60, or £23 35. 9d. at 65. was "Consulting Act.' We assume this T. had the authority of Mr. E. Ryley, who Next we arrive at the "Tables of the Family Friendly So."--which was worked in connexion with the Co., its name being appended to the name of the Co. in many of the publications. Here we are told: The committee of management have devoted much and serious attention to the consideration of mining casualties, arising from explosions and other accidents, causing instantaneous death to the heads and branches of dependent families, involving the latter in present destitution and future misery. To meet this, they propose to grant pol. for sums of £25 each, payable within 14 days of death from casualties only; such pol. to be granted without respect to age, upon an ann. payment of 35. 6d. made in advance; or by a weekly payment of one penny, or-to suit the pay-table of the miner -2d. p. fortnight. Then follow the Life Tables, specially prepared for the "Industrial branch." These we shall speak of more fully under INDUSTRIAL INS. The Co. speedily obtained a considerable bus. The following return we obtain from its various pub. reports: 36,400 22 £595,400 6 months ending 1852 Pol. Iss. 10,386 Sum Ins. £160,163 Ann. Inc. £4905. 1853 £18, 102. The first Sec. of the Co. was Michael O'Grady; the Provincial Man., Thomas Clark. Towards the close of 1853, these names disappear from the prosp., and Mr. F. E. Kew became Sec. The cause which led to this change may be traced to the events which transpired at a meeting held at the Town Hall at Birmingham on the 20th Sept. in that year (1853). This meeting was called in the guise of a "tea meeting," but was evidently designed as an advertisement for future operations. But events took a very unexpected turn. The character of the men in power was freely canvassed; and the pretensions of the Co. were found to be somewhat fallacious. We cannot follow in detail the events of this most eventful meeting. We shall speak of a few of the principal. The Directors openly spoke of having a guarantee fund-the cap.-of £100,000, but at that very time some 650 shares were alone held by bonâ fide holders. But whatever the cap. might have been, it could not benefit the great majority of the pol.-holders; for the pol. were mostly granted by the Friendly So., to which the cap. did not relate! Again, the income of the Asso. was stated to be £27,000 p.a. at that date; but the claims, if paid, would prob. have absorbed all the money-for all lives ins. for less than £50 were accepted without medical examination! The Provincial Man. -a few years before a working weaver in Stockport-was now drawing a salary of £700 p.a. from the Co. It was suspected the other officials were being paid at a like extravagant The whole thing in fact was a delusion and a snare, rate. The change of management came. The bus. was put upon a sounder footing. The following are the figures for the two succeeding years: 1855 New Pol. Issued 9638 Sum Ins. 141,031 New Prems. £5767. 1856 £177,893 17,760 £7040. We have not the later figures. The Co. carried on bus. until nearly the close of 1860, when its funds and connexions were trans. to the Prudential. BRITISH INS. OFFICE FROM FIRE.-This was one of the projections of the South Sea era. We shall give a detailed account of the circumstances attending its early formation in our HIST. OF FIRE INS. Its proposed cap. was £2,000,000, the subs. for which was taken on 16 Feb. 1720, at Three Tun Tavern, Swithin's-alley. It had all the characteristics of a bonâ fide undertaking from the beginning. Meetings of the subscribers were held. Offices were taken at Mr. Geo. Strahan's “over against the Royal Exchange." It was determined to proceed with bus. Application to this end was made to Parl., but was refused by the Privy Council in July, 1720. BRITISH AND IRISH Ins. Office.—A Co. under this title was transacting F. bus. in Ireland in 1835. Its duty return for that year amounted to £1636 13s. 10d. In 1842 its duty return reached £2183. It died out in the following year. BRITISH ISLES LIFE.-A Co, under this title was founded in Lond., in 1860, by Mr. Thos. This Co. was estab. specially for the benefit of the industrial classes, by affording to them all the advantages of a friendly so., with none of the risks connected therewith; combined with the security and respectability of an assu. co. . . . In the case of family pol., the prems. upon all lives therein mentioned shall be continued and paid during life; and any payment made less than the whole amount due shall be placed to the credit of all the lives equally, and not to any one particular life; and that upon the death or withdrawal of any one name or life, the pol. shall become void, but a new pol. and book will be issued to those remaining, which must be accepted and paid for. A stamped pol, will be issued to every accepted proposer or family of proposers, when they have been 13 full weeks proposed to the Co., if applied for and paid for at the office. This system of "Family Ins." appears to be peculiar to Friendly Sos. The Man. of the Co. is Henry Steel; the Act. R. W. Hamilton. BRITISH LIFE ASSU. CO., LIM., founded in Lond. in 1870, with a regis. cap. of £5000, in shares of £5. The bus. extends to annu., endow., and guar. There was a peculiar feature about this asso. in the matter of the qualification of directors. They were to be qualified in one of three ways: either by shares upon which £200 should be paid; or by shares with 100 paid, and a life pol. for £500; or by a life pol. for £1000. We do not find the Co. in the list of existing offices. BRITISH LIFE, FIRE, AND RENT.