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October 18,1856.] THE LEADER 999
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BRITISH EXPEDITION TO THE PERSIAN GULP. ...
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ASSURANCE FOR ASSURERS. When three banke...
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THE MOON'S ROTATION. (To the Editor of t...
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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Transcript
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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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Vane Tempest As An Oitiger, A Gentleman,...
that might otherwise rise to power and Influence . And , at all events , the order does mo * . ¦ repudiate- and put clown either the Vane Tempests that represent it on the parade , or those noble and honourable persons that emulate the blackleg and the swindler , and are enabled by their opportunities ; , to ' lievant , ' and so- to evade the penalties incurred by a Cole or plebeian RoBsotf . It has been proposed to establish a recruitment from a special class in the army , but lest the other soldiers should fee !
contaminated , the recruits were to be enrolled in a separate corps—the Convict Corps . Extremes meet : the " \ Tine Teiipjssts dread contamination by associating with frugal men like Ames—who are , in turn , not likely to be purified by the association -with the Vane class . Why , then , shorild we not have , as well as a Convict Corps , a JScblo Corps , formed entirely of the high and great ? Then the Vanes and Cardigans could be used tip in duties they are fit for , and would be the private soldiers of that Lordly Corps .
October 18,1856.] The Leader 999
October 18 , 1856 . ] THE LEADER 999
British Expedition To The Persian Gulp. ...
BRITISH EXPEDITION TO THE PERSIAN GULP . Haedit has one war concluded , before preparations are being made to enter upon another . This time it is in Central Asia that hostilities are imminent . By the latest accounts from the East , we learn that an expedition to the Persian Grulf was being fitted put at Bombay . Its immediate destination is stated . to be the island of Karrack , a post of infinite importance , as commanding the heart of the Persian , doniinibhs . The real object , however , of this hostile demonstration
is the relief or recovery of Herat , the capital of " Western Affghanistan . Eighteen years ago the same object was effected by similar means , and the appearance of five hundred British soldiers on an islet in the Persian Gulf neutralized the intrigues of Russia and the ambitious projects of jMohammied Siiait . There can be little doubt that a . similar apparition at the present moment will produce mi equally good effect , but the recurrence of its necessity seems to indicate the expediency of the permanent occupation of Karrack . " Whilo that small island remains in British
possession , there need be no apprehension of the progress of Russian influence in the Far East . J ^ o invading army could , under such circumstances , enter Affghanistan without being exposed to an attack on its flank and rear . Herat itself is of minor importance , though undoubtedly the first stage on ' the road' to India . It is also incorrect to suppose ^ with a daily contemporary , that the chief city in " Western Afghanistan is situated in the midst of deserts , and only to bo regained as a well-picked bone of contention
between the Shah of Pisrsia and the aged ruler of the Aftghans . On . the contrary , it is well known that in 1838 tho besieging army drew the whole of its commissariat supplies , for a lengthened period , from the country immediately surrounding the beleaguered fortress . It is , in fact , built at the head of a broad and fertile valley extending as far as Cabul ; while , on tho other side , tho road to Teheran was such , even eighteen years ago , that the Kussian Minister was able to travel in his
own carriage to join the Sluih ' s army during a distressing attack of gout . It is therefore in behalf of no insignificant collection of mud houses and mud walls that tho Indian Government has resolved once moro to take up arms . As a matter of sound policy , it would bo justified in preventing tho kuy of Afghanistan from falling into tho power of a Princo notoriously a puppet of the ' . Russian Court . Bub it is even bound by treaty to protect tho territories of Dost IVLuiommko against tho encroachments of bis ambitious
neighbour . It is altogether irrelevant to the question that the Dost has in past times been our avowed enemy , and may now be a doubtful ally . Not for his sake , personally , do we take the field , but in redemption of the national honour pledged by treaty , and in defence of an outpost of our Indian Empire . In this light , and in this only , must the present expedition be regarded .
Assurance For Assurers. When Three Banke...
