The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-17 00:00:00

L. 90N, TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 17, 1855,

SPhaT OF T.EtE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

(Front the Times of thq's day.)

Lord John Russell's "explanation" tells us what
everybody knew, and does not even throw upon it a
gleam of new light, or a tint of new colouring, In one
sense alone it is ap explanation, and we make the remark
with unaffected concern. It is impossible to read the
speech without perceiving that in undertaking as he did
with his wonted courage an affair of high diplomacy,
Lord John Russell found it easier to acquire the in-
volved stile and the subtle casuistry of his new vocation
than to attain any real success. He was not meant to
be a diplomatist, and ever since he went to Vienna he
has been encumbered with armour which be bad not yet
proved. The only result of his practice has been to con-
found and stupify himself. Hence his painful efforts to
bewilder us all, by telling his stcry over again with
some little difference of words, and some -trifling addi-
tion of particulars. The Austrian proposal, he now tells
us, had the sanction of the Turkish as well as the French
and British Ministers. What of that ? When he left
Vienna ho had reason to hope that Austria would
form an alliance, offensive and defensive, with the
Western Powers on tfie rejection of her proposal.
It was his, business, of course, to be sure on this
point ; and when it became certain, as it did in a
few days, that Austria was only trifling with us,
and meant the Proposal to bind us to lower
terms and herself to nothing at all, he had nothing to do
but to return the proposal with the remark that he had
been misinformed as to its true character. 'Lord John
Russell then talks rather metaphysically of the prin-
ciple of abstract war and that of abstract peace, and
supposes a part of the world to he under the error of
assuming that be (Lord John) roust be either for peace
or for war • and if he is not strongly, absolutely, expli-
citly for either, then that he is a doubledealer and so
forth. To meet this supposed error Lord John has re-
course to the original terms of the third of the four
points, which justify him in fad ug bank upon the solu-
tion of weir, when the solutions of peace had been ex-
hausted. Accordingly; when his lordship, on Mr.
Milner Gihson's motion, inveighed .against Russia,- and
worked us all up to-a resolute, unflinching, eternal re-
sistance to her scheme of universal dominion, it was
only on the hypothesis that the last' peaceful solution
had been rejected, and therefore war remained inevit-
able, eveiethough"Lord John had himself brought that
peaceful solution from Vienna, charged to put it in the
most favourable light. If this be Lord John's " expla-
nation," and it is the beat of our understanding, we are
quite sure the single-hearted, simple-minded publie, will
revert with a natural impulse to the much more familiar
idea and much more intelligible fact that on Lord John
returning from Vienna he appeared in public as the
bitter, implacable foe of Russia, and so remained, not-
withstanding some private whispers here and there to
the contrary ; and that it was not till some considerable
reverses, and the prospect of worse, that he suddenly re-
vealed himself as the actual bearer and advocate of a
proposal from Austria, which he still thought had
offered an opportunity of peace. Till Lord John Russell
can explain away this impression his explanations will
only make the matter worse. Nor will he do himself
the smallest service by being angry with his supposed
misrepresenters. lie really has to thank himself for the
vividly disagreeable effect of his recent policy. He is
his own painter ; and, having painted himself first anti-
Russian, and then equally auti_British, so far as regards
the nate nal crime in the rejection of reasonable tenders,
it is vain for him to argue with the spectators, and to
say, "This line means nothing; that tint is merely
neutr ; that dash is an accident." This is not the way
in which impressions are formed or obliterated. We
shrink with something like disgust from Lord John's
catching words and chopping logic in last night's expla.
nation ; and fall back upon the clear, unmistakeable
exhibitions of his character, contradictory as they are,
in his former accounts of his mission.
So long as Sir E. B. Lytton confined himself to this
subject he carried the house with him, for there is no-
body in that house who has not two distinct impressions
of the successive characters assumed by Lord John Rue,
sell. Nor is there anybody in that house who has not a
very keen perception of the danger, or rather the cer-
tain fall of a Government that should include a man
who could confess, and even boast, that be had tried to
persuade it to peace in vain. This part of his subject
Sir E. B. Lytton did well, but when lie attempted to
involve the whole Cabinet in the guilt of Lord John's
inconsistency and insincer;ty, and when, too, for this
purpose, be endeavoured to insulate Lord Clarendon
hum the rest, and to make them accomplices of the col-
league whose counsel they had rejected, but not the cor- .
dial associates of the colleague whose letters they had
virtually adopted, the house showed by its impatience a
sense that the literary baronet had relinquished the fact
for an ingenimis fiction. That the rest of the Cabinet,
having silenced Lord John, put an extinguisher on the
proposal he brought from Austria, and compelled him
to join in a general denunciation of Russia, should look
with indulgence on the rather rid culous figure he had
made, was at least chivalrous ; and, considering all things,
it might be an indispensable act of courtesy to incite
him to remain even after this final exposure. But, as
the Government would not be compromised, the sacri-
fice of Lord John is enough. Sir E. B. Lytton, how-
ever, had a speech to make, if he had not made it al-
ready before Lord John Russell's resignation ; and he
evidently preferred to address his philippic to the Minis-
ters who remained, instead of the one who has gone,
and who had already made his submission.
It was perhaps the fullest house, as well as the noisest
debate, there has been this session. The gravity of the
subject, on which each decision may possibly cost
Europe myriads of lives, might have called forth more
orderly treatment; bat Russia and Ministers will at
last learn from the temper and proceedings of the house
that, whatever the success of old and practised diploma-
tists or the comparative tyros we send to the Conferences,
the people of this country, as represented in the popular
assemblies, are of some stiffer material, and will assert
the cause of truth, justice, honour, and liberty, even
when it becomes momentarily and weekly endangered.

