The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-29 00:00:00

THE STUN, LONDON, EDN ESDAY EVENING, MAY 29, 1807.

nETROPOLFFRAINIT
wan, durGs RE WESTERN
HORSE SHOW, AGRICULTURAL HALL,
ISLINGTON,
May 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st.
KING'S-CROSS is the NEAREST STATION. Fre-
(pent TRAINS between the CITY, PADDINGTON,
NOTTING-MU, HAMMERSMITH, KENSINGTON,
and all intermediate Stations._ •

TILE LIVERPOOL AND LONDON and
GL')Bk INSURANCE COSIPANY.
On-ices-1 Dale-street, Liverpool; 20 and 21 Poultry ; 7,

Coruliill; and Chafing-cross, London

The Invested Funds now amount to £3,254,331, the
Fire Revenue to £818,055, and that of the Life to £254,397.
The moderate rates of premium, with a guaranteed fixed
Bonus for the Life Policies of this Company, .and their
value us Special Securities to third parties, render them
particularly advantageous. Whole world leave is granted
on reasonable terms, and claims aro paid thirty days after
admission.

JOHN ATKINS, Resident Secretary.

CLERICAL, MEDICAL, AND GENERAL
LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY.

BONUS MEETING, 1867.

Tho Report presented at a Meeting held on the 3d
January last, for the declaration of the EIGHTH BONUS,
showed,

1. As TO THE PROGRESS OF THE SOCIETY,
that, during the quinquennial period which terminated on
the 30th June, 1866,
NEW ASSURANCES for a total sum of £1,518,181,
and yielding £50,497 in Annual Premiums, had been
effected, of which sums the former exceeded by £31,811,
and the latter by £2,392, the corresponding items of any
previous period ; that
THE INCOME had increased from £195,400 to £215,327
per annum; and that
THE ASSURANCE FUND, after payment of £85,303
on account of Bonus at the last Division, had risen from
£1,422,191 to £1,619,339.
2. As TO THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE SOCIETY.
That the Assets on June 30, 1866, were £1,619,539 11 8
And the Liabilities on the same date 1,343,708 19 2

Leaving a surplus of £275,830 15 6

and that, after setting aside £50,000 as a special Reserve
Fund,

THE AVAILABLE PROFIT was £225,830 15s. 6d.,
of which sum £225,000 was recommended for division.
3. As TO TIIE RESULTS OF THE DIVISION.
That the portion of this sum of £225,000—viz., five-sixths,
or £lB7,soo—which fell to tho Assured, would yield a
REVERSIONARY ADDITION TO THE POLICIES
of £272,682, averaging 45 per Cent., or varying, with the
different ages, from 32 to 83 per Cent. on the premiunis
paid since the last division ; and that the
CASH BONUS, which is the exact equivalent of such
Reversionary Bogus, would average 26 per Cent. of the
like premiums.
The Report explained at length the nature of the In-
vestments and the bases of the Calculations, the results of
which, as above shown, are eminently favourable.

The next DIVISION OF PROFITS will take place in
January, 1872, and Persons who effect NEW POLICIES
BEFORE THE END OF JUNE NEXT will bo entitled
at that Division to one year's additional share of Profits
over later Assurers.

Prospectuses, Forms of Proposal, the Report above men-
tioned, and a detailed account of the proceedings of the
Bonus Meeting, can be obtained from any of the Society's
Agents; or of
GEORGE OUTOLIFFE, Actuary and Secretary,
13, St. James's-square, London, S.'Ar.

CONTRACTS FOR GROCERIES FOR ARMY
SERVICE (Duty Paid).
CONTRACT DEPARTMENT, ADMIRALTY, SOMERSET
HOUSE, May 22, 1867.
THE COMMISSIONERS for EXECUTING
1 the OFFICE of LORD HIGH ADMIRAL of the
UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and IRE-
LAND do hereby Give Notice, that on TUESDAY, the 4th
June next, at Twelve o'clock at Noon, they will be ready
to treat with such persons as may bo willing to CON-
TRACT for supplying and delivering into her Majesty's
Victualling Stores at Deptford, the undermentioned ar-
ticles, viz. :
Quantities.
7,000 Pounds.
COFFEE Roasted
Green or Raw 27,000 „
TEA (Congou) in Half Chests 15,000 „
SUGAR 138,000 „
PEPPER (Whole Black)
- • ••

