The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-09-07 00:00:00

ultimate resr

_ ears the obligations of
the Life Assurance Companies in Scotland will, I have no
doubt, exceed those of the Scotch banks."

STATE OF LIFE ASSURANCE IN GREAT BRITAIN.
" The amount assured in the Life Assurance Inati

tions of Great Britain is estimated at u
HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLIONS STE

rds of ONE
No, yielding

annual premiums to the amount of £5,000,000."
We can well agree with Mr. Thomson, after having
such large amuunts set down, that "institutions
entering into contracts of such remote fulfilment on
their part, and of such vast magnitude, should be
subject to some general check on the part of go-
vernment." We need not follow the author through
his different suggestions, but the most important
are the following,—premising that it is supposed
that a true financial statement of every office is
periodically lodged with government :—" That a
thoroughly practical and judicious professional
actuary, unconnected with any assurance office, be
appointed as auditor in conjunction with the regis-
trar, with power to send for persons and documents,
and who shall be in close communication with the
Board of Trade. That the Board of Trade, after a
report from the registrar and auditor, and such
further procedure as may be thought necessary, be
empowered to suspend the operations of any society
whose management is disrespectable or tending to
insolvency.'

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. September.

The number for the present month contains in-
teresting matter for every, class of readers. The
political article, " The Premier's present position,"
is an able vindication of Lord Derby and his sup-
porters from the charges of dishonesty and deceit,
so freely urged against them by the Times and other
Whig-Radical journals. The writer shows clearly
that, though privately adhering to the principle of
protection, Lord Derby and his supporters having
appealed to the country on that question, amongst
others, promising to be guided by that decision,
and the verdict being against them on that one
question, they are perfectly justified in retaining
power with a view to carry out the other questions
with respect to which the country has declared in
their favour. Amongst the literary portion of the
contents, is a review of Lord Cockburn's life of
Jeffrey, in which the reviewer shows that he does
not consider his Lordship eminently fitted for the
task he has undertaken; a review of "Our Anti-
podes," by Colonel Mundy ; a continuation of the
beautifully written tale of " Katie Stewart," " My
Novel," and one or two other pieces. " Christopher
under Canvass," affords us a true poet's exposition
of the sublimity of Milton's portraiture of Satan in
his " Paradise Lost."

