St. Croix Avis (Christiansted, St. Croix [V.I.]) 1844-Current
April 18, 1865

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Sammuniraiion, To the Editor of the St. Croix Avis, Dear Sir, Having understood that it has been as serted that a Life Policy can not legally be assigned unless with the consent of the respective Company, I beg leave to state that thisis not the case, but itis proper that a notice of such assignment should be given in writing to the Agent, that he may cause it to be registered in the Books of the Company. In thisl am borne out both by the special practice of “The Royal” as well as the general Rule of all Life Offices, and beg leave with respect to the latter to quote from “The Insurance Guide” page 418 as fol lows: AsSIGNMENT OF PoLICES «“Where policies of assurance are taken out by persons on their own lives, and are afterwards assigned for ‘valuable con sideration’—that is either byway of de posit for a loan, or byway of sale for a specified sum of money paid down—both the law of the land and the custom of the Assurance Offices grant the holders of such policies certain privileges. Thus such policies do not, we believe, in any existing Office become forfeited in the event of the death of the person on whose life the policy was effected by duelling, suicide, or the hands of justice. 'This ren ders them far better security than they could otherwise possibly become but in order to secure this advantage proper no tice of the assignment must have been given to, and registered on the books of the Company; and, if demanded, proof must be furnished that the transaction was a bona fide one, otherwise advantage might be taken in some casés. Such po licies are bound as to the time of paying premiums, and by the regulations for for eign travel and residence in all respects as ordinary policies. The risk under this latter head is referred to under our re marks on ‘Sale of Policies.’ As a policy is assignable property, it often becomes a means by which money is raised on mortgage or sale of it but to make the assignment effectual in cases of bankruptey or insolvency, it is essential that notices of the assignment should be given to the Office. In cases of purchase the holder, or buyer, pays all the future premiums his advantage being in the possession of such a policy at a premium less than he must have paid for it at the existing age of the party upon whose life it was granted. Supposing, for instance, a policy to have been effected with the Equitable, say for the payment of £I,OOO upon the death of a person aged between 37 and 38 when the assurance was made, and that it wassold when he was between 50 and 61 the buyer would then have to ay only £32 6s. annually, the premium E)r the former age; whereas if the life were to be assured at the latter age the premiam would be £46 15s. For the dif ference between these two annual payments therefore, namely, £l4. 10s., an equitable price should be paid.— Pocock.” With respect to the reservation about duelling etc:, I beg leave to copy Condi tions of ‘‘the Royal’s” Assurance ‘‘Assurances made by persons on their “own lives, who shall die by their own “act, whether sane or insane, or by duel “ling or, by the hands of justice, will “become void so far as respects such ,'persons, but shall remain in force so far “as any other person or persons shall “then have a bond fide interest therein, .3 Te CRORLEX AVI S “acquired by assignment or by legal or “equitable lieu, siz calender months pre “viously to the death ‘of the lives “assured, upon due proof of the extent “of such interest being made to the Di “rectors. And if any person assured, “aupon his own life, shall die by his own “hands, and not felo de se, the Directors “shall be at liberty, if they shall think “proper, to pay, for the benefit of his “family, the whole or any part of the “amount which would have become due “in respect to the Policy, as they may sthink 6" You will oblige me much in publishing these remarks in one of your early num bers. Yours truly, E. MONEFELDT, Agent. Royal Insurance Office, Christiansted St. Croix 13th April 1865 THE “AVIS.”

Sy e vy YLD Py Qe e SUrIsIRNEIIN, 21, LI, ——o—— TUESDAY, 18tn APRIL 1865.

