The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-05-24 00:00:00

MARLVE IN.VMATE.

The substance of a SPIECII delivered in the flame of Comtoome
upon a motion fora Select Cemmittee to coneider the Act of A
Cieo. I. and of the mans of effecting. Mashes ISIU1•110E11,
oleo observations, lea By the late JOgreu Manatee, Esq.
Generally speaking, we are no advocate for incor-
porated commercial companies of any kind. If they be- I
gin, as sometimes they do, in the spirit of enterprise,
they are pretty sure to end in a system of monopoly.
In great public undertakings, which require a larger capi-
tal than private individuals can afford to embark, or which, .
if they could raise, they could prudently put to the risk, an
incoporation of merchants may be useful, but in the pre-
sent very advanced state of commercial opulence, we doubt
much whether any branch of commerce which individual
fortunes cannot meet, is worth the cultivating ; and of this
we are quite sure, that in sound policy joint-stock compa-
nies ought not, at this time of day, to be encouraged by
Government, since, under whatever plausible pretences
they may come forward, their only operation will be to en- ,
rich themselves at the expense of the pridie. or at the ex-
pense, at least, of that part of it who are Ins excluded
from all competition.
Of all the purposes for which any body of merchants
could he incorporated, the least called for is that of effect-
ing Marine lusarranses ; it is utterly impossible to put it
tinder better management than it alidy is under ; it is
impossible to place it in hands more conversant with its di-
rect.on in all its details ; the insurers can obtain no higher
security in their transactions • the confidence of the pub-
lic in the present body of Underwriters ie complete. With
all the good, then, that can be had, mean be hoped for, on
what ground of convenience or utility cant new Company,
high in character and opulence as they limy be, crave to
be established ? is there any new hinge discovered upon
which the profit of monopoly is to turn? Is there any
new sort of integrity or circumspection which is now to
conic into the market fee the first time, and which can be
turned to better account than the old-fashioned habits of
honesty and fair-dealing which have governed the great
hody of Underwriters at Lloyd's, to the present day ? The
late,—it is with a feeling of deep and sincere concern that we
are thus obliged to say the late,—JosErn $ , Esq.
an authority that on this subject may well be trusted—an au-
thority, we will venture to say, from which no disinterested
persons would feel inclined to appeal,—has, in the very ar-
gumentative speech which is here published, canvassed
the pretensions of this projected new company in all their
bearings, and he has done it with that strong sense and
sourd ability which marked all his parliamentary discus-
sions. Adverting to the promise of additional security
held out by the projectors, his observations are forcible
and conclusive.
Another argument urged in favour of establishing this new com-
pany as, that greater security is offered to the public by them,
than can be given by indivitival underwriters. It is not necessary
for me to undertake to disprove particular instances that may be
brought forward of the insolvency of underwriters, or to contend
that they are immaculate as a body, either in property or character ;
but this I will assert, that a man who suffers by the insolvency of
underwriters at Lloyd's, suffers, generally speaking, strange as
it may appear, with his own concurrence. A broker will tell his
merchant, that he cannot complete his insurance with good men,
unless he will give a higher premium. The answer frequently is,
you must not give more, for such a house has effected the same
risk at the same premium ; therefore, get the best names you can :
and thus the merchant frequently sets the advantage to be gained
by ti:e reduction of premium. against the risk to be run from the
want of solidity in the underwrites. No merchant who offers a
fair premium, and whose business is transacted by brokers of re.
'portability, is ever under the necessity of taking a doubtful name
tio his policy ; and I maintain that Lloyd's offers better security to
the assured than can be given by any chartered company. I sty
so, fur this plain reason, that every man at Lloyd's is responsible
for his engagements to the last shilling of his fortune, while the
members of an incorporated company are responsible only for the
amount of the capital originally invested ; and the capital of the
underwriters at Lloyd's infinitely exceeds that of any chartered
company whatever. For instance, the capital of this new com-
pany is intended to be five millions, of which only one million, I
understand, is to be actually advanced. In point of fact, then,
the one million so advanced, is the whole extent of the security of.
tired to the public; for though die original subscribers to this un.
