The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 13, 1868.

room, and lay the question of who presides over it,
and consequently the effort which her MAJESTY has
no doubt made to overcome her natural preference
for retirement and seclusion was as appropriate as
it was considerate. But the Court and the Court
circles are not the only ones affected by such mat-
ters. In our varied and complex society one order
depends on -the other—one class is affected by the
other. We halve recently had painful experience of
of the manner 1 u which a severe shock to credit in a
financial crisis is felt through every strata of society.
The panic which strikes the wealthy is at first
unfelt by the small trader and the workman, but
by slow and certain degrees it works its way down,
until the anxiety and consternation felt in one
season by bankers and merchant princes, is expe-
rienced with double intensity in the next by the
dock labourers and bricklayers at the East End.
In the same manner a dull season at St. James's
makes itself felt, through West-end tradesmen and
Court milliners, down to remote orders, to whom
the QUEEN is nothing more than a beautiful
vision ; and although many such classes will
probably scarcely hear of the Queen's personal pre-
sence at the Drawing Room, they will nevertheless
be sensibly benefitted by it. ;We may reasonably
hope that the reception of yesterday will not be the
last by many at which her MAJESTY will preside ;
and consequently London trade, and all the multi-
farious business which depends on pleasure, will
receive a stimulus which it has wanted for several
years. The day was most aupicious, the sun
shining, as it proverbially does on the QUEEN'S
days, and everything appeared to partake of the
renewed hope and confidence which, after a long
period of darkness and depression, are again be-
ginning to be felt among us.

Last Tuesday the annual meeting of the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution was held at the Lon-
don Tavern, and was largely attended. Mr. CORRY,
M.P., occupied the chair, and expressed the satis-
faction with which he had watched the continued
progress of the institution. The annual report, read
by Mr. RICHARD LEWIS, gave evidence that this
progress has been very marked during the last year.
Twenty-seven lifeboats have been built during the
twelvemonth by the institution, the number of
their boats now amounting to 186. During the
year these boats have been the means of saving no
less than 783 lives—a sufficient proof of
the demand that exists for such assistance
and of the skill and daring of their
crews. Very often the expense of the new boats
is defrayed by special gifts, and no less than
£12,292 of the £39,305 received by the Society
during the year was given in that manner. The
donors sometimes wish to have a memorial of some
departed relative or friend, and there can hardly be
a more worthy or kindly mode of cherishing the re-
membrance and honouring the name of a lost friend
than by making the affection of the survivor the
means La protecting other households from be-
reavement. Our neighbours across the Chan-
nel appreciate very highly the work of our
Lifeboat Institution, and an interesting
token of this approval has been received by the
committee of management. At the Paris Exhibi-
tion the society exhibited a full-sized first-class life-
boat, with transporting carriage and equipment
complete, and this lifeboat had the honour of re-
ceiving from the Imperial Commission the award
of the " Grand Prix d'Honneur," the largest gold
medal given. The Lifeboat Society of France has
been founded and organised on the principles of
our National Lifeboat Institution, and the
boat and equipment exhibited at Paris has
been presented to that society by the members
of its English prototype as a mark of
international sympathy and interest. On such a
subject national jealousy can hardly exist, for the
sea knows no distinction of race or country, and is
oFaEa sfnrndlegianklneaeadhlnsymds
sext
to drive
naamilnnvcpteloee
htooooEpff
epnotebguhrel
peril
ohFrosmeonr
society
theinone
long
French,
to seek the succour
,
citonhagies to
Frenchmen titsuiouofsetennoneledder
sttroaeesrsaneeehit
edC
dangersoa
8n t ionueornfst.
es nt
directlyiaotnioansgaieononsntettehhreue
ltvoersFmeyi Few,
n,
securing
andp , are so
rrooteekcy-
coasts, but all are more or less interested in the great
question of saving life from shipwreck, since who, in
these days of travel ani wandering, can guarantee
that he will always keep on shore ?

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

NAPLES, March 12.

