The Sun. — London, England, 1861-04-08 00:00:00

L, T HEATRE-ROYA Mr. J. Back ki ston A l l e. MAßKET. Leyte % 13 . THIS EVENING, the performances will comment* with A DUKE IN DIFFICULTIES. Mrs. Stirling, Miss F, Haydon, Mrs. Wilkins, Miss Fanny Stirling, Mr. Buckstone, Mr. Compton, Mr. Howe, ate. After which, will be revived, with entirely new scenery and effects, and all the original music by the late Sir H enr y Bishop, the melodrama of THE MILLER AND HIS MEN. Commence at 7.1 THEAT RE - ROYAL LYCEUM Sole Lessee and Directress, Madame CELESTE. Decided Success of the Two New Dramas. THIS EVEIsTING, LOVERS' QUARRELS. After which, a new original comic drama, written by Saml. Lover, Esq., entitled MAC CARTHY MORE • or, P 0590110071 Aims Points of the Law. John Drew, J. Johnston, Forrester, J. Rouse, Medlin ; Misses Rawlings, Hudspeth, &c. To conclude with a new drama, NEW YEAR'S EVE ; or The Belle of the Season. Messrs. H. Neville, Villiers, Jac. Johnstone, J. Rouse • Mn.sWinstaniey, Miss Matilda Heron, Kiss Willard, die ItOYAL PR IN(;E SS'S TIiRATRB.- Lessee and Manager, Mr. A. Harris. THIS EVENING, THRICE MARRIED. Messrs. Shore, Meadows, Garden, and Miss C. Leclereq. Followed by HAMLET. Hamlet, Mr. Fechter. Sup ported by Messrs. Ryder, Hermann Vezin, Graham, Shore, Meadows, &c. ; Misses Heath, R. Leclercq, and Elsworthy. NEW THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHE. — Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster. THIS EVENING, AN UGLY CUSTOMER. Mums. J. L. Toole, C. Selby, and Warde ; Miss K. Kelly, and Miss E. Thorne. To be followed by the new drama. MAGLIORE, THE PRESTIDIGITA7OR. Messrs. B. Webster, .J. L. Toole. D. Fisher, dm; MISS K. Kelly, Miss H. Simms, Svc. After which, OUR GAL. Miss Julia Daly, Mr. Romer, Mr. Eburne, and Mr. Wavle. Doors open at half past 6—Commence at 7. CANTERBURY - HALL CONCERTS!! Westminster-road. Proprietor Morton. A Grand Selection from Verdi's new Opera, IL CORSARO, (This opera has never been produced in this or any other country, except at these Concerts), having met with that de cided success which charactisea the most popular werks of this ,c , reat Master, will be performed EVERY EVENING ; toaether with a Selection from LA FIGLIA DEL REGGI ?ANT°, by Donizetti, Principal Artistes—Miss Russell, Madame Maria, Miss Tyrrell, Mr. H. Herbert, Signor Tivoli, H. Drummond, and C. W. Bernard. Director, Mr. F. Jonghmans. The Comic Department comprises Messrs. E. Marshall, A. B. Hollingsworth, J. Blanchard, F. Bell, W. IL Welland, and the Brothers Conrad. John Martin's Three celebrated Pictures will remain on view a short time longer in the Fine Arts Gallery of the Establishment, HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. THIB - DAY.—Morning, lh. 6m.—Afternoon, lh. 19m. To-moaßow.-Morning, lh. 38m.—Afternoon, lh. 54m. THE WEATHER.—Strx OFFICE, APRIL 7, 1861. THERMOMETER, IN TRB SHADE. 50—highest since noon yesterday. 39—lowest:this morning and during the night. 48—this day at noon. BAROMETER-30,28. WIND—South-Easterly—fresh ; with fine cool weather. APRIL 8, THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE. 49—highest since noon yesterday. 35—lowest this morning and 'during the night. 46—this day at noon. BARO?tiETER-30.44 ; rising still. WIND East-S.-Easterly —fresh and cold ; with dull weather. One of the most momentous and responsible undertakings in which England is engaged is the government of British India. The care of a popu lation more than five times as large as that of Great Britain and Ireland is almost overwhelming. Hitherto, indeed, we can scarcely be said to have recognised the greatness of our destiny in the East. The mutiny read a lesson to this country on its responsibility. It became evident that we must regenerate or relinquish India. One of the first things which forced itself on the attention of the most careless observer was, the fact of the magnifi cent resources of India, and the contemptible results realised from those resources. It was seen that the financial management of India required entire reformation ; and, as the most important part of finance, the monetary system claimed immediate attention. Mr. WILSON began at the beginning by propounding a paper currency for India. He fell a victim to his over-exertion in carrying out his plans—plans which even those opposed to him admitted to be fraught with important benefits to the nation, and to be of a magnitude, in some measure, commensurate with the emergency of the case: Few men of sterling financial ability have appeared in any age or country. You have ten warriors, philosophers, and politicians, of a high class of excellence, for one financier. Mr. WiLsoN, though not a great financier, was a capable man of business. His place has been very imperfectly supplied by Mr. LUNG ; and we have now brought before us, in a striking manner, the inferiority of this latter gentleman. The new Currency Bill for India, which Mr. LAING has produced, turns out to be a miserable abortion. Mr. WILSON'S measure was, not only in detail but in principle, faulty, but it had redeem ing points. One of these was the issue of small notes for India. In his despatch, dated December 25, 1859, Mr. Wasom said :—" The most important consideration of a practical kind in determining this point (namely, the denomination of the notes to be issued), is to have reference to the character of the transactions of the country in their amounts. In India the chief peculiarity of mone tary transactions is their extreme number and I their minute character. Notes of a large denomi nation could only find comparatively a very limited circulation ; and if issued would soon be returned in exchange for coin, from the mere necessity of providing for small payments. The consequence would be, that the issuing branches would be con stantly called upon to convert the notes, simply because they were of a denomination not suited to the transactions of the country." Mr. WILSON mentioned that in Ceylon the bank issued five shilling notes for many years, and that when the limit was raised to ten shillings, which it is at present, it was regretted both by the planters and public. The ten shilling notes circulate in Ceylon to a considerable extent, and are reported by the Governor of the colony to be a great convenience. Mr, WiLsoN proposed to begin with notes of ten shillings, one pound, two pounds, ire pounds, ten pounds, and fifty pounds. In a despatch, dated March 26, 1860, Sir C. WOOD says :—" In regard to the denomination of the notes, her MAJESTY'S Government are of opinion that those suggested viz., ten shillings, one pound, &c., are well adapted to the wants of the Indian community." In March, 1 ." 1 , her MAJESTY'S Government have been talked "et by that meddling currency quack, Lord avtitirrorrit, and declare that no notes below Two p ounds shall he issued. Small notes are the very things wanted for India. 