The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-23 00:00:00

A.D. 1720.

ROY AI EXCHANGE ASSURANCE
CORPORATION.
(Established by Charter of his Majesty George the First),
For SEA, FIRE, LIFE, and ANNUITIES.
Offices—ROYAL EXCHANGE, London.
Branch Office-29, Pall Mall, S.W.

OCTAVITTS WIGRAM, Esq Governor.
JAMES STEWART 111DGSON, Esq Suh-•Governor.
CHARLES JOIN MANNING, Esq Deputy-Governor.

DIRECTORS.
William Tetlow Hibbert,
Wilmot
Holland, Esq.
Egerton Hubbard, Esq.
Nevile Lubbock, Esq.
George Forbes Malcolmson,
Esq.
Lord Josceline Wm. Percy.
Charles Robinson, Esq.
Samuel Leo Schuster, Esq.
Eric Carrington Smith, Esq.
Joseph Somes, Esq.
William Wallace, Esq.
Charles Baring Young, Esq.
uel Solly, Esq., F.R.S.

Robertq3arclay, Esq.
John Garratt Cattley, Esq.
Mark Currie Close, Esq.
Edward James Daniell, Esq.
William Davidson, Esq.
Lancelot William Dent, Esq.
Alexander Druce, Esq.
Fred k. Joseph Edlmann, Esq.
Charles Hermann Goschen,
Esq.
Riversdale Wm. Grenfell,
Esq.
Fran cis Alex. Hamilton, Esq.
Robert Amadeus Heath, Esq.
Medical Referee, Sam

NOTICE.—The usual fifteen days allowed for payment
of FIRE PREMIUMS falling duo at Christmas will
expire on the 9th of January.
FIRE and LIFE ASSURANCES may be effected on
advantageous terms.
The Duty on Fire Assurances has boon reduced to the
uniform rate of ls. Gd. per cent. per annum.
No charge is made by this Corporation for Fire Policy
or Stamp, however small the Assurance may be.
Ft►nLING STOCK.— No Extra Charge is made for the
use of Steam Thrashing Machines.
The Rever,ionary Bonus on British LIFE POLICIES
has averaged nearly 2 per cent. per annum on the sum
assured.

Equivalent reductions have been made in the Premiums
payable by persons who preferred that form of Bonus.
The Divisions of Profit take place every Five Years.
Any sum not exceeding £15,000 may be insured on one
Life.

This Corporation affords to the AsFured
Liberal participation in Profits, with the guarantee
of a large invested Capital Stock, and exemption
under Royal Charter from the liabilities of part-
nership.
The advantages of modern practice, with the secu-
rity of an Office whose resources have been tested
by the experience of nearly a CENTURY AND A
HALF.

ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON.
ROBERT P. STEELE, Secretary.

FOREIGN NOTES.
THE RUPTURE BETWEEN TURKEY AND GREECE.

Diplomatic assurances are still chiefly on the side of peace,
but the news from the Levant continues gloomy. The
Sultan is constantly closeted with his Ministers, who are
said to be unanimous in recommending the most rigorous
measures against the Greeks. The blockade of the eastern
coast of Greece is to commence at once. Accounts from
Athens, on the other hand, state that very little is being done
for the defence of the Greek territory. It would seem as
though the Government had come to the conclusion that
it could not bring about a war, and that all preparations
would be so much waste money. Orders have been issued
to the navy, and a plan of action has been laid down, but
there is no intelligence of any organisation of land forces.
One letter says that the enthusiasm in favour of war is by
no means general. The inhabitants of the capital are
unanimous. enough, but the other commercial towns are
much averse to war. Deputations from Corfu, Corinth,
Patras, and Nauplia have arrived at Athens to protest
against a policy which will be the ruin of the trade of
Greece. From Bulgaria intelligence comes that agitation
has again commenced in that irrepressible province.
The Presse says that proclamations drawn up in
Russian predict a " holy war " for next spring.
Emissaries have been recognised, and the same agents who
stirred up the disaffection which gave the Porte some
trouble last summer are again at work. "If the conflict
which has broken out between Greece and her neighbour
should assume serious proportions, the insurrection may
be expected to extend, and the hand of Russia will be
seen to move all those masses which she has been acting
on for a long time past."
The New Free Press says that two corps, each 30,000
strong, commanded by Omar Pasha, are marching, by
Epirus and Thessaly, to the Turkish frontier. Great con-
sternation prevails amongst the Greeks at Constantinople.
All have received orders to quit the city, and some of them
have embarked. The Vienna journal adds that in diplo-
matic regions the dispute has been found far more difficult
than was anticipated. The attitude of Russia is no longer
in accord with that of the other great States. She has
been endeavouring to divide the Western Powers, to get
England on her side in the exercise of a pressure which
would compel Turkey to modify its demands. The English
Cabinet has baffled this scheme, and, in consequence, the
Ottoman Government has shewn itself much more inflexible
than at any previous time, and has resolved to accept
nothing short of full compliance with its ultimatum.

At Vienna the fear of a war is stronger than at any
other of the European capitals, and as the Austrians are
very reasonably supposed to be implicated on the side of
Turkey, this is not a reassuring symptom. The French
official journals discuss the Eastern question in a couple of
lines—which also is rather a bad sign. They have preached
peace as long as possible.
The Independance Beige bears testimony to the difficulty
of ensuring any concerted action amongst the Powers.
Four of them at least have decisively condemned the policy
of Greece ; but it appears to be quite a different matter
to induce them to agree as to the best mode of practically
dealing with the question. The Belgian journal is not,
however, without hope. The new French Foreign
Minister, the peaceful Marquis de Lavalette—whose
appointment is decidedly favourable to the quiet of
Europe—has found a solution to the difficulty. He has
already submitted to the leading Cabinets the terms of an
arrangement round which all may rally.
The correspondence between the Turkish Ambassador
at Athens and the Greek Foreign Minister has been pub-
lished. The reply of the latter diplomatist is a wretched
display of special pleading, which is not improved by a
liberal seasoning of insolence. He endeavours to justify
the enrolment of volunteer bands for Crete on the grounds,
first, that there is nothing special in the present action of
the Greeks in that resneet. the enrolment having gone on