The Sun. — London, England, 1853-04-18 00:00:00

Vlittlii •::'.'7Ztition SUN OFFICE, Seven o'Clock. TATTERSALL'S (THIS EVENING. TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS STASES. 7to 4 agst W. Australian. 7to 2 agst Oronoco. 8 to 1 agst Barbatus. 10 to 1 agst Sittingbourne. CHESTER CIIP. 25 to 1 agst Richmond. 25 to 1 agst Peggy. 20 to 1 agst St. Michael. 50 to 1 agst Sutler. DERBY. 7to 1 agst W. Australian. Bto 1 agst Honeywood. 10 to 1 agst Orestes. 20 to 1 agst Sittingbourne. 20 to 1 agst Umbriel. 20 to 1 agst Orinoco (taken). 20 to 1 agst Cineas. 20 to 1 agst Ninnyhammer. 30 to 1 agst Reiver. 30 to 1 agst Brocket. COVENTRY RACES. (THIS DAY.) (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.) HANDICAP. FLAT RACE Sleeping Partner Jack Leeming . FREE HANDICAP STEEPLECHASE. Gulnare .... Thurgart3n. SELLING STAKES. Fawn Eccentricity 1 1 2 Broome won the fight for championship in 2 hours and 15 minutes. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT, HOUSE OF LORDS-(THIS EVENING.) The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack shortly after five o'clock. Several petitions were presented by noble lords against the Maynooth grant. MAYNOOTH GRANT. The Earl of WINCHESTER rose, in pursuance of notice, to move for a committee to inquire into the sys tem of education pursued at the College of Maynooth. The establishment by a Papal bull of ecclesiastical titles in this country was only a new instance of the graspi ng disposition of the Church of Rome, and it behoved th e people and Government of this country to be on the alert that no harm should accrue to our religious institutions. The canon law was opposed to the civil law of nearly every country, and that was the law which the Church of Rome was endeavouring to introduce into this country. To permit the introduction of such a law would be a virtual surrender of the government of this country into the hands of the Pope, and the Go vernment would fail in their duty to the people and the so vereign of this realm by countenancing such a proceeding. It was the imperative duty of the Government to ascer tain that the system of education pursued in a college supported at the public expense should not be opposed to our Protestant institutions. [LEFT SPEAKING.] HOUSE OF COMMONS -(THIS EVENING.) The SPEAKER took the chair a few minutes before four o'clock, at which time there was a very large attendance of members. NEW MEMBER. Mr. GREENE took the oaths and his seat for Lan caster. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The following bills were read a third time and passed : Beßgnor Railway Runcorn and Weston Canal Bill ignmouth Harbour and Teign Navigation ; Midland Railway (Amendment of Acts, &c.); Scottish Central Railway. The following bills were read a second time :—Ban bridge, Dublin, Newry, and Belfast Junction Railway; Portsmouth Railway; Ambergate, Nottingham, and Bos 'ton and Eastern Junction Railway (No. 1); Am bergate, Nottingham, and Boston and Eastern Junc tion Railway (Sale, &c.) (No. 2) ; Ayrshire and Galloway (Smithstown and Dalmellington) Railway ; Crieff Junction Railway • Great Western Railway (Hen ley) ; Great Western Railway (power to run over Shrews bury and Birmingham, &c., Railways) ; Great Western, Shrewsbury and Birmingham, and Shrewsbury and Ches ter Railway Companies' Amalgamation ; Great Western, Shrewsbury and Birmingham, and Shrewsbury and Chester Railway Companies (traffic arrangement ); Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester Rail way; llerefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal and London and North-Western Railway ; Limerick and Foynes Railway ; London and Finsbury Improve re.ents and Railways, &c. ; South Eastern -Railway (Can terbury and Whitstable, &e.) ; South Staffordshire Rail way ; West Corn wall Rail way ; Worcester and Hereford Junction Railway ; York, Newcastle, and Berwick, York and North Midland and Leads Northern Railway Com panies (Amalgamation, &c.) EASTERN UNION RAILWAY. On the motion that this bill be read a second time, Lord A. PAGET moved that it be, read a second time that day six months, on the ground that the bill involved an arrangement in regard to running powers which would endanger the safety of the public. Mr. ADAIR thought that the bill should be sent to a select committee. Mr. CAYLEY supported the bill, and complained of the arbitrary conduct of the Eastern Counties Company to wards this railway. _ Mr. CARDWE'LL said it was the ordinary practice of the house, when there was a diff erence o f op i n i on upon a private bill of this kind, to send it to a committee, in order that the fullest inquiry should take place. Mr. WADDINGTON defended the conduct of the Eastern Counties Company. After a few observations from Mr. COBBOLD and Mr. G. BALL, The amendment was withdrawn, and the bill was read a second time. TAUNTON ELECTION. Sir G. GREY reported that this committee had deter mined that Mr. Arthur Mills was not duly elected for Taunton ; also that bribery prevailed at the last election, but it was not proved with the knowledge or consent of Mr. Mills. NEW ROSS ELECTION. Mr. HEADLAM reported that this committee had come to the resolution that Mr. Charles Gavan Duffy was duly elected for New Ross. VOTE BY BALLOT. Mr. HENRY BERKELEY gave notice that, on the 11th of May, he would ask for leave to bring in his usual bill for taking the vote of electors by ballot. RE FORM OF THE LONDON CORPORATION. Sir DE LACY EVANS asked the noble lord the mem ber for the city of London, whether, in the commission of inquiry regarding the state of the Corporation of London, there would be any objection to direct an investigation into the working of the city police acting under the corpo ration, with a view (withlut derogating from the present excellent administration of that force) to a consideration of the advantages of consolidating the whole of the metro politan police under one management ; also, whether that commission is to be appointed by act of Parliament so as to enable it to pursue, with adequate power, its inquiries ; and whether there be any objection to add to its duties a like inquiry into the corporation of the adjoining City of Westminster. Lord J. RUSSELL said there would be no objection to the commission of inquiry into the working of the city po lice. With regard to the second question, he had to state that the corporation of the city of London had expressed their willingness to give every assistance to an inquiry by com mission, and there would, therefore, be no necessity for a bill on the subject. As to the last question, he did not think it was desirable to extend the inquiry to Westmin ster. Lord D. STUART asked the noble lord the member for the City of London, -whether a protest ha s been received by the Government of this country from the Prince of Schleswig Holstein, against the treaty of the Bth day of May, 1852, regulating the succession to the Crown of Den mark ; and, if so, whether there will be any obj ec ti on t o lay that document on the table of the house. Lord J. RUSSELL said that a protesthad been received but he could not say whether it could be laid on the table of the house. On the motion of Sir B. Hall, the evidence taken before the Tynemouth election committee was ordered to be printed. _ Mr. M. MILES asked the Secretary of the Admiralty whether, in consequence of any instructions issued to Sir Everard Home, of her Majesty's ship Calliope, with a view to ascertain the fate of Mr. Benjamin Boyd, that officer has transmitted any report on the subject to the Admiralty, in connexion with his recent cruise amongst the South Sea Islands, from which he is understood to have returned to Sydney on the 19th Dec. last; also, whether any report has been received from the officer in command of the China station on the same subject ? Mr. B. OSBORNE said that no report had y e t b een re ceived on the subject. Mr. A. WYSE asked. Lord John Ruaell whether it was the intention of h r M a j es t y ' s Government tointroduce, either in this or the next session of Parliament,any measure to abolish or rev i se the laws relating to the settlement and removal of th e poor, or to alter pre s ent mode of raising the ratea for the relief the of the poor, by distribu; ng the c h arge over a wideer i and less; variable basis, or otherwise. Secondly, if her Majesty's Government are not prepared to pr opcse early legislation on these subjects, whether Lord John Russell will assent to the appointment of a committee to inquire into the practical operation of the laws for the relief of the poor in England and Wales, and to consider the policy and general effect of all the laws relating to set tlement, removal, and parochial assessment? Lord J. RUSSELL said the Government were of opi nion that there would not be sufficient time to discuss a measure on this subject this session, but a measure would be introduced next session. Mr. PETO asked the member for the city of London if it was the intention of the Government to proceed with the second readi n g of t he education bill, pending the in quiry now proceeding in a committee specially appointed by the house to inquire into the subject, on the introduc tion of the Manches•san.dd Lord J. RUSSELL it w o as rd no E t d his uca i t n io te n nt i o n n ? to pro. cod with the bill until said Whiteuntide; when he Lope the report of the committee on the Manchester and Salford Education Bill would be laid on the table. In answer to Mr. DIVETT, Mr. WILSON said that the officers of the Mint were using every endeavour to meet the demand for small silver, but the demand for gold coin being so great, it wa impos sible for them to issue more coin. The amount of money turned out weekly was 600,0001., a much greater amount than had ever been issued before. NEW ZEALAND COMPANY. In answer to Mr. H. BAILLIE, Sir W. MOLESWORTH said that as the papers which had been laid before the house relative to the charges which had been made against the New Zealand Company fully bore out those charges, he saw no reason for asking for a further inquiry this session. THE BUDGET. On the motion for going into Committee of Ways and Means, Petitions were presented by Lord Hotham, Mr. Bright, Mr. Peto, Lord Dudley Stuart, for different medical socie ties; by Lord Stanley and other honourable gentlemen, praying for an alteration of the income tax so far as it bears upon precarious incomes ; by Mr. Kershaw, from Stockport, against the taxes on knowledge; by Mr. Ewart, praying for the repeal of the duties on butter and cheese ; by Colonol Harcourt, from the Isle of Wight, against the duty on malt and hops ; by Mr. Gaskell, Mr. Hume, Mr. Cobbet, and Mr. Milues, for a re peal of the certificate tax. Twe house then went ink committee, Mr. BOUVERIE in the chair. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then rose and said that, although on ordinary occasions the annual exposition of the financial prospects of the country afforded abundant material of interest to this house and the country, and anxiety to the person charged with preparing that statement, on the present occasion perhaps that interest on the one hand, and certainly the anxiety on the other, was greatly increased by many circumstances, including the great number of motions which had recently been made, indicating the increased eagerness of the people respecting financial questions. The political events and shocks which had enfeebled and overthrown Administritions had made it necessary to adjourn from year to year financial ques tions of taxation. The first portion of his duty would be to lay before the committee the account of the country, and he thought he should best discharge that duty by taking up that account at the point where it had been left last year by the right honourable gentleman opposite who then presided over the financial department. On the 30th of April, 1852, the right hon. gentleman es timated the revenue at 51,625,0C9/., and in the month of December following he stated it at 52,325,0C31., exhibiting an increase upon his estimate to the amount of 700,0001. The time which had since elapsed afforded evidence of a similar gratifying character, for the revenue which the right hon. gentleman had then judiciously stated at 52,325,0001., amounted, now that we had reached the termination of the year, to no less than 53,890,0001. (cheers) -- showing an increase of no less than 1,464,0001. The expenditure of the past year was estimated by the right hon. gentleman on the 30th of April at 51,163,0001., but the actual expenditure had been 50,782,0001., and consequently there remained a sur plus of revenue over expenditure of no less than 2,460,0601. But having reached that smooth and steady progress, it now became his duty to make some deductions from that sanguine estimate, which he must confess, coming from the quarter it did, excited his surprise. The increased in come was anticpated to be 2,460,0001., it was supposed that they would have that sum available for the remission of taxation. Before they arrived at that there was ono cir cumstance rather material to examine. What was the es timated amount of the expenditure for the year just commenced. When he looked at the sketch that had been drawn of it at the period to which he referred, he found it was as follows :—The expenditure for the year 1852-3 was estimated at 50,782,0001. ; but the expenditure for 1853-4, the great bulk of which had already been voted, and in the remainder of which he could anticipate no reduction, was 52,183,0001. Therefore, without going into further particulars, which he was sorry to say would occasion still further deductions from the surplus, it appeared that no less than 1,400,0001., or nearly three-fifths of the surplus was already disposed of by the charges to which the country was liable under acts of Parliament, and for the discharge of miscellaneous services which he appre hended the house would not be disposed to diminish. His right hon. predecessor had in December last estimated the total surplus of the present year at 1,60,0001., and that the only decrease in that would be a sum of 100,0001., which he proposen to apply to the light dues and to the shipping interest, and a sum of 600,0001., which he thought would suffice for the increase which he anticipated in the great resources of the country. His successors in office had not been so fortunate, nor had the house thought it right to confine the votes within that limit. He should now state how that surplus of 1,600,0001. had been swallowed up. The increase in the navy estimates amounted to no less a sum than 617,0901., and the increase in the army and commissariat to 90,0001., and they trusted that hostilities at the Cape had now reached that stage that they might consider the extraordinary war at an end, and when further provision was to be made, it should be classed under the head of ordinary expenditure. Although he phould be obliged to submit an extraordinary vote of 200,0001., that vote would be retrospective, and there would be also a vote of 70,0001. for the commissariat, but that also might be taken as analogous to their ordinary expenditure. the increase upon the vote for ordnance as compared with last year was no less than 616,0001. The militia estimates had not yet been brought into a shape in which they could be Lid upon the table, but he was sorry to say there was a large increase upon the amount at which they 'were taken last year. The estimates for the present year, on account of militia, could not be expected to be much lass than 530,0001. This time last year it was expected the estimates would be something like 300,000/. In all other respects the scheme for raising the militia had realised all the anticipations that had formed of it, but the increase of its expense as compared with the reckoning- of the late Government would bo about 230,0001. The last item in this augmentation of expense would be a sum of 100,0001., which would be added to the votes for the present year for the purposes of public education, and of the committee would be at the pain to add together the first items he had last mentioned, they would find that although the right hon. gentleman who preceeded him in office anticipated a surplus of 1,600,0001. on the financial year 1853-54, the augmentation of changes which had already been voted first, or were yet come would amount to no less a sum than 1,651,0001. As he had, however, already stated to the committee, there had been some further improvement in the revenue of the country, and he could now state that there were some few items of expenditure which the Government had been and were likely to be able to reduce. With respect to the amount of charge for packet contract service, as the item at pesent stood, it was most unsatis factory, but it was greatly clisproportioned to the amount of benefit which the 'public obtained from it; but it was hoped that in the present year there would be a saving effected of something like 75,0001 (Hear, hear.) There would also he a saving upon the charge for Exchequer-bills, owing to the diminution in the rate of interest, amounting to about 65 0001. while there would be an occasional item of saving amounting to 135,000 arising out of the Crown land revenues which would fall due under the provisions of an existing act and which would into the category of Ways and Means. There would also be another saving under the same head, derivable from the Metropolitan Improvements amounting to 27,0001. (Hear.) These sums would give funds to about 301,0001. He would now state to the house the items of the consolidated revenue and expenditure of the country for the ensuing year. They were as follows : Charge on the funded debt .. „ unfunded debt £ 2 7,500,000 304,000 Making a total of The charges on the consolidated fund would be £2,503,000 Army estimates Navy 6,235,000 Ordnance 3,053,000 Miscellaneous 4,476,000 Commissariat 557,000 Militia 530,000 Kaffir war 200,000 Packet service Making a total estimated expen diduture of the country 0f... 52,183,000 The anticpated revenue was-- Customs Excise Stamps Taxes Income-tax Post-office .. Crown lands • ~ Miscellaneous sources of receipts ...... Old stores ... ... £20,680,000 14,640,000 6,700,000 3,250,000 5,550,000 900,000 390,000 320,000 460,000 He ventured to anticipate a saving of 100,0001. on the proposed exchange and redemption of stock. Adding up their estimates I would be seen that the total revenue amounted to a sum of 52 , 200,0001 . , against which an ex penditure of 52,183 0001. had to be set off, this would Being show a surplus of 817 , 0001. anxious, however, not t) raise undue expectations, he must inform the Committee that of this sum 200,000/. did not proceed_from permanent or with regard to the packet service and the harbour of tho Channel Islands, it was possibla that this surplus might fall short of the estimated amount by about 100,0001. It would be safe, therefore, to consider the surplus as 700 , 0 001. This was the state of the revenue of the country, calculated as nearly as possible up to the present time. The committee would bear in mind that they had included in the revenue a fund which had now existed since the year 1842 derived from the tax levied upon income. But that tax had now legally expired, and it would be for the com mittee to consider the circumstances of its re - imposition. Before entering upon that subject, or detailing the views of the Government, there were two questions to which he would refer. The first was with regard to the claims of the shipping interest. It was the intention of the Government to propose a plan which they considered would be of considerable benefit to that interest without inflicting any charge upon the Government. With regard to the West India interest, he regretted to say that there appeared to be little chance, in the view of the Government, of there being anything to be done by the Government in their be , half, consistent with their more extended ditties to the pub lic at large. With regard to the reduction of the duties upon sugar, in proportion to the fall in the duties upon foreign sugar, so as to maintain the differential rates, it was entirely impossible for the Government to hold out the smallest hope of their being able to recommend any mea• sure on that point. With regard to the question of refining sugar in bond, the Secretary of the Treasury would take a future occasion of entering more at length upon that question ; but the Government had not as yet discovered any method of granting that privilege which would be satisfactory to the West Indian interest, the refining trade not involving any heavy loss to the revenue. Neither could anything be done with respect to the duties upon spirits. The only way in which there seemed any likeli