dertaking are men of fortune, and able to pay the other four mil-
how in case of need, yet they, front various motives, may be in-
duced to sell out, and may sell to men of straw, mere speculators,
who would not be able to pay the other four millions. But giving
them the whole advantage of this argument, and taking their capt-
eel at Ave minium', that sum bears no proportion to the aggregate
capital of the underwriters at Lloyd's; for I could name fifty out of
the LAO subscribers to that house, who would pay down these fire ,
millions at any time, without the smallest inconvenience, leaving'
the capital of the other 1430 subscribers wholly untouched. Events
have occurred within these few years, that would have more than
swallowed up the capital of this,emeeprise,asetimis have actualy
occasioned the failure of a single ftellisidual at Lloyd's ; for every
prudent underwree • regularly classes all his risks, and proportions
the amount he hazards on those of each particular description to
his means of payment in case of lows a precaution which could
not possibly be observed in the vast man of business that would be
undertaken by. this new company. The events to which I allude,
are the detention and subsequent condemnation of the Dutch ships,
in consequence of the hostilities that took place between this coun-
try in Holland, in the Tear 1794; the capture sod condemnation of
American vessels by }ranee and Spain. in the year 1797, on the
plea of their navigating without the role d'equipage required by
treaty ; and the seizure of all the British ships in the ports of Hue-
sia, by the Emperor Paul, in the year 17W:. Had this intended
new Company been established previous to either of those periods,
comprehending within itself, se the proprietors therowlves declare
it does, 9-Ititlis of the commercial interest of this metropolis, and
of course doing 11-10ths of the business, and sustaining IhlOths of
the losses, it must hare been totally ruined. But the proprietors,
sheltered under that limited responsibility which is the great object
of their present application to Parliament, would still have conti-
nued nien of opulence; their carriages would still have rolled along
the streets, and have splashed with mire the udlortunate
indivi-
duals, who had been mined by their insolvency as a Company.
When these disasters happened, some Underwriters certainly failed ;
but the number was comparatively small ; the blasts that would
have torn up this I:oilman/ by the roots, scarcely brought down a
leaf from the tree at Lloyd a. ifhether, therefore, we consider the
amount of the capital employed at Lloyd's, or the subdivision of
risks attended to by the individual Underwriters there, it is obvious
that the public enmity, so far from being augmented, would be
diminished, by 9-lathes of the insurance business being trans-
ferred to this great chartered Company.
This statement is conclusive, because the facts are un-
answerable. The whole of the speech, together with the
documents annexed .to it, deserve to be read with the
greatest cares and examined with the greatest attention.
The following remarks are manifestly the result of a mind
well-informed and every way suited to the discussion of
the subject.
The effect of establishing a company possessing such vast in-
fluence within itself, must be, that this great Leviathan will swal-
low up se the small fry; that it will deprive the insurance brokers
and underwriters of those avocations to which they have devoted
their time, in which they have embarked their fortunes, and by
which they have maintained themselves and their families. But it
is contended, that these consequences will not enemy: that this New
Marine Insurance Company will, on the contrary, encourage the
insurance trade, by the increased facility and advantage it will af-
ford ; and that thus more new business will be brought to Lloyd's
titan will be taken away. They who so argue, if they believe what
they say, must be weak indeed. The principle of this Company
is not competition, but combination; it even precludes all poufs
bility of competition ; for the proprietors tell you, that they pas-
sea nine-tenths of the commercial interest of the city of London,
and that they wish to form themselves into a company, for the pur-
pose of effecting their own insurances. Who that can wrest them
out of their hands? Besides, if this Cuumeny be incorporated, on
what grounds can incorporation', be refused to any other set of men?
Every out-port will have its Marine Insurance f'ompanv ; and if
the merchants of this metropolis, who are not interested in this
establishment, have sufficient business among them to form a se-
cond compary, a second company will he established here, and
thus the %hole business of undawriting by Individuals will be alto-
gether annihilated.