A great banquet was given to-day to Admira
Farragut, commander of the American squadron in
the Mediterranean, by Admiral Persano, commander
of the second naval department. Generals Petti-
nego and Carrano, the Prefect, and the principal
military, civil, and municipal authorities were pre-
sent. The greatest cordiality prevailed.
The commercial community are organising
another banquet in honour of Admiral Farragut,
to be given in the name of the citizens of Naples.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(Fr. 031 OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, THURSDAY, March U.
The official papers were a little premature in their
rejoicings over the favourable reception given by the con-
scripts to the new military measures. If young Jacques
Bonhomrae, in the department of the Pyrenees, has been
submitting to the conscription with a beaming face and a
merry heart, in other parts of the country he has shown a
very different disposition. For instance, at Toulouse there
has been a commotion evidently serious, though the officia
papers make light of it, Three days ago a number of young
men turned out about 10 at night, and assembled on the
Place du Capitole, singing the Marseillaise, and crying
`` Down with the new Army Bill I" They marched
through the streets, attacked the bureaux of the central
commissariat, smashed the street lamps and the windows in
the H Otel de Ville, and at the palace of the Marshal. Several
arrests were made by the police, but matters became so
serious that the troops had to be called out, and they occu-
pied various posts and patrolled the streets. These, how-
ever, were found insufficient, and at one in the morning
orders.were sent to the barracks for more troops to turn
out. They did so, and the official papers tell us that after
this the public peace was not disturbed.
The new Public Meetings Bill, which comes on for dis-
cussion this afternoon, contains fifteen clauses. The first
permits public meetings to be held without previous
authorisation, provided that such meetings are non-reli-
gious and non-political ; otherwise they are still subject to
the old law. Clause 2 orders that before a meet-
ing can take place, seven persons residing in the
locality of the proposed meeting must make a decla-
ration declaring the objects and the place and hour of
meeting. The declaration will be sent to Paris, and a
receipt for it will be given, which must be produced when-
ever required. By Clause 3 all meetings must take place
in some covered and closed building, and must not be pro-
longed beyond the hour fixed for its termination by com-
petent authority. Clause 4 enacts that every meeting
must have a president and at least two assessors charged
to maintain order and to prevent the introduction of alien
subjects. Under Clause 5 a judicial or administrative
functionary, clothed in his official robes, may be
present at any meeting ; and Clause 6 empowers him to
dissolve the meeting if it becomes disorderly or if extraneous
matters are brought forward. Clause 7is unimportant.
Clause S allows election meetings to be held, but not
within four clear days of the actual polling-day. Clause 9
inflicts a penalty of from £8 to £2OO, and from six days to
six months' imprisonment, upon persons violating the
above regulations. Clauses 10 and 11 provide other penal-
ties, and notably one for attending a meeting with con-
cealed arms. Offenders are to be deprived of their
political rights ; and the fourteenth clause orders that
only a prSfet can interdict a public meeting.
There is a rumour that the Emperor is about to publish
a manifesto to his subjects reviewing the policy of his
reign, and appealing to the people to endorse it. This
manifesto is said to be actually in the press. That there
is some such document in existence is probable, but it is
scarcely of the shape or kind above mentioned. It will
probably turn out to be not an address from the Emperor
at all, but a kind of State paper to prove that the country
can accomplish its freedom without departing from the
principles of 1852.
If we are to believe all that we hear, not only has
Prince Napoleon a mission, but the Emperor is quite satis-
fied with its result. We are told that the Emperor, always
disliking isolation, seriously took to heart the dangerous
position of France through its want of allies, at a time
when all Europe was armed to the teeth. Having failed
to bring about 'a union with Austria, he endeavoured to
establish one with Prussia, and sent his cousin to sound
the leading men there. The Prince had his first interview
with the King of Prussia on the sth inst. The interview
lasted three-quarters of an hour, and when his visitor had
left him King William sent for Bismarck and had a very
long conversation with him. The next day Bismarck and
the Prince had a lengthy interview. On the 9th there was
another conference, which is believed to have had im-
portant results. The same evening the Prince sent off a
messenger to Paris with a letter to the Emperor, and the
courier was to return with a reply on the 11th. The
previous day the Emperor sent for M. Rouher and the
Marquis de Moustier, and had an interview with them
before the Council of Ministers. It is stated, too, that Baron
Budberg has had another interview with the Emperor and
assured him of the peaceable intentions of Russia. Sup-
posing all these statements to be true, we may expect, or
at least ought to have, a considerable disarmament.
A loyal country mayor has hit upon an ingenious idea,
which he has embodied in a petition to the Senate. He
asks the Emperor to recognise his son as Napoleon IV.,
and associate the child with him in the government, so
as to accustom the nation to the idea of a settled dynasty.
Probably the mayor was not sufficiently well versed in
English history to know that your King Henry 11.
actually had his son crowned Henry 111., and that, though
crowned, this prince never reigned, being l9st in a storm
between England and France.
The guarantors of the Paris Exhibition are more fortu-
nate than their colleagues of the last London Exhibition.
Not only are the first to have their money returned to
them, but with 5 per cent. interest from July 20, 1865, to
March 20, 1868. The sale of the building and materials
in the Champ de Mars is finished, and so now the affair is
likely to be wound up very shortly.