hood of doing anything to benefit these colonies was by en abling them to economise the expenses of their government. (LEFT SPEAKING.) CONCENTRATED AND DILUTED POISONS FROM DEAD BODIES. Death is rife, disease always prevalent, in the vicinity of intramural burial places. Men accustomed to the work of grave-digging have, been suddenly struck down by concentrated emanations from the dead. By a just retribution, the agents in the iniquity furnish, if not the greatest• number of examples, yet, according to my ex perience, the most remarkable victims. We have nu merous instances of grave-diggers, sextons, &c., be ing destroyed as it were by lightning. The poison which produces, when concentrated, such terrible consequences, must necessarily give rise to various degrees of disorder or actual disease when admini stered in a more diluted form. This I have abundantly demonstrated. The effects vary according to the degree of dilution on the one hand, and on the condition of health, or in other words, the resistance offered by the individual to its reception. It is in this simple, yet all pervading truth, that we must seek the solution of a difficulty that has long puzzled the reflecting. We know as little what constitutes that mysterious power—the re sistance to proved sources of disease in individual or ganisations, as we do of the animating or vital principle. If, however, we are yet profoundly ignorant of what causes the heart to beat, the stomach to digest, the brain to think, the nerves to feel, and our active limbs to move, facts have taught us that any cause which weakens the power of resistance, facilitates the action of miasmatic agencies, and that these agencies are most rife'and most destructive in the neighbourhood of the receptacles of the dead. It is true the effects are often insidious, or mixed up with those arising from other, but infinitely less easily preventible cause of disease and hence a few interested parties were enabled to assert the wholesomeness of graveyards, until the body of evi dence which I accumulated became overwhelming, and reduced them to silence. Amongst the slighter effects which have been proved to arise from residence in the vicinity of over-crowded burial places, I would enumerate eruptive diseases, headache, giddiness, disorders of the stomach, and bowel complaints of various kinds. The digestive or gans are'very soon deranged Under the influence of the impure air respired, and a long catalogue of secondary mischiefs is the result. These. maladies are too often at tributed to other causes, but long experience and close observation force me emphatically to re-assert that the chief, the primary, the most easily removable cause of mischief is the proximity to human habi tations of public and private burial places. This is shown to be the case, by the fact that removal from the poisonous localities is soon followed by restora tion to health, and that no amount of medical skill can benefit the patient so long as he breathes the products of his deceased neighbour, who is often buried under his back parlour windows, or, as has happened, beneath his own kitchen floor. Can we doubt, then, that instances of sudden death, malignant fevers of various kinds, assuming forms not to be found elsewhere—typhus fever, that scourge of crowded cities, cholera, consumption, and many other fatal disorders, likewise prevail more frequently and with increased intensity wherever crowded graveyards abound? —On the Past and Present State of Intramural Burial places, by G. A. Walker, Surgeon. RACING FIXTURES FOR 1853. The figures within parenthesis denote the number of Malton (2) THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 18, 1853. CHURCH GOVERNMENT 1N NEW ZEALAND. The Lyttelton Time* (which arrives Very irregularly, and with great gaps in the dates) of Mateh 20, hist yeat, contains it Vei'y iinpoilant And Intdtesting mdetiti a ce At Christ Church, on the subject Of Chtirdi golieifithdtitits New Zealand. The most important feature in the meet ing was a speech from Mr. J. R. Godley, who, in pro posing the first resolution, spoke as follows : " The resolution which I have to propose is one which may be said to express a truism, The Church in New Zealand, as p el i s ,a c e w ti h e e a r i c e)ll i d s As o oc a i e e c t o y m h p a ii ti si li! l lt t s ib e fi s li setia t rPri i'i n li cip a l h e d , the very condition of its existence, its work. To my mind, the notion of an inactive or passive Church seems almost au absurdity, Indeed, what I say of a Church, applies more or less to every associated body. When men form or join a society, ecclesias tical or secular, this idea is almost necessarily involved of their doing something in combination which as individuals they could not or would not do ; otherwise, why should they combine ? But a society in order to work must have an or ganisation and a government ; it must have forms, laws, qua lifications, executive instruments ; it must have a head and hands. Accordingly, every association of men, for any pur pose whatever, begins by constitutigg its government ; on however small or humble may be its scale and its object, whe ther it be a penny club, or a building society, or a political union, or a religious sect, as a matter of course it appoints its managing committee, or its president, or its synod, or what everelse it may please to call its legislative and executive organ. Through the medium of this organ it acts and speaks, and does its business; without this organ it would be an unmeaning and objectless list of names. Therefore I call it a truism to say that it is exceedingly desirable for the Church of England in New Zealand to have a form of government. The wonder is, indeed, that at this stage of our ecclesiastical existence we should have to enunciate so self-evident a proposition. Yet so it is; this truism is not merely ignored ; it is actually disputed. While, so far as I can recollect, there is not in the world another in stance of a society without a government, to many English men it appears right and proper that such should be the normal state of their Church. If you go to the shareholder in a joint-stock bank, or of a railway company, or to a Wes leyan or Presbyterian, and ask him how the society he belongs to is governed, that is to say, who makes and who executes its laws, not one of them would be for a moment at a loss for a n answer ; he could inform you with respect to its organisa tion as easily as he could with respect to its character and object. But if you go to a member of the Church of England and ask him the same simple question, what answer can he give 7 Is there any one here present who can tell me how the laws of the English Church are made, who speaks our collective voice, who does what we have as a corporation to do—in a word, who manages our affairs ? One may refer me to certain laws made in the year 1603 for the government of the Church, and may reply to me by describing the judicial machinery provided for the execution of them ; another may tell me that Parliament governs the Church ; another that the Queen ; another that the Bishops govern it. And in each of these answers there would be a certain amount of apparent truth. The canons are nominally the statute-book of the English Church ; Parliament does occasionally legislate in matters ecclesiastical ; the Queen is, in theory her executive head ; the bishops. exercise after a fashion certain govern mental functions in their respective dioceses. But still the question, ' Who governs us?' taken in its ordinary common-sense :meaning remains unanswerable. The canons are necessarily and" properly, for the most part obso lete and unexecuted, as indeed it is absurd to suppose that any human authority could devise complicated rules of action for a society which would answer its purposes and sup ply its needs for two hundred and fifty years without addi tion and alteration. Parliamentary legislation in Church mat ters is a usurpation founded simply upon might ; the Queen's authority is as purely nominal in ecclesiastical as in civil affairs, the bishops have no recognised collective authority at all ; and in their respective dioceses exercise the simply minis terial office of carrying out the existing laws. No real govern mental power resides in any of these functionaries, because a right to make laws is an essential attribute of n real govern ment; and no existing authority has a right to make laws for the English Church. In considering this state of things, I confess it seems to me to resist the conclusion that even the endurance of it implies, in a degree, paralysis; contentment under it would imply the absence of life. A society that can not make a law for the regulation of its own affairs, or express a corporate opinion, or do a corporate act, that is unable, in short, to perform any of the functions of life, can only by a great stretch of language be said to be a living body. What ever may be the numbers and energy of its individual mem bers, as a society, I say it is virtually dead. However, such being the state of the Church of England, she has sent out numerous bodies of offspring to all parts of the world ; I beg your pardon ; she cannot send, because, as I have explained sa to id yo n u, umaesraouCshbuordchiesshoef h ca e n r n o o ff t s d p o rin a g ny h th av in e g g : o l ne sho o ul ut d f h r a o v m e her, bearing with them the principles and traditions of their spiritual mother, and they have to adapt these as best they can, to a new set of political and social circum stances. Amongst other things they have to see how they can get on without government in a state of things which cast tenotln h y requireserown re corporate action. ac a t l i t o o n g . eth T e h r e ; Colonial Church C g h e u n rc era h ll i y s speaking, neither influence nor funds, nor, consideration be queathed to her or provided for her ready made ; she must obtain them, as she can, by personal efforts, if I may use the term. But personal efforts require, of course, a personal agency; in order to collect funds, to build churches, to get and keep congregations, to exercise order and discipline among them, and to convert the heathen, a machinery is wanted ; the old machinery, such as it is, is inapplicable or inadequate, and there is no one with authority to create new. The consequence is, that the Anglican communion