The Sun. — London, England, 1869-06-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, '1 he Times observes that it is startling enough in all conscience, considering the magnitt de tho interests at stake, to End that the great Overena and Gurney case is in danger of coming to an untimely end, or, what would be still worse, of being so conducted that its trial will degenerate into an unmeaning farce. But, strange to say, even the possible collapse of the case itself, extraordinary as it would doubtless be, becomes of secondary impor tance, so far as the general public are concerned, when compared with the circumstances which threaten to occa- sion it. If, in consequence of these, the Overend and Gur ney case fall to the ground, it will not improbably con stitute almost as important an epoch in the history of British jurisprudence as it has already constituted in the history of British commerce, and we arc not without hope that even the possibility of collapse, with which it is now threatened, may do. more than whole volumes of essays and speeches have hitherto done to make that great flaw in our criminal system, the want of a public prosecutor, generally felt. The Overend and Gurney case is at pre sent in this extraordinary position :—The directors, having been committed by the chief magistrate of the city, and a true bill having keen found against them ty the grand jury, are awaiting their trial in the Court of Queen's Bench. But while the prosecutor either cannot or will not employ counsel, the Lord Chief Justice declares that he shall not appear except by counsel, and the Lord Mayor virtually declares that if he does nut appear he shall forfeit £5,000. It is not too muc:i to say that it would be a national disgrace to let a trial involving interests of such magnitude to a community eminently commercial fall to the ground directly for want of funds, and indirectly through the deficiency of our legal system ; and if it is obvious that the conduct of the case by the Treasury is the only immediate solution of the difficulty, we trust it is no less obvious that the permanent remedy lies in the appointment of a public prosecutor. Such a scandalous and calamitous miscarriage of justice as that with which we are now threatened, and which, if the Home Secretary should persist in his refusal to supply funds, we may not even now escape, could never have been possible but for our system of private prosecution ; and since it is the national habit to make reform depend upon the accidental obtrusion of some glaring anomaly, we shall be throwing away an admirable opportunity if we allow even a possibility that such a scandal should occur again. " Why is it that there is so much pauperism in this country?" is a query of Mr. Bright's which the Post answered s-nne few months ago. The answer may be summed up in half-a-dozen words. It is because of the activity of trade. Tracing back to its earliest sources the progress of pauperism, it noted that with the development of commerce there was a concurrent development of un avoidable poverty. Investigating, too, the more recent cases of sudden and marked accessions of the disease, it found that they happened contemporaneously with unmis takable convulsions in the world of trade. The conclu sion, then, seemed obvious and irresistible. The price we paid for commercial greatness was an aggravation of pauperism. In an equitable re arrangement of the system of local taxation, the mercantile community should by some means or other be called upon to contribute much more liberally than they do to the maintenance of the poor. It is wrong that the humble occupier should be overpressed past en durance on account of poverty which he has done nothing to create, while the wealthy trader does not even pay an equal share. It is not right that landowners and the possessors of real property should mainly support that por tion of the poor resulting from the operations of their prosperous commercial fellow-countrymen. The com merce of the country has vitality enough to bear its share of the national burdens. The gains of trade have been, and still will be, enormous. Let trade, then, contribute more liberally than it does to the relief of that pauperism which is one of its inevitable results. This should be a marked feature in any future plan of reform. The Standard thinks that whether Mr. Coschen's bill will effectuafly relieve the poorer class of occupiers or not, it is certainly proof against the intemperate criticisms of Mr. Vernon Ifarcourt. Mr. Harcourt complained that the bill was a " new Reform Bill," Lot apparently his real objection to it is that it is not a new measure of reform. With quite a superfluous vaunt that he was " not afraid of residential manhood suffrage," the member for Oxford seemed to find fault with the bill because it did not embody residential manhood suffrage. But leaving residential manhood suffrage in the bands of the Liberal party of the future, it must be admitted that Mr. Goschen's defence of the bill was perfectly successful against Mr. Vernon Ifarcourt. It was not meant to be an • enfranchising, but a relieving measure. It could rot do both things, that is to say, remit the occu- . pier's contribution to the public burdens, and at the same time invest him with the privilege of a voice in public affairs, without an entire recasting of our representative scheme ; and for that the Ministry are not yet prepared. The occupier did not come before us in the character of a claimant for a political privilege, but as an applicant for a certain indulgence in the mode of paying his raves. The legitimate course is clearly for Mr. Vernon Harcourt to bring in a new Reform Bill himself, in which residential manhood suffrage shall be embodied. In the meantime; it is a little unreasonable for the compound householder to expect to be endowed with a new political privilege by the very same instrument which discharges him of a civil The Daily IVezcs says that among the symptc ms which justify a cheerful, if guarded„contidence, we may point to the meeting held at Exeter lull on Wednesday in favour of the Trade Union Bill introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Thomas Hughes and Mr. Mundella. The bill bears the name of one employer of labour upon a large scale ; the meeting was presided over by another. The presence of Mr. Samuel Morley in the chair shelved not only a kind and generous temper, but also a wise fore sight. It is creditable to the trade societies by whom the meeting was organised that they should have invited Mr. Morley's presideuce, and it is equally to his honour that be should have accepted the invitation. He and they have acted in the interests of peace and good-will. The object of the bill is, as Mr. Morley ably and frankly stated, to leave to the members of trade societies, as such, the liberty, and to subject them to the restrictions which attach to all subjects of the Queen, neither more nor less. Those who advocate a " short way with the " trades unionists " as Defoe advocated, in earnest or sarcasm, a short way with the Dissenters, are in danger of sanctioning an inequitable law, which may some day reach themselves. Principle can never safely be sacrificed to temporary convenience, even if the conve nience be rightly estimated, .which is not always a matter absolutely certain. The bill of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Mundell,' is in its essential principles sound. The temper of Parliament and of the capitalist class will be tested by the reception it meets. For its own sake, and for the sake of the wider and deeper social interests involved in it, we hope that the spirit of the House of Commons will be as good as that which was exhibited on Wednesday in Exeter Hall. The Star discusses the recent.meeting of the Dialectical Society, at which Mr. House and other eminent media enlightened the audience as to their prospects in the other world. When questioned on the subject of future rewards and punishments, Mr. Home augured badly for the prospects of those persons who have had the misfortune to be convicted of crime, as "he believed that spirits retained their personal identity, and that a person with cropped hair would appear cropped." But if we seek for a comfortable certainty, for Positive and definite informa tion regarding the mysteries of the future, Mr. Damrain is clearly the man. We arc to feed, he says, on spiritual fruit, which is rather tantalisingly described as " nourish ment in the atmosphere." Spiritual boys go to school, he ilifOr.ll3 us, and continue to grow until 35. We should like, however, to know where the spiritual boys come from, Mr. Damrain having previously stated that there are no spirittuli children; and to get out of the difficulty by asserting that a boy is• not.a. child unworthy of a spiritualist. Perhaps he- Means' that a boy whdlias not completed his education in this resumes it in a future life, and if so, we shall feel inclined to dispute the asser tion that whom the gods love di e young. Upon the whole, the picture of a future state drawn by Mr. Houle and his confreres is a gloomy one. Disembodied spirits seem to work just as hard as our grosser selves, though on what is, by a strange contradiction in terms, called spiritual materials. Painters paint with spiritual 'pigments, mechanics make spiritual tables, &c. ' and the inference is forced upon us that the other world is nut a much better one than that to which we are acenstomed. As to the morals of its inhabitants we are left in the dark. WiltMr, Home kindly inform us if be thinks that si , ine of his spiritualist friends will be aliowed to.practjse in a eltiritual way m: , on spiritual victims ; and will Mr. Dauiraiu and the other members or the Thalectical Society favour us with their opinions as to the probable perpetna• tion of the conditions of gullibility in a future, state ! The Telfgrapit believes there is no douht that, in a few days at farthest. the noose of C;,nitrions n ill be asked to sanction a grant of six millions and a halt sterling, or thereabouts, for the sati:,:faction of all claims, and ;lie proper ermipment of the great t••;;;.r.tphic machinery to lit. provided the state. 