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Tous las autres exemplaires originaux sont filmAs en commen^ant par ia premlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'iiiustration et en terminant par la derniAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboies suivants apparattra sur la derniAre image de cheque microfiche, selon Ie cas: Ie symbols '^ signifie "A SUIVRE ', ie symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de rAduction diff Arents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seui clichA, il est fiimA A partir de i'angle supArieur geuche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images nAcesssire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE STATE OP THE NATION AT TH| COMMENCT.MENT OF THE YEAR 1822. «^OW8l0Biii;0 UNDER THE FOUR DEPARTMENTS M THE F,NANCE-FORmGN HELATIONS. HOME DEPARTMENT— COLONIES AND BOARD OF TRADE ^f- ^e, Ac. ' SECOND EDITION. lONDON; JOHN HATCHARD & SON, i87, PICCADILLY. 1822. -■ irfcM*'!--* • f ■■•>, v« STATE OF THE NATION, &c. The purport of the following observations is to take a general review of the state of public affairs, from the period of th«; late treaties to the conclusion of the year 1821; to shew the condition in which the ministry found the Nation at one period, and in which at the other they have left it. The circum- stances which compose this review have not, as yet, been produced to the public with suf- ficient fulness and distinctness. If some of the matters have been touched upon, and even dis- cussed in parliament, in answer to the obser- vations of the opponents of his Majesty's mi- nisters, they have been discussedjonly as siugla measures, and without any reference to their coherence with the system of administration of which they formed a part. The ministers of a free and higli-minded country cannot be without a due feeling of the value of public character. They know, that in public station, still more than in private life, B ritan\ in IHIO". They accordingly took tliis estimate, namely, 25,000 men, as the immediate peace establishment of England. The next consideration was the establish- iiKut of Ireland. In 179-» the amount of this estabii.'fQrtance to the general trade of the empire, it > as represented to ministers, that the British capital employed in Jamaica exceeded sixty millions; ^nd that in the year 1815 the island had exported ninety-eight thousand hogsheads of sugar; that this had employed twenty-one thousand tons of British shipping and five thousand British seamen, and had afforded two millions to the revenue of the country; a sum amounting to within half a million of the ordinary charge of the whole army of England. Upon this re- presentation, t]i|e newestimates for Jamaica were taken at four thousand men. The force for the Leeward Islands in 1792, had been four thousand two liundred men. Under the same circumstances of the vicinity of a new black empire, ofthe progressive growth of the colonics, andof the cbtablishmcnt of some naval docksand i3 arsenals not liunicdlatcly rcnioval)l(% the es- timate for these islands was now taken at five thousand men. '1 lie whole colonial estimate for the Ohl Colonies was thus settled, in tlie first instance, at twentv-three thonsnnd ; a peace establishment exceeding that of 175)2, for the same stations, l)y seven thousand men : ail addition resting uj)or. the principles above \ explained,' of the growth oF the colonies them- selves, and of the progress of adjoining states. • The final consideration, as to the estimates for the new peace establishment, regarded the New Colonies. In 1792, the number of our colonies was only twenty-six. In 1816, they had increased to forty-tiiree. These new co- lonies were, MaUa, the Ionian islands, the African settlements, St. Helena, Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Surinam, Tri- nidad, Berbice, Esequibo, St. Lucie, and To- bago. The estimates of 1792 of course af- forded 110 rule for the future establishment of these colonies. But another criterion naturally suggested itself; that of the force, which the former possessors of those colonics deemed to be necessary for their defence and administra- tion. According to this measure, their collec- tive peace establishment was thus primarily taken at twenty-three thousand men. Minis- ters saw indeed, that the same amount of force M would not always be necessary fortliis service; but that portions might be withdrawn gra- dually, as the colonists became accustomed to the superior administration of British laws. But as all these colonies were conquests, and as the greater part of them had experienced the contagion of French revolutionary principles; as the inhabitants of nearly all were at present adverse; and as the greater portion were impa- tient, turbulent, and even democratically in- clined, it was deemed necessary to take the es- timate at the above standard. Upon these principles, the total peace es- tablishment was taken at 99,000 men; thirty thousand of which (twenty-three thousand for the New Colonies, and seven thousand for the new mode of relieving distant garri- sons by regiments instead of by drafts) were required for services entirely new, and not hav- ing any existence in 179'i. Thirteen thousand more of this number were required, in the una- nimous opinion of all parties, as an addition to the former establishment for Ireland, and two thousand for Jamaica, under her new relation of neighbourhood to Hayti. With these deduc- tions, it will be immediately seen that there was a very near correspondence in the esti- mates for the two periods of 1792» and 18 16. The main and indeed the sole diff'ereuce was in tlic small luldilion to Canada, and tlie Ix»r- wanl Islan(l«; the acttuil addition tf^ the linme force in Great Hiitain lieinir ehicflv for the re trnneiits to our remote irarriHons. lief by . As such were the reductions made in the army with resj)ect to the number of men to be retained iu pay and service, the re4,000. Fur tlic ycui Uir, the su^i- ply was taken at a small excess beyond nine millions; a reduction of nearly two mil- lions in this branch only. In 1810*, the supply for tlic Navy was taken at .9,434,000. In 1817, this supply was reduced to six millions. The Ordnance for 1816, exceeded one million and a half. For 1817, it was reduced by nearly half a million. The mis- cellaneous for 181(), had been estimated at two millions and a half. For 1817, it was re- duced to seventeen liundred thousand pounds. The total supply for 1816*, had exceeded twenty-seven millions. For 1817, the total supply was a small excess above twenty-two millions, being a reduction of five millions upon the expenditure of the year. Such therefore, were the further reductions made in the year 1817, beyond those of 18 16. The army was reduced from 99,000 to 81,000 men. The navy was reduced from 33,000 to 19,000, The expense of the army was reduced from eleven millions to nine millions. The expense of the navy was reduced from ten to six. The Ord- nance was reduced nearly one fourth in its whole expenditure. The miscellaneous more than one third, and the whole annual expen- diture was reduced hy one fifth, "io As respects the Ways and Means of the same r year, it iiiun l»c bUtViciont to state without en- tering into a Muniitc rinancial detail, that about nine ntillions and a half of the supply of tliis year were raisetl from the rtady-inoncy sources annually at the disposal of government; such as the annual ^'^'"t. only; a reduction, which, together with other circumstances, rendered the raising the sup- ply of tlic year by exchequer bills so much more advantageous than resorting to a loan. There were two further cir( unistances in the financial history of the year 1817, nhich prove tlie attention of ministers at once to a just economy in the national expenditure, and to the due relief of the industry of the la- boring classes sutfeilag under the temporary pressure of an adverse season. The first of these measures was the appropriation of a mil- lion and a half of money by government to commissioners for the employment of tlie poor. The second was the bill for the aboli- tion of sinecures. The former of these measures was ren- dered necessary by the peculiar difticulry un- der which the year 1817 was commenced. This year opened with a considerable defi- ciency, not less indeed than ten per cent, on th§ whole amount of the public revenue; with a harvest less than an average by at least one-third, and with a most material re- duction in our general commerce, trade, and industry. This reduction indeed necessarily followed the cessation of the large war expen- diture amongst ourselves, and the resumption by tlie continental nations of those several branches of navigation, commerce, and ma- nufacture, whicli, though originaP.y belong- ing to themselves, had, during the war and the hostile occupation of their soil, been transferred to Great Britain, SuOice it to s;iy of this temporary aid, tliat it was as cheerfully given as it was imperiously re- quired. The second circu.nstance, the abolition of sinecures, was a concession to popular opinion, and was chiefly of public value, inasmuch as it afforded the occasion of producing before the public the real state of a question upon which they had been much deluded. Accord- ing to the popular writers of the day, and even to some of the members of the House of Commons, who hastily and unwarrantably adopted the assertions of such authorities, much of the public distress was imputable to the lavish expenditure of government and ministers. In the discussion of the bill for the abolition of sinecures, it ppeared that the whole amount of them did not exceed one Imndred thousand pounds 5 