The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-14 00:00:00

No. 16,713. LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING

EASTER lIOLYDAYS.
Novelties of extrem interest and information at the
ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION
Scenes in the OREGON TERRITORY form a part of an en-
tirely NEW SERIES of DISSOLVING VIEWS. PORTRAITS of
the most Distinguished Men ii the SIKH GOVERNMENT and
ARMY of LAHORE, magnified by the OPAQUE MICROSCOPE ;
also, Portraits of Sir Henry Hardinge, Sir Robert and Lady Sale. The
PHYSIOSC"PE and CHROMATROPE, wish new and beautiful
variations. The most interesting of the Novelties at work are
MACINTOSH'S ROTARY ENGINE, COLEMAN'S PATENT
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE for ascending and descending Inclined
Planes, FARRELL'S ARCHIMEDIAN RAILWAY, an ENVE-
LOPE CUT TING MACHINE, WOOD'S NEW PATENT STEAM-
ENGINE GOVF;RNOit, and the ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY.
Experiments with the DIVING BELL and DIVER. Lectures on
CHEMISTRY and NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, with brilliant ex-
periments.

Admission, Is.; Schools, Half-price.
A brief Description of the Oregon Territory, from Notes by a Nine
Tears' Resident, presented to the Visitors.

LAW LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY
Fleet-street, Next St. Dunstan's Church, April 9, 1846.
Notice is hereby given that the dividends on the capital stock of
this Society, for the year 1845, are iu the course of payment, and
can be received any day ( l'uesday excepted) between the hours of
Ten and Three o'clock.

By order of the Directors,
GEORGE KIRKPATRICK, Actuary,

NATIONAL LOAN FUND LIFE ASSUR
ANCE SOCIETY,

26, CORNIIILL, LOIOSOE,
Capital 2,500,000.
Empowered by Aet of Parliament

This institution offers important and substantial adv.n-
tages with respect both t« Life Assuranoes and Deferred Annuities.
Tie assured has, on all occasions, the power to borr)w, without ex-
pense or forfeiture of the Polley, two-thirds of the premium paid,
!see table); also the option of selecting benefits. and the conwrsion
of hi- interests to meet other conveniences or necessity. Assurances
for terms of years are granted on the lowest possible rates.

DIVISION OF PROFIT:.
The success and increasing prosperity of the Society kits enabler
he Directors, at the last annual investigation, to declare a third
dorms, varying from :Su to 75 per cent. on the nremiams paid on
.ach Policy effected on the Profit scale.

ONE GUINEA WELLINGTON BOOTS
made to measure by G. GARRETT, Bootmaker, by special
appointment, to the King of the Belgians. A week of the most
fashionable and highly-finished Boots kept ready made, to suit the
oonvenience of Noblemen, Officers of the united Services, and Gen-
tlemen who prefer trying on Boots to giving an order.
LI. Garrett, Army Bootmaker, 120, Jermyn-street, St. James's.

NICOLL'S PALETOT of LLAMA CLOTH
registered 6 and 7 Vic., cap. 66. patronised by the Prince
Consort, Prince George of Cambridge, Sec.
This overcoat reoommends itself to the Public generally by its
peculiar elasticity and lightness, moderate price, and able defence
against the almost constant humidity of the climate of Great Britain.
To be had in London only of the Patentees, 114. Regent-street.

THE REGISTERED SHIRT WAREHOUSE
42, REGENT-CIRCUS, PICCADILLY.
The Proprietor begs to state that in the form of the REGISTERED
SHIRT a very great improvement is effected, yet care is taken to
preserve the easy looseness so necessary to this garment, together
with a plain smooth setting front, and to retain this appearance
during the whole time in wear. But a further and a most important
advantage is offered—the material of those parts seen, viz., the
fronts, collars, and wristhands, are composed of the Golden Flax
Linen, now so widely celebrated for the purity of its bleach, thus
presenting a beautiful snow-white appearance. The Proprietor fur-
ther begs to state, that rigorous attention Is given towards moderate
prices and excellence of workmanship. Any philanthropic lady or
gentleman wit. may he desirous of giving employment to persons of
reduced means with such intention, the Proprietor of this establish-
ment will be happy to to-operate, and merely requires to see a spe-
cimen of work, and a card of the lady or gentleman recommending.
Samples of the Golden Flax Linen, with prices and direction 4 for
self-measurement, will be cheerfully forwarded by post to non-reel-
dents in London. . .

