The Sun. — London, England, 1850-12-31 00:00:00

,SURREY THEATRE. A romantic drama, from the grand magazine of in() iern playwrights, the repertoire of the Thelitre Francais, was produced yesternight at the Surrey, with such applause as might be expecied for its salient points, in a house crowded from floor to ceiling. The piece is of the class denominated "powerful," which means violent in effect, transition, and situa tion, qualities which, upon the principle of Byron, who considered " wrath and partiality" among the merits of a writer, make a Surrey melo-drama erg nest and effective. The Countess of Tersen is the title of the play, and when we tell the reader that she is "the wile of two husbands," he will at once see that the contrivance is very French. Well, the Countess Elise (Miss Cooper), has in early life become the dupe of a thorough-paced Gallic villain of the "regulation pattern," hight Isidore Fritz( Mr. She pherd), by him she has a soli, Jules (Miss Mandle bert), who passes as an orphan in the household of the Count de Terser (Mr. W. Montague), Elise's second husband. To avoid unpleasant reminiscences and evince her filial affection, the amiable Countess has also placed upon her estate her father Maurice (Nlr. T. Mead), who is blind, and has yet an unre pealed curse against his daughter for her supposed elopement with Fritz and her criminal desertion of himself. The cross-purposes in a scene between the unknown daughter and her still-embittered father, who outpours at once his gratitude for the Countess and his hatred for his erring child may be imagined. Isidore, the forcat, escapes from the Lague, with a confederate villain Walter (Mr. Raymond). He car ries misery into the Count's family by his fearful disclosures, but is recognised in the moment of his satortionate triumph as a deserter by old Corporal Bataille (Mr. H. Widdicombe), a vieux moustache of the empire, as one sentenced to death for a mili tary offence years before. Major de Goltz (Mr. Bruce Norton) also identifies him, and the tables are turned. Stilt, as certain papers requisite to the exculpation of the Countess are in the possession of Isidore's confe derate, the villain puts on a bold front, and the Count, who devotedly loves his wife, offers the convict 12,000 florins and a safe conduct to Antwerp, thence to embark for America. The villain accepts the offer, but only to slake his vengeance on his unoffending Wife. He plots with Walter to meet the Count and assassinate him, sharing the 12,000 florins, and keeping his hold on the twice-widowed Countess. This conspiracy old Corporal Bataille over bears, and lays his plan like an old soldier. defeats the signal by a manoeuvre, and Walter, rushing out in the dark, stabs his acc om p lice Isidore to the heart. The final tableau is quickly formed: enter the Colonel-Coun t to his interview, with the villain who has already " got his gruel ;" the Cor poral has collared Walter ; the Countess and Jules, alarmed, are there ; the old father, conducted by Ger trude (Miss Laporte), is led in ; the papers clearing UP the innocence of Elise, and showing the horrid Plots of Isidore, are found on 'Walter; the blind old fellow gives his blessing, and delivers " a tag ;" Count and Countess embrace ; everybody hugs everybody, and down goes the curtain amid such a round of ap- Plause as can only be got from a crammed Surrey audience—so called a non audiendo—at holiday time. dance in sabots, and some comicalities , between.bld .Bataille and Gertrude, give the sauce piquant. to this well-spiced piece of French cookery. The pantomime of the Merry Wires of Windsor followed, elevated the groundlings to the gods, and Bet Olympus yet higher in glee and uproariousness. PASSAGES of the ATLANTIC STEAMERS. Our readers are aware, from our American news in Yesterday's impression that the Royal Mail steam-ship 4 ' 4 , on her homeward TO) age accomplished the dis ts.uce in the briefest period of time yet recorded in t he history of steam on the Atlantic. A Liverpool corre spondent supplies us with the following resume of its features:— Precisely as in the instance of the Royal Mail steam 811iP Europa, last week, the Asia, from the season a nd tie nature of the weather, was not expected, on her r un ', °ll oeward, to effect more than a fair average pa ssa g e. eter splendid capabilities, however, have on this occa sion enabled her to accomplish a run unquestionably su- Perit2w t..) any of those celebrated and unrivalled feats of Vestning which have so often been recorded in our co prang during the current year, in connexion with the beer fleets of the Royal and United States mail services. b eer run of last summer to the Mersey, on which occasion she steamed past the R. , ck Lighthouse at midnight on the Saturday, had previously stood Unrivalled, being one hour and twenty minutes less t han the finest passage of the United States' mail- Steamer Atlantic ; but the Asia has now beaten " 61 1 herself, fully justifying her claim to be con sidered the fleetest existing ocean steam-ship. From Now York, on the 18th instant, she cleared precisely at tuidday, but shortly after Wards stopped her engines to repair damage received by her wheels during a collision * ill the wharf. Fifty-five minutes wore thus lost; and she finally started on her voyage shortly before two P.N. bi uring her subsequent passage she experienced varia a weather, with frequent strong breezes from the rardl west , and on Friday at ten P at., made Cap© Clear, hay ig steamed from land to land in little more than nine a,Ys. Holyhead was passed, unobserved by the marine t elegraph, at four P.M. on Saturday, and at half-past li me o'clock her guns saluted the town, exciting general I, ll rprise and universal gratification as regar ds the cele 1Y of her passage. From the log it will be observed that the Asia throughout effected very high average *Peed per diem. On two days she steamed a distance !seldom (quelled, hitherto, in the annals of ocean steam ing; running on the 25th, 26th, and 27th instant re aPectively 328, 321, and 300. Her passage, reckontd "ecording to mean time, and deducting forty-five minutes Jost off New York repairing floats, may be recorded as ten days four hours and five minutes, or two hours a nd 4 . f tY-five minutes less than her fastest summer p assa g e, , our hours and fifteen minutes less than the United States rail steamers' fastest passage eastward, and abo ut five ours and twenty minutes less than the remarkable sum - ker run of the Pacific out to New York. LCG OF THE ASIA. December 18—Noon, started; stopped from 1.10 P.M. ") 1.55 P.M. to repair floats, having been in contact wi th :the dock; 2 r.x. passed Sandy Hook. Moderate breezes. 19 —Wind, N. Lat.4o 46, long. 68 24. Morning, light airs; P.M., fresh breezes from S.S.E. Distance run, 261 20 —Wind, S. and W. Lat. 42 55, long. 62 50 . St ron g breezes, with high sea. Distance run, 279 miles. , 21 —Wind, N.N.W. Lat. 44 23, long. 56 54 . St ron g ureezes, with dark gloomy weather. Distance run, 276 22 —Wind, W.S.W. Lat. 46 50, long. 51 24. Strong breezes, with rain. Distance run, 275 miles. 2 3—Wind, W. Lat. 48 50, long. 44 55. Strong gales, pith snow and squalls; high sea on. Distance run, 289 24 —Wind, S.W. by W. Lat. 50 41, long. 37 52. Strong breezes and cloudy. Distance run, 294 miles. 15 —Wind, S.W. Lat. 51 22, long. 29 27. Strong tbreezes and cloudy; 9 P.M.. exchanged signals with a l arge steamer bound west. Distance run, 328 miles. , 26 —Wind, S.W. Lat. 51 34, long. 20 48 . Modera te ureezes and cloudy. Distance run, 321 miles. 27 —Wind, S.W. Lat. 51 17, long. 12 59. Light, v ariable winds; 10 P.M., Cape Clear distant 2 miles. Distance run, 300 miles. 2 8—Wind, variable. 9 A.m., abreast Tuskar; 4 P.M., abreast Holyhead; and at 9 30 P.M. arrived at Liverpool. . TRH THIEVES' NEW DODGE.—On Monday even klig last, about five or six minutes before seven o'clock, as Barlow, who resides at Patricroft, was proceeding to the Victoria Railway Station, Manchester, in order to go by the Sv en o'clock train, while proceeding along Todd -street, on t he opposite side of the street, and nearly opposite the Ca thedral school, he perceived some one rapidly appro ach him !, 011 1 behind, and immediately a right arm was flun g around ' 4B neck, and tightly compressed by the thief's other hand grasping the right wrist. This is described as being most Powerful in producing instaneously the first symptom of stran gulation, stopping the breath and inducing speechlessness and almost utter prostration of strength. Persevered in for a little time, death would doubtless ensue. In the present case, no sooner had this human bowstring been aPpliei, than two accomplices appeared in front of Mr. Barlow, one of whom snatched his watch from his vest pocket, and jerked the guard chain, a silver one, of more than ordinary strength, with such force as to break it, and Possessed himself of the watch. The other took a sovereign from some cash in Mr. Barlow's pocket ; but fortunately at this moment, before the robbery had been competed by rifling other pockets, Mr. M‘Clare, who was about to pro ceed by the same railway train, came up, and the thieves hurled Mr. Barlow down, his head and face striking the wall with great force, and ran off in different directions. As Mr. M'Clure saw them throw Mr. Barlow down, he pursued and overtook one of them, but was unable to detain him, and all three escaped. Mr. Barlow has since been very ill from the effects of the outrage ; he has not yet recovered his voice, his throat is much swollen, and his head hurt, and he has suf fered repeatedly from attacks of spasms, caused by the stran gulation to which he was only for a few seconds subjected. SHIPBUILDING IN NEW YORK.