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students of Irish history lies in the fact that it was the last desperate effort on the part of the gentry of the Pale to reverse the Act of Settlement. Without Tyrconnel, as the acknowledged leader of that party, there would have been no war in Ireland at all; and to Tyrconnel it probably mattered little or nothing what became of James, if only he and his friends could recover the ground they had lost in 1641. But, to achieve that end, it was essential that James should be able to free himself from Protestant control; and that he could only do with the aid of Louis. To Louis, Ireland possessed merely a strategic value. Provided that, by supporting the revolutionary party, he could hold William long enough in check to beat him on the Continent, he was willing to open his purse widely; but for Tyrconnel and his schemes he had not the slightest interest. One thing he and Tyrconnel had in common-to both of them James was merely a tool. In this they differed from the English and Scottish Jacobites, to whom James was everything. When he was compelled to take refuge in Ireland, all their efforts were directed to preventing him doing anything which might alienate his friends in England and Scotland. They supported him in his resolution to press the siege of Derry in person, hoping that that city, when it was won, would prove a stepping-stone to Scotland, where he would be free from the malign influences of Tyrconnel and the French. When their hopes in this direction were disappointed, they strove to prevent him yielding to the pressure brought to bear on him to repeal the Act of Settlement. But their efforts were unavailing. Supported by d'Avaux, Tyrconnel was able, in James's own words, to ram that measure down his throat.

Dr Murray condemns the repeal of the Act of Settlement as unwise; and such no doubt it was. But men in Tyrconnel's position do not stop to consider such matters. It was the gambler's last throw. The stakes. were enormous, and there was a chance of winning. Not to have taken it would have argued Tyrconnel to be a fool, which he certainly was not. That the attempt of the Anglo-Irish gentry to recover the properties of which they had been plundered was morally justifiable seems self-evident. Legally the 'rebels' were in a better

position than the loyalists.' For to urge, as Dr Murray does, that, because England had changed her sovereign, Ireland was ipso facto bound to acknowledge William, is merely to beg the question. The same argument, applied to Cromwell's usurpation, would prove Ormond to have been a rebel. The fact is that legal arguments are only valuable when they are backed by the sword. So far as the Anglo-Irish gentry were concerned, the question has been prejudiced by calling them Irish; and unfortunately there never has been a time when the name of Irishman has not been to Englishmen something like a red rag to a bull. We may, if we like to regard it from a European point of view, describe the war in Ireland as a struggle between Protestantism and Catholicism, or (better still) between constitutionalism and absolutism. But, from an Irish point of view, it was a struggle on the part of the Anglo-Irish colonists to recover their civil and religious liberties. How they came to lose these, we have tried to show. The passage we have quoted (p. 431) from 'The Beginnings of Ireland' reveals the first downward step in England's treatment of her kith and kin across the channel. From suspects they became traitors, recusants, rebels, Irish murderers, Papists, till at last no name was too bad for them. Looking back on the chequered history of the first English colony in Ireland, we cannot help regretting that religion was made the test of loyalty. Regrets are unavailing. It always seems to have been England's misfortune in her dealings with Ireland not to have allowed her that necessary degree of independence due to her situation, which, without imperilling the connexion, would have enabled Ireland to work out her own salvation. The Catholic gentry of the Pale were loyal till they were forced to be otherwise. The loyalty of Grattan's parliament was beyond dispute.

ROBERT DUNLOP.

Art. 8.-LLOYD'S AND INSURANCE.

1. History of Lloyd's and of Marine Insurance in Great Britain. By Fred. Martin. London: Macmillan, 1876. 2. Annals of Lloyd's Register. (Privately printed), 1884. 3. Lloyd's Calendar, 1914. London: Lloyd's.

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4. The Times' Shipping Number Book. London: Printing House Square, 1913.

LLOYD'S would be interesting enough if it were only a centre for the dissemination of shipping news and the home of a large proportion of the marine insurance business of the country. But it is far more than that. Most foreign nations come to London, and so to Lloyd's, for some proportion of the necessary insurance on ships and goods, without which oversea trade could not be conducted; and it is safe to say that there are very few important events which are not immediately reflected at Lloyd's. Very often they are foreshadowed. The sinking of a great liner is a matter of the utmost moment to underwriters; so may be also the disappearance of a pearl necklace. Indeed, the theft of a necklace worth over 100,000l. is of far more importance, financially, than many of the shipwrecks that occur. The wreck of a German air-ship, a disaster in a Welsh coal mine involving, perhaps, claims for hundreds of thousands of pounds, an earthquake in the Indies, a typhoon in the China Seas, a great fire in Argentine meat-freezing works, the loss of a minute portion of radium, strikes and the fear of strikes, wars and the rumours of war, and the death of a Sovereign, are all events which find immediate reflection in the great insurance market.