almost in variably falls, at the commencement of a colony, below the level of other denominations. Ido not recollect a single in stance when, under such circumstances, she can be said to have held her own. Other sects come out accustomed to self organisation and self-government; each branch is complete in itself, prepared at all points ready for its work. Anglicans alone, when removed from the sphere of their old associa tions, stand bewildered and apathetic, and unable to move or act ; looking for help from Government or fiom the mother country; from every quarter, in fact, but from themselves. Though generally richer than other denominations, they can not or will not support their own ministers ; at least I know that in those colonies with which alone I am personally acquainted it is so. In -British America, the English people through the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Additional Bishoprics' Society, And in New Zealand, the people of England through the Church Missionary Society and Parliamentary grants, Almost exclusively support the clerical establishments of communities ;which are perfectly well able to do it for themselves, and would be perfectly willing, too, if they were cot enervated by long disuse of the habit of acting for them selves in ecclesiastical affairs. At the same time it would be mly fair to say that the Chur,th of England in the colonies is 2ar from being on a level with other sects as regards freedom of action. Deprived as she is of the advantages resulting or supposed to result) from State connection, it is believed (for such is the absurdity of the system that no one seems to know exactly what its principles or practices are), but it is believed that she still remains fettered by the liabilities which were the incidents of her establishment in the mother country. I will illustrate what I mean by an example which occurred not long ago in this colony. A member of the Anglican Church wished to marry a Jewess; the clergyman refused to perform the marriage, and persisted iu his refusal; but the Bishop told me he had been informed by the judge, that if the parties applied for a mandamus to compel the clergyman to marry them, he (the judge) would have felt it his duty to grant it. I am not going to enlarge on the intolerable tyranny involved in the existence of such a state of things ; I allude to it at present as showing the necessity not only for a complete review of our ecclesiastical affairs, and for the estab lishment of new and radically different principles of Church organisation, but also, perhaps, for parliamentary assistance in breaking our bonds. I have, now, sir, attempted to show why in the words of the resolution which I am about to propose it appears desirable thata form of government for the Church of England in New Zealand should bo established as soon as possible. I have attempted to explain that, without it, she can not properly fulfil her most ordinary and necessary functions, and that to the want of it is mainly to be attributed the apathy and helplessness which are such melancholy character istics of our Colonial Churches. I will next endeavour to corroborate the view I have taken by quoting the example set to us with respect to this matter by a sister church, which found itself not very long ago in circumstances analogous to our own. I mean the Protestant Episcopal Church of America. It is often said by enemies of the English Reformed Church that she is the creature of the State, dependent on her estab lishment and her endowments for existence, and incapable of standing like other ecclesiastical bodies, humanly speaking, by her own strength, and working with her own means ; and I confess, if I were to look at the present state of our Colonial Churches alone, I should find it difficult to rebut the sneer. But I can show another side so the picture. When the United States declared their independence, it may be said (humanly speaking again) that the Church fell with the monarchy; epis copacy, especially in communion with the Church of England, was, for obvious reasons, not only unfashionable, but almost in famous; the endowments of the church, which had been large in some of th e eS i ta gi t u e t s e , d get w t e e ret b l e k r it e w na b bwtaye;mheesrt earnest ts members ebderes stroyed ; even her communion plate was sold ; num b ers o f her clergy fi m of their flocks. In short, it is impossible to conceive a more complete and overwhelming prostration than the American Episcopal Church then suffered ; one would have said that within the lifetime of a generation, her existence in the United States, like that of the British constitution on which she is said to depend, would be a matter of history. Now let us look at the sequel. For some little time the depression consequent on the resolution continued, but tho American Churchmen who were left were not dismayed ; they had sense to see that new measures were required to meet the emergency, and faith to believe that they would be sufficient to meet it. Now, it is instructive for us to remark that the first step they took, when forced to shift for themselves, was the formation of a governing body. The first general convention of the Ameri can Church met in 1785, only three years after the peace ; the first American Bishop was consecrated in 1787. The andlay was con stituted,yChurch was organised with a rapidity and completeness emi nently characteristic of the administrative talents of the peo ple, the civil constitution of the Republic serving naturally toa w great ea n t s e is n t t in a g a representatives from each diocese , and possessing full legisla tive powers for the whole Church. Diocesan conventions exercised similar powers within their respective jurisdictions. Vestries administered parishes. By degrees the outli ne th us sketched was filled up ; canons of discipline were passed ; the oafmaloldel. the Bishops, Ageuemi andconvention of clerical liturgy was revised ; provision was made for education, for foreign missions, for domestic extension. Scattered and helpless individuals became an animated, active, working body, far inferior, indeed, to most of the other denominations in outward circumstances, but at least able for the first time Before I desc r ib e th e r esult of these measures, I must remind to do justice t o it se lf and make free use of its own resources. you that the Episcopal Church had another disadvanta ge t o contend with. It is notorious that of the emigrants to America, a comparatively small proportion are even nomi nally members of the English Church. The causes of this are too obvious to require enumeration, and the fact is un doubted. The American Episcopal Church, therefore, was famed to rely largely upon proselytism , if it hoped to h o ld its own in numb ers an d influence. But to return to the his torieal facts. I cannot find out what the number of Episco palia n clergym en was a fter the revolution. I can only ascertain such isolated f ac t s as that the State of New York, which, in 1844, bad 304 clergymen, had only five in 1787. lam cone pelled, therefore, to begin my general comparison at a later date. In 1814, I find that the Episcopal Church num bered 240 clergymen officiating in organised parishes ; in 1844, the last year for which I have been able to procure the sta- Vstics, it had 1,202. Assuming that its congregations multi plied in equal proportions, and there seems no reason for doubting it, we have here the fact that in thirty years the number of American Churchmen increased fivefold , or about twice as fast as the whole population of the Union. So that even if we allow_ them proportioned d for argument that immigration s u pp lied to an extent proportioned to the ir ori ginal numbers, they must have more than doubled themse l ve s so at least seems to be shown by the fact, that in 1839 mo re than one-half of their clergy, and nearly one-half of their 1) conversions alone in thirty years. And that they hav e done Bi shops, had been Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists or Baptists. I need not say that the proportion of converts is likely to have been larger among the congregations than itfllol , those who rose to office and dignity in the Church. Again, the' ' American ^ Church gets plenty of ' money. Her days' racing. APRIL. 21 I Newmarket F. S. (5).. M. Chester (4) 3 Newmarket Sec Sp (3) 10 Liverpool Hunt (2) 11 Shrewsbury (2) 11 Edinburgh (2) l2 Redditch (2) 15 Bath (2) 17 Manchester (3) 18 Epsom (4) 24 Newton (3) 2 Ascot (4) Hampton (2) 15 Beverley, Hull, &c. (2) 15 Bibury (1) 22 Stockbridge (1) 23 Winchester (1) 24 Newcastle (3) 28 Newmarket (3) Worcester (2) Carlisle (3) Liverpool (3) LY. Stamford (2) Nottingham (2) Goodwood (4) ..26 AUGUST. Brighton (2) 3 York (3) Brighton Club (1) 5 Radcliffe (3) Wolverhampton (3) 8 Egham (2).. North Staffordshire (2) 9 Derby (2).... Yarmouth (2) 9 Eccles (3).... Reading (2) lO Lichfield (2). NOVEMBER. Worcester (2) 1 Warwick Autumn (2)...16 Epsom Autumn (2) 3 Shrewsbury (2) 23 Oowbridge Hunt (2) 9 Aberystwith (3)..Last week Liverpool Autumn (2) 9 SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. CUSTOM-ROUSE-APRIL 16. ENTERED INWARDS.—The City of Rotterdam, from Dunkirk ; Panther, Ostend ; Don Callino, Guernsey ; Baldur, Stathelle ; 'Friesland, Woreum ; Seine, Boulogne ; Commissary, Callao; Adonis, Bremen ; Soho, Havre ; Eleanor, Hamburgh. ENTERED OUTWARDS ron LOADING.—The City of Rot terdam, for Dunkirk ; Panther, Ostend ; Neptune, Port Adelaide ; Rhine, Rotterdam • Arban, Stetti n ; Vi c t or i a , Altona ; British Merchant, dalcutta ; City of Boulogne, Boulogne ; Symmetry, Swinemunde ; Helena, Bremen ; Orestes, Trieste ; Wundringmanden, Christiania, &c. ; Water Lily, Valparaiso ; Elizabeth, Rouen ; Adonis, Bordeaux ; Jonge Pieter, Rostock. CLEARED OUTWARDS WITH CARGO.—The Active, for Leer ; Penelope, Schien ; Economy, Antwerp ; Eliza, De merara ; Sarah, Antwerp ; Chowringhee, Melbourne, &c. ; Diana, Trinidad ; Batavier, Rotterdam ; Earl of Auckland, ditto ; City of Rotterdam, Dunkirk ; Albion, Boulogne ; Antwerpen, Antwerp; Diana, Amsterdam; Jane, Dantzic ; Eugene, Rouen; Elizabeth, ditto; London, New York. VESSELS SPOKEN WITH. The Maginn, of Plymouth, from Boston, March 22, lat. 31, long. 66. ... . - The - Alice, Jamaica to London, March 18, off Cape Hatteras. The General Washington, Liverpool to Boston, March 22, lat. 49, long. 40. The Carib, Liverpool to Shanghai, Jan. 29, in Bombay Straits. The Don Ricardo, Liverpool to Amoy, Feb. 5, off the Pelle w Islands. EXPERIMENTAL SUICIDE.