--- --- ---------
Address, Registered Shirt Warehouse, 42, Regent-street, Piccadilly

PUBLICATIONS.

NEW AND AMUSING NOVEL,
Entitled "BILL BLAKE," or " A TRIP TO PARIS,"
by the Author of " Edwin Leslie ;"

Also, an Interesting Sketch, entitled, " THE PLEASURE PARTY,
will be published in the Columns of

THE ULSTER GAZETTE,
COMMENCING APRIL 13, 1846, AND CONTINUED IN

CONSECUTIVE SECTIONS UNTIL FINISHED:—
The Ulster Gazette, Irish Turf Register and Sporting Chronicle,
(established in 1843), is published every MONDAY, in the city of
Armagh, and is a journal devoted to the interests of Agriculture, to
the encouragement and record of Field Sports, and other species of
rational amusement. It is Non-political, and its columns contain,
besides Parliamentary, Army, and Navy News, all the Irish Sport-
ing Intelligence of the Week,—Racing, Hunting, Coursing, Yachting,
Angling, Shooting, &c.,—tegether with Original Articles on Veteri-
nary Science and Agriculture.

Publishing Office, 9, Russell-street, Armagh, and 28, Lower
Ormond-quay, Dublin, where Orders for the Paper, Advertisements,
and Communications, are respectfully requested to be addressed.
Terms—Single Paper, 414 d. ; Quarterly, 4s. 6d.; or 17s. 6d. a Year.
London Agent—Thompson, Palsgravc-place, Temple-bar.

