The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-04 00:00:00

THE THANKSGIVING.

The following is a copy of the Queen's Letter to his
Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, for a Collec-
tion for the Relief of a large portion of the Popu-
lation in Ireland and in some Districts of Scotland
on the approaching Day of Thanksgiving :
"VICTORIA R.

" Most Reverend Father in God, our right trusty
and right entirely beloved Councillor, we greet you
well. Whereas a large portion of the population in
Ireland and in some districts in Scotland is still
suffering severe distress, owing to the failure of the
ordinary supplies of food in the year 1846 and in the
beginning of the present year; and whereas it has
been represented to us that many of our subjects are
desirous, on the occasion of the approaching day of
thanksgiving for the late abundant harvest, to con-
tribute to the aid of their distressed brethren, and
have at the same time humbly prayed us to issue our
Royal Letters directed to the Lord Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Lord Archbishop of York, autho-
rising them to promote contributions within their re-
spective provinces for the same benevolent purpose,
" We, taking the premises into our royal conside-
ration, and being always ready to give the best en-
couragement and countenance to such humane and
charitable undertakings, are graciously pleased to
condescend to their request; and we do hereby direct
that these our letters be communicated by you to the
several Suffragan Bishops within your province ex-
pressly requiring them to take care that publication be
made hereof on Sunday, the 17th day of October next,
and in such places within their respective dioceses as the
said Bishops shall appoint ; and that upon this occa-
sion the ministers in each parish do effectually excite
their parishioners to a liberal contribution, which
shall be collected in the several churches and chapels
immediately after divine service on that day ; and the
ministers of the several parishes are to cause the sums
so collected to be paid, immediately into the hands of
the Bank of England, to be accounted for by them,
and applied to the carrying on and promoting the
above mentioned good designs. And so we bid you
heartily farewell.
" Given at our Court of St. James's the 29th day
of September, 1847, in the 11th year of our reign.
" By her Majesty's command,
" G. GREY.
" To the Most Reverend Father in God,
our right trusty and right entirely
beloved Councillor, William Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, Primate of all
England and Metropolitan."
The form of prayer alluded to was last night
decided upon by the Archbishop. It is almost simi-
lar, except in regard to the collects and
psalms, to
that used on the occasion of the General Fast.

MYSTERIOUS FIRE IN BROADWALL—On Saturday
evening,shortly before eight o'clock, an alarming fire
brokeoi t in the upper part of the premises belonging to
Mr. E. W. Baldwin, beer-shop keeper, situate at No, 78,
Broadwall, Lambeth. When the first discovery was
made, two distinct fires were found burning in the two
rooms of the top floor. The necessary intelligence
having been furnished to the fire-stations, with all pos-
sible expedition the West of England arrived, closely
followed by several others of the brigade. Plenty of
water having been immediately obtained from the Lam-
beth mains, the firemen set to work, and soon got the
flames subdued, but not until the furniture and
other effects in the apartments were de-
stroyed, and the building considerably burned. The
furniture and premises were insured in the Sun fire
office. How the fire originated is not precisely known;
but from the fact of the outbreaks occurring at the same
moment, strong suspicion is entertained that some part)
must, unperceived to Mr. Baldwin, have entered the
rooms and wilfully set both on fire. Mr. Braidwood, in
his report to the fire insurance offices, after detailing the
damage done, returns the cause of fire as "doubtful."
CROYDON CATTLE FAIR.—On Saturday the second
annual fair of this town commenced for the sale of
beasts, and notwithstanding the weather was very dull,
the attendance of all classes of persons was very nume•
rous. The show of cattle, as is generally the case at
this fair, was very extensive and in the best condition ;
purchasers were also inclined to do business, and the
prices were on a moderate scale.
Lord Cochrane, 18th Foot, late Assistant Quarter-
master-General at Hong-Kong, arrived at the Earl of
Dundonald's on Saturday, from China. His Lordship
has been absent from England more than five years.

The following memorial from Don Jose Sala-
manca., the Minister of Finances, to the Queen of
Spain, and the royal decree founded on that memorial,
is published in the Gageta of Madrid of Sept. 26 :
" TO THE QUEEN.
" Madame,—lt is an acknowledged axiom -that
credit constitutes the greatest element of strength
and power of modern nations. In order to consoli-
date it, all the nations of Europe have made enormous
and costly sacrifices, considering credit as an inex-
haustible source of wealth which increases capital in
the exorbitant proportion of interest, the payment of
which can be easily realised. Unfortunately, the posi-
tion of credit in Spain does not correspond to the efforts
made to consolidate and increase it. The wars of this
and preceding centuries have imposed on us burdens
that can be borne but in peace and at the cost of
enormous sacrifices, but that have become unbear-
able, since a civil war and a revolution have com-
pelled us to go td expenses wholly disproportionate
to the resources of the budget. Those fatal cir-
cumstances led to the suspension of payment of
the interest on the consolidated debt, and that
suspension has inflicted on our credit so deep a
wound, that six years of religiously effected payments
of the portions of that debt to which our offers had
amounted (and they were the only ones then within
the limits of possibility) have been inadequate to
healing it. Happily, Madam, the undersigned Minis-
ter has the satisfaction to inform your Majesty that
the effects of peace have not been fruitless, and that
the Treasury is daily discharging its obligations as the.
collection of the taxes becomes easier. Thanks to the
reforms accomplished by my predecessors, to those I
have the honour to propose to your Majesty, to other
measures I shall hereafter submit to you, and also to
the immense profit which must be the result of the
amortization, I am quite convinced that 1 shall be
able soon to submit to your royal 'approbation a pro-
ject for the general regulation of the public debt,
which will consolidate established rights, satisfy just
hopes, dispel aprehensions calculated to distrust the ex-
pectation of security, and restore the confidence on
which the credit of the State's paper is founded. In the
meantime we have to fulfil:anlimperious duty, namely,
the realisation of a part of the decree of the 11th June
last. It was provided, by the 50th Article of that
decree, that a contract entered into with the first esta-
blishment of credit in Spain, should secure, for ten
years to come, the payment of the interest on the
Three per Cent. Stock. Your Government, Madam,
not content with authorising a respectable Junta,
consisting of the first functionaries of the State
in the finance department, to dispose with entire
independence of the money exclusively destined to the
sacred object of paying the interest on the debt,
wished, moreover, that an independent institution, in
close connexion with Spanish trade, should also in-
terfere as security for the payment. Now, to realise
this intention recorded in the aforesaid decree of June,
last, your Government began by designating certain
guarantee proceeds of easy collection, without the
interposition of the Treasury, in order to provide for
an obligation which ought to be of the first rate. The
article which includes the public debt amounts in the
budget to 92,000,000, and the Government has
taken care to apply to that object interest exceeding
it. The proceeds of all the national property, already
lesignated by the aforesaid royal decree; the produce
of the Almadan and Almadenejos mines, which the
direction of the debt received; and the net proceeds
of all the coffers beyond the seas, now conceded to
that establishment, form a sum superior to the part of
the budget relative to the public debt. By means of
such well-secured resources, the Junta will proceed
to the regulation of its contract with the Spanish
San Fernando Bank, in order that that establishment
give, with all possible security, the means of reli-
giously satisfying such sacred obligations. Thus the
State's creditors will have before them a period of
ten years, during which the combination of the most
respectable guarantees and of the securest means
places beyond a doubt the safety of the cellection of
the revenue. In order to obtain a result so advan-
tageous to the prospects of the country, I have the
honour to submit to your Majesty's approbation the
following