The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-01 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 1, lB5O.

tented with this wholesale slaughter, but made other
alterations which would still further reduce the
number from 144,263 to about 120;000, or little
more than six per cent. of the adult male population ;
and also totally struck out a valuable series of clauses
which were designed to produce a self-acting registry,
and which were no less important in principle than
even the new description of franchise that was be-
stowed by the Bill.
On the first point Lord Joux RUSSELL proposed to
take what he considered a middle course—" to divide
the difference with the Lords"—by taking a 121.
qualification or rating. This course would give, ac-
cording to the Noble Lord, a clear result of 172,072
voters, in place of 144,263 under the 1.5/. rating, or
10 per cent. in place of 8 per cent. of the adult males,
that would be entitled to be placed on the registry.
We cannot, however, agree that the division is by any
means a fair one, inasmuch as there would thereby
be in round numbers a diminution of 92,000 electors
from what would be given under the 81. rating, while
there would only be an increase of 28,000 on that
proposed by the Lords. It appears to us, that if the
Commons were prepared to give up their privilege,
and really to meet the Lords half way, the compro-
mise would have been with respect to the number of
voters affected, and not to the rating. The 10/. qua-
lification would have more nearly accomplished this.
If it were adopted there would be 217,381 voters,
being 12 per cent. on the adult males, an increase of
73,000 on the number under the 151. rating, and a
diminution of 47,000 of the number that would be
given under the proposition, as it went up from the
Commons.
We think it will be generally allowed that this
would have been an ample concession, quite enough
to have satisfied the amour propre of their Lord-
ships. The extraordinary course adopted by Lord
LANSDOWNE, however, prevented any chance of ob-
taining fair terms. As the Hon. Gentleman the
Member for Buckinghamshire truly remarked, the
Noble Marquis had " almost before it was placed on
the table, and before it was explained to the House,
stabbed it, as it were, in the back, and himself virtu-
ally inserted a higher qualification." The statement
of the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State
for the Home Department scarcely helped his Noble
Colleague. He admitted that the President of the
Council had stated that if the 151. rating was rejected
he would propose the 121., thus abandoning the im-
portant position he was entrusted to defend without a
single blow. Indeed, the entire tone and manner of the
Noble Marquis proved that his own predilections
ran altogether in favour of the higher rating, and that
121. was quite as low as he would wish to go. Under
such circumstances, and at so advanced a period of
the session, and taking into consideration the palpable
backsliding of the Ministry, the House of Commons
had perhaps no alternative but to accept the com-
promise for the time being, if
.not prepared to see
one of the most valuable measures of the year abso-
lutely lost ; for even in its diluted form it must be
admitted to be a great improvement on the existing
system. Many Honourable Gentlemen, however,
expressed their firm determination not to accept the
present compromise as a final settlement of the
question.
On the principle of the self-acting registry, we are
happy to say that Ministers evinced greater firmness.
The Master of the Mint, in a short but brilliant
speech, vividly depicted the painful position in which
the "tenant at will" would be placed, if serving
notice of claim to be registered against the will of his
landlord. It would have the effect of keeping up
a constant and unceasing excitement—a matter to be
especially deprecated in Ireland—and would also
materially reduce the numbers on the registry. The
natural indolence and via inertia would prevent many
persons from putting forward their claims. On this
point the Commons have peremptorily refused their
assent, and by a decisive majority, to the alteration,
and have reinserted the clauses that had been omitted
in the Upper House. A conference will, of course,
be had on the only subjects of difference, and of the
result we cannot entertain a doubt, via., that the
Lords will gladly acknowledge the large concessions
that have been made, and accept the Bill in its pre-
sent form. ..,

