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In a pamphlet printed for private circulation, Mr. Twopeny, whose experience as a conveyancer entitles him to speak with confidence on the point, sketches the history of an estate of 10,000l. a-year, under the system of charges for younger children; and shows that, in the course of three generations, it will be more than half eaten up with mortgages, and probably sold. He then draws the contrasted picture of three tenants for life successively insuring their lives to the same amount for portions, and the result, of course, is that, although each of them must submit to a personal sacrifice, all but the first are benefitted in point of actual income, whilst the inheritance is descending unimpaired.*

and so rapid since 1825, for the differences | a second from the Pelican. The claim was do not correspond with the increase of resisted, and the decision was in favour of wealth and population at either of the rest- the office. Insurance also is occasionally ing points. The paucity of companies fifty employed as a part of the machinery of years since was partly owing to the diffi- marriage settlements, and the more freculty of obtaining a charter so long as the quent resort to it by the landed interest old-established societies were able to per- might rescue many an old family from besuade governments that insurance business ing gradually impoverished and broken could not be conducted in a manner favour- up. able to the national interests without a monopoly. Thus, in 1803, the Globe had a hard battle to fight against the Royal Exchange and the London Assurance, and was obliged to pay 100,000l. into the Treasury before their resistance was overcome. Another retarding cause was the high rate of premium exacted by all the early companies, not excepting those which were anxious to deal in a perfect spirit of good faith. Some took one set of tables, some another; but whether they used those of Breslau, Carlisle, or Northampton, it has since been made clear that the average value of life, as regards persons accepted after examination and inquiry by an insurance office, considerably exceeds any deduced or deducible from the mortality of a town. The offices themselves have supplied the most trustworthy materials; for besides Mr. Davis's 'Tables,' containing the rate of mortality amongst the members of the Equitable, and Mr. Galloway's, based on the mortality amongst the members of the Amicable, we have the Experience Table, compiled from data furnished by seventeen offices in pursuance of the resolution of a public meeting in 1838.*

The celerity with which office has followed office within living memory is also owing to the extension of life assurance to contingencies seldom contemplated by those who first planned or resorted to it. The case of Godsoll and Co. against the Pelican shows that so early as 1803 it had been converted into a useful security for trade. Godsoll and Co. were Mr. Pitt's coachmakers, and when their bill exceeded 10007. they insured his life. His creditors as is well known, were paid by his grateful country, and the coachmakers received their money with the rest; but, not satisfied with one payment, they tried to exact

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To hope to cure selfishness and improvidence by expatiating on the benefits of insurance, is like trying to catch sparrows by putting salt upon their tails. When such means are available, the object is virtually obtained. We believe, however, that many delay, and eventually abandon, the intention to insure on account of the embarrassing situation in which they are placed when they have to select an office. Is a proprietary, a mutual, or a mixed system the most eligible? Given the age, sex, and habits of the individual, which promises the largest and safest return at the lowest rates? What are the solid advantages of the bonus, in all its tempting varieties? Is it best to have it in money down, in the shape of a reduction of premium, or in that of an addition to the sum payable on death? Ought the division of profits to be annual, quinquennial, or decennial? Lastly, how, when the inquirer has discovered an office which exactly suits his case, is he to arrive at an unhesitating conviction of its solvency?

In the preface to his 'Actuarial Tables, Carlisle Three per Cent.,' Mr. Thomson, the eminent actuary, says: 'So many tables have recently been calculated on the Carlisle observations, and so many actuaries acknowledge the soundness of that basis for life assurance and annuity

* Observations on the Result of the present Mode of Providing Portions for Younger Children by a Charge on Landed Estates. By William Twopeny, Esq., of the Middle Temple, Barrister,' 1854.

calculations, that I look forward to the day when the Carlisle tables will be admitted as sufficiently accurate to justify their general adoption.' Until that day arrives, it may be as well to bear in mind that premiums calculated on those tables are lower on the younger lives, and higher on others, than when calculated on the Northampton tables. Elderly people, therefore, may be excused for avoiding offices which have adopted Mr. Thomson's standard of accuracy; and, according to Mr. Babbage, the average age of insurers is forty-six.

