The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-03 00:00:00

A WESLEYAN " HIGH" CHURCH.

We take the following details of the opening of the
grand Metropolitan Memorial Methodist Church recently
erected in Washington (U.S.), at a cost of £50,000, from
the Washington papers :—" It is in the Gothic style of
architecture, and is built in two stories, the ground floor
being used for Sunday-school purposes, and the upper as
the " audience-room" (sic) or chapel proper. There is to
be a tower and spire 240 feet in height, to
contain a peal of bells. The interior has been
decorated in the most lavish manner. In the
chapel all the windows are filled with stained glass,
illustrative of the life of the Rev. John Wesley, and of
various leading Wesleyan ministers, whilst those in
the schoolroom beneath are devoted to incidents in the
life of our Lord. The panels of the pulpit, or platform,
are of olive-wood from the Garden of Gethsemane,
which are carved into crosses, with the sacred monogram
and the symbolical ivy plant. The keystone of the arch
to the recess in which the pulpit is placed is of stone
from Solomon's Temple, and upon it is carved,
in
Hebrew, the name of God. The " altar furniture (sic)
is made of wood from the Mount of Olives. The appear.
ance of the pulpit and altar," says the National Repub.
lican, "is grand and imposing." The opening ceremonial
was of an elaborate nature, very different from the
simple form followed in England by the Wesleyans.
A special choir, under direction of . a professor
of singing, was engaged, and sang various anthems.
Ten ministers occupied the pulpit. After Bishop
Simpson had read the opening charge," the lessons for
the day were read, then followed the anthem and the
sermon. This concluded, the Bishop took his stand at
one end of the pulpit, whilst a minister stood at the
other end, formally, and in a loud voice, requesting him
to dedicate the new church. The prayers, as used by the
bishops of the Anglican Church in the consecration of a
church, were then read, and the service concluded with
the Benediction by Bishop Simpson. Some peculiar
features are to be noticed in the report. Not only is the
amount of the collection given, but the sums given
by a few prominent members of the congregation are
also mentioned. It is needless to add that these sums
are all large. The Rev. W. M. Punshon, the English
minister, preached in the afternoon, and the Republican
adds that his sermon was composed in less than two hours.
During the collections one of the ministers went about
with a basket to receive the contents of the boxes. Most
of the windows are special gifts, and bear the inscription
" Donated by —." At the commencement of the pro-
ject 5,000 dollars were given by a wealthy merchant, in
the name of General Grant. Determined not to be behind,
some friends of President Johnson and Chief Justice
Chase got up a subscription, and gave similar sums in
their names. General Grant attended the first service,
arriving during the sermon, which was nearly stopped by
his appearance, there being quite a movement in the gal-
leries to catch a sight of him. The church is claimed to
be a " National Church," and therefore a pew is set apar‘
for each State and territory in the Union.—Rock.

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE RATE-
PAYING CLAUSES.