that there were '25 not more than three uf them of any consider- able annual income; that they were part of the funds of the crown for rewarding civil services ; and that, with scarcely any excep- tion, they had been given to the families of high public officers in lieu of pensions to which their services had entitled them. Un- der such circumstances the country could gain little by the abolition of sinecures, which were effectually pensions with the name of offices. But, under the current delusion of the day, the bill was demanded by the popular voice, and was cheerfully conceded by his Majesty's ministers. They deemed it, however, and they doubtless still deem it, a duty of can- dor not to catch at a praise to which they had no just claim : they gave the bill because the public demanded it ; but they stated that its value was nothing, and upon this score to no- thing do they lay claim. The year 1818 opened under a more favorable aspect than the preceding j^ear, and the mi- nisters found themselves in a condition of pro- secuting their resolute purpose of reducing the national expenditure. The supply of the year was accordingly taken upon a reduced scale, through all the four branches — the army, navy, ordnance, and miscellaneous. ■ For the year 1817 the supply for the trmjr I . • V »• » T»« t f » «,< ,* -V 14 had been nine millions ami eighty thousand pounds; for 1818 it was eight millions nine hundred thousand pounds. In the navy, the supply for 1817 was seven millions five hun- dred and ninety-six thousand pounds, which included a sum for the reduction of the navy debt. In 1818 it was six millions four hundred and fifty-six thousand pounds, being a saving of nearly one million in the navj-. The ordnance for 1817 was one million two hundred and se- venty thousand pounds; for 1818 it was one million two hundred and forty-five thousand pounds. The miscellaneous for 1817 was one million seven hundred and ninety-five thou- sand pounds ; for 1818 it was one million se- ven hundred and twenty thousand pounds. For the year 1817, the total of the supply for these four branches of the expenditure had been a small excess above twenty millions. For the year 1818, the same supply was a small excess above eighteen millions, a saving of nearly two millions upon the former year. In the financial history of this year, it is an act of justice to the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer not to omit the effective expedient by which he provided the Ways and Means, Including the interest upon exchequer-bills, and the Sinking Fund upon their amount, the total supply for the year was about twen- ty-one millions. Of this amount about seven millions and a quarter were, of couriJe, raised in the usual way, by the annual unappropriated taxes, the lottery, old stores, and arrears of war duties. Of the remaining fourteen mil- lions, tliree millions were procured by the sale and transfer of stork from funds of a lower to a higher denomination of interest; the differ- ence of value of the two stocks, about eleven per cent, being paid to government for the exchange. This exchange was made from stock of three per cent, to stock of three and a half. The principle of this measure was to raise so much of the required sums for the ser- vice of the year without increasing the nomi- nal capital of the debt; that is to say, by crea- ting a new three and a half per cent, stock out of the three per cent, stock; or, in other words, extinguishing so much of the three per cent, by convening it into three and a half per cent, and taking the difference from the purchaser for the public service of the year. The remaining eleven miir- -^s were raised in the usual way by the issue of ex- chequer-bills ; but that the money-market might not be disadvaTitageously affected by such an issue, this measure was accompanied by withdrawing and funding twenty-seven millions of debt and exchequer- bills previous- ly floating. This reduction of the floating / 26' debt was as seasonable tbis year as tbe increase of it had been uscAil in the preceding. In 1817 the Chancellor of tbe Exchequer had raised the money for the service of the year by Exchequer-bills rather than by a loan, be- cause there was a saving in this process, and because the state of the unfunded debt in the market admitted the operation. The event justified the prudence of this preference. Stocks having risen under its effect from seventy-five to eighty, being a saving to go- vernment of five per cent., or r^arly two mil- lions upon the capital of the loan. B * whdst tbis constituted a good rea$>on for having in- creased the unfunded debt, in 1817, the actual quantity of it in the market, in 1818, formed a reason equally strong for its reduction at that period. Both measures, therefore, had been equally seasonable, according to tiie different circumstances of the money-market in the two years. ; , i . It was another feature in the Finance of this year, that though eighteen millions had been added to the unfunded debt, fifty millions had been paid off the national debt in the course of three years ; so that the country had in fact paid off nearly three tunes as much as it had added, and the beneficial operation of the Sinking Fund was in full activity. In a word, Hi - the summary of the financial histoij for the ycai 1818 is, that, under the head of the cur- rent supply of the year, two millions were re- duced from the amount of the former year ; that, under the Ways and Means, three mil- lions were raised without adding to the nomi- nal amount of the national debt, and that about sixteen millions were paid off. The funds were raised from seventy-five to eighty, and the public credit of government so elevate ed in the money-market, as to open no distant prospect of the reduction of the four and five per cent, stock by an advantageous bargaiu with the capitalists. The number of the army was equally reduced with the amount of the supply. In 1817 the amount of men for Great Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies, was eighty- one thousand men. The number of men for the same service in 1818 was seventy-eight thousand men. This reduction was made on the Irish establishment only. In 1816* the amount for Ireland had been twenty-five thou- sand; in lj817 this had been reduced to twen- ty-two thousand; and in 1818 to twenty thou- sand. With such good faith to the country did ministers continue to adhere to their pledge iai reduction and economy. In the following year, 1819, the finances of the country, under this steady and uniform Mjim6Mti!i^i^'Mkh'^''C.:i ■ 'i-: collection. It would far exceed the possible extent of this summary, to enumerate the many other exauiples of this mode of economy, in which, so much, and with &o little prcteu- D sion, has been sjivcd to tho nation. With his Majesty's niinistcii, economy has been ;i l)usi- ncss, and rcdwction a duty; and they have felt it more to their honor to act than to talk. If they coidd rccon( ile it to thqir personal feel- ings, to produce a claim to the public grati- tude, with as much frequency and pertinacity, as their <)j)i)onents can deem it consistent with candor to repeat day after day the same ex- ploded charges; if in acts of duty, as in acts of grace, tliis conimcmoratio heneficiorum was not quasi eaprohntio inifigratam patriam; if it were as much a matter of course to repeat one's own deserts, as it appears to be to reiterate popular calumnies, it would be easy for minis- ters or their advocates to produce a long ac- count of services of this nature, and to vindi- cate their claim to an uniform course of eco- nomy in every brand, of the public service. A fourth and prominent feature in the fi- nances of the year 18 19, was the bill, now po- pularly denominated Mr. Peel's bill; in which his Majesty's ministers first acted upon their resolute purpose to restore die currency to its original state ; and, in tli«" resumption of cash payments, to re-establish the ancient security against an excessive issue of paper-money. It is but justice to recall to public recollection, that through all the difficulties of the latter «'v».,iu«'«vr't\?!vw,v»vtr«!-»*.'5jr»)iT^»?m!i'i*Ra»«s«»^»fttam 35 period of tbe war, they never lost sight of this purpose. Ill distinction from the merely spe- culative opinions of tlu'ir political adversaries, they never regarded the cpiestion of cash and pnper to he a mere (piestion of saving, as re- speetcd the price of bullion and coin. On tlic ith all :tical contrary, in concurrence men of the present day, tliey considered tlic main and principal value of cash payments to be in the single circumstance, that tliey con- tained in themselves a controul and security against a too extensive issue of paper, and confined such issues to the real exigencies of trade and business. It is unnecessary to sug- gest the ditficultics with which ministers had to contend in accomplishing this great na- tional object of cash payments; for na- tional it may truly be called, inasmuch as if ministers had consulted their own personal convenience, and the facility of their adminis- tration, they would either not have attempted this measure at all, or have postponed it to a remoter period. It was not one of those mea- sures into which they were pushed, either by party contest, or popular clamor. Their poli- tical adversaries were divided amongst them- selves even as to the expediency of the ob- ject; and a very large portion of them ad- vised and recommended a measure, which, though in form ap]iarently the same, would in 36 its practical operation, and by the difficultiei in the way of proci'ring circulating cash, have perpetuated the paper syjtem. But with the simplicity, an ' it is not too much to add, with the sincerity and directness, which have always distinguished the acts of the present government, ministers resolved upon a real and not a nominal execution of what they deemed a public service. Accordingly, the enactments of Mr.' Peel's bill were directed at once to the resumption of cash-payments, and they have effected their purpose. When time shall have cleared away the political prejudices of the day, and public me .aure» shall be regarded according to their real character, it will be- come the long praire of his Majesty's ministers, that they held this steady confidence in the resources of the country and in the firmness of the public mind ; for as it has been justly ob- served by one of the most intelligent of the political adversaries of administration, Eng- land is the only country who has ever at- tempted to retrace her steps from paper to bullion payments. As to the personal difficul- ties with which ministers had to contend ii their execution of this measure, they had, in the first instance, to repay the Bank the large debt due to that establishment. They had, . doubtless, likewise to forego some portion of the ordinary aid of that ccfiipauy, in raising ct.:^<1iStf3^:'tv;-^^»;sw« »»■>*> ''•?:''L-rr:;.