Bruges, Novogorod, and London, the one at Bergen in Norway was of slight importance, and yet, through its agency, the confederacy acquired, and for a lengthened period of time enjoyed, the monopoly of the entire commerce of that kingdom.

The means by which this was obtained, were combined of negociations, money, and military power. Many valuable privileges were thus secured, by which the merchants of the League, although influenced by selfish considerations, were enabled to introduce the useful commodities of civilized life, which, by creating a taste for manufactures and the arts, gradually dispersed the clouds of dark ignorance that prevailed, and laid the foundation for that intelligence and refinement which at the present age so brilliantly distinguish the countries of northern Europe. With all the vast and formidable array of foreign influence and interests which we have described, possessed of a strong and well organized navy, together with almost the entire sovereignty of the northern seas, and holding the wealth of nations in its grasp, the confederacy presented a tower of strength, which seemed capable of withstanding the rudest and most mighty shocks which could be hurled against it by any earthly power.

Every nation that dared to infringe upon its commercial privileges was speedily visited with the heaviest retribution, and the slightest violation of its political rights called down upon the aggressor the deepest vengeance. The transcendent might of the League was felt and acknowledged throughout every state in Europe, and the ships of war which it possessed were often hired by neighboring princes to assist them in repelling invasion from abroad, or to chastise foreign insult and oppression.

În 1358, the Danes, who were a barbarous, but powerful and warlike nation, maintained a fleet of armed ships in the Sound, which, for interrupting the commerce of the confederacy, were attacked by its ships of war, and nearly annihilated; and this so terrified Waldemar III., then king of Denmark, that he proposed the most humiliating terms of peace, by which he gave up all Schonen to the League for the space of sixteen years; and it was thus enabled to command the passage of the whole Sound and in 1428, Erick, a succeeding monarch, having violated some of its maritime regulations, two hundred and fifty sail, with twelve thousand men on board, were sent against him, who, after ravaging his kingdom with all the horrors of fierce national warfare, compelled him to make ample restitution for every wrong he had committed, and obliged him to submit to such terms for restoring peace to his shaken empire as the confederacy thought proper to impose.

Towards the close of the fifteenth century, mighty elements began to form throughout Europe for the ultimate overthrow of the confederacy. Its vast superiority had arisen, as much from the insubordination, anarchy, and confusion that had prevailed around it, as from the enlightened political organization by which it was governed; and when the civilization and refinement which pervaded its cities began to pour their rays of light over the countries of Europe, their monarchs became impressed with the urgent necessity that existed, for the adoption of national measures calculated to improve the intellectual and social condition of their subjects, and for the establishment of the political institutions of their kingdoms upon a wiser and broader foundation. Influ

enced by the great commercial interests which the confederacy had so widely disseminated, and which had become of the deepest importance in promoting the advancement of national wealth and power, more enlightened and beneficial systems of laws were enacted and promulgated. The gloomy and illiberal usages which had prevailed under the influence of feudal government, were every where disappearing before the onward strides of civilization and refinement.

The arts and sciences began to be appreciated and cultivated, and the prevalence of civil order and beneficial laws was experienced, where intestine commotions, discord, and despotism, had before reigned. The inhabitants of the countries amongst which the confederated cities were situated, saw the immense advantages which commerce bestowed, and although eager to participate in their enjoyment, the superior privileges and immunities possessed by the members of the confederacy, and of which they were deprived, offered an almost insuperable barrier to ultimate success and prosperity. As the naval strength of the League formed the principal elements by which its influence and power abroad were preserved, and its ascendency upon the seas maintained, the maritime nations of Europe perceived, that they must rival and even overpower it in this respect, before their subjects would be able to compete with its citizens in commercial enterprises; and the most strenuous exertions were made to accomplish this object.

The countries of Zealand and Holland, by uniting their fleets, were at length sufficiently powerful at sea to vindicate their right to the free navigation of the Baltic, which, after many struggles, they succeeded in establishing; and from that time the downfall of the League rapidly advanced.

Many of its richest cities withdrew the moment that they no longer stood in need of its support, and those that had joined it through fear of being otherwise shut out from all intercourse with foreign countries, immediately seceded; and no sooner had the ships of the English and Dutch commenced trading with the Prussian and Polish towns, than these also separated from the confederacy.

