The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-02 00:00:00

quarter
Public Debt for the year
Redemption of Treasury notes for the year 8,089,440 64
Balance on the 31st of December, 1838 34,866,987 33

D. 75,294,206 01

UNAVAILABLE FUNDS IN 1838.

Deposits with the States D. 28,101,644 97
Due from the insole cut banks before 1837 ... 1,100,000 00
Due from banks that suspended payment in
1837. and not payable till 1839 2,400,000 00
Part of mosey in the Mint

Total D. 32,101,644 97
From ba'ance on 31st December, 1838, being D. 34,866,987 33
Deduct total unavailable, as above

Available balance remaining......... D. 2,765,342 36
The Secretary of the Treasury says—
" A list of all those officers who, on the 12th of October,
1837 (the time designated in the resolution of the House
of Representatives), stood on the books of the Treasury as
h ►ving neglected to settle their accounts in season, may be
seen, with the amount charged to each, in the printed re-
port made on the 15th of January last (document No.
III.) ; but several of these were not then actually indebted
to the United States, though, having neglected to adjust
their accounts at the Treasury, they came within the ex-
press words of the resolution, and, consequently, were in-
cluded. Some defaults have occurred, or been discoicred
since October, 1837 ; but it is not apprehended that any
losses will ultimately be sustained from them except in the
case of the former collector of New York. That case has
been recently detected, and the defalcations are supposed
to have been continued for many years, and to have reached
a large amount. From their character they could, per-
haps, have been effectually prevented only by penalties for
false returns, a system of cash duties, and personal inspec-
tions of money and vouchers, with punishments for misuse
of the public funds, similar to what was urged in the report
from this department on the finances in September, 1837,
It is intended to make the particulars of this case the sub-
ject of a special report to the President, for the considera-
tion of Congress."

THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
President Van Buren, in the Yankee phrase, goes the
whole hog in speaking of the admirable working of the
United States' Constitution. " Agitating collisions," he
says, " between domestic sovereignties, and temptation to
interfere in the intestine commotions of neighbouring
countries, have been successfully resisted, and doubt.-
ful questions of domestic policy, have been quietly
settled by mutual forbearance." This would be good
if true ;" but, unfortunately for his veracity, the present
state of affairs in America proves the very reverse. Why
is Great Britain obliged to keep up an army of twelve
thousand men in Canada? Because the Executive has not
the power to prevent the citizens from interfering in the
concerns of their neighbours. How comes it that
Texas is occup;ed by Atnericeir squatters t The same an-
swer. Why is Lynch 'law inflicted on the \Vilberforces
and Clarksons an broughams of the young republic, and
no punishment follows ? Because the Executive is power-
less, In one State the Speaker of a Provincial Congress
rushes from his chair, and stabs to death in the senate-house
a fellow-citizen, and no punishment follows. In another
State, according to the last accounts, the Speaker, and nearly
all the members are expelled, and the sovereign people
occupy the Halls of Legislation in Pensylvania—the land
of the religious and peaceful Quaker, Penn. Who are to
punish the sovereign people ? The excitement on the
Slave Question, so far from being" quietly settled by mu-
tual forbearance,' is on the point of breaking out with
tenfold violence. It cannot be smothered much longer.
Can the Executive protect a lecturing abolitionist in Ca-
rolina or Georgia ? Or could Congress pass a law
for protecting slaves, which would be obeyed by the slave-
breeJing States ? Many of the articles of the American
constitution are excellent, and we would do well to copy
them ; but there are some radically bad, and others which
have not yet been tested by experience, and their praises
Van Buren might have left to be sung by his great-grandsou.
The conduct of the American citizens is increasing Toryism
in the States to a vast extent, and before fifty yee,rs pass
away the Southern States may have a Chief 114lagistrate
dilating in his Message on the beauties of a limited Mo-
narchy, and something more.