^w^..«ijKB*,;i'i;« ■■■•-•-«■ _a^>.-\' .■,■', i-»»;,"^r''!'-t'^5>!-'fir''^i!"' I 57 the supplies for the two following years. In a word, they had to make sacrifices from their own interests, and tO demand sacrifices from a public body, which, in its due relations, had always concurred with the government in as- sisting the public service. Without admitt'^.g, in any thing like their full exteiit, the asser- tions of popular writers and speakers, of the certain effects of this resumption of cash-pay- ments upon trade, commerce, and industry, they foresaw that it must be attended with some degree of public suffering, and they did not affect to conceal it in the discussion which preceded the bill. But the merit is theirs of not having given too much weight to opinions merely speculative. It is certain, that upon the commencement of this bill in operation, the prices of agricultural produce and of ge- neral merchandise were much depressed ; but it is now equally certain, that this depression of prices was rather a concurrent incident than a consequent effect. In agriculture, as in inanufactures, prices had become depressed, because the supply existed in a temporary ex- cess beyond the demand. In manufactures, the capital and machinery, enlarged and accu- mulated dming the war, had not yet with- drawn, itself within the limits belonging to 38 agri- geneial commerce during a peace. In culture, successive abundant seasons in Eng- land and Ireland, added to the same cause which operated in manufactures, (an enlarged basis of cultivation and supply, and the ab- sence and diminution of the demand and waste of war) produced the same effects ; and corn became cheap, not because money was dear, but because corn was plentiful. If the price of money have risen, it has at least risen in no proportion to the depression of prices in corn and manufactures. But, to say the truth, this is the common error of that portion of the op- ponents of government who may be termed the economists. In the absence of all practi- cal experience, they assign infinitely too much to their abstrac*" and theoretical principles. They carry to the account of their theories, what, to all but themselves, are but the mani- fest effects of the most common causes. As respects the following year 1820, and the farther attempts of the ministers to continue their reductions, the same general observations apply as to the preceding year; that so much had already been done, as almost to exhaust the fund of further economy and retrenchment. In every branch of the public service, the establishments (as then appeared not only to his Majesty's ministers, but to 39 tliat portion of country gentlemen usually voting with the Opposition) had been cut down to the low est possible degree consistent with their efheiency. In Ireland, as we have before observed, the successive reduction of three years had diminished the military es- tablishment from twenty-five thousand to twenty thousand men. In the Colonies, dur- ing the same pe/iod, a gradual reduction had been made from forty-six thousand men to thirty-two. In Great Jhitain, or the home- service, the original peace establishment had been taken at twenty-six thousand men; and, though several attempts had been made to jduce it, such diminution had been found inconsistent with the due maintenance of the public peace, and with the due relief of our foreign garrisons, upon the new system of regiments instead of drafting. The year 1820 afforded a strong ilh^^tration of the necessity of this force for the Iiome service. By the in- creased circulation of libellous papers, and by a new form of libelling almost peculiar to the present times — that of the cheap publica- tions the minds of the lower classes had be- come so corrupted and inflamed, as not only to excite an apprehension for the security of person and property in our manufacturing town? and counties, but to induce the countjy 40 r magistracy, throughout the kingdom in gene- ral, to apply to his Majesty's ministers for a further military protection. It does not fall within the purpose of our present observa- tions to enter into the detail of those applica- tions. Sufiice it to say, that there was almost a general call upon his Majesty's ministers to increase the military establishment for the home service. Under these circumstances, it became necessary, in the year 1820, to make a small additio for the service of Great Britain. The opponenU ii* his Majesty's ministers would have exhibiteil more candor if they had less laboriously concealed this necessity from the public eye; if they had thrown this augmentation upon the public call, instead uf objecting to it as an act proceeding from the ministers themselves. But have not his Majes- ty's ministers still some justice to complain, that this objection has not unfrequently proceeded from the mouths of those, who have themselves most strongly invoked this increase of militaiy force in their own respective counties ?— , A loose rein must undoubtedly be given to poli- tical conflict — ^But surely there are such things as gentlemanly honor and fair dealing. Under these circumstances, it is no small praise belonging to the supplies for the year 1820, that in those new perils of the public / 41 peace, and in this unforeseen necessity of aug- iTicnt'ng the home-military establishment, the total of the annual supplies of 1820 exceeded by so small an amount the supplies for 1819« This excess was of course in the army and the miscellaneous. In 181£^ the supply for the army had been eight millions nine hundred thousand. In 1820 it was nine millions four hundred thousand. In 1819 the supply for the navy had been six millions four hundred thousand. In 1820 it was six millions five hundred thousand. In 1819 the ordnance had been one million a hundred and ninety thou- sand. In 1820 it was neariy the same. In 1819 the miscellaneous^ upon making up the account for the year, was a small excess beyond two millions. In J 820 it was two millions fivo hundred thousand. The total amount of the ordinary annual service, for the year 1819, had been twenty millions four hundred thousand, and a small fraction. For the year 1820 it Mras twenty millions seven hundred thousand, and a small fraction. The increase of 1820 was, therefore, little more than a quarter of a million. The total supply of the year, including a sum required for a further reduction of the un- funded debt, was twenty-nine millions seven hundred thousand. . _, As regarded the Ways and Means, the supply .^#- 42 was raised in the usual manner — by the an- nual taxes, by exchequer-bills, and by taking twelve millions from tlie Sinking Fund. If the amount of the Sinking Fund, which in 18 19 did not exceed fourteen millions, ren- dered this measure politic in the preceding year, when it was first adopted, still more ad- visable had it become under the circumstances of that fund in 1820, when its amount was seventeen millions, and when, upon a compa- rison of the money taken and left, there was a surplus of five millions in the hands of the commissioners. One of the main features in the financial history of this year was the settlement of the Civil List upon the accession of his present Majesty. It was settled upon the plan of 18 16. The unanimous assent and approba- tion of all parties render it unnecessary to go into detail on this subject. In the year 1821, ministers persevered, so far as the new circumstances of the country would allow, in their efforts to reduce the national burthens. In the preceding year, they had been much embarrassed and counteracted in these attempts, by the interruption of the tran- quillity of the kingdom from the practices of incendiary writers and speakers. These prac- tices had rendered the security of the public 43 peace paramount even to the great objects of national economy. It was in vain to reduce the expenditure unless we first dctendcd the common safety. In the i>Teat conllict with the common enemy abroad we had come out glorious and unimpaired. It was a more pe- rilous contest with tliat large portion of our own community, who were deluded by the seditious writers and orators of the day. By . the firmness of parliament, and, we presume, it may be added, by the timely prudence of his Majesty's ministers, this conflict has now fiuccessfuUy concluded, and with as small a flubstraction from the securities of our consti- tutional liberties, as was consistent with the magnitude of the