The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-18 00:00:00

521.13,TT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

It says something, observes the Times, for the ingenuity
Of the conductors as well as the interest of the drama that
Vie proceedings of the Election Commissions should still
to accepted without satiety by daily readers. Even as it
14 there will be many who will exclaim, "Both Commis-
sions adjourned sine die. How delightful!" Certainly the
revelations, or rather the confessions, are wonderful; but
it required nothing less than the Bridgwater evidence of
last week to avert the surfeit threatened by these intermin-
able reports. However, with Mr. Henry Padwick, Mr.
Walter Bagehot, and Mr, Alexander Kinglake for
story-tellers there was little chance of dulness in
the narrative. How did the Bridgwater voters
always contrive to be bribed, even when nobody
wished to bribe them ? How was it that candi-
dates more than half suspicious of the place, and deter-
mined not to be taken in, were nevertheless trapped with
uniform success? We need not say that in reality the
work was accomplished by wholesale bribery at the
critical hour of the contest ; but now comes a question.
As yet Mr. Kinglake has not repaid the money thus ex-
pended by his active friends, but he did not disguise his
intention of doing so if advised to that effect. This
is precisely what Mr. Bagehot did, with great reluct-
ance. By this ingenious measure of substituting a
friendly creditor and a debt of honour for a corrupt elector
and a bribe did the Bridgwater people effect their purpose
even with the sternest stickler for purity. Let us only
add, in conclusion, that Bridgwater might have been
obviously reformed by anything like a sincere under-
standing on both sides. We are told that, except for
bribing, the opinion of the borough would have been
Liberal, and our Conservative friends would, probably,
bid us welcome to the assumption. But it is plain that if
Conservatives and Liberals together had but honestly
agreed to do what they were always talking of doing, the
fight would have been about as even as before, only with a
smaller poll. Each party, however, dreaded the doings of
the other at the last minute. The minute was sure to
ccme when a few pounds, more or less, would win the elec-
tion; and as neither side could endure to leave that chance
in the hands of a rival, they bid over each other for the
advantage, with the results which these reports have dis-
closed.

The Lay Conference of Irish Churchmen has, says the
Post, substantially brought its proceedings to a close,
having effected the main object with which it was convened.
That object was the determination of the basis on which
the laity should be represented in that General Assembly
of the Church which is contemplated by the Disestablish-
ment Act, and to whose hands will henceforth be entrusted
all matters concerning the doctrines or discipline of the
zew Communion. If the series of resolutions which were

passed are to be regarded as final, we are now in a position to
judge of the excellence or otherwise of the mode which has
been devised for the future representation of what may be
termed the lay interests of the Church of Ireland. But if
is very doubtful whether they are final. There was a good
deal of force in the observation of the Earl of Enniskillen,
:that the Protestants in tho North were well able to take
care of themselves, and that consequently particular care
should be taken that in those dioceses where the Protes-
tant element was less powerful adequate provision should
be made for its representation at the General Council.
One of the members of the Conference called attention

to the fact that the new Church would need a con-
stitution for its future government; and although the
framing of that constitution must ultimately be the work
of the General Council, the Conference scarcely exceeded
its powers in resolving that the diocesan synods should
appoint a committee composed of an equal number of
clergy and laity to draw up, wi`•h the assistance of certain
persons versed in ecclesiastical laW; the framework of tho
laws and customs which will henceforth obtain in the
Irish Church. The Lay Conference then terminated iiB
labours, and when the curtain rises again it wi2 be on the

meeting of the General Representative Council,

The Daily News remarks that the past three years have
been a very trying time for our old friend the Quarterly
Review. It finds the political world a puzzle and bewilder-
ment, and is inclined to give up the riddle. It does not
know where to turn for a refuge in this age of newfangled
ideas and revolutionary projects. In successive numbers

