The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-29 00:00:00

CLOSING PRICES

Consols, Account _ 91i 8- Bank Stock 209 10
Do. Money 9li Exqr. Bills, L.S.,
Three per Cents.

FQIIEIGN STOCKS.
Mexican 2oi lrurkish
Russian
Do.
Canada Land 133 5 Do. (new) - 51

RAILWAY SHARES.
Amberg,ate,Nottingham, London, Brighton, and
and E. Junction • 31 4* South Coast 99 101
Caledonian
Do. Preference
Eastern Counties
East Lancashire 73 4 Lincolnshire 2si /
Edinburgh & Glasgow.. 50 2 Midland Stock
Great Northern 9i 5,1 North British 30,1 11
Do. A. 7B SO Do. Preference 99 100
Do. B. ll4 16 North Staffordshire 7i 7
Great Western
Lanc.and Yorkshire Bo* 1 York, Newcastle, and
Do. Fifths — Berwick .. 73 4
Leeds Northern l3* 14* York and N. Midland.. 48* 9*
LAND SHARES.
Australian Agricultural 26 7 (Peel River
S. Australian Invest.... 35i 61 N. B. Australasian
Crystal Palace
On 'Change, business very dull, without any alteration of
moment. Tallow, 58s. for P. Y. C. '
The Commercial Daily List says,—The advance in Con-
sols, which touched 911, and the dull state of the Corn Mar-
ket,,clearly indicate the feelings of business men as to the
prospect of peace, which seems daily gaining ground.

LoxvoN CORN MARKET.—(From Kingsford and Lay's Cir-
cular.)—Supply of English Wheat small, and the condition, if
possible, worse than last week, consequently it met with a
slow sale at the rates of this day week. Foreign, sales retail
at former prices: Finest parcels of Malting Barley taken off
at the extreme terms of last week, but for other sorts the de-
mand was barely as good. Beans and Hog Peas, the demand
unaltered, but quite 2s. dearer. Oats are slow of sale, at a
decline of 6d. to is. Flour very dull, but Country Marks are
held for an advance of is. to 2s. per sack.

ARRIVALS.
English. Irish. Scotch. Foreign.
Wheat 5588 20 6050
Barley 8895 69
Malt 12764
Oats 6654 121 1902 2323
Beaus
Peas —
Flour

1790 sks.

METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET.—The Beast and Sheep
trade better, the supply being small. Calves sold at a con-
siderable advance. Beef, 3s to ss; Mutton, 3s 6d to 5s ; Veal,
.5s to Os ; Pork, 4s 20 to ss. Beasts, 3,046 ; Sheep and
Lambs, 15,770; Calves, 56 ; Pigs, 253. Arrivals :—Holland
Beasts, 484 ; Ditto Sheep, 170 ; Ditto Calves, 46 ; Scotch
Beasts, 350 ; Norfolk and Suffolk Beasts, 1,800; Cambridge,
Leicester, Lincoln, and Northampton Beasts, 180; Irish
Beasts, 60.

LONDON PRODUCE MABRET.—Sugar dull at previous
terms. Coffee wanted, rates stiff—Native Ceylon, 51s to
63s 6d. Tea : More business—ordinary Congou, 92d to 9d.
Cotton sells freely at a small advance. Tallow dull and de-

dining.
GLASGOW Pm. 'Box MA mom—The demand for Pig Iron
rather better—sales at 755. Od. in the early part of the day.
In the afternoon, one lot of 500 togs was taken at 765.; No. 1,
775.; No. 3, 745. 6d.
MANCHESTER STOCK EXCITA.NGE.—Cheshire Junction, 151
dis. ; Eastern Counties, 9 ; Great West. Canada, 26 ; Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire, 81; London and North Western, 98i ;
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln, £6 pref., 2 pm. ; midland,
691 ; North Staffordshire, 7 dis. ; South Eastern, 181.