danger. If it were neces- sary to confirm this observation by any fact or argument, it would be amply sufficient to recall to public recollection, that the Six Acts, as they were termed, passed for this purpose, were carried through the House with the al- most unanimous consent of the country gen- tlemen. The fons et origo mali, the intolerable licentiousness of the press, and more particu- larly in its new form of cheap publications, was indeed so obviously swelling into a tor- rent, menacing every thing in its way, and, by sap or assault, attacking every fence of the social fabric, that it had become a common cause to apply tlic vigor of the law iii de- fence of the public safety. Under the operation of these acts the year 1821 opened with a better prospect for his Majesty's ministers, as regarded even the suc- cess of their future economical efforts : they accordingly resumed these efforts, and imme- diately acted upon them; In the speech by which his Majesty opened the sessions of par- liament for the year, a pledge was given for these further reductions. Accordingly, both the estimates, and afterwards the supplies, were taken at a reduced rate, as compared with the service of the previous year. In 1820, the total supply actually taken, wheii making up the accounts of the year, appeared to be thirty millions. In 1821 the total supply did not exceed twenty millions, a reduction of demand upon the resources of the country of ten millions. In 1820 the total for the four ordinary divisions of the an- nual expenditure, the Army, Navy, Ordnance, and Miscellaneous, had exceeded nineteen mil- lions six hundred thousand. In 1 82 1 the to- tal for the same service was eighteen millions, X reduction of nearly two millions in the or- dinary annual expenditure. This saving had > been distributed through all the heads of ■■•v2/-?i:' ■'*^.il.^rs ::.'^"i;:'*.'i4"r«c;! \.t' ,/ >«lS-/ ^*> • 'lil.'til.' -Jii-r • 4.5 lervicc. For 1820 the supply for the army had been nint millions four hundred thousand and a fraction. For 1821 the supply taken was eight millions seven hundred thousand. In 1820 the supply for the navy was six mil- lions five hundred thousand and a fraction. For 1821 the supply for the same service was six millions one hundred thousand and a frac- tion. For 1820 the supply for the ordnance had been nearly one million two hundred thousand. For 1821 the same supply was one million one hundred and ninety>five thou- sand. For 1820 the miscellaneous was two millions four hundred thousand and a fraction. For 1821 the same service was taken at one million nine hundred thousand, a reduction, as before stated, on the ordinary annual ex- penditure, of nearly two millions ; and on the total expenditure of the two yean compared, of ten millions. As respected the Ways and Means for raising this supply, six millions of it were raised from the usual ready money sources of government, the new duties, lotte- ry, 8cc* and the remainder by a loan of thirteen millions from the Sinking Fund. In the brief examination of this budget, consistent with this summary review of our finances, it affords two circumstances chiefly worthy of observation ; the first, the reduc- tion of nearly two millions from tlie supply taken for the preceding year ; and the se* cond, such a prosperous condition of public credit, and such a progressive amelioration in the state of the industrious part of the community, as enabled the Saving Banks of the country to pay one million yearly into the public funds. Such, therefore, is the state of the question as respects the successive reductions effected by his Majesty's ministers. Upon a retrospect of what has been above stated, and for the sake of affording a simple and collective view of these reductions, they may be briefly enumerated as follows : — First, the total of the ordinary and ex- traordinary annual supply for 1816 (exclu- sive of the interest of the national debt and the charges on the Consolidated Fund) was twenty-seven millions. The total of the or- dinary and extraordinary supply for 1817 was twenty-two millions. The total of the same supply for the year 1818 was twenty millions nine hundred thousand. The total of the same supply for the year 18 19 wasi twenty millions four hundred thousand. Tlie total of the same for 1820 was twenty milliona seven hundred thousand. For 1821 the same was twenty millions. ^Wr«l»;'>'^•^i,v,5A■".'■*^■^•i'!,■J':'■'t'.•■" M.'<'if'»-v>j»; /;>■^•;S■f^WUl,^lv?^''<.A^iipr^»>iu:^;^^»»^l,^K '.",'* .■■.•iAH'! ,:.■*-'*■•.? m Second. — The total of the ordinary expen- diture (tor army, navy, ordnance, and mis- cellancous) tor i8l6 was twenty-four mil- lions eight hundred and eighty-seven thou- sand pounds. The total for 1817 was twenty millions. The total for 1H18 was a small ex- cess above eighteen millions. The total for 1819 xvas nearly the same sum. The total for 1820 (including the estimated expense of the coronation) was a small excess above nineteen millions. The total for 1821 was eighteen mil- lions. Being a reduction, in 1817, of five millions; in 1818, of two millions; in 1819, of the same ; and a small addition having been made in 1820, under the two new circum- stances of the expected coronation and the in- terruption of the public trancpiillity by the practices of incendiary writers and speakers : this charge was thrown oif in tlie following year, 1821, and a return effected to the re- duced standard of 1918 and 18 19. Third, this reduction was carried tliroughv every head of the ordinary annual supply. The supply for the army, for 1816, was, in round numbers, eleven millions. For 1817 the supply for the same service was nine mil-: lions four hundred thousand. For 1818 eight millions nine hundred thousand. For I8I9 eight millions nine hundred thousand. For 1820 (under the new circumstance of an in- 4« terruption in the public tranquillity hy the causes wliich have been already stated) nine millions four hundred thousand. For IHttl eight millions seven hundred and fihy thou- sand a return again to the reduced estimates of 1818 and 181.9. Fourth The same reduction was made in the naval supply. For 1816 the naval supply was ten millions. For 1817 the navy (inclu- ding some extraordinaries upon making up the account of the year) cost seven millions. For 1818 six millions and a half. For 1819 the naval supply was six millions four hundred thousand. For 1820 six millions five hun- dred thousand and a fraction. For 18SI six millions one hundred thousand and a frac- tion. .' Fifth. — ^The same successive reduction was effected in the Ordnance. For 1816 the ord- nance service was sixteen hundred thousand. For 1817 twelve hundred and seventy thou* sand. For 1818 twelve hundred and forty thousand. For 1819 eleven hundred and nine^ ty thousand. For 18^0 twelve hundred thou- sand. For 1821 eleven hundred and ninety thou- sand ; being a return to the reduced estimates of the year 1819; the small addition in the preceding year being occasioned by the dis- turbed state of the country, by the same cause as the increase of the army, namely. ) 49 tlie ap;italctl cuiuhtion ol 'ttitaiii (ll»liiits, and tlie en>ijU)yinciit of niarincs to jjli torin gairi- suii duty. ^ Sixth. — In the iiiisccl#ff/v:.»s, idlosvlntj for tlie less jnoportion in wliitli this Ijcad of service i^ affected by tlie difference of peace and war, a system of retrenclunent is equally visible. Tor IHIG the miscellaneous uas two millions and a half. For 1817 the sJinie service was seventeen hundred thousand. For 1818 the same. For l«19one million nine hundred thousand pounds. For 1820 (under the two new circumstances of the coronation and the (lerangement oF the public p(acc) it wav two millions four hundrpd tliousand. In 1821 the supply was one million nine hundred thousand, being a return to the reduced estimate of the year 1819. Seventh. ^-.The same successive reduction was made in the number of men taken ^'or the military and naval establislmicnts through the several years'. In the course of 1815 and 18 16" three liundred thousand men were discharged from the army and navy. In 1816 the peace establishment for the Home- service, Ireland, and the Colonies, was fixed at ninety-nine thousand men. In 1817 this was reduced to ninety-two thousand. In 1818 it was reduced to eighty-one tliousand. In £ 50 iHlp it was again reduced to seventy-eight thousand. Eighth And during these reductions more than sixteen millions of annual taxes were re- moved, and ten millions of the Bank del)t paid. Ninth And by these uniform efforts for reduction on the one part, and for the support of public credit on the other, the national currency was re-established, and cash-pay- ments finally restored in the present year. Nor have his Majesty's ministers stopped here, but, since the close of the last session, have still, with the sar.:3 earnestness and sin- cerity, been occupied in such further reduc- tions as the exigencies of the public service would admit. In a very few weeks after these observations shall meet the public eye, a detailed statement will, doubtless be made in parliament, by which it will appear, that a further reduction of upwards of o£ 1,500, 000 has been effected within the short interval be- tween the close of the hst session and the commencement of the ensuing. It is surely not too much to say, that this amount of re- duction exceeds what could have been antici- pated by the warmest friends of economy. It is another question, perhaps, whether in the degree of these retrenchments minis- ters have not pared away a little too near the quick, and whether some of them have not .01 already hcvn tbuiul to \)\it into peril, and as- snrcdly to augment the difficulty of a due and prompt administration