The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-15 00:00:00

14 lON ZEALAND 1 AND COMPANY

A dinner was given on Saturday night at the London
Tavern, by the New Zealand Land Gompany to Lord
J. Russell. Toe number of persons who sat down was
nh,:nt two hundred and forty.
The Governor of the New Z :atm(' Land Company,
J, ,Somrs, Esq., in the chair.
Thsides the noth guest, Lard J. Russell, there were
at the crete table, to the right and left of the •Cha:r-
zrn, the Eirl of Devon, Lord Metre, Right Hon. H.
Sheil, Lord E. flow_ml, Right Hen. Sir H. Vivian,
the lion. E. J. Stanley, W. Hutt, Esq., Mr. Alder-
YrlPri Thompson, Ii dikes Corns, EEq., J. S. O'Brien,
E 4-1 , the O'Conor Don, Lord Ingestre, Lord Ashbur-
t(%:, *Lord E iot, Right lion. Hepry L:bouchere, V.
E,q., Right Hon. E. Ellice, F. Manic, Esq ,
N.O'Ferral, C. I3uller, Esq., J. Abel Smith,
Eig Taffnell, F,sq., Admiral Young, &c. &c.
Aitcr the usual loyal and formal toasts,
The CHAIRMAN said I rise to propose the health of
the Noble Lord on my right (Lord J. Russell), who
1,17, honoured us with his company on the present oe-
easion.---(qear, hear.) Yon all know the great service
.which he has rendered to the New Zealand Company—
and not alone to them, but to the large body of persons
located as settlers in New Zealand, making these islands
bone fide British colonies. His Lordship has even gone
farther, for he has granted to the New Zealand Com-
pany a charter based upon principles honourable to
them and creditable to himself and her Majesty' Ali-
nisters. I trust that the day is not far distant when we
shAl see these islands rank among the hest of her Ma-
jesty's dominions ; a circumstance cshioh I trust his
Lordship will live to see accomplished. I shall not
trespass on your time, but propose at once the health
of our distinguished guest, Lord J. Russell.—( Cheers.)
Lord J. RUSSELL—Mr. Governor and Gentlemen—
When I say that I am embarrassed at returning thanks
for tl:e honour you have done me, you will understand
me, and ascribe it to the true motive, when I tell you
that my accustomed mode of speaking is amidst the
noise of contention and party strife, and that I am not
used to the expression of such general kindness as you
have shoWn me on the present occasion.—( Hear.) Your
worthy Governor, in saying that I have rendered ser-
vices to the New Zealand Company, has also disclosed
my motives. I served the New Zealand Company be-
cause I thought their exertions and their cd'orts to hen°.
fit the country were useful, and because it seemed desi-
rable to give the aid of the (iovernment and the sup-
port of the Crown to the objects they had in view. I
should be very far indeed from serving them with any
other motive. In the position in which I stand towards
the Crown it is my duty to consider every question
connected with colon;“tion and the colonies; as
it affects the interests of the Crown, tlie country, and
the
_color/tbs. I believe the colony of New Zealand is
conducted on principles that to;,1•1 at once to ,Ilstain the

