The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-17 00:00:00

To conclude with TEKELI.

THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT-GARDEN.
THIS EVENING will be performed Auber's Opera of
LESTOCQ ; OR, THE FETE OF THE HERMITAGE.
Lestocq, Mr. H. Phillips; Count Goloffkin, Mr. Gieubelei; Dimitri,
Mr. Wilson. The Princess Elizabeth, Miss Shirrelr.

To conclude with BLACK EY'D SUSAN.
William, Mr. T. P. Cooke; Blue Peter, Mr. Templeton,
Black Ey'd Susan, Miss Taylor.

The publication of Tn SUN NEWSPAPER commenced this day
at 15 ntinutes past 3 o'clock.

LONDON.
TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 17, 1835.

The conduct of the Marquis of LONDONDERRY,
in resigning the embassy to St. Petersburg, is no more
than we had expected from him ; for though we had
long known him to be indiscreet and impetuous, yet
we always gave him credit for the redeeming qualities
of frankness and generosity.
His behaviour on the present occasion proves that
we have not been mistaken in our estimate of him.
The embassy was his, to all intents and purposes. He
did not court the appointment ; it was offered him,
without the slightest solicitation on his part, by the
Duke of WELLINGTON, and he might justly have
insisted on retaining it ; but had he done so, he would
have compromised his friends in the Cabinet ; and this
his high sense of honour would not allow him to do.
He has accordingly sacrificed his own interests to
their's, and thereby shown, not only that lit pos-
sesses a disinterestedness very uncommon among
statesmen, and therefore the more highly to be prized ;
but that he has the good sense also to defer re-
spectfully to public opinion. The Noble MAR-
QUIS'S speech last night on the subject of his resigna-
tion, though here and there it evinced a soreness, which
by the way, was perfectly natural under the circum-
stances, yet, on the whole, was marked by much
propriety of feeling. We cannot extend the same
praise to the Duke of WELLINGTON'S. He put the
question on its highest Tory footing, forgetting that
times and circumstances are materially altered, since he
swayed the helm in the year 1830. Then, with a sub-
servient House of Commons, which spoke only the
sentiments of a Tory Aristocracy, he was justi-
fied in declaring that "it was impossible that the
House of Commons could agree to a vote questioning
such an appointment ;" but now, he should know
better than to make such a declaration. It is now
neither more nor less than an idle bravado. Why was
Reform called for, except that by its means the peo-
ple might be enabled to exercise a wholesome influ-
ence over Ministerial appointments ? Men are not
put into high official situations to gratify private feel-
ings of friendship, but to advance the interests of their
country. In the case before us the Marquis of LON-
DONDERRY was appointed to the Russian Embassy,
because he was personally liked and respected by the
Duke of WELLINGTON. The question of his fitness for
the office does not appear to fiave been once inquired into.
His Grace thought well of him. That was enough. And
so it would have been under the old Tory Regime. But
Parliament is fastidious now-a-days, and will do its
best to put a veto on all Ministerial appointments—be
they Whig, or be they Tory---but such as bid fair to
benefit the people. The Marquis of LONDONDERRY'S
was not one of these. He was hampered by his opi-
nions. His prejudices stood in the way of his utility.
Hence he was very properly declared unfit to serve his
country in the quality of Ambassador. His conduct
affbrds a striking contrast to that pursued by Sir RO-
BERT PEEL, under nearly similar circumstances. The
former, when he found that the sense of the House of
Commons was against him, had the grace to defer
to its opinion, and resign his appointment. The
latter, though the sense of that same House has
been twice shown to be unfavourable to him,
still sticks to office, just as if he were in full pos-
session of a commanding majority of votes. He will
not take a hint, be it ever so broad. Though he is
Minister only so long as Lord STANLEY pleases to
wag his tail in his favour, yet he still talks and acts,
as though it were impossible for any opposition to dis-
lodge him from the Treasury Bench. We wish he
would follow the discreet example of the Marquis of
LONDONDERRY, and thereby add one more to the
many benefits he has conferred on his country.

