The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-27 00:00:00

ASSETS.

s. d. s. d.
Pusentvalueof office premiums 440,554 4 0
Less value of office margin.... 85,359 12 -0
---355,194 12 0
Bankers' balances, Government stocks, and
other Securities, as per audited account .. 114,680 1 8

£469;8R0

The CHAIRMAN said he had great pleasure in meeting
the policy holders that afternoon, bat the gratification
would have been. heightened had there been a greater
attendance on the part of 3,000 policy:, holders, who, each,
and all, had an interest in the success of the society. But,
although the attendance was somewhat limited, he looked
upon it as a circumstance that showed the great confidence
reposed in the directors. Had there been anything to cora •
plain of or wrong in their proceedings there would have
been a very largo attendee but as everything was so ex-
ceedingly satisfactory the policy holders were content to let
the directors continue their exertions undisturbed. (Hear,
hear.) He had to congratulate them in the first place on
the amount of business transacted during the year, for
during that period they had issued no less than 395 new
policies, a number far greater than they had succeeded
in obtaining in either of the preceding years.
The annual income of the society, as a nature,
consequence, also had greatly increased, and as
long as that happy state of things continued there
could be no limit to their prosperity. Another matter of
congratulation was the small number of deaths that had
occurred amongst the assurers in the Reliance Association;
it was a very great deal below the number calculated upon,
and the assurers, he was certain, would agree with him,'
when he said it showed the great care taken by their medical
officers to introduce none but good lives into their offices.
(Hear, hear.) Among the deaths that had occurred since
they last met, a gentleman of the greatest ability had been
taken from amongst them. He alluded to the late Dr.
Rowe—(hear, hear)—and he could not pass over that event
without giiing expression to the deep regret the board of
directors felt for the loss of so able a colleague. (Hear,
hear.) The society, as all the assured knew, divided their
profits in the shape of bonuses triennial! y ; they
divided a bonus in 1858, consequently next year,
1861, the sum to be divided (after a prudent
reserve) would then amount to more than £20,000.
(Hear, hear.) The society have secured the services of a
body of energetic agents, but much might be done to in-
crease the ',access which now happily attended their efforts
if the assurers themselves were to agitate the subject of
life assurance amongst their friends and acquaintances ; ho
thought a man was conferring the greatest benefit on his
fellowman in persuading him to make a provision for those
near and dear to him, when, as in the ordinary course of
things, he had paid the debt of nature. (Hear, hear.)
The society had increased their agencies in Edinburgh,
Glasgow, and Wales, and he hoped that the policy holders
would second the exertions of the directors. (Hear, hear.)
He did not think he need detain them with any lengthened
explanations with respect to the accounts. They were
already set forth, and he saw the paper in the hands of
every gentleman in the room ; in the event, however, of
any explanation being required, he should 'only be too
happy to give any information in his power. Ho would
therefore resume his seat by moving that the report sub-
mitted by the directors be adopted.

Mr. A. C. VELEY thought the very small sum set down
as law charges showed clearly the society was not at all
litigious. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He had very great
pleasure in seconding the motion of the chairman.
The resolution was then formally put to the meeting,
and carried unanimously.

Resolutions passing and approving of the accounts were
also agreed to unanimously.
The retiring directors—John James, and John W, Lay,
Esqs., Major Skinner, R.A., and the Rev. Arthur Pearson,
M.A.—were re-elected.

Major SKINNER returned thanks.
Charles Phelps, Esq., and J. T. Abdy, Esq., were elected
auditors for the ensuing year.

A resolution thanking the directors for their exertions
during the past year was carried unanimously, and acknow-
ledged by _ _

The CHAIRMAN, who, in the course of his remarks, paid
a high compliment to Mr. Osborne Smith and Mr. Butler.
He said a more able actuary than the first named gentle-
man, or a more zealous and energetic secretary than Mr.
Butler, was not possessed by any office in London. (Cheers.)
They had a capital working staff of officers, and an active
body of agents ; and, that being the case, he did not think,
as they had all contributed so much to the success of the
society, the meeting could do better than recognise the
fact by an unanimous vote of thanks to all those gentle-
men.

A resolution to that effect was carried unanimously.
Mr. SMITH and Mi. BUTLER gracefully acknowledged
the compliment.
Thanks were also voted to the medical officers and to the
chairman, after which the meeting terminated.

