MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Wellington Independent, Volume 1671, Issue 1671, 1 October 1861, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

The Great Fire in London. — The Argus states that a letter received ih Melbourne from the secretary to the Northern Assurance Company, dated London, June 26, says : — " The secretaries are so busy that they have requested me to send you a private line by this, mail in their stead. The one event talked of in London, and, in faot all over England, is " the great fire." It will shake some of our

fraternity, I should think, pretty severly* At present we may take the losses roughly thus-— Sun and Phoanix, £150,000 to £200,000 ; Liverpool and London, aud Royal, £100,000 to £150,000; Royal Exchange, Imperial, Alliance, Northern, £50,000 to £60,000; and the rest in various smaller amounts, The Manchester have £350,000 on tallow for Giles Loder', out of £800,000 insured, and the loss will be about £130,000. Report says they have re-insuied scarcely anyI thing. Their loss for this one firm will, therefore, be rather stiff. The Royal held £175,000, wa £100,000. We all look forward now to a thorough ling of our system of business here — increase of rates, compulsory clasification of goods, compulsory erection of perfect party walls, &c, — for we see that iron doors are all a delusion— -so that good may come out of evil. Poor Braidwood prophesied that ono day a disaster would occur that would startle us all. Tbe disaster has come, and has not only proved the truth of the propheoy, but has, at the same time, killed the prophet. The whole thing is looked upon, not as a fire loss usally is, simply a matter of business, but as a national calamity ; and the mercantile community say now that the risks we ruu are certainly greater than those contracted for, and that measures should be taken either in the shape of prohibitory premiums, or in certain defined stipulations, to prevent the recurrence of a similar disaster in the docks, or any ofthe other wharfs. We have just (three p.m) been startled with the news that the oil in the sellers under Hay's warehouse had caught and that Beat's was in great daugen Iv Beale's there is £700,000 worth of tea, and if it goes, the fire will spread all amoug the rookeries that lie beyond. We find, however, that the case is not quite so bad as was represented. Some one incautiously opened a trap-door, and the, fumes caught light. However, they have managed to smother the flames, and we hope that thore will be no further spread. I question, however, whether the fire will be out for ten days yet." How Mrs. Abraham Lincoln rules her own House. — A correspondent of the Morning Herald, writes — "I can give you a oapital anecdote about Mr. Lincoln's election. The night previous to the meetiog of the Convention at Chicago, Mr, Lincoln, did not get home till eleven o'clock at night. In the morning, Mrs. Lincoln, who is of a most amiable disposition, remonstrated with her good man at breakfast. She kindly, but firmly, informed him that politics were leading him into bad habits— keeping late hours, and drinking about at rum shops — that she did not like it. She had to sit and keep the children, and ' Now, Abraham, let me tell you that to-night I will go to bed at ten o'clock. If you come home before that hour, well and good ; if not I will not get up and let you in/ Ten o'clock came that night, and, true to her word, Mrs. Lincoln n ent to bed with her children. About an hour later Mr. Lincoln knocked at the door. He knocked once, twice, and even three times, before an upper window was raised, aud the nightcap of a female looked out. « Who is there ?' 'Me.' 'You know what I told you, Abraham ?' ' Yes ; but, wife, I have got something particular fo tell you. Let me in.' 'I don't want to hear. It is some political stuff.' « Wife, it is very important. There is a telegraph dispatch, and I have been nominated for the Presidency.' ' Oh, Abraham, this is awful. Now I know you have been drinking ; I only suspected it before, and yoa may just go and sleep where you got your liquor;' and down descended the window with a slam. True enough, the next day confirmed the news that the best anecdote teller of the village had really been nominated to rule over millions."

The Vulgar Rich. — The man who is made rich by some lucky chance or sordid occupation is one whose wealth is acquired through a process which demands neither superior gifts, pre-eminent skill, nor enobling ideas ; whereas ihe man whose valiant struggles have been made in spheres of usefulness that elevated alike the mind and spirit, and who thereby have has won wealth, has also in the processes of the laborious toil he has successfully passed through, acquired a just aud true knowledge of himself — of his defects no less than of. his gifts — of all his weaknesses as of his strength. And such a man- -the true workman— the genuine man of genius— such a man for instance, we may rest assured, will venture to put himself into no position he is not qualified to fill. He will never make himself absurd, or ridiculous, or impertinent, 1 or intrusive. He will be as true to himself iv prosperity as he was in poverty ; he will always be in his own plaoe, aud emblazon it by the memories of bygone career. Such men — no matter how lowly born or imperfectly educated — are never vulgar. The man who has sprung iuto wealth by vulgar means will always be vulgar, and the more intrinsically mean aud sordid have been the means employed for acquiring a fortune, ' always the more ready will he be to in.trude himself into a position to which he-has not a slighest claim. Men who have acquired wealth by such means may rest assured that it alone is not sufficient to command either the respect or confidence of the public. Wealth oannot buy an exalted position for those who are personally disqualified to be its possessors; arid could it be obtaiued, the occupancy would be a constant|souroe of painful embarrassment to the intruders, beoause exposing their ignorance, making their vulgarity conspicuous, and themselves ridiculous.—tendon Review*

government. They have been accustomed heretofore to have almost everything done for them. The Church in the old country is. a national one. The clergyman is appointed by an authority over whom they have no control, and does not look to the church-going portion -of liis parishioners for support — that being secured to him from sources independent of them personally. In the Colonies the Church of England is placed in a most anomalous position, — it is an endowed church without an endowment ; and from the very nature of things must become effete or else adapt itself to its altered position. It is adapting itself to its position, and all who have the interests of the Christian faith at heart, no matter what may be the 'phase of that faith which they profess, must rejoice at the progress which the Church of England is making in the effort, not merely to exist without national aid, but to turn its very great internal resources to account for an adequate extension of its borders. The education of its members in the habit of contributing for the, maintenance and extension of their Church will for a time proceed slowly ; but all who have noticed the growth of the voluntary spirit in the same Church at horne — the immense amounts which have for the last five and twenty years been raised to extend its usefulness, must feel convinced that voluntary effort, when it shall once have been called forth, will better supply the wants ofthe Church of England in the Colonies, than any amount of national aid possibly can. All other Churches have a constitution somewhat akin to that which the Church of England is now establishing. The Scotch, for instance, have their Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies, and the Wesleyans have their Circuit Meetings-, District Meetings and Conferences. These attract no special public attention because they are not organisations of yesterday. Years have consolidated their machinery, and the present generation has been always accustomed to its smooth working. These various constitutions are, in fact, the material which binds what would otherwise be separate congregations into united bodies. They are merely the cordage to tie the sticks into bundles — to turn the weakness of one into the power of many. Union is strength, ecclesiastically as well as civilly, and so fully is this becoming recognised in all quarters,- that even the Church whose speciality consists in the independency of its individual congregations, has this year admitted that no one could confer a greater boon upon it than to devise some scheme of wider and more powerful confederation than it yet possesses.