This evening (Tuesday) Alderman WOOD is to
introduce his Bill for the better Regulation of Cabrio-
lets, Omnibuses, and other Stage Carriages, and—
curiously enough—,, of the Drivers and attendants
thereof" as well. The Hon. Member is not remark-
able for the invariable success of his efforts as a maker
of laws, but we hope his plans have been so well di-
gested upon the present occasion, in separating the
nuisance from the convenience attendant upon these
conveyances, that his present undertaking may turn out
more fortunately than some of the past have done.
The loss occasioned to shop-keepers in the line of
streets through which the Cabriolets and Omnibuses
ply for hire—the imminent peril to passengers—the
offensive disturbance created by the cads, in their loud

and incessant cries during the twelve most important
business hours of the day—and the obstruction caused
by the excessive number of these carriages—are all
well known evils which counterbalance by an hundred
fold any convenience which the metropolitan public
can derive from the existing system. Passengers are
too happy to escape the risk of street-crossing, to waste
much time in looking at the commodities exposed in
shop windows, and, indeed, the pavement is at all times
too much crowded to permit their doing so if they
would ; so that the shopkeeper can now depend little
on the chance custom which once constituted his most
profitable business. We once counted no less than
nine ponderous Omnibuses in close and unbroken suc-
cession between the Mansion-house and Bow Church,
each as near to the curbstone as the wheels could be
brought, and crawling along at a snail's own pace the
while ; it surely cannot be contended that the public re-
quire this redundancy of convenience—the empty state
of most of them, in fact, refutes the assumption—why,
therefore, should the shop-keeper be compelled to suffer
a ruinous loss for the benefit of no party. We trust
that whatever may be the nature of the details of Al-
derman WOOD'S proposed Bill, the House will " adopt
the principle."
The cheapness of travelling has been adduced in
support of the convenience of these machines to the
public, particularly as instanced by the ride from
Whitechapel to Kensington—one end of London to
the other—for a mere sixpence. A most mistaken notion
prevails on this point. If the driver get a fare at the
former place he proceeds at a most lingering pace until
the vehicle is full, or nearly so, which in most instances
seldom occurs save in wet weather : but if at a cer-
tain point in the mid-distance, after having taken up
and dropped down two or three stray fares, it happens
that none remain, he pulls his horses round, and " tries
back again for better luck," and this, perhaps, half-a-
dozen times, or so long as his jaded cattle will allow
him. Now, we suggest a hint to the worthy Alderman
on this part of the subject, which, if adopted, would
tend very much to abate a portion of the nuisance : in
no instance permit a Cab or Omnibus, plying for hire,
to be turned round in the street it has entered between
the point of starting and its ultimate destination. By
this means, the one continuous current of vehicles so
produced, would accomplish an easy and speedy vent
for the discharge of the over-crowded carriage-ways.
Another means, also, of ridding the streets of this kind
of repletion, would be to enforce that every such vehicle
should proceed, neither at a walking nor a galloping
pace, but at a trot, (except, of course, when taking up
or putting down passengers, or when prevented by the
ordinary obstructions which occasionally take place in
street roads,) which will at once prevent dangerous
racing, unnecessary stoppages, and injurious delays.
The effect of this scheme is aptly illustrated by the
state of the street roads during a shower of rain, when
every vehicle is brought into full activity.
Another suggestion, and we have done. For Mercy's
sake, let a step be put to that most useless, offensive,
and deafening nuisance—the Cads' cries ; they but
make the confusion more distracting, and interrupt the
quiet of business conversation, both in doors and out of
doors, without being of the slightest advantage to either
the public or the proprietors ; an announcement board
in front and behind these carriages were quite sufficient
for the interest of both.

For the convenience these conveyances afford to any
one person once in a week, loss and annoyance are oc-
casioned to a hundred others every hour of that time.
It is quite time, therefore, that Parliament should inter-
fere by some Legislative protection; and be the origi-
nyor of it whom he may, we trust the House will
consider less the author than the public, whose safety
and profit are endangered.

