The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

ment. The nation will generally ask, why should
a vicious principle ; " the introduction of which
could not be recommended," be maintained and
perpetuated, merely because it has for some time
been in operation, and become,
" An aged vice, a grey iniquity !"

This would indeed be too bad. It would vir-
tually prohibit improvement in any department
of the public service. It could not be
so very difficult to discover a judicious " scheme
of regimental organisation," by which the effi-
ciency of the service would be secured, and the
flagrant reproach removed from the nation of
permitting the open and acknowledged buying
and selling of commissions, and thus at the same
time preventing the promotion of meritorious
officers, simply because they have not a large
sum of money at command, and enabling parties
who have not legitimate claims to get into posi-
tions in which the comforts, nay more, the lives
of our gallant soldiers may be dependent on their
efficiency and discretion.
It is very easy to say that " every improvement
should be adopted, every exertion made still
further to promote discipline and efficiency, and
to maintain the superiority of our regimental
force." But how is this to be effected, if we
ignore merit and deprive young officers of
that which would be the main incen-
tive to zeal and study. According to the
existing system, those who have money know
that they can obtain rapid promotion, whether
they labour or not, and those who have not, feel
convinced that they must spend the best years of
their lives in subordinate situations, no matter
how highly they may be qualified by nature and
education for higher positions. At present the
nation hails with enthusiasm the names of the
Indian officers who have so gloriously
vindicated the national character. But
purchase is not recognised there ! lIATELOCK,
too, the avenger of Cawnpore, th• preserver of
Lucknow—for whom, by the way, the Duke
•f CAMBRIDGE has done far more than the
Government, and that without solicitation or
pressure—was 23 years a subaltern, and won
his way slowly onwards. Surely the nation can-
not complain of him ; nor would it have been de-
sirable that the tardily acquired opportunities of
gaining distinction should have been withheld
because he could not supply the price of a majority
or lieutenant-colonelcy, and should submit to
others passing over his head, while he remained in
listless and hopeless despondency, conscious of
his own deserts, but unable to provide that
which was indispensable to their due develop-
ment.

The Army Purchase Commission has proved a
failure. The partial change indicated by the
majority of its members would be of but little
practical utility, while the opinion of the minority
would maintain the objectionable principle with-
out change or modification of any kind. The
People must now take the matter into their own
hands, and insist on such military reforms as will
afford the best prospects of promotion to the hard-
working officers who adopt the military profes
sion, and who are not disposed, at any slight an•
noyance, to vote the service a bore, and talk of
selling out and getting back their money on any
fancied grievance.

The Bank returns for the past week are of an
exceedingly favourable character. The stock of
bullion in both departments now stands at
9,450,8535., being an increase within the week
of 1,381,366/. ; and there has even been a larger
improvement in the reserve of notes, which, in-
cluding the additional 2,000,000/. issued on
securities, amounts to 5,751,1751.—an addition
to last week's stock of 1,856,6901. There has
also been a decrease of 846,2451. in the private
securities, and of 499,2101. in the uot3s in cir-
culation. The rest has also been augmented by
30,9141., a convincing proof of the effects of the
10 per cent., so far as the pockets of the proprie-
tors are concerned, but vary different as to the
trading and manufacturing interests, which are
crushed under the enormous burden.

furnish ground for a debate. It was not, how•

ever, practicable to keep down Ecclesiastical
questions. If Government wished to be quiet,
some of the restless ones would not let it. Nor
are we prepared to blame them. Both in the
Lords and the Commons, the everlasting Church-
rates were brought forward ; but all that could be
okained from the Government was that, accord-
ing to Lord GRANVILLE, Ministers wished to bring
in a Bill on the subject ; and according to Lord
PALMERSTON, they hoped to do so ; but both
Lords were unable to predict the amount and
progress of public business after February, and,
consequently, they were unable to say whether
India, and Parliamentary Reform, and Corpora-
tion of London Reform, would not jostle out
Church-rates, and many other things too.

