The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-03 00:00:00

TilE SUN,

structure, containing in all sixty-four dwellings, has!.
been erected by a gentleman of the name of LAIRD ; 1
and a third, consisting of seventy dwellings, by a
gentleman named HUGHES. The answers given to
Dr. ROBERTSON by several of the occupants of
these tenements are pleasant to read—they
are expressive of so much satisfaction, of so
much comfort, of so much happiness, and of a
contentment almost unprecedented among persons in
their situation. One says, "My house is most
comfortable ;" another, " I think my house excellent
another, " We resided formerly in Oliver street, and
had much illness there, but have all been in excellent
health since we came to reside here ;" and a fourth
declares, " I never was in so comfortable a house ;
we have never had such continued good health as we
have had since we occupied this house," &c.,
&c. Here, therefore, is a broad and mani-
fest improvement in the domestic condition,
the mental quietude, and the physical health
of the poorer parts of the population. Here
is order for those who have hitherto been only accus-
tomed to confusion ; neatness where there were pre-
viously only the tokens of the habitual sloven ; clean-
liness for those heretofore compelled to exist amidst
perpetual accumulations of filth and rubbish ; abun-
dance of water and excellent drainage. The tenants
are filled with delight at the possession of a house
characterised by such moral advantages. And yet—and
yet—there is an evil which presses with a serious in-
convenience upon both the tenants themselves, and
their generous and poorly-remunerated landlord. That
evil is the imposition of the tax upon windows. In the
first place, the tax is a heavy draw-back upon the net
rental, amounting absolutely to 1271. on the 64
cottages erected by Mr. LAIRD, and to somewhere
about 6001. upon those built by the Dock Company !
And, secondly, it materially interferes with the
bodily health of the inhabitants. Every one of the
tenants examined by Dr. ROBERTSON, notwithstand-
ing his gratification with his abode, expresses
in a decided manner his solicitude for a better
system of ventilation, an anxiety arising solely from
the inadequate number of windows. How far the
complaint is justified by physiological fact is suffi-
ciently shown by the statements elsewhere made by
several distinguished members of the profession.
Sir JAMES WYLIE mentions the recurrence of
certain virulent diseases in a spacious barrack at St.
Petersburgh, where the victims of the epidemic were
three to one on the dark side of the edifice,
when compared with those who perished on the light
side. Upon the same principle it has been declared
by Dr.EDWARDS that deformed children are frequently
the consequence of their parents having resided in
obscure cellars. DUPUYTREN, indeed, is said to have
demonstrated on more than one occasion the extra•
ordinary connexion existing between disease and
darkness. It will be observed, on reference to the
paper of Dr. ROBERTSON, that he proposes as
a substitute for the present baneful system
of window taxation, the levying of a certain per
tentage on the rent of every dwelling producing
more than 15/. per annum to the landlord. In other
words, a property tax—that tax which we haveso
long advocated—the least burdensome, and the most
equitable. When the window-tax shall ,have been
altogether removed, and a judicious property-tax
substituted, we shall then have done something to-
wards the diminution of the mortality of the United
Kingdoms.

We are not among the assailants of the Roman
Catholic clergy. We have at all times borne our
willing testimony to the zeal and activity, the noble
self-devotion, exhibited by the vast majority of the
body, who unhesitatingly encountered all the horrors
of pestilence and famine, and applied the whole of
their scanty resources to the relief of the afflicted,
and not only willingly submitted to the greatest pri-
vations, but exposed themselves to the dangers of
contagion, and overtaxed their bodily powers, that
they might bear comfort to the wretched in the dark
hour of suffering. The person who would at-
tempt to censure the general body of the Roman
Catholic clergy would (as Lord BROUGHAM happily
remarked on a recent occasion) " be guilty not only
of the greatest want of charity, but of the grossest
ignorance of the state of Ireland as regarded the
pastors of the people." But when individuals are
guilty of reprehensible conduct, when they scruple
not to depart from the duties of their sacred calling,
in order to influence the passions of an easily excited
people, and by their injudicious speeches promote
the crimes which it should be their chief aim and
object, as Christian ministers, to prevent, we
cannot refrain from expressing the honest indig-
nation with which such proceedings should be
regarded. It is because we respect and esteem the
class that we unsparingly censure those who disgrace
the cloth they wear, and are guilty of acts calculated
to throw unmerited odium and discredit upon their
brethren.

The altar denunciations, as they have been termed,
have recently attracted the public attention, and
persons of every class in society have been horrified
at statements which, if well founded, almost involved
certain ministers of religion in the guilt of being
accessories before the fact to the most atrocious
murders. It was reported that the blood of
the victim had, in more than one instance,
been shed within a few days after he had been
spoken •f from the altar as worthy of the execration
of the people. These denunciations could not have
been resorted to fer the purpose of inducing the par-
ties censured to abandon the courses complained of,
or through an anxious desire for their spiritual welfare,
for they did not belong to the flock, nor were they
under the guidance or instruction of the denouncers.
They could not directly hear the reproof that had
been uttered. A private communication might be not
only justifiable but praiseworthy; but public con-
demnation in the sacred edifice, before a suf-
fering people, could lead but to one result
too fearful to be contemplated, involving some of the
congregation, whose spiritual destinies were confided
to the guardianship of that pastor, in the dreadful
crime of murder, and, perhaps, occasioning the
sudden death of a human being—one of our own
fellow-men—at a moment Ai hen he was totally un-
prepared for the awful change. Some of the most
distinguished lay members of the Roman Catholic
Church have deeply deplored this state of things, and
have remonstrated with the prelates for permitting
so deep a stain to remain on their religion. The
admirable letter of the Earl of ARUNDEL and
SURREY cannot speedily be forgotten, nor the address
of Lord BEAUMONT in the House of Lords on the
occasion of the debate on the Irish Crime and Out-
rage Bill. We could have hoped that these remon-
strances would have been received by the whole body
of the clergy in Ireland in the spirit in which they
were offered:; that if the assertions were without
foundation, their accuracy would have been denied in
the tone and manner becoming ministers of the Gospel,
and the privilege, if privilege it can be called, of re-
viling a person not a member of their congregation,
or in a position where he could defend himself, repu-
diated.