The theory of societies formed of or for particular classes or professions is, or ought to be, that the chances of life vary according to sex, occupation, and habits; that there are material variances between the average vitality of soldiers, sailors, clergymen, lawyers, doctors, mercantile men, married women, single women, and widows. Gideon used to say, 'Never grant annuities to old women; they wither, but they never die;' and if the proposed annuitant coughed, he would call out, Ay, ay, you may cough, but it sha'n't save you six months' purchase.' If his doctrine be well founded, ladies of a certain age ought to be able to insure their lives at a lower rate than any other class of the community. But no company-not even the Scottish Widows' Fund Society'-has been founded with exclusive reference to them; and the offices with professional designations are seldom, if ever, literally and strictly what might be inferred from the name.

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Again, the duration of life varies greatly according to the place of residence. Dr. Price proved that, on an average of six years, there died in London 1 in 203; in Northampton, 1 in 26; in Madeira, 1 in 50; in Liverpool, 1 in 27; in Ackworth, Yorkshire, 1 in 47. When, in 1829, the Government, inconsiderately misapplying Mr. Finlaison's tables, offered annuities on the lives of men of ninety, at the rate of 621. a-year for 100l. down, agents were despatched by speculating capitalists-the late Marquis of Hertford being one-to discover hale nonogenarians. They were found most abundant in Westmoreland, Cumberland, and the rural districts of Scotland; where the late Mr. Philip Courtenay, M.P., and Q.C., made so successful a collection of them during the Reform Bill agitation, that a provincial paper described him as an emissary of Lord Grey's, commissioned to select recipients of the peerage, whose age would enable them to carry the measure without proving a dura ble incumbrance to the Upper House. It

follows that a Cumberland or Westmoreland statesman' ought to pay a far lower premium than an inhabitant of London ; and that a gentleman who would engage to remain all the rest of his days in Madeira, ought to be charged little more than half as much as a resident in Northampton or Liverpool.

More than one expedient, however, has been hit upon for favouring or protecting long-livers. Indeed, it is to be apprehended that the desire of compensating them has sometimes caused a dangerous forgetfulness of the fact, that the entire system rests upon the opposite principle of making the long-lived pay for the short-lived. after the lapse of a sufficient number of years to test the estimates, it is found that the rate of premium is higher than is required to meet the liabilities accruing or accrued, the surplus accumulations are distributed under the name of profits. This is a very delicate operation; and almost every office takes credit for the soundest and most liberal method of performing it. The mutual assurer or shareholder has an obvious right to a share, for he is a partner in the enterprise; and if the funds fell short, would have to contribute towards the deficiency. The primary constitution of the proprietary companies includes no such right; but they would stand little chance against their rivals, mixed or mutual, unless their terms were equally tempt. ing. Thus, the prospectus of one of them sets forth :--

Assurance Company, the operation of which has contributed in a marked degree to the great success of the Institution, is the mode pursued in the division of profits among the assured, and the directors request attention to its peculiar advantages. The divisions are made at intervals of five years, and the system is such that the whose policies are maintained for the longest greatest benefits are derived by those members period; in other words, those who pay most premiums. Persons who effect assurances as a provision for their families, or from other prudential motives, can thus look forward to increasing advantages as they advance in life,each period of division they may survive bring ing additional benefits. The Company have divided profits at five periods-1835, 1840,

'One distinctive feature in the Standard Life

1845, 1850, and 1855.'