It is reported in Paris that the Brazilian Government
has requested England and France to act as mediator 6
between Paraguay and itself. Negotiations between the
French and English Courts have been going on with a
view to this friendly intervention.

The Paris correspondent of the Times points out two
favourable results which will follow the adoption of the
New Press Law. The first is, that it will no longer be
necessary for men wishing to start an independent journal
to obtain the consent of the Minister. This consent used
often to be very capriciously withheld. For instance, M.
Billault once refused to grant it because the projector said
that he intended to be moderate and observe strictly the
laws of the constitution ; whereupon the Minister replied
that if the journal (lid not support the -Government, the
more moderate and constitutional it was, the more objection-
able it was also. The second!result is, that a large number of
Opposition journals will now be started in the departments,
of which there aro about forty where there is no journa!
but the one which is the organ of the Prefect. Under the
new law it is likely that in each of these forty departments
an independent print will be started ; and it is here that
the abolition of previous authorisation will be most a Ivan-
tageously felt. This explains the hostility of the Legis-
la(ive Body, which in the course of the debate so often
endangered the existence of the bill. There are about 100
of these deputies who have never yet encountered the
slightest opposition or blame in the journals of their de-
partments, but whose conduct and whose speeches will
henceforth be scanned, commented upon, and censured by
journalists over whom Prefects will have no control ; which
can be neither " warned" nor suspended, nor suppressed.
No doubt, such a prospect is anything but agreeable at the
approach of a general election.
Count Platen, the Minister of King George of Hanover,
whom the Prussian Government had determined to try on
a charge of high treason, has found it expedient to leave
Germany. He has suddenly set out from Hietzing for
Copenhagen, where he intends to remain.
The health of Mrs. Disraeli seems to have been com-
pletely re-established. She has issued cards for assem-
blies at the new Foreign Office, in Downing-street, on
Wednesdays, the 2(sth of March and Ist of April.

Sir Rainald Knightley and other independent Conserva-
tives will support the instruction of Mr. Baxter on the
Scotch Reform Bill, to the effect that instead of adding to
the members of the House, all boroughs under 5,000
inhabitants shall be disfranchised. Should this be defeated,
Sir R. Knightley himself will move that it isuot expedient
to increase the present number of members. The Scotsman
states that there is no valid objection to Mr. Baxter's
motion on the ground of want of form.
The Freeman's Journal believes that the vacant post of
Secretary to the Poor-law Board will be offered to the
Hon. Henry George Liddell, the eldest son of Lord
Ravenswortb, and M.P. for South Northumberland. He
is also nephew of the Permanent -Under-Secretary for the
Home Department. By the way, the hon. gentleman has
just had a severe fall from his horse.
Within the next few days Messrs. Bruce and Forster
will introduce their Education Bill, and it is understood
that their plan for local rating will ho encountered by
rival proposition on the part of Government, based on the
principle that Government is bound out of national funds
to provide wholly or in part for the primary instruction of
the people in districts where voluntary schools do not
supply the want. It is believed that on this, as well as on
the Irish Church question, the new Premier was outvoted
by his colleagues.
A great meeting of the South Lancashire colliers now on
strike has been held near Wigan. About 12,000 persons
were present. It was resolved that a committee be formed
to receive subscriptions on behalf of the men not belonging
to the union, the men in the union to be maintained from
the funds in hand until the money is exhausted. Sub-
scriptions will then be solicited for them also.

At a numerously-attended meeting of Nonconformists
which has just been held at Norwich, resolutions were
adopted, declaring that nothing but the impartial disen•
dowment of all religious sects can secure tranquillity it
Ireland.

It appears that, after all, Mr. William Johnston, was
was sentenced to a month's imprisonment for havinB
violated the Party Processions Act, will not comply with
the conditions required from him in order to obtain hie
release. His liberation has, therefore, not taken plait),
Mr. Johnston's obstinate conduct is not approved even bl
many of his own party.

