ABSTRACT
The public were much surprised at the recent announcement that one of our large English life insurance offices was unable to meet its liabilities. The company had a considerable paid-up capital, with a large apparent surplus, counting its means by hundreds of thousands of dollars, making handsome dividends, boasting of its strength by conspicuous advertisements in the newspapers; and the statement that such a company was insolvent could not fail to strike every one with astonishment. We have had, indeed, fraudulent insurance companies, both in this country and in England, that failed because they never had any capital; but this had a substantial basis to start with. We have had companies broken by bad investments or extraordinary losses, or by frauds or peculations of their officers; but in this case none of these things were charged or insinuated. Everything appeared fair and prosperous; all demands on their treasury had been promptly paid; their assets were large and daily increasing; when suddenly the commissioners appointed by the State of Massachusetts to protect its citizens from imposition make the startling discovery the company is bankrupt. 1