BETTING AT TATTERSALL'S—Tins DAY.

CUESTER CUP.-20 to 1 agst Imogene, tk and off; 25 to 1
agst Courtenay, tk ; 1,000 to 30 agst Fatalist, tk and off;
28 to 1 agst Epaminondas, tk ; 30 to 1 agst Coroner, tk and
off; 40 to 1 agst Mishap ; 40 to 1 agst Scythian, tk freely ; 40
to 1 agst Yellow Jack, tk ; 50 to 1 agst Stork, tk ; 66 to 1
agst Aldford, tk ; 100 to 1 agst Tug o' War, tk.
LIVERPOOL STEEPLE CHASE.— 12 to 1 agst Sir Peter
Laurie, tk freely ; 15 to 1 agst Black Swan, tk ; 15 to 1 agst
Forest Queen, tk; 15 to 1 agst Harry Lorriquer, tk; 100 to
6 agst Odibam, tk and off.
Two THOUSAND GUINEAS.-7 to 1 agst Fly-by-Night, off;
100 to 30 agst Yellow Jack.
DEBBY.--7 to 1 agst Wentworth, tk ;9to 1 agst Elling_
ton, tk: 10 to 1 agst Fly-by• Night, tk and off; 12 to 1 agst
Yellow ck, tk ; 1,000 to 15 agst Bonnie Scotland, tk,

