London, Tuesday, June 8, ...
The accounts from Paris describe the agitation which was created by the failure in the Chamber of Peers of the Mlinister's project of reducing the interest upon the public debt. With us a measure of finance could hardly be ar- rested in the upper house, and stili less by a Bishop or an Archbishop: yet is the opposition of the Archbishop of PARIS to the proposed law described as having greatly tended to its rejection. The clergy in the remotest part of France will feel this influence of one of the chiefs of their bodly. The old doctrine that a Minister once defeated was a Minister no more, has met with so many heterodoxical exceptions, that we suspect it will not in this case be al- lowed to prevail; but that 1M. de VILLELE Will still, in homely phrase, endeavour to "rub on." WVere we tc speak of the measure abstractedly, we should say that it would have been an useful one; for we dc not think the decision of a majority, -ubi sententice nlume- " rantur 7non panderantur," binding upon the under- standing, though it constrains the obedience of the wilL Ii muss be ob3cryed vl5o, that wherc a Government can rais( funds sufficient to pay off its small creditors, and is still obliged to retain them at an high interest, those creditorE are converted into mere stipendiaries of the State; they are receiving as alns from the public, whatever portion of interest they derive beyond that at which Governmenit could haveraised a loan for their discharge. It is an obvious violation of the first principles of justice, for a creditor to say to his debtor, yoa shall neither pay me off my debt, norreduce the interestupon it, but shallgo on, ad infinitum, continuing to owe me a sum of money, and continuing te pay me the interest upon it which I prescribe. We have alluded above to the art which produced the re- jection of the plan of the Minister, and the expression of fcelinig with which that rejection was accompanied. Pro- bably no measure ever excited more general hostility- probably no defeat was ever followed with more popular sa- tisfaction. The Parisians eYen forgot their usual busiuess and amusements to celebrate the preservation of their undi- minished rentes, the disgrace of M. de VILLeLE, and the disappointed speculation of the great capitalists. Groups were on Thursday afternoon formed about the Caffe Tor. toni, on the Boulevard, the head-quarters of jobbers andl specttlators, to learn the news; and their exultations at the conduct of the Chamber of Peers were general and enthusiastic. Amid the cries of joy, the name of VIL- LELE was of course mentioned without much reverence. At all the theatres the pleasurable agitation was visible: the battle of Marengo did not more completely withdraw the attention of the Parisians from the business of the stage. -In the quarters of Paris inhabited by numbers of the small annuitants, illuminations took place in the even- ing; squibs and crackers were fired off, and M. de VILLELE, but for the presence of the police, would have been burnt in effigy. The Chaniber of Peers and the Archbishop of PARIS were declared immortal in the popular esteem, and their conduct was extolled with grateful veneration, In the meantime, Thursday being M. de VILLELTs recep- tion dlay, his levee was attended wvith greater "troops of friends" than usual. Amid the bustling crowd, he ap- peared calm and unconcerned; exhibiting rather thc air of a man who had gained a triumph, than one who had sus- tained a defeat. None of the Peers and Deputies who paid their court to him, and who received more affable attention and more flattering promises than usual, seemed to have any wish or apprehension for his dowvnfal. The KING and the King's Brother are reported as having borne the disap- pointment with less magnanimity. His MAJESTY, like our Queen ELIZABETH when displeased with one of her prelates, wished to unfrock the Archbishop of PARIS, and bade him thank his stars that he held a place from which he could not be removed. And last, not least, Madiame DU CAYLA assumes the right of finding fault with the Peers for disappointing her in the specula- tion from which she expected great gains. M. de CHA- TEAURRIAND, it is said, expresses, where he can do it safely, his satisfaction at this defeat, as lie has always been against the measure; and probably this circumstance may lead to a schism in the Cabinct. It is needless to add, that the bankers and speculators were on the alert on Thursday, and couriers startedl almost from tho House of Peers to every great commercial capital of Europe. M. de VILLELE, it is said, announces his intentiou to bring forward the same measure next session-that is, supposing himn still MIinister of Finance. I LOrDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1824.