't has denounced M;. Disraeli as a trickster and

traitor, and taken him to its bosom again with tears of
reconciliation. It has bewailed the Conservative
capitulations, and has itself capitulated. If as has
been contended, the interest of every situation
lies in suspense, the readers of the Quarterly enjoy that
mental attitude in a greater degree than those of any
other periodical. The most experienced observer would
hesitate to forecast the line which it will take on party
questions ; and turns to the political article with a curiosity
unqualified by any sense of the probable. In its new
number the Quarterly Review places itself, as it were, in
retreat, and in the name of the Conservative party devotes
itself to the task of reflection and self-scrutiny. It
reviews the political campaigns of the past twenty years,
as Napoleon might have reviewed the course of
his wars in St. Helena ; or as a chess-player might
play over again a game in which he has been
beaten, in order to satisfy himself when and how
ho lost, and by what wiser moves he might have
won. Moderate politicians may, and perhaps do, fear the
latent Radicalism of Mr. Disraeli more than the open
Radicalism of Mr. Bright. But they have learned the
hollowness of those prophecies of " a radical subversion of
the existing structure of our society," and of the abolition
of property and privilege, with which every useful measure,
from Catholic Emancipation to Free Trade and Household
Suffrage, has been assailed, and which the Quarterly Review
raises once more, to take much heed of such wild alarms 4
The future of England does not depend uponparliamentary
tactics or party combinations.
The Standard thinks that there was a peculiar interest
in the visit of the Prince of Wales to Chester. That
ancient city, whose name is one among his title, had never
seen him before, at least in a public manner, and it re-
ceived him with unlimited acclamations. The old walled
town—the only one remaining in England—with its curious
sunken rows, was bright and gay when he arrived, and ex-
hibited, of course, a fervent loyal zeal in giving him the
welcome which everyone knew he would enjoy. But
every city in Great Britain would do the

same. Our princes have been accustomed to
make a home for themselves everywhere, both
in the place and in the heart of its popu-
lation. But the interesting fact connected with this
visit is the association of the Prince and the city. Strangely

enough, the dignity of the heir to the Crown, which is not
hereditary as Prince of Wales, but re-created with every
-birth, is not commonly understood. With the princedom
of Wales goes the earldom of Chester, and that city, amid
all our civil wars, revolutions, and insurrections, has never
once risen against the Throne. Clothed with honourable
traditions national and valiant, Chester has been
for ages • a sort of binding Border link between
England and Wales. By the side of the worm-eaten
structure a new edifice has arisen, just inaugu-
rated by his Royal Highness, contrasting the present
with the past, and proving how much of vitality survives
even in thoseantique, and, as an antiquarian might sug-
gest, cloistered communities of England. Graven on every
stone, written on every wall, built up in every monument
of Chester, is a trace, or an anecdote, or a memorial of
English history. This latest burst of light upon it is only
justice to its long-illumined annals. The Earl of Chester
Prince of Wales has performed a graceful act in his recog-
nition of the " richly dight " old city.
The Telegraph considers that a system of official inves-
tigation will greatly diminish the risk of railway accidents.
k coroner's jury may arrive at all the facts involved in a
railway accident, but it cannot always draw the right
inferences—least of all develop beneficial suggestions. A
Board of Trade inspector, on the other hand, has special
gifts, strengthened by long training, for precisely
the kind of purpose which a high estimate of
his functions would lead him to follow out.
He is familiar with every branch of practical
engineering, with the laws of dynamics, and with the
latest scientific researches that bear upon the actual working
of railways. Naturally enough, traffic managers willlisten
to suggestions from such an authority, which they would
treat with indifference if they proceeded from a volunteer
adviser, who might be impelled by his sympathies rather
than his judgment. It may have seemed to the Midland
officials quite in accordance with the eternal fitness of
things, that four crowded trains should follow close upon
each other, after dark, and enveloped in a fog, and yet
that no steps should be taken to assure a certain interval
between those heavy and rapidly moving bodies ; but we
should be much surprised if Colonel Tyler or Colonel Yol-
land were of the same opinion. A margin of time is indis-
pensable in such cases, even in daylight ; it is doubly so
after dark, trebly so at midnight or in a fog. The block
telegraph system secures that margin as no other arrange-
ment can ; but probably the Nottingham officials do not see
that plain fact, simply because they have been accustomed
fcr years to regulations which worked well enough for their
purpcse. It is the duty of the Board of Trade inspector to
open their eyes; while, as authorised guardian of the
nation's iron highways, he endeavours to secure for the
public those scientific appliances that ought to be the guide
of our great ministers of locomotion, and the safeguard of
even the humblest traveller.

The Stockport .Advertiser states that the cotton
trade in that borough is in a very bad state, and the opera-
tives are, consequently, nearly as badly off as they were
during the American war, only,ttwo or throe of the eilla
now running full time.

THE PROSECUTION OF THE ALBERT

DIBECTOBS.

On Saturday, at the Marlborough-street Police-court,
before Mr. Knox,William Beattie, Esq., M.D., Peter Rood,
Esq., M.D., Dr. Nicholls, Esq., G. Goldsmith Kirby, Esq.,
E. Vansittart Neale, Esq., Dr. Nicholls, M.R.C.P., Vice-
Admiral the Right Hon. Lord George Paulet, C. 8., W.

