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to dispose of France to one or other of the Pretenders . Have not even tlie more " liberal" guides of public opinion in this country treated the existing form of Government in France as a mere revolutionary accident , a passive and provisional fact , a convenient interim of repose , a corpus vile on which the Royal Absentees might experimentalize at pleasure ? Perhaps M . L . N . Bonaparte might be the housewarmer for one or other of the more or legs legitimate families ; or Changarnier ( our invader forsooth !) a military dictator en attendant .
What has become of all these schemes , and plots , and arrangements ? Louis Napoleon is divorced irretrievably from the Reaction ; but he is not adopted by the Republic . He is not forgiven by the People . Their experience is complete . In rejecting the proposition of the Questors , the Republican minority have , we think , acted with a wise and patriotic discretion . They have nothing to fear from the popularity of the President , hut all from the usurpation of the Royalist majority . The ' constitution , supreme law of laws , protects each of the two powers of the state within its proper limits ; and to either the morrow of a coup d ' etat would be annihilation . We agree with
La Presse that M . L . N . Bonaparte , far from being a danger henceforth , is " a guarantee to the Minority , because he is a complication to the Majority . " His own career of unaccomplished perjury is a lesson to the People which , when May arrives , they will know how to improve . For the next year belongs neither to Burgraves , nor to Pretenders , but to the Nation .
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KOSSUTH AND SOCIALISM . The fact that we have been cited as claiming Kossuth for the Socialist ranks obliges us to deal sooner than we had intended with his disclaimer of Socialism . We see by our contemporary the Examiner that we were represented as making that claim by some gentleman who spoke at Huddersfield . Now Kossuth ' s disclaimer was the first form in which we ascertained his opinions on the subject at
all . We saw in it nothing but the endeavour of a politician who is sometimes over-inclined to shape himself to the humour of his company , and we attached no great importance to it , because the general extension of liberty which his labours are so rapidly promoting , would be more favourable to a popular truth than an obiter dictum uttered without reasons , and with some indication that he did not understand the subject .
Such we believe to he the fact . We incline to imagine , from the terms in which he has spoken occasionally , that Kossuth has " crammed" on the subject , by scampering through some of the the French writers on Socialism . The readiness with which he catches up one or two of the blundering commonplaces levelled at the doctrine , proves how little he has penetrated to the substance of it . He speaks of it as " tending to abolish some one of the elements of social life , " " to violate the sacred rites of human individuality "; the slavery which now oppresses individuality being the very evil which Socialists desire to abolish !
One reason for his disclaimer is very remarkable . Hungary , he says , " has nothing to do" with that doctrine so debated in Manchester , and so disliked by some of the gentlemen who first got round the Hungarian on his arrival in this country . Hungary hiiH nothing to do with that doctrine , " because she does not want it , " since the majority of her sons are already in possession of land , and the rest will be ho when he recovers his ( Joverninent . In other words , Hungary needs not meddle with the doctrine , because the people of Hungary have , or may have , the substance . Let the substance be equally given to the people of Hngland , and they will as little trouble their heads about the doctrine .
He objects to Socialism , because he says ho , cannot define its principle an he can define liberty . All nations , he says , can unite in the defence of liberty , which ho can define , and he docs { jive a capital definition . Liberty , he says , is the faculty to do that which you conserve to yourself when you grunt the same faculty to all other men . JJut this definition of liberty has not been current until it
was minted in the active brain of KohsuUi ; and in the application of liberty , in the systems for developing liberty , republican , constitutional , democratic , oligarchical , he would-iind as many varieties as he has done in the . vyg / ftWS »^|^ fi ^ j Jaliets . The principle of . Socialism ivi ^ abbaj ^ nffim ^ tecfodistinct than that of liberty . / C fcffWwwtlljjBgBNwfflE as we have the great twcon ^ 3 ^ jfflMtt ^^^^ Wfl | y bom what
he called division of labour . Edward Gibbon Wakefield has pointed out that , in order to such oeconomical division of employments , it is necessary to have a combination of labour . To this revision of the original statement we have added a third term . In order to obtain the full oeconomy of productive industry it is necessary that labour should be combined in order to the division of employments , and that the division of employments should be devised and prosecuted in concert . That
is the principle of Socialism—concer t in the division of employments ; a principle already acted upon by numbers , who are as surprised to hear that they are Socialists as M . Jourdain was to hear that he had been talking prose . Now Kossuth ' s influence , gigantic as it is , cannot shake the force of that principle , sound in itself and daily better understood . On the contrary the enormous extension of popular liberty which must follow his efforts , will contribute , as the revolution of 1848 did , to clear the field for the extension also of that peace-making , wealthmaking idea .
