The statistical appendix aims at laying a few foundation stones for a scientific basis of marine insurance. Whether this aim is capable of realization, is a question which time only can solve. What is undeniable is that marine insurance, though in existence centuries before life insurance was even thought of, is still behind the latter, in not resting, as this does, on the firm ground of mathematical calculations, drawing laws of probabilities from the results of experience. At this moment, the business of marine insurance is subject entirely to the exercise of personal and individual experience, fallible in its very nature, even when brought to the utmost possible perfection; while life insurance, on the other hand, stands on the solid foundation of "mortality tables," and of actuarial computations derived from a vast amount of widely gathered statistics. To construct "mortality tables" for ships, the same as for human beings, is no doubt a matter of greater complication; still there appears no absolute impossibility for the accomplishment of the task. It will, doubtless, be a gigantic labour to gather the whole of the materials requisite for the work, and there is, probably, but one body of men capable of undertaking it, namely, the Corporation of Lloyd's. The history of marine insurance, bound up with wars, and frauds, and all the vicissitudes of commerce, has a romance of its own, which it was not possible altogether to exclude from this work, as it forms part of the subject. But, while giving the adventurous its place, the plan of a strictly historical recital of events has not been deviated from. It is in pursuance of this plan that the history of the ancient confederation of underwriters known as Lloyd's" occupies a large space in the history of British Marine Insurance. The kind and cordial assistance rendered by the Committee of Lloyd's, and by many members of the Corporation, in this undertaking, has made it possible to give a mass of information respecting the history of marine insurance in general, and of Lloyd's in particular, that would otherwise have been unattainable. The archives of Lloyd's-huge stores of manuscript papers and immense leather-cased folios, partly singed in the great fire of 1838 that destroyed the Royal Exchange, in the vaults of which they are still resting-have been thoroughly examined, and this has produced a great variety of interesting and valuable facts regarding marine insurance, now published for the first time. Likewise, for the first time, this history gives some information concerning the individual Lloyd, founder of the great Corporation bearing his name. Though there is scarcely a name more widely pronounced all over the globe than that of Lloyd, adopted as it is by numerous commercial associations connected with navigation and shipping, nothing was hitherto known as to the life of the man Lloyd. He was to historical writers, and the world in general, an altogether shadowy entity, an unrecognizable "Mr." Lloyd, a "coffee house keeper" so obscure as to be wanting even a Christian name. Researches in the chief public and many private libraries, notably among the vast book and manuscript collections of the British Museum and the Bodleian Library, have resulted in the discovery, now presented, of many particulars about the "Mr." Lloyd, which, if not giving his complete biography, show at least that he was not a mere "coffee-house keeper," but a man of literary attainments, who established and conducted more than one newspaper. In these publications was the real root of the great institution now exercising a worldwide influence. Its importance need not be dwelt upon. At the present hour all the conditions under which marine insurance is carried on, and under which it influences trade and the ever-growing demands of civilization, have come to be of the utmost significance, not only hundreds of millions of property, but the more valuable lives of the thousands of brave men who steer our treasure-laden fleets of commerce across the seas, resting in no slight degree under its wings. Perhaps it may yet be found that the wings are as safe as any that human foresight can construct—that the best possible and securest protection for British sailors and British ships lies in a perfect system of marine insurance, securing alike the true interests of individuals and those of the nation. |