—As an example of the extent to which this branch of industry is carried on in this city we will give the following statement of one of our principal shipbuilders, furnished to thel United States Mar l/Jul, developing facts in relation to the business conducted by him, for the year ending June 1, 1850 :—About 385 men were constantly employed during the year for which the report was made, at an average of 1.75 dolls. per day. The Monthly payments for work performed amounted to 17,517, or 210,204 dolls. per annum. During the time mentioned two steam-ships measuring 3,000 tons, and eight ships of 11 ,040 tons were launched by him. There were consumed in the construction of vessels of various descriptions 80,0091 b. Of copper bolts, brass work, &c. ' • 535,0001 b. of iron bolts, Wrought and cast iron work; 60,000 cubic feet of live oak ; 6,000 ditto locust ; 4,000 ditto, cedar ; 175,000 white oak; 90,000 pitch pine; 10,600 white pine; 40 0,000 superficial teet of white oak plank ; 850,000 ditto pitch pine; 720,000 ditto white pine; 300,000 ditto lumber; 10,000 dollars' worth of spars; 50,000 pounds of oakum, &c. This is quite an extensive business we should judge, and appears the larger when we reflect that it is the business of only one man engaged in shipbuilding. There are, however, a number of shipbuilders on the East River from Corlear's Hook and, upwards, and also i n Brook lyn, Williamsburg, Hoboken, &c., whose business will corn- Pare favourably with the above. We also learn that several pew ship-yards, both in the city proper and in the neigh bourhood, are in contemplation by our enterprising me . chanics, tho se - now in operation not being sufficient to sup , Ply the demand for vessels, a large portion of which vessels Our merchants are compelled to order from Maine and other , Wham states, for the simple reason that there are not yards enough to build then'[ here. We are glad to see, as an evi . danceof our prosperity, more ship-yards established around .Imd, as - our shlpwnglits' now build the best vessels, so we ._ l l o penoontoseethera build the largest number of any city on newspg th. globei.ilige Yank ,Express. CHRISTMAS BOOKS THE ILLUSTRATED YEAR ROOK. Edited by John Timbs, The very deserved success of the " Year Book of 1849" has induced its originators to offer to the pub lic a second series of that interesting and most useful work. In the volume before us we have a record of the Wonders, Events, and Discoveries of the year 1850. Conspicuous among these is, of course, a very attractive history of the Hippopotamus, with some faithful likenesses of that illustrious stranger. The Submarine Electric Telegraph ; the Tornado in the Bahamas; the famous diamond Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light ; the colossal statue of Bavaria ; the Panoramas of the Nile, and the Overland Route are among the subjects discussed and described, and beautifully illustrated in this book of wonders. Nor is the forthcoming Exhibition overlooked, and all these momentous matters are not merely enumerated, but are made subjects of very interesting articles. Few Christmas books are likely to afford more plea sure to the curious and the thoughtful, and none are calculated to bestow so much information as the " Illustrated Year Book of Wonders, Events, and Discoveries." LORD and LA DY HARCOURT ; or, Country Hospitalities. By Catherine Sinclair. " The Earl and Countess of Harcourt request the honour of your company during the week to meet a small select party of all the world at Saxonborough Castle, Middlesex." Such 13 the somewhat unusual form in which this volume is dedicated "to the reader." All who accept the invitation so conveyed will have little cause to lament their compliance. The party assembled under the hospitable roof of Lord and Lady Harcourt are well calculated, from diver sity of character, to afford a week's amusement even to the most fastidious. Lord Harcourt himself, with his easy, laissez faire kind-heartedness, and his young bride, whose gentleness and gracefulness are unable to overcome the prejudice and animosity of her husband's relations, are sufficiently attractive to render a visit to Saxonborough delightful, and that delightfulness is considerably increased when we find that Lord Killarney is one of the party— Lord Killarney, whose wit and gaiety is irresistible to all, with the sole exception of the pompous Lord Kidderminster, the unconscious butt of the lively Hibernian ; e. g. : "At table again Lord Kidderminster was hailed with another round of conundrums, which the indefati gable Lord Killarney assured him were selected pur posely for him, as being of a political tendency. "They are all inimitable, and Lady Rachel has positively promised, at least, I think she probably will promise, to work a waistcoat for the first person who answers this: Why are you like nineteen shillings?' Because'— surely you can make that out!—' because you are under a sovereign.' " I tell you, Killarney, that I give them all up. I shall give up society itself while this conundrum fever continues to rage. They are a cloak for much folly and malice. Lady Rachel, this morning, made a most unfair allusion, both personally and politically, to me, when she asked ' Why are a wig and a Whig alike?' Because,' she said, they both have a false attachment to the crown.' It was extremely ill bred and extremely , ill-timed. My political opinions are notorious through out the universe now, and, nothing had been able either to alter them or to turn me.' "' What key is hardest to turn?' asked Lord Killar ney, in a tone of nafvete. A donkey.' But you never answered that one I left with you in the morning. * * " Apropos, What is the only wig a barber cannot make?' You will be so diverted! 'An ear-wig!' And Why am I over head and ears in debt ?"Because my wig is not paid for.' " But you wear no wig! Pray, Killarney, spare me any more of this nonsense." No entreaties, however, can move and no contempt can intimidate the imperturbable Lord Killarney. He gravely asks " Why there are no horses in the Isle of Wight ?" and Lord Kidderminster as gravely rejoins, " Are there none ? I was not aware of the fact." " Because," replies his tormentor, " the inhabitants prefer Cowes to Ry de." No wonder, after all this, that poor Lord Kidderminster heartily agrees to one only of these jeux d'esprit, namely, when Lord Killarney in quires, " Why am I like the Thames Tunnel ? Be cause I am the greatest bore in England." An opinion by no means assented to by the other guests (including the reader) of "Lord and Lady Harcourt." TTT E SIIN, L Mi ON, CHRISTMAS BERRIES FOR THE YOUNG AND GOOD. SILVER BLOSSOMS TO PRODUCE GOLDEN FRUIT. Two delightful children's Christmas books, gorge ously bound, bountifully illustrated, and printed in unusually large type, thereby rendering them doubly welcome to young reabers. Poems and prose tales are mingled in both volumes, mostly on themes relat ing to this season of the year, and all are delightfully adapted for the young and good, in whose tender minds they are likely to produce not only silver blos soms but golden fruit. THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE DAUGHTER. By _Eliza Meteyard (Silverpen). _ Few story books are - likely to prove more charm ing, not only to the young, but to all who can ap preciate the natural and the truthful, than the vary delight ful history of Alice Tyne, the doctor's little daughter. It is not so much a story as a series of stories of which this volume is composed, having for its object the development of a young child's mind. It affords a refreshing glimpse of nature, and truth, and beauty seen through that pure medium. There is a genial and enthusiastic spirit and an un affected simplicity about the writings of " Silverpen," which proclaim them to be the outpourings of a feel ing heart. Whether as a Christmas gift, or a Mid summer's tale, the " Doctor's Little Daughter " will be welcome to old and young. " Truth," says the authoress, " is a divine and holier thing than beauty." It is so, and, moreover, it is beautiful also; and the volume which contains this excellent saying is worthy of all commendation, inasmuch as it is both beautiful and truthful. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Sin,—ln your paper of the 3d of December you did me the honour of inserting a letter which I had addressed to the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Liome Department, and in which I took the liberty of recommending that all institutions of a monastic character in these countries should be placed under the surveillance of the civil magistrate, in order to prevent any abuses from the compulsory detention or improper treatment of persons in them. I am much obliged to you for the publication of my letter, and I beg leave now to call your attention to the account which appeared in the Globe or Standard of the 23d, respecting the escape of a young lady from a convent at Banbury, and to the late extraordinary conduct pursued by two Romanist gentlemen to Miss Munk, at Exeter, as remarkable and unexpected examples, in confirmation of the apprehensions which suggested the rational precautions which I recom mended in that letter, which I hope that you and your colleagues of the press will insist upon. Ac cording to the old proverb, " Res non reria," a short Act of Parliament, placing all su ch institutions un der the superintendence of the civil power, would tell more in asserting the legitimate supremacy of the Sovereign, by quietly putting it in force, than many long speec hest and empty resolutions, which are of no use, against the influence of a spiritual power, on the minds of those who are superstitious enough to ac knowledge it.