The subject which has most interested the com-
mercial world of the city of London for some months
back, is the correspondence between two of the prin-
cipal docks and her Mtazwrr's Board of Customs.
The majority of our contemporaries took up the case,
and entered the field also ; but, remembering that
there are al ways two sides to a question, we refrained
from interfering, although we silently watched the
progress of the arguments on both sides. If this were
a mere petty squabble between the docks and the
Board of Customs, we would have remained
passive, as hitherto, but from the tenor of the corre-
spondence, it appears that questions of vital moment
to the mercantile interests are deeply involved.
We have, therefore, been induced to make some inqui-
ries, and the result is that we have arrived at an
opinion opposite to those expressed by all the other
journals who have discussed the matter ; for, while
they made their onslaughts on the Customs only, and
shielded the Docks, although we will not exactly re-
verse that order, yet we believe we can show that both
have been to blame. We have no overweening regard
for the Board of Customs : as a public body, they are
a. fair subject for comment, if they neglect the
trust confided to their charge. It is no cha-
racteristic of public boards to enter into trouble-
some campaigns, and we cannot help thinking
there must have been something in the contro-
versy to have moved the Customs. If we
are compelled, in order to arrive at the merits
of this case, to show wherein the Board is
right or wrong, it is not to defend on the one hand, or
condemn on the other, but to see how far the mer-
cantile interests are affected. There have been
frauds, or there have not been frauds. If the former,
and goods have been withheld, then the Customs
have suffered; bat we do not sympathise with those
who have the power to protect themselves. But
with the merchant it is different. The Crown alone
cannot have suffered a loss of duties by the suppres-
sion of goods ; the proprietor of these goods incurs
the loss to a greater extent, because he loses
their value, unless the merchants generally are
shareholders, and so participate.

The importers confide in the integrity of a great
establishment, which is enhanced by the supervision
of the Customs ; if that supervision is imperfect the
public have a right to complain. The Customs have
been tardy in doing justice. If their eyes are now
opened, while admitting such, they reflect seriously on
themselves for the past, which of itself is a just
ground of censure, but if they are now taking a
step in the right direction, we should think it impo-
litic to run them down, or furnish them with excuses
for slothfulness. If our information be correct, official
laxity has had a great deal to do with the business,
and a thorough reformation is needed. Tedious though
it be, the investigation is pregnant with vital im-
portance to the trading community. Let them
not be blinded by the sophistry of interested
parties ; indeed the defence and arguments of the
Dock Companies themselves to mancsouvre the trade
produced the first startling conviction in :our minds
that the trade was more deeply concerned, as
we have already said, than the Crown. The
Dock Companies complained loudly of the
Customs for assuming to protect the interests of the
merchants, as if identical with their own, since,
as they say, the merchants form that body ; and if
the "sweepings" were appropriated to the use of the
companies, the merchants who constitute the com-
panies, were the patties benefited and so entitled. But
we do not subscribe to that line of argument. Let
us see how that sophistry tells. We will suppose a
shareholder invests 1,000/., and another 1001. in the
dock funds, and each receive a dividend of 5 per
cent., the one gets 501. and the other gets 51. Now,
say that the
_larger shareholder transacts but a
trifling amount of business, if any at all, in the
docks, while the smaller shareholder imports, perhaps,
150,0001. worth of goods per annum ; but to make
a dividend of 5 per cent., a tax, to the ex-
tent of 1/. per cent., is taken out of the
cargoes of the importer. The result of this would be
that the lesser shareholder contributes indirectly and
in ignorance 5001. per annum—in addition to the
capital invested in his shares—towards making a divi-
dend of 51. per cent., while the larger shareholder
adds nothing but his bare capital, and gets his divi-
dend of Si. per cent. at the expense of the industrious
trader, who supports the docks.
It oppears to us that this question cannot be fully

understood without reference to the practice of the
dock=, and the supervision of the Crown, which is
briefly as follows. With regard to various articles,
such as sugar, coffee, sago, pepper, spices, &c.,they have,
at the special and earnest request of the Dock Compa-
nies, for many years been permitted to be carried direct
from the ship to the warehouses, without being
weighed or brought to account by the landing waiters.
The consequence is, that these goods are entirely in
the hands of the Companies, until they are lotted and
presented for weighing by the Customs. Thus the
Customs have knowledge only of so much, with respect
to weights and quantities, as the servants of the dock
companies may bring to the scale, although, we be-
lieve, the number of packages is tallied on landing
by tidesmen. Previous to this indulgence being
granted, it is understood that the cargoes of vessels fre-
quently exceeded the invoice quantities; but that, since
the landing waiters abandoned the practice of taking
the weights at the ship's side, these excesses have been
gradually superseded by deficiencies. It is, however,
somewhat singular, that since a little more vigilance
has been exercised by the Crown, during the late
inquiry, many instances have occurred where the
excesses in cargoes have re-appeared as heretofore.

