The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-04 00:00:00

ITALY.

The Statuto of Florence publishes a letter from
Venice of the 19th ult., stating that Sir W. Parker
has induced the Turkish Government to declare Scu-
tari in Albania a free port.
The Debate publishes, under date of Vienna, 26th
ult.:—" The following are correct particulars of the
result of the conferences of the Italian delegates with
the Minister of the Interior. The points on which
they have come to an understanding are—the dele-
gates will on Friday next, in their last plenary sitting,
name a committee charged to represent them, and to
draw up a counter-project of Statuto. This committee
will propose a provincial diet, composed of a cham-
ber of deputies and a senate. An electoral law,
on a wider basis than that of the Ministerial Bill,
will facilitate the access to the Chamber. The Senate
will be composed of 60 Members, of whom 18 only
are to be named by the Emperor; the others to be
elected by the communes, the Universities, and the
scientific institutes. The duration of the Legis-
lature will be four years for the Deputies,
and ten 'years for the Senators. The latter, who
are immoveable during that period, may be re-
elected by the communes, or again named by
the Emperor. The Diet will have the right
to occupy itself legislatively with the affairs of
the country, except as regards the great common
interests of the province and of the Empire, such
as the arms, the navy, and the finances. With
regard to the latter, the Diet will discuss and vote the
division of the taxes, but the fixing of them will remain
exclusively with the general Diet of Vienna, or with the
Government, until that Diet be convoked. It is posi-
tively stated that these general arrangements have met
with the approbation of the Minister of the Interior.
who is said to have engaged to support the counter-
project thus drawn up, wi•h the Emperor. It is expected
that several other members of the Ministry will adopt
a similar course. B iron de Bruck, the Minister of
Commerce, and M. Schmerling, the Minister of Jus-
tice, are spoken of as being favourable to these con-
cessions.

POST-OFFICE SUNDAY LABOUR.
NEWCASTLE TOWN COUNCIL.
On Wednesday last the Tower CLERK read a re-
quisition to the Mayor, signed by twenty-three mem-
bers of the council, requesting a meeting to be called,
to petition against the total suspension of Post-office
labour on Sundays, or for some steps to be taken to
arrest the inconveniences and deplorable consequences
likely to result from the recent Post-office regulae
tions, in consequence of which the present meeting
had been called.
Sir J. FIFE said he hoped that the mayor and coun-
cil would not think that he had brought them to-
gether unnecessarily, but that the occasion would be
thought to warrant a special meeting. The subject
which was now coming under their consideration was
one of vast importance. He need not remind the
council of the great alarm, and, he might say,
the general indignation which had been occa-
sioned amongst men of business throughout the
country, in consequence of the manner in which
the work of the Pest-office on Sundays had been so
summarily interrupted. It was a curious fact, that,
while a minority of his countrymen took very extreme
views of religious matters, the line of conduct which
they took in carrying out their views was not always
consistent with the influence under which they
professed to act. The majority of the people
looked at religious precepts through the medium
of the reason which their Creator had given to them.
The great majority would not, he thought, permit
that great vital organ to be stopped in its functions ;
and that, for two days in the week, all business
should be interrupted ; thus occasioning an enormous
increase of Sunday labour in the shape of telegraphs
expresses, and special messengers of various descrip-
tions. It remained to be seen whether the country
would sit down under that immense disability.
There was a remarkable contrast between th Sab-
batarians and those men of business who would, on
that occasion, oppose them. The latter did not le-
gislate for the consciences of their neighbours, but left
them to spend their Sabbath as they pleased ; they did
not make such parties send for their letters and
papers. But they complained that the parties
he had alluded to did not act in the same liberal man-
ner towards them, that they presumed, by what he
must call self-righteous assumption, to dictate to
others. Now, when men professed to act under re-
ligious inspiration, or believed that they were so
acting, their neighbours naturally expected from
them honest candour, and straightforward sim-
plicity ; they did not expect to find that sort of
management, to use the mildest expression, %%hid]
they expected to see in a Newcastle jockey or
a gamester. But see in what manner the party
headed by Lord Ashley and Mr. Plumptre had
carried their resolution through Parliament—
such a resolution as had not been sent from
Parliament to the Crown since the days of Cromwell.