11.1)... re i s no good reason whatever that they should not be h,„, eu , for one rupee, two rupees, and five rupees. Thi. million." No thci°4ld indeed be " m one y f or th e coin, facilitate trade me d so effectually economise et c._ convenience of the masses of the pop ulati o/I, and tend - ' , ach them by .;elf-interest to the mainte nance o f Britisn We ,have £1 notes in Scotland and Ireland, and they Are of the greatest use and advantage ; yet these miserable crotch t e--mongers aamtre us that like India, whe re notes for a country "le peen liarity of monetary trans actions is th e i r extreme number and their minute character," should not be under Two Pounds. But the princip ‘e upon which paper currency is to be isaued in India as objectionable as the abstut , • * --i. -.-- ,i‘s‘.:4 '„,' ~,,,,,•24.14-,,: 414 f . ' ' 1„,,,k... ~... , ..;;:'', ''.,----T-: "../Q---'l,•777_,Preili-'4,. . . ..„14 Z-,,4 ~-.) , • - ~ k , . "A747,, 0 V r . , ...,,,. •sia- -8,, , ~ , , „, ,I, . • • 9m i * ... ' % b —. ' 1 4 ,, 17 .. j , ... 4 , 4 ,„ ~,1 . ~... - -- , -• r THE SUN. LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1881. alteration in the denomination of the notes, The Plan now proposed is simply to innoculate British India with PEEL'S Currency Bills of 1819 and 1844. The Bank of England issues notes to the amount of £14,475,000 against securities, and the remainder of its issues are against bullion. The Indian Go vernment is to issue four millions sterling of notes against securities, and the remaining issues are to he against bullion. The panic-makers are taking possession of the monetary system of India. When by the action of the paper currency, trade and com merce are deTeloped, the drain of a few millions of bullion will, as in this country, raise the price of money and depreciate the prices of all commodities. By these means trade will be paralysed, commerce ruined, and misery and destitution brought upon the wretched Hindoo population to extents, com pared with which the existing famine in the upper provinces is but trifling. If the misery and ruin caused by the bullionist faction in 1816, 1819, 1825, 1847, and 1857 were dreadful, as they were, in England, with all its wealth, and with a legal pro vision for the destitute, what may they not be in a poor country like India, with its 150 millions of inhabitants dependent in tine of disaster on casual charity or the dilatory and insufficient appliance of Government relief ? Our contemporary, the Times, introduces a laidatory notice of the new currency system for India, with a specimen of audacious twaddle which ought to be placed upon record. " There are," says the Times, " two kinds of laws, one local and temporary, made up of expedients to stave off im mediate difficulties, and to soothe exaggerated and other unfounded discontents, based on nothing more solid than the popular apprehension , and destined, after it has answered its mo mentary purpose, to the disregard and oblivion of posterity. The other kind of law, of which history unhappily furnishes us very few examples, is founded on abstract truth, which it brings for the first time prominently and practically before the world. Its influence strengthens with its dura tion, clamour and prejudice die out, and that which was at first mistaken for a mere local and tem porary arrangement is recognized in its true cha racter as a rule of universal utility, a solid step onward in the progress of the human race. Such a law, we may now say, without fear of contradic tion, was the Bank Charter Act of 1844." Capital! " The Bank Charter Act," said the writer of the City Article of the Times, on the 141 t of November, 1857, "is abrogated. Its fate, at the second time of trial, has been the same as at the first," and "a law" which " has been con demned on each occasion of trial, must be looked upon as destroyed." In 1844 the Bank Charter Act passed—" a per fect measure." In 1847 it was " abrogated." The gold discoveries, of which its authors never of course dreamed, supported it till its next " time of trial" in 1857. It again shamefully and signally failed. It was again " abrogated" by an order in Council. The Times knows that at this moment the final abrogation of the Bank Charter Act hangs on a balance. The Times knows that on its third failure, which is inevitable, this perfect measure, " founded on abstract truth," this "rule of universal utility, this " valuable legacy to England" is doomed not to the " disregard and oblivion" but to the con tempt and reprobation of posterity. It requires, therefore, the exercise of all the recklessness of assertion which the Times possesses, based on its knowledge of the ignorance of the people on the Currency Question, to enable it to belaud this rotten broken down Bank Charter Act of 1844, of which the very Peelites are beginning to be ashamed. The limes affirm two principles. First, that the issue of paper money " shall be based on sufficient security." We must know what is here meant by " sufficient security." The nation gives " sufficient security" in its honour, good faith, and integrity of character for 800 millions of the debt; and we consider that its honour, good faith, and integrity would be " sufficient security" for the issue of 20 millions of legal tender notes, both here and in India. The second principle of the Times is, that the paper currency shall vary in amount and value exactly as purely metallic currency would have done under similar circumstances. Tried by this rule, we pronounce the Bank Charter Act of 1844 a total failure. The chief evil of the PEEL system is that under it a drain of bullion causes the preci pitate contraction of the circulating medium. With a purely metallic currency, preserved from exporta tion by a seignorage, or by being issued, like our silver coinage, a little below its intrinsic value, we should be safe from violent contractions of the cur rency. With a sound paper currency, issued under Government authority, receivable for taxes, and payable in gold at its market price, we should in like manner be free from contractions of the cur rency and panics. Such a paper currency alone is adapted for the requirements and convenience of our gigantic commercial relations, and for the equitable payment of our enormous burden of taxa tion. The Bank Charter Act of 1844 combines all the evils of a badly managed metallic currency with all the objectionable points of a paper currency. It allows our gold coin to be exported as an article of trade, and thus deprives the country of its money. And by its violent expansions and contractions of the paper currency the Bank Charter is, in the words of the Times, " the cause of continual injury, by substituting in debts and purchases a value different from that which was contemplated in the contract." Can any unprejudiced man doubt that such is the case, when he reflects that the changes in the rate of interest, under the Bank Charter Act, from ll up to 10 per cent., have been more numerous than has been known in a similar period in any civilised nation since the beginning of the world ? At this moment the high rate of interest is operating most injuriously to the trade of this country. Every kind of com modity is rapidly depreciating in value, as the Bank Charter Act provides shall be the case. The process is in actual operation by whi c h a value is being substituted in debts and purchases " different from that which was contemplated in the contract." The hardened effrontery of any public writer who, under such circumstances, dares to assert that the Bank Charter Act is not a contemptible and dishonest failure, is remarkable even in this age of Bronze. It seems that a " subsidiary gold currency"— ,hat is, in plain English, gold tokens—are to be issued in India instead of small notes. Was ever such folly ? The plan goes to adopt expensive small change instead of Mr. WILSON'S cheap small notes. This may, however, be of some benefit to India, for expensive money is better than none. But how will it operate with regard to England ? In 1849-50 £3,396,807 of the precious metals, uncoined, were imported into India. In 1856-7 the "I—.. rose to £11,301, 9 88 ; in 1857-8 t0.