—A most extraordinary act of accidental suicide—if the verdict of a jury empan nelled by Mr. Bedford, the coroner for Westminster, on Saturday last, can be relied on—was perpetrated on Fri day, at Messrs. Coutts's banking-house, in the Strand. It appears that a father and son, named Jones, in the employ of Mr. Rigby, a builder, of Belvedere-road, were engaged in plastering and whitewashing one of the rooms at the bank on Friday last. The father left the room for a short period in the middle of the day, and, on his return, was horror-struck at discovering his son a corpse, suspended by the neck from a line attached to a pane of glass used for ventilating purposes in the window. The line merely passed under the chin and at the back of the ears, without encircling the neck, and as the feet were upon the ground and the kness within two inches of it, it appears very remarkable that the deceased, if inclined only to try the effect of experimental hanging, failed in saving himself. The fact, however, is certain that animation was suspended, and, although the body was warm when removed to Charing-cross Hospital, all attempts at re suscitation proved fruitless. The jury returned a ver dict of "Accidental death." An improper attempt to stifle the inquiry, by the offer of bribes to the reporters present, was made by certain persons, with what view it is not very easy to divine. EXTRAORDINARY ARRIVALS OF GAME FROM NORWAY. —Owing to the long and severe winter, there has just been received at Leadenhall Market an immense con signment of ptarmigan (or white grouse), capercalzies (or cocks of the wood), and black game— about 25,000 head ; being a novel and unusual supply at this season of the year. - [ADVERTISEMMTP.]—The Royal Exhibition Small Glass for the waistcoat pocket, at S. and B. Solomons', opticians, 39, Albemare-street, Piccadilly—observe, oppo. site the York Hotel.—A valuable, newly-invented, very small powerful waistcoat pocket glass, the size of a walnut, by which a person can be seen and known one mile and a half distant; they answer every purpose on the racecourse, at the opera-houses, country scenery, and ships are clearly seen at 12 to 14 miles. They are invaluable for shooting, deer stalking, yachting, to sportsmen, gentlemen, gamekeepers, and tourists. Telescopes possessing such extraordinary powers that some, 34 inches, with an extra eye-piece, will show distinctly Jupiter's moons, Saturn's ring, and the double stars ; with the same telescope can be seen a per son's countenance three miles and a half distant, and an object from 16 to 20 miles. They supersede every ether kind for the waistcoat pocket, and are of larger and all sizes, with increasing powers accordingly. Opera and race course glasses with wonderful power; a minute object can be clearly seen, from 10 to 12 miles distant. Invaluable newly-invented spectacle. Deafness —New Discovery— The Organic Vibrator, an extraordinary, powerful, small, newly-invented instrument, for deafness,, entirely different from all others, to surpass anything el the kind that has been, or probably ever can be produced. Being of the same colour as the skin, it is not perceptible; it enables deaf persons to hear di s ti nc tly at eltirch and at public as semblies ; the unpleasant sensaCion of singing noises in the ears is entirely removed; and it affords all the assist ance that possibly cou ld b e desired. ---S. and B. Selomons, A.urists an d Opticians 39, 41bgtztarlqtreet, riov4tilly.— Obstrve, opposite the rei*Hotel, - PUBLIO DINNLRS. clergy, which must now amount to at least 1,( 90, have en average income of 2001. a-year, and if I add the funds raised for church building, education, missions, and other Church purpoSeS,. / am ailre I shall be within the mark if I set the ineothe df the AMMOII Chtireh at half a million sterling an niiailY; that IS, dpeaking *highly; 10S: a-head for the mem berg of het communion, or 21. 10s. for every fancily: 'ln fact, we do not want money,' says her historian we have funds enough ; rife vied for the ministry.' This is the na tural result of the zeal and interest iR engendered among her members by an active participation in the niditgsment of her affairs. In every department of her proceedings the advan tages of her system are visible. When an extension of the epis copate is required, she is not obliged to go, like some other people I have heard of, to a heterogeneous Legislature com posed of men of every religion or of no religion ; nor to a co lonial minister, who may be her bitter enemy, in order to ask leave to consecrate a bishop, and to discuss the boundaries of the diocese, and the amount of the endowment. The Ame rican Church settles that for herself, as every Church ought. But I need not expatiate longer on these advan tages of System and organisation which the American Church enjoys. I have been Induced to say thus much on her constitution and progress, because, as presenting the only instance of an ecclesiastical body in communion of the Church of England, which possesses a regularly consti tuted representative government, she affords the only avail able precedent far her own case, and also because the signal success which has attended a career begun under such dis couraging circumstances, seems to show that, in order to fulfil her mission, the Church of England does not require endowments or State connection ; she only wants to have her hands untied—a clear stage, and no favour. Of course Ido not suppose that self-government is the only cause of the success of the American Church, but it does appear not only to be remarkably coincident with that success, but to consti tute almost the only material difference between her position and that of the Colonial Churches which are so far behind her in available life and energy. I will next notice one or two of the objections commonly made to a representative government for the Church, for I need hardly say that the form of govern ment we wish to obtain involves the representative principle It is said that it would encourage factions, debatings, and party contests. I will not insist on the argument that a si milar objection would lie against all representative Govern ment, civil as well as ecclesiastical—l would rather point to the American Church, and ask whether such an effect has been produced there. Of course I don't mean to say that there has been no party feeling on church matters in America —I only say it has not been so strong, nor has it led to such evil results ' as in England ; and that th ere , as e l sew h ere , in the Church as in the State, free and reg u l ar i ns tit u ti ons have been, not the cause, but the cure of faction. Again, it may be said that self-gover nmen t w ill l ea d t o ras h and heterodox altera tions in the formularies of worship, and in the discipline of the Church ; and here I must not be misunderstood : I would certainly claim, on the part of the New Zealand Church, the right of managing to the fullest extent its own affairs, includ ing of course the regulation of worship, and the control over formularies. While it is necessary and right that the formu laries of the Church of England should be the basis of union among those who combine to form a constitution for a Colo nial Church, I must say that, after it is formed, I think it would be unworthy of our position as a National Church to bind ourselves to these formularies for ever. Why should we not have the same right of revising from time to time our liturgies and articles to suit our circumstances which every National Church, and which the Church of England herself, has repeatedly claimed and exercised? Are we afraid we shall exercise that natural and obvious right badly ? It is possible we may; but I am quite sure, if we are inclined to do so, no pap er res tri c ti on w ill prevent us nor is it advisable that it should ; if bi s h ops, c l ergy, an d laity, should at any time wish for alterations, I really see no good in trying to make them use forms which they would on the hypothesis disapprove of. But having said thus much on the abstract right to effect changes, I point to the American Church as my ground for anticipating that they will not be effectual, at least not to any injurious extent. There was everything in the circumstances of the American Church and people to make wide deviations on their part from the English ritual apriori probable ; yet it is well known that the devia tions actually made are altogether unimportant, both in num ber and character ; nay it is remarkable, and forms a remark able testimony in favour of our formularies, that in several instances where alterations have been actually made, the Church has subsequently returned, after experience of the change, to the more ancient usage. The last, and by far the strongest objection to representative Government which I shall consider, is founded on the difficulty of settling how the lay element in the proposed governing body shall be constituted ; in other words, who shall possess the Church franchise. This difficulty is undoubtedly a formidable one ; indeed it is hardly susceptible Of a perfectly satisfactory solu tion ; for in whichever way it be settled by any particular class of persons, it is always open to another class to ask them who gave you authority to settle it. But this is not properly an objection, it is only a difficulty, and difficulties are made to be overcome. Although we may never arrive at the solu tion of the question which shall be logically satisfactory, we may get in a rough and approximate way at a settlement of it which will be sufficient for all practical purposes, For exam ple, a plan might be proposed by the highest authority in our church, the bishop, or bishops, involving a settlement of the franchise question, and if that plan were accepted by the clergy, and the great body of those who call themselves churchmen, it will probably be thought that as near an approximation to the desideratum of a general assent as is necessary for practical purposes would be arrived at. For my own part, I am very anxious to have this question raised ; and though it is not strictly relevant to the matter in hand, and the discus sion of it may appear premature, I will ask your indulgence