The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-13 00:00:00

THE NEW PRINCIPLE INTRODUCED BY THE UNITY

BANK.

Regarding the distinctive ;inCiple of the Unity Bank, it
has been suggested that there must be a detraction from the
profits of the shareholders, by reason of 50 per cent. being
given to the customers of the bank. This idea can only have
arisen, however, from the want of a careful consideration of
the whole subject. In the first place, it is necessary to re-
member from whom the profits of a bank are derived. They
are not made from the share capital. The very first ingredi-
eat fur the formation of profits is a customer. The amount
of profit must, therefore, be governed by the amount of busi-
ness transacted ; and the larger the business. provided it be
properly conducted, the larger will be the profits. It must be
borne in mind, also, that the real extent of the dividends must
depend on the number of cents. of profits, and that 50 per
cent, of the profits, extending over large transactions, may
be far greater than 100 per cent. derived from more circum-
scribed business. If, the; the customers of a bank consti-
tute its profits, the customers should be induced to transact
their business with the bank, and thereby the profits of the
shareholder, instead of being reduced, will be augmented.
The inducement held out to the customer, however, should be
such as does not involve or complicate the business of bank-
ing. It should not be by the promise of some peculiar accom-
modation, or some particular and increased rate of interest,
or by any departure from that sound system of joint-stock
banking which has stood the test of years of experience, and
procured so great prosperity. But it should be, as it is in
the Unity Bank, an advantage which interferes in no degree
with established principles, but merely allocates a portion of
that which has already been declared to be profit to those who
have been the makers of it, Assurance companies have been
accustomed to apportion certain of their profits, by way of
bonus, to their assurers ; and so general has become the re-
cognition of the right of the assurer to this participation, that
no assurance association would now be established without
this essential to success. The justice of the principle consists
in this—that as the assurers make the profits of the company,
they ought to be participators in its prosperity. What is
just in assurance will be found just also in banking. The
customers of a bank make the profits of the bank, and they
ought also to be participators in its prosperity.
It has been asserted, also, that the 50 per cent, of the pro-
fits proposed to be divided, while it would detract from the
profits of its shareholders, would be but a trifling benefit to
the customers. It might, in the first place, be replied that
no benefit is considerid " trifling" by those who rightly esti-
mate pecuniary affairs ; that the benefit, if trifling, is in addi-
tion to all the other benefits usually derived by banking at a
joint-stock bank ; and that no correct data can be formed of
the profits which will be made. On the other hand, it must
be remembered that hitherto persons have taken their bank-
ing account where personal feeling, accommodation, or con-
venience of locality might lead them. Now, for the first time,
by the introduction of the principle of mutuality, self-interest
is appealed to. And when, to the large number of the public
at!racted by this all-powerful stimulus, is added the number
of the connections of the Unity Insurance Associations in all
parts of the country, who have a peculiar identification with
and interest in its success, it may fairly be stated, that ante-
cedent data are not sufficient to form an estimate of the ad-
vantages which both the shareholders and customers will
derive from the Unity Bank.
Great difficulty exists in estimating the effects likely to be
produced by the establishment of this new and most desirable
feature in banking. It is one that must become highly popu-
lar with every commercial interest, and with every class of
the public, because its simplicity and advantages are at once
to be seen and appreciated.
To those great commercial bodies which are compelled to
have large cash balances constantly at their bankers', it will
prove to be a serious consideration, and a most important
source of profit. The railway, dock, gas, water, steam navi-
gation, insurance, and other companies, professional men,
merchants, brokers, gentlemen of fortune, and traders of all
kinds, will duly estimate the difference in the system now
proposed, from that heretofore existing. In fine, as joint-
stock banks became a public necessity, as is now proved, so
will the principle of mutuality—whereby these admirable in-
stitutions may be rendered still more serviceable to the public,
and in no way less safe—demand the best consideration of the
community at large.
BUSINESS TO BE UNDERTAKEN.
. All the usual business of banking will be undertaken ; and
arrangements will be made for extending the transactions of
the Bank in every desirable quarter.
CURIUM ACCOUNTS will be made up half-yearly, namely—to
the 30th of June and the 31st of December, and interest will
be allowed at the rate of 21. per cent. on them.
DEPOSIT Accourrs.—With respect to these, the rate oflb
in-
tereste allowed on money placed at seven days' notice will
1/. per cent, under the rate of discount on first class bills
adopted by the Bank of England, regulated thereby. The
bank will give receipts for the sums so deposited, or, for the
convenience of depositors leaving England, promissory notes,
or bills, including interest as well as principal, at not less
than six months' date.