'Fite itata.m not only buys up the right of It p:aticidat cornpnny to send nies - sages over a det;neil ;it smtres irtua! monop"ly of evert' distils:l; in th eont.tiy. and a c‘mtr:,,! of the connt,-.1; CH, Col.t:Arni. 'lints tin flt,ve!opment , •f I'r ~ra~ ;i . t ill tali to tt:e f th i•A e nto arra In Cr,,, ,. <'t ti;al f y ; lt n•1 wh:.:ther the country i'ler:ves the ful benefit ii, redo,,d charges, or in large Fever:lles accruing to the Exchequer, either way it will gain a perceptilde and always growing bertefi. Now, as a flatter of strict busi ness calculzltiou, it is clear that whatever expands tele graphic intercourse throughout the world must indefinitely increase its amount ill that country which is the heart of the world's industrial system— its exchange, bank, and counting-house, its busy factory, its inexhaustible mine. We hope, however, it is not over.sangnine to anticipate that from the telegraphic movemet.t now in progress England will be the greatest gainer ; and that our country will soon he the centre r.f a vat network of cotnumnica tion which shad embrace the earth and speed the vnwar pal;sxenatot of halAane. - - • • - PROSECUTIOII 7 FOR HERESY. Thi commissioners appointed by the Bishop of London ander the Church Discipline Act to inquire into the charge of heresy against the Rev. Charles Voysey, vicar of Healaugh, in the county and diocese of York, met on Thursday at London House. The prosecution is insti tuted by the Archbishop of York, but as the offence— that of publishing the books containing the doctrine which is now called in question—was legally committed within the. diocese of London, by the publication of the work therein, the preliminary proceedings had to be taken by the Bishop of London. The commissioners were Sir Travers Twiss, the Chancel lor of the diocese; Archdeacons Halo and Sinclair; the Rev. John Edward Kcinpe, rector of St. James's Piccadilly; and the Rev. James Moorhunee, vicar of ' Paddington. The couriscl engaged on the part of the Archbishop of York were Mr. Archibald and Mr. Cowie. ➢ir. Shaer, of the firm of Shacn and Iloseoe, attended to watch the proceedings on behalf of Mr. Voysey. Mr. John B. Lee, secretary to the Archbishop of York and to the Bishop of London, at tended the o,,mraissioners, and opened the proceedings by reading the commics:on. From that it appeared that cert:.in passages are extracted from the "Sling and Stone," which consists of sermons preached by Mr. Voysey in his parish chute'', and afterwards published in monthly parts. The dcc'aration alleged that Mr. Voysey impugned the doctrine of divine mediation, of atonement, and the incarnation of our Lord, and had written generally in terms of contempt of the Holy Scripture, especially of the Gospel of St. John. The duty of the commissioners was to inquire whether there were sufficient grounds for further proceedings. After an able speech from Mr. Archibald, and some formal evi dence of publication bad been given, the commissioners retired to consider their opinion. On their return into court they announced that they had unanimously agreed to report to the Bishop that in their opinion prima facie grounds existed for the prosecution of further proceedings. The usual formalities having teen entered into, the court was dissolved. THE CAVALRY COLLISION AT .ALDERSIIO A court of inquiry sat at Aldershot, on Thursday, to investigate the causes of the late fatal collision of cavalry at Aldershot. It was cimposed of Major-General Sir Alfred Horsford, K.C.8., as president; Major-General G. J. Carey, C.B. ; Major-General D. 1,3 sons, C.B. ; Colonel Conolly, assistant quartermastergeneral ; and Colonel Ncwdigate, assistant adjutaut-gencral, A coroner's kquest was held on the same day. Major- General Henry Dalrymple White, C. 8., who com manded the field on the day of the collision, gave a resume of the manccuvres of the troops. He did not see the collision. The order was for the lines to attack in succession—that is, for the first line to advance, walk, trot, and gallop, and retire by columns of troops round the flanks to get out of the way of the ad vancing second line. There was no actual charge. The colonels of regiments are supposed to be in the centre of their regiments in front, and. it is quite possible he might not see an obstruction on his extreme left. Moving over broken ground, the squadron-leader's duty would be to break off his files until the obstruction was cleared. He bad no doubt but that the officer in command of the . squadron on the left miscalculated the distance and went on, thinking it would become clear. Ina certaindegree the c)lonel should have seen his front clear. '1 here was no blame attachable to the first or railing line, but ho thought that the squadron that met with the collision in wheeling at right angles " hugged " their own men too much, instead of going more to their then front.— Colonel A. F. Stewart, commander of the second squadron of the IL:Di:linings on the held day, which squadron came into collision with the fourth squadron, said that the proper thing for the commanderof the latter squadron to have done was to have halted his troops. Captain D'Olier, who was in command of _the said 4th squadron, said he gave the order "fours right" when he saw hie men would not clear the rear troops. He thought that the quicli.est wsy of getting out of the way. Ile added that he had never drilled in brigade before.—The coruncr summed up, and the jury, after forty minutes' delibera tion, returned a verdict of "Accidental Death," and appended an addendum, " That the accident was chiefly due to the want of foresight of Captain Richard D'Olier George to avert it." 1 LAW AND POLICE. THE PRIVILEGES OF ROYAL RESIDENCES.—The Ifouse of Lords have been engaged in hearing the appeal case of "The Attorney-General v. Dahill," in which the cuestion to be decided is whether the ;Sheriff can execute a writ within the Palace of Hampton Cum t. The defendant I)akin was one of the sheriffs of Ididdlelex inFebruary ISt:3, and the eh•aige aret_e from his officers having seized and sold the goods and furniture in a suite of al•artineuts in liampton Court, assigned by her Majesty to Lady Henry Gordon. Übe goods %vele seized under a writ of ji fa issued against Lord Ilenry Gordon. The question IV :13 whether the Palace bad lost its privih go of immunity from the execution of c;vil process hy icason of the sovereiL;a having ceased to ieside there, George IL having hcen the last sovereign who personally cccupicd it. After Lear:ng arguments on both sides, the Icained judges took time to consider the case, and its further consideration was adjourned sine din. AN EXORBITAisir CUARGE.—In the Court of Chancery, on Thursday, an appeal was heard involving a point of some interest. The bill wad filed by 2,lre:Turnbull, the widow of an officer in the Bombay Artillery, against the agent of her husband and herself in this country. Mrs. 