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    cieties to appear soon after its passing , and contrary to the expectations of its promoters . The crude and ephemeral nature of the schemes thus fostered , and the delusive stimulant given to their formation by . this Act , in conferring on them the apparent character of great incorporated bodies , chartered under Act of Parliament , enabled their projectors for a time to gain a credit and position which should only have been the reward of skill , industry , and success . Had the public known their real status , or had they been enrolled under the Friendly Societies' Acts , the public would

    have exercised more caution in joining them , and every project would have had . to prove its bona fides before receiving general support . This was -very much the way in which institutions , formed prior to the passing ^ of the Joint-Stock Companies Act , had to earn favour with the public . That it was very different , after the passing of that , the Post Magazine and its companion Almanack afford the most " abundant proof ; and all of our readers who are desirous of keeping a watchful eye on the progress of assurance companies , ought to possess those able and valuable publications .

    Some of our ablest economists object to any kind of company whatever being established with limited liability , ¦ ¦ and the main reason now advanced in support of their views is the large number of schemes which have been unsuccessful under the Limited Liability Act , 19 & 20 Viet . c . 47 . It is somewhat surprising to find an argument of this kind employed in the presence of so much practical experience of greater magnitude and weight , and of exactly the same kind , by adventures in which the liability was unlimited . The solution of this ( Question has a direct application in support of our views on mutual assurance companies . Any One who is familiar with the speculative period of 1824 , 5 , and 6 , must be fully aware of the number of

    companies of all sorts then projected , when limited liability was not in any form sanctioned by law . There lias been no period since when so many schemes were launched , and so signalled by their ephemeral duration . Projects of all conceivable descriptions , embracing every branch of industry and occupation , were projected—milk companies , laundry companies , horse-shoeing companies , watercress and potatOi-sale companies , dust and chimney-sweep ing companies , and companies for the invention , sale , and purchase of patents , companies to negotiate the acquisition of foreign concessions , decorations , and titles of distinction , and hosts of other schemes , many of which were equally absurd in their objects ¦ with those enumerated . The failure of these

    schemes is no more an argument against the state of the law in 1824-6 , than the failure of many projects since the introduction of the Limited Inability Act , but which excludes assurance societies , is any reason against the beneficial operation of that A 6 t . The causes of failure , in both the one case and the other , are entirely independent of the condition of limited or unlimited liability . The functions of a public company are only properly brought to bear on any enterprise when the capital or credit required for its successful prosecution are beyond the command of ordinary adventurers . If skill , and not capital , be the primary element of success , then that commodity belongs to

    individuals , and companies cannot purchase it in successful competition with its possessors . Men soon discover when the merits of any adventure are due to their individual skill , when a small capital only is employed , how to turn all to their own account . A railway company and an assurance company are examples of enterprises usually beyond the reach of private means ? the former requiring the" outlay of an immense amount of money , and tho latter a degree of confidence and trust which no individual could hope to lay claim to . Again , a milk company does not require capital beyond the means of many private

    persons , hut an amount of tact and skill is needed in competition which a company could never succeed in securing . Tho humblq but acute and keen Welchwoman outwitted tho liveried servants of the Company referred to , and oontrivod to retain command of tho market ; and so has ifc been with fruit companies , potato companies , &o . Who would venture to predict the success of a scheme by which a company should undertake to trade in the production and sale of first-qla * ia microscopes ? By what means could tho > 'pvojoctora secure for their own concern employ ^ having that skill of man ipulation possessed by not move than three or four persons in

    England , of making perfect one-eighth and _ onetwelfth eye-pieces . A company is no more justified , in a commercial sense , in undertaking a business in which the cap ital needed is within the command of any considerable portion of the trading community , than a blind man should be in attempting to become a sculptor , or than , a person with a defective sense of colouring , like the late Dr . Dalton , should study painting . Dalton was great as a chemist , but he was incapable , of becoming a good colourist , and could never have appreciated the charm of Turner ' s art . If this distinction had been kept in view by those who

    recently , in their high places , took occasion to comment , in so severe terms , on the operation of the Limited Liability Act , and if they had ana ^ lysed the nature of the various projects registered under that Act , they would have found that nearly all the schemes launched for the . exercise of those functions which properly belong to companies have been successful . The bulk of the failures have been connected with . pro-r jects in which those elements were entirely wanting which promote the success of companies , and that irrespective of the state of the law . It does not , adv

    howev , follow that because any particular enture comes within , the legitimate scope of a company that it TV-ill eventually prove successful . Nothing , obviously , is a more fitting object of a public company than the transaction of assurance business , but we have some most painful examples of their want of success , arising chiefly from inismanagement . The same may be said of banking o ] ieratioris , the security and stability of which could not be guaranteed by their unlimited liability , which not unfrequently lends a false security , and throws many off their guard who ' might otherwise exercise a prudent discretion . >

    Recent legislation is evidently taking a direction in favour of our own views , in regard to the limited liability for companies generally . Whatever opinions , however , may be entertained as to the wisdom of extending that law to proprietary assurances companies , there can remain little doubt that it should be made to forthwith embrace the whole class of mutual societies .

