The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-07 00:00:00

4 ' ,artling int

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1845.

The House of Lords met at Five o'clock, and ad-
journed in half an hour, after forwarding several Bills a

stage.

The Commons met at Four.

The several orders of the day were read and postponed,
after which, Lord ASHLEY moved for leave to bring in
two Bills for the regulation of lunatic asylums in Eng-
land and Wales. His Lordship, in order to prove the
necessity of his measures, entered at considerable length
into the statistics of lunacy.
Sir J. GRAHAM, in seconding the motion, passed a high
eulogium on the character of Lord ASHLEY, and said
that the Government had considered the measure, and
gave it their most cordial support, and he stated it as his
opinion, that private asylums, even where there was only
one patient, should be subjected to frequent visitation
and supervision.
Lord CLE3IENTS was desirous of a more efficient mea
sure for the regulation of lunatic asylums in Ireland,
the one introduced by Sir THOMAS FREMANTLE Was
quite insufficient. .
Mr. Fox MAuLE urged the necessity of amending the
law regulating lunatic asylums in Scotland.

The LORD-ADVOCATE wished to see the result 01
this measure as regarded England before extending it

to Scotland.

After a few words from Sir G. STRICKLAND, Mr.
BROTHERTON, Mr. HENLEY, and Mr. WYNN, the mo-
tion was agreed to, and the House adjourned at Seven

o'clock.

The Convention recently negotiated between the
King of the FRENCH and the Queen of ENGLAND for
the prevention of slave trading under the respective flags
of England and France, is a compact honourable to the
character and the reciprocated respect of two great
nations. It is a noble pledge, recorded and de-
posited at the altar of humanity, by those
of all the states of Christendom and civilisa-
tion which are most competent to act as her irresistible
champions. How happy for the peace of mankind and
the repose of nations, were the emulation of these two
States never to exceed the limits of this generous rivalry
in the cause of human liberty, or that struggle for
priority in the perfecting of their several institutions
social, moral, and political, or in the career of liberal
arts and of science, in the results of which the destinies
of all the other races of mankind are so profoundly and
extensively interested.
This Convention, which is understood to have been
signed so lately as Thursday week, is remarkable for the
tone of good faith and earnest intention which prevades
its ten articles of succinct and intelligible stipulation.
The preamble, or recital, of this Convention recurs to
the two Conventions of November, 1831, and March,
1833, executed between the contracting Powers, as
" having attained their object in preventing the slave
trade under the French and English flags;" but it is de-
clared that they have not proved competent to effect
the complete suppression of this odious traffic, and
the said Powers having it much at heart to concur
in the requisite measure for this object, declare
that the present Convention shall be substituted for, and
stand in lieu of; those former instruments. By the Ist
article, the King of the FRENCH engages, within the
shortest possible period to establish, upon the western
coast of Africa, from Cape Verd, to the meridional
lat. of 16 deg. 30 min., a naval force of 26 cruisers, as
well sailing vessels as steamers ; and the Queen of GREAT
BRITAIN engages to establish a force of similar amount,
steaming and sailing cruisers, on the same portion of
the African coast. By subsequent articles, the two
Powers agree to maintain a strict surveillance upon all
this range of coast, especially at those points where
slave-trading is carried on; and, for thispnrpose, they will
exercise all the powers pertaining to their respective flags,
except only as to the restrictions introduced into the
present Convention touching French and English ships.
The officers of the two squadrons are to concert together
the best means of proceeding in the objects of this Con-
vention, settling stations, devising the regulations under
which the cruisers of the two nations are to act together,
or separately, as may be found most convenient ; any
treaties that may be concluded by either force with native
chiefs along these coasts shall have for object only
the suppression of the slave trade ; and if concluded,
separately, by an officer of the British force, the option
of acceding to it shall be reserved to the King of the
FRENCH ; and so, vice versa, if concluded by a French
officer, the option of concurring in it shall remain to the
Queen of GREAT BRITAIN. When both Sovereigns con-
cur, the expenses attending the negotiation of that treaty
shall be borne by both Governments in equal proportions;
but where the employment of the military or naval
forces shall be found necessary for the execution of said
treaties, and in conformity to the law of nations, neither
flag shall engage in such operations without the consent
and concurrence of the other. When the squadron of
the King of the FRENCH shall be ready to commence
operations, that fact will be formally communicated to
the British Sovereign ; and the two Monarchs will issue
a joint declaration that the oper ition of this Convention
is about to commence. The right of mutual search, esta-
blished by the Conventions of 1831 and 1833, shall
cease to be exercised in three months after such decla-
ration.

