The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-30 00:00:00

adopted, an,_ . was
been pursufg,especially as it was not known even at the
present time the exact number of rooms that would be re-
quired. If instructions had been given limiting the ar.
chitects to a certain number of rooms of certain dimen-
sions, then, indeed, there might have been some cause for
saying that the architects were to a certain extent
fettered in the preparation of their places. At the time
instructions were given the number of pictures to be ex-
hibited could not be stated, because it was desirable to
provide for the future as well as the present. fie could
not think that the competition had been a
failur,e because a number of very valuable sug-
gestions have been made ; and although the
was not one amongst the designs that was altogether
satisfactory, yet materials had been given which hei
thought would enable a building to be rrepared which
would meet all the requirements demanded.

Mr. B. HOPE defended the decision of the judges in
not recommending any one of the designs submitted to
them to be carried into effect.

Sir J. GRAY, in a lengthy speech, called attention tp
sonic recent observations of Justice Keogh at the Tyrone
Assizes, reflecting on the conduct of the Donoghtnore
bench of magistrates. From the documents Sir John read,
the charge against the magistrates seemed to be that on the
occasion of a collision between two parties of Catholics and,
Protestants they committed the Catholics only fortrial, and
discharged the Protestants, though the identification was
equally complete in both cases. He asked Lord Naas
whether it was intended to institute any further inquiry,
and moved for papers.
Mr. KNOX defended the magistrates, showing that the
evidence before them proved the Protestants to have been
guilty of no riotous conduct, and condemned Justice
Keogh's hasty and intemperate language.
Lord C. HAMILTON, who defended the magistrates
and invited a strict inquiry into their conduct, sharply at-
tacked Sir J. Gray for his unfair misrepresentation and sup-
pression of evidence.
After some remarks from Mr. Sta.uvls in defence of
Justice Keogh,

Lord NAAS deprecated strongly the tone of Sir J. Gray's
speech, and stated that Justice Keogh had not yet brought
t.lae-alectunstances uuderthe notieetisi the Laird
as ho had pronlised, but when he did the Irish Govern ter: M
-
ment would make a strickinquiry hit° them.

The c,.aversation, which lasted some hours, and was 'very
discursive, and occasionally reethninatorY in its tone, was
continued by Mr. Vance, Mr. Bagwell, Mr. Litt}pan, Mr. C.
Forteseue, and Mr. Conolly. It grew still warmer when
Mr. Sergeant Barry and Sir W. Verner digressed into the
Belfast riots and the Orange Associations, and a very ex-
cited scene followed on a remark by Sir 11. Edwards that
there wore "Fenians," or, as ho aftexwards qualified it,
"Fenian sympathisers" in the house. Mr. Esmond° moved
that the words be taken down, and the Speaker pronounced
it to be highly disorderly and unbecoming to accuse
any members of sympathising with what the house had
stigmatised as a treasonable conspiracy. The Chancellor of
tho Exchequer interposed, and made a strong appeal to Sir
H. Edwards to withdraw the wurds, which he did subse-
quently in the fullest manner.

Sir J. GRAY then proposed to withdraw his motion for
papers; but, objection being taken to this mode of dispos-.
ing of it, it was negatived without a division.

Colonel UREVILLE-NUGENT called attention to the
conditions of superannuation for the Irish Constabulary,
and suggested that every constable after 25 years' service
should receive a pension.
Lord NAAS, in reply, pointed out that considerable ad-.
ditions had recently been made in the scale of superannua-
tion and in the pay of the constabulary, varying from £6
to £ll a year—an arrangement which had considerably
increased the cost of the force, and was very satisfactory
to the men.

The report of the Commission on the Irish Constabulary
which sat last year was criticised by General Dunne and
defended by Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen, and the house
went into committee of supply, when

A vote of £2,000 was agreed to for special rewards to
the Irish Constabulary.
The Alimony Arrears Bill was read a second time.
The Religious, dm, Buildings Sites Bill was read a third
time and passed.
Mr. LAWSON introduced a bill to facilitate the wind-
ing up of railway companies in Ireland.

The remaining business was disposed of, and the house
adjourned at 25 minutes to 1 o'clock.

International Coinage.

