The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-17 00:00:00

SAVINGS BANKS.

TO THE R[GiIT HON. LOBO .IOHN RUSSELL,
M.P., &c., &c,, &c. _ _

My Lori,—lt !nest be quite unnecessary to trouble
your L.!rdship with any observations upon the im-
portant benefits conferred upon society by savings
banke, and tie consequent necessity of such institu-
tions being fostered and encouraged by every sagacious
'&tatestnan, and by every wise Government; I there-
fore proceed at once to show you how the plan pro-
posed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer last session
on this important subject may be totally changed
with the greatest advantage to depositors.
The Chancellor of the Exchenuer proposed to re-
duce the interest paid to depositors to two pounds
fifteen shillings per -cent. ; I propose to increase it to
three pounds fifteen shillings per cent.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer's plan consists in
blindly following the old Tory dogma, "That the
people have nothing to do with laws but to obey
them." My plan involves the necessity of adminis-
tering the affairs of the people in the same manner,
and with the same care, which men bestow upon their
private affairs.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer's plan has already
cost the depositors of the savings banks several mil-
lions of money in the shape of diminished interest ;
and by the returns laid before Parliament last session
their capital has been diminished to the enormous ex-
tent of 2,815,573/. By my plan not a shilling of the
'capital can be endangered, and the depositors would
receive an annual increase of interest approaching
to $OO,OOO/.
My proposal is to treat the money belonging to the
depositors in the savings banks .with the same anxious
care and vigilance employed by insurance companies,
or individuals having money to lend—that is, to lay
it out upon mortgage or undoubted security ; in the
first place enacting principles which must never be
departed from, three of which would be—
That no money be lent under four per cent.
That no money be lent unless the rental is eight
per cent. upon the money borrowed.
That no money be lent on railroad debentures un-
less the net income is double the amount of the in-
terest of all the debentures allowed to be issued.

I will now show your Lordship how easily and
cheaply my plan could be carried out. None of the
existing arrangements would be disturbed. One ad-
ditional officer alone need to be appointed, and his
salary and office would be the only increased ex-
pense, for borrowers pay all costs attendant upon the
transaction.

On application being made in writing fur a loan,
the manager would first ascertain that all prelimi-
naries required by the Act were fulfilled; and if so,
the title wont' be examined in the usual manner ;
valid, the transaction would be completed, the deeds
deposited in the Bank of England, and an order
given by the manager to the borrower upon the Bank
of England for the money lent.
The question will immediately suggest itself to
your Lordship—Why has not a plan so advantageous
to the honest and industrious depositor been acted
upon before 1850, and why are the comparatively
poor and friendless to be debarred from receiving as
good on interest for their savings as the wealthy
millionnaire? I know the reason, the Chancellor of

....... _ _ _
the Exchequer knows the reason, and, if your Lord-
-414, be not equally well informed, inquire how the
deficiency of 2.815,5731. has arisen, and the answer
will be at hand.

This proposal will be objected to by the millionnaire,
and by parties who have their own interests and that
of their friends to serve ; they will talk loudly about
the absolute necessity of every shilling of the money
in the savings banks being ready at a moment's no-
tice (which, by the bye,, could not be the case under
the present system), and all that verbiage to which
men resort to hide a weak case.

The decisive reply to such maundering is the Par-
liamentary returns, which show the annual amount
paid to and on account of the savings banks since 1817,
and of course a sum exceeding the average so paid
would be kept, as at present, to answer such demands.
On the other hand, the adoption of the plan would
be useful to all borrowers with good security to offer,
and to such railroad companies whose debentures are
perfectly safe; so that the opposition would be fairly
met, and your Lordship would have little difficulty
in doing that which is just.
I have the honour to remain,

Your Lordship's very obedient and faithful servant,
RIGS Y WA SON.

COURT CIRCULAR.
WINDSOR, DEC. 16.

Her Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince
Albert, with her Royal Highness the Princess Helena,
drove out in a pony phaeton this morning in Windsor
Park.

Prince Albert after wards rode out on horseback,
attenchd by Colonel Bouverie.
The Royal Family took their usual airings.
The Earl of Liverpool left the Castle to-day.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge has
left Dublin for London.