The only simplicity they had shown had been in the
imbecility of their arguments ; all their other pro-
ceedings had been marked by a remarkable degree of
worldly cunning. It was competent to Lord Ashley
to have brought in a Bill for the better observance of
the Sabbath ; but then there would have been re-
peated discussion, there would have been ample time
for the expression of public opinion; there would
have been a succession of stages at which the
opinion of the Legislature would have been taken;
and before sueh a measure had been assented to its
merits would have been properly tested. Instead of
that he had chosen to bring forward the question in
such a form that it could be hurried through at once.
But that was not the worst. It had been brought on
on an occasion when the House was peculiarly con-
stituted. He (Sir John) doubted whether there was
any other day in the session on which those parties
could have been so sure of a partial House—so
sure of a majority of men holding extreme views'
upon the subject—men who wanted an observance
of the Sabbath beyond the requirements of Chris-
tianity, beyond reason and common sense. He bad
thus carried through an address which had taken the
Government, the Parliament, and the people all by
surprise. If they looked at the history of the Post-
office for the last fifty years, they would find that im-
portant changes had been made ; that there had been
repeated concessions to those parties who held ex-
treme views upon religious subjects. One might
have thought that these concessions would have Con-
ciliated such parties; but each concession had been
coolly regarded as a step towards something more.
That, indeed, had been one of the arguments used by
Lord Ashley. So that, bad as things were now, they
probably had not yet got to the worst. Indeed, it
was difficult to place a limit to unreasonable men
who acted as these parties had done. It was a
curious fact that there should be so much pusillanimity,
such a want of moral courage, in opposing such
men ; but this was not so discreditable to the oppo-
nents of these parties as to the parties themselves. It
was well known. what a terrible organ was the odium
theologicum. It was plain that any party which was
highly organized was powerful, and it was extraordi-
nary what means were taken by some parties to effect
their objects. On his way down to the meeting he bad
received from a merchant a piece of information bear-
ing on the question. He was informed that Satur-
day letters from the South-Eastern Counties, which
ought to have been here on Monday morning did
not arrive till Tuesday. Of course, too, the delivery
of letters on a Monday morning must now be very
late, unless they had been previously sorted. Nearly
two days would be lost throughout the empire, and
that loss would produce deplorable consequences. He
had been informed by one of the most experienced
bankers in the north of England that it might happen
that a merchant, after paying in money on a Saturday
night, to meet his bills, might, through this delay.
have his bills protested, and thus have his credit
shaken. But this would not affect Lord Ashley or
Mr. Plumptre, and so they cared nothing about it;
nor would it much affect the 700,000 persons
who had signed they did not know what. In Lord
Ashley's speech great stress had been laid upon some
beautiful quotations from a prize essay by a working
man upon the importance of the Sabbath. But that
was all quite irrelevant. None of those who opposed
these restrictive measures desired to deprive the
working man of the day, whether as a day of rest,
or of devotion. They left him to spend it as he
pleased. But the effect of the recent change upon
working men might be very disastrous. He had
been informed, by a great manufacturer, that,
in consequence of the non-delivery of letters
on Sunday, a very great number of working
men would be thrown out of employment on the Mon-
day, just es they were now in Scotland. And what
would be the consequences ? The Scotch, who were
the most Sabbath-observing, were also the most
spirit drinking people on the face of the earth; and
the one had much to do with the other. Lord Ashley
had dwelt much upon the number of signatures he had
obtained to his petitions ; but he knew well that he
could obtain almost any number of signatures, on any
subject, on an unusually short notice. There was a
peculiar power in organization under the influence of
religious feeling. He (Sir John) had no doubt that if
Lord Ashley were to propose petitions that all persons
should be compelled to wear black on Sundays,
he could, in a abort time, get 700,000 names to
them. Though the Scotch were so strict upon this
subject, the common sense and neighbourly feeling of
the Highland farmers went a long way to relieve
them from the inconveniences it would otherwise oc-
casion. It happened often that a Highland farmer
travelled to his kirk a distance of fifteen miles ; and,
after staying there some hours listening to the sermon,
first in Gaelic and then in English, before he left, he
received at the kirk-deor the letters brought for
him ten or fifteen miles in an opposite direction—that
was still further from his residence,—and which he
would not otherwise get for another week unless by
an express journey all that distance. He (Sir John)
did not say that the farmer opened and read his let-
ters and papers on Sunday ; for he believed that,
generally, he did not, but he read them as soon as
it was light next morning. Soon after the wool
merchant, or the cattle jobber probably called, and
unless the farmer knew the state of the markets, he
mightmake
duringlos
e th et
honly e a
aprofitable bargain
sithoantt
patients
hoe
whichcould
he belonged the delay in communicatingp
with
necessary
airy
might often be fatal. Persons were slowfor
aid, and the surgeon often found it to
to anticipate, by some hours, the period at
whiche send
was expected to arrive. Even the restriction adopted
previously to the last had been found very inconve-
nient ; it had happened to him to receive letters dur-
ing the Monday morning, and to find that, instead of
then setting out, he ought to have started at five
that morning. In the hope of securing a unanimous
vote upon the resolution he had to propose he had'
treated the subject as moderately as he could. The
resolution was as follows :
" That it is the duty of the Government to afford the
people every facility for the undelayed transmission and
delivery of letters and newspapers sent for on Sundays ;
especially as, in many cases, early transmission ot infor-
mation may lessen anxiety, avert pecuniary ruin, or fuw.