The bank will undertake the agency of country and foreign
banks, whether joint stock or private, and will afford every
accommodation to travellers and others with respect to circu-
lar notes and letters of credit. It will receive all kinds of
income for its customers, including annuities, dividends, mili-
tary, naval, and civil officers' pay. It will undertake the sale
and transfer of stock in the public funds, &c. ; and will be
responsible for the safe custody of title deeds and other secu-
rities belonging to its customers, to which they will at all
times have convenience of access.
Application for prospectuses and forms of application for
the remaining shares, to be made to Messrs. R. and J. Sutton,
stock brokers, 22, Royale Exchange ; or to the secretary, at
the principal offices, 10, Cannon-street, City.

HENRY LAKE, Secretary.

FORM OF APPLICATION FOR SHARES.

T THE DIRECTORS OF THE VNITY JOINT-STOCK MUTUAL BANKING

ASSOC lATION.

- Gentlemen,— I request that you will allot me shares of
1001. each in the above association, and in consideration of
such allotment, or any less number you may approxiate to
me, I hereby undertake to pay the deposit, or first call of
101. per share thereon, and 401. at the time of incorporation,

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE. THIS
EVENING, and every evening during the
week, the GRAND ELEUSINIAN SPECTACLE of MAGIC
and MYSTERY, by Professor ANDERSON, the Great
Wizard of the North, in 12 acts, with ever-changing variety
of incidents, continuous surprises, novel and extraordinary
effects.

Magic and Mystery is an entirely new entertainment, pos-
sessing distinctive characteristics and peculiar phases of
amusement. It is not a monologue, for the audience them-
selves perform their parts with the principal actor, some of
them on the stage and others in front ; it is not an exhibition,
for though everything becomes metamorphosed before the-
eyes of the visitors no one can be positive that he sees any
one thing ; but it is a comedy really performed by the com-
pany; a melodrama replete with startling positions and unex-
pected denouements ; a magnificent spectacle, with 2,000 of
the public every night to appear as auxiliaries ; and an ex-
travaganza, in which all that seems to be is entirely beyond
the bounds of probability.
Professor Anderson returns his thanks to thronged and
fashionable audiences which have nightly filled the Lyceum
Theatre to overflow, and by means of whose generous aid he
has been enabled to announce Magic and Mystery for con-
tinuous repetition. He believes that no professor of his art'
has at any time or in any place been honoured with an
amount of success so extensive, so decided, and so unusual.
He would attribute .that success to three causes; first, that
in his present entertainment he has placed before his visitors
the results of a life sedulously devoted to the attainment of
perfected skill in one peculiar art, and to perfect which he
has travelled the globe in every clime ; secondly, that he has
spared no trouble nor expense to put this entertainment on
the stage in the most elaborate manner, by the employment
of the first mechanicians and artists of the day; and thirdly,
that, while endeavouring to provide amusement for those
who honour him with their presence, he has not forgotten that
it is possible to afford information also, and that the oppor-
tunity should not be neglected of exposing conjuring where-
ever it has been used for nefarious purposes, or whenever by
resorting to the conjuror's arts, in an illegitimate manner,
the designing have succeeded in making dupes of the
credulous.