-A Co. under this title was projected in 1850, by Mr. John Cook, Actuary. It did not mature. BRITISH MARINE.- An ins. co. under this title was projected in 1860, by Mr. John Geary. It did not go forward. BRITISH MERCANTILE PLATE-GLASS INS. Co., projected in Liverpool in 1863, by Richard Hayhurst Rawtenstall. It did not mature. BRITISH MERCURY.-The first number of a newspaper under this title was pub. 27 March, 1710, "printed for the Co. of the Sun F. office, in Threadneedle-street, behind the Royal Exchange, Lond., where policies in due form are deliver'd out for insuring Houses, moveable Goods, Furniture, and Wares, from Loss and Damage by Fire in any Part of Gt. Brit., to the value of £500 each pol., to any person who shall take them, paying the Stamp Duty and the First Quarter, viz., 2s. if they desire no British Mercury, or 2s. 6d. if they will have it. Lond.: Printed by Hugh Meere, at the Black Fryer, in Black Fryers, where, and at the Sun office, advertisements are taken in." We shall have to speak further of this pub. in our hist. of the Sun F. office. BRITISH MUTUAL LIFE ASSU. So., founded in 1844, with a highly respectable direction. The prosp. said: This So. is estab. strictly on the mut. principle, and will be found peculiarly adapted to aid the best intentions of the provident members of society; for by the lowness of the prems. the greatest present benefit is secured to all; and by the equitable division of the accumulated profits, those who may attain the average duration of life will derive the greatest future benefit in parti. in the distribution of the surplus, which combines the advantage of a Tontine with those of an ordinary L. asso. The prems. deduced from the Gov. Experience, with such add. as to provide perfect safety, are accurately adjusted to the several ages-at the early and middle ages they are about one-fourth lower than at most offices. The advantage of receiving, for the same prem., a pol. of £1250 instead of one for £1000 is sufficiently obvious, and needs no comment. Then we have an explanation of the method of distributing the surplus, which is declared to be "at once safe, equitable, and favourable to good lives," the first and the last of which three propositions may be granted: The surplus is reserved entirely for those members who survive the period at which their prems., with accumulated int. at 5 p.c., amount to the sums assured, and is thereafter divisible according to the value of the several pol., and not according to a fixed per-centage at all. . . . [SURPLUS, DISTRIBUTION OF.] 66 Diseased lives were ins. ; half-credit given for seven years, and a free pol. given on surrender of pol. of seven years' standing, 'corresponding to the then value of the previous prems. paid.' Again: Loans on personal or other approved security are readily obtainable by means of the Brit. Mut. Subscription Loan Assu. Classes, which are estab. in connexion with this So. upon equitable and advantageous terms, repayable by easy instalments, extending over lengthened periods. These loan classes resembled, in their mode of working, the machinery of building sos., except that the security rendered for the advance obtained was mostly personal; and a L. pol. therefore formed an element in the security. The payments, and after a loan the repayments, were by monthly instalments. In an early prosp. we find the following unique announcement: A liberal commission will also be paid to ladies (who prob. are generally the parties most benefited by L. assu.) on all bus. they may introduce to the office." The progress of the So. was slow. In March 1851 the amount of L. bus. on its books consisted of 780 pol., ins. £143,959, yielding in ann. prems. £3822. The average age of the lives ins. was under 32 years; the average amount of each pol. being £183. The loan classes" had been the means of bringing bus. and providing means for the employment of the funds of the So. The So., we believe, was orig. founded under the Joint-Stock Cos. Regis. Act, 1844. A new D. of Sett., was afterwards prepared, dated i Jan., 1851. This deed contained the ordinary provisions for regulating ins. asso. ; and it also provided for the dissolution of the So. and a division of the assets among the members on a resolution passed by threefourths at a general meeting; but the deed contained no provisions for the amalg. of the So. with, or the sale of its business to any other asso. The omission of these powers has been the occasion of much trouble and expense. On the 10th Oct., 1868, a provisional agreement was entered into between this So. and the Prudential Co. for a trans. of the bus., assets, and liabilities of the So. to the Co. This agreement contained a clause providing that each of the directors should receive £600, and the Sec. £5000, by way of compensation for loss of office. This portion of the arrangement was made the subject of an attack through the Court of Chancery; but it was held by the Master of the Rolls, and also by the Lords Justices, that it did not invalidate the amalg. On the 30th Oct., same year, the So. was regis under the Cos. Act, 1862, with a view to the final carrying out of the arrangement entered upon. On the 17th Nov. a meeting of the So. was called, at which resolutions were carried by the requisite majority to the following effect : 1. That the agreement made by the board of directors of the So, with the Prudential Assu. Co. be, and the same is hereby approved and adopted. 