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    Aug. 23, 1851.] ffftl 1Lta*tX. 801

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    PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE. We last week refe...

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    "ORDER" CONDUCIVE TO CRIME. France is gr...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Mr. Gladstone's Deniers. The Revelations...

    rou that this charming print has also been the warm advocate , h Voutrance , of the . Holy Inquisition of the torture , of the auto da fe ,. of the bt . Bartholomew massacre , of the dragonnades , and we know not what other agreeable bygones , you will not be surprised to . learn that U Unwers is in the van to exalt his Sacred Majesty of Naples as the " best and worthiest and roost clement of Christian Kings" ! But it goes further , and with a temerity which seems almost " judicial" in the midst of habitual prevarications and " reserves , " positively asserts that * ' there is not a simple fact in either of

    Mr . Gladstone ' s letters which can bear , examination ; " and this assertion , while recognizing its boldness , L ' Univers engages to sustain . It has the further rashness to attempt publicly to throw suspicion on the credibility of Mr . Gladstone ' s statements by declaring that he has recounted mere hearsays , that he was not an eyewitness on any occasion , that he has picked up mere vague rumours and the interested exaggerations of Neapolitan revolutionists . Accordingly L'Univers begins a series of letters to Mr . Gladstone upon the data of its own gratuitous assumptions . Unluckily , ithasonce more caught a Tartar in its intimate enemy La Presse , which by way of opposing proof to assertion , translates literally the most striking

    passages of Mr . Gladstone ' s letters , where the significant words , " / have seen with my own eyes " ( not " I have heard , " and " as I hear , " and " as I was assured , " according to M . Gondon ) so frequently occur . The attitude of the Republican and Constitutional press is worthy of France and of the cause of humanity to which Mr . Gladstone has so nobly lent the crushing weight of his name —calm , dignified , just in appreciation . But as if ISUmvers ( which we fear will be the windingsheet of the parti-pretre ) were not enough to " finish " the king of its predilection , an ally or aide-de-camp has entered the lists in the pevson of the Patrie , the Elyse ' an optimist , of which the most that can be said is that it is— " Journal du Soir . ' " .

    English influence was to be pressed into the service of Naples , to counteract the truly English act of Mr . Gladstone . In the first place , we understand , an English opponent has been manufactured A composition has been got up in the English language , published at Lugano , Capolago , or some other place in Switzerland , and imported into Naples , a * if it were the declaration of An English writer against the etatetoents of Mr . Gladstone but the writing was manifestly by no English pen . We describe it at second hand , not having had the felicity to see it ; but we have no reason to doubt the correctness of the description . It was desirable , however , to find a real Englishman to contradict the truthteller . Even the

    correspondent of the Times , so friendly and lenient towards the Royalist parties of Italy , cannot withhold his voucher 1 from Mr . Gladstone ' s account . However , a champion was at last found in that market where , it is said , everything may be procured—London . We know that a certain individual , not an Italian , belonging to the distinguished family of Les Mouchards , was in London , not long since ; and he made no secret , among friends , that he had secured a writer to deny Mr . Gladstone .

    Mr . Charles Macfarlane has just put forth a pamphlet professsing to deny Mr . Gladstone and all that he has said . And who , you will say , in Mr . C . Macfarlane ? La Patrie informs us that he is " a distinguished publicist ; " but some doubt is thrown upon the fact by Iia Presse , who calls him a " nomad ( or wandering ) pamphleteer , known only for the absurdity of his lucubrations . " We are not indeed without some past knowledge of the new champion who advances to defend " the best of Kings . " Have you read the The Romance of the Reaction which he entitled in that elegant aristocratic

    way of his , A Glance at Revolutionized Ital y t It j 8 written , we were going to say , " in very rhoice Italian , " we mean it is— "by authority . " Have yoii read a former " lucubration" on the object of Turkey and the Turks ? It should have been called Turkey seen through the Medium of a dragoman ; or , a Walk round nty Room . In this hook you will find a horrible onslaught upon the oppressions of the Turkish Government , which «» tlected the distinguished and liberal pnbliciat even l sickness . But we have heard that the Vizier , jV , consider the damages very heavy ; ami urkey still survives , not an unfavourable contrast