ASSURANCE FOR ASSURERS . When three bankers are transported , when bank directors escape transportation by cunning , when great companies are robbed without knowing it , when assurance offices , more ostentatious than secure , play false with their supporters , it is natural that a temporary panic should arise . The public begin to lose confidence in joint-stock undertakings , N " ew assurance societies , proprietary as well as mutual , are distrusted , and the invariable cry arises , " The system has been overdone— -there are too many offices . ' This is altogether a fallacy . In comparison , with the population the assurance offices in existence are singularly few . In the fourth edition of his Treatise on Life A . ssiirunce Societies , Mr . Arthur Soratch-IiBYj "whose authority is beyond question , states that , up to the commencement of the present year , scarcely a quarter of a million of lives had been assured in the United Kingdom , though the population of England
and Wales alone was nearly 18 , 000 , 000 in 1851 , and was increasing at the rate of 200 , 000 a year . " What stronger evidence is necessary , inquires this practical economist , to prove that the public does not . yet fully understand the advantages of the assurance system , or that the majority of existing companies , from the manner in which they conduct their business , do not meet the practical requirements of the people ? ISTo doubt , manysocieties have been formed of recent years
which transact little business and incur large annual expenses ; no doubt many are established and supported for the mere benefit of the managing director and his colleagues , the solicitor and physicians ; but any one who will Be at the pains to understand the subject , may test the responsibility of an assurance office . Others arc started without good connexions , or with an insufficiency of paid-up funds ; others are reckless in their expenditure , so that the second or third annual report disgusts the holders of policies and
snares . But a serious mistake is prevalent with reference to the expenditure of speculative companies . The society must create a working machinery , must obtain a reputation , must pian its operations upon a large scale ; it cannot afford to bo penurious . Thus , to maintain that the disbursements of a young society which does a small business , should hold the same proportion to the receipts as tho disbursements of an old society with a large income , is to prohibit the new office from advancing .
Generally , the transactions of assurance societies aro conducted with steadiness and discretion . The recognized practice is to charge u considerable margin in favour of the society , over the mathematical value of tho risk attending tho assurauco of any life , and this , combined with the judicious investments habitually selected , forms in most cases tho foundation of certain
prosperity . We believo that tho commercial history of tho last fifty years records fewer examples of bankruptcy , deception , ruin , and winding-up among assurauco companies , than among any other class of joint-stock corporations . If then a pretentious company , publishing square yards of prospectus , comes out of mi inquiry with a damaged reputation , that is no
reason why the public should be discouraged . It is no discredit to the banking principle that three men who once were ' good in the City are doing felons' work at Millbanl , or that several others , who are not doing felons ' work , are worthy of Woolwich and Bermuda . Perhaps , however , the mercantile community may at some future day see fit to establish a Commercial Critic , in which every new company shall be reviewed , as though It were a new book , the good and bad names pointed out , and all the flatteries of the prospectus subjected to a searching analysis . The effect would , no doubt , be excellent , though it would be difficultto keep at a safe distance
of the law of libel . But suppose The Chinese Assurance Company ' s prospectus to be reviewed by The Commercial Critic , thus : — " In the list of Directors we find the name of Mr , , discharged , under suspicious circumstances , from the post of Manager at the Tonquin Iiife Office . The next name , though that of an M . P ., belongs to a gentleman whose commercial biography we may sketch in a few words ;—the individual who signs himself Actuary , received an impressive caution at Bow-street fifteen months ago . In the list of shareholders ( a very extensive list ) the first name , is that of a beadle , the last that of a messenger attached to the office . The chairman is a retired officer of limited
means ; the solicitor is his brother ; one medical referee is his nephew , the other a gentleman who has twice been bound over to keep the peace towards him ( the chairman ) . As to the calculations of the prospectus , they promise bonuses that could not be paid were no policy-holders to die for ten years , and were all the moneys received invested instantaneously . " A Critici sin of this character , which , with some modifications , might be applied to various companies , past and present , would , at least , be preferable to delusions that grow worse from , day to day . But , in the rnain , Mr . Scra . tchleitVs opinion is our own ; there is room , for'three tunes as many Assurance Societies as now exist .
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The Moon's Rotation. (To The Editor Of T...
THE MOON'S ROTATION . ( To the Editor of the Leader ^ Sir , —Much has been said and written recently upon the moon ' s supposed axial motion ; but neither those avUo have contended for or against that supposition appear to have treated the question with that analytic clearness and force that its simplicity admits of . With your permission , I beg to submit the following observations to your scientific readers , with tho hope of clearing away some of the puzzling sophistries in which it has been , no doubt unintentionally , involved .
There are several conditions so plainly indispensable to axial motion , that the absence of , or noncompliance with , any one , and especially -with all of them , renders axial or rotary motion by the body exhibiting those defects a total impossibility . Tho first of these conditions is , that a body shall turn about an axis within itself . Secondly . That every point , equally distant from the axis of rotation , shall pass through the same quantity of space during onecompleto revolution .
Thirdly . If a rotating body have also , either orbital or rectilinear motion , every side or part of tho rotating body must bo upon each side' of the lino of motion , and must be equally distant from that line , upon each side , once during every complete revolution . Fourthly . And whether the axis of rotation be permanent , or the rotating body , move forward , either in a curvilinear or rectilinear line , to a spectator situate anywhere , whether within or without the orbit , or upon either side of the rectilinear lino of motion , every sido of the body must be presented . In this case tlie spectator must bo within or near to a plane passing through the rotating body , and at right angles to its line of motion , similar to the position we occupy in respect to tho motions of the planets and satellites .
Fifthly . If a rotating body also moxc in an orbit , or in a right line , every part of it , whether upon its surface or within it , comes successively into the lino of motion , and is necessarily in that lino twice during every complete revolution .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 18, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18101856/page/15/
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