-INDISPUTABILITY THE ONLY COMPLETE
SECURITY IN LIFE ASSURANCE.
(Extracted from " The Register.")
What is meant by an indisputable policy? In the first place, it
is unlike other policies; the adjective being used to imply some-
thing to mark and distinguish such a policy from all other poll.
cies. In the second place, it means much more—it imtlies that
the policy to which the epithet " Indisputable" is given cannot
be disputed, except upon grounds beyond the reach and power of
the contracting parties to control. In other words, the policy is
represented as being as indisputable as man can make it.
Nothing can be more embarrassing than the situation of a man •
who, after making payments to an Insurance Company for ten,
twelve, or twenty years, on the suppoeition that by such pay-
ments he has purchased for his family the absolute property in a
reversionary estate, is then told that at his death his survivors
may receive such property, but that there is a great chance—a pos-
sibility—amounting to a probability, that they may not • and that
the contingency depends upon circumstances which he cannot
foresee. Yet such is the position of those who are held as wholly
responsible for the precise and literal accuracy of every statement
in numerous documents and schedules which precede the issuing
of a policy. Take one of these schedules as an instance of aver-
meats, upon the accuracy of each of which the whole value of
the policy will ultimately he made to depend :—" I do hereby
declare that my age does not exceed years ; that I have bad
cow-pox or small-pox (state which); that I have (or have not) had
the gout; that I have not been afflicted with any fit or fits, or
convulsions, nor with asthma, insanity, or spitting of blood ; and
that I am not afflicted with habitual cough, diseases of the lungs,
nor with any other disease or disorder tending to shorten life;
and that the foregoing proposal contains a true statement of
every matter and thing thereby required to be set forth ; and that
I am now in good health ; and I do declare that I have not con-
cealed or withheld any matter or circumstance touching my past
or present state of health, habits of life, or condition which may
render an insurance on my life more than usually hazardous, or
with which the Directors of this society ought to be made ac-
quainted; and that my private referees are well acquainted with,
and fully competent to give, the requisite information as to my
habits of life. And Ido declare that this declaration shall be the
basis of the contract between me and the said society; and that
if any true allegation or statement be contained in the said pro-
posal, or in this declaration, or if any material information be
omitted which ought to be contained therein, all moneys which
shall have been or shall be paid to the said society, on account of
such insurance, shall be forfeited to the use of the said society,
and the policy be absolutely null and void."
Now. looking at the wording of this clause, it may be affirmed,
without much exaggeration, that there is no human being upon
earth who, looking on it as the literal condition of his contract
with a company, can possess a certainty that the event of his
death will place Isis family in possession of the sum specified in
the agreement. It is a professional notoriety that there are nu-
merous diseases which may be in active play long before their ex-
istence is suspected by the patient or any one else. Yet, by the
contrivance of making the proposer warrant the literal accuracy
of numerous statements, the clause above quoted would vitiate
and nullify the policy, if it could he proved that the invisible foe
had commenced his ravages at the period when the instrument
was issued. The responsibility of the party effecting the assur-
ance is unconditionas, and wholly irrespective of the contingency
whether the "omission" of any tact, material or immaterial, were
wilful or not. •
The person who makes the statement must not onlysleclare
that he makes no wilful mis-statement—that he has not " with-
held any matter or circumstance," and observe, not deliberately or
of design, but that he has not done so at all. The declaration re-
quired is absolute as to circumstances or possibilities beyond the
sphere of human knowledge ; and the responsibily of the decla-
rant is equally absolute, no matter how innocently he may have
been led into error. •
All theauthorities are of the same opinion as to the sole and un-
divided responsibility of the assured. Thus, Lord Eldon will not
hear of any distinction as to whether an omission has been ma-
terial or immaterial. "If material," his Lordship observes, "that
a materiality may be inquired into and shown ; but if there be a
warranty, it is part of the contract that the matter is such as it is
represented to be ; therefore materiality or inimateriality signifies
nothing. The only question is as to the mere fact." This opinion
has been affirmed, to the total ruin of families, by numerous deci-
sions of the Courts.
It may perhaps he supposed that however close the net and
narrow the meshes which are entwined round the party whose
life is the subject of assurance—however minute and important
and liable to error are the facts, and yet stringent in construction
of law are the terms of the declaration he is called upon to make,
yet that by great care lie may be able to comply with every de-
mand, and escape without a torfeiture of his policy. But that he
cannot do • for there is something yet snore demanded of him
before he 'becomes entitled to a policy—a requirement in which
the greatest amount of care, and prudence, and scrupulous accu-
racy is of no avail. The proposer must give the names of medi-
cal attendants and two friends, each of whom returns answers
to a long list of questions, and the facts and statements so
received by the company, although the proposer is not made
acquainted with any one of them, are yet as much the subjects of
warranty as his own declaration, so that a wilful or innocent
error in answer to any of the questions put to these referees will
as effectually vitiate the policy as if had preceded from the
assured himself. We can make room for only one example of the