A deputation from the Protestant Dissenting De-
puties to Lord John Russell, on the Church Building
Acts Amendment Bill, introduced last session by his
Lordship into the House of Commons, had an inter-
view with his Lordship yesterday at his official resi-
dence in Downing-street. The deputation consisted
of Mr. J. Remington Mills (Chairman), Mr. Pew-
trese, Mr. Offer, Mr. Conder, Mr. East, Mr. Gover,
Mr. Beddome, Mr. R. Terrell, Mr. Bennett, and
Mr. Bomlemo (the Secretary).
Lord Monteagle had an interview with the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer yesterday at his official resi-
dence in Downing-street. His Lordship had also an
interview with Lord John Russell yesterday.
Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-
office from the Governors of the Cape of Good Hope
and Van Diernan's Land.

Dispatches were sent off yesterday evening from
he Colonial.office for the Governors of the West
[ndia Colonies.

BOROUGH Or THE TOWER HAMLETS.—A general
conference of deputies from the several branches of the Na-
tional Reform Association, established in this borough, took
place a few days ago,•at the Green Dragon Inn, Stepney.
About thirty delegates attended, and they' unanimously
elected Mr. Matson their chairman. The object of the con-
ference was to adopt such steps as might be desirable for
protecting the interests of the Parliamentary electors of the
borough, and for extending the franchise to those who are at
present deprived of it, owing to technical difficulties. The
subject of compounded rates occupied a good deal of the atten-
tion of the meeting, and it was shown that no less a number
than 15,000 persons in the Tower Hamlets were deprived of
their votes, owing to the poor-rates of their several houses
being paid by composition by their landlords, whose names
alone appeared on the, rate-book, and the tenants were
consequently held to be not rated. It was contended that
a remedy for this state of things was to be found in a provi-
sion of the Parochial Assessment Act, 6 and 7 William W.,
cap '96, which prescribed the form of rate, and required that
the name of both owner and occupier should appear in sepa-
rate columns in the rate-book. The carrying out of this be-
neficial provision had been made dependent on the order of
the Poor-law Commissioners, who had hitherto failed to:carry
it out, at least in the metropolis, thereby inflicting distran-
chiselnent on many thousands of the indn-trious classes. It
was stated that the question had been raised before the re-
vising barrister in October last, and after a very full discus-
sion, decided against the claimants. The proper course,
therefore, appeared to be, to apply to the Poor-law Commis-

• an
,Y
sinners, urging them to make an order for carrying this pro-
vision of the Act into effect. A resolution to this purport
was unanimously agreed to, and a deputation was appointed
to wait on the -Poor-law Commissioners on the subject.
Morning Advertiser.

- - -
MURDER AND ►SUICIDE.—A desperate attempt at
murder was made, it will be remembered, in February last,
by John Lill ingrap, a servant to Mr. W. A. Yeo, high sheriff of
Devon, who shot, and severely wounded W. Symmonds, a
fellow•seivant; and believing he had killed the man, he im-
mediately took to flight and was never heard of afterwards
until last Wednesday, when his body was discovered in the
river Taw, by some gentlemen engaged in duck shooting. It
was only by his clothing, &c., that he was identified ; the
body had evidently been in the water some months, and it is
conjectured that he had drowned himself in a short time
after his attempt at murder, his watch having stopped at half
an hour after the period of the event.
MR. ROUNDELL PALMER.—Certain observations
having been addressed by a correspondent, signing himself
" An Elector," in the Plymouth Journal, imputing to Mr.
Roundell Palmer " Tractarian or Puseyite " opinions, the
Learned Gentleman writes to that paper a letter, in which
he repudiates the entertainment of such opinions. Mr.
Palmer, atter dislaiming " rractarianism," in its ordinary
sense, says, that if it be "Tractarianism to be earnestly
devoted to the Church of England, anxious to vindicate
her rights and promote her spiritual efficiency; if it be
Tractarianism to believe (in their natural sense and with-
out reservation) all the doctrines expressed both in her
Articles and in her Catechism and liturgical formularies,
and to be well satisfied with the Prayer Book as it stands;
if it be Tractarianism to think that the mission of every
true church is from God, and not from Kings and Parlia-
ments, end that doctrines of absolute prerogative, which
have long been exploded in civil matters, are quite out of
place in spiritual, in this sense he shall not be careful to
disclaim being a Tractarian. But, then, he will remem-
ber " that in the same sense Ridley, Hooper, Jeremy Tay-
lor, Ker, and Beveridge, would also have deserved the same
appellation."
-

