The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-30 00:00:00

IMO Mittion

THE FUNDS--(CLOSING PRICESO

BRITISH FUNDS.
Blink !Reek ....... 00000000 — llndian 5t0ck............
8 per Cent. Red ... — ',Ditto Bends ..............
30,per Cent. Cons. lOO% Ditto Old Annuities ..
3 per Cent Red — 'Ditto New Annuities ...
ew 3% per Cent............• Ex. Bills _, 10001. I%d ... 75 pm.
New 5 per Cent...-. 00000 ..• •-• Ditto 5001. ..000000 ...... 76 pin.
Long Annuities to expire Ditto Small 76 pm.
Jan 1860 Bank Stock for Acct.... 209%
Oct. 1859 Console for Act. ......... 100%
Jan. 1860 •..•• 12% India Stock for Acct....
FOREIGN FUNDS.
Austrian, 5 per Cent ........ !Portuguese, 5 per Cent ..... 854
Belgian, 5 per Cent............ !Ditto, New Ditte 00000 ..........
Brazilian Bonds .....„....«.. 89%IPrussian,5 per Cent
Buenos Ayres, 6 per Cent... - Russian, 5 per. Cent...— llB%
Cbllian, II per Cent .....--.. 102 Ditto, Metallic
Colombian, 6 per Cent
Ditto, 1824 ..----- - - , Ditto, 3 per Cent ..- ....... -.. 35%
Cuba Bonds, 6‘per Cent — (Ditto, Deferred.................
Danish, 3 per Cent . ....
(creek, IEI-.5, 5 per Cent Exchange ..... .-....... —f. ..-a.
Mexican, S per Cent .....
Ditto, 6 per Cent., 1837 — Dutch, 2% per Cent...... 623(
'Peruvian, 1825, 6 per Cent- — 'Ditto, 5 per Cent .........100%
SHARES.

-pr.

Birmingham and Gloucester (100 paid) 106
Cheater and Holyhead ( 5 paid) ..„ .......... (l%
Eastern Counties (23 paid) ..... -................., 13%
Ditto Perpetual, 3 per Cent.,li 13.1441. paid,b, e. 1
Ditto ditto, paid, No. 2 %
Grand Junction, 100 paid 213
Ditto Half Shares, 10 paid ... ..... „......
Great Western (73 paid)
Ditto Half Shares, SO paid.......... ............ „...„ 86
London and Birmingham (Stock) ..........
London and Brighton (50 paid) ...... ........... „ 46%
London and Croydon (Trunk) l7
London and York, 2% paid 4
Manchester and Birmingham ......
I'vewcutle and Darlington Junction, '2l paid 47
South Eastern and Dover (33 25 4d paid) .... 39
Ditto New Shares, 4 paid „....„ ..... ...... 12)6
York and North Midland (30 paid) ........... ..........
Ditto Half Shares (25 paid)
York and Selby Scrip. paid 34
Orleans, Tours, and Bourdeaux, 1 paid ..... .....„ 1%
Paris and Rouen. 20 paid
Rouen and Havre, 10 paid lB%