The two Powers pledge themselves to interdict all
slave-trading in any colonies they do now, or may here-
aft.er, possess, and to use all means to prevent their re-
spective flags from being employed by their subjects in
carrying on a slave-trade with foreign nations, or being
in any other manner connected with slave-trading of any
kind. The tenth and final article regards the mode in
which the recognised servants and functionaries of the
contracting Powers shall proceed in conformity with the
objects of this Convention, in six months after the joint
declaration above alluded to of the two Sovereigns shall
have been promulgated.
Such is a brief abstract of a compact that promises to
be of more practical service in efficiently repressing, and
finally (let us hope) extinguishing the slave-trade than
previous treaties of a more elaborate character for some
years past have been able to accomplish. There is a
moderation about the language of the contracted obliga-
tions on either party—an absence of all pretensions in
one party that might possibly be distasteful or offensive
to the other—a calm and grave avowal of the great ob-
jects common to both—from which we augur a bright
and hopeful future for the negro races of Western
Africa. But we also indulge the gratifying belief that
by thus combining in a noble work of national charity,
of European beneficence, and of Christian duty, the hos-
tile tendencies of the two mightiest monarchies in the
world, arising out of the conflict of their balanced powers
and their vast resources, will become gradually neutral-
ised; and that the dangerous spirit of an unquiet, though
it be a generous rivalry of political grardeur, will give
place, at no distant day, to a strict, an invincible, and a
genuine " Holy Alliance" for the extension and consoli-
dation of their united peace, prosperity, and power.

It is always contended by the friends of the Established
Church that the general conduct of its ministers must
have been highly meritorious—otherwise the laity would
not have consented, during many ages, to contribute so
munificently to its endowment and their maintenance.
The argument is a sufficiently fair one. We should be
inclined to give any other parties the benefit of it, ca teris
paribus—why not the Church? But like all other argu-
'mots, its application may be inconveniently extended
beyon,..l the limits at which those who have benefited it
under on: condition of circumstances would desire to
see it pushed .under another. The converse of the pro-
position may be disagreeable, but it is not the less
forcible, namely, than if the general conduct of the minis-
ters of the Established G. be not highly meritorious,
the laity will not continue in future to make such liberal
provision for their endowment and maintenance. Now
to that clergy we desire to commend this latter consi-
deration, because we take them to be worldly wise, and
shrewd enough, in their generation. In proportion as
they are so, the argument will weigh with them as
sig-
nificant and cogent; and may thus produce a more
salu-
tary effect upon their conduct and deportment than
twenty episcopal charges or ordination sermons. It may
be a sordid motive to perseverance in a just and upright
course to hold out the probable loss of temporal wealth
and station as the penalty of a departure from it; but, if
it be an efficacious one, we shall not quarrel with it.
Now—without any desire invidiously to recur to by-
gone delinquencies—we may remark that the last two
years have been sufficiently fruitful of clerical offenders,
contra bones mores, on the one band (in those against