•
THE FEVER•STILLS AT WORK AGAIN I—We are
not only astonished, but indignant; and disgusted, to see it
announced, that " the cholera having now entirely disap-
peared, and every fear on the subject of the public health
having subsided," several of the City graveyards are about
to be re-opened. What a merciless, remorseless pursuit is
that of money-making: low loathsome is the hollow show
of reason with which the unseemly actual motive is glossed
recklessly over. This is winter: the cholera-agitation has
subsided now is the time to mount again on the municipal
shoulders off which we were shaken in the time of fear!
Such is the secret thought of the traffickers in corruption.
Th t the bodies so trafficked in will only be ripe, rotten, and
ready for the stew and distillation of the coining summer, is
nothing to them. That thousands and tens of thousands
will be tainted with the fever-poison, and themselves fer-
mented into rotten leaven of corruption to poison and fer-
ment still more and more—what is all that to them? Let
us eat, drink, and be merry, whoever may die. S DOM qui
peut. Even for these prescriptive rights we had some respect,
but what respect have they for our prescriptive right to live
and breathe untainted air? The move now indicated will,
we sincerely trust, precipitate the doom of the fever-stills,
one and all, within " the • bills of mortality"—within the
limits of metropolitan life. The Legislature must look to it
without fail so soon as it meets. Where is Mr. Walker? Is
he put out of heart by the neglett be has found ?-4uilder.

SUICIDE OF MR. GEORGE SPENCE
Q.C., OF THE CHANCERY BAR.
Yesterday, at eleven o'c'ock, Nr. Wakley, M.P.,
coroner for Middlesex, and a jury of highly respect-
able inhabitants of the parish of Paddington, assembled
at the late residence of Mr. Ge( rge e, Q.C., 42,
Hyde-park-square, for the purpose of inquiring into
the circumstances attending the death of that gentle.
man, which took place on Thursday last under the
melancholy circumstances disclosed in the following
evidence :

The jury having viewed the remains of the unfor-
tunate gentleman,
Henry Payne was first called—He said he was a
footman in the service of the deceased, and was pre-
sent at his death, which took place about twenty
minutes past two o'clock on Thursday last. Witness
was roused up about a quarter past two on the
morning of the Tuesday previous by the lady's maid,
who came to the door of his room and said that
something had happened to her master. Witness
got up directly and went to Mr. Spence's bed-
room, at the door of which he was met by Mrs.
Spence, who desired him to go immediately for
medical assistance. Witness went for Dr. Macken-
zie and Mr. Squibb, the family medical attendant.
Dr. Mackenzie arrived first, and Mr. Squibb came
very shortly afterwards. Witness had lived with the
deceased two years and eight months; was aware
that his master had suffered from spasms for a long
time, and that he had not slept well lately. Tee
deceased s'ept in a room by himself, Mrs. Spence oc-
cupying the adjoining apartment. Mr. Squibb bad
attended the deceased every day for the last month,
and had sometimes seen him twice a day. During
that period the deceased slept worse and worse, was
constantly low spirited, and frequently said that he
should never get over his complaint. Witness went
into his master's bedroom about five o'clock on Tues-
day morning, and then saw the bedclothes deluged
with blood. Witness had never observed anything
extraordinary or strange in his master's manner ex-
cept the lowness of spirits, to which he had already
alluded, and this he always supposed to have arisen
from the deceased's sufferings. Mr. Spence was 63
years of age.
Anne Lancaster, lady's maid, said she bad lived in
the service of the family for 14 years. On Tuesday
morning, shortly after two o'clock, Mrs. Spence came
into witness's room and told her that Mr. Spence had
destroyed himself. Witness went immediately to the
deceased's room, and saw her master lying upon the
bed, which was covered with blood. The deceased
was sensible, and addressing witness said, "Anne,
my sufferings were greater than I could bear." Me-
dical assistance was sent for directly, as described by
the footman. 'Witness had never seen her master do
anything which could induce her to think him of
unsound mind. She was, however, aware that he had
been very low-spirited lately, and that he had com-
plained more than he was accustomed to do of inter-
nal pain and palpitation of the heart.