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FLOM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAL
STANDARD.—We are not surprised at the dead
silence of the Times on the subject of the "mayor-
alty." A reasonable time ought to be afforded to
our Contemporary to digest the " great fact,"
that its influence Li the City is not quite so
extensive as it has taught us to believe. It .is
true that its campaigns against Mr. Alderman
Harmer and Mr. Alderman Wood were entirely suc-
cessful ; but the cause must be referred to the
extreme weakness of the candidates, rather than
to any extraordinary influence exercised over the
citizens of London by our Contemporary. Such,
indeed, was the self gratulation with which these
successive victories were proclaimed by the Times,
that it seemed to fancy it had secured a pa-
tent for the rejection of any aspirant to the
civic chair whom it might desire to exclude.
This flattering delusion must, or ought to have
been dissipated by the proceedings of the
Common Hall' on Saturday. After exaggerating the
clamour against the successful candidate by every
possible tmeans—by denunciations of his fitness for
the office to which he aspired ;—earnest admoni-
tions to the Livery in its leading columns; and
letters from the übiquitous Mr. Rock, under every
variety of signature, elsewhere ; it is obliged to
confess that its imperious mandate has been de-
fied, and its authority not only disputed but
set at nought. It is no part of our present business
to account for its suscess on the occasions referred to.
Suffice it to say, that the cases were widely different
from that of Alderman Gibbs, because the proof of the
correctness of the imputations by which the parties
were declared to have been disqualified had preceded
the allegations. In assuming, therefore, to have con-
trolled the decision of the Livery on those occasions,
our Contemporary was entirely beside the mark.
In the case of Alderman Gibbs its exertions have
far distanced any of its previous efforts to bear down
a victim. The labour was, indeed, worthy of the
difficulty of the task. It charges him with
refusing to submit his accounts, when the simple
fact was, that be did submit them to the only
parties competent to audit them, so far back
as December, 1843, since which time they
have been printed and published. It is
true that these accounts, audited by men of
character and station in the City, have been ques-
tioned by Messrs. Rook and Co. ; 'and equally so
that the Alderman has afforded every facility for
their examination, and that the Master's report
upon them would have been concluded, but for
the vexatious interposition of the plaintiff. Well,
these accounts disposed of, what other charge has
the Times to allege against its victim ? It admits
that it has none. The gravamen of Mr. Alderman
Gibbs's offence appears to have been that he was
. Chancery ; whither he was forced and detained
in order that some excuse might he afforded for the
recent attempts of the Times to obstruct his passage
to the civic chair. Mr. Alderman Gibbs could
not repudiate the select vestry which had existed
from time immeieceiel ; out he proposed that the
question should be tried by a court of law, and
offered every facility to his opponents for bring-
ing such an inquiry to a speedy issue. Had this
proposal been accepted, that question would ham
been decided a month ago ; but a decision which was
so likely to be in his favour was not to be thus pee-
cipitated. The object of his assailants was to indutce
the Livery to believe that the charges which were
impending might terminate unfavourably to the
defendant; and that meanwhile the Livery shoiald
" wait until be was cleared." The proceedings
before the Master in Chancery for the purpose of
establishing the correctness or incorrectness of the
Alderman's accounts, have been delayed in a similar
manner, - and, as we must believe, for a similar
object. The Livery would, indeed, have been "des-
titute of all sense of propriety," if they had not at
once seen through the motives and objects of bis
i
assailants. If, however, they have preserved the r
self-esteem, they have lost the countenance of the
Times. We presume that they will have no difficulty
in adjusting the amount of the balance in their
favour. The result of this contest is useful
beyond the vindication of an upright man
from the imputations which have been *east
upon him; for it has shown that the influence which
his cowed so many worthy and respectable pe,eple
is a mere bugbear, which has no manner of existence,
PO far as the City of London is concerned, save in the
imaginations of the alarmists themselves. '.l he clams
of the would-be lion have been clipped, and, roar :he
ever so loudly, his roar will never again be mistakeen
for the " thunder" of the king of the forest. In Sts
present position " silence is wisdom."
GLOBE.—The selection of Mr. Alderman Gilalbs,
by the Court of Aldermen, as Chief Magistrate for
the ensuing year, is made the subject of a triumph
by the Herald. Nearly two columns of exultii ig
comment are appropriated to the occasion. 'rine
powers of the eulogist are peculiarly adapted to
the theme. The Herald, which has failed as an
organ of Government, may, possibly, acquire noto-
riety as the adopted advocate of Mr. Alderman Gibbs.
If "The Gibbs' Gazette" were to be introduced as
a second title, the thing might take, or rather be
" taken." It would indicate the special mission of
the journal ; and impart a kind of Aldermanic and
Mayor-like importance to its character. Whatever
appeared in its columns would bear the unquestion-
able stamp of truth, and be redolent of integrity.
The signature of the Alderman of Walbrook
would not give it a more sure passport to public
confidence. . . . . The Court of Alder-
men had an undoubted right to select which
they thought most eligible of the two Aldermen
returned to it by the majority of the Liver. We
are not disposed to quarrel with their choice l'he cir-
cumstances in which they found themselves were by
no means such as to render it of much consequence
to the character and influence of the Corporation, as to
which of the two Aldermen, to whom the Livery bad
limited their choice, was selected for the office. It
was fortunate for Mr. Alderman Gibbs that there
existed strong grounds to justify the Court of Alder-
men in again passing by his competitor for the
Mayoralty. Had there been any other candidate
before the Court, we do not believe that even the
Court of Aldermen could have had the temerity to
elect Mr. Alderman Gibbs to the office of Chief
Magistrate, surrounded, as he is at the present
moment, with the most grievous prejudices and im-
putations. 'Whether they be created solely by his
wrongheadedness, and imperturbable obstinacy, as
his friends maintain ; or whether they be the re-
sult of absolute breach of official trust, as some have
not scrupled to assert ; one thing is certain—the
dignity of the office will be obscured, and the effi-
ciency of its administration will be diminished. An
individual placed in a post so elevated as that of Chief
Magistrate of the metropolis of England should be
not merely free from the imputation of having
abused any public trust confided to his keep-
ing ; he should have done nothing which would
seem to imply that he has not fulfilled that trust
with fidelity. Mr. Alderman Gibbs may be, and
probably is, free from the graver offence of malver-
113tion of the parishlfunds of St. Stephen's, Walbrook;
but he has acted, with reference to the accounts of
the receipts and disbursements of these funds, us if he
were interested in preventing an investigation into their
integrity. For nearly twenty years they had remained
unaudited. This alone, when discovered by the parish-
ioners, was calculated to excite suspicion. The legal ex-
istence of a select vestry in that parish was questioned ;
the neglect of the select vestry to perform the duties
which pertained to it, was beyond all doubt. The
unaudited accounts of the churchwardens for nearly
20 years ; the deplorable state of dilapidation of the
parish church, one of the most beautiful edifices in Lon-
don, the chef d'auvre of Sir Christopher Wren ; and
the salaries of lecturer, organist, and other servants of
the church, unpaid for two years—these glaring proofs
of neglect showed that the self-constituted seleci hod
had proved their incompetency to promote the welfare
of the church, and to protect the interests of the
parishioners. When, therefore, the demand for
an audit of the accounts became loud and ge-
aeral—whea the parishioners urged their reason-

