The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-03 00:00:00

-
Royal Literacy Fund.

The anniversary festival of the Royal Literary
Fund took place last night at Willis's-rooms. About
100 gentlemen sat down to dinner. Lord Houghton
presided ; and among the company were the Bishop
of St. David's, Viscount Milton, M.P., Lord Crewe,
the Dean of Canterbury, Mr. Beresford-Hope,
M.P., Mr. Pollard-Urquhart, M.P., Sir J. Simeon,
M.P., Professor Fawcett, M.P., General Eyre, Sir
R. Murchison, Sir T. Tancred, Sir F. Doyle, Sir
W. Jones, Professor Kingsley, Professor Tyndall,
Rev. C. Merivale, Judge Manockjee Cursetjee
(Bombay), Rev. R. Whiston, Messrs. A. Trollope,
Spedding, G. Cruikshank, Forsyth, Bell, Swin-
burne, S. Baker, &c.
On the removal of the cloth, the noble CHAIR-
MAN, in proposing the toast of " The Queen," re-
ferred to the munificent patronage which her Ma-
jesty bestowed on this fund, and to the interest
which was taken in it by her late lamented Consort.
The toast was cordially received, as was also that
of " The Prince of Wales and the rest of the Royal
Family," in proposing which the chairman alluded
to the gracious presidency of his Royal Highness at
this anniversary two years ago, and expressed a hope
that other members of the Royal family might con-
fer upon them a similar honour in years to come.
In proposing "The Church," Sir W. JONES men-
tioned the loss sustained by poetry and philosophy
in the death of the Rev. J. Keble and Dr. Whewell,
and the able contributions rendered to history by
living members of the Church, such as the Bishop of
St. David's, the Rev. C. Merivale, and Dean Stan-
ley, and instanced our fine old Valhalla, Westmin-
ster Abbey, as a type of the close connection between
literature and the Church.
The Bishop of St. DAVID'S, in acknowledging the
toast, remarked that the Church of England,having
a book for its authentic charter and title deeds, and
being through its juste milieu position pressed on all
sides by hostile forces, could not but be closely con-
nected with literature. He thanked God that the
Church was unable to wield the weapons of physi-
cal force in maintaining the defensive, and he hoped
that whatever its outward fortunes might be, its
connection with literature, which was alike honour-
able to both, would ever continue.

The next toast was " The Army and Navy," to
which Gen. Eyre and Capt. Forbes responded.
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the toast of the
evening, " Prosperity to the Royal Literary Fund,"
remarked that last year the society came in conflict
with a very important section of the literary inte-
rests of England, who thought that some other or-
ganisation would be more beneficial. The result,
however, had been that they were as strong as ever,
and that they had fn)ly maintained their position.
This was an eleemosynDxY society, and it professed
to be nothing else. They did nothing to lead men
to choose literature as a like
every for that,
nynot be regulated by the
every other occupation,
law of supply anddemand, but it assisted those who,
having chosen that role, without any grave fault of
their own, fell into difficulties. Books had been
written upon the misfortunes of men of letters, but
after all they were the misfortunes of all men, arising
from improvidence, an over estimate ef their own
ability and disappointed aspirations. As his friend
Theodore Hook once remarked, it might well be
called a republic of letters, for they had not a sove-
reign among them. (Laughter.) The profession
of letters seemed to him to be one belonging to that
state of society in which literature was nascent, was
hardly accepted by the masses of the community,
and in which the literary man was looked upon as
something peculiar and extraordinary. Now he
looked forward to a time when literature would not
be a profession at all, but when the gift of writing
would be dispensed as widely in society as the
gift of conversation. Such a state of things of
course implied a very advanced state of society, and
one perhaps that had never yet been attained by
any State ; but when we considered how widely the
literary profession already extended, and how diffi-
cult it was becoming to determine who was a man
of letters and who was not, it certainly seemed that
we were in some degree approaching the ideal at
which he thought they should aim. Nothing, indeed,
could be more wonderful than the expansion of Eng-
lish literature at the present time. Articles ap-
peared almostdaily in obscure periodicals that would
have astonished people living 50 years ago. The
literary element in England was in a state of great
activity, and it was this very extension which called
for the operations of the Literary Fund. For what
was the position of a man of letters in this country
who was overtaken by misfortune ? Such a man,
as a man of thought and reflection, was necessarily
given to solitude, and came but little in contact
with society, while with the reticence which was an
essential ingredient of the English character, he
was disinclined to communicate his difficulties to
his fellow-men. In no other way, then, could
assistance be so delicately rendered him as by this
fund, for he would know that his case would be
considered with sympathy, and that with the ex-
ception of half a dozen whom he might meet next
day in society on terms of perfect equality, no one
would know his secret. (Hear, hear.) Moreover
this society was useful as bringing literary men to-
gether. They were, unfortunately, by no means
gregarious animals, though there were minds in
England, which, if brought into electrical commu-
nication, might produce Heaven knew what, and,
therefore, anything wlaich brought literary men into
contact with each other was a thing useful in itself,
and the more so as literature was rapidly expanding.
An extension of the franchise was now the topic of
much discussion, and he might compare with it the
extension of literature. He feared that the latter,
too, would be accompanied by a redistribution of
seats—(laughter)—but he should be very sorry to
see the old seats of literature, to which they were
so fondly attached, transferred altogether to tumul-
tuous magazine communities. He should not like
to see their old friends entirely superseded by the
Cornhill or the Fortnightly. An excellent lady, of
rather confused notions, had said that she had read
all about the cave of Adullam in Mr. Addison's
Spectator—(laughter)—and he trusted that the old
classical names would still remain household words,
and that these ancient boroughs would not be dis-
franchised. It might be that England had attained
its political zenith, for the rest of the world was
making such rapid strides that this country, while
as great and as prosperous as ever,remaining might
not retain its present pre-eminence. It was not for
us to say that this, for the good of the world, should
not be the case ; but we might at least look forward
to the extension of the English language, and we
might legitimately pride ourselves on the position
our literature had attained, as well in historical cri-
ticism as in poetry and every other department.
Its future destiny must be left to Providence, for—