while I say a few words about it. After much and anxious reflection, I can see no proper qualification for a Church fran chise but that of full communion ; and I say this quite irre spectively of any doctrinal opinion about the nature and ef fects of that Holy Sacrament ; I say it because this qualifica tion, or something strictly equivalent to it, is in consonance with invariable usage in the ancient Church, and also indeed in every Christian denomination, except our own, of which I ever heard; I say so, moreover, because we can have otherwise absolutely no guarantee that those who as sume to legislate for the Church are even nominally Churchmen, still less that they observe those laws an ob servance of which all her members admit to be of the very essence of Churchmenship, and while I entertain what many would consider very democratic views about the participation of the laity in Church government, it is a sine qua non with me that they should be Church laity. Now, it seems a con tradiction in terms to say that a man is in communion with the Church who never communicates. The very word com munion, as applied indiscriminately to Christian fellowship, and to a participation in the Lord's Supper, proves that the two ideas arc, in the minds of Christians, indentical. In deed, I may be wrong, but I cannot help thinking that those who hold a different view in this matter either - have hardly thought out the question, or are mainly actuated by what I con ceive to be a mistaken view of expediency. Some of them fear that non-communicants would be offended; but I must say I think a man who deliberately and habitually abstains from com nion with the Church, is not one to whose opinions and feelings Church rules should be made subordinate. Others fear that a communicant's franchise might lead to a profanation of the Sacrament. Have they inquired whether in other religious denominations, where conformity to religious ordinances is invariably required, as a qualification for Church govern ment, any such profanatory effect is experienced or even sus pected. The fact is, it would really not be worth a man's while, for the sake of so small an inducement, to be habitually guilty of so great a crime. But even if it were found, as is just possible, that such a rule might aggravate the guilt of a few abandoned individuals, ought we to place their supposed spiritual interests in competition with the wel fare of the whole Church ? Others, perhaps, have heard the maxim, that taxation involves representation, and think ac cordingly that every man who pays money for Church purposes has a right to participate in Church Government. Have they considered how far this abstract proposition would lead them? Certain it is that no political or religious community in the world even admitted or acted on such a principle. No mat ter how far a nation may go in the direction of universal suf- frage, it always stops short of making contribution to its re venue the solo qualification for political power. Women, children, idiots, convicts, aliens, may and generally do con tribute to revenue, but they never enjoy its supposed correla tive—power. Go and subscribe to a Wesleyan meeting-house or a Presbyterian church, and see whether your doing so will getyoua . vote you may reasonably t makehe next conference contributionernceorhenext assembly one qualification, but I cannot even conceive a pro posal deliberately made that it should be the only one. On the other hand, I hardly think any one will propose as a statement permanent of qualification m b f o e i r • s h C i h p u r c T h h igsov againe r m w e o n u t d a b simplee quite unheard of ; no religious or political privilege was ever yet granted'on the mere condition that a person claimed it, for it comes to that ; there is always required some test of his sin cerity—something that involves a question of fact upon which the claimant may be objected to, if he be not telling the truth. There remains therefore only the alternative of a double franchise, i. e., a statement of Church membership combined with a payment ; and this is the franchise which has been apparently proposed for adoption in Wellington, and it may be said in South Australia also, for seat -renting involves in some degree a profession of Churchmanship as well as a money payment. To this rule I object, in the first place, that it does not secure the real churchmanship of the governing body, and, in the second, that pecuniary payment ought not to be mixed up with Church franchises at all. Wherever it is adopted, the best Churchmen may be excluded because poor, while persons who are notori ously not Churchmen will have votes in Church matters, and assist in making Church laws. On the whole, therefore, it does appear to me that no good reason can be assigned why the Church of England should adopt a more lax rule with re spect to its franchises than any other ecclesiastical body. I trust you will pardon me for this digression, if it be one, and for having intruded my own view of this subject on you at so much length. My object in doing so is not to pro cure auy expression of opinion on it, still less the adoption of any practical step by the meeting, but merely to bring it before the mind of the public, in the sure hope that by full consideration and free discussion the objects which we have all at heart will be best promoted. It will perhaps be expected that I should say a few words as to the relation which the proposed body would bear to the Canter bury Association. My own view is this. It is perfectly competent for the association to make any provision it pleases for the management °fits own funds, but I have not the slightest doubt that if a body be constituted which shall really repre sent the Church in this settlement, the association will, as a matter of course, hand over to it the management of its eccle siastical fund. I will conclude by saying that the practical step we propose to the meetin g is merely to elect a corresponding committee, and to ascertain from the bishop, and the church men of other settlements, what it is that they are going to do. Whether it will be our business afterwards to go more into the details of a plan or whether the bishop will be pleased to draw out a plan, and invite our co-operation in it—whether we shall begin by petitioning Parliament, or, as I should much prefer, the Colonial Legislature, to make us a corporation, or whether, like the people of South Australia, we shall endeavour to organise ourselves, and go on temporarily without being le gally incorporated, will depend on the nature of the answer we receive. I only trust that now, having begun, we shall not let the matter drop; I trust we shall see that if our Churchmanship be not a sham, if we really take any in terest in our Church, if we care as much about it as we should do about a joint-stock company in which we had invested fifty pounds, we shall do with respect to it what as men of business we should do as a matter of course in a worldly case —we shall claim for the ecclesiastical society to which we be long a constitution and a government. (From the Times.) Public dinners are public bores. What man of sub stance is there— or, still worse, what man suspected of substance—who is not pestered at the least two or three times in every year to give himself a public indigestion in the cause of charity ? The season is now approaching when these exhibitions take place, and, ere they are taken in hand, we would endeavour to discourage them by Ml the means in our power. The real fact is, nobody is benefitted by them . but the tavern-keeper. The various charitable institutions in the names of which the banquets are spread are absolutely injured by the system. Funds which, but for the dinners, would find their way into the treasury of the charity, are in tercepted by the till of the tavern, and no one, that we can discover, exc e pt " m i ne h os t," i s a bit the better for the arrangement. First let us consider the subject as torture unnecessarily inflicted upon human beings. Who does not remember to have been dragged under the still burning influence of a July or August sun to some h orr id den in the city about six or half-past six o'clock p.m. ? He goes through preliminary ceremonies much the same as those he would be called upon to endure had he been mad enough to venture upon a dive into the pit of the Lyceum or Hay market at the same season of the year. Next he finds himself amidst a crowd of perspiring fellow-sufferers in black—some with rosettes at their buttonholes, like Coronation horses, all doing their best to reconcile an expression of benevolence with that studious avoidance of fellowship with strangers which is one among the many amiable characteristics of our countrymen. Then there is the insane rush upstairs to discover the plate on which the counterpart of one's voucher is deposited ; the attempt, of course, is useless. You look around you for advice, but everybody is in the same condition as yourself, except one tall stern man, somewhat bald about the temples, who has realised his number, and stands sentinel over the position. Come what may, you daren't ask him. At this moment the idea of a Hansom and Liberty will flash across the mind, but you are under the spelt, and must see the feast out whether or no. You rush upstairs among more per spiring men, to consult " the plan," and find, theo retically speaking, that you are billetted opposite the stern man, although you could be sworn in any court of justice in Christendom that you had strained your eyes in vain to discover your ticket for a hundred plates up and down on either side of the spot indicated. Finally, afterrushing backwards and forwards between "the plan" and thestern man half-a-dozen times, you find the ticket on the plate suggested, although it is clear enough that it must have been deposited there for the first time during your last absence to consult " the plan." Well, let us suppose this to be over, and that ali the perspiring revellers are duly placed, including a diplomatic-looking member of the Upper House, with a red riband across his white waistcoat, who is to let off the great speech of the evening. On either side of the " chair" are half-a-dozen grandees--one or two of them excessively dull-looking men—who, as you are informed in a whisper, are India directors or possess unbounded influence