able claims to a fair statement of the way in
which the large sums which had passed into
the hands of their churchwarden, Mr. Alder-
man Gibbs, had been appropriated; and asked that
this satisfaction should be attained by the whole of
the accounts, with the vouchers, being placed in the
hands of a competent and disinterested accountant,
whose report should be conclusive—we do maintain
that Mr. Alderman Gibbs owed it no less to himself
than to the parishioners of St. Stephen's, Waibrook,
-whose pecuniary interests were involved, and to his fel-
low-citizens generally, who had an obvious interest
in his reputation, as one of their magistrates, to sub-
mit his accounts to a full and fair scrutiny. He has
-thought it consistent with his duty to himself, in his
private and public relations, to decline to do so. He at
length rendered an account, it is true, extending over
:nearly twenty years, including multifarious items.
This account was audited by the " select ;" but the
examination of vouchers was dispensed with. The
Alderman-churchwarden refused to allow any pa-
rishioner, not being one of the " select," the slightest
satisfaction. He has thus given occasion for grave
suspicion that his accounts, so long withheld,
would not bear the light. The question of
their correctness has been made the subject of
a Chancery suit, as the only means of compelling
the Alderman to produce the vouchers, and other
documents, to attest their correctness. That the ,
Court of Aldermen had no discretion between elect-
ing Alderman Wood or Alderman Gibbs, may be an
excuse for their choice of the latter. But how humi-
liating must be this consideration to every one who
regards the character of the Chief Magistrate as likely
to influence the public estimation in which the Cor-
poration should be held, and the confidence which the
administration of the immense revenues intrusted to
its administration, should inspire I There will be the
usual civic pageant on the coming 9th of November;
there will be the: usual pigmy court at the Mansion.
house during the coming civic year ; and the Mayor
will bear the title of " Lord," and will be addressed
as " Right Honourable." Fah!

" Worth makes the man ; the want of it the fellow ;
The rest is nought but leather and prunella."
Mr. Alderman Gibbs' right to the respect and con-
fidence of his fellow-citizens, and of the public ge-
nerally, has been placed in abeyance by his own
acts. He would, for once in his life, have acted
wisely had he voluntarily postponed his claims to the
office of Chief Magistrate until that right had been
established. He has taken a different course. After
his election by the Aldermen had been announced tc
the Common Hall, " he left the Hall," the reports state,
" by a private door," without addressing the Livery,
as is usual. In this there was more of caution than
of courage. We hope before the day of the grand
inauguration banquet, the award of the Master in
Chancery will show that nothing worse than obstinacy
is imputable to the Lord Mayor elect.

