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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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that might otherwise rise to power and influence . And , at all eTents , the order does not repudiate and put down either the Vane Tempests that represent it on tbe parade , or those noble and honourable persons that emulate the blackleg and the swindler , and are enabled by their opportunities to ' [ Levant , ' and so to evade the penalties incurred by a Coi / E or plebeian Kobson . It has been proposed to establish a recruitment from a special class in . the army , but lest the other soldiers should feel
contaminated , the recruits were to be enrolled In a separate corps—the Convict Corps . Extremes . meet : the Vane Tempests dread contamination by associating with frugal men like Atkes—who are , in turn , not likely to be purified by the association with the "Vane class . "Why , then , should we not have , as well as a Convict Corps , a Noble Corps , formed entirely of tlie high and great ? Then the Vanes and Cardigans could "beUsed up in duties they are fit for , and would be the private soldiers of tliat Lordly Corps .
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BRITISH EXPEDITION TO THE PERSIAN ¦ ' ' . .. . ¦ ¦ ¦ . V GULF . . ¦ : ¦ . . ' Haudlt has one war concluded , "before preparations are being made to enter upon another . This time it is in Central Asia that hostilities are imminent . ~ B y the latest accounts from the East , we learn that an expedition to the Persian Gailf was being fitted out at GBoinbay . Its imuiediate destination is stated to be the island of Karrack , a post of infinite importance , as commanding the heart of the Persian dominions . The real
neighbour . It is altogether irrelevant to the question that the Dost has in past times been our avowed eaemy , 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 .
object , however , of this hostile demonstration is the relief or recovery of Herat , the capital of "Western Afghanistan . Eighteen years ago the same object was effected by similar means , and the appearance of fire hundred British soldiers on . an islet in the . Persian Gulf neutralized the intrigues of Russia and
the ambitious projects of MOeasuied Shah . There can be little doubt that a similar apparition at the present moment will produce an equally good effect , but the recurrence of its necessity seems to indicate the expediency of the permanent occupation of Karrack . " While that small island remains in British
possession , there need bo no apprehension of the progress of Eussian influence iii the Far East . ISTo invading army could , under such circumstances , enter AiFghauistau without being exposed to an . attflpk on its flank and rear . Herat itself is of minor importaiice , 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 be
regarded as a well-picked bone of contention between tho Shall of Pehsia . and the aged ruler of tho Affghans . On the contrary , it is well known that in 1 S 38 the besieging n , v \ x \ drew the whole of its commissariat supplies , for a lengthened period , from the countiy 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 the other side , the road to Teheran was such , even eighteen years ago , that the Russian Minister was able to travel in his
own carriage to join the Shah ' s army during a distressing attack of gout . It is therefore in behalf of no insignificant collection of mud houses and mud walls that the Indian Government has resolved once moro to take up arms . As a matter of sound policy , it would bo justified in preventing tho key of Affghanistan . from falling into tho power of a lrmco notoriously a puppet of flic Bussimi Lonrt . But it is oven bound by treaty to protect tho territories of Dost IIviiommko against tho encroachments of bis ambitious
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¦ ¦ •' -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 . New 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 Assurance Societies , Mr . Aiithtte , ScbatchiiEY , 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 1 S , 000 , 000 iu 1851 , and was increasing at the rate of 200 , 000 a yearv "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 ? jSTo doubt , many societies have been formed of recent years
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 atMillbank , or that several others , who are not doing felons * work , are worthy of Woolwich and Bermuda . Perhaps , however , the mercantile communitymay 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 difficult to 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 Life 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 tlie 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 criticism 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 main , Mr . Scratohley ' s opinion is our own ; there is room for three times as many Assurance Societies as now exist .
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 beat the pains to understand the subject , may test the responsibility of an assurance office . Others are 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
shares . Jlut 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 plan its operations upon a large scale ; it cannot afford to be penurious . Thus , to maintain that the disbursements of a youngsociety which does a small business , should hold tho same proportion to tho receipts as the disbursements of an old society with a large income , is to prohibit tho new office from advancing .
Generally , the transactions of assurance societies arc conducted with steadiness and discretion . Tho recognized practice is to charge a considerable margin in favour of the society , over the mathematical value of the xisk attending tho assurance of nny life , and this , combined with tho judicious investments habitually selected , forms in most cases the foundation of certain
prosperity . "We bclicvo that tho commercial history ot' tho last fifty years records fewer examples of banlcruptcj ' , deception , ruin , and winding-np among assurance * companies , than among any other class " of joint-stock corporations . If then a pretentious company , publishing square yards of prospectus , comes out of an inquiry with a damaged reputation , that is no
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THE MOON'S ROTATION " . ( To ilia Editor of the Leader . ' ) Sin , —Much lias been said and written recently upon tho moon ' s supposed axial motion ; Imt neither those who 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 the hope of clearing away some of the puzzling sophistries in -which it lias 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 , venders axial or rotary motion by the body exhibiting those defects a total impossibility . The 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 sptice during one complete revolution .
Ilnrdly . If a rotating body have also , either orbital or rectilinear motion , every side or part of tlio rotating body must be 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 whethor the nxis of rotation to permanent , or the rotating bo < ly , more 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 rcetilinenr lino of motion , every side of the body must be presented . In this case the 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 the motions of the planets and satellites .
1 ' iUhly . If a rotating body also move in an orbit , or in a right lino , every part of it , whether upon its surface or within it , conies successively into the lino of motion , and is necessarily in that line twice during every complete revolution .
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October 18 , 1856 . ] " THE ! L E A 33 E 1 , 99 g
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 18, 1856, page 999, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2163/page/15/
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