At length the sword wore out the scabbard. For thirty years he had been subject to an incurable asthmatic malady, and for the last ten years of his life he had never been free from daily and nightly paroxysms of pain. A long time prior to his death he, in a somewhat eccentric spirit, ordered a coffin of beautiful oak to be made, and to undergo the process which would save it from dry rot; this was kept at the undertaker’s, where he often philosophically went to contemplate the future depository of his remains. Not satisfied with the good he had effected in his life, he left at his death 13,000l. to maintain the institution which he had founded. He was buried in his own cemetery; and there are many wealthy men who may take a lesson from Barber Beaumont in the employment of their riches, and many poor men who may copy his unceasing industry, prudence, and perseverance.
Some allusion to the baneful career of the cholera, fortunately more rare in its visits than the old plague, will not be out of place in a volume, the basis of which is the mortality of the people. Although from 1832, when it made its second appearance in England[25], various rumours had been spread of its approach, it was not until 1849 that it came again to this country in all its terrible reality. The appalling disease of that year will not be readily forgotten; for it spared neither the rich in his mansion, nor the poor in his hovel. It smote the physician who attempted its cure, and it struck down the priest who supplicated its departure. It was not, however, indiscriminate in its attacks; for wherever a squalid population hedged in the lofty terrace or the aristocratic square, it spread from the meagre workman to his healthy fellow-citizen. The business of most life-assurance offices increased with rapidity. Some of them were besieged with applicants. Men saw their neighbours’ houses closed, and feared that a similar symbol might soon mark their own. They ran, therefore, while there was yet time, to do that which they should have done before; and so great was the influx, that it is doubtful had this new form of plague lasted in all its intensity, whether some of the companies would not have shared the panic and shut their doors. It was scarcely possible to see house after house bearing the signs of mourning, without an indefinite future pressing its claims; and when it was found that, in several cases, insurance was followed by rapid death, they who knew little or nothing of the doctrine of chances, suggested that for a period the offices should be closed; and as life after life was insured and fell, and as day by day the gloom of the City increased, it was even agitated by those who should have been better informed. But the companies maintained their calling; though then, if ever, they should have mooted, whether those who insured their lives, and went to reside among ill-constructed sewers, foul gully holes, and teeming cesspools, should not have paid a higher premium than those who went to ventilated houses, breezy suburbs, and well built districts. This point seems completely lost sight of. Every inquiry is made concerning gout, asthma, and consumption; but no question is put concerning the health of a locality. A man determined to commit suicide, and not void his policy, may as surely effect his purpose as if he visibly destroyed himself; for wherever scarlet or typhus fever rages, there may he reside without question. “Whoever has insured his life,” remarks Mr. Dickens, “may live over a cesspool. He who has taken out a policy, is not called to give notice of his intention, though he may purpose removing to some quarter of the town, in which his house may be ill-ventilated, his neighbourhood confined, his drainage in a state of horrible neglect. There was a case in point, that attracted public notice some little time ago. A gentleman, aged thirty-one, in excellent health, assured his life for a 1000l. Having paid only three annual premiums, he removed to a sickly spot in the Bethnal Green Road, and died of typhus fever after a few days’ illness.”
These ideas are gaining ground. Mr. Austin first started them, and Mr. Dickens has reproduced them. They arose during the fatal sickness just alluded to, and are certainly not unworthy the consideration of all who are interested on the subject.
A new plan, now known as the half-credit system, was first introduced in 1834, by the United Kingdom Life Assurance Company; and although strongly opposed at its commencement, has since been very generally adopted. By this system a person aged 30, whose annual premium for insuring 1000l. would be 21l. 18s. 4d., may insure 2000l. by paying the same premium annually for five years, after which 43l. 16s. 8d. would be required. This would leave 109l. 11s. 8d., including interest, to be paid off at his convenience, or to be deducted at his death; but should he die within the first five years, his family would receive 2000l. instead of the 1000l. they would have received under the old system.
CHAP. XIV.
SELECT COMMITTEE OF 1841.—INSTANCES OF DECEPTION.—PUBLICATION OF ACCOUNTS.—NEW COMPANIES—ASSERTIONS ABOUT THEM—THEIR IMPORTANCE—SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THEM.
A select committee was appointed in 1841 to consider the laws relating to joint stock companies. It concluded its labours in 1843. There was an evident want of amendment in these laws. For about fifteen years prior to 1840, the world had been at the mercy of any one who chose to publish an advertisement, call himself a company, and receive money for assurances and annuities. Vast sums had been obtained, therefore, by daring adventurers of the Montagu Tigg school, who launched with avidity into this branch of business. Besides the loss by the West Middlesex, nearly half a million sterling had passed from the pockets of the public to those of projectors; and the following instances will prove that government were not called upon to interfere without a sad necessity:—
A family of swindlers founded an office. One of them changed his name, called himself trustee, and acted as chief manager. Who would believe that this man, without character and without money, induced several members of parliament to become directors? because “they thought they were doing a kindness to the promoter;” allowing their names to be used as lures to a concern whose shareholders, when it broke up, were found to be “minors, married women, labourers, and small tradesmen.”