The Paris papers of Sunday have been received.
They contain the report of a long and interesting de-
bate in the Chamber of Deputies, on Saturday, on the
late Ministerial changes and resignations. The Minis-
ters were hard pressed by the leaders of the Opposi-
tion, particularly by MM. MANGUIN and SouzET,
who gave them no quarter. The Ministerial defence
was a most miserable attempt to justify the past con-
duct of the Cabinet. M. THIERS, who twice ad-
dressed the Chamber in the course of the sitting, de-
clared that, seeing the numerical force by which
he was opposed, he entertained a " scruple " (of
conscience) as to the fact of the majority being
with him, and therefore felt himself constrained, from
conscientious motives, to advise his Royal Master to
change his Ministers. Afterwards, however, he dis-
covered that he had been too precipitate in suffering
his mind to be alarmed, and finding that he might,
without any hazard to his soul, believe the majority
to be with his party, he had explained the error into
which he had fallen to the KING, and, as a matter
of course, was permitted to resume his portfolio. This,
in point of fact, is the substance of TRIERS' defence
of the Cabinet, and a more hollow or insignificant one
was never offered to the Representatives of a free
people. What ! was a conscientious scruple, a whim
of M. THIERS; of such importance in the opinion of
the KING, as to justify the delay of all legislative busi-
ness for an ind efinite period—the dispatching of couriers
to London an d the foot of the Pyrenees in depth of
winter—and -the fermenting of a dangerous excitement
from the centre to the remotest extremity of France?
This statemt mit must be either true or false. If true, in
what a ridiculous position does it not place the KING
and his resp ansible advisers I Was there in reality no per-
son with su 3icient courage to interrogate M. THIERS on
the precise :grounds on which his scruple had arisen ?
Was there :no person to devise a scheme by which his
conscientiot is doubt might have resolved itself into a
reality, with .out having recourse to a dissolution of the
Cabinet ? Was there no Ministerial understrapper to
try the tert per of the Chamber, and ascertain the
strength of the Opposition, by making a motion, em-
bracing th( s -views of the Cabinet on the amnesty, and
other impc ataut questions likely to lead to a dissolution ?
But it is r seedless to multiply questions on this head.
The KIN G,, with all his faults, is not destitute of
great abiitit ies. He is not the person to be de-
terred by scruples ;" and even if he were, his know-
ledge of M. THIERS would be quite deficient to incline
him to doub t the religious nature of any proceeding
from suck a quarter. In fact, the explanation of M.
TRIERS, if accepted, would place a fool's head on
regal sh milders, and this we must protest against,
as far as regards the reigning Sovereign of France.
The fact is, that the KING is personally disgusted with
the pre sent Cabinet ; he would get rid of the
whole gn 3up if he could ; but after two ef-
forts, he is now convinced that he cannot
find t colig to act the Ministerial farce on the
same easy ter. ms.
In the cou
rse of the debate a curious fact was eli-
cited, which no doubt will have its proper weight with

the nation. M. TRIERS admitted that in order to
induce MM. SOULT or GERARD to join the Cabinet,
the KING had ceded a general amnesty to which the
late Cabinet consented ; but that those Noblemen
having declined to take office even on these terms, the
amnesty would not now be granted! Can there be any
thing more atrocious than this? Are the lives of some
hundreds of brave, but misguided, men, to be thus
sported with ? Will France, after all she has suffered,
permit a King to compliment a Minister with the lives
of his people ? Or will any man say, who ever heard
of the sacred name of justice, that after this offer on
the part of the King, it would be less than a judicial
slaughter to condemn the prisoners of April to undergo
capital punishment ? It is quite clear that if the
King could compliment a Minister with a general
amnesty, the trial of the prisoners is neither an act of
moral nor political necessity, and consequently must be
criminal in the highest degree.
As the debate was adjourned until Monday, not-
withstanding the cries of the Ministerial partizans for
passing to the order of the day, we shall await its con-
clusion before expressing more fully our opinions upon
it. As there is no motion before the Chamber, the
result will be no criterion by which to judge of the exact
strength of political parties. General SEBASTIANI left
Paris at eleven o'clock on Saturday for London. On
Sunday the Duke de BROGLIE was waited upon by
several influential members of the Legislative Cham-
bers and the corps diplomatique, and congratulated on
his appointment to the Presidency of the Council.

