The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-21 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION...,

risked. lie regretted to learn that there were many
other speculations by which persons with limited m"a"'
had suffered considerably; and he should feel much gra- Royal Artillery.—The detachment under tit° e,c'ell/L"lttle
4 Captain Palmer, after having embarked I.
the
Aesop
tification in contributing, as much as lay in his power,
Ben, Ordnance sloop, on Friday last, to relieve t" uan•
to the detecticn end exposure of the inquities of the im.
meet at Purfleet, were run ashore on occount of qi mu
postors who thrived by them.
Sir P. LAURIE stated that he had to call the oaten. • • •
tity of ice in the river, and marched back to the err sble
lion of Alderman Ririe to :1 Company, which, for the On the following day they again embarked, and ' ere
to proceed to their destination, the river having be '''place
extent of the robberies committed by the few individuals siderably cleared of the ice by the thaw which took:
who established it, exceeded any thing within his me- on Saturday. - od
mory. He had received the following note front the 7th ilussars.—A considerable quantity of 8110' ..,.
Editor of a Scotch paper, and he had inquired into the fallen at Montreal, where this regiment is at presel4
particulars, and round them to be by no means exagge- ;
sioned, previous to the 27th November, and, the W.-7,i,
rated : having cleared up, the sleighing throughout the tovvuo
beautiful. The winter carriages of the inhabitants have
_on
" Scotch Rtpincli Gazdtc Office Gilt 2.
ts'"' most instances been altered agreeably to the ordinance, u .
January 16, 1841.
" Tile Editor of the Scotch Rem-niers' Gazelle pre- the police were instructed to take up all who failed t° c°11;
tents his r....,-(!ctftil complements to his distinguished ply with its irjunctiors. On the lbove-menioned days%
Excellency the Governor-in-Chief, Lord Sydenhartly but.
7 Laurie, and begs to call the at. }Jelled to hit passing :don, the' street, and, observing t"iall.
countryman Sir l't:
in the paper, tra.',- Captain Warren. of the 7th Hussars, was driving A l'!ezggb
tenting of fir Peter to all !Articli:
;pitted by this post; respecting t,,!..` Middlesex AF.SIII, not altered, h's Excellency asked a policeman if thereille
W 11,3 not liable to be taken up, and being answered 1000
ance se.'indlers, who have just absconae'd with abou'
affirmative, he ordered the manto do his duty, and Col)
200,000/. of their victims' money !
airl
" The Middlesex are part of the same gang who ha :Varren was instantly stopped .
d '
Coldstream Guards (2:1 battalion).—The anniver . ,
the unparalleled audacity to advertise the name of his
The
. dinra-r of the St. Andrew's Society, was held at On An°
Grace the Duke fyr Welling/on, as patron of a Lqmst i ukto, f4ocbee, on the 30th of November, 1810• - 4
Company end General Deposit Bulk, formerly exposee I, band and glee singers of this gallant regiment attendk,
at the Mansicirr-he.esce 1 the great delight of the company assembled on this '''

THE ARMY.

iman.a

" 'Tice Duke wrote to the Edit,ar of tire Gazette, an-
thorising him to expose the gang, which was done cEe-
twill) in this quarter ; but the Press, in too many
places, continued to publish the specious advertisements
of the awindl:,!rs, and even to pull' them ; and hence the
swindlers succeeded in pillaging the public to the above
enormous extent."
The article alluded to, which contained at: account of
the flight of the Directors of the Company from their
premises, No. 27, Baker-street, Portman-square, which
were left without an atom of furniture or property of
any kind, stated that the course of proceeding was
most ingenious. When the Scotch paper attacked
the gang they brought actions against the proprietors
for damages to an enormous amount, took care to let
the public know that they were appealing to the law for
redress, and became more and more confident, in the
tone of their addresses by advertisement, so that they
made the very fact of the aecusatlon against them instru-
mental to the attainment of their great object of plun-
dering all ranks of the people. It was not supposed to
be possible that an Association established in so re-
spectable a part of the metropolis, constantly appearing
before the public its expensive advertisements, and
taking its own part in the most awful man-
ner in the Courts of Law when airy one
dared to asperse its motives, could base been set on
foot by the mere exertions of a couple of
gentlemen's servants and a couple of !lankrupts
in desperate circumstances, and carried on in the open
day,, for the mere purposes of plunder. The fact, Sir
Peter said, now stared the uufortunatc annuitants in
the face. One of them had put into his hands the foi.-
lowing memorandum, which Mr. Knowles, a partner in
the Company, had given to her, upon receiving from
her the suns of 4951., on which she had been paid at the
rate agreed upon, until the bubble burst :
" Independent and West Middlesex Assurance Office
for Fire, Lives, and Annuities, 27, Baker-street,
Portman-square (opposite the Bazaar.)
" London, 7th of May, 1839.
" Mrs. Wallis has this day deposited in my hands a
cheque for the sum of four hundred and ninety-five
pounds, being the balance of purchase-money for an
annuity of thirty-fire pounds, during the life of Emily
Barber, for which a deed will be duly enrolled in the
Court of Chancery, by which this memorandum will be
cancelled.—THOMAS KNOWLES."

