The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-26 00:00:00

mooed abortive Diocesan Synods, having the aspect,
and the sispssss! only, of real Ecclesiastical Councils.
Nothing, assuredly, would more rejoice the hearts of
the impetuous H. EXETER, and the more smooth
tongued S. OXFORD, than to see themselves prominent
debaters in an Upper House of Convocation, with
their faithful proctors in full cry in the House below.
But no, your Lordships, it must not be. Mr. A. G.
DENISON, it must not be. Lord DERBY will be very
urbane to yeu,—he is a gentleman and a politician,
and will not affront his supporters ; but he is a states-
man also, and he will not complicate public business,
increase his Parliamentary difficulties, and endanger
the Church, by allowing you to meet in Convocation.
If your request should come before the QUEEN, the
advised reply of her MAJESTY will certainly be, not,
La Reine le veut, but La Reine s'avisera.
We have not ourselves noticed the matter before.
Our contemporaries all seemed to think more seri-
ously of it than we did, and possibly they were right.
If they were so, however, we frankly confess that it
will lower very much, indeed, our estimate of Lord
DERBY'S statesmanship. Much as we of course dif-
fer from him, we have never doubted his sincere at-
tachment to our Constitution, as it stands, in Church
and State. Now, we certainly hold that to resusci-
tate a body which was interred so long ago as 1717,
and to convert the annual formality into a reality,
would be tantamount to creating another estate. An
estate too, holding the purse-strings of an income
equal, taking all things into account, to nearly half
the sum raised by the nation for civil and military
purposes! Such an imperium in imperio, no sane
Minister would or could endure. No; the Convoca-
tion zealots have now heard the plain truth told them,
that if they wish to be self-governed they must also
be self-supported. If they want this privilege of the
Voluntaries, they must make the sacrifices of the
Voluntaries. National property and national con-
trol must go together. It has done so ever since the
Reformation, and while the nationally- endowed Church
of England stands, they must continue to go together.
We believe, however, that not only the Court, as is
generally rumoured, but the large majority of the
clergy, and most certainly of the laity, are utterly op-
posed to the revival of Convocation. They all know
enough of its history, from the Reformation to the
reign of Queen Anne, to relish the restoration of
such scenes of theological pugilism. They remember
that amongst its dying speeches were bitter things
against the very worthy Bishop HEADLEY, and an
express denial that religious liberty seas a civil right!
Indications in plenty appear, that now, as of old, it
would be a polemical, pugnacious, and intractable
body. The two great parties who now divide the
Church would contend with the bitterest exasperation.
Their common faith would be scandalized in the eyes
of the whole nation ; and could either of them be
suffered to have their way,—were the Evangelicals
allowed to revise the Liturgy, or the Tractarians
to expurgate the inconvenient Articles, then, of course,
must come the secession, after which the State
Church would quickly cease to exist. All moderate
men, and real friends to the Church, perfectly com•
prebend this ; and they, luckily for the bigots, will
prevent their committing ecclesiastical suicide. We
have indeed observed, as a general thing, that of all
assemblies, none are less capable of regular business,
none more given to endless debate, than meetings of
clergymen. Whoever has had the misfortune to be
one of any committee in which ministers of any de-
nomination predominated, must have painfully felt
how impossible it was to get on with work. Their
professional avocations habituate them rather to dic-
tation than discussion, to defend every shade of
opinion where none can contradict them, rather than
to modify their views by conference with their equals.
Had we to devise a convocation of persons likely to
advise any really useful reforms, we should certainly
expect more from an assembly of pious and intelligent
laymen than from one of clergymen. It is, we be-
lieve, however, happily needless now to protract our
remarks, and to reiterate half the objections which
might be made against what will never be attempted ;
and what probably had never any existence except in
the imaginations and hopes of a zealous knot of eccle-
siastics. The Morning Herald, indeed, professes to
give the whole history of the plot, and denounces it
on behalf of Lord DERBY as a reckless endangering of
his position. Whatever the origin of a report so con-
venient for those who wanted something to write
about, we can only repeat our conviction that the
Premier himself is guiltless of its fatherhood.

ABOLITION OF WRITS OF INQUIRY.—There is a
provision in the Common Law Procedure Act which will go
far towards the abolition of writs of inquiry in the superior
courts. Hitherto it was necessary in a number of actions to
execute writs of inquiry, which, as a matter of course, in.
creased the expense of the procee‘lings. -Under the new Act
however, judgment can be obtained after the issuing of the
writ, where the writ is specially endorsed, showing the
amount to be recovered. According to the 94th section of
the statute, whenever the damages to recover money or
a liquidated demand can be reduced to a matter of calcula•
tion, they are to be ascertained before one of the Masters, by
virtue of which authority writs of inquiry will not be re-
quired.