£14,413,698 ; and 815,436. India has long been the grave of silver. We have suffered severely from the drain of bullion to the East; and now when it is most important to check such drain, we are positively about to 'lake a law in India which will increase it by as a dditional drai n o f go ld ! W protest in the strongest terms against the T_ ^!' new currency system for India as expensive, in convenient, and defective in detail, totally erro neous in principle, and ruinous as to its probable effects. CT:ammo, we presume, would say—for Armaged don. Amy one can see, as the phrase is, with half an-eye—for no good, for the inevitable crash that is certain to come sooner or later. Besides—apart from the significant fact, of this general and con tinucus armament by sea and by land, this reor ganisation of military discipline and reconstruction of maritime forces—there is the glaring fact, visible to all those who care to glance in its direction, that the very basis of European Tranquillity (as last arranged by the agreement of the assembled Powers of Christendom) has been destroyed. The Treaty of Vienna, the treaty of 1815, has long since become nothing more valuable than so much waste paper. The great principle, unheard of at the epoch of that treaty, the principle of non -interven tion, has been accepted and proclaimed by the leading States of Christendom. The rights of nationalities are allowed, and when successfully vindicated upon the field of battle are recognised. No further talk now of so-called Holy Alliances among the despots of the earth—Unholy Alliances, for the purposes of putting down this and that nationality and of setting up there, at the pleasure of the despots, this and that sovereignty. Italy resolves upon accomplishing her independence through Unification—and have we not in the past few months recognised the actual realisation of An ex-M.P., deprived by the folly of some constituency of the advantage of publishing his views by a motion and a speech in the House of Commons, has resorted to the Imperial method of a pamphlet.* He thus offers to us the only possible compromise of the Church-rate question ! He acknowledges that there is something which looks rather dogmatic in claiming such high ground for his proposal, yet he is too confident of its justice to admit anything of arrogance, in saying to Church/non, my plan, gentlemen, or abolition is the alternative—choose which you will have. To Dissenters the only bribe to compliance is that the:Church is strong enough, as late divisions prove, to keep the question open for an indefinite time. He seems to us, however, to overlook one fact —the fact that the more belligerent and energetic Dissenters by no means wish to bring the Church rate contest to a close. The Liberation Society acknowledges that the subject was forced upon them as a practical one, which they could not neglect without displeasing their best supporters ; but that the longer the Church retains so easily assailable a privilege as that of compelling persons to pay for its worship and the repairs of its temples—so long as it enables every Dissenter to attack it 'annually in every parish vestry—so much the better for the abolitionists, not of the Rate only, but of the Establishment itself. Aboli tionists might like a victory, as all engaged in a contest do, but we are confident from what we have seen in their own writings that the opponents of State Churches would inwardly lament their own success. Church obstinacy for a good grievance is their strength, and the ex-M.P. will we expect find, that Dr. FOSTER, Mr. MIALL, and other leaders in the Liberation Society, will reject his plan and insist on simple abolition, well-knowing that the latter will not be soon conceded, and that thus they will retain their parish battlefield, because the Church retains her Rate. But what is his plan ? The very simple one of leaving the whole machinery for laying a rate exactly as it now stands, but taking away the power to enforce it. There is to be no labelling of Dissenters, no exclusion of them from the parish vestry, no notice whatever to be taken of, them as Dissenters, but whoever pleases is to be at liberty to refuse to pay the rate when the collector calls, and there is to be no penalty for the refusal ! A Churchman would ask—of what possible use, then, is the formalityof summoning a parish meet ing, and going through all the legal :formalities, if no one is bound to conform to the decision of the majority ? But we certainly think that the right thus to convene the parish, and to continue a practice which has such a long prescription in its favour, would be no small advantage to the Church. It would, and this is what Dissenters would much dislike, exhibit the Church as the National Church by the nation, giving to it the power to assemble the parish or district in which it stood. Though the State would withdraw compulsory powers in regard to the rate, it would not withdraw the parochial position indicated by the right to summon a meet ing, nor would it throw off whatever bond Church rates may constitute between the national Govern ment and the Church. Then, again, with regard to the amount collected, we are inclined to think it would be quite as much as by the present system. Allowance would be made when the rate was laid for probable refusals ; the greater part of the Church-going parishioners would merely wish to know the proportion fairly belonging to them, and would assuredly pay it not the less willingly because they could not be coerced to do it. It would be a point of honour, when the law did not compel others to pay for their worship, to: pay for it themselves. If, fre quently, straitened means caused any to refuse the small amount, others better off would more than make it up. The power of habit, the shame of being known as defaulters in less worthy men, but far more generally, the pleasure felt by all men in doing their fair part towards any common object, would leave the Church but a slight loser. Indeed we fully believe that the better temper in the parish, and the growing liberality of persons not acting under compulsion, would more than make up the present total of the rate ; indeed, the only difficulty would probably be, where