2. That the So. be wound up voluntarily. 3. That E. H. Galsworthy be, and is appointed Liq. of the So., and is authorized, directed, and empowered to carry out and bring into operation the agreement with the Prudential. These resolutions being at a later meeting duly confirmed, the transfer was effected. Mr. Horatio Southall, a sol. at Birmingham, and the assignee of several life policies effected in the So., challenged these proceedings. On the 10 Nov., 1868, he filed a bill in Chancery to the following effect : The bill prayed for a declaration that the agreement of 10th Oct. was beyond the powers of the So. and the Co., and was invalid and void; for an injunction to restrain the defendants from carrying it into effect, and to restrain the directors of the So. from selling or trans. the assets contrary to the D. of Sett.; for an order directing the Co. to transfer the assets to the Liq. of the So.; for a declaration that the So. ought to be wound up, and its affairs dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the D. of Sett.; and for an order for the directors to repay the sums received by them for compensation under the agreement. The Master of the Rolls dismissed this bill with costs in 1870; the Lords Justices confirmed that decision in 1871. We believe there is still an appeal to the House of Lords pending. [AMALGAMATION.] Mr. Charles James Thicke was Sec. of the Co. during the entire period of its existence. BRITISH NATION FIRE INS. Co., founded in 1863, with an authorized cap. of £1,000,000. The Co. was worked in conjunction with the British Nation L. office. In 1864 its F. duty returns amounted to £773; in 1865, to £991. During that year its bus. and connexions were united with the European. BRITISH NATION LIFE ASSU. Asso., founded in 1854 under the Joint-Stock Cos. Regis. Act, 1844, with an authorized cap. of £300,000, in shares of £1,"deposit Is. per share." "All shareholders-male or female-entitled to vote personally or by proxy; with the right to be present at all authorized meetings of the Co." The Man. Director and Act. of the Co. was, in the first instance, Mr. Francis Norton Erith; while the "Consulting Act." was Mr. Edward Baylis. In a little while Mr. Erith disappeared, and Mr. Baylis became Man. Director and Act. Mr. Henry Lake did not appear on the scene until 1857. The first prosp. issued is so remarkable a document that, but for its extreme length, we should have been disposed to reproduce it entire. We must, under the circumstances, be content with a condensation, preserving all the main and most remarkable features. Here is an indication of the scope of the business : Pol. absolute and indisputable. Assu. against paralysis, blindness, accident, and death, whichever may occur first; also during the periods of pregnancy and childbirth ..., and family provisions by way of endowment. Through a benevolent distribution, and an enlightened application of its profits, advantages are offered in this Asso. on equal terms, to persons of every class and degree-to the living-that are not to be found in any other co. existing; and in the appropriation of one-tenth of its surplus gains to the all-important principle of protecting the pol. of the assured from lapsing, a feature is attached to the system of enduring excellence and incomparable value. All the preceding is but the preliminary skirmishing-the main body of the scheme has now to be brought up: That which has for its object the happiness of mankind, and the general welfare of society, is not less moral in its tendency than patriotic in its spirit. The contingencies incidental to a world of ceaseless activity, competition, and commerce, are suggestive of measures of the loftiest character, and of the noblest consecrations of mind. To protect the immediate interests of the living-by guarding against the effects of casualty, or the reverse of fortune-is to secure the prospective claims of representatives. It is indeed the only guarantee of permanent provision for families dependent upon the daily exertion of their fathers. If accident, and disease, or reverse, are not as individually certain as death, it should be remembered that all live in the very world and centre of vicissitudes, and that none, therefore, are exempted from the consequences of calamities, save such as provide against them. To disregard the possible wants of the living, is to nullify the object of life assu., excepting only where men live on the int. of accumulated or inherited possessions; but the masses live by the sweat of the brow-by "the dignity of labour;" and to the successors of such, the painful results of casualty are often as untimely and importunate as those arising from death itself. Life assu., as a system, is only valuable in proportion as it expands the power of collective beneficence, and protects the living with the certainty that guards, by the same agency, the interests of representatives. To attempt to restrain its capacities within the boundaries of the laws of mort., while its principle is obviously capable of extension to present wants, and the social order of the human race, is to beget a negligence of what is due to self, and to mankind, and to contract the process of