It would surely, then, be time that " the Old
Lady" should imitate the conduct of the Bank of
France by reducing the discount. At Hamburgh
the rate has already fallen to 6 per cent., not with•
standing the severity of the late crisis, and even
in Lombard-street approved bills are cashed on
lower terms than at the quasi national
establishment. Owing, however, to the ob-
stinacy of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in
refusing to permit the Act of Indemnity to re-
main in force if the Bank reduced its rate below
10 per cent., the present oppressive charge will
probably be continued for some time longer. The
Directors will doubtless rejoice at so good an
excuse for maintaining a system that enables them
to add more than 30,0001. per week to their pro-
fits, and enables them to look forward confidently
to an enhanced dividend or the distribution of
a handsome bonus. They will, of course,
lament the necessity that exists for putting money
in their pockets ; but they will submit to it with
Christian fortitude and pious resignation. The
sufferings and privations sustained by the
working-classes—so many of whom have been
thrown out of employment or put on half time,
will not disturb their digestion, or prevent their
enjoyment of the festivities of the season. But it
will be by no means " a merry Christmas or a
happy new year," to those who find the fruits of
their former industry scattered to the winds, and
the prospects in life of themselves and families
blighted through the terrible ordeal which they
have sustained. They will feel bitterly and se-
verely the effects of the storm, and of the tardi-
ness of the Government interference, and the
-onerous conditions on which it was granted. "The
organ of " the hard calculators" admits that the
failures since October have amounted to more
than fifty millions sterling ; and, although soma
essentially weak houses are included in the black
catalogue, which would have fallen under any cir-
cumstances, a large proportion of the number have
been occasioned by the crisis, and would under
other circumstances have been perfectly solvent.
Indeed, despite forced liquidations and other seri-
ouse evils, many will still pay 20.3. in the pound.

The Church-rate Abolitionists—and we have
always heartily fought in their ranks—may as
well at once decide on their tactics. If Lord
PALMERSTON'S promise of a Bill last session was
never even attempted to be fulfilled, we may be
quite sure " hopes and wishes" will go for
nothing. One is almost tempted to get out the
scales and to weigh the words of each Minister,
as old ARISTOPHANES tells us there was once a
word-weighing, BACCHUS being arbiter, in the
realms below, between two rival poets. GRAN-
VILLE puts in a " wish"—down goes the scale ;
PALMERSTON puts in a "hope"--hem ! a hope
ought to weigh down a wish. But no ; the scales
see-saw a little, and the hope and the wish balance
each other 1 A wish in the Lords and a hope in
the Commons—a wish from grave GRANVILLE and
a hope from joking PALMERSTON, are of much the
same value, and that value we take to be
nothing.
Now, then, we think our friends who share our
hatred of the obnoxious impost, should bestir
themselves out of Parliament. Every parish
Parliament should now be made a vigorous battle-
field. A determined minority even can floor a
tyrant majority, by giving them endless trouble.
That is the way to settle the question. Every
item of a rate can be disputed and a poll taken
upon it. The chairman has no option ; his refu-
sal to take a poll on 53. for washing the surplice,
and after that on 51. for sacramental wine, if the
amounts were objected to, and so forth on every
item—his refusal to take a poll on each, would
vitiate the rate, even on the face of it. When
there is a majority on the right side, there is of
course no difficulty ; but where a tyrant parson
and squire determine to make a minority pay tri•
bute to their ecclesiastical pride and avarice, and
to bribe or intimidate a majority of ratepayers for
that purpose, it is quite fair to fight and divide
and poll for the items, as JosEzu HUME used to
do in the House of Commons. Church rates,
themselves, are such a wanton abuse of mere parish
power—so grossly at variance with the social
knowledge and intelligence of this old England of
ours, in the year 1857, that no means of opposi-
tion placed in our hands by law can be considered
unfair. Every parish should show fight. We do
not like parish brawls, but a churcit•rate battle is
no more a brawl, than a fight between the lag-
behinds and the go-a-heads in the Houses of Par-
liament. The question whether any man has a
right to tax his neighbour because his creed differs
from his own, is one worthy to be fought out
in any assembly, from a parish vestry to the House
of Lords.

