The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-07 00:00:00

SPOTS IN THE SUN.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sia,—When the moon passes between the earth and the
sun, we say the sun is eclipsed ; and if the moon be im-
mediately in the centre of the sun, we call it an annular
eclipse—we do not say there is a large " spot in the sun."
Now, may not those " spots in the sun," which have puzzled
our most able astronomers to account for, arise from a
similar cause, viz., the passing before the sun's disc of some
of those bodies which at night appear to us as stars ? It
is evident that such bodies being in such position, wlif n
seen, must appear to us as mere " spots in the sun."

I am, Sir, your's, Etc.,
R. W. DICKINSON.

Ilfracombe, Sept. b.

CHURCR•RATES AT LEEK, IN STAF-

FORDSHIRE.

(tROU A eottausrotoENT.)
Agreeably to notice given by the Churchwarden a Vestry
meeting was held on Thursday last, the Slat August, to
levy a Church-rate. The business of the meeting Was
opened in the Vestry of the parish Church by the Vicar (the
Rev. T. H. Heathcote), but there not being room in the
vestry for the very great attendance of rate-payers, it was
adjourned to the spacious Church Sunday School-room,
where from 400 to 500 persons assembled. The Vicar
having again taken the Chair, and explained the business of
the meeting, called upon the Churchwarden to state what
rate he thought would be wanted.
Mr. J. Ltecit (the Churchwarden) then stated that a
rate of lid. in the pound would amount to about 1701.
This he confessed would be more than sufficient to defray
the expenses of the remainder of the year which he should
have to remain in office ; but as it would probably be suffi-
cient for himself and his successor, and they all knew the
trouble of collecting a rate was great, he thought it would
be better at once to obtain a rate of three-halfpence in the
pound, which he then moved.
Mr. C. COUPLAND seconded the motion.
Mr. FRANCE (a respectable member of the Societi of
Friends) then moved an amendment, that the eonsidera''on
of a rate be postponed to that day twelve months, stating
that it was unjust and anti-Christian to call upon the Dis-
senters to contribute to a Church from which they ca n-
scientiously dissented.
Mr. R. PLACE seconded the amendment.
Mr. P. WAMSLEY objected to a greater rate being as%ed
for than was needful to defray the necessary expenses dur-
ing the present Churchwarden's period of office, and moved
as an amendment that a rate of one halfpenny in the pound
be granted.
A Ratepayer seconded that amendment.
The Rev. J. SNEYD (a Church Clergyman and County
Magistrate) said he attended the meeting merely as a rate-
payer. He observed that he thought a penny in the pound
would be needed, and said that the Churchwarden was
bound to keep the edifice in repair ; and he had the autho-
rity of Sir W. Follett in saying, that if the meeting refused
to grant a rate, the Churchwarden could lawfully enforce
one. He moved as an amendment that a rate of one
penny in the pound be granted.
Mr. C. FLINT ficotided the amendment, contending that
if Mr. France's amendment were carried (which he had
avowed was not only to postpone the consideration of a
rate, but to abolisleit altogether), and the Church were lift
to be supported by the voluntary system, its destruction
would be inevitable ; that its Ministers would no longer
preach the Gospel faithfully alike to the rich and to the
poor, but would so preach as to please the people on whose
contr►butions they were dependent, and that in a short
time, if deprived of an established national religion, vital
Christianity would vanish from the land. He alluded to
America, where the much vaunted voluntary system was in
practical exercise, and where, as compared to this country,
but little real piety existed. lie trusted the meeting would
support the established religion, and thus promote the
spread of true Christianity.
Mr. LIIECII having withdrawn his motion for a lid. rate,
