smallpox, of whom 569 died. Regarding this visitation, the following interesting facts have been preserved :

24.

Took it naturally: Whites, 5060-died, 470. Blacks, 485-died,
by inoculation: 1985-
139
The white and black inhabitants at that date numbered 15,684; of
been attacked by the disease previously; 1843 moved out of the town.
of 669 deaths, 527 died during the months of April, May, and June.
January, and disappeared in September.

An Account of the Burials and Baptisms in Boston, 1701-52:
Years. Whites. Blacks. Totals. Baptisms. Years. Whites. Blacks.

69.

whom 5998 had Out of the total It commenced in

Totals. Baptisms.

Most of the preceding facts and figures are drawn from the Gent.'s Mag. for 1753. Boston in its more modern phase has become congenial soil for the development of ins. in all its branches. The pop. of the city in 1860 was 178,000; it is now prob. nearer 250,000. There is perhaps no city in the world wherein a larger proportion of the citizens are ins., or for a larger amount, than Boston. In add. to some very excellent local offices, most of the leading ins. asso. of the U.S. have agencies here. The names of Russell, Lyon and Nason, Farnham Plummer, and many others, which we cannot at the moment recall, must be for ever associated with the development of ins. in this city and its surroundings. But high above all these must yet be placed that of Prof. Elizur Wright, of whose labours in the cause of ins. we shall have to speak in detail under MASSACHUSETTS. BOTTOM OF A SHIP.-Is strictly that portion of the vessel which is under water; but in a more general sense it signifies the ship itself; as "insuring a ship's bottom;" a trade in "foreign bottoms," etc.

BOTTOMREE Co., THE.-During the South Sea mania, 1720, a Co. under this title was projected, and the shares with I paid sold, according to Anderson, for £3. Whether this was the Co. already spoken of as Beele's Bottomree (or Bottomry), we cannot discover with certainty. By notice in the Daily Courant of 10th March, a general meeting of the proprietors was called for the day following, in Merchant Taylors Hall, "when matters of great moment would be brought forward, which made the attendance of the proprietors very necessary."

BOTTOMRY [formerly called Bottomree; and occasionally corrupted into Bummaree, prob. from the Dutch Bomerie-A species of mortgage or hypothecation of a ship, by which her keel or bottom is pledged partem pro toto (in whole and in part) as the security for the repayment of a sum of money borrowed. Thus, the owner or captain of a ship may, under certain circumstances to be hereafter explained, borrow money, either to fit her out so as to proceed on her voyage, or to purchase a cargo for the voyage, or to provide for repairs, refit, and other contingencies on the voyage. The leading condition upon which the loan is obtained is, that if the ship be lost on her voyage, the lender loses his money; but if she arrive in safety at the destination fixed at the time of obtaining the advance, then the money borrowed is to be repaid, together with the interest or prem. agreed upon at the time of borrowing, at whatever rate that may be; and quite irrespective of any restriction as to the rate of int. on ordinary loan transactions.

But there is another special incident in relation to loans on Bottomry, and it is this-that where several loans have been obtained on the same ship, they are to be repaid in the inverse order to which they were obtained, viz. the last loan first, and the others in like order. Much attention has been drawn to loans of this class, and mainly for the following reasons. I. They are very ancient-apparently coeval with the earliest development of maritime commerce. 2. They were apparently devised with the view of defeating the varying restrictions to Usury; or, if not especially so devised, were very soon specially adapted to that end. 3. They being in themselves a species of marine ins. are supposed to have led directly up to the present system of marine ins. In every aspect the subject is one which we deem worthy of the careful consideration of the student, and even of the general reader.

This is

There are several modifications of the contract of Bottomry which must be here explained, in order to guard against confusion. Thus, where the loan is not upon the ship, but upon the goods and merchandise only, these being necessarily liable to be sold or exchanged, in the course of the voyage, it becomes almost a necessary condition of such a loan that the borrower becomes personally bound to answer the contract. called taking up money at Respondentia. A leading distinction, apart from this element of personal risk of the borrower, arises for whereas in a loan on Bottomry the lender runs no risk, even though the goods and merchandize be lost; so, in a loan on Respondentia, the lender must be paid his principal and int., even though the ship perish-providing the goods and merchandize are made safe. In most other respects the contracts are analogous. There is another and a distinct form of contract, in which the money borrowed is neither secured upon the ship nor its cargo, but stands at the mere hazard of the voyage itself. As when a man lends a merchant 1000 to be employed in a beneficial trade, upon the condition to be repaid with extraordinary int. in case a given voyage be safely performed. This was termed by the Romans Fœnus Nauticum. It is sometimes termed Usura Maritima, or Pecunia rajectina. Each of these forms of contract will be spoken of and defined under its proper alphabetical head. They are a great deal too indiscriminately spoken of by many of the writers whom we shall have occasion to quote.

