The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-29 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Intimately acquainted with the general tone
of mind pervading the great majority of the
foyer and middle ranks of the members of the
Church of Scotland, before the Veto Act, or the
Reform Act agitated the land, I beg leave to say
that the assumption (that the clergy of the Church
of Scotland are actuates by motives of ambition,
and not the good of the people) is without good
foundation to rest on, and that no good proof can
be established on its behalf. It is urged as a
proof of the designs of the Non-intrusionists,
that the clergy can keep from the Lord's Table
any whom they choose, and extreme cases are
hailed as a perfect god-send to make a point in
this defence, and show how little power the people
would possess, even if the veto were honestly
acted on. It is next stated, that in some northern
parochial districts the ministers have thus only
a few possessing the right to exercise the veto,
amidst a numerous population, and these few are
at once set down as under the influence of the
clergyman or Presbytery.
With your permission, then, I will briefly
touch on each of these allegations to show that
they rest on no solid basis.

First, then, as to the " aggrandisement" of the
clergy, being the motive of their exertions to
establish popular rights, I must confess inability
to discover any grounds to erect such a hypo-
thesis upon. Grant a decisive voice to the ma-
jority of communicants in any district in the
choice of their ecclesiastical teachers, and
fear not the influence of a Presbytery in de:
priving the people, of the benefits of these
rights. True it is that men ushered into paro-
chial charges under the 'moderate sway, will
continue to offer their unrelenting hostility to
the veto and popular privileges ; but that oppo-
sition must of necessity die its own death, for
gradually would able and more talented men
hay. taken their place, until the Church of Scot-
land had been restored to all her pristine vigour
and purity when dissent was unkLovrn among
Presbyterians in Scotland.
The second allegation to be considered is, that
the clergy, by keeping people from communi-
cating, on trifling pretences—such as travelling
on Sundays, attending a funeral on Sundays
would thus control the whole influence of those
who exercised their Christian rights. This re-
quires little consideration, for it is evident that
the cases are only extreme, and not likely to
take place again m half a century. That it is
therefore not in the power of a minister to de-
prive any one of their Christian rights; and it is
only those ministers whose very inadequate per-
formance of their duties, which make the mem-
bers attending the parochial churches so few,
whilst the intelligent and active-minded gene-
rally travel a distance of many miles to attend
the chapel of some able and influential dissent-
ing minister. A WORKING MAN.
Marylebone, March 18.
•

[On account of the_ great length of the letter
sent by a " Working Man," we have given only
extracts, but the main points have been retained.]

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

TIMES.—The progress of the railway system has
now become a subject of national importance, and
hdice a review of the leading occurrences connected
with it during the last week or two, not already no-
ticed among the events of the day, must be acceptablo
to the public at large, as well as to parties having an
immediate stake in it.

The prominent feature perceived is perhaps the
g'tfiwing desire manifested by railway shareholders
to.investigate fully, at their periodical meetings, the
management under which the several undertakings
are conducted, and the suggestions they freely and
unreservedly offer to the Directors, respecting the
curtailment of the heavy expenses connected with the
" board and engineering departments," which appear
to clog heavily and obstruct that profit the subscri-
bers look for. In several instances it has been found 1
that the management of railways is carried on at a
rate of expense so far above the receipts, that divi-
dends seldom or ever increase, while in others the
expense of working being in the half-yearly accounts
augmented in proportion to the increase of receipts,
the old dividend" is proposed for Payment, though
no real cause for the excess of expense of one-half
year over the other is shown : this is particularly
referred to in the case of the last meeting of the
South Western Company, in respect to which it is
alleged, that notwithstanding the increase in receipts
was upwards of 10,0001., and the line is in such a
forward state as to induce the belief that the expen-
diture had reached its height, the management is
still charged at the rate of 40 per cent., and hence
the shareholders only get a dividend of 30s. per share.
It is further alleged, in respect to this com-
pany, while many others can also be pointed out as
pursuing similar practices to the detriment of the
proprietary at large, that the Directors are not suffi-
ciently cautious in confining their attention to the
management of the line, but are anxious to connect
undertakings of an auxiliary character, such as
steam-boat companies and branch common road
coaches, which, in most cases, instead of prov-
ing advantageous, and a source of profit, turn out
to be an encumbrance and an ultimate loss. The
restrictions sought to be put by the share-
holders of these undertakings on the exercise of
the power of the Board of Directors may, how-
ever, be carried beyond bounds of discretion;
but, nevertheless, the suggestions thrown out in this
and several other instances show the Proprietors- to
be mindful of their own interests, and, at the same
time, tend to the stability of the undertakings with
which they connect themselves. The practice which
has now and then crept into Railway management,
namely, that of the Directors having in that capacity
taken advantage of the information they could so
derive, and become contractors for works or materials,
was brought into discussion at the meeting of the
Ulster Railway held on the 16th, and, after being
strongly commented on, a resolution was passed by a
large majority condemning such practice, and making
it a ground of incapacity for further service in the
office where it was discovered.

