The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-14 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 14, 1845.

muntcated—order, and zeal, and patience, begin their work,
and marvels are the result ; then follows a period in which all
things stiffen into a stationary regularity; and lastly, inevi-
tabl e decay—decay proceeding from no external causes, but
obviously developing itself from within. What conquests
were ever like those of the Jesuits in infidel countries? And
what conquests were ever more transitory ? But the great
work of the society in Christendom itself, still more strongly
exemplifies its peculiar destiny. The Jesuits found the old
Church of Rome—the Medieval Church—to all appearance
dead, and exposelVa-Corpse in the streets to , the gaze of
exulting nations. 7 They breathed the breath of life into
the dry bones, ,and they lived, and stood upon their
feet, an exceeding great army. They rebuilt the Latin
world after their own fashion, even as, in architecture, they
substituted the one, unvarying, wearisome form of the Jesuit
Church, for the thousand exquisite devices of the Gothic
school. And they conducted that revived Catholicism—
gently, regularly, with little of outward disturbance or dis-
order—to a second stage of apparent decrepitude and death,
in the embraces of the infidelity of the last century. Once
more it has renewed its youth ; but under the inspiration of
influences widely different from theirs. So in political his-
tory ; we read, in the first age of their duration, of great
things accomplished by their means ; ever after, the appa-
rition of a Jesuit in a court is a mortal symptom. Where a
dynasty dies out in squalid imbecility, there is always pre-
sent some Jesuit figure leading it softly to the grave ;—as in
Spain and the Netherlands under the last Austrian kings, in
Austria und,r her late sovereigns of the house of Hapsburg.
Wherever misguided power overstrains itself, and draws
down ruin on its own head, there is a Jesuit at hand whis-
pering fatal encouragement : witness the last years of Louis
XIV., James 11., Charles X. A general character of sterility
marks at once their greatest and most trifling efforts."

!Jess to be done, or in course of transaction, we are
anxious to know how, together with a battalion of
more than 80 Railway Bills, it is to be disposed of in
any other than the pitch-forking fashion which, year
after year, is productive of so much miscarriage and
confusion in House of Commons' law-making, and,
year after year, has to be repaired and compensated
for by renewed processes of legislation at an incon-
ceivable expenditure of the public time. When will
this bad habit of" packing" business at one time, and
cushioning it at another, be abandoned? It is fraught
with the most dangerous tendencies to the public
welfare.

Madrid journals of the 6th inst. have been received.
On that day the discussion on the motion for increasing
the revenue by taxes on property and new tolls was
resumed, and opposed by the Fir.ance Minister. He
trusted that the Cortes would sanction the measures
proposed by the Government, and see the necessity for
establishing order in the Administration, and strength-
ening the national credit by religiously fulfilling all
public obligations. The motion was rejected by a
majority of SS to 22. It was understood that the
Chambers would be:prorogued on the 15th.
The Three per Cents. closed at 34 7-16 for cash, and
35f at 60 days ; the Five per Cents. at 25* for the 20th
of May; and the Debt without Interest at 84 at 60 days.