a clergyman well deserved to have all expenses thrown on him self and the few who abetted him. When, for instance, he defied his parishioners by making a Protestant service as Popish as he could ; or when his temper got him into quarrels with the parish ; or when as in the case of Mr. CHEESE, his own slice of parish good things was large enough for two, three, or four good clergymen. " Let the parson pay," would probably be the cry in such cases—and, so it ought to be. Our ex-M.P. may justly plead that none of the plans yet proposed as compromises have ever united the Church Rate party. The objections to the day-dream of so many patriots, poets, princi palities, generations ? The triumphs achieved by the Italians, we may rest assured, will—must by necessity—prove con tageous. Besides the Italians, there are the Poles. Besides the Poles, there are the Hungarians. Besides the Hungarians, there are the Wallachians, the Moldavians, the , Transylvanians clusters and clusters of na tionalties between the Euxine and the Caspian. The combustibles are lying about on all hands in profusion—ready, at an instant, to start into a fury of conflagration. And there are " signs of the times," even at this moment, so easy of perusal that " those who run may read" them—" signs of the times " full of significance. What is the meaning, let any one ask, of GARI BALDI'S visit just no to Turin ? The Hero of the Neapolitan War of Liberation would never, at such a juncture, quit his dignified retreat in the isle of Caprera for a mere idle excursion. How about that sale of the Farnese Palace at Rorie ? How about FRANCIS 11., late King of NAPLES, selling that palace at Rome to his Imperial Majesty NAPOLEON 111. ? Does that look very like a preparation on the part of the latter to withdraw his troops from the Eternal City ? How about the situation" of affairs just now at Warsaw? Do those affairs look very pacific ? And, as to Venetia, we may be certain Austria has never concentrated an army of 200,000 men there, to be beaten very easily out of the strongholds of the Quadrilateral ! Particularly so long as old BENEDEK can try his hand at emulating the veteran glory of old RADETZKY ! As to Hungary—have not some of her bravest sons been getting their hands " in" again, in the way of hard fighting, during the last year or two at all the more seriously contested struggles in the Roman Peninsula ? Besides, common sense tells us that a man like KOSSUTH does not remain perfectly quiescent during ten or twelve years together, and then go so far as to get his paper currency in readi ness—without having good reason to know that he is at length once more upon the brink of some grand opportunity. If there is otherwise noticeable at this moment among the various Powers of Christen dom an appearance of calm and imperturbability, it is but the deadly and ominous lull preceding the first burst of the hurricane. Cortes. The International Exhibition of 1862 is now, as he majority know, in active preparation. The site for the new Metropolitan Crystal Palace has not only been selected, but there, upon that chosen site, the foundations of the future structure been marked out, and the building labours _have been there already commenced. It is a significant cir cumstance, moreover, this time, that the locality hit upon is no longer a certain portion of one of our great parks. The Exhibition will be opened —not in Hyde -park. It will simply overlook the grassy expanse whither its predecessor, The Ex hibition, the wonder of a year, attracted to itself sightseers from the two hemispheres. Consequently the next Crystal Palace, the Crystal Palace for 1862, so soon as the Exhibition in whose behest it will be re-erected, shall in due course of time have been brought to a close—the Crystal Palace of 1862, unlike the Crystal Palace of 1851, will not have to be destroyed, and " like the base less fabric of a vision leave not a wrack behind !" So far, so good. That the necessity for its removal will thereby have been dissipated, we may rejoice ; for it is to all intents and purposes so much money saved. But then the spot upon which it will be built is, suspiciously enough, the very spot upon which H.R.H. wished to gather together in spite of the nation, in spite of the House of Commons, the Art Treasures of the United King dom. The National Gallery was to be bodily carried off to South Kensington. "ALBERT'S Folly" was to swalloW all the paintings, all the sculptures, all the collections—the Turner Gallery, the Ver non Gallery, the Sheepshanks Gallery --every bequest, large and small, good, bad, and indifferent: and to jumble them altogether without taste in that hole in the corner between the Gore and Brompton ! Leaving to the Industrial Academy their present "coign of 'vantage" overlooking the so-called Finest Site in Europe ! Now, while we are preparing a building for the Exhibition of 1862, let us take care that we are not at the same time for the sake merely of carrying out a nonsensical whim of H.R.H., con "labelling Dissenters" are unanswerable, both those advanced byDissenters themselves and those brough forward by Churchmen. Charging estates by landlords is repudiated by landlords, since they will not diminish the slight control which the vestry confers on the parishioners over the vagaries of the:most crotchetty class of men in the world. Dissenters he hardly seems to think of as determined objectors. We shall be surprised, how. ever, if they be not. Partly because they will, as we have already observed, dislike the aspect of Church Supremacy implied in the authority.to strutting a trap for the National Gallery at South Kensington. The projected building may be all very well as displayed to view in the litho summon a Parish meeting; but also because they will think, and we fear with too much truth, that in a great number of parishes, the Dissenters will graphic print* published by 11r. GOVER-but it is against the site chosen for it that we wish to protest—not against it, however, as the site of next year's exhibition, but as the future site en permanence of England's National Gallery. For the National Gallery we could not have a better site than the very one the wretched structure now called the National Gallery, oconpies. Let that site be still retained — for that purpose—and for that purpose exclusively. It is the Royal Academy we want to have removed thence, as (while there) a public nuisance and a flagrant interloper. Compel the Academy to be compelled by fear of their superiors, though nol by fear of the law to pay the rate as before. We expect, therefore, should the proposal ever come before the public, that the reply of Dissenters will be, "we are willing the Churchwardens should have powers to make voluntary collections from the congregation, or to levy a small charge on the sit tings for regular accommodation, but we canno. agree to their making a voluntary rate on the parish. The distinction is, indeed, very fine ; we have, as yet, seen no plan which gave the slightest hope of its competing with simple and unconditional abolition ;. and, if this scheme has any chance, it will be from its great simplicity, and from its hardly doing more than enable the Churchwardens, legally, to resort to voluntary contributions in the same _ _ move OR "— anywhere else—it matters nothing to ,he public Where. Let them move on, we say, for example, to Burlington- House, Piccadilly. But compel them we would to move on somewhere. And then—Gone the Royal mode in which they formerly obtained them by compulsion. Academy—Rebuilt be the FaQade of the present - - in Trafalgar-square --and we unsightly edifice * The only Compromise possible in regard to Church Rates. By a former Member of the Rouse of Commons. London : Murray. 