—l am, Sir, &c., JOHN PERCEVAL. Kensington, Dec. 28, 1850. OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS.—Some weeks since we stated that the Earl of Chichester was to be proposed for the vacant office of Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords next session. since then, however, it has been found that his Lordship could not possibly discharge the duties of that office along with those which devolve on him as head of the Ecclesiastical Commission, and all intention of putting him forward has been reluctantly abandoned. We believe we are correct in stating that Lord Wharncliffe will be now proposed to fill the vacant office, with every likelihood of success. Colonel Hugh Rose, Consul-General for Syria, has been appointed Secretary of Embassy at Constantinople. By this appointment a saving of 1,0001. a year will be effected, as it is not probable that the vacancy in Syria will be again filled up. Cardinal Wiseman has received autograph letters of congratulation from their Majesties the Queens of Spain and Portugal, completing the number of the Catholic Sove reigns of Europe who have addressed his'Eminence on occa sion of his appointment. Mr. Lovi, an English engineer, inventor of a diving machine, by which a person can remain several hours under water, at a great depth, has been called from Scio in order to try his machine in the port of Constantinople, at the place where the Neiri-Chevket sunk. He experimented with the greatest success in the presence of TT. E.F, Admiral Suley man Pacha, Vice-Admiral Mustapha Pacha, and several of the superior officers of the Turkish navy. Mr. Lovi, furnished with his apparatus, descended on to the deck of the Neiri- Chevket, which vesFel he found at the depth of about twenty fathoms, deeply embedded in the sand. The fore part of the ve ssel lay split open, and her boats overturned on the deck, which was covered with remnants of the rigging. It is ex pected that Mr. Lovi will be appointed to raise as much of the vessel and stores as can be recovered.—Malta Mail. THE LATE DE. M'FADYEN OF JAMAICA.—WE Ob• serve that this gentleman is among those who have fallen victims to the appalling ravages which cholera has been making in Jamaica. Dr. M'Fadyen was a native of Glas gow, and eon of the late Mr. J. M'Fadyen, wellknown as the oldest music-sellers in Scotland. The doctor went to Ja maica in 1824. Having been highly respected by all classes, his death would have been deeply regretted in any circum stances; but falling, as he has done, under the heavy pro fessional labours imposed on him by the prevalent epidemic, his removal has affected all with a feeling of peculiar sorrow. Dr. M'Fadyen was a member of the Linnaean Society of 1 London, and had attained much distinction as a botanist. He was author of the well-known " Flora" of Jamaica, a new edition of which he was preparing for press when he was suddenly ent:off --Daily Mail. LEIGEL.—TRE SILK TRADE.---We are glad to state that there is this winter much more employment in hand laaaysilk weaving than has W en known in this neighbour hood, for many years. The o p era ti ves have been fully em ployed . during the last two or three months a period in iother,; years when the majority h av e been waiting for work; 'lt is said that the briskness is in anticipation of a good demand for English silks during the Exhibition of 1851. THE RECTOR OF MORPETH AlaD HIS CHURCHWARDENS. A somewhat acrimonious correspondence has recently taken place between the Hon. and Rev. Francis Richard Grey, the rector of Morpeth, and the churchwardens of St. Mary, in that parish, rela tive to a request made by them to him to discontinue the practice of chanting the psalms and intoning the litany and other prayers during the services of the church. Mr. Grey, the rector of Morpeth, we may premise, is a younger brother of Earl Grey, and a brother in-law of the Earl of Carlisle, by his marriage with Lady Elizabeth Howard. On the death of the Rev, Frederick Ekins, the former rector, in 1842, Mr. Grey, who was educated at Oxford, was appointed to the living, of which the patron is the Earl of Carlisle, and went to reside at the rectory- house there in De cember of that year. The great bulk of the Reverend Gentleman's parishioners reside in the town of Morpeth, which contains a population of between icpn t o o uaarr s rm v ias n etthei s l 4,000 and .5,000, and th ere are severa l out l y i ng o el o s f o s f vh ea ic se h : i' m t ge ae l ts t i a wo d o m n d e h d a i se t a i h n u i o n :n i t dh lt ae o Ci ' f 3 je kP ae r y i , sl' a ' re in ch t a w p . Sundays. St. c h t e so rt . r om u r r a a or i n; s p o, a f trhtheiospf three the onpaffiaes t r c s church, a fine ancient structure, is situated about a mile from the town, and thither from time imme morial the inhabitants, save such as were Dissenters, have been wont to repair for divine worship on Sundays. For the convenience of the parishioners, however, in inclement weather, there has for a long time been a chapel of ease situate in the town itself. On going to reside in the parish, Mr. Grey, it is but justice to say, entered upon the discharge of his functions with a laudable degree of zeal:and spirit, which he has never for a moment relaxed, though it may not always have been characterized by the severest prudence,and though he has been:occasionally . thwarted by some of th e p ar i s hi oners . At his sugges tion and partly at his expense the parish church, which, during the incumbency of his predecessor had fallen into partial dilapidation, whilst the interior bad been manifestly disfigured by it perverted taste, under went essential repair and a process of decoration, in cluding the elevation of the chancel roof, a question able improvement by the way. He showed, too, his regard for the poor by reviving the offertory service and collection, and by causing a great number of free sittings to be appropriated to their use within the church ; and he eventually removed the doors from the remaining pews so as to do away with the idea of anything like property in them, and to place the whole of the parishioners on a level in this respect. At the same time, he began gradually to introduce a series of changes into the mode of conducting divine worship, which at first gave rise to much dissatisfac tion among some of the congregation, which has never been wholly allayed, though the parishioners generally have ceased to complain, and may be pre sumed now to acquiesce in them. The psalms were chanted, and complicated anthems sung, by a native choir trained for that purpose; the litany and some of the prayers were " intoned" by the officiating cler gymen; turning to the east during the recital of the creeds was introduced ; in a word, the service was conducted much after the manner observed in the ca thedrals. To the aged and unlettered Portion of the con gregation, especially, these changes in the service oc casioned much perplexity and discontent ; fur, as might have been expected, many of them were wholly unable to join in the chants, simple though they mostly were. The result was, that some, though only a few, left the church altogether, whilst a few others attended the churches in the adjacent parishes, where the service was more in accordance with their taste; but the great body of the parishoners continued to attend the ministrations of their rector. Those changes took them the more by surprise, inasmuch, as during the incumbency of Mr. Grey's predecessor, extending through a long series of years, the service was conducted with primitive simplicity. An appeal was made to the Bishop of Durham, within whose diocese Morpeth is situate, by a few of the parishoners to forbid the chanting ; but that appeal was unsuccessful, and the objectionable practices were continued with little, if any, mitigation. The rector found the chapel of ease in the town a somewhat dilapidated and unpretending building, and he conceived the idea of supplanting it by the erection of a magnificent structure in another part of the town. This he achieved partly by his own libe rality, and much more by the amazing amount of zeal he evinced in procuring contributions from others. The foundation stone of that church, called St. James's, was laid by the Earl of Carlisle, and for sometime past divine service has been performed daily within its walls. Whilst this church was in the course of erection the rector bad recourse to the extraordi nary step of holding the Sunday evening service in the County Courthouse in the town, which presented a singular spectacle on those occasions, the jury-box, the bench, the counsel's seats, the dock, and the gal leries, being indiscriminately occupied by the congre• gation. Towards the Dissenters in the town, who are in the aggregate a numerous body, consisting principally of Presbyterians, Indeper.dents, and Wesleyans, the rector and some of his curates have always deported themselves in a way greatly to offend their feelings— treating them as schismatics, without the slightest chance of salvation, and regarding the baptism of their children by Dissenting ministers as absolutely invalid and inefficacious. With the view of accommodating