The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-17 00:00:00

CHARLES DICKENS has already excited towards
himself no inconsiderable amount of public gratitude.
His exquisite fictions, ever genial in sentiment, ever
wholesome in morality, ever tending to nurture some
germ of social improvement, or to forward in some
manner the blessed work of civilization, have conferred
upon the multitude benefactions for which his con-
temporaries cannot by any possibility yield him any
adequate acknowledgment. Nevertheless, some fore-
taste of the recompense reserved for him with pos-
terity has already been conceded in the fame already
enjoyed by him during the last fifteen years—a fame
more universal than has, perhaps, ever been permitted
to another during his lifetime, extending, as it has
done, throughout all sections of the community,
throughout all ranks and classes of the population.
In addition to what our great novelist bas thus ac-
complished, in addition to the cause be has thus given
us for regarding his powers with gratitude as well as
admiration, it is probable that, in yet a different
manner, he will shortly give us new reason for thank-
fulness, conferring a new lustre upon letters, and
opening up fresh fields of progress to the cultivators
of our national literature. It can scarcely be for-
gotten how Boz, in his "American Notes," con-
trived, although incidentally yet vigorously, to en-
force the arguments favourable to the organization of
a regular system of international copyright. Neither
can it be overlooked how he is at this moment exert-
ing his energies in behalf of the intellectual improve-
ment of the masses, by fostering under the shelter of
his own large and enviable popularity the influence of
cheap but valuable and elevating publications. The
weekly and monthly instalments of Household
Words are periodically recalling this to our recol-
lection. While endeavouring thus practically to ad-
vance the interests of self-education among the gene-
rality, Mr. DICKENS is striving, at the same time, to
release from the shackles of taxation the knowledge
hitherto, by that means, denied altogether to the
masses, or, at any rate, only meted out
to them in stinted and niggardly propor-
tions. Very recently, to this end, it may have
been observed that he raised his voice against the duty
imposed on paper, by making one of the deputation
which lately waited upon the Right Hon. Baronet
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Elsewhere his
efforts are being directed to the emancipation of
knowledge from the other bonds in which it is un-
fortunately trammelled. A question put within the
last few days to Sir CHARLES WOOD by the Honour-
able Gentleman the representative of Birmingham,
reminded the House of Commons of the challenge
thrown out to the Administration in reference to these
restrictions by Mr. DICKENS'S monthly compilation
known as the Household Narrative of Current Events
In answer to this inquiry the Chancellor of the Ex

Railways.

Paid. ; Nominal Prices.

Aberdeen.. .. • • • • SO
Do. Preference • • •• 6 6
Ambergate, Nottingham,
Boston, & E. Juncion
Ayrshire and Galloway.. 734
Belfast and County Down 32
Barks and Hants Eaten.
(Great Western Per-
petual 5 per cent.) • •
Birmingham and Oxford
Junction, calls duly
paid, or with a guar... I 2

Do. without a guar... 2
Birming., Wolcerhamp-,
ton, and Dudley, calls;
duly paid, or with al
guarantee .. • • • 1
Do. without a guar. •• 1
Birming., Worverhamp.,l
and Stour Valley ••13 1
Birkenhead, Lancaa.. and
Cheshire Junction •• 2,
Bristol and Exeter .• .• 10
Buckinghamshire • • •• 1
Caledonian .• • • • • 5
Do. 101. Preference 1
Do. Clydesdale June.. • 5

Chester and Holyhead .. 8,
Do. Preference .. .. , 1,
Clarence .. 78
Do. Ist Class, 6 per ct.; li
_ _

Do. 24 de., 5 pe;
Do. Gov. Loan, 4 pr. ct.; 1

Direct Lond. andPOrtsm.
Dublin and Belfast Janet. 45
Dublin and Kingstown.. px)
Dundalk and Enniskillen 3,
East Anglian (251. L. &
E. and L. & D.) • • • •
Do, (181. E. & H.)
Do. (31. 10s.) 6 per
cent. Preference • •
Do. (51.) 7 pr. ct. Pref.
Do. (71.175.) 7 p. c.Pref.
Eastern Counties ..
Do. Eaten., 5 per cent.
No. 1 • • .. • • 6 1
Do. No. 2 .. • • • • 6 1
Do. New Preference, 6
per cent..
Do. North. and East.
6 per cent. -

sPer cent ..
Do. do., New ..
Eastern Union, class A,'
late E. U. shares ..
Do. do. do. ..
Do. do., B & C shares
Do. do., scrip, guaran.
6 per cent.
East Lancashire ..
Do. New quarters
De. 6 per cent. pref.
quarter shares..

