The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-11 00:00:00

THE PROPOSED CHURCH-BATE

CO2FLPROMISE.

" As I am sure that you and I shall be equally desirous
of making known to others interested in this question tho
result of a communication publicly announced in the house,
I propose to scud a copy of this letter and paper to each,
member as soon as you shall have intimated to me whether
you intend to move the third reading of your bill on Wed-
nesday, the 19th.

" I shall be obliged, therefore, if you can let me have
your answer not later than the evening of Tuesday no.v.t,—
I am, &c.,

(Signed) "T. SOTHERON ESTCOURT',
"To Sir John Trelawny, Bart,, M.P."

, Abstract of a bill to abolish the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical
courts in respect of church-rates, and to alter and amend
the law relating to church-rates.
1. Jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts in regard to the.
• validity and enforcement of church-rates to be transferred
to the same tribunal as the poor-rate.
2. Each ecclesiastical district to be a separate parish for
the purposes of this act. No rate to be collected in any dis-
trict, except for the church or chapel of such district,
3. Churchwardens to be empowered and required once iu
their year of office to publish on the church door for three
successive Sundays, and after publication to levy and col-
lect an owner's church-rate, not exceeding one penny in ,the
pound, upon all property in respect of which the occupier
has been assessed to a church-rate within the last five
years, such rate to be solely applied to the following pur-
poses, viz. :
Repair of church, church clock, bells, belfry, and
maintenance of the churchyard.
Providing of books required for registers, and for per-
formance of Divine worship, according to law.
Insurance of all the above against fire.
Payment of fees due by law.
This rate to be payable by tenants, and deducted from
rent due to the landlord.
4. Church vestry, as hereinafter defined, to have power
to levy an occupier's church-rate for any purpose connected
with Divine worship. Such rate to be collected only from
occupiers who are members of the church vestry.
5. Tho church vestry to consist solely of owners who
have been rated as aforesaid, and of all occupiers wbo shall
during the preceding twelvemonth have paid any church-
rate, or, being ratepayers, have contributed to any subscrip-
tion in lieu or in aid thereof, and who shall not decline to
be members of such church vestry, by delivering to tho
churchwardens before Easter in each year, a notice in the
form set forth in the schedule.
6. Church vestry to have under its control the audit of
churchwardens' accounts; furniture and fittings of the
church ; salary of officers ; appropriation of scats, and all
expenditure incurred for the benefit of the congregation.
7. Small Tenements Acts to be applicable to occupiers'
rates under this act.
8. All rates under this act to be assessed according to the
Poor-rate.
9. After this act comes into operation, no church-race to
be assessed or levied except in accordance with the pro-
visions of it.
10. Saving where money is due on security of rates.
li. Saving provisions of local acts.
12. This act to come into operation on Easter-day, one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.

SCHEDULE.
Form of Notice.
To the Churchwardens of Parish.
T, A. B. give you notice that I decline to be a member of
;hisparistt tot th. ycai (Signed)
Date,
THE TAEPINGS 1N CHINA.