over the future destinies of the Namur Rail road. Then there is a gentleman connected with the American Mission, who is sure to say something after dinner about the graves of Milton and Shakspere. But we have not space to describe all the grandeur. The dinner is good—or, in the present instance, we will as sume it to be so, although heaps of charity dinners are detestably bad ; but we wish to take the thing at the best. Your soul is thirsting for cool streams, not lusting after fleshpots ; but there is no help for it. Fall to and eat. Eat and drink—drink and eat. You have a chance of hearing from your neighbour that it is pub licly reported " Her Majesty is doing pretty well after her confinement," or that " 'Tis very warm in the Royal Academy about 2 p.m." That is your only intellectual relaxation until the speaking begins, and then, despite of yourself, you find yourself swallowing wine by the bumper and tapping the table under the influence of the stern man opposite you, who has already mastered pub lic opinion in his neighbourhood, and puts you down with a glance if you tap a little longer than he deems consistent with exact propriety: So matters go on for two or three dreamy hours—but the dreams are bad dreams—until you escape out of doors into what seems a furnace cooling down. In two or three days you get over it ;—and that's the end of a Charity Dinner. We have purposely omitted all mention of the col lection, for that must be considered th e ver y essence o f the whole business, and deserves ampler remark. As we said before, we have taken a public charity dinner at its best, and presumed the affair to be a real banquet as far as gormandizing is concerned. But all this gluttony in action must be paid for. It is said that but for the feast there would be no collection, and no tickets bought. Of course there would be no tickets bought if there were no feast—no after-dinner collection if there were no dinner. There would, however, be something a great deal better in the shape of undiminished donations and subscriptions to the charity. Grant that the gross receipts may be smaller—the net receipts would certainly be greater, and that is the only ob ject in view. Nobody shall ever persuade us that amidst two or three hundred men of average common sense who have thus been penned up in heated rooms, as in a charitable Smithfield, a dozen could be found who enjoy the thing for its own sake, who look upon it as a real festive meeting. Men do not go to such places to forget the toils of business and the anxieties of life, for a few hours of friendly intercourse with their fellow-creatures. No such thing ; they have been talked into it—baited into it—persecuted into it—and there they are, and must endure it. They have screwed their charity up to martyr pitch, and are smiling at the stake. We cannot, however, - dismiss this part of the subject without noticing the additional engine of pecula tion which is brought to bear upon the Queen's poor sub jects in connexion with these orgies. An endeavour is made to force you into what is called the stewardship. Now, the sole duty of a steward is to pay 4/. or 51. in place of the simple guinea that he would have paid for his ticket in his private capacity. To such an extent is this system carried that there has been an instance in which there have been 200 stewards to 40 guests. This case is much the same as that of the German Principality towards the close of the last century, in which the standing army consisted of a single man ; but there were two field marshals, and general officers in proportion, to look after him, form him into squares, make him deploy, and what not. It may be asked, why do we exclaim against a process when the result is an additional subscription to a charitable object ? We reply, that all the persons who can fairly be induced to give the 41. or 51. in the character of the steward would give it any way. As far as regards the compelled steward, we do not see why men should be bullied into almsgiving more than into anything else. Besides, the result is not such an addition to the funds of the charity as might have been obtained had the money been paid without being subject to deduction under the head of tavern bills. It would be much better to collect the sums subscribed without any dinner at all, and to gratify any little vanity that may be at the bottom of the transaction by publishing the names of subscribers. What more is gained by the present arrangement? We verily believe that, in the majority of instances, the whole affair lies between the secretary and the tavern-keeper. We have heard of a case in which the secretary to more than one of these benevolent institutions has been presented with a piece of plate, as a public acknowledgment of his charitable exertions. This is flattering, of course, but it is remarkable that the landlord of the tavern at which the greatest number of the feasts was held figures for the very largest subscription in the list. We are not writing with the intention of directing our observations against this or that particular charity. We would have our remarks understood as applicable to all charity dinners. But it so happens that at the present moment a contest upon this very subject in the case of the Literary Fund, is being carried on with consi derable violence on both sides. The question for decision of course is, whether or no it be for the interest of the " fund" that the dinners should take place. Now, we do not mean in any way to mix ourselves up with the facts of the case, but to take the assertions of the disputants upon their own showing. The reporter for the managers asserts that the dinner of 1851 cost 1391. ss. 6d. (add singers, '7l. 75.) ; and that of 1852 cost 1461. 145.; and that if to these sums be added the full share of the printing, stationery, adver tising, and incidental expenses, it appears that by the sale of tickets, the contributions of stewards and other honorary visitors, and donations directly traceable to the dinner, exclusive of the Queen's benefaction and other annual subscriptions, the dinner of 1851 pro d uce d a clear profit of 51 8 /. 2 s. 6c1., and the dinner of 1852 a profit of 5571. 16s. id. The opponents of the management pull this estimate to pieces, and show from the published accounts that there must be gross error in the calculation. They take from the accounts of the fund each heading separately, and show how small is the amount over which the dinner can exercise any possible influence. They tell us that for years the guinea tickets and the stewards' fees did not pay the expense, but that there was an annual loss of from 501. to 601. in consequence of the dinners. Who may be right or who wrong in this particular instance we have no means of knowing. We take the chief facts tossed about in a public controversy, and leave fur ther discussion to the persons more immediately con cerned. But we are very confident that in the main, in this instance as in all others, right must be with those who do not set about making money by wasting it in tavern revelry and unnecessary prodigality. A FRENCH CAPTAIN JOHNSON.—The Paris police lave just arrested a man, who, under the name of the Count de Bondy, has been carrying on a curious system of swindling. He was accustomed to go to tradesmen who deal chiefly with females, and obtain from them in formation respecting such of their customers as were unmarried, anxious to wed, and possessed of a certain amount of property. He then contrived to get an intro duction to some of the females, and by representing him self to have an income of B,OOOE, and, being on the look out for a wife, soon persuaded them to receive him on a footi ng o f f am i l i arity. H e a ft erwar d s on different pretexts o bt a i ne d f rom t h em var i ous amoun t s , an d then ho he disappeared. One of them was a poor woman, w RETURN OF PARDONED CONVICTS. ---The Falcon, brig, only just knew f h x o e w i a t n o , s e ign her name ; and he got her under the belief that it was a with '2B pardoned convicts on Board, arrived at Dept- t d o ee s d ig l a a bill of he Made' over to her all his property as a ford, on the 12th inst., from Bermuda, which place she Y. v left on the 17th ult. They were landed at the yard on the following day, received the gratuities due to them Temple, also, he obtained 200 E, on the proof Ot his lj d i a c o ff l ection for her. From a small tradesman in the Ruei he from the storekeeper of that establishment, and oncewould give him an interest in a coal pretenwee.tehiaitiad just been discovered in the more allowed to enjoy the sweets of liberty, which it is mine of hi neighbour to be hoped they will now better appreciate. Several of hood . Paris, and which was expected to be extraor thedinaril profitable. number appeared to have reached the evening of 'T., CONDEMNED .. Y CONVICTS IN CHESTER CASTLE.— life. Two of them also, singular to relate, were brothers. The H w E retched women, Honors Gibbons and Bridget Toe much cannot be said in praise of the excellent sys tem adopted by the Government of reserving a portion Gerratty, i who were sentenced to death by Mr. Justice of their wages until th e exp i ration of their term of cap- Wightrian ' at the late Chester Assizes, for poisoning a tivity, as it enabl es th em to avoid the temptation to child of the former's with vitriol, for the purpose of ob which they would otherwise be exposed, to return to' their evil ways if turned adrift . on the wide world pen -attempt is being made to intluee twining 31. or 41. from a burial club, are to be executed this day week. An niless. . I Lord Palmerston to spare Garratty's life, They have made no confession as yet of the crime,. COUNTRY MARKE2'S. HADDINGTO/ The following are the prig to-day : -- N—APRIL 15. :e3 of gra i n a t our 000 WHEAT. BARLEY. First s4s Od 35s Od Second 4Bs 4d 33s 4d Third 4os Oct 28s Od Total quantity of wheat in market, barley „ oats beans OATS. JANAI 23s Od 368 v 203 lid 333 1 19s Od. 3 3 s Afi old 269 qrs., 2 ;;--, . n ij 243 qrs., ir t — a 264 qrs., lux — id 105 qrs., 85 F 4 PP ~ ABERDEEN—APRIL 15. ,„ „ The prices of gra i n are —Old oats, 00s Oct to ' l ' l ' r 401bs per bushel ; new oats, 17s Od to OOs Od, 40 '4, bushel ; bere, 28s Oct to 29s Od, 531bs per bushel ; ba r 0 : 1 0 28s Oct to 28a 6d,. 