The statistics of railways which appear in the
publications devoted to the subject are often instruc-
tive and interesting, and as a sample of the informa-
tion so conveyed the following connected with traffic
is given :—lt is stated that the Birmingham Railway,
1121 miles in length, produced in the first half-year
after it was open throughout 270,0001., or 2,3181.
average per mile ; the Grand Junction, 79 miles in
length, 119,0001., or 1,5061. average per mile; the
Manchester and Leeds, 50 miles in length, 116,0001.,
or 2,3201. average per mile ; the Manchester and Li.
verpool, 31 miles in length, 66,0001., or 2,1291. aver-
age per mile ; and the Great 'Western, 338,0004 or
2,0001. average per mile. The receipts of the three
principal of these railways, comparing the former
with those for the last half-year, ending December,
1841, increased on the average 80 per cent., the Bir-
mingham receipts being 429,0001., the Grand Junc-
tion, 241,0001., and the Manchester and Liverpool,
137,000/. The cost per mile of- these several rail-
ways, with the dividends they are now paying, is
given as follows :—Birmingham cost per mile 51,8421.,
dividend payable 121 per cent.; Grand Junction cost
per mile 21,8591., dividend payable 12 per cent. ;
Alanchesti- and Liverpool cost per mile 46,2811,,
dividend pyable 10 per cent.; Manchester and Leeds
cost per mile 5,4561., dividend payable 6 per cent.;
and Great Western cost per mile 53,2411., dividend
payable 6 per cent,

OU.NFoRIDS: EmRARScuI T26Y.
rhe foIIowingINTELLIGENCE.da
saare
a
p-
pointed for holding Congregations for conferring de-
grees during the ensuing Term :—Wednesday, April 6;
Thursday, April 21 ; Thursday, April 28 ; Friday,
May 6 ; and Saturday, May 14.
The Rev. Dr. Plumptre, Master of University Col-
lege, has been nominated to be a Pro-Vice-Chancellor,
in the room of Dr. Gilbert, now Bishop of Chichester.
Mr. J. W. Knott, of Wadham College, has been elected
to the vacant Lusby Scholarship ; this scholarship is
tenable for three years.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge has ap-
pointed the Rev. G. F. Turner, of Trinity College, to be
lone of his domestic chaplains.
The Rev. H. Cobbe, of Oriel College, is appointed to
the curacy of Kilmore, Armagh.
The Rev. C. Wordsworth, of Christ Church, has been
presented to the vicarage of Audley, Staffordshire.
Lord Willoughby de Broke has presented the Rev.
John Heale, of Queen's College, to the rectory of Point-
ington, Somersetshire.

STEEL RAILWArs.—A Vienna papers contains a
curious account of the efforts making to advance the
ternal manufacture of rails. One foundry at Frevali in
Carintha, is said last year to have furnished 1,500 tons
of rails with three furnaces. The fact is, that these
rails are of such beautiful steel, for the 'most part, that
they might be cut up into razors and sword-blades,: as
they are formed of the classical steel, which is as unique
in our days as it was in the days of Horace, and for
which, if there were but a decent road to Trieste,
,our
cutlers would, probably, be glad to give more than
double the weight of ordinary iron. Of this material
the beautiful hanging bridge at Vienna is math',
which is suspended upon two main chains instead of
the usual four, and which weighs proportionable abottt
two-thirds of the weight of another suspension bridge,
at no great distance from it, made of common iron, after
a model by Brown. This is an amusing instance of the
effects of protection to manufactures, which even beats
ourselves, for there is a high export duty upon this steel
in a raw state.—Nova Scotian.