civilization. "There is no placing a limit," says Prof. De Morgan, "to the extensions which its application might receive, if the public were fully aware of its principles, and of the safety with which they may be put into practice." This opinion has been practically substantiated within the last few years, by the introduction of a system of benevolent and self-benevolent life assu. No protective measure has ever been propounded which equals in safety, or rivals the certainty of life assu. Revealing in its operations a purpose to uproot "the charity which creates distress, but which is insufficient to relieve its evils," it commends itself to the judgment of every individual in whom a spirit of honest and honourable independence prevails.. Nothing is offered by this so. which is unattainable; nothing is proposed which is simply speculative, or merely visionary. By a more comprehensive and intelligent application of profits than has hitherto prevailed-such application according with the laws of prob.-a distribution is proposed among the assured and shareholders of the accumulations and gains of the Asso., which cannot fail to humanize millions, and to obtain estimation among a very large number of persons. The application of wealth is not less elastic than is the increase of its accumulations at compound int.; and upon this truth is founded the practicability and excellence of the division of profits herein suggested. On the rational assumption that profits must and will, in the course of a few years, accrue to the bus. of the Brit. Nation, as they have arisen in the elder offices, the directors feel stimulated in their exertions to extend the blessings of the system, and to diffuse more generally the advantages in connexion with it. With the strong conviction that honourable enterprise ever commands success, and with a knowledge, resulting from experience in the practice of life assu., that there is abundant room for the growth of the principle upon which the fabric is founded-viz., that of assu. the average to the individual-the directors aim, by adequate rates, protective of the interests of successors, and by an enlightened division of profits, mitigative of the wants of the living, and promotive of social, moral, intellectual, and religious advancement, to give a breadth and reality of usefulness to the Brit. Nation, that shall draw to it a continual accession of prosperity; and that shall promote the elevation and sustain the happiness of mankind. After providing for contingent and prospective liabilities, to render the payment of every pol., on becoming a claim, alike prompt and indisputable, and to satisfy attendant costs of management, the intention is to distribute the whole amount of bonus in creation of funds certain and increasing, affecting the immediate and future, relative and self-interests, of every member and shareholder of the Co. This is a grand innovation upon the practice of the primitive offices, and it is an advance upon the reformatory method of distribution of surplus profits in modern cos. It is a complete reform, and perfectly consistent with the nicest calculations which can be made on the subject; it will do much to enhance the value of life assu., and to proclaim with increased power the unspeakable advantages of the system. A great deal of the preceding reads like a prophetic burlesque of the real fate and incidents of the Co. But we have not by any means got through all the "tall talking at present: Poor, evanescent, and meagre is the division of accumulated profits in a life office, in which the living have no direct and personal interest, compared with a system that fortifies against reverses ; encourages struggling honesty; sustains integral, the efforts of the past; seeks the moral, social, and intellectual progressiveness of all indentified with its operations; raises associated individuals beyond the pain of eleemosynary attentions at seasons of sickness, old age, and want; obliterates the degrading influences of charity, and makes every man the conservator of comforts to his family. These are among the intentions for fulfilment in the Brit. Nation-intentions so vast and beneficent, and in their results so grand and imposing-so truly national in character and consequence, that a reciprocal appreciation of them by the public is confidently relied on. Sacredly reserving what is necessary for the satisfaction and indisputable payment of every obligation, either present or future, the D. of Sett. provides that, out of every £100 profits,, there shall be allotted and allocated a sum of £30,. creative of the following self-relief funds, essentially devoted to the interests of shareholders and assured, their widows and orphans, in case of need, thus: 1. 10 p.c. as a "Relief and Annu. Fund," temporary or permanent, to aid and assist qualified and assured shareholders, who may require help in the season of distress, sickness, old age, or necessity. 2. 1op.c. to be applied in two different ways: (1.) One moiety or half part of such 10 p.c. to provide HOMES for necessitous and deserving shareholders and assured, independent of rule or restraint, with every suitable domestic comfort, and to alleviate, as far as possible, the misfortunes they may have been uncontrollably visited with. (2.) One other moiety or next half part of such ro p.c. to found and estab. an ASYLUM to protect deserving but unfortunate persons-assured or shareholders-in the event of accident or affliction, involving temporary or permanent distress and suffering, where every comfort would be administered, and where the advice of the medical officers of the Co. would at all times be available, 3. 