On Friday an influential deputation waited upon the
President of the Poor-law Board, with whom was Mr.
John Bright, M.P., President of the Board of Trade,
respecting a proposed measure for the collection of rates
among the occupiers of low-class property, formerly com-
pounded for. Among those present with the deputation
were Mr. Vernon Harcourt, M.P., Mr. Muntz, M.P.,
Mr. Mundella, M.P., Mr. G. Dixon, M.P., and Mr. Forster,
M.P. Mr. Dixon, M.P., introduced the deputation, and
explained that the people of Birmingham felt the appli- '
cation of the ratepaying clauses as exceptionally hard,
inasmuch as they applied to about 36,000 people, who for-
merely compounded and were now held responsible for the
rates, and were causing great suffering. Other gentlemen
urged that the compounding principle should be restored, as
the franchise should not in their opinion be associated
with the payment of local rates. The working
classes believed that one of the first things the
Liberal Government would do on coming into power
would be to place its hand upon this " blot," as Mr.
Gladstone had himself called the ratepaying clauses of the
Reform Act. Mr. Goschen said that if the sufferings
which had taken place had been foreseen, the measure,
with those clauses, would not, he thought, have been
passed ; and Mr. Bright begged the deputation to remem-
ber that the present G overnment was not responsible for
those clauses. Mr. Goschen said his .proposed measure
would meet many of the difficulties pointed out, and lie
was afraid sufficient attention had not been given to the
clauses he proposed, or that they were not sufficiently
appreciated. Mr. Vernon Harcourt, I\LP., said
there were two grievances, the economical and the
political ; there was the payment of rates, which 'entailed
a larger amount being paid, and then when the house-
holders arranged with their landlords, their names were
kept from the register, and the votes were lost. Mr.
Goschen said the question was how to give up the com-
pound principle and secure the franchise to the man living
in the compound house. The deputation had shewn them-
selves anxious to secure the economical point. Mr.
Bright said one way to meet the difficulty would be to
give the vote to every bond fide householder, whether
his name should be upon the register or not—in point of
fact, that the revising barrister should be compelled to so
amend the register as to include all householders. Mr.
Goschen then proceeded to say that the whole spirit of '
what the Government intended had been misconceived, not
only by the deputation, but by others in large towns. The
difficulty the Government had to deal with was to amend
the economical part of the question in such a manner as not
to deprive, or run the risk of depriving, a large number of
people of the franchise; for if the ratepaying clauses were
repealed thousands upon thousands of people would not
get on the registrar. Many plans had been proposed to
amend the existing difficulty, but there was no considera-
tion or anxiety shewn to keep the poor voters on the
register. He proceeded to shew that if the Government
now took up any question of change of principle in the
matter of changing the books or such like alteration as
suggested, perhaps Parliament might have to deal with
the whole system de noro, and that would not be
advisable in the present condition of thing, when
so many other questions of importance were
under consideration. The whole scope of the bill
had, he believed, been underrated, for it proposed to
relieve the occupiers from the rates, and make the owners
the persons by whom the rates were to be paid ; and,
moreover, this measure wculd be applicable to the whole
country. He pointed out that there was the question of
the parochial franchise to be considered, and he concluded
by saying that Mr. Bright's presence there that day was
a proof that the Government was not inclined to approach
the question in aniggardlyspirit, and would carefully con-
sider all the points that had been advanced.

In consequence of Sir John Lubbock's appeal
on the late destruction of the Great Tol-maen, the Council
of the Ethnological Society have appointed a committee to
investigate the pre-historic monuments of these islands,
and the measures to be taken for their preservation. It
includes Sir John Lubbock, Professor Huxley, Colonel
Lane Fox, Mr. Hyde Clarke, Mr. John Evans, Mr.
Thomas Wright, Dr. Thurnam; Mr. H. G. Bohn, Mr.
Blackmore, and Mr. A. W. Franks.—Athenceum.
A GHOST STORY.—We are not answerable for
the following :—An aged man, dressed in the costume of
the last century, wearing a flowing shirt front, and having
in his hand a large cane, has repeatedly been met of late
towards evening, walking in the Pilgrim-road, near a chalk
pit, between the villages of Otford and Kemsing, Sevenoaks.
Always on the same spot of road, he neither proceeds, so
far as cah be ascertained, to the one village or the
other, nor can it be discovered that he is sojourning
at any neighbouring place. On Saturday evening a
horseman close to the chalk-pit was about to address him
and inquire the time, when on turning in his saddle
to do so, behold he had vanished ! The horseman, by no
means a coward, avers that he was never so much alarmed
in his life, for he distinctly saw the old gentleman close to
him, and could not be deceived on the subject. He says
the dress, of the most ancient cut, could not be mistaken,
nor the frilled shirt-front and cane. The disappearance, if
disappearance it really was, is very remarkable, as there
were no houses or cottages near the spot, nor any place
for a person jocularly inclined to secrete himself. For
what purpose is the ancient stranger patrolling in the
above secluded locality ? —South-Eastern Gazette.

THE BLACKBURN ELECTION.—Mr. Hornby, the
senior late member for the borough of Blackburn, who
was unseated on petition by Mr. Justice Willes, has just
issued a farewell address to the electors. He says he
intended addressing hi's late constituents immediately
after the judge's decision; " but am now well pleased
that I waited for the second verdict of the electors of
Blackburn, because, in thanking them sincerely for their
kindness and confidence placed in me for so many years,
I have now the additional pleasure and gratification of
thanking them for the high compliment they have
paid my son by placing him in the honourable
position from which I was so unfairly removed. Notwith-
standing the result of the petition, I rejoice most sincerely
that the investigation took place, and for these reasons :
First, because the judge fully and decidedly cleared the
town of the unjust and foul charges made against it ;
secondly, because the judge acquitted Mr. Feilden and
myself from the charges brought against us, and said in
strong and forcible language that there was no foundation
for such accusations either against ourselves or our sup-
porters and ought never to have been made and thirdly,
because the petition having unseated the old members has
caused the honest and independent electors to prove by
raw/ling their sons that they will net fail...unit to U dicta,
IQ Gio mita iiniumatate.3.,