The Sun.
London, England, 1838-07-31 00:00:00

The Committ^e on Pensions having concluded what they
solemnly call " their important and laborious duties," and recom-
mended that a provision should be made on the Consolidated
Fond for the pensions which their report proposes to continue,
Mr. Spring Rice moved yesterday in Committee upon the
C vii List Acts, a resolution for effecting that arrangement, or
rather derangement, in accordance with the report. There
acre of iginally too lines, either of which might have been
consistently pursued—to discontinue each pension on the death
of the Soverci,'n who granted it, and with whose life the legal
title ceased, or to continue each pension for the life of the
grantee, on the equitable considerations arising from the usage
to that effect. The Melbourne Ministry, in consonance with
the policy of Lords Grey and Althorp, began by taking the
tone of generosity. Thu, in 1834, when Mr. Har-
vey moved for a Committee 0) inquire and report re-
specting each pension, Mr. Spring Rice asked why
the House should he called on at that Member's sug-
gestion to go into so " fruitless, painful, and -disgust-
ing an inquiry," and voted for the amendment, by which the
Committee was negatived. In 1836, when the attenv: was
renewed, Lord John Russell resisted it with all his might, and.
declared that nothing could be "more odious, more vexatious,
more calculated, by raking up every calumny, to gratify pri..
vete malignity, or less advantageous to any real public inte-
rest," Thus far the Whigs were secure in the strength of
their majority on all their material questions, and had never
felt a breath of apprehension front any movement which the
Radicals could effect against them. But when the new Per-
liament met, at the close of last year, the Whigs by them-
selves were but a minority; without the aid of the Radi-
cals they could have been, as they may be now, turned
out of office in an hour. It became, therefore, abso-
lutely indispensable to gratify those stern auxiliaries by
sacrifice. Accordingly, all the objections of constitutional
principle, and decorum, and feeling, were discarded in a
trice ; nay, to show the entire sincerity of their con-
version, the Ministers absolutely took the subject out
of the hands of Mr. Harvey, and became themselves the
movers of-the Committee of Inquiry. The speech made last
night by .241 r. Spring Rice, in introducing the lucubrations of
that Committee, was in two different keys—a pathetic treble
and a gruff bass. Sometimes he moved your compassion for
dignity in distress; and then on a sudden he reverted to popu-
lar justice and the fitness of things. And he proved to demon-
stration the unreasonableness of attributing the two opposite
courses of the Government to any but the purest and most
consistent principles ; for he explained that the inquiry, when
rightly understood, was the best of all possible suggestions for
all possible parties, combining the strictest enforcement of the
rights of the public with the most delicate and generous
consideration for the claims of the pensioners. Nay,
more : the pensioners had been incalculable gainers in
public opinion by this inquiry ; for it had turned out that
annuitants who had been supposed to have no merits
that could justify their receipts, were amply entitled
to their incomes on the strongest grounds of service
actually performed in their own persons or those of their hus-
bands or parents. In some cases, also, pensions had long since
been resigned, in consequence of accessions of private fortune
to the parties formerly enjoying them ; but these parties had
not until the publication of the Committee's report, received
the credit which was due to them for thatdisinterested conduct.
No doubt it has turned out in evidence, that on the subject of
the pensions the prejudice had far outrun the truth, and the
investigation has thus produced a re-action in favour of the
parties assailed ; but what title have the Ministers, the
pusillanimous betrayers of their own opinions and of their
Sovereign's bounty, to take credit for this accidental result
of an inquiry which they first resisted upon principle, and
then conceded for profit? Mr. Warburton wished that fur-
ther time should be allowed for the consideration of
the report; and it was then agreed by Mr. Spring Rice
that the passing of the present vote should be considered
as nothing more than a formal act, pledging no man's
course in the future stages of the discussion. Sir Robert
Peel said that he retained all his former opinions. If an in-
quiry had been requisite at all, it should have been an inquiry
by the Crown itself. The Committee had, probably, done its
duty. His objection was not to their conduct, but to the
principle of appointing any Parliamentary Committee at all
for the purpose of analyzing the bounty of the Sovereign,
He confessed himself, indeed, unable to comprehend the prin.
ciples by which the Committee had regulated its reductions ;
but he felt himself precluded from examining the grounds of
their proceeding in individual cases, lest he should fall into
the very error which he had condemned. But this observa-
tion it was open to Lim to make, that if the House should
adopt all the reductions recommended by the Committee,
then the grantees of what was still to be retained would be apt
practically to view the House as the donors, instead of look-
ing to the Crown, to whose liberality they ought consti-
tutionally to consider themselves indebted. Now, if the in-
quiry bad been made and the decision taken by the Crown, as
it ought to have been, the Crown would have been regarded as
the source of the benefaction. It was obvious, too, that wher-
ever the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who by his office was
the person entitled to judge of the fitness of a grant from the
Crown, had differed in opinion from the majority of the Com-
mittee, upon each such case the Crown, in the person of its
officer, sustained the disparagement of being overruled as to
the distribution of its own bounty by a Committee of the House
of Commons. Mr. Sanford, who had been the chairman of
the Committee, declared that they had aimed at uniformity
of principle in the decisions which they had pronounced.
The Hon. Member did not, however, explain the nature of
of the principle to which he so referred, and has left the public
we fear, as much in the dark as before.-- Times.

