The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-19 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, THPIISDAY EVENING, AUGUST 19, 1869.

.PRINCE OF WALES'S ROYAL THEATRE.
Under the Management of Miss Marie Wilton

THIS EVENING, SCHOOL: Messrs. Hare, H. J. Montagne,
Addison, Glover, and Bancroft; • Mrs. Buckingham White, Miss
C. Addison, and Miss Marie Wilton. After which, A WINNING
HAZARD. And A LAME EXCUSE

CDRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at
Wednesdays and Eaturdays, at 3 o,nd 8 all the year round.

ZOOLOGICAL G NROENS, Regent's-pa-Lk, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, Is.; on Mondays, Cd. Children
under twelve, Gd

But

day.

farther and farther, but we shall never penetrate that
veil behind which rests the First Great Cause, the
Deity, who has revealel to us sun, moon, stars, the
whole universe, as the hem of his garment.

THE insolvency of a large assurance company has
naturally given rise to great consternation through-
out the country. Even the bitter experience of the
last few years had not prepared the public for a catas-
trophe of this kind. Though confidence in every
species of enterprise has been rudely shattered of late,
and though the staidest of corporations engaged in
the least hazardous of enterprises have proved them-
selves unworthy of trust, few persons could have
been prepared for a disaster which will destroy the
fruit of such self-sacrifice as is represented by life
assurance. But it seems that with this crowning dis-
grace we are imminently threatened. The Albert Life
Assurance Company is in a state of serious difficulty.
The exact nature of its liabilities is not at present
divulged ; but as the share and policy-holders are
invited to consider a scheme " upon which, by
mutual sacrifices, the office may be reconstructed,"
the conclusion must be that the state of affairs is
one of bankruptcy. The Albert Company has been
established above thirty years, and has a very large
business, with numerous agencies throughout the
provinces, as well as in India, China,
and Japan. Its proportions have been con-
stantly increasing by the addition of one com-
pany after another until not fewer than twenty-two
were absorbed. How far this policy of indiscrimi-
nate incorporation was wise is more than doubtful.
If an assurance company has a good business of its
own it will not consent to amalgamation ;
and it is therefore not unreasonable to infer that
some of these acquisitions must have been worse
than useless. The number of policies connected with
this concern bring in an annual income of £357,594
—a fine revenue in itself, but, unfortunately,
a trifle compared with the demands upon it.
These policies represent a full investment in assur-
ances of over 11 millions sterling. For the first
years of its existence such an enormous account
would not involve much trouble. It is in
the nature of an assurance company that its
early years must pass in security ; it is when
the lives of assured persons begin to lapse in the
course of nature that claim after claim falls in, and
the resources of the office are put to the test. This
epoch in the history of the Albert Company has
arrived. Its liabilities amount in all to 11 millions
sterling, and to meet the proportion which becomes
due there is only £647,000 in hand—less than two
years' income.

The business has come to a deadlock, and a scheme
of " reconstruction by mutual sacrifice " has been
found needful. No doubt this, in some way or other,
will be effected. An assurance office is in some
sort like a railway ; it may be insolvent,
but there is generally more to be lost by
stopping it than by allowing a fair chance for
recovery. To bring the affairs of the Albert
Coin pany to a final crisis would be pro-
ductive of little benefit, and it is probable
that some means of prolonging its existence will be
devised. But before the work of reconstruction
commences, it is just to the policy-holders and j ust
to an alarmed public to expose the true state of
affairs, and, however disagreeable the duty, to
reveal the policy which has led to this calamitous
result. It is now hopeless to expect that such
a concern can be brought round, except at great cost
to the unfortunate investors who have committed
the future of their wives and children to its care.
If £U17,000 represent the whole sum available to
meet the claims which may fall due from a
total of 11 millions, it is easy to divine
that the work of " reconstruction " will indeed
be one of " mutual self-sacrifice." What reckless
trading, what blind hunting after business, what
heedless expenditure of the income which ought to
have been laid up instead of liquidated in manage-
ment have led to this end, ought to be
revealed at once. It is inevitable that the
savings of hundreds, the self-denial of the pro-
vident, must be lost through sheer blundering,
and there is nothing to be hoped now by half telling
the truth. The terror of uncertainty can hardly be
worse than the consternation which will probably
follow the exposure of the dismal truth. It
seems futile to look to legislation to prevent com-
mercial misdeeds; but that such flagiant calamities
as these can be obviated is certain enough, and
hitherto the Legislature has done as little as possible
in the way of reasonable interference.