531bs per bushel • wheat, red, 8 98 01, 40s Od, 621bs per bushel ; wheat, white, ' 46s Oct to il* alb, 62lbs per bushel • oatmeal, 14s Oct to 15s Od per , Pa st ; flour, 39s Oct to 41s' Od per sack. Provisions—Beef, 4d to 7d ; mutton, ditto, 5d to 7d ; veal, ditto, 6d 01; pork, per lb, Os 5d to Os 6d ; salmon, per lb, Is 6d t°''' 6,1 i rabbits, each, 7d to 8d ; tallow, per stone, 4s Od to 45 1 0; potatoes, per peck, is to is 2d ; butter, per lb, 9tl to ° s ,:i to eggs, per doz, Os 6d to Os 8d • hens per pair, 3 0 r, 6tl 3s 6d ; chickens, ditto, 2s 6d to' 3s Od; ducks, ditto, 44 to 3s Od • ducklings, ditto, Os Oct to Os Od t ur ,„'iet each, 4s Oct ' to 4s 6d ; geese, ditto, 3s 6d to 4s Oct ; ""0,1; for exportation (present cure), per cwt, 76s to 00s . 0 ditto (summer cured), OOs to OOs Od ; eggs, wholesale Pork, per dozen, 43d t o 4id ; 41b loaf, 6d ; 21b loaf, 3d ; P-a; fine small, Os Od to Os Od ; pork, large, Os Oct to 03 lamb, per quarter, 7s Gd to 10s; cheese, per imP e stone, 5s Gd to 7s. Currenel• Os Od-20 CORK -APRIL 15, Brig. White wheat 00s Od to OOs Od 1 Red wheat 23s 6d to 00s 0.1 Ditto OOs Od to 00s Od Ditto OOB Od to 00s Od 70 Barley l3s Od to 13s 6(l' Ditto OGs Od to 00s Od Ditto oos Od to OOs Od Bere OO3 Od to OOs Oa' 195 Oats Ditto 005 Od to 00s 01 Ditto .... OOB Od to OOs 0d) 2 Pigs 3ss Od to OOs Od OOs Od per C Quantity sat the highest prices : 00 barrels white wheat; 00 red ;41 barley ; 0 ber °• : oats ; 0 pig. Quantity of grain and number of pigs sold last wee" - ' 2 39 , Wheat, 92. Barley, 511. Bere, 00. Oats, Pigs, 139. Return of cattle sold for week ending April 8 Pigs, 626. Sheep, 520. Cows, 128. PRICES OF BUTTER. CANT. CURRENCY. PP First quality loos First quality ............... Second quality Third quality 90s Third quality ....... . ....... 714 Fourth quality Fifth quality 7os Fifth., quality ............. Sixth quality 6os Sixth quality .............. . 0 { ; CORK. —Flour- First, 15s Od to 16s Od ; extra, 17 :0 seconds, 13s 6d to 14 8 6d ; h ouseholds, lOs to 13s; 33' 7s Od to lOs per cwt. Meal—lndian meal, 7s 9d tc , 85 0 4 oatmeal, lOs 6d to Ils Od ; wheat meal, lOs to Ils Od Pe r m 0 1 Indian corn, 71 5s Od to 8/ Os Od per ton. Bran, 41 eo gf , to 411286 d per ton. Hay—Farmers, 24s Od to 44s Od; aL o r 38s; dealers, 36s Od to 55s Od ; average, Os per ton . Vo,l l ` Farmers, 20s Od to 27s Od ; average, 24s ; dealers, 3 °,7a to 008 Od ; average, Os. per ton. Bread—Wheaten loaf, V Od ; household dtto, 61 to Od per 41b.—Fresh butter, 1 ) ,.t Ild per lb. Eggs, 4s 4d to 4s 61 per hundred. Meat - ,IV 40 to 8d ; mutto n , 50 to 7d ; veal, 5d to 8d ; pork;, 00 1: 6d ; bacon, 7d to 8d ; sausages, 6d per lb.—Fish, New 000 , land, 11/. Os to 12/ Os per ton ; Scotch herrings, 31s try Red, do., 30s per brl.—Potatoes white, Iod to 12d ;, 12d to 15d.— C oa l s, Newport, 21 ' s ; Lydney, 21s • C ul T,'/,, Od per ton.—Whi s k ey, 25 0.p., 6s Od per imperial gai "OP Hides, market, 308 to 365; Salted, 30s to 38s per sic t io.' skins, 3d per lb.—Bangor slates 21. 17s. 6d to 31. Per 0/ , r 4 Fleece wool, 00 8 t o 00 s per stone.—Hemp, 381. to 4 ; L i m ton — Timber, Memel, 31. 10 s ; re d p i ne, 31. 108 ; yell 3/. ss. per ton ; deals, 161. to 181. per hundred.—Bar 81. to 101. 108. per ton.—Tallow , 46s to 47s per cwt. no sl l 71. lOs to 01. p er cw t .- Tar, Archangel, 19s. per brle• -v Peruvian, 101. 10s to 11/. per ton. 00s Od-2 0 (I°' 00s Od-16t, Os Osl. los Od RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS. • LIVERPOOL, APRIL 16.7 STOCK EXCHANGE. —Transactions to-day -- ve limited, and prices have generally declined. The . c re rates were thus reported :—Caledonian, 32 ; Lancaell it i!' j Yorkshire, 76 4 ; L on d on an d N or th Western, ry o ditto (fifth shares), 2ip. ; Midland, 75 4$ ; Nel c pl y Warrenpoint, ; South-Eastern and Dover, 221 . ch cashire and Yorkshire (161. F. shares), 1-16 p. ; ter, Sheffield, and Lincoln (101, shares), 11; St. Ile and C. (6 per cent.) 33i ; North Union A, 255. MANCHESTER, APRIL 16, 10 4 STOCK EXCHANGE.—There is still a tendency to 8 1 3 ire' prices, with but a moderate business. B uc ki ng h_e te r?l, 18R; Eastern Counties, 134 ; L on d on and North-vv,e s )ll', 1191 ; Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 30,A land Railway C onso l s, 741 ; North Staffordshire, 'n South-Eastern and Dover, 221. BIRMINGHAM; APRIL 16. firm o f d STOCK EXCHANGE.—Thi s market was rather day, and prices generally improved. London and Westerns closed at 120. LEEDS, APRIL 16. PO' 0° . .,0 STOCK EXCRANGR.—D u II ness i s still the pre— a l ture of the share market. The business doing i°.l t into 0 nil, and operators seem anxious, before entering,,-,- - . ~.1 of a t s h e: , Etoxebhee qiuuenro, n ext• s , s v e h s i s e i h on is of fix th ed e b f u or dg isf et o 7 l f d : y . ll° ' - '" a " I" Laneashires have been. done to-day at 18!*2•_ "A BORNE MAILS. t oi (N signifies that the mails a re sent front the General ro . by the night—and Mby the morning — dispatch.] _," Day when made up From what WV I 0 • COUNTRIES. inO ffie,London GceneralP ost .; Joe ' Displ'ltched• E joli‘ America ( ,rd'' America j Am e -Ica ( by United by I rit .pack)N Every Frid ay .. • . Liverpool .. • A ll , Sts. An 11 packet) (by .........States.N April 19 „ „ Liverpool ..• •••4. 9i U rll° packet) .......... N Ap r i l 18 .... Sou' hampton AP - Australia (via South. A 0 14 ampton) ..... • • . M . AI 4th of May ••.. • . Southampton P I Ditto (via arseilles) N Bth of May Dover „ ...•Ditto (via Cape of Good AP Hope) ...... • • • • ..N 2d of June .... • . Plymouth .. •••••- Africa ( West COast)..N 23rd of the month. Plymouth •• ' 14 , 2 01 1 ; Alexandria , NB, 9, 24, &30of m Dover .... • • r i1 9 .01 Alexandria .......... 31 4th & 20th of mon. Southampton At i )0 Bahamas ..... ...... 34 2nd of the month Southampton 'Pi t y Belgium ............N Daily.. Dover ...• • • 1 ? ) . i 6 ,se i Brazil ... . M 9th of the month.. South am pton I , _. f e4 ( Buenos Ayres ...... „NI 9th of the month.. Southampton Ail Cape of Good Ilone ..N 14th of the month Plymouth .• Cape of Good Hope .. N 2nd of June .. .• .. Plymouth • • .a i- r a % Cape de Verds N 14th of the month Plymouth • • Ceylon (see India) Ar ill6 4 Ceylon ..............N 14th of the m o nth Pl ymou th .• Channel Isles ........ N Mon ~Wed southampton '4°,o I" Cltili ..31 .d& 17th of month Southampton AP' China (see India 11, 1' Constantinople .) ... ..N 1 ,8,17,21,&27 of nt Dover .... -• An Constantinople ........ 4th FL 20th of mon Southampton lt..l i fie d cont. of Eun,pe & N Twice daily .. Dover ...• •• 1 ' Egypt (see India) Twieett' ' l6 France ........ M & N Twice dai1y...... D over .... •• ja Gibraltar ...... ....31 4,7, 17, 20, 27 of m. Southampton AP Greece (see India) •• ril Greytown 31 2nd & 17th of mon. 4 outhamptOn Z AF , , Hamburg!' . ..... ....N Tuesday & Friday London 40 ) 1° ,0 Havannah ..........ht 2nd of the month Southampton 10 0 ' 0 1 Holland .. Honduras Al 17th of the month. Southampton 1 India (vlaSouthampt.)3l 4th & 20th of mon. South am pton,,; India (via Marseilles)3l Bth& 24th of month Dover .....• lonian Isles (see India) pr ic l Ireland .. & N Twice daily ...... Flolyhead • Lisbon ..............31 7,9, 17, & 28 of m. Southampton . I " ri fts' Madeira -31 9th of the month Southampton A.L y 1 9 Madeira N 23rd of the month Plymouth .• "'- Malta (see India) Malta ...... ••• . • • ..N 7,17,19,98, 30 elm. Dover .. Lio 1 1 3 Mauritius (see India) A Mauritius .... • • ....N 14th of the month Plymouth .• A l ? rl~ a, oa Mexico 2nd of the month. Southampton IP 4 , ; Napies..... .• •• • ... N sthlath2 sthofmon. Dover .. •. • • Pl l New Granada .. •••. M 2d & 1 7th of month Southampton AP - , , 0, New Zealand .....• •.. By private ship .. V ar i ous ports 1117 ii Papal States .... ••• • N sth bth2sthofmon Dover .....• Peninsula .• M 'th I 7th2Bthofmon Southampton AP I 8 Peru •••••••• • • • • • • 31 & 27th of mon ,o u th am pt o n , , Port Natal .........,N 14th of the month Plymouth • . !Pill Sicily •••••• .. • • • ...N Athlsth 2 M.hpfmon, Dover • • „, Tuscany ............N itlllsth2sthofmon. Dover ...... AP 1 6 Venezuela ..........31 2d & 17th of month Southampton ' 1) " Van Diemen's Land (lee Australia) . l6 West Indies ........31 2d& 17th of month SouthampteL . 11 P 11 4 ,t When any of these dates fall on a Sunday, the an.' jlO dispatched on the followin g d a y, w ith th e except i on of t h e Southampton), and the Malta, both of which will be dispatc h day preceding. [ADVERTISEMENT.]—HoIIoway's Ointment and-L •L, 9 re i the cure of Scrofula, Cancerous W oun d s , an d Old —Asa Avory, a youth, the son of Mr. James A- 17°r I v tid / Ramsey, was severely afflicted with scrofulous 11.° .„ :1 Pi for three or four years, and during th a t per iod :1 3 1 1 ' remedies were tried, but without the least benefit ;0 1 1 ever being derived from them. In this deplorabl e D dey Mr. Joseph Sargeant, Chemist, of Ramsey, recoultn, e ibeo him to use Holloway's Ointments an d Pill s , ana,„-0, invaluable medicines have been th e means o f effecyiriei curing the boy of his shocking complaint in a very space of time. They are an e ffi cac i ous reme dy legs, old sores, gout, and rheumatism.—Sold. W e pt druggists, and at Professor Holloway's Establish 244, Strand, London. th ° MARRIED. On the 13th inst., at St. John's Church, gac ti l° Rev. Samuel Plant, T i e - - P 19 taut, vicar of Burton-on-Trent, -- 4 .b0 shire, to Antoinette Sarah, youngest daughter of,: b i r ey Mr. Charles Fourthinier, of Chell House, Staffer° Fare. On the 14th inst., at the Cathedral, Manchester', s'ar e ' Taylor Fisher, to Sarah, younger daughter of Joaial>, Esq., solicitor, all of that city. .co' ol LONDON : Printed and Published by MURDO - 1/0 . f 4 of No. 112, Strand, Printer at The Sun Officer ~,0 0 Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the co Aaiddlemex, Monday, April 18,1853. BIRTHS. OF A SON. On the 12th inst., at 23, Calverley-park, Tunbridge' the wife of the Rev. Robert Aldridge. On the 14th inst., at No. 20, Victoria-road, Ken Newton, the wife of Mr. Challacombe. OF A DAUGHTER.' On the 13th inst., at Ha l r ow , th e w if e o f th e Steuart Pears. f On the 15th inst., at Ili g hb ur y-t errace, th e w ife o . „ Steavenson, Esq. MED. o 0 1 ' to On the 15th in s t., th e R ev. A. R. Harrison, cur' 1 4 George's, Leicester. 0 1 „.4 ° L' On the 10th inst., at Hilsea, near Portsca, de r Harte, Esq., late superintendent of the Ordnance ment, Hilsea, aged 65. .../z".