dignity of the Cro;vn and to increase the future pros-
perity of this country. It is therefore for these reasons,
that I have lent my humble efforts to support them.
In so doing I should be every way unworthy of your
approbation if I took any extraordinary merit to myself :
for, in the first place, the value of colonies to the mother
country and all the advantages connected with them
have been long since ascertained by debate and di•cus-
sion in Parliament ; and in the second I had the advan-
tage of the most enlightened opinions as to the best
mode of colonization. I only take to myself the merit
of not having been behind these discussions—( Cheers.)
Mr. Governor and Gentleman, I should be entirely un-
worthy the station I hold if I did not add, that with
respect to the colony of New Zealand, as with regard to
any other of her Majesty's possessions on which it is my
duty to advise the Crown, while with respect to the
general principles I had the advantage of immediate
discussion, with regard to the past history and practical
details I had also the advantage of being at the head of
an office where industrious, zealous, and able men have
been for years paying the closest attention to those details,
which it might have cost me many more years to master.
Therefore, a ith respect to principles and details, I claim
no extraordinary merit, the only merit I claim being the
fidelity, industry, zeal, and honesty, with which I have
devoted my best attention to the subject.—( Hear.)
Permit me to say one word on the importance of the
colony of New Zealand. With regard to the prosperity
of that colony, I cannot for a moment doubt that En-
:dish settlers, carrying with them English feelings and
English habits, will in no long time found a prosperous
and flourishing community.—(Cheers.) I could not
doubt this, and therefore the part of the Government
WAS but small in a province of this kind. The virtues
of Englishmen will make those colonies prosper.—
(Hear, hear.) But I cannot look without some anxiety
for the future to the fate of those who have been the
aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand.—(Cheers.)
When I look to the fate of other inhabitants of the
New World, it is impossible that I can see the conse-
quences that have ensued without horror and dismay.
I ivish to God I could say that those were transactions
of three centuries ago, and that nothing like them had
existed in the present day. But lam sorry, indeed, to
say, when I look at the acts of foreign countries, which
it would be invidious to mention—when I look at the
transactions that took place under our own dominion
in Africa and Australia—that I must add, we have all
`reason to blush that such things should be in a
civilized age, and in consequence of the discovery
of those countries by men calling themselves Chris-
tians.—(Hear, hear.) I hope that the New Zealand
Company will pay attention to this subject, and I am
glad that in their proceedings hitherto they have consi-
dered fully what was due to the colony as well as to
this country. The people of the colony are capable of
receiving all the arts of civilized life, and all the bless-
ings of the true religion. Let us, then, impress upon
our minds this fact, that, whatever has passed in former
times, it is our duty in founding the colony of New
Zealand, to show that our practice does not differ from
our precepts ; and that while brotherly love is written in
our Bible, murder and pillage do not form our actual
course of proceeding. It is impossible for me now to
enter on the detail of the transactions connected with
the New Zealand Company, but I am quite sure it will
do everything proper to tend to the future prosperity
of the colony. In this belief I give you " The Health
of Mr. Somes, the Governor of the New Zealand
Company."
Mr. SOMES briefly returned thanks, and concluded
by proposing " The Memory of the Earl of Durham."
" Her Majesty's Ministers" was then proposed by
Mr. HUTT, and replied to by Mr. LABOUCHERE.
" The Earl of Devon and the House of Lords" was
proposed by Mr. Alderman THOMPSON, and replied to
by the Noble Lord.
" Lord Eliot and the House of Commons" was pro-
posed by Mr. G. F. YOUNG, and replied to by that no-
bleman.

" Dr. Hinds and the Church of New Zealand,"" Mr.
F. Baring and prosperity to the British colonies,"" The
Vice-President of the Board of Trade," and other toasts
followed, and the company then broke up, about half-
past eleven o'clock.

TORY ATTACKS ON SIR R. PEEL

(From the Examiner.)
The Times has opened its columns to a series of
attacks on Sir Robert Peel. The articles appear as
the contributions of a Correspondent, but the con-
ductor of the Times takes care to mark his opinion of
their merits by giving them the honours of the edi-
torial type, and to' indicate the judgment on the case,
a reply in defence of the Tory leader is published in a
less conspicuous manner.
The attacks are written with much care, and a ma-
lice studied and ingenious. We have heard them as-
scribed to the most pugnacious of Bishops, supposing that
he could write like a gentlemen, which, it was added,
he might do to disguise himself. Such a masquerade
would certainly be most complete ,for the purpose of
concealment, but we doubt whether the habit could be
worn, even for the nonce, by a person so inveterately
addicted to abuse. The malignity, too, is under a re-
gulation of art which the passions of the Prelate re-
ferred to would never brook. Besides, we cannot be-
lieve that, even for the greater success in assaulting a
character, he would refuse his vanity the pleasure of
sending forth his writings with the signature of his
name, so hhcknied in every kind of contention for the
last quarter of a century.
We are not in the habit of complimenting Bishops,
but we must say that it is to the credit of the Bench
that these letters on Sir Robert Peel's Tamworth
speech have only been imputed to one of the number ;
and after all it is said that they aro toe good for him
and too bad for any one else.
The head and front of Sir Robert's offending is the
opinion that men are the better for knowledge of any
kind. For this he is declared to be a Brummagem
Brougham, and a disciple of a school of philosophy not
accepting Christian principles as the guide of life ; in fact,
he is argued to be little better, if at all better,than a heathen,
and charged with preferring heathen to religious lights
when both shine on the same truths. His assailant,
indeed, is indulgent enough, in the manner of Mrs.
Candour, to declare that it would be "cruel uncha-
ritableness to suspect Sir Robert Peel of disbelief," and
he even goes so far as to say,
" Most cheerfully do I render to so religious a man
as Sir Robert Peel the justice of disclaiming, on my
part, the idea that he has any intention at all to put
aside religion."
But mark what follows—the venomed sting in the
tail of the concession,