provisions just noticed, which we select from a large family of
similar cases, and from the practice of a highly respectable office,
Wilshere v. 'I he Law Life. Wilshere resided near London, and
on several occasions had consulted a London physician as to his
health, besides having the advice of a country gentleman. He
came to London to effect an assurance on his life, and, in answer
to the question, "Who is your ordinary medical attendant?"
gave the name and address of the London physician, with whose
report and that of their own medical examiner, the director of
the company were satisfied. Some years after that Wilshere
died, and his executors were defeated in a claim against the com-
pany for the sum assured, merely, and upon no other ground,
because the name of the surgeon, and not that of the physician,
I ought to have been inserted in the proposal.
In consequence of this state of matters, there arosein the public
mind a general feeling of insecurity in Life Assurance, which was
increased by the perusal of numerous cases occurring in the courts
of law and reported in the newspapers, most of them at the
instance of assured parties against Life Companies, but many of
them in which Life Companies were arrayed against each other.
The great desideratum was to make policies indisputable, so as
to remove all doubt, and dissipate every apprehension as to the
certainty of the sum assured being paid when it became due;
whereby the public generally would be benefited, and the business
of Life Assurance much extended.
"The Indisputable Life Policy Company" undertook this task,
and in order most effectually to make the policies they issued in-
disputable and certain documents of security, they inserted the
following clause in their Deed of Settlement, thereby creating
an effective and legal obligation, imperative upon the Company to
fulfil, and which it is the right of every assured member to plead
and insist upon:—
Clause 84. "That every Policy issued by the Company shall be
indefensible and indisputable, and the fact of issuing the same
shall be conclusive evidence of the validity of the Policy; and it
shall not be lawful for the iJompany to delay paotent of the
money assured thereby on the ground of any error, mistake, or
omission, however important, made by or on the part of the per-
son or persons effecting such Assurance • and that, on the con-
trary, the amount so assured shalt be paid at the time stipulated
by the Policy, as if tio such error, mistake, or omission, had been
made or discovered."
We have said that the above clause forms a part of the Deed of
Settlement of the Company, and that deed being registered in
terms of the Act 7 and 8 Vict. c. 110. there is nothing wanting to
give it the fullest effect. It is not merely to be found in a pro-
spectus or other circular, which may or may not be obligatory on
the Company, according to circumstances, but it forms a coin-
ponent part of the existence of the corporate body. A mere pro-
mise of indisputability is not enough. Such a clause as the above
is required to give legal efficacy. It appears to have been care-
fully and anxiously prepared, for the purpose of cutting off
every ground and pretext of dispute as to the validity of the
Policy; and we confess that we cannot find any words or series
of sentences more operative, effective, or compulsory for that
purpose. In order the more effectually to show this, we
would invite onr readers to compare this clause with the
law as laid down by Sergeant Marshall in the passages
already quoted from that learned authority. The indis-
putable clause says—" Every policy issued by the Company shell
be indefeasible and indisputable, and the fact of issuing the same
shall be conclusive evidence of the validity of the policy." Mr.
Sergeant Marshall, speaking of the clause ordinarily inserted in
policies, says," It is quite immaterial for what purpose or with
What view it [a warrant] is made ; but being once inserted in the
policy, it becomes a binding condition on the assured, and unless
he can show that it has been complied with, lie can derive no
benefit from the policy." In other words, an indisputable policy,
when once issued, declares that, de facto, all precedent questions
are held to have been finally'settled, whereas an ordinary policy
declares on the face of it that the Directors retain the power to
keep all these questions open to dispute, until they have actually
paid the amount of the policy to the executors. Again, the indis-
putable clause says, "It shall not be lawful for the ompany to
delay payment of the money assured, on the ground of any error,
mistake, or omission, however important, made by or on the part
of the person or persons effecting such insurance." Mr. Sergeant
Marshall, on the other hand, says, "The very meaning of a war-
ranty is to preclude all question whether it has been substantially
complied with or not. Whether the thing warranted was material
or not, whether the breach of it proceeded front fraud, negligeuce,
mis-information, or any other cause, the consequence is the same
—i.e, the policy is void." In the next place, the indisputable
clause says that, "on the contrary, the amount so assured shall
be paid at the time stipulated by the policy, as if no such error,
mistake, or omission, had been made or discovered." Mr. Ser-
geant Marshall says, "The warranty makes the contract hypo-
thetical ; that is, it shall be binding if the warranty is complied
with. The only question is, has the thing warranted taken place
or not? If not, the assurer is not answerable for any loss, even
though it did not happen in consequence of the breach of the war-
ranty." Can anything be more conclusive than this in proof of
the superiority of the Indisputable Policy? The Indisputable
Policy settles all precedent questions—an ordinary policy leaves
them all unsettled. An Indisputable Policy declares, by the mere
fact of its Issue, that all questions relating to the health, habits,
age, &c., of the assured are, as far as the Company is concerned,
set at rest for ever—an ordinary policy leaves these points
open to dispute, until the claim has actually been discharged.
London Indisputable Life Policy Company, 72, Lombard-street.
—Manager, ALEXANDER ROBERTSON.

