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    468 THE LEADER. [No. 472, April 9, 185ft...

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    of this kind has recently appeared from ...

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    A DREAM OF A MORAL MILLENIUM. [from a co...

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    Mutual Assurance Socie

    cieties to appear soon after its passing , andcontrary % O the expectations of its promoters . The crude and ephemeral nature of the schemes thus fostered , and the delusive stimulant given to their formation by this Act , in conferring on them the apparent character of great incorporated bodies , chartered under Act of Parliament , enabled their projectors for a time to gain a credit and position ¦ which should only have been the reward of skill , industry , and success . Had the public known their real status , or had they been enrolled under

    the Friendly Societies' Acts , . the public would have exercised more caution in joining them , and every project would have had to prove its honajides before receiving general support . This was very much the way in which institutions , formed .. prior to the passing of the Joint-Stock Companies Act , had to earn favour with the public ^ That it was very different after the passing of that , the Post'Magazine and its companion Almanack afford the most abundant proof ; and all of our readers who are desirous of keeping a watchful eye on the progress of assurance companies , ought to possess thosa able and valuable publications .

    Some of our ablest economists object to any kind of company whatever being established with limited liability , and the main reason now advanced in support of their views is the large number of schemes which have been unsuccessful under the Limited Liability Act , 19 & 20 Viet . c . 47 . It is somewhat surprising to find an argument of this kind employed in the presence of so niucli practical experience of greater magnitude and weight , and of exactly the same kind , by adventures in which the liability was unlimited . The solution of this question has a direct application in support of oiu *

    England , of making perfect one-eighth and onetwelfth eye-pieces . A company is no more justified , in a commercial sense , in undertaking a business in which the capital needed is within the command of any considerable portion of the trading community , than a blind man . ' should , be in attempting to become a sculptor , or tlian a person with a defective sense of colouring , like the late Dr . Dalton , should study painting . Dalton was great as a chemist ^ but he was incapable of becoming a good colourist , and could never have

    appreciated the charm of Turner's art . If this distinction had been kept in view by those who recently , in their high places , took occasion to comment , in so severe terms , on the operation of the Limited Liability Act , and if they had analysed the nature of the various projects registered under that Act , they would have found that nearly all the' schemes launched for the exercise of those functions which properly belong to companies have been successful . The bulk of the failures have been connected with

    projects in which those elements were entirely wanting which promote the success of companies , and that irrespective of the state of the law . It does not , however , follow that because any particular adventure comes within the legitimate scope of a company that it will eventually prove successful . Nothing , obviously , is a . more fitting object of a public company than the transaction of assurance business , ; but we have some most painful examples of their want of success , arising chiefly from mismanagement . The same may be said of banking

    operations , the security and stability , of which could not be guaranteed by their unlimited liability , which not unfrequently lends a false seciu-ity , and -throws many off 'their . guard who might otherwise exercise a prudent discretion . Recent legislation is evidently taking a direction in favour of our own views , in regard to the limited liability for companies generally . Whatever opinions , however , may be entertained as to the ¦ wisdom of extending that law to proprietary assurances companies , there can remain little doubt that it should be made to forthwith embrace the ¦ whole class of mutual societies .

    views on . mutual , assurance companies . Any one who is familiar with the speculative period of 1824 , 5 , and 6 , must be fully aware of the number of companies of all sorts then projected , when limited liability was not in any form sanctioned by law . There has been no period since when so many schemes Were launched , and so signalled by their ephemeral duration . Projects . of all conceivable descriptions , embracing every branch of industry and occupation , were projected—milk companies , laundry companies , horse-shoeing companies , watercress and potato sale companies , dust and chimney-sweep

    ing companies , and companies for the invention , sale , and purchase of patents , companies to negotiate the acquisition of foreign concessions , decorations , and titles of distinction , and hosts of other schemes , many of which were , equally absurd in their objects with those enumerated . The failure of these schemes is no more an argument against the state of the law in 1824-6 , than the failure of many projects since the introduction of the Limited Liability Act , but wliich excludes assurance societies , is any reason against the beneficial operation of that Act . The . causes of failure , in both , the

    one case and the other , are entirely independent of the condition of limited or unlimited liability . The functions of a public company ore only properly brought to bear on any enterprise when the capital or Credit required , for its successful prosecution are beyond the command of ordinary adventurers , If skill , and not capital , be the primary element of success , then that commodity belongs to individuals , and companies cannot purchase it in successful competition with its possessoi's . Men soon discover when the merits of any adventure are due to their individual skill , when a small

    capital only is employed , how to turn all to their own account . A railway -company and an assurance company arc examples of enterprises usually beyond the reach of private means 5 the former ' requiring the outlay of an immense amount of money , and the latter a degree of confidence and trust which no individual could hope to lay claim to . Again , a milk company does not require capital beyond the means of many private persons , but an amount of tact and skill is needed in competition which a company could never succeed in

    securing . The humble but acute and keen Welchwoman outwitted the liveried servants of the Cornpany referred to , and contrived to retain command of the market ; and so has it been with fruit companies , potato companies , & o . Who would vowturo to predict the suoccss of a . scheme ) by which a ooinpany should undertake to ti'ade in the production and sale of first-class nuoroscopos P By what moans could the projoctors scoure for their own concern employes having that skill of manipulation pos-Bossed by not more than throe or four persons in

    468 The Leader. [No. 472, April 9, 185ft...

    468 THE LEADER . [ No . 472 , April 9 , 185 ft ^

    Of This Kind Has Recently Appeared From ...