The Royal Mail Steamer Tasmania, ar rived at St. Thomas on Sunday 16th inst. with European dates to the Ist instant. In the Spanish Chamber of Deputies, Senor Benavades explained that it was greatly to the interest of Spain to aban don St. Domingo, and to be satisfied with the commercial advantages she might thus obtain. His speech was loudly ap plauded. THE DUCHIES. An extraordinary sitting of the Fede ral Diet was held at rankfort-on-the- Main, in which it was resolved, by 9 against 0 votes, that the discussion of the proposal of Bavaria, in favour of the ciaims of the Duke of Augustenbarg, should take place on the Gth of Apnl. The following is the text ot the motion brought forward by Bavaria and Saxony in the Federal Dict:—¢That the Govern ments of Austria and Prussia be requested to cede the Duchy of Holstein to the lie reditary Prince of Schieswig-Holstein- Sonderburgh-Augustenburg, to be by him administered, and that Austria and Prus sia should communicate to the Federal Diet what mutual arrangements they have arrived at in reference to the Dachy of Lauenburg.”” The representatives of Prussia, Hanover, Electoral Hesse, Meck lenburg, and of the 15th and 17th Curie voted against the proposal that this mo tion of Bavaria should be discussed on the 6th of April. ITALY. The Unita Italiana publishes the fol lowing letter from Mazzini, announcing the existence of a secret treaty between France and Italy :—¢l'riends,—The po pular iostinct has revealed a danger to the Piedmontese provinces of Italy. This danger is well founded. There exists in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a scroll of eight pages of English cartridge paper, bound with blue sitk. This scroll con tains a secret protocol appended to the convention of the 15th September, 1564, The protocol states as follows:—¢The Italian Government undertakes to abstain from any enterprise upon Venetia, and to energetically resist any such enterprise that might be attempted by the party of action or others. If unforeseen events more powerful than the obligations un dertaken should give either Rome or Ve nice to Italy, a rectification of frontiers will take place between France and Italy, commencing from the River Sesia, which would be considered asthe frontier of I'rance.” The protocol bears the signa ture of the Minister Visconti Venosta and another person. None will require, I presume, that I should reveal the source of my certain information. But I ask Italians to recollect that I revealed, a year before the fact, the cessipn of Savoy and Nice, and that transmitted to the Unita Italiana the substance of the con vention of the 15th of September before it was even so much as suspected in Italy. In a nation eduaca‘ d like England to li berty, such a protocol—and it has not been destroyed by the present Ministry— would involve a charge of high treason, and death on the gallows for the men who signed'it. Opposed as lam to the penal ty of death, I only see one reply worthy ot Italy, and particularly of the little country at the foot of the Alps—and that is, to tell the foreign Emperor,—*Sire, you are mistaken we shall have Venice and you shall not have Piedmont.’ Yours, «GuiserPE MAZZINI. *March 13.” The alleged sccret treaty has been the subject of explanations in the Tarin Chamber. Signor Massari asked the Pre sident of the Couuneil if the treaty really existed, and General La Marmora replied in the most emphatic terms that it did not. Had not the House abolished the punish ment of death he wouid, he said, answer for the truth of this devial with his head; as it was, he would answer for it with something he prized even more highly, viz., his honour. Signor Visconti Venos ta, the late Minister of’ Foreign Affairs, by whom Signor Mazzina declares the treaty was signed, was equally emphatic in his denials. Puablic opiuion, he said, had already done justice to these pretend ed revelations, respecting which, the only thing true was the credality with which they had been listened to. In answer to a suggestion from Signor Cris pl, he denied, moreover, that any couver sation upon the sabject of such a treaty had ever taken place at the time when the convention was being discussed. The Opinione 1n an article opon the subjeet, says, that a protocol was added to the convention, but that it related to the transfer of the capital, and that, like the convention itself, it was signed by Signors Nigra and Pepoli, and not by Signor Vis conti Venosta. It is truly incompre hensible,” it adds “how the convention could be signed in Paris and the protocol annexed to it in Turin by other Plenipo tentiaries; nor is it easier to understand how General La Marmora, who was at first opposed to the convention, could have become favourable to it when he had found upon the shelves of the Foreign Office the treaty denounced by Mazzini.,” The Nazione of Florence writes upon the subject in very strong terms. Signor Mazzini, it says, now that the Piedmon tese population are depressed and agita ted by recent events, announces to them that their provinces are to be annexed to France, just as he announced the cession of Genoa in 1860, and afterwards that of Sardinia and Naples. ¢The Piedmontese pepulation,” it adds, “will do justice to his inventions, as the Ligurian, Sardinian and Neapolitan populations did.” RUSSIA. The Russian Government has extend ed the electric telegraph eastward to wards the frontiers of China 3,500 miles during the last three years, or upwards of 1,000 miles a year. Private intelligence received about the