The correspondence which has been laid before
Parliament respecting the opening of the Yang-tse-
kiang river to foreign trade gives a deplorable ac-
count of the Taeping movement or rebellion, and
seems fully to justify Vice-Admiral Sir J. Hope in
writing, as he does, that he can regard it in no other
light than that of an organised band of robbers. Their
policy is, after plundering such towns as they can cap-
ture, to convert those they hold into mere garrison;
excluding the general population not essential
to their wants, and to destroy those which they
do not retain possession in order to render them
useless to the Imperial Government. Mr. Parkes
says in an account of his visit to Hwang-chow,
which is 50 miles from Hankow, on the 22d March,
appearanceosh
snc uotsfhe
as4nog ,
auo toftoooe
fortnight
t nb
iyg
ht the e
before it
~
that the city was entirely deserted by the people,
itWe
ohne
tna
ihneewd a
as
theythe re hadbe rebels
wasnow thatall fled.o f a
mob. The
general
thereneonpdeurl theaa It
IHvea
nwga, was
whointroduced to
.ih e
dh
itmh the e
If Taeping
a s charged nce,
t o
relieven g-
Nganking, Which
forces. Mr. Parkeswsausggbeesstieedg etdhabtyhethseholumldpenrioatl
move upon Hankow, which he had some idea of
doing, as it was one of the ports at which we were
established, and would seriously interfere with our
commerce, and in this he readily acquiesced. On the
24th March Mr. Parkes was at Nganking, Ns here he
found the rebels had destroyed all but the few ;streets
necessary to give shelter to their garrison. He
reached Woo-hoo a few days afterwards, and reports
that the site of its extensive suburbs can now only be
traced by brick heaps, and the same may almost be
said of the city itself : it has been known as one of
the principal emporia on the Yang-tse. Taeping, a
place of some note, 20 miles from this, presents a like
scene—" the city is obliterated." The lately flourish-
ing port of Soo-chow is quite destroyed, and miles of
country round it will soon be covered with jungle.
The party who visited it flushed teal in the city moat
where a year ago it was barely possible to find a
passage, from the immense number of boats. The
banks of the Grand Canal, along which is a broad.
roads are literally white with human bones ; human
remains lie about in all directions, but the water is
supposed to cover a still larger number of victims-
The fugitives, however, are now returning to the
villages around Nankin, and they will 500 n his:
despatch unless again disturbed. Sir J. Hetr, in
only
course course to be to endeavour to obtain the recognitionr consular
despatch of the 6th April, says he consider the Only
by both parties of the neutrality
places of
1 30
f security
ports, which would then become
and. capitalists
in which the Chinese merchants
could take refuge, as at
which the ingenuity could could devise modeebsro
brought there in defi-
ance of the country could be Shanghai ; and their
This seems the more feasible
ance of every obstacle.
that
Shanghai and Soo-chow,
in a singular way between
possession of the rebels;it
ap-
pears the latter in .
having
friends
from the circumstance trade has been conducted
parties, and for a heavy con-
both the contending
__
are allowed to trade unmo-
ideration their boats
s
pears that there is a society among
The
improbable that fear of giving provo-
cation to such a large body has some weight withlualragr system
large number
signals and passwords
and it of nearly 5,000.
men Tested,
have tto tahree
g
is not
the Imperial officers.

THE HON. MRS. YELVERTON.---ne demand for
t, martyrs to Circumstance," Mrs. Yelverton's narrative of
her life in the Crimea, was so great that every copy at the
various railways was sold off within a few hours, and as
fresh supplies reached them were as speedily disposed of.
Four thousand were sold at once, and the demand goes on
increasing. This remarkable book contains Mrs. Yelver-
ton's life in tho Crimea as a Sister of Charity. The reader
will easily recognise in Sister Thierna Mrs. Yelverton her-
The pictures of the East and of convent life are very

Tho following letter from Mr. Sotheron Esteourt to Sir J.
Trelawny, together with his promised scheme of compro-
mise, has been published in the form of a Parliamentary
paper :

„
"51, Eaton-place, Juno 7, HO.
"Dear Sir,—.ln accordance with niy engagement given.
to you in the house on Monday, I now enclose, for ye ur
consideration, an abstract of a bill which I should be pre-
pared to lay upon the table, in case your bill should 1
withdrawn.

"You will observe that it contains the principle recon t-
mended by the Lords' committee, and proposed in the
amendment of Mr. Cross, of personal exemption from tl to
rate payable by occupiers, through the machint try of a
Church vestry, consisting of members of the congrogation.,
This rate, therefore, is in its character purely volt intary,
resting on the payment of contributions during the provious
twelvemonth, and subject to a withdrawal at will, wit bout
assigning any reason.

"It also contains a new scheme for providing l!er
the fabric and necessaries of worship, by a rate chargeal
on owners to the extent of one penny in the pound but it
exempts from the operation of this clause all parisha
where no rate has been levied for the last five, years.
"I am unable to give you any assurance of the amount
of support which this bill would be likely to receive fret a
my own political friends or from members on your side.
" I can only say that I should present it with cortfidencey
as being, in my opinion, a fair and satisfactory compromise
between principles which cannot be adjusted without some
sacrifice on both sides, and which cannot be mainta•jned in
their strictness without risk of perpetual contention.
" At the same time I understand that Mr. CroY; and
those gentlemen who have been engaged lately with hi'm in
preparing a bill, hold themselves bound to bring in their
own scheme, in fulfilment of their expressed intention,, if
the ground were cleared ; but I must add that I do ,not
think their plan so likely to lead to a practical result as
that which I now enclose.