those of his parishioners who disapproved of the choral service, some time ago the rector caused the service on Sun day mornings, the first Sunday in every month ex cepted, to be held simultaneously at the parish church and at St. James's, at the former of which the chant ing the psalms and the prayers was discontinued. The choral, service, however, was retained at St. James's, and thither by far the greater number, per haps, of the parishioners go on Sunday mornings when they have to choose between that and the " plain ser vice" at the parish church. To return to the published correspondence between the rector and the churchwardens of St. Mary, it appears that on the 9th inst. the latter made a per sonal application to him to discontinue the chanting the creed and the psalms in the parish church on the first Sunday in the month and in St. James's Church every Sunday ; and they bad been emboldened to make this request after the perusal of certain "suggestions" to laymen for putting down Roman izing practices in churches, which had been forwarded to them in their official capacity by the Duke of Manchester, as chairman of the National Club, and which " suggestiona" they were ingenuous enough to show to the rector. The, day following this interview the Reverend Gentleman wrote a letter (subsequently published by him) to Mr. James Hudson, the senior churchwarden, in which he refused to discontinue the choral service at St. James's Church. But he states, at the same time, that " the service on the first Sun day in the month, except upon great festivals of the Church, will be a plain service," in order to meet the wishes of " a few among the communicants." He further states that "Mr. Churchwarden King," at the interview referred to, admitted that the churchwar dens would not have made the request they had done to him but for Lord John Russell's letter to the Bishop of Durham, from which he infers that the request had not its origin in " a pa rochial movement," though it might become one. The rector then proceeds—" I do not see what right foreign extra-parochial agitators, however high in office or in rank they may be, have to interfere in n plain words, my parish. Ido not see why we shou ld g ive their su ggestions a moment's consideration. I I do not recognise Lord Jobn Russell, as the Prime Minister, or his Grace the Duke of Manchester, as the chairman of the National Club, as having any autho rity of any kind whatever , ecclesiastical or civil, in the parish of Morpeth. * I should, however, office and in rank, and to walk in the pat which they be sorry to follow the exa m p le set b y those high in h have pointed out—the path of agitation and strife. On the contrary, as in duty bound, I will do all that I with all men, especially to pre serve in this parish the peace w hich has continued, can to live peaceably with no interruption worth mentioning, ever since I came into residence on Dec. 17, 1842." The churchwardens have pub lished a re p l y , in which they deny that " Mr. Churchwarden King" , attributed the request of himself and his colleagues to have the choral services discontinued to the publication of Lord John Russell's. letter. To in this, the rector, in a lett er rejoinder, dated the 12th inatant, reiterates his King's" former statem e nt respecting " Mr. Churchwa rden admission, and adds, " the impressi o n on m y memor y of what took place is so lively, that I should not be afraid to take an oath in the most solemn way, in a make the admission which I have stated him to have court of justice, that Mr. Churc hwarden Kin g did made in my letter." He then invites the " special attention" of Mr. Churchwarden Douglas, one of the deputation to him to request a discontinuance of the chanting, to the circumstance of his having, along with other of the parishioners, in December, 1846, signed an address to him (the Rector), approving of the choral service, and requesting that it might be continued. The Rector concludes his letter in these terms :—" I wish to remind you that you and your colleagues are the churchwardens of St. Mary's Church, not of St. James's. It is your duty to see that all things are done decently and in order in St. Mary's Church. With the mode of worship in St. James's, you have no more authority to interfere ,han any other parishioner." So the matter rests for he present. --- - RUTLAND STATUE.—We have the pleasure to an nounce that the casting in bronze of the Rutland Statue has been completed, and most successfully. The statue is now in effect finished, and all that remains is to set it up in its place. In the present state of the Market-place, however, the erec tion of the statue must necessarily be delayed until the com pletion of the new Market-house— a delay which will be fully compensated for by the exhibition of the statue among the works of art in the great crystal Palaceicester Jouqal. TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 31, 1850. MR. MUNTZ and the CURRENCY TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,—l would net have troubled you with a se cond letter had you not been both personal and abusive in your article of the 21st inst. I shall not, however, like you, go into the clouds for evidence against you and your tenacious reasoning—you have already been there too long, and there are too many there like you. There can only be one excuse for your conduct, and that is, that since my corres pondence with your paper, in 1847, you may have replaced the then editor, for all the charges you now. endeavour to substantiate against me were then met and refuted. To those who know me and my position as a commercial man, your charge or insinuation that I wish to pay my debts at 14s. in the pound is an absurdity, and to them I need not address myself ; but to all the rest of the world where your paper is read, and where I am only known as a member cf the British Legislature, I am bound in duty to my self to ask you to show how I, who always have three times the amount owing to me that I owe to others, and who can pay all that I owe three times over, can be otherwise than a loser by any alteration in the rate of convertibility of paper money, such as I have proposed. As to your facts and arguments, I have first to say, thatyour premises are all false, your arguments contra dict each other, and you are utterly ignorant of the real effects of the proposed alteration upon prices or wages; you call your own sophistry honesty; and, as is usually the case, being the great supportfr f thieves yourself, you first call out " Thiel" against every one who dares to differ from you. You com plain that lam never tired of explaining my words, but that is your fault, who always intentionally mis construe them ; and simple as you say my doctrine is, it is evident that your ignorance of all financial and commercial affairs, which are not understood either in the clouds or the heathen m 3 thology, renders you quite incapable of stating it, if you can compre hend it. I entirely deny your statement, that the national debt was contracted in heavy money of full tale and weight of gold at 3/. 17s. lOid. per ounce ; and I challenge you to show your authority (or such an ab surd idea. Why, your own account of the greasy bank-notes, shillings and sixpences as thin as wafers and knives, and cabinet gold guineas, sold at 275. each, in former days (which I have seen sold at 325. each), proves that you know your statement to be false. Why, so far from the national debt being borrowed in heavy money, more than all the present amount of 800,000,0001. was borrowed at the rate of 601. and under for Three per Cent. Consols, and the money in which it was borrowed was worth no more than 104. in the pound in property and produce if compared with gold at 31. 17s. 100, per oz., and 13s. 4d. if compared with the then price of gold, which not being required for money, never advanced in the same ratio as other articles ; so that in fact the country really borrowed only 250,000,0001. Then it should also be recollected that before the Bank Restriction Act debts might be paid in silver, by weight or in tale ; and also that wheat could not be imported at all till the average was 48s. per quarter (Winchester), and when as low as 40s. a bounty of sixpence per bushel was allowed upon the export of it. But the great question is this—ls the coin of the United King dom of the same value as the circulation ? Any one who says they are of equal value must be very igno rant or very credulous, or both. Can any one really believe that a country which keeps in active circulation 40,000,0001. in bank notes, to say nothing of bills of exchange, with about 60,000,0001. in coins, has a circu lation of the same value as the coins ? Why, the idea is preposterous. If such were really the case, why have any paper in circulation ? why not convert it all, and solve the question ? Why do you all boast of being able to keep 29 or 30 millions of paper in cir culation, whilst 11 millions of it remains in the bank, and reduces the active circulation to about 18 mil lions ? You will say the paper is all cenvertible. I ask how, when, and where ? Why, your very parti cular friend, the late Sir Robert Peel, declared in my presence more than once that convertibility alone would not maintain the value of the paper; and therefore he carried the Bill of 1844, which I supported with a view of proving the Bill of 1819, and which the coun try is now approaching the full effects of. There is no better way of judging of the difference in the real value of