ADDRESS OF THE COMMITTEE
OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF
USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
In announcing to the friends of the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge the suspension of the operations of the Society
which has for twenty years successfully laboured in the pro-
motion of that object, the Committee feel it necessary to make
a short statement in explanation of their motives.
The Society was founded in 1826. It owes its establish-
ment to Lord Brougham, whose personal exertions first
brought the Committee together, and who has continued in
the office of chairman throughout its existence, and not only
in the office, but in the unremitting performance of its
duties. The Society owes to Lord Brougham, among other
things, the first treatise which was published, the Prelimi-
nary Treatise of the Library of Useful Knowledge, the value
of which, as a statement of " The Objects, Advantages, and
Pleasures of Science," is well known.
The political circumstances of the time had much influence
in producing its formation. It could not be otherwise at a
period when the opinion that there was danger to religion
and to Government in the spread of knowledge was avowed
by many, acted on by more, and generally supposed, whether
justly or not, to be at least not discouraged by those at the
head of the State.
It needed an energetic combination, both of well known
names and of working power, to create an effective opposition
to a principle now exploded, and which never could have
been true except upon suppositions anything but advanta-
geous to the religion and the Government in support of which
it was brought forward. If this fear of knowledge still ex-
isted, the Committee would hold it necessary to continue
their active operations. But it does not now exist ; all par-
ties at this day appeal to the reason of the people at large,
desire them to instruct themselves, and offer them the means
The advocates of knowledge are more powerful than their'
opponents ever were, and those opponents have disappeared.
At its commencement the Society determined, with obvious
prudence, to avoid the great subjects of religion and govern-
ment, on which it was impossible to touch without provoking
angry discussion. At a time when the spirit which produced
the events of 1828, 1829, and 1832 was struggling with those
who, not very long before, had tried to subdue it by force;
when religious disqualification and political exclusion occu-
pied the daily attention of the press; and when the friends
of education were themselves divided on the best way of ad-
justing these and other matters of legislation—any inter-
ference with theology or politics would have endangered the
existence of a union which demanded the most cordial co-
operation from all who wished well to the cause. That the
Society took an appearance of political colour from the fact
that almost all its original supporters were of one party in
politics, is perfectly true; but it is as true that if the Com-
mittee had waited to commence operations until both
parties had been ready to act together, the work would
have been yet to begin ; and the good which so many of
the Society's old opponents admit that it has done, would
have been left undone. But the Committee remember
with great satisfaction, that this impossibility of com-
bining different views in support of a great object ex-
tended only to politics. From the commencement, the
Society consisted of men of almost every religious per-
suasion. The harmony in which they have worked to-
gether is sufficient proof that there is nothing in differ-
ence of doctrinal creed which need prevent successful
association, when the object is good and the points of
dispute are avoided.
It is, however, worth notice, that the attacks which
were made upon the tendency of the Society were
almost wholly directed against its supposed effect
on religion, and very little indeed against
its presumed political consequences. Few cried
sedition, but a great many cried infidelity ; and this,
though this Society mainly consisted of members of
that party which had been long charged by those very
opponents with a design to bring about a revolution.
To all these attacks the Society has offered but one
reply—a steady perseverance in the course which com-
mon sense pointed out as the proper method of gaining
its object.
The opinions, or, as the result has shown, the preju-
dices, which were to be overcome, were twofold. Beside
the feeling that knowledge is dangerous, there existed
a notion that taste for the results of accurate thought
and patient research was not very widely spread, which
was combined, on the part of publishers and booksellers,
with a fear that cheap books would ruin them. When the
decided success with which the Society's first efforts
were attended drew the attention of the trade, there was
an alarm which, if good sense bad not gained a hearing
sooner than has happened in other cases, would have
ended in an application to Parliament for protection—a
measure actually proposed, and no doubt discussed. The
same rational feeling which prevented so childish a pro-
position from being listened to, suggested the propriety
of meeting the Society with its own weapons ; and the
Committee has the greatest pleasure in avowing that
while the adoption of this determination on the part
of the trade is one of the best proofs that the
Society has gained its end, its success is one of
the main causes of the present address, and of
the resolution which it announces. The cause which was
to be promoted may now be safely left to the spirit
which the example of the Society has awakened among
