The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-25 00:00:00

these, assessed taxes to the amount of 1,670,914/.
annually have been repealed, and provision has been
made for the interest of the twenty millions voted for
the abolition of slavery. Can we doubt, then, that by
continuing in this career, and sedulously applying
whatever surplus there may be in the reduction of the
most obnoxious imposts, we shall, ere long, without
any violent or fundamental change in the system of
taxation, be able to afford effectual relief, where it is
admitted by all parties to be most desirable to extend
it—to the trade and industry of the country—Morn-
ing Chronicle.

Our sincere respect for an evening contemporary—
a respect not less due to its spirit and integrity than to
its conspicuous and powerful talent—inspires us with
feelings of no ordinary concern, when we observe from
day to day the direction which the efforts of our va-
luable colleague have been taking on questions which
involve the vital interests of the Established Church.
The subject is so painful that, having just glanced
at it, we shall say hardly but another word, expressive
of our earnest hope ana trust that discord and
distraction may no longer exhibit themselves in the

)osom of our sacred establishment ; that the Church

in her day of need and trouble may not, while as-
sailed by the outward enemy, he torn to pieces by her
ow❑ children, and divided against herself. We do sup-
plicate of our Reverend Brethren that they will now
suffer the heartburnings and deplorable anomisities of
which Oxford has of late been the focus to die away,
and at least among the ministers of our holy religion he
forgotten, however they have been, and will, we fear,
continue to be, rejoiced at by the foes of that religion.
We pray that an exemplary scholar and divine like Dr.
Hampden may cease to be made a rallying point for
political intrigue, and a butt for party persecution ; and
we conclude by beseeching our own estimable allies to
moderate, instead of stimulating, the professional and
multitudinary zeal which it would he so much a more
meritorious service to the church to temper by charity
and discretion.—Times.

The affair of the Divinity Professorship at Oxford
ias been throughout au unfortunate one. Doctor

Hampden's app-ointment was an improper one—the
opposition to it was intemperate, and now the counter-
opposition of the Proctors of the University is a stretch
of prerogative which is not easy for men who cherish

principle; of freedom to submit to. We regret
much that the members of Convocation should have
assembled to decide upon Doctor Hampden's fitness
for the office to which he had been regularly appointed,
until sonic evidence had been obtained of the mode

in which he was likely to discharge his duties ; but
the Convocation having assembled, it is not pos-
sible to be quite satisfied with a peremptory stifling
of its voice, by the absolute non placet of the two
Proctors The source of all this evil evidently lies in the
extreme unreasonableness of the appointment to the
Divinity Chair, resting where it does. Can any-flung
be less consistent with common sense, than that a
Noble Lord, with the qualifications of Lord Melbourne,
should decide upon the most proper person to teach
the fundamentals of orthodox religion in the University
of Oxford ? Who can be surprised that, when the
appointment is in such hands, it should be made on
party grounds, and not on the considerations which
ought to have governed it ? The titles of certain
offices are very deceptive. When one hears of the
Regius Professor of Divinity, there is no clue to the
truth. If Doctor Hampden were called " Viscount
Melbourne's Professor of Divinity," the title might be
ludicrous, but it would sufficiently explain what it is
)now desirable should be understood.—Morn. Herald.

The Thames Haven Railway Bill has been read
a first time.

The scientific and commercial world will shortly

have sufficient data whereon to speculate respecting a canal
oceanic communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific-
_

Major Biddle, of the United States' army, and suite, were des-
patched in the preceding year by that Government to examine
and report on the facilities of the undertaking. Commander
It. Owen, of his Britannic Majesty's service, is at present
surveyinc, the Lake of Nicaragua and River San Juan; and
Capt. Ifeechy, in the Sulphur, accompanied by a tender, will
shortly complete the survey of the shores of Central America
on the Pacific. The Government of the country is very
anxious to forward and protect the cutting of a grand canal
•
from ocean to ocean through the Lake of Nicaragua, the most
advantageous point for the communication.
offsomthee
curiosity.
In The bottle washed ashore near Littlehampton a
few days since, containing a written paper.. signifying to have
been thrown into the sea from a
Verde Islands, near six years ago,
In its long passage to this coast, it is supposed. to have been
Friel anschexschiltped
West India Islands, into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of sot by the tide, in the
it
to
has
Mex-
ico, passing through the Strait and Gulf of Florida, and across
the Atlantic Ocean into
ytthe ebbings andc flowing of the tide,,
during a considerable portion. of the time. The following is:
the information, translated into English which ,
, it contained
; off the Cape de Verde
_.„ Aifred, Captain Bonneflo' , of Havre, bound from Ma-
death
great
numberun under nilla, to Haicre bondh lane, 1830
Islands—all on we/Brighton Gazette.
HANGING, wr ACCIDENT.—A person named
II orlon, in the neighbourhood of Stradbr.llY, Queen's county,
the following circumstances :-- I t
aciTilea r sb)t'hahtisa
cake in the neighbourhood where I. • f ed durin;
p ayswere per orm
of the peasantry assembled at a.
the night. One of those represented a mock trial, in which,
the unfortunate man was sentenced to h hanged. They 60(11
liina up to a collar-beam . natile standing oa a chair, in this
position, two men kicked the at:kir from under him ; he YOH,
and although cut dem 1:1 :41 a fear seconds, it was found that be
was strangled. The wan, it is reported, died in a short time,.
44,4 the two men absconded.—Dublin Fawning, Arca