The explanation is that the insurance habit is growing; and the progressive underwriter is perpetually considering how he can provide the indemnity against loss of capital which is needed by traders of all descriptions. Thus, the insurance of valuables during transit, either in the hands of commercial travellers or when sent on approval, has greatly facilitated dealings in jewellery; and precious musical instruments, such as violins and violoncellos, could hardly be acquired by many professionals if the risk of loss or damage could not be covered by insurance. Again, many persons undertake large enterprises the

success of which would be entirely ruined in the event of a General or Presidential Election or a heavy downpour of rain. The 'freak' insurances of which a good deal is heard are not mere gambling plunges; they rest on a legitimate basis-the encouragement of trade.

With the history of Lloyd's I do not now propose to deal in detail; it has been told and told ably by various authorities. It is with Lloyd's as it exists to-day-a great nerve centre of business-that I am mainly concerned. Its history seems to show plainly that Lloyd's has grown to greatness largely on its news. We know that the present institution is directly traceable to one Edward Lloyd, who established a coffee-house in Tower Street in the 17th century. It was here, and also no doubt in similar resorts, that sea-faring men congregated, and news in the form of letters was read to the assembled company or passed from hand to hand. In 1692 Lloyd moved to Lombard Street, and four years later he began to publish the news which he received in printed form as Lloyd's News. The career of this journal came to an abrupt end in 1697, owing to some rather forcible expressions of opinion respecting the House of Lords which Lloyd had printed. We are told that for nearly thirty years the frequenters of Lloyd's coffee-house had to rely on the original method of receiving the news; but in 1726 Lloyd's List was revived, and it has continued in that form until the present day. It claims to be, with the exception of the 'London Gazette,' the oldest newspaper in England. In 1774 the business transacted at Lloyd's premises was transferred to the Royal Exchange, which now houses the great insurance institution.

The collection and dissemination of news seem to have been steadily fostered by Lloyd's; and to-day the organisation is immense. There is scarcely a paper which does not rely for its information about the movements of vessels on Lloyd's. 'From Lloyd's' is a heading familiar to every newspaper reader. The information is derived from Lloyd's own signal-stations and its corps of agents throughout the world, and also through the steamship companies themselves. No doubt the principal papers could, if they chose, obtain much of the news direct from the companies, but they evidently find it simpler to rely upon Lloyd's.

Every day the arrivals and departures of many hundreds of ships at home and foreign ports are duly reported at the Royal Exchange. The reports are first of all entered in portfolios as they arrive; next they are printed and posted up in a recognised place on the walls; then they are sent to all interested subscribers, such as the Baltic and the Marine Insurance Companies; then they are printed every afternoon in Lloyd's List, which is published at 4 o'clock and circulates among shipping and insurance houses; and finally the more important of them, mainly those relating to ships carrying passengers, are sent to the London papers. This news is, in the first place, of interest to the friends of the crews and the passengers, for the human interest always takes precedence over that of business. Then it is obviously of importance to the owners and to the underwriters of the ship, next to the owners of the cargo, perhaps some hundreds of persons, and finally to the underwriters of the cargo. It is a common practice, for instance during the wool-season, for brokers to send their clerks pell-mell from Coleman Street to learn what ships from Australia have been spoken off the coast or have safely arrived in port, while paragraphs frequently appear in papers to the effect that the foreign wheat-market was weak owing to the large number of grain-ships which had arrived in the Channel.

These reports are sent from stations owned by Lloyd's, such as those at the Lizard and Brow Head, or from stations owned by the Admiralty and transmitted for Lloyd's, such as those at Beachy Head and Dungeness, or from other stations controlled by Trinity House, such as those at the Smalls and Tuskar. Use is often made of these stations by owners to send instructions to their captains. Probably ninety-nine out of every hundred nitrate ships which arrive off the Lizard do not know their ultimate destination. The cargoes may have been sold several times during the voyage. They may be destined for Hamburg in order that the nitrate may be used as a fertiliser for the great German beet-fields, or they may be intended for the big chemical and gunpowder works of Lancashire. It is true that a large number of these ships proceed to Falmouth, where they may make good some of the damage done in the battering they

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