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meet the views of others, the result is a direct or indirect, conscious or uneonsci ous endeavour to do something to lead other’s opinipn and action also to what is presumed to be the right goal. lln other words the administration will try to guide the tribunal. But such a co-ope ration is hardly produciive of any pub lic benefit, the decrees of the Court will thereby obtain a personal character as the public under such conditions wiil no longer regard the Court as that imper sonal power which settles disputable points of law and punishes {ransgressors according to rules unswerving and equal for all, but will fix its eye on the Judge himself when he speaks and acts uunder external influence, be that influence real or supposed. Buatiwhere the office of Judge 1s vested in several members, the displeasure of the administration can not fall so directly on the individual. Ifeis personally protected by the impersonal Court, his collcagues bear the responsihi lity. with him, and in this not only the Judge will find a powerful suppoit te withstand the pressure which, especially in local conditions is often rather oppros sive, but the people neither will be iuclia ed to regard an isfluence from without as possible. It may perhaps be alleged in opposl tion to what has been stated above, that the apparent inconveniences are casily avoided by choosing for Upper Judge o man in whose personal firmness one cau find security, and that a change in the organisation of the tribanal will not enly bring on increased expenses, but that the repeated reforming will injure the credit of the Court. As we have intimated above that a man of eminent abilities is not born every day, and that therc is lit tle prospect of” being able to induce any of the few that are born te choosc these islands as his limited sphere, so diflicult it is to the same extent to find thatstrong mind that can defy approach to his right or his left, and yet preserve that equuni mity which a Judge must not fuil te be in possession of. But doubly difiicult will be the task to find a man wio unites both qualities in himself, viz: an enlighi ened mind and force of will, inteiligence and independence. It must furtherimcre be admitted that the confidence ol the people will be shaken in an instituiion which is liable to frequent change and alteration, unless the change and altera tion be evidently founded on a natural and harmonious development, for the cou clusion will be, that such an institution cannot be sound, poweriul and strong. We also admit that an alteration is in it self an evil. But to bring about changes without a pressing necessity is ouve thing, and to set aside that which the people have already stamped as not answering their rightful ¢laimsis another thing. The question consequently resolves itself into an examination of the greater or lesser prevalence of the dissat_isfaction, and the greater or lesser intensity of the wish for a change. We havealready stated above that we do not believe any just counclu sion could, in reference therato, be drawn from the unfrequent manifestation of this wishby the public. e who mixes with the people will kunow it better; silence has other particular reasons which every one will easily be able to divine. A return to a plurality of members in the Upper Court we believe will meet the undivided approval of the pablic; they will, in the vesting of several men with the authority of judges in the Court, find a pledge for the better administration of justice; and this greater safety of .the $Te CROLR AV S public is, independently of the objective. correctness and consistency, already in itself an incalculable blessing. The re-establishment of a plurality of members in the Upper Court will surely be hailed with ro less joy by the Lower Courts. There is always soinething ve ry humiliating in being obliged to submig to a single individuall Though the judge of the sower Court were ever so sineere an admirer of the Upper Judge’s aliiity and uprightness, it must always be gall- l ing to him so see the sentence he passes reversed by a single man’s”differing ap- prehension of the case for the Lower Judge too has been pondering and re- flecting: and a sincere zeknowladement of another’s ability is rot necessarily bonud upn with #he v:‘.tf.’i Issien of oiel's owa j ereater shortsiohtedness. A zeaslous Low- er Judeo will notonly take conanlution f and comiort from the avords: Lyrare Lr- manum when he sees 0@ has erred 1o des- ."I of his geo intention and eonscicitli- i oug endeavours bhut he swill use then: also Gl B e e B T ey Povebormi g :-'.:-».