The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-27 00:00:00

the proposal to give special advantages to the Times
will be allowed to pass the House of Commons
without a challenge; and if the -members of that
House are true to the interests of their constituents,
they will successfully resist the attempt to
reintroduce special privileges for the benefit of the
powerful. Mr. Lowe has admitted that six ounces
should be carried for a' halfpenny, and it will be
impossible to skew any valid reason why the privi-
lege should not be extended to all kinds of literature.
It should be remembered that the literary portion
of no newspaper weighs more than four ounces•
Additional weight arises solely from advertisements.
It would therefore be more reasonable to charge the
large newspaper on a higher scale rather than a
lower. This, however, is not asked for, but a diffe-
rence in the other direction is not to be endured.
What would be thought of a Chancellor of the
Exchequer who proposed to put the duty on low-
priced teas, which are consumed by the poor, at a
higher rate than that charged for high-priced teas
consumed by the rich ? And yet this is not one whit
more unreasonable than that three times the rate
should be charged for carrying the literature of the
working classes, as compared with that of the upper.
Perhaps the arrangement is intended as a compensa-
tion for the free education which, is to be given to
the lower classes. It certainly is tantamount to a
heavy tax upon the poor for the benefit of the
rich. It is to be regretted that during the
last two or three years a change for the
worse has come over the whole spirit of
post-office management ; the result is seen in a de-
clining revenue, and in the fact that printing which
should be done in this country is necessarily driven
abroad. The recent change by which the public have
been deprived of the privilege of sending four ounces
for one postal rate to the colonies and to France, has
compelled newspaper proprietors to make arrange-
ments for printing elsewhere than in London. Eng-
lish news must now be printed in' Paris or Brussels
for cheap distribution throughout the Continent. It
would be well if some of the London printers who are
striking for higher wages in the face of diminished
work would look to this feature of their case, and see
to it that our postal revenue and general printing
trade are not interfered with by arbitrary regula-
tions.

As an educational measure, and as affording a
stimulus to a depressed branch of industry, the charge
of 0 oz. of printed matter for a half-penny would be
hailed as a boon, but a defferential arrangement
allowing a high priced newspaper weighing 6 oz. to
no carried for a half-penny, and limiting all cheap
and small publications to 2 oz. for the same charge, is
obviously unjust and oppressive.

The-Queen has forwarded a donation of 150 to-
wards Lhe building fund for the erection of a new wing to
!he Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, Victoria Park.
The Prince and Princess of Wales left Sandring-
ham this morning on their return to London.
A Cabinet Council was held this afternoon at the
official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, Down-
ing-street.
The Commander-in-Chief will hold a levee at one
o'clock on Friday, the Gth proximo—the number to be re-
ceived being limited to 150.
The Earl of Clarendon will arrive in town to-day
from his seat near Watford.
Lord Lytton has consented to preside at the tenth
annual festival of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Insti-
tution, on the Bth June, at Willis's Rooms.
A marriage is arrangei, and will shortly take
place, between the Hon. Elizabeth Denison, daughter
of the late Lord Londesborough, and the Rev. George
C. Dickinson, son of the late Richard Dickinson, R.N.
Sir George Grey is reported to be about to publish
a pamphlet with reference to a scheme for the conver-
sion of certain colonial ports into coaling stations and
naval arsenals, which is said to have been elaborated at the
War Office.
Mr. Mundella, M.P., has, through iwo members of
his executive committee, offered to refer the matters in dis-
pute between himself and the Mayor of Sheffield to arbitra-
tion. The Mayor, however, declined this pr.pooition, and
nnmod LiQ ouu to meet the two gentlemen
on the orher side. No further arrangement has yet
been made.
Sir John Gray, M.P., is suffering from a severe
attack of inflammation in the throat.

Mr. D'Arcy Irvine, of Euniskillen, who recently
gave his tenants notice that he was abDut to take the estates
into his own possession, has received a letter informing him
that a man has been selected to send him to his long home"

if he carries out his threatened eviction. Mr. Irvine is of
opinion that the letter did not emanate from any of his own
tenantry.