    of this kind has recently appeared from the pen oi M . Kokoreff , in which the following passages occur : — ' . / ¦ ° " For more than a century and a half Peter the Great and all succeeding governments have endeavoured to Germanise and Frenchify us by turns These endeavours ended in failure , because their elements Avere foreign to our natural feelings , and only produced moral deformities covered with an outward polish . Why not now try to Anglicise us ? Of course I do not mean in external , forms , but by the cultivation of those feelings which are characteristic of the English , and which will be found strongly rooted in every true Russian heart—such as patriotism , love of liberty , and independence . If our rulers had possessed the sagacity to discern and develope these sentiments , the process of our regeneration would have taken a more national direction , and we should not know ,, in the latter half of the nineteenth century , such questions as the emancipation of the serfs . " Had M . Kokoreff spoken in this way in the days of Nicholas he would have had to cool his patriotism in the snows of Siberia ; and it is a fact most honourable to the present Emperor that such utterances are not only safe , but far more likely to raise Imperial favour than any appeals to-the-spirit of military aggression that his predecessor fostered . As M . Kokoreff is the leader of the free-trade and industrial party , it is interesting to witness his

    ardent sympathies with tins country , and see how he treats points of resemblance between his countrymen aud ours . He warns us not to , take the modernised official ^' nor the " down-trodden serf" as specimens of Russian character , but rather the independent gentleman ; and then he tells us we shall continually meet with English traits . He says—— " In spite of the great disparity in the culture of the two nations , the principal fpfit . uTPfi of the ¦ Enerlisli national character , will be

    found in the Eussian also— -a strong conservative feeling , a Jenacious attachment to religious and national traditions , piety , charity , and an ardent love for domestic and rural , life , in preference to the towns , with their public amusements . He has also the same- fear of innovation and brevity of speech . " Such are the feelings of what is now the rising party in Russia , and unless tlie Black y Art of Secret Diplomacy exercises its pernicious influence , the projected Congress ought to be turned to good account . If our Government must uhriffhteously constitute , itself an Austrian and

    ANGLO-MANIA IJJ RUSSIA . rCOMMUNICATEl } . ] The objects of Russia in promoting the scheme of a congress on the affairs of Italy will be differently interpreted according as the belief prevails that the great northern empire has really entered upon a new phase of development , or that the aggressive policy of Peter and his successors is only enjoying a temporary repose . That the ^ Russian Court and people are by no means favourably disposed towards Austria must be evident to any one familiar with the prevailing tone of conversation in St . Petersburg and Moscow ; but this state of things is not inconsistent with a policy of peace .

    The Russians feel very sore at their loss of prestige and influence in Europe , and they very naturally ascribe their misfortunes to their connexion with the treacherous and ' ungrateful House of EUvpsburg . They see that thp invasion of Ilun-§ ar y led to the aggression upon Turkey , and the isastrous quai * rcl with England and France , since wliich Russia has found herself crippled in resources , and reduced to occupy , an inferior place as a European Power . The proposition for a congress is the first step that Russia has taken to resume her influence 5 but it does not follow that she desires to re-establish it upon the old basis of military force . That she should view the humiliation of Austria with

    satisfaction 13 not to be wondorod at ; nor is it to bo expected that she should bo extraordinarily solicitous to heal the broach between Vienna and Paris ; but she may bo reasonably expected to exort herself to prevent the Italian question ' . resulting in a general European quarrel , in which she might find " herself inconveniently involved . The Emperor has his grand scheme of emancipating the sorft , and needs peace for its success , wliilo a largo portion of the wealthy men are engaged in new companies of all sorts , which would be ruined if their country were again plunged in an expensive war . It is also satisfactory to find sufficient freedom of the press existing to enable the St . Petersburg Oazotte to publish articles openly attacking the polioy by winch Nicholas and his predecessors made tUeir country a constant sourco of danger to the stability of Europe . A very remarkable article

    partisan , Russia will be driven into a closer , perhaps , dangerous alliance with France , while , li England resolutely upholds the rights of Italy , it is most likely she will receive Russian support . A movement for the liberation of Italy would not interfere with the domestic policy of the Russian Emperor ; on the contrary , lie would nnclin 1 any European impulse in favour of liberty an additiona source of power to carry out the great work oi peasant emancipation , and if that is once iairly commenced , it will aflbrd the best guarantee for commercial activity and peace . It w not only a question of obtaining freedom for the serfs without uvt

    any violent assault dn tho vested rights or proprietors , but one of changing the fundamental conditions of tho land which the . peasants have not been entitled to purchase or hold . ^ hen these reforms ore effected , a great industrial development will take place , from which no country ¦ wouk benefit more than our own , and it will bo the pan of wise statesmanship to prove to tho A ™ ssl ( " > Court that a policy of peace and progress will win as wide an influence as national pride can reasonably desire .

    A Dream Of A Moral Millenium. [From A Co...

    A DREAM OF A MORAL MILLENIUM . [ from a correspondent . ] T « O 8 h men who are loudest in ther conversational condemnation of jobbery and sinecure * , —most writers who won such bitter and forcible dommu fttions of offloial greediness—ana those " > f ' ' nnd radical reformers , in and out ot Fnrlmmen , who attack the weak strongholds pi ^ '"' •" P ' ° » with such inconsiderate and unfbuUna ° ™} , ° \™[ energy , —how little do they know of tlio i *«" »'" JJ of tliosc whoso destiny it is to rdooive , u ' * ° " ° peculiar form und title , an income o many tnou sands every year , and td bo called Wj jo "J nothing for ill Tlio demoralising ofluctol ognc'CP jvnd expectations is bad enough , but it u oy « worse to bo bom into a position oi wealth / inuo lenoe , to drink wines , to vide in carnages , to . sit w

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 9, 1859, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09041859/page/20/