" Yet his words either mean nothing, or they do, both
on their surface, and when carried into effect, mean
something very irreligious."
So that we have here the great leader of tbo party
pretending to the possession of the wisdom and religion
of the country, charged either with uttering words with-
out meaning, or with a meaning " very irreligious" both
on the surface and in effect. At best, the chief of the
Conservative party is thus the fool flinging about fire-
brands. His morals are only acquitted only on the
grossest inculpation of his understanding ; for a meaning
" very irreligious on the surface" is charitably supposed
to have escaped his apprehension.
Observe, too, the insolence with which exhorta-
tions of Sir Robert are treated in this passage,
where the Conservative chief is likened to " a street
preacher, or the cad of an omnibus" :
Whence these cries rising on our ears, of ' Let me
entreat you!" Neglect not the opportunity !" It
will not be our fault !' Here is an access for you !"
very like the tones of.a street preacher, or of the cad
of an omnibus, little worthy of a great statesman and
a religious philosopher ?"
And in the same paper in which these crowning con-
tumelies appeared, the Timcs editorially says :
" We insert one more letter from our correspondent,
Catholicus.' It is necessary to use some caution upon
this subject. We find an idea gradually creeping forth
—probably only among very hasty reasoners—that cur
attachment, to Sir Robert Peel is sustaining some di-
minution. A morning paper also, the 'organ of the
Government, throws out hints to that effect, and casts
an imputation upon us of being influenced by a bigoted
party—acting under th; highest impulses of Toryism.
Now the answer to such an imputation is, to men of
taste and judgment, easily found in the letters them-
Ickes, iVas it fit that such letters should be sup-
pressed or rejected ? Sir R. Peel himself, we are con-
vinced, as a man of learning and knowledge, would
answer that question in the negative."

Would any degree of skill in argument and crnp?•
sition induce the Tins to give a conspicuous place Tines
its columns to a panegyric on Lord John Russell or
in
Lord Melbourne ? Would any excellence in style or
reasoning at this moment tempt it to publish a series
of elaborate attacks on Lord Stanley or Lord Lyed.
hurst ?
The Times, in continuation, says—
" We know cot whether it be our misfortune or not,
but certainly the fact is—and we refer to the past his-
tory of this journal for the confirmation of it—that we
have judged of public men, hare adhered to or rejected
them, without any reference whatever to their political
position : whether they were in or out of dice has
made no difference with us ; and Sir Robert Peel's ob-
vious approach to her Majesty's councils, from the in-
capacity of those jho now direct them. does in no de-
gree tend to make us think or speak more highly of his
talents than we have hitherto done. He is beyond all
doubt a great and able statesman—virtuous and disin-
tercstcd—much more capable of directing the councils
of the Sovereign than those by whom her Majesty is
st present surrounded ; but still not infallible ; and it
IS right that he himself should know what great and
able men think of him."
When before has the Times held that it was desir-
able that the chief of a party should be set up as a
hoartdemr
etnhawterletedimspigohsetaliatovehatsl,):
abefinienfigt
sotf
cpoecreketi3n,gitw'
him, and what they were pleased to fling, whether
cabbage-stalks, rotten eggs, stones, or brickbats? You
will not object to standing in our pillory, says the
Tiotcs, in effect, to Sir Robert Peel, as it will make
you intiwately acquainted with the precise missiles

which people think you deserve to have flung at your
head.

It is not a little remarkible that these attacks on
the Tory leader should be made at a time when, ac-
cording to the Tory prophets, he and his party are
on the very threshold of office. The industry em-
ployed at such an instant to pull down the character
of xchl *l. riv, the man of character of the Tory
party, is passing strange.
It has been often observed that Sir Robert Peel
is too good for his party, and is it that they are
now blackening him a little to make him appear more
suitable to their occasions ? To borrow Sheri-
dan's words, do they disfigure him to pass him
the better for their own? Whatever may be the object,
the attempts to damage Sir Robert Peel's repute make
the most curious exhibition in party history. That the
Tories hate their leader has long been notorious, but
that they cannot do without him is equally certain ;
and in this case of aversion on the one side and ne-
cessity on the other, the middle course of damaging the
indispensable is a most singular result of the composi-
tion of forces.