The mid-Channel cable, which snapped close to

the Brisk telegraph ship on Saturday last, wss to-day again
attached to the Brisk, and messages can now be sent as

usual.

The Eastern Budget says, the Austrian Govern-
ment has declared its readiness to take part in any steps
which may be determined upon by the Powers, in conse-
quenoa of the murders in Greece, for demanding a guarantee
against the recurrence of such atrocities.

A verdict of wilful murder has been returned by
the coroner's jury against the man Hosey for the alleged
murder in Kildare.

The penalty of death pronounced vgainst Lathan-
wars for the recent murder of Mine. Lombard in Paris has
been commuted by the Emperor to hard labour for life.

On Saturday a small boat, with three men, was upset
while rowing towards a steamer, and two of the men were
drowned. One of the deceased was agent for Messrs.
Blackie and Co., publishers,. Glasgow.

Tile election of the. new President of. Paraguay
will shortly take place.

An international congress of chess-players will be
opened at Baden-Baden on the 15th of July next.
The dresses of Mdlle. Beatrice for " Frou Frou"
(says the London correspondent of the Liverpool Albion)
cost £6OO.

The Queen has granted the Dean of Winchester a
dispensation from all attendances at the Cathedral on
account of his advanced age.

The borough magistrates at Dewsbury have
)rdered 8501bs. of fish to be destroyed. It was unfit for
food.

A telegram from Basle announces the arrival in
Switzerland of Prince and Princess Pierre Bonaparte with
their family; it adds that they intend shortly to proceed
to Italy. -

The Worcester magistrates have fined a man ss.
with ns. costs, for being drunk while riding a bicycle
in Broad-street, and being incapable of managing the
same.

-----
In consequence of the sad calamily which has
befallen the Earl and Countess de Grey and Ripon in
Greece, the installation of his lordship as M.A. Grand
Master of England has been postponed.

The Western Morning _News states that the foot
and mouth disease has again broken out in the neigh<
bcurhood of Kingsbridge. Several pigs and a calf have
been attacked.

A meeting composed chiefly of Irishmen was held
at the Public Office, Birmingham, on Monday night, "to
protest against the unconstitutional provisions of the
Coercion Bill." A resolution strongly condemnatory of
the bill was carried unanimously.
THE CONVENT QUESTION AT DARLINGTON. —A
meeting of the Catholics of Darlington was held on Sun-
day, at which a resolution strongly condemning Mr. New-
degate's motion relative to convent inspection was passed,
and a hope was expressed that Mr. Gladstone would
resist to the utmost the efforts being made in support
of it.

URIOUS FREAK OF INSANITY.—OR Saturday
morning a young girl, the daughter of a pitman at Seaton
Delaval, before many of the inhabitants were stirring,
got up out of her bed, immersed herself in a cistern of
coal tar, and then, without a particle of clothing, mounted
on the back of a donkey belonging to a man living by,
and proceeded to ride round the colliery, striking at the
doors of the surrounding houses in a most alarming
manner. It was not until she had proceeded over half a
mile that she was stopped by a man named Harrison, and
taken home to her father's house.

The dispute between the Rev. A. S. Prior, the
vicar of St. George's, Wolverhampton, and his congrega-
tion, about the use of the surplice waxes hotter. There
is a weekly offertory which is now becoming lamentably
insufficient, because half the people keep away from the
Church, and a large proportion of those who go leave
before the sermon. The organist and pew openers have,
therefore, had notice, but presented themselves as usual,
on their posts on Sunday; but the organist found himself
superseded by a harmonium. The congregation took the
part of the discomfited organist, and would not allow it to
be used, while the vicar's party kept the key of the room
by which access was had to the bellows, so that there was
no music. Why the vicar, who, from the use of the sur-
plice, appears to belong to the High Church party, should
be resolute to uphold the harmonium in preference to the
erap, iff y_s_ry