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Leader (1850-1860), 21st June 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 583, Untitled Article

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      vention ] as well as from , the frenzy of anarchy , " meaning national popular government . But in a despatch to M . de la Cour , at Vienna , dated two days previously , so much stress is laid on the effect which Austrian successes had had upon the " balance of power , " as to leave no room to doubt but that there lay the most powerful motive for intervention . While writing to MM . ( VHarcourt and de Rayneval , atGaeta , M . Drouyn de Lhuys distinctly states that the expedition w as undertaken , not to compel the Pope to adopt " such or such a government , " but simply to reconcile the Pope to the Roman People ; mainly for the benefit of the latter !

      Can anything be more conflicting P When the French army marched to the gates , depending on the ^ Reactionists within , and was driven back with great loss , Louis Napoleon affected great astonishm and pain that the army gent to perform "kind and disinterested services" for the people should be met as enemies : he declared that the military honour of France was involved , and that to conquer was a necessity . Both Mr . Freeborn and Sir GeorHamilton assert that the French aiJJiJ 1

      ee were j 3 jr ucufgc jj . . ivyi . U 3 OCH iiioi 111 c ricutii wcic " deceived" in their estimation of the state of feeling at Rome ; and that the masses hated " Priestly Government . " Here is a pretty complication ! and , to crown all , Prince Schwarzenberg wrote to Count Colloredo , April 29 , that orders had been sent to Radetzky to enter both Tuscany and the Legations , in obedience to the wishes of the Grand Duke and the Pope , whose desires " were identical with those of the

      civilized world . " General Oudinot interpreted the " wishes of the civilized world" somewhat differently , when , in his proclamation of the 24 th of April , he told the Roman People that their wishes should be respected , that he came to maintain their " legitimate" influence , and that he was resolved not to impose upon them any form of government they did not desire . Meanwhile , as Lord Palmerston

      was correctly and " frequently" informed by Mr . Freeborn , the French had been altogether deceived as to the real feeling of the vast majority of the Roman People , which , at first , adverse only to priestly government , became , after the Pope had solicited foreign intervention , adverse to Pius himself . Still knowing all this , and knowing it well , Lord Palmerston thought fit to act with the Reactionists of France and the Absolutists of Austria ,

      who were engaged in overthrowing and oppressing the Roman People . In a despatch to the Marquis of Normanby , Lord Palmerston naively asked—What are the intentions of the French ? And M . de Tocqueville replied , through Lord Normanby , that the " first care " of the French would be to secure the constitutional liberties of the Romans as already granted by the Pope , and to take care that his authority should not be reestablished on that arbitrary footing which had formerly been found inconsistent with the good government of the People . " Palmerston was satisfied with this reply ; but he politely requested further information as to what the French would do , supposing that they could not obtain the consent of the Pope to return

      to constitutional and representative government , or the consent of the People to receive the Pope ; or that the Pope threw himself on Austria for support ? But Lord Palmerston writing to Paris is one man—Lord Palmerston writing to Vienna is another . On the 12 th of June , 1849 , he instructed Lord Normanby to urge the French to secure a " real and effectual separation between the temporal and the spiritual power of the Pope . " On the 10 th of Ju ^ 1849 , he informed Lord Ponaonby that it would be desirable for France to communicate with Austria , and induce her "to counsel the Pope to secure to his subjects an arrangement which , while it reinstated him in his at

      position of temporal and ecclesiastical authority Home , " should give guarantees for representative government . Three days after he sent Lord Poneonby another despatch ,, and in this he again comes out for separation of the temporal and spiritual power , und declares that if the Pope refuses to concede that , " one of two things must happen , either that the Pope must be restored to his former power by the force of foreign-nrma , or that he must abandon all hope of returning thither . " 'Ihe former , Lord Palmerston considered as so unjust , that , if effected , it could only be considered " temporary "; the latter was a thing not to be tliought of , and therefore her Majesty ' s Government were desirous to pave the way , by conciliation , for " the Pope ' s reaumption

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      of the Papal power . " On the 18 th of July , Lord Normanby wrote from Paris— " France will not exact any conditions from the Pope as the price of his entrance into Rome "; and she did not do so . In August Louis Napoleon wrote his famous letter to Colonel Ney , then at Gaeta ; yet in the same month the Cardinal Triumvirate had been established , the Inquisition reestablished , all laws passed since the 15 th of November , 1848 , abolished , and the Government Commission for the trial of political offenders decreed . In September out came the mock amnesty ; and a false rumour of the promulgation of the " Code Napohfon . " It was clear by this time , even to the Tory mind of Sir George Hamilton at Florence , that " every act" of the Cardinal Triumvirate " showed the

      strongest tendency to retrograde principles "; and it was especially obvious to the acute mind of Commander Key , that " the little which had been done since the return of Papal authority did not show any symptom of a return to a constitutional form of Government , or a relaxation of the old Gregorian ecclesiastical system . " Now Lord Palmerston was implicated in all these affairs . He had had the best evidence from

      the beginning of the state of public opinion in Italy . But beyond recommending French intervention , in the first instance , and writing a few notes in the course of the summer , as a spectator merely , he did nothing to protect the Roman People in the exercise of their national rights . In the Correspondence before us , after the date , August 7 , 1849 , there is not one despatch signed " Palmerston . " What has he been doing for the last two years ?