of the public service. It is anotlier question, whether some services miglit not have been more etliciently per- formed ..'ith larger means. It is another ques- tion, uhctlier, in the prudence of government, as in the prudence of individual life, present cheapness is always the best economy; and whetlier energy and promptitude, in the ap- plication of public force to sudden tumults, he not well purchased by the difference of cost between a force of ready, and a force of tardy, application. All these points belong to a different view of the subject. If it be conceded, as indeed it can no long- er be denied, — that these several reductions have been made in the degree and manner above stated; but if it be demanded, why were not these reductions made before? Have they not rather been extorted than given? Do not the public owe them rather to the vigilance of Opposition than to the free grace of his Majesty's ministers? It may be very shortly answered, that they have been carried into effect at the first possible moment; and that the opponents of his Majesty's ministers have in no instance led the way to any practi- cable redactions in the establishments of the 52 country. They have indeed fired at random int M Our next manufacture is our woollen. The average value of this export during the war was between five and six mi! lions annually. Under the effect oi the foreign wool-tax, the value of the same export, in the year 1821, was reduced to four millions and three quarters. In the year now closing it will much exceed five millions. Our linen manu- factures have risen, between 1817 and 18S1, from one million and a half to two millions, being double the amount of the same exports during either of the three last years of the war, 1811, 1812, and 1813. Our exports in silk, though as to exports only an inci- pient manufacture, have gradually become in annual real value half a millrun, about (50 oMc-fbnrth thr an'iount ^A' our linen cx[)ort». Our exports of iron and steel, wrought and un wrought, in the year 1821, niaintaii. their average procUice during the war, antl in January 1822 will exceed the export of any former year. From 1817 to the year 1H2I our exports of rclhied sugar have increased from a million and a lialf to two millions, and have nearly doubled their amount in any year of the war. It would lead mto a detail too mi- nute to follow the comparative produce through the remaining articles in the long list of our exports. Suthce it to say, that they all exhibit the same aspect of unimpaired energy, and, from the promise of the current and com- mencing years, justify a strong expectation, that they are no longer vibrating between a high amount in one year and a diminishing rate in the following. Our tin, pewter, and plated goods, exceed, together, half a million in annual value, and exhibit an increase of nearly one half of their total amount above the war years of 1811, 1812, and 18 1^'. In colonial exports, sugar, rum, coffee, in- digo, tobacco, and India piece goods, our ex- ports in almost all cases equal their average amount during the three war years 1811, 1812, and 181.3, and in many articles exceed double the average amount of a war year, as in rum and indigo; the average war export of rum being in 1 ' \ I , ■ ; value half a million only, and in tlic year 1821 upwards of eleven hundred thousand pounds. The same of indigo; the average war export, in 1811, 1812, and 18L'3, heing of the value of 400,000 only, whilst the exports of 1821 exceeded in value eight hundred thousand. Nor has the average of our sugar exports de- clined from its amount during the war years ahove stated ; a most important fact, when it is considered that, during the war, nearly all the sugar colonies in the world were our own. Another fact, and of most important hearing upon the question under consideration, should be retained in memory during the comparison of these two periods. Under the depreciation of all articles from the conclusion of the war to the present period, it is manifest that the same fjums no longer represent the same quan- tities of goods, and, tlierefore, that the equa- lity of value in the averages of the two pe- riods is necessarily a proof of a great increase in the present time. Suffice it to add, in con- clusion of this part of our subject, that our average exports of tobacco have nearly dou- bled their amount since the war; and that the average value of our India piece goods, ex- ported, is gradually advancing from it;> amount of one million during the war, to a million and a quarter. Such is the present conditi9n rtf our natlonul resources iis lepjaids the ques- tion of our foreign nnd colonial exports. Under the head of navigation, the entirety of our resource* may be very hrielly exhibited in its four usual the same conclu- sion, tliat the resources of the internal trade 77 of the country arc not ontjr uuinipaired, but arc all exihtinjj in in< rcased cncr^^y. •» A very brief view of tlic quartcis just ter- minated will confirm the above proposition, and coucludtj this division of our subject. The fust quarter of this yeai ended, of course, April 5th. Now, for the sake of exhibiting a fair conipariion of tbc two years, let us for a mo- ment assume the two linancial years, 1H20 and 1821, to have terminated respectively on that clay. The increase of the rt venue of the latter year would then exhibit ii sum of nearly two millions. The increase on the excise alone would appear to be two millions and a half, and this increase attaching on articles of ge- neral consumption; on candles, <:offee, hops, malt, pepper, printed goods, salt, soap, Bri- tish spirits, tea, tobacco, and snuff. Ihit if this quarter were thus favorable, the Octobei quarter now past exhibits an augmentation of revenue without parallel Underall the heads of the consolidated fund, the customs, excise, stamps, and assessed taxes, there was a large excess above the corresponding quarter of the preceding year. In the total war taxes there is an excess of ^'500,000, beyond the corre- sponding quarter of last year; and in the total revenue, the excess, as compared with the same quarter, is between 8 and 900,000 pounds. Under the excise, all the great articles of con- 7.^ 3umptioiJ have increased, and this augmentatioji lias pervaded ahiiost every head of the consoli- dated excise duties. The total was astonish- ing. It exhihited an increase over the October quarter of 1 8 1 8 of a sum above c£ 700,000; over the like quarter of 1819 of above £1,800,000; and over the corresponding quarter of 1820 of i:,'85 7,000. Nor is there any just cause of apprehension that this prosperity is merely transient. At the time these observations are writing, there is confident reason to expect that there ^s■ill be a considerable rise in the cus- toms, and, so far as the payments from week to week have been made from the collectors of excise, they justify the expectation that the to- tal produce will be equal to the receipt of the corresponding period of the last year*. But it is surely not necessary to argue, that occasional vi- brations between a higher and a lower degree, from causes so entirely incidental as insuth- cient harvests and unfavorable seasons, are not to be carried to tlie discredit of the general character of our financial resources. The ques- tion is, what is our general condition, and not what is our particular suffering under a cause manifestly temporary. As a nation, like an in- * Since the publication of the first edition of this work, the quarter has closed with an increase of about A'40,0000 above the corresponding 79 dividual, consumes perhaps under tlie same general circumstances about the same (juan- tity, one year with another, it would be suth- cicnt for our present purpose to shew that our general consumption had not declined. - ' Such is the general condition of the re- sources of the country, as respects the four great members which compose the fund of pub- lic wealth, our Commerce, Navigation, Manu- factures, and Internal Trade. An objection may here probably be made, whether a fifth and most important member, our agriculture, does not remain behind, and whether the condition of that element of national strength be ecjually prosperous with those above mentioned. To this it might be answered, in the first instance, that we should carry in our minds a distinc- tion before taken between the intesfritv of the fund of production itself, and the pecuniary price of its produce in the market. Every fund of production, whether a mine, a mea- dow, a tree, the soil of the earth, or a manu- facture, is in a more or less prosperous state, and is moir* '^r less ricli at one period than another, according as its actual produce has increased or diminished according as it pro- duces more or less of its natural fruit and sub- ject of growtlu But if this principle be ap- plied to our agriculture, will it be contended, 80 tliat tlic productive [)owcrs of the soil are im- paired, and that tlie proportion in natural pro- duce of w))at is sown and what is reaped ha» become diminished? It is perfectly true, that, from a nmliitude of causes, some of them ob- vious and distincl, and others more remote and complicate, many of them still in opera- tion, and others which have certainly exhaust- ed their effect our landlords and farmers Jjave suffered much from the depression of tlie markets; and that the price of land in rent, and the price of its protluce in the market, have rapidly fallen from their rate during the war. The causes of this depression have been examined at length by a parliamentary com- mittee, and the conclusion to which the re- port conducts the reader agrees with the in- ference previously deduced