The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-16 00:00:00

THE RELIGIO US DisSENIoNs IN ST.
GRORGES-INTHE-EAST.

The gross revenu3 properly appertaining to the
year 1859, adjusted with reference to the balances
due to and from the colonies and foreign countries,
was £3,299,825; being an increase of £498,886
on the adjusted gross revenue of 1858. This in-
crease is equal to nearly 61 per cent. as compared
with an increase of 2 per cent. in the previous
year, and with an average of about 41- per cent. in
the last four years. The great increase in the busi-
ness of the department during the year which has
produced this large increase of revenue is no doubt
mainly attributable to the activity which has pre-
vailed in all branches of trade and commerce, but
also in a certain degree to the general election last
spring, which alone produced an amount of corre-
spondence estimated in postage at £20,000.
The actual expenditure for 1859 was £1,926,903,
and the expenditur,e properly appertaining to the
year (partly estimated) was £1,853,953. The in-
crease of expenditure properly appertaining,to the
being rather more than 4* per
yearcent w.,aass 83,3
c£ompar9e9d with three per cent. in 1858, and
with rather more than four per cent., the average of
the last four years. The increase of £54,000 in
pensions,ffirs
ce&:,
pc4lyitspartly for an increased
for poundage on money
orders and postage stamps (which increases with
fsoarlacerie ofs 430 officers,
increasing business), partly for annual increments
of salaries and wages, and is partly owing to the
fact that the account for 1859 comprises 53 weeks.
The increase under the head " Miscellaneous" is
attributable to the increase in the official postage
of the department—an increase which is common
also to the revenue. The cost of conveyance, weight
for weight, at the present rates paid by the Post-
office—chiefly to railway companies—is now more
than fourfold what it was when penny postage was
first established, and when most of the letters were
carried by mail coaches. It had been shown at that
time by Mr. Rowland Hill that the average cost of
conveying an inland letter did not exceed 1-36 d.,
and that of a newspaper 1-6 d. But now, calculat-
ing on the same principle, the average cost of con-
veying a letter is 4-d., and that of a newspaper (of
the present average weight of 21 oz.), ltd. To the
revenue accounted for by the Post-office, and proper
to the year 1859, is to be added the produce of the
impressed stamp on newspapers, £148,249 ; and
to the expenditure the cost of stationery (which
is defrayed by the Stationery-office), £28,642 ; and
such portion of the cost of the packets (hitherto
defrayed by the Admiralty, and partly incurred
for other than postal purposes), £444,519 ; which
may fairly be placed to the debit of the Post-office ;
there is also to be deducted from the expendi-
ture part of the annual payment to the Holyhead
Railway Company, £1,838,953—a payment agreed
upon chiefly to assist in the construction of the
line, and to promote passenger communication be-
tween England and Ireland. The net revenue, viz.,
the difference between the gross revenue properly
appertaining to the year and the expenditure,
was £1,135,960. About a million of the net
revenue—that is, nearly the whole of it, is derived
from inland letters, each of which on an average
yields a profit of about id., while the average
postage is about 10. It is believed that newspapers
and books yield no profit, even if they do not en-
tail a considerable loss; for while the average
charge, taking newspapers and books together, is
less than for letters, the expense is greater, since
from their larger bulk and weight newspapers and
books give more trouble in sorting, are heavier in
conveyance, and are a greater burden to the letter-
carriers. Again, it is thou ht that the great mag-
nitude of some of the mails (chiefly caused by news-
papers and books), and the idea (although his lord-
ship considers such idea erroneous) that the book
post deprive railway companies of traffic in parcels,
have a material effect in augmenting the sums
awarded by arbitrators for railway service. As
regards communication with distant places, expe-
rience proves that, within moderate limits, the
number of letters is not much affected by the rate
of postage ; frequency, regularity, and speed of com-
munication, appearing to have a far greater in-
fluence.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—HaIf-crown Day, Saturday,
Aprill4.—Admissions on payment, 1,587 ; ditto by seison
tickets, 2,753, WOW viSitOre, 4,304