German papers have been received, which state that
a number of important improvements chiefly commercial,
have been made in the city of Leghorn. The import
duties have been abolished, and the trade, in conse-
quence, has greatly increased. The following is a
most important announcement :—" A new source of
wealth to this country is the discovery within these
fifteen years of quantities of Borace (Sal Borace) an
article which formerly was to be had from India only.
The use which has been made of this acid in dyeing
for some years past, caused the price to rise to thrice
what it formerly was, while the expense of manufactur-
ing it has been greatly reduced by employing, instead
of wood or charcoal, the action of volcanic heat, which
may be done at a short distance from the pits, which
are near Dolterra."

We have been requested to state that a meeting of
a Society of Exiled Poles, resident in London, under
the name of " The Polish Society of Mutual Instruc-
tion," will be held at the Mechanics' Institution,
Holborn, on the 19th instant. The meeting, of
course, will be public ; and it is the earnest wish
of every member of the Society that it may be
respectably and numerously attended. The ob-
jects of the " Polish Society of Mutual Instruc-
tion" are chiefly the education of each other,
and the communication of a knowledge of the
languages of France, Spain, Germany and Poland, to
the children of English parents who are too poor to
send their offspring to schools where these languages
are regularly taugbal, Considering the many disad-
vantages under which the brave, but unfortunate
Poles have had to labour, we cannot but admire the
success which already begins to attend their praise-
worthy efforts. Their school for the gratuitous in-
struction of English children is, we have learned,
already established in Archer-street, Haymarket ; and
58 pupils are at present receiving instruction. The
teachers receive no compensation whatever for their
attendance ; and what is still more philanthropic
on the part of the Society, books are provided
with which the children are furnished during the
hours of attendance. We confess we have been
greatly moved by these kind and considerate
exertions on the part of the Polish refugees. They
are a most triumphant refutation of the calumnies put
forth. by the minions of Russia, to the effect that they
are indifferent' to labour, and to the necessity of con-
tributing to the best of their ability to their own sup-
port. We trust that a Society formed on such an ex-
cellent basis, and with such praiseworthy objects in
view, will not want all that support, from high
and influential quarters, to which it is so Well
entitled. Among the members of the British legis-
lature, we have no doubt but that there are some
who will be happy to have an opportunity afforded them
of aiding the Poles in a task in all respects so worthy
of them. For our own part, we feel the greatest plea-
sure in having to announce exertions so highly meri-
torious ; and we trust that the meeting fixed for the
19th instant, at which the proceedings of the Society
are to be made public, will not pass over without call-
ing forth an expression of those feelings with which
Englishmen must regard such spirited exertions on
the part of the illustrious exiles.

The Navy Estimates were proceeded with last night.
A discrepancy will be found explained which had ap-
peared between the announcement of Ministers, that a
reduction of 332,0001. had been made in those esti-
mates, and the statement of Lord ASHLEY on Friday
night, in which the reduction was mentioned as only
amounting to 232,0001. It seems that this difference
arose from an advance of 100,0001. which had been
inadvertently included in the estimates of last year,
and had thus increased their amount by that sum, but
that, as we stated on Saturday last, the actual reduc-
tion of the naval expenditure in the present esti-
mates is 232,0001., and not 332,000/., as com-
pared with those of last year. Mr. HUNIE, as
usual, closely contested every inch of debatable
ground. He asked why new officers were constantly
entering the army and navy, while there were so many
on half-pay most anxious and desirous of being put on
active service ? And we believe that he was not far
wrong when he added, that it cuuld only be done to
provide for the junior branches of the aristocracy. The
Hon. Member proceeded to complain of the want of
information in the estimates, respecting the number of
officers on half and full pay, the promotions, and under
what circumstances they have taken place, and other de-
tails of a similar nature, which were necessary to enable
the House to judge, whether the system pursued by the
Government was an economical and effective one. Mr.
HUME contended that the Estimates would never be
properly scrutinized by the House of Commons, until
the system was adopted of referring them to a Select
Committee, and he accordingly made a motion to that
effect. We entirely concur in this opinion, which was
supported by Sir HENRY PARNELL, than whom no
man understands better the practical details of finan-
cial arrangements, Dr. BOWRING, and other members.
The argument used by Sir R. PEEL, that it would
be transferring the Government from the Exe-
cutive to the House of Commons, touched the very
chord which we should have struck in contending
for the appointment of a Committee. It was to
give Parliament an effective control over the expen-
diture and government of the country, that the Reform