'furl:au!' wrote from India to Mr. Gordon, the defendant, who carries -on business as an army contractor in Piccadilly, authorisieg him to provide her son, then a minor, with au outfit, e ke ., on h i s appointment to a cornetcy in the 21st Hussars, hoping that everything would be dime as reasonable as possible. The defendant's bill amounted to £699 17e. :id., which was said to be double the usual price, and included a great number of useless and extravagant articles. The main point of the case was that the defendant had not paid the full amount charged to the plaintiff for many of these articles, but had obtained heavy discounts from the tradesmen from whom he obtained them, and whom he paid in bills at three months. Thus a double riffs and double shotgun wele charged £ll3 Bs. 6d. Mr. Daw, of Threadneedle-street, who supplied it, receiving only 1:88 from the defendant. The question was whether the defendant, as agent, had a right to take this profit. Vice-Chancellor Jameson, hearing the case, directed a general account to be taken in Chambers, but disallowed altogether the suns received as discount. The defendant appealed, but the Lords Justices dismissed the appeal, with costs. COMPENSATION rot: RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—In the Court of Common Pleas, on Thursday, the case of " Sagar v. the Manchester, Shefbcid, and Lin colnshire Rahway Company" was beard. Au ktc t ion was tried at Manchester last assizes, when the plaintiff had a verdict for £4,000 damages, for injuries received by a collision on the defendants' railway. A rule nisi was afterwards obtained to set aside the verdict on the ground that the damages were excessive. After the plaintiff's counsel had been heard against the rule, their lordships said they were of opinion that there must he a rule for a new trial, unless the p'.ain• tilt would consent to reduce the damages to £2,000. Rule accordingly. THE El G lIT OF PETITION. —At Marlborough street rolice•court, on Thursday, Joseph Stoner, an elector of Liverpool, was charged creating a disturbance at the house of Mr. Graves, ALP. for that borough. Ile stated that he was " a freeborn Briton," and that NI.. Graves bad not presented some petition lie had entrusted to him to the Reuse of Lords and the Rouse of Commons. lie gave au outline of his j-etition to the House of Lords on tholubject. of the Irish Church Bill, and appeared much excited. Mr. Tyrwhitt remanded him fur further inquiry. A shocking outrage has been ccmmitted at Noi . foll. A man nulled Wiseman Las Leen killed in a quarr,l at 1310. th The unfortunate man was pushed over a bunk by hi, asfailvnt, and bad his neck brohen. TILE HARTLEY COLLIERY RELIEF FUND. —A meeting of the eub:cribers to the above fund has been held at the Birmingham Exchange to dispose of the surplus of the above feud. The surplus in question amounted to about £2,470. It was recommended that the amount be devoted to the South Staffordshire hospital, towards the building of a colliery accident wing. Ame signed I , y about 5,000 miners, prayed that tir amount be devoted as a fund for the'widows and orphan: of men killed in colliery o) orations. The fir Et named Om, was adopted after a rrotett. NORFOLK AGIIII2ULTUI.AL ~,'o, 2 ll::Ty. The ain meeting of this scciety is being ,held at Attlehorough. There is a large and ecellebt show i f live stick. The fit st prize f,r the Le,t 81.01 t- - horn 1 ll!I has been WM) by Air. Kersey Co4cr, of I:n,t, ii, with 1 log:alli the Second ; and that for ti,e ht,t, I. 11". Lt.ril 0::11 by Ai r..J. now, of Bratightcn, limits, with Lady Anne. 'Major B.srlow has won the principal prize for the best thoroughbred stallion, with I)alesman. Most of the Soutlkdolvn sheep prizes were won by Lord Walhingliam and Lord Lornles. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales took the first prize for the best pen of ten Southdown ewe lambs. Mr. T. Brown, of Marham, won most of the long-woolled sheep prizes. Messrs. Duckering, Lincolnshire, and Mr. Steam, Suffolk, secured most of the pig premiums. A prize for the best-assore4l collection of implements was awarded to Messrs.. Holmes, of Norwich. The exhibition was flume. •coutrtitteadtikibiZAWlrc i ... ..__... THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 25, L-69. 01E7 ROPOLITAN GOSSIP-.—Thursday. "Levelling up" is the word for to-day. Will it he the thing for to-morrow? I very much doubt it. The matter stands thus. At the general election Mr. Gladstone pro mised that no portion of the Irish Church revenues should be appropriated to the endowment of any other religious body. At the same time it was stated by one or two other Ministers that in all probability the glebes and par sonages would be handed over to the Church without charge. Just before the session began, and when Cabinet Councils were of almost daily occurrence, it was found that this could not be done consistently with the principle of thebill without also giving glebes and parsonages to the Roman Catholic priests, and the Presbyterian clergy. There was for a few days something like a Cabinet crisis, one portion of the Cabinet advocating giving to all, the other giving to none. The latter section prevailed, and hence it came about that one of the provisions of the bill ordered that the glebes and parsonages should he sold, the present cccupant s s having the right of pre-emption. This provision was felt by many memhers on both sides of the House of Commons to be harsh, and one Liberal member besought the Government to give way on the point. But Ministers, knowing that concession would involve levelling up, refused ; so the bill passed in its present shape. Now it has entered the House of Lords the proposal Las been renewed, and is being strongly supported by members of both parties. The Marquis of Salisbury and Lord Cairns have bad an interview, and have come to an understanding as to the changes they will propose, and which, I believe, involve this of granting glebes and parsonages to the three religious bodies. These amendments will probably be laid upon the table to-night or to-morrow. Meanwhile, Lord Grey has anticipated the Conservative party by moving the omission of that portion of the preamble which prohibits the application of the funds to ecclesiastical purposes. But Lord Russell has far surpassed everybody else. He has given notice of amendments (of which, strange to say, neither the Times, the Star, the Standard, nor the Herald has any notice) for appropriating the surplus revenues of the Irish Church not only to the building of parsonages, and the giving of thirty acres of glebe to the clergy of the three chief Churches, but to building Roman Catholic churches and Presbyterian chapels. This is levelling up with a vengeance. I find that I did the Bishop of Oxford an injustice in suggesting that he arrived late in the House of Lords on Friday night by, what schoolboys call, an accident done on purpose. The truth is, he aid intend to speak that night. Coming clown from Mr. Motley's, he was greeted at the House with the satirical announcement from the Bishop of Gloucester, "Your colleague, Lord Westbury, is up." Now, between the ex-Chancellor and Dr. Wilberforce there have been sundry passages at arms in past times, and the sentiment which the second entertains for the first is the reverse of amicable. The Bishop's temper, not conciliated by this sarcasm, was still further irritated when, on urging the Duke of Argyll that he might be permitted to speak, the Secretary for India assured him that it was impossible. The Whips were determined to have a division that night. Many peers who had been summoned from various parts of the earth, and who had not been in London for nearly a dozen years, who vowed that they hated the place, only wanted to get away as soon as possible, and were insisting that they could not remain in town over another Sunday. So it was neces sary that the debate should be closed that night. The Bishop was told that if Lord Cairns rose after Lord Ratherley, as it was expected that he would, it would be impossible for anyone else but Lord Granville to speak; if, however, another Opposition peer were heard before Lord Cairns, the Bishop might have his twenty minutes, which was all that he asked. As it turned out, Lord Cairns did rise, and the Bishop who had done so much for the Government was compelled to keep silence, even from good words, which was pain and grief unto him. However, he contrived to let off some of the fire that burned within him a few hours later in a building on the opposite side of the way. Preaching the sermon on Sunday evening at the special service in Westminster Abbey, he made for about a quarter of an hour the apology that he would have made in the House of Lords, and proved his devotion to the Crown by au almost extravagantly loyal discourse. The sermon was, however, one of the most eloquent that he has ever delivered. I doubt if this one were made, like most of his, while he was shaving. The Bishop of Gloucester is now the leader of the Con servative prelates. lie is untiring in his opposition to the bill; and means to obstruct it by resorting to every. possible device, supporting whatever amendments seem most calculated to damage the measure, and without any regard to their origin or primary purpose. The Bishop of Ripon is so disgusted with the result of the divi sion, that he has taken to himself wings like a dove and fled to the Continent, thus following out Archdeacon Denison's advice, not to go - near the committee. . As to the Arch deacon, he is as full of wrath as though he were not St. George, but the dragon. The other day he was talking to some Radicals, and be said that one of the first results of the disestahlishment of the Irish Church would be that Mid-Somerset would