A DETERMINED SUICIDE.—A singular suicide
was committed on Sunday by a workman, fifty years of
age, of the Boulevard de Grenelle. He was found hanging
dead by the neck near his window, and on a table was a
paper announcing that he intended to put himself to death
on account of domestic sorrows, and these singular lines
were added to the announcement :--" The rope has broken
before strangulation was effected, and lam still alive. I
will go to bed for awhile to gain strength, and then I hope
that I shall complete my job." The rope by which the
man was hanging being a little old was found to have
broken, no doubt beneath his weight, but it had been tied
together again, and strengthened by having his braces
wound round it,—aalipani.

REFORM MEETING AT RUDDERS-
' FIELD.

Last evening, a meeting, called by the Huddersfield
Registration Soci' , was held in the- Philosophical Hall,
Huddersfield, for the purpose of considering Mr. k3aines's
bill for the reduction of the borough franchise to £6. Mr.
Benjamin Robinson took the chair. There was a very
large attendance.
The Rev. R. BRUCE moved the first resolution, which
was as follows :
" That this meeting, while expressing its regret that
her Majesty's Government has not fulfilled its pledges on
the subject of Parliamentary Reform, and that the House
of Commons has rejected Mr. Locke King's bill for the
extension of the county franchise, rejoices in the introduc-
tion of Mr. Baines's measure for the extension of the
borough franchise, as an important step in the direction of
such a comprehensive reform as the country needs."
Mr. JOSIAH RHODES seconded the resolution.
Mr. LEATHAM, M.P., rose to support the resolution, and
was greeted with deafening applause. He said when he
last had the honour to address them they met together
to promote the Reform Bill of Lord John Russell. That

was a measure mild and moderate—a measure which, con-
sidering the position of the House of Commons and the
circumstances in which the Cabinet were placed; but
more than all the strong attitude of indolence which the
great mass of the people maintained 'with respect to the
question of reform, they felt they ought not to reject
but ought to accept as an instalment. Introduced
late in the session, overlain by other Government
bills, the measure fell at last before the supineness
of the Government, the unwearied hostility of the oppo-
sition, and before the lukewarmness of the people. But
when the measure was allowed to fall, it was with the
distinct understanding that it was to be renewed at the
earliest possible opportunity. (Hear.) During the recess,
and more especially as the time approached for the re-
assembling of Parliament, ugly rumours began to circulate
to the effect that the session of 1861 was not to witness
another Reform Bill at all. Those rumours were confirmed
and contradicted until people hardly knew what to be-
lieve. But, amidst all the contradictory rumours, there
was no one who judged so ill of Lord John Russell,
there was no one who had so thoroughly measured the
matchless audacity of Lord Palmerston—(a laugh)—there
was no one who had become so thoroughly convinced
of the prostitution of our public men, or of the per-
fidy of the Government, as to believe, as to venture for
one moment to foretell that that which had occurred
would occur—that after the Government had taken their
seats only upon the question—(hear, hear)—had thrown
out another Government Upon this question alone, and
had 'given every possible promise and pledge which men
could give—after they had recommended this measure
from the august lips of the Sovereign herself—no one
imagined that this despicable and delinquent Govern-
ment, flinging to the winds its faith, its honour, and
its reputation, and casting on one side the confidence
of those* whose support was vital to its very existence.
There was no one, he repeated, who had the hardihood
to fortell that without a pledge to the nation, without
even attempting to hold out one specious hope for the
future, they would renounce, with a sneer upon their
lips, the whole policy upon which alone they had
been made a Government at all. (Loud cheers.) He
did not hesitate to say that there was nothing more
painful in the whole history of Ministerial failures than
the prodigality with which Lord J. Russell had cast aside a
great political reputation, had disappointed the expectations
of half a million of his countrymen, expectations which he
himself had been the first to raise, and which, when it suited
his purpose, he was the first, with simpering jocularity, to
betray. (Applause.) These were bold words, but he meant
them to be so. There were times when boldness became a
virtue, and this was one of them. They had arrived at a
crisis when there was only one course open to straightfor
ward Liberal politicians. It, might be a course which they
would follow with reluctance, but it was a course which
was imperatively and conclusively demanded if they were
to maintain those great principles which were dearer to
them than the flimsy ties of party, or than the security
of a renegade Administration. If, some Mae morning
after Easter, he read over his breakfast table amongst
the other deaths in the paper the announcement of the
death of Lord Palmerston's Government, he must confess
for himself that his appetite would not be very materially
impaired thereby. (Laughter and cheers.) Mr. Leatham
reviewed the way in which the Government had dealt with
the great questions of the ballot, which was laughed out
of the house by. Lord Palmerston—the Church Rates Aba..
lition Bill, on which subject the one great speech against
the bill had been made from the Treasury benches—the
Lords' Aggression and the Reform Bill. If this were a
Liberal Administration, all he could say was, from hence-
forth might Providence protect them from. Liberal Admi-
nistrations. (Cheers and laughter.) ~..But it was said
that it was the foreign policy of the Government, and
more especially the. course they had taken with regard to
Italy, which was to blind the people to their errors. He
contended that the policy the Government had adopted
with regard to that country was the irrevocable policy of
the people of England, and that neither Lord Derby nor
any Other man could have pursued a different course.
(Applause.) But what had been their policy with regard to
Hungary ? Why Lord John Russell was.neve,r weary of be-
spattering with praise the most contemptible Government
on the face of the earth—the Government of Austria— (hear,
hear)—and only within the last few weeks, this great and in-
dependent Government of England had condescended to
do that which was odious in the eyes of Englishmen.
(Applause.) They had become so far embued not only
with the love of Austria, but also with Austrian notions,
that they had condescended to play the spy on Louis
Kossuth. (Loud applause.) was also said that they
must keep Lord Palmerston in, in order that they might
keep Lord Derby out. (A laugh.) Now, he had yet to learn