Half of each quantities to be delivered in three weeks
from date of Contract, and the remainder in three weeks
afterwards, cr earlier if preferred by the parties tendering.
Tenders may be made for the whole or any portion of
the articles.
Their Lordships reserve to themselves the power, when
the Tenders are opened, of contracting either for the whole,
or for such part thereof only as they may deem fit, or far a
greeter quantity, or of not contracting for any, and also an
unlimited power of selection in accepting the renders.
Each Tender for Sugar must specify the mark and land-
ing number of each cask or package, the ship in which im-
ported, and the country or place of its growth or produce,
and an average sample (not less than 2 lbs. for each import
mark) must bo produced by the parties tendering, and
not an average of different marks or several imports, and
any parcel that is found not to be of the same mark or
average quality as the sample tendered and accepted, will
be rejected by the Officers.
Samples of the other Articles (not less than 2lbs. of
each), must be produced by the parties tendering.
The samples produced by persons whose Tenders are
not a'cepted are to be taken away by them immediately
after the Contracts have been decided.
No Tender will be received unless made on the printed
Form provided for the purpose, which may be obtained in
the lobby of the Department of the Controller of Victual-
ling, Admiralty,. Somerset House, where the Conditions of
the Contracts may also be seen.
All the Articles aro to be delivered duty paid, and the
Tenders are to be made at a rate per lb. for the Tea, and
at rates per 100 lbs. for the other articles, all the prices in-
clusive of duty.
No Tender will be received after Twelve o'clock at noon
on the day of treaty, and it will not be required that the
party tendering, or an agent on his bThalf, should attend
at the Office ou the day of Contract, as the result of the
offer received from each person will bo communicated to
him and to his proposed sureties in writing.
Every Tender must be addieSsed to the Secretary of the
Admiralty, and bear in the left-hand corner the words
"Tender for ," and must also be delivered at the
Department of the Controller of Victualling, Admiralty,
Somerset House.

By order,
ANTONIO BRADY,
Registrar of Contracts and Public Securities.

DEAFNESS.—The ORGANIC VIBRATOR.—
It fits into the ear, not perceptible, removes sin Zing
noises in the head, and enables deaf persons to hear at public
assembles. Every other kind of hearinz instrument. Nume-
rous testimonials for inspection. -S. and B. SOLUMUNS, 39,
Albemarle-street. Piccadilly.

TEA IS CHEAPER THAN EVER.
is. 61., 25., 2s. 61 per lb. arc the prices at whioh
PHILLIPS and CO.,
Tea Merchants, 8, King William-street, City, London, E.G.
are selling good and fine
BLACK TEA.
A. price current post free. 40s worth carriage free to any
Railway Station or Market Town is the United Kingdom.
All goods carriage tree to all parts of London.
Observe— PHILLIPS and Co. have no Agents.
Sugars are supplied at market prices.

THE LONDON FEVER HOSPITAL has
11 URGENT NEED of FUNDS.—Donations and Sub-
scriptions will best in tally. yed by Messrs. Dimsdale
and Co., 50, Cornhill; ), 1 • t mmond and Co., Ch iring-
cross; Messrs. Ciattai tl : s 3; rand; Messrs. Hoare,
Fleet-street; and ip.; I pied, at the Hospital,
PTerPO9l-road, N., the
H

N TI CE.

C. F. HA.NCOCK SON, & CO
JEWELLERS AND SILVERSMITHS TO THE QUEEN An)

PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES,

And by Special Appo'nt n•3nt to the principal Sovereigns

and Quarts of Euroln
Big respectfully to state that their only Address is
33 ez, 33, BII7I.Og.STREET,

MR. HOWARD, SURGEON-DENTIST, 52,
Fleet-street, has introduced an entirety new descrip-
tion of ARTIFICIAL f 1.31 r tr, fl iced without springs, wires,
or ligatures. They so perteczly ns-embte the natural teeth
as not to be distinguished fro the originals by the closest
observer; they will never change colour or decay. and will
be fond superior to any teeth ever before used. This
method does not require tite extraction of Mots, or any pain-
ful operation, and wilt support, and preserve teeth that are
loose, and is guaranteed to restore articulation and mastica-
tion. Decayed teeth stopped and rendered sound and useful
In mastication.