retu:n him as for, said he, the Irish clergy will then be able to sit in Parliament, and if they do, yore may be sure that the English clergy will not temlin excluded. "Now," he added, " would you not melt rather have a few quiet bishops in the Upper House, than the in ti e Lower?" His Ila.dical audience certainly thought they would. It had never struck them in that light before. In all seriousness, this point is one of great importance ; and it has perplexed Mr. Gladstone not a little. If the Irish Church Bill should have the result of permitting cleric-8 to take up politics as a profession, as is done in Norway, and that result is by no means improbable, the clergy will cer tainly gain more influence than they will lose by disesta blishment. The last night of the great debate taxed the London papers to the uttermost. The Tinto, which was the only paper that ave Lord Granville's reply in full, and an azcount of the division, bad but fifteen minutes between going to press and catching the first trains for the country. In that fifteen minutes 15,000 copies were printed. The funniest thing, however, was that the Will-o'-the-Wisp, IMr. Hamilton Ilume's comic paper, was so sure o f a Conservative triumph that it had prepared a very capital cartoon of the Lords literally kicking the bill out of the Home. At the last moment a cartoon of a very different kind had to be prepared. It is remarkable that your contemporary should have made this mistake, as everyone bebind the scenes knew well that Lord Derby was riding not to win, and as a matter of fact a large number of Con servative peers were instructed to leave the House before the division took place. While we in England are still discussing the Church, in Ireland it is the land which is the great subject of con troversy and expectation. An Irish landowner (a Liberal, by the way) stated the other day that his agent had just come back from a fair, and that there he found the peasantry unanimous in believing that they would shortly have the laid entirely in their own possession. "Shure," said they, " has not the Pope got all the title deeds, and is he ndt going to give them to the Cardinal and Misther Bright? "rhe famous speech by the President of the Board of Trade has produced a profound impression upon the Roman Catholic peasantry. It is not surprising that they should be dissatisfied. They see that in Protestant Ulster their brethren enjoy fixity of tenure so long as the rent is paid, and they ask why they also should not have it. The treatment of the Pasha of Egypt has given rise to some very severe criticisms. Yesterday's morning papers gave a very different account of his 'Highness's reception from the actual facts. To begin with, the Prince of Wales was not at the station when the Pasha arrived. The con sequence was that poor Lord Alfred Paget was in a state bordering upon distractibn. He rushed up and down in a frantic manner, and when the military band had finished the Egyptian Hymn, he shouted, "Co on ! go on ! Keep going !" At last the Prince arrived. But where was the escort ? No one knew. So Prince and Pasha drove away, attended by a mounted policeman, and the troops arrived at the station somewhere about the time that royalty arrived at the Palace. Nor is this all. Instead of the great gates of Buckingham Palace being thrown open, the Pasha was taken in at the side door, the servants' entrance, I presume. At Dover he was met by a dirty fly and a pair of hearse horses. All this is making people excessively angry. They see that their character for hospitality is being completely ruined by the parsimony or the negligence of the Court. It is not only that the Sovereign herself keeps away from the capital, but she does her utmost to keep away all other crowned heads. Last night there was a state concert at Buckingham Palace, and Titiens, Nilsson, Bettini, Santley, and Gardoni were among the singers. But neither these nor the Pasha could attract the Queen, though she was less than twenty miles away. Carlton-house•terrace has been the trysting place of all the gossips and the cynics in London this week. They have been spectators of the disetablishment and disendow ment of a duke, and all the papers have been delivering homilies thereon. Meanwhile, neither gossipS, cynics, nor ,papers appear to have heard that another peer, who has held very high office and quitted it under circumstances not altogether conducive to his fame, has made acquaint ance with the Philistines, which is HebreW fin the Olefin's officers. Mr. Lowder is now, I believe, the only London clergy. man who still burns altar lights. Mr. Rodwell continued to burn them until he was threatened with proceedings. He then took counsel's opinion, and Dr. Deane was so strongly against him that he thought it better to conform to the Cairns judgment. Mr. Le Geyt, of St. Matthias's, Stoke Newington, has likewise conformed. As for Mr. Lowder, he is a man of such extreme self-denial and devotedness, has done such an enormous amount of good in on= of the Very worst districts of London, that, unwise though he is in defying the law, he gets a good deal of sympathy from men of a very different school from his own. Should a defence fund be opened in his behalf, you may look for the name of one of the best-known Broad Church clergymen in London. You will remember the vehement opposition which the London gas companies offered a little while ago to the bill brought in for reforming them. In spite of that oppo tion the bill was passed, and the result has been most satisfactory. Three of the companies were com pelled to amalgamate. They have begun to erect large works at Barking, and will, when these are completed, abandon their present works, which are so grievous a nuisance to Londoners. By this removal they will enable the Thames Embankment to be continued, and so one improvement leads to another. They will have to lay clown eleven miles of two-feet main, and will keep it always at work by having several receivers in various parts of London. These will be free from all the annoyances that arise from the present manufacture in the midst of a dense population. In spite of all these expenses, it is found that the company will, through the reduction of expenditure resulting from amalgamation, get a higher profit from the Act of Parliament charge of 3s. 9d. than they now get from that of 4s. Gil. This happyresult of combination augurs well for the economical working of the telegraphs when they are under Government control. This is likely to take place very shortly, as the bill empowering Government to raise the necessary money.for the purchase has been prepared, and will very shortly be introduced by Mr. Lowe. Longfellow is still in Italy, and when he wrote last to his London friends, dated from Como. He was to have been in England before this, but has probably been kept away by the thought of a banquet to which he had been invited by the Goldsmiths! Company. The author of " Hiawatha," different from most of his fellow countrymen, has a great dislike of publicity. Tennyson, as I mentioned in a former letter, is in Switzerland. The subject of his new poem is the Quest of the Holy Grail. The example of Lord Lyttelton is about to be followed by his third daughter. She is to be married to Mr. Edward Stuart Talbot. Young Lord Newport is to he married to Lady Ida Lumley, daughter of the Earl of Scarborough, and Mr. Brand's daughter to Mr. ITenry Campion. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. spiritual manifestations in which he had taken part, specially mentioning a spirit .hand which had written the autograph of Napoleon I. in the presence of the French Emperor and Empress"! Being ques tioned as to the state of departed human beings, Mr. Home said that spirits retained their personal identity. He had seen spirit buds and flowers. Had seen a bottle disappear. Dr. Edmunds asked if it was a brandy bottle, a question which greatly incensed Mr. Home, who objected to being made ridiculous in the newspapers. A Mr. Glover having declared his belief that the manifestations were made by the devil, Mr. Home interposed, declaring his conviction that the manifestations of this medium came from his •own mind ! A NEW MUSEUM. An addition is to be made to the public buildings of London. The Duke of Argyll has resolved to appropriate the ground between the India Office and Charles-street to the building of a new museum, library, and chart &lice under one roof, from plans by :qr. Digby Wyatt. At present our Indian literary treasures, in which we are richer than any other country in the world, not excepting Russia even, arc helped away like so much lumber, and arc wholly inaccessible to the student. CHANCES OF DEATH DT DIFFERENT DISEASES. Alen pray to be preserved from murder and from sudden death ; in other words, from what are com monly called accidents and wilful injuries. The Times states that the chances are as one to twenty-nine that a man will depart this life from such causes. That he will die of zymotic disease is as one to six, that consumption will cause his death is as Ito 9. Out of every 1,000 deaths in 1867, 195 were caused by zymotic diseases, 192 by constitutional diseases, 402 by local diseases, 167 by developmental diseases, and 36 by accidental and other violence. 