1861. could not in all London or Westminster find a better Spot anywhere for the National Gallery. The International Exhibition, 1862. Projected from :he official Drawings, by Captain Fowke, R.E., a coloured ithograph, published by H. C. Gower, April 2, 1861. If war is still doubtful—there can be but little question, we should think, at this moment that Peace is ult.nu precarious. The last advices from Algiere .t.te that cue erects er t h e l o ng drought are now happily disappearing. At Oran, Mascara, Tiaret, and Other parts, where the greatest damage had been clone, the rain continued falling on the 29th ult., and with every prospect of its lasting some time. Accounts from Mostaganem state that the rain had fallen heavily there and in the neighbourhood, and had produced an ex cellent effect on the crops, Look—almost anywhere —over Europe, and the preservation of tranquillity is there visibly trem bling in the balance. It is many years since the nations began to arm more and more resolutely and systematically , Dr, THE SUN, - LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 8, 1861. L E T NEWS. LITERATURE. No Church. By the author of " High Church." 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. Many readers may remember the former work by this author, which set forth in a striking man ner some of the peculiarities that distinguish a certain class of religionists. The present work advances a step in the same line, and with equal vigour exhibits the danger of those who have no decided principle of faith at all. Inasmuch as the theme admits of the author taking a wider scope and a higher range, so this work is more complete in its characteristics, and more powerful in its ten dency to impress and actuate. One great advantage in the form of the narrative is that the object is not over-worked, or forced upon us in reiterated phrases and multiplied forms. The first volume is occupied with the heroine, who is an attractive maiden, and interests greatly from her very isolation at first, and her cruel persecutions afterwards. She is seen at the commencement of the tale in the gloomy and dismal precincts of a priscn, called to stand by her mother's deathbed—that mother one totally devoid of all that could in any form rob death of its sting, and lead captivity captive, as many a prisoned spirit has done before in the consciousness that earthly fetters will be for ever left behind, while the enfranchised soul will find before it eternal freedom. We gladly quit the wretched scene for the beautiful spot that was Bessy's next sojourn for some years in the cottage in the mountains of Wales. The within did not, however, bear affinity to the without, for her uncle was a Methodist of the strictest style, hence the elastic nature of the young girl was strictly kept down, and her bound ing spirit forbid to fly. All things in Matthew Davis's household were compressed, circumscribed, and confined in the sternest and most uncompromising rules, and all happiness was of course banished. Nevertheless there was peace and there was comfort in that mountain home, and in the long lapse of after years, when the shade that then hovered over her had turned to blackest and deepest darkness, did Bessy mournfully sigh over the vanished calm of those days at Aberogwin. A sad day arrived when Bessy's father returned from foreign lands; he was a dreadful man, one of the most hopeless style that can exist, with no good qualities to emerge occasionally from amid the hosts of evil ones, and with no better feelings to impress than the bad ones which were reigning triumphant in their dark rule of mischief. This tyrant dragged away the unhappy child from the sheltering roof of his brother-in-law, and forced her on to her dreadful fate. It was a sudden change. Bessy woke to her old life as she thought, and behold that life was vanished for evermore. By her bedside stood her cousin Mary, who announced to her that the strange man she found on the hills was her father, and in a few hours he would come to take her away. This threat was fulfilled in a cruel way in a very short space, and she had hardly time allowed her to say good by to her uncle and cousin. " Mary whispered a blessing over her, and then let her go, from that time never to return, the path that seemed so straight winding ever by the purple mountain, and the rustling stream, or under the grassy slope from which the larches sprang so green and straight, and pointed heavenwards, — turned sharply, suddenly, from that quiet home, and wound along the deeper steeper way, the end of which was lost in the surging crowd of troubled human life. Such sudden changes happen to more homes than Matthew Davis's—to more lives than Bessy Calverton's, the eunshine on the rest of many wayfarers for a little while, and the blue sky shadowless above them, and then the sudden blight across the landscape, and then the tiny figures dotting it—units in the great mysterious sums God works by myriads—sinking here and there, or struggling upwards still to the bright light and the better times that have been swept away from them." There is a fine passage in'," The Caxton's," in which the hero exclaims, after commenting upon some great change in his destiny :—" I knew that it was my youth and its poet-land that was no more, and that I had passed with an unconscious step that never could retrace its way into the hard world of laborious man." So it was with Bessy Calverton, for she had lost whatever her early years were to know of spring, and the winter of her existence began at once as she met her father. She was an enthusiastic child, and loved the beautiful associations of her early home; to be taken from the majesty of nature's solitude to the horrors of her new habitation, was indeed a transformation as sudden and startling as those on the stage. The "El Dorado,"Dick Calverton's abode, was a public house of the lowest and vilest class. There passion reigned and riot revelled ; there were concocted the dark schemes to which the love of greed and gain will draw men to risk their liberties. There was other work not so amenable to the laws of earth perhaps, but which would weigh far heavier against their accounts in the balance of another world. There was a place for a pure young girl, fresh from a mountain home, and reared under the scrutiny of a primitive Methodist. Her days and nights were passed among sights and sounds of horror, amidst dreadful men and women