The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-22 00:00:00

THE MOREA.

Saunders and Colley, London, 1841.
We noticed this volume of poems some months
ago in The Sun, and need now only say that our
faourable opinion of them has been confirmed, and
that they have reached a second edition.

INDE-PENDENT WEST MIDDLE-
SEX ASSURANCE COMPANY.

We give the following particulars relative to this
" concern" from the Glasgow Argus :
On the authority of a letter received in Edinburgh,
we (Glasgow Argus) announced on Monday the stop-
page of the above concern, and the flight of the manag-
ing directors, which has since been confirmed from other
sources. The history of this establishment places in a
very strong light the defective state of the law regard-
ing joint stock companies, and proves the necessity of
some legislative enactment, by which they may be
brought under proper control. It has long been matter
of public notoriety that the Independent West Middle-
sex Company was a concern established without capital,
by individuals of even worse than doubtful reputation.
The Dublin and Quarterly Reviews, in articles pub-
lished some time back, showed that their rates were of
the most fallacious description, and that it was impoa-
sible they could exist as a company, and make good
the promises which they held out. So long, however,
as any portion of the public remained to be gulled, the
concern went on, in defiance of every exposure, and
there was no provision in the law by which the par-
ties could be laid hold of.
The Independent West Middlesex Assurance Com-
pany was established in 1836, by four individuals, whose
characters will not bear a very close investigation. One
of them had, at one period, kept the tap of' a tavern
in Aldermanbury, London, He afterwards became
shopman to a small tallow-chandler in Upper Berkeley-
street, where he subsequently carried on business on his
own account, but without success. Atter moving about
from place to place, the same bad fortune following him,
he was known as a house-agent at the period when the
Company was started. Another of the party was origi-
nally a footman, and afterwards got engaged in several
concerns, none of which succeeded. He kept a petty
furnishing-shop for a short time in Gloucester, where
he became insolvent about 1827. Towards the end of
1829 he spent several months in Whitecross-street pri-
son, from which he was released under the Insolvent Deb-
tors' Act. At this period his clothes were in pawn, and he
was in such a state of utter destitution, that he excited
the compassion of the Governor of the prison, who gene-
rously advanced him upwards of 41. to relieve his
clothes, receiving his written obligation to repay the
same when demanded. At an after period, when he
Was discovered to be living in an elegant house of Con-
naught-terrace, and driving his carriage and pair, the
Governor sent to him for the money, which he refused
to pay, alleging that he was freed from it by the statute
of limitations. From the time he left Wh itecross-street
Prison, he acted as shopman to the tallow-chandler pre-
viously mentioned. The third was an attorney in very
poor circumstances, who, in 1831, went through th'e
Bankruptcy Court. He was one of the Directors "tend
the Salicitor for the notorious Equitable Loan reoroo
puny, which was blown up in
.1838. The fourth 'was an
apothecary, and had a small shop in the neighbriurhoad
of where the first-mentioned of the Our resided. In
1832 he spent several months in the Queen's Bench
Prison, where he was in a state of the utmost destitu-
tion, and was known by his fellow-prisoners under' the
name of " Poor Jemmy."
The four individuals, of whom we have given some
account, are believed to have been the sole originators
of this precious concern. They subsequently admitted,
as Managing Directors, a journeyman blacksmith along
with the porter of the establishment-, and the two lat-
ter, in conjunction with one of the four, signed all the
policies and annuity bonds. Prospectuses were issued,
by which the Company professed to be constituted un-
der various Acts of Parliament, and an imposing array
of names appeared as Directors, many of which, were
chosen as being identical with those of well-known
and highl3-respectable gentlemen in London. Suspicion
was at an early period excited by the low rates at which
the new Company transacted business ; and it soon be-
' came known that the individuals who'were put forth as
Directors, were not the well-known gentlemen of the
same names.
At the outset, Messrs. Coutts and Co. were an-
nounced as the bankers of the concern, but they soon
ordered their names to be withdrawn from the adver-
tisement. The Company then put forward the Bank
of England, who, after making inquiry regarditsg the
parties, ordered the account to be shut. The Western
Bank of Scotland, who had been announced as the
Scottish bankers, were obliged to threaten proceedings
before they could get their names withdrawn. Not-
withstanding these adverse circumstances, and in the
face of the exposure made in Glasgow, the Company
still went on, and their gains, from what has transpired,
must have been considerable. It appears by a search
made at the Enrolment-office, Chancery-lane, Lon-
. don, where all annuity bonds are :registered, that
down to the month of November, 1840, the sum of
98,0001. had been paid into the concern for the pur-
chase of annuities. The money received in the shape
of premiums tOr tiro and life assurances must also have
been large, and although no correct approximation can
be made, it does not seem improbable to estimate their
total gains at somewhere about 200,0001.
That money was, flowing at a rapid rate into the ex-
chequer was soon made manifest by the altered circum-
stances of the concoctors of the scheme. The ex-
tallow-chandler and house-agent built nine splendid
houses as an investment at Maida Hill, to the west of
London, in one of which he took up his residence,
keeping several male servants, and driving into town in
hie carriage. He further purchased various properties
in different parts of the metropolis, at a coit, as has
been ascertained, of upwards of 20,0001. The ex,
foMuLin purchased an elegant house in Connaught-
Terrace, where he lived in considerable splendour,
and drove his carriage and pair. In Glasgow, premises
wens purchased for the use of the concern in Ingram-
street, and eevcral turns of money were lent out upon
heritable securities, a portion of which, it is hoped,
may be made available for the behoof of the sufferers
in this quarter. Between three and four thousand
pounds is understood to be about the amount re-
ceived by the Company here in the annuity branch
of their business, included in which is a sum sank for
the behoof of the children of the late John Tait, editor
of the Liberator newspaper. On Tuesday last the office
was finally closed, the individual who, for some time,
has acted as agent, and who is understood to be the son
of the ex-footman, having hurriedly taken his departure
from GI ,sgow.
Although the Independent West Middlesex Assur-
ance Company displayed the utmost eagerness to procure
business, their conduct was different when losses by fire
took place, or when individuals died who had their lives
insured with the concern. At Johnstone, in the neigh.
bourhood of Paisley, a fire occurred in the prerr,,ises of
Messrs. Allan and Watson, cotton•piwmers, who were
insured with the West Middlesex, and payment was
refused of the claim of about 1,600/. on various un-
founded pret noes. Legal proceedings were in esoueee
quenee instituted, and funds, which the cclncetn had in
Scotland were fortunately arrested, cian a different re-
suit might have ensued. After a protracted and ex-
pensivelitigation, and within a few days of the time fixed
for the trial, the Middlesex abandoned the case, and
allowed decreet to be passed against them, and ?elesass,
Allan end Watson ultimately recoveeesi the whole of
their demand, and the expeneee iecurred. We give these
merely as peamples of the manner in ns;hich the Middles,
sex proceeded, and might quote numerous cites of a si-
milar nature from all parts of the country, in which se-
tions are at this moment pending.

