The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-09 00:00:00

THE LATE THUNDER STORM.

The destruction of property on the Surrey side of the
water and other places, by the thunder storm on Tuesday
night last, has been fearful, and from inquiries made, it
seems that several individuals have met with serious in-
juries. At the time the storm was raging most violently
a man named George Watkins, residing in Vauxhall-
street, Lambeth, was proceeding along Broad-street,
when he was struck to the ground by the lightning, the
head and right aim being both dreadfully scorched and
blackened. He was d'scovered by a policeman, who re-
moved the poor fellow to his home in a weak and de-
plorable condition.
The landlord of the Rising Sun, Mr. J. Keene, Port-
land-street, Walworth, has been a great sufferer. The
signboard in front ot the house was shattered and
scorched by the electric fluid. The window frames and
glass in va-ious parts of the house were destroyed, and
even portions of brickwork may be seen broken to pieces
by the violence of the storm, in fact there is scarcely a
whole pane of glass in the street above-named.
Various buildirgs around Kennington were much in-
jured. The district arrch ot St. Mark, facing Ken-
nington-common' was considerably damaged by the
fluid. The clock wal shaken and stopped. Many ofthe
florists at Battersea, Wandsworth, Mortlake, and Barnes
were great losers by the destruction. of some of their
choicest plants.
A large quantity of valuable pigeons were killed on
the premises of Mr. James King, New-cross, Deptford,
by the lightning, which struck the roof of a building,
dislodging a portion of the tiling, which was hurled with
great violence into the street. The feathers of the
birds were scorched up, and presented a very remark-
able appearance.
At Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, and other places the in-
habitants have suffered to a very serious extent.

SLAVERY in the UNITED STATES.
The following is an extract of a letter from a gentle-
man in New York—an offiee-bearer in a Presbyterian
church:—

" The Bible Society has declared that it will not give
the Bible to slaves even where they are able to read.
The Tract Society has positively refused to publish any
tract against slavery, and the other societies stand aloof
trom the subject. I would say further that the slave-
holders have declared that they will not tolerate the cir-
culation of any book or tract if it contains a word
against slavery. Therefore the Ameaican Tract Society,
the Methodist Tract Society, Baptist Publication So
ciety, and Presbyterian Board of Publication, exclude.
from their lists every book that has a word agent sla-
very. Thus, crouching to the slave power, they ex-
tinguish all light on the subject which might otherwise
be circulated in the free states, if not among the popula-
tion of the south. I do not believe that slaveholders
would find any difficulty in obtaining admission to any
of the churches were they to apply. I never knew the
question put to an applicant by a minister or member o
a session (except by myself), Are you connected with
slavery ? And when I have pvt the question, the other
members of the session have looked as if I had asked a
very improper question. In all the churches the same
distinction prevails as in the pro-slavery churches
of the south. They all have the negro pew ; all admi-
nister the sacraments to the coloured members after the
whites. A large majority of the ministers here have
not opposed public opinion by honestly espousing the
cause of the slave. They find the mass of their
churches throughout the states so violently opposed to
the abolition of slavery that their characters and their
livings would be at stake. Nor is this all ; the great( r
part of the ministers themselves are opposed to the
freedom of the slave, and being linked together by ec-
clesiastical bodies, it requires a much larger share of in-
dependence of character than falls to their share to take
a manly firm stand against the crime of slaveholding.
They have quite enough light and quite enough con-
science to feel its deep iniquity, but they have too much
regard for their reputation, and too much fear of offend-
ing their colleagues, to risk the honest expression of
their opinion."—Scotsman.

Mdlle. Catharine Hayes, who created so profound
a sensation as a prima donna at Venice and at Milan,
has taken the good folk of Vienna by storm as the
haroina in one of Donizetti's early-operas, Olivia e
Pasquale. She was enthusiastically encored in the
principal cabaletta, called before the curtain at the end
of each act, and at the conclusion was summoned forth
amidst th 3 cheers of the audience, and was complimented
. with a superb wreath.
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