LONDON AND PROVINCIAL JOINT STOCK LIFE
INSURANCE COMPANY.—The sixth annual general meeting
of the shareholders was held, yesterday, at the offices of the
company, 17, Gracechurch-street—Mr. J. Jones in the chair.
The report and accounts having been read by the Secretary,
were, on the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Capt. T.
Smith, and adopted unanimously. The vacancies in the
direction were filled up, and the meeting then separated.
THE CITY CHARlTlES.—Yesterday, the Lord Chief
Baron, with Aldermen Challis, Sidney, Lawrence, and Wire,
held a court of investigation into the administration of City
charities. The clerk of the Leather-sellers' Company was
called, and proved that the company had to administer
Robert Rogers' charity, amounting to 2001., and to pay 41.
a year to poor prisoners in the City. The company had not
done so. Since 1825 no payments had been made to such
prisoners, except on special application. The charity was Chancery. The company also administered a charity
called George Humble's charity, the interest of which
was 81. a year. This Charity was also in the Court
of Chancery. Since 1835 no part of the interest
arising from the charity had been paid to poor prisoners
(the objects of the charity), except in 1842, when 31. was
paid to a freeman who had made a special application. He
had not been able to examine the state of the accounts as
between the company and the charity, nor had they been
made up since 1835. Monies had been paid to the keepers
of the prisons and particular applicants, but he could not say
how much. lie had not the books of the company with him.
The company was ready to pay up any arrears that might be
due to the charit. There was a charity administered by the
company called Garner's Charity. That charity was also in
Chancery. By a scheme made by the Master, one-third of
the annual proceeds was to go to poor prisoners, but that had
not been done. The recipients of the third were widows,
but he could not give their names. The court thought this
a very strange and unsatisfactory statement, and passed on
to the management of the Mercers' Company, which appeared
to be of a much more favourable character.
THE FALLEN HOUSES AT BAYSWATER.—We have
received the following further particulars respecting the
houses, which, as we mentioned yesterday, fell at an early
hour on Sunday morning in that neighbourhood. A fur-
ther portion of the outer wall came down with a tre-
mendous crash at two o'clock on Sunday afternoon, when a
boy who was passing from out of the vestry of the adjoining
church into the house of the Rev. Dr. Magee, had a narrow
escape of his life ; large portions of the brickwork falling
down just behind him as he entered the door. A further
portion fell yesterday morning, between twelve and one
o'clock, including a large portion of the third house, and
almost all the timber-work of the interior. Consequently,
now there is only a mere shell standing, and the downfall of
this portion is hourly expected : in its present state it is ex-
ceedingly dangerous to the passers by. We find, upon
inquiry, that the houses in question do not belong to Mr.
Watts, of the Edgware-road, as we stated yesterday, but to a
poor man named Wheeler, who was erecting them as his first
speculation in house-building, conjointly with his sister, who
keeps a small cook-shop in the neighbourhood. The loss is
estimated at nearly 4004 and it is feared that the speculation
will prove ruinous to the builder. It is sow clear that, in
addition to the foundations being faulty, the houses were
built without any tie-beams, and that the outer wall of the
furthest house was not perpendicular, and that in addition to
these defects the mortar used in the construction of the build-
ing had ho gravel or lime mixed with it, but was made of
common mud. It is surely time that some official authority
interposed to regulate these matters, as the lives of her
Majesty's subjects ought not to be endangered for the sake of
house-building speculators, as they too often are, from the
rapidity and carelessness with which houses are run up in the
suburbs of town.

IBARBAROUS INFANTICIDE.--BARNSTAPLE, SATUx.
DAY.—Our usually quiet town has, within the last day or
two, beon shocked by the rumour (that a young woman,
named Eliza Boucher, a servant, in the employ of Mr. w.
Wadham Hill, hairdresser and perfumer, of lligh-street,
had been delivered of an illegitimate child, which she had
afterwards destroyed by burning in the washhouse fur-
nace. It appears that her condition was suspected by her
mistress, who taxed her with being enceinte, but the young
woman stoutly denied such an imputation. Discoveries
were made, however, which left no doubt of her confine-
ment having taken place, whereupon she was again ques-
tioned as to her conduct. She then admitted that she had
been confine 1, and stated that she had thrown the child into
the river. Subsequently, however, she said she had buried
it in the ashpit. and, as if to give a plausibility to her story,
she commenced digging herself, as if to bring it out. At
length, however, all attempts to conceal the truth failed, and
she confessed that she had burnt the infant in the washhouse
furnace, where she had kindled a large fire early on the
washing morning. She was then of course handed over to
the police authorities, but she was now too ill to be examined.
Such an act of barbarity has not been perpetrated in the
county of Devon for many years; and, after the stringent
remarks of Baron Martin at the last assizes on the crime of
child murder, it was hoped that the offence would not again
have been heard of.
Madame Grisi and her party of Italian singers gave
a concert in Perth on Thursday, which was well attended.
The Duke and Duchess of Argyle and party were pre-
bent—lVorth Plash Mail.