118,003 oat of every million deaths were the result of con sumption, THE DIEHOPS AND THE IRISH CHURCH. " A Broad Churchman " writes to the Daily Tele graph pointing out that the. Liberal party have been suffering for the sin of Lord Palmerston, in allowing his relative, Lord Shaftesbury, to hold for a time the appointment of all the bishops. Lord Shaftesbury's nominees, with scarcely an exception, voted against the Government in the late division. "A Broad Churchman " hopes that this will be a lesson to Mr. Gladstone, and that he will give the Liberal school of theologians which really does exist in the Church a fair share of promotion. IIIISII POETILY. The latest attempt of the Fenian party in Ireland to rouse the enthusiasm of the people on the side of " Ireland for the Irish" is about the best-considered of all recent modes of stirring up the public mind. It consists of reading and reciting b:Alads and poems. These recitations verge on the seditious, if they are not actually treasonable. The most wild parts of Moore arc the best of the pieces presented ; many of the others are poor enough, but the broadness of the half-concealed attack upon England and the Engliei makes up for the badness of the poetry. Mr. Meany seems to be the leader in the organisation of the ineet:ngs.i. THE LATE MAYOIL OF COIN. Air. Daniel O'Sullivan, late Mayor of Cork, is at it again. Ile is a member of the board of guardians in the " beautiful city." On Wednesday last he attempted to introduce a petition in favour of the Irish Church Bill as passed by the Commons. The mayor ruled such a petition out of order, and refused to allow it to be discussed. Mr. O'Sullivan there upon denounced him as an Orangeman, and in the midst of great uproar demanded his resignation. The mayor left the chair and went away. Mr. O'Sull;van then moved-that he be called upon to resign, but the clerk refused to take the motion. Great confusion ensued, and the board broke up in the midst of it. THE OVEREND, GURNEY, AND COMPANY PROSECUTION. Dr. Thom, the prosecutor of the directors of Overend, Gurney, and Company, is placed in a most awkward predicament. He is bound over in £,5,000 to conduct his case in the Court of Queen's Bench he has not any large amount of money, the Home Office will not provide him with counsel, and the Lord Chief Justice refuses to allow him to pro secute in person. What then is he to do ? lle writes very indignantly :Wont the in itter to the papers, sbewing, bow absurdly he is pressed. " If," ho a )ys, "a prosecutor and his witIP.FS-,-s be doomed to have obeyed their country's call in vain, let the blame of the failure be divided between the apathy of the public at large and the absurdities of our penal juris prudence. Be the result what it may,. I shall have done my best to vindicate commercial integrity and to restore commercial confidence." Perhaps the Home Office does not w.ali the casee to go to trial. • I EVE L LING UP. alive .to the fact that the Th l 6 ri 2‘ sh run a llu u ' re l h .ini ß st il i l f h n a l s ly cntered upon its most critical stage. Not aware that Lord Russell had actually proposed to build Roman Catholic churches with the surplus funds, our contemporary urges that even the minor form of " concurrent endowment," the giving of parsonages and glebes to the Roman Catholic priests and the Presbyterian ministers, should be oppased. " There is no earthly necessity for it, except to gratify the traditional sentiment of the Lords in favour of some national provision for religious ministrations. It will be a blot upon a measure singularly definite in its policy and complete in its arrangements. It will not, perhaps, altogether de feat its object; but it will chang e for the worse its spirit, and mar its symmetrical arrangement." The Daily Telegraph, says that, " consistent to the traditions of a long political life, Lord Russell would carry up the levelling policy wholesale. What the country will say to Lord Rus se ll' s prop osals there can be no doubt whatever." That answer will be, our contemporary affirms, too late. The thing might have been done in Pitt's time, but the public judg ment and conscience have decided on a far different solution of the long controversy. It was part of Mr. Gladstone's programme at the elections that the Church property should be devoted to other than ecclesiastical purposes. Moreover, to split up a vast revenue among warring religionists in unequal proportions, Would be to light the torch of discorl in every Irish parish. Th e Mornfnu Adiveliser is, naturally enough, horrified at any proposal for levelling up, and in a long leader, asts any . number of -quEStions, which are all variations of the one question—" Are we to undo the Reformation ? " The 211ornfug Post simply publishes the amendments without note or comment. Ihe Times does not seem to have heard of them. Mr. E.lphinstone Dalrymple, writing from relgium, tells what has been done in Prussia. That country entered into a concordat with Pius VII., by which the tithes and the endowments of the Church were apportioned equally among the different religious bodies in proportion to their numbers. The right of veto upon objectionable appointments is retained. Mr. Dalrymple adds that " a like course is open to the English Government, if bigotry and prejudice will permit." A very large " if." THE LICENSED VICTUALLERS. The Victuallers have be6n dining at the Crystal Palace. They succeeded in catching a live M.P., Mr. Stanley Vickers, who beat the late Sir Wentworth Dilke at the last election. Mr. Vickers made the magnanimous remark that in entering Par liament he was influenced by the wish to represent his customers quite as much as by the wish to re present himself. One would like to know what the electors of Wallingford would say to this confession. They elected Mr. Vickers to represent them, but it seems that he never thought of this, that his object - was primarily to represent Mr. Stanley Vickers, and, secondarily, the publicans and the gin-palace keepers. Probably Mr. Vickers thinks that he has done his duty to Wallingford by paying in full his very heavy election bills. SPMITIJALIB3I. The committee of the London Dialectical Society have continued their investigations into the subject of spiritual phenomena. It was said at the last meeting that the committee intended to adjourn until the autumn, when they present a report of their lengthened inquiry. At the suggestion of Dr. Edmunds, Mr. Home, the celebrated medium, was asked to favour the committee with his experience. lie said that he was the last person who ought to give evidence, as the phenomena occurred through him unconsciously to himself. Ile was not, he said, •an imaginative man, but sceptical. Living a life of excitement, his mind must become harassed if he dwelt upon these subjects, mid he diverted hims e lf by going to the:Art s, &c. In answer to iiiquiriea the process of the communications, Mr. Home said that certain manifes tations only occur in a trance, which never happened unless the people about him were "in a har monious condition." A member having asked whether "mediumistic" powers had any effect upon the general health, Mr. Home said when he was born he wts never expected to live, and could not walk at six. He had often been given over by the doctors, but the spirits told him he should get better. In the law suit with Mm. Lyon he had congestion of the brain, and his memory left him but he had got well. When in a trance h e frequently Wok "a live coal in 12 . 4 - 1413 . 1 -- 3 1 / 4 -1101212.. gay e$ 19p,g Icco4a ,of tin A SPORTSMAN'S LIFE. A case has just been tried in the Court of Common Pleas which, it has been remarked, might, in prac tised hands, supply the elements of a realistic drama or novel. The plaintiff, a Mr. Surman, who was formerly house. steward to a great duchers, brought an action against the Gresham Insurance Company on a policy of £l,OOO, effected on the life of a young man named Owen. Mr. Owen was an ensign in the army, who had got into difficulties, and was honoured by' the friendship of Mr. Morby, a money-lender, through whose hind ass'stance he disposed of the whole of his money, including the price of his commission and a reversionary interest. The policy of insurance was effected as security for the loan ad vanced by Mr. Surman ; but as Mr. Owen died three months after it was effected, of delirium tremens, the company objected to pay it. In the evidence it appeared that Mr. Surman advanced £375 on a three months' bill for 1..!