The 937 letters on the subject of spirit-rapping, which Pro-
fessor Anderson has received, from the time of opening the
theatre up to the present date, bear witness to the great in-
terest taken on the subject of this singular delusion ; whilst
many of them bear melancholy evidence to the dangers which
attend a belief in the superstitious nonsense of the " Spiri-
tualists." Judging simply by the correspondence which has
resulted, Professor Anderson's expose of spirit-rapping wad
his illustration of the so-called table phenomena, have pro-
duced a sensation unequalled by any previous attempt to ex-
pose a mischievous and impudent juggle. It is impossible
for Professor Anderson to reply at length to a tithe of the
communications which reach him on the subject. He regrets
that many of these should come from ladies and gentlemen
who, from their position in society and their well-known in-
tellectual attainments, he would least have expected to have
been converts to a belief so preposterous in itself, and so
easily susceptible of being controverted and disproved. Every
evening, from the Lyceum stage, Mr. Anderson's opinions on
spirit-rapping are expressed, and every evening, within the
Lyceum, how tables can be made to rap is exhibited
and elucidated. It is respectfully requested that this
public exposition will be accepted generally as Professor
Anderson's only mode of replying at full length to his
multitudinous correspondents. Ile regrets that the
names of the great and learned of the land should
have been made to figure in the documents emanating
from the spirit-rappers, as for instance the following, ex-
tracted from the Morning Advertiser of Thursday, Septem-
oer2o, and taken by that journal from the New York Spiri-
tual Telegraph. It purports to emanate from an American
spirit-rapper, Mr. D. D. Hume :—" Sir David Brewster
frankly confesses that he is sorely puzzled' at what he has
witnessed, and Lord Brougham acknowledges himself to be
thoroughly nonplussed. Both of these noted men brought
the whole force of their keen discernment to bear upon the
'olution of the phenomena; but the presence of substantial,
actual hands, and the demonstrative strength of the spirits
who thus clothed themselves for the time, and moved mate-
rial objects about the room, proved to be too much of a ques-
tion for them to master." Mr. D. D. Hume, the author of the
above, has recently left England, and the following account of
who, and what he is, occurs in the Family Herald, No. 648:
—" This young man, who is a Scotchman by birth, and now
in Italy, is a remarkable medium for all the manifestations
without apparatus. Barnum, who is well-known throughout
the Anglo-Saxon world as a splendid humbug, offered him 2,000
dollars per annum if he would perform at his museum in New
York. Barnum then took it for granted that mediums could
be bought. He was somewhat astonished when his offer was
refused. Hume, on telling the fact in London lately, simply
and honestly remarked, that the money would have been very
acceptable to him, for he was poor, young (under 2U), an or-
phan, and in very had health : but he would have been afraid
of losing his power as a medium, and he would sooner lose
his life. The refusal, however, made Barnum thoughtful.
He inquired into the subject; and now Barnum, one of the
greatest humbugs in the world, and withal a conjuror, is
one of the firmest believers in spiritualism." It is cer-
tainly surprising to find such a paragraph as this in the
editorial article of an established journal, the editor of whom
might be supposed to be sane. Even if Barnum does believe
in spirit-rapping--does spirit-rapping gain or lose by
this accession to its adherents ? and, with Barnum's endorse-
ment to it, is this bill, drawn on public credulity, more likely
to be negotiated ? Professor Anderson would believe not ;
hut, when he finds that educated clergymen of the Church of
England have the temerity to subscribe their names to so gross
a swindle, when he finds that the Incumbent of Wortley (the
Rev. N. J. Godfrey) positively asserts h;s belief in it, and
writes a book on the subject, he considers it t i be time for
him to state that which he knows of the mechanism by which
it is eftteted, and the mischief to which it tends. In the
Morning Advertiser of October 3 appears a letter from Sir
David Brewster, relative to that which he saw at Cox's Hotel.
in company with Lord Brougham. He distinctly states that
which the Wizard of the North proclaims every night--that
spirit-rapping is nothing more than conjuring applied to bad
purposes. In the Morning Advertiser of the following day,
however, there is an answer to Sir David's letter from one
who was present when he and Lord Brougham had their
seance with the spirits, in which the writer says, that " the
table (a large dinner-table, I believe) moved about in the most
extraordinary manner, and, among other things, a large ac-
cordion was conveyed by an invisible agency to my hand and
then to Lord Brougham's, in which, held by his lordship's
right hand, apart from any person, it played an air through-
out." With such a statement, printed for the edification of
the people of the 19th century, with the facts before us that
the most talented men of the day are permitting themselves
to be deluded by these juggling spirit-mongers—that the
greatest novelist of the age is now engaged in snaking it the
subject of a new work, and that a "spiritual convention"
has actually been advertised to be held in St. Martin's-hall,
Professor Anderson trusts that his exposures of the spiritual-
ists of America, as given by him nightly at the Lyceum, will
be received by the people of England as genuine honest at-
tempts to provide an antidote for the bane of the spiritual
jugglers.

