The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-23 00:00:00

(79
Zlnic,

LONDON.
WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 23, 1337.

We have pleasure in announcing that the efforts of
the Chairman and Directors of the National Loan Fund
Life Assurance Society to extend the utility of an in-
stitution, which we were the first to pronounce fraught
with the greatest advantages to the middle classes, have
b een eminently successful. The public, with .that in-
tuitive perception of %viva:ever tends most directly to
promote its social interests which generally guides it
in the selection of plans deserving of patronage, recog-
nized at once the practical benefits which such an in-
stitution, if well foste,red, must confer on a numerous,
intelligent, and most respectable portion of the popu-
lation of the United Kingdom. Men of business saw
at a glance that the scheme of the new Company was
based on business principles, and was to be conducted in
a business-like form ; and men of a higher order of in-
telligence, but unacquainted with business, saw with
equal facility that it placed within the reach of persons
of limited income advantages hitherto confined to men
of large fortune. What other Assurance Societies do
for the affluent, it proposes to do for the shopkeeper,
the clerk, the author, the artist, and the prudent eco-
nomist of limited income. No sooner, therefore, did
we submit the subject to the consideration of the pub-
lic at large, than our appeal was responded to from all
parts of the kingdom. The provincial Press gave
every currency to our views, and otherwise aided most
effectually in promoting the success of a measure in
which all who seek to promote the happiness of the
middle classes must take a lively interest. We say,
emphatically, the middle classes ; for to men of large
fortune the advantages held out to the assured by the
National Loan Fund Life Assurance Society, are, com-
paratively speaking, of little consequence. But it is of
the utmost importance to the respectable man of busi-
ness, and to the man of limited income to know, that in all
cases of emergency ttuo•thirds of the whole policy paid
can be obtained without exposure, risk, or sacrifice. To
such men—and there are thousands such—it is of in-
finite importance 'to be able to retire to rest with the
consoling reflection that the immediate want of a few
pounds can never reduce the one to bankruptcy, and
consign the other to a prison. The fixing the sum
which the assured are entitled to receive in the event
of being overtaken by distress is an excellent feature in
this Institution, because it at once specifies the extent
to which policies can be rendered available under such
circumstances, and relieves the assured from the ha-
zard of being compelled to dispose of them at a ruinous
sacrifice. The urgent want of a trifling sum of money
often compels men in business to dispose of policies
upon which from twenty to thirty years premiums have
been paid ; and thus to meet the exigencies of an hour,
the economy of a life and the prospective happiness of
a numerous family are frequently sacrificed. We need
scarcely observe, that to such men this is sure to con-
stitute afterwards a never-failing source of bitter re-
flection. They are too old, and in general their cir-
cumstances are too limited, to think of remedying an
evil which falls most heavily upon the weakest shoul-
ders. Thus the impression forced upon the minds of
persons of limited and uncertain income has been, that
Assurance Offices were neither intended for, nor adapted
to, the encouragement of economic habits among the
industrious classes of the community.

But no objection of this kind can be made to the
institution upon whose successful establishment we
are now congratulating the public. The National
Loan Life Assurance Society combines all the re-
spective and several advantages of a Savings' Bank
and a Life Assurance office—thus adapting itself
to the wants of those to whom habits of prudence
and economy are of the utmost moment. To the
shopkeeper it holds out the certainty of relief in time
of need, without involving a sacrifice of prospective
interest—a certainty of inestimable value to men of
uncertain income in a country so commercial as
England. Excellent, however, as is the plan of
this Society, we presume to think that in the
hands of Directors more influenced by a regard
to the promotion of the national welfare than of their
own pecuniary interests, it may yet be found sus-
ceptible of still further improvement. We throw out
the suggestion,because on mature deliberation, we think
we have discovered ways in which the utility of such a
society might be considerably extended. We are of course
presuming, as we have every reason to do, that the
Directors are desirous of extending as far as possible
the benefits which all classes ►nay derive from an Asso-
ciation so admirably suited to the wants of the most
intelligent, moral, and industrious portion of the Bri-
tish and Irish people.

The Tories are " working the register"—to use their

own favourite phrase--In grand style. The c•ncee.s
which has crowned their former labours in the same
field, has emboldened them to lay aside all pretence to
honesty and fair dealing in their political transactions.
They now publicly boast of their own infamy, and de-
clare that they will, without scruple, resort to every
means within their power by which they can exclude
men of liberal principles from the electoral register,
and place those of their own kidney upon it.
Every one who is conversant with the state of
political feeling in Scotland, knows that but for
the fabrication of fictitious votes, the Tory landlords,
with all their intimidation, would have been unable to
influence the electors effectually in even a third of the
counties. But by this new expedient—urged upon
them, no doubt, by the hopelessness of their circum-
stances—an expedient which is a thousand times worse
than the old parchment qualifications, inasmuch as it
costs nothing, while they fetched high prices, the bona
,fide constituents in the Scotch counties have been
swamped by a swarm of low and unprincipled parti-
sans in the shape of out-voters, life-renters, &c. We
need not a stronger illustration of this than the simple
fact that Mr. CARMICHAEL, the Liberal Candidate
for Peebleshire, had a majority pffiftyfou r among the
resident voters over IVP KENZIE, the nominee of the
Duke of BUCCLEUG-11.