( From the Daily News of this clay.
Had Sir Bulwer Lytton persisted in his motion the
result of the debate would, no doubt, have effected the
interests of the people. Sir Bulwer Lytton evaded a dis-
cussion of the broad general grounds on which Ministers
have forfeited the public confidence. The very utmost he
could have obtained, had a majority voted with him, would
have been a change of Ministry. The successors whom
that event would have given to the present Government
might have persevered in its temporising and inexpli-
cable policy on the plea that no positive and express
censure had been pronounced on it by the House of
Commons. To have had the Duke of Northumberland
and Mr. Stafford reinstated in the places now occupied
by Sir Charles Wood and Mr. Bernal Osborne would
certainly have been no loss to the nation, but as cer-
tainly it would have been no gain. The withdrawal of
Sir Bulwer Lytton's motion leaves the field cpen to Mr.
Roebuck, and in the motion of the hon. member for
Sheffield the people have a deep and immediate interest.
Mr. Roebuck does not seek to sink a fallen statesman
deeper in the quagmire in which his own faithlessness
and folly have settled him. He charges Ministers with
all the individual suffering, and with all the national
disgrace, which have beet, the consequence of their un-
utterable incapacity and profligate neglect of duty since
the commencement of the Crimean expedition ; and he
calls upon the House of Commons in its judicial capa-
city, solemnly to censure their obstinate perseverance
in ill-doing. Ho includes all the culprits in his in-
dictment, and he aztaigns them for all their rnia-
deeds. He has challenged the great inquest of the Na-
tion to do its auto, or to stand by the consequences.
The muttered demand of the people for a dissolution and
general election is already making itself heard in low
ominous whispers here and there, and will soon break
out into one loud, general, irresistible clamour. On the
other hand, the very rulers whose sins of omission and
commission ai e condoned by the present House of Com-
mons, are anxious to get rid of it. Like desperate
gamesters, they are ready to set their ail upon t,e cast
of a die, and risk the return of a hostile House of Com-
mons on the chance of their being able, by Treasury
and other sinister influences, to obtain one packed with
a majority of their creatures. The common talk at
Brookes's, and other Dom-Daniels of the faction in power
is, that the present House of Commons is growing daily
more unmanageable, and must be got rid of. It is well
known that the Premier had made up his mind, in the
event of his being worsted in the contest from which Sir
Bulwer Lytton last night withdrew, to try the chances
of a general election before he resigned. The respite
granted to Ministers, in consequence of the reluctant
self-sacrifice of Lord John Russell cannot be of long
duration, The characters of all parties in the Govern-
meet have been so damaged by the late shabby transac-
tions that their weakness has been immensely increased.
A. dissolution is imminent, and the people are eagerly
watching to see how every representative will vote nn
Mr. Roebuck's motion. Every member who votes
against that motion—or who shirks the division—will
have to account for his conduct at the hustings on an
early day.