Here we are, in the middle of May, and the busi
ness before Parliament which presses most for dis,
patch, is about to undergo the usual destiny of being
crushed out of existence by the overwhelming
multitude of that which presses least. It is two
months ago since we ventured to express our ap-
prehensions on this score, and to urge upon the
Legislature the paramount importance of its adopting
the requisite means to prevent such accumulations
and arrears as we now see fast gathering around and
upon the table of the House. The Home Secretary
himself, we find, has already given notice, for a day
towards the end of June, of a motion and other
business to be brought forward by him, in additi m
to the numerous important questions and Bills that
are already in progress, and taking a discussion in
every successive stage that they attain. Thus there
is the interminable array of Railroad Bills and pro-
jects, the entertainment of which is sufficient to ab-
sorb the whole remainder of the time of Parliament,
even should the session prove an unusually protracted
one. Of these Railroad Bills it may be permitted us
to remark, in passing, that the experience of every
day only the more confirms us in the conviction we
had formed, from a very early period of its labours, of
the New Railway Commission. In spite of the
interested pleading of Lord DALHOUSIE in the
Upper House, and the off-hand vindications of Lord
GRANVILLE SOMERSET in the Lower, the practical
action of the anomalous Board has been as ob-
jectionable as the anomalous principles of its
constitution. It has failed to accomplish the
main object of its creation. The system
pursued in its investigations has proved far less satis-
factory than that which it has superseded, and its
decisions have been almost as much challenged as the
mode of its investigations. The commission was de
vised with a view to remove obstructions in the con-
duct of this branch of the "private business," as it
is called ; and the " private business" has been mar-
vellously obstructed ever since it was organized. The
pity is, that with such a parade of preparation and di-
gestion, and a nice balancing of conflicting recommenda-
tions attaching to the competing projects reported upon
by the Commissioners, there should be such a defi-
ciency of power and perspicuity in stating the grounds
of their decisions, accompanied by such an extraordi-
nary affectation of arrangement. For the first time,
we will venture to say, in the annals of official classi-
fication, we are introduced to " Groups" A. B. C. D.
E.—groups of railroad schemes, sections, gradients,
and proprietary lists, maps, plans, and working
drawings. How picturesque ! How appropriate !
Let us have a little patience, and in the next Factory
Regulation Bill we shall have the clauses, provided
for the education of factory children, referred to in
schedule annexed as the "Infantry" clauses. And if
the Marquis of LONDONDERRY should ever feel
prompted to move a clause of amendment in any Bill
introduced into the House of the Lords by Field-
Marshal his Grace the Duke, "by way of rider,"
we suppose they will be known as the " Cavalry"
clauses. But this obstruction is but an inconveni-
ence, though a grave one. This affectation is not
leAs productive of inconvenience, though of a lighter
character. The evils of the accumulation of busi-
ness at the beginning and the middle, and its whole-
sale burking at the end of a session, are of a far more
serious and alarming kind.
What, amidst this mass of private Bills, and cri-
minatory and recriminatory interlocutives exchanged
between the advocates and the opponents of the Board
of Trades' Committee of Railroads—and the stick-
lers for the letter of the " Standing Orders," and the
latitudinarian pleaders for further extension of the
time allotted for compliance with them—what, we
ask, has become of the very important national
business devised by Ministers on the discussions of
the estimates, at the termination of the last, and at
the beginning of the present session ? Are that
jealous impartiality, that uncompromising super-
vision, that repudiation of favouritism in all matters
connected with the building, arming, and manning of
our sailing men of war, and the models and ma-
chinery securing improvements of our steam navy—
really and fully installed in the Councils of that
Board of Admiralty, which has pledged itself to be
entirely guided by these principles in the admi-
nistration of Its important trusts ? Have the
warnings, so frequently addressed to the Government
on these points, by some among the ranks of their own
supporters, as well as by the highest authorities among
their adversaries, been attended to ? Have the defects
in the build of our war-steamers more especially
been remedied as to those already built? Will they
be obviated in those now about to be brought for-
ward, or hereafter to be laid down ? Are the mis-
chievous prejudices which have hitherto, in defiance
of the most triumphant results of experiment, op-
posed the more general introduction of the Archime
dean screw as the motive agent in our steam-ship
working, and FOULASTER'S ship-propeller into all
our ships of war, appeased and silenced by a distinct
expressions of the Government's sanction under the
advice of its ablest officers ? Is the Government
patronage of superior proficiency in naval architecture
to be thrown open, so that the country may always
have the advantage of the best talent in one of the
most important of all the branches of its service—naval
architecture ; and are the best and ablest architects
to realise their legitimate reward in the patronage
and employment of the Government ; or is the in-
fluence of the Surveyor of the Navy still paramount
at. Whitehall, despite all failures and miscalculations ?
The aspect of our present relations with the United
States has surely not diminished the importance to
be attributed to the exposition made in the House of
Commons of the capital and organic defects in the
construction and sailing qualities and armament of
such great ships of the first and second rates as the
Queen and the Albion. Is the one, after all
her extensive and expensive transformations,
become what she ought to have been before she was
launched from the building-yard; or can the other, a
two-decker of vast dimensions, venture yet to keep the
sea in heavy weather, with her lower-deck ports
open? Have the few large ships now in commission,
and on actual service, their full complement of men
on board? On our coasts, have any steps yet been
taken for the construction of harbours of refuge, in
conformity with the recommendations of Parliamen-
tary and other Commissions of Inquiry, and the
reports of civil and military engineers ? At the mouth
of the Thames, and other of our great rivers, are the
fortifications at the proper points put in that effective
condition of offence and defence, the necessity of
which has been so strongly urged upon the attention
of the Legislature from similar quarters ? Has the
Colonial Department been instructed, by the highest
authorities of the Governinent, to repair the enor-
mous malfeasances of their widely diffused adminis-
tration, by redressing the wrongs inflicted by the
incapacity or obstinacy of the Colonial Governors
placed under its control ? Is it intended to do any-
thing, in the present session, towards such a "settle-
ment" of the law of pauper settlement, as that which
has been opened by Sir JAMES GRAHAM ? Is the
medical profession to be dealt with by Sir
JAMES GRAHAM'S Bill before next year ? Does
Lord LINCOLN mean to carry through his
Bill to facilitate the inclosure of waste lands ;
or that, with Lord WORSLEY'S, to bide over
to is
next year? We pass by, for the present, all the
important Irish and Scotch business before Parlia-
ment ; and on this rapid recapitulation alone of busi-