This is a state of things that cannot possibly con-
tinue. It is absolutely necessary that some legislative
step should be taken in the next Session of Parlia-
ment to stop the progress of an abuse which must,
if not speedily arrested, produce evils incalculable ;
for it is utterly futile to suppose thst it will not ulti-
mately be adopted by the party from whose principles
it is abhorrent, but who will be driven to it by the
strongest of all necessities—the necessity of self-pre-
servation.

This, however, bad as it is, is only one of the vile
practices employed by the Tories to gain the political
asendancy which they have lost. They have another
and no less efficient string to their bow, in the exclu-
sion of their opponents from the franchise. It matters
not what may be the title of a Liberal to be enrolled
in the register. He may have the most unexception-
able right imaginable to be there. Yet there he must not
be. "He must be •bjected to right or wrong—he may
not be able to attend the Court—he may forget—a
thousand circumstances may occur to prevent him from
obviating our objection—so much the better for us—
in war everything is fair." This is the morality of the
Tories in dealing with the rights of their fellow-
citizens. Are we misrepresenting them ? Let those who
think so—let those who believe them incapable of the
baseness of conduct which we have attributed to them
—meditate upon the following " Notice to Electors,"
which we copy from a Glasgow Paper received this
day. " The Tories have lodged an objection not only
to every Reformer's claim for registration, without any
exception, but to about THREE THOUSAND persons
at present upon the roll. Their object appears to be
to attempt to remove and exclude every Reformer from
the privilege of voting, and to pack the Register; and
unless the Reformers, at present upon the Roll, who
have received Notice of Objection, shall send that No-
tice to the District Agent for the Reform interest, the
Sheriff will strike off their names, and they will find
themselves excluded when next called upon to exercise
their right in electing either a Parliamentary Represen-
tative or City Councillors."
Now we ask if such disgusting worthlessness as
this was ever exhibited to the eyes of a nation ? If
a Tory had the faculty of blushing, here is a state-
ment that would bring the blood to the face of every
man and mother's son of the faction. The use to be
made of it
.by the Reformers, not in Glasgow merely,
but throughout the three kingdoms, is to rouse every
man's energies to defeat 'this general Tory conspiracy
against the liberties of the country. Let every man
look to the register, and see that no Tory name, with
a suspicious qualification, be allowed to remain on the
list without an objection being placed against it.
Friday, the 25th instant, is, we repeat, the last day
allowed for performing this most important of all duties.

In stating the result of the elections yesterday,
we calculated on a certain majority of thirty-six
in favour of the QUEEN'S Government, without
reckoning the gains which there is no doubt will accrue
from the decisions of Election Committees. We find
our Contemporary the Morning Herald rates the
Ministerial majority somewhat higher than we did,
making it amount to forty. A s our Contemporary is
strongly opposed to the Melbourne Administration, it
is not to be supposed that it would give the Liberal side
the benefit of any members whom it did not believe to
belong to it. We therefore subjoin its statement, and
have no doubt that it is much nearer the truth than
our own. We are always scrupulous in avoiding ex-
aggeration on such points :

GENERAL SUMMARY OF TIIE RETURNS FOR ENGLAND AND
WALES, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.
ENGLAND AND WALES.

159 County Members, of which are Con. Min.
Conservative
Ministerial . 4B
341 City and Borough, of which are
Conservative
Ministerial

500 Member: for Ungland and Wales 259 24
241

Conservative majority for England and Walea 18
SCOTLAND.

30 County Members, of which are
Conservative • lB
Ministerial
23 City and Borough, of which are
Conservative 1
Ministerial 22
IRELAND.
64 County Members, of which are
Conservative 2O
Ministerial 44
41 City and Borough, of which are
Conservative ll
Ministerial 3O

158 Members for Scotland and Ireland 5O 108
50

Ministerial majority for Scotland and Ireland
Deduct Conservative majority for England 1
and Wales

Majority for Ministers

638 Total of Members returned to Parliament.

The whole of the Paris Journals of Monday have
reached us. The Moniteur contains the following
telegraphic dispatch from Spain, which, with the an-
nexed brief extracts, includes all the intelligence we
have received from the Peninsula :---
" BAYONNE, AUG. 20.—Espartero's troops entered Ma-
drid on the 13th, to the number of nine to ten thousand
men. The Carlists have retired towards Segovia. The
General in Chief is shortly to march against them.
44 Madrid is quiet.
44 Nothing new respecting the Pretender."
A Morning Journal says :
" A European Congress continues to be spoken of as
likely to meet for the purpose of considering the situation
of Southern Europe.
44 This great measure has long been foreseen, and if all
that is said of Italy were to be realised, we should see the
Congresses of Trappau and Laybach revive, with respect to
the Italian and Iberian peninsulas."—Gazette de France,
Aug. 21.

The Journals of Madrid of the 12th and 13th are filled
with details of the alarm produced at Madrid by the ap-
proach of the Carlists, and also of the extraordinary enthu-
siasm displayed on this occasion by the National Militia.
The arrival of Fspartero, as our readers know, dispelled
all apprehensions, and obliged the Carlists to retreat.
A letter from Madrid, published by the Indicateur Bor
delais, and containing the details of these events, ends with
the following lines :
" From the communication transmitted to the National
Guard by the Captain-General of Madrid, the Queen Re-
gent hearing in the evening the cause of the alarm, said