the &mutation as compared with the coins, than to look how small an amount of it is sufficient to alter prices temporarily. The addi tion of four millions of bank paper to the average active circulation of 18 millions made all the rise in prices in 1845 ; and the withdrawal of that four mil lions, with free imports, has brought the prices of produce, both commercial and agricultural, to the lowest rates within the memory of man. It is there fore clear that if an addition of four or five millions to the cash money of the country of 100 millions can make such a difference in the value of produce, the alteration necessary in the value of the circulation to keep wheat at an average of 50s. is nothing like your proportion of 14s. to 205., whatever may be found to be the necessary alteration in the coins to enable us to maintain that extra four to five millions of additional paper in circulation. You wi!l say that all our ex changes with other nations would be altered by any change in our coins. No doubt they would, or else the additional paper would be withdrawn from circu lation to buy gold for exportation. Again, you will say that a foreigner having money in our funds would be a loser, which would be a breach of national faith. I admit it, and thus far I think that national faith should be carried out. The foreigner who has money in our funds ought to be paid in full weight and tale; but national faith be tween our people—between a fundholder and a land holder, farmer, or manufacturer, is complete non sense. The Government are as much bound to sup port the just and relative position of the one interest as of the other. Just take the case of two farmers, both occupied in agriculture in 1814, both having made 20,000/. by growing wheat at an average of 80s. per quarter. The one retires, and buys into the funds at 60/., and is now worth full 30,000/. ; the other, having continued farming, possibly with some little profit, but probably with considerable loss, is now called upon to pay his share of the interest of the 30,000/. which was gained by wheat at 808., although be must grow the same article at 40s. per quarter. You may call this national faith, I call it national robbery. But you say that no alteration of the circu lation will improve the condition of the farmer, that it will only enable him to cheat his creditors and relations; that his wheat will be only worth 355. of the existing coinage, and it will purchase no more sugar, tea, spirits, or tobacco, &c., than it does now; also that his labourer will require and obtain 13s where he now gets 9s. Upon all these points I am at issue with you. All these articles are subject to very heavy duties, and those duties would remain without alteration. The price of brandy, with 20s. per gallon duty upon it, would be about 275. 6de but whatever change took place would only affect the 7s. 6d., and possibly might raise brandy to 295. ; it would be less in tobacco, tea, and sugar, as the duties are lower in proportion, as would the rise in price be rather more. Now, as to wages, there are two questions; the one is, that Os. per week now is far above the ratio of wheat even at 405., as may be seen by reference to the rate of wages when wheat was the same price about 1775 to 1785, before an increase of paper circulation had affected prices. Wages then were about 6s. per week, and will be so again if wheat remain at 40s. The other ques tion is, whether in case of an altered circula tion to keep wheat at an average of 503. agricultural wages would advance ? I am decidedly of opinion that they would not, and all previous times appear to me to prove that 93. per week for agricultural wages is quite in ratio with wheat at 50s, I will just say here, as I did in 1847, that I am not so ignorant as to propose to carry . out any such change instanter ; all such changes ought to be made as slowly as they reasonably could, the slower the better, to allow for the completion of distant transactions. It must be evident to every one who has well considered the sub ject that the pretended power of convertibility is ideal and delusive; that the only real use of convertibility is a means to regulate the quantity of paper in circu lation, and prevent it from being issued in excess. But if the point of convertibility, or value of the coins, be out of accordance with that range of prices whieh is necessary for the payment of the taxes, rater, rent, and other liabilities of the country, the conver tibility can only be maintained in that partial manner which it is now, and which is sufficient for the wants of the community, by such low prices of manufactures as shall force themselves all over the world, but leave no profits for the manufacturers. In 1845 and 1846, when the foreign exchanges were neglected, and prices of manufactures were advanced so as to afford a profit, the gold was exported instead of the manufactures, and the utter impossibility of main taining the 1844 Bill, excepting with very low prices, was clearly proved. The conversion then of four millions of paper into gold out of twenty-two mil lions nearly caused bankruptcy and anarchy, and the attempt to have converted four millions more would have completed the farce. Mad the then Government been as honest as they pretended to be, they would not have suspended the 1844 Bill until it hrd been acknowledged to be a bad Bill, for they and their op ponents had together maintained that it was per fection. When I addressed you on the 18th inst. I was not aware that you had written an article upon Californian gold, and therefore " I did not think to catch you upon the hip," but by that article you have caught yourself upon the hip. Who do you think will believe your sophistry upon that subject ? If you are half as honest as you profess to be, be lieving, as you say you do, that all our debts, public and private, have been contracted for payment in gold, in full weight and tale, how can you avoid supporting a law for reducing the Bank price of gold to whatever rate the importations from California may bring it ? Do you mean to say that, whatever the reduction in Yalue l the' weight of gold alone should pay all debts) both public and private ? I suppose so, as you irx press a hope that there may be tha.eby w Equidation of the national debt. If so, then away with your pretensions to honesty, for there is none in you. Take an extreme case, which is the proper way to view ouch a subject in—suppose that gold increases in abun dance, so that it is only worth 4s. per ounce, or 5 per cent. of its present value, would you say that because the pound was borrowed in gold of so many grains in weight, and many debts contracted in it larger in amount together than the national debt, that ouch weight of only one-twentieth of the original value should be the payment of such debts ? You who pretend that th e d e bts were contracted in _ _ pounds of full weight and tale in gold distinctly imply that they ought to be paid in full weight and tale of the value at Si. 17s. 101 d. ; but I, who deny that any such contract was made, implied, understood, or even expected to be carried out, with any one, have a right to take advantage of the Californian accident, and not allow any interference with the present law—cer tainly none until, if fate so ordains, the value of gold should be reduced to the amount justly due to the creditor interest. Once for all, I say, that, measured in the coins, the nation's debts are had dEhts ; they were not contracted in such coin, they are not due in such coin, and they mver will be paid in such coin, whoever may live to see the finale. All this you know much better than you like to admit, as is proved by your article last week upon the Califorria gold discoveries, wherein you clearly show that what you choose to call your honest spontaneous charges would do all the good that would be done by my honestly proposed direct and conventional changes. I see that you have been guilty of a slight misrepresentation respecting the changes made in their coins by the Romans. You would have it appear that their reductions in value arose from their own revolutions previously to the establishment of the empire; whereas they were principally made immediately after the first and se cond Punic wars, and really saved the republic from ruin, as our Act of 1797 saved us from being de feated by Napoleon. But the Romans, like the Rus sians, were not so weak as to attempt to return to their original position; they left that attempt to be made by the wisdom of Englishmen ; and when I have seen the value of land, produce, and labour reduced to the same level as existed in 1775, and that then both agriculture and commerce are simultaneously and permanently prosperous, I will believe the object to be feasible. To conclude, Sir, I beg leave to say that I shall be happy to wait upon your remarks, only please to avoid blackguardism, or I shall soon convince you that I can call things by their right names as well as any body. Ido not know it, but the world says that you are in the constant pay of the moneyocracy ; if so, I only say, may you become wiser and better. Yours respectfully, G. P. MUNTZ. Ley Hall, near Birmingham, Dec. 23. (From the Times.) There are men whose theories are better than their practice, and there are men whose practice is better than their theories. Mr. Muntz happily be longs to the latter class. As there are advocates of poly - gamy, who in practice are content with one wife, s there areloyal democrats, fl d amiable abettors of international hostility , so Mr. Mintz Who is able and ready, he says, to pay all his debts three times over, stands up for the grand principle of dishonesty. He is a platonic had debtor, and loves insolvency, not from selfish considerations, but for its own sake. We can readily believe that he would rather pay all his creditors 40s. in the pound than 19s. 6d., but only yesterday he favoured our readers with an argument to show that the public ought not to pay more than 63. 