The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-22 00:00:00

cumstance fail to infuse an additional enthusiasm into
the greetings accorded last evening to his Royal
Highness. It was felt, doubtless, by the many dis-
tinguished personages there assembled that the enter-
prise
suggested by the Prince was one which, if car-
ried out on a scale commensurate with that of its
conception, would live in history as the first fitting
celebration of the victories, the pacific and bloodless
victories, achieved by terrestrial industry. k' car-
ried out in accordance with the spirit of its sugges-
tion it must be nothing less than the antithetical
realisation of one of the beautiful dreams of the
classic poets of antiquity. It is the apparition
among the peoples of the earth of the Apple of
Concord ; and the site of the Exhibition, whether
Hyde -park or elsewhere, will inevitably be considered
as more entitled to remembrance than the famous
scene of the interview of old between the French and
English Sovereigns, whose rivalry was not more
elevated than a competition in splendour. Contrasted
with that, this field of fraternal rivalry and industrial
competition might not inappropriately be designated
the Cloth of Gold of the Nations. Everything con-
spires to assure us that the hopes of the community,
in regard to the grandeur of the proposed cele-
bration will, to the utmost extent, be realised.
Nor among the auguries of this successful reali-
sation do we recognize one more emphatic than
the tone of the very graceful and felicitous oration
delivered yesterday by the Royal originator of
the enterprise. It has so happened that the
speeches pronounced by the PRINCE CONSORT on
many previous occasions have been articulated pre-
cisely in that style of eloquence which finds its way
directly to the hearts of the multitude ; and we
doubt not that in this respect his remarks will prove
more than ever successful. Brief though the observ-
ations of his Royal Highness were, they were
nevertheless eminently worthy of his intellect, worthy
of the genius of the country of his adoption,
worthy of the enlightened auditors to whom they
were more immediately addressed, of the epoch of
whose great achievements they were commemorative,
and of the prospective demonstration by whose approach
they were elicited. While giving due credit to those
human energies from which so many scientific truths,
so much artistic excellence, and such various indus-
trial achievements have emanated,.his Royal Highness
gives voice to that profound and ineffable gratitude
which the appreciation of these facts induces towards
the DIVINITY. Moreover, with the acknowledgment
of all that has already been accomplished, he couples
the confession that these efforts of human industry
and human intellect should be regarded rather as con-
stituting a means than an end, rather as yielding
an encouragement to further exertion than as afford-
ing a reward for past enterprise. Scattered as the
labourers of the earth are over so many and such
widely-separated dominions, it is but just and judi-
cious that they should be enabled to obtain
some comprehensive acquaintance with the
aggregate value and extent of man's proficiency
in arts, sciences, and manufactures. To this end the
projected Exhibition will prove eminently beneficial—
its influence having an advantageous effect in many
different directions, in exciting a laudable competi-
tion, in provoking unexpected inquiry, in stimulat-
ing dormant ambition, and in merging all the animo-
sities of contending nations into that friendly unani-
mity which will end in the alliance of the peoples of
the globe in a large-hearted and lasting brotherhood.
Under such auspices, indeed, we may ultimately ex
pect to see the attainment of that beautiful futurity
hinted at by the Scottish Ploughman, when

" Man to man, the wide world o'er,
Shall brothers be and a' that!"