In reply to a question from one of the jury as to
bow Mrs. Spence became aware of what had happened
to her husband, the witness explained that the de-
ceased had knocked against the wall, which was his
usual signal when be wanted Mrs. Spence.
Mr. F. W. Mackenzie, of Chester-place, Hyde-
park, said he was called in to see the deceased shortly
alter two o'clock on Tuesday morning. He found
the unfortunate gentleman in a state of collapse,
with wounds of an incised character on both sides of
the neck, on the thigh, and on both wrists. The
chief hemorrhage was from the wounds in the neck.
The deceased was rational and collected when witness
saw him. He said he had been in a very desponding
state previously, and had inflicted the wounds upon
himself while in a fit of despondency. He added, that
it was useless to adopt means to save him, as he felt
that his life could not be preserved. Witness did all
that was necessary, and remained with the deceased
until Mr. Squibb arrived.
Mr. George James Squibb, surgeon, of Orchard-
street, said—He saw the deceased between three and
four on Tuesday morning. He was then in a
state of extreme depression arising from exces-
sive haemorrhage. Dr. Mackenzie was present when
witness arrived. On seeing witness the deceased
said, " You see what a dreadful thing I have done. I
am pleased I have been punished in this world, and I
hope I shall escape hereafter." The deceased never
rallied, and died on Thursday from exhaustion and
loss of blood. Witness saw the deceased on the Monday,
and he then appeared more calm than usual. He had
long been labouring under the delusion that he had a
disease of the urethra or bladder. He had none what-
ever. He was perfectly sound in those organs and
had no symptoms of such a disease. The deceased
had told witness that his father had died of such a
malady, and he believed that such would be his own
fate. This delusion had produced great despondency
of mind—a feeling which he could not surmount.
After he had inflicted the wounds upon himself this
delusion continued with unabated force and pervaded
his mind to the last. It mas quite clear that the
death of the unfortunate gentleman had arisen from
exhaustion produced by the wounds.
There being no other evidence.
The Coroner said, the facts of the case appeared to
have been so clearly proved by the witnesses who had
been called that the jury would probably consider it
unnecessary to subject the widow of the deceased to
the pain and anxiety of giving her testimony. After
adverting to the delusion under which the deceased
had been labouring for a long time past, and also to
his own statement when first seen after having in-
flicted the wounds, that the act had been done in a
fit of despondency, the Coroner said he thought the
jury would have no difficulty in arriving at the con-
clusion that the deceased had destroyed himself at a
moment when he was not accountable for his actions.
The jury concurred without hesitation in the view
taken by the coroner, and returned a verdict to the
following effect :—" That the death of the said George
Spence was caused by exhaustion arising from loss of
blood by and from certain wounds in his neck and
divers parts of his body, and that the said wounds
were inflicted by himself while in an unsound state of
mind."

The deceased gentleman was very much respected
at the bar and in his private circle. He has left one
son and one daughter.