Page, T. Phillips, Esq., T. Stevenson, Esq., and Robert
Whitworth, the directors and managing director of the
Albert Life Assurance Company, surrendered to their
recognisances before Mr. Knox, to answer a charge
preferred against them by Mr. Lee and others, share-
holders of the company, of " conspiracy to defraud
certain persons of divers sums of money between 1804 and

1869."
Mr. Straight and Mr. Bromby, banisters, prosecuted ;
and Mr. Milward, Q.C., Mr. Poland, Mr. Metcalfe, and Mr.
Besley, were present on behalf of the defendants.
The court, as on the previous cccasicn, was crowded.
Mr. Straight preceedel to state the charge, observing

that they had great difficulty in seeing the books, but
having seen them yesterday he certainly did not expect to
find in thc mwhat he bad found. The ape cific charge against the
defendants was r.at the defendants did ccnspire to repre-
sent to the shareholders, policy-holders, and the Albert
Assurance Company generally, that the Albert was in
18C6-7-8, and 9, in a sound and prosperous condition,
capable of paying their dividends, and capable as well
of undertaking the assurance of new lives; secondly,
by publishing false reports in 1866 and 1867, and
omitting to publish a balance-sheet at all, and thirdly,
paying dividends when no profits were made, and contract-
ing to -pay large sums of money when a person should die,
they knowing the company was not capable of doing so.
Now, he suggested the simple way was to take three points
first, to see whether the ccmpany was insolvent in
the year he mentioned ; secondly, whether the
defendants knew it; and thirdly, if, so whether

they lent thmselves to the carrying out of a design
to represent the company as in a sound and flourishing
position, to induce the public to become shareholders. The
learned counsel then proceeded to state, in reference to
the insinuations thrown out on the last occasion by Mr.

Besley against the person conducting that prosecution—
suggesting that he was a man of straw—that in 1869 the
directors were themselves engaged in transferring shires

to him. Having explained the difficulties he had met with
in order to obtain the order of the judge to inspect

the books, he stated that up to yesterday it was
his intention not to go further in the case but for the
reasons he had mentioned, viz., that which cn his examina-
tion yesterday he found on the Looks. The learned coun-
sel then proceeded to state more fully the case, the salient
points of which will be found in the revelations which
from time to time have been before the public. The con-
struction of the company was under the deed of 1839. It
had been put forward as in favour of the defendants that by
that deed they were allowed to declare dividends without
profits, but it would be found that there was a discretion
thrown on the directors with reference to their so doing.
Now with regard to the various gentlemen before them as
defendants, he might observe that Mr. Phillips and
Mr. Nicholls got rid of their shares in 1868 and 1869,
and that Mr. Whitworth about the end of 1868 got rid of
fifty shares, and within a month or six weeks of the
stopping of the company, he got rid of sixty shares more
almost immediately after, sending in his resignation.
And here he might remark that the Albert
Company were rather fortunate in having so many doctors,
for Mr. Hood, Mr. Nicholls, and Mr. White belonged, he
understood, to that profession. Now, he should call before
them a gentleman to shew that, up to the very last mo-
ment, moneys were being received on life policies, and
received as death premiums, when it was very evident that
there was no money to pay the amounts thus contracted
for. Having alluded to the unsatisfactory manner
in which the books were kept, he observed that
it was absurd to place down the Commissions
paid on amalgamations with other companies as assets,
and it was to be observed that from the time the various
amalgamations with other companies were made, great
losses were incurred, and these gentlemen who had been in
the company in its flourishing days must have known the
altered condition of the company ; and having gone on
allowing the public to assure on wrong statements, they
had rendered themselves crimlly responsible. The
learned counsel then examined in considerable detail the
accounts of the company, and contended that after the
directors had put into the valuation of assets everything
that was good, bad, and indifferent, it was very clear the

company could not pay. Ar.d what they ought to have
done when they fcund themselves in such a critical
state was to call a meeting of the shareholders, to acquaint
themselves with the state of affairs ; to make a call
(which might have been very awkward for some of
the directors) or taken means for issuing new stock.
Instead of doing this, the directors, up to the time of the
doors in Pall Mall being shut up, received money, as he
had already said, as premiums upon contracts which the
directon, or, at all events, Mr. Whitworth, one of them,
knew never cculd be met. As seen as Mr. Whitworth
found in what a critical position the con; any vas placed,
ho sold some of his shares and resigned.
Mr. Knox : When did he resign ? .

