The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-02 00:00:00

COUNT MONTALEMBERT.

Count lVfontalembert has addressed the following
letter to the director of the iTournal des Debats :
" January 29.

" Sir—ln your number of yesterday, after many
days' silence, you declare that it is impossible for
you to insert my reply to MM. Rendu and Guny,
whom you permitted to maintain in face of your
readers, that I was the chief author of the Pope's
misfortunes. I confess I found some difficulty in
comprehending what prevented you from giving
some space to a man who merely desired to prove
that three phrases pronounced by him in 1849
did not gain the battle of Solferino, sign the treaty
of Villafranca, cover the hills of Castelfidardo
with blood, and bombard Gaeta. I would
have particularly desired that the pub-
lic should immediately know that the existing
regime on the press did not leave me the liberty
necessary to reply to M. Rendu. You have certainly
no need of my authorisation to demonstrate once
more that we do not possess that liberty as in Eng-
land (of which the Emperor has made so fine an
t>ulogium), nor even liberty as in Austria, where the
law on the press has suppressed warnings to jour-
nals. However that may be, you announce
that your refusal of insertion arises from your
situation, and not from your intention. I must only
bow before this reason, and leave M. Rendu master
on a ground where he alone is free, and thank you
for having clearly explained our situation to all
three—the difficulty of yours, the hardship of mine,
and the facilities of his.

" CH. DE MONTALEMBERT."

BANK RETURNS.

The Bankers' Magazine furnishes the returns of the cir-
culation of the Private and Joint-Stock Banks in England
and Wales for the four weeks ending Dec. 13. These
returns, combined with the circulation of the Scotch and
Irish Banks for the same period, and the average circula-
tion of the Bank of England for the four weeks ending the
10th Dec. (the nearest date furnished by their returns),
will give the following results of the circulation of notes in
the United Kingdom, when compared with the previous
month :

Nov. 15, Dec. 13,
1862. 1862. Increase Decrease.
-I
Bank of England 21,007,475 19,829,158 1,182 817
Private Banks 3,3,6,282 3,205,000 181,282
Joint-stock Banks 2,970,735 2,875,251 95,i84
Total in England 27,364,992 25,905,409 1,459,583
Scotland 4,409,845 4,571,9 i 7 163,092
Ireland 5,923,387 5,b42,711 80,619
----- ---
United Kingdom. 37,698,224 36,321,114 ; 1,377,110

And, as compared with the month ending the 14th of Dec.,
1861, the above returns show a decrease of £407,927
in the circulation of notes in England, and a decrease of
4047,196 in the circulation of the United Kingdom :
On comparing the above with the fixed issues of the seve-
ral banks the following is the state of the circulation :
The English private banks are below their fixed
issue
The English joint-stock banks are below their
fixed issue £427,106

Total below fixed issue in England... .L 1,551,417
The Scotch banks are above their fixed issue .. £1,823,666
The Irish banks are below their fixed issue .... £511,726
The average stock of bullion held by the Bank of Eng-
land in both departments during the month ending the 10th
of Dec. was £15,005,360, being a decrease of £552,862 as
compared with the previous month, and a decrease of
£11,094 when compared with the same period last year.
The following are the amounts of specie held by the Scotch
and Irish banks during the month ending the 13th Dec.:—
Gold and silver held by the Scotch banks .... £2 492 807
Gold and silver held by the Irish banks ....... 2:172:201

£4,665,008
Being an increase of £192,586 as compared with the
previous return, and a decrease of £429,000 when compared
with the corresponding period of last year.

MR. C. DICKENS'S READINGS IN PARIS. --Mr.
Dickens gave his second reading on Thursday and
Friday, for the joint benefit of the British Charitable Fund
in Paris and the distressed operatives of Lancashire. The
selections were from "Dombey and Son," and the trial
scene in " Pickwick." On Friday evening Mr. Dickens
read passages from his " Christmas Carol," with as great,
if not more, success than his " Little Dombey." On each
of the three occasions the room, the largest it is said in the
Embassy, was full; and the result, no doubt profitable to
the excellent object for which Mr. Dickens has given the
gratuitous aid of his incoml arable talent both as a writer
and a reader. Among the audience each night were French
and Americans, as well as English, and the admiration of
all three was expressed with the same earnestness. One
Az
before N oot Nh .e— lastT h
wish, too, they all seemed to join in, and this was that, as
Mr. Dickens has rendered so great a service to the British
Charitable Fund and to the Lancashire operatives, ho
and where
another series of readings on his own account,
re his auditory would be still more numerous.
RoMK
Merl and
City ie empty, silent
on the lava pavement,eduspyrsi on fg dunedeep deepens
have into
come s u
them -
and Roman. The sun bakes all day
noon creep „lowlyalong
and they who are in the streets at
to the walls. The shops
in the shadows, clinging closely
the city goes to sleep. opTshare all shut for two hours, and
and cool in the squares; a The splash of fountains sounds loud
along; but were it not for theewboarriagas at intervals rattle
beats up from the pavement, you sun and dry air that
midnight than midday,—,story.s
2;nozhat. rather suppose it
Roma.
Importing Tea
without colour
i on
vents the Chinese passing off inferior leaves the leaf pre-
, kinds. Horniman's Tea is uncoloured, as
in the lima
therefore, always
food Oh, Sold in packets by 2,280 agents.