BOARD AND LODGING.—A New Englander walked
into a second rate New York Hotel, and asked, " What
do you charge a week for board and lodging ?" Five
dollars.". " Five dollars ! that's too much : but I
s'pose you'll allow for the times I'm absent from
dinner and supper ?" " Certainly—thirty-seven and
a half cents each." Here the conversation ended,
r.nd the Yankee took up his quarters for two
weeks. During this time he lodged and breakfasted in
the hotel, but did not take either dinner or supper, saying
his business detained him in another portion of the
town. At the expiration of two weeks, he again
walked up to the bar, and said, " S'pose we settle that
account—l am going in a few minutes." The landlord
handed him his bill—" Two weeks' board at 5 dollars-
-10 dollars." "Here, stranger," said the Yankee, " this
bill is wrong—you've made a mistake ; you've not
deducted the times I was absent from dinner and
supper-1.1 days, 2 meals per day-28 meals at 37-i
cents. each-10 dollars, 50 cents. If you're not got the
fifty cents. change that's due me, I'll take a drink, and
the balance in segars."

Saturday morning, about 0 o'clock, the body of a
man, in a very mutilated state, was taken out of the
river, on the Surrey side, near Waterloo-bridge. A shell
was immediately procured, and it was taken to the
bone-house of St. John's, in tht! Waterloo-road, to await
a coroner's inquest.
At the Lewes market last week, Messrs. Wigneys'
51. notes were offered at ls. each. •

ARTIFICIAL LAKES IN CEYLON:—The Candelay
Lake is situate within thirty miles of Trincomalee, in
en extensive and broad valley, around which the ground
. gradually ascends towards the distant hills that envelop
it. In, the centre of the valley, a long causeway, prin-
cipally made of masses of rock, has been constructed to
retain the waters that from every side pour into the
space enclosed within the circunijacent hills and the arti-
ficial dam thus formed. During the rainy season, when
the lake attains its greatest elevation, the area of ground
over which the inundation extends, may be computed at
fifteen square miles. This work of art, and others of
nearly equally gigantic proportions in the island, suffi-
ciently indicate that at some remote period Ceylon was
a densely-populated country, and under a Government
sufficiently enlightened to appreciate, and firm to enforce
the execution of an undertaking which, to men ignorant
of mechanical powers, must have been an Herculean
operation ; for, such is the capricious nature of the
mountain-streams in this tropical island, where heavy
rain frequently falls without intermission for many suc-
cessive days, that no common barrier would suffice to
resist the great and sudden pressure that must be sus-
tained on such occasions. Aware of this peculiarity in
the character of their rivers, the Cingalese built the re-
taining-wall that supports the waters of the lake of Can-
delay with such solidity and massiveness as to defy the
utmost fury of the mountain-torrents. Nearly the whole
of its extent is formed with vast hewn masses of rock, to
more which by sheer physical force must have required
the united labour of thousands.