Outside the cabinet, Lord JOHN RUSSELL
comes forward again as the Jewa' advocate.
Well, we wish him luck ; and we wish Mr.
DUNCOMBE better luck still. Mr. DUNCOILBE
proposes to seat Baron ROTHSCHILD in the same
way as the House of Lords refused to seat Lord
WENSLEYDALE, and the people of England
would doubtless prefer the straightforward plucky
Man. We should like to see who would beat if
the holders of the purse-strings were determined
to be snubbed no longer by the Upper House.
The House of Lords does not deserve another op-
portunity to insult the people. Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, himself, is obliged to hold out the pros-
pect of settling the question by accepting a Jew's
affirmation, if the Lords will not assent to
his present bill. To that it must come before
such superstition and narrowmindedness as that of
the Bishop of OXFORD and Lord SHAFTESBURY can
be overcome; and therefore we think Lord JOHN is
unwise to waste auy more time in the old style of
fighting. There is something, too, we think,
very petty about his bill. We would vote for it,
since, if carried, it would attain its object ; but
what can be said fur retaining the silly phrase
"on the true faith of a Christian !" Silly, we
call it. Because, logically, an infidel, a Mahome-
tan, or a Jew might use it. He would swear. not
by all that a Christian believes, but by se much
only of it as was true ; and we suppose it must
have been with such an interpretation that GIB-
BON, and other known sceptics, who would not
have taken a false oath, did not hesitate to take
this. As the Christian and the Jew believe
so much in common, Baron ROTHSCHILD could
honestly regard much of our faith as a true faith.
It has, however, now become a point of honour to
deal with the phraso ad animunt imponentis, and
to regard it as meaning what it was intended to
mean, that the whole Christian faith is true. So
Lord JOHN R ould keep the precious sentence, and
authorise Jews to omit it. Are "Noble Lords" to
be caught with such a bait ? If so we should de-
spise them. In their place, we should feel it
much more dignified to concede the point on the
constitutional ground that the Lords ought to
yield to the reiterated demand of the Commons,
especially after a dissolution.

What a terrible state of affairs does this indi-
cate. How much misery to both debtors and
creditors is contained in these awful facts, which
were occasioned mainly, if not altogether, by
the stringent regulations of the most impolitic
and inequitable law that ever received the legisla-
tive sanction. We trust that the people will at
length, even at the eleventh hour, be aroused from
their long-continued apathy. If they exert them-
selves steadily and energetically, they will speedily
obtain relief. If they still remain careless and indif-
ferent, more stringent regulations will be adopted,
moree which and they will witness another monetary convulsion
frightfulhi
eh
w even v
ae
rn e than
still
smarting.lBl7 or of 1857,

Another little Ecclesiastical affair was brought
forward by Lord SHAFTESBURY. The Noble Lord
delights in shutting Jews out of the House of
Commons, although, for valuable episcopal con-
siderations, no doubt, he gave a grumbling help
to Lord P.ALMERSTON'S bill, but his lordship does
not like being shut out himself from Exeter Hall.
As our readers well know, he and some dozen
Church &mu:4Eom, commanded in chief by the
Archbishop of CANTERBURY and the Bishop of
LONDON, undertook to preach a working-class
gospel to the million in Exeter Hall. The Rev.
A. G. EDOUART forbade them all. He stood up
for the parish system against the associated mag-
nates, and they quailed. Not relishing their de-
feat, however, they handed the whole thing over,
the Litany and all, to the good-tempered Dissen-
ters ; and poor Mr. EDOUART has no power to
"inhibit" these irregulars. Not content, how-
ever with such revenge', Lord SHAFTESBURY wants
to triumph too. He:introduces, therefore, a Bill
into the House of Lords to checkmate the Edouarts
by requiring a Bishop's counter-signature to the
incumbent's inhibition of an occasional service. It
was intended to have settled the matter in the ten
days' session, but the Bishops of OXFORD and St.
DAVID'S were too quick for him ; and the whole
thing must stand over till February. The former
even charged the Earl with " indecent haste." A
charge which he did not appear to relish at all,
and plaintively replied that the Archbishop of CAN-
TD did not think him " indecent." There
caz a be no doubt that Mr. EDOUART'S power is an
al:surd one in a place like London, where congre-
g ►tions pay no regard to parish boundaries ; still
ti sere is a grave question involved in the whole
v Asir, which should be settled, not with reference