THE PROTECTOR ENDOWMENT, LOAN,
AND ANNUITY COMPANY.

The annual meeting of this company was held
yesterday afternoon, at the offices, 33, King-street,
Cheapsicie ; Alfred Smee, Esq., F.R.S., presided.
Mr. M'AlonuAN (the secretary) read the report
of the directors, as follows :
" The directors submit to the general meeting a re-
port of the proceedings of the company during the past
year.

"Five hundred and ninety-nine proposals were made
for advances of money, for the aggregate sum of
£100,805; of these, 264 were granted amounting to the
sum of £17,583 45., for terms varying from one to five
years.

" Considering the financial depression of the past year,
the directors did not think it desirable to take active steps
to extend the business, and the applications made, and
loans granted, were below those of the former year.
" The directors have great pleasure in being able to
announce that every applicant for money, who, in the
judgment of the directors, offered adequate security, and
who came within the scope of the company, was accom-
modated.

"The company allows a constant rate of 5 por cent. to
depositors, a branch of business which is particularly
desirable for trustees and others waiting eligible invest-
ments. This rate:of 5 per cent., which is given in times
of depression, is not increased when the bank interest is
raised.

" At the present moment the board desiro further to
develop° the loan department, and will be happy to receive
applications from gentlemen desiring to act as agents for
the introduction of business.
" The directors recommend that the interest on share--
holders' stock be at the rate of the current year of 10 per
cent. por annum on the called-up capital of £1 per share.
"By order of the board,
"ALEXANDER MCMORRAN, Secretary."
The CHAIRMAN said he had a great deal of plea-
sure in moving the adoption of the report. Be
thought that, considering the year they had passed
through, and seeing the ruinous effect which the
monetary disturbance had produced upon various
companies, they might, although they were not a
large company, think themselves fortunate in being
so much influended by external circumstances.
During the past year they had not thought it
desirable to increase their business very mate-
rially ; at any rate, not to go into new connections,
and the consequence had been that they had done
rather less loan business than they did in the
preceding year ; but now that times had changed
they were using diligent efforts to procure new
agents to get out their money. They always
foUnd that the money came in as fast as they could
lend it, and therefore, if they used great diligence
this year, he hoped they would have a very much
larger proportion loaned out before the end of the
year than they did last. Now, he wished to put
emphatically before the shareholders, and especially
those who lived in the country and were not pre-
sent, the financial position of the company. The
whole of the subscribed capital was intact ; every
farthing that had been subscribed was represented
by their securities ; and they had, moreover, not
only a security for every one of their liabilities,
but, beyond that, a considerable excess. He
need hardly tell them that if they had their ca-
pital intact and a margin beyond, as it were,. in
reserve, that that was a very satisfactory position
for any company to be in. (Hear, hear.) They
had never desired to divide the full amount of
profit they had earned, and he hoped they would
continue in that direction, for he was sure that the
prosperity of the company would be best promoted
by a very gradual rise of dividends. He believed
—and this was his own individual opinion—that
if they continued in the course they had been
adopting they would in a very few years be able
to divide much more than they did at present.
The directors this year recommended the division
of 10 per cent. per annum on the called-up capital
of V. per share. They made their valuations upon
their life contingencies periodically, and that valua-
tion would be made during the current year, and
submitted to the next general meeting, when they
hoped to be able to report more favourably of the
position of the company than they had done at any
preceding periodical valuation. (Hear, hear.) The
chairman then moved the adoption of the report
and statement of accounts.

Mr. WILLIAms seconded the resolution, which was
carried unanimously.
Thd directors who retired-Mir. William Henry
Thornthwaite and Mr. Geo. Tyler—were re-elected
to their vacated seats.

Mr. DEVONSHIRE proposed that the thanks of the
shareholders be given to Messrs. Ladbury and Bead-
nell for their valuable services during the past year,
and that a fee of ten guineas be presented to each of
them.

