Up to the year 1780, although these many evils were well known, insurances, and every species of gambling connected with the lottery, were legal. But the malady grew so violent, that, after much urging, a step was taken in the right direction. Insurances were declared illegal, and prohibited under very heavy penalties. So many, however, were imprisoned,—and perjury was not wanting for the sake of the penalty,—that some check was necessary. A law, therefore, was made, preventing any one from suing save the Attorney-General; and some idea may be formed of the extent of the evil from the fact, that, between 1793 and 1802, upwards of one thousand were punished with imprisonment. But the determination to insure surpassed the determination to punish. The officers of government were absolutely defied. Blood, in defence of that which the law declared illegal, was freely shed. So organized was the system, that two thousand clerks, and seven thousand five hundred persons known as “Morocco men,” with a numerous staff of armed ruffians, were attached to the insurance-offices. Committees were held three times a week; measures were invented to defeat the magistrates; money to an enormous extent was used to bribe the constabulary; while to those who refused to be bribed, a bold and insolent defiance was offered, with threats, which the officers well knew would be executed at the risk, or even the certain sacrifice, of life. In 1805, Parliament again took cognizance of the evil. The reiterated declarations of the press, the repeated assertion of members of the senate, the universal voice of the country, coupled with the notorious fact, that crime continued to follow the system, compelled government to appoint a committee of the House to report upon it. The attendance of all who could give any information upon the subject was required, and a volume of evidence printed, which, though it must have opened the eyes, could not open the hearts, of the ministers.