Review contoing an article on Lloyd's, in which, though there is not much that is uew, there is a good deal that is interesting. The article ie rather in the Handbook style; a compilation which no pain Inve been taken to enliven, In com ug his paper the author contents himself with saying Unt it is probable marine insurance hing existed from very ently ages; but the Secretary of Llosd's is surely inn position {o tell us somer more of the practice of the ancients in thi respect. It is trae that he alludes te probability of the grain fleets which uppiled Greece and Rome linying been insured; but we should like to have' heard something about the Institutes of Rhodes in reference to sen insurance, and whether the ancient Hindus covered their marine ventures, and those old Saxon mutual agreements by which the wombers of the Guilds guaranteed ench other against " Jove by fire, water, robbory, and other cal mach wider policy than modern offices, Then there are the traces of marine insurance about the time of the fir Punic war, and the debateable question of. the Emperor Olnudius Lnving underwritten grain cargoes to encourage the Roman foreign trade, The author has however re. wolf to the comparatively ut insurance, nud to the practice and business of Lloyd's. Bat when he notes tnt the theologians, as he calls them, who in the Middle Agos wore the framers and interpreters of the laws, permitted usury ug mating insurance, on recount of the which attended marine adventure, ho might jer back in history, and ed that the ssu exowption was allowed in the sacred law tracts, which the Hindus suppose to have been revealed to Menu, some millions of years ago, and which go verned their mere ni regulations long before the Christian ern, A very rude system, or the elements of one is found in the Muritime Code of the Mataye, which is probably five to six' hundred years old. But our nather notices that in the regulations of Barceloun, which were framed in 1,483, clause provided ug ance of ship, a charge which it would seem was then brought aguinst owners, just ne it has been in yours, Bat it was not until th of Charles the First, that English jurisprudence admitted the exception, in the laws affecting the interest on money, of higher rate for adventures by sen, Three hundred years before that time the business of marine insurance was carried on in London by the merchants of the Hanseatic League. When their Staple House was closed at the end of the sixteenth century English commerce ud become lusty, and the traders ambitions, under the the fostering policy of good Quee: Elizabeth, who is not at all no likely lave had a share in this lucrative business, as. liked to have' that was going by which large profits could be made, The Royal Exchange was then built and a room it eet apart for the traueactiou ut iusurauoe business, but n long time elapsed before Junderwriters had a regaler meeting place, Lloyd's Coffee House, in Tower Street, wns chosen towards the end of the seventeenth century, and in 1692 wis moved to the corner of Lamburd Street Jand Abchursh Lane, where a system of marine intelligence wax organized, Lloyds News wns begun in 1696, nnd [stopped after issuing seventy-six num her, in consequence of a Report on the action of the Lordy with regard to silks; but was resuscitated in 1726, under the title of Lloyd's List, which in now the oldest paper, the exception of the London Gazette. It append that down to 1770 no member formalities were necessary in order become n member of Lloyd's, But illicit gambling and wagering had become miscellaneous business was ives of gentlemen ight happen to stand accountable to their country for misconduct weve freely inured, as well as the lives of well-known personages 80 sven Aen paragraph appeared in the newspapers announcing them to he dangerously ill? chen the sober minded underwriters ud brokers obtained possession of the List, and withdrew within topepo's Hend Alles. The part of (he grent war, whioh waw expanding Bugiand, between 1775 and 18165 virtually wade Lloyd's, Every. Jone insured their ships wud cargoes there at high premiums, because the risks were high? Merchunta of grent nmo insurers of maritime property, and where formerly the avers age amounted seldom to £100 to £200, tons of thousnuds were written in the line of a single unto ut Lloyd's,' Dare Unt period of forty youre the [wars in which England way constantly ngagod somewhere or other, did not impede the inorense of commerce, which being of the value nnonally of some twelve millions sterling at the beginning of the century bad grown to thirty. two millions in 1775. Two yeara afters wards, during the Amorionn war, the value was four millions wore and from that time forward it continued stenchly rising, All this, and the ships whioh onrried it, was written in London, and Lloyd's ind the iowa shure, the two clare tered Companies, the London Assurance and the Royal Exchange which hud been granted monopolies of the must exclu 1720, doing very little of it, An instance, showing the extent of he business then done at Lloyd's is arnighed by the loss of the Diana on which £658,000 had been insured £631,800 was underwritten at Lloyd's and only £25,000 by the two com. panies, In 1779 a form of policy was souled at Lloyd's, which is the same ne that now issued from the Inland Re~ anne, only the words 'In the nate of od, Amen,' at the beginning, having been changed into Be it known that The great fortunes made ut Lloyd's during the wars with France brought many cumpelitors into the field, Various atlempls were made to establish marine offices carly in (his century, but it was
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.