whom irregular, vicious, and oven licentious courses have
been established), and contra bonos consuctudines, on the
other (in such as have set aside the old established forms
and rituals of the service to introduce new and offensive
changes therein). The clergy, as a body, will do well
to bethink them how seriously these frequent exposures
of the criminal weaknesses of individual members of it,
must be calculated to prejudice and compromise them in
the public estimation. People will be very apt to in-
dulge in very impertinent and disagreeable speculations
on the expediency of cutting down the scale of the con-
tributions they pay in aid of the endowments in ques-
tion, for the support of a hierarchy, more particularly,
who certainly have revenues of an amount scarcely com-
patible with the purity and simplicity of the " rule of
life" affected by the teachers of a reformed Church,
which owes its existence entirely to the excessive cor-
ruption, wealth, and luxury of the older Church that it
has superseded among us. For these reasons, we are
as much astonished as scandalised when we read of dig-
nitaries of our Establishment committing themselves to
any proceedings that bring them into collision with their
flocks, or their subordinate functionaries, and make
them parties to appeals to legal and spiritual tribunals,
where the very fact of their appearing is calculated to
damnify them, and to injure the moral character and
authority of their sacred calling. Is there no teaching
these gentlemen the value of decorum ?—the impressive
merit, in their case, of unobtrusive quietness.
Very many days have not elapsed since we brought
under the notice of our readers the case of the pluralist
rector of Oakingham, in Berks, patron, rector, and in-
cumbent of the church and living, and Dean of Salis-
bury, withal. We showed that in consequence of
the alarming state of dilapidation into which the parish
church had fallen, the parishioners had vainly applied
to, and attempted to negotiate with, the Dean and his
lessee, to induce them to repair, in conjunction with the
parishioners, the chancel and the fabric. The evasive
bandying of the parishioners between Mr. Dean and Mr.
Lessee, the architect of the one and the surveyor of the
other, and the no-result of the business will not, we sur-
mise, be easily forgotten. It appears from certain " Re-
solutions" agreed to at a meeting of the inhabitants of
Oakingham, on Monday last, to determine on the steps
proper to be taken for the repairs of the edifice, and
making further provision for the cure, that the Most
Rev. the Dean is still contumacious ; that on the part of
his lessee he offers to subscribe 1001. towards the re-
building of the chancel, on the express condition
that he should be released from all further charge
or demand on that score by the parish ; that the
meeting expressed their astonishment at such a
proposition, which Mr. Dean must have well known
when he made it that the churchwardens could not
comply with, inasmuch as they have no powers by law
to enter into any such arrangement. And the meeting,
seeing the Dean would not co-operate with the pa-
rishioners, instructed the churchwardens to repair and
uphold the chancel at the least possible expense, and to
maintain the fabric as far as possible, in its present coed
tion, Sce.

We should like to ask the Dean of Salisbury whe-
ther he falls back upon an inward consciousness of such
pure and disinterested affection for the Church that has
advanced him to so high a rank among her servants,—
upon the personal humility of a servant only anxious to
exalt the glory of his LORD, to render all worldly as well
as spiritual homage to his Divine Master in the careful
maintenance of His time-honoured temples,—that he
can thus afford to repudiate the respect and insult the affec-
tions of his flock ? That he is thus content to earn an un-
becoming notoriety among those dignified ministers of the
Establishment who will give least towards the keeping up
of religious fabrics, which it should be their pride as it
is their duty to preserve awl cherish, because they re-
ceive most from the congregations to whose personal
wishes and comfort they are so palpably indifferent ?
That he will thus venture to challenge public indigna-
tion at his emphatic determination to keep his pockets
full, though he thereby render the church empty ? Per-
tinacity of this kind offers but sorry prospects to those
friends of the Establishment who are anxious to see her
recovering, by all exercises of Christian humility, active
charity, brotherly love, and true and unsordid zeal for
her honour, whatever influence or authority she is said
by some to have lost through the proselytising energy
and uncompromising devotion of her Roman Catholic
rivals 1