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PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE . INDUSTRIAL LIFE ASSURANCE THE DESTRUCTION OF PAUPERISM . The average deaths in England in one year from diseases of the respiratory organs are 91 , 000 ; from diseases of the nervous system , 50 , 000 ; of the digestive organs , 21 , 000 } sudden death , 3000 ; violent death , 11 , 400 ; old age , 35 , 500 . The latter is seen to be the lot of comparatively few . If many fall in the morning , more die as they wane from the meridian of life . Notwithstanding this uncertain and early mortality , men pass their days in continual exertion for that which they might readily and surely provide . They do not , like the gambler , " make up their book " that they may " hedge " and render themselves safe . They set their whole hopes on the hazard of a die . If they live long , they may , indeed , hope to bring their vessel home laden with store ; but with no certain tenure of existence from one day to another , men act with life and death as they would not act in any simple and every-day mercantile transaction . Assurance provides that with certainty , which trade and speculation may attain . But more than this , it secures the end at once . A man cannot quarrel with length of days , and it is only the long liver that has any valid ground of complaint against the Assurance Company . Had he been able to purchase this length of existence , he would gladly have paid a hundred times the money for such an investment . Those who are interested in the promulgation of the system of Life Assurance , have been trying every means to induce the public to adopt it . Each Association attains a considerable success . The principle must , therefore , have been lately much extended . They now appear desirous of going from the centre to the circumference .
The aristocracy and the more reflective of the middle classes are those who have been hitherto benefited by Life Assurance . The Industrial Community is now appealed to . There is a great field here . Benefit and Friendly Societies are in a sad condition throughout the country . Themanagement of very many has been entrusted to men unworthy of the confidence reposed in them . Many of those which have been conscientiously conducted , appear to have been established on false data . The practice does not coincide with the theory . In all parts
of the country , either by misapprehension , mismanagement , or unrighteous manipulation with the funds , Friendly and Benefit Clubs and Societies are falling through . The Savings' Banks , which were devised for the benefit of the Industrial Classes , are found rather to have been taken advantage of by the class immediately above them . Late events which show that no one is responsible for the deposits , have shaken the faith of those comparatively few among the working classes who had entrusted them with their savings . We have not room to refer to the other modes of investment
which have been offered to the working classes ; but it is evident that the majority of them are merely set on foot by mercenaries and adventurers , gaining an cany prey among those who , understanding little of statistics and the " rigs o' the market , " readil y deluded by plausible pretences . The extension of the principles of Life Assurance io the Industrial classes is a necessary consequence of the existing state of things . And when it is considered that among the middle and upper classes hut two hundred thousand persons have assured their lives , while two millions of the working classes are enrolled aa members of Friendly and Benefit Societies , it will readily bo seen what a
tendency there is in the popular mind to proviswTi investment . ^ "visi onal m " National Provincial Life Assurance S ^ ciety , " m addition to the general business r assurance , has opened an « Industrial BranA » peculiarly adapted to the wants of the workin classes , whom we trust to see taking advantage 5 the new , safe , and profitable field opened to them Where it may be desirable or convenient for th working man to pay his premiums quarterly half-yearly , or annually , he may assure under the general tables . But where , as is more frequently the case , he finds it inconvenient to pay so large a sum at once , the Society proposes to take the nre miums monthly on the following terms :
