The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-08 00:00:00

LAMBETH RATEPAYERS' ASSO-

CIATION,

Tne above Society dined yesterday at the Angel
Tavern, Lainbutn-walk, the Chair. was taken at Five
o'clock by Mr. Harrison, Deputy, Mr. Luelsom, when
upwards of 70 parishioners were present. A good
dinner having oeen discussed, " Non nobis" was sung
in excellent 'style •by Messrs. Bannister,' Fry, and
Sba.rpe._

•
The CHAIRMAN, in a very happy strain, eulogised
such meetings as affording bright spots in the path of
life, and proposed the toast "The people, the source of
all legitimate power." In doing so, he said, however
it might be denied by the Aristocracy, the Clergy, or
any otter class, the sentiment embodied in the toast
formed part of our Constitution, and was embodied
tLearetically in our laws, If all had an hearty n de-
testa:ion of all " Political Esauism," as he bad—( Hear,
I ear)—tley would never again hear of such gross and
systematic bribery, as late occurrences had brought to
light. —i Cheers.) He trusted the time was not far
distant when the people would fully learn the power
i.v},i;:b actually was in their hands at elections—when
t'ley did so we would have a different House of Com-
mons than we had now. The toast was drank with all
the honours.

The CHAIRMAN then proposed "The Queer.." They
were all interested is her good government.—
( Hear.) Some oajected to a woman ruling over t':c
dc:lnies of a great empire like England, but he was
one of those who thought that it vas better to live
under the reign of a virtuous Queen than under that of
a profligate King.—( Hear.) Many ameliorations had
taco place in our laws—the punishment of death was
now seldom inflicted to what it was in his young days—
(Hear, hear)—and he trusted all present would live to
see it wholly removed from the Statute-book.—
(Cheers.) The papers of last Monday must hasten
such . a wished-for consummation to their wishes.—
(Hear.) It was heart-rending to think that a man
was pzt to death in such a horrid intoner, who, on the
brink of eternity declared his innocence of the crime
charged against him. Let them hope that our gra-
cious Queen, with her womanly feelings, would soon
rejoice in giving her sanction to an Act abolishing such
a punishment. The toast was drank with enthusiasm.
Glee—" The Queen's Anthem."

The CHAIRMAN then proposed " Prince Albert and
the rest of the Royal Family now in England," which
toast was responded to most cordially.
Air—" Here's a heilth to the Prince and the Queen."
Mr. FALL then proposed, " The Associated Rate-
payers of L.imbeth." In doing so he said he supposed
tie teat was put into his hands because he was the
oldest battler for Reform in the parish, although not
the ablest. He was always sorry to see parochial asso-
ciations at all—the reason was that he thought all the
parish ought to be united as one family—r hen there
would be no necessity.for associations.—(Cheers.) But
when associations were formed on one side, it was gene-
rally felt to be necessary to form associations on the other
side. After going through a history of the associations
in the parish during the thirty-three years be had lived
in it, he said he had no doubt there was enough
of public principle in the parish as to once more Live
them the upper hand in the parochial affairs, which
they only wanted for the benefit of all. The worthy
gentleman defended his conduct while filling the office of
Surv:lor of the Highways, which had been grossly mis-
represented by the opposite parry. It was necessary that
ti. ey should exert themselves, for the present guardianshad
alre idy doubled the rates, though the number of poor
weie the same, and the contracts were made very low
by the Outgoing Guardians. They worked in secret,
whill the fOriner Guardians threw their doors open..
Too rate-payer's must say on E ister Tuesday which
slstem they liked best—one where everything was
open to every parishioner, or one where if a servant of
the house divulged one word of what took place
amongst the Guardians, the servants of the rate-payers
world be instantly dismissed.
The toast was drank with all the honours.

Mr. GRADY then proposed "Parochial Reform." He
said the sentiment of the toast entered more deeply into
the pockets of the public than evan general Reform, be-
cause their pockets were reached through parochial
rates in a vast variety of ways.—through the
Poors-rate, watching and lighting rate, the county rate,
the sewer rate, the police rate, and many others. He
condemned Sturges Bourne's Act, which gave plurality
of voting; that Act was called for by the Church ; it
arose out of the opposition to Church-rates in 1817 and
1818, in the parish of Christchurch, and was brought
about by the father of the present member for Lam-
beth. The result of it was, that Lord Brougham, when
he wanted them to pass the Poor-law, told them that
the question was whether they would amend the law or
have their estates swallowed up; it was a just judgment
upon the party who gave existence to the plurality of
voting. They •woull never have any red re-
form in the parish until they had get Sturges
Bourne's Act repealed, and Sir John Hothouse's
Ait introduced. He had before said that, col-
lnctivtly and individually, the Protection Asso-
ciaCon abounded in two qualities, lying and cowardice ;
that be had said, and that he again repeated, and he
did so without any fear of the consequences. They
acre in power now, but the people of Lambeth could
cast up figures, and at the end of the year they would
see that the rates had been doubled, with the same
number of poor, and soon they would be turned out ;
but until they had Sir John 0. Hothouse's Act in
force, there would be only.alternat'ng parties in office,
and no fixed principles would govern the parish. The
party with which he acted had always acted honestly in
the face of the parishioners ; they had acted openly, aad
he hoped they would soon be replaced.
The toast was drank with enthusiasm and all the
honours.

