9 SEPTEMBER 1837, Page 8

The Thirthth Report of the Commissioners for " inquirieg concerning

Charities.' has just made its appearance. It is of the usual

size, sonie!Ling. under 1,000 folio pages, and bears the signatures of twenty. two conimi,4uner5, at the head of whiell stand Lord Brougham and Sir Eases' d Smnlen. Of all the jobs di,gince the govern. fount sy-t5m of :his country, this eormnis,ion stands foremost. Its

exigence h is b., en twenty years' minus a few months, and the cost to the country has I xceeded three hundred thousand pounds. '!'be COM.

111iSA ittally wrested from a cm rupt and corrupting govern

ment, by the persevering and eloquent exertions of Henry Brougham, but not until its powers were so crippled by cunning contrivances, carried out by partisan commissioners, as to render the inquiry, during the .first twelve ye:its, little else than a cheat. The two Universities, the great schools, the leading institutions, mid every endowment having special visiters, were especially protected from examination. Here and there a stun of money of insignificant amount, and perverted by some unpatroniz d trustee, has been ostentatiously brought to light, and mode the subject of a grave moral lecture upon the sacred rights of the poor and the sin of abusing trusts, created for their peelsliar protection ' • but as to any substantial correction of the enormous abuses which run through the almost numberless endowments designsd by our pious ancestors for the comfort of the old and ths instructien and advancement of the young, little is to be found, and none of a prompt and efficient character. Few things more de. cidedly Sty the fading nature of party politics than the origin and progress of he Charity Commission, which, as we have already said, owes its existence to the burning eloquence of Henry Brougham. At the time of which we write, this extraordinary man was the idol of the people, with whom it was an earnest prayer that he might one day attain the power to carry out those great plans of national regeneration, which he portrayed with a fervour and effect that silenced the remotest suspicion of his sincerity. Not only wan the magnitude and importance of our charitable endowments laid before the public, as the result of unceasing labour ; not only was their wicked perversion denounced, and the titled plunderers of the poor upheld to public scorn, but the necessity of adopting some prompt and simple plan for their continuance, was earnestly enforced. The cruel mockery of our mis• called Courts of Equity was delineated with u fidelity that made Eldon weep, at the same time that it strengthened the eager hope that the day might yet come when Henry Brougham, clothed in the ermine of judicial virtue, would stand forth the avenger of the pillaged poor, wield the sword of justice over the aged cottager, and lead lisping infancy to the hamlet school's, rendered rich by the restitution of wealth, which titled and clerical guardians had criminally appropriated to their own exclusive use. And no one knew better the methods by which these great objects might be realized, than the learned individual to whom we refer, or held out stronger assurances of their accomplishment, should the chances of party ever confer upon him the power. Time has rolled on, and on its tide great fortunes have been borne to some, and to none greater than to Henry Brougham. For four years he held the Great Seal, and for four years he was silent upon the vast abuses of his Court and the crying abuses of our public charities. Hunnui nature mourns over the sequel. Henry Brougham is now Lord Vaux, and a pensioner of 5,000/. a year, leaving the Court over which be presided and 14 abuses of our Charities, which bedenounced, juit as he found tbeckk True Sun. —The reit giveitbe folT'iiig-partieilLis of the career of Saarsfield, the Spini4t1 General whose murder by his own mutinous troops we mentioned last week Saarsfield was the descendant of the celebrated Earl of Lucan, whose loyalty to James the Second deprived him of a home, and his family of a considerable estate, and who emigrated with his bigot King after the siege of Limerick. He was barn in Spain ; and early in life entered the army, with no fortune but his sword, and those principles of honour which have been an heirloom in his lie served with distinction in the War of independence; and studied his piofession so effectually under the Duke of Wellington, that he became, by common acclaim, the most valuable officer in the service. Ile was both a scientific and practical soldier ; and his merit was so well known to Ferdinand, that he was selected, in 1827 and 1832, to command the armies of observation on the Portuguese frontier. On the death of the King, he was at the head of that army ; and it was expected, his loyalty being so well known, that he would have deefared at ouee for Don Carlos. It is probable that he would have done so if he had received the communication addressed to him by the exiled Monarch from Poi tugal ; but the messenger charged with the letter failing in his duty, Saarsfield considered that the Infante had relinquished voluntarily his rights; and he transferred his allegiance to the Queen, whom he saw in possession of the Throne. Ile was immediately called by the Government de facto to put down the insurrection which burst forth in Hilboa and Vittoria ; but after accomplishing that duty, by restoring both these towns to Christina, he was by ittrtgue, so common at the Court of Madrid, removed from the command ; leavieg the work half unfinished, to be marred, by the officer who succeeded him. "Since that pet i041 he bad a nominal station at Pamplona; his pride being so hurt at the ill-treatment he received, that be refused all offers for active employment. His temper, none of the best from nature, grew morose and dis• contented ; and for the last two years he was unwilling to meet even his most intimate friends. He locked himself up from the world, and passed many days n.ithout being seen by any of his officers. Scandal said that he drank to exec's it, these fits of retirement ; and it cannot be denied that he carried an Irish attarlinieht to good wine as far as any of his countrymen. He was in his youth renowned as a jolly companion, and latterly his love of the bottle became notoricas. • * " As he was brave as a lion himself, he considered personal bravery in others as indispensable to the character of a gentleman ; and, after a few aequaintanee with any man whose intimacy he desired, he insisted on fighting with him with the small, sword, for the purpose of proving whether he was thoroughbred or not. If the stranger refused. Saarsfield took no further mice of him ; but he passed through the ordeal of a few thrusts like a man 0fc1iit, lie embraced him as a friend, and instantly proceeded to get drunk with him. The duel he proposed was not one of death, and he seldom carried it bridal. than the trial of the skill or bravery of his new friend. lie was a perfect sworileman himself, and not afraid of receiving any serious damage in the encounter ; and he took good care, if his opponent was not skilful, not to press him ti .; it extten.ity. They were bloodless duels which he fought in this way, save at II except a few scratches, which he took or gave without thinking much &at them."

On the 1011 ultimo, two trains of carriages came in contact on the Persmouth and Roanoke Railway, in Virginia; and the consequence nes the death of four ladies, a negro woman, and an infant. Ten or ff«.en others were severely injured.