EastLincolnshire, put. 6

per cent • • • • • • 2
Edinburgh anti Glasgow b
Edin., Perth, and Dundee 2
Do. Newport .. • • 1
Exeter and Exmouth .. 1
Glasgow and South-West, 5,
Do. pref. consolidated -
Do. do. G. D. & C. shield $
Gloucester &Dean Forest 1
Great Northern • • • • 2
Do. halves, A, deferred 1
Do. halves, B, 6 per ct. l
Do. 5 per cent. pref. •• L
Great Southern and
Western, Ireland • • I!
Do. eighths .. ••
Great North of England . IC
Do. new 40/. .. .. 4
Do. new 301. .. .. 3
Do. new 151. • .. 1
Great Western .. .. 10
Do. New, 171. .. -• I
Hull and Selby • • •• $
Do. half shares .. • • 2
Do. quarter shares .. 1
Lancaster and Carlisle .. 1,
Do. thirds .. •• .. 11 1
Lancaster and Preston .. 4'
Lancashire and Yorkshire 1

chequer intimated that the Board of Inland Revenue
had not abandoned its suit against Mr. DICKENS for
the issue of that cheap periodical. Partaking as it
does of the character of a newspaper, the household
Narrative, according to the authorities, requires, in
order to render it legally vendible, the stamp always
affixed to those kind of publications. This stamp it
would appear, however, is only imprinted on such
copies as are intended for transmission through the
Post-office; and, therefore, it is presumed that the
proprietor of the serial has made himself amenable to
the penalties capable of being inflicted at the discre-
tion of the Board of Inland Revenue. A brief in-
terval will enable the multitude to discover if such
opinions are really based upon truth. A week or so,
and the public will see whether the Government will
venture to prosecute the novelist for what it main-

Do. quarter shares .. 2
Do. fifths .. • • • 1
Do. F. 201. .. ••
Do. new, guaranteed 6
per cent... .. 10
Do. Iludders. k Shoff.
Do. West Riding Union 1
Leeds and Bradford • •
Leeds and Thirek .. ••
Do. pref. 6 p ct., No. 1
Do. pref. 6 p ct., No. 2 1
Do. pref. 6 pct., No. 3
Do. pref. qrs., 1848 !
Liverpool, Crosby. and
Southport .. •• L
London and Blackwall 11 1
London, Brighton, and
South Coast .. •• 101
Do. guarteed. 5 per ct.,
late Croydqn thirds.. I
Do. preference, 5 p ct. 54
Do. preference, cony. 5
per cent., 1852 .. 51

DO. new gtiaranteed, 6 -
per cent. .. 10
London and Greenwich . 12 I
Do. preference .. • • 2
London and N.-Western 10
Do. do. new quarters . 1
Do. fifths .. 1
Do. 101. sh., M. & 11(c)
London and 8.-Western . 101
Do. new 50/. .. .. 4'
Do. new 401. .. 3,
Do. uew preference • • 1
Londonderry & Coleraine 2:

tains to be a flagrant violation of the law. Under
any circumstances Mr. DICKENS will have se-
cured an advantage to the community at large,
by thus bringing down upon his own head
the weapons of the Administration. He
will have relieved us from an uncertainty fraught
with inconvenience. He will have destroyed an
anomaly long recognized, but never before grappled
with by the most adventurous. He will have este-
blished the real meaning of the Legislature in these
particulars, and, we doubt not, will have forced upon
the attention of Parliament in the moat effective way
imaginable the evil influences exercised upon the
multitude through the medium of the taxes imposed
on knowledge. Nevertheless, while acknowledging
thus much, while appreciating the benevolence of

Do. half shares ..
Lowestoft, guar. 4 per Ct.
Do. do. 6 per cent. ..
Londonderry and Eau's-
Do. half shares • • ..
Manchester, Buxton, and

Matlock
Manchester, Sheffield, &
. .

Lincolnshire . • • . 10
Do. quarters, No. 1 .. 2
Do. new, 101. preference 1
Do., 61. Preference ••
Do. Manchester and
Lincoln Union .. 4
Midland .. .. • • • • IC
Do. consolidated pref. 10
Do. 50/. shares • • 3
De. Binning & Derby 10
Do. Consel. Bristol &
Binning., 6 per cast. 10
Do. Bristol & Glonces. 4,
Do. do. do. ,• • 29 11
Do. Erewash Tat. pref. 51
Do. Leic. & Swanning.
8 per cent. guars: • • 1
Midland Gt. Walt. 1123.)
Middlesbro' and Redcar,

the purpose held in view in —this matter by Mr.
DICKENS, we cannot to the full coincide with him in

his evident diarelish for the official timbre upon news
papers. What we rejoice at, therefore, in the cir

