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THE INSURANCE COMPANIES.

still to the service of his country. When the Crown Prince of Sweden deputed him to administer the large sum he had granted for the relief of the outcast Hamburghers-expelled in thousands from the city by the cruel Davoust, notwithstanding the pardon so ostentatiously announced-he repaired without hesitation to Flottbeck, a village within nine miles of the town. While there he discharged his duties with such heroic disregard of self, that for nearly a fortnight he dragged himself over ground covered with snow, with a broken bone in one of his feet, occasioned by a fall from a carriage. It was nine long weeks before he recovered from the consequences of his generosity. But relief for all was now at hand. On the 31st of May, 1814, the French consented to evacuate the city, and Perthes, with his wife and little ones, returned to the home from which they had so long been banished. In an incredibly short space of time he succeeded, with his partner's assistance, in putting his affairs in order, and once more the house became known as one of the greatest in Europe.

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A heavy affliction however was awaiting Perthes, the heaviest to which his tender heart could be exposed. He was to lose her, who for twenty-five years had in all his sorrows been his chief solace and the source of his richest joys. Caroline's nervous system had received a severe shock from the trying scenes of 1813. Cares and anxieties in the domestic circle gave increased virulence to her sufferings. As her last hours drew nigh, frequent paroxysms of wild delirium and exhaustive struggles for breath alternated with profound sleep; although in what few lucid moments she enjoyed, love and faith reigned triumphant as ever. When she was taken away, Perthes sorrowfully said, that home had died with Caroline. After her death he removed to Gotha, where he established a printing press, from which emanated many works that have obtained a world-wide reputation. His vast Hamburgh business was transferred to Besser, who entered into a new partnership. The latter years of his life were spent peacefully in the midst of a numerous circle of children and grandchildren. He died on the 18th of May, 1844.

THE INSURANCE COMPANIES.

We published last year a very long analysis of the report upon the state of the new insurance companies, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 28th April, 1856.

That report has been followed by another, which the House ordered to be printed on the 27th February last.

We insert, in a tabular form, the names of the insurance companies noticed in our former analy sis, and their income from premiums only, at the date of the accounts registered in time for the report of 1856.

The amount from the same source, received in subsequent periods, and returned in time for the publication of 1857, is placed in the second column.

A number of the insurance companies made no return in time for this year, and they are left blank in the second column.

The companies whose returns are placed in the second column, have, with one exception, increased their business, and some of them to a very large extent. The proportions are stated in a third column.

Companies which have acquired a large business, may have a greater absolute increase than their young rivals, without having an equal per cent.

age.

We justified the large space devoted to the new companies in several numbers last year by the extent of the responsibilities incurred by them.

These responsibilities are contingent upon their value, or something more, being paid regularly.

We may form an idea of the extent of life insurance by the magnitude of the policies issued from the offices established since 1846, and working for some time under disadvantages as contrasted with other offices.

The total income of these offices from policies, as stated in our first column, is £631,894.

We cannot form a correct estimate of the amount

covered by these payments, as the sums vary much, with the age of the assured.

At £2 per £100, in extreme youth, 50 years' purchase would give the amount. At £2 10s., the result would be found by 40 years' purchase. At 30 years' purchase, which must be within the mark, the amount covered is £18,956,820; but there is no doubt that it exceeds twenty millions.

The following companies have reports in the present return, but made none in that for 1856:The Achilles, with an income for the year ending the 26th April, 1855, of £4,339 16s. 5d. The Emperor furnished no accounts for the previous return, but is stated to have received £1,516 7s. 4d. from its commencement to December 31st, 1855, which has to be charged with £314 13s. 2d. for re-assurance. The Age makes up its account from the 11th August to the 31st December, 1855, and in that period it had received £2,716 9s. 8d. as premiums and estimates the value of its liabilities at the latter date at £104,314 4s. 7d.; and the value of its income at £121,478 14s. 9d. less £11,019 2s. Od. The annual income being £7,842 18s. 10d.; and the amount of the policies, £218,115.