Bill was passed ; but of what use is it to return real
representatives to Parliament, if they are not to have an
opportunity of fully investigating the public expendi-
ture, and of closely watching the manner in which the
Executive carry on the Government? This constant
vigilance and watchful superintendence will not, we
know, suit the admirers of the good old system, and
we may expect to find them, like Sir ROBERT, en-
deavouring to interpose the " Prerogative" between
the Repiesentatives of the people and the Executive ;
but the time is now past for such arguments. The
Reform Bill, fortunately, has become the law of the
land, and, assuredly, the nation will not submit to be
deprived of its chief fruit and intent. England, as
was remarked by Sir H. PARNELL, is the only Re-
presentative Government in which the details of any
measure, and especially of financial arrangements, are
discussed and settled otherwise than in a Committee.
It is only there where full information can be
obtained, by the attendance of the official
persons who are alone capable of furnishing it, each
in his own department. Let him who doubts the
propriety of referring the details of financial arrange-
ments to a Committee, attend but a single sitting of the
House of Commons when the Estimates are brought
forward. There he will see the money of the country
voted away by millions in a very thin House, and per-
haps at one or two o'clock in the morning, amidst the
yawning or sleeping of half the Members present, and
the evident anxiety of most of the rest to get rid of
the horrid subject with the utmost expedition. But
for the questions and scrutiny of Mr. HUME, and a
few other Members, the present system of agreeing to
the estimates, and voting the supplies, would be a mere
matter of form. The truth is, that in no country are
the practical details of the business of Parliament so
ill understood and conducted as in England, and there
is no subject to which the hand of Reform has more
need of being applied, or to which it could be applied
with more benefit to the public.

Our readers will perceive, by an advertisement in
another part of The Sun, that a new Office for the
Insurance of Life has been established in the Metro-
polis. This is an event on which we heartily congra-
tulate the public, for it is one in which the public are
deeply interested.
To enlarge on the importance of such institutions at
this time of day would be almost a superfluous task.
Their advantages are too justly appreciated, and too
generally acknowledged, to require the aid of the press
to recommend them. There is no man so dull as
not to be aware of the uncertainty of life, nor so
thoughtless and unfeeling as not to look forward with
anxious solicitude to the situation in which those who
are dear to him shall be placed, when he is called from
the scene of his earthly labours. It is, and ever must
be, the dearest wish of every man's heart to provide for
the future comfort of the objects of his affection. But
until offices were established for the insurance of life,
this wish, so natural, so strong, and so universal, could
be but imperfectly accomplished. These enlightened
and beneficent institutions, in opening new sources of
enjoyment, and in more widely diffusing the means of
happiness, afford a noble instance of the triumph of
modern intelligence over the ignorance and the defi-
ciencies of former times. The affluent can now resort
to an obvious and easy remedy, for the disastrous effects
of those sudden vicissitudes of fortune from which ex-
perience proves they are not exempt, and against which
they had formerly no protection ; while the man of
humbler means or more precarious resources—he
whose income is derived either from fixed salary or
professional emolument, or is dependent on the contin-
gencies of commerce—flies to the Life Insurance-office
as to a city of refuge—of refuge from the worst enemies
of human happiness, those tormenting fears for the future
which haunt the imagination and corrode the heart.
To those, and they are not a few, who are thus cir-
cumstanced—whose minds have been harassed, and
whose exertions have been paralysed, by the ever-re-
curring idea that, should the frail thread of life be
prematurely cut short, their families would be left ex-
posed to all the miseries of destitution,—what can afford
such tranquillity, such satisfaction, such unalloyed de-
light, as the consciousness of having, by putting aside
periodically, a small pittance, secured a comfortable
provision for those who must otherwise have been cast
upon the wide world, or reduced to the scarcely less
mortifying alternative of depending upon the bounty
of relatives, doled out as that bounty too often is, with
ill concealed reluctance ?
The benefit of life insurance to all classes of the
community being so manifest, the question is not
whether an individual shall avail himself of this mode
of providing for his family, but to which of the In-
surance Offices he shall resort—which of them holds
out the greatest advantages, or, in other words, which
will give the best return for his money ? This is not
a matter of indifference to any one : to the man of
limited means it is a point of essential importance; and
when we state that, in our opinion, the Metropolitan
possesses claims to public patronage superior to those
of every other Institution of the same kind, we state the
result of a conviction founded, not merely on an exami-
nation of the prospectus issued by its respectable Di-
rectors, but also on the most careful personal enquiries.
As, however, we neither expect nor wish that our
readers should be implicitly guided by our opinion,
however carefully formed, we shall proceed to lay be-
fore them the grounds of our judgment ; and in doing
this, we shall first point out the advantages which the
Metropolitan possesses in common with other Institu-
tions, and then those by which it is peculiarly distin-
guished.