man lie gave
" Upon the mind to
It pleaseth God to ride,
And make each passion-crested
~
Part of his mighty tide.
• n-erested wave
The noble chairman concluded, amid much applause,
by proposing the toast, which was drunk with great
and
enthusiasm,a ,_
alluncriptions to the fund to the
amount of about
"(X) were afterwards announced.
Mr. VENABLES, (LC., then proposed " The His-
torical and Imaginative Literature of England,"
coupling with it the names of Professor Kingsley
and Mr. A. Swinburne.

Professor KINGSLEY, in r,
should pass by the first part oCtiZ)nging, said he
a Professor of History, he a knew
coursetoast, for
being
of it. (Laughter.) With regard to the imaginative
nothing
.maginative
literature of the present day, he
pointed out the
predominance of female writers, mentioning
es •
ally Jean Ingelow, Adelaide Proctor, and
cre
authors of " John Halifax " and " Romola."
thought if this toast were continued, ladies would
have to be called upon to acknowedge it, for the
Amazons had invaded Parnassus. (Laughter.) The
ladies were beating the other sex out of the field,
and the advice he would give to any young man
who wished to avoid not only the charity of this
fund, but Whitecross-street Prison and the work-
house, would be to marry, if he bad the chance of
such good luck, a literary lady, and betake himself
to the humble and chivalrous service of reviewing
his wife's books. (Much laughter.)
Mr. SWINB URNE having also acknowledged the
toast, Sir R. MURC FUSON proposed " Classical and
Scientific Education," to which the Rev. It WINS"
Tog and Professor TYNDALL responded.
The Dean of CA TERBURY next proposed " The

Diffusion of English Literature," which was acknow-
ledged by Judge MANOCKJEE C URSETJEE ; and
Mr. TROLL OPE gave " The Pioneer 3 Civilisa-
tion," with which were coupled the names of Vis-
count Milton and Mr. Baker.
Several other toasts were drunk, and the pro,
ceedings did not terminate till a late hour.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

MADRAS.

