The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

38 TO CORRESPONDENTS. We have received the letters of our Scotch Correspondents, "GAS." and " G. P.," but we regret that want of space must pre vent our publishing them. There was an error o omission in the article on " lair Play for the Landed Interest." The sentence objected to by our Correspondents should have been "Nor has Scotland an Established Church on our English episcopal system." The differences between the structures of society in England and Scotland, and the effects resulting thence upon the "balance of party," will probably receive notice in an early number of our Journal, when some of the points mooted by our Corres pondents may receive their due consideration. Whatever is intended for insertion mustbe authenticated by the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publica tion, but as a guarantee of his good faith. It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive. Their insertion is often delayed owing to a press of matter, and when omitted, it is frequently from reasons quito lode penden t of the merits of the communication. Communications should always be legibly written, and on one side of the paper only. If long it increases the difficulty of finding space for them. We cannot undertake to return of which we do not avail ourselves. Advertisements sent from the country must be accompanied by a remittance or a reference for payment in town. TERNS OF SUBSCRIPTION FOR gbe vrtoo: (STAMPED) •• • • Per Annum .. .. 11 6 0 Half Yearly.. .. 0 13 0 Quarterly .. .. 0 6 6 PAYABLX IX ADVANCI. Subscribers are requested to send their orders through News Agents; if direct to the Office, accompanied by a remittance. Advertisements also must have a reference or remittance. Money Hiders to be made payable to Mr. ALFRED Iva, 110, Strand, London. THE PRESS, JANUARY 9, 1858. worship to attend the service in the Abbey. Before the door was opened, at a quarter to seven, the crowd outside had increased to such an amount that, when the gates of the Abbey were swung back, a tremen dous crush ensued. The police and vergers shouted to the people to keep back, but so much the more they pressed forward—so that the inspector on duty gave orders that the gates should be closed. By seven o'clock (a quarter of an hour having been given to enable the vast crowd to enter through the door) every portion of the nave was full—not full in the ordinary sense of the word, but the people were so thoroughly packed and jammed together that room could not have been found for half a dozen more. One thousand chairs had been provided, but there were at least 1,000 more people without seats. Full choral service was impressively performed by the Rev. J. C. Haden, M.A., precentor of the Abbey, the prayers being chanted, an'. the lessons read by the Rev. Lord John Thynne, D.D., sub-dean. The music was as follows :—Responses and Chant (Tallis) ; Service (Rogers) in D. After the prayers, the 100th Psalm (n.v.) was sung in unison. The whole congregation, who were throughout most devout, joined in this noble hymn of praise ; after which the Very Rev. R. C. Trench, D.D., Dean of Westminster, robed in his surplice and wearing the ribbon of the Bath, ascended the pulpit, which was erected at the east end of the nave, and selected for his text the Pith and following verses of the 13th chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. After an eloquent exposition of the text, the rev. dean proceeded to a practical examination of the parable, and concluded by saying that it was one of the main characteristics of Christ's Gospel that it should be preached to the poor. In the name of himself and those who were acting with him, be asked the poor to those services. They could not keep other persons away, but he would ask regular churchgoers whether they con sidered they were justified in leaving their usual places of worship and occupying places which were specially designed for others, who were without spiritual advantages, and whom it was the object of the present services to build up in the Church and Gospel of Christ. If only regular churchgoers at tended, then no advantage would be gained, and the services would be a failure. On Monday, the special services were resumed at the four churches which have been set apart for them. Although the intended services were made pretty generally known throughout the respective parishes some days prior to their commencement by means of printed bills, which were freely distributed tF roughout the metropolis, it was not until an account of the proceedings appeared in the newspapers that the working classes became really alive to the nature of the services designed for their edification. The Bishop of London preached at St. Barnabas, Dr. Trench, Dean of Westminster, preached at St. Pancras, the Rev. Daniel Moore at St. Giles, and the Rev. Mr. Cadman at St. Mary's, Whitechapel. On Tuesday evening the same churches were thrown open, and on Wednesday night the Rev. Dr. Hook, vicar of