The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-09 00:00:00

'ME SOCIETY.

The commemoration of the 50th anniversary—the first
jubilee—of the above society was held yesterday in
Exeter-hall, and attended by a very numerous meeting
of the various religious denominations, among which
many of the Society of Friends were observable. The
proceedings of the day were opened by the Rev. Mr.
Meliar reading the 61st chapter of Isaiah. The chair
was taken by the Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftes-
bury, upon whose right the Rajah of Coorg attracted
much attention. The Eastern prince was attired in a
close-fitting surtout of blue cloth, richly embroidered
with gold lace, and wore a small blue cap of the same
materials. Upon the left of the chair the Right Hon.
the Earl of Carlisle and the Bishop of Winchester were
seated. After the meeting had commenced his Grace
the Duke of Argyll entered and took his seat to the right
of the Rajah., The noble chairman read a letter from
the Chevalier Bunsen, the Prussian Ambassador, ex-
pressive of the sorrow of his Excellency at his unavoid-
able absence, and referring to the approaching celebra-
tion on Sunday next at Berlin of the jubilee of the
Prussian Foreign and Bible Society. The noble earl
then proceeded to detail the rise and progress of the
British society in a speech which was subsequently
characterised by the rev, prelate on his left as rising to
the exigencies of the occasion. It transpired that from
the first institution of the society in March, 1804, after
years of anxiety and labour, upwards of 8,000 societies,
including Colonial, Irish, and Foreign bran Shes, had
been established. The Scriptures had been translated
into no less than 148 languages and dialects, of
which 121 had, prior to the establishment of the
society, never appeared in type. Upwards of 43,000,000
of these translated copies had been disseminated
among ,it was computed, not less than 600,000,000 of
the human race. Of the languages into which these
copies had been rendered, upwards of 25 had existed,
hitherto, without an alphabet, and merely in an oral
form. This society was essentially " a Free-trade
Society," a "Peace Society," and a " Defence Society,"
—one, too, affording a " cheap defence to nations." sty
The resolutions were then proposed and seconded by the 12
various distinguished visitors stationed upon the plat- 50
form, the most important being the one for the establish- 16i
ment of a jubilee fund to aid the further proceedings of St.
the society. A voluminous extract from the report of 20
the society, circumstantially detailing past progress and 50
future auspices, was read, and listened to with much
20 attention. Letters from many of the presidents and
vice-presidents of the local societies were read, contain- 10
ing apologies for unavoidable absence—among the St.
rest, one from the Earl of Roden, president of the St.
Dublin society, was read by the noble chairman. The 20
speakers were generally received with much applause, 10
more particularly the Earl of Carlisle and the Rev. St.
Hugh Stowell. The Rev. Lord Bishop, the Rev. Mr.
James, and the Rev. Dr. Duff met with much applause 25
25
in their several modes of dealing with the topic in hand.
25
This, of course, mainly referred to the propagation of St.
the gospel, but general reference was likewise made to RI
those subjects which, though secular, still had more or
less close relation to the principal subject of discussion.
The despotism, anarchy, and Romanism of the Con-
tinent were the principal subjects adverted to, and were
freely handled. Allusion was likewise made to the sla-
very of America. Considerable eloquence was displayed
by those who addressed the meeting, and the alternations
from the pecUliar oratory of one to the other upon the
meeting was marked in its effect. The former presi-
dents of the society, and particularly Lord Bexley, had a
tribute of respect and esteem awarded them, as did
likewise the former secretaries and other officials of the
society. The noble earl in the chair was much eulogised
for the support he had given the society, and his strenu-
ous efforts generally for the diffusion of knowledge and
the amelioration of the intellectual condition of the work-
ing classes. Great respect was evinced for a Mr. Hughes,
an itinerant preacher, formerly well known in the North,
whose expression, while propagating a provincial Bible
society, of the feasibility of making it one common to
the whole empire, had been the germ of the present so-
ciety. The temporal head of the Church was often
alluded to with unfeigned respect, and the Rev. Dr.
Duff described her gracious Majesty as having entwined
herself into the deepest recesses of the hearts of her sub-
jects by her unswerving piety and Christian devotion.
The subscriptions above 501. to the proposed fund
were then read over. Two sums of 5001. were contri-
buted by Mr. Thomas Milnes, M.P., and Mr. John Re-
mington Milnes, respectively, besides one or two others
to the same amount. Two sums of 1,0001. by Mr.
Farmer and Mr. James Foster, and an additional sum of
1,0001. from an individual who wished for the present to
be anonymous.
The SECRETARY, in bringing forward the list of sub-
scriptions, stated that he had come prepared to ask the
meeting for a sum of 7,0001., but he was happy to say
that sum had been already exceeded by the munificent
donations above-mentioned, and he would, therefore,
merely express the hope that it would reach the sum of
10,0001. in the result of that day's proceedings.
After a few more speakers had addressed the meeting,
it broke up, at about half-past four, after the observation
of the usual formula.

20
20
50
20

BATTERSEA PARK.

