The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-16 00:00:00

THE SUN,

TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 16, 1849.

gestion their best attention. That attention they
had bestowed upon it; they had conferred
with their consulting actuary, and they had come to
the resolution to alter the rule, so that those who had
been assured for three years should participate in the
profits, instead of its being necessary for them to have
been assured for five years.—(Cheers.) Any further
it was not considered desirable that they should go at
present. If any gentleman wished to put questions to
Mr. Ratray, he would answer them. He had now to
propose the following resolution—" That the words in
rule 32, 'As have been assured five years,' be altered
to ' As have been assured three years.'"
Mr. PATEMAN seconded the resolution.

Mr. GOSIIIBLL was glad the alteration had been pro-
posed, but he could not see why they should not
adopt the course that had been pursued by the Na-
tional Provident Institution. He did not see why
those who had assured for one year should not have
the benefit of the profits.----(Cheers.) It was not
'his intention to move any amendment on the reso-
lution.

Mr. WELCH Sail that it must he remembered that
the profits of this institution were small, compared
with those of the National Provident Institution.
When they amounted to them, the suggestion would
receive the full consideration of the Board ; and little
doubt existed in his mind but it would be adopted,
but at present he did not think it advisable to go
farther.

Mr. RAMAT thought it would be advisable not
to do more than was now proposed, for a few
years, considering that it would be bad policy to
divide to the utmost amount of profits. Ile hoped
that they would be enabled to 'do what Mr. Gosbell
recommended in the course of a few years.—(Cheers.)
Mr. COLEMAN agreed with the course proposed by
the Board of Management. He had no doubt that
many parties would now take policies that would not
do so before.—(Cheers.) As an instance that such
would be the case, he might mention a personal
friend of his, who he knew would now take out a
policy.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution, and de-
clared it to be carried, one hand only being held up
against it.
Mr. J. I. SCOTT said, the resolution having been
carried with but one dissentient voice, he wished to
suggest to the directors, and their able consulting
actuaries, that it would be well to consider, before
the next meeting, the expediency of allowing all
policyholders, whether assured only one year or
more, to participate in the profits in proportion to
the length of membership and the premiums they
had paid. By doing so he was persuaded they would
obtain a number of assurers who now held back
because several years might pass before they would
participate in the profits which they had helped to
amass.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. RATRAY explained that it would not be politic
in the early years of a society like this to adopt Mr.
Scott's proposition, because the number of policy-
holders being small, and the sums assured equally so,
unlike offices of longer standing and greater funds,
but a trifle could come -to the share of each. As the
numbers, however, increased in the future, and like-
wise the revenue and profits, he was not inclined to
say that the proposition might not be advisedly
adopted. At present it was not. The future would
alone show the practicability of carrying it out with
advantage to all.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. SCOTT said he merely threw out the sug-
gestion for adoption in the future. The resolution
passed tonight was a step in the right direction.
The meeting then broke up.

COURT CIRCULAR.
WINDSOR, MONDAY.
The Queen walked this morning in the Slopes, ac-
companied by the Prince of Wales and the Princess
Royal. .__

Prince Albert went out shooting this morning, at-
tended by the Earl of Morley, Colonel the Hon. A.
N. Hood, Colonel the Hon. C. B. Phipps, and Captain
the Hon. A. Gordon.

The Queen held a Privy Council at half-past two
o'clock this afternoon. It was attended by his Royal
Highness Prince Albert, the Marquis of Lansdowne,
Lord President ; the Earl of Minto, Lord Privy
Seal ; Lord John Russell, First Lord of the Trea-
sury ; Sir George Grey, Secretary of State for the
Home Department ; Earl Grey, Secretary of State
for the Colonies; Lord Campbell, Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster ; the Marquis of Clanricarde,
Postmaster-General; the Right Hon. H. Laboucbere,
President of the Board of Trade ; the Earl Fortescue,
Lord Steward; and the Marquis of Breadalbane,
Lord Chamberlain.

The Right Hon. Sir Francis Thornhill Baring,
Bart., had the honour of being presented to her Ma-
jesty, and kissed hands on being appointed First Lord
Commissioner of the Admiralty. The Right Hon.
Baronet took his seat at the Council Board.

The holding of a Court of Sessions at Glasgow
passed the Council. The Hon. William Bathurst was
the Clerk of the Council in Waiting. Her Majesty
gave audiences to the Marquis of Lansdowne and
Lord John Russell.
Most of the Ministers and officers of State travelled
from town to attend the Council by a special train, on
the Great Western Railway, leaving the Paddington
terminus soon after one o'clock, and arriving at the
Castle at two o'clock.