It may not perhaps be out of place to premise that
in all Insurance Offices the annual payment made by
each contributor is regulated by the probability of his
living a certain number of years, and that there-
fore it is of the utmost importance that the data
upon which this probability is calculated should be
correct. For if the duration of life be assumed as less
than it really is, it is evident that an unnecessary
burden is imposed upon the insured. In some of the
earlier Offices, this radical error has been admitted to
such an extent that, out of the excess of the payments
above what was necessary for the security of the Insti•
tution, a surplus fund, amounting to millions, has ac-
cumulated. The equitable distribution of this fund is
evidently attended with difficulties almost, if not alto-
gether, insuperable.
In some Offices, a portion, and in others the whole
of the enormous profit thus gained is absorbed by a
Proprietary, those offices being founded upon the plan
of a periodical division of profits amongst parties who
have an interest separatefrom that of the general body
of the insured. We are glad to see that the Metropo-
litan proceeds upon a much more enlightened and
liberal plan. Its fundamental principle is that of mu-
tual insurance, according to which, the whole of the
profits are brought back to the insured. There are,

we believe, not more than one or two offices of this
description in the Metropolis.
A prominent feature of the new Office, and one which
cannot fail to attract public attention, is the diminu-
tion of the premiums after a certain number of years.
Although it does not claim this as a distinguishing
peculiarity, inasmuch as in adopting this excellent
principle, it has followed the example set by the Lon-
don Life Association ; yet in the practical application
of the principle, it has introduced a decided improve-
ment. In the London Life Association, the term of
full payment, that is, the period which must elapse
before the diminution of the premium begins, is seven
years—in the Metropolitan it is five. Nor is this all
—the latter Office divides its year into quarterly pe-
riods, from any one of which the term of five years'
full payment may commence, according as the in-
surance is made : whereas the former has only
one day in the year from which its term of
seven years begins ; and any one wishing to insure
who applies after this day, must pay for the remainder
of the year—perhaps ten or eleven months, or more—
before his seven years of probatiou can commence ; so
that in some cases the term of full payment may be ex-
tended to within a day of eight years.

The Directors of the new Office undertake, after the
five years of probation shall have been completed, to
make loans on the security of the policy ; and should
an insurer, by reason of absence from home, or of any
temporary embarrassment, find it difficult to keep up
his annual payment, he may have an advance of money
for this purpose, equal to the value of his policy.
We come now to the peculiarities of the new Office,
or those points in which it differs from every other :

Ist. Greater latitude is allowed to those insurers who
wish to trave , and fewer restraints imposed upon
them. Persons insuring in the Metropolitan are al-
lowed, during peace, the free and unrestricted range of
the whole of Europe, any part of which they may visit
as often as they please, or reside in, as it may suit their
convenience, without notice given, or leave asked, and
without paying a higher premium, or forfeiting their
policies should death occur while they are absent. from
Great Britain ; and they may also, on the same terms,
visit once any part of America north of the River Poto-
mac—it being fairly assumed that every man is more
deeply interested in the preservation of his life than any
Office can be, and that for his own and his family's
sake, he will not run unnecessary risks.
This is a provision so liberal and so advantageous
that it ought of itself to give this institution a pre-
ference over all others.