In the course of the last five weeks 100,017 persons have
visited the Lyceum Theatre,—a larger number, it is believed,
than has ever before been assembled within its walls in so
short a period. Magic and Mystery is repeated every even.
ing, the programme being continually changed. Grand
fashionable Day Performance, or Saturday, November 17, at
2 o'clock ; the programme being thus arranged ;
Part I.—Act 1. The Mesmeric Couch : or, tho
.Clinical
Capabilities of the Atmosphere : in which the Wizard will do
by magic that which some suppose to be effected by mesmer-
ism, and illustrate the possibility of sleeping unsupported in
the air.
. - -

Act 2. The Agna-Avial Paradox ; exemplifying the power
of producing animated nature from fire and water only, and
the possibility of eliciting from the simplest elements the most
complex forms of ornithological existence.
Act 3. Le Livre des Reeueils Choisies : or, Puck's Own
Pocket Book, with Puck himself within it. Typifying the
evening's entertainment in the production of the very volu-
minous from a small volume, in the extraction of magnitude
out of minuteness, in developing bulk where no space appears
for its existence, in discovering odd things in odd places, and
in bringing forth unexpected wonders from the most unlikely
place for to be found.
Act 4. Magical Locomotion ; or, Transition without Trou-
ble. In which will be comprised—the Adventures of a Wed-
ding Ring, the Peregrinations of a Bank Note, the Transfor-
mation—black into white, and the Discovery of every Article
in the position which would seem the most inappropriate.
Act 5. L'Ecrin de Verre ; or, the Casket of Crcesus. Into
which, though made entirely of glass perfectly transparent,
and suspended so as to be ♦isible to the eyes of all present,
the Wizard will cause the money of his visitors to transport
itself, and rain into the casket, though its lid be closed,
locked, and the key in the possession of the audience.
Act 6. Clairvoyance Extraordinary ; or, the Transparency
of Opacity.

Act. 7. A New Bottle of Bacchus ; sr, tho Novel Wine
and Spirit Store. An improvement upon the " inexhaustible
bottle," inasmuch as the Wizard's bottle will not only be in-
exhaustible, but will change its contents, ad infinitum, at the
word of command, producing soda-water, butter-milk,
Epsom salts, Port, Sherry, brandy, gin, rum, whisky,
noyean, or any other wine or spirit required ; and finally
aproving to be filled with pocket handkerchiefs perfectly dry,
Spirit-rapping.
nckor
8. half
the whole space when tightly packed.
tocAsnint.o9f.thoerainnvdismibyleatsi
an Hour with the Spirits ; or, an Expose of
Introducing the spirit-rapping table and
amongst others, undergo
Mystic Amalgam,d in which the property of
the Wizard's patrons willu otrsome strange metamor-
phoses, and,
of ' victory—the banners of Eng
te handkerchiefs become
transformed into the flags
clianirmoaig?nomapuesitinanvidhiachppheeawr who
lsaenaAdtsn,-thF.
himself will
wTaiutnbneehya,unuatudededrsetahir,
the audience, under circumstances least expected, in a posi-
tionThd Mystery of the Charmed Chest ; or, the
as peculiar as perplexing.
Nights Wonders. To comprehend which the
have the goodness to observe, in
the chest suspended (like ElahoinmeePs coffin)
f
an earlier part
inaNnufuAdtinchileieetatu s:
c-naieriionritl inhge,
into which all things will travel, and out of which
all will be produced.
A.t. 12. The Homological Evaporation ; or, the Shortest
Route to the Antipodes. Illustrating the easiest mode of
ridding ourselves of a troublesome friend, and the advantages
of the newly-discovered dia-terrestrial passage from the west-
ern to the eastern hemisphere.
Doors open each evening at half-past 7; commence at 8.
Private boxes, 1/. lls. 6d. and 1/. ls., to be obtained at the
•
Box-office, or at the principal libraries; stalls, 4s. ; dress
circle, 3s. ; upper boxes, 2s. ; pit, ls. ; gallery, 5d- The
Box-office is open daily, from 11 till 5, under the direction
9f Mr. Chattcrton, jun. Grand fashionable Morning Per-
formance on Saturday, November 17, at 2 o'clock, Doors open
a t.4alf-part J.