The distress occasioned by the flight of the Company
was, Sir Peter stated, indescribable. It appeared that
the proprietors of the paper he had quoted had sent
an agent from Glasgow to London to institute the
closest inquiry, and it had been ascertained by that
agent that all the Directors had absconded, taking away
with them upwards of 98,0001. of annuities, cash paid
down to them in sundry sums by victims who, allured
by their advertisements, had confided in them, exclu-
sive altogether of the enormous amounts paid to them
for their policies for fire and life assurance, the whole
amounting to not less than 150,000/. It was deplor-
able to see the number of poor and aged people who
had embarked all they had in the world in this infamous
Company, appealing to those who were unable to render
them any assistance. He (Sir Peter) had seen several
of the sufferers who, he believed, had now at their com-
mand scarcely any of the necessaries of life.
Alderman PIAUI said that he had been informed of
the very extensive ruin which had resulted from the
confidence placed by the annuitants in the Company.
The Directors, it appeared, had resided in splendid
houses and kept magnificent establishments.
Sir PETER LAURIE said he deeply regretted that he
could not have the opportunity of determining on the
disposal of those who were engaged in so nefarious a
confederacy. All he could do was to make the state-
ment, and to caution the public on the subject' of depo-
siting their money in the bands of companies, or indi-
viduals, without the most indisputable evidence of their
respectability. There were, he knew, several flash
establishments in the metropolis at that moment ob-
taining large sums of money fraudulently. The inge-
nuity exhibited in the management of the concern re-
lative to which he appeared at the Mansion House
that day, was very remarkable ; but, crimes of inge-
nuity were on the increase. The Independent and
West Middlesex Assurance Company pretended to
have been established in the year 1696, with a ca-
pital of 1,000,0001., and here it ended with all its pro-
fessed advantages, after having really existed no more than
four years, during which period it was engaged in plun-
dering the public and enriching a few miscreants, who
were at that moment enjoying the fruits of their iniquity.
. .

Mr. Hobler said that he had received a letter from
Glasgow on the subject, stating that a disclosure of
what had taken place would be likely to be serviceable
to the public, and it was his intention to lay it before the
Lord Mayor, in order that through the press the cir-
cumstances might obtain publicity.
Sir P. LAURIE said that in all probability some of the
particular cases of plunder would be mentioned before
him at the Mansion-house next day. He understood
that the chief actors in the business had betaken them-
selves to the Continent. lie again deeply regretted that
he had not the power of dealing with them, but lie
trusted that what he had said would operate as a general
warning.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.
(LLOYD'S.)

VESSELS SPOKEN WITH.---The Richmond, London, to
Berbice, 11th ult., let. 20, lon. 66, by the Indus, arrived
at Waterford. Isabella, Geary, from Newry, 29th ult.,
lat. 36, lon. 6 W.; Competitor, from St. Ives, 31st, off Cape
St. Vincent, by the Clipper, arrived at Liverpool. Dela,
Peyrouse, 19th ult., in lat. 37 N., lon. 27 W., in want of
sails; Stirling, Liverpool, to Charleston, 25th, lat. 40, lon.
22, by the Ann Jeffrys, arrived in the Clyde. Earl Den-
ham, Dundee, to Sydney, out ten days, lat. 49, lon. 12,
by the Frederick Leighton, arrived in the Clyde. Em-
press, Odessa to Liverpool, in the Gut of Gibraltar, by
the Brothers, arrived at Cowes. Voyageur, Bourbon
to Marseilles, Nov. 13, lat. 16 S., 1)0. 4 E., by tire
Amiable, Creole, arrived in the Loire. Tagus (st. ), South-
ampton to Lisbon, 9) miles N. E. of Cape Finisterre, by
the Iberia (st.), arrived at Southampton. Thorney-close,
Naples to Falmouth, 16th instant, lat. 51, lon. 8, by the
Lousitania, arrived at Falmouth. Rowland, bound to
Jamaica, 6th inst., lat. 36, lon. 21.

•
36th Foot.—The steamer Canada conveyed one nun- ce
nifo of the light company of this regiment from illtro
Rivets to 31on,real on the 27th November last, and 70
next they p,s3ed over to Point Levy, on their wold
mada„„„:t. The following are the names of the offitie:.
arenntanyin,: the detachment :—Colonel Eden, Cep;4l
Walinsky, Licu,teirAnt Smith, Ensign L. C. Conran,
Surgeon .
64th Foot
_Tin, cu.-irybdis, three-gun brig, Licata.°
and the Dec, four-gun °ell;
Commander E. n
vessel, Commander J. ghe.
regiment from Jamaia
-er, K. H., were the 0
employed to convey this gallant 00
Halifax, North America, where it is now stationed. ,:de,
73d Foot—Lieutenant Baker has t, 'en appointed r 4
de-Camp to his Excellency the Governnt•-
General of .110 pile,
America, in the room of Captain Le 11.Nehant, "11°
returned to Eegland.