those whose busines it is, for their own sakes, to pro-
mote knowledge amorg the people, and who have now
come to see that it is both their business and their in-
terest. There are many publishers who will be the
worthy successors of the Society, and who were its best
friends from the moment they became its rivals. And
even though there may not always be found in the trade
of any one large city such men as Mr. Charles Knight in
London, or Messrs. Chambers in Edinburgh, who add
to the usual motives of commercial men a sincere per-
sonal interest in the progress of knowledge and the
power of able writers, yet the Committee feel very sure
that never again will the maxims of the bookselling busi-
ness be one of the producing causes of such a Society as
thst over which they preside. And the members of
that trade, or the more candid among them, will
admit, as some have admitted, that the exertions of the
Society have greatly widened the field of their labour
and of their profits.
When the Committee was first constituted, and during
the time previous, every attempt to publish cheap books
had been accompanied by a deterioration either of print
or of matter. One of the facts which the Society de-
sired to establish, and has established, is that a work
need not be bad because it is cheap. It is not for the
Committee to give any opinion on the details of the
treatises they have published : but they may allow
themselves a word on the character of the opposition
to which they have always more or less been subject.
Some organs of the periodical press, as well as indi-
vidual writers, have frequently sneered at the works
of the Society in the bulk ; but no one has ever
ventured to take the state of English literature as it was
in 1826, and treatise to treatise, and book to book to
show that its efforts were needless. Should any person
be found hardy enough to make the attempt, it is no
exaggeration to say that he must choose his instances
out of works averaging from ten to ta enty times the
prices at which those of the Society were produced.
Neither will the Committee, while dwelling upon
the good which they know, and which all know, has
been done, make any claim to an exclusive species
of merit. They will rather describe their own
association as a necessary incident of the time
in which they live. A spirit was awakened of
which they have been the instruments a
spirit which led to the successive foundation of
University College, King's College, and the University
of London, and which had previously established the
Mechanics' Institutes ; which overthrew the laws ex-
cluding Roman Catholic and Protestant Dissenters from
the public service ; which reformed the representation
in spite of the utmost efforts of wealth and power ; which
broke the chain of slavery throughout the British em-
pire, and is still at work in forwarding the best interests
of the whole human race. But the acknowledgment thus
made diminishes nothing of any claim which the Society
may have upon public gratitude. There is hardly any
good, hardly even a discovery in science, of which it
may not be said that it did come when it must have come,
if riot from one hand, then from another. But the ripe-
o nse
ssxpo
lwfa
hitnho
aeawrtaei
y mthee, though it
see
shouldthst
whatbe oughtused, asto be
regards
al
or
hd e
can s
tothe
e be done, only
to explainmerit. their success, is often made
As soon as it became evident that not only individual
booksellers, but other public
lbodies, had become imi-
tators of the Society's
hgietsneerxaerteixonasmp.le, and that the
triumphant,le
rmaapiindipyrbinecciopmleinogn
completely
rethoeurended was
feeling in the minds of several members of thear csoeni
mittee that the work was done, and that the Society
should, after completing its existing engagements with
the public, pronounce its own labours at an end. Whe-
ther such a Society should have a permanent existence
as a bookselling corporation, in competition with private
trade, or whether it should consider itself as called
into existence for a particular object, to last only
until that object was gained, might have been a
matter of opinion. But if there were any serious differ-
ence of feeling on this point, there was an obviousdiffi-
culty
has kept many a private traderin
to retire. I
in bringing the question to issue, a diffitocutlhty;
end
dicohf
business
his life, in spite of his general intention t is
hard to determine at what one particular time, rather
than another, during the currency of the several series
of works, the resolution should be taken to begin nothing
new thenceforward.
iTheindefinite
nite question
term
of whether
ii t was
proper
wastoconcovnertetemdpilnattoe
an
that of whether it was possible, by the circumstances at-
e existence n
at-
tending the publication of the " Biographical Dictionary,"
which will be described presently. It should be men-
tioned that the Committee always considered itself', in
one point, very differently situated from a private trades-
man. The latter not only will, but ought to, hold him-
self entitled to follow successful speculation, and avoid
losses. But the Society neither had the right nor the
inclination to be an accumulator of profits. The sums
obtained from the successful works published under their
superintendence, which would, employed in the way
that prudence points out to an individual, have by this
time produced considerable wealth, have been freely ex-
pended in trying to promote other useful undertakings,
which afforded little or no chance of profit ; in such at-
tempts many valuable copyrights have been sold or
mortgaged. Money had been expended on many en-
dawns, of which the public has heard nothing ; and on

