The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-24 00:00:00

" TUTI QUI PROVIDI."

It is now some fifteen years since we first had
the pleasure of calling public attention to the
institution whose motto stands at the head of this
article the " Provident Clerks' Association."
Since that time the subject of our notice has gra-
dually enlarged its operations, until it may now
fairly claim to be ranked among the most import-
ant and useful societies in the country. Its mana-
gers may justly pride themselves upon the fact,
that in the Life Assurance Department more than
5,000 Policies, assuring somewhere about a MIL-
LION sterling, have been issued, while the pub-
licity given to every item both of receipt and ex-
penditure show how full and how well justified is
their confidence in the financial position of the
association. The accounts, unlike those of many
offices, are open to the world, and as long as this
is the case there is but little fear either of malver-
sation or of extravagance. An attempt was in-
deed made at the meeting on Monday to throw
suspicion upon the position and conduct of the
office, but it was promptly, ably, and suc-
cessfully refuted. Indeed, in the face of such
figures, a refutation is almost superfluous.

It is not as an assurance office alone, however,
that we would speak of the Provident Clerks'
Association. Its Benevolent Fund, the only in-
stitution of the kind belonging exclusively to the
clerks, has been the means of relieving a large
amount of suffering and. privation, and this, too,
among a class who are on many grounds peculiarly
entitled to sympathy. By the vicissitudes of com-
mercial life numbers of clerks are ruined or seri-
ously embarrassed from circumstances over which
they can have no control. Few are so highly
paid that they can, by mere saving, accumulate
a sufficient provision and yet maintain a "re-
spectable appearance," while, at the same time,
from education, habits, and social position, they
constitute a class on whom the pressure of aetual
poverty tells with doubly painful effect.
If this be true of the clerk, even while health
and ability are spared, when the opportunity of
employment is denied him, how much more true
is it of those helpless beings who are too often
left to mourn the loss of him whose labour was
their sole dependence, and who by one stroke are
not only plunged into domestic affliction, but are
reduced from comparative affluence to actual want.
A few weeks since it was our duty to record a
painful case of this nature, and we have reason to
know that, on the matter being brought before the
directors of the Provident Clerks' Association, the
widow was promptly and liberally relieved. That
this is not a single case the annual balance-sheets
of the Association clearly show. We learn from
them that between eight and nine hundred pounds
is paid in annuities to distressed members and
widows—that more than 1,1001. have been given
away to meet cases of urgent necessity, and that
22,0001. have been lent in small sums for the
relief of temporary difficulties. We cannot doubt
that these facts, widely known, as they deserve to
be, will gain for the Association the cordial sup-
port, not only of the clerks, of whom some 4,000
have already joined its ranks, but of that wealthy
and important class to whom the welfare of the
clerks is, or ought to be, an object of real and
heart-felt interest.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at
the Foreign-office. The Ministers present were—Vis-
count Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of
Lansdowne, Earl Granville, the Earl of Harrowby,
Sir George Grey, the Earl of Clarendon, Mr. Secretary
Labouchere, Lord Panmure, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, Sir Chas. Wood, the Right Hon. R. Vernon
Smith, Lord Stanley of Alderley, the Right lion. M. T.
Baines, and the Duke of/Argyll. The Council sat three
hours.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge
and the Princess Mary honoured the performances at
the Haymarket Theatre with their presence last evening.
Their Royal Highnesses occupied the Queen's box.
The Duke of Leeds has left the Clarendon for Hornby
Castle, near Catterick, Yorkshire.

The' Duke of Rutland is still receiving company at
Belvoir Castle.

The Earl of Aberdeen left town on Tuesday, on a
visit to her Majesty at Windsor Castle.
The Earl and Countess of Mountcharles have arrived
in town from visiting the Duke and Duchess of Bedford,
at Woburn Abbey.

The Countess Dowager of Morley has arrived in town
from Saltram, Devonshire.

Lord Panmure was sufficiently recovered, yesterday,
from his recent attack of gout, to attend the Cabinet
Council held at the Foreign-office.
Lord and Lady Edward Fitzalan Howard have ar-
rived in town from Arundel Castle.
Sir George Grey left town after the Cabinet Council,
yesterday afternoon, for Windsor Castle.
The Right Hon. Sir James Graham, Bart., M.P., and
his three sons. are at present staying at the Ullocks
Royal Hotel, Bowness, Windermere.
Sir Alexander Spearman had an interview with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, yesterday, at his official
residence in Downing-street.

A deputation, consisting of Mr. James Harvey, Mr.
H. Potter, and Mr. A. Wilson, had an interview with
the Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie, yesterday, at the office
of the Poor•la w Board, on the subject of the affairs of
the West London Union.

A deputation from Datchet, respecting the roads
made by the Government in that parish in pursuance of
the act of 1848, had an interview with the Right Hon.
Sir Benjamin Hall, M.P., yesterday, at the office of
Public Works in Whitehall-place. The deputation con-
sisted of the Rev. H. Hall, Vicar. of Datchet ; Mr. C.
S. Cantrell (guardian), Mr. W. Statham (churchwarden),
Mr. J. Jaques (surveyor), and Mr. W. H. Dickman
(inhabitant.)
MANSION-HOUBE.—Yesterday the Lord Mayor enter-
tained at dinner the directors of the London and West-
minster Bank and a party of private friends. Among
the guests were,
Mr. H. Bosanquet, the Right Hon.
Sir T. Fremantle, Bart., Sir J. Kirkland, Mr. Alderman
Farncomb, Mr. W. Haigh, Mr. T. Chapman, Mr. H.
Bu3kle, Mr. B. Cohen, Mr. J. G. Cattley, Major Rey-
nolds, Mr. Ranson, Mr. de Vitre Mr. Matthew Mar-
shall, Mr. P. Radow, Mr. J. W. Gilbart, Mr. Ford, Mr.
Roy, Mr. Welbore Ellis, Mr. B Drew, Mr. G. Drew,
Rev. Dr. Mortimer, D.D., Mr. Cookney, Mr. Baddeley,
Mr. Capron, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Vile,
Mr. Woldon, Mr, Ewings, Mr. Kingsford) ito.