It will be seen that each of these forms of contract embodies the one principle which could alone lift them out of the range of the prohibitions against usury, viz., that the repayment of the principal advanced, as well as the recompence for its use, is made to depend upon the successful accomplishment of the voyage. The elements of maritime risk being thus incorporated into the contract, it became impossible to estimate (in the eye of the law) how much of the consideration to be paid for the loan was for int., and how much for the risk of voyage; yet if 12 p.c. came to be regarded as the proper rate for the loan of money on a ship in harbour (as we shall see hereafter was the case in Rome), all that was paid beyond that rate when the ship went out to sea might well be considered in the light of a premium for insuring the safety of the voyage.

Regarding the origin of Bottomry contracts, we can only supplement what we have already said by the dictum of Sir William Jones, and the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, who expressly mention the loan on bottomry as practised by the nations of India in remote ages. Among those portions of the Institutes of Menu which are still extant is that which treats on sea laws, and which warrants, in the opinion of Mr. F. Hendriks, the comment of the writers just named. A question indeed turns upon the antiquity of these Institutes. Some writers have contended that they date back for a period of 6000 years. We have had to assert in another part of this work [USURY] that they may not be entitled to nearly such a remote antiquity. We learn from the Vyavahara Mayuka: a Treatise on the Hindoo Law, by Nilakamtha Bhatta, which discusses the rates of int. lawful to be taken, that it had been ordained by Yajnavalkya that "all borrowers who travel through vast forests may pay ten, and such as travel the ocean twenty, in the hundred." These last words seem to imply loans to merchants who, as was the custom in early periods, sailed with their merchandize to trade in ports more or less distant. The first seems to relate to transport ins.; the latter to advances on bottomry. The passage is at least sufficiently obscure to justify such a surmise. We gladly pass from the regions of doubt to those of authentic record.

The Greeks, who flourished several centuries before the Christian era, not only understood but practised Bottomry to a very considerable extent. The money was lent either upon the ship's cargo or freightage, or on the ship itself, for a specified time-commonly that of the voyage. Int. at the rate of a tenth, i.e. 10 p. c. was the minimum rate; and the other rates mentioned are 12, 163, 20, and 331. In the age of Lysias [B.C. 440] and Isaeus [B.C. 400], 18 p.c. appears to have been the common rate. The voyages were mostly short.

Bottomry was considered a matter of so much importance in Athens, that fraud or breach of contract in transactions connected with it was sometimes punishable with death. The loans were generally made upon the cargo shipped, sometimes on the vessel itself, and sometimes on the money to be received or due for passengers and freightage. The int. as well as the principal was dependent on the due performance of the voyage. The lenders took every precaution against negligence or deception on the part of the borrowers; the latter also were careful to have witnesses present when the cargo was put

on board, for the purpose of deposing, if necessary, to a bonâ fide shipping of the required amount of goods. The loan itself was either for the voyage out, or for the voyage out and home. In the former case the principal and int. were paid at the place of destination, either to the creditor himself if he sailed in the ship, or to an authorized agent. In the case of the voyage out and home, the payment was made on the return of the ship; and it was specially provided in the agreement between the contracting parties that she should sail to certain specified places only. A deviation from the terms of the agreement in this and other respects was, according to a clause usually inserted in the agreement, punishable by a fine of twice the amount of the money lent. Moreover, if the goods which formed the orig. security were sold, fresh articles, of the same value, were to be shipped in their place.

The rate of int. would of course vary with the risks and duration of the voyage. Xenophon speaks of the 5th and 3rd parts of the cap. lent as being commonly given in Bottomry-referring here to voyages out and home. The int. of an 8th, i.e. 124, mentioned by Demosthenes, was for money lent on a Trireme [a war vessel propelled by oars] during a passage from Sestos to Athens; but upon condition that she should first go to Hierum, to convoy vessels laden with corn. The principal and int. were to be paid at Athens on her arrival there.

But not only have we this general knowledge of the contract of Bottomry among the Greeks, but we have the very substance of the contract itself. In the speech of Demosthenes against Lacritus [prob. about 340 B.C.], we find the following contract recited, and we place alongside of it a modern Bottomry bill, for the purpose of comparison.

which is promised to them by the present deed, they may demand the difference from Artemon, and from Apollodorus, either from one of the two, or from both together; and may seize their property on land or on sea, in whatever place it may be, as if they had been condemned, and that the execution of a sentence of the tribunals were in question.