many from which no return has yet been obtained ; and
many a serious loss has been incurred with full know-
ledge that such would be the event.
One of these cases of loss, the largest and most im-
portant, is that of the " Biographical Dictionary," pub,
lished in half volumes, of which seven, completing the
letter A, have appeared. To speak of the necessity for
such a work is needless ; and to say that, completed in
the manner in which it has been begun, it would be an
honour to the literature of the country, and would supply
a manifest and most lamentable hiatus, would merely be
to repeat the opinion of the judges whose verdict is much
less likely to be biassed by partiality than that of the
Committee. This work, nevertheless, meets with so
little of the public patronage, that the Society finds
itself absolutely unable to continue it. Many per-
sons, who fully approve of the plan and execution, de-
cline to take the work until it is complete, forgetting
that in all undertakings of such magnitude, from the
" Biographi Britannica" downwards, it is not in the
power of any publisher, public or private, to expend the
whole capital required during the years of preparation
which are essential. In the present instance, the sale of
the first half volume has been 1161 ; of the last, 789 ; the
average sale, 957.
The Committee may safely aver, that no publisher had
ever produced works in parts with more regularity than
was seen in those which were brought out under their
superintendence. The treatises of the Library of Useful
Knowledge appeared, with very few exceptions, at
the times appointed. The series of maps, a work of
much more difficulty to prepare with regularity than
even a publisher (of books only) can readily appreciate,
was always in hand, and was never delayed except by the
conviction that the loss of time would be well repaid by
the value of the information waited for. The " Penny
Cyclopmdia" was never twelve hours behind its time is
all the monthly appearances of as many years ; a thing
which never happened in the case of any alphabetical
work which depended upon the regularity of an editor
and contributors. And the " Biographical Dictionary"
was in the hands of the same editor, whosa untiring
zeal had produced this unprecedented result. No better
guarantee for its regular progress could have been
offered: and if but one in four of those to whose libra-
ries the complete work would have been judged by,
themselves essential would have accepted this guarantee,
it would have been now in full progress.
Though the Committee always counted upon a loss,
or at the best upon a deficiency which could not be
made good until long after the completion of the work,
neither they, nor others more conversant with the
chances of the bookselling trade, were at all prepared to
expect so large a deficiency as appeared by the time
the letter A was completed. On these seven half-
volumes the excess of expenditure above receipts
amounts to nearly 5,0001. Of this loss, more than half,
it appears, has been sustained by the Society, and the
remainder by the subscriptions and donations which
have been announced from time to time. Though the
first sale of the work was encouraging, as giving some
reason to hope that it would shortly rise to such a point
as might enable the Committee to proceed steadily to the
end, yet it was found that the average rate of sale of the
seven half-volumes produced the defalcation above alluded
to. And careful estimates showed, that under existing cir-
cumstances, an additional sum of at least 15,0001. must
be sunk. A work commenced in parts ought to be con-
tinued to the full extent which the capital of the under-
taker will allow. The Society has obeyed this reason-
able rule, and has exhausted its resources. As soon as
it appeared that, with the losses incurred by the " Bio-
graphical Dictionary," the assets of the Society, never
very considerable for the reason already assigned,
scarcely exceeded its liabilities, there was no other al-
ternative except the discontinuance of further publica-
tion for the time being. The present announcement is
the consequence.
With regard to the " Biographical Dictionary " the
Committee feel no doubt that a great many persons,
most friendly to the undertaking and to the progress of
literature, have withheld their support and assistance
under the usual feeling of hope that the end might be
compassed without them. Many may not have been
aware that the undertaking was placed in peril by their
standing aloof ; and should the feeling of regret with
which the Committee abandon the present prosecution
of the work be shared by any who shall feel disposed
to exert themselves for its renewal, the door is still
open. An arrangement has been made by which the
plates and copyright of the part already published may
be repurchased by the Committee at a nominal rate at
any time within three years. So that, in point of fact,
the work may yet be continued. Avd the Committee
will use their best endeavours, should they see good
prospect of success, to promote the rene,val of a pro•
ject of the utility of which they are sow.lll assured,
and of which nothing but the absolute impos.sibility of
continuing it has produced the suspension.
With respect to the Society, however, the failL4re of
the "Biographical Dictionary," though one of the circt.m..
stances which have led to its present situation, is only t:
be considered in that light in connexion with another of a
more material, and much more gratifying, character.
The Society's work is done, for its greatest object is
achieved—fully, fairly, and permanently. The public
is supplied with cheap and good literature to an extent
which the most sanguine friend of human improvement
could not, in 1826, have hoped to have witnessed in
twenty years. The powerful contributors to this great
object, who have been taught by the Society how to
work without the Society, may almost be reckoned by
the hundred, and there is hardly a country in Europe,
from Russia to Spain, which has not seen the Society's
publications in its own language, and felt their influence
on its own system of
production. Had it been other-
wise, had the desire for information which the Society
showed to exist in 1826, still remained unsupplied from
any other source, the multitude of pence would have far
more than have supplied the pounds necessary for the
" Biographical Dictionary," even though no single pur-
chaser had been found.