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THERE are two classes of members in the new Parliament-those whose history and notoriety are far too voluminous for our pages, and those of whom nothing is known; and there is a very numerous third class of middle men. This third class consists largely of persons who have held seats in former Parliaments, and whose politics are well known. One hundred and seventy members, or thereby, lost or resigned their seats; and although the gentlemen who now possess them are chiefly new to the House, yet old names have come again in some instances before the public.

The metropolitan elections of Scotland made no change. They were merely repetitions of the past without a contest, except in the case of Leith, where it was a personal matter rather than one of principle. A number of the electors were wearied with the habit of always returning the Whig Lord Advocate, and sought a change. They were defeated by the merits of the man. The present Lord Advocate is a first-rate Whig. The Edinburgh representation, city and county, could not have been amended; for the county member could secure his own return, and the city members represent their constituency.

The Irish metropolitan elections have passed in nearly the same way. A bitter contest arose in the county without resulting in any change. The city and county of Dublin are represented by the same men as before-all four Conservatives.

The metropolitan elections, that is those for London, its boroughs, and its special county, were more lively. Mr. Masterman, the solitary Conservative member for the city, retired. He left the House of Commons of his own free will, at an age within that of the Premier; although no person could have taken his seat, all parties, we

believe, join in a parting testimonial to this very worthy banker, who commands the regard and respect of the city.

The Conservatives did not name a successor, and the five candidates for the city, in point of principle, were very much alike. The Liberal Registration Committee did not recommend the election of Lord John Russell. They omitted his name, and proposed Sir James Duke, Baron Rothschild, and Messrs. Crawford and Currie. Lord John Russell refused this decision, appealed to the electors, and was carried third on the poll. During the day of election his committee always represented him as five hundred a-head of every body else. This little bit of fraud had, no doubt, gained a few votes. As Baron Rothschild and the Jews supported Lord John Russell, although the former ran with the larger firm, the success of the "House of Bedford"-for Lord John's election was a family matter-was not doubted. If the Liberal Registration Society had started four men earnest to win against all competitors, the result would have been different. Baron Rothschild was not earnest to win against Lord John, but would have rather himself to where Mr. Raikes Currie has been gone sent-into a political eclipse, or the cloud of private business. Mr. Currie has been long an adherent of rather Radical principles; and was badly used in being invited from Northampton to be defeated in London. That movement admitted Mr. Charles Gilpin to Northampton, who was recently a bookseller of Bishopsgate-street, and is now chairman of the National Land Society. Mr. Gilpin is the only member of the peace at any price party who has done well by the dissolution; and we are not certain that he has not abandoned some of these mistakes. Mr. Gilpin will have a

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companion in Mr. Pease, whom the electors of
South Durham have sent into Parliament, because
we are told he has a great amount of influence in
the county.
Mr. Pease was one of the friends
who waited upon Friend Nicholas during his life,
upon a very useless mission.

more religious, a result, we hope, stated truly and likely to be permanent, although an unusual concomitant of a contested election. He also apologised on account of his youth, unnecessarily, indeed, for, as he remarked, he was always becoming older. Also, he endeavoured to excuse his Returning to the metropolis, neither Marylebone wealth, by declaring that he would find abundant nor Westminster made any change, or any effort employment for it among the two hundred and to change-although in the neighbouring borough fifty thousand inhabitants of Lambeth; which he of Finsbury three candidates sought one seat, for might have done without being elected to repreMr. Thomas Duncombe's place was deemed unas- sent them in Parliament. Mr. Wilkinson threatsailable. Major Reed, the late member for Abing- ened that Nemesis would come upon Mr. Roupell, don, and a sturdy opponent of the Income-tax as it in the shape of a still richer man, when he also stood and as it stands, was one of the three-the would be jilted by mammon loving Lambeth. It last in the field, and defeated, we believe, before will not be easy, however, to find the richer man; one half of the electors knew who he was, or what yet this wealth has been chiefly collected in Lamwere his services. Major Reed is therefore out of beth itself within two generations, from twopence, Parliament, and we regret it, because he is a pro- which the first Mr. Roupell-the present being mising and a rational Radical, whose services may the third-at one time accounted his entire capibe wanted, to whom we should have looked for a tal. Mr. Roupel tertius is not only deeply inthorough opposition to the wickedness in the Indebted to primus for his wealth, bu even more so come-tax, and we trust that some constituency to Mr. Roupell secundus, his father, for the may be soon found better acquainted with his manner of its employment, and the character merits, or more interested in this obnoxious tax-earned by that gentleman in the borough, which, less able to pay it, perhaps, than the men of Finsbury. Of the other two candidates for their representation, Mr. Cox beat Serjeant Parry by a hundred votes or so. In this case the richer man won. Serjeant Parry is known without the borough boundaries, but Mr. Cox is a solicitor, rich, and was flanked by a host of canvassers.

