AT the opening, on the 29th July last, of the new Asylum at Snaresbrook for Merchant Seamen's Orphans, EARL RUSSELL, K.G., H.M. Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, made some appropriate remarks on the occasion.

It is now nearly forty years since EARL RUSSELL, standing by the side of the great WILBERFORCE, the then ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and other philanthropists of that day, took part in the establishment of a somewhat kindred society, the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, then called the " ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE FROM SHIPWRECK." He was at that time elected one of its Vice-Presidents. His Lordship has ever since continued to occupy that position in the Institution, and to extend to it annually his liberal support.

His early sympathies for the calling of the sailor remain evidently undiminished; and the following remarks of his Lordship will be read with interest by every friend of the sailor's orphan child:— EARL KCSSELL said he was glad to see that they had provided in that beautiful building for an increased number of boys and girls. In regard to every member of the community there were constantly accidents which deprived children of parents, but the children of sailors were more particularly liable to be placed in this unfortunate position; and therefore such an institution as this ought to inspire all who took an interest—and who in England did not take an interest ?—in the sailor to endeavour to benefit his orphans, and alleviate in some degree—and it could be in a small degree only—the loss of parents. He trusted that this institution would nourish, and that it might be instrumental in supporting the commercial marine and the navy, which gave to this country that political strength that made it the admiration of other nations and the support of all that was good and glorious. Ifrwas of the greatest importance that the youth—boys and girls—should be well, intellectually, but, above all, religiously instructed. How much did the welfare of families and of the country depend on the success of institutions like these; but above all must the seaman engaged in his arduous and perilous occupation— depending on the Divine Providence whether he should safely reach the port, or whether he should be overwhelmed in the depths of the sea—feel the advantage to him, to his wife, and to his family of such an asylum as this. This was felt by those who went out in the herring boat, and how much more must it be felt by those who went to the tropical regions, or who, in the storms in the Baltic, endeavoured to furl the sails with their nearly frozen fingers! Then he asked them to think, if it was not in their power to control these things, yet was it not in human power to alleviate in some degree those calamities by providing for the children of those who were the victims of the storm, by placing them in an institution where they might receive not only their daily food, but the daily food of religious instruction, guch as to secure to them in future the meed of reward due always to honesty, sobriety, and integrity? He thought that these asylums ought to be formed in every port of the United Kingdom. He would only observe to those who were concerned in the merchant shipping of this country, that they should make their ships of the best materials and of the best construction; so that, in the case of storms and shipwrecks, which it was not in their power to avert, they could say at least that they did not send their ships to sea without their being well found or in a state requiring repair. He felt, as they must all feel, that on the navy of this country and on its merchant shipping depended the wealth and prosperity of the country. He felt that, in the case of any emergency arising in this country, it was to the navy and the merchant navy that they must look to preserve its power.

They must look to the navy to preserve that freedom which many abominated—to preserve that independence which was one of the anchors by which the freedom and independence of the world were safely moored (applause)..