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as low as 70 , as some predicted . So "wise were the theoretical turfmen who betted upon Prejudice against Fact . But how did it turn , out ? As the Morning Chronicle states , the Two-and-a-Half per Cents- always stand relatively at a higher quotation than other stocks ; Exchequer Bonds are not at a discount , but a premium , and are gradually creeping into the confidence of . the public ; commerce continues
uninterrupted by war or taxation , and Consols continue to rise . Nay , those who had been anticipating the fall , as the Olobe points out , contributed to stimulate that rise . Bears had been making their bargains , on the expectation that Consols would be at a lower figure ; Bears , therefore ? would want Consols , and those who had Consols to sell , wholly without sympathy for the Bears , would only sell at prices frightful to think of . Consols had sometimes been above 90 ; last week
they touched at 91 , 92 , 93 , and on the very day when the poor Bears had to settle their affairs , Consols were done at 94 ! The Bears could not believe their senses . As the jockey was seen to hold ifT ** [ Dervish , " and that eminent animal had no right to lose , so the p hilosophers now arraign the " greatest fools in existence , " and declare that Consols had no right to be at 93 or 94 ! " For , " they cried , " see now people want money—see the discount given for accommodation . " True , but cunning folks saw also how ^ Bears wanted
Consols , and the Bears had to pay pretty heavily for their Consolation . It is dangerous to "bet against Pact , arid perhaps " settling day" may' give to the punished Bears a better insight into the truth . If Mr . Pitt was heaven-born , there i 8 retribution also in , disbelieving , Gladstone . In those days Ministers used to rely upon Divine authority , in our days it is safer to rely upon fact and actual circumstance—a difference that may account for the success which attends the present Minister in a policy so totally different from the model fruitlessly held up to him .
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THE DUTY Otf FIRE INSURANCE . 1 st the Times of Thursday , the 1 st , and Monday , the 5 th instant , a very interesting return is made of the amount of stamp duties paid during the past year by the fire-insurance companies of the United Kingdom . Our readers , are , no doubt , aware that the duty on each fire-insurance policy ia Is . per cent , besides 3 s . per cent , per annum on every
insurance made or renewed : the exemptions being public hospitals , agricultural produce , farming stock , and implements of husbandry , provided the insurance shall be effected by a separate and distinct policy . Having regard to these facts , we find that in round numbers the total amount insured in the London fireoffices on other than agricultural produce , &c , as deduced from the statements of the monetary correspondent of the Times , ia About £ 575 , 000 , 000 Country fire-offices 220 , 000 , 000 Agricultural stock ( Xondon offices ) . 30 , 000 , 000 Ditto ( country offices ) 20 , 000 , 000 £ 845 , 000 , 000 Some very important suggestions occur in considering tins enormous amount of insurance ; most important of all , thab , great as this sum ( equal to that of the national debt ) undoubtedly is , it does not represent a titho of the insurable property of the United Kingdom . It has been welL said that if it be the reasonable duty of every man to in-Buro liia life- for i \\ o sake of his wife and children , or those dependent on his health and existence for their maintenance , not less ia ho exhibiting a necessary prudence in
insuring his property against the contingency of destruction by fire . Death , it is true , happens to all men ; fire affects only a few , but whom it may affect we know not , and the annual expense is so very trifling ,, being on ordinary risks one shilling and sixpence , or barely one-twelfth per cent , on the value of the property protected , that the neglect of so simple and economical a precaution is truly reprehensible . It is estimated that , on an average , more than two
fires take place every night in the city of London . Perhaps no more cogent circumstance could be urged to show the vast importance and obvious duty of fire insurance in large towns ; while , at the same time , we need hardly observe that farm property and country-houses have their own peculiar characteristics of risk , and if less liable to the communication of fire , are more exposed to absolute destruction , if once attacked . But the -wisdom of Parliament hath ¦
thought meet to tax the prudent man 200 per cent , on the amount of premium he pays to an insurance company to protect his property against losses arising from , fire ., Of the * annual sum ( four shillings and sixpence ) paid for insuring 10 OZ . of property , three shillings go into her Majesty ' s gracious Exchequer . This ia certainly the perfection of legislative sagacity . , It is strange that a question so interesting , were it rightly estimated , to the careful and
prudent among all classes of the community prudent among all classes oi the community has not been more zealously canvassed and more industriously urged upon general attention , and the consideration of statesmen . To ? us , living in the middle of this tolerably wise and educated nineteenth century , it does appear matter of wonder that Government should with absolute impunity continue to impose a tax of 200 per cent , upon contributions dictated by a wise and commendable foresight , and towards which . —if Government interfere at all—it should rather
generously supply a bonus with the view of encouragement . In hazardous occupations , where there is generally a large capital em * ba-rked , the disproportion of tax and premium is reduced in a great ratio , as the duty remains stationary , however the premium , may increase in amount . But the ordinary case is the more important , and the hardship there not only more conspicuous , but more universally felt .