2d. That which is now invariably ceded in cour-
tesy—too often painful courtesy—by all offices,
is here made a matter of right : namely, that in the
event of death by self-destruction, or duelling, the
value of the policy—but not of course the amount
insured—is given to survivors.

3d. Those who have paid the first five years' pre-
mium have, besides the usual indulgence of thirty
days for making the annual payment, two months more
upon payment of a small fine, without furnishing a
certificate of health ; so that if by the insurer's own for-
getfulness, or the fraud or negligence of an agent, the
payment during this time has been omitted, the policy is
not forfeited, although the health of the party may
have become impaired ; and if a certificate of health is
produced, there is even a further indulgence of three
months granted.
4th. When an insurer becomes tired of his policy, or
when the purpose for which his insurance was made has
been answered, the new office engages to accept of
another life—not older—in substitution, thereby saving
him the great sacrifice which is usually made by the
sale of it.

There is only one other point which we have to
notice, and it appears to us to be one of great impor-
tance—we mean the subject of agency. The perni-
cious, we had almost said scandalous, practice of pay-
ing those who can induce other persons to insure their
lives, prevails, we believe, in most, if not in all the
Insurance Offices. We know that in some instances
this abuse is carried to such an extent that the
agent receives 5 per Cent. on the premiums of
the parties who insure on his recommendation, and
that not merely on the first payment, but annually,
during the whole continuance of the insurance. 'What,
we ask, would be said if the dealer who should pay an
agent a per tentage on the outlay of the customers he
should bring to the shop ? This is bribery of the
worst kind—oand the trader who bribes highest, how-
ever worthless the article in which he deals may be,
gets the most customers. The " Metropolitan" en-
tirely rejects this practice, so immoral in its tenden-
cies, and so mischievous in its effects.
We have now completed the details which we con-
sidered it our duty to lay before the public, and which
we flatter ourselves will bear us out in the preference
we are disposed to give to the Metropolitan Life
Assurance Society, over every other Association of the
kind with which we are acquainted. 'lf we are accused of
having devoted more space to this subject than we usually
do to the discussion of such questions, we must plead
guilty to the charge ; but we must at the same time
reply that our justification is to be found in the lively
sensation which the establishment of the Metropolitan
has excited among commercial men in the city, and in
the importance which the public cannot fail to attach
to an additional Life Insurance Institution, especially
when founded, as this is, on principles so much more
liberal, and so much better adapted, both to the wants
and the wishes of the times, than any now in existence.
We have only to add, that the machinery of the
new Office is excellent. The Directors appear to us
to have been very judiciously selected. It has been
too much the fashion, in such cases, to look more to
the eclat of high-sounding names than to respectability
and efficiency. The Directors of the Metropolitan
are working men, in the full tide of business, at the
head of large establishments, and commanding respect,
not only from personal character, but from their great
influence and extensive connexions.

It gives us much pleasure to see in the Direction
several members of the Society of Friends, a body
of men of whom it is but justice to say, that while,
from conscientious motives, and the soundest christian
principle, they abstain from the warfare of blood, they are
always the first to buckle on the harness, and the last
to quit the field, when the battles of humanity are to
be fought and the best interests of social life promoted.
The gentleman who has been appointed to the re-
sponsible and most important office of Superintendant
or Actuary, bears a high character for his attainments
in those branches of Science which are connected with
his official duties, and an intimate acquaintance with
which is not only necessary for the satisfactory dis-
charge of those duties, but highly deli fixable on account
of the public confidence which it secures.
The Surgeon and the Solicitors are also men of the
first eminence in their respective prole; isions.

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