Southwark rejected Mr. Apsley Pellatt, who voted against the Ministry on the Chinese busi ness. Notwithstanding the Royal British Bank, of which he once was unfortunately a director, and a very well-meaning one, Mr. Pellatt was a useful member, although one French paper, irritated by the graphic description of his defeat by Dumas the younger-a rival contributor or editor-declares that Pellatt is a myth, and will not believe in him on any terms. Nevertheless, he is probably the best glass manufacturer in England. Mr. Locke, who has taken his seat, is simply a lawyer -a city pleader-who will be able to help the city corporation as a member for the borough. No opposition was offered to Sir Charles Napier.

The father of the metropolitan members lost the Tower Hamlets by carelessness. The licensed victuallers secured the election of Mr. Butler, and Sir William Clay, who has represented the borough for twenty-years, was turned out by Mr. Acton Ayrton, an East Indian solicitor, better known in Bombay than anywhere else.

Lambeth presented, according to Mr. Wilkinson, an appalling example of the power of money. Mr. Williams, who confesses naively to the temptations thrown around him in the lobby of the House by that arch-tormentor of honest members —Mr. Hayter, or others-was second on the poll; and Mr. Roupell, a young man-or a young lawyer-polled more votes than any person during the election, approaching closely to ten thousand. Mr. Roupell declared that this event made him

we have no doubt, has helped his son's return. Wealth is nevertheless not a recommendation to a representative of the public; although we regret to observe that it is more esteemed as a qualifica tion by constituencies now than before the Reform Bill.

Greenwich performed a similar feat to Lambeth in turning off one of its former members, Mr. M. Chambers, in favour of Mr. Townsend, a tradesman of that borough, in the timber trade and undertaking line. We hardly believe that Mr. Townsend was very serious in his proposal to Greenwich in the first instance; but "faint heart never won fair lady," and this gentleman, who has made his position in Greenwich trade, is now the companion in its representation of the late Commander-inchief of the army in the Crimea. The character of this and other elections depends upon its results. If Mr. Townsend has the metal for the place, be is the right man to represent his friends and neighbours.

Middlesex is eminently the metropolitan county of London, although several other counties are influenced by the great metropolis. Mr. Osborne sought a quieter field, or a harbour of refuge, in Dover, and will be very useful to the chalk borough, if he be not transplanted from the Secretaryship of the Admiralty to that of all Ireland. Mr. Hanbury, Jun., of the firm of Trueman, Hanbury, Buxton, and Co., the largest brewers in the world, was requested to stand for the county; and his election was never a matter of uncertainty-from the influence of the Licensed Victuallers. That circumstance is remarkable, because Lord Robert Grosvenor, who has represented the county for a considerable time, has the Westminster interest to commend him in addition to many good conduct stripes in a political sense. Mr. Hanbury is the third member of his firm in the present Parliament;

POLITICAL NARRATIVE.

and thus they have one half per cent. of our legislation within their house-a bad prospect for the Maine Liquor Law; but on all matters of social and political reform, unconnected with the temperance movement, they are unexceptionable men. It is even said that this firm declined to sell their are to an old customer after he had taken the Eagle-a notorious house-being determined not to supply their beer for what they considered immoral purposes.