We trust that, even in the present Unetrtain state of
the law, means will be found LO punish the guilty authors
of th.; plot, and, at all eventz, that Parliament will

speedily direct its attention to ;owe measure by which
the public may by protcoted fors the frauds that it is
clear car, 4e p,rac;tiSed by p.crsous assuming the deoigna-
Lien of joint cock companies,

Fouit LIVES LOST.---IsLAY, JAR. 14.--
Oil Thursday, the 7th current, when Donald Mathieson,
John M'Queen, Alexander Currie, and John Keith, were
crossing the trackless waste which lies between Airdthal-
lay and Kiiiagary, they lost their way and perished. Their
friend 9 Rnd neighbours went oot in search of them, but up
to 10. h no trace could be fennel. Oa Sabbath the
10th, the Proaig shepherd discovered the horse, which
they had along with then-, buried Mow the snow in a wild
and romantic valley called Gleann do' Phroaig, and the
remains of the unfortunate men were fouud on the 12th in
the same glen. Alexander Currie and John Ke,ith were
found together, but Donald Mathieson and John M'Queen
were hl-otat a mile torn eaph other. Currie, Keith; and
-M'Queen were unmarried, but Donald Mathieson has left
a widow and three young children, and also his aged pa•
rents, to lament his loss.--Scottish Guardian,