3d. in the pound. That is the precise figure he would put upon public morality. We have borrowed, he says, 800,000,000/, and we have no right to pay more than 250,000,0001. Considering that Mr. Muntz is owed much more than he owes, and belongs to the creditor class; considering that whatever the nation does, he is resolved himself to act like a gentleman, at least so far as his debts are concerned, it is impossible to imagine a greater in stance of self-immolation. As a private man he wishes to be honest, as a patriot he wishes his country to set the world a grand example of scowndrelism. His as pirations in behalf of his country are heroic. He does not wish it to sink under the pressure of misfor tune, to share a universal disaster, as has happened to many a good and true man ; no, he despises such constrained insolvency. The splendid destiny he prays for this empire is that the heyday of its fortunes and the noontide of its wealth—after struggling with its difficulties more than thirty years with signal success—it should suddenly, with its pockets full, its treasury overflowing, its taxes half abolished, its fixed capital enormously increased, its metallic circulation beyond all precedent or example, and its credit at the highest possible pitch—should, in special conside ration of those extraordinary blessings, suddenly avow its religious determination to pay its creditors 6s. 3d. in the pound. But let us hear our great teacher of voluntary de falcation. " More than all the present amount of 800,000,000/. was borrowed at the rate of 60/. and under for Three per Cent. Consols, and the money in which it was borrowed was worth no more than 103. in the pound in property and produce if compitv.d with gold at 3/. 17s. 101 u. per oz.; 134. 41. if com pared with the then price of gold, which, not being required for money, never advanced in the same ratio as other articles ; so that in fact the country really borrowed only 250,000,000/." Here's a respectable doctrine for a respectable man to preach to a respect.. able country. When a pecuniary engagement or any other engagement comes into a British court of law the great question always is, What are the terms and significance of this engagement ? What is the exact nature of this promise ? Forthwith the document, if any, is closely overhauled, and if it is absolute and unconditional, then, on proof of the handwriting and such facts, the obligation ex pressed in the document is established. But what says Mr. .Muntz ? He says, " Take into account that the signer of the document was at the time in very low credit ; find out the terms which his creditors were obliged to pay for getting his bills discounted ; and strike off the amount of that discount from the signer's present obligation. He undertook to pay the interest of his bond in promissory notes, and as both the undertaking and the promissory notes were current at less than their nominal value, here was a double discount, and the debtor should now have the full benefit of that double discredit." Such is the effect of Mr. Muntz's doctrine. As we can re cognize no difference between a private and a public debtor, we will take an individual case. The Earl of Entails, a nobleman of large property and of a high spirit, has embarked into divers expensive under takings. Besides rebuilding the family mansion, he has dug canals, opened collieries, drained mosses, built churches, planted mountains, and done everything that a great man should do who is confident in his opinions and ignorant of his resources. To give his affairs the coup de grace, he is engaged in several lawsuits for the recovery of some family estates ; and, in the agony of his fortunes, when pressed for money on all sides, gave bonds for 1001. on the receipt of just half the amount in hard cash. His affairs becom ing more desperate nobody would work for him ex cept at very high rates, and he had to give his bond for 1001. in payment of an account for 50/., when every item was overcharged 30 or 40 per cent. and the real consideration received was not more than 30/. However, Lord Entails just managed to keep his head above water, and his bonds passed from hand to hand at a decent value. In process of time he won his lawsuits, got good crops from his bogs and good coal from his pits, and was so well known to be in a condition to pay off his bonds in the full that they were current at their full nominal value. At this moment, however, he bad the misfortune to meet with an evil adviser, who shall be nameless, but who instigated him to insist on compounding with his creditors on the principle of paying only at the rate of value received. So Lord Entails, with the name ' less gentleman at his elbow, is to sit down, to consider the work actually done and the articles actually de livered, offer their present value to the holders of the bonds, viz., 301. for every 1001. promised. Now, we respectfully beg our great apostle of national delin quency to tell us how my Lord Entails would fare in a court of justice or any company of gentlemen in this empire ; that is if, having the power to pay in full, he refused to pay more than 30 per cent. But Mr. Muntz will meet us with a flat denial that the country can pay in full. He says that our paper currency, and the debts contracted in it, are not really convertible. Here are his words :—" The great ques tion is this,—ls the coin of the United Kingdom of the same value as the circulation ? Any one who says that they are of equal value must be very igno rant, or very credulous, or both. Can any one really believe that a country which keeps in active circula tion 40,000,000). in bank notes, to say nothing of bills of exchange, with about 60,000,000/. in coins, has a circulation of the same value as the coins? Why, the idea is preposterous. If such were really the case why have any paper in circulation ? Why not con vert it all, and solve the question ?" If Mr. Muntz really doubts the convertibility of our paper currency, he had better take fifty 1,0001. notes to the Bank of England and present them for payment, and if after ten minutes' delay a clerk hands over the amount in new sovereigns of the abominable 31. 17s. 10ii. per oz. value, then Mr. Muntz may go away satisfied that to all intents and purposes a bank note is conver tible. If this is not sufficient, let the whole of the Birmingham currency school change their property into bank notes, make a pilgrimage to London, and make a run on the Bank. The question of converti bility solvilur ambulando—that is, to Threadneedle street. " Enough is as good as a feast," and a man who can pay every bill as fast as it is presented is as solvent as the man who keeps a supply of cah equi valent to all his outstanding bills in his parlour cup board. But what sensible man ever allowed himself • to ba haunted by the whole of a possibility, when only a small part of it was within the range of pro • bability ? The idea that we should always be pre pared for the whole of what is conceivable, and that nothing short of this is prudent or true, is just su c h a nightmare as might invade th e slumbers of a puzzle headed schoolboy after three slices of Christmas plum pudding. The experience of 30 years proves that with an occasional hitch, easily got over, a compara tively small stock of bullion is sufficient to keep a paper currency practically convertible. At all events, if Mr. Muntz denies that a 51. note is at this moment convertible into gold, let him walk to the Bank of England, or ask any sane person he may chance to have about him. Everybody who has been out of Englanlknows that throughout the whole civilized world there is nothing so appreciable, so stable, and so pe r f ec tly ne gotiable as a Bank of England note, or anything to which the word of this country is pledged in an Equal degree. Mr. Blunt; to do him justice, cannot quite swallow the less of this thin in our national glory. lie cannot quite stand sering a Batik if England note gr.wing fumbled, raged, and grt aq in a tioehet of a Paris tradesman, tsnd sold to a Hebrew for 305., or a German merchant not tweting his bills because his money had been invested in our 'Three per Cent. Console. So hers is his nietbood of meeting this ot•jecti!..n. " You will say that a foreigner having money hi our funds would be a loser, which would he a breach of national faith. I admit it, and thus far I think that national faith ought to be carried out. The foreigner who has money in our funds ought to be paid in full weight and tale; but national faith between our people—be tween a fundholder and a landholder, farmer or ma nufacturer—is complete nonsense. The Government is as much bound to support the just and relative position of the one interest as of the other." The Go vernment is bound to do, first of all, that which it has expressly promised to do. It has expressly pro mised to pay five pounds to the bearer of a 51. note, and then three or three-and-a- half pounds annually, to the holders of certain stock. When it has dis charged this written, express, and prior obligation, it may then proceed to the performance