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    ANGLO-MANIA IN RUSSIA . [ communicated . ] The objects of Russia in promoting the scheme of a congress on the affairs of Italy will be differently interpreted according as the belief prevails that the great northern empire has really entered upon a new phase of development , or that the aggressive policy of Peter and his successors is only enjoying a temporary repose . That the Russian Court and people arc by no means favourably disposed towards Austria must be evident to any one familiar with the prevailing tone of conversation in St . Petersburg and Moscow ; but this state of tilings is not inconsistent with a policy of peace . The Russians feel very sore at their loss of prestige and influence in Europe , and they very naturally ascribe their misfortunes to their connexion with the treacherous and ungrateful House of Hapsburg . T . hey gee that the invasion of Hungary led to the aggression upon Turkey , and the disastrous quarrel with England and France , since which Russia lias found herself crippled in resources , and reduced to occupy an inferior placo as a European Power . The proposition for a congress is the first step that Russia has taken to resume her influence ; but it does not follow that she desires to re-establish it upon the old basis of military ibrce . That she should view tho humiliation or Austria with satisfaction is not to bo wondered at ; nor is it to be expected that slio should be extraordinarily solicitous

    to heal tho breach between Vienna and Paris ; but she may be reasonably expected to exert herself to prevent tho Italian question resulting in a goncral European quarrel , in which hIio might ( hid hersel f , inconveniently involved . The Emperor has his grand scheme of emancipating the sorft , and neocls peace for its success , while a largo portion of the wealthy men are engaged in new companies of all sorts , which would bo ruined if thoir country wore again plunged in an expensive war . Ifc is also satisfactory to find sufficient freedom of tho press existing to enable tho St . Petersburg Gasetta to publish orticlos openly attacking the polioy by which Nioholas and his predecessors made their country a constant sourco of danger to the stability of Europe . A yovy remarkable article

    of this kind has recently appeared from the pen oi M . Kokoreff , in which the following passages occur : — * " For more than a century and a half Peter the Great and all succeeding governments have endeavoured to Germanise and Frenchify us by turnsi These endeavours ended in failure , because their elements were foreign to our natural feelings , and only produced moral deformities covered with an outward polish . Why not how try to Anglicise us ? Of course I do not mean in external forms , but by the

    cultivation of those feelings which are characteristic of the English , and which "will be found strongly rooted in every true Russian heart—such as patriotism , love of liberty , and independence . If our rulers had possessed the sagacity to discern and develope these sentiments , the process of our regeneration would have taken a more national direction , and we should not kno . W , in the latter half of the nineteenth century , such questions as the emancipation of the serfs . "

    Had M . Kokoreff spoken in tliis way in the days of Nicholas he would have had to cool his patriotism in the snows of Siberia ; and it is a fact most honourable to the present Emperor that such utterances are not only safe , but far more likely to raise Imperial favour than any appeals to the spirit of military aggression that his predecessor fostered . As M . ivokorefF is the leader of the free-trade and industrial party , it is interesting to witness his ardent sympathies with tins country , and see how ¦

    he treats points , of resemblance between his countrymen and ours . He warns us not to take the " -modernised .-official , " nor the " -down-trodden serf" as specimens of Russian character , but rather the independent gentleman ; and then he tells us we shall continually meet with English traits . He says— " In spite of the groat disparity in ' . the-culture of the two nations , the principal features of the English national character will be found in the Russian also—a stronsr conservative

    feeling , a tenacious attachment to religious and national traditions , piety , charity , and an ardent love for domestic and rural life , in preference to the towns , with their public amusements . He has also the same fear of innovation ' and brevity of speech . " Such are the feelings of what is now the rising party in Russia , and unless the Black Art of Secret Diplomacy exercises its pernicious influence , the projected Congress ought to be turned to good account . If our Government must unrighteously constitute itself an Austrian partisan , Russia will be driven into a closer and , whileif

    perhaps , dangerous alliance with France , - , England resolutely upholds the rights of Italy , it is mos t likely she will receive Russian support . A movement for the liberation of Italy would not interfere with the domestic policy of the Russian Emperor ; on the contrary , he would find-m any European impulse in favour of liberty an additional source of power to carry out the great work oi peasant emancipation , and if that is once fairly commenced , it will aflbrd tho best guarantee tor commercial activity and peace . It is not only a question of obtaining freedom for the serfs without any violent assault on the vested rights of the proprietors , but one of changing the fundamental conditions of the land which the peasants have not those

    been entitled to purchase or hold . When reforms are effected , a grout industrial development will take place , from which no country would benefit more than our own , and it will bo tho part of wise statesmanship to prove to the Kussian Court that a policy of peace and progress will win hs wide an iniluence as national prido can reasonably desire . . ^^

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    A DREAM OF A MOltAL MILLENIUM . [ fROM A COttltESrONPENT . ] Those men who nro loudest in thor conversational condemnation of jobbery and sinociuw , —f'rwo writers who pen such bittoy and forcible donuncintionH of ofHciiil greediness , —and thewo- iumne 11 " and radical reformers , ' in and out of rnrhaniont , who attack the weak strongholds of corruption with such inconsiderate and unfeeling oratorical energy , — -how little do they know of tlio Biillerings of tlioso whoso destiny it is to receive , under some peculiar form and title , an Inoomo of ninny thousands cvory year , and to bo called upon to <«» nothing for itl Tho dainorali » intf ottbot of lognoiof and expectations is bad onongh , but it is . o ^ " worso to bo born into a position of wealthy nuiolence , to drink wines , to ndo in carriages , to sit in

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    438 THE LEADER . [ Ko . 472 , April 9 , 1859 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 9, 1859, page 468, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2289/page/20/