nish the means of saving human life.'
He had included newspapers, because when foreign
papers arrived, those of them who had connexions
abroad, and particularly in the army or navy,
de-
sired the earliest opportunity of seeing the list
of casual ies and other information of great
interest to them. Now, Lord Ashley should have
some feeling, some degree of humanity for persons
thus situated Of all trials suspense was the
greatest ; when some great calamity happened
edto
men, they bore it as best they might ; b
sus-
ponse was torturing. He had hoped for the assistance
of some of the established clergy on this occasion.
It had always appeared to him one of the advantages
of a highly-educated and aristocratically-connected
clergy that they should save the people from
such mischief as that to which he was alluding,
by pointing out the difference between what was
reasonable and mere fanaticism. If they had stood
forward on this occasion, they would have secured
the confidence and gratitude of all reasonable men I
thntighout the land. He hoped thAt petitiots

CANALS.
I ..; I ,
' ..; 'Dividend
Names of t.. 0 IDividend Price. Names of 1.... ,
Companies. 2, 1 per Companies. ;I Pnisi. Price.
e Annum. in ,
- -
.£ X
Ashtn& Oldh 97 71. 113 Macclesfield . 100, 21. 10s. 50
Barnsley.. • • 160 121. 180 Neatla -•• • • 1001 161. 340
Brknk&Abrg 150 51. 85 Oxford.. •• • • 1081 201. 185
Birmingham 40, 41. 88% Peak Forest. 79 31. 18s. 10
Coventry.... 100' 251. 2CB Regent's.... 331 11. Os. 18
Derby ••. • • ,1001 61. 63 Rochdale.. - 65 I 41. 50%
Ellsmre&Chs 11331 565. 41 Somrset Coal 155171.105. 130
cirandJunctnlloo 41. 793( Do.LkFd St 12 61. p. c. -
Grand Surrey, 100 21. Os. 32 Stflrd &Wore 140 281. 410
Grand Union 1100 IL 10s. 24
sSthoritrewbsrbury... 125 151. -
- idg.. Grantham •• - I -145 201. 290
Kennt & Avn 39 7s. 6d. 554 Severn and
Lancaster . 1001 41. 323{ Wye Rail. i 26 21.135• 24
LeedsBcLivrplloo 241. 300 Warwick& /
Leicester .... 100 55. 66 Binning. j 100 41. 64%
Letcstr &Nth 183 41. 4854 Warwick& 100 31. 42
Loughboregh 142 701. 510 Napton..)Monmouthsh' 100 81. - Worcstr &i 78 31. 43
If ntgemrysk ; 100 - - Birming.
MeitnMwbry, 100 - - Wilts k Brks - 141. 734
LIST OP SCOTTISH COMPANIES' PRICES
Dividend Amount i
Name of Company. per of Paid. Price.
Annum. Share.
.................. r•IIIMMI•IMMMO
.....