-100, which was afterwards made £5OO on Mr. Surman's paying £7O in cash. Mr. Owen, who had ruined a fine constitution by intemperance, was so depressed by the result of last year's Derby that he drank more and more, dying in July. As the company believed Mr. Surman was ignorant of Mr. Owen's state of health, the case was compromised. THE CONFEDERATE BONDHOLDERS. The Confederate bondholders are evidently , sanguine men. They still expect to be re paid by the . United States Government money which was lent to aid what the said 'Government regards as an unjustifiable rebellion. They are about to hold a meeting in the metropolis, for the purpose of protesting against that part of Mr. Sumner's speech referring to their interests. At the same meeting it is proposed to consider a petition to the House of Commons "not to grant compensation for satisfying any claims arising out of the lat e war in the United States unless adjudicated by an im partial tribunal, according to the principles of equity r.nd international law." THE IRON AND STEEL TRADES. The members of the iron and steel trades are taking measures for amalgamation and union. On Wednesday night the Duke of Devonshire presid e d at the metropolitan office of the Society of Arts over a meeting for inaugurating an institute whose purpose is to afford means of communication between the members of the aforesaid trades. The new society excludes all matters bearing on wages and trade regulations ; it is rather formed to hold scientific discussions aid meetings of a practical character, having reference to the special business of its members. REDUCTION OF TEE RATE OF DISCOUNT. The Bank of England has again lowered the rate of d:s3ount. The directors met yesterday and reduced the rate to 31 per cent. FOREIGN NOTES. A NEW ATLANTIC C.'.ELE. One great idea is generally the precnnor of several. The success of the straight cables from England to America has given rise t.) a stupendon3 project of a system of ocean telegraphy to sweep the north-west coast of Africa, cross the ocean to Brazil, cover half the coast of South America, and pass al the prise' pal West India Islands to the United States. It is proposed to com mence a submarine cable ar, Lisbon, connected of course with Paris, London, and the other Erin pean capita's. From the Portuguese capital the wire will pass round the coast of Portugal and Spain to Gibraltar, thence proceed to Agadir, in Morocco, shooting of!' from that port to the Canary Islands, and an off branch going to the Madeiras. From the Canaries the cable will return to the African coast, passing round it to Cape Verd, and thence to the Cape Vcrd Islands. From the Cape Verd Islands a south-westerly track leads to Natal, in Brazil, the cable going south to Rio Janeiro, and north along the Brazil and Guiana coasts to Trinidad. From Trinidad it will pass by Jamaica, Hayti, Cuba, and the other West India islands, one branch going from Havanna to the south of Florida, and another to New Orleans. The total length of the route will be 10,000 miles. The general principle which it is proposed to follow is to keep the cable close to the coast, except in crossing the Atlantic, but not to land it, except at the stations. The dangers which apparently present them selves are that the coast part of the cable maybe injured or broken by the anchors of ships visiting the numerous • ports at which it will touch, and that belligerent nations may, in certain events, find it to their interest to cut off the communication. If these disadvantages can be overcome, the project ought surely to pr,sper. The existing Atlantic cables pass only from cue port to another ; this will touch at not fewer than 120 stations of greater or less importance, and the business done ought to be more than proportionate to the extra length of line. A company has been formed to carry out the idea, and concessions have already been granted by the Govern ments of France, Brazil, Denmark, Portugal, and :Hayti. The company is called the International South Trans atlantic Telegraph Company. THE REPUBLICANS AND THE ALABAMA CL2.IMS. There seems to he•no doubt that the astonishing schemf . , the earliest announcement of which appeared in our American telegrams, of making the Alabama claims a party question, emanated from Mr. Sumner himself. Indeed, he still clings to the idea of dragging this inter national controversy into party politics ; hut the stern condemnation of the leading Republicans promises very little for his chance of success. The Few York Times is very severe upon the conduct of the Senator. The poli tical campaign, in fact, which Mr. Sumner cut out for himself, has terminated very badly. Should Mr. Reverdy Johnson accomplish all he has promised in defence of his conduct as a Minister, it is difficult to see how the senator will defend himself. THE CANADIAN DOMINION. Newfoundland has joined the North American Confede- ration ; there is little fear that Nova Scotia will abandon it ; but in order that the Empire north of the United States be complete, it is necessary that British Columbia, with its extent of Pacific coast, be in cluded. Overtures have been made, and the inhabitants of British Columbia seem not unwilling to join the Dominion, but they insist upon what the Telegraph calls an impracticable condition. They require that their colony shall first be connected with Canada by a railway across the continent. "Unfortunately, the Canadians are obliged to meet the condition thus advanced by the familiar non possumuB plea. In their present financial straits, and with the inter-Colonial railway not even com menced, it is simply impossible to engage in so gigantic an undertaking as the construction of an iron highway over the broadest part of the North American conti nent. They therefore want to reverse the process--that is, to have confederation first, and the railway afterwards." The Telegraph observes that this dilemma must be got out of somehow, and advises the Columbians to make the first advances. They have most to gain, both by their union with the Atlantic provinces and by the construction of the railroad. Unfortunately, if the line be not made the union must be a thing of nought, for without the line there are no practicable means of com municating. A wide extent of almost uninhabited terri tory separates Columbia from Canada. This is the great argument on which the Columbians rest their case. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RAILWAYS. The earnings of the American railways are much greater than those of the English lines. The latter receive only 7'86 per cent. yearly upon the whole cost ; whilst the former earn not less than 21 per cent. rut these figures do not represent the true difference. In England the working expenses are much lighter, so that the clear profit averages about one-half cf the gross receipts, whilst tllo American lia6s do not make a net profit • of mo .e than 30 per cent. on the total income. The most remarkable point of difference is in the cost of fuel, the American expenditure in this respect being more than five imexthsaitaacurattiallalpidieUkktm coke ia nee In this cotmtry ; in America wood or rani► coal serves as fuel, the former being very costly, the latter injurious to the engine. The New York Times concludes that the United States excel all nations in the art of construction, and in securing the largest return upon a given outlay, but not in economy of working —a deficiency which is largely due to the greater cost of material. TILE WAITERS' STRIKE AT NEW YORK. As might have been anticipated, the strike of waiters at Sew York has proved a disastrous failure. Trades which require no great manual skill are not readily protected by strikes. Waiters can be made out of raw material with a little trouble, and so it has proved in this case. The hotel-keepers refuse to employ any of the leaders ; and compel the few strikers they do employ to forswear allegi ance to their trade union, which has been broken up. MISSING SHIPS. Nothing has been heard of the United Kingdom, now nearly two months clue from .1\;;:w York to Glaszow. The agents of the Anchor line in New York still express theircon lidence in the safety of this fine vessel ; but grave doubt must necessarily be felt rftcr this lapse of time. The United Kingdom was spcken once, and after that heavy gales pre vailed off Newfoundland ,and icebergs were numerous. Other ships are missing. The R. Mark, of Liverpool, which sailed from Madras for Marseilles on the 27th of last October, has been spoken once, and not heard of since. The Vol°, of the United States, sailed from Cardiff for Havanuah on the 14th of December, and is likewise missing. BELGIAN POLITICS. The Patnie, which divides its messages of evil between Belgium and Prussia, has now something disagreeable to tell of the former country. The position of the Ministry is very serious. The present state of things cannot last. M. Frbre-Orban's Cabinet is not giving satisfaction on the railway question. "It is now known that the adverse vote of the Senate on the Imprisonment for Debt Bill is an act of