    J « JNaplea . There ! could the King of Naples niinself havc done more for Mr . Charles Macfar-• 10 than we have done by recounting his past li-r " Ru 8 n un ( 1 hu Y " > s last pamphlet in ence of l » s boHom frienda the tiUed : Vaoler 8 of

    the Neapolitan dungeons . All Mr . Macfarlane ' s bosom friends have handles to their names . He is " one of those gentle ones that will use the devil himself with courtesy , " if only because he is one of the " powers that be . " Such are Mr . Gladstone ' s " deniers . Between him and them let publicity be the judge ! Let his sacred Majesty of Naples " plate sin with gold . " We at least will never cease to call crime , however royal , crime !

    Aug. 23, 1851.] Ffftl 1lta*Tx. 801

    Aug . , 1851 . ] ffftl 1 Lta * tX . 801

    Progress Of Assurance. We Last Week Refe...

    PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE . We last week referred to the peculiar adaptations of the Life Assurance principle by the Athenaeum Life Assurance Society ; but we are desirous of drawing the attention of literary men and artists and the liberal professions generally , to the great importance of the assurance principle and its peculiar adaptation to their position . It is a great thing for a public company to offer a benefit to a class . We do not question that the tables of the " Athenaeum , " which offer special advantages to the professional man , are so constructed as to bring advantages also to the society ; but it ought to be remembered that the society could have achieved a commercial success without this adjunct .

    Unfortunately , the sorrows of authors are too well known , and many persons are too ready in attributing improvidence and want of principle to those whose minds are insufficient to measure those persons they condemn . People really know nothing of the difficulties that man has to contend against who offers his intellectual luxuries , or high spiritual gifts , in exchange for corporal necessities . The late Disraeli has well observed that , " Authors of all classes in the community have been the most honoured and the least remunerated . "

    Smollett died in penury and among strangers . But after his death , ornamented columns rose to his memory , and his very grave seemed to multiply the editions of his works . See Goldsmith selling his Vicar of Wakefield for £ 60 , a work which is even now continually being reprinted in this and other countries . Milton ' s Puradise Lost was sold by its author for £ 10 , and yet Dr . Newton received £ 630 for his edition of the work . When Hume published the first edition of his History , it was received with such coldness and indifference , that he would have left his native country disgusted and heart-broken , had not the War prevented him . De Foe sold Robinson Crusoe for a trifle , and the fortunate publisher tnade a thousand guineas by it . Burn ' s Justice and Buchan * s Domestic Medicine , books which now yield steady annual incomes , were obtained from their authors for a mere song . Poor Chatterton , who was compelled by want to bring every production of his genius to a statement of pounds , shillings , and pence , left the following memorandum among his papers . A Political Essay he had penned had been stopped in the publication by the death of the Lord Mayor of London , which rendered it useless . He thus states the account : — " Lost by the Mayor ' s death in this Essay £ 111 G Gained , however , in Elegies and ISssays thereon 5 5 0 The favourable balance stands recorded thus : —¦ " I am glad he is dead by £ 3 13 G We have already frequently referred to the necessity of life assurance to all those whose income is dependent on their lives . The adoption of the " Athenaeum " principles is incumbent on all those whose income is dependent on their personal exertions . The great barrier to the adoption of life assurance by literary men and artists is the fear that they may not be able to keep up the premiums , and that all they had advanced would be lost to them . The precarious tenure of the literary man ' s income is recognized by the "Athenaeum" so far , that be does not forfeit his policy if the premiums should not be regularly paid up , or , rather , a fund is provided to enable him to pay them . But there is a feature which we think would insure the adoption of ^ life assurance by all professional persons . The literary man , the barrister , the sailor , and all men in the professions , are liable to fits of prosperity as well as adversity . Mostly they are not of a saving turn—the productive mood is often incompatible with the Having mood ; and there is no provision that enables a man to capitalize the income of a prosperous year . The development of I Ate Assurance induces us to hope that tables may be formed to meet this condition of things

    Suppose the "Athenaeum" made u provision calculated to this effect : That a man effecting an aesurance should be permitted to make payments to any amount in specified Bums , say £ 5 each .