But perhaps the Tories are beginninc, to flatter them-
selves that they can do without Sir Robert Peel, and if
so, it is natural that they should think proper to apprize
him that he must conform to the narrow, bigoted views
of his party, and renounce every popular or liberal
pretension, or cease to be their chief.
There was a time when we believe that the Tories
would have done better as a party, and of course
worse for the people, under the guidance of a
Lyndhurst than a Peel ; there was a time when
they might. have made a stouter stand for things as they
were, when the system existed as an undisturbed whole,
and it was asserted impossible to improve it. Sir Ro-
bert Peel destroyed the prestige of excellence, admitted
faults, did enough to impair the credit and stability of
the old pile, and not enough for a reconstruction on
better principles. He just did enough himself in inno-
vation to let in the larger and more beneficial innovation
of others. In thus going far enough to unsettle, he hit
his party, most luckily for us, between wind and water ;
but that once done, and compromise set going, Sir Ro
bert has become as necessary to his party in its present
state as he was perhaps detrimental to it in its former
state:; and, as enemies, we can wish it no worse than to
lose its plausible leader.

which will prove an almost equal impeeiment to the bona
fide, as to the fictitious claimant, and, finally, by giving an
appeal to the Judges upon all points, whether of legal
construction or of fact. And yet the remedy is but par-
tial, for after all the question of construction, upon
.which
all turns, remains doubtful.

(From the Morning Post.)
The men at the Reform Club are laying wagers, and
even, we are told, betting odds, that Parliament will be
dissolved by the present Ministers of the Crown within a
fortnight. We do not know, nor do we care, as we are
sure the Conservatives will be found ready, whether there
be any other foundation for all this betting than mere con-
jecture. But such a conjecture so strongly entertained in
such a quarter shows how mean and spiteful a set the pre-
sent Ministers of the Crown are in the estimation of
those who ought to know them best. Nobody pretends
to believe that Ministers, if they dissolve Parliament, will
do so with the slightest expectation of baying, a majority
in the new House of Commons, and being thus enabled to
retain their places. It is admitted on all hands that
such an idea is too extravagant to have entered
into the mind of any reasonable being; and
why, then, do the partisans of Ministers speak so
confidently of a dissolution ? There is no disguise or con-
cealment about the matter. It is because they know that
Ministers must go out, and because they think that they
are the kind of men who will do anything, no matter how
inconvenient or detrimental to the country, to tic the hands
of their successors in care, and to secure for their own
use, when they shall be in opposition, as large a share as
possible of the representation of such places as, being the
sorts of dockyards, arsenals, Royal residences, or other
great public establishments, are, more or less, under the
influence of the Administration of the day. It is proper
and necessary that this should be well understood. And
we hope the constituencies of Devonport, and Portsmouth,
and Falmouth, and Chatham, and Windsor, and Brighton,
and even Westminster itself, will take note of the insult
and degradation that Ministers are said to have in store
for them.

(From the Morning Herald.)
If Ministers have indulged in the fond hope, as was
lately reported, of improving their position by resorting to
a dissolution of Parliament, we presume that the experi-
mental knowledge which the recent elections have afforded
of the state of public feeling towards them has not ma-
tured that hope into confidence sufficiently strong to em-
bolden them to reduce the intention to practice. The idea
of an " appeal to the country" may have been one of the
day-dreams of the self-indulgent Melbourne, who has shaped
out for himself a sort of life which the luxurious Damocles
at the banquet might envy, for the Premier sees no sword
suspended by a single hair to mar, with the infusion
of terror, his voluptuous enjoyments. He has been
fortunate hitherto, and he knows it; he expects to be more
fortunate still. What but one of fortune's most " fan-
tastic freaks" could hare made such a man Premier of
England ? What but fortune's " constancy" can keep
him there, showing to all the world that a Minister need
not trouble himself about being useful to the State who
is ornamental to the palace ? Yet that Lord Melbourre
is his " roseate bower" sipping " nectar" like an epicu-
rean god, and enjoying celestial smiles at ambrosial re-
fections, has an occasional misgiving of not being quite
as admired an "idol" outside the palace as within, was
seen on the day of the opening of Parliament, when, be-
tween two fragments of a glittering and splendid caval
cede, the Premier was dimly and doubtingly recognised
in the studied privacy of a job-carriage, with a driver out
of livery, which incognito was certainly not assumed
from a modest and blushing anxiety to escape the
anticipated applauses of the people. Conscious and
sensitive worth might have had an alarm of that sort, but
Lord Melbourne's " consciousness" was of a different sort.
It was much the same as that which made his political
patron O'Connell, when on his northern repeal mission,
steal into Belfast and steal out of it again with face averted
and even "repeal-button" concealed from the prying eyes
of popular curiosity. " Head of Confucius l" might the
great Fum Hoam exclaim, " what a monstrous bathos
have we got here 1 An epicurean god in a job carriage I
But the bathos is not ours—it has originated with the
author of " the Premiership reformed." It is possible, as
we have said, that the idea of an improvement in the posi-
tion of the Melbourne-O'Connell Administration, by a
dissolution of Parliament, may have been only a day-dream
of Lord Melbourne's. If so, we think he must have been
awakened from that dream by this time. He must
have even his eyes, at least, half opened to another
than a very brilliant vista opening upon Whig-Radi-
cal destinies in the distance of a general election.