A currency siftltiirniag.shof Parliament could hardly
dbeente.xiltheedretocould be
x imu
nome cob hr
p la Po
sairtliioanm
teon ttahrey
ini naciin-
business, since every
felt that had he
been a Minister he Would cetet • tnly have done ,the
lame, and on no other business of
importance
would our prudent Cabinet indicate its views and

TflL r, N
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only to Lord SHAFTESBURY'S wishing to use Exeter
Hall as an occasional church, but with a view to
rectifying the parish system in large towns all
over the kingdom.

MARRIAGE OP THE PRINCESS ROYAL.-It is under-
stood to be her Majesty's intention to hold a Draw-
ing-room at St. James's Palace in the latter end of Jan.,
immediately after the Princess Royal's marriage, at
which her Royal Highness and his Royal Highness the
Prince Frederick William of Prussia will be present,
when her Majesty, the Prince Consort, and their Royal
Highnesses will receive congratulations on this happy
event. No presentations will take place on the occasion.
A Cabinet Council was held at the official residence of
the First Lord of the Treasury in Downing-street yester-
day. The Ministers present were—Viscount Palmerston,
the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Marquis of
Lansdowne, Sir G. Grey, the Earl of Clarendon, Mr.
Secretary Labonchere, Lord Panmure, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Sir C. Wood, the Right Hon. R. V.
Smith, Lord Stanley of Alderlcy, the Duke of Argyll,
and the Right Hon. M. T. Baines.
The Earl and Countess of Harrowby left town last
evening for Sandon Hall, Stafford.
Lord Dufferin left town yesterday for Portsmouth,
His lordship is refitting a yacht he has lately purchased
from the Earl of Ellesmere ; and almost immediately
after the wedding of the Princess Royal he will sail for
Egypt, preparatory to a trip round the world.
Lord and Lady Harry Vane return to town to-day
from visiting the Right Hon. Sidney and Mrs. Herbert,
at Wilton House, Salisbury.
Lord and Lady Edward Tbynne arrived in town on
Wednesday from a tour of visits, and have since left for
the New Forest, Hants.
Mr. and Lady Georgiana Romilly have left town on
a visit to the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn Abbey,
Beds.

Sir Benjamin Hall has left town for the Christmas
holidays.
The Earl and Countess of Ellesmere have left Bridg•
water House, on a visit to the Earl and Connteea
Cawdor, at Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire.
The Countess Waldegrave and Mr. Harcourt, M.P.,
bays left Strawberry-hill, Twickenham, for Nuneham
Park, Oxfordshire.
The Countess Dowager Granville has taken for five
months one of the large furnished houses at Upper Nor-
wood belonging to the owner of the Queen's Hotel.
The Duke of Hamilton hag left town for Paris, en
route to Nice, where the duchess is staying. The
family will shortly leave Nice for Rome, where they
intend to pass the winter.
DOCTORS' CoMseoNs, Dec. 18.—The general body of
proctors to-day presented a complimentary address to
Sir John Dodson, warmly expressing their admiration
at his conduct, regret at his retirement, and gratitude
for his uniform courtesy. Sir John Dodson, in reply,
thanked them, and said that he had received the utmost
courtesey from them over since he entered the profession
in 1808, a perfect stranger.
THE DENISON CASE. —lt is said that the Privy Council
will not sit again to hear cases until February, and that
therefore it is probable that the judgment in this case
will not be delivered until then.