Only a few of the Paris papers were published on
Whit-Monday, and the intelligence in them is not of
much interest. Those of the Opposition seem to reckon
on a speedy breaking up of the GUIZOT Ministry.
Nearly one-half of the Cabinet, according to the Courrier
Francais, are ill, or pretend to lee ill. The following is
the bulletin which that journal issues on the strength of
the Ministry and the health of the Ministers :—" It is
known that the Lemardelay Club was formed fur the
great object of saving the Government and the country,
by making or unmaking Ministries. It was it which,
after the debate on the address, so miraculously restored
the Ministry of October 29, when mortally wounded,
and said to it Go on ! At the present moment this
Conservative Club again throws its weight into the
scale of the Ministerial destiny. Has not the Cabinet
which it then revived lived long enough? Is not its fated
hour come ? Lazarus still drags along the winding-
sheet which is not yet thrown off. A living being was
supposed to be found again ; but there is nothing more
than a disinterred corpse. The club is now again deli-
berating, and the 29th of October is on the eve of being
consigned to the tomb. 'Look,' said one of the speakers
of the club ; M. GUIZOT will no longer be able to
conduct the business of the State—his heart
is broken, and he needs a lengthened repose.
M. LICAVE LAPLAGNE is repeatedly indisposed, and
seeks only a warm retreat. M. DUMON himself thinks
fit to be unwell, and without his Canal de la Garonne
he would not be even convalescent. We will pass by in
silence MM. DE MACKAU and CUNIN -GRIDIINE, for they
have a special license to laugh at the doctor. But as
to M. MARTIN (du Nord), if he is not confined to his bed,
he ought to be so—the Jesuit is the worm that is
gnawing his entrails, and he has not strength to drive it
away. What can be said of the old Marshal, but that he
can never get older than he is. There remain only MM.
SALVANDY and DUCIIATEL. The first came into the
Cabinet with youth and strength and health; but behold
he has lately become gouty and suffering. Besides, he
never believed that his functions would be durable, fur
he has never installed himself in the hotel of his Ministry,
but continues to reside at No. 30, Rue Cassette, as if he
only modestly occupied his place ad interim ! If health
could make a great statesman, the second-named gentle-
man would be the best of Ministers possible—M. Du-
CHATEL has the shoulders of an Atlas; but: that is not
sufficient when the head is weak. What can be done with
a Ministry which is decapitated and dismembered ?"
It appears, however, that the health of M. GUIZOT is
gradually improving, and his perfect and speedy re-
establishment is looked on as certain. He was received
on Saturday by the RING and royal family. The de-
parture of the Duchess DE NEMOURS for London is an-
nounced. Her Royal Highness is to attend the grand
bal costume which the QUEEN proposes giving on the
20th of June.
The following are miscellaneous extracts from the

