v;vv

BENEFITS OF INSURANCE. 485

“ Finally,” he says, “ we have been willing to see it tried;but, the friends of the system being witnesses of its presentcharacter, we are almost side of the experiment; it fails so muchin health , in reformation , in earnings , and in moral and religiousinstruction.”* We may well believe, that any system of dis-cipline, so far as reformation of the convicts is concerned, inwhich stated devotional exercises and effective religious in-struction are not a fundamental part, must, in a great measure,fail of its object. In truth, this conclusion seems to be forcingitself on the attention of reflecting men. The inspectors of thisvery Philadelphia Penitentiary, in their last Report to the Legis-lature, say, “ The Board are constrained, by a sense of duty tothe commonwealth, as well as to the unhappy persons undertheir care, most respectfully, but urgently, to present this subject(the religious instruction of the convicts) again to the attentionof the Legislature, and to say, that, in our judgment, the benefitsof the system cannot be fully and completely exhibited withouta systematic course of religious instruction. Provision is madeby law for the relief of the body, when diseased ; but there isnone to minister to the mind, when suffering under the horrors ofan awakened conscience.” f

4. Another way of promoting the welfare of mankind consistsin applying the principles of insurance more extensively than theyhave been hitherto applied. Insurance seems to have been un-known to the Romans, and all other ancient nations, and not tohave been introduced into Europe until comparatively late times.By the end of the thirteenth century, the Italian States carriedon a considerable maritime commerce, and it is very probablethat marine insurance came into use in Italy about that time;from whence it extended itself to other countries of Europe.From protection against the perils of the sea, the principle was,after considerable delay, applied to guard against the risks ofdisaster by fire. The great benefits of marine insurance, bymeans of which a merchant may safely risk his entire capital in

* See the Eleventh Annual Report (1836) of the Boston Prison DisciplineSociety, pp. 38-40.t Ibidem, p. 45.