still worse—" children of night, and heirs to the devil's black legacy; a deadly crew, whose sense of right was drowned in Lethe years ago, but whose capacity for wrong remained awfully immense; and Bessy watched and wondered, and prayed against the dangers that even she could see around her. Poor prison flower, thrown back amidst the reckless erowd from which she had risen. Will use become second nature with this child, too ; or will the guardian angels of such children keep her still within the shadow of their wings ? angels who might be born of the earnest prayers whispered by the Methodist girl amongst the Aberogwin mountains. " The passages which relate Bessy's adventures in this house of night are most exciting in their interest and most characteristic in their construction. They are not long in detail although long in duration, for five years elapsed before she escaped. The attention becomes painfully aroused at the last, and the reader experiences a feeling of relief when the fearful precincts of the El Dorado are left behind. Lotty, the sister of Bessy, is a strange girl, who, under happier auspices, might have done better. One redeeming point in her disposition was her attachment to her young sister, and the energy and enthusiasm with which she devoted herself to her preservation proved that there was mach good naturally in her character. Mr. Par stol is one of the best described persons met with, he was entirely wrapt up in his scheme for the benefit of those entrusted to his care. It was through his agency that the unfortunate prisoner escaped from the snares that surrounded her. After her departure from the abode of her father Bessy met strange adventures, and one curious circum stance was meeting again with Stephen Speckland. Just before the fatal day when Dick Calverton came to disturb the quiet of Aberogwin, there had been for a wonder a visitor at the quiet cottage. A young man who was travelling by had stayed some little time, and had delighted Bessy by his wonderful fairy tales. To her amaze she found that his family, of whom he had told her so much, lived close by the place that Mr. Parstol had fixed upon as Bessy's temporary sojourn. The various members of the Speckland family are well described, and it is with these that the argument of the story lies in the designation of the No Church class. Bessy Calverton had been taught her lesson of faith in a cold and rugged school, but she had imbibed the true principle, and when through new arrangements she went to dwell in the house of the unbelievers she was of esssen tial service to them. Hugh and Stephen were very different in their dispositions, and were often in capable of understanding each other. The unfor tunate complication of events that arose in conse quence of Bessy's engagement with Hugh are very ably narrated, and the conclusion was the natural sequence of such mistaken and misguided actions. They were all well disposed, but, as is here stated, "it was one step from perfect truth, and from such a step evil must follow in due course." Stephen soon had cause to be thankful for the instruction Bessy Calverton had induced him to receive, for he faded away in a lingering disease, and his last hours which were troubled by the vision of his projects on earth all melted away, and those he was so attached to plunged in disap pointment, were cheered by the brightness of the new day opening before him whose promise could never deceive him, and whose glory could never grow dim. After much difficulty and many disap pointments Hugh and Bessy were again engaged, and the second time they were both grown wiser, and thus bad a better prospect before them of braving the world's rough way in confidence and trust—confidence in each other, since they had tested their sincerity by time and distance, and trust in that Power which had guided them so wonderfully. guarded and Few could have passed through greater perils than the young heroine had to encounter in the course of her life, and Hugh Speckland, the strongman with his upright mind, and his fear less spirit, had been in still greater peril. lur he had been in spiritual darkness ;—,ead of tem poral, and the light Ne a : ..,li shone for Bes s y through the shg' l- "'s of her black es t d ays of most ;_.....:eent doom was not in the dwelling of Hugh—and outward prosperty did not bring inward peace,. This work is the result of thought and care, and the author may be well satisfied with the effect, inasmuch as he has sent it forth a masterly sketch of human character. and a striking exposition of some momentous uhases of social life. It also demonstrates, in p forcible in inner, the dangerous state into which some of the wisest and most learned have fallen, and the errors with which they have deluded them selves. It stands out from among every-day TELEGRAPHIC INTELLIGENCE. ITZEHOE, APRIL 7, EVENING. The Committee of the Estates have concluded their examination of the Danish proposals in refer rence to the Budget. The report of the Committee will be discussed in the Estates to-morrow. It is asserted that the eonclusions of the Com mission are to the following effect :—That the Estates cannot treat the Budget in the manner pro posed—namely, that the Assembly should merely make proposals, and that the Government should decide thereon. BERLIN, APRIL 6. In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies Baron von Schleinitz expressed, in the most ener getic and distinct terms, his disapproval of the pro ceedings of M. Schlippenbach with respect to the clandestine correspondence between General Bosco and the citadel of Palermo. The Minister said that he had applied for authen tic explanations on the subject, and would take the necessary steps. TURIN, APRIL 6 (Evening). In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies the following order of the day, proposed by Signori Terrearsa and Mazani, was adopted : " The Chamber, taking into consideration the de clarations of the Ministry that the law shall be strictly executed, and being confident that the Ministry will take the most suitable measures for hastening the administrative unification of the pro vinces of Naples and Sicily, and insisting on the immediate publication of the measures of public safety promised by Government and on the execu tion of public wurks, passed to the order of the day." TURIN, APRIL 6. In to-day's sitting of the Senate, Signor Rocca announced that on Tuesday next he should put an interpellation to Count Cavour respecting the affairs of Rome. The Opinione of to-day gives a denial to the reports that the Government intends to issue a forced loan. PARIS, APRIL 6. The Patrie of this evening says :—" The report that a French naval division had left for Syria is completely &he. The squadron of evolution, com posed of three divisions, will leave Toulon in the second fortnight of April, in order to execute ma. naevres on a large scale on the open sea." VIENNA, APRIL 7. The Turkish blockading squadron has arrived before Antivari. MADRID, APRIL 6. The Duke and Duchess of Montpensier have left for England, on account of the illness