The'allegation current on Friday regarding the
discount houses seems to have been confirmed. A
correspondent observes " The report is of a charac-
ter so extremely silly that every one is Wondering
how it could find its way into the columns of The
Times." Nevertheless, there is now no doubt as to
its correctness. That credence should have been
refused to it is natural, because anything more ridi-
culous or more censurable could hardly be found in
commercial records. The firms in question feel ag-
grieved that the Bank of England—an establish-
ment in the same way of business with themselves,
only on a very superior scale—will not supply them
with means whenever they have gone beyond their
own resources. The matter being precisely as if a
1 butcher with inadequate capital were to undertake
contracts for provisioning the army, and ou finding
1 himself unable to complete them should insist that
the regular contractors, with whom in his vanity
he had attempted to compete, should then accept his
liabilities and allow him a profit for the privilege.
Whatever ought be thought of such a claim, it was
open to them to urge it by all recognised modes.
They could appeal to the law courts if they con-
sidered they had legal rights, or to public opinion if
they rested their case solely on its moral merits. All
parties were ready for the discussion, and a judg-
ment could soon have been arrived at, because,
apart from the question whether bankers are to be
allowed the freedom conceded to all other traders,
or are to be compelled against their judgment to
discount for customers whom they would rather
avoid, a short recapitulation of the events of 1857,
and especially of the circumstances connecte4with
the suspension of the Bank Charter Act, as well as
of the revelations in the subsequent winding up of
failed houses, would rapidly have enabled the
public to decide whether the title of the existing
discount establishments to favour is so strong and
exceptional that it should be allowed to override
every ordinary commercial principle. But it appears
that to appeal either to law or reason—the only
course usually considered open in England—was
not deemed desirable. For some time past, when-
ever, from political or other causes, there has been
any little inconvenience in the money market such
as the majority of respectable men would endeavour
by all legitimate means to smooth or mitigate, a
certain set have occupied themselves in pretending
that some dreadful pressure was coming on, and
that all that was taking place, and all that was to
be dreaded, could be traced to the determination of
the Bank to discount for the public instead of for
the bill brokers. These matters, however, although
they have repeatedly led to temporary perplexity,
have been too small to be worthy of much notice. It
became necessary to attempt something on a grander
scale, and the results of the effort were yesterday
brought to public cognisance. The discount houses,
by realisations in one form or another, are affirmed
to have scraped together a certain amount of
bank-notes some people say £2,000,000 or
£3,000,000—and to have locked them up. This
is usually thought to be about the worst use to
which bank-notes can be put, but they had an ob-
ject, and that object must have been to produce
inconvenience either to the Bank or the com-
mercial dommunity, or both, or the more amiable
one of giving a turn to other capitalists by
temporarily withdrawing from competition from
them, and enabling them, for a little while at least,
to get 5 per cent., or perhaps more. Which is the
true interpretation ? The first harmonizes with
previous demonstrations, but is morally disagree-
able ; the second has a philanthropic character, but
is not flattering as regards financial sagacity. Per-
haps, supposing a design to produce embarrassment
to be admitted, it will be urged that the end was
beneficent, since it was to enable the discount
houses to resume a sway they may consider essen-
tial to the mercantile stability of Great Britain.
But there is no greater evil in commerce than the
liability to sudden and needless disturbances ; and
are we to hold that the end justifies the means, and
that we may do evil that good may come ? The
people who have been frightened, and who have
had to pay 5 per cent., instead of 3, will hardly for
the moment appreciate that plea. Moreover, thi
opinions and customs of society are against such
proceedings, and, where they have assumed an ex-
treme form, they have even come under judicial re-
probation. About two years back there was a case
in New York State of a man who collected a great
number of notes of a particular bank with the view
of presenting them all at once, so as' to bring the
concern into clifliculty. lie had been assisted by
others, and had incautiously mentioned that fact.
The directors thereupon prosecuted him for conspi-
racy, and he was found guilty and sentenced. This
shows the sensitiveness of public feeling on such
points, and, without assuming that in the present
case there has been any combination or any pur-
pose of specifii: • injury, the warning may be ac-
cepted that it "a I dangerous to.begin a contest with
establishments. of public credit with any weapons
other than thosta of law and argument. It is to be
acknowledged_ that any individual firm has a right
to exercise suer eme command over its own property,
even though oti ers may be ruined by sudden caprices
in connection la ith it, and it must be inferred that
in what haskist been witnessed there has been no
reprehensible concert. If Messrs. A or B, for in-
stance, like at :any time to lock up a million or two
of notes, when. :notes are worth 5 per cent., or even
to burn them,, .no one, unless it be a relative, can
have a right to interfere. All that can be hoped is
that the next individual house that may feel dis-
posed to measure its resources against those of the
Bank of Englai id will bide its time, and lay its
plans so as to d o the work effectually. The world at
the present jut +cture cannot afford to be constantly
excited by fear from some inscrutable operations,
only to find at last that there is no mischief any-
where, and the t nothing has taken place beyond
the fact of an 'eminent discount firm having placed
its notes to frmetify4n its iron safe. It is true that
the moment when the community were likely to be
inconvenienced by an unprecedented pressure from
the quarterly revenue payments, was not altogether
inopportune ft xr commencing the struggle, but the
failure has bet rn not the less complete, and it is evi-
dent that the final effort must be deferred until the
occurrence of actual war, or some other calamity
when the Gos•ernment and the country, rather than
see the Bank 'tf England and every commercial in-
terest crushed,, may, perhaps, insist that each dis-
count house sh all be first served upon its own terms,
and that the r sgular bankers and the public shall
then come in 84 the market rate.—Times' City Ar-
ticle.