(From the Times.)
Rumours of an approaching dissolution of the Paella.
ment called together by Lord Melbourne's Government in
1837, at the commencement of a new reign, and with all
the advantages which an unprecedented exercise of Pa-
lace influence was likely to command, continue to be cir-
culated. The ground for these rumours is the very gene-
ral belief that the Ministry will be defeated upon the
question of the registration of voters in Ireland, as that
question has been raised upon the two Bills of Lord Stan-
ley and Lord Morpeth. Will a defeat upon that question
warrant the Premier in advising her Majesty thus to exercise
the Royal prerogative ?,Let us examine the main features of
the two measures, first calling attention to the fact that
Lord Stanley's Bill was last year carried through a
second reading and into Committee by successive majo-
rities against the whole strength which the Ministry could
command. Lord Stanley proposes, as was proposed by
the Bill introduced by the present Government in 1835,
approved of by Mr. O'Connell, and carried through the
House of Commons, that the registration shall be annual,
as it is in England; that an appeal shall be allowed against
the derision of the. registering barrister, which appeal Lord
Stanley extends (the Bill of 1835 being in that respect de-
fective) to the cases in which the barrister shall have ad-
mitted a voter upon the register; that such appeal shall
lie to the Judges of the Superior Courts at the assizes;
and Lord Stanley further proposes, in accordance with the
scheme of several of the Registration Bills for England
introduced by the present Government, to discourage fri-
volous claims of a right to be registered, aad frivo-
lous objections to voters, by enabling the barrister to award
costs against the party making a frivolous claim or objec-
tion. He proposes also to abolish the certificate of re-
gistry, which, by being at present made the evidence of
the right to vote, has been found to occasion much fraud
at elections, such certificates having fallen into the hands
of men who have not scrupled to personate the original
voter, though that voter may have been dead for years, or
otherwise have become disentitled to vote. But Lord
Stanley does not propose by his Bill to alter the franchise
—in other words, be does not seek, in principle, to alter the
Reform Bill. Lord Morpeth's Bill agrees with Lord
Stanley's, in so far as relates to the establishment of an
annual registration and to the double appeal, to the aboli-
tion of the certificate of registry as evidence of the right
to vote, and to the barrister's power to give costs in the
case of frivolous objections. But the Government mea-
sure superadds provisions for registering at the Quarter
Sessions; under it, no matter how frivolous the claim,
the barrister has no power to award costs against the
claimant; it establishes, until some change shall take
place in the voter's qualification, the right to vote of
any party saho shall once have proved it, thus affeeling
a bonus to fraudulent and perjured testimony, which
it is the avowed object of all parties to put down ; it
gives the appeal, not to the Judge of Assize, but to
three barristers to be appointed by the Speaker; it pro-
poses to define the law as to the beneficial interest
of the voter necessary to give a vote, in a 'manner
opposed at once to the known intentions of the Reform
Bill, and to the solemnly expressed opinion of a large ma-
jority (we believe, ten to two) of the Irish Judges, to
whom the question was referred some seven years since ;
and finally, Lord Morpeth's Bill seeks to extend the fran-
chise in Ireland to persons rated to the poor-rate at 5/ I !
In other words, Lord Morpeth does seek to alter the Re-
form Bill in its essential principle—the franchise. Now,
in order to consider the question of the propriety of a dis-
solution of Parliament by the Melbourne Ministry, let us
assume that Lord Morpeth's Bill will be rejected. In
that case the House of Commons will adhere to the prin-
ciple of the finality of the Reform Bill, a principle asserted
by Lord Althorp, but for whose assertion of it the Bill
would most probably never have passed into a law.
(From the Morning Advertiser.)
As yet, the Parliamentary Session has progressed with
more than ordinary tranquillity, and the cause is easily ex-
plained. On all matters of domestic policy, however
loudly they may bluster, the Tories are perfectly satisfied
to abide by the status quo; and in reference to foreign re-
lations, the brilliant successes which have in all parts of
the world crowned our negotiations and our arms, not
only leave the opponents of the Government nothing upon
which to hang an opposition, but serve to make all hostile
discussion exhibit more and more the wisdom of our
councils, as well as the skill and valour of the military
agencies employed to give them effect. Thus excluded
from all favourable chance of making an assault upon the
Government, the Tories rest their forlorn hope alto.
gether upon Lord Stanley's Anti. Irish Registration Bill
—a Bill which, however approved by the despotic fac-
tion, as reducing the amount of paptilar representation,
is deprecated by the more prudent of the Tories as
calculated to excite amongst the people a spirit of in-
diguant opposition, which will not be appeaval until fur-
ther extension bo given to that franchise of which Lord
Stanley aims at the limitation.
Wisely provident for the approaching exigency of the
times, Lord Morpeth's Bill for the definition of the quali-
fication for the franchise, and the regulation of its regis-
try, opportunely indicates a disposition on the part of the.
Government to conciliate the advancing spirit of po.
fll Bills
despoticn ro
lhi ab rear ca
tpeurlias tri cal ly intelligencep o u etra'y e db:liteh featureserc tw o
Governments.