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1112 1 &t ) t WLt&Tlt t * [ Saturday ,
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Age next . Birtnday . £ 20 . £ 30 . £ 40 psrt 30 . 08 . 10 d . Is . 3 d . la . 8 d . 2 ? M 50 18 . 7 d . 2 s . 3 d . 3 a . _ 0 d ^ jS ; ffi
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Thus , for the trifling sum of lOd . per month , a man may secure £ 20 to his wife and famil y on his death , though that event were to happen a moment after his first lOd . was paid . There is another table , whereby a man may fop the same sum secure £ 20 , on arriving at a certain age ; or in the event of death the £ 20 would be paid to his family . One of the reasons most frequently urged against the adoption of assurance , is the fear of not being able to pay up the premiums . The association has effectually met this objection . An assurer , in such case , will be allowed , as often as the value of the policy will admit , to charge the amount thereof on his policy ; or if wholly unable to continue the policy , the sums already paid will not be forfeited , but another policy of the value of the total sums already paid is to be granted , which will be payable on the death of the assured without any further premiums . A man , therefore , who had paid £ 50 in a term of years , finding himself unable to continue the premiums , would receive a policy for £ 50 , payable at his death . There is , therefore , now no excuse for any one to leave his wife and children a burden upon society , or upon the cold and forced charity of connections . Among the poor , each man has sufficient to do to maintain his own , without any encroachment on his slender earnings from the relicts of those who should have provided for their progeny . The general adoption of Industrial Life Assurance would work a perfect reformation in Society . Few need die in pauperism . Few pass through life without the power , at some time , of assuring under circumstances as favourable as those we have pointed out . What a change would take place in the ranks of the artisan , were the life of the head of every family assured for only £ 20 ! How useful would this £ 20 be to a widow and children who now , when death comes upon the working bee , are left destitute ! There is scarely a man who is in the possession of 25 s . a week , who could not by means of Assurance raise his descendants entirely above the rank he now occupies , and moreover , provide an education fitting them for their new position . Suppose a man to assure his own life and that of his wife for £ 100 each , which he may do at thirty years of age for about Is . <> d . a week . We may , then , for a similar amount , endow four children wun a sum to be received on their severally attaining the age of seven years , for their education , anu a further sum on their severally arriving at the a ^ of fourteen years , to provide an aPP J ; ^ ! premium . Should they die before atta ning these ages , two-thirds of the premium will « returned . On the death of husband or wilt , £ 100 would be paid by the Assurance Assocw tion . Should it he the former , £ 50 might Ik . £ quired for expenses and provision ; but it tne i » the £ 100 might he sunk in an annuity tor ™ purposes : — £ 50 in further endowing the cIiiuh . on their attaining the age of twenty-one ye . « , secure their advancement in life ; the rein . tin | fc £ 50 to be employed in the purchase of anlanm y which would , supposing the life to be at oity , yield £ 3 . 58 . 3 d . annually ; sijflij iei t t o a ^ Huro the remaining life for £ 150 . At in - & () then , of the remaining parent , there would Ik , to he received by the four children . U > J ™ fl ajp all educated and endowed , £ 50 in > g be ub for expense * and the £ ' 200 wink in an ™> Q to assure their lives . ' 1 'h . s woul d I . ro ^ £ 11 annually : premiums ««» ici nl w ^ each of the liven , BupnoBinff ^ J ^ would twenty years of age , for about £ 250 , wmci realize £ 1000 to the grandchildren . ] ja ( 1 The result would he far more f *™ " * " union ; assumed only one child as the Iruit of « J but we wish rather to show what would d
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 22, 1851, page 1112, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1910/page/12/
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