The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-01 00:00:00

ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY,
ROYAL INSURANCE BUILDINGS,
Lombard-street, London, and Liverpool.
EPITOME of ANNUAL REPORT for 1867.
The "ROYAL" has never had a larger body of Constituents
than now.
FIRE BRANCH.

_
PREMIUMS in 1867 £/60,553
being a larger revenue than in any preceding
year.
LOSSES by Fire in 1867 £292,125
NET PROFITS, after paying all losses and ex-

penses £56,373
LIFE BRANOIT.
Annual Average of new business in 1865-6-7..... £BOl,OOO
Do. during previous Quinquennium... £688.000
Amount added to Life Reserves in 1867............ £128,583
LIFE PROPOSALS now effected will participate in the
increased share of Profits recently conceded to Policy-
holders.

PERCY M. DOVE, Manager and Actuary.
JOHN B. JOHNSTON, Secretary in London.
August, 1868.

/r HE METROPOLITAN CONVALESCENT
INSTITUTION.
President—His Grace the Duke of WELLINGTON.
Treasurers—The Right Hon. Russell Gurney, M.P., and
Col. W. F. Grant.
DONATIONS and SUBSCRIPTIONS are earnestly
solicited, to enable the Board to meet the greatly increased
expenditure of this old Charity. 240 adults are received
at Walton ; 80 children at Mitcham and Hendon.
Bankers—London Joint-Stock Bank Pall-mall.
CHARLES HOLMES, Secretary.
Office, 82, Sackville-street, Piccadilly.

METROPOLITAN GOSSlP—Thursday.

Mr. Glyn seems to have had no difficulty in forming a
House on Tuesday, albeit we are still within the " octave"
of Christmas. About a hundred and twenty members were
present, and a little liveliness was imparted to the scene
by the applause with which the new Ministers who have
obtained re-election were received as they went up to take
the oaths. They did not all perform that formality.
The Right Hon. John Bright " made affirmation"
only, being, as the official records of the House say, " one
of the people called Quakers "—one of " my own people,"
as he would say. It was noticed that the new President
of the Board of Trade had received the seal of advancing
age during the last few months. His hair has become
almost white ; yet otherwise he looks rather younger than
older, looks as a man has a right to look who sees the prin-
ciples for which he has been battling all his life, some-
times almost singly, but never faintheartedly,
triumphant. Having taken his seat on the Trea-
sury Bench he went away, not alone, but
with that one man who of all others most
vigorously opposed Mr. Bright's principles—his
late antagonist, his present colleague—Mr. Lowe.
These two Ministers of the Crown walked together arm-
in-arm—a sight for politicians and philosophers to ponder
over. It was only one of those many results of the Con-
servative opposition to a mild Reform Bill which has
fairly bewildered the county squires who cheered so
lustily the denunciations of the member for Caine.
A Cabinet Council was held on Tuesday. After that
Ministers dispersed. They mean to take a fortnight's
holiday, and they will then return to town to work like
giants. They are fully alive to the great expectations
which they have excited, and they mean to strain every
sinew to justify those expectations. Just now the most
pressing matter is the Turco-Greek difficulty. This was
the main subject of discussion at Tuesday's Council, which
was held at the Foreign Office. There is now good hope
that war may be avoided. The Conference is considered
certain to take place ; some sanguine persons have fixed
January 2 for the first meeting. But this is wholly
out of the question. All the arrangements have
to be made the various plenipotentiaries fixed
upon, and the programme drawn up. It is determined that
the Conference shall be held at Paris. I cannot state
positively who will attend on behalf of this country, but,
remembering that Lord Lyons, our Ambassador at Paris,
has a special acquaintance with Eastern affairs, derived
from his position for some years as Ambassador at Con-
stantinople, it seems not unlikely that he will be our
representative. When Ministers return to town each will

have to prepare his contribution to the Ministerial list of

measures. This list is likely to be an extended one, and it.
will also be marked by a more than ordinary degree of
unity. There has not been for many years a Ministry
whose members are so thorougly in accord as the present.
It may seem strange to say this, remembering that the
Cabinet contains Mr. Bright and Mr. Lowe ; but these
have almost everything in common. Mr. Lowe was always
a Radical so far as political work was concerned; he was not
a Radical simply so far as referred to political machinery.