GREAT FOOT RACE BETWEEN ROBINEON AND
STEWARD, FOR 1002 The race of 120 yards, for 501
a side, between William Robinson, of Newton Moor,
and George Steward, alias Sherrin, came off this after-
noon on the New-road, Hammersmith, adjoining the
Thatched House, in the presence of a numerous assem-
blage of the sporting fraternity. After the usual preli-
minaries had been arranged the signal was given, when,
after a very severe race, Steward was declared the winner.

COLLIERY EXPLOSION.
DREADFUL LOSS OF LIFE.

EDUCATION OF THE POOR.
IMPORTANT SPEECH OF LORD WHARNCLIFFE.
The following speech of Lord Wharnellffe, deli-
vered on Monday last at a meeting of the friends and
supporters of the Society for Promoting the Increase
of Church Accommodation, and the Endowment of
Churches in the Diocese of Ripon, and also of the
Ripon Diocesan Board of Education, held at the Court
House, in Barnsley, is most important, and may be
considered as a declaration of the feelings of Govern-
ment on the important subject to which it refers.
We take our report from the Leeds Intelligencer.
Lord WHARNCLIPPII rose and said—" Ladies and
Gentlemen, the resolution which you have just passed
concludes the business of the day, but before we sepa-
rate I am very anxious to address to the meeting a
few words upon the present state of the questions
with regard both to church accommodation and to the
education of the poor; and also to take this opportu-
nity of explaining what Government have done—
what their objects are—as well as what the objects of
Parliament have been in voting money for both these
purposes—and finally to remind you how to obtain,
and to instruct you how to make use of the sums so
granted. And first with respect to churches. But
before I address myself particularly to this point,
I may observe that this district—the West
Riding of Yorkshire—and the county of Lan-
caster, are perhaps the two parts of the
whole kingdom that require the greatest care with
-expect to the religious instruction of the people,
from the nature of the manufactures carried on in
them, from the vast congregations of people without
any instruction brought together within them numbers
so great as to be far beyond the power of that number
of persons which, up to a late period, were alone
Appointed to instruct them as their pastors. I say
that this district, of all others, is that which requires
in extension of church accommodation and. tke
Appointment of additional ministers to instruct the
people. Both those objects have been kept in view,
and, to a certain degree, the wants of the people in
this respect have been supplied. First of all let us re-
collect what this district was originally. The greater
'ad of it was a very thinly-peopled district, and a
large portion of it scarcely cultivated at all ; now it is
crowded with people; many parishes of enormous
extent are become very populous. This town in
which we are assembled, which is very populous, in
which manufactures have increased and are increasing,
and in which there is a prospect of the continued
*ncrease of those who should be provided with reli-
gious instruction—this town, I say, is not a parish ; it
is merely a township in the parish of Silkstone, the
:sarish church being situate several miles off. And
so it is in many other places—the parishes are so large
that the mother church is totally inadequate to accom-
plish its original purpose of affording space for those
who should worship their God in it, at a convenient
distance from their homes. I say that this district
is the one which, above all others, requires the atten-
tion of the Government, the attention of the Bishop,
and of the clergy, as well as of all persons who have
really the interests of religion and the welfare of the
people at heart, to provide such accommodation which
shall enable the people to perform and to receive in-
struction in their religious duties. Under these cir-
cumstances, then, I am happy to say that the session
of Parliament before the last produced a measure which
does enable these districts to receive a much greater
degree of spiritual instruction than heretofore. I al-
lude to that Act of Parliament, usually called " Sir
Robert Peel's Act," which puts it into the power of
the clergy and their parishioners to apply to the Ec-
clesiastical Commissioners to form districts within
which even though there may be no church erected,
but where a suitable room can be procured to be li-
censed by the Bishop, a clergyman may be appointed
to give that spiritual instruction to the people which
is so much needed. By that Act provision is made
by which the maintenance of such ministers so to be
appointed is secured. I cannot help hoping that that
measure will have a very great effect upon the reli-
gious instruction of the people. It was intended to
have that effect ; and my hope is that it will prove so.
I was myself at one time of opinion 'that the first
thing to be done was to build churches ; but now I
incline to think that that was a mistake. The first
duty, as it seems to me, is to appoint persons who
will administer religious instruction to the people,
allotting to him a suitable and convenient district;
and I am satisfied that when that duty is properly
performed by duly qualified and sealous men, there
will be no want of the means for building churches
in this country. lam persuaded that, upon suitable
religious instruction being afforded by zealous and
competent ministers to those classes of persons to
whom it is very important that such instruction
should be given, they will not be satisfied with a
mere room in which to worship God, but will find
