Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/765

* INSTRUMENTATION. 677 INSURANCE. pianoforte style. Tlie best works on instrumen- tation are those of Marx, Lobe, Prout, and espe- cially Berlioz and Gevacrt. See Obchestba; SCOBE. INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT, The. A written fnii>tituti(pn fur the Protectorate in England, set forth on December 16, 1653. Since January 1.5, KUO. the 'Agreement of the People' (q.v. ) had been nominally in force, its provisions being only partially carried out, but there was urgent need of some ett'ective guaranty of civil liberty. The instrument provides for a constitu- tional government, administered by a Lord Pro- tector, anil a Parliament of a single house. An <'lective assembly is to be summoned on the 3d of September. 1654. and thereafter once in every third year. The distribution of county and bor- ough seats in England and Wales is based on the schedule provided in the Agi'eement of the Peo- ple, although there arc important changes. For the first time provision was made for a Parlia- mentary union of England. Ireland, and Scotland. With the exception of those who had engaged in the war against the Parliament since 1641, or in the Irish rebellion, or professed Roman Catholi- cism, the fmnchise and the right of being elected are conferred upon "persons of known integrity, fearing God. and of good conscience, and being of the age of twenty-one years," if seized or pos- sessed of real or personal estate to the value of £200. There is no provision for the borough fianchise. that being left apparently to the ex- isting custom of each place. The extended powers of the Protector in for- eign, military, and civil affairs are limited by "the Parliament and the Council of State. A ecuncil of fifteen members is appointed in the instrument itself. Other members may be added by the Lord Protector and the Council : but the number may never be more than twenty-one nor less than thirteen. By the instrument Oliver Cromwell is created Lord Protector for life. His successors are to be elected by the Council. A veto upon legislation is not granted the Protector. All bills passed by Parliament must be presented to him: and if his consent be not given within twenty days, they become laws, unless they are contrary to the Instrument. There is a respon- sible Ministry. The "Chancellor. Keeper or Com- missioners of the Great Seal, the Treasurer. Ad- miral. Chief Governor of Ireland and Scotland, and the Chief .lustices of both the benches," are to be chosen by the consent of Parliament. All other appointments are apparently left in the Protector's hands. Peligious liberty is guaran- teed, except to "Popery or Prelacy," and to "such a.s. under profession of Christ, hold forth and practice licentiousness." The Instrument of Government reveals the re- markable ability of its framers. The most seri- ous defects are the lack of any provision for amendment and the failure to secure the national sanction. It broke down because the Parlia- ment summoned under its provisions assumed the power of a constituent assembly. It was later amended in the Petition and Adiice (q.v.). For the text of the Instrument, constilt: Gardiner. Constitutional Dnciimenfs (Oxford. 1889) ; and for discussion, id., (^nrnmonrreallh and Protec- torate (New York. lS<)4-inni) : IMasson. Life of Milton, vol. iv. (London. 1873-04) ; Jenks. Coii- stitutional Fxperimentx (ib., 1891) ; Indervvick, Interregnum (London, 1891). INSTRUMENTS, Musical. See MusiCAt IXSTRtllEXTS. INSUBRES, in'sfi-brez. A Gallic people who crossed the Alps iu the fourth century B.C., and settled in Italy north of the Po. Ne.xt to the Boii, they '>vere the most powerful and warlike tribe found in Cisalpine Gaul at the time this region tirst came in contact with Roman arms. In B.C. 222, shortly before the Second Punic War, tlie Romans captured their capital, Mediolanum (now Milan), and reduced the tribe to submis- sion, a victory which completed the Roman con- quest of all that country lying between the Alps and the Apennines. INSULATORS. See Electbicitt; Cox- UUC'TOR AM) IXSCXATOB OF ElECTBICITY. INSURANCE (OF. enseiirance, from etiseur- cr, to insure, from en, in + seur, sure, from Lat. securus, free from care, from se-, without -f- cura, care). Insurance must be differently defined ac- cording to the aspect of it which is under consid- eration. Every person who embarks his capital in any kind of industrial activity is obliged to make accumulations to replace that part of it which is used up in the productive operation. Some of these accumulations are made to meet losses which are certain and definite both in time and in amount. Such accumulations should be large enough to replace the ca|)ital used up and no larger. Other accumulations are made to meet losses of a more or less uncertain character. Such accumulations are, for the entire group engaged in any line of industrial activity, larger than the losses, and the excess of accumulation over loss varies directl.v as the degree of uncer- tainty. The accumulations of an individual to meet' uncertain losses constitute his insurance fund, and so far as he makes such accunuilations he may be said to insure himself. From this )ioint of view insurance is the accumulation of funds to meet uncertain losses. One person whose property is exposed to a risk of some kind may be able "to transfer that risk to another person for a consideration. The lat- ter person undertakes to make good to the former any loss which he may suffer from certain specified accidental causes. The person guar- anteeing the reimbursement for such accidental loss may be said to insure against the loss. From this point of view insurance is the trans- .fer of an existing risk from the person exposed to it to another person or group of persons. When one person merely assumes the risk of some other person, there is little or no social gain from the transaction. Whatever accumula- tion the former would have had to make if he had carried his own risk, the latter must make after he assumes the risk. The burden which the risk imposes on society remains unaffected. If, however, the risks of many individuals are brought together in a group, a new principle is broight into play. The uncertainty as to the amount of loss to be expected steadily diminishes as the number of risks included in the group in- creases. Thus an insurance companv. which has assumed the risks of thousands of individuals, is exposed to much less uncertainty as to tUe amount of loss it will have to indemnif.v in a given period of time than any one of the indi- viduals is as to the amount of loss he would suffer during the same period if uninsired. The total amount of loss which the company expert-