The Sun.
London, England, 1838-06-01 00:00:00

to the case of Sir William Symonds, who, though a distinguished cha-
racter and first-rate sailor, did not possess the qualifications neres ary for
a surveyor of the navy. He (Lord Ingestrie) thought that these objec-
tionable cases might be avoided by the appointment of a Board to
investigate all claims. The Noble Lord was proceeding with his ob-
servations when

An HON. MEMBER observed that there were very few Members pre-
sent, upon which the gallery was cleared, and, thirty_seven Members
only being present, the House adjourned at Seven o'Clock.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

Some considerableportion of the'time of the House of Com-
mons was consumed last night in a discussion upon granting
to the National Loan Fund Assurance Association their Bill
of suing and being sued, and of their power of suing their
partners, their agents, and other persons connected with
their establishment. The Bill was brought forward on the
motion of Mr. Hall, the popular and respected Member
for Marylebone, and it was seconded in a manner which
left no doubt of the strong feelings of the House in favour
of it. In fact, there were present several hundred Mem-
bers to support it—and we are gla-: to state the circustance,
because, on the one hand, no reasonable objection could be
urged against it—and, on the other, that by the motion the
Government is now armed for effecting by a triumphant
majority the carrying of a measure which it knows to be
necessary and useful, but on which it has been hitherto
thwarted. The conduct of the President of the Board
of Trade on the occasion was everything that could
be desired. In point of political consistency, he was
bound to oppose it ; but as a Bill involving the highest
national interests, he took no factious opposition to it ; but
simply opposed it on the ground that he would himself pro-
duce, in the course of a very few days, a general Bill, which
would render all such applications to Parliament, as well as
the expenses attendant upon them, wholly and utterly un-
necessary. The speech of the Right Hon. Gentleman was
received with loud, and we trust not false, cheers by all par-
ties—and the result was, that with the understanding that
such a Bill would be brought in by him, the Second reading
of the measure under consideration was agreed to pro
forma. The Bill was read accordingly, under the condi-
tions which will be found in our report of the proceedings of
the House of Commons, but certainly not withemt anequity
kick from Sir E. Sugden,who appears to be better:acquainted
with Chancery chicanery than with the practice of common
sense. A more stupid, captious, or inconsistent farrago of
nonsense, comprised within a few lines, it has never fallen
to our lot- to peruse. It may do exceedingly well in the
purlieus of Equity Courts, but we most respectfully beg to
inform the Right lion. Gentleman that there is a higher
power than simple Chancery equity now resting in the
bosom ef every intelligent man, than of any lawyerism of
which he can possibly boast--we mean the common sense
of growing and greatly increasing intelligence. With regard
to the Association itself, we have expressed ourselves so
frequently in favour of it, that there scarcely remains an
atom of its principles or details on which we can bang a rag
of comment. They challenge inquiry and investigation to
the utmost possible extent ; and apparently so convinced is
the Government of the excellence of the plan, and of the
necessity of giving facilities to Companies so soundly and so
beneficially based, that only a few days indeed will elapse
before the remedy sought for by the" National Loan Fund
Assurance Association" will he met by an Act which will
relieve the Crown of great and troublesome responsibility,
as well as of the enormous trouble and expenses on the part
of applicants for Bills for parties to sue and to be sued,
whether by themselves or between themselves. In conclu-
sion, we point the attention of our readers to an abridged
report of an important meeting convened at Reading, for
the laudable purpose of inquiring into the effl ciency of the
Association, and to the following- excellent article on the
subject, which we quote from 7'/re Sun of last night :
" The Mayor presided ; and to the great credit of the
clergymen of Reading and its vicinity several of them at-
tended the meeting, and expressed themselves most anxious
to forward the views of the Society, the instant they had
satisfied themselves of its perfect adaptation to the wants and
interests of persons in an humble sphere of life. The speech
of the Rev. Mr. Hulme breathes throughout a spirit of
the most enlarged Christian benevolence. It embraces the
whole moral view of the question ; and to the Christian
and the pbilantrophist what view can be more inviting? He
well pointed out the bad feeling engendered among the
members of Benefit Clubs, in consequence of the jealousy
with which they regard the claims of sickness upon their
funds ; and admirably contrasted with it the ennobling sense
of independence and self-respect originating in the ability
of the artisan or labourer to have recourse in his distresses
to a fund exclusively his own. " This Society," said the
Rev. Gentleman, " raises the character of the insurer in his
own estimation, and in the estimation of others—a spirit
of independence springs up in his mind—be is a man
who has a stake in the country—who has a character
to lose—and thus it becomes a powerful principle re-
straining him from vice. By the exercise of a trifling
self-denial he secures a future reward, and restores,
in his own person, that spirit of independence, the
absence of which among the poor has been the bane
of this country. The Society will promote, too, domestic
happiness and contentment. The wife can no longer re-
proach the husband with making no provision for herself
and her children ; and the husband, instead of heirs.-' reck-
less in his habits, will become careful, saving, and con-
tentedly disposed, and his attachment to his wife and
family will be proportionately strengthened." No boon can
be conferred on society equal to a restoration of a proud,
self-confiding sense of independence, and self-respect, among
the labouring classes. The man who has proper self-respect,
no matter how lowly his position in the social scale, is capa-
ble of every virtue—the being who has lost it is a tool fit
for the perpetration of any vice. Only bring this noble feeling
into practical operation—let it diffuse its ennobling influ-
ence among the poorer classes—and we shall hear no more
about Poor Law abuses. The humblest cottager will
close his eyes in death under the roof that sheltered him in
the prime of life, surrounded by his friends and family, in-
stead of experiencing that desolation of heart which
all must feel who see in the parish workhouse
the only prospect of a road to the grave. Mr. Hamp-
TON, who preceded the Rev. Mr. Hulme, in addressing
the meeting—and whose speech, regarded as an elucidation
of the principles of the Loan Fund Association, has never
been surpassed—dwelt upon this view of the question with
equal force, judgment, feeling, and truth. We select one
extract, the substance of which ought to be engraven upon
the heart of the Legislature, as well as upon that of
every man and woman doomed to toil for their living
throughout the British Empire ;
" I call upon you to co-operate with us in carrying out the principles
of this Society, which will give to the labouring man the certainty of
that independence—that full return of his industry in his old age which
he has every claim to, but which he has never yet bet n able to secure
to himself. It has been truly said, that the vices of the poor are the
punishment of the rich.' If the farmer or landed proprietor has his
ricks burned, his barns fired, does it not behove him to remove the
cause of such evils ? And what are the causes but ignorance, and the
want of the power of productiveness ? Who is the rick.burner, the
poacher, the incendiary, and the vagabond? The man who has received
no instruction—who possesses no stake in the country—who having no-
thing to lose, cares not for the losses of others—who wanting bread and
the very meatus of existence, commits that act which renders the
food he wants more difficult of acquisition. On the other hand, the in-
dustrious well.disposcd labourer is a blessing to his employer; he im-
proves the value of his land—he increases his wealth—and therefore
self interest even, if not gratitude, should mint out that his industry
ought in his old age to be made available to himself, as it was to his
master in his youth and in the vigour of his manhood. The happi.
ness of our fellow-creatures is incorporated with our own; in doing good
to others we serve ourselves.' Let us carry out to its fullest extent this
principle, if I may so term it, of noble selfishness, and soon, very soon,
crime will no longer walk abroad, and by re-acting upon those placed by
fortune out of the reach of temptation, punish them for their neglect
We do not sufficiently consider the obligations we owe the producer, the
operative, and the tiller of the soil, upon whom our very existence
depends, and who, to procure us the blessings we enjoy, are exposed
to many dangers and to much physical suffering; the clothes we wear,
the fuel that warms us, every comfort and luxury of life, are ours
through great deterioration of health and risk of life; not a trade
but has its peculiar disease, its own risk of decrepitude, suffering,
and death ; and is it not hard that after such a life a man's old age
should end in a workhouse—that his earnings, the produce of the
sweat of his brow, should be fretted away for want of the fullest
means of accumulation ? No if such has been the case, let it be so
no longer—unite with us, enable each man, the very poorest, to ac.
quire a stake in the country—to provide, by the industry of his
youth, for the independence of his old age ; and I think you will
agree with the when I say that that moral good, that moral revolu.
tion, will be effected in this country with the further aid of education
and religion, which railroads,in another sense, are now producing in
the land."—Morning Advertiser.