that these were the only two men whom Providence had

fitted to conduct the Government of this country.
(Cheers.) But, granted that it were so, he would venture

to affirm that Lord Palmerston was capable of doing more

injury to the cause of liberal opinion in one year than
Lord Derby was in five. (Hear, hear.) _ Nay, he would
go further, and say that Lord Palmerston' had done more
injury to the' cause of Liberal opinion ill-England during
the past year than Lord Derby had done during the
whole of his past life. (Applause.) If Lord Derby came
in it. would be on sufferance, and he must keep peace
with France, must take a right course with regard to
Italy, and must refrain, above all, from bringing forward
party measures. Mr. Leatham concluded an eloquent
peroration by urging upon the working men to take the
question of Reform in their own hands; to petition from
every village and from every mill, aid to register a
solemn vow that night to give no slumber to their
eyelids, and no rest to their dyes, until they had ceased to
be the slaves of other men, and to be the victims of
other men's taxation. He sat down amidst enthusiastic

cheering.
The following resolutions were subsequently proposed,

and carried unanimously :

" That this meeting is of opinion that the intelligence,
morality, and patriotism of the working classes, impera-
tively demand such an extension of the franchise as shall
give to these classes a fair share in the election of represen-
tatives to Parliament." _

" That a petition embodying the previous resolutions be
immediately prepared, and that Mr. Leatham be respect-
fully requested to present it to the House of Commons."

THIS DAY'S MARKETS.

CORN EXCHANGE. EXCHANGE.

The arrivals of English grain, fresh up, to this morning's
market, were considerably on the increase, and in compa-
ratively fair condition. All good and fine qualities were in
steady request, at fully Monday's advance -in the quota-
tions ; but inferior sorts moved off slowly, on former
terms.

The imports of foreign wheat were tolerably extensive ;
nevertheless all descriptions met a steady consumptive in-
quiry, at full quotations.

In the value of floating cargoes of grain no change took
place.

Fine malting barley was held at 455. per quarter, but all
other kinds were very dull and difficult of sale.
Malt changed hands to a limited extent, at late rates.
The oat trade ruled steady, at fall currencies for all good
and fine corn.

Beans and peas realised Monday's quotations, with a
moderate demand.

Most kinds of flour were in steady request, and prices
were well supported.
Neat Friday, being Good Friday, the market will be
closed.

ARRIVALS THIS WEEK.
Wheat. Barley. Malt. Oats. Flour.
English.......s. 1,880 i 1,240 I 1,940. 100 1 1,150
- Irish
F0r5ign........ 13,470 910 9,250 I 700eacks
11,340 brie.