defiance instigated by the foreign policy of the Ministry." This is simply a neat insinuation that the Senate and the Belgian people desire the demands of France on the railway question to be granted in full, that the Cabinet opposes this wish, and is therefore unpopular. It would seem from various signs that the Belgian Govern. ment is anxious to make up its quarrel with France, and is getting afraid; but it has yet to be seen that the people are angry with their rulers because they do not concede all the demands of their powerful neighbour. THE DISTURBANCES IN ITALY. The Times correspondent, as well as other writers, attri butes the riots at Milan and other places to Mazzinian agency. They seem to have had no object beyond creating a disturbance and unsettling mcit's minds. The corresponden' of the Incljpozdance _Edge, however, holds to the theory that they were merely the resu!t of a little popular effer vescence at the attempt upon Major Lobbia's life; that they arose and ceased spontaneously. They were undoubtedly of very contemptible proportions, and may very possibly have had no serious connection with politics, BOURBON PROPERTY. The Civil Tribunal of Florence has rejected the demand of the Bourbons for the restitution of certain property confiscated during the dictatorship of Garibaldi. Th:f judgment is in conformity with the decision of the Italihi Government. It is maintained that the two dictatoriLA decrees of Garibaldi hold good. INTERNATIONAL COINAGE.* (Fronz the Anglo American 2 iincs.) Although England is now, the great stumbling block in the way of an international system of coin age, it is in no small degree owing to her exertions that so much has been accomplished towards the introduction of universal weights, measures, and a unit for coins. In 1862 the British Branch of the National Association for the adoption of a univer sal system of weights, measures, and coins through out the world, got the House of Commons to appoint a committee to inquire into weights and measures, which led to the adoption of thametric system. The Monetary Convention between France, Belgium, and Italy was signed in 1865, which united a larger 'ovulation using the franc than any other unit. In December, 1866, Britain was asked to take part in an International Conference to extend the system, and about the same time the International Decimal Association brought the same subject before her Majesty's Government, while the Metric Commit tee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science suggested to the Commission for the Uni versal Exhibition of 1867 a special exhibition there of the weights, measures, and coins of al! countries. The British Government cautiously approached the sul,ject, attracted towards it, and acknowledg'ng its value, yet dreading disturbance in the enor mous commercial interests they represented. Time was taken to consider, and they agreed to send the Master of the Mint and other Commissioners to such a Conference, on the clear understanding that they admitted nothing, and their Comm;s - sioners were unauthorised in any degree to commit them. So two Commissions sat in Paris durinv, the time of the Great Exhibition in 1867, the oee official exclu sively on coinage, the other unofficisl on weights, measures and cohls, at the Palais d'lndustrie, both be ing presided over by Prince Napoleon, and attended by the same representatives, from all civilized coun tries. The first question they ha,d to decide was whe ther a new universal coinageshould be brought into use or existing coins brought into conformity. The reviewer regrets that the opportunity was not seized to establish a distinct relation between the unit of weight and the unit of money, and he considers that a grand opportunity was therein lost. Abraham thus used the shekel, the Romans the as., the Greeks the drachma and the talent, and the English the pound. Touching this last unit, as a coin, it is not old, though as a weight it has been used for centu ries as a measure of pure gold, varying from time to In 1717 Sir Isaac N ewton, then Master of the oin time. In settled the pound weight, but it was not till a century after, in 1817, that the sovereign or 20 twenty shillings was put into circulation by Procla mation. The question as to the introduction of a new coinage the Convention was settled adversely, when the subject came up as to the metal, and gold received the preference. A double standard was proposed and strenuously advocated by M. Wolowski, of the Falais d'lndustrie. His main argument was that if any country, say France, changed from silver to gold an injustice would be done to the debtor class. The production of silver was increasing, that of gold decreasing ; and the value of the latter would be still further enhanced when the Unite 1 States, Russia, and Austria changed their paper circulition into specie. Hence it would be unfair to alter their contracts into a metal yearly rising in value. Then arguments, however, had no effect on the Commis sion, and gold was selected. Then arose the difficult question of the unit. Five or ten gramtnes of gold, nine-tenths fine, was discussed and rejected. The subject of fineness was raised, and it was found that France, Germany, and the United States adopted nine-tenths pure gold and one-tenth alloy ; while England, Portugal, and Prussia adopted eleven twelfths pure gold and one-twelfth alloy ; the nine tenths, being mostgenerally in use, was adopted. But the real stumbling-block was that the Conference then reached —.to select the unit of value. The French sys tem had been decided on as that of the largest popula tion, embracing, as it did, several other countries. It is true that the exports and imports of the United Kingdom in 1865 did exceed those of the nations that had then entered the Convention, the former being £ 4 90,000,000, the latter £472,000,000, exclusive of Switzerland, but the coin of the former was esti mated at £100,000,000, while that of the latter was £300,000,000 ; hence, in choosing the system of the most numerous population, less expense and labour would be incurred in recoinage. In considering the other great nations, it was found that they were but little affected—the United States, Russia, and Austria having a paper currency. The most feas able coin, as a unit, appeared to be the five-franc piece. The English pound represented 25 francs 20 cents ; the United States dollar neatly equals four shillings; 25 francs nearly . equal the pound, four dollars equalling the Napoleon, or 16 shidings, and five dollars equalling the pound, or 25 francs. The United States coinage varies three-and-a-half per cent. from the franc ; but although this was made light of by the American representatives, the Senate differed from them when considering the subjec. Several schemes were, however, introduced into tine Congress with the obj e ct of harmonizing theonizin„e States currency with the system adopted United atie Conference, the most feasible being Mr. D. W. Kelley's Bill of July 21, 1868. He suggests that each gold dollar shall contain one-and-a- half French grammes of pure gold, and weigh one and two-thirds; by which 1,003 new dollars would equal 1,000 old dollars. This would be a step towards reducing the • difference between the money of the United Status * St. Paul's Magazine June s 1869. jp.20... and of Britain and Germany, while adjusting it more closely to the French system. One hundred francs contain a little over twenty-nine grammes of gold, while twenty of the United Stases pro posed dollars would contain 30 grammes, and one thousand British pence - 301 grammes, and these might, Mr. Kelley thinks, ea,ily be made equi valent to four British pounds. By slightly chang ing the weight, a hundred francs would equal a thousand pence and two thousand cents, and each of these would equal thirty French grammes, now the equivalent of three German crowns, which would make the dollar, the five-franc piece, four shillings, and three-twentieths of a German crown alike in value. how far Mr. Kelley's bill militates against the system laid down at the Conference we cannot tell, but one of its clauses provides that silver shall be a legal tender for sums under ten dollars, and 2 5 grammes of silver shall make a dollar. We imagine the Conference in rejecting the double standard had no idea of throwing out silver as a legal ten der for small sums. Mr. Kelley's gold coins would be pieces of $2O, $lO, $5, $3, and $l. As re gards the English pound its exact measure is 113 001 grains fine gold, while the 23 franc pjeC O would be 112.003 or -993 of a grain less or in value 2•126, equal to -88, or nearly nine-tenths per cent. Mr. Feer Herzog, the Swiss representative, thought so small a difference only the limit of tolerance, but from this the British representatives dissented, 8 5 they considered that their Government would in honour, and to avoid having sovereigns not exactly alike in circulation, have to recoin, and perhaps