STREETOGRAPIIY.--Set down the cleverest country
gentleman in any part of London, to find his way to any
other part of it with the best map to be got, and he will be
only able to find it in a cab; for those who have the order-
ing of these things in certain districts of the metropolis,
believing that the names of streets ( ught to be known by
the world at large by instinct, take little care about getting
them written up. The other day a gentleman of Coblentz,
by dint of several cabs and endless inquiries, found out at
last the residence of a young baronet to whom he was
accredited, near Portman-square. He was unusually me-
thodical about trifles, even for a German, and had taken
very good care to note down the name of the street in
which he, had fixed his temporary lodging. The baronet,
when he was taking leave, naturally inquired where he
should have the pleasure Of returning the visit ? The
German produces his pocket hook, and gravely read from
it, "Number nine, Stick-no-bill-street." "Stick no bills"
being the only words he could flail written up against the
houses, he, of course, adopted them as his proper address.
A similar mistake is recorded of an American, from Fourth.
street, Philadelphia. He, too, was in search of the ad-
dress on a letter of introduction; and, when he got
into
the street, actually disbelieved the information given to
him, that he had arrived at his proper destination.
" Don't I see," he said, looking up at
the corner, "that
this is F. P. Sixteen-feet Street ? " and returned to his
hotel without delivering his letter. —Dickens's Household
Words.

THE RISING GENERATION.—The tendency of mo-
dern taste, as exercised in boys' dress,
is happily free from
the grievous folly to which girls are subjected for the im-
provement of figure and gait, as it is called. In the garments
made by Messrs. icoll, of Regent-street and Cornhill, the
chest and limbs, although gracefully clad, are not improperly
confined, and the result is a better chance of having in riper
life a well-formed chest, with freer play for the lungs and
other vital organs. It may here be mentioned that a kind of
warm overcoat has been recently produced at the above ware-
rooms, which will_doubtless prove an acceptable Christmas
gift, the general price of which is about one guinea. College cape
and gowns, with every kind of garment calculated for pleasure,
duties, or exercise, and such as are worn at the colleges and
great public schools, may also be met with at the warerooms
01 U. J. and D. Nicoll, who are Merchant Clothiers, Paletot
Patentees, and Manufacturers of Cloth, Regent-street, from
114 to 120 inclusive, and 22 Cornhill.--John Bull.
SUICIDE or A BEADLE.—An inquest was held by
Mr. Wakley, on Saturday, on the body of James English,
on Thursday morning, lying on Notting-hill-terrace, in a
beadle of St. John's, Notting-hill. Deceased was found,
stupor. He was carried. to a surgeon's, and died in five
minutes. On his person was found two small bottles, con-
taining laudanum and essential oil of almonds. A post
mortem examination showed that those drugs were the means
of death. Mr. Barnes, a guardian, explained that the de-
ceased had appropriated two cheques, value 121., the pro-
perty of the parish. A letter in the handwriting of de-
ceased, addressed to the chairman of the board of guardians,
expressive of remorse and shame for his conduct, was read;
it expressed the resolution of the writer to die by his own
hands, rather than become a convicted felon. Verdict—
" Temporary insanity."
IRON VERSUS WOOD.—Although experiments have
been made on board the Excellent to test the suitableness
of iron for war purposes, and the opinion of the committee
being unfavourable to it, nevertheless the public at large are
not satisied with the opinions so formed, and are determined
to carry out a series of experiments at their own expense,
upon a much more extensive scale than has hitherto been
done. These experiments will, in all probability, be carried
out at Woolwicb, when notice will be given, so that all those
interested in the question will have an opportunity of attend-
ing to witness the practice and form their own opinion as to
the capabilities of iron for war purposes Butts mill be con-
structed
representing a section of a first-class steamer built
of iron and wood, placed side by side, when after every three
or four rounds an inspection will take place, comparing the
effects of the shot upon the various butts. Other butts will
be constructed lined with kamptulicon, and other substance
to prevent splinters. The bow of an iron steamer will also
be constructed, to test the deflection or penetration of shot,
when engaged end on to an enemy. The results of this latter
experiment will be particularly instructive to the officers on
board her Majesty's ship Excellent, and the service at large.
—Deronport Independent.
ST. MARY'S, SOUTHAMPTON.—At length the Earl
of Guildford's resignation of the rich living of St. Mary's,
Southampton, is in the hands of the Bishop of Winchester.
Dr. Dusautoy, the churchwarden of St. Mary's, has just rc-
ceived orders from the Bishop to provide pro tem. fur the
spiritual necessities of the parish. According to the present
law, the Bishop of Wiucheater must present the living of St.
riary'q t 9 gem° one MOMS to its beiDg