Mr. O'Connell has addressed a Morning Con-
temporary on the subject of tho subjoined paragraph,
which appeared in the Ob erver cf yesterday :—" This
we can undertake to declare, from positive knowledge,
that the Irish people have not in any way tampered with
the Goremmcnt of France, and that, being excited against
the Registration B:11 of Lord Stanley, they deem that
Bill, terrible and persecuting as it is, not quite so slavish
as the electoral system of France." In his letter Mr.
O'Connell readily assents to the truth of the first part of
the paragraph, but denies the truth of the second portion
of the paragraph. The Learned and lion. Gentleman
says—" The people of Ireland know that the French elec-
toral system is a bad one. But they know also and feel
that Stanley's Bill is infinitely worse, more slavish, and
more insulting. If they bad a simple choice between
both they would prefer, as the lesser evil of the two, the
French to the English system." rr Ido not say it now in
any tone of defiance, but with a melancholy foreboding of
coming events which I would, if I could, prevent. I call
upon the pampered aristocracy of England to Beware !
Far their own sakes to Beware 1"
ALARMING FIRE.—Yesterday morning, about
twelve o'clock, an alarming fire broke out on the premises
of Mr. Stretch, bookbinder, of St. Martin's-lane. In a
few minutes after the alarm was given, the engines belong-
ing to the West of England, the County, and three of the
brigade establishment, were on the spot, and the .fire was
ultimately subdued, but not before very considerable
damage was done to the extensive stock and bookbinding
presses and the

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1841.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

(SATURDAY EVENING.)
CHRONICLE.—The funds continue firm, and the
improved quotations of jesterday were fully maintained.
The feeling has been altogether better to dav, and
the appearance of some of the leading Hebrew party
as buyers has given additional confidence.
We have received a communication on the subject of
the recent proceedings of the Committee of Spanish
bondholders, the substance of which follows :

" TO TILE EDITOR OF TILE MORNIMG CHRONICLE.

" Sir—Your City article of this morning's paper
places the views of the Committee of Spanish Bond-
holders in a proper light, and suggested a right course
to be pursued, that of showing the sources of power for
liquidating the entire debt now to be eapb al:v.(1, and also
the benefit to the Spanish Government from the operation.
" The Spanish Government, I believe, will be grate-
ful to the British public for responding to their late
decrees with such promptitude. It is expected by the
creditors that their request for an advance from three
per cent., which is the proposed rate, to five per cent.
interest on the capitalized coupons will be granted,
as nothing could be more just, seeing that the
contract was clear, and specified payment of the
interest half-yearly in cash, either in London or Paris.
We may, therefore, consider the matter settled and con.
firmed, and the sooner the arrangements tyke place, and
the notice is published as an advertisement from the Spa-
nish agents here, the better it will be for every one, now
that the business has been so long pending, and so many
delays hsvo already occurred.
" In your late statement of the Spanish resources, you
mentioned that the property of the clergy, and, I presume,
the national domains added thereto, amounts, by official
valuation, to twenty millions sterling, and it is fully be-
' lieved it will bring thirty millions.' You also rated the
arrears of interest about to be capitalized at nine to ten
millions sterling. Assuming the latter sum to be correct,
it is quite clear that the whole of these land warrants,'
as this stock has been properly termed by you, will be
fully redeemed by the proposed three years' operation,
even if thirty millions sterling of this national property
only absorbed thirty millions of their stock, and in the fol-
lowing proportions, which is represented in the Finance
Minister's decrees, namely, payment will be received of
" Sixteen per Cent. in cash, very properly
for the clergy £ 4,800,000
" Forty per Cent. in the Consolidated
Debt 12,000,000
" Forty-four per Cent. in Land Warrants
or Capitalized Coupons 13,200,000