They first give examples of the application of the bonus as an addition to the sum assured; from one of which it appears that a policy opened in 1825 for 10007. had received, by 1855, additions to the amount of 11527. making the sum assured 21527. Then come examples of the application by the payment of the amount in cash :

'According to this method, if the person assured does not wish the sum in his policy increased, he may surrender the bonus, and take its value in cash; that is, instead of the amount being paid with the sum assured at death, such a sum will now be given as the directors may consider equivalent to it in present value.

'In the case of a policy of 1000l. opened before 15th November, 1825, for instance, assuming the party to have assured at the age of 35, and to have attained the age of 65 last birthday, the sum of 6657. 158. 2d. would be given for a surrender of the bonus of 11521., while the policy will continue to receive its share of profits, at future investigations, as if the surrender had not taken place.'

The following are additional illustrations addressed to the meanest capacity :

A policy was opened with the Company in 1826 for 20007. on a life then aged 45. The policy has received additions to the extent of 21907.; but the party wishes to get quit of his annual payments, by giving up a portion of his bonus additions; on what terms can he do so? He pays an annual premium of 747. 158., and by surrendering 6717. 188. 2d. of his bonus he will get quit of all future payments, have an addition of 15187. 18. 10d. to his policy, and will continue to receive further additions at each investigation he may survive.

A person aged 40, who assured in 1830 for of 8677. He pays a premium of 327. 98. 2d., but wishes to apply the bonus in extinction of the annual payment. He can redeem his future premiums by surrendering 5027. 118. 8d. of his bonus, leaving 3647. 88. 4d. to be paid along with the sum assured at death, and will receive further additions at each investigation he may survive. 'A person aged 55 opened a policy in 1840 for 500, at an annual premium of 261. 148. 7d. The bonus additions to this policy, amounting to 1737. 108., if surrendered to the Company, will reduce the premium by 157. 08. 9d. annually for life, making the future annual payments 117.

10007. has received bonus additions to the extent

138. 10d.'

The accumulated fund of The Standard exceeds a million and a half. The Rock, another first class proprietary company, established in 1806, which boasts of a large and increasing fund of upwards of three millions sterling invested in real and government securities, promises similar advantages.

'As evidence of the great advantages afforded to assurers in this office, the directors select an instance of a 5007. policy, effected in 1806, upon which 5857. 78. 6d. had been paid for premiums. The several bonuses made to this policy, payable on its becoming a claim, amounted in 1847 to 6417. 18. 8d., for the redemption of which bonus the assurer received 4657. 2s. 7d. in cash, and then, wishing to extinguish all further premiums on the policy, paid to the Company 887. 08. 6d.

in lieu thereof, thereby realizing a present gain of 3771. 28. 1d., without prejudice to any future bonus; the further addition made in 1854 was 1567. 138 4d.

'The profits are divided, as stated above, every seventh year; two-thirds being appropriated to the policies for the term of life, payable without interest at the death of the assured; and the remaining third being added to the subscription capital stock of the proprietors, who are alone responsible for any loss the Company may incur,-no liability attaching to such of the assured as are not proprietors, notwithstanding that they partake so largely of the profits.'

The alternative is almost always given of paying a sum down, of paying a proportionally higher premium for a limited number of years, or of paying a lower rate upon an understanding that the insurer is not to share in the surplus proceeds or profit. He may, therefore, easily suit himself, whether his present income be an increasing or a decreasing one, whether he prefer a known sacrifice and no risk, or a chance of future repayment dashed by a trifling admixture of uncertainty.

It would be beyond our province if we were to recommend one office as more trustworthy than another. But we may venture to throw out a hint or two for the guidance of the unsophisticated; and especially we should advise them to make thorough inquiry into the characters and circumstances of the directors of any young society before dealing with it; besides satisfying themselves of the accuracy of the calculations on which its prospectus, if more than ordinarily flattering or magnilo'The fact,' quent, is reported to be based. remarks the writer in the Encyclopædia Britannica,' 'that within the last twelve years 513 offices have been projected, and 228 founded, does not give us much primary confidence in the soundness, speaking generally, of anything new in the way. of assurance. Most of the failures seem to have been caused entirely by reckless extravagance in the management' By ' reckless extravagance in the management' the writer probably means, that new offices commonly begin by outbidding the old offices. Thus, in 1825, it was announced on behalf of one office, that every feature of its plan was marked by a decided contempt for all the petty advantages which swell the profits of other offices.' A second offered to insure at ten per cent., and a third at twenty per cent., less than any of its predecessors in the field. Few of these lasted long; but it will be remembered that it may take fifty years to demonstrate the illusory nature of a scheme, and an insurance office, therefore, can hardly lay

