The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON;- MONDAY -EVENING, - AUGUST

PRINCE OF WALES'S ROYAL THEATRE.

- -
Under the Management of Miss Mario "Wilton
This EVENING, SCHOOL: Messrs. Hare, H. J. Montague,
Addison, Glover, and Bancroft; Mrs. Buckingham White, Miss
C. Addison, and Miss Marie "Wilton. After which, A WINNING
HAZARD. And A LAME EXCUSE.

CHRISTY MINSTRELS, St. James's Hall, Every Night, at S
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round.

ZOOLOGICAL Q ,UIDENS, Regent's-park, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, ls.; on Mondays, 6d. Children
under twelve, &L

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LO! DO.V, MONDAY, AUGUS7 23, 1869.

After the Imperial Message—after the Senatus
Consultuna—after the dismissal of M. RounEß with
the majority of his colleagues—after the General
Amnesty in honour of yesterday se'nnight, namely, of
the Centenary of NAPOLEON'S birthday—croakers are
again becoming audible in Paris. There are some

people who can never be satisfied. There are some
Leaders of Men whom this particular class of politi-
cal cynics can never believe any good of. The
enemies of the reigning Emperor of the FRENCH,
answer precisely to the former description. NAPO-
LEON 111. is himself the most striking illus-
tration of the latter. Nothing that his MA-
JESTY could possibly say or do, we presume, would or
could in the eyes of M. VICTOR HUGO be in any way,
even-in the smallest degree, satisfactory. Louis
NAPOLEON'S complexion may be rose-tinted enough
in the delineations of him produced by his systematic
panegyrists, but it will retain a greenish hue to the
end of the chapter (was it not the fourteenth chap-
ter?) in the History of the Crimean War by the
author of " Eothen." And so—as might very -wat
have been anticipated ,even in the first flush
of the general delight awakened by the
really enormous concessions made to the demands of
the Tiers Parti, or, in other words, to the moderates
of the whole French population by NAPOLEON lII.
scarcely is the ink dry on the decrees of amnesty
granted by " NAPOLEON by the grace of GOD and the
will of the People, Emperor of the FRENca," and
countersigned by the whole of the newly appointed
Ministers, when sinister mutterings become audible
in Paris, to the effect that, after all, everything
is not as it should be. The prison doors are flung
wide open, it is true, to the whole body of political
offenders. Every one who had been pronounced a
culprit, and treated as such, because of some infraction
of the Press Laws, was released from the penalties
incurred by reason of the sentences against them so
pronounced. The Amnesty accorded is, as we all
know, one in every way free, full, and unconditional.
The gu„rantees of Personal Government have
Leen rejgued flaukly and unreservedly. The
Great Minister, who until yesterday was the Grand
Vizier of the Gallic Sultan, has been constrained by
his Imperial Master to give in his resignation. That
resignation has not only been accepted, but the very
office thus vacated by M. Rounsa has been abo-
lished. Parliamentary, or, in other words, respon-
sible Government, has been established in place of
that absolute Government, which, during these
seventeen years last past, has been firmly
grasped within the hollow of the hand of
NAPOLEON lIC. The Corps Legislutif has been
invested with the privileges and prerogatives apper-
taiaing on this side of the Channel to the British
House of Commons. Al these things are solid and
actually accomplished facts—facts notorious and un-
deniable. No matter—NAPOLEON 111., LOUIS NA-
POLEON, M. BONAPARTE, as he was once insolently
dubbed by no obscure English journalist-, the "Mau
of the S.:coud December," or however else you may
please to call lii,n, is there at the back of ill these
concessions, is the author of them alt— and
therefore, p2rforce, they must, in spite of all
SUperucnti appe;i:ma.eccalll tu,-3 contrary, ue Intrinsically
insignificant, if not also utterly and it redeenrib'y (1.2-
testable. Now, to our thinking, the folly and the
meaucss of ail this, are only upon a par with the
malignity and the ingrasitu le. Facts arc, pro-
verbially, stubborn things. And, whatever the im-
placable toes of NAPOLEON 111. may ssy in
regard to these recent occurrences, there, those
facts remain—the fact of the Imperial Mes-
sage—the fact of the Senatus Consultum—th e
fact of M. Roulisa's resignation—the fact of the
unconditional Amnesty. 'Whatever idiotic construc-
tion may be put upon them, there are those broad
and undeniable facts. The issuing of the Royal
Ordinances on the 25th of July, 1830, by the Go-
vernment of King CHARLES X., and the issuing by
King Louis PHILIPPE'S Government on the 21st of
February, 1848, of the proclamation prohibiting the
reform banquet, are incidents hardly to be brought
into comparison, arc rather to be placed in vivid con-
trast side by side with the Emperor NAPOLEON lll.'s
Message, with his Senatus Consultum, with his Min-
ister's resignation, with his Imperial Amnesty in hon-
our of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the
founder of his dynasty. If the Emperor had done the
very reverse of what he has done—if he had refused
every one of these concessions instead of having
granted them all —if he had resolutely maintained M.
ROUHER in power, had set the Liberal Opposition of
the newly-elected Corps Legislatif at open defiance,
had retained inflexibly within his grasp his own abso-
lute authority, had yielded no amnesty whatever, orhad
only granted one of a very partial character, and cou-
pled with the most grinding and galling conditions—
then one might have listened to these growls of coin-
laint which are again becoming audible among the
enemies of Napoleonism. As it is, the complaints
we are here referring to are outrages upon common
sense, they are paltry and detestable evidences of
a malignity which, while it is utterly powerless,
can never, apparently, under any conceivable cir-
cumstances, be appeased.