(Prom the Morning Herald of ais day.)
The discussion which took place lait night upon Sir
' Bulwer Lytton's resolution cannot fail to produce a deep
impression on Parliament and on the country. The
papers on which the Government relied, to which Lord
Palmerston had pointed on Thursday last with an air of
triumph, have been read, and the result of their perusal
and a consideration of the circumstances which have
occurred since the correspondence was brought to a
close, have been to deepen the distrust with which some
of the most influential members of the Cabinet has long
been regarded, and to involve the conduct of the re-
mainder in hopeless contradiction. The mysteriOus
difference between the conduct of the French and Eng-
iish plenipotentiaries on their return is not cleared up.
Lord John was disposed to take the same course as M.
Drouyn de l'Huys—the only legitimate course left to
either Minister after his expressed opinions at the Con-
ference. The First Minister of the Crown here, in order
to secure a measure of Parliamentary scpport, resisted
the resignation of Lord John itti*A,ll and having de.
to
tained him in Ca!)in: !or weciLs after his a!-..sent
the Au,trian policy, conies down to the house and
asks it to believe in his honeat resolve to prosecute the
war with vigour, This flimsy attempt to practise upon

the common, sense of Parliament and the,eountry -was
pierced and exposed last night' with irresi,tible force by
Sir Bulwer Lytton—" If the Premier api)roVed .of Lord
Clarendon, how could lie express in approval of his
negotiator ?" And if he did not s'pprove of that nego-
ciator how did:it hapnen,that'Lord Palmerston retainej
him in his cabinet for weeks'after his retn,rn ? . There is
no getting out of this dilemma. Lord PalMerston was
wise enough not-to attempt an impossibility • but he did
betray in his reply, and in the
.uns.eemly violence of his.
manner, the fact that Sir Bulwei Ly 4 ton had struck hard
and home, and that it is much easier to blaster than to
answer such an' indictment as that drawn up by the
member for Hertfordshire: The debate of last night,
short as it was, has effected an irxeparable irjury pion
the reputation of ministers. _There is pn uneasy conscious-
ness that there is guilt somewhere; and that for all the
warlike language of its chief,- .1414 for all the straightfor-
ward despatches produced in the Foreign-office, the in-
terests of this country are ricit safe in the hands of our
present rulers. Mr. Reehtick!s honest and inaniy avowal
told deeply on the house, and will produce its effect. We
have a right to know what are the real sentiments of our.
rulers on the greatest question of the age. We cannot
understand why we should be trifled with— we are.deter-
mined to know, in the language of.. Mr. Roebuck, " Who I
are the traitors-in the Cabinet." •