10 p.c. as an immediate RELIEF FUND for granting pecuniary assistance to unfortunate but deserving shareholders and assured in cases of impending bankruptcy or insolvency-the claimant being required simply to make a private and confidential exposition of his or her affairs to a committee of investigation appointed by the directors-a course of procedure from which honesty would not shrink, to be saved from the disgrace of threatened ruin. This most admirable feature, originating in, and peculiar to, this inst., can scarcely be outvied for its practical utility and beneficent self-advantage. Such unspeakable privileges annexing to so wise an application of surplus profits speak for themselves. 4. A sum of £10 out of every £100 profits creative of a "SUSTENTATION POLICY FUND," to secure to survivors the beneficial interest of the assured in their pol., by preventing the lapsing of them through temporary embarrassment or other causes. The practical excellence of this feature cannot be overestimated. ... By such an application of one-tenth of the profits of the British Nation, one of the strongest barricades to the universal adoption of life assu. is forced and carried amidst the acclamations of justice and intelligence. Many-too many-worthy parents have lived to experience the bitterness of holding a pol., which, after years of anxious solicitude, has lapsed through temporary inability to continue the payment of the prems. . . . It seems like a piece of unnecessary bye-play to recount the qualifications necessary to gain participation in these purely imaginary funds: yet as these are set out with becoming gravity in the prosp. before us, we must briefly pass them in review. As to the three first-named funds the qualifications were two-fold: (1) that a pol. should have been effected for the whole term of life, and that 5 consecutive years' prems. should have been paid thereon; (2) that shareholders should have paid all calls and deposits upon their shares. As to the 4th fund, the qualification was, that whole-life pol. should have been effected, and 5 consecutive years' prems. paid thereon; that a confidential submission of affairs be made, etc.; and that the several sums advanced be repaid free of int. on restoration of borrower's circumstances. Then there is this remarkable provision : Until this fund is adequate to the purpose contemplated of saving pol. from lapse, all sums paid as prems. will be treated as single payment prems., and corresponding amounts paid on the death of the assured; that is, supposing an assu, in 1000 to have been effected on a life aged 30, for the whole term of life, and having paid four years' prems., the assured, if then unequal to continue the ann. payments, would have an absolute reversion, at his decease, payable to his representatives, of £98 16s. 8d., being the collective amount of the sums paid to the So. We must now proceed to recount the other FUNDS to be created out of profits: 5. A sum of £20 out of every £100 profits, promotive of Educational purposes, and for the protection of the orphans, thus: (1.) 10 p.c. for the building and perpetual endowment of a "Classical, Mathematical, and Com mercial School," admitting boarders, sons of qualified assured and shareholders, between the ages of 5 and 14. The education given will equal that furnished by any of the leading schools of the kingdom, and the whole course of study will be a preparation for the Universities. The aim is to raise, upon a sound plan of mental discipline, the qualifications of youth, that in after years shall fit them for the daily duties of life, and for introduction into official and important stations. The government will be entrusted to a head master, whose office will be the spiritual oversight and moral improvement of the pupils, with the direction of their studies. It is a rule absolute, and beyond the control of any future act. of incorp., that, while the education shall be strictly religious and scriptural, the principle of catholicity shall exclude the imposition of all particular forms. A portion of this 10 p.c. will be reserved for founding and annexing scholarships and for supplying apprenticeship fees, or other assistance, advancing the welfare of youth leaving school. (2.) 10 p.c. for the building and perpetual endowment of an "ABSOLUTE ORPHAN ASYLUM,” designed to receive and educate, from their birth, the fatherless infants of qualified assurers and shareholders, without distinction of sex, place, or religious denomination, till the boys are 14 and the girls 15 years of age respectively. The children would be boarded, clothed, nursed, and educated. By a fundamental law, denominational catechisms are for ever prohibited introduction, nor will any particular religious forms be imposed upon any child. Children are eligible for admission who have lost both parents-or the father only-or where the father is permanently disqualified [?] by physical or other affliction. At 5 years old the boys are to be drafted into the school. The system of female education will be, in every respect, in unison with the spirit of progressiveness and enlightenment. The domestic regulations will be under a well-qualified person