The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-14 00:00:00

PUNCII'S FLAN FOR PBEVENDINTG WAR.

(Registered Prospectus.)
Everybody knows why there is no duelling.
People may sometimes talk nonsense about the
world having grown more sensible and humane, or
they may talk other nonsense about its having been
time for gentlemen to discard duelling when it de-
scended to the lower orders, e. g., the celebrated
case where the barber fought the linendraper on a
question of honour, and the shaver of beards
winged the shaver of ladies. The law may have
had a little to do with it, but the law is not always
regarded with the reverence due to it; ladies
smuggle lace, peasants poach, and gentlemen
gamble behind iron doors. There was somethinc,
more than civilisation, pride, or respect for the law

required to put an end to private war.
Life Assurance did it.

Every decent man's life is assured, and policies
are declared forfeit if the decent man is put out of
:he way by a duel. Sa nobody challenges anybody
or if any wild Irishman, vicious Frenchman, or any
other valueless life were to invite an assured life to
the combat, the assured life would knock the other
life down, and then assign him to the police.
Why not try this excellent remedy on a large
scale ?
Let a Company be formed to be called the Throne
Assurance Society.
But as kings never die, the object of the Society-
must be to make a king comfortable in his circum-
stances by paying him a bonus at specific times,
and by advancing him money on the usual condi-
tions of assurance offices. llis reign would then be
al xays happy and comfortable.
But, if he goes to war, the policy shall be void,
and the Throne Company is to have a right to
confiscate his taxes, and to send the other kings,
who have beer. his securities, to quod.
The speculation would answer uncommonly well,
for sulljects would be too happy to see that the
premiums, which preserve them from the miseries
of war, were regularly paid up.
The office would not be liable if a King were
kicked out by his own subjects, as a Sovereign
with the command of money ought to be able to
make his people perfectly content.
Soverigns would, of course, have to submit to the
usual examination. A King proposing to assure
might be asked :-
1, How about your Constitution ?
2. Have you ever been afflicted with Divine
Right, or any other insanity.
3. Have any of your ancestors died violent deaths,
as by the block, guillotine, private strangulation,
Sc.?
4. Are you subject to Friests, or any similar
affliction ?
5. Give the name of your political adviser, and
say how long he has known you.
6. Are you assured in the Holy Alliance, or any
other old office ?
Further details will be published in due course.
In the meantime, Mr. Punch, Provisionol Director
and Manager,invites the consideration of Capitalists
to his scheme,. It appears to him to be a noble idea,
entirely in conformity with the spirit of the age,
and highly calculated to bring about the Millen-
nium.
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___.................

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEW GOVERNMENT
REFORM BILL FOR 1861.—Last night, Mr. Gilpin,
M.P. for Northampton, and who holds the office o.f Secre-
tary of the Poor Law Board, in an address to his.consti-
not of the Cabinet,
tuents, which will in all probability attract considerable
attention throughout the country, announced that,
definitelyiioethminPhgaticallY. of their plans, yet
tyli,elietvhea.,t spietakin
although o
ouoguhl d he
know wii s
speaking by per-
Was the in-
hmeissihoand b
uevery t
Orenason
tention of Lord John Russell to introduce into Parlia-
ment,nuthtoori
in the ensuing session, a Reform Bill similar
in its general provisions to that of last session, but with
some modifications. The failure of the last bill was attri-
buted to want of earnestness, both in and out of the house ;
but it was a positive fact that there was a strong desire on
the part of the people of England for a Reform Bill, and
was considered most advantageous to discuss it while the
minds of man were calm enough on the
an impartial and unprejudiced consideration. He called on
the people to send in petitions byth th thousand to the
9 ousan
House of Commons on the • subject.
MR. ANGERSTEIN' ." M P AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.
—Last night at eight o'clock anuinerously attended public
meeting of the electei s of Greenwich was held at the Lite-
rary Institution, in that town, to hear an address from Mr.
NV• Angerstein, M.P. for the borough, explanatory of his
Parliamentary conduct during the past se
lion,
and his
views as to various political and local questions. The chair
was occupied by Mr. B. Cook, of Blackheath, who briefly
referred to the Parliamentary career of Mr. Angtrstein as
being highly satisfactory to his
constituents, who wished to
earnest and sincere reformers. Mr.
be represented by
Angerstein,
then addressed the meeting, after which Mr.
Cobbett moved a
resolution expressive of entire approval
of the Parliamentary conduct of Mr, Angerstein since his
election, and pledging the electors to continued support.
G.. Bennett seconded the motion, which was unani-
ra
ou• sly adopted, and the meeting then separated.
pg.AINAGE.—Mr. 11. M. Vavasour, in a letter
0, contemporary says : —ln, your report of what took place
5t the meeting on Wednesday upon the subject of drainaq-e
I am made to say " The common outfall was in most cabsc;
a sluggish stream, generally running into a canal.'
What I said (speaking of a particular district with
which I am acquainted) was :—" Small thready
drains extend in every direction, but the common
outfall remains as before—a sluggish mouldering
stream, running into a navigable canal, at the junction
with which the course of the water is still further impeded
by a dam, over which the water flows three feet."
It is in contemplation of the Society of Arts
to have an exhibition of the works of the late C. R. Leslie,
B.A. in their great room, probably in May, 1861.