papers:-
" Letters from Palma," says the Presse,"state that the Duke
de Montpensier intends to visit the Balearic Islands, and in •
spect them in all their details, on. his return from the ex-
pedition against the Kabyles."
The report on the Budget will be presented, it is supposed,
on Thursday. The proceedings of the session will then be
carried on more rapidly, and, it is calculated that its ter-
mination will arrive about the end of June or the beginning
of July.
It is reported that in a few days an ordonnance will be
issued creating four more new peers. Three of them, it is
said, will be Baron Sits, Prefect of the Gironde, M. Jeyr,
Prefect of the Rlthne, and M. Annisson Duperron, formerly
deputy. The fourth is not named.
The Report of the Committee on the Bill for regulating
the Juges de Paix is on the point of being distributed to the
Deputies. 'lt concurs with the Government in the propriety
of granting them fixed salaries in place of fees. It proposes
that the salaries of the Juges de Paix, in towns and coin-
munes which have not only 6,000 inhabitants, but even as
few as 3,000, should be 1,500 f. per annum ; but they sup-
press the indemnities of 500 f., and I,ooof. mentioned in the
schedules A and B annexed to the Bill.
The following is an extract of a letter from Algiers, of
May 1 :-" It was the famous chief Ben Nini who, on April
20, led the attack on the troops and convoy going to Orleans-
ville. He himself came the same day into Tenez to ascer-
tain that all the troops had gone out, protesting at the same
time his devoted fidelity. The Governor-General has pro-
claimed him to be an outlaw, and none of the tribes can now
dare to shelter him. For several days Tenez was blockaded,
and shots were fired in broad daylight on several of the out-
posted sentinels. Colonel Claparede, who went out with the
garrison troops, has returned, after having chastised several
tribes who had joined the insurrection. He has brought
with him several influential persons, and detained them pri-
soners. His column had to sustain some rather severe
The capital is fixed at 10,000,00 U, of
conflicts."
The Council General of the Bank of France has finally de-
termined to establish a branch bank at Algiers on the follow-
iwn.ghiccohn2d,hootionoos :
and 8,000,000 f. by shareholders, on the issue of 8,000 shares
of I,ooof. each. All further call for capital is prohibited, so
that the above parties cannot in any case be held responsible
portion of it to the parties interested.
for larger sums than those they have respectively advanced.
possess the exclusive privilege of Should the capital be found, from experience, to be too
ol
be under the immediate direction of
large, the Bank of France shall be authorised by ra royal
is-
suinglhe ordinancebrnaontce
branch
baranendp
ka
shall
s aatl
the Bank of France. Its accounts, however, are to be kept
perfectly distinct from those of the home establishment, and
the results of its operations are to be published separately. A
royal ordinance is to be applied for to authorise the organiza-
tion of the branch bank.
" Five young Persians of rank, selected by the Shah to
proceed to France to receive a European education, arrived
at Toulouse on the 9th, on their way to Paris. They are
under the care of an artillery officer, who formed part of the
body of French military men who received permission to
proceed to Ispshan to instruct the Persian troops in European
discipline."
On the Paris Bourse on Monday the Three per Cents.
closed at 86f. 20c.; the New Loan, at 86f. 60e.; the Fire
per Cents., at 121 f. 10e. ; Orleans Railroad Shares,
1,215 f. ; Rouen, I,ooof. ; Vierzon, 812 f. 50c. ; Havre,
875 E; Avignon, 1,040 E; Basle, 270 E; Spanish Actives,
40; Ditto, Three per Cents., 421; Ditto, Passives, Bi.
The following are the quotations for the new lines:-
Orleans and Bordeaux, 215 f. premium ; Boulogne, 170 f. ;
ditto, ,Troyes and Montereau, 72f. 50c.; Paris and Lyons
(Lafitte), 17f. 50c. ; ditto (Calon), If. ; ditto (Ganneron),
19f. 50c. ; Northern Line (Lafitte), 30f; ditto (Rosamel),
10f. ; Tours and Nantes (Mackenzie), 12f. 50c. ; ditto
(Drouillard), par; ditto (O'Neill), 12f. 50c.; ditto (Jacques
Lefevre), par; Lyons and Avignon (Lecointe), 30f.; ditto
(Talabot), 32f. 50c. ; ditto (Com pagnie Meridionale), 12f. 50c. ;
Bordeaux and Toulouse (Mackenzie), sf. ; ditto and Cette
(Espeleta), 16f. 25c ; CI elle and St. Quentin, If. 50c.; Paris
and Strasburg (Ganneron), 12f. 50c.; Dijon and Mulhouse,
61. 25c.
LYONS' MAY 9.-Avignon and Marseilles 1,065 f., for cash ;
Paris and Orleans, 1,220 f. for the 15th Paris and
Rouen, 1,135 f., end of May ; 'Orleans and Vierzon, 830 E, ditto ;
Orleans and Bordeaux, 712 f., for the 15th ; Boulogne, 660 E,
end of May; Montereau, 575 f., ditto.

AMPLES.