ulti mately to abandon, the sovereign. It is, howeYer , the case that the British Mint alone charges nothing for coining ; hence if one per cent. be deducted for seignorage, the value would be equalized, while the contracts in existence with countries which did not join the Convention could be settled, not in coin, but in gold bars. An objection was raised to tlic five-franc gold piece ; for if coins were struck of that value, and of 10, 20, and 25 francs, mista kes would be constantly occurring, owing to the slig ht difference in size. Already mistakes are made e ven in the present more marked gold pieces of Fra nce, which would repeatedlyoccur in verysmall pieces, lac-- sides their being more liable to be lost. It was t hen proposed to raise the common denominator to ten, which was in harmony with the decimal system , and the franc, with neither of which does the five' franc piece agree. Such a coin was once largely circulated as a ducat, and was the smallest go ld coin before the five-franc piece was issued. . Wallenberg and Professor Leoni Levi favoured while M. de Parien did not object. The represen" tatives of Austria gave it the preference a s mere readily agreeing with their coinage, 13 representa tives voting for it ; those of England and Sweden were against it while Prussia, Baden, Wurtemberg' and Belgium abstained from voting. The Confer" ence, by way of concili a ti ng E ng l an d, a dded a C O ' n of 25 francs, from which the mistaken idea a r ? s i e that they had adopted th a t co i n as th e unit, w hlci was not the case, the five-franc gold piece be l ' taken as the basis of the m one t ar y s ystem, the 010 s . of all nations to be made an exact multiple or eel' formable to it. Th e rev i ewer o bj ec t s to the action-6 of the Convention in co n templ a ti ng only a cha n g e of coins without touching on the system of c urren .ao e2r . The Master of the Mint assured the Convention that England would not come into their proPov- I, , as it would entail too great an i n c onv enience for teet advantage it would confer, and this was in effect the conclusion arrived at by the Royal ConinW- slO /1 appointed immediately afte r to c onsider the subj ect/ and with the concurrence of the mercantile coin: inunity. At the same time the Commission foi l !' acknowledged that a unifo r m system alikein MI higher and lower coins as well as in weights and wen' sures would be productive of great general advantage: Both the Master of the Mint and ProfessorLeont I J C% advocated the 10-franc gold piece as the unit: Zhls would necessitate a new coinage, and reduce our shilling to a ten-penny piece. Ten new shillings would equal the new gold piece; four pounds, t he large coin, would be ten of these new gold coins: or one hundred francs ; two pounds would equal five of the new coins, or fifty francs ; one poun d would be two and a half of the new coin?, equal to twenty-five francs ; sixteen thillings would equ al two new gold coins, or twenty francs; eight shil lings would equal one, the unit, or ten francs. There would be no difficulty, we imagine, in g et " tin; a bill passed through Congress, either to bar' monise the coinage to such a system, or to adopt it. The silver would consist of pieces equal to tl" francs, to two francs, to one franc, to half a frail°. and a quarter franc ; and the copper, coinage wou ld be a ten cent piece, equal to a penny, one of five cents' and one seat. We are glad to see that the lion. S. Ruggles has been coinnaissioned by the President to attend the approaching Statistical Conference a t the Hague, which will bring the most active me al : ber of the United States Delegation to the Paris Conference again to Europe to re-open this sub ject, as it surely will be unofficially, if not officially Indeed, Austria intends to coin pieces equal to th l 10-franc and 20 fra nc pi eces; an d G reec e, the Pap al 6 States, Roumania, as we ll as th e U n ited State 3 311 Canada, have taken action on the subject. 14 . 15 Tuesday at P es th th e bill i n t ro d uc i ng &gold coin age, with the franc as unit, was agreed to.. t he North German Confederation have passed resolu tions, while Sweden proposes to strike gold 00105 final to 10 francs and 25 franc;, and France ,h° resolved to alter her standard to gold ; thus I.4eg land has been left almost alone, while even Ch ina talks of coming into the system. The Rev. Samuel Nott, father of Samuel I• l ° l s t c i jun., superintendent of the Hartford, Providence, 911 Fishkill Railroad, died at the r e sid ence o f his son in gar', ford, on Tuesd a y, Ju no 1. H e was th e l as t survivor the band of five missionaries sent to the East Indies bY thg American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Atissith in 1312. _ " [ADVERTISEMENT. .I—Holloway's Ointment an d ...1 P'llo,st Bad Legs. —Any unnatural discharge fronfthe skin is „ji all times disagreeable, but sometimes it becomes no t ();,),,, irritating, but offensive; bad legs, o ld woun ds, scrod and scorbutic eruptions are coo l e d , soothed, an d c ure 11 Holloway's ointment. It a t once arrests all d i seas es of the surface, by purifyin g an d regulat i ng the c i rcu l a tion r e their neighbourhood, by givi ng energy t o th e ne rves of the s affected part, and by expelling all poisonous and 130110 — ,,1, matters. It ejects th e see d s o f a ll v i ru l ent eru ptions n .. „ - „, ulceration, and thus conf ers no t emporar y o r partial b,7, 0 but a complete and p ermanen t cure . B y moan s of tuoi remedies all persons may aim at att a inin g health, and s invariably succeeo. 010 AD VERTlSEMENT.l—ifencerorth no one will doubt the p O,lll properties of Du Barry's health-restoring Revalenta Ara! )lc o . o Invalids' and Infants' Food, since to the thousands of blessgir, it has already received from Invalids whoso H o li ness .° sition 11 114130 , deemed hopeless, wo may now add that of his H o li nes s the ° r ne o f whose health has been perfectly restored by it after thirty Y ea 7da unsuccessful medical treatment. We quote from the " Gezett Midi," July 25th :—" Rome, July 21, 1866. - The health of•the IV? Fathr is excellent, especially since, abandoning all other roll dies, he has confined himself entirely to Du Barry's Bevalti. Arabica Food,. of which he consumes a plateful at eve/le t : n - ( 1 It has produced a surprisingly beneficial effect on his health, we his Holiness cannot praise this excellent food too highl9-,,,, o f extract a few out ofmore than 68,000 cures:—Care No. 58, 74 -",v,; ;Ti t the Marchioness de Brehan, of seven years' liver coll l P oo , Lott wasting away, debility, nervousness, with a nervous palp all over, bad digestion, constant sleeplessness, and the mos t de tolerable nervous agitation. Cure No 1.771: Lord Stuarto. Decies, Lord-Lieutenant of Waterford, of many years' dysPePo, No. 49,832: "Fifty years' indescribable agony from dysl'eP is , nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, sPnr. sickness, and vomiting —Maria Joly." Cure No. 46,27 0 : James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years' diseased l u3l, spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness- th o portant Caution—Beware of the many unsavoury and ra ol l 3 ,,vs sloppy imitations to which, without authority, Baron Lie ° name is most audaciously attached. In tins, at Is lid; 1 lb 2s 9d; 21bs 48 6d 5 lbs lls 12 lb , 2 ,i!T s o ; 21 lbs 40s. - Also Du BARRY'S REYALENTA ARABIEA CIO C°I ;upO PoWDER is packed in tin canisters: for 12 cups at s, for ' 55s at 3s 6d, for 48 cups at 6 s, for 288 cups at 30s, fur 576 cups a —being about one penny per cup. The 30s and 55s tins are a` .. „. free of carriage in England on receipt of Post-Office Ord er „,i• d RAR Y BARRY and Co., No. 77, R egent - street, L o udon; '— all Grocets and Chemists. BIRTHS. Smut -On the 22d inst., at 69, Queen's-gate, the 11°13. Mrs. Woohnore Smith, of a son. Dc Thromtwoon—On th e 23d lust., at 10, P ar k- sq uare, d, gent's-park, N.W ., t h e wife of ' Frederick J. Underivou Esq., of twin sons. MARRIAGES. CLARKE • —BEARE —At St. Andrew's Church, Wall-street, Arthur. Doveton, son of J. Clarke, Esq., of all, P ew l o p r slure-phtce, t o Edi t h A my, youngest daughter of ith l J W. G. Beare, of Devonshire-place. PARKER—Krr CITE:aII —On the 24th inst , at lireYbr i ,q 6e :. Harry Rainy P ar k er , E sq . eldest son of the late ire' Chancellor Sir Jamos Parler, to Frances Emily Ja n daughter of Lieut.-C o l. Kitchener, late 9th Rent. DEATHS. " CIIAMBERS—On the 23d inst., at his residence, 67 B loora field-place, Pimlico, Mr. S. Chambers, aged 82. JARDINE —Ou the 23d inst., at Brighton, Major- Jardfne, aged Gl. Egg, , late of the WILSON - 1 0 u the 21st inst Son hos. Co firm of Thos. Wilson, , and Co Hull aged 78 ' , General London: Printed and Published by WILLIAM ANDAw—W,..O, of No. 112, Strand, Print e r, a t THE SUN °filed, N 0 .112, Stra d in the Precinct of the Sayoy, i n th e c oun ty of Bilalle se. Friday, June 25, leco.