Mr. COOPER, F.R.A.S., seconded the motion,
which was at once agreed to.
Mr. J. TOULMAN next moved that the payment of
a dividend on the shareholders' stock be the same as
the past year—namely, at the rate of 10 per cent.
on the called-up capital of £1 per share, and inte-
rest of 5 per cent. on sums beyond £l.
Mr. C. COUSENS seconded the proposition, and it
was carried unanimously.
Mr. DEVONSHIRE said he was very happy to pro-
pose a vote of thanks to their excellent chairman for
the manner in which he had presided over the meet-
ing. The shareholders were greatly indebted to Mr.
Smee, not only for the able way in which lie presided
over the annual meetings, but also for the manner
in which he superintended the business of the office
generally. (Cheers.)
Mr. IVILLiAms seconded the resolution, which
was carried with applause.
The CHAIRMAN said he was very much indebted to
them for their kind expressions towards him. He
assured them that the board had to give very close
attention to the company, as money-lending was a
business that required considerable care. A great
deal had been said in the public papers in dispa-
ragQmeut of loan societies, but in his judgment they
were calculated to be of very great utility to the
public. (Hear, hear.) Any man through illness
in his family, or other pressure of circumstances, or
from a desire to apprentice his children, might re-
quire the advance of a sum of money, just as large
institutions sometimes required advances. Now,
this company was open to all comers. Anybody
could walk into this office, throw a proposal upon
the counter, pay a guinea for inquiry, and when
his case had been investigated they would give him
an answer, " Yes" or " No." Ever since this
company had been founded no man whose pro-
posal came within the scope of the largest
amount they had lent in one sum—namely, £l,OOO
—had gone away disappointed, when, in the judg-
ment of the directors, they considered the applica-
tion was as much as they ought reasonably to grant.
During the late monetary exigencies no man had
applied to them and been refused money, if he
could give what the directors, sitting as it were as
jurors in the interests - of the shareholders, consi-
dered to be ample security that the money would
be repaid. Now, with regard to the guinea fee,
which had been written against upon many occa-
sions by different papers, the directors had given
the matter very careful consideration. That fee
was applied literally to making inquiries about
those who came to them for loans. It stood to
reason that if a man threw his proposal upon the
counter the company must make inquiries as to
where he came from, as to his position in life,
his occupation, and so on, and the guinea was actu-
ally spent in that way. He might say that, taking
the experience of the office from the beginning, no
profit had accrued to them from this inquiry fee,
the expense incurred sometimes leaving a small
balance and sometimes being in excess of the
guinea. If it were not for this fee, every man would
be tempted to make a proposal, upon the chance of
the directors being foolish enough to grant him a
loan, and if he were ref used he would be no worse
off. A man who had no confidence in himself that his
ease would bear investigation would not deposit his
guinea ; and therefore, however unpalatable it
might be to borrowers, the company would be obliged
to continue to exact it from every proposer. He
repeated emphatically, in answer to articles that he
had recently seen in the newspapers, that societies
like this, established for advancing from £5O to
£l,OOO to the middle classes of society for legitimate
purposes, such as be had indicated, were a great
blessing to the community. (Hear, hear.) All that
they, as shareholders, required was that borrowers
should come to them in good faith, and that their
money should be duly repaid, with that reasonable

usufruct and money for expenses which they were
fairly entitled to for the risk they ran. (Hear, hear.)
In conducting the business, the directors had be-
stowed upon it the closest attention possible, as
would be evident when he mentioned that their
losses averaged only 11 per cent., or about 1 per cent.
from the commencement of the office. (Hear, hear.)
In this respect; they could hardly have succeeded so
well if they had not had very able and zealous
employes in their service. Ile might point emphati-
cally to their own chiefs—and he would not say that
even those under them did not to the best of their
ability sustain the credit and maintain the interests
of the office—but a very great deal was due to their
two chiefs, Mr. MelNlorran, who took the secretarial
and actuarial department, and Mr. Pinkney, who
was more immediately connected with the loan de-
partment. He had great pleasure in proposing that
the cordial thanks of the shareholders be given to
these gentlemen and the staff of the office generally.
(Cheers.)
Mr. DEvoNsinnE seconded the resolution, and
bore testimony to the vigilance, care, industry, and
intelligence of the various officers of the company.

The resolution having been carried with acclama-
tion,

Mr. I\i'MoßnAN briefly acknowledged the com-
pliment, and the meeting separated.

tot-9
tourt* Cirtubt

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, March 12.

The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon. Th e
Dowager Duchess of Athole had the honour of ac-
companying her Majesty.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise, left
the Castle this morning at half-past eleven o'clock,
for London, arriving at Buckingham Palace at half-
past twelve.

The Prince of Wales, attended by Capt. Ellis,
rode out yesterday.
The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke
of Cambridge visited Christ's Hospital on the occa-
sion of the public supper of the children.