Leeds, preached at St. Mary's, White chapel; the Bishop of Oxford at St. Barnabas, Ken sington; and the Dean of Westminster at St. Giles in the-Fields. The announcement that the Bishop of Oxford would address the working men who might assemble at St. Pancras Church drew together as remarkable a congregation as probably ever assembled within the walls of a place of worship. The sermon, although marked with the greatest simplicity of diction, and abounding with the most familiar illus trations, was a brilliant piece of pulpit oratory. The other three churches in which services were held were filled by attentive congregations, composed for the most part of artisans. The Rev. C. J. Phipps Eyre, M.A.. rector of St. Marylebone, preached at St. Mary's Church, Whitechapel, an eloquent and impressive sermon, founded upon his own parochial experience in one of the largest of the metropolitan parishes. The Rev. Capel Molyneux, M.A., chaplain of the Lock Hospital, m the Harrow•road, preached at the church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields ; and the sermon at St. Barnabas, Kensington, was preached by the Rev. J. Riddell, M.A., fellow of Balliol Col lege, Oxford. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings the services were repeated at the same churches, and on Friday evening were brought to a close for his month. To-morrow evening the sermon at Westminster ♦bbey will the preached by the Rev. Lord John 'Dunne, D.D., Sub-Dean of Westminster; on Sun day, the 17th, by the Lord Bishop of Oxford; on Sunday, the 24th, by the Very Rev. Henry Alford, 8.D., Dean of Canterbury ; and on Sunday, the 31st, by the Rev. C. J. P. Eyre, 8.A., rector of St. Mary lebone. THE LATE MR. AUGUSTUS STAFFORD. A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE AUGUSTUS STAFFORD has been proposed by some of the lamented deceased's relatives and friends. The following paper has been circulated among his friends : MEMORIAL TO THE LATE AUGUSTUS O'BRIE:H STAFFORD, ZSQ., M.P. Some of the relatives and friends of the late Augustus O'Brien Stafford, Esq., are anxious to record by some worthy and enduring memorial the esteem and affection with which they regard his memory, and the deep sorrow which they feel for his sad and untimely decease. They are also desirous of connecting their tribute to his memory with the venerable cathedral of St. Mary, Limerick —a church for which the late Mr. Stafford felt no small interest, which has been associated for many generations with his family, and was always frequented by him during the periods of his residence ou his estate near Limerick. They feel that they can best carry out their intention by restoring some portion of this ancient edifice and associat ing the work of restoration with Mr. Stafford's name. Fur this purpose they would select either of the transepts of the cathedral, at present much disfigured by galleries, high pews, dr,c. These transepts are lighted each by one large window of great height and fine proportions, which, if filled with rich stained glass of appropriate design, would forma memorial window of singular beauty. To carry out this object worthily, they invite the assis tance, not only of Mr. Stafford's personal friends, but also of all who respected his public character and admired his noble exertions for the relief of our suffering soldiers during the late Russian war. Contributions will be received by Mr. Robert O'Brien, Old Church, Limerick; the Rev. Robert Augustus Mann sell, Monastereven, County Kildare; the Rev. Maurice T. De Burgh, North Strand, Limerick; and the Rev. M. W. Mayow, Market Lavington, Devizes. MR. WARREN, M.P., ON COMMERCIAL MORALITY. THE Christmas Quarter Sessions of Hall were opened on the 31st ult., before the Recorder, Mr. S. Warren, Q.C., M.P. Her Majesty's proclamation against vice and immorality baying been read, the learned recorder addressed the grand jury at some length, referring particularly to the recent commer cial panic. "We really seem, as a nation," said the learned recorder, " to be surrounded by an atmo sphere of commercial immorality and folly :" It blunts, it confuses our perceptions of right and wrong, and seems to set up a different standard for judging between what is right in private personal transactions, and in affairs of business: it tends to resolve, very gently, culpability into misfortune—to convert the culprit into the victim. Seen through this haze, gain is swollen into an object of such huge proportions that it obscures all consideration as to the legitimate mode of access to it. In the " pregnant language " of Scripture, Mr. Warren attributed the cause of all this to " the making haste to be rich," and to covetousness and ambition, which, as it were, covered our commercial community with a network of hypocrisy : Gentlemen, I do not mince matters ; and I declare that to the eyes of the judicial moralist the field of immorality is rapidly extending. And observe further, that as the number of deceivers increase, so increases the number of the