We have given these outlines with as much
accuracy as the information, derived from a mercan-
tile correspondent of experience, will admit. If this
statement be correct it shows that a very large and
irresponsible power is placed in the bands of the dock
companies if they be disposed to abuse it, and taking
into consideration what are the staff employed by the
companies, it is possible that abuses may have crept
in without the knowledge of the directors themselves,
who can have no personal acquaintance with the
practical working of the business beyond what is laid
•before them. We observed, from the correspondence,
that the Customs have frequently intimated to the
dock companies their conviction that frauds were
being carried on by their servants, but the companies
have repudiated those charges contemptuously
we can therefore divine the policy of
those measures which the Board of Customs
here pursued towards the servants of the companies,
as the most effectual way of bringing conviction to
their minds that their servants were not so immacu-
late as they affected to believe, and upon which Mr.
WESTON, the solicitor for the London Dock Company,
has seized and analysed in his letter to our contempo-
raries, to give a trivial character to the proceedings
against them. But, if we mistake not, the large
seizures said to be in the hands of the Crown must
yet form an important item in the reckoning between
the contending parties, and should it turn out that
the merchants can establish claims to the goods, and
show that they were not the wrongdoers, but igno-
rant sufferers by the acts of others, we apprehend the
Board of Customs will not turn a deaf ear to their
claims, and stand upon a legal forfeiture, to the in-
jury of the real proprietors. As regards the corre-
spondence, it appears to us that the company have
made a tolerably strong case against themselves and
the Customs too ; but, be that as it may, if it opens
the eyes of the merchants to their true interests, it is
immaterial to us whether the two great antagonists,
or either of them, go to the wall.

The man who has a wife and children is said " to
have given hostages to fortune." A strong motive—
the strongest perhaps that can influence the human
heart—is supplied to stimulate him to industry and
frugality. He no longer lives for himself alone. The
selfish feelings are extinguished, or, at least, are ex-
tended from the individual 'to the family, to the
small kingdom, of which he is the monarch. For
their sakes he will joyfully submit to many priva-
tions that might, under different circumstances, prove
subjects of serious annoyance. He looks beyond the
present day and acquires provident habits ; he en-
deavours to accumulate a future provision, that
his children may be enabled to enter upon
" the battle of life " with advantages at least
equivalent to those which he himself enjoyed
through the bounty and foresight of his own parents.
This purpose he feels he can accomplish if life be
spared. He has full confidence in his own powers
while the hand of "the destroyer" is kept aloof. But
human life is proverbially uncertain.; the strongest
and most vigorous may be cut off at any mo-
ment. Brief, indeed, ' may be the warning that
summons him to his last account, and leaves his
heart-broken widow and helpless orphans in misery
and destitution, exposed to all the sufferings and ills
engendered by cold and biting poverty.
But happily there is—thanks to the prudence and
enterprise of the present generation—a means of
averting (to a certain extent) this danger, and
removing a Toad of apprehension and anxiety from
the heart of every husband and father. His projects
of saving and gradual accumulation may at once be
realized, and a guarantee afforded that, although he
may descend to an early tomb, his family will, under
any circumstances, enjoy the pecuniary advantages
which they could have obtained had he attained
the ordinary average of human existence. He
is thus, utrumpte- paritus, ready for any alter-
native that may arise, and thus obtains that
enviable tranquillity which is so eminently con •
ducive to health and longevity. It is said, and we
believe truly, that the average duration of life
in persons insured at the various offices throughout
the kingdom is greater than that of the general body
of the community, and that it is to that " lucky acci-
dent" that the great and almost invariable success of
insurance companies is ascribable. There is, how-
ever, less of "chance," or what is termed " luck," in
human affairs than is generally supposed. The
stories of " Murad, the Unlucky," and " Ssladin, the
Lucky," contained a deep moral—showing that pros-
perity and fortune is owing to prudence and fore-
sight rather than to " chance" or accident. The
flourishing affairs of insurance companies are chiefly
w n to of the calculations on which
theirtablesb accuracy e aacrcefarcy
framed, and also to the prudence
and caution of the medical men and di-
ot
di-
rectors in selecting none but persons of approved
health for insurance, or if a policy should be granted
on the life of an invalid or on more than usually
hazardous terms, in ascertaining that the rate of pre
mium should be fully equivalent to the additional risk.
We firmly believe, also, that something may be attri •
buted to the peace of mind and equanimity, which the
mere fact of "being insured produces," which averts that
heartrending care and bitter anxiety for the future
condition of his family, which the Ayrshire poet on
his death-bed described as being more than half his
disease."