(prom the Morning Chronicle of this day. )
Last'night the House of Commons was invited to hear
a further chapter of Lord John Russell's "explanations."
As in February, the noble lord again spoke from the
back benches.
For the present we must taleeLiiid John Russell's
defence as we find it. He had gone to Vienna with the
fixed intention of contriving the destiuction of _Passim'
preponderance in the Black Sea, if possible, for all time
to come. At the date of his departurd he was impressed
with a persuasion that the object. was more likely to be
obtained by arpis than -by. diplomaoy.- As the practical
bearings of each ppint came out. &UR, ho pronounced
from the first a decided opinion against the proposal. for
settling the question of preponderance upon the prin-
ciple of counterpoise instead of that of limitation. Hie
Government coincided in this view.
Lord Clarendon sent the most invigorating Cespatehes,
and the French Emperor -was known to be in complete
concurrence on the subject. Thus jar, all was right and
straightforward. From some time in March to the
middle of April the negotiations had been conducted
with vigour, if not with SUCC.32. The clauses of two
points were battled over and arranged, and the terms of
the third subjected to prolonged discussion; without
making any concession to the adversaty, or surrendering
one of the real objects of the war.
Before his departure from Vienna, however, on one
fatal day—the 15th of April—a change came over the
mind of the noble lord. On the eve of that day, Lord
John Russell retained in all their force his objections to
the principle of a counterpoise. On the morrow he
not only accepted it, but gave a pledge to Count
Buol that he would urge its adoption on the British
Ministry, to whom, moreover, he despatched at the
same time an earnest entreaty not to reject the proposal
until they had heard his pleas in its support. His re-
quest was accorded—his arguments listened to--the pro-
position deliberately discussed and rejected. So far in
his narrative Lord John has told us nothing which we
did not know before. But here comes the pith and
substance of his vindication. He accepted the counter-
poise proposition upon the assurance—how conveyed he
did not mention—that Austria would present it as an
ultimatum to Russia, and consider its rejection a cants
belli. His colleagues afterwards refused the proposal,
because they had discovered that thissupposedassurance
would never he fulfilled. This was the solitary plea on
which he rested his defence. Sir E. B. Lytton recalled
the house to the real point in question, which Lord John
Russell bad limited to merely personal considerations.
Here, he observed, was a contest on which the honour,
the treasures, the best blood and dearest interests of the
nation were staked. Here also was a ministry entrusted
with the conduct of the struggle, - and professing
the heartiest energy and most entire unanimity in
the cause. Yet time after time the proofs became un-
deniable that different members of the Administration
were in terly opposed to the war, on principle and in de-
tail. When, it would be asked, was this hypocrisy to
cease ? To whom among the servants of the Crown was
the public to look as a sincere believer in the faith they
all professed, and a trustworthy agent in carrying on the
conflict in which the sympathies of the country were so
deeply engaged ? Lord Palmerston did not even at-
tempt to answer these questions. In a few sentences of
mingled bluster and rant be did his best to deserve the
character, which Mr. Disraeli afterwards assigned to
him, of being the " Patrician Bully" of the house. Ex-
pression was given to the apprehension which weighs
most heavily on the public mind by Mr. Roebuck, when
declaring his conviction that, notwithstanding the re-
moval of Lord John Russell, there were still " Traitors
in the Cabinet." The immediate issue of the debate .is
necessarily a blank. Lord Palmerston's Cabinet has
escaped from the encounter maimed and victorious. But
they cannot afford to repeat the operation at a similar
price. One more such victory, and the Government is
undone.

(From the Times of this day.)
We are very much disposed to look at Mr. Bouverie's
explanations of last night in the light of an "allegory
on the banks of the Nile." If we were in the same un-
pleasant predicament as Lord John we should be more
tolerant of Sir Bulwer Lytton's well-poised accusations
or of Mr. Disraeli's studied sarcasms than of the murder
ous eulogy of Mr. Bouverie. This well-meaning gentle-
man—this good-natured friend, strikes the quarry, strikes
straight, and strikes home, and then makes it an olject of
ridicule to the bystanders. It is one of Lord John's
young men who has done this—his peculiar suckling—a
Levite of Chesham•plaee—a kind of Under-Secretary,
as it were, whose business it was to hand thin
slices of political bread and butter to the elderly ladies
of the society, and to breathe with rapture the delicate
air impregnated with the esoteric wisdom of Whin ism.
Mr. Bouverie has "done it "—we ask pardon of our
classical readers for the familiar phrase, but really there
is none other which so well describes his act. Lord John
lies low, shot by a Whig bolt discharged frotna Chesbam
bow—nay, he is almost slain by an intimate partisan of
his own. With Waller he may say—