The following is a manly and deserved tribute to that
high tone of English feeling, which, in a crisis which truly
called for it, distinguished the body of individuals ad-
verted to.
tireat as I consider the evil of this intended establishment to be
in itself, I consider it as greater still, when I reflect on the ruin
that it will inevitably bring on a numerous class of meritorious in-
dividuals, who, I may say, hare more than ordinary claims to pub-
he consideration. The subscribers to Lloyd's, in promoting their
own interests, have at the same time promoted those of their coun-
try; they have increased her revenue, and raised her commercial
character as well as her prosperity. With a liberality not always
found in public Ladies, they freely and gratuitously communicate
that intelligence to others, which they daily procure at a heavy ex-
pense to themselves. By a standing regulation of the house, ac-
cess is given to their books in the non-subscribers' mom to every
individual whose interest, or whose anxiety for his absent friends,
may bring him there. The editors of the public, papers constantly
resort there also, and all the information the public receive respect-
ing shippi g concerns, comes front Lloyd's. The subscribers to
Lloyd's have, at all times, been ready to set an -*sample to their
countrymen of public spirit and liberality. Their hands and beans
have ever been open to relieve the distress of those who have suf-
fered, and to reward the valour of those who have distinguished
themselves in the cause of their country. More particularly at the
commencement of the present war, at a period of great and generel
public alarm, when teary man expected to be obliged to contend
for British libertynn British ground. they stood nobly forward ; by
a well-tinted sod !iplrhed effort, they infused energy and confidence
into the public mind, and gave an impulse to patriotism, which
was felt, and most beneficially felt, to the very remotest corner of
the British dominions.
The following observations are so important in them-

select, and so deeply inter:sting in their reChlt, that,
pressed as we are for space, we cannot withhold them from
the reader.
Not merely the interest, but the moral character of the nation,
st stake teptin the issue of this measore. 'f he great eta of these
incorporated companies was the year 1721). when the spirit of ad-
venture in speculations of this sort inflamed the minds of the pen-
pie to such i degree, that all sober itidurf'y and patient application
were despised, and every man was intent upon making his fortune
in a moment. by engaging in some of these undertakinca. Not
merchants alone, but many of the most ancient and noble families
lin this kingdom, as we read in the history of those times, were to-
tally ruined by this epidemical madness. I shall not repent the his-
I tory of the South Sea Company, and twenty other companies,
which rose like bubbles, and like bubbles burst, to the great min-
' lument of the first projectors, and the ruin of the infatuated public,
who purchased Shares in them at a most enormous advance. More
to my purpose is the history of the marine insurance companies,
which were eateblialied at that very perind. I find, in reading the
records of those days, that in July. 1729, a very few months after
the London Assurance Company received its charter, and before
any considerable profits could possibly hare been realized, the
stuck, on which only ten per cent. was paid, rase to 120, and even
to 166--sixteen times the capital. That in the month of October,
in the sante year. a hurricane, which destroyed part of the home-
ward-bound Jamaica fleet, reduced their stork to 60 per cent.; and
that other losses happening soon afterwafds, it fell before the end of
the year to 15, and even 12 per cent. The historian adds, that for
years afterwards, nothity more was heard of this company, except
in the perpetual complaints of the proprietors, that they were
cheated by the direanni ; and yet, Sir, this company, like the in-
tended New Marine Insurance Company, was first set on foot, by
honourable men, Gorda and Members of Parliament. Even our
prudent neighbours, the Dutch, were infected by the same mania;
and with precisely the same result. A marine insurancecompany
was established in 1720. at Rotterdam, and their miens or abates
soon rose to 1066 per cent. The shares of one established at the
same thin at Gouda. rose in a few months to the almost incredible
premium of 3000 per cent. on the capital advanced ; and before the'
end of the mane year fell again to their original value. Another
set up at Delft, experieneed the same TtVerllllll wittily the same apace
of time ; and we read, that the avarice and gambling spirit of the
proprietors, in every one of these companies, was ultimately
punished by the entire loss of all their capital. The present scheme
takes a more daring flight than any of Its predecessors; it embraces
a larger interest. professes to act on a wider scale, and is therefore
more calculated than any plan ever hitherto projected; to Mimic
the ignorant and entrap the unwary.