\.‘E-v/;k':’g,"3;..".,,‘x..’ '\»l_""7(‘ (_11:. SBit Uppes ..\;i! "\,fliii‘i.wz";‘_. WReh hed nothing eise to rely on but s own humanly frail jndoment—for the defence of a doubt as to whose opinion in the eonerete ease is the rieht cne and whose 2l G L Veilicil, I truchipe cficct on that ardsur and energy l with which he wishes to perform bis du- ty. The opinion of the many on the other Land embodied in the m-:‘v:a:i’{.':; g Cres; cartles Witil (1t a convipelpx lorce, the douht keeps away no seale iz applied for estimating the resnectlive powers; the single man sabmits to the many even he sliould feel himmgelf superior to every one oi them individnally 3 the senae of his own worth is not wounded and his vizo: loses nothing of its elasticity whenever it happens that his deeision in legal matters is set aside.— 8¢ Thome Tidende. Fedezral Steamers Fired on by Vorivguese EBatievies,

The presence of the Confederate “ram? i Stonewall at Lisbon, whitlier she was fol- lowed from Ferrol by thie Federal war steamers Sacramento and Nagcara, has l led to a collision between the Foderal ofii cers and the Portuenese Government. The Stouewall seiled {rom thie Tagus on Tuesday and tue Federal eruisers—aus we learn from a Lisbon telegram dated I Wednesday morning—attenipted alss to quit the Tagus before the expiration of the term of iwenty-four Liours required to elapse between the sailing of a vessel of one belligerent and the subsequent depar ture of an armed ship belonging to tue t other belligerent. The forts at Belem consequently -opened {ire on the Federal steamers, and a shot struck the Niagara on the poop and killed a seaman. Both the Niagnra and the Hacramente, it is added, then anchored. The commanders of the Niaugara and Sacramento state that they had no inten tion of sailing wher fired upon by ihe forts, but that ihey were only shifting their anchorage. It isrumounred that diploma tic notes have been exchanged in reference to this iuciden®. The coufederate “ram” Stonewall wos built at Bordeaux, ostensibly for the Da nish Government. She is abeut 1,600 tons burden, has a 12-feet prow, is iron clad, and is armed with three guns, viz., a 300-pounder forward, and two 200-poun ders att. Her speed is about ten knots, and. she has a crew of about 80 hands The Niagara is of 4,582 tons. She has a crew of 430 hands. Her armament con sists of fifteen 200-pounders. The Sacra mento’s tonnage is 1,367. She has a crew of about 180 hands. Her armament con sists of two 120-pounders and eight 68- pounders. The speed of the Niagara and Sacranmento is about twelve knots. It is thoneht that the Stonewall will make for Gibraltar. y KDEA ÆDG AæEarn AVGELON. MVECTIONS-Directeuren bekjendt !AÅ gjår herved, at ifølge Requisi tion as 3t. "2?homæ Skifteret behand jende Gverkrigsecommissair W. Han sens Fallitboe vil blive opraabt til ehsojut Kalr ved Ååde offentlig Auc tiøn som afnoldes paa Aastedet Ons dågen den 2Zlde dennes Kl. 12 Mid dag den Boet tilhorende ND.IDOM Ko y BE is 3 S. 52 12., 83 534 Prindsensgade (Miktarhosvital). Conditionorne, Vurderingsforret ning og Ponteottest ville blive frem laste ved Auctionen, hvortil Lyvst havende indbydes. St. Thomv Auctions Countoir, den iode April 1865. l Eescmstand, Aucttionsdireeteur. AUCEION. “rfHE Vendue Director hereby makes known, that at the re quest of 5t 'Thomas Dealing Court i adaniaistration of the bankrupt es iate of Mr. W. Hansen, Commissary ei vvar, is efiered for sale by 4th Aue tion at the premises on Wednesday the 2Gth inst, at 12 o’eloek noon TR ely BrED B TR, AR P W E .L .‘T"... n.“ l‘ I‘A” ,’jji.lfj?,g‘fi "fiRfiE;Y JVo. &2 b., 83 54 Prindsensgade, belonging to said estate (Military 'f'he terms of sale, appraisement aunu extraci of register of Mortgages to L 2 seen at the Vendue, to which purcihasers are mvited, st. Zhomas Vendue Office, the EGth April 1865. Rosenvtand, Vendue Director. i Undersigned intends leaving 4 the Esland for the benefit of his health, end would earnestly request (hose indebted to him to come for ward with scttlement of thewr ac counts £o as to enable him to leave as carly as pessibie.. West dind 10th of Apnil 1865. JOHAKNES B. DUNLOP. DEATHS. On the 22d March 1865, at 22 Dela mere Crescent,” Upper Westbourn Ter race, London, Maria, widow of John MeCor mick, Esq. of St. Croix, Danish West Indies. Friends will please accept this intimation. L R I S N TTR On the 23d March 1865, suddenly, Eliza, the beloved wife of D. Tolmé, sq. of 20 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London. Friends Wifl please accept this’ ntimation. s