retained. We do not pretend that the clauses thus
ex
personsl ude
notwould
he entihtlaev de
toh enfranchisede
registered many
en
other i s undoubtedly b ted
adoptionl y t rn, ,
of
s the‘se
have
before grounds,r and it t
hat e marked,
lodger franchise has materially- affected the reasons
for maintaining them ; but it inn-t be remembered
that they have been abandoned out of deference to
prejadice rather than reason, and, we may almost
b.; permitted to say, through the influence of ignor-
ance rather than of knowle lge. On Thursday the
Committee will attack the second part of the Reftarin
Bill, and we cannot dissemble the difficulties they
will have to encounter, and which lie, indeed, on
the very threshold of their enterprise. The first of
the redistribution clauses is that which proposes to
disfranchise Great Yarmouth and the other con-
victed boroughs ; and every subsequent clause con-
tains proposals of disfranchisement, which must
occasion opposition, or of• enfranchisement, which
will raise a crowd of competitors for the privileges
of representation. There are further amendments
for altering the plan of conferring additional mem-
bers on populous constituencies, and for reforming
the method of voting itself. When the Chancellor
of the Exchequer brought in the Reform Bill he
more than half acknowledged the meagre character
of the scheme of redistribution is embodied, and
professed himself not unwilling to be encouraged
by the support of the house to greater efforts. We
trust the offer will be met, and the implied promise
redeemed. The enfranchisement bestowed by the
bill is ample and generous ; let the redistribution of
seats and the reform of our electoral machinery be
as bold and statesmanlike, and the bill of 1867 will
settle the problem of Reform for a longer time than
did its famous predecessor of 1832.
THE " WESTMINSTER GAZETTE" ON OUR INTEL-
LECTUAL PROGRESS.—Next to the votaries of
Wealth, the worshippers of Intellect are undoubt-
edly the most numerous and most powerful body of
the upper classes of England at the present time.
In fact, atno period, probably, in the history of the
world, even from the ripest days of Athenian genius,
have men of intellectual power evinced greater
activity, wielded greater influence, or obtained
higher consideration from their fellows, by reason
of their.mental gifts. Indeed, it may be safely said
that Mind is now fighting on equal terms with
Money for public favour, and in no way cedes the
palm to its rival. But a few years ago—within
the memory almost of living men—first-rate talent,
combined with the widest learning and greatest
culture, was impotent to save its possessor from
absolute want. Those works which we have now
come to regard as masterpieces of literature, and
ornaments to our language, failed to procure for
their authors even the barest livelihood, or to aid
them over the temporary difficulties beneath the
pressure of which they not unfrequently produced
some of their best writings. But now we have
changed all that. Posterity has done what it
could to recognise the merits of those literati who
were neglected by their own generation, and we
are in danger of running to the opposite extreme
in the treatment of the authors of our day. Not
only do we now lavish abundant praise, together
with more substantial rewards, upon works of
undoubted power and merit in the higher ranks
of literature, but fortunes are amassed and repu-
tations made by•novels, and works of a like cha-
racter, whose literary worth is of a very dubious
kind. If any stronger proof were wanting of the
great change of attitude wrought in our generation
towards the professors of Intellect, nothing could
more clearly show the power they have acquired
than their ready admission within the body of
our national Legislature, to which formerly only
unbounded wealth and personal influence opened
the way. In fact, from being almost a stigma
of contempt, literature—the outward manifesta-
tion of intellectual activity—has come to be a
lever by which a man may raise himself to the
highest places of emolument and honour, and
acquire an immense influence over a vast num-
ber of his fellow-creatures. It may be well, per-
haps, to look for a moment how the change has
been made, and what is its practical tend mcy.
The difference we have pointed out in the present
position of mental power, as compared with a few
years past, is, of course, due to the great change
effected in the intellectual state of the bulk of
the people. When, at the close of last century,
we came out of the struggles in which we had been
gloriously engaged on behalf of the freedom of
Europe, the nation settled down to what has since
proved to be a period of comparatively unbroken
quiet, and was thus enabled to divert its energies to
internal improvement, and the prosecution of the