The Dodd Family Abroad. By Charles Lever.
London : Chapman and Hall.
We have received the first number of a new and
exceedingly amusing work by this facetious writer.
As the story has gone on but shortly, we must post-
pone our remarks, but we present a sample. It is
illustrated in the usual style, and will he hailed by
many who seek amusement in their readings.
THE DODD FAMILY HAVING ARRIVED AT OSTEND, MR.
DODD DESCRIBES HIS FEELINGS TO HIS FRIEND, MR.
THOMAS PURCELL, OF THE GRANGE, BELIEF.
Hotel de Bain, Ostend.
Dear Torn,—Here we are at last—as tired and sea-sick
a party as ever landed on the same shore ! Twenty-eight
hours of it, from the St. Katharine Docks—six of them
bobbing opposite 'Margate in a fog—ringing a big bell all
the time, and firing minute-guns, lest some thumping In•
diaman or a homeward-bound Peninsular should run into
us ; and five more sailing up and down before Ostend,
till it was safe to cross the bar, and enter the blackguard
little harbour. The Phoenix—that was our boat—started
the night before the Paul Jones mail-packet, and we only
beat her by a neck, after all. And this was a piece of
Mrs. Dodd's economy : the Phoenix only charges " Ten
and six" for the first cabin ; but, what with the board for
a day and a night—boats to fetch you out, and boats to
fetch you in—brandy-and-water against the sickness,
much good it was ! soda-water, stewards, and the devil
knows what of broken crockery—James fell into the
" Cuddy," I think they call it, and smashed two dozen
and three wine-glasses, the most of a blue tea-service,
and a big tureen—the economy turned out a " delusion
and a snare," as they say in the House. It's over now,
thank God ! and except some bruises against the bulk-
heads and a touch of jaundice, I'm nothing the worse.
We landed at night, and were marched off in a gang to
the Custom House. Such a time I never spent before !
for when they upset all our things on the floor, there was
no getting them into the trunks again ; and so we made
our way through the streets, with shawls, and muffs, and
silk dresses all round us, like a set of play-actors. As for
me, I carried a turban in one hand, and a tray of artificial
flowees in the other, with a toque on my head and a bird-
of-paradise feather in my mouth. James fell, crossing
the plank, with three bran new frocks and a bonnet of the
girls, and a thing Mrs. D. calls a " visite"—egad, they
made a visite of it, sure enough, and are likely to stay
some time there, for they are under some five feet of black
mud, that has lain there since before the memory of man.
This wasn't the worst of it ; for Mrs. D., not seeing very
well in the dark, gave one of the passport people a box on
the ear that she meant for poor Paddy, and we were
hauled up before the police, and made pay thirty francs
for " insulting the Authorities," with something written
on our passport besides, describing my wife as a danger-
ous kind of woman, that ought to be looked after. Poor
Mathews, had a funny song, that ran—
" If ever you travel, it musn't seem queer
That you sometimes get rubs that you never get here."
But, faith, it appears to me that we have fallen in with a
most uncommon allowance of friction. Perhaps it's all
for the best, and by a little roughing at first, we'll the
sooner accustom ourselves to our new position.
You know that I never thought much of this notion of
coming abroad, but Mrs. D. was full of it, and gave me
neither peace nor ease till I consented. To be sure, if it
only realises the half of what she says, it's a good specu-
lation—great economy—tip-top education for Tom and
the girls—elegant society without expense—fine climate—
and wine for the price of the bottles. I'm sorry to leave
Dodsborough. I got into a way of living there that
suited me ; and even in the few days I spent in London,
I was missing my morning's walk round the big turnip-
field, and my little gossip with Joe Moone. Poor Joe !
don't let him want while I'm away, and be sure to give
him his turf off our own bog. «'e won't be able to drain
the Lough meadows this year, for we'll want every six-
pence we can lay our hands on, for the start. Mrs. D.
says, " 'Tis the way you begin abroad decides every-
thing ;" and, faith, our opening up to this has not been
too prosperous.
I thought we'd gave got plenty of letters of recommen-
dation for the Continent while we were in London ; but
it is downright impossible to see peorle there. Vickers,
our member, was never at home, and Lord Pummistone—
I I might besiege Downing-street from morning till night,
and never get a sight of him ! I wrote as many as twenty
letters, and it was only when I bethought me of saying
1 that the Whigs never did anything except for people of
the Grey, Elliott, or Dundas family, that he sent me five
lines, with a kind of introduction to any of the Envoys or
Plenipotentiaries I might meet abroad—a roving commis-
sion after a dinner—sorrow more or less ! I believe,
however, that this is of no consequence : at least, a most
agreeable man, one Krauth, the Sub-Consul at Moelen-
drach, somewhere in Holland, and who came over in the
same packet with us, tells me that people of condition,
like us, find their place in the genteel society abroad as
naturally as a man with moustaches goes to Leicester-
, square. That seems a comfort, for, between me and you,
the fighting and scrambling that goes on at home about
who we'll have, and itho'll. have us, makes life little bet-
ter than an Election. shindy ! K. is a mighty nice man,
i
and full of information. He appears to be rich, too, for
Torn saw as many as thirteen gold watches in his room ;
and he has chains, and pins. and brooches, without end.
He was trying to persuade us to spend the winter at Mee-
' lendrach, where, besides a heavenly climate, there are
such beautiful walks on the dykes, and elegant society !
Mrs. D. doesn't like it, however, for though we've been
looking all the morning, we cant find the place on the
map, but that doesn't signify. much ; since even our post
town of Kellyunaignabacklish is put down in the " Ga-
zeteer" " a small village on the road
.to Bruff," and no
mention whatever of the F9:ice station, nor Houggin'll