We are sorry to learn that the depression of trade
is so great in Greenock that the unemployed have had
recourse to public meetings for the purpose of memo-
rializing the 'Provost and Magistrates. The Provost
has, in the most prompt and humane Manner, responded
to the request of the memorialists by calling a public
meeting of the inhabitants.—Glasgow Saturday Post.
CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASSES.—We la-
ment to learn that at this present period there is a degree
of distress prevailing amongst the working classes in this
town from want of employment, hardly equalled, and
never exceeded, even in the depth of winter. We have
been informed that from one extensive estiblishment
alone, in the course of the last fortnight, between five and
six hundred men have been dismissed, and that by many
other houses in the same line, fir some time past, none
but apprentices have been employed. We believe that
mechanics and labourers of almost every class are suffer-
ing more or less from the same scarcity, or absolute
dearth of employment, consequent on the stagnation of
trade and commerce ; and the worst of it is, that there
is no immediate prospect of relief, excepting in the con-
tributions
of the benevolent. The demands upon the
Strangers' Friend Society, the Provident District So-
ciety, and other charitable institutions, were never
,heavier; but their funds are exhausted, or nearly so,
and without prompt and effectual resistance from the
public, the existing distress must, we fear, be fearfully
aggravated. It comes not within our present purpose to
allude to the causes which have led to the present disas-
, trous state of affairs in a country abounding in wealth,
and in almost exhaustless means of procuring more, if
, fair scope were afforded to the skill and industry of its
inhabitants. The evil is at our doors ; its consequences
are disease and death ; and relief, to be effectual, must
be immediate.—Leverpovl Mercury.
APPOINTMENT OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE
ALBERT AS LORD WARDEN.—We have great satisfaction
in announcing that his Royal Highness Prince Albert
will forthwith be appointed by her Majesty Lord War-
den of the Stannaries of Cornwall, vacant by the de-
cease of the Marquis of Hertford. From what we have
heard, we have no hesitation in congratulating the
county on this appointment of his Royal highness, who,
we believe, will apply himself vigorously to the reforma-
tion of the business at the Duchy-office, and direct that
the appeals now pending from the Vice-Warden's Court
here shall be immediately, disposed of. This announce-
ment will, we feel assured, be received with pleasure by
the suitors and the county at large. —Falmouth Packet.
A young physician of Rome, says a letter from that
city, has succeeded in discovering tile means of petrify-
ing all substances of organic formation, without their
being changed materially in colour.. 41 few days are suf-
ficient to operate this transformation. He has already
exhibited flowers, birds, fishes, and even human heads,
beautifully petrified.
It is reported in the fashionable circles that the
Hon. Captain George Augustus Frederick Liddell, sixth
son of Lord Ravensworth, is about to lead to the hvrne-
' neal altar the amiable and accomplished Miss -Cecil
Wellesley, youngest daughter of the Hon. and Rev.
Gerald V. Wellesley, canon of Durham, and brother of
the Duke of `Wellington.—Durham Advertiser.
The newly-raised St. Helena regiment will arrive
at Portsmouth, from Winchester, en Monday, and be
conveyed to Cowes, Isle of Wight, in the Volcano
steam-vessel, whence they will march to, and be quar-
tered in, Parkhurst barracks.
AMSTERDAM, MARCH 24.—M. F. A. Van Hall
having been appointed Minister of Justice, took leave
to-day
.of his colleagues of the order of Advocates (hav-
ing resigned his office as President). They immediately
proceeded to nominate two candidates to fill the office
vacated by M. Van Hall. M. Donker Curtius was
chosen for the first candidate by 26 out of 52 votes, and
M. A. J. Lublink by 29 votes.
We understand that it is in contemplation to send
out a Rifle Regiment to Affghanistan, where the mature
of the country renders the use of such an arm particu-
larly desirable. The first battalion of the 60th being at
this moment in the Mediterranean will probably be the
corps selected.
The promenade of Longchamps, on Thursday, was
fully attended, notwithstanding the coldness of the
weather. There was, however, little display of new
fashions.— Galignani.
We have authority to state that there is no truth In
the report copied into 71ee Sun, from the Hampshire Ad-
vertiser, announcing that her Majesty intended to take
a lease of &orris Castle, in the Isle of Wight, for the
benefit of the health of the Prince of Wales and the
Princess Royal.
The steamer Lavoisier, which arrived at Toulon on
the 18th inst. from Algiers, had 317 passengers, amongst
whom was Lieut.-General de Rumigny, who comes to
France in consequence of the Marquise de Rumigny, the
wife of his brother.
THE LATE EARL OF MACCLESFIELD.—The mortal
remains of the venerable Earl were removed from
the family mhnsion in Conduit-street, yesterday morning
for Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, and to day the inter•
ment is to take place. The funeral is to be strictly pri-
vate, and none of the carriages of the nobility are likely
to follow, as all applications have been courteously de-
clined.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer left town yes-
terday• ir4iiNters have left town
Surrey. Most of the Cabinet
morn*, for his seat, Illetchworth House
for the Easter recess. :A.
whose public spi-
r. i t ,CLE disinterestedßL Es 'c
E L Lc
0.
renderedhim so distinguished in this pari . ecome
a candidate for the office of Vestry .
—ndl-Aufcrt,
man has done much to serve the p
andiVill'peC.eirfli a ry
.ssahcrihfaiesebs, have
Clerk. This gentle-
arish, and stronghopes
ssful.. Th
are entertained that he will be succe e nomi
nation takes place to-day.
on
Charleston Courier acknow.
STRAWBERRIES. .
of
receipt, on the Ist inst., a mess of fine
Strawberries, from the garden attached .to the Poor-
house. This is the first fruit of the season.
Apricot tree, in full bloom,
in Alexandria, D.O
March 4, 1842.