claim to the respectability of age, until it has survived a generation. That it may have stood this test and yet be shaken by careless or undue confidence, is proved by the extraordinary case of Walter Watt, tried at the Central Criminal Court in May, 150. He was a clerk in the employment of the Globe, at 2001. a year salary. His position gave him access to the chequebook and pass book; and it was also a part of his duty to tie up the returned cheques in a bundle. By boldly and dexterously availing himself of his opportunities, he contrived to plunder the company to an amount that sounds fabulous It is estimated by Mr. Evans, the author of Facts, Failures, and Frauds,' at 700,000l. -and considering Watt's style of living, his theatrical speculations, and his losses on the turf, during a series of years, we can readily believe that his embezzlements might eventually have imperilled the solidity of even the great Globe itself. That no suspicion fell upon him from his becoming the proprietor of two theatres, from his establishments and equipages, or from his expensive associates amongst the least reputable portion of the gay world, is utterly inexplicable.

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All the old-established offices pride themselves on their liberality; which, indeed, like honesty, is their best policy. They profess never to stand upon forms or technicalities; and they have seldom of late years contested a claim without grounds of suspicion amounting almost to moral certainty. Whenever they have acted on the opposite principle, they have generally found juries steadily opposed to them, as in a well-known case against the Westminster, in which the strenuous exertions of Lord Kenyon failed to procure a verdict for the company. In a more recent case, the Imperial resisted the claim of a Mr. Scott's representatives, and persevered until three adverse verdicts had been given against the office. The courts of justice have laid down, that fraudulent concealment may consist not merely in omitting to answer every specific question fairly, but in the suppression of any material circumstance peculiar to the individual whose life is the subject of the policy. Thus, a policy on the life of the Duke of Saxe Gotha was declared void on the ground that the general debility of His Serene Highness had not been communicated to the insurers. Independently of this train of decisions, the ordinary terms render the validity of the contract conditional on the truth of the preliminary declaration in every detail; so that what

Lord Eldon said of Acts of Parliament, that there were few through which an astute lawyer could not drive a coach and four, might be predicted, with equal confidence, of policies. The resulting feeling of distrust led to the establishment of the Indisputable in 1848; the projectors of which rightly judged that they could incur slight risk of loss by binding themselves to do what was voluntarily done already by the most prosperous of their predecessors. A company called The Medical, Invalid, and General,' has also been started under fair auspices, with a scheme based upon the doctrine, first maintained by Graunt, that the effect of most maladies in shortening life may be reduced to an average. Then we have the Accidental Death' and the Railway Passengers' Assurance Companies. Nay, astounding fact, that there is even a Society for Assurance against Purgatory,' which, for threepence per week, undertakes to have the required number of masses duly celebrated after the decease of the contributor.

The growing facilities for foreign travel, and the migratory habits of Englishmen, have compelled the offices to relax the prescriptive condition rendering void the policy in the case of departure from these realms. The terms of the Rock may be taken as a specimen :

'Persons whose lives are assured in this office (not being seafaring persons by occupation) may go by sea, during peace, direct from any part of Europe, to any other part of Europe, or during war from any part of Europe to any other part of Europe where there may be no danger by Europe by steam-vessels, to or from any part of reason of hostilities, or may proceed to or from

America, north of Washington (the capital of the United States), and east of the Mississippi river, and reside in the above-named places, unless there be danger by reason of hostilities."'