The Round Table thinks that if the United States
and Great Britain adjusted their coinage to some
sort of uniformity with that of France, Belgium,
Switzerland, and Italy, it might lead to the exten-
sion of the system, at no very distant epoch, to the
whole commercial world. Each of these four coun-
tries agrees to receive into its Treasury the gold and
silver coins of the others, which, until January,
1880, shall, for the four, be one and the same, sub-
ject to certain conditions respecting wear and tear,
to make its coins of a certain weight and size and of
a certain fineness. In the preamble of the Treaty
two reasons are stated for holding the convention :
—lst. To remedy the inconveniences which pr
upon the communications and transactions between
the inhabitants of their respective States in conse-
quence of the diverse values of their coined moneys ;
and 2d, to contribute, by the formation of a mone-
tary union, to the progress of uniformity in the
weights and measures. The Round Table considers
that there is not the least probability that Great
Britain, with the invincible tenacity with which she
holds to what is established, will ever change
her system of coinage, to say nothing of weights
and measures to adopt a French or any other sys-
tem. Indeed the heavens might as soon be ex-
pected to fall as the English to give up their £ s. d.
and the Americans their dollars and cents to adopt
napoleons and francs. Nor is this necessary or even
desirable. Luckily, a very slight change in the
value of the English sovereign would bring it into
a simple relation with the napoleon, and this is
really all that is wanted. The sovereig❑ exceeds in
value one napoleon and a quarter by twopence, less
than 1 per cent., and has a currency in France as a
piece of 25 francs. By this slight change in the
value of the sovereign currency could be given it
as 25 francs on the Continent without loss, and the
napoleon have currency in England as 165., thus
making the gold coins of all those countries to all
practical purposes, equivalent. Fortunately, Ame-
rica is nearly as favourably placed for equalising
with these nations the value of her gold currency.
The half-eagle a five dollar gold piece ex-
ceeds in value the English sovereign about 16
cents. It would exceed the sovereign, if reduced
as proposed, nearly 20 cents, or about 4 per cent.
Hence what is required is for the English to reduce
the value of their gold coins 6 per cent., and the
United States 4 per cent., practically to give a
uniform gold coinage for the world. The Conti-
nent of Europe will follow the lead of France and
England, and the United States would carry the
rest of the world in their wake. It will be observed
that this change does not disturb the units of cur-
rencies for their respective countries. The dollar
will remain fur America, the pound sterling for
Great Britain, and the franc for France, their
respective units, and hence there would be no inter-
ference with the currency of accounts, and we may
say generally, none with domestic money transac-
tions. As to silver coins, nothing need be done
except to determine by law their value in relation
to gold (as gold is the only standard), and as the
relative value of gold and silver depends upon and
varies with the supply of the respective metals,
their relation will need adjustment, at any rate
from time to time. All that would have to be
done would be to make the silver coins corre-
spond with gold on the new standard. For
example, let the half-dollar coin equal one-tenth
the half-eagle, &c. The coins below the dime,
as they have currency as tokens -without regard to
intrinsic value, may be of nickel or inferior metal.
The old Spanish and Mexican dollars would remain,
as they are, articles of commerce, and be gradually
absorbed by China and India. Any one that pur-
sues the subject will see to what almost perfect
uniformity the slight changes proposed would bring
nearly all the coins of the countries mentioned, thus
affording us—the half eagle, equivalent to the sove-
reign or twenty-five francs; the dollar to four
shillings or five-franc piece, the half-dollar to Eng-
liah or two-shilling piece, the quarter-dollar
to one shilling, the napoleon to four dollars or six-
teen shillings, the franc to a double dime. A great
advantage, the Round Table thinks, would be at-
tained in this reform in getting rid of the absurd
anomaly of calculating the rate of exchangebetween
England and the United States on the old valua-
tion of the dollar at 4s. 6d., which makes the real
par of exchange about 9 per cent. above the nomi-
nal par, a source of constant confusion requiring to
be explained, whenever the matter is to be brought
to the comprehension of the uninitiated.

Jerusalem, according to some recent statistics, is
still in 601110 respects the City of the Jews. It is found
that there are 7,000 Jewish inhabitants, 5,000 Yabometaus,
and 3,400 Chrittisue xu the place,