REFUSAL OF A CIIURCII-RATE IN LLANFI-
II A NGEL-AR-ARTIL—NIN Dickins. the Churchwarden, called
a special parish meeting, by a notice posted on the Church
door and other places, five or six days prior to the holding
of the meeting. The notice stated that the meeting was
convened to assess a Church-rate for the present year, and
Friday, December 14th, 1838, was fixed for holding the
same, at the parish church, at ten o'clock in the forenoon.
Conformable to the notice, the parish officers and others
concerned assembled, and in the absence of the Rev. Mr.
James. the Curate, on the motion of Mr. D. Beynon, se-
conded by Mr. J. Phillips, Mr. E. Evans was elected
chairman. The notice of the meeting was read by the
Vestry Clerk, and on finding that the last rate was not ac-
counted for, a motion was made by Mr. David Beynon to
adjourn the meeting to December 12th, 1839, which was
seconded by Mr. J. Phillips. Soon after the Rev. Mr.
James entered, and after a long dispute on each side, a
general poll was agreed upon for three days, that is to say,
till four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, and from
eight in the morning till four in the evening of both Satur-
day and Monday. Both sides exerted themselves to the
uttermost : the horses had a weary time of it. When the
poll was made up on Monday evening, there was for the
adjournment 106 ; against the motion, 75; majority for
the adjournment, 31. If this rate had been carried, so
small a sum as a halfpenny in the pound would have been
sufficient for the purposes of the rate. But it was resisted
on principle,—sound, rational, consistent, and Christian
principle, and most cordially do we congratulate the majo-
rity on the gratifying and triumphant result. We are not
ignorant of the bribry and intimidation that was resorted
to by some of the minority ; but we have no room to nar-
rate the particulars that have reached us.—Weishnzan.
MUNIFICENT GIFT.--It is with no ordinary
pleasure that we have to record another act of princely
munificence on the part of our highly-respected townsnxn,
William Dorward, Esq. This is a donation of 2,00(11, to
the Congregational Union of Scotland, a moiety or which,
by the appointment of the donor, is to be applAed to the
uses of the Glasgow Theological Academy, ur aer the care
of the Rev. Greville Ewing and Dr. War-';iaw. By this,
and a former donation of the same amr,unt, these institu-
tions are laid under everlasting obligEions to Mr. Dorward.
Such beneficence is above commer.itation. Whilst Mr. D. is
by daily bounty supplying the ilnmediate wants of the poor in
the town, and the House of nefuge, erected by his generosity,
is sending out fair promise of a kindly, hospitable shelter for
many a weary head, or home for many a friendless outcast
in this and coming generations, such a donation as this de-
clares him to be awake to the spiritual wants of his fellow-
countrymen, and that he is seeking to to remove it, in the
speediest and most direct method, by sending ministers to
itinerate in the destitute and thinly-peopled districts, in,
which there must always fewer facilities for spiritual in-
struction than in others more densely peopled. We only
wish that many of the wealthyi n the ..Ind would approve
their zeal for the spiritually ignorant poor in the same
manner.—Montrose Review.

AN IRISH ATTORNEY.—On the trial of an action
brought by an attorney for the recovery of Lis bill of costs,
which was heard in the Court of Exchequer, Dublin, last
Wednesday, the defendant's Counsel read from the plain-
tiff's bill the following items :—" To anxiety of mind and
want of sleep occasioned thereby, for fourteen days, at 108.
per diem, 71. As. I was walking through town about your
business I was run over by a car, and I did not know what
became of me until I found myself in an apothecary's shop,
very sore and uneasy, in fact, I escaped by the skin of my
teeth from death—for all this lost time I was a fortnight
sick) and for anxiety of mind, not talking of great bodily
pain, I charge the moderate sum of 12/. To time lost in
endeavouring to borrow money for you, which I could not
get, 10/. To great inconvenience in selling your house,
and loss of time in drawing up deeds and leases, 100/.l*
(Roars of laughter, in which the Court heartily joined.)
The Chief Baron charged the Jury, that as the action was
brought on a judgment obtained by the plaintiff, they must
find a verdict for him, but recommended the defendant to
bring the can ion a court of equity.