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acquired by assignment, or by legal or equitable | banks were offering nine or ten per cent. lien, upon due proof of the extent of such interest for deposits, it was useless to dwell upon being made to the satisfaction of the directors.' the Duke of Wellington's sage axiom, that The Atlas goes a step further, and pro- for bad security. exorbitant interest is only another name mises to be generous on an emergency :When showy commodities are offered at ridiculously small prices, it is vainer still to prove that they could not be profitably sold for double the money unless they were stolen. There will be always, as Mr. De Morgan remarks, gentlemen eager to walk in the brightest of boots to the cheapest of assurance offices. But we trust we have said enough to put even them upon their guard; and we are not without hope that science and enterprise, with perhaps a little opportune aid from the legislature, may eventually succeed in placing on a sound basis, not admitting of illusion or deceit, a system so admirably. calculated to advance both private happiness and national prosperity.

Assurances made by persons on their own lives will be void if they die by the hands of justice, by duelling, or by their own act, whether sane or insane: but should the families of such persons be left in distress and poverty, the directors, in their discretion, will make such allowance, in respect of the policies of the deceased, as they may deem just and reasonable; or should a policy have been assigned or deposited as a security for money due, and have been in force for five years, then the Company will hold itself liable for a sum not exceeding the amount advanced, and interest due thereon at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum.'

Mr. Francis says that there was once a company which altogether omitted the suicide clause, and that a man, after opening a policy with it, invited the directors to dinner with a numerous party. When the

cloth was removed, he rose and said: 'Gen tlemen, it is fit you should be acquainted with the company. These honest men are tradesmen to whom I was in debt, without any means of payment but by your assistance; and now I am your humble servant.' He pulled out a pistol and shot himself. If the omission of the clause at tracted many customers of this sort, no wonder it has been restored or retained.

The Volunteer Rifle Corps' have ex cited serious apprehensions in the unwarlike portion of the community; and large

odds have been offered that the members

will hit more English than French within the next twelvemonth. But by insuring in the Sun they may fearlessly encounter the terrors of the practising ground :—

ART. III.-Popular Music of the Olden
Times; a Collection of Ancient Songs,
Ballads and Dance Tunes, illustrative
of the National Music of England.
By W. Chappell, F.S.A. London, 1859.

To persons who judge social phenomena by standards taken within the limits of their own actual experience, the taste for music that is so conspicuous in modern England seems a remarkable novelty, not altogether compatible with the national character. Scarcely thirty years have elapsed since the normal John Bull was against the sing-song that delighted more supposed to entertain a manly abhorrence frivolous foreigners, and the present generation has not yet forgotten the animadversions of the Chesterfields and Stevenses, who encouraged, in fashionable and literay circles, the want of sympathy with sweet sounds, already to be found in the multitude. But now music is the rage everywhere, if, indeed, the word 'rage' can be applied to a steady predilection, which extends over all classes of the BriTo declare all policies indisputable from tish public, and gives no signs of evanesthe day of execution, or to waive all re- cence. Two opera-houses, and sometimes strictions on travelling or residence, might three, compete with each other for the do harm in a moral and social sense by en- patronage of those persons who love the couraging fraud. We prefer the middle dramatic form of the art; nor does the course adopted by many offices, of specify-employment of the Italian Jarquage dimiing a probationary period-commonly five years after which policies shall be deemed indisputable and the insured may travel or reside where they like.

'Military Risk.-Persons whose lives are assured in this office are assured against all risks they may be exposed to while engaged in the militia or in any yeomanry or volunteer corps acting within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, without extra premium.'

The gullibility of mankind seems boundless and inexhaustible. When joint-stock

nish the enjoyment of a large mass who would consider themselves very respectable scholars if they possessed a grammatical knowledge of their own tongue. The epicure, who seeks those delicacies less appreciated by the profanum vulgus, finds

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