The intelligence from Spain, which is to the 29th of
May, is of a very gloomy character. The funds are
falling rapidly, the Bank of San Fernando has refused
to grant any more loaas ; the journals, which formerly
supported the Government, with one exception, have
turned against it, owing to the late arbitrary proceed-
' ings of NARVAEZ ; and circumstances altogether fore-
bode some new convulsion. In what shape it will appear
no one can tell, but the country is evidently roused
against the despotic Government of CHRISTINA. and
NARVAEZ, and will follow almost any leader who will
have the courage to brave this reckless military dictator.
The Espectador journal had been seized, because it
contained an article stating that above thirty persons had
offered their services to the proprietors of the Clamor
Publico, and 300 more were ready to put down their names
and bid defiance to the prosecutions of the Government.
The Tiempo, hitherto friendly to NARVAEZ, boldly de-
clares that within four days the Government has become
revolutionary, and it denounces the arrest and deporta-
tion of the three editors as arbitrary, unjustifiable, and
odious acts, and as the commencement, without any
authority and without any cause, of martial law. A
popular tumult, or something worse, was expected at
Madrid, and the troops of the garrison were consequently
kept in readiness in their barracks. Additional troops
had also been ordered for the provinces, but probably
they will be more required there than in the capital.
The poor young QUEEN, with her mother and sister,
escorted by NARVAEZ, had arrived at Chinchilla on the
27th, after a cold, wet, and fatiguing journey.
The Bourse on the 29th exhibited a very dismal ap-
pearance, not fewer than nineteen defaulters having
been declared on that and tho previous day. One ac-
count says, the funds have.continued declining, reaching
a point which they had not experienced for many
months, since Threes were offered for cash at 32k, with
scarcely a purchaser—a real panic prevailing on 'Change.
Day by day many millions are sold by the supreme com-
mittee belonging to bankrupt speculators, or those who
do not appear to claim their stock. Capitalists look on
passively at a state of things whose result they cannot
foresee unless a prompt remedy be applied.

The Three per Cents. closed at 32% for cash, and 33% at
60 days ; the Five per Cents., at 231/2 fur cash ; and 24 at 60
days ; the Coupons, at 2714 for cash ; and the Debt without
Interest, at 8 for the 10th ofJuly.

The Paris Itioniteur contains a royal ordonnance,
dated the 3d inst., announcing that M. GuizoT is re-
instated in his office of Foreign Minister, which had been

held by M. DUCHATEL during his illness. On that day
M. GUIZOT attended a cabinet council held by the
KING, and his Majesty counter-signed the new treaty for
the suppression of the slave-trade. Every dispatch ap-
pears to be made for bringing this question to a final
settlement. "We are assured," says the 'Journal des
Debuts, " that an attachi of the Minister for Foreign
Affairs set out from Paris on Tuesday afternoon, for Lon-
don, carrying the treaty with him. It is believed that the
ratifications may be exchanged on Friday next between
Lord ABERDEEN and Count DE St. AIILAIRE. It is pro-
bable that on Monday or Tuesday, next Admiral
MACKAU will present to the Chamber of Deputies a
Bill for carrying the treaty iutu immediate execution.
The Bill will contain a demand for a sum of ten millions
of francs for completing the number of 26
steam-
boats and sailing vessels, of which our squadron
is to be composed." The same journal
in answer to one of the objections made by the opposi-
tion to the treaty, namely that a navy cannot be exer-
cised unless engaged in war practice, says :—" We are
really desolated, that this disastrous state of general
peace, in which the world is thrown by the fault of one
Ministry, does not afford more active occupation to our
❑avy, but we confesS that we are not much affected with
these gymnastic considerations. We do not think it
indispensably necessary to seek a quarrel with Eng-
land, or any other country, solely for the purpose of ex-
ercising our squadrons, and we are persuaded that our
sailors will resign themselves to the accomplishment,
with h-ss eclat, perhaps, but certainly with as much ho-
nour, of acts which most promote the cause of humanity
and liberty."

The state of the French navy will be brought before
the Chamber of Deputies in a few days. The report of
the Committee on the budget of expenditure fur 1846
had been distributed on Wednesday, and, accord,ng, to
that document, the naval estimates are inereased by
4,700,000 francs, as compared with the present year. The
following is a brief summary of the state of the navy, as
given in the report. The sailing vessels afloat are stated to
be :-23 ships of the line of all classes ; 30 frigates ; 19
corvettes ; 26 brigs; 47 galiots, cutters, and luggers, with
about 60 smaller vessels—in all, 220 vessels. The sail-
ing vessels in dock are:-23 ships-of war of different
ranks, of which about two-thirds are finished ; 20
frigates and 5 small vessels—total, 48 ships partly
finished. Of steam war vessels afloat there are 4
frigates-1 of 540 horse power, and 3of 450 horse
power; 8 corvettes-1 of 320 horse power, and 7of 220
horse power; 41 steamers of 160 horse power and under
—total, 53. Steamers on the stocks:-4 frigates, lof 640,
j of 540, and 2 of 450 horse power, about half-finished ;
10 corvettes, 5 of 320, and 5 of 220 horse power, one-fifth