The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-14 00:00:00

DISCHARGED DOCKYARD WORKMEN.

A public meeting was held at Portsmouth on
Monday, and a statement was made by the Mayor
and other gentlemen, who had waited on
the Government authorities in London, respect-
ing the emigration of the discharged work-
men. Mr. Childers had placed two ships at
their disposal, and stated that the Government
would give them a free passage out, but a small sum
must be provided for their rations and the dollar
tax. For every £4OO thus subscribed, Mr. Childers
will give £".100 from a private source. The British
and Colonial Emigration Society will give
five hundred towards the fund, and altogether, the
Mayor said, a thousand pounds was now available.
It was not yet definitely known who would receive
the emigrants on their landing in Canada, but the
Emigration Commissioners would doubtlessiunder-
take that duty. No persuasion of any kind had been
used to induce the men to emigrate, and the work of
the committee began and ended with those who had
determined to leave this country. Admiral Hope
had no wish for large bodies. of workmen
to leave England; but if it would benefit them
he must . agree. If it were certain that
the men and their families would be taken care of in
America, he would do all in his power to aid their
emigration to the New World. The Mayor explained
that the telegraphic reply to the Government
message sent to Canada would no doubt contain a
definite assurance on this point. The meeting was
attended by a number of the discharged dockyard-
men.

Tll.O COST OF WAR.

A suggestive fact is stated in a recent work issued
by the Peace Society, entitled " Contemporary
Wars." It is said that the wars from 1853 to 1860
cost £1,913,000,000, an amount which would pay for
the construction of railways to an extent equal to the
circuit of the globe-23,000 miles—at £BO,OOO per
mile; or it would build and till with objects of art
and interest 1,530 such magnificent institutions as
the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, at £1,250,000 each ;
or would erect and endow 382,600 schools, at £5,000
each. The number of men who perished is set down
as 1,740,000.
VOLUNTARYISM IN THE ENGLISH CHURCH.

It is stated that in a single parish, Islington, the
Church, without ally help from tithes or church
rates, has built twenty churches within the last
thirty years, and keeps them up and maintains their
ministers by the voluntary system alone. This, too,
is done without resort to the weekly offertory, which
would probably bring in at least twice the amount
which is now obtained.

(From the Anglo-American Times)
NEW YORK, March 27.

This is Passion Week ; and the Ritualists are mak-
ing innovations, and will soon be as far advanced, as
the most advanced in England. Indeed, they will
be further advanced if what I hear is true, that the
candles have been put out in some of your highest
churches by the recent ecclesiastical decision.
Bishop Potter has endeavoured to check the ten-
dency as much as possible; but at Christ Church,
St. Alban's, and the Church of the Annunciation,
fresh ceremonies have been introduced, and these
churches have been filled morning and evening
throughout the week. The New York Times had
the following advertisement :—" Wanted to hire
or purchase a pew in a Protestant Episcopal Church,
near Thirty-fourth-street, where the services of the
church are conducted satne as during the past 300
years ; no candles, no choral service, no incense,
no gaudy robes, no processions or other mum-
mery or nonsense." It is satisfactory to have
the post of Collector in this city filled. New York
gives more trouble to the Executive at Washington
than the rest of the country, and General Grant
stated that he found it so, as did Mr. Lincoln. In
the Custom House sinecures still remain, and no
small sensation was yesterday created by the an-
' nouncement that another batch of them was to be
done-away with. Several office-holders received
a semi-official notification before the appointment
of Mr. Grinnell, which created as much surprise as
consternation, as the Govetnment was supposed to
be too busy to attend to such matters, and will
have to work through the Cellector after he had been
appointed. The emigration to California is growing
and likely to prove immense, during the summer.
Independent of the vast attractions of that land, as
genial as it is fruitful, a White Pine mania
has steadily been spreading East. There are
rich new diggings also in the lower part of that
State, as well as in Nevada. The Rising Star,
which sailed last Saturday, was crowded with
passengers for Cslifornia of the well-to-do emigrant
class, mostly Eastern men, with small sums to in-
vest. The " real estate" mania is as great as ever.
Last week the auction sales amounted to $3,535,369,
making $20,123,264 since New Year's-day. The
prices steadily rise, and every effort is made by the
speculators to make their announcements as attrac-
tive as possible. Rents are not falling, bat remain
about the same; comparing the terms of those to
let, I find that they are not under the rates of last
year ; indeed in the upper part of the town the Ten-
dency is towards
higher prices. The case of Fisk
(junior) against the Union Pacific Railroad Com-
pany has been on trial in the Supreme Court, before
Judge Barnard. Mr. Durant, vice-president of the
company, who, you may recollect, was arrested at
Queenstown with George Francis Train, on examina-
tion, said he was a stockholder in the Credit
Mobilier ; did not know where the funds of the
company were ; thought in barges, locomotives,
and in the hands of the contractor Hoxie. He had
not received funds from the Union Pacific Railroad
Company, owned fully 30,000 shares of Union
Pacific stock, for which he had paid par price on
two-thirds. The dividends received were in the
nature of allotments. On the motion to have Wil-
liam M. Tweed, jun., continued until the trial was
finished as receiver of the road, 111 r. Tweed stated
on affidavit that he could not find any of the rail-
road property in New York, either at the Nassau-
street office or elsewhere. When examined on
Monday, Mr. Durant said that the road had cost
the company from $42,000 to $98,000 per mile ;
that Oakes Ames was the only member of
Congress he know of interested in the- com-
pany ; the Credit Mobilier had paid no money
that he was aware of to any member of Congress ;
he was questioned by Mr. Dudley Field as to the
books, papers, and moneys of the company, but
Mr. Durant only knew of those deposited with
Cisco and Son, and in the Fourth National Bank
as security for loans. Mr. Tracey, the company's
counsel, resisted the pressure brought to bear by
Mr. Field for the production of the books and
papers. Judge Barnard decided that the books
should be produced, but Mr. Tracey said he would
advise his client to disobey, as the Court had no
power to make such an order. Mr. Field moved,
in that event, that Mr. Durant be committed to
gaol, and the judge repeated that he must produce
the books or be committed. On reassembling after
the recess, to enable him to• respond, an affidavit
from Mr. Durant was read, stating that the books
and papers were in the company's safe, of which
the Sheriff had the key. Next morning a letter was
read from Durant to Mr. Ham asking for the key,
that the order of the Court might be complied with.
Mr. Ham replied that he would be in town that day,
but he had not as yet arrived. To the demand of
the defendants, that the Sheriff should be required
to give up possession of the company's office, Mr.
Field stated that if the motion were entertained he
would sul. mit an affidavit, setting forth thattheCredit
Mobilier had constructed the road, so as to enable
the company to divide 700 per cent, • Hoxie failed to
fulfil the contract he undertook to build 100 miles
of the railway, and the Credit Mobilier finished it,
and received the pay. It was incorporated by the
Legislature of Pennsylvania, and if Mr. Fisk's affi-
davit is proved, it must have been rather a profit-
able company. He says it divided among its share-
holders bonds and shares of the Union Pacific Rail-
way Company, as well as money, amounting in all
to $752 on each share of $lOO ; while an undivided
surplus still exists of about $5OO per share more.
Mr. Durant said that the Railway Company had
spent in bribes $500,000, and that they kept up a
Secret Service Fund of $700,000. The Senate
Committee on Pacific Railroads on the 26th March
authorized their Chairman to present a substitute
for the House proposition, by which both the com,
panics may elect officers in the city of Washington ;
but Fisk has agents in Washington, who will
strongly appose the resoltition. The effect has been