" That eagle's fate and mine aro one,
Who, on the shaft which made him die,
Espied a feather of his own
Wherewith he wont to soar so high."
We might almost write that the Whig Cmsar has received
his death-stab from Mr. Under-Secretary Brutus, but
we fear that if we talk of Brutus and Mr. Bouverie in
the same sentence our readers will laugh at us with well-
nigh as good a will as the House of Commons laughed
last night at Mr. Bouverie. It must have been an awful
moment when doubts as to the excellence of his idol began
to throb through the soul of this placid neophyte. What
if, after all, Lord John were mistaken ? What, if he were
self-willed, opinionated, perverse, and his doctrine a strong
delusion? What, if it were wrong to blow cold at
Vienna and hot in London, to coo like a turtle dove at
one moment, and scream like a kite in search for prey
the next ? Lord John a trimmer I Desdemona un-
chaste ! Brookes's in revolt like a mere assemblage of
ordinary men, subject to the like infirmities and passions
as their fellow-creatures, and Mr. Bouverie standing by
with fiery brain to witness the awful catastrophe !
indeed, was a momentous position, but he girded up his
loins for action. Mr. Bouverie was equal to the occa-
sion ; he sunk the Fire Worshipper in the Member for
Kilmarnock, and blotted out this sun—this dazzling orb
of day—from the o'er-arching firmament.
If it were possible to be serious on such a subject we
would fain ask Mr. Bouverie why could he not let well
be, without marring it by ridiculous speech and super-
fluous action ? It was obvious that any politician, with
a very moderate share of self-respect or taste for consis.
tency, could not follow Lord John through his political
vagaries. When Ur. Bouverie came to the painful con.
elusion that he could not support his patron in all
his marvellous inconsistencies, his decision was that of
a man of sound judgment and right principle. Had he,
believing Lord John to be in grievous error upon so
momentous a question, continued to support him, he
would have violated every public duty, and betrayed
his constituents and his country. What he actually
did we are somewhat at a loss to say, even after the
most attentive consideration of his explanations last
night. Ha told the house it bad been stated " that,
on the part of a number of his colleagues not in the
Cabinet, he represented to Lord Palmerston that they
were prepared to resign their offices rather than oppose
Sir B. Lytton's motion. So far as he was concerned,
he begged to state most decidedly that that state-
ment was not only not an accurate representation of
facts, but that it was the very reverse of the truth."
Very good, Mr. Bouverie, then, didn't tell Lord
Palmerston that he and his colleagues not of
the Cabinet were prepared to resign their offices
rather than oppose Sir B. Lytton's motion, Now, on
reading through his speech and disentangling his sen-
tences from the reporter's notes of " laughter," "ironi-
cal cheers," " renewed laughter," we find Mr. Bouverie
admits that not only did he concur in the opinion of his
colleagues that it was useless to resist the motion, but
that, although refusing to threaten resignation in his
own person, he was the actual fugleman of the mu-
tiny—he and no other conveyed the rebellious
message to Lord Palmerston, "I thought that
in pursuing that course I was acting as a true
friend of tho noble lord. I offered to do what was most
painful to me in the discharge of what I thought my
duty towards the noble lord as a friend." Supposing
Lord John, then, had not resigned—supposing he had
done yet again that which he has often done before--
would Mr. Bouverie have stuck to him despite of his
own convictions, despite of his fidelity to his fellows
of the round robin—above all, despite of his duty
to his constituents and his country ? Men of Kilmar-
nock, look to it ! The representative you have sent us
loves Kilmarnock well, but Lord John Russell more.
What cares he in theory so he retains the good graces
of hio patron ? At the same time, he appears to have
cut that patron's threat, and by a rare felicity to have
succeeded in violating duties apparently of the mo,t
opposite character. it is not, of course, for 118 to follow
Mr. Bouverie to his home, but we can imagine him at
the conclusion of the scene to have rushed back to his
house,-as Mr, Wiuldo (lid to the Georg and "Vulture

:after delivering-his testimony iu the case of " Bardell v.
-Pickwick "—and to-have been discovered by his friends
at later period of the evening with his head buried well
under the Cushion of the sofa.,

TIMES FIRE ASSUI?ANC.E COMPANY.

.The first annual general meeting .of the shareholders
in this society was held on Saturday, at the offices of the
.11mPany-, Lndgate-hill. Among the gentlemen pre-
sent tve observed—Thornas.W. Fleming, Esq.; of Stone-
item 13ark, Hampshire, Chairman of -the Stokes Bay,
Railway Company; W. E. Williams, Esq., Richard
Reeve, Esq., Richard Hodson, ,Esq.,.T. N. Baker, Esq.,'
the Rev. Thos, E. Thorsby, the Rev. J. Wood, H. B.
Sheridan, Esq.' Jas. Firby, Esq.,
_Henry J. Garrett,
Esq.,iMosee Dodd, Esq., W. Taylor, Thos. Wilson, Esq.,
claptaio Wm. Starke (of Herne Bay, Deputy Lieutenant
of the county of Rent), W. P. Jackson, Esq., the Rev.
W. Beau; Captain Lambert . Perrott, (-Director. of
the Shipwreck Institution), J. M. Hare, Esq., G-eo,
Baker, Esq., Joim-C; Sp.eneo, Esq., Charles H. Cooke,
Esq., Sant. Cockshaw, Esq., the Rev. Jonathan. George,
Robeit Warren, Esq., William- J. Sears, Esq.; Arthur
EdwaHs, Esq., F. W. Wilcockis, Esq., Mesers._ Hop-
croft, J. H. Nicholas, and several -other highly influen-
tial gentlemen.

