must call it," say they, "the committee has declared in his favour;)" are well worthy of observation, particularly as they are descr ptive of the dispositions of that mild and obedient race of beings, who have so long been representing their opponents as restless and turbulent men.--la order to form a true judgment relative to the conduct of the Sheriffs, we must look back to what passed during the election, and particularly at and towards the close of the poll -It was, during the whole of the election, the constant practice of the committee of Mr. Mainwaring, to object indiscriminately to all votes tendered for Sir Francis Burdett in the afternoon of each day's poll. By this means the examination of these votes, by the Sheriffs, was frequently postponed till it was too late to decide on them that day, or till, by one means or other, the decision upon them was so long deferred, that they could

since

not be entered on the poll books fill another day. Thus all those freeholders, who were unable to go to Brentford a second time, and who were put aside in this manner, were en-tirely deprived of their rights, and Sir Francis Burdett of their suffrages. As the poll drew towards a close, however, this postponing practice became the more dangerous to the interests of Sir Francis Burdett; for, it was evident, that, if the Sheriffs possessed the power and the right to postpone the admitting of as many as they pleased of the votes tendered for Sir Francis on the last day of the election, they did, in reality, pos- ́ sess the power and the right of preventing him from being elected, upon that occasion, as a member of parliament for the county of Middlesex. To guard against this, therefore, the counsel of Sir Francis Burdett demanded, on the last day of the poll a categorical answer from the Sheriffs as to the conduct they would ultimately pursue with regard to the postponed votes. Mr. Erskine was written to by these counsel for his opinion upon the subject; and his opinion was, that, if, at the hour appointed by law for the final close of the poll, there should be any votes tendered and not decided upon by the Sheriffs, the Sheriffs would be bound to decide upon them, and to include them (if fit to be included at all) in their counting: up, previous to the making of their return to parliament.* In this stage of the proceedings the Sheriffs were formally appealed to by several freeholders in the interest of Sir Francis Burdett; whereupon the Sheriffs declared, that the votes actually tendered: 66 upon the poli-books for the one or the "other candidate should be examined and "decided on, before the declaration of, the "final numbers, provided the persons making "such tenders came round to the Sheriff's "box to substantiate their claims." Upon this assurance several freeholders acquiesced, and went round from the poll-books to the Sheriff's box; and this declaration also satisfied the counsel of Sir Francis Burdett; and, at the close of the poll, supposed, of course, to include the good votes tendered and deferred upon the above declaration of the Sheriffs, there was a majority of ten for Sir Francis Burdett. The universal joy felt and expressed at this moment will be long remembered by all those who witnessed it. The next day, however (Thursday the 9th of August) a request in writing was made to the Sheriffs, signed by Mr. Mainwaring, Sir W. Gibbons, Mr. Rae, Mr. Mellish, and

* See this correspondence in the SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, p. 786,

Mr. John Bowles, demanding that they should declare the numbers as they stood on the poll at three o'clock on Wednesday, and that they should make their return accord ingly; and, to this demand the Sheriffs, notwithstanding their declaration of the day before, yielded, making, accordingly the return which has now been set aside by the House of Commons.--A remark made in the Morning Post at the time is so entirely to the purpose, that I cannot help transcribing it here. "Without taking up the cause of "either party we cannot help regarding this "decision as extremely irregular. It amounts "to this that the mere objection, however, groundless, precludes the right of vote; "for, if an objection be made, and the de"cision of its force reserved till a period "when there is no authority to decide, then "the objection alone, however groundless, "is decidedly fatal. Tho e persons who "tendered their votes, and who, having a

:

legal right to vote, were not allowed to "give their suffrages, have legal remedies of 66 course; but, speaking in the plain lan"guage of the constitution, we would ask, "who can remedy the county for the priva"tion of the representative it would have "preferred?" + Indeed this was so plain, that none except those who were eager to procure a false return affected not to perceive it. That wrong was done to Sir Francis Burdett and to the county of Middlesex is a truth that even the writers in the SUN and the TIMES do not now attempt to deny. To whom, then, was this wrong to be ascribed? Where are the injured parties to look for redress? And what are the means, by which such injuries are, in future, to be prevented?"The Sheriffs," say the SUN and the TIMES," are perfectly blameless. "The committee of the House of Commons "have passed no censure upon their con"duct." For argument's sake, allow this statement and the intended inference to be correct; allow, that the Sheriffs were so perfectly ignorant of the duties of their office, that they cannot fairly be made to answer for the wrong of which they were the instruments; allow that the counting of the hob-nails before the Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, was not, with respect to these two Sheriffs, a ceremony entirely useless; allow all this; but, is there, then, no responsibility any where?" The

"Sheriffs acted by the advice of their as

sessor. Be it so but this assessor is, surely, the responsible othcer, then? "No: "he was not Sheriff. He had no power. "He merely gave his opinion." Was his opinion binding on the Sheriffs, or was it not? If it was, he was the real possessor of the power, and, of course, is responsible for the wrong; if it was not, the Sheriff's acted from their own free-will, and therefore theirs is the responsibility.If, by having recourse to the advice of their assessor, or any other counsellor, the returning officers at elections get rid of all the responsibility attached to a false return; and if, by such a course of proceeding, responsibility is nowhere to be found, what remedy can either the electors or the elected have against the wrongs that such officers may do What security has the parliament against the intrusion of persons having no right to sit -"The House, by hearing and trying peti"tions will set false returns aside, as it has "done in the present instance." But, is this enough? To say nothing about the probable conduct of a committee which should be in whole, or in part, composed of members seated by false returns, which sort of composition would frequently be met with, were the House once to adopt the monstrous doctrine of the irresponsibility of returning officers; to say nothing about this, is it a sufficient remedy to the wronged member and his constituents, that he is, after several months, perhaps after a whole session or two, at last seated where he ought to have been seated from the moment the election was ended? Can any one discover a remedy here? Can he discover that redress, which the law invariably supposes to be provided for wrong done, either to the community, to bodies of men, or individuals? Besides, can the enjoyment of the right, even for the remaining part of the session, be obtained for nothing for-merely petitioning? Is not every application of this sort unavoidably attended with great uneasiness, trouble, and cost? Must not false returns, therefore, remain unimpeached, whenever the wronged party is destitute of great pecuniary means? And, if there be, at last, no responsibility; nothing effectually to deter returning officers from making false returns; if the law has, in such cases, no power to protect injured indigence against oppressive opulence; is it not evident, that the real question at an election is, not whether a candidate has a majority of votes, but whether he has a purse sufficient, either to gain the friendship or to defeat the enmity of the officer empowered to make the return?--The Sheriffs of