LATEST INTELL MENGE

(REUTER'S TELEGRA3IB.)

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, August 18.
The Hamburg and American steamship 11am-
monia arrived here at 8 p.m. yesterday.
The National Steamship Company's steamer
Queen arrived out to-day.

The Allan (Glasgow) steamship St. Patrick ar-
rived out to-day.
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
CLOSING PRICES.

Gold closed at 1334 ; the highest quotation dur-
ing the day was 133:1 ; the lowest, 132.
Sterling Exchange on London lO9l.
5-20 U. S. Bonds, 1884
" 1880 l2ll.
cc cc 18G7 l2Ol.
10-40
Illinois .................................. 1381.
Eric ............................................. 28.
Cotton—Mid. upland 334c.
Petroleum—Standard White 32le.
Flour, extra state, $6.70c. to $7.30c. Corn, old
mixed, $1.22c.

QUEBEC, August 18.
The Allan steamship Germany arrived out to-

WEST AFRICA MAIL.

LIVERPOOL, Aug. 19.

The West Africa Mail steamer Macgregor Laird
arrived in the Mersey this morning. Her dates are
Old Calabar, July 9 ;
Cameroons, and Fernando
Po, 12th ; Bonny, 14th ; Brass, 17th ; Benin, 18th ;
Lagos, 20th ; Whydah, 21st ; Accra, 23d ; Cape
Coast Castle, 24th ; Cape Palmas, 2 lth ; Monro-
via, 28th ; Sherbro, 31st ; Sierra Leone, August 1 ;
Teneriffe, 9th ; and Madeira, 11th. She brings
155 ozs. of gold dust and 200 sovereigns in specie.
Trade was generally dull, owing to the high
prices asked for oil by tb.3 natives. Health at
all the ports was good. Lord J. Gordon is a pas-
sengers from Lagos.

LISBON, Aug. 18.

The Pacific Steam Navigation mail steamer
Patagonia arrived here at one o'clock to-day, 17
hours before her time. Her dates are—Valparaiso,
July 13 ; Buenos Ayres, July 26 ; Montevideo,
July 27 ; and Rio Janeiro, Aug. 1. She brings
$138,000 in specie for Paris, and $320,000 for Lon-
don. There is no political news of importance.

FRANCE.
BOURSE, Aug. 18.—Three o'clock—The market
+closed as follows :

4 per Cent.
End of mouth —
3 per Cent
End of month— 73 20
41-ddit,Mobiher 230

Bank Shares 2900
Ital'an Five. .`,6
Austrian Fives
Ottoman Loan 325
Do. Debt 41
10
Spanish Threes 29 50
Homo Debt —
Deferred

1 9! ransatlalitie 75-I'.2' 5C

5 Funcier
li
'_Paris Gas 1645
EAILWA'

Cash
Orleans - !.70
Western
Northern
Strasburg -
• •
Lyons and Mediterranean .......... 9921
Southern..... 617-
Sardinian

MR, BRIGHT.

A correspondent of the New York Tribune, on a visit to
Europe, in a letter descriptive of his experience in
London, gives an interesting account of an interview he
had with Mr. Bright. He Pays : " I selected an early
hour for an interview, and found the illustrious states.
man at his quiet and solitary breakfast, though several
visitors dropped in before the completion of the repast.
Nothing could exceed the unpretending modesty
of his establishment, unless it was the frank
dignity of his manners. It was an impressive
scene to behold a man who had wielded such a
vast power over the politics of Great Britain in an
environment which reminded me of the historical sketches
of the Spartan simplicity in the domestic life of Samuel
Adams in the days of the Revolution." The correspon-
dent seems to have carried away a deep sense of Mr.
Bright's gentleness of disposition, and to have been greatly
charmed with his conversation, about which he grows
almost enthusiastic. The following is worth quoting,
as strangely contrasting with the general impression
of Mr. Bright's character :—" I was struck with
some of his remarks on the natural tendency to
order and quiet as age advances, and may make this
slight allusion to them, as the expression of a practised
statesman somewhat in contrast with his public career.
' The longer I live,' said he, ' I am more and more dis-
posed to seek some point where progress is not necessary.'
He illustrated this idea at length, shewing that it was not
the whim of a statesman weary with the claims of reform,
but the utterance of a sage who had wisely decided on the
value of different purposes in life."