The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-10 00:00:00

-RAMSGATE-THURSD AY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sta,—Notwithstanding the contradiction which has been
given to the reported intention of the French Government
to send the mails to Ramsgate instead of hovers sive have
every reason to believe that such an intention exists, and
we know that whether intended or hot, both the English and
French Mail packets arc nontinually entering this Harbour.
If no obstacle existed at the entrance of Dover HaVhour,
why did his I‘...lajesty's steam rii.Cht, ..Piry-ody, put into
Ramsgate yester.le.r-, her passengers, proceed 4_o the
in readiness by morning, to t«mac on board the
mail for Calais, agreeable to thc, method described by your
Correspondent to have been practised last Sunday by the
Ferrttt

Again, why did the French Government steam packet,
La Poste, enter Ramsgate Harbour last 'night, dt
o'clock, where she landed her mail, if there were no ob-
structions at Dover?

The fact is, that the attempted improvements of that
harbour are mere nostrums—the Culverts, &C., against the
bar, nothing better than refl.-ming the labnini
with the same result ; but,supposinir Otc bar removed, and
the wind never more inclinca 0 blow from the South West,
one grew* objection `will remains, that no steam vessel can
entr...r Dover fiat/;our from 6 to 8 /wen tint of every 24
/lours, itttlWy day of the ear,, want Wald
The present system. earrying on the inteitotu4se be-
tween England ...tria France involves both extra risk and
extra expnse. Take, for iitttance, the case of the Ferret
last week—it brint'S Prince Polignac off Dover Harbour,
lands him ih a boat in boisterous weather, the vessel then
rune to Ramsgate, lands the Prince's carriages, &c. which
are sent to Dover by land ; the vessel then leaves the
harbour, and remaining at sea all night, that she may be
ready next morning to receive in a boat from Dover Har-
bour the English mail for Calais, and then as a climax, she
being short of coals, is compelled to make for Ramsgate
again, in order to receive a supply to enable her to reach
her destination. Major Sturgeon's marchings and coun-
termarehings are nothing to this.
We should hear nothing of tl e Inisterous weather pre-
venting communication with the Continent, if instead of
being compelled to proceed to Dover, where it is suspected
or known the mail packets cannot enter, they were desired
to proceed to Ramsgate direct. This is particularly the
case with the mails from Ostend. The distance from
Ostend to Dover is several miles greater than from Ostend
to Ramsgate. From the state of the wind, it is pretty well
known when the bar is up at Dover, or from the probable
state of the tide, supposing the wind not unfavourable, the
necessity exists of landing the mail in boat. Under these
discouraging circumstances, it may naturally be expected
the communication between the two countries is more
interrupted than it would be if the packets had to make for
a nearer port, and that port one into which they could
enter at all times.

I am Sir, your obedient servant,
W. A. H.

To the list of packets which arrived at this Harbour yes-
terday, may be added the Dover packet Water Witch, from
Calais, with passengers, &c.

MR. BIVEN, THE COMIC SINGER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Kean's Head Tavern, Russell-court, Drury-lane, Dec. 5.
Sir—Under the head of Marylebone Police Office, in your
paper of Saturday last, is the case of two fellows, one giving
the name of " Frederick Beven, the comic singer," the other
calling himself " Daniel Lynden, the Irish vocalist," both
charged with having stolen a poor woman's coffee-kettle, &c.,
and were permitted by the magistrates to settle the affair
by paying half-a-crown each to the woman. Now, Sir, as
I am the only comic singer of that name that ever I heard
of (and I have been in the profession upwards of twenty
years) it must be obvious to you that, though this fellow has
spelt his name (or rather the name he has assumed) diffe-
rently, yet it is pronounced so nearly the same that few who
know me will be convinced that I am not the person impli-
cated in the dirty transaction. I have already suffered much
annoyance through it, and as I have no other means of sup-
porting myself and numerous family but by my professional
exertions, I fear it may injure me much in my present un-
dertaking. Being engaged at present in conducting the
evening concerts held at the above house, your early insertion
of this letter will, Sir, oblige your very obedient humble
servant,

11. E. BIVEN.
N. B.—There seems to be no doubt that the person tak-
ing the name had some vindictive feeling.

CHURCH RATES.

TO MY FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS IN
BUNGAY.