A FEARFUL SCENE.

On Friday afternoon, when a vast concourse of
persons was assembled on the racecourse at Aberga-
venny an accident occurred which created a most
painful interest. The grand stand is close to the
bank of the River Usk, the waters of which were at
this time swoll en and rapid from the recent storms.
At Abergavemiy is a joint counties pauper lunatic
asylum, in which are about 800 patients, and on
this afternoon a. large number of the female lunatics
were brought on t to walk by the side of the river
opposite to the racecourse, and from which they
would see something of the sport going on on the
other side. Suddenly one of the patients—a fine
middle-aged 'woman—saw among the crowd on the
opposite bank her husband, who is a confectioner
at Newport, rind was hawking his wares among
the people. With a wild scream she ran down
the bank and -precipitated herself into the foaming
torrent, and a ttention was drawn to her just as the
horses were about to start for the Club Stakes. A
scene of terror ensued such as cannot be described.
The lunatics ocn the bank clung to each other and
filled the air v rith their shrieks. The poor woman
was carried rapidly down the stream, and battled
wildly with it a rapid waters, yelling for aid when
her head came above water. The assembled crowd
deserted the reieing to rush to the river's bank, and
shoxted with evismay and excitement as each plunge
seemed to be tl ie last the victim would give. A man
threw off his o verclothing and dashed straight to-
wards her amid tremendous cheers, but when he
reached the mil idle of the stream the strength of the
current bore him away for some distance. In vain
he turned and tried to ascend ; he, too, became
visibly exhausted, and it now seemed imminent that
two human beings must perish untimely in the sight
of a frantic crowd, who were utterly powerless to
save them. The man, however, managed to gain the
side and held on to some overhanging bushes, while
the body of the woman, who had ceased struggling,
and was now supposed to bo dead, floated towards
him. At this juncture she sank, and the man, with
a last effort, drved after her. The brief space -when
they wore submerged appeared an age, but the brave
fellow had grasped the drowning woman's hair, and
pulled her in towards the shore. The bank was
steep, but they were both got out more dead than
alive. A ringing cheer, such as one seldom hears,
broke from the spectators on the Grand Stand on
the opposite bank, and most of them, with true
English imperturbability, returned to the spot in
time to witness the finish of the race, in which, sin-
gular enough, five out of the six horses and riders
had met with accidents more or less severe. The
usual restoratives were applied to the persons thus
almost miraculowly saved from death, and they
both recovered in a short time. A collection was
made for the heroic fellow, and was most liberally
responded to. Nearly £l5 was contributed by those
on the Grand Stand, and Lord Tredegar, who was
acting as judge, undertook to. levy contributions
from his party and the gentry m carriages, making
g over A2Q in