arts of peace. The wonderful scientific discoveries
brought to light during this time, and the steady
and gradual enlightenment which broke upon a
multiplicity of subjects, served to fix firmly upon
the mind the doctrine of the proverb which teaches
that " knowledge is power." Impressed with this
notion, many began to see that we had been too
long in a state of ignorance, and that if we were
to do any good-Lif England were to acquire power,
its people must be 'placed in a position to gain
that essential preliminary to power—knowledge.
The cry once raised, and the tide of opinion fairly
turned,
.as is generally the case in such matters,
the reaction of public feeling was sudden and
rapid. Educate, educate, became the watchword,
which still resounds on all sides of us. Education
was to prove the panacea for all evils. Teach the
people to read and write, it was said, and they will
be thoroughly regenerated ; they will abandon
all their vices and will become virtuous and orderly.
Beneath the influence of this movement, there have
been established in the last few years, partly at the
expense of the State, National Schools, throughout
the length and breadth of the land, for the educa-
tion of the poorer classes. Municipal money and
that private patronage for which England is so
remarkable, have been exerted, and we have seen
mechanics' institutes, public libraries, and schools
for the arts and sciences, spring up numerously
around us,' and • learning of every branch has been
thus placed within the reach of all. In addition
to this, there has grown up, with our increased
commerce and prosperity, a wealthy, and numer-
ous middle-class, whose money has enabled them
to provide for their children a better and more
complete mental training than that given to our
working-classes. Still further to help on the course
of knowledge, we 'have thrown open many branches
of the public service to competition, by which
method we profess to bestow upon the fittest
of our youths appointments in the executive de-
partments of the Government, formerly supposed
to' fall by patronage to- very- inefficient ser-
vants. And- we have set on foot all over the
country, in connection with the universities,
public examinations under very attractive con-
ditions, which may be considered no mean incen-
tive in the same direction. It is by the impetus
thus given to the acquisition of learning, rendering
it as it were a sine qua non for success in life, that
we have completely reversed the position formerly
held by the professors of Intellect. We have created
a remunerative demand for their services, greater
almost than can be supplied, which has brought
them from a state of want and obscurity to one of
affluence and honour. But what has been the result
of this eager quest of knowledge, and in what man-
ner have our intellectual men employed the influ-
ence so unexpectedly put into their hands? Some
eager interlocutor immediately replies : Look at
the intelligence which is now manifested in every
direction. See how our libraries are constantly
thousand,
_
besieged by readers of everyclasbsr.oadNeaostte the
penny papers, which are overscattered
the country every day by the hundred
and let these facts bear testimony to the lively in-
terest now manifested in general literature and
the affairs of the world at large. Where else
than in Protestant England do you see displayed
a like mental activity to that which is proved, be-
yond doubt, to exist amongst us by the wondrous
development of our public press ? What an im-
mense advance, in fact, have we not made upon
the old state of things ! At first sight this lan-
guage sounds very unanswerable and convincing.
But let us look for one moment at the literature
so eagerly devoured-by this improved and enlight-
ened generation. With regard to their interest in
general literature what are the facts? Is it not
undeniably true that the chief call upon the libra-
ries is for the productions of the Braddons and
Woods of the day, not to mention the minor mem-
bers of the same branch of the craft, to the true
influence and tendency of whose works no discern-
ing person can be blind? Yet the tone of decided
immorality, more or less deep,
which pervades our
novels, is less pernicious and less enduring than the
terrible spirit of Atheism which inspires the seri-
ous portion of our literature, and is gradually find-
ing its way into the pages of popular fiction. The
speculations and conjectures of men of every shade
of
fe
themselves the educated classes.
Neither are
forminfitdheelistyta areple eagerlymental soughtfood of
thoser
a and, fact,e
al
such content that the wild dreams of their idols
of the most dan-
gerous works carry the poison
the poorer and less educated people of the
should be confined within the sphere of their
own society. Cheap editions
country, and only too well perforn; the task £Q'