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trouble ourselves about the affair , were it not a truly public matter , affecting not only the interests of joint-stock companies , but of commerce and trade generally . ? , It seems that a very proper and cautious rule exists that such data shall be furnished by each English company as shall enable the public officers of the State to examine annually into the validity and stability of each institution . To this there can be no possible objection , nor does any ever appear to have been made . As it is the custom of most English offices only to hare quinquennial valuations of their policies made , it doubtless is imposing extra expense and trouble to make such returns " annually , but the rule seems always to have been complied with when applied for—and to the very letter by the International .
In June last certain official insurance commissioners at Boston made an official report on the International to " The Honourable the Senate and House of Representatives" of Massachusetts , which , we will venture to say , is unparalleled as a state document . Were it not confirmed by republication here we should be inclined to doubt its genuineness , and should be apt to consider it a violent newspaper article , got up for some malignant or trade purpose . A searching inquiry into
the affairs of the company could not be objected to ; but the report in question is not . confined , as every official document of every European Government would be , to a plain unvarnished statement of facts ; it launches into abuse -which would be thought unbecoming and derogatory in the most violent newspaper in our country . As one instance of its siangj ' we may cite its description of one of the company ' s reports as " laying oil a general and liberal coat of whitewash . "
It goes , most unnecessarily and irrelevantly , into a general history qf the formation of the company and of its founder , reviving long since settled matters , but sinking all the facts that would prove that the disputes of twenty years since have all been satisfactorily adjusted , and that the early expenditure and those who caused it , have for many years been obliterated , and its founder has now nothing to do with the company . So that , if there Avere any _ truth in the slanderous gossip this report revels in , it has * long been corrected to the satisfaction of the shareholders and policyholders , and to the public at large . Indeed , a careful perusal of the report , personal and malignant as it is , would alone justify the
company . It tells us . that " the manner in which the data of the policies Avas finally placed before us demonstrates that the ultimate authority at the parent office , London , is honest enough , to face rigid investigation . " Again , it tells us the office "is regulated by a special private Act of Parliament , which makes each and every stockholder , past and present , liable to the last farthing of his property for every claim against the company ; " and also , that as regardsathe United States , " the gentlemen who have acted as the local board of directors in New York , of the ' Amorican branch' ( where 100 , 000 dollars of the assets . are invested ) , are many of them of the highest respectability , and of such responsibility that they , probably , could make up the deficiency of the society ' s funds , and still remain rich . "
Tins then proves that tho state of the policyholders is doubly secured , and that in no case could they by any means bo damaged . With respect'to the shareholders , then , it remains for them to notice in what way they please this strange , and we must say , orroneous document . The head and front of tho charge of tho commissioners is that , according to their valuation , tho society has £ 200 , 000 less assets in hand than it ought to have . This , if oven the fact , would be no injury to tho assurers , as we have seen four times the amount could be called up immediately it was wanted . But the really publicly important part
of the business is that tjus is not , nor anything like the fact , and that the company really possesses a very handsome surplus . We do not pretend to decide such complicated matters as tho valuation of a life assurance business , but the directors of the Company have not only called upon their own eminent consulting aotuary , Mr . W . S . B . Woolhouso , to make a spooial valuation of the Society ' s assets and liabilities up to tho end of its last unanoial year , the result of which appears to us porfeotly satisfactory , bub , in order to avoid all oavil or suspioion of favoritism on the part of an officer of the Sooiety , thoy have also
very properly put the Boston valuation into the hands of another of the highest and most acute of our actuaries , Mr . F . Gr . P . Neison , a gentleman entirely unconnected with the Society , and his clear , elaborate , explicit , and ample statement , which will be found in another portion of our paper , proves the American Commissioners to be grossly mistaken and absurdly ignorant , if not malicious , and slanderous . That any public Government should have received such a statement , and sanctioned any document so palpably tinged with the virulence of partizanship , is as strange as it is alarming . What company or trader will be safe that may thus have a reputation for solvency reported away under a semi-government authority . In the . particular instance we have cited it is not of such impor-¦
tance , as the International will only come mpre brio-htly and clearly out . of the purgation ; having thus had given to it an opportunity of making a full statement in reply , which must be perfectly satisfactory to all connected with it ; and which must even raise it in public estimation . This , however , might not be the case with every individual , nor with a less fixed and firm association . As far as the public are concerned they should be put on their guard , against documents bearing official recognition , and which , therefore , acquire so much influence in the eyes of law-revering Englishmen . We are sorry to be obliged to come to the conclusion that the Boston report has ulterior views ; especially when
we consider more closely some of the very extraordinary insinuations contained in it . Perhaps the whole mystery is explained when we find "the Report" concluding with a prayer that some further legislation may be jnade to protect the citizens of the State against the operations of f oreign Life Assurance "" Companies . " Hinc' Hits lachrymal" But it is a new phase of rivalry to conceal an attack in an official Government report , and we shall really feel an interest in observing whether the names of Elizur Wright and George W . Sargent ( thej | eommissioners ) have , can , or will ever , appeairconnected with a home and American Life Assurance Company .