A di mg was served in the Castle to the Noble-
men and Gentlemen assisting at the Council.
After the Privy Council Lord John Russell, the
Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Minto, Sir George
Grey, Earl Grey, Sir Francis Baring, Lord Campbell,
the Marquis of Clanricarde, the Marquis of Breadal-
bane, and the Hon. William Bathurst, left the Castle
for the Slough station, and returned to town by a
special train.
The Earl Fortescue and the Right Honourable
H. Labouchere also took their departure after the
Council.

Her Majesty and Prince Albert dined this evening
with her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent at her
residence, Frogmore House. Her Majesty and his
Royal Highness were attended by the Duchess of
Norfolk, the Maids of Honour in Waiting, the Earl
of Morley, Colonel the Hon. A. N. Hood, Colonel
the Hon. C. B. Phipps, Captain the Hon. A. Gordon,
and Major. General Bowles.

Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial
Office from the Governors of the Gold Coast and the
Gambia.

A FRIEND OF BURNS.
(From the Derbyshire Courier.)
In our obituary of last week, the name of Mr. John
Auld, of Calow, was included. We little thought at the
time it was sent for insertion, although it had a very
Scotch sound, that, in recording the death of John Auld,
the respected engraver of Calow, we were paying the last
tribute of respect to the grand-nephew of the renowned
Daddy Auld,--to the " laddie Jock," and the " shield
Auld," who, for more than two years, was daily in the
house of Burns, at Ellisland, went to school with his
children, and alternately joined them in their frolics, or
assisted Mrs. Burns (no longer "Bonnie Jean") in the
kitchen, or in " the yard."
The subject of this notice was born near Dumfries,
about the year 17$0-81, therefore, at least, 10 years
younger than was stated last week. Burns was a fre-
quent visitor at the house of John Auld's uncle. Some-
thing about the boy attracted his notice—he became a
great favourite with the poet, and, as already mentioned,
was a frequent inmate of Burns' house, as well as a com-
panion or his sons. When or why Mr. Auld removed
to Derbyshire is not known, but he is remembered first as
a spirit merchant in Chesterfield. He was well known
to be a most ingenious mechanic; and no one was sure
prised when he left the spirit trade to become saddler;
and afterwards, and entirely of late years, followed the
occupation of an engraver—the only artist in that line,
we believe, of whom Chesterfield could ever boast. Se-
veral years since he removed to the neighbouring village
of Calow, whither his work and his excellent character
followed him.

Absence from his native country, neither weakened
his attachment to "Scotland, his auld respectit mither,"
nor diminished the affection ho bore to the Poet, and the
enjoyment he derived from his works. To read or to
sing them, and to lead the chorus in every " guffaw"
which followed " Cuttie Sark" or " John Barleycorn,"
was the delight of his youth, and the relaxation of his
later years. None understood better where the "pawky"
wit of Burns lay, and none could give it greater effect in
song or in tale. It is believed he had not seen Burns
after he left Scotland, but he went there at the time of
his death, and was present at his funeral. Since then be
visited Scotland at least once, and on that occasion drank
tea with his old half mistress—Mrs. Burns, the widow of
the poet, at Dumfries. At that tea drinking, to which
he often referred, Mrs. Burns presented him with the
poet's wafer box (called a speal box in Scotland—anglie4
a chip box) on which memorial, however humble and
frail, he set great value. He left it at his death to a
countryman, who he knew would preserve it with equal
respect, Mr. Robert M'Burnie, of Chesterfield.
Mr. Auld was of a very respectable family, and well
connected. Two of his cousins, by the mother's side,
are understood to occupy very excellent situations in the
Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Honest John
Auld I—one of the few and fast fleeting remnants of
jolly days, when " a wee drip in the et:" was the way
to get " o'er a' the ills o' life victorious 1" If the bio-
graphy of that period and its literature have left us
" many warnings," they have left us many pithy sayings,
which may well induce us to "be to their faults a little
blind." The errors of poor Burns which were so severely
visited on himself, would have been atoned for to the
generation that " gave him a stone when be asked them
for bread"—had ho written no other linesd
which he himself so much neglected, acne than those,
summed up in the few words which give n tu
many proverbs, that
Cautious
isdoin
iousisprude,sn
RtSoeoltlc”on tad,
Is

THE CHIEF POORAW COMMISSIONER.-At the
sitting of the Bail Court, yesterday morning, Mr. Baines,
Q C., took the usual oaths, on, bis appointment to the
office of Chief Commissioner of the Poor-law.
THE JUNE INSURGENTS.—It appears that about
1,000 of the insurgents of June have been set at liberty.
There still remain in confinement 2,600, of whom 1,700
are, it is said, to be transported to Africa.