Captain Perrott having been moved to the chair,
Thet CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, begged
to thank the assembled shareholders for the honour they
had done him. His first duty would be to call upon the
manager to read the notice convening the Meeting.
The advertisement having been read,
The CHAIRMAN said the next thing to be done was to
read the directors' report. .
'The report, which was then read, was as follows :--

" The directors have much pleasure in meeting the share-
holderii at this the first annual general meeting of the pro-
prietois of the company. '
"Tile directors lay before .the meeting a general balance
sheet of the company's affairs, made up .to the 31st day of
M arch j last.
" Parsuant to the terms of the deed of settlement, the
f0i1.," directors retire, ,viz.:—The Hon. IFrancis Vil-
liers .P., T. N. Baker, Esq., the Rev. W. Bean, James
Firby, Esq. ; and T. N. Baker, Esq., the Rev. W. Bean,
James Firby, Esq., being eligible, present themselves for
re-eleclion. •
" Under the powers conferred upon them by the deed
of settlement, the directors have elected Capt. William
Slarke,' of Cricklewood, Middlesex, and Herne Bay, Kent,
Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Kent, to be a director
of the company, subject to the approval of the shareholders.
" The following geatlemen have been elected auditors of
the company, viz. Taylor, Esq., C. H. Cooke, Esq.,
subject' to the approval of the shareholders.
" The directors lay before the shareholders a tabular
statement of the policy transactions of the year, viz. :
The number of policies issued from the 25th February,
1854, to the 6th day of July, 1855, is as follows, viz.:—
No. of.
Policies. Amount Insured.
Fire
Plata Glass

Income.
21,918 3 8
1,951 13 8

6,395 £1,105,386 - £3,899 17 4
" It will thus be seen that the total amount of new busi-
ness done by this company during its first year of opera-
tions htis been 6,395 new policies, producing an income of
3,839/. 17s. 4d., and representing the sum of
1,105,3861. insured; whilst the total income of the com-
pany, and the total number of policies issued (including
the business purchased) and deducting policies lapsed,
amount to :

No. of Policies.
Fire 5,035
Plate glass

Income.
84,079 2 5
2,225 0 9

9,015 £6,304 3 2
" The directors congratulate the company on the vitality
and business connexions of the company, exhibited in the
large amount of business transactions.
"The directors draw attention to the circumstance, that
fire business has been declined during the year amounting
to the large sum of 220,369/.
" The losses during the year have been considerable,
amounting to. the sum of 5,226/. 14s. 4d., but all fire
offices report that they have suffered more than their usual
loss during the past year.
"The directors have determined upon refusing all risks
of an unsafe nature, believing that it is better to do a
small business for the first few years in safe risks, than by,
a large and mixed business to risk the capital of the share-
holders. Your directors, therefore, anticipate compara-
tive immunity from loss in the current year.
"Tee directors have declined but five proposals for plate
glass insurance, while premiums to the amount of 71/. 18s.
only have become lapsed. The directors feel that no fur-
ther statement is necessary to show the valuable nature of
their plate glass business, the large increase of which they
look forward to with hopeful anticipation.
"The directors have also to report that they have ob-
tained for the company, by efforts during the past year
and by the purchase of the old company, the services of
616 agents, whose residences and spheres of operations
are situated in the most important parts of the three
kingdoms.
" The directors have also to report, that they have se-
cured for the company the co-operation of gentlemen of
high standing in Bath, who have have formed themselves
into a board for Bath and the surrounding district, and
that similar boards have been formed at Southampton,
Glasgow, and Birmingham.
"The directors feel it their duty to draw. the attention
of the shareholders to the fact, that the boards above-
named ate not merely ornamental boards, bnt that the
members of them' spare no exertion, individually or col;
lectively; to increase the business of the company,—that
the fire policies which they forward are of the best charac-
ter,—further, that inasmuch as the individual members of
these boards are gentlemen of large property, they have a
great many fire policies of their own, which they transfer
to this company at the earliest opportunity, and thus give
to their friends and to the public a guarantee of tho ear-
nestness of their intention to spare no means to further the
interests of the institution.
" The directors are also engaged in the formation of other
boards of similar importance, for the directors are im-
pressed with the conviction, that from these members of
the body corporate the company may, in a very short time,
obtain a large amount of the best fire business at the
smallest possible expense.
" The directors have also established agencies at Ham-
burgh and in Paris. They have already an increasing fire
business from Hamburgh, at which place they are now en-
deavouring to extend the assurance of plate glass : whilst
in Paris, in addition to plate glass business, the directors
are negotiating for contracts with the great. French fire
offices, for the re-assurance with this company of their sur-
plus risks, upon the understanding that this company takes
no larger sum upon any one risk than the amount kept by
the French office offering the re-assurance.
" The directors suppose that most of the shareholders
aro award of the enormous amount of fire business trans-
acted in France, of the great wealth of the French compa-
nies, and of the comparatively safe character, of the risks
insured by the French fire offices. At the same time, that
plate glass assurance, if adopted by the French nation,
presents a large and profitable field for the enterprise of a
plate glass insuring company, it may also be stated that
damage caused by war, emeute, or public tumult, will not
be covered by the policies ; and that no fire business will
bo taken from France, excepting that already accepted by
the French offices ; thus taking the best guarantee that
could be afforded of the respectable character of the in
surance.