    These sums each to represent a proportionate sum at death , larger in proportion to the year it was paid , having no reference to yearly premiums . For instance , a man enters in 1850 pays £ 5 in 1851 a bad year , he pays nothing ; in 1852 , a ' better year , he pays three sums of £ 5 each ; in 1853 , a a prosperous year , he pays seven sums of £ 5 each ; in 1854 , an indifferent year , he pays two sums of £ 5 ; in 1855 , a bad year , nothing . The calculation of the table might be made against the assurer . Prosperity puts him in a spending humour , Adversity makes him glad to save his premiums for assurance even at the cost of rather a hard

    calculation . But the power to deposit every j £ 5 whilst he may , would be a real boon ; and the hold on so much capital , which would otherwise float away into space , would be a gain to the Assurance office . We offer these proposals to the notice of the " Athenaeum Life Assurance Society , " as they appear actuated by the most benevolent intentions . They have an actuary fully competent to erect tables with this object , on the safest and most comprehensive data . They should remember that the profession , if it have the character of improvidence , has also the credit of liberality ; and that the extra premiums will be lost sight of in viewing the solid benefits conferred .

    "Order" Conducive To Crime. France Is Gr...

    " ORDER" CONDUCIVE TO CRIME . France is growing moral ; England is degenerating . Such appear to be the conclusions on high authority . The arithmetical moralist is perplexinghimself just now over statistical tables of criminal justice in divers countries , with strange results . We will not here trouble our readers with figures which the very promulgators disclaim or " explain away . " The criminal statistics of England show rather a diminution of crime in 1850 ; but perhaps ,

    says the sceptic , because the Juvenile Offenders Act and other improvements , by extending summary jurisdiction , have withdrawn many crimes from the cognizance of Law and Assize Courts . In Ireland crime is diminishing—with the hunger and with the number of people . In Scotlandnever , alas ! says the Edinburgh Courant , very sober or very chaste—the criminal returns attest a considerable increase of " wickedness . " It ia in France that crime is dimmished . The

    establishment of the Republic in 1848 marked a striking diminution of crime ; bitt in 1849 , the year just reported , there was a slight increase . Scotland wai unaffected by the revolutionary storm , France ha « undergone its full force . Baron PJatt notices a disappointment on the score of " education" : — " It had been found from the annual tables , travelling over a space of no less than thirteen years , that the want of education stood as a mark upon crime ; for it lind been found invariably during those twelve years that the totally illiterate and the partially

    educated together formed nine out of ten throughout the whole calendar , showing that ignorance and crime were intimately connected . But he found in this part of the county of Lancaster ( Liverpool ) education hud not had a very salutary effect ; for he found here , —whereas , as he had already stated , that throughout the country ignorant persons were criminals in the proportion of nine to one , —that in this calendar , consisting of 123 prisoners , there were eighteen who could read nnd write well , nnd six of a superior education , bringing the proportion down to three or four to one , and diminishing , of course , to the same amount , the proportion in favour of education . Thus

    they observed , that eighteen nnd « ix make twentyfour—that was twenty-four educated persons out of 123 . That was very striking . There must be Home cause for it . Was it a lax mode of conducting trade in thia great trading portion of the island ? Was it a want of moral feeling in the conduct of trade ? Was it a want of care which was exhibited as to the morals of the persona who might receive some education ? There must be something wrong in thia ; or it might be it wan a source from which they might draw a very favourable ) inference to the conclusiona of some verywise men on this subject , that educntion , unless it bo moral and religious , was rather a mischievous than a ueeful acquirement to man . "

    But Scotland is " religious , " also educated ; Lancashire is educated ; Franco is revolutionary I It is perplexing . The touch at trade is worth consideration . We doubt whether enough streps is laid in " education , " on the drawing out of tho natural faculties : perhaps it is too much an attempt to turn men into diagrams ; which failing , we have the recoil— " crime . " In religion , more stress ih laid upon mystic dogmas than upon the instinctive piety which is the best part of all " persuasions . " Trade , perhaps , has been made too

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 23, 1851, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23081851/page/13/