Among the sources of income which have never
failed, the series of maps is prominent. The re-issue of
this series, which has now become the property of
Messrs. Knight and Co., is still unfinished. The Com-
mittee have the satisfaction of knowing that Mr. Knight
has secured such superintendence of the remaining por-
tion of this re-issue as cannot fail to provide for the full
and due execution of all required improvements.
In naming Mr. Knight, it is a pleasure to the Com-
mittee to remember the various ways in which his ser-
vices as a cultivator of literature have been rendered to
the Society : on him, in fact, and Professor Long, more
of the editorial character has devolved than on any other
two individuals. To both these gentlemen the Society
is under the deepest obligations : to the former as Edi-
tor of " The Penny Magazine," the " Library of Enter-
taining Knowledge, ' and of the " British Almanac" and
its " Companion ;" to the latter as Editor of " The
'•Penny Cyclopmdia," "The Journal of Education", and
" The Biographical Dictionary."
The Committee will not enter into much detail upon
the character and extent of the services which the pub-
lic appreciation of their intentions and their efforts has
enabled them to render in the diffusion of knowledge.
But a brief summary may be permitted ; and in making
it, they gratify their own feelings by the recollection of
the obvious truth, that they could not have withstood
the opposition which was excited by their first united
appearance, if they had not created a hundred sup-
porters for one opponent. In the " Library of Useful
Knowledge," they showed the possibilty of producing
sound treatises on the principles of all branches of
human inquiry, at prices heretofore unexampled in
lowness. In the " Library of Entertaining Knowledge,"
they proved that equal soundness of detail, but with
higher range of subjects than was usual in books of that
class, might be introduced into works as chea, intended
for lighter reading. In the " Farmer's Series," they have
brought within the reach of a very large proportion of
those employed in agriculture more and better informa-
tion than subsequent competition has ever attempted to
produce: the work on the " Horse," in:particular, is now
the principal manual on the subject. In the "Almanac"
and its "Companion," they successfully attacked nrevalent
absurdities, and made this valuable class of works, which
yields only to the newspaper in its power of introduc-
tion, a new vehicle of useful information. There is reason
to believe that they had a considerable share in induc-
ing the Government to abandon the stamp-duty on al-
increased the sale of these works to an enormous extent. In
to those defetocttbseofimethods
cbmeyas
snr
making
abaci
kes ,i
at
tgatmeasurehecheap
m o
stwhichr
rate.e c
eh
nal t has multipliedg
Ititferhhnao eieg tpytrii,
haf,were
geographical
lii 0 i
"Journal
arh
nl e
representation
materialsnumbers
uand
caac
: of
the series of maps they have effected a complete change
limbiutetdioo well
.knowenoratornaolnl wdheo.
Educa-
tion,' on , " they called the attention of many,
ecri"Gallery
p e
iwe
the ho whose
fs ememhdne
oeaate
hrafpnaopansppdnrs
unduoe
bolcors
hardly
information on the existing state of education, at home
dnrede
andan d
babroad,uuks which were very
were
houthsaendu attiofithou-
twhraaaldsi
nt s examinedftiu,leltyh„e :a,
pe
psn
ulnintych:e:e
ildeas
gut
tbahojzaei
Magazine,"
etht.
:: e
works of art.
ged the
a cia"
of
cheap
Penny
and science in such
plan of
only of curtaili he circulation of
el iecnaetyi o,ns
but, offensives
introducing,t o mor
andsals sat
stimulatingi
tion by others, into quarters where
tsshuhs
plan of
l(ird they
penetrated, of oth literature and art.
Cyclopedia," they brought before
vvsands,orks articles
as
reference goodh adas
confinedthoswhichetu t,
(n)ugbdt i ,
titheydictionaries
rmi
east materially a
literaturel l y dam a
a manner as to be of little avail except to those
used the longer and more important articles (fre
havec
vst rnuoc tdi
who
as excellent as the minor ones were bad) as sie3luently
separate treatises. This work has been the many
separatewritten calling forth such articles, not only means of
for it but
suggested by it, as that of the Astronomer Royal
on
Gravitation, in which the species of popular e
planation which Newton gave ox'
f his own
syste
has been not only rendered accessible to mul-
titudes, but greatly increased in the extent towhich
it " Friendly -
it is carried. In the works on
Societies," and
on " Annuities," the very actuary whose
professional
books they are has been furnished_ with more extensive
tables than previously existed ; while the price at
which they are published has prevented them from
being only and merely professional.
In history and biography, the " Library of Useful
Knowledge" has supplied many
_treatises of value. And
although not intended expressly to promote original
research, but only to place before large masses etc
readers the results of existing investigati,,,*_,
yet it has
happened, incidentally, that the Committee has been
the suggesting cause of works which are valtutbla-