In 1552, the English merchants, indignant that a company of foreigners should enjoy privileges of which they were deprived, presented a petition praying for their abolishment, by which it appeared that the company had so engrossed the cloth trade the preceding year, that they had exported fifty thousand pieces, while all the English together had exported but one thousand one hundred. As the power of the confederacy had dwindled away, leaving but the mere shadow of its former greatness, the English parliament no longer feared its vengeance, and an act was passed entirely abrogating the numerous franchises which it had enjoyed, and thus was its influence in England forever destroyed.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, the only cities composing it were Lubec, Hamburgh, and Bremen, and even these retained little besides the name to distinguish their sovereignty.

A development of the commercial resources possessed by the nations of Europe had been accomplished by the League; the purposes of its organization had been effected; and when its power was no longer necessary for the continuance of commercial prosperity, when the spirit of rude barbarism had been expelled by the introduction of civilization and refinement, and social order and political subordination had tri

umphed over the tyranny, oppression, and anarchy which had so long prevailed, the mighty agent which had produced these changes passed silently away from among the sovereignties of the earth, leaving the impress of its former commercial grandeur deeply stamped upon every enlightened country in Europe.

ART. II.-FRAUD UPON UNDERWRITERS.

Ships are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats and water-rats, water thieves and land thieves; I mean pirates; and then there is the peril of waters, winds, and rocks."-Merchant of Venice.

As the elementary writers on the law of insurance have most elaborately and with much perspicacity discussed the whole subject of barratry, the rights of parties, and all that relates to losses arising from the fraudulent conduct of the master and mariners, are well understood; but, with all the light that can be derived from the law, enough is not known of the cause, the nature, and the extent of the innumerable barratrous acts by which insurance companies suffer. It is within the power of practical men alone, who mingle daily with the business of marine insurance, in its every branch, to explain and expose the collusions which are so much dreaded by underwriters, and which are so fearlessly practised against them. It is, then deeply to be regretted, that those who have that power do not boldly exert it, in order that measures more efficient, better concerted, and simultaneous in their effect, might be adopted to check the growing and devastating evil. Every individual should unreservedly contribute all his information, for only by a knowledge of the past can future attempts be avoided and defeated, and this species of intelligence is too much the property of the public to be withheld from any trivial or selfish consideration.

"The contract of insurance," in the language of a distinguished French lawyer, "is the noble result of the genius of man, and the first guaranty of maritime commerce. It has consulted the seasons; it has gazed upon the ocean; it has interrogated that terrible element; it has judged of the sea's inconstancy, and it has considered its commotions; it has scrutinized the policy of nations; it has reconnoitered the ports and coasts of the two worlds; and having submitted all to the nice theories and calculations of skilful men, it has said to the able merchant and the intrepid navigator, truly there are disasters over which humanity may only weep, but as to your fortune, go, launch forth upon the seas, display your activity and your industry, I charge myself with your risks." During the four hundred years that the contract and usages of insurance have been in existence, it has been the safeguard of commerce. Under its protection, trade has been expanded and stimulated, and science has extended its benign influence to the most remote quarters of the earth. With the certain security which it affords, the energetic merchant confidently plans and successfully consummates gigantic enterprises involving the employment of capital, which is, by means of insurance, rendered as powerful as if the amount were illimitable, and the prosperity of innumerable

citizens who, under its auspices, find a reward for their industry and a market for their productions, bears triumphant evidence of its beneficial results. It assumes all the risks incident to commerce; defying the elements and the acts of men, it wisely affords protection against every deed of premeditated or accidental wrong, excepting those which surreptitiously originate with, or which are caused by, persons who have sought it as a cover for a fraud, rather than as a means of safety. Without this contract, commerce could not be sustained, and would sink into disgraceful insignificance. The hazards of trade, without the security which insurance now affords, would deter the prudent, whilst the most presumptuous durst not venture boldly on any commercial project of magnitude.