The principle of insurance is founded on the fact
that the average of uncertainties may be easily mea-
sured although an individual uncertainty cannot
even be guessed at with . any pretension to ac-
curacy. It will be impossible to hazard a predic-
tion as to the duration of a single life, although the
average of ten thousand similar lives may--be calcu-
lated almost to a day. IloaAcE announced this
great truth, even before the Christian era, when he
wrote—

" Palliddmors crquo pulsat pede
Pauperum tabernas regumque turres."
There is a certain regularity apparent in the approach
of even " the king of terrors," who comes with equal
Potsteps and under certain laws that may be traced
with the greatest accuracy. Bence it is that com-
petent actuaries will be enabled to decide, on a mere
inspection of the " tables of rates," whether a com-
pany, which has survived the earlier risks inseparable
from the first three or four years of its existence,
willimeet with almost certain success, or decisive de-
feat, whicb, however long it may be averted, must
inevitably arrive at some period.
We also hail with pleasure the progress of a com-
pany which is winning its way along gradually
and steadily, which is based on sound principles, and
the management of which is vested in persons of
unquestionble honour, who have no fear of laying
their affairs before the public without concealment,
courting the strictest inquiry, the most searching
scrutiny. Such is the " CATHOLIC LAW AND GE-
NERAL LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY," which held its
fourth annual general meeting on the 25th ultimo, a
brief account of which will bo found in our
advertising columns this day. THE CATHOLIC
INSURANCE COMTANY started with the most
propitious auguries. It was chiefly directed to a
large and influential holy of our fellow•subjects, who
had previously no society which was conducted by
members of their own creed, and among its directors,
and those who took the deepest interest in its progress,
were some of the most respected dignitaries of their
without
ancient Church. Its- advantages were open to all,
exception, but it was to Catholics that it

particularly appealed, and from that it hoped for
steady and unflinching support, and it was not
mistaken ; the very name " Catholic" has proved a
tower of strength not only in the United Kingdom,
but on the continent of Europe, where branches
have been opened. To use the expressive lan-
guage of the able report of the directors, it " has
been a sort of talisman—a rallying point—which
has presented to them a great and powerful attrac-
tion." It has thus secured the patronage and sted-
fast support of the French as well as of the British
hierarchy, and is at this moment fortunate enough
to number among its most stedfast friends and advo-
cates in that country, where a few years since the
principles and practice of life assurance were com-
paratively unknown, the names of the Archbishop
of Paris, the successor of the martyred DENIS
AFFRE, his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of
Lyons, and that distinguished Member of the Cham
her, Monsigneur PARASIS EVEQUE DE LANGRES,
all of whom, having informed themselves of the
bases of the calculations and the principles of the
'Catholic,' have promised their support and assistance,"
..."the p-inciples upon which it is based being so dif-
ferent from those of their own tontines, once their idol
—now fallen into disrepute—that they see in it the
realisation of their long-cherished hopes."
We may be excused from quoting from this ad-
mirable report a few facts, which prove the steady
progress, that is more encouraging than even a rapid
bound into prosperity. The deaths among the in-
sured within the past year have been only two, both
of which were in Ireland, none having occurred in
England, whose representatives had claims for only
7001. This gratifying result, so far below the antici-
pated mortality, sufficiently proves the care with
which the lives of " the assured" had been selected.
It should not be forgotten that during that period
that fearful scourge, the cholera, had made ravages
in every grade of society, although the " Catholic"
Company escaped comparatively scatheless from its
awful inroads.