NATIONA L LOAN FUND
LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY.
(THIS DAY.)

The Annual General Meeting of the Proprietors
of the National Loan Fund Life Assurance Society
took place this day, at one o'clock, at the London
Tavern, Bishopsgate-street ; T. Lamie Murray, Esq.,
Chairman of the Directors, in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN commenced the proceedings by
calling upon the Secretary to read the advertisement

calling the meeting.
The SECRETARY having read the advertisement,
The CHAIRMAN said—Having now opened the
business of the day, the Secretary will read
the report which the Directors have prepared for the
purpose of laying before the Proprietors. It contains
the results of the business transacted by the Society
during the year, and I hope you will find it satis-

factory.
The SECRETARY then read the following report :
SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIREC
TORS OF THE NATIONAL LOAN FUND
LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY. •
" It is most gratifying to the Directors, on the
occasion of the Sixth Annual General Assembly, to
have again the pleasure of meeting the Proprietors.
" In the reports of the two last years the Directors
thought fit to notice the industrial inactivity which
was then prevailing, and the corresponding effects felt
by the Society, in common with other similar institu-
tions. The Directors wished to impress on the minds of
the Proprietors the influence these causes have on
the well-being of life assurance societies, and the
intimate connexion between their prosperity and that
of private individuals.
" Since the last meeting, however, and more par-
ticularly towards the close of the past year, this in-
activity has been succeeded by a better state of things,
and the class to whom life assurance has in conse-
quence become available, has not failed, in the exercise
of a wise precaution, to lay out a commensurate in-
vestment against the risks of life, from which this
Society has benefited.
" In reference to the constant vicissitudes to which
all states of society are subject, the principles of the
National Loan Fund Life Assurance Society should
never be lost sight of by the provident and thinking
part of the community, as policies taken out in times
of prosperity are thereby made subservient to periods
of adversity, against which no human foresight is en-
tirely secure.
" Owing to a combination of causes, and espe-
cially to a better appreciation of the just claims of
the Society on public- favour, as well as of the
stability which time has given to it, the result of its
operations since the last meeting has been such as to
lead to favourable anticipations of its increasing
future prosperity.
" At the last meeting it was stated by the Chair-
man that a disposition existed to encourage the esta-
blishments of the Society in other countries. The
Directors have felt it their duty to aid and foster
these manifestations, and although the time has been
short since some of these connexions have been
formed, yet so far as progress has been made, their
most favourable expectations have been amply

realised.
"The influence of this new field of operation will
be fully perceptible when the Directors shall have
again the pleasure of meeting the Proprietors.
" Since the last meeting the business of the So-
ciety. has increased above 40 per cent. on the pre-
vious year in policies, and more than 50 per cent. in
the amount of risks. The total number of life poli-
cies now issued amount to 2,781.
" In the year preceding the last general meet-
ing the decrement amongst the assured amounted
to 10,7201. The total amount of claims then
paid, since the institution of the Society in 1837,
being 24,6681. 185 , which left a balance in favour of
the Society of the actual, under the expected mor-
tality, of 1,691/. 2s. In the last year the claims on
the Society have amounted to only 5,339/. 18s., while
the anticipated claims were 8,858/. So far as the
present year has progressed, still further evidence has
been afforded of the judicious selection of lives—it
being the constant desire of the Directors to direct 4
their attention to this point, as the surest source of
profit to the assured and the Proprietors.
"The Directors, in conformity with the deed of
settlement, have caused the annual investigation into
the affairs of the Society, to be made by the Actuary,
and it is now presented, together with the accounts of
the auditors, and will be read to the meeting. Fol-
lowing the plan of distribution laid down in the
preceding annual division of profits, of taking
one-fifth of the reserve fund for immediate distribu-
tion to the Proprietors and Policy-holders of five
years' standing the prosperous position of the
Society enables the Directors, after reserving 30 per
cent. of this sum, to divide amongst the Policy-holders
entitled to this distribution a reversionary bonus,
varying from 30 to 75 per cent. on the premiums, and
to the Proprietors a bonus of 2} per cent. on the past
year, in addition to the regular interest of 5 per cent-
already paid to them.
" The following table prepared by the Actuary
exhibits the amount of the three last annual bonuses
to which the holders of policies of five years standing
have become entitled with the options of receiving
the same is cash, or by addition to their policies, or
in reduction of annual premium