" The directors urge upon the shareholders the impor-
tance of individual co-operation in furthering the business
of the company, and beg to remind them that so large a
number as 500 shareholders can, by their united efforts,
easily secure a large amount of new business.
" The register of directors' attendances is laid before the
meeting, so that it may be seen with what attention they
have watched over the affairs of the company."
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
said that this was a meeting, as most gentlemen present
were aware, held in pursuacce of an adjournment that
took place on the 13th day of December lasi. From the
highly favourable report which they had just heard read
he felt he need say but little, as they would see from
that report that the business they had traneacted during
the past year would bear comparison with the first year
of any other office. They would see that their agents
had brought forward a large amount of business of a very
remunerative description. Tho provincial boards were
composed of gentlemen of large property, and the busi-
ness they forwarded was of the best description. They
had had some heavy losses, but every gentleman present
must be aware that it was impossible to foresee events,
and every company that expected to do a large business
could scarcely do so and at the same time escape large
losses ; they might as well expect a general whofAentered
a battle-field to achieve a great victory without a loss of
men. He (the Chairman), however, hoped that they had
arrived at their largest number of losses, and that next
year's report would show a decided improvement in
that respect. (Applause.) The directors begged to im-
press upon the assembled shareholders the importance of
individual exertion. (Cheers.) He need not detain them
longer by any further observations, but before he
resumed his seat he must say that, when he remembered
that the balance-sheet had been well circulated amongst
the proprietary, the numbers present to-day bespoke the
high confidence and satisfaction in the present position
and management of the company. (Applause.) He
begged, therefore, to move "That the report now read,
and balance-sheets therein referred to, be approved and
adopted." (Cheers.)
Mr. T. WILSON felt great pleasure in recouding the
adoption of the report, and he did so as one of the
largest, if not the largest, shareholder in the company.
He had the greatest confidence in the ultimate success
that would attend their efforts, and he entirely concurred
in the observations of their worthy chairman that by
pushing along they would find that profit increased and
losses diminished. He said it afforded him great grati-
fication to second the motion of the chairman, and lie
trusted that when they next met they might, from the
nature of things, expect that they would have a much
larger show of profit and a diminution of loss. (Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution to the meeting,
and it was carried unanimously amidst great applause.
Mr. J. M. HARE, in rising to move the second reso-
lution, said he could not boast of being the largest share-
holder present, but at the same time he must be allowed
to observe that the interest he took in the success and
prosperity of the company was equally great. lie bad
heard the report read with much pleasure ; and lie
thought that the losses mentioned therein during the
past year were not larger than other offices. Indeed
he kne re one office where the payments considerably ex-
ceede i the receipts. He begged to call their special at-
tention to the last part of the report ; and by doing ae
there advised they would exhibit that generalship which
had been so honourably mentioned. The resolutip.n
.
that he would propose was aslOllOWl3 :77_4! That the fol_