When I wrote my letter to the Churchwardens on Mon-
day, relative to the industriously propagated untruth, that
I, my brother, and son, had paid the Church Rate now in
collection, I felt sure it would prove to be a " lie with a
circumstance," and I find it only fall short in this, that it is
a lie with more circumstances than one, and those circum-
stances got up, that they might give colour to the original
falsehood.
An answer—such answer as it is—to my letters to the
Churchwardens, complaining of this trick, I have this morn-
ing received from Mr. Scott. He has enclosed, in my letter
to him, a copy of an anonymous note without date, which
it is alleged was sent to the Collector in these words :
" Mr. Spall, Sir—The enclosed fifteen shillings and six-
pence is to pay the Church Rates of Mr. John, Mr. Ro-
bert, and Mr. Charles Childs, to the parish of Bungay St.
Mary."
This is accompanied by the copy of another note, dated
Dec. 2, 1836, purportinc, to be written by H. Spall to his
master, Mr. Scott, in these words :
" Bungay, Dec. 2, 1836.
"To Mr. Scott : Sir—l hand you a copy of a note sent
to me last night, inclosed in a parcel, sealed.

" Your obedient servant,
" HENRY SPALL."

Now it was well known in Bungay, that I left home on
Thursday, the Ist instant, and you will see how quickly this
thing was got up, for on the 2d, Collector Spall writes to
Churchwarden Scott, that he had " last night"—that is,
the very night on which I left home—received 15s. Gd., the
exact amount of the rates of Mr. John, Mr. Robert, and
Mr. Charles Childs.
Now, is it not remarkable, that some stranger should be
so kind as to pay our rates for us, that he could get access
to the rate-books, so as to know the aggregate of our joint
and several assessments, and that he should hit upon the
very moment of my departure for this city, to accommodate
the collector, and violate my publicly avowed principles, and
those of my family, by putting his hand into his own pocket
to pay the rates imposed upon us ?
If a friend, and not a tool of the adversary, had made
up this parcel, it is perfectly clear he would have taken the
receipts, which it is said are left in the hands of the col-
lector, and, if he did not wish to be known to my family in
the matter, he could have resorted to another anonymous
parcel to pass them into our keeping.
Again, if a friend bad done this, would he have left other
branches of my family open to the tender mercies of those
who call. for jails and dungeons in aid of their religious
worship ?—would they haVe left a female* open to such an
affliction, when they were so anxious to relieve those who
are better able to bear solitary confinement for eighteen
hours out of every twenty-four?
Mr. Scott stated at a recent Vestry meeting, in which the
other churchmen concurred, that he should execute his office
in a Christian spirit ; and 1 am anxious to show, if the truth
be so, that he has not violated that profession in this mat-

ter, by tracing out and exposing those who have thus impro-
perly used my name, and that of my brother and son, and
showing that whoever has been guilty of concocting and
acting in this delusion, the Churchwardens had nothing
to do with it. The intimation that a Christian spirit
was in future to influence those who had insisted that
other persons should pay for wine and bread to enable
them to celebrate the Lord's Supper, was peculiarly gra-
tifying when coming from the lips of those who afore-
time had worshipped in the parish Church of Bungay
St. Mary, while their townsman was in prison, for not
paying the expenses of that worship ;—and it was
the less to be expected that such a change should come
over the spirit of Mr. Scott, seeing that be had formerly
pleaded the obligation of his office, as a motive for visiting
with imprisonment and dungeons those who could not con-
scientiously worship with him, nor pay for the worship of
his newly-adopted Establishment. Those, therefore, who
have paid our Rates, if they have been paid, have removed
from Mr. Scott the opportunity of manifesting that Chris-
tian spirit which he had declared his determination to show ;
and I am doing him a kindness, when I offer, in addition to
the Five Pounds already offered by my brother and son—
other Fifteen Pounds' reward—that is, TWENTY POUNDS,
to those who, within the next month, can give me the in-
formation by which I may know who has thus been depriv-
ing him of the power of showing the spirit he boasted of.
I trust the trick has produced no effect on the mind of any
of you whose good opinion I value ; and, with the hope
that we shall be able to drag to light, and hold up the real
actors in the matter, I am, my friends and.neighbours, yours,
JOHN CHILDS.
• Since the copy of this letter was received from London,
Spall has called on Mrs. Paul, for the Church rate, and re-
ceived an answer that Mrs. Paul does not pay Church. rate.

The Moira Lodge of Freemasons celebrated their
anniversary festival at the •London Tavern, Bishopsgate-
street, on Wednesday last, on which occasion 50 brethren
partook of a sumptuous banquet. A gold medal,
was presented to
nndhsis retirement from
orna-
mented with
Esq.,
thend s,p‘,asltui‘e
ifiafsttyerp,otoi
John Biggs,
the Chair, for his able Presidency during two consecutive
years.