SHOWER OF FROGS IN GOWER

STREET.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR-I hasten to communicate a remarkable phenomenon. As I
was walking up Gower-street, about two o'clock this day (Monday), my
attention was attracted to some persons on the opposite side of the street
engaged in examining some object on the ground. I instantly per-
ceived that it was a small frog, and, on looking about, observed some
dozens of these reptiles hopping about on the pavement, while others were
skipping from pool to pool (remaining after the rain), in the cents e of the
road. I inquired of the persons wbo had first observed the fact, if they
knew how they came there, and their answer was, that they were at a
loss to account for it. By my desire the man-servant of No. XI. col-
lected about a dozen of these little animals, for the purpose of submit..
ing them to the inspection of Naturalists.. On inquiring of him, if he
had ever before remarked a similar occurrence, his answer was in the
negative. It then occurred to me that such a large quantity (found on
further search, to be scattered, not only in the centre and on the sag-
ging of streets, but down the areas of the houses, ten, eleven and twelve),
may have been precipitated to the earth in the heavy shower that had
fallen but an hour before. The matter deserves investigation. The
fry of fish have been observed, I believe not unfrequently, to have
fallen in thunder storms—but lam not aware that the young of frogs
have been before noticed.
The largest of these little creatures did not exceed half an inch, and
some were extremely minute, all quite lively.
I beg to add, that I called on Mr. Liston of the London University
Hospital, to apprize him of this phenomenon.—.l am,
7, Sackville-street, July 30.
L

F. G. S.

-ONDON NEWSPAPERS.— The Provincial News-
paper Society, in their printed circular, have the following note:—" A
series of advertisements, offering to supply London newspapers at a
cheap rate, are going the round of the country papers. The parties
sending such are not trustworthy, and the advertisement will not be
paid for."
While we recognize the right of children to legisla-
tive protection) we cannot but agree with Mr. O'Connell that interfe-
rence with adult labour would have a most destructive effect on the
commerce of the country, and consequently upon the industrious mul-
titudes employed in manufactures, unless accompanied by the fetal re-
peal of the landlord's tax.—Manchester Times.
SINGULAR ACCIDENT.—On Monday last as the
lady of Stephenson, Esq , engineer, was proceeding down Topton-
lane in one of Mr. Evinson's carriages, the horse, when near the bridge,
took fright at a cow that was close by the off- hand wall-side, and made
a spring over the wall on the opposite side. The horse was now in a
singular position, being suspended on the edge of the wall, its fore legs
hanging on the field side. Mrs. Stephenson, with the assistance of
some persons who ran to the spot, succeeded in effecting her escape from
the carriage ; and with great difficulty the hale was placed on terra
firma, no injury occurring to either person or horse, and the carriage
escaping with only a slight fracture of one shaft.—North Derbyshire
Chronicle.
COAL PIT ACCIDENT.—On Thursday, an explo-
sion of tire damp occurred at Cleggswood colliery, Butterworth, near
Rochdale, when a young man, named James Lees, was blown along the
works, upwards of 100 yards, and through a door which was shut at the
Pine. The poor man is dreadfully scorched. Ile was the only person
in the pit at the time.—.llanchester Guardian.
Oil Sunday the 15th inst., a miner named John
Craze, of Camborne, who was employed to assist the engine.man at Tin-
croft, was assisting to oil the machinery in the upper story, when he fell
between the bob and the span beam, and was crushed in a space not ex.
ceeding 4i inches in width. The engineer rescued him at the risk of
his life, but his chest had been so compressed, that the breath escaped
from wounds in his sides. Notwithstanding this terrible mischief, he
lived till the following Saturday, being kept in a sitting posture on the
litter ou which he had been brought home, and a little before his death
he actually rose, and walked up stairs.—Fahnoulh Express.
THE YORKSHIREMAN IN LONDON.--A short
time ago, a Yorkshire clothier, who resides within an easy distance of
Huddersfield market, and who is an elector of the NVest Riding, paid a
visit to the metropolis; and, having transacted his,business, he went to
see some of the " lions" of the great city. In the course of his peram-
bulations, he visited the House of Commons, accompanied by two
friends; but he was at a loss how to obtain admittance tothegallery.
After waiting a short time, he saw L-rd Morpeth ; and, approaching
his noble representative, with all the freedom of a Committee-room
at an election, the honest, blunt Yorkshiremon addressed him
as " Mr. Morputh," and requested, for himself and his friends
orders for admission to the Gallery. The Noble Lord,
guided by the dialect, asked his c instituent if he was from the neigh-
bourhood of Huddersfield, to which he received an answer in the affirm-
ative, with an emphatic allusion to the last election. "We 'turned you
up ',timely Clast time, my lad I" His Lordship smiled, and having osm
certained how any orders were wanted, went into the House,
.
re-
turned, in a few minutes, with three orders for admission.
shire friend returned thanks for them, and then said,—"Well
, TheuM
Morputh, I should loike to see t'other hoile, afore I
Noble Lord smiled at the House of Lords being called by by back:"
h i
compli-
Mentary title—" the other hole," and promised to obtain or
d
the following evening.—E=at fax Express.
this
for the
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