The number of policies issued during the last year
was more than double that of the twelve months pre-
ceding. Proposals were made during the later pe-
riod for 138 insurances, of which 123, comprising 106
lives, were accepted, to the amount of 45,1251..65.
The company have now outstanding assurances to
the amount of 86,9811. 165., producing an annual
income on the Ist of June, the first day of their
financial year, of 2,9911. 15s. 11d., and applications
Ni ere made for loans to the amount of 17,7001., of
which 1,1831. lls. 10d. only had been granted.
The French agency, of which M. DE L'ETANG, a
gentleman of high standing in Paris, is the head, has
achieved extraordinary success within the last four
months, business having been already obtained pro-
ducing in life assurances annually 931. 14s. ld., and
in deferred and immediate annuities 7041. 3s. 11d.

Under such circumstances, we may well congratulate
the directors and shareholders on having turned the
point where success is no longer doubtful, and on
having reached so high and secure a position in the
fifth year of their existence.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

IVe have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Ordre publishes a letter from London, which
may be regarded as the official statement of the views
and intentions of the Orleans family. After contra-
dicting the statement which appeared in the Univers,
that the Duchess of ORLEANS and the Prince DE
JOINYILLE were alone opposed to a fusion with the
Legitimatists, the writer thus proceeds :
" Be assured, Sir, that the most perfect accord exists
between the King, the Duchess of Orleans, the Prince
de Joinville, and the Duke d'Aumale, as to the duties
of the family to% ards France; and be assured also,
that the same feeling would continue if the King
were to be unfortunately taken from them. This is
bow the state of things appears to the reason and to
the patriotism of the Princes of the house of
Orleans. Much has been said of the protest of the
Duchess of Orleans in favour of the rights of her son, of
the pretension which she had to put them forward, and
of her resistance on that account to any fusion. There
is not a word of truth in this. The Orleans family does
not attribute to itself rights, to be imposed upon what the
Legitimatists call the inviolable and unalterable rights of
the Count de Chambord to the throne of France. It has
no pretension to represent such a principle. It only knows
that a state of things was made in 1830 by the positive
will of the nation, and which situation was overthrown
by a violent event. It wishes as much as it can to re-
main in that situation at the disposal of France. If
Franco should think proper one day to demand its safety
from the hands of legitimate royalty, the Orleans
family would submit without considering that it had any
claim or protest to make on its own account. It has no
pretender to otTer in opposition to the Count do Cham-
bord. But it does not think that it belongs to it, with-
out a fresh declaration on the part of the country, to
declare the negation of the work of France in 1830, to
proclaim the absolute and exclusive sovereignty of the
royalty of Divine right, and to refuse beforehand, by a
complete change in its situation, the services which
critical circumstances might induce France to demand
from it. The Orleans family inclines itself honestly
before the principle of national sovereignty, and recog-
nises no other. It cannot outrage this principle, and
repudiate it by loudly demanding pardon for the act by
which the nation chose and proclaimed it as its instru-
ment of victory against the principle of Divine right.
It remains faithful to the duties which events have im-
posed on it. It confines itself to holding itself respect-
fully at the disposal of France, ready to serve it, if a
regular manifestation, or flagrant dangers, should make
an appeal to its devotedness.'
In the Assembly M. DE FLAVIGNY drew the at-
tention of the Minister to the insult offered to
France and the injury inflicted on her citizens by the
American authorities at San Francisco, who had
seized several French merchant vessels, and impri-
soned their crews. General LAIIITTE replied that
representations had been made to the American Go-
vernment on the subject.
It is said that immediately after the prorogation
MM. D'HAUTPOOL, BAEOCHE, and BINEAU, will
retire from the Ministry.
Letters from Cherbourg of the 24th ult. state, that
the Henri IV., 100 guns, that was preparing to pro-
ceed to Brest on the 29th, had been countermanded
by a Ministerial dispatch until fresh orders,
and that she has consequently landed the sea-
men and passengers she had taken on board for
Brest. The counter-order is supposed to be connected
with the reported visit of the PRESIDENT of the
Republic to Cherbourg to review the Mediterranean
squadron.
- • • _ _ _ _