and agreed to Mr. Sneyd's amendment of a ld. rate, a
show of hands was called for on each of the amendments,
when Mr. France's amendment was carried by an over-
whelming majority, which the Chairman declared to the
meeting.
The Churchwarden then demanded a poll, which it was
agreed should commence immediately, and continue until
four o'clock on that day, and from eight to four the two
following days, so as to allow the rate-payers of the different
townships in the parish an opportunity of recording their
votes. And at the close, on Saturday afternoon, there
appeared—
For the rate 672 individual votes.
Against the rate 522
Majority for the rate... --150
The opponents of the rate had issued hand-bills, urging
the rate-payers to record their votes against the unjust im-
post ; but canvassed little, either in the town or in the out-
township. The Church-rate party, however, strained every
nerve, and resorted to numberless paltry manoeuvres to ob-
tain support. Not less than from twenty to thirty persons
were actively engaged canvassing a great part of the time,
many of whom were solicitors' clerks, and other hired ser-
vants of the so-called friends of the Church, who scoured
the parish, in its length and breadth, for tools to accomplish
their object—threatening some, cajoling others ; protniiing
shilling tickets to some, and drink to others ; terrifying
some, and deceiving, or wishing to deceive, all, by uttering
the most barefaced falsehoods, and, by conduct the most
disgraceful and disgusting, deluding the rate-payers, by de-
claring that the object of the opponents of the rate was the
destruction of the Church. In consequence, numbers of
the poorer rate-payers, not knowing the true meaning for
which the poll was demanded, came to tender their votes
fur the Church; and on being told by the poll-clerks they
must vote for or against a Church-rate, appeared asto- ,
nished, supposing that to vote for the Church and for the
rate were synonimous terms. A few, however, of the more
intelligent boldly declared they were for the Church, but
against the rate. There is not the least doubt but that a
very considerable majority of the rate-payers are decidedly
opposed to the rate on principle, and hundreds would have
voted against it, but that they were compelled by their masters
the silk manufacturers to vote against their consciences, and
who, in many instances, accompanied them, nay, drive
them to the poll. Many a poor but conscientious rate-
payer, on saying the words for the rate, gave vent to a
deep-drawn sigh ; plainly-intimating, that from the badness
of the trade, and therefore, consequently, the fear of offend-
ing his employers and losing his situation, he had lost his
independence. As to the number at the close of the poll
being a true index of the state of feeling respecting Church-
rates in the parish, it is pretty generally admitted, even by
the more candid of the Church-rate party, to be a mere
farce. They have, however, gained their point this time ;
and although the means they have used aro the most un-
righteous and unjust, and acknowledged so to be by all
conscientious and humble minds, there are men to be found
in the parish of Leek who glory in having, by such means,
so nobly fought " the battle of the Church !" May the
true Church be saved from such unworthy advocates !
To show their great attachment to the Church, soon
after the close of the poll on Saturday evening, a peal was
rung on the Church bells, and a baud of music engaged,
which paraded the streets, headed by the Churchwarden,
the deputy constable, and such-like worthies, many of whom
were in a state of intoxication, accompanied also by a mob
of the lowest disorderlies, who, on arriving at the house of
Mr. France, placed ene of their number, who wore an enor-
mous broad-brimmed hat, on the steps of his door, whilst
the air Was rent with the most discordant yells. And this
in token of their attachment to the Church. Alas, for the
Church which requires such supporters !