The telegraph service between Corfu and Malta will
soon begin. A despatch of 15 words between Corfu and
England will cost 11. 6s. 31.
The Diet of Frankfort has decided not to indemnify
the city of Mayence for the damage done by the late
explosions.
Baron von Peden, one of the most renowned of German
statisticians, has died in Vienna of inflammation of the
lungs, which followed a cold which he took at the open-
ing of the Szolnok-Debreezin Railroad.
The managers of La Presse hal nearly resolved to
demand permission to resume the publication of that
journal, but only on literary subjects, with a view to
save the hundreds of persons employed by it from
starving. They have been obliged to abandon the idea.
The French Government has decided on the establish.
rnent of an A rtillery College at Grenoble. It is
remarked that since the accession of Napoleon 111.,
who is so skilled in the science of artillery, the number
of artillery schools is increasing every day.
About 132,0001 of gold of various sorts was taken to
thelßank yesterday, besides about 40,000 sovereigns from
America and 100,000 from Ireland. A very large
amount ialalso expected to be delivered there to-morrow.
The Convocation of the Prelates and Clergy of the
Province of Canterbury was yesterday prorogued in the
Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster, by the Vicar-General,
Dr. Twice, under a commission from his Glace the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England and
Metropolitan, to Friday, February 5, 1858.
BUCKS ELECTION.—Captain Hamilton, who has been
spoken of as a probable conservative candidate at the
approaching electien, has issued his address, from which
appears he will stand. The komination is appointed for
Wednesday, and there seems every prospect of a reso-
lute contest.

BANKS.—A list of all banks, other than private
ones, trading in the united kingdom or the colonies,
;:ith the nature of the shareholders' liability, has been
printed on the motion of Sir J. V. Shelley, M.P.
The return fills some 25 pages. 'With res,sect to a
large number of the banks no information about the
liability of the shareholders can be given. The return
gives some minute details of the banks existing in
varion,, parts of our colonial empire.
CANTERIIIIIit COLLECTION PETITION.—A. petition has
been forwarded to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue
for presentation to the Treasury, from Canterbury dis-
trict; and the other three districts in Canterbury collec-
t tion will immediately forward petitions signed by all
grades. Should this last appeal to their lordships not
produce the desired effect, the officers of every grade in
Canterbury collection are unanimously agreed and fully
prepared to petition Parliament, with the promise of
support from three members of the House of Commons.
—aril Service Gazelle.