Yesterday the services at St. George's-in-the-East
were more pacific than on Easter Sunday, although
there were not more than a dozen policemen to keep
order. It was evident that a large number of persons
who sympathised w ith the rector were in attendance;.
so numerous indeed were they that they completely
overpowered those who attempted to interrupt the
service by saying the responses in opposition to the
choir.

The Second Commandment, and other portions of
the service which referred to graven images, were
coughed and jeered at, but no serious interruption
was offered to the prayers.
The Rev. Fredk. G. Lee, S.C.L., of Oxford, who
preached, encountered a good deal of opposition, in
consequence of the character of his sermon. He
selected for his text the 25th and 26th verses of the

11th chapter of St. John's Gospel.,—" I am the re-
surrection and the life, he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whoso-
ever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." In
the course of his sermon he alluded in somewhat
severe terms to the proceedings in that church dur-
ing the past 10 months. He had doubts in his own
mind, and letters which he had received, and which
the rector of that parish had received, from conscien-
tious Dissenters from the Church of England, con-
firmed these doubts, as to the • principles which had
actuated those persons who had caused the interrup-
tions there. His rev. friend the rector had had to
contend against many difficulties. He had been set
aside apparently by the authorities that be. The
civil authorities did not seem to countenance him ;
the ecclesiastical authorities also seemed to throw
him overboard. But would any or all of those men
who now scouted those opinions, and attempted to
put down those ideas which seemed to be so repug-
nant to public feeling, act so when they came to ap-
ply their minds to the text which he had selected,
and which unmistakeably told them they had to ac-
count to a higher Being for every act they did in the
world? For while Christ said, "I am the resurrec-
tion and the life, and he that believeth in me though
he were dead shall live," that was grounded upon
the hope of our faith in Christ, and on His power
to save. He held that the authorities had not
done their duty in respect of this matter, and he
defied any judge to say that the rector, an unpro-
tected man, had not been attempted to be hunted
down and persecuted by a desperate and unprin-
cipled mob.
These personal allusions called forth repeated
hissings and other noises.
At 20 minutes before 7 the gates were thrown
open for the evening service. A dense crowd had
assembled in Cannon-street, and in a few minutes
the church was completely filled. The galleries
were chiefly filled by boys and girls, while in the
body of the church there were fewer roughs than
on any previous occasion. As soon as the rector and
his choristers emerged from the vestry-room there
was much hissing and howling, and this was re-
newed when the rector appeared at the reading-
desk for the purpose of proceeding with the service.
He went on without much further interruption until
he came to the Belief, when he turned his back
upon the congregation, for which he was greeted
with loud groans, which completely drowned his
voice. The Rev. F, G. Lee was again the preacher.
He selected for his text the 24th chapter of St.
Luke's Gospel, 29th verse—" Abide with us, for it
is towards evening, and the day is far spent." He
adverted at some length to the progress which the
Church had made during the past 40 years, and
urged upon all present the duty of helping forward
that great movement. Every now and then he was
loudly hissed, but the sermon, notwithstanding the
immense number of people who were present, was
listened to with more than ordinary attention.
At the close of the service there were the same
tumultuous proceedings as before. People rushed
towards the altar, but did not make their wit:
within the rails. They sung the Doxology after
the rector and clergy, and retired, and it was some-
time before the few police who were in attendance
succeeded in clearing the chancel.
The altar was decorated with flowers as on the
preceding Sunday, but the corona was not lighted.
Le