of their mother, the ex-Queen Marie Amelie. The committee charged to examine the press Laws have presented the project of a new law to the NAPLES, APRIL 7. The Duke of Cazaniello has been arrested on account of two letters he had received from Francis 11. Several members of a Bourbon committee, among whom are Ruggiero and two priests, have also been arrested. It is rumoured that an impor tant conspiracy has been discovered, in which five bishops are said to have participated. The indig•• nation against the reactionists is general. Perfect tranquillity prevails. WARSAW, APRIL 6. The demonstration which took place on Thursday night before the picture of the Virgin was repeated yesterday evening. The crowd again dispersed without being inter fered with by the military. The cause of the prevailing agitation is the sup pression of the delegation of citizens for the main tenance of public order. PESTH, APRIL 7. In yesterday's sitting of the Upper House Count Apponyi in his opening speech announced the abdication of King Ferdinand and the accession of Francis Joseph, and said that it was the sincere wish of the King that the rights of Hungary should be maintained. Prince Esterhazy, in most touching terms, paid a tribute of respect to the memory of Count Bathyany, who was executed for high treason in 1849, and held up the patriotism of that martyr as an example for others. Count Zichy demanded the formation of a Hun garian Ministry. The demand was supported by the majority of the members. In the Lower House official documents relating to the abdication of King Ferdinand and the acces sion of Francis Joseph were laid on the table. AGRAM, APRIL 7 The imperial eagle has been replaced on all the public offices. The garrison was stationed in the public squares on the occasion. The city is tranquil. romances and common-place fictions as a bright example of talent, and a shining witness of trutn ; thus it furnishes an illustration of what may be effected by an earnest desire to carry out an elevated purpose. An ably -written novel may do more than many suppo se t o ex hibi t an y marked or striking tendency of the age, and this evil here denounced is one that especially demands our notice and calls for our fixed attention. "No Church " may, therefore, be recommended to the study of all who appreciate an excellent work, and no fair jud g i ng cr i t i c , an d no a dmirer of earnest and impressive language will be disap pointed with the resu lt. I t w ill , i n a ll probability, attain a great succ ess , w hi c h i t certa i n ly merits in an eminent degree, and the numerous readers of werks of fiction may rejoice that they have here met with one that may induce them to think, while it fascinates by its attracting inte rests, and elevates by it s super i or tone o f senti ment. The Dictionary of Useful Knowledge. .4 — F. Houlston and Wright. This is a companion to the Dictionary of Daily' Wants, and promises to be a most admirable and compendious work of reference. History, geo graphy, mythology, chemistry, architecture, natural history, and science, besides general infor mation of every kind are found among its contents. It deserves to be considered what it professes to be, a work of reference in which every name or subject of interest is included, the essence of each subject given, and f ac t s recor d e d w i th accuracy ." And truly, at the present day, it is difficult to, overrate the value of such a work of reference to the imperfectly educated. The outbreak of war, or some sudden c hange of dynasties or rise of nationalities, tura the public attention to some particular question and. all connected with it is an object of interest, but how few of those who read the news and occupy themselves with public affairs have any acquaint ance with the names of men and places which are suddenly all important. As the editor remarks in his preface, few English readers knew of what they' were reading in the days when Sinope and Sebas topol, the Pruth and the Sea of Azoff were first brought under discussion. As the preface observes, it is only by means of works like the present that the thousands who are engaged in constant occupa tion can at all keep pace with the general growth of knowledge. The Dictionary of Daily_ Wanly. By the editor of " Inquire Within." Houlston and Wright. We have often had occasion to notice this eater lent little serial during its progress, and are glad to see it now satisfactorily completed and• forrsting a handsome volume. It is a complete fao',,otum 011 all matters of domestic reference, and the list of authorities consulted in its compilation may inspire the most doubting and inexperienced with confi dence. Its information is most comprehensive in its character, including all matters of practical utility, and we are not surprised that it has already obtained so wide a circulation. Household receipts form a large portion of its contents, while medical and legal articles are also inserted. The whole contents are arranged alphabetically, and are thus available fcr immediate reference. The style is clear and simple, and all complicated directions and unnecessary technicalities are scrupulously avoided. No household should be without this useful work, which, having been issued in twopenny parts, is placed within the reach of all. The _English Cyclopcedia of Arts and Sciences. Conducted by Charles l'aight. Part XXVI. Bradbury and Evans. The number before us extends from "Sand" to " Ship," and discusses several topics of interest and importance. We have often noticed the high cha racter of this Cyclopcedia, which bears traces of the skill and experience of the originator of the famowi Penny ( yclopeedia, who is not yet weary of his efforts to disseminate sound and useful knowledge. The work in question fully maintains his reputa tion as an editor, and the eminent and learned band of auxiliaries which he has collected in his service testify to his determination to keep faith with the public. Plain Truths Plainly Put. By Newman Hall, LL.B. Nisbet and Co., Berner's-street. This little volume contains ten sermons, which were, with one exception s preached in St. James's Hall and the theatres of London on the occasion of the special services. They are impressive and vigorous discourses, which dwell on the main truths and fundamental doctrines of religion, and speak of them with force and simplicity. They are excel lently adapted to the audiences for which they were intended, and are suited besides to a much larger circle, since there are few readers of sermons 'who would not find it more profitable to study the practical truths here inculcated, than to bewilder themselves with controversial subtleties. MISCELLANEOUS MAGAZINES. Good Words maintains its character for high moral purpose, interesting reading, and pleasant variety. There are several short and excellent sermons, besides a story of domestic life, many sketches and articles on miscellaneous subjects. We are not surprised at the rapid popularity it has attained.