ESTABLISHED HALF A CENTURY.

SARSAPARILLA.

pRIESTLEY'S FLUID EXTRACT OF THE
FINEST RED JAMAICA SARSAPARILLA.
This most efficient and agreeable preparation of that
well-known and valuable alterative, JAMAICA SA RS A -
PA RI LL A, is prepared by a peculiar and scientific
method ; and the experience of many years has fully established
the reputation of this medicine, as containing mere of the virtues
of the root than any other preparation. Its beneficial effects have
been particularly striking in the following complaints;—Noctur-
nal pains in the limbs, scrofulous enlargement of the glands, cu-
taneous affections, chronic rheumatism, &c. ; in freeing the sys-
tem after a course of mercury, its beneficial efects are very power-
ful. It purifies the blood, and, by giving to the cutaneous vessels
a healthy and regular action, it removes that disposition to
erysipelatous inflammation from which so many persons periodi-
cally suffer ; and when taken in the spring and fall of the
year, as an alterative medicine, it will be found to impart that
strength to the constitution which is indicated by firmness of
flesh, good appetite, and freshness of the complexion.
N.B. To persons of a plethoric habit it is most invaluable, as it
thins and promotes a free circulation of the blood, thereby pre..
venting attacks of apoplexy.
Sold in bottles, 4s. 6d., 78. Gd., I Is., and 225., at 52, Lord-street.
PRIESTLEY'S VEGETABLE PILLS,
FOR PURIFYING THE BLOOD.—They are the best
medicine that can be taken for removing all eruptions and
pimples from the face, arms, and body; and for cleansing and
purifying the blood and invigorating the system. To parties re-
siding in warm climates, or proceeding to sea, they are invaluable.
These Pills require no confinement or restraint.
Sold in boxes, 2s. 9d., is. 6d., Ils., and 225., each containing
directions for use. carefully packed, and sent to every part of the
kingdom, or world; on receipt of Post-office order, made payable
to JOHN PRIESTLEY, 52, Lord-street.

DRIESTLEY'S ANTIBILIOUS PILL 5-
Established in the year 1822—are, from experience, decidedly
the best aperient and antibilious medicine for general use, as
they need no confinement or alteration of diet, therefore they may
be taken at all seasons.
These Pills will prove highly efficacious in bilious complaints,
scorbutic complaints, affections of the nervous system, lowness
of spirits, palpitation of the heart, rheumatic pains in the head,
limbs, and other parts of the body; oppression of the chest, indi-
gestion, redundancy of bile, dizziness of the eyes, violent pains in
the temples and across the forehead, impaired memory, sick
headache, tremulous action of the whole frame, restlessness and
frightful dreams, stuporific dozing, flatulency, costiveness, &c.
Prepared and Sold by Joiirr PRIESTLEY, Chemist, 52, Lord-
street, in boxes, ls. lid., 2s. 9d., and 4s. 6d., and retailed by all
respectable Chemists and Druggists in the Kingdom.

For the SPEEDY and EFFECTUAL REMOVAL of COUGHS,
COLDS, ASTHMAS, and DIFFICULTY of BREATHING.
11RRIESTLEY'S COUGH and ASTIIMATiCAL
DROPS. This invaluable Medicine immediately relieves
Coughs, Colds, Hoarseness, Difficulty of Breathing, and HuPki-
nesfin the Throat. These Drops are also the best preventative
that can be taken against spitting of blood and affection of the
lungs. Persons troubled with Asthma are considerably relieved
by taking a few doses of the Drops, as they tend to promote ex-
pectoration and remove viscid phlegm. For the speedy cure of
the Hooping Cough they are no less efficacious. Those who are
troubled with that unpleasant tickling in the throat, which de-
prives them of rest night after night, by the incessant cough
which it provokes, will, by taking one dose, find immediate re-
lief, and one Bottle, in most cases, will effect a cuie.
Sold in bottles at Is. lid, 2s. 9d., and 4E. 6d.

The above are prepared and sold by JOHN PRIESTLEY,
Chemist and Druggist, 52, Lord-street, Liverpool.