The following proposal from Mr. Thomas Cubitt, the
eminent builder, has just been made public in a Parlia
mentary retnrn

3, Lyall-etreei, Delgrave-square, Feb. 11.
Sir,—By the report in the Times paper of the 18th De-
cember last, Mr. Disraeli, then Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, made some very strong observations, in his speech on
the previous night, with regard to Battersea-park; and as
this park was suggested by ine, I cannot help feeling much
hurt by the way in which he spoko of it. I have always
considered that that park was a proper subject for the
Goverrunent to take up, and had it been carried on with-
out so many years' delay and so much loss of time, I am
quite satisfied that it would have been a means of profit, as well as of greet advantage to the metro-
polis.

Perhaps, however, this may not be the opinion of the
present Government, who may not think it a subject worth
prosecuting with the vigour that public works require to
make them successful • but whatever may be the inten-
tions of the Govei nment, I fear there will bo no person
who will, during so important a political juncture, think it
a matter worth his answering ; and so that part of Mr.
Disraeli's speech will be left to work upon the public mind.
I now beg to make the following proposition, which I
shall be glad to have accepted ; and it will, I think, show
that my confidence in the success of improving that part of
London is not altered.
I therefore propose that, if the Government is not satis-
fied with the scheme, I will take the whole of the land
that has been agreed to be purchased, whether it be paid
for or not paid for, off their hands, at the cost price, though
I do not know what the amount will be; l.will, also, if
they desire it, take the bridge at the cost puke, with' its
new approach, nor do I know what that may be ; the
country will only then have to lose the interest caused by
the delay, and the law and professional expenses ; but in
return, the public will get an immense improvement to
the district, which is likely soon to become a very im-
portant part of London.—l have, &c.
(Signed) THOMAS CIIBITT.
The Right Hon. Sir William liolesworth,
Bait., M.P.

RETURN OF THE HON. COLONEL BOYLE FOR THE
BOROUGH OF FROME.—This gentleman, who was re-
turned for Frome at the last general election, and was
unseated on a petition by Mr. Hall Dare, as having held
an office of profit under the crown, the electors not being
aware of the fact at the time of election, was again re-
turned for this liberal borough on Monday without
opposition.

METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. - Yesterday was
printed a Parliamentary return, to the effect that the
incumbrances on the London-bridge approaches fund,
on account of the metropolitan improvements, we.-e
753,0001., some of which was borrowed at 3i c, , 4, an
some at per cent. The arrears of interest now due
amount to 296,302/. 7s. lid.

EXTRAORDINARY ROBBERY IN MANCRESTER.—At 20
minutes past one o'clock on Monday, Mr. Howard, the
keeper of a small jeweller's shop at the corner of Mar-
ket-street and Corporation-street, in Manchester, went
.0 his dinner, leaving hisdaughter Miss Fanny Howard
a girl about 18 years of age, in charge of the shop
during his absence. He had not been gone more than
five minutes, when a gentlemanly-looking fellow walked
in and asked the price of some article in the window.
Miss Howard told him, and he then asked her for one
of her father's address cards. She gave him one, and
on looking at it he discovered that it did not name the
street in which the shop was situate, and ho requested
Miss Howard to put it upon the card. She retired
behind a counter, crossing the shop into a retired corner,
followed by the man, who impudently lifted up a portion
of the counter and went and stood looking over her
shoulder. While he was doing so a second man entered
the shop, on which the first fellow put his arm round
Miss Howard's neck, and one hand upon her mouth,
and 83 strangled and gagged her that she could not give
an alarm. The second man then stripped the window,
or nearly so, of its contents, consisting of a large quan-
tity of jewellery. heeffrecdteewdnt,haisn,dthleeftmtahne hold-
ing
shop Miss Howard Having
with his companion, who had the booty in his pockets.
e
They hailed a cab as
soon as they got into the street,
threw
and were soon on their way to London. They hay°
since been apprehended. The property whichh uwndarsefdosun d
upon them, we hear, is valued at some of
time within twelve
pounds. Mr. Howard was so much affected when he
heard the news (this being the second
months that he has been robbed), that he is now in the
hands of a medical man. Fortunately a case containing
four dozen diamond rings had been removed from the
window that morning to be cleaned, and the thieves did
not get them.
SANITARY STATE OF CROYDON.—A commission con-
sisting of Dr. Arnot and Mr. Thomas Page, C.E., ap-
pointed by an order from the Home-office, sat on Satur-
day, for the first time, to inquire into the sanitary con-
dition of the town. It appeared from the evidence then
given by several householders, that the drains were in
a most defective state, and emitted noxious and intoler-
able stenches, by which the health of their families had
been seriously affected, and numerous cases of fever
caused ; that the filter-house erected at the bottom of
the town for carrying away the sewage produced
considerable annoyance to the neighbours, whilst the
river was also polluted by the drainage of the sewers
intocould
oiulll mills
i duringthn.
aotdth Tenbl ewea
been
discharge icha
obliged
bueli
esgke redgdtefh
for
aor hadat beenleaveany
purposes.nff se oinw poblraekd
y.
Some
doTm threeuh times
epe upon
nf
watertt hh ee
witnesses attributed the increase of. effluvia to the system
of drainage brought into operation by the Board of
Health. On the other hand, Mr. Close, a plumber,
although he acknowledged the bad state of the drainage,
thought the present system of surface drainage had
nothing to do with the recent fevericases. He had been
in many houses both before and since the operations of
the Board of Health, and the increased sweetness was
manifest. The smells formerly were intolerable on one
side of High-street. There were a hundred offensive
odours for one now. The inquiry was adjourned.