--The Eclectic gives us this month a very interesting number. There is an article on one of the most touching and pathetic of 'Mographies, that of Wiliam Cowper. The wri t er has evidently ready sympathy with his sn'oject, and writes with feeling and perception. This essay will well repay the reader for its perusal. Macaulay's last volume is criticised at some length, and there is a very attractive paper on the memoirs of the late John Brown, D.D., of Edinburgh. —The National Maga zine has several entertaining papers. The rival water ing places, Brighton and Boulogne, are discussed in prose and verse. There are several stories begun, con tinned, and completed, descriptions of travel, and miscellaneous articles, The Parliamentary sketch draws a portrait of Sir Charles Wcod.-7 he A ssur ance Magazine discusses some important questions relating to life assurance, and records the proceed ings of the Institute of Actuaries. The questions proposed at th e annua l examination are given.. —The Q uar t er l y M agazine of the Odd _Fellows i s adapted for general circulation, and has many well-known names among its contributors. 4 , Our Dressmaker" i s a mourn f u l li tt l e s k etc h, which tells the oet tale is unusuallyo of many attractive and this m laborious ont . v a e nd s. pre_ L e sents the votaries of fashion with a collection of very desirable engravings, which cannot fail to fascinate all who would shine forth in resplendent costume at this brilliant season of spring. This magazine is quite unique in its way, and the best that has appeared for some time, ever furnishing in a pleasing form something gay and glittering to amuse and instruct the elite of society, and. those who follow in their wake in a simpler mode. Cassels still continues his office of educator for the people. His history of England and Popular .Natural history are both able and instructive, while the Ill us t ra t e d Fam i ly Paper and Ladies ' Treasury are quite equal to the average of light serials, and are offered at a very moderate price.— Cassells's Ill us t ra t e d F am i ly Bible is printed i n excellent type, has copious explanatory notes and numerous illustrations. It is admirably adapted to family reading,—Newton's _London Journal of Arts and (%ciences has an article on the New Patent Law of the United States. DREADFUL 0212viBirs ACCIDENT IN IRELAND. DUBLIN, SUNDAY. A life destroying accident occurred about nine o'clock last night at the canal bridge which separ ates the township of Rathmines from the city of Dublin. As an omnibus was passing over the bridge the horses became restive, and before the driver could gain any control over them they backed the omnibus down the slope they had just mounted, round the parapet, and into the canal loch, where there was at the time about 12 feet of water. The omnibus, unfortunately, contained about dozen people, not one of whom, so sudden was the accident, had any opportunity of escaping; and as a considerable time elapsed before the water could be drawn off and proper assistance obtai.ed, eight persons perished. The others we'd resuscitated with difficulty. It i s sa id t h at the driver's reins broke when the horses been to struggle on the bridge, - which, if tr•=, accounts LI som e d eg ree for an o th erw i c inexplicable occurrence. It is also states that the driver's back was broken. A,„,dgst those drowned was a little child; and all the deceased belonged to respectable families. The melancholy event has caused great excitement 1 12 the city, and no omnibuses ran on the route to day. iThe Belgian Moniteur publishes a aotification front the Chamber of Commerce of Brussels to the effect that as the exports of Belgium to the Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, are only about 2,500,000 fr. a year, though the total of the imports made by them is 3 00,000,000 fr., it is proposed, in order to extend Belgian trade, to lave exhibitions of specimens of Belgian produc- tions at Stockholm and Copenhagen towards the end of the present year ; and accordingly a meeting of manufacturers and tradesmen is summoned to make the necessary arrange • recut*. FRANCE. BOURSE, April 6.—Business continues very dull, but prices have been well maintained. Threes, for the Account, have alternated between 67f 70c. and 67f 80c, and are now at 67f 75c. Railway Shares quiet, but firm. The following were the last quotations : ft per per Cents ... 95 10 Credit I , oncier — Do. end month.... —1 Belgian 4f lOO 50 3 per Cents Do. end month 67 70 ' Roman Bank Shares [ 2890 Austrian Credit Mobili er.... 650 ' Spanish Threes — Do. Account 647 50 'Home Debt RAILWAYS. Orleans Northern New ditto Lyons and Mediterranean Geneva Southern Western Eastern Sardinian Austrian Lombard Cash. Account. 1332 50 .. 1330 -- 958 75 .. 960 890 .. 946 25 .. 947 50 385 .. 385 542 50 .. 541 25 522 50 .. 520 581 25 .. 585 50 - - •• -- - 463 75 .„ 465 - 462 50 .. 462 50 THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA.—Urgent orders have been received by the Vice-Admiral commanding at Ports mouth to expedite in every possible way the preparations of the Royal yacht Victoria and Albert for sea. Such of her fittings as can be postponed are to be laid on one side until her return from Madeira, whither she will proceed with all possible despatch, and convoy her Imperial Ma jesty the Empress of Austria to Trieste. Orders have been forwarded to Malta to have everything in readiness for coaling the yacht at any time either of the day or night, the moment she arrives.—Army Naay Gazette. THE BUILDERS' STRlKE.—Nothing whatever is yet known as to the decision which the men on strike have arrived at as to the acceptance or rejection of the final propositions of Messrs. Lucas and Belk. The " ve held several trade meetin ,, Q „c ,vurse with closed n—a 1, x....t5. Lucas have heard nothing further from the delegates since the last conference, the substance of which we have already laid before the public. One way or the other it is anticipated that the trade will give a de finite answer in the course of to-day or to-morrow. From much that has transpired it is almost confidently antici pated that the men will take the half holiday thus offered to them gratuitously, and return to work under the system of payment by the hour. filo. The are Si: intery furth e !lan e ] little c the ra Wert ingly i or n o i and l a at Ei r I laropt fe w wl roeetin Zirigh A le th e Li Price s t bales. The stat e , Sequent fate Ch t he AP and it Shortly A it the 13a: The 424,74 i An i 49 00,01 Lo an, 1 t icipa it* In th 'ere re Zatter. The Camada Wetiten barely Y i Joint Vere in service 7elegra Bank Btc ,Per c el Per e el 'mew 3lndia ix Stc - Ditto 6 Ditto Ditto 1 Ditto ki)itto I Ditto 11 Co Bsols f 4 Zeheqn r Pit FC traziliar Ditto 4 %Aillan E Ditto ke,alcan Ditto renrriai Ditto 'Russian Ditto at dinia: Ditto Panish Ditto : &Uri:l2h Ditto : Ditto Dut ch Ditto _ This I uttween 9 a.r Nai rn Leith• • tt erwick Cial way „earbori 4,iveral po ( v entia C4Ueenst lltrtnou London bover „, ort ora , oYmanpe( za°lslno toN I t'ght br Po R , PILI Quebe c f _bz&l " .011 1 SI Arrii rort M Salle rortsrn Arri , from L Saile for Sui Ani Ai xi Past Ltdoe s 411 fro] Sail] Cons, II