deceived. A fitting field of action for commercial profligacy is found in public credulity ; so that at length ono may almost say with the contemptuous satirist of a former age : Surely the pleasure is as great I Of being cheated as to cheat And all this—equally in the case of him who is duped— him who dupes—springs from that accursed making haste to be rich, denounced in Scripture. It puts every one liable to it into a false position ; it makes great classes of foolish and guilty persons walk always on tip toe, straining after that which is unattainable, and loathing that noble moderation and modesty which have for ages invested our middle-classes with dignity. Everything must now be done on a monster scale, monstrous desires inducing monstrous devices to gratify them ; monstrous enterprises involving monstrous frauds and falsehood. Gentlemen, proceeding only one step further in this direc tion, I must say, and I think you will agree with me, that the existing state of matters mercantile afford such faci lities for fraud as are a scandal to the intelligence as well as to the integrity of the age in which we live; and for that scandal an indolent Legislature is largely responsible. The facilities to which I allude are daily in disastrous action, and are at once temptations to the honest, encouragements to the dishonest, and snares to the unwary. Can there co exist three greater conditions of evil? Gentlemen of your experience and knowledge of commercial affairs will anti cipate my mentioning—among the destructive facilities to which I have been alluding—the shameful but systematic abuse of the machinery of negotiable instruments, de basing their character, and prostituting them to discredit able and mischievous purposes ; the abuse of banking faci lities, and of joint-stock companies. The paper produce of all these sets of machinery, so far from furthering the objects of legitimate commerce, is too often nothing more than the cards and dice—the packed cards, the loaded dice, of the mercantile gambler. It is true that the Legislature has lately bestirred itself in this direction, by passing an act which I fully explained from this place at the last ses sions, and I devoutly hope that good effects, by preventing, as well as punishing, will follow ; but, after all, I must echo the stern inquiry of the heathen poet—" What signifies specious laws in the absence of good morals ?" Let us hope, however, that the coming year may inaugurate a more promising state of things, and enable us, at its dose, to take a more encouraging retrospect than is permitted to us this day of the year that has so nearly now passed away for ever. Clit _);) vsoll+ LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1858. POSTSCRIPT. The " Act" for the navigation of the Danube, drawn up for the Riverain Commission, is in forty seven articles. The Nord of Brussels, which pub lishes the principal portions of it, complains that all the most important articles are worded in such a way as to give undue advantage to the vessels of Austria. A despatch received in Paris announces the rather serious illness of the King of Wurtemburg. His Majesty was somewhat better at the latest dates. The death of General Havelock has caused the deepest regret amongst the English in Paris. The same feeling was expressed by the Emperor and those around his Majesty. The Constitutionnel says that a modification is about to take place in the Sardinian Cabinet by the retirement of M. Ratazzi, Minister of the Interior. The Emperor of Russia has just promulgated new regulations for the governmelt of Mingreha during the minority of the Prince Sovereign. They enact that the province shall be under the authority of the Emperor's Lieutenant in the Caucasus, and that the local administration shall be confided to a Russian functionary assisted by a coup: it of five members— two nominated by the Russian Government, two elected by the native princes, and one elected by the class of the Aznaours. From the Gazette of last evening : Lord Chamberlain's Office, Jan. A. Notice is hereby given that the solemnisation of the marriage of her Royal Highness the Princess Royal with his Royal Highness Prince Frederick William Nicolas Charles of Prussia will take place on Monday, the 25th natant. The Gazette also announces that her Majesty will hold a Drawing•room on Saturday, the 30th inst., at which there willZbe " no presentations." The Directors of the East India Company, aPting upon a requisition signed by nine proprietors, have convened a special general court of the Company for the 13th instant, "to consider the communication addressed to the Court of Directors from the Govern ment respecting the continuance of the powers of this company." THE CHURCH SERVICES FOR THE WORKING CLASSES. THE Church special services for the working classes commenced on Sunday last at Westminster Abbey, where the first evening service took place. On this occasion the audience was composed mainly of regu• lar churchgoers, who had left their usual places of