The annual general meeting of this company was
held yesterday, at the London Tavern ; Mr. J.
Walker in the chair.
Mr. J. Byrne, the secretary, having read the
notice convening the meeting, the report. an abstract
of which has appeared in the Times, was taken as
read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, adverted to the loss the company has sus-
tained by the death of their late respected chair-
man, General D. Sim, who had during several years
' rendered great services to the company, and they
all regretted his loss. The report gave them a sum-
mary
of the affairs of the company, and he thought
the results were very satisfactory and encouraging.
The average mileage showed an increase of 60 miles
over that of the corresponding period of 1864. The
aggregate gross traffic showed an increase of £55,548,
and the net receipts an increase of £47,812 ; so that
while the increase in the mileage was 10 per cent.,
the increase in the gross traffic was 32 per cent.,
and in the net traffic 57 per
the ro cent. During that
.• time thug stock and permanent way were well
maintained ; and they felt most thankful for the
' absence of accidents, which spoke well for the vigi-
-1 lance and care of the officers and servants of the
company. Next month a further section, 32 miles
in length, of the line beyond Cuddapa would be
opened for traffic, and the whole of that line to the
junction with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway
at Raichoor would be completed by the time the
Peninsula Company's line was ready to join them
at that point. From Cuddapa to Raichoor was
156 miles, upon which the works were progressing,
including the great bridge over the Tumbudra.
The shipment of stores for their lines in India was
going on actively as usual. The company since
its first establishment had shipped 307,000 tens
of materials, including machinery, rails, &c., the
cost being about £2,750,000, and the number
of ships employed 695, out of which only six were
lost, but of course the company did not lose, as the
cost of the materials shipped were covered by the
insurance. The whole of the 307,000 tons of ma-
chinery, plant, and stores was shipped by their own
office; no brokers or shipping agents were employed
or warehouses engaged, as the goods were sent
direct from the manufacturers to the ships ; so that
their office in London had saved all expenses of
brokerage and so forth, and thus rendered consi-
derable service. The working of the south-west line
showed the very remarkable ezonomy of using iron
instead of wood for sleepers. Even on the west
coast, where abundance of wooden sleepers could be
obtained, the cost of maintenance was £164 per
mile per annum; whereas, on the Bangalore branch,
laid with iron sleepers, the cost was only £75 per
mile per annum for maintenance. On the North-
West line the maintenance was as low as £7l per
mile. It in fact made all the difference between a
profit and a loss. He congratulated the proprietors
on being the first to adopt iron sleepers in India.
On the North-West line the gross receipts showed
an increase of £34,712, or 22 per cent., and the re-
ceipts an increase of £30,645, or 40 per cent. as
compared with the corresponding half of 1864.
That showed the success with which the expenditure
had been kept down, as they had carried more traffic
at less cost, and that was very creditable to the per-
sons employed. The gradients were very severe on
some of their lines : the section of the South-West
line was similar to an inverted At. Starting from
Madras, the line ascended to a height of 1,500 ft. ;
then descended to the river Caudry, 501 ft. above
the sea level, whence it rose again to 1,300 ft., and
thence gradually descended to the sea level at Bey-
poor. When they had reduced the cost of working
to 44 per cent. of the receipts he thought that very
satisfactory. On the North-West line the mileage
had increased 77 per cent., the gross receipts 171 per
cent., and the net receipts 246 per cent., the work-
ing expenses being only 27 per cent. of the receipts.
They had lately got some superior locomotive en-
gines out there which drew 16 loaded waggons up
their inclines, instead of 11 loaded waggons, at a
cost of very little more fuel and water than the
other engines consumed. The South-West line, in-
cluding rolling stock and improvements, had cost
under £ll,OOO a mile. They had heard a great deal
of Indian railways having exceeded the estimated
cost. This line was roughly estimated to cost
£4,000,000, but since they commenced operations
the prices of labour and materials had increased
from 50 to 150 per cent. The line had cost £5,000,000,
which was not much of an excess, considering the
great increase in the price of labour and materials.
The cost of the North-West line, so far as they had
gone, was under £9,200 a mile, and the net re-
ceipts of the past half year yielded a return of 4f
per cent. on the cost. Those results reflected great
credit on the engineers and the officers and ser-
vants of the company. They had nearly expended
£8,000,000 on capital account, and they had re-
cently been authorised to raise an additional sum of
£1,000,000, with the usual guarantee of 5 per cent.

Mr. ARBUTHNOT seconded the motion
.for the
adoption of the report, and it was agreed to unani-
mously.

On the motion of the CILURMAN, the directors
were authorised to raise an additional capital of
£1,000,000 by the issue of 50,000 shares of £2O
each, upon which interest at the rate of 5 per cent.
per annum was guaranteed. It was understood that
the new capital would be offered rateably to the
shareholders.

The retiring directors, Mr. J. Walker, Mr.
Arbuthnot, and Mr. G. Norton were re-elected ;
and also Mr. J. Thomson, the retiring auditor. Mr.
A. Hall was elected an auditor in the room of Col.
Smith, resigned, and- the proceedings concluded
with a Tote of thanks to the chairman and directors.