A . tax upon every pound of bread consumed in a family would be less iniquitous and less impolitic . ] For , however unfair a criterion of taxability the consumption of that prime commodity , in the one case we should have a tax upon a physical obligation , borne by all alike ; in the other case we have a tax upon a moral obligation , discharged only by the
more economical and provident part of the community . We do not understand why a similarly enormous tax ia not levied upon life assurance . Why should the man who pays Is . Gd . to protect his movable property —sometimes the sole possession oi himself a . nd family—from the risk of fire , be taxed 200 per cent , per annum , and the prudent husband , who insures his life to the extent of
100 / ., and pays SI . of annual premium , not be called upon in tlie same manner to pay Gl . a year more to the State for thus mistrusting Providence , by forestalling his legitimate savings ? Surely , if the precodent of taxing prudence and virtue bo a right one , and a profitable one , it could not be acted
upon too extensively ; and , perhaps , a duty upon education , in the shape of 10 s . per head for every boy aont to school , a tax upon charity and benevolence , a tax upon talent and genius , wherever exercised for tho benefit of humanity , might not be unremunerative . But perhaps we do contrive , in one shape or other , to tax all those tilings .
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THE BLADE TO BE FORGED AT SHEFFIELD . The appeals which are made from our Government to the English people fill us with hop © and regret . We can say that our sympathy is more with the body of the English people tlian with the governing classea , with the
— -more patriots of Europe than with our parchment allies , —more with . : the freedom or the people wherever they may be , than with the salvation of any crowns , however exalted . But we wish that those wio are appealing to the English people would consider how . far the tribunal to which , they carry their eause has a jurisdiction . ¦ / :-. - \
At present , the English people . has no power over its own Government , no ; jurisdiction in the contest between . England , and Russia , no right any more than power td ( say who > shall be the allies of Queen Victoria and who shall not . We know how disagreeable these words will be to some of our friends i ; but if they could swallow the bitter truths we believe that it would have awholesoine effect upon their insightj—rand would : restore that power which the English ; people wants ^ and with the power the title which it has forfeited . ¦ . ' , ; - ¦ . i- 'ivr > j * -- ** -, > i- ' - -
" When our Government first undertaoki to dispute the right of BusBia in dictating a peculiar hierarchical policy tQ 7 rTprkeyjrj . ? wesaid that it was something 1 to resist the grteafc enemy of freedom . 3 ? 6 r let US / observe m passing , that although the evil spirit of Austria has been more grievonstoj ; ibne-subv ject nations , her power would ' haveiibeen
nothing , —would in fact have , been-broken down before this time , if afte hadnofcsbeen sustained by that Autocrat whose wisdom and whose strength consist in setting oneocauntisr against another , and in casting aside every scruple . Destroy Russia , and Austria he * conies comparatively powerless . oiWS i wad however , at first , that a verbal protest rwas of little use without an enforcement of it in
action . The action , was begun , but we blamed it for bemg ^ low . This country ; was formally ia alliance " With Austria , but > Austria ., hesitated to join ^ rwilh us in aotioii , andwe said that it would be better , if -Bhe did ; not : she changed her view , she joined with iis , and we then admitted that no Minister , of this country could be expected " , \ t& , incur the responsibility of refusing so important- an
ally for a specific act . Our Government has permitted its representative at Berlin , to draw it into an alliance with German powets , who , in the most marked manner , refused to accept that which ia now the principal object of France and England—the abatement of Russia ' s power to break the- law of ElUrope ; A . grave responsibility is incurred by our Ministers , and we would willingly arrest them in a course bo inconsistent with their
own professions , or with the interest of their country . England is laying herself o » en to a future claim from Austria , or Prussia , or Bavaria , for protection of eoine antiquated and infamous regal interest , against Prussian , Hungarian , or Italian independence ; in fact , England is suffering herself to be inveigled into a league , not for protecting Europe against foreign aggression , but for insuring bad Governments against the
consequences of their own crimes . " VTe have in the most distinct manner recognised tlie necessities of state winch obliged our Ministers to adopt a limited and specific alliance when it was ottered them by Austria with equal distinctness , let us protest against suffering [ England to make common cause with Austria and ita polic }' , with Prussia and its hypocrisy , or with Bavaria and its speculation in dynastic enterprise .
J 3 ut what have the English people to do with all this ? "What ia the use of Kosauth ' s making an appeal to them , against the
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June 10 / 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 54 JL
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 10, 1854, page 541, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2042/page/13/
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