If the borrowers do not load on return into the Black Sea; or if remaining in the Hellespont ten days after the [early rising of the] Dog-Star [end of July], they discharge their merchandize in a country where the Athenians cannot carry out the sale of the pledges which have been given them [in some place where the Athenians had no right of reprisals], when they return to Athens, they must pay interest upon their debt, at the rate of the preceding year [22 p.c.]. If any considerable accident occur to the ship whereon the merchandize is loaded, the right of the creditors shall be limited to the goods which have escaped it [to the cargo which had been saved]. With all these stipulations, nothing can invalidate the present deed.

[This bond, or policy, as it is sometimes called, was first translated into French by Pardessus, and thence into English by Mr. Hendriks. We have taken the liberty of interpolating a few explanatory notes where the expression is obscure, or where the force of the orig. had been lost.]

money, within 30 days next after the safe arrival of the said ship at the port of Lond. from the said intended voyage.

And I, the said A. B., do for me, my executors and administrators, covenant and grant to and with the said C. D., his executors and administrators, by these presents, that I, the said A. B., at the time of sealing and delivering of these presents, am a true and lawful part-owner and master of the said ship, and have power and authority to charge and engage the said ship with her freight as aforesaid; and that the said ship with her freight shall, at all times atter the said voyage, be liable and chargeable for the payment of the said 1220, according to the true intent and meaning of these presents.

And lastly, it is hereby declared and agreed by and between the said parties to these presents, that in case the said ship shall be lost, miscarry, or be cast away before her arrival at the said port of Lond. from the said intended voyage, that then the payment of the said 1220 shall not be demanded or be recoverable by the said C. D., his executors, administrators, or assigns, but shall cease and determine, and the loss thereby be wholly borne and sustained by the said C. D., his executors and administrators, and that then and from henceforth every act, matter, and thing herein mentioned on the part and behalf of the said A. B., shall be void, and anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

In witness whereof the parties have interchangeably set their hands and seals to four bonds of this tenor and date, one of which being paid, the others to be null and void. At the Cape of Good Hope, this . . . day of. in the year of our Lord A. B. (L.S.) Witness,

We shall have occasion to offer some comments on the similarity of these contracts hereafter. And we may here remark that strictly speaking the Greek instrument is a Respondentia Bond, and not a Bill of Bottomry.

M. Pardessus, in his great work on Maritime Commerce and Ins., after a most painstaking investigation of the subject, says:

Numerous contemporary authors show the existence of Bottomry loans amongst the Greeks. These were arranged sometimes according to time, but generally according to the nature of the navigation. Vessel, apparel, cargo, freight, were among the security given. The essential condition was that the borrower should only be compelled to repay the cap. and int. if the objects affected arrived in port. The lender sometimes took the precaution to cause other goods of the borrower to be mortgaged to him, to ins. prompt payment on the expiration of the risk.

Among the Greeks these loans were not only effected when the vessel found it necessary by stress of circumstances during a voyage; but also before she has left the home port, in order to obtain funds to pay for cargo to lade her with; and in foreign ports, in order to enable her to buy a return cargo, etc. The lender usually stipulated that the value of the article lent on should be twice the amount lent; and the borrower was to declare if he had already obtained an advance on the same goods. The transaction was authenticated by a deed, which was torn up on the completion of the contract on both sides.

The lading was proved by the official regis., or by witnesses, in the presence of whom the borrower declared what objects were placed at the risk of the creditor, without whose consent he was not entitled to borrow further on the same articles, unless he augmented their quantity in proportion to the new loan; or unless the goods mortgaged were sufficient to secure both lenders. There were heavy penalties on the borrower, in case of breach of faith as to destination, amount of goods, etc. There was a law against carrying corn elsewhere than to Athens; and loans were forbidden, under pain of confiscation, on corn carried in opposition to this law. When in case of composition with pirates, or jettison, or otherwise, by force majeure, the goods were diminished, or paid a contribution, the lender supported the loss to the discharge of the borrower. In case of total loss the borrower was discharged and the lender could not prove against any other property of the borrower deposited for security of payment, unless the lading had been evaded. It followed that no punishment was too severe for the borrower, who, having had the bad faith to misapply the goods mortgaged, caused the ship to be lost in order to avoid paying the sum borrowed.

In the Rhodian Law we find direct reference to Bottomry loans. Thus in one section it is said, "That when masters of ships, who are proprietors of one-third of the lading, take up money for the voyage, whether for the outward, or homeward bound, or both; all transactions shall pass according to the writings drawn up between the master and

lender; and the latter shall put a man on board to take care of his loan." Then again, "If masters or merchants borrow money for their voyages, the goods, freight, ship, and money being free, they shall not make use of suretyship, except there be some apparent danger of the sea, or of pirates. And for the money so lent the borrowers shall pay naval interest." Boeckh says the exaction of an exorbitant rate of int. for loans on Bottomry among the Rhodians was declared illegal-"unless the principal was really exposed to the dangers of the sea."

