— 
1825.) . 
its maximum of numbers, will the maai- 
mum of yearly claimants and annuitants 
come upon it.” It is on this point that 
many are deluded. They consider the 
fund accumulated by the premiums as 
so much profit to the institution; not 
reflecting, that this accumulation, or 
rather the great bulk of it, is nothing 
more or less than a fund to answer 
claims which must inevitably be made 
upon the society.. Under these cir- 
cumstances, we are inclined to look 
rather suspiciously upon a quinquennial 
or a septennial division of profits, as 
those profifs must be subtracted from a 
fund which ought to be husbanded with 
the utmost care. But neither the ad- 
vantages nor the disadvantages of in- 
surance companies are to be briefly 
enumerated; nor is it our present in- 
tention to enter deeply into the matter. 
The few hints which we have thus cur- 
sarily thrown together are intended ra- 
ther to induce a more minute examina- 
tion of a very useful and excellent 
science, than to explain even the prin- 
ciples and outlines of the science itself; 
for we have always regarded with great 
satisfaction that valuable mode of se- 
curing property which is afforded by 
insurance, and more especially by life 
imsurance. It has been said, that it is 
much better merely to save money, than 
to trust it in the hands of a joint-stock 
company : but this is not an age when 
‘such a position will gain many advo- 
cates. For, in the first place, the object 
of saving money is, in most instances, 
to invest it in such a manner, as to se- 
cure some species of accumulation; and, 
to persons possessing but a small ca- 
pital, no plan can be more eligible to 
answer this purpose than that of life 
insurance, ia all its varied and compre- 
‘hensive branches :—and, in the second 
place, we all know by experience, that 
the most prudent of mortals may be 
sometimes tempted, even upon the most 
trivial occasions, to trespass upon the 
little hoard of savings, which he may 
have accumulated by his cares, and have 
neglected or have been unwilling to 
invest. : 
One of the great benefits of life insu- 
rance is the facility which is afforded to 
professional men, to persons holding 
situations in public offices, and, indeed, 
to all who possess only a life-interest in 
their property, of providing against the 
exigencies of existence, and of securing, 
‘to the dearest objects of their esteem 
and affection, the means of a comfort- 
able subsistence, when death shall have 
Insurance Companies. 
221 
deprived them of their principal stay 
and support. Previously to the esta- 
blishment of insurance societies, persons 
thus circumstanced were compelled to 
have recourse to the slow, and often 
inadequate, means of providing for their 
families, by accumulating their savings 
through a long and deviating course of 
years—a method particularly liable to 
interruption from sickness, death, and 
the various incidental circumstances 
** which flesh is heir to,’ and conse- 
quently attended both with anxiety 
and uncertainty. Left to this preca- 
rious mode of making a provision for 
those whom he most loved and valued, 
how frequently has it happened, that the 
anxious husband or parent has been 
cut off before his prudent but scanty 
savings could enable him to rescue his 
widowed partner, or his helpless, or- 
phans, from impending poverty, and, 
perhaps, from irretrievable distress ! 
Now, the privileges and benefits of 
life insurance obviate all this, by 
rendering a very ample return for 
a comparatively small annual pay- 
ment. A person, by insuring his 
life, has the consoling reflection, that, 
however speedily he may be called 
away from this world, he has placed 
his family beyond the peril of depend- 
ing for their support upon the galling 
and precarious charity of others. 
Under all these circumstances, we 
have regarded with a favourable eye 
the establishment of the several new 
insurance companies. That monstrous 
creation, Tur Artiancr, has, however, 
been an object of wonder rather than 
admiration ; because it is so avowedly 
speculative in its principles, and so de- 
cidedly tyrannical in its proceedings. 
The powerful monied interest of Mr. 
Rothschild, the original projector of the 
scheme, has induced the leading part- 
ners of the company to arrogate to 
themselves a degree of consequence 
that does not at all become the con- 
ductors ofa joint-stock company, which, 
after all, must mainly and eventually 
Owe its success to the patronage of the 
public. We do not like this undisputed 
exercise of unlimited aristocracy. It 
is bad, even in those who have nothing 
to expect from public patronage; it 
is much worse, therefore, in those 
whose dependence is, or ought to be, ' 
upon public favour. In a scheme so 
glaringly speculative, we must confess, 
we should not like to embark. Its pre- 
sent success is doubtless great and 
splendid ; but it would evince no super- 
fluity 
