1797- | 
that becaufe the fub{criptions have ex- 
ceeded the income for ten or twelve 
years, it will always do fo, and herein is 
the miftake ; for whoever calculates the 
chance of lives, will find that a fund of 
this kind cannot be fully tried of forty 
years or upwards; and unlefs the fub- 
{criptions exceedtthe expences regularly 
for that period (except in fome particular 
year of uncommon fickne!s) the funds 
will, in the end, prove inadequate : for 
at the commencement of thele focieries, 
the firft members are ufually young men ; 
and fuppofing them not much to exceed 
39 years of age, it will probably be more 
“than 4o years before all the firft mem- 
bers are gone off: and until that is the 
cafe, it has not had a fair trial ; and even 
then, the fub{cRiptions ought, in general, 
to exceed the expences, except in very 
extraordinary cates. 
A Bill was lately paffed in Parliament 
to fecure the funds of benefit-focieties ; 
buc'this Bill is very far fhort, in this re- 
fpect, of what is generally fuppofed to be’ 
the cafe; as it is generally underftood 
that all money put out to intereft, in cafe 
the party it is lent to fails, muft be paid 
prior to all other debts, but this is by no 
means the cafe; as the bill in queftion 
only gives them this claim upon the ef- 
fe&is.of fuch of their ozvz members, oi 
other perfons, who have been appoiated 
treafurers or ftewards to the club, and 
not to any perfon they may lend their 
money to on interett. 
I am far from thinking that the inter- 
ference of the legiflature, refpecting the 
French National Inftitute. 
, eae 
internal concerns of thefe facieties, is of 
any ufe; all they want from government 
is, proteétion and fecurity of their funds ; 
and if that could be extended fo far as to 
give them the fame authority, in all 
cafes, to claim their money prior to all 
other debts, it would, in my opinion, be 
a public advantage ; -as the funds of thefe 
focieties may, in fome views, be confi- 
dered as national fiock. 
I with fome of your readers would 
confider how far it wouldbe proper to ob- 
tain from Parliament an Aét to fecure, in 
all cafes, any money lent out by thefe 
focieties, to be paid prior to any other, 
provided the fum lent to an individual 
was not more than soor rool.: and how 
far it might be proper to lend their mo- 
ney out on turnpike-roads or canals in 
the neighbourhood, with the fame proce 
vifo; and in cafe the club fhould want to 
callin their money, or any part of. ir, 
that the commitlioners of fuch turnpike- 
road or canal thall be obliged to pay them’ 
out of the tolls as faft as they are re. 
ceived, in preference to any other pay- 
ment. . 
If thefe hints meet your approbation, 
I may prebably trouble you with a few 
more on the ifubjeét, in which I fhall en- 
deavour to fhew the utility of thefe fo- 
cieties, and the propriety of extending: 
them much farther than they are carried. 
at prefent, as I think thev are inftitutions 
of great national importance, if pro- 
perly managed. ; 
Iam, Sir, your humble fervant, 
Liverpool, duguft24, 1797. J.K. 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
FRANCE, 
Read at the Public Sitting of the 15th Mefidor laf. 
NoricE OF THE CLASS OF MORAL 
AND POLITICAL SCIENCES, BY J. 
LEBRETON, SECRETARY. 
OY aie DE SALEs read a memoir, 
intitled, Of tbe central Spring which 
gives Aétion to all the Governments im the 
world. The author thinks, that if man- 
Kind have appeared till now fo ill-go- 
verned, it is becaufe republics, and mo- 
narchies yet more, have made it a princi- 
ple to ifolate themfelves, and have made 
this political egotifm the bafis of their 
law of nations. Neverthelefs, as all go- 
vernments aét and re-aét neceffarily on 
each other, it is the common duty of ail 
to concur ia the general happinefs; this 
principle, which is only morality, is 
confidered by the author as a fpecies of 
central {pring, which conneéts and ac- 
tuates all the political machines in the 
world—this he would have direéted in 
fuch a manner, that one nation may ne- 
ver have it in its power to derange the 
moral harmony of governments. 
BAUDIN read a memoir intitled, Of 
the Origin of the Law, its definition, 
its different fpecies, and the ftyle which 
is fuitable to it. 
Douront pe Nemours has propofed, 
in a memoir on the propagation of good 
and bad actions, to prove, by reafon, 
obfervation and example, that no aétion . 
is abfolutely ifolated; that fuch as are 
good, produce ‘ong after, and remote 
from 