We regret that the resolutions which have been
adopted at a meeting of the Roman Catholic clergy
of the archdiocese of Tuam do not confirm these
expectations. They are couched in language similar
to that which has been so justly censured in Arch-
deacon LArrAN and Mr. M‘Deastorr. They speak of
" the rabid calumnies with which the English press
is teeming against the Catholic people of Ireland,
more especially their clergy, " which (they say) cannot
be accounted for on any principle, than that those
who injure are always studious to defame, in
order that, with a wicked consistency, they may
justify their own misdeeds, and save themselves from the
public odium which such injustice issure to provoke."
We regret to see a body of Christian ministers
indulging in such uncharitable and unwarranted
imputation. The whole document is of an equally
objectionable and painful character. We trust most
sincerely that the Irish clergymen will no longer
maintain a silence, but will earnestly disclaim a par-
ticipation in the sentiments contsined in the resolu.
thins of Dr. 'WHALE and his subordinates, more par-
ticularly that part from which the assertion of the
right of denunciation may be implied.

The Levant mail brings Malta papers to the 24th
ult. They announce the arrival of Mr. Molts
-€YERARA.L, the new Governor of the island.

The official journals of Modena contain the follow-
ing :
" To prevent all false and exaggerated relation§

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JAN bARY 3, 1848.

MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.
CITY, QUARTER TO THREE.
The Markets at Liverpool were dosed on Saturday,
being New Year's Day.
The advices received from the manufacturing districts
are rather more favourable. Messrs. M`Nair, Green-
how, and Irving date that :
" Although the market throughout the month has been
characterised by excessive gloom, and much apparent
inactivity, the results warrants us, we are happy to say,
in expressing our disbelief of any abatement in the feel-
ing of improvement perceptible at the date of our last
Circular. On the contrary, confidence appears to us
to have been materially strengthened, and to
have acquired a stability justifying reasonable
hopes of a slow but progressive advance into maturity.
December, even in ordinary years, we need scarcely re-
mind you, is not regarded as of much business import-
ance. Notwithstanding the gloom and apparent inac-
tivity before referred to, the aggregate transactions of the
month hare somewhat exceeded our expectations. Prices
of both goods and yarns, which are lower than they were
a month ago, have again been necessarily very irregular,
and regulated in most instances by the position of the
seller, and the extent of the operations submitted
to him. stocks may be considered much about the
" same as they were at the end of November. Our quo-
tations represent the market value of each article as
nearly as it can be given. Production is on the increase,
and with it consequently increased employment for
the operatives. There are still, we lament to say, vast
numbers totally or partially unemployed, a matter
much to be regretted at this season of the year
particularly. More failures have unfortunately taken
place, none of them, happily, to any great extent, but
forming collectively considerable liabilities. Though
the monetar panic maybe considered at an end, there
is, we fear, considerable suffering to be experienced
amongst the smaller class of traders, whom the conse-
quences of the crisis have only recently reached. The
demand for goods during the month has been hut little
assisted by purchases for the country trade ; a matter
which may be readily accounted for by that to which
we have just alluded, the absence of employment in
the manufacturing districts, and the withdrawal
of large sums heretofore in circulation for the payment
of wages, &e., connected with railway and other under-
takings. Such then, briefly, is the state of this market
at the close of another year. We are not amongst those
who anticipate a speedy improvement with the new
year. The embarrassment consequent upon the dis-
astrous events of the last few months must necessarily
render it slow but progressive."
We regret to find, upon a perusal of the accounts
received from the West Indies, that they are still of a
gloomy character. The. suspension of the West India
Bank would prove exceedingly disastrous, it was feared,
especially in Barbadoes, where was its head establish•
ment. The stoppage of Barton, Irlam, and Higginson.
will be a heavy blow to Barbadnes, which had the full
advantage of the large resources at the command
of the firm. In most of the other colonies, as may
be supposed, money was very scarce, and the state of
public feeling very depressed, but still tbere was some-
what of a hostile spirit in the Jamaica Legislature which
was inclined apparently to persevere in charging upon
the general revenue part of the existing parochial taxa-
tion. It is presumed that conciliation will prevail,
however.
The Funds are very well, maintained. Consols have
ranged from 85 to 854 and are firm now at higher
quotations, owing to the rather favourable advices from
India, the bullion received from Mexico, and the
expectation that the revenue returns may prove more
satisfactory than was anticipated. Exchequer bills are
12s. to 15s. premium. Bank Stock is at 188.
The Foreign Bonds are dull ; Spanish Three per
Cents. 29 to 294, ex. dividend ; Portuguese Four per
Cents., 231 to 24 ; and" Dutch Two-and-a-Half per
Cents., 54. Mexican are nominal.
In Railway Shares business has been restricted, but
the quotations are steady. Caledonian are 36; Eastern
Counties, 154 ; East Lancashire, 21 ; Great Southern
and Western of Ireland, 21 ; Brighton, 42 to 424;
North Western, 144 ; North British, 244 ; Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton, 184 to 19 ; South
Eastern, 30 ; York, Newcastle, and Berwick, 334 ; and
Rouen and Havre, 17.