£30,000,000

" Spain has found, therefore, a goad and able financier
in Senhor Gamboa. Espartero is borne out in saying
that he would find half a dozen of honest wen to carry
on the Government ; and when the new bonds bear inte-
rest at five per cent., we shall be satisfied that the Spanish
Government will sce that, if they arc determined to act
with good faith in their future measures, their creditors
will freely come forward to meet their convenience to-
wards payment of the dividends due next July in cash.
They hold out a hope of fully doing so in their decree,
if they find that they have the ability to do so. Where
can the difficulty be with the security they can offer ?
Have they not valuable mines ? Do not their colonies
all yield a surplus revenue ? Cannot economy be intro-
duced into every branch for collecting their revenue, and
generally by simplifying their intricate accounts ? Will
they take no example from surrounding States ? Is not
the time arrived for reducing their army, and expenses of
heavy establishments, both for men and for the materials of
war, now that peace is universally called for, and their
power is consolidated ? Does not justice require that our
claims should be attended to, and met with the same cor-
diality and good will as we evinced when they called upon
us for our assistance in the time of need.

" I would recommend that, if they cannot pay the whole
interest next dividend day, that is, on the Ist of the ensu-
ing July, they should pay three per cent. in cash, and two
per cent, in the land warrants ; in this way there is provi-
sion made, you will observe, for an addition to the ten mil-
lions of newly-capitalized coupons, raising the amount to
13,200,0001., which would all be extinguished by Senor
Gamboa's measures, exclusive of a further redemption of
twelve millions sterling of the consolidated debt.
" By this means I say that the wealthier classes In the
country, the landed proprietors, merchants, and manufac-
turers, would unite in a common feeling of confidence and
security, and, as Lord Clarendon wisely anticipated, they
would take an interest in the national property and the
Government funds, and Spain would at length emerge
from a state of supineness and thraldom to a feeling of
concord and universal happiness..
If you should find any error in this statement, or in-
accuracy of any kind in figures or in argument, my design
is not to court controversy, but to elicit truth and estaVish
facts, as well as to recommend justice and equity, and mo-
deration, as the most respectable way of settling the bt.isi-
ness between the Spanish Government and the bondhol-
ders, and I shall be glad if you will correct it.
" I remain, Sir, your most obedient servant,

"London, Fob. 12,1841. " A CREDITOR."
We shall, perhaps, have some remarks to make here-
after on the above letter. In the meantime we shall only
observe that we do not understand the national domains to
be included in the valuation of 20,000,0001. of church
properties, and estimated to sell for 30,000,0001. The
national domains, or at least the Crown lands, are sepa-
rate and distinct, according to our impression ; but we are
not prepared to give a decided opinion on that subject at
present.
By papers laid before Parliament, wo find that the total
amount of the unfunded debt outstanding on the sth of
January, 1841, was 22,272.6751. Is. 4d., and the amount
of deficiency bills outstanding on the Ist instant, charged
on the growing produce of the consolidated fund, was
4,690,0001.
By the abstract of the receipts and payments on account
of the duties levied for the northern lights for the year
1339, it appears that
The total receipts were £43,982 2 9
Add balance on hand 31st March, 1839,