apparatus
ti guisdofany economy.kin d
to
THE
iaeoctees: :"T2OYe A t
merit theo
r
.L.HE POST-OFFICE DEAD LETTER-ROOM,—This large
hasf
ne w n
eapartmentitherstov
stove
sntohre
wbaeramuiindgeaa
p/
render it endurable in cold weather, and all the men
who are condemned to work in it complain that it is a
perfect ice-house. Colds and
. rheumatic ailments afflict
the unfortunate employes n!. this region of desolation.
Surely there is no economy in time freezin; the officers
of a great public department to .a degree at which they
bectte.
BommeriaslumoAstzminaFnoimEzaitGe.N—fosCretHrteo/08:teinfis:
pearnsdonspuopfilbottehacshexeerss annual examination of stuydoeunntgs
Of this total 32 are
jwciesrtetercmanidniadtaeldesa,eareilyth3eroo
of importance in various
alreadyfr
occupying
localities, while nearly . 100 have received appoint-
ments to schools in different parts of the country.
scholascrahhoioplss.
The increasing and pressing demand for really efficient
teachers is a happy omen for the educational prospects
of the land, and it is onewhich the committee of this
society is doing all in its power to meet.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AND LOSS OF THREE LIVES IN
SHOREDITCH.—Between the hours of 3 and 4 o'clock
this morning a fire, attended with loss of property
and life, happened in the premises belonging to Mr.
Harman, a silk trimming warehouseman, situated at
27, Archer-street, Shoreditch. As soon as the ruins
were sufficiently cooled to allow the firemen to enter,
they made a search of the several rooms, and in one
they found lying in a bed the lifeless bodies of Mr.
Harman, his wife, and a young child. Neither of the
bodies were much burnt, but the sufferers appeared to
have died from suffocation. As to the origin of the
fire nothing that could be depended upon could be
ascertained. The contents of the house destroyed were
insured in the London and Liverpool Fire.office.
DETERMINED SUICIDE. —This morning great excite-
ment was created in the vicinity of the Hampsteal.road,
in consequence of a rumour that a lady had killed
herself by precipitating herself from the upper window
of her residence in H irdwick-place. On proceeding to
the spot mentioned it was discovered that the lady, a
Mrs. Macdonald, had but a short time quitted a lunatic
asylum, in consequence of its having been thought that
she was perfectly cured. Unfortunately this was not
the case, for this morning symptoms of insani y again
prevented themselves, and before she could be prevented
the unfortunate lady threw herself from the second floor
window and fell into the area beneath. The husband of
the lady used the utmost exertions to prevent the
melancholy occurrence, but Mrs. Macdonald had armed
herself with a razor, and it was not until be had been
severely wounded that he released his hold of her. The
most prompt assistance was rendered, but in is few
minutes she ceased to exist.
THE EDUCATIONAL —FRANCHINN.—A memorial has
been transmitted to Lird Palmerston, praying himo•
in
his coming Reform Bill, to make provision for granting
the suffrage to certain classes of the community who may
be in a fit state to receive it by virtue of their educational
requirements. The memorial is signed by a very large
number of noblemen and gentlemen conrected with arts,
science, and literature, among whom we notice the
following gentlemen connected with the University and
city of Oxford :—The Lord Bishop of Oxford, the Rev.
the Vice.Chancell, r, Professor Acland, the Very Rev.
the Dean of Christ Church, the Rev. Dr. Hawkins (pro-
vost of O:iel College), Dr. Marsham (warden of Merton
College), the Rev.-Dr. w
ynter (president of St. John
College). the Rev. Dr. Tomson (provost of Queens
College), the Rev. Dr. Jeune (master of Pemt roke Co..
lege), the Professor of Ecclesiastical History (Rev. A.
P. Stanley, Universisy College), the Professor of
Betany (Dr. DeubenY), the Professor of Political
Economy (Mr. C; Neate, Oriel College), the Registrar of
the University (Dr. Rowden), the Venerable Principal
of Magdalen Hall (Dr. Macbride).
MINES. —The mining shareernarket has shown rather
a healthier tone this week, still the amount of busintee
transactions has been limited, for parties seem to
have
little disposition either to buy or sell just now. There is
also an absence of discoveries, or even great improve.
[lnnis, to give excitement to the market and cause a de.
mend for any particular stock. Wheal Basset shares have
sti 1 kept in demand, at 140 to 145, and S oithßasaet at 5,
but few
re in either. Copper Hill shares inquired for,
at 175 to 200 ; Condurrow very flat, at 90 to 95 ; Wheal
Edwards have declined to q Wheal Mary Ann
have been moderately dealt in at 48, ( r 451 to 464 ex div. ;
the accounts at the meeting showed a profit of 2,3311.
154. 31. on the patter, and the dividend wag 2,3041.
(2/. 52• per share), leaving 2,0301. 10s. Bd. to the credit
of next account; the mine is looking well, and ,'hares in
good request. TrelewnY shares have also been,nquired
after, at 231 to 24.1 ; the winze from the 132 to _the 142
is improving, and laying open good ore ground.—
M /fling Journal of this day.
It is announced that a deputation from tle Latin
monks of Jerusalem wiil shortly arrive in Paris.
They come, it is said, to solicit the French Govern-
ment to obtain a fircvan from the Porte to permit
them to repair, at their own expense, the cupola of
the Holy Sepulchre. It is known that the Emperor
has been always well disposed towards the Latin
church of Jerusalem.