Mr. WILES proposed " Civil and Religious Liberty
all over the world." He did so most cordially because
he thought if it existed at all it would greatly ame-
i srato the condition of mankind. It had never
t fairly existed even in our own country.—(Cheers.)
Could it be said that religious liberty existed here
while within a mile of where they were assembled a
man was incarcerated for publishing a book on a reli-
gious subject. He thought if bell could not prevail
against the Established Church, which was said to be
founded on the rock of ages, why then fear the designs
of men ? He hoped the people generally would co-
operate and send better men to Parliament, and then
they would get better laws. The toast was received
with the usual honours and much applause.
M. NPLEoD then proposed " The Extension of the
Suffrage and vote by Ballot." He defended his
conduct as one of the lat-s Board of Guardians for the
parish, in which office he thought they ought to have been
left without any other control than that of the rate-
payers. In place of assisting to reduce the rates, the
Commissioners had resisted them when they wanted to
put down a sinecurist at their Board.
The toast was drank with applause.
Tue co:nraoy were aroused during the evening with
many good glees from the musical gentlemen.
Several other toasts were proposed, and the com-
pany enjoyed themselves till a late hour.

YORK-ROAD BRITISH•SOHOOLS.

The first annual public meeting of these schools took
place last 'evening at the Royal Infirmary for Children,
Waterloo-road. Benjamin Hawes, Esq., M.P., in the
chair. Amongst the gentlemen on the platform were
the Rev. John Burnet, of Camberwell ; the Rev. Geo,
Clay ton, Andrew White. Esq , M.P. ; Messrs. Dunn
and Althans, of the Parent Society, and many of the
roost influential gentleman in the neighbourhood.
The Secretary read the report, from which it appeared
that the want of schools in that part of the metropolis
was so great, that within a few weeks of the opening of
tl:e British Schools, about a twelvemonth ago, they were
thronged by some hundreds of the children of the
poorer classes. A considerable expense had been
incurred in the fitting up of the school rooms, &e.
There was a balance of above 1001. against tie institu•
tion. Scvaral important statistical facts, relative to the
present s t tie of education in London, were elicited in the
course of the evening. Amongst others it was stated,
from Parliamentary Returns, that in the City of West-
minster, at the very fountain head of legislation, out of
hew en 30,000 and 40,000 children of an age capable
of receiving instruction in the rudiments of knowledge,
upwards of 16,000 either had no education at all, or
were in the habit of receiving what was worse than
none at all. Amongst the subscriptions announced, was
Field,Ben Benjamin
salwes, Esq., .
to in ad, ition .Pi5l. additional ; Joshua
ten guineas last year.

Among the various parties btought to Marlbo-
rough-street on Tuesday from the station-house, on charges
of having been drunk, disorderly, &c., was Lori F. C. Beau-
clerk, R.N., who was charged by a cabman of the name of
Bosworth with damaging his cab and assaulting him. From
the statement of the complainant it appeared that
Queen-street, the leetand innogb
noble
i t
de
hisfend cab, onw thhoe preceding; d ing
intoxicated,nig i n
drove his phaeton
against the cab and broke the shaft, and on his remonstrating
" bonnetted" him. Police constable Flattery, 73 C, who wit-
nessed the transaction, then took the defendant into custody.
The damage amoun'ed to Iss. Mr. Long suggested that the
best way would be for the parties to come to an amicable ar-
rangement. With this suggestion Lord Frederick willingly
complied, and the parties left the office. It was afterwards
understood that the cabman had received 255. for damages and
loss of time.
ON THE DISTANCE OF A FIXED STAR.—
M. Becel, a German astronomer, has made one of the greatest
discoveries of modern times, by having ascerained the paral-
lax of the double star 61 Cygra. He found from repeated ob-
servations made from August, 1837, to March, 1840, that the
parallax of a Cygni did not exceed thirty-one hundredths of
a second, which places the distance of that star from us at
nearly 670,000 times that of the sun, or which is nearly
sixty-four millions of millions of miles (or more nearly
63,630,000,000,060 miles). This immense distance can bet-
ter be conceived, when we state that if a cannon-ball were
to traverse this vast space at the rate of twenty miles a
minute, it would occupy more than six rfullions of years in
coming from that star to our earth ; and if a body could be
rrojected from our earth to 61 Cgrii, at thirty miles an hour
(which h about the snine rate as the carriages on railroads
travel), it would occupy at least ninety-six millions of years.
whieli travels more than eleven millions of miles in a
minute, would occupy about twelve years in coming from that
star to our earth.—Dritish Qum'.