A. DEFICIT of _nearly a million sterling is estimated
to represent the present condition of the Albert
Assurance Company. The assets have been dwind-
ling for several years past ; and the liabilities have
just as steadily increased. In 1861 the sums
assured amounted to some 7i millions, whilst
the assets reached £148,000. It took more
than two years to reduce the latter sum to
£715,000, but after that time the decline was
very rapid. An excellent authority calculates that
the company is now worth only £400,000, of which
estimate not more than £lBO,OOO is positively
available to meet policy payments. This, with an
annual income of £350,000, represents the entire
set-off against policy liabilities to the extent of some
8 millions sterling, which are now quickly falling
due. It would be premature to conclude that even
this dismal exposure represents the whole truth.
It is customary to prepare the public mind for such
revelations by letting out a portion of the case at a
time. But the facts already revealed sufficiently
spew that the policy-holders must lose part of the
provision which they had made for their wives
and children. Already there is talk of r.n
arrangement by which some ten shillings in
the pound may be paid on policies for a few years,
and then upon a fresh valuation accorclity; to the
circumstances of the office. But whatever may be
the precise form of settlement, it is clear enough
that the widow and the orphan cannot look -:for their
full due. Nor can this shameful result ba pal Afied on
the ground of unavoidable misfortunes. Th e story.
promises, when it is fully told, to be of the olc,i. type.
Whilst the officers of the company were wasting the
share and policy-holders' money on the *one band,
they were making things pleasant round for
themselves on the other. When the Thank c Lonclon

and National Provincial Company was transferred to
the Albert, one officer got £B,OOO as "compensation,"
the directors got £3,000, the secretary an annuity
of £OOO a year, and so on. The whole sum
paid in this way amounted to £30,000. Such was
the cost of amalgamating one company; and as
twenty-two in all were incorporated, the inference is
clear. Why the directors of the Albert Company
thought to advance the prospects of their concern
by paying enormous sums for businesses which were
not worth having remains to be seen.
There is little hope of remedy for those whose
money is already sunk in this wrecked under-
taking ; but it is imperative that some pro-
tection be devised for future investors. There is no
evidence to shew that the mismanagement of the
Albert has been shared in by other companies; but
such a disaster naturally excites distrust. If other
assurance offices are in embryo difficulties, there
is nothing to be gained by further concealment.
Under the present system there is no mode of ascer-
taining the truth. When public confidence is lost in
the case of a bank, a " run " speedily exposes the state
of affairs. An assurance company is, however, subject
to no such influence. It may go on for years in a
state of insolvency, engulfing fresh victims. It
is this peculiarity which furnishes the argument
in favour of that legislative interference which
many persons, not without reason, regard with
such jealousy. If full accounts were published,
it is possible that, as in the case of some
railways, the figures might be so arranged as to
escape detection. But business men are quick at
detecting flaws of this kind; suspicious arrangements
and omissions would speedily lead to comment and
perhaps to discovery. There would at least be a
better chance of detection than at present. In the
report of the Albert Company the important state-
ments are all conspicuous by their absence. The
into,. ',natl.. sly absolutely nothincr
Another course, well deserving consideration, has
been suggested. The Government might inspect
such assurance offices as are willing to submit to it,
the companies passing the inspection to receive a
certificate. Offices might still be conducted secretly,
but people who invested in them would do so
at their own risk. This, again, is open
to the old objection of " interference with
trade ; " but the plea for intervention of some kind
is overwhelming. Assurance companies carry on a
business which, more than all others, except savings
banks, ought to be free from risk. And yet their
affairs are of all businesses least open to supervision.
Waste and fraud may be practised with the utmost
secrecy.

,
URAD
61ralial1.

HER MAJESTY.

BAL3IOItAL, August 20.

The Queen, with Prince and Princess Christian,
Princess Louise, Prince Leopold, and Princess
Beatrice, with their suite, arrived at Ballater at
half past 2 this afternoon, and drove from thence
to Balmoral.

LATEST INTELL WINCE

(REU'TER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AM ERICA.
NEW YORK, August 21.
The North German Lloyd steamer Deutschland
arrived here at 10 p.m. yesterday.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
CLOSING PRICES.

Gold closed at 1314 ; the highest quotation dur-
ing the clay was 1_321 ; the lowest, 131.1.
Sterling Exchange on Lyndon lO9
5-20 U. S. Bonds, 188'
" • 1885 l2l.
6f. " 1867

IU-40
Illinois
Cotton upland SS3.
petroleum—Standard White 3lle.
Flour, extra state, $6.70e. to $7.30c. Corn, old
mixed, $1.19c.

114 i.
13)1.
28.

HALIFAx, Aug. 21.
Her Majesty's sLip Revenge has arrived here ;

all well.

Aug. 22.

The Inman Royal mail steamship City of
Paris arrived here at 9.30 to-day ; all well.
GREENCASTLE, Aug. 23.

The Allan steamship 'Austrian, from Quebec,
14th inst., arrived in Lough Foyle at four a.m. to-
day. The London mails were lauded.

Sr. NAZAIRE, Aug. 23.

The Transatlantique Company's steamer Impe-
ratrice arrived here this morning with 129 pas-
sengers. Her dates are. Colon, Ist inst. ; St.
Martha, 3.1; and Martinique, Bth.