of matronly habits and religious character. A portion of this 10 p.c. will be reserved to afford girls, on leaving school, some adequate provision to advance their comfort and respectability. The school and orphan funds of the Brit. Nation exhibit a noble and independent variation from the excellence of their prototypes, and will essentially aid in the great work of civilization. Children of policy- and share-holders were to be qualified to participate in the benefits of either of these foundations whose parents should have effected "whole-life pol., and have paid five consecutive years' prems. thereon-or being holders of shares, shall have paid all calls and deposits upon each share." We proceed: 6. A sum of £10 out of every £100 profits to be applied to the building and perpetual endowment of an inst. in Lond. to be named "THE BRITISH NATION LIFE ASSU. CLUB." Dedicated expressly to and for the appropriate use of members of the So., assured and shareholders, resident in or visiting the metropolis, a social influence will be imparted to this inst.-that, whether commercially regarded, or relatively considered, will connect advantages with life assu., which will give to it a power, precedency, and impetus in behalf of whatsoever is just and good, national and important. It is next to impossible to limit the breadth of consequence resulting from an asso. thus formed upon the principle of mut. cooperation. The object in this instance is to estab. a nucleus that shall be productive of constant new life blood, from whence shall flow a continual stream of intelligence, combining moral progress and intellectual enjoyment, with the requirements of social comforts. [And so on through the whole of a very long paragraph.] The qualification of membership to the British Nation Assu. Club was the effecting of a whole-life pol. and paying one prem. If renewals not paid, benefit of club to cease. As to shareholders, same as before. 7. A sum of £10 out of every £100 profits to be appropriated and applied in the following ways: (1.) For advancing loans on approved security-personal or otherwise at a minimum rate of 1 p.c. p.a. int., proportioned to the amount assured, such advances to be made for a term of years, to qualified shareholders and assured of honourable and estab. character, free of charge, whereby considerable benefit might accrue to persons interested in the redemption of mortgaged property. (2.) For guaranteeing qualified assurers and assured-either them or their children-of unimpeachable integrity of conduct-in situations of trust, without charging int, or other expenses, saving actual payments, thus rendering meritorious individuals eligible for trusts and engagements that otherwise might be unattainable. Qualifications necessary to participate in those advantages were the same as under the first three heads. Then there follows a piece of biting satire, in this form, and all in italics : The directors call particular attention to the circumstance that if, in the course of time, these several funds should prove more than adequate to meet the orig claims upon them, the D. of Sett. provides for their application and division (at the recommendation of the board, sanctioned by the assured and shareholders) in any other mode, and to any other benefit, whether in reduction of prem. or otherwise, which may suggest itself as advantageous to the general interest of all connected with the So. The scheme of distribution proceeds: 8. A sum of £10 out of every £100 profits applicable to the ultimate conversion of the Brit. Nation "Mut. Life Assu. Asso.," thus vesting-by the purchase of its shares at the market price of the day-all its affairs in the assured. into a 9. The remaining 10 out of every £100 profits to belong to the shareholders, so long as the proprietary continues, as a reasonable and just return for the safety and certainty afforded to the Co. in the outset, by the advance and subs. of cap. Shareholders to parti, in a div. of not less than 5.p.c. p.a. upon the orig. sum paid-such int. increasing year by year, as the funds and bus. of the So. shall increase-and likewise to int. after the uniform rate of 5 p.c. p.a. upon the first amount of profits and successive accumulations, applicable as a "Redemption Capital Fund," for the ultimate conversion of the corp. into a "Mut. L. Assu. Asso." The holder of 100 shares and upwards to 200 to be entitled to one vote; and to an add. vote for every add. 100 shares so held. Having got through these details, we must be prepared for a considerable expansion of the heart and feelings of their self-deluded author and contriver. Here we have it : Such are the noble, rational, beneficent, and practical features of the Brit. Nation L. Assu. Asso.; and the directors are solemnly and religiously persuaded that with a due share of success in its operations, the creation of funds out of the surplus profits, and their application to useful and patriotic purposes, cannot but sensibly strengthen the bonds of society, and promote the highest aims of civilization. Inspiriting self-protective measures, and conducing to that dignity which mitigates reverse and poverty, by guarding against their evils, charity is uprooted in the exercise of more gracious means, and the well-regulated exhibition of a national pride, that glories in the reputation of honest independence. It should ever be remembered that what has been contributed to in the |