The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-29 00:00:00

DEBTOR.

Dec. 28. Dec. 21.
.
fr. c. fr. c.
Cspital of the Bank 182,500,000 182,500,000
Profits in addition to . .
capital (Art. 8, Law,
June 9, 1857) - 7,044,776 02 7,044,776 02
Reserve of the Bank
and its branches 22,105,750 14 ' 22,105,750 14
Reserve in landed pro- • ' , "
perty 4,000,000 4,000,000
Notes in circulation .. 879,683,575 : 8591 4171 675
Banknotes to order and
receipts payable at •
sight 7,111,840 14 7,936,127 54
Treasury account cur-;
rent creditor
Current accounts, Paris 144,012,926 94 . 164,931,73.5 93
Do. branch banks
Dividends payable 730,161. 82 781,722 75
Discounts and sundry
interests
Reaiscounted the last
six months
SurPlus of receipts not
distributed
Sundries

Total

CREDITOR.
Dec. 28. Der. 21.
Cash in hand and in fr. c. fr.
Branch banks
Commercial bills over-
due
Commercial bills dis-
counted, not yet due 323,791,776 52 307,865,628 79
Do. branch banks 330,978,670— 315,359;500
Advances on deposit of
bullion 11,308,300 11,266,000
Do. branch banks 8,202,900 9,506,800
Do. on French Public
Securities 13,314,700 13,259,300
Do. by branch banks 6,836,100 7,289,000
Do. on railway shares
and debentures
D. branch banks 20,434,480 19,886,580
Do. on Credit Foncier
Bonds
Do. branches 456,250 450,450
'Do. to the State (Con-
vention, June 10,
1857)
• . 60,000,000 60,000,000
Government Stock re-
serve 12,980,780 14 12,980,750 14
Do. disposable
Rentes Iraraobalis4es
(Law, June 9, 1857) 100,000,000 100,000,000
Hotel and furniture of
the Bank and landed
property branches 8,380,667 8,361,267
Expenses of manage-
ment 2,759,650 78
Sundries

Total 1,419,877,955 55 1,397,388,796 17
Certified by the Senator-Governor of the Bank of France.
(Signed) ROULAND.

Commemoration Festival in Westminster

Abbey.

Yesterday was Childerm as Day, or the Festival
of the Holy Innocents. It was, moreover, the
eight hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the
abbey church of St. Peter's, Westminster. On that
day eight centuries ago, King Edward the Confessor,
feeling his end .to be nigh, signed the charter of the
foundation ; and eight days afterwards, on the eve
of the Festival of the Epiphany, " Twelfth Day,"
1066, he was no more. His body was laid to its
long rest in the Abbey which he had founded, and
which he lived but just long enough to. see brought
to completion.
There were two full choral services yesterday, in
celebration of this festival in the history of the
church. At ten o'clock in the morning a large
congregation filled the whole of the space avail-
able for worship, and the first service commenced
with the 95th Psalm, " 0 come, let us sing unto
the Lord." The anthem after the third collect
was Purcell's, the 122 d Psalm ; and the introit
was a hymn written by the Ven. C. Wordsworth,
D.D., Canon sad Archdeacon of Westminster,
and taken by his request from the " Holy Year."
It may be of interest to some of our readers
for us to mention that the tune of this hymn was
composed by a niece of the late Rev. Temple Frere,
M.A., Canon of Westminster —Mrs. J. J. B. E.
Frere. The prayers were sung by the Rev. S. F.
Jones, Incumbent of St. Matthew's, Spring-gar-
dens ; and the Communion office was taken by the
Rev. Lord John Thynne.
To say that expectation was generally visible in
the faces turned towards the pulpit when the Dean
of Westminster, the Very Rev. Arthur Penrhyn
Stanley, D.D., began his sermon, is no mere com-
pliment, such as might be carelessly paid to a
I popular preacher. It wag one of the most striking
incidents to an observer of the scene, bent on look-
ing as well as listening, while the solemn festival
proceeded. The Dean took for his text the 10th
chapter of St. John's Gospel, verses 22 and 23 :
" And it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedica-
tion, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the
temple in Solomon's porch." From this passage in
the life of the Redeemer, Dean Stanley drew a
sanction for such celebrations as the one which had
brought his hearers to that hallowed place. He
described in vivid language the dedication of the
Abbey, by the Confessor, one of the most cherished
objects of whose reign was the erection of a
Church and Abbey of St. Peter, in such a
form of architectural grandeur as had not yet
been known to England. The earliest foundation
of Westminster Abbey was, indeed, an event of far
greater antiquity than the period of Edward's ex-
istence. Far back in Saxon times, quite in the
beginning of the seventh century, when Sebert was
King of the East Saxons, must search be made for
the Abbey's true origin ; but the first foundation of
any part part of the present building, and the first
establishment of that building on the peculiar foot-
ing, both national and ecclesiastical, which it has
borne ever since, dates from the reign of the last
hereditary King of Englandbefore the Norman Con-
quest—Edward the Confessor. Dismissing anti-
quarian and architectural considerations, and taking
on this occasion the religious aspects of the event,
Dean Stanlv showed, first, how the growth of the
Abbey out of the act of Edward the Confessor bore
witness to the power of simple, childlike faith.
Touching on points of character incongruous with
our modern notions, the preacher eloquently en-
larged on the one point of enduring permanent in-
terest—Edward's artless piety. There were buried
in that Abbey many who, in their lives had shown
themselves to be- great, but not good. He,
the founder, was a signal instance of the contrary ;
he was good, not great. Entering upon a second
division of his theme, Dean Stanley reviewed the
condition of England at the eve of the Conquest,
of which event he considered King Edward himself
as the harbinger. There was his Norman habits ;
there, too, was the Abbey, plainly indicating, in its
Norman style and dimensions, a vast change.
Founded in the hope of future greatness, the Abbey
has, in its long and changeful history, justified. that
hope ; it comprehends memorials of all characters,
parties, churches, and sects, and it is the home of
all England. Founded as a place of worship, and,
through all its danger, still continuing, it has been
by turns in the service of every branch of Christian
faith. Roman Catholic, Independent, Church of
England services have been celebrated within its
walls. On its character as a home of worship all
its other historical interests depend. The idea of
Christian worship, of its permanence and value, was
then evoked by Dean Stanley from the series of
pictures he had drawn ; and the end of his dis-
course—a homily and a brilliant historical essay in
one—was thanksgiving and prayer ; thanksgiving
for the mercies connected wity the day, and prayer
for the fulfilment of the duties rising out of it.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.—Yesterday the
Lord Chancellor attended at the House of Lords, for the
purpose of proroguing Parliament. There were no peers
present, and there was not the usual official visit on the
part of the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod to the House
of Commons, the whole of the proceedings being con-
ducted in the House of Lords. The new Parliament will,
on Thursday, the Ist of February next, assemble for the
despatch of business. In anticipation of the opening of
Parliament by her Majesty in person the House of Lords
is undergoing athorough cleansing, and workmen are and
will be actively engaged, not only in the great chamber
but in all the approaches to it, peers' rooms, committee
rooms, and the various offices. The House of Commons,
too, is being made as smart as it is capable of being made
for the 'wept ion of its new occupants.
DEATH OF Meg. DILLON, THE ACTRESS.—Mrs.
Charles Dillon, wife of the well-known English actor, died
in New York on the 13th inst. Mrs. Dillon arrived with
her husband from Australia a few days previous, and was
seeking an engagement,