A public meeting was held at the Shire-hall, Glou-
cester, convened by the High Sheriff, in compliance with a
requisition sgned by the principal nobility and gentry of
the county, to consider of addresses to the Queen and the
Queen Dowager. As soon as the preliminaries were gone
through, the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, Lord Sea-
grave, presented himself to the meeting, and said he had
been requested to propose the address to her Majesty the
Queen, and he felt convinced the greatest unanimity and
cordiality would prevail, and he rejoiced to see so many as-
sembled on this occasion to manifest their loyalty and at-
tachment to the throne and to the youthful Sovereign.
The question the meeting had to decide was, bow the ad•
dresses should be presented. He lamented the loss of the
the late King, his death would be deeply deplored by the
country. He hoped that the present reign would prove
more prosperous and happy than the reigns of Queen Eliza-
beth and Anne ; it was begun well, and he doubted not it
would continue propitious. The Queen had declared her
intentien to give equal rights to all her subjects. He beg-
ged to state, before he concluded, that the meeting had
been intentionally postponed, because it was considered more
prudent to wait until after the election, that the excite-
ment occasioned by that might subside, before the meet-
ing was convened. His Lordship concluded by moving the

address.
The Baron Heurteloup is just returned to London,
after having accomplished the objects for which the Emperor
of Russia requested his attendance at St. Petersburg. The
Russian medical profession have acquired from his instruc-
tions, and practical demonstrations, a knowledge of Litho-
tripsy, which will, without doubt, lead to the successful per-
formance of so important an operation in that vast empire.
We learn also that the exhibition of the Baron's other in-
vention relating to fire-arms, produced general admiration
and satisfaction. '1 he
Emperor was so much impressed
with its importance, from the investigations and
which were made, that orders were issued to General Bone
temps, of the Russian artillery, to accompany the Baron to
Lowlee, attended by another artillery officer, in prcipr to
acquire a theroogh knowledge of the invention, and to see
it adapted to the Russiao form of musket, previous to its
I WOO ip the Inverisl amp

UNITED STATES MONET MARKET.

(From the Correspondent of the Chronicle.)
PHILADELPHIA, AUG. 8.--When a tornado sweeps
through the forest (a common occurrence this year in Ame-
rica) it levels to the earth thousands and tens of thousand:.
of trees ; but the few sturdy monarchs of the woods that
brave its effects, and remain standing, are all the best and
most valuable of timber, available and strong for every ne-
cessary pnrpose to which they can be applied by man. So
it is with the commercial hurricane that has desolated the
United States. Hundreds of merchants have fallen before
the tempest, and many of the most extensive firms in Ame-
rica have bitten the dust. But those who have weathered
the storm are now stronger than ever ; and have proved
themselves trustworthy, by the promptness and integrity
they have shown in manfully meeting and triumph(tntly
overcoming every difficulty. I put the matter before you iu
this farm for the purpose of correcting the opinions of many
of the English papers, which argue that, because the failures
in the Republic have been so extensive) it would, therefore,
be the height of imprudence to give further credit to
American merchants, sow, nothing is further from the
fact ; and if the writers of sueh articles had sojourned in
the States for the last slit months, had seen the %mbar.
rassed state of commerce and the currency, had witnessed
the almost superhuman efforts made by a Majority to meet
their European payments, they would admit, as a self-
evident truth, that those firms who could pass through so
fiery an ordeal, arc as much entitled to extensive credit,
on the score of honour, opulence, and integrity, as any set
of men that have ever traded in this or any ()tiler country.
Another false impression; which I see generally noticed in the
British press, requires to be effaced. This is, teat "nearly
all the merchants in the Union had become bankrupt."
Ridiculous! In this city, where so many of the principal
firms of the Union are located, the failures have been really
very, very few ; and with the exception of Cornley and
Co., and one broker, of no great importance, the same
remarks will equally apply to Balton, Baltimore, Provi-
dence, Charleston, Norfolk, and Richmond, all places of

large and increasing commerce. In Philadelphia th are
houses which date their origin in the steady days or wii-
liam Penn, the father of this sovereign state, while amongst
the majority of them those fine principles of the Quakers—
" never to traffic beyond our means, never to trust without
good security, never to enter into wild speculations, and never
to be otherwise than punctual in payments"—arc adopt e I as
the guiding stars of all their transactions between man
and man, both at home and abroad. True, a great num-
ber have gone by the board bath in New York and New
Orleans, but even in those cities a far greater numb.if re
main behind, and, as I have endeavoured to show in my
brief argument, such are the very men who can and
ought to be trusted. Besides, bad as "matters and
things" have bcen, and ruinous as their effects have
proved on both sides the Atlantic, it must be clear that
business will soon resume its wonted vigour. The army
of merchants, like an army of soldiers on the field of
battle, will ever present a bold front, for the men who
in the first rank are sure that their places will be
;mmediately supplied by men from the second and the
Look for a moment at one fact : the English
cannot do without cotton, rice, and tobacco ; the Ameri-
cans cannot do without manufactured goods. Timis fact
alone, including, as it dues, such a countless number of in-
ternational wants, is enough to convince any min of reflec-
tion that a barter trade will and must arise, nearly equal
perhaps to the commerce between the two countries, prior
to the panic. Away, then, with the ridicu!ous notions so
much dwelt upon in the Tory papers, that " American
commerce has recived a blow from which it will never

rear.