Mr. Straight said : On the 7th of Al HI, 1860, and in the
minute book was a request on the / art of the directors that
he would reconsider his determination, refusing that
morning to allow the transfer of his shares as the Act
would have disqualified Mr. Whitworth from any longer
acting as a director. The learned counsel then proceeded
to close his address, observing that the company had four
millions and a half of capital in 1860, but no balance-sheets
were issued, and for the very good reason that if they had
been the public would not have assured. Now the witnesses
he proposed to call to day were Mr. Sinclair and Mr. Moore.
Insinuations had been cast against Mr. Lee, and he had no
doubt something would be said against Mr. Sinclair, be-
cause he was a ventriloquist and a professor of music,
which no doubt was a respectable profession. (Laughter.)
At all events they would hear what he had to say, and if
they saw that persons might die without there being any
of those means for which they had paid, he
thought the defendants would have nothing to complain of in
the fact that they were in their present position by their
own culpable mismanagement.
During the delivery of the learned counsel's address
application was made by the representatives of Dr.
Nicholl that his client should be allowed to attend an
urgent case in which he had been engaged.
Mr. Knox said certainly. He would take upon himself
the responsibility of granting the request on Dr. Nicholl's
entering into his own recognizances. This was done,
and Dr. Nicholl left the court. The defendants were
seated in various parts of the court, and in no formal
way. - _

After a short adjournment cf the court, Mr. Straight
proposed to call his witnesses.
Mr. Metcalfe now asked that Mr. Lee be put into the wit-

ness-box.
Mr. Straight said he should prove his case in the usual
way. Mr. Lee had gone to Southampton on business, and
there was no doubt would be present hereafter.
Mr. Knox asked whether, supposing Mr. Lee was absent
and Mr. Straight could put into the box persons that would
prove the case, was he (Mr. Knox) to stop the proceedings?
Mr. Metcalfe said, as Mr. Lee was not present, he would
now make a statement. It would be recollected that the
cross-examination of Mr. Lee was reserved. The counsel
for the directors had had an intimation that he did not
intend to be here to-day and he (Mr. Metcalfe) did not
hesitate to say that Lee was afraid to come forward and be
examined. He (Mr. Metcalfe) did not hesitate to
tell the magistrate the facts that come into
his possession. Mr. Lee had given a false name. He had
been continually bankrupt from 1864 to 1868. Mr.
Murray, the attorney for the prosecution, had been acting
from 1864 to 1868 for Mr. Lee, and he was in the employ of
Messrs. Valiance and Lewis, who were also managers of the
prosecution. Mr. Lee was put forward by Mr. Murray
as a poor law student, who had been deprived
of his little all by the Albert Company, whereas in 1368
he was a bankrupt. Here was a man put forward as a man
suffering in the manner stated, and yet he had not thought
fit to obey the summons.
Mr. Begley asked whether Mr. Straight would be content
to be instructed by Mr. Murray after all that had tran-
spired.
Mr. Poland said that Mr. Lee had sworn that his name
was Edward Lee, whereas it was Moses Edward Boleno
Lee.
Mr Straight : Is that all ?
Mr. Besley : No; when Mr. Lee comes here he shall have
more. (Laughter.) Unless some written retainer were
given that there should be a proper prosecutor, the case
should fall through.
Mr. Metcalfe said : Supposing the directors should desire
hereafter to commence proceedings for a malicious prosecu-
tion, against whom would they proceed should Mr. Lee not
be forthcoming?
Mr. Knox said he could only say that acting as Mr. Lee
had done, ha presumed everything against the bond fide of
such a man. He knew nothing short of his own
death that should havo prevented his being there
to-day, for it was an issue involving that which
was the dearest thing in life to the defendants.
But if Mr. S tr.-tiOit would give him (Mr. Knox) a guarantee
that some bond -fide shareholder would come fcrward as a
prosecutor, he would not take the step that occurred to
his mind.
Mr. Straight said he would pledge himself that Mr. Lee
should be forthcoming.
Mr. Knox, as an Elder man than Mr. Straight, advised
him to do no such thing. He meant them to understand
that he had the worst opinion of Mr. Lee from the fe..ct of
his absence to-day.
Mr. Valiance was subsequently called into court and
stated that 311.. Lee was absent in Southamptan for the
purpose of receiving some estate monies. He was sent
because they had no other clerk that could go.
Mr. Bromby said he must take the blame on himself
for having told Mr. Lee that he would not be required
there to-day.
Mr. Knox said (after some strong expressions on the
:absence of Mr. Lee) that, under all the circumstances, he
had determined to dismiss the summons, giving, however,
Mr. Straight and Mr. Lee an opportunity. to come to him
0,1_41 apply for fre§li, oAes.

AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY.

The Era, commenting upon the death of Mrs. Charles
Mathews (the mother of the now-living distinguished
comedian, and widow of the eminent actor who departed
this life thirty-four years ago) tells the strange story as to
the courtship and marriage of the deceased lady. The first
wife of Mr. Charles Mathews, sen., was Miss Strong, the
daughter of a physician at -Exeter. In 1801 she exhibited
symptoms of a decline. One evening towards the close of
her brief life Mrs. Mathews sent her husband to request that
Miss Jackson, for whom she had some time before conceived
a warm regard, would visit her on the following day. When
the young actress arrived Mrs. Mathews, propped up in
bed, maintained a lively conversation till her husband came
in, who was delighted to find her thus able to sit up and
talk to her friend. She told him her present cheerfulness
was the result cf ns:derations which had induced her to
arrange the interview. Avowing her conviction that no
human skill could prolong her life, she adverted to her
affection for Miss Jackson, and to that young lady's unpro-
tected state ; and then, taking her hand and that of Mr.
Mathews, and pressing both to her own feveliA lips in a
solemn manner, conjured them to take coma assion on her
anxiety, and pledge themselves to become man and wife
after her death. Their agitation was extreme. Mr. Mathews
reproved his wife with some impetuosity for placing him
in such a dilemma, and Miss Jackson, throwing herself upon
her knees, besought the pardon of the dying woman for her
refusal to comply, representing the impossibility of her
affiancing herself to a man for whom she entertained no
warmer feeling than that of friendship. She then quitted
the chamber, followed by Mr. Mathews, who implored her
not to harbour a suspicion that he had been aware
of his wife's intention, which he attributed to some-
thing like a delirium produced by her feverish state.
In the May following Mrs. Mathews's illness terminated in
death. For some time after that event a natural degree of
distance was observed between the widower and Miss
Jackson. By degrees, however, the mutual coldness wore
o `I, and a feeling of regard was growing up between them,
when a circumstance occurred still more remarkable than
the dying woman's appeal. Mr. Mathew's account of his
impressions was as follows :—" He had gone to rest after a
very late night's performance at the theatre, finding himself
too fatigued to sit up till his usual hour to read ; but, after
he was in bed, he discovered—as will happen when persons
attempt to sleep before their accustomed time—that to
close his eyes was an impossibility. He had no light, nor
the means of getting one, all the family being in bed, but
the night was not absolutely dark, it was only too dark for
the purpose of reading ; indeed, every object was visible.
Still he endeavoured to go to sleep, but his eyes refused
to close, and in this state of restlessness he remained
when suddenly a slight rustling, as if of a hasty approach
of something, induced him to turn his head to that side of
the bed whence the noise seemed to proceed, and there he
clearly beheld the figure of his late wife, in her habit
as she lived, who, smiling sweetly upon him, put forth
her hand as if to take his, as she bent forward. This
was all he could relate, for, in shrinking from the contact
with the figure he beheld, he threw himself out of
bed upon the floor, where, the fall having alarmed the
house, his landlord found him in a fit. On his recovery,
ho related the cause of the accident, and the whole of
the following day he remained extremely ill, and was
unable to quit his room." The remarkable fact is that at
the exact hour at which Mr. Mathews was thus affected
a vision of the same kind occurred to Miss Jackson. " The
same sleepless effect," she says, " the same cause of terror,
had occasioned to me seize the bell-rope in order to
summon the people of the house, which, giving way at
the moment, I fell with it in my Land upon the Er nail.
My imprc E 5.0119 of this visitation, as I persisted it was, were
exactly similar to those of Mr. Mathews. The parties
with whom we resided at the time were perfect strangers
to each other, and living widely apart, and they re-
counted severally to those about them the extraordinary
dream, for such it will be called, although my entire
belief will never be shaken that I was as perfectly awake
as at this moment. These persons repeated the story to
many before they were requested to meet and compare
accounts. There could, consequently, be no doubt of the
facts, and the circumstance became a matter of much gene-
ral interest among all those who knew us." After such a
sympathy between the widow and the friend of the departed
wife, it was not surprising that the dying request shouldbe
fulfilled. On the 28th of March, 1803, Miss Jackson became
the wife of Mr. Mathews.