per abstract for 1838

69,803 8 5
The payments

Balance

The expenditure on lighthouses for the year has been
14,1-27/. 23. But there is a very questionable item in
these accounts, under the head of " half-yearly dinners to
the Commissioners," stated in the account before us at
" 175/. 55." equal to 3501. 103. per annum. This is clearly
a waste of revenues drawn as a tax from the shipping in-
terest. It is somewhat unaccountable how so large a
dinner bill could be mustered up, except by a very useless
" gathering" of friends and guests to cat and drink at
the expense of the people, or by a series of feeds.
The Commissioners consist of a few lawyers, wo be-
lieve, and two or three Provosts of towns in Scotland, but
even if re were to state them at 12 in number, and allow a
guest to each, in all 24, and give them the benefit of the
" Clarendon prices," 3/. a head, wo should only have one
dinner bill of 721. instead of 1751. The Commissioners
dine, we suppose, at the public expense once a month.
The charre should be disallowed altogether. It is no-
thing but waste—downright waste of money drawn from
the trade and enterprize of the country. Then, again, we
see 181 put down as the charges of a deputation of the
Commissioners visiting little Ross Island and Lighthouse
at the Mull of Galloway. As there is an engineer at
7001 per annum, and a secretary at 5001. per annum, the
visit of this "deputation" might have been dispensed with,
or one Commissioner only sent to the spot, if absolutely
necessary.

PO ST.—The English funds have improved to the ex-
tent of / per cent. on yesterday. The alarm felt in the
first instance, as to the possible issue of the correspond-
ence of Mr. Fox and Mr. Forsyth, seems to be fast sub-
siding, but, beyond this, we are not aware of any fresh cir-
cumstance having transpired that can be supposed to have
influenced prices. The Mcncy Market has, at all events,
undergone no favourable change worthy of notice.
The commercial information by the Express packet from
Rio Janeiro, coming down to the 1511 i of December, pos-
sesses nothing of striking interest. The business done in
exchange on the eve of the packet's departure had been to
a fair extent on London, at the rate of 31d. for drafts,
at GO, and it some instances at 90, days' sight; on
Ilaniburgh at 575r5. ; on Paris at- 312 rs. No cause for
the recent decline was to be assigned, any more than
for the previous rise. There had, however, during the
month, been a falling eff in the supplies of coffee, owing,
in a measure, to the rainy weather, and to the elections
for the new House of Deputies, which, for the last
few days had engrossed the attention of the popula-
tion of the province. The shipments in November were
stated to be 104,188 bags (against 92,151 in November,
1839). The prices of this staple had risen in proportion
to the decline in the exchange, being 150 to 200 rs, higher
than last advised. The sales for December had thus far
amounted to 70,524 bags, leaving a stock of 800 bags of
all descriptions, and offering, for the moment, but little
choice for purchases, Superior qualities were selling
freely at from 3 800 to 4 milrcis. Very select parcels
fetched 4 200. In November there were cleared for the
United States 36,191 bags, against 21,927 bags in the
corresponding month of 1839; 15,667 for the English
Channel and England; 8,442 for liamburgh; 3,204 fur
Antwerp ; 2 280 for Havre ; 3,456 for Trieste ; 1,447 for
the rest of the Mediterranean ; and 269 for the River
Plate. Ilides, notwithstanding the opening of Buenos
Ayres, were commanding good prices. A matrimonial
alliance for the Emperor, as well as for another of the
Princesses, was engaging the public attention, and an
agent comes to Europe invested with the authority to
negotiate upon the subject.

THE LATE MAJOR. SIRR.—We understand
that arrangements arc in progress for the Exhibition, and
ultimate Sale, by Auction, in the city of Dublin, of the
invaluable collections of this celebrated amateur inlithe fine
arts, whose well known judgment and taste as a collector
are so universally esteemed. The Paintings and En.
gravings are matchless ; the cabinets of Shells, Fossils,
and Minerals, are eboice and unrivalled in the rareness of
their contents ; the Antique Relics of this our island and of
foreign climes are authentic and genuine; the china rich
and curious ; the varied specimens of Natural History in the
best condition ; and, in short, the entire of the collection
of so p rfect a nature as to leave nothing to be wished
for by virtuosi or connoisseurs desirous of enriching their
collections by additions from this celebrated museum, on
which the most profuse expenditure has been lavished, to
render it unequalled by that of any private individual.
Died on the 20th ult., at the Grove, near Dur-
ham, aged 78, Elizabeth, relict of Stephen George
Keruble, Esq. In early life Mrs. Kemble, formerly Miss
Satchell, was one of the first actresses of her day, and
was decidedly the greatest favourite ever attached to the
Newcastle stage. In almost every range of character she
was eminently successful. She was allowed to be the best
Ophclia on the stage, and she was equally cxcel'ent in
the difficult and very opposite characters of Mrs. Haller,
Portia, Nell, Beatrice, Cowslip, Cicely Homespun, &c.
Her remains were interred by the side of her late husband,
at the Nine Altars, in Durham Cathedral,