of its sublimer function described by Mr. Muntz—viz., the support of the just and relative position of the several interests in the country. Our lawyers are in the habit of regarding a written promise as of prior obligation to a natural duty, aad all respectable Governments adopt the same rule. But how happy, how ingenious, and, above all, how practicable would this distinction of Mr. Muntz's prove. The Parisian Rothschild is still to receive his three per cent. for his Consols in three sovereigns of the existing coinage ; the London Rothschild is to receive in virtue of the very same document just 18s. 9d., that being Mr. Muntz's equitable adjustment of the fundholding claims. Why, of course, if there were the least chance of the distinc . tion being observed, all our funds would pass, nomi nally at least, into foreign hands. But is the distinc. tion anything more than a jest ? We will re turn to the case of our friend Lord Entails, With his Mentor at his elbow, his Lordship is to say to his tradesmen and other credi tors :—" Gentlemen, you are all interested in my welfare. Were I to be ruined you would all feel the shock. Would you like to see my house dis mantled, my;domains disparked, my servants all dia-, charged, and all my expenditure withdrawn from, this neighbourhood P My neighbours -and fellow-: countrymen must excuse my offering them only ' Gs. 3d. in the pound on their claims against me. But, gentlemen, if you will go to Barcelona, or Valparaiso, renounce your allegiance to Queen Victoria, become the subject of some foreign sovereign or republic, change your religion, your morals, your manners, and your dress, and lose your identity altogether, in that case I feel it my unquestionable duty to send you ' most punctually 20s. in the pound of your debts ; and when half the convex world' rolls between us, you may rely on my faithful discharge of this sacred duty." That, in fact, is Mr. Muntz's promise to the foreign fundholder. Its value we leave to those who know whether " distance lends enchantment" to the sense of pecuniary obligations. THE CURRENCY QUESTION. (From the Derbyshire Courier.) The Times of Saturday last contains a long article in reply to a communication from Mr. Muntz, the Member for Birmingham. We do not intend to enter into the immediate matter of dispute between the Times and Mr. Muntz, only observing, with respect to that gentleman's proposition, that we believe a more comprehensive system of monetary reform, based upon principles tested alike by philosophy and experience, may, without difficulty, be established in this country. It is to the general bearing of the remarks of the Times on the currency question that we wish to call the attention of our readers. One observation, how ever, we wish to make with respect to the manner in which it pleases the Times to refer to Mr. Muntz's proposition. We find that paper speaking of Mr. Muntz as " preaching the superior convenience of cheating our crtditors." The alteration he proposes is called " a piece of rascality ;" the means he recommends for ameliorating the condition of the ! agricultural body are said to be dishonest." The Times and Mr. Muntz take, no doubt, a widely different view of financial matters. But we think that the Times sill find out that it makes a mistake in applyirz these coarse terms of vituperation to the Member for , Birmingham. The public and private character of Mr. Muntz is well known ; his integrity as a British merchant is unquestionable. We differ from many of his political opinions; but where in the House of Commons shall we find a man who has in a more manly, honest, uncompromising manner, inva riably expressed the sincere convictions of his own mind, or more earnestly endeavoured—whether er roniously or otherwise—to benefit the great masses of his fellow -countrymen ? The effects of what Mr. Muntz proposes as to the currency, may or may not be injurious to the country, but the imputation of advocating fraudulent or dishonest measures proves that the writer in the Times entirely misunderstands the principles on which Mr. Muntz grounds his proposition, or that the cause which renders necessary the use of such " unparliamentary" language is a weak and bad one. But to take the case as stated by the Times. Mr. Muntz it ap pears advocates " such an alteration in the rate of convertibility of our paper as should be in ratio with those prices of property, produce and labour, which should enable us to meet our liabilities." We give the instances of the Times to which this " doctrine" may, it is said, be supposed to apply. "A man whose property consists in land worth 1,000/. owes twice that sum, and of course cannot pay it. A second man, whose farm yields him a profit of 100/. a year, owes 2,0001., and of course cannot pay the interest of his debt without running still deeper into debt for his household expenses. A third man, having a wife and family, earns 10s. a week, and having pledged himself to pay half a crown a week out of it, finds himself rather pinched." Here then are, a landowner and a tenant farmer ruined—the case we fear of thousands at present— and a labouring man "rather pinched," which we may take to mean with a family half starved—as we fear will be the case with many labourers before long. Let us ask, how came these persons into this condi tion ? We need not adopt, as the Times afterwards says, " precisely the rate" of the liabilities. Betvieen 1797 and 1815 wheat ranged between sos. and 90s. a qr., on the average. Suppose the landowner, encouraged by the recorded unanimous vote of Parliament that the improvement of waste and unproductive lands is "a most essential public advantage," to have mortgaged a part of his estate to improve the condition of the whole, as Sir James Graham puts it. With the then existing price of corn the interest of his mortgage could be paid with out difficulty. An alteration takes place in the monetary system, but the landowner is told that he shall not be injured; his wheat shall be " protected" up to 80s. a qr. But severe distress pervades the country. The landowner is in formed that he must submit to a reduction of price, his wheat shall be protected up to 70s. a qr., by and bye up to 645. per qr., then up to 565. a qr. At every reduction the landowner finds the en cumbrance on his property virtually increased. As the price of the produce of his land declines he must lower his rent, but his bond requires the same amount of money to be paid. Acts of Parliament to which he trusted are repealed one after another, and at last he learns that the " good of the country" requires that he shall sell his corn at " the price of the world." Ruin now stares him in the face, but when he men tions the idea of an " equitable adjustment"—when he says, " I entered into certain pecuniary engage ments on the faith of repeated Acts of Parliament; you have altered the value of those engagement, I am paying two quarters of wheat, when I engaged and expected to pay one, adjust' my engagement to exist ing circumstances"--then he is met with the epithets of fraudulent, and dishonest, and called a coiner, a forger, a swindler. Now surely this is harsh dealing; and ob serve the same ruinous process is being applied to the tenant farmer whose fixed money payments are not, and cannot in this highly taxed country, be reduced in proportion to the fall in price of his produce ; who has invested his capital in the land and cannot with draw it, who feels ruin coming upon him daily, and sees the frugal savings of years, the portion for his children, the provision for their mother, melting away, however tenaciously he may clutch them. And the labourer's turn must, we fear, come. These three " unfortunates," as the Times calls them, with all their " struggling and striving," will only get worse. A measure of merciful adjustment is proposed. The industrious classes, particularly at this time the agri cultural classes, are being pressed down to the earth. " Have mercy," say s.the Member for Birmingham. "No," says the Times, "England has promised to pay so many pounds of gold." But we take our stand as Currency Reformers and say, "We do not ask for Mercy, we ask for Justice." We deny that England ever " promised to pay :4 4 • - ; - 1.. - 7 --, w•-• s: 11 . so many pounds of gold." At the time of t - ''En. . i -" ;- Restriction ta Restriction Act, in 1797, neither tile people 4 r En. - ill )" land, nor the Minister, nor the Parliament un Th skie; , '''ee. , : 7 N frif j t what the effects of that measure would be. nu -. . ii- - ;' , sy-,::-% : . no conception of the results of that mighty tnii:ql7mB-=.