The entire representation of London is now Liberal or Radical-Lord John Russell is the most Conservative member for the metropolis. The representation of the Irish metropolitan city and county is entirely Conservative, and of the Scotch mixed-three Liberals to one Conservative.

Manchester was the most important election in England, out of London. Mr. Bright was absent and sick. Mr. Gibson has represented the town in several Parliaments, but he is not a Manchester man. Sir J. Potter and Mr. J. A. Turner are local men of great influence. The contest clearly turned on foreign policy. Messrs. Bright and Gibson were beaten by a majority of fifty per cent., in a constituency that polled out more closely than any other of similar dimensions in the three kingdoms. The feeling on that subject is opposed to the policy of the late members.

A similar victory was gained in Salford by Mr. Massey, an Irish gentleman, the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, but a compative stranger in the place.

Mr. Cobden's defeat at Huddersfield has been ascribed by his friends to the votes of the licensed victuallers; but the majority against him was larger than the total victualling votes in the borough. His opponent is a gentleman of considerable local influence, and that tells in a small borough; yet there can be no doubt that the reasons prevalent in Manchester were also prevalent in Huddersfield.

Glasgow is our commercial metropolis in Scotland, and there again we dɔ not know that any

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difference existed on the foreign policy of the country, although on other subjects there was sufficient vitality and there also it is said that the licensed victuallers, as they would be styled in au English town, by some strange incongruity, carried their man. One of their new members, Mr. Walter Buchanan, is an old merchant and politician--the other, Mr. Dalgliesh, is also old as a manufacturer, but has to make a political character.

Liverpool is metropolitan in its department, and there, after a lively effort to take a seat from a Conservative, the old members were returnedopposed politically on general politics, but agreed upon foreign politics.

Birmingham is the centre of the hardware trade, but no opposition occurred there to the old Radical members, who supported the Government on the Chinese question, and have always stood clear of any alliances on foreign politics with their friends to the north.

Leeds in the woollen trade, like Liverpool, divides its representation, so as to represent nothing, but we believe that on the foreign policy of the Government, both members are to be on good behaviour. Sheffield is the capital of cutlery and, in spite of its trade in edge tools, it voted against the Government at this point; although it is certain to be in the fire, if not the furnace, some similar question immediately. The twenty metropolitan members who are elected by large constitutencies support the foreign policy of the Government, in proportion of nine to one.

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Those English constituencies that have a central influence on particular trades, uphold that policy in the proportion of nearly three to one. The Scotch constituencies named take the same view in the ratio of five to one. The Irish metropolitan members go against it in the per centage of all to nothing.

The opinion of the urban population is well. defined on that topic; and not less clearly expressed on the large measures of domestic reform that have become necessary.

POLITICAL NARRATIVE.

THE GENERAL ELECTION

GIVES the Cabinet a larger majority than any Ministry of recent times has enjoyed. The different sections of the majority committed a sad mistake in their Chinese division. They have all suffered diminution by being cast on the country. Lord John Russell described truly the dissolution as a penal measure. It has turned out a penal proceeding to the movers of the adverse resolution in the Commons, to the Derbyites, and to the Peelites.

The House of Commons at the Reform Bill consisted of 658 members. Four seats are carried

to a suspense account; as St. Alban's and Sudbury-each returning two members-were disfranchised for bribery and corruption; not on the part of the people, who did not bribe, but were bribed. The last election had, therefore, to return 654 members. It has returned one more, being a double clection; and one the O'Donoghoe for Tipperary, who has not declared his opinions.

Viscount Palmerston expressed some indifference to political reform before the dissolution. He was neither for bit by bit nor comprehensive reform. That notion must be abandoned now by the Premier. No question ever exhibited greater strength

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