Loans on Bottomry were well understood by the Romans: as it was likely they would be, seeing how largely they had drawn upon the maritime customs and the jurisprudence of the Greeks. When, about A.D. 533, Justinian reduced the rate of interest on ordinary securities to a maximum of 6 p. c., a special exemption was made in favour of Fanus Nauticum, or Bottomry; and upon this ground: that the risk of the money was entirely the lender's. Therefore, while a vessel was at sea, the lender might demand any rate of int. he pleased for a loan; but after she reached harbour, and while she remained there, no more than 12 p.c. could be demanded-which indeed was regarded as the usual rate in such cases. Some writers assert that Justinian made 12 p.c. the rate for Fanus Nauticum under all circumstances; but the best authorities do not bear out this view. Gibbon, indeed, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, speaking of the rates of int. which prevailed in or about the year A.D. 533, says: "Twelve was granted to Nautical Insurance, which the wiser ancients had not attempted to define; but except in this perilous adventure, the practice of exorbitant usury was severely restrained." But the expression "exorbitant usury" can scarcely apply to such a risk. Therefore his testimony rather strengthens the position we have taken. It is important to observe that Gibbon uses the term "Nautical Ins." This may be taken as an indication of the nature of the risk which had become impressed on his mind during the investigation of the subject.

In the Koran of Mohammed, which is believed to date about A.D. 652, we find in Book II., entitled "The Cow," a passage which may fairly be held to have reference to B., although the translation (Sale's) is not very distinctly expressed :

O true believers, when ye bind yourselves one to the other in a debt for a certain time, write it down; and let a writer write between you according to justice.. And if ye be on a journey, and find no writer, let pledges be taken; but if one of you trust the other, let him who is trusted return what he is trusted with, and fear God his Lord.

It will be seen that the method here indicated resembles the course of action in relation to B. loans obained both on land and at sea.

In the Basilica, a digest of laws compiled A.D. 867-880, by the Byzantine Emperor Basilius, the provisions regarding loans on Bottomry appear to follow in all respects those of the Roman Digest.

In the Greek compilation, Jus Navale Rhodeorum, the date of which is fixed prior to A.D. 1167, the regulations regarding loans on Bottomry and Respondentia appear also to follow entirely those of the Roman Digest, which had itself been founded on the practices of the Greeks themselves some 1500 years earlier.

It is generally admitted that the CONSOLATO DEL MARE-Compiled between the years 1226 and 1270-although full in its account of other maritime customs and usages, is silent on those incident to the practice of Bottomry: although several chapters indicate and presuppose its use. Chap. 106 of the Consolato requires the merchants on board a ship to lend to the master what he may require for the necessities of the ship.

The Roles D' Oleron, the date of which we place at 1266, do not contain anything very explicit on loans on maritime risk, or Bottomry, or Respondentia. It appears by Rule No. 1, that if the captain, being in a foreign country, finds himself in want of money, he must first write home to his owners before he sells the ship, "but if he have nede of money for the expences of the shyp, he may lay to guage some of the takelyng, be [by] the councel of the maryners of the shyp." Rule 23 gives the master permission to sell part of the cargo to supply his store, but is silent on the subject of raising a loan. We quote from the Admiralty Black Book. The maritime regulations of the Hanse Towns were founded on those of Oleron, and they are to the effect following: "A master, being in a strange country, if necessity drive him to it, may take up money on Bottomry, if he cannot get it without, and the owners shall bear the charge." "Art. 60.

Some writers have been of opinion that the Laws of Wisby, which we attribute to the 14th century, are silent upon Bottomry contracts. A reference to the 45th art. will show that the nature as well as the name of Bottomry was fully understood.

We now arrive at another aspect of the case. By the close of the 14th century-prob. earlier the modern system of marine ins.—that is, the guarantee of a fixed sum in case of loss (or corresponding contribution in case of damage) for a fixed prem. paid, or agreed to be paid, by the owner to the insurer: which prem. the insurer is to receive quite irrespective of the fate of the ship or the success of the voyage-had been introduced. Now if the owner of the ship were at liberty to ins. it for its full value, after having borrowed upon it at Bottomry, it is clear that in the event of the loss of the ship he would be a gainer of the sum he had borrowed, less only such portion of the sum so borrowed as he had expended in the preparations for the voyage. It will be seen that most of the early ins. ordin. guard against such an abuse.