by every one ac- qnainted with the principles of political eco- nomy. As the committee was lM)nored by the attendance of several of those gentlemen, who in the present day particularly profess to ad- vocate those principles, anil who indeed chiefly censure his Majesty's ministers for not adopt- ing their sentiments to the full extent in which they themselves advocate them, we would wish to put it to their candor, whether, accon to every just maxim of political economy, present state of the corn-market can be any img the i M- 4 I 81 thing but temporary; and whether it he in the )f th :h:it th( ;ral .f th( ^.: •: nature or riungs, tiiat tnc genei materials of human sustenance can fall short of the cost of producing them. It is totally im- possible tiiat the present state of the markets can continue, or that a2:i'iculture, like man.i- factures, should not accommodate itself to a new state of things, and therein resume a condition, under which it may be conducted with due profits to all concerned. Onv.' of the heaviest burthens upon agriculture, tlic poor- rates, is diminishing in every part of t?lie kingdom; in many parts a half, and in all a fourth. The continuance of peace, and the proceeding improvement of our finances, added to the zeal and sincerity with which ministers are making retrenchments, will gradually re lieve tlic landlord and farmer, whilst the ad- vancing state of manufactures will both in- crease the demand for agricultural produce, and assist in the further reduction of the poor- rates. If the rent of land, and the price of its produce, have diminished with the cessation of the war, so likewise have the price and stock of manufacturers and merchants. It is noto- rious, that the accumulated stocks of our merchants and manufacturers have diminished at least thirty per cent. ; and that a capitalist, who, ten years since, was worth twenty thou- M. 82 sand pomids, in the value of his stock oh hand, is now nor worth fourtecji ; or to adopt the ]>o()ijl.ir term, has suftercd the extinction of a tliird part of his fortune. These are the in- cidents of the two periods of war and peace, and are common to all classes, as well as to the landlord and farmer. The main and soi« question is, whetlierthe fund of growth and pro- fit be safe and unimpaired? Is there the same proportion between the seed and the harvesr^ Must the article continue in demand, or is the demand gone altogether? If it must be had, it must be paid for. To say all in a word, and to conclude this part of our subject, it is to- tally impossible that the ordinary pnd general ]>rice of food should not command the price of the land which raises it, of the laborer who sows and reaps it, and of the farmer who affords the capital and current expense of its cultivation from day to day. For a single year, or even f<)r three successive yearsj a large surplus, be-^ yond the demand of consumption, will not only lye so much not wanted in itself, andj' therefore, in itself of little price im the market,' but will necessarily aifect the price of the whole (juantity. But when waste, or what al- ways accompanies the low prkse of food, a 2>K)re plentiful u*e, shall have consumed the surplus quantity; or when the quantity grov/ a 8a shall have adapted itst'lf to the supply, ii the quantity actually grown ])c too nnich, all these incidental irregularities will pass away, and farmers and landlords will obtain the prices to which they arc entitled. As regards the general state of our debt and the means of redeeming it, it will appear by the accounts of the year now closing, that ministers will have proceeded with all practicable expe- dition to accomplish the recommendation of the Finance Committee of 1819. By the effect of a most zealous retrenchment, and by the proceeding improvement of our national re- sources, they would have attained in 182^ a Burpius of five millions, to be employed as a permanent sinking fund upon the national debt, if the agricultural horse tax of half a million had not been repeaUd, If Mr. Pitt, in tbe year 1786, regarded a sinking fund of one million to be adequate to the redemption of a debt of two hundred and forty millions, it is i»' luifest that a sinking fund of five millions \\xh\\(\ operate with nearly a twofold proportiv'^i U|)ou a debt of eisrht Hundred niillitiiii. It would liave the air of a paradox to assert, that a speedier re- demption of the debt would not be desirable. But it may assuredly be stated, that in the ac- tual condition ot the country a larger sinking fund can in no degree be attbrded. The imme- diate conclusion of a long war is not the UiO.^t u favorable period for the redemption of a na- tional debt. If, together with the success of the ministers in creating this sinking fund, it be borne in mind, that they have within the same period paid a debt to the Bank of ten millions, and have not only themselves fore- gone any facility from a paper-currency in administering the power* cf government, but have urged and enabled the Bank to resume cash-payments, it will be admitted, that, un- der the difliculties of the times^ and the con- clusion of so long a war, they have accom- plished as much as could reasonably be ex- pecteil. It rnay now be confidently asserted, that the system of loaas and new taxes has reached its termination; that we are now liv- ing upon our income, and arc ih a condition cf redeeming yearly some part of a mortgage which undoubtedly presftcs heavily upon the industry of the people. Under the system of loans we should every year have borrowed upon ACS* favorable terms ; and what is equally worthy of consideration, w'e should have anti- cipated in peace the resources of war. We should have gone to any new war under a most extreme difficulty; or, like France, under the administration of Fleury, we should have lost our due consideratioa in Europe, by seeking peace at more rhan its due value. By the ap- plication oi' the old 6iinking fund to the ex|>eu> 85 ditme of the ccniiitiy, but still leaving a sur- plus of five millions above our exj)encliture to operate upon the debt, we secure a great ))re- sent relief, and leave unlou( bed the means of future defence, '"• < ' '■ ,-■ • •,■■.■' . '' ,' ' »;',-> ■(■ ..vi, '■:;-;>, «.-; . V ««■».«■»•» ;. I » .#■.- (.t>^»«>f. rOREWN RELATIONS. >•■«'. • \ViTHOUT going into a detail of the new sys- tem upon wliicb Europe was settled at tlie pe- riod of the treaties, it may be suOicient to state, that the European commonwealth was recon- structed at this period chiefly upon three prin- -' * • ■ ciples. ' •' ' f The first was, that there should be such a dis- tribution of ])Ower amongst the several principal states, as might render each sufficient in itself to m?intaln its independence, and to withstand any possible incursion of France, till the gene- ral confederacy of Europe could move up in defence (f the common tranrjuillity. Secondly, but always subservient to the fjrst principle, the restoration of ancient pow- ers to their former state of possession, ■ — •*'■*' Thirdly, where such restoration was mani- festly impossible, or where it seemed expedient to forego it, in pursuit of the more valuable object of rendering each state sufficient to its owi; defence, in such case to i.idenmify the 86 sufVcring power for its lost territories from the common fund of concjuest. The system of Europe was accordingly set- tled upon these principles. Under the first of them, tlie kingdom of the Netherlands uas erected, and was rendered compact and self- sufficient bv its annexation to the United Pro- vinccs. And, as the Netherlands were thus in- terposed as a barrier between France and Ger- many, Sardinia, by the annexation of Genoa, was rendered a more adequate barrier between France and Italy, Under the second principle, the Swiss Republics and Italian States were restored as nearly as possible to their ancient condition. Under the third, Austria received an indemnity in Italy; whilst Prussia, who was in some degree aflected by the new changes, and who lost her ancient influence in Holland, received a portion of Saxi)ny. This last modification was indeed further re- commended by the new stat ; of things in Germany, and by the extinction, during the wars of the French Revohition, of the Ger- man empire. Under these circumstances, there was no longer any power in Germany sufficiently compact and united to oppose an adequate defensive force against a sudden in- vasion. Experience had proved that Prussia in her actual state was no equal opponent to »7 France, ami thiit the exposed condition of the smaller jMineipalilies, ;uul their coni()ulsoiy subniissioh to an invading army, necessarily tlirew thcni as increments into the hands ol' the invader. Nor is it necessary to conceal, that it liad hecome expedient, npon many other considerations, to bestow tliis increase of territory uj)on Prussia, and to take it from Saxony. If the one had suffered more than any other power in Euro})e under the lojig and unsparinp, oppression of France, the other, to use no harslier term, was surely but little entitled to escape the penalty of a war, in which her prince had borne so prominent a part. As such is the new system upon which Eu- rope is now settled, our duties, under our fo- reign relations, consist in little move than in a faithful observance of the spirit of tlie trea- ties upon wliich tliis system is groundc(!. The leading princi|)lc and or)j< ot of these treaties, and of the condition which they constitute, are the mainteiJaUce of the ge- neral peace of Europe by tne personal amity of the sovereigns, and by u system of media- tion, which should, on the one side, recog- nize the perfect independ.'nce of the several states in their own internal