This prospective and attainable unity, as was admir-
ably expressed last evening by the PRINCE CONSORT,
means "not a unity which breaks down the limits and
levels the peculiar characteristics of the different
nations of the earth, but rather a unity the result and
product of those very national varieties and antago-
nistic qualities." An anticipation such as this was
befittingly avowed by the illustrious orator, in an
assemblage such as the one yesterday collected toge-
ther in the city of London, an assemblage happily
designated by the French Ambassador the House
of Commons of English Industry. In the speech
from which we have extracted that felicitous ex-
pression, a graceful panegyric was pronounced by
M. DROUTN DE L'Hurs upon the free-trade policy
adopted by the British Legislature, where he likened
the golden fruits of industry to the forbidden apples
of the Hesperides, guarded from the touch of the
profane by the dragons of protection. Equally feli-
citous were his assertions that all would necessarily
benefit by the competition excited by the proposed
Exhibition. Few, he maintained, would deny the
accuracy of the assertion " for" said he,
"as has been justly remarked, merit consists
not alone in cheapness of price, but in the
texture of the fabric, and in the nature cf the pro-
duction; not in a fine gloss, as the wife of the Vicar
of Wakefield said, but in such qualities as will wear
well." As the most eloquent and condensed defi-
nition of the nature of the approaching demonstra-
tion, however, we have as yet heard nothing com-
parable to the following portion of the noble speech
delivered yesterday by his Royal Highness the
Prince ALBERT Science," said the Prince, "dis-
covers the laws of power, motion, and transformation ;
industry applies them to the raw matter which the earth
yields us in abundance, but which becomes valuable only
by knowledge ; art teaches us the immutable laws of
beauty and symmetry, and gives to our productions
forms in accordance with them—Gentlemen, the
Exhibition of 1851 is to give us a true test and a
living picture of the point of development at which
the whole of mankind has arrived in this great task,
and anew starting point from which all nations will
be able to direct their further exertions." It was but
fitting that this most admirable definition of the
nature of the novel 'enterprise adventured upon by
England should proceed from the lips of the illus-
trious Prince, in whose patriotic intelligence the whole
thought of the coming demonstration originated.
After the propitious proceeding of last evening, we
have every confidence in the success of this ma-
jestic Exhibition.

The proceedings at the half-yearly General Court
of the Bank of England, yesterday, are worthy of
especial notice. It is true that there were none of
the disssensions and disputes that sometimes prevail
• between the directors and proprietors on the question
of a dividend—all was harmony and unanimity on
that point at least. The vexata questio of the " rest,"
appears to be set at rest for ever. The directors have
at length thought fit to bow to the often-ex-
pressed wishes of their constituency, and have
abandoned the attempt to accumulate large sur-
plus capital, for which, according to their re-
cent practice, they can have no earthly
use but to keep it lying idle and un-
productive in their coffers. They do not
now seek to deprive tenants for life and other owners
of limited estates in Bank Stock of their just rights,
in order to enhance the value of the reversion. It
was, after a long discussion and mature considera-
tion, determined that the " rest," or accumulated
profits of the establishment beyond the amount of
paid-up capital, should be maintained as nearly a. 5
possible at 3,000,0001. sterling, and that all beyond
that sum should be divided among the proprietors,
not by way of a bonus, but in the more
legitimate form of dividends on their respective
interests in the undertaking. The directors have
shown no desire to disturb that just and
'equitable arrangement ; the result is that a dividend
at the rate of four per cent., free of income-tax, has
been announced for the half-year ending the 98th of
February last, which will leave the sum of 3,001,314/.
standing to the credit of the " rest" on the first day of
the current half-year. This decision must, pursuant
to the bye•laws of the corporation, be confirmed by a
bzr.ilot, which has been fixed to take place on the
2617.'1 instant. As there is not the slightest chance
that the proposition will not be unanimously agreed
to, , may congratulate the parties on a result so
ho amirable to the directors and satisfactory to the
gr‘ oat body of the proprietors.
there was, however, a point alluded to by Mr. DE
WI -Nroie in the course of his able speech which it is
to I Je hoped will not fail to attract the attention of the
experience
et
rhiee
nhint
n givend
soundby
judgme. nt in banking affairs. The Hon. Proprietor
adigr.,?,cilttyreFm,
asno tohfagtrtehaety
pffiraacyticaaelt
showed • that an enormous amount of capital, averag-
ing from eleven to twelve millions of pounds sterling,
was kept unemployed and unproductive, which might
have beer' circulated with the greatest advantage to the