recover 1"
As I have thus taken upon myself the office of Corregi-
dor, i•. 3 to common errors in the British Tory press, I might
as wtli extend my duties, and correct a flagrant misrepre-
sentation that has appeared almost daily in one or other of
the American journals, the more especially as I see the fal-
lacy has not only been copied, but even supported, on your
side of the water. I refer to the statement made, that
" the constant shipment of cotton, specie, &c. to England,
will, in about ten months, pay off the entire debt owing by
America to Great Britain." Such an assertion is, if pos-
sible, more absurd than the former. The greater part of
that debt will never be paid. And why ? I answer, be-
cause it was owing by merchants who have become bank-
rupt : and it is, of course, lost, with the trifling exception
of any small dividends ;hat may arise in the winding up of
the affairs of the broken merchants alluded to. Who will
pay the debts of these broken merchants ? Certainly not
the nation, for it is not due from the nation, but from indi-
viduals. It is, therefere, absurd for any of the American
journalists thus to distort facts, and attempt to gloss over
the extent of the calamity ; and it is quite as ridiculous
for British journalists to c tpy their example.
The last packets which sailed for Europe (on the Ist)
took out a much greater quantity of specie than has been
exported at any one time for months past. Various state-
ments have been made on the subject, but the following, I
know, may be depended on :
The Ontario, for London
The Orpheus, for Liverpool
The Baltimore, for Havre
The Shakspeare, for Liverpool 65,000

Totalspeeie
expoDrteeldlarssincie,lt,(lo,:ospen_
The whole amount of
sion upwards of 6,000,000 dollars.
Public exportation in every part of the Union is directed
towards the approaching Congress, which will convene on
the 4th day of September. Something must be done, and
any legislative act on the subject of the currency must he
of a durable character. The sufferings of the labouring
classes, mechanics, and artisans are beginning to be serious,
and unless manufacturers as well as merchants enjoy their
wonted facilities in the way of a freely circulating medium,
it is difficult to foresee how their sufferings are to be re-
lieved. Judge of the extent of the calamity by the follow-
ing few facts. I have before me a list of sixteen Ame-
rican manufacturing firms who, up to this time last year,
1836, paid their men and women .1,006,000 ds. To the
same period of the present year, 1837, they only paid
55,500 ds. Therefore, in those sixteen houses, alone, employ-
ing nearly 10,000 hands, 950,500d5. are thrown out of circula-
tion, and more than 8,000 hands are thrown out of employ.
One firm alone, 8., J., and Co., paid up to this period, in
1836, 190,000 dollars ;in 1837, only 9,000 dollars. I
admit that things are gradually improving ; but unless the
action •f Congress be wise, energetic, and speedy, it will be
years before the manufacturers will recover their old posi-
tion. Their case is peculiarly hard, for the manufacturers
of the United States cannot, as a body, he charged with
over-trading, seeing that American manufactures are as yet
but in their infancy. The merchants, or rather the specu
Laing portion of them, are the individuals who have over-
traded ; and I much fear that the sanguine expectations
formed by many of their number—that Government can
remedy most of the evil—will exercise a benumbing influ-
ence on the proceedings of Congress. lioweler Govern-
ment may have been to blame—and that it is blameworthy
in meddling with the currency there can be no doubt—still
common candour and honesty require us to admit that the
merchants have brought much of the misery upon them-
selves by overtrading. This •assertion you will have no diffi-
culty in realising, from the statistics I have forwarded you
in some of my late letters. But lest any of your readers
should have omitted to study them, I will now introduce
the excess, and rapidly progressive excess, of American
importations over American exportations, during the last
five years. It speaks trumpet-tongued as to the cause of

the panic.
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
Look, too, at the following facts, and the clumsy legisla-
tion of Government will be apparent. By destroying the
United States Bank, as a national institution, they destroyed
the tone of the currency ; and in a zealous hatred of banks,
contrived, by a strange hocus-pocus kind of policy, to more
than double their number ; that is, the remedy more than
doubled the disease.
In 1811 the State banks throughout the Union amounted
to only 89, circulatio❑ 45,000,000 dollars. In 1815 they
numbered 203 ; and in 1817, 275. In 1830 they had
increased to only 320. In 1834 there were 506 ;in 1835,
558 ;in 1837, 667. In the last seven years there has been
an increase of 357 ne%% banks and 146 branches.