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The merchant, then, of every country, is directly interested in the success of underwriters. Insurance companies are formed by the combination of capital derived from many sources, and which often includes the funds of orphans and widows who have little else to depend upon. These institutions require, and to a great extent receive, the protection of wise and salutary laws, and it should be the duty of every good citizen, either as a juror or private man, to assist in preserving them from the ruinous assaults of the fraudulent; for, besides the injustice of the niary loss thus inflicted, and their vital importance to the prosperity and commercial influence of our merchants, it is a duty due to the integrity of our nation, to exert all honest means not only to keep them in existence, but in a condition to afford a reasonable profit to those who, by venturing to own insurance stock, contribute their aid to the advancement of our commerce. But our own merchants are particularly interested, and in a pecuniary point of view, to prevent and expose frauds. The rates of premium charged by insurers, are governed by the amount of losses. Thus the honest man is made to contribute for the acts of the swindler, by paying the higher rate of premium, which goes indirectly into the coffers of those who live by these frauds, to the great injury of the innocent. Who, then, however humble his station in life, would not contribute his willing aid to preserve and perpetuate the companies which are in existence, by preventing, as far as possible, those impositions which, whilst they degrade our commerce, are in their results so injurious? Continued success on the part of those who practise fraud emboldens renewed and more important attempts, until the earnings and capital of insurers are absorbed, and their companies are either too much embarrassed to continue to insure risks, or they are entirely dissolved; and thus, besides the losses of the unfortunate stockholders, that competition among insurers, which is so beneficial to the merchant, is decreased or wholly removed; and, a few years more of the unprecedented misfortunes which have fallen upon underwriters for the last eight years, aided by the unremitted labor of swindlers, will bring a ruin so complete upon the companies, as to leave, at last, no protection against those hazards of commerce which insurers have honestly borne, since the first chartered company was known to our country. The apathy of our merchants upon this interesting subject is unfortunate in the extreme; and were they once aroused to its importance, we should find them promptly concerting measures for the amelioration of this greatest of all evils to which the business of insurance is exposed. In former times, when insurance business was carried on by individuals, there was in the trial of insurance

causes a greater regard for law, and the requirements of justice were sacred. In our day, there is an unholy prejudice against corporations, which too often corrupts and impedes the course of both law and justice. No sympathy for insurers exists, there should be no occasion for sympathy for either party; but the prevailing feeling is so decidedly opposed to insurers, that the merest tyro can easily excite in a jury rancorous prejudices, and even an indignation which neither law nor reason can allay, so that to command a verdict for insurers, even with the most clear case, is a matter of chance and uncertainty. This prejudice should be uprooted. That practice among jurors which would visit an unjust loss upon the many, because it would fall heavily upon an individual, cannot be too soon exploded. Evenhanded justice should prevail. The man who cannot divest himself of all prejudice against corporations, should never make a mockery of justice by taking the oath of a juror.

The several large cities of our union have, within the last twenty years, witnessed the rise, progress, and speedy destruction, of many chartered insurance companies, with an immense amount of capital; but the enormous share which fraud has had in producing their ruin has been but too slightly understood, for no one interested has taken the trouble to collect and publicly expose facts. We are occasionally treated to a newspaper report of an isolated case, but nothing like a general history of frauds upon underwriters has ever been given to the public; and, indeed, such a publication should be oftentimes repeated, as the ingenious plans of the swindlers vary with the times. Were it asserted by any individual, that for the last eight years one out of every three of the demands which have been made upon marine insurers in the United States, whether eventually paid or not, bore the badge of fraud, would the assertion gain the belief of one of those, who, being honest themselves, are willing to hope that others are so likewise? And yet it may be found, upon a dispassionate examination of facts, that such an assertion would not vary essentially from strict truth. Perhaps, however, the assertion should be so far qualified as to explain, that the term fraud is applied to cases which have been engendered in dishonesty by designing men, and perpetrated by fraudulent agents, as well as to those which, without being planned in fraud, have ended in, or been augmented by, fraudulent acts or proofs. The hardihood of the individual who should make such an assertion might excite, among those who are governed by motives of a prudential and pecuniary character, as much surprise as the assertion itself would in those who have been inattentive to the cases of fraud which are continually occurring; but no consideration should restrain a well disposed person from laying bare, at least, some of the facts upon which the assertion would be founded, in order that the public might be enabled to judge whether the number of cases marked by fraud exceeds or falls short of the estimated proportion.. Facts for such an estimate, can only be derived from long and arduous attention to the business of insurance in all its ramifications. They cannot be gleaned by him who is not as often employed in an adverse position to underwriters as in their favor, nor can they be acquired by one whose habits, taste, or sense of duty, will not permit him to mingle with strange company, and sometimes with disagreeable circumstances. It is impossible for the underwriter, who quietly and carefully attends to the business of his own office, to know of one half the frauds which are almost daily attempted agains this company, and