the means of aiding the Government in providing a
proper place for religious worship.—(Hear.) So much
for the first object which we have met to promote this
day.—(Hear, )ear.) I now come to that of educa-
tion ; and, standing in the situation which I do,
neuees ea as J
of that department—for a department it may now
be called—to which the education, or rather the
means which are supplied by Parliament for the
education of the people is committed, I am
anxious to say a few words upon that subject ;
and I very much wish that there were a greater num-
ber of persons present here, that a larger number of
the inhabitants of this district might hear what I have
to say. I say this, because, undoubtedly, there are
great misapprehensions abroad upon the subject.
There are misapprehensions, in the first place, as to
the objects for which Parliament have voted the sum
which is at the disposal of the Committee of Council
for Education. The misapprehensions are still greater,
perhaps, with respect to the objects which the Com-
mittee of Council have in view, and the mode in
which they will carry into effect the wishes and inten •
tions of Parliament. You are all aware that up to a
very late date nothing was contributed by Parliament
towards the education of the people. It was left en-
tirely to the efforts of individuals, and I am sorry to
say, that the result of that was, that the state of edu-
cation in the greater part of England is lamentable
in the extreme. Ido not think that in this parti-
cular district it can be said to have been in so bad and
inferior a condition as in some other portions of the
kingdom. We all know that the greater portion of the
poor hereabouti, and still further to the northward,
are educated to a certain degree. They can most of
them read and write to some extent, and many of
them can go through certain rules of arithmetic; but
in the south of England the absence of that kind of
knowledge even to that extent among the poorer
classes is lamentable and frightful. I think, there-
fore, it was time for Parliament to interfere, and to
give something towards the education of the people.
It was the duty of a paternal Government to propose
it to Parliament ; and when proposed to Parliament
it was cheerfully acceded to. The first grant made
by Parliament was in the year 1836. I may be
wrong as to the year, but I think it was in that year.
It amounted to 20,0001. A small sum, indeed,
to assist the efforts that were making for education,
especially when one remembers the number of
persons and districts over which a sum of that
description was to be extended. However, that
was the sum. It was to be distributed by the
Lords of the Treasury, upon no conditioa whatever,
except that the Lords of the Treasury might, if they
thought proper, send a person to inspect the accounts
of the schools that were to be benefited by the grant.
There was no inspection with respect to what was
taught in those schools. There was no charge of
any kind. There was no condition on the part of
persons who received part of that grant that their
schools should be devoted solely to the education of
the poor.. This system lasted not above two years. It
was found that, after the money was granted, nobody
knew anything about it—that Parliament and the
Government were giving money, without knowing
what it produced—and it was thought advisable to put
the matter on a better footing. Accordingly it was
taken from the Treasury, and placed in the hands of
a Committee of her Majesty's Privy Council—now
called the Committee of Council for Education—con-
sisting of some of the Ministers of the Crown ; and
the grants are now distributed upon their responsi-
bility. When it was so removed from the Treasury
to the Committee of Council, it was absolutely neces-
sary that the objects for which this money was
granted should be thoroughly understood, and that
certain conditions should be insisted upon in order
that the money voted by Parliament—the public
money—might be so properly distributed as that it
should not be turned to evil instead of to good. Ac-
cordingly certain rules were established by Order of
Council. One of those rules was that, in a deed, the
promoters of every school should agree that any
school to be built with the aid of money from these
grants should be devoted for ever to the education of
the poor. Another condition was, that they should
also be liable to inspection by inspectors appointed
by the Committee of Council for ever. These
ere the two conditions originally required ; and be-
sides this great care is taken by that committee
that the money granted by them shall not be
the sole and only means by which the school buildings
shall be erected ; but that the number of persons will-
ing to contribute in aid, and the amount they are pre-
pared to contribute, shall be taken, in great part, as
the real evidence of the want of a school in a particular
district.—(Hear, hear.) It is quite clear that were it
otherwise the whole country would be looking to
Government to do the work at its expense, and the
true sources of charity would be dried up. Every-
body who had the means would be disposed to stay
their hands ; and, in short, the whole would be suf-
fered to fall into the hands of Government. This
seemed to the Government to be anything but de-
sirable; and, therefore, let it not be supposed that any
party, or any parish or township, can come to
the Government, and say, " Give U 3 part of
that grant," claiming it as of right. They must, in
the first instance, show the destitution of the place
in respect of education, and then they must
show that those within the district, who have the