-. i...... - - which he was putting in motion. He never imagiriei e f \. . -- t I 4 r 51t„..... a debt of eight hundred millions. In December, 1803, the Parliament, in total ignorance of what they were doing, enacted that the Bank restriction should con tinue till six months after the establishment of peace, no precaution whatever being taken to secure the paper money of the nation from depreciation, as it is called. In 1811 a solemn resolution of the House of Commons declared that a one pound note and a shilling were equivalent to a golden guinea— guineas at that time selling openly for 249. In 1819 it was stated that a return to cash payments would alzer prices only to the extent of four or perhaps five Le r cent, ; and nineyears after wards Mr. Bard:es i.tated in his pkce in the House of Cornmons, that he, as a member of the Committee of 1819, was entirely misled, that every member of that Committee was misled, by wing-45es totally un ji.firined, who talhed of a I,AI of prices of 4, or 5, or 6 i , cr cent , when expericnce h,.,1 shown that prices had been affected 20, 30, or 40 per cent. This was 4talcd in the: presence of Sir Robert Peel, and he did not, because he could not, contradict it. Parliament act, d throughout in entire ignorance of what they wi re doing.. Neither the Parliament nor the people of E, land ever understood, either in 1797, or during else war, or at the peace, or in 1819, that for every paper pound which they had borrowed they were to pay a gold pound worth in corn, or iron, or cloth, or other commodities 30 or 40 per cent. more than the money's worth of what was lent to them. Aud now when the laws which were intended by the Legislature to keep up the price of corn and support the great trade of the country have been abolished " for the good of the people," are the laws which were not intended to enhance the value of money, but which have had that effect, to be retained for the good of the fundholder, the mortgagee, and the capitalist ? The great interest of the Eng lish people is a debtor interest. The large and small landholder, the farmer, the manufacturer, all the in dustrial classes, the labourer and the operative, have to pay with their produce, or with the labour of their hands, the interest of the enormous public and pri vate indebtedness which their fathers incurred. It is just that they should pay what was borrowed ; it is not just that they should pay much more than was borrowed. All the vituperative epithets hurled by the Times at Mr. Muntz might with justice be applied to that paper. It is the Times which stands forward in the character of the Jew money lender, to demand from the producti ve c l asses o f England that the sums advanced by him, the lender, in the shape of cannon balls, broadcloth, revolving pistols, paving stones, or his own paper articles on every possible side of every possible question during the last 50 years—neatly bound in folio volumes—should be paid by the un wary borrower in hard cash. It is the Times which, taking advantage of the mistake of the pound makers, insists on a heavy pound.being paid for a light pound, and seizing the " unfortunate" creditor by the throat, exclaims, "Pay me that thou owest." But there is another consideration respecting our Monetary Laws. Not only are the people of England obliged to pay more than they borrowed, but the exist ing monetary system fetters their indu'stry and cramps the, energies of the elation. :The law by which , our circulatiug medium is made to depend on a basis of gold fixed in price, produces every few years a mone tary crisis. Gold is withdrawn, the Bank contracts its issues, prices are forced down, ruin follows, and the accumulation of years of industry is sacrificed. And all this without any good object. The converti bility of the bank note into gold at a fixed price is a mere political fiction. The Bank never can so con vert its notes when there is a demand for gold. The depreciation of the currency is also a subject of groundless alarm. When Peel's Bill ceases for a time to act, and the currency expands, prices rise, and the purchasing power of the pound falls; this is called the depreciation of the pound. But who com plains ? In the general prosperity of the country the fundholder and annuitant participate, and find a compensation which amply repays them for the rise in price of the commodities which they consume. We write for no class. We believe that the interests of the rich capitalist—of the moneyocracy—are involved in this question. For let another panic come, and means will be found of reaching them. Mr. Samuel Gurney is not a revolutionist, but a sober, steady, successful money dealer, and he tells us that unless a better monetary system be adopted, " the revenue will not be maintained, nor the dividends paid." We have cheap food. We want cheap money. Gold, as well as corn, at " the price of the world." We want small notes (11.) made as safe as gold, in abundance but not in excess, and free trade in money as well as in the commodities for which money exchanges. We sincerely hope that the monied interest will see, before it is too late, the importance of consulting the general welfare. We warn them to be wise in time. Let them not, as Sir James Graham told another powerful body, pursue their class interests "at the expense or, and in oppo sition to, the entire community. Let them be on their guard." NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY FRIENDLY SOCIETY. On Friday evening, December 20+, a meeting, in furtherance of the above society, was held in the boys' National School-room, °Berton, which was nume rously attended. Amongst those present we noticed Rev. J. B. Cobham, Rev. R. Pocklington, Rev. J. Twells, Rev. J. C. M. Aynsley, W. J. Pickin, Esq., W. J. Gregory, Esq., W. Clutton, EEq., J. Doncas ter, Esq., &c. The liev. J. B. COBHAM occupied the chair on the occasion, and, in a brief speech, opened the business of the meeting ; after which, The Rev. A. 0. FITZGERALD, honorary secretary to the society, in a very able manner explained the objects of the society, showing the advantages to be derived by being members, and the supe riority sad security of this over any of the ex isting or old societies, in consequence of their being unable to support the promised benefits, arising partly from the unequal rates of pay ments ; stating that, in this proposed society, each member subscribes according to age. He also ex plained many of the rules and tables, which have been carefully drawn up—the former in conformity with the provision of the Friendly Society Act passed during the late session of Parliament—the latter, pre pared by Mr. Neilson, the eminent actuary, with espe cial reference to the average rate of sickness and mortality in this county, which comprise allowance in sickness, deferred annuities, provision at death, endowments on attaining various ages, &c. The Rev. Gentleman stated he would be glad to answer any questions any one might think proper to put. In consequence of this offer, several present proposed various questions, which gave rise to much conversa tion and discussion upon the subject. The Rev. J. TWELLS then addressed the meeting in his usual energetic manner, showing the great secu rity this society gave to its members, having the no bility, &c., of the county as supporters and managers, as also the protection of Government, in whose hands the monies are invested in the names of six gentlemen of the county, who have engaged to be trustees ; and endeavoured also to inculcate in the minds of those present, especially the labouring classes, the duty of being provident whilst in health to ensure that as sistance required when in sickness. He rejoiced in the improvement that society was making, and con sidered the objects of the proposed club as one fea ture to bring about that improvement—but that reli gious education was the only thing to produce that reformation which he desired to see. W. 1). PICYIIs , Esq , then read a resolution to the following effect :—" That an adjourned meeting be held in the same room on the first Monday in Ja nuary, for the purpose of receiving the names and subscriptions of those persons willing to become mem bers, and to form a branch society for 011erton and neighbouring villages ;" and in doing so made a few remarks expressing the high opinion he entertained of the principles of the proposed society, end that nothing less than a great anxiety to benefit the poor man urged him to take any part in the movement, which should have his support and sanction. W. CLUTTON, Esq., seconded the resolution, and expressed his satisfaction at seeing so many assembled on the occasion, and also his willingness to assist in any way that lay in hie power to advance the in terests of the working classes. The resolution was put and carried. The Rev. J. TWELLS proposed, and W. J. GRE GORY, Esq., seconded, a vote of thanks to the Rev. A. 0. Fitzgerald for his kindness in attending the meeting, and explaining the matter in so clear and lucid a manner. After a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the bene diction was pronounced, and the meeting seParat''d highly pleased. .Many prospectuses and co pi es of the rules were given away. —Derbyshire Courier. - - - ----„ THE M INISTERS AND TH r E oprsrx QUESTION.- We understand that there is still a considerable diversity of opinion in the Cabinet, relative to the course which ought to be adopted with regard to the aggressions of the Pope. The Premier, Lord Palmerston, and the Marquis of Lansdowne, are said to be in favour of resorting to energetic measures, so as to prevent the possibility of any similar presumptio n , o n the part of the Pope, on afuture occasion ; while the Earl of Clarendon, Earl Grey, Sir Charles Wood, and Sir George Grey are said to be in favour of non-interference. It is r ight, however, to add, that the differences existing in the Cabinet on the question are understood to be partly patched up for the present. A tacit understanding has been come to, that no member of the Ministry will take any step which could endanger this existence of the Cabinet until after the meeting of Parliament. The rumour, therefore, is ground less, which has had some currency and credit in the clubs, to the effect that a break up of the Ministry was on the eve of occurring.— Advertiser. The latest accounts from Killarney are that Mr. Daniel O'Connell is progressing favourably, under the lc of his two lingers and thumb.