      The operations of the Foreign Secretary place the conduct of England in a mean and miserable light . We avowedly supported the Pope , rightfully deprived of his temporal authority ; we permitted , nay , encouraged , French intervention ; and while the Austrian , the Spaniard , the Frank , and the Neapolitan marched armies to crush a devoted people , the Minister of England mumbled and stammered about securing constitutional government and civil freedom . Like Pilate , he was prepared to wash his hands of the blood of the Romans , leaving it an ineffaceable stain upon the

      Freuch , if they did not take his advice . His advice i—as if France did not know that it meant nothing ! We have seldom read a more disgustingly instructive Parliamentary paper than this " Correspondence relating to the Affairs of Rome . " It reveals no noble policy worthy of England , but discloses an ignoble shuffling system of diplomatic tactics disgraceful to England . It cannot be too distinctly impressed upon the minds of all classes of Englishmen , that the Roman republic was put down with our consent , and at our instance , and that the restoration of the Pope was approved of

      by the very men in Downing-street who are now laboriously framing a bill of pains and penalties against the Roman Catholic religion . To the Papal Government , with its inquisition , its spies , its authorised and daily atrocities , and "intolerable abuses , " they have only a diplomatic and canting objection ; but to the celebration of the Catholic religion , the barren assumption of territorial titles , and the internal regulation of the Catholic Church , they pretend the direst , yet , puniest , hostility . It surely were fit that Palmerston ' s Roman Despatches and Russell ' s Durham Letter were bound up together .

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      PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE . THE HOVEKEIONr LIFE ABSUUANOE COMPANY . Rec aiiding them in the magnitude of their operations and as involving the welfare of our country , as controlling and managing so many millions of money , as combinations of men for the benefit of their fellow-creatures , life assurance companies must be considered among the most important institutions of this age . To the admirers of the principle of Concert a principle which is daily becoming more and more acknowledged by every class of society—nothing can be more gratifying than the rise and progress of these associations , as so many practical developments of a principle which is yet to work out the welfare wf the human race . In life aaseurance the advantages of combined operation are singularly manifested . By it a benefit is secured to thone who suffer loss , paid in infinitesimal amounts by those who pass unscathed . By the principle of concert , all the uncertainties and evils of life may bo if not removed , at least mitigated ; for throughout ever / event and affair of existence , that which appears to be mere isolation and chance , is . by the doctrine of averages , proved to bo a part of an harmonioua and concerted whole . There is

      nothing so uncertain as human life in regard to particular individuals , but there is nothing less liable to fluctuation than the average value and expectation of life in a number of persons . And on this principle is it that life assurance associations are baaed . We would that the year 1851 , the year of Progress , might show a new march in the more general adoption of assurance , and that every man who retires to bed in fear lest his household goods might be consumed in the night , might also be impressed with as salutary a dread that the light of his own existence might be quenched before the morning .

      The extension of life assurance is one of the surest roads to the prosperity of the people . If , however , it had been continued on the principle of the old offices , simply as a means of insuring a prospective advantage equivocal in all points but that of placing a large sum in the pockets of the directors and proprietary , we should have had little hope of its adoption by the masses . Indeed , one of the causes operating to retard its progress is ignorance of the various immediate , as well as deferred ,

      advantages which it provides . The establishment of offices on a modernized and liberal principle is a boon more recognized by the old offices than by the community , for whose benefit they are . Those whose craft is in danger are generally not slow in appreciating the superior advantages of their antagonists ; and a war is now waging between the old and modern assurance offices of the metropolis , in which the former are sure to be vanquished , and the result of which must be advantageous to the public .

      Amongst the modern offices which , providing the most perfect security to the assured , offer advantages which seem like a fairy tale beside the prospectuses of the ancient corporations , is the " Sovereign Life Assurance Company . " It was established , not alone for new applications of assurance for temporary purposes , but for giving advantages immediate as well as prospective to the assured . A large proprietary affords a guarantee for its financial stability , while the advantages of a mutual company are provided by the division of 75 per cent , of the profits among the assured . This may be received in cash ; by an addition to the amount of the policy ; or by reduction of the pre §

      mium : and as assurers are also participators in the profits derived from policies granted in connection with loans and advances , this division is really tantamount to sharing- in the whole profits . All inquiries being made before the proposals are accepted , the payment of a policy cannot be disputed or delayed on account of any error in the proposal . When death unhappily arises from duelling or suicide , assigned policies are valid ; and if not assigned , a proportion of the premiums received is given up to the survivors . The lowness of the whole-life tables may be seen by the fact that a person of thirty may secure £ 100 at his death by the annual payment of £ 2 9 s . 4 ( 1 ., and be entitled to a division of 75 per cent , of the profits of the

      company . With regard to annuities , in addition to the old form of purchase , by one table two-thirds , and by another the whole of the money paid for the purchase of a deferred annuity is returned in caee of death before attaining the specified age . So that a person may provide for himself in old age , and at the same time accumulate a fund for the benefit of his relations should death interpose to prevent his enjoying the annuity .

      In the system of endowments for children aLso the tables of this company show a decided advance . Parents , by a single payment or by amall annual payments , may provide for the marriage portion of a daughter , or for establishing a son in business- on attaining his majority . There are three tables for this purpose . By the first , the money paid is forfeited in case of death of the endowed ; by the Becond , two-thirds of the money paid are returned in case of death before the specified age ; and b y the third , the whole of the money is returned . Ilere wo have modifications which give every man an opportunity of providing for his children , and procuring for them an advancement in life not to bo obtained with certainty by any other means .

      Although the benefits of life assurance are so great , the various ways in which the principles may he made available jnve it an additional value . SuppoBO a perton has a life income of £ 1000 a-year , how readily might he appropriate £ 150 a-year to assuring hi * hfo for £ 6000 , which would leave hia family comfortably provided for . The possessor of entailed estates , effecting assurances

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      June 21 , 1851 . ] 1 &t ) t VLtaXstX . 583

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1851, page 583, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1888/page/11/