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ITALLVN CONFEDERATION . [ from a correspondent . } After awaiting the good pleasure of the despot of the Tuileries for a month or more , the deputations from the Duchies were honoured with an interview at St . Cloud on the 16 th , during which the oracle was pleased to favour them with a repetition of the imperial platitudes which have issued in profusion from the Napoleonic mouth and pen since the cessation of the Italian war . Haying at length received direct confirmation of that which they before had but too much reason to know—namely , that it was neither the will nor the policy of the French Emperor to aid them in becoming independent , it would now be well that the Duchies should feel that they are left . to themselves to work out their policy of annexation with Piedmont , and that they should vigorously bestir themselves to accomplish their designs , independently of friend or foe . The present is the right moment for talcing a decided course , and initiating ; the movement which may result , in the full accomplishment of their wishes * It is clear almost to demonstration that the actual cessation of hostilities between Italy and Austria is intended by tho latter to last only until her exhausted treasury shall be in some degree replenished—thanks , in part , to the tph millions sterling of which poor Piedmont is to bo mulcted through , the good offices of her French friend and ally—and the
season of the year again comes round " when kings go forth to battle . " It would be well , then , if Central Italy could bo induced to make use of the present opportunity , and assume an attitude which should convince both Franco and Austria that , after having declared her wishes , sh p intends to make them respected , and will carry tljom out , spite alike of Austrian intimidation and French cajolery . Aocording to the fiat of Napoleon , Parma and Piacenaa will be given to Piedmont , but if Tuscany is to enjoy the , same privilege , it will be due to her own good sword and wise councils , as this forma no part of the French Emperor ' s plan of adjusting Italian affairs . Many political heretics and unbelievers still persistently oling to the notion that the Tuscan throne is destined to bo filled by one of the Bonaparte family ; whether or no this is the design of the Emperor ,
Certain it is that if he is permitted to arrange matters as he likes , the future state of Italy will but slightly differ frcttn the past . He boasted of the undertaking tjae late Avar for an " idea" ; to the Tuscan deputation he declared that the war had brought them great advantages : since he feels that such is the case he could not do better than content himself with having ' realised his u idea , " . and generously suffer the Italians to fqlloAv up , in their own way , the advantages which he has obtained for them . The articles of the treaty signed at Zurich embrace the confederative union ofthe different States of the Peninsula , including
Austria , in virtue of her " Venetian possessions , with the honorary presidentship of the Pope . It might have been hoped that the long time employed in discussion at Zurich Avould have sufficed to convince the consulting poAvers of the absurdity and impracticability of such a . scheme under existing circumstances . That a federative union of the Italian States tinder proper regulations and restrictions would be for the advantage of Italy admits not of the shadow of a doubt . But it is no less patent that any attempt to make powers coalesceactuated by principles so diametrically
, opposite and antagonistic as those which sway liberal and progressive Piedmont , persecuting and medieval Rome , bigotted and cruel Naples , and aggressive and unscrupulous Austria , must within ° a feAV months result in total failure , and , most likely , disastrous revolution . The idea of the federative union of the Italian States is not new ; so far from this , it is anterior to the time of LoreniP di Medici . Independence , combined with union , was the object and tendency of the policy , of all the States of the Peninsula from the eleventh to the fifteenth century , when the
numerous small republics and petty princes were reduced to a few principal States , each having its oavii government , and being in fact independent of the rest . With tho object of attaining , maintaining , and defending this real independence , the great leagues of the eleventh century were formed , including the- cities of Piedmont , of Lombardy , Venice , Bologna , and Romagna . In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries arose the party leagues of tin * GuelDhs and Ghibelines , of Tuscany and
middle and upper Italy , which tended the one to dominate over the other . Towards the end of the fourteenth , and beginning , of the fifteenth , century , leagues Avere formed for the defence of particular States against others , to prevent usurpation and undue . aggrandisement . On the settlement of the Italian States in the fifteenth century , by the treaties of Lodi and Naples , leagues Avere entered into for the maintenance of peace and general union throughout the whole of Italy . Durino- this epoch , the Popes , Cosimo , and
afterwards Lorenzo di Medici , strove to put an end to Avar , to re-establish peace , and to organise fresh leagues , to counterbalance existing private leagues , ancT thus maintain a just equilibrium among tho Italian States . This principle oi the balance and counterpoise of forces , understood b y Italy nlone in the fifteenth century , began in the sixteenth to bo applied to Europe generally , and subsequently formed the basis of European international relations . After that it Avas universally allowed that confederation Avas far more sound national policy than conquest . The conception of the federative system , in preference to tho employment of force , which prevailed during the sixteenth century , and gradually extended over tho whole- ' of Europe , was due to Henry the t
Fourth . It is seen , then , nac mo comowmwu ** u * the Italian States for private or general leagues is of old date , nnd continued down to the time when the Peninsula av ' us divided into nearly the same principal States of which it is now composed . When this union was broken for Italy ' s misfortune , then commenced her troubles from foreign invasion and domination , and the annihilation of almost all tho native Italian powon . Yet during mres of servitude tho earnest desire of emancipation and tho supremo wish of independence have ieon transmitted from generation to go «? mUon . With tho view of recovering their lost freedom and political standing , leaguesli . avo been attempted time after time . The plan of confederating Italy , in order effectually to ; oppose foreign aggression , has been always kept in view , from tho sixteenth oentmy downwards , by tho House of Savoy , which , oven after the dooov of Italian power . In General , Maintained the valour and g lory of the Italian araas . Profiting by tho traditions of civil
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NaBOJ , Or * . 2 Q . 1859-T THE LEADER . 1203
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 29, 1859, page 1203, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2318/page/15/
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