The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-26
BRILLIANT OCCASION
BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ART AND SCIENCES DEPARTlIENT OF LAW.

James M. Townsend, Jr. of New York De- Iivers Lecture Upon Popular Subject' and Afterwards Meets Many Distin- guished Brooklynites at the National Civic Club.
 The following has special interest in New Haven. MT. Townsend, to whom the brilliant reception was given, being a New Haven boy, a brother of United States Judge William K. Townsend of this city, and one of the lecturers at Yale law school, his field being that of lecturer on Transfer of Monetary Se- curities." The article appended is the report of the affair by the Brooklyn Standard Union:
 The season of the department of law of Brooklyn institute was brought to a close in brilliant manner last night. The members enjoyed scholarly lec- ture by James M. Townsend, jr., lec- turer of the Yale law school, on Mon etary Securities" and at its close there was a reception to the speaker of the evening, the justices of the supreme court, Surrogate Abbott, and the members of the bar. The reception was held at the newly opened National Civic club, where President Frederick w. Hinrichs dispensed an old time hospitality.
 President Flamen B. Candler, of the department of law, presided at the meeting in the art building and intro- duced MT. Townsend Promising that the story of monetary securities, and the law governing their transfer, is TO- mantle, because it deals with the sub- ject which has an unparalleled history, MT. Townsend pointed out that com- mercial necessity has brought into ex- istence the vast amount of monetary securities, now household words, and passing from hand to hand almost like money though fifty or seventy-five years ago they were practically un- known and unimportant. The law gov- erning monetary securities and their transfer Is therefore uncertain; each state has rules of it's own, often con- fiicting with those of other states, and of the Federal government, and all of- ten opposed to the English rules of governing the same subject. The ne- cessities of commerce. which have call ed these securities into life, assisted at time by legislation, have inaugurated a revolution in the law of monetary se- curities, to which the world owes the present commercial prosperity, and its great enterprises. Although monetary securities are of modern creation, there had been bonds and stocks long before, and MT. Townsend briefly and succinct- ly set forth the circumstances attend ing their origin:
 "A little more than 200 years ago, in 1893, the British parliament passed an act granting to their Majesties William and Mary certain exeises or duties on malt liquors. These excises or duties were to be held as security for loans to their majesties of a million pounds sterling; and 1t was hoped, in this way to realize a million pounds to carry on the war with France. Each subscriber to an amount of 100 pounds was entitled to name a life which should receive an annuity during its continuance-that is, to name some individual who should, as long as he lived, receive certain per- centage on the loan every year. As the number of lives diminished the an- nuities or dividends were to be divided between the survivors until the number decreased to seven. The loan was speedily taken, and thus, only 200 years ago, by system akin to tontine life insurance, which the Italian Tonti had brought to Cardinal Mazarin forty years before, million pounds was raised for the government and the present national debt of Great Britain was inaugurated. That debt was af- terwards increased to about four thou sand millions of dollars, and yet when William and Mary raised their million pounds, Louis looked across the chan nel with amazement, and exclaimed, My cousin. the prince of Orange, is fixed in the saddle.'"
 In reply to Macaulay's statement that "there can be no greater error than to imagine the device of meeting exigen- cies of the state by loan, was imported into our land by William IT, Prof. Townsend cited number of examples u prove DlS COalCHtioii tilot lhc piCSi- ous so-called debts were nothing but extortions and robberies: "for in stance" said he, "the wife of Hugh de Neville paid two hundred hens for a visit to her husband in prison. Richard I forced his subjects to give up money in proportion to their wealth for the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre, and said he would sell London itself rather than give up the crusade He sold the property of the kingdom and on his re- turn took it all back, on the ground that he had no right to alienate it. John imprisoned the mistresses of the priests to extort money from them. Henry III seized property and borrow ed largely, promising high rates of in- terest, promises which parliament re- fused to ratifv. Edward I took the money and plate of the monastaries and churches. feigning voyage to the Holy Land, and when he had collected the funds. refused to go. Richard II pawn ed the crown jewels. Edward ", who was called the handsomest tax gather CT. kissed a widow who gave more than was expected; whereupon she doubled the gift in expectation of a second kiss. Henry VIII was a noted robber. Eliz- abeth exacted large sums for New Years gifts and loans; and when she