cumstance alluded to, is the fact that the inquiry
provoked by our illustrious author will tend to ex-
tort from the Legislature some distinct opinion upon
the whole mass of pernicious and unjustifiable taxes
on knowledge. Without, consequently, desiring in
any way to witness the abolition of the "stamp "
seeing that we regard it as well compensated by the
capabilities of postal transmission, and feeling that in
addition to all this it is an effectual preservation
against the issue of vile and detestable broadsheets
otherwise likely to be spawned abundantly by the
printing press--we are most solicitous to observe the
remission of the other duties levied upon knowledge
itself, through the materials for its dissemination.
And this remission we conceive may be very con-
siderably expedited by the arguments provoked in
reference to the prosecution of the proprietor of the
Household Narrative of Current Events by the
Board of Inland Revenue. Whatever may be the
result of this approaching investigation, of one thing
we rest assured, namely, of the generous and pa-
triotic intentions by which Mr. CHARLES DICKENS is
actuated.

6 per cent. guar. ..bl
Newcastle and Carlisle.. 191

Do. quarter shares ..
Newmarket • • • • .. 2
Do. extension scrip .. 2 1
Newport, Abergavehrw,

and Ilereford
Newry, W arrenpoint; k

Roitrevor • • • • :• 2
Norfolk • • • • •.• 10
Do. New 201. iliarea.•• 1

Extension ~.•

Do. guar. 5% per cent.
Do. Waveney Valley..
Northern Counties Union
North British......
Do. Preference .•
North Staffordshire ••
North-Western .. • •
North & Sth.-Weit.Junc.
Oxford, Worcester and
Wolverhampton.. •.
Preston and Wyre
Do. Halves (A) • • •.
Reading, Guildford, and
litigate.. • • • • ..
Royston and Ilitchin
Do. Shepreth Exten...
Scottish Central ..
Scottish Midland

Do. new .. .. • • 2:
Shrewsbury & Birming.
Class A.. 13 1
Do. Class 8.. • • 9 1:
Do. New Guarantee..
Ahrewsbury & Hereford 1
Shrewsbury and Cheater
(Nor. W. Min.) .. paid
Do. Halves • • • • paid
Do. Oswestry .• .. 2(
Do. New.. .. .. • • I
Do. 8 per cent. Pref. . IC
Shropshire Union • • .. 6
South Deven • • .. 6C

Do. Preference ..
South Staffordshire
South-Eastern ..

Do. do. 4% per cent..
South Wales.. .. .
South Yerksh. and River
Dun
Shelf., Roth., and Goole,
N. Div., guar. 5 p cent.
Do. do. South Div. • •
Swansea & Loughor, &c.
raw Vale Extension ..
Thames Haven Deck and
Railway
Vale of Neath .. • •
Waterford and Kilkenny
Waterford and Limerick
Waterford, Wea., Wick.,
and Dublin ..
Wear Valley, 6 par cent.
guaranteed • •
Do. do.
Do. do.
West Cornwall
West London ..
Do. Ist C lase Pref. (101.,
Do. 2d Class de. (par)
Whitenaven and Furness
Windsor, Staines, and S.
Western
Wilts, Somerset, & way▪ -
month •.
York, Newcastle, & Her▪ .
wick ..
Ditto and Newcastle
Extension
Ditto G.N.E. purchase
or preference ..
Do. Hartlepool Dock
and Railway .. 1„
York and North Midland 5
Do. Preference ..

do. .
do. .

Boulogne and Amiens ••
Central of France (or.
leans and Vierzon)
Demerara
Dutch Rhenish .. „.
East Indian ..
Do. do. do. ..
Great Indian Peninsula..
Ditto ditto
Louvain ala Sambre ..
Luxembourg ..
Ditto
Madrid and Valentia • •
Maria Antonia
Ditto, New ..
Namur and Liege ..
Northern of France • •
Orleans sod Bordeaux ..
Paris and Orleans
Paris and Roo en ..
Paris and Strasbourg ..
Rouen and Havre ..
Sambre and Meuse ..
Strasbourg and Emile ..
Tours and Nantes ..
Tournay, Jurbise, Lan-

den, and Hasseft
West Flanders ,

Australasia
British North America..
Colonial
Commercial of London..
London Joint Stock
London and Westminster
National Provincial Eng.
National of Ireland
Provincial of Ireland....

Do. New .. „, ...:
Union of Australia

••
Do. New • O • • • 9 4
Union of London ••• • • •
IThioll Ot

for the liquidation of the national liabilities and the I TEE SHARE MARKETS.
maintenance of the national establishments. BRITISH RAILWAYS