The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-30 00:00:00

INSIIIIANCE FRAUDS.

A strange case has just been heard in the Court of
Exchequer, which disclosed, as Mr. Baron Martin
said, one of the grossest attempts at extortion ever
introduced into a court of law. In form it was an
issue directed by Vice-Chancellor Wood to be tried
in that court, testing the validity of the claim of a
Mrs. Tatton, one of the defendants, as assignee of
two policies of insurance effected in regard
of a public .house in the Farringdon-road,
Clerkenwell, called The Cobham's Head, and which
was burned down upon the evening of the 12th of
-December, 1866. The amount of the claim under
the two policies was about £4,300, namely, £1.!,000
upon the house, and £1,700 upon the stock-in-trade,
fixtures, furniture, &c. The plaintiffs were the
London and Lancashire Insurance Company. The
pith of the evidence was that the house contained no
furniture or stock, and that the fire was the result of
arson. The defendants' counsel declined to call any
evidence, and the plaintiffs' counsel suggested to any
of the defendants in court the propriety of chewing
a clean Eir
jof heels at once. One of them took the
hint. 'he ' %dee remarked that arson
.man:o=o

The Economist contains a telegram from its Paris
correspondent as follows :—" A meeting has been
held of the Immobiliere Company. The losses are
stated to amount to £4,520,000, being an excess of
£1,320,000 over capital. The union of the Credit
Mobilier and the Immobiliere Companies has been
recommended by the directors, but no vote has been
taken."

i LITERATURE, &C.

We learn from the Athenceum that a new work by
Professor Gervinus, on Handel and Shakespeare, is
creating great interest abroad.—Herr Freiligrath, the
German poet, so long- resident in England, has
definitely settled at Stuttgardt.—Professor Reinhold
Pauli, the German historian of England, has been
elected to the Upper Chamber of the North German
Parliament, as member for the University of Marburg.
—A firinan has been granted for a new English
paper in Constantinople, to be called the Levant
Times.

The Orchestra contains the following :-111r. Costa
has been on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of
Wellington, the past week, at Strathfieklsaye. We
are glad to know that he is restored to his wonted good
health.—A correspondent at Boston sends word that
Leotard fell from the trapeze on the evening of the
11th instant, and sprained his ankle so badly that he
probably will be unable to perform for five or six
months.—Victor Hugo contributes an etching to a
forthcoming volume, " Sonnets et Eaux-fortes. The
poet is a zealous amateur artist, and drawings by him
are frequently seen in his friends' houses. One of
them, representing John Brown of Ossawattomie on
the gallows, was published as a lithograph some years
ago.—lt is reported that the Boucicaults are about to
retire from the stage.

SPAIN.
The province of Galicia has declared fora constitutional
monarchy. Meetings have been held in all the large
towns, demanding the immediate convocation of the
Cortes, and the establishment of a definite Government.
The people of this maritime province complain greatly
that commerce suffers by the uncertainty which now
urevails.