X a. d. I Z a. d
Bank of Scotland
British Linen Company 81. per cent. 100 0 0 100 0 0 1913{
Caledonian Bank
City of Glasgow Bank . 61. per cent. 10 0 0 10 0 0 123{
Clydesdale Bank ••• • • • 635 per cent. 20 0 0 10 0 0 13%
Commercial Bank .• •• 71. per cent. 500 0 0 100 0 0 170
Eastern Bank •••• • • • • 61. percent. 25 0 0 10 0 0 936
Edinb.k.Glasgow Bank 61. per cent. 5 0 0 5 0 0 51. 5.
Exehangeßnk of Scot.. 41. per cent. 100 0 0 50 0 0 9%
Isle of Man. Company 71. per cent. 10 0 0 7 0 0 -
National Bank 635 per cent. 50 0 0 10 0 0 15
North of Scotland Bank 41. percent. 20 0 0 50 0 3%
North British Bank ..• - - - -
100
00
00 15000
00 133%
89 p e perr
Dent.
cent. 100
Western Bank •• •• •• •• 71. per cent. 50 0 0 50 0 74
Union R o yal BB as n kk
n 0
off
Scotlandtl aa d :11..
Alliance Fire and Life 8561. pr cent. 10 0 0 10 0 20%
B. Accord. Life and Fire - 20 0 8 010
British Guarantee Ins. 41. per tent. 10 0 0 1 0 15j 0d
Caledonian Fire Incur. 101. per cent. 100 0 0 10 0 23
Colonial Life •••• • • • • - 50 0 0 1 0 11. 3s.
City of Glasgow Life- 61. per cent. 25 0 0 2 0 21. 10s
20
East of Scotland Life - 10 0 0 015
Edinburgh Life Insur 6l. per cent. 100 0 0 15 0
-
Law Life 51. per cent. 50 0 0 217 2%
Hercules I surence C. 71. per cent. 100 0 0 10 0 -
Insur. Co. of Scetlnd • • 51. per cent. 100 0 0 10 0 -
Life Assoc. of Scotland 61. per cent. 10 0 0 1 o ,11. 152
Mercantile Life
aNcaottiuonshalLFifireeananddulifre 51..
ppeicent. 10 0 0 1 0 225.6 d,
North British Insur. - 6pr cent. 200 0 0 20 0 ' 2554
North & West of Scot. 61 per cent. 10 0 0 I o 1 --
20 0 0 0 11 , -
Scot. Max. and Gen. Life - 0 0 015 i -
Scottish Union Inane 6141. pr cent. 20 0 0 1 0 1231.0 d
Standard 'Ate ..... . 5l• per cent. 50 0 0 4 5 ' 9%
United Dep. Assurance 51. per cent. 10 0 0 1 0 1165 69
MISCELLANEOUS.
Dividend Amount
Name of Company, per of
Annum. Share.
- --- --- -...
121.11.1508 L. 1Z501.000 3000. 10
4312.780: di
P;11551;
Auction Mart • • • • • • ..
Australian Agriculturl
61. per cent. 100 0 0 33 10 0 30
Anglo-Mexican Mint..
- - 2 10 0
Canada Ditto,
.11.
.a
.1 f. S.
.h.a.r.e.s .. ..
Uppr Canada Bonds 51. percent. - - 89
fifty Navigation .... - - - 91
Gen. Revers. & Invest. sp. c.ik bs. 2/ 100 0 0 100 0 0 94
Equitable Reversienry V. pr cont. 100 0 0 100 0 0 106
Gen. Steam Navigation 11. Bs. lb 0 0 14 0 0 26
London Institution .• • - - 7s 15 0 -
Russell Institution •• • • - - 26 5 0 -
Peninslrk Orient.Stm. 81. percent. 50 0 0 50 0 0 80
Reversionary Int. Soc. 4541. pr cent. 100 0 0 100 0 0 92
61 18. 4. p. c. 100 0 01 60 0 0 59
Royal Mail Steam • • • •
- 100 0 0 , 29 0 0 -
South Australian ..... 11. per share. 25 0 0 25 0 0 19
Van Dieman's Land.

A PROTECTIONIST LANDLORD.—WiIIiam Rushton,
Esq., our present high sheriff, has returned 25 Per cent. to
his tenants at his recent audit,—Yorkshire Gaigtte,