.THE LORDS AND COMMONS —Among the
numerous other distinguished Members of both Houses of Parliament,
of whom characteristic portraitures are now first given in the New
Series of " Random Recollections," will be fouud the following:—The
Dukes of Sussex, Cumberland, Wellington, and Rutland ; the Mar-
quises of Camden, Sligo, Northampton, Westmeath, and Bute; the
Earls of Sh.:fie.bury, Stanhope, Lichfield, Shrewsbury, I\linto, Gosford,
Rosebery, Falmouth, Devon, and Glengal; Lords Melbourne,
Brougham, Lyndhurst, Holland, Rolle, Red dale Strangford, Beres_
ford, Alvanley, Lynedoch, and Portman; the Bishops of Exeter and
London; &c.

Last night, a few minutes before eight o'clock, a
thunderbolt entered the front room window, which was open, of the
house, No. 63, East.street, Lambeth walk. A woman, named
Lansdowne, her daughter, and a young man, named Russell, were at
work at the time, and were all struck with the electric fluid, which
passed through the stairs, shivering the wood into a thousand pieces,
and thence through the wall into the mu house, in which four chil.
dren were steeping, the whole of whom escaped without the slightest
f„j cry ; in fact, the escape of the above-named persons is truly mira-
culous
Mrs. Lansdowne gates that the electric fluid struck her on
the head. Both houses are much damaged:.

Yesterday morning, at an early hour, a most de-
structive fire broke out oil the farming premises of Mr. Easton, near the
town of Epsom, which raged for nearly two hours, and before extin-
guished consumed the whole of the farming stock, valued at several
hundred pounds, which is not insured. Some idea can be formed as
to the extent of the conflagration by its reflection being distinctly ob.
served at Kennington. The tire is supposed to have
some inceridOrY• been the act of
We are informed, that between Friday the 18th and
the following Sunday, upward; of eighty geese have heen worried on
Sutton Common, near Askern, by foxes. We have not heard whether
the sufferers have attempted to maul these depredators, or whether they
intend to submit their case to the Secretary at the Home-office, the Hon.
Fox Maule.—Doneaster Gazette,