concerns; and, upon the other, should liold forth their com- mon interest, and therein their common obli- B8 gation, to consult llic gcncrjil policy of Eu- rope ill all (jucstions atlccting tin; saicty ot* tlie whole. It h a malicious aiul most unjust represen- tation of the character of this systcni to issert, that the allied powers, and England an^ongst them, are hound hy these treaties to control the internal concerns of other states, or even to act the arbitrator in disscntionn between state and state, vipon interests belonging only to themselves. As regards England, the obli- gations of the treaties are expressed in the trea- ties, and our contract is known to the letter. If the ministers of some of the other allied powers, may appear to have pressed the asser- tion of this right of friendly mediation into that of authoritative control over all and each of the states on the continent, the excess be- longs only to them, and no portion of it at- taches to us. They tind nothing of this prin- ciple in the general treaties; and accordingly the king and government of England do not admit that they are comprehended in the obli- gation. If the assertion of these pretensions ex- ist at all, it is totally a separate concern of the ])owers that make them. But it is not perhaps too much to sjiy, that the Holy Alliance of the present time, like the treaty of Pilnitz in the French Revolution, has no other exist- S9 cncc, at leant in the di'^rec asscrtt«l, than in the tactions writin Our next foreign relation, following the same local order, is with Spain Here our moderation has been equally tried, both as re- gards our own peculiar gain, and as bears upon tlic alleged principle of defend!. ig kings at fill events. In the contest between Spain and her (Colonies, wc have held forth a different example from the ff)nner conduct of that crown between ourselves and America. It will not be denied that a strong temptation urged as. The emancipation of so large a customer could not hut be most advantageous to so large a dealer as Great Britain. The free commerce with South America is n.)thing to other kingdoms in proportion to what it will eventually become to England. If our interest were strong, the impotence of the power to be injured (it is said without any purpose of offence) opened every thing to our mercy. There was no restraint but in our own generosity and justice. But this restraint was sufficient. Wc remembered that if honesty, be the best policy of individuals, who are but creatures of the day; still more so is it the best wisdom of those more durable moral per- sons, the xryjaara eij aV», statcs and empires. The time might arrive when fortune might re- duce us to the same appeal to the justice of others, and we might receive the benefit of our own example. Under these feelings the South Americans were left to fight .ilone. Un- der these feelings the gentlemen of tlie Eng- lish Opposition have taunted, and the British 9S manufacturers have supplicated in vain. The answer of his Majesty's ministers to the one has been, that the faith of treaties was with them somethincj more than a word of course; and that the weakness of a friendly power only superadded a duty of generosity to a duty of justice. To the otlier i>arty they an- svvx'red, that a nation had other interests be- sides present gain; and tliat if commerce be a good thing, national honor is a better. It was under these principles that the Fo- reign Enlistment Bill was passed, and that our officers and soldiers were prohibited from en- tering into the servii:e of the insurgent sub- jects of a friendly state. In the treaty signed at Madrid in 1814, it was stipulated between the governments of Spain and Great Britain, that, in performance of the duties of friendly states towards each othci, his Britannic Ma- jesty should prohibit his subjects from fur- nishing arms to the insurgent Colonies of South America. It was manifestly within the obligations of friendly states, and the acknowledged public law of Europe, that the one j>ower should require this engagement, and that the other should accede to it; the South American Colonies being at the time a component portion of the Spanish empire, and the demand of Spain being nothing more than r- a stipulation that wc should not interfere in the war between her colonies and herself. As it was therefore a matter of course in the Bri- tish government to make this engagement, so it was a point of good faith to give it an elTec- tual observance. The Foreign Enlistment Bill was but the execution of this .article of the treaty of Madrid. The treaty was merely de- claratory of a pre-existing duty, and neither the article nor its performance gave any thing to Spain to which she had not a previous and perfect right. Under the public law of Eu- rope, our actual relations with Spain and South America afforded us only the choice of two courses either that of giving positive aid to the mot'ier-country, or of remaining in a perfect neutrality. As either of these courses was open to us, just views of our own policy decided the choice, and we adoptetl, a» we had good right to adopt, the part of neu- trality. So far only we were at liberty to consult our own peculiar interests; for tliough the law of nations would admit us to afford positive aid to Spain, in the reduction of her colonies, the same law prohibited us, as contra- ry to the duty of friendly states, from giving any assistance to the Colonies. Our conduct towards South America, from the peace to the present day, has been in conformity with these 95 principles. With the stronocst interest for assisting the (.'clonics, in the i'ace of tlic taunts of the Opposition, and against the clamors of our traders, his Majesty's ministers have steadily adhered to the ohligations of public law, and to the faith of treaties. Nor have we satisfieil ourselves with a merely apparent observance of this neutral conduct. We have acted thr(mghout as bccomey the direct and high-minded character of the country. We have sent no expedition to examine the re- spective strength of the two belligerent par- ties; we have held forth no encouragement to a persevering warfare by the expectation, that a certain degree of success only was wanting to ensur*:; our recognition and co-operation. Our language to Spain has been You have a right to require our neutrality, and therefore we engage for it; we have, indeed, a strong interest to decline such an engagement, but we have a manifest duty to make. it. To the Colonies we have said We cannot aid you, but we will stand apart. To both we have fulfilled our duties and contract. It is impossible upon this part of our sub- ject, and with a view to events about closing as these observatioiis arc written, not to con- gratulate the country upon the full and une- quivocal success of this part of our foreign r ■r 96 policy; by which, witli safe and un impeached honor, aiul against tlic most urgent tempta- tion5, the course of human events has at length openc'l ^hia commercial llehl to tlie full extent of our p.^ssiiile wishes. There can be no disposition in his TNfajesty's ministers and their friends to undervalue the importance of a temptation which so long solicited them in vain, and to which they only preferred the sincerity of our public faith, and the integrity of our national lienor. They cannot sec with indif- ference an acquisition to general commerce at once so vast in expanse, so various in cli- mate, so fertile in all the materials of industry and manufacture; and in that stage, moreover, of social progress, which, above all others, qualifies it to become the largest customer of a manufacturing nation. They cannot be in- ditferent under the well-grounded conviction, that this new field will be peculiarly open to British trade and industry, and will at once add to the supply of our stock of raw mate- rials, and to the abundant consumption of our manufactures. They cannot be insensible to the value of a dealer, whose exports to the mother-country, under all the disadvantages of a civil warfare amongst themselves, exceeded fifteen millions; and whose imports were only of less extent under the system of an injudi- ')7 ci()U!i monopoly. 15ut in the proportion in "which they must: feci this satisfaction under the present state of tilings, do they feel a just pride in the conscious len c ".hrance, tliat a prize of sucli .splcii'lor, and always lying at their feet, never seduced them from tlic path of national lionor; anil that if tliey liave at lens>:tl) attained it, tiiey liave attained it with ^•enerosity and o>ood faitli Non caupojutntes Jidciriy not actin*^ the pedlar and freehooter, but as tlie representatives of a great state, and of a generous and sincere people, his Ma- jesty's ministers, so far as tliis (piestion goes, have at once satisfied their own honor, and dignified tlie cliaracter of their country. Our relations next in order are those witli tlie two governments of France and the Ne- tlierlands. It might he sufficient, as respects our existini*- relations with these states to ob- serve, thai, ^hey are in perfect concordance with the spirit of the general treaties, and with the maintenance of the best interests of each country respectively. Our intercourse with them, so far as any events since the with- drawing of the armies have led into any, has been that of the most unreserved amity and confidence. It is manifest that in this part of our subject we are treading upon tender ground. Doubtless our advice, under cif cum- .M8 staiK'es in w)»i(h the I'lfMuli c;ovcnniicnt, rrom tlu'ir piTsunsioii of our longi'r cxpciirncc in tlic aO'airs of a mixed constitution, ]»ave soli- cited it, has been given with ccjual sincerity