New arrests have been made in Paris in connexion
with the Nemesis secret society. Some members of
the former Constituent Assembly and some ex-
Commissioners of the Provisional Government are
amongst the number. Five new arrests have been
made at Oran, Algeria, in connexion with the plot
lately discovered there. Two of the parties were
employes of the Government.
The Republique has the following on the composi-
tion of the Committee of permanence :
" The commission charged to replace the National
Assembly during the prorogation, and to watch over the
maintenance of the Constitution, is composed of thirty-
nine members, including the members of the Bureau of
the Assembly, whose names, and, as far as it can be
done, political opinion we here give :
M. Dupin, President, Monarchist, under different

. -
forms since 1815 ;
General Bedeau, Vice-President, Legitimist;
M. Leon Faucher, ditto, formerly Orleanist, now Bona-
partist ;
M. N. Daru, ditto, Orleanist •
M. I). Benoist d'Azy, ditto, Legitimist Tory;
M. Van Heeckeren, Secretary, absolute Legitimist;
M. Chapot, ditto, Parliamentary Legitimist;
M. PC•ard, ditto, Republican de la Veille, now Consti-
tutional;
M. Arnaud (de l'Arike), ditto, Constitutional Re-
publican;
M. Lacaze, ditto, Bonapartist;
M. Peupin, ditto, Reactionist, without any particular
colour.
M. Baze, Questor, Constitutional Orleanist;
General Lego, ditto, Constitutional Legitimist;
M. De Panat, ditto, ditto, ditto;
M. 0. Barrot, Constitutional Orleanist;
M. J. de Lasteyrie, ditto, ditto;
M. Monet, Republican de la Veille, very moderate
Constitutionalist;
General Saint• Priest, Moderate Legitimist;
General Changarnier, Constitutional Legitimist;
M. D'olliyier, Constitutional Legitimist;

M. Berryer, Legitimist Tory;
M. Nettement, Constitutional Legitimist;
M. Mold, formerly Orleanist, now moderate Bona-

partiet;
General Lauriiton, Legitimist;
General Lamoric'ire, Constitutional Republican;
M. Beugnot, Clerical Legitimist, and Tory;
M. De Mornay. Constitutional Orleanist;
M. Do Montebello, ditto ditto;

M. De l'Espinasse, Legitimist;
M. Creton, Constitutional Orleanist;
General Rulliere, discontented Orleanist;
Is!. Vesin, formerly Orleanist, now Constitutional

Legitimist; 1
M Le) de Laborde, Constitutional Legitimist;
M. Casimir Pirier, Orleanist;
M. lle Crouseilhes, Tory Legitimist;
M. Douot-Desvaux, Constitutional Legitimist;
M. Combarel do Leyval, ditto ditto;
M. Garnon, Constitutional Orleanist;
M. Chnmbolle, without any fixed opinion.
Thus out of thirty-nine names, there may be reckoned
eleven purely Orleanist., three of whom (MM. BAZE,
,DE MORNAY, and CRETON) are of a very energetic
character. The Legitimists have eighteen • votes.
MM. LAO DA LABORDE, jaxgz, CumwAzgamt, end

BEDEAU may be considered as endowed with energy.
There may be reckoned four Republican votes, among
whom General LAAiintICIEDE is incontestably the
most considerable. There are two Bonapartists. and
two, whose opinions it is impossible to define. Those
whom we have denominated as Legitimist Tories are
those whu would readily accept afait accompli, what-
ever it might be. We have called Constitutional
those who desire, from one motive or another, the
actual maintenance of the Constitution. Such is the
committee, about which so much noise has been made.
When its composition is studied, we may feel con-
vinced that it will attempt nothing against the Con-
stitution, and that it desires the actual maintenance.of
it. Equal conviction cannot he felt that it presents
any very great resisting furce, when the little energy
po,,sessed by the majority of its members is taken
into account."

l'Ams I3OURSE, JULY 31.—Latest Prices.—Five
per Cents., 96f. 65c.; Three per Cents., 58f. 20c.;
Think of France, 2,370 f.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE. JULY 31.

Boulogne and Amiens, 71,;—Central of France (Orleans
and Vierzon), 151(4—EastIndian, 7% Luxembourg, 21;4—
Northern of France, 143 A Orleans and Bourdeaux,
Paris and Rouen, 24(4—Rouen and IlavrP, 10.