and good-will. DouhtU ss, our authority itst.lf has not been refused, where the fermenting* ill-spirit during tlie first years of the peace re- quired the indirect control of the expression of our continuing;: amity in this tone. Hi't, on the other hand, we lia\ e cautiously abstained from any language or conduct, by which we mio'ht seem to arrot>-ate tlie riirht of iuterfer- encc in the internal affairs of France. W^ith .still more delicacy have we abstained from as- suming any tone of national superiority, .md from employing our actual influence in pro- curing, or even in soliciting, any commercial regulations, which, in tha existing spuit of the French people, might increase the difficulties of the king's government. We have never forgotten, that, under some circumstances, and in dealing with natures as generous as truly royal, to askj is to ha/e, however the concession might embarrass the princely giver, and whatever misrht be the true character of the gift. But considering that the best inter- est of Enjxlaud is in the maintenance of tran- (juillity, and in the permanent return of reli- gion, morals, and good government, to a king- (lorn so situatoil .is I'liinci*, wc liave passed l»y all sin^k:, and nu)rc peculiar ol)jccts, iti puiMiit of the secure attainment and confirniatioii of the general end. The language of our foreign relations to France has been and is Let us j*eC you fjcltled and happy; let us see you oc- cupy y(HU due state in the i>ysten] of Europe; and we will then, on equal terms, renew with you the race of glory and national wealth. One of the Uieasures arising f»'om tliis spirit was the Alien Act, by which wc at once pcr- f(jnnetl a duty t()war«l» the Ticnch govern- ment, and exercised an act of immediate pru- dence towards our public peace at home. Mis Majesty's ministers retained in their minds, tliat ilie former leaders of the Whigs, them- selves, Lord Fitzwilliam, Mr. Windham, and other names of equal repute, had always en- tertained a strong apprehension of too free a communication with France; and, during the revolutionary war, had always anticipated, as one of the most dreaded eifects of peace, au unrestrained intercourse between the bad men of France and the comparative innocence of the English and Irish Reformers, His Ma- jesty's ministers coincided with his Lordship and other Whigs still living in this apprehen- sion. They could not reconcile it to them- selves to superadd the lectures of M. Constant T^ 100 to the orations of Mr. Hunt; nor to surrender tlie innocence of Mr. ('ohbct, the candor and directnesiof Mr. Hohhouse, and the truth, tl\e fixed pn"ncij)les, and generous warmth of Sir Robert Wilson, to any possible assueiati m with men like FoucJie. Thouj^h they knew the distinction between laws and manners, be- tween crimes and vices, between acts and opi- nions, and were aware tliat it did not belong to governments to make laws against errors and false teachers, they still felt it a duty to guard against the corruption of youth. As regard- ed France, tliesc considerations were further strengthened by the relative state of the two G( untries. Thev could not reconcile it with their sense of duty towards a friendly power to permit a depot of plots and plotters to be established at Dover. Under all these cir- cumstances, his Majesty's ministers conceded to the best precedents and to the best times, and recommended the Alien Act. The parlia- ment coincided in feeling and opinion with the ministers, and tlie act was passed with a large majority in both houses. As regards our relations with the Nether- lands, they are too obvious to require remark. It is sufficient to say, that the amity and confidence of the two governments continue to gather strength with their progress. The 101 completion of the fortresses is in fact the coniplf tiou of the iluf* securities for the perma- nence of tlie new general system. It cannot have escaped public observation, that in Hol- land, as in Trance, there is not that warm po- pular feeling towards the government and peo- ple of Great Britain, to which \\c are assuredly most justly entitled by our long constancy in the common cause of Europe. In Holland, as in France, there exists a vulgar opinion, that the true motive of our persevering cou- rage and conduct is to be sought in our com- mercial spirit; and that our government is still seeking to advance our commerce and manut'actures at the expense of all other na- tions. However false and ungenerous may be such a report, it is to be lamented that it still exists. Under these circumstances, his Majes- ty's ministers have considered it to be a first object of policy to avoid every kind of conduct which might cherish and increase these un- friendly suspicions. Under the same circum- stances, they have declined to solicit for any commercial treaty, or to negociate for any of those facilities (for they can amount to no- thing more) which vi^ould cost more to the Dutch government than they would be wortli to tlie trade and commerce of England. But when this observation is made, it is necessary 102 to qualify it by the assertion, that it is very difficult to conceive the possibility of* any commercial treaty between England and the Netherlands: there wants indeed all subject- matter for such a treaty. The people of the two states are in a direct rivalry with each other. The Dutch and Netherlanders manu- facture almost every thing for their own con- sumption: they have no raw material with which to supply us, nor can we, on the other hand, supply them. They receive their colo- nial produce from their own planters; they grow their own wool; they import their own cotton; in a word, they exist so nearly m the same stage of commerce and manufacture with ourselves, and grow, work up, and deal, so ex- actly in the same articles, that there is a total want of all subject-matter of exchange be- tween us. The large extent and various cli- mate of France affords her some staples of her own produce, her wines and brandies, for ex- ample, upon which to found a commercial exchange; and it is certainly not impossible, but that at some more convenient period the wines of France might be admitted into Eng- land upon the condition of the equivalent ad- mission into France of British cutlery and hardware. But, as regards Holland and the Netherlands, it is almost iiiH)05sible to disco- ver the materials for any coinmeicial treaty. C>ne article alone with which we supply ihcm, cotton-yarn, was so little satisfactory to our manufacturers of piece-goods, that, in the year 1BI7> a strong petition was presented t(» parliament against its exportation; and it re- (jViired the utmost efforts of his Majesty's mi- nisters to convince the jietitioners of the folly of their demand. One observation, indeed, : tincounters us universally with regard to these commercial treaties. When ne look collec- tively to the petitions of our several manufpc- tnrers, and the arguments of their advocates for new commercial treaties, and for opening a more enlarged sphere of foreign trade, they amount to nothing more than to tlie expres- sion of their wishes, that all foreign markets should he opened to British commodities, whilst the British market should most reli- giously eontiimc its exclusion against all fo- reign manufactures. Whilst all demand a free trade and an opci\ market, not one of them is willing to surrender to foreigners any restric- tion in favor of their own commodities. But is it to be expected for a moment, that foreign nations Vvili accede to a treaty under unequal circumstances? Will Portugal, or what is of more importance, will tiie Brazils, continue a favored consumption of British cotton and 104 woollen rnanul'actures, when we sliall exclude licr wines, or at least withdraM* our preference of Portugal in favor of France? Will the land- ed interest consent to a more free admission of foreign spirits in competition with our own distilleries? Can we in fact lay our hand upon any existing restriction, in favor of British trade, which the manufacturers concerned in tha^ trade would voluntarily concede, or which could be taken from them without such a violence to the actual employment of capital, and without so much suffering to large bodies employed in the manufacture, as to render it very doubtful whether the ultimate good would be worth the present cost? As regards our present subject, Holland, it is impossible not to acknowledge, that our foreign relations can exist in no other form than at present. All closer commercial connection is impossible. The people of Holland and the Netherlands are as jealous of our manufactures as we can possibly be of theirs. The agriculturists and manufacturers of those countries are making the same demands of their government for the exclusive support of their own growth and manufacture. The crown of Holland and the Netherlands is a new institution; it is necessarv for the Dutch o-ovcrnment to con- cede even to the ))opular prejudices. Our in- 10.5 creased tax upon the Dutch provision trade, has removed still further any possibility of ne- gociation for commercial advantages. In a word, under our foreign relations with Hol- land, we possess all that we can possess; the friendship and confidence of tlie government, and the same degree of trade to which we ad- mit the Dutch and Netherlanders, .. As regards Sardinia, Naples, and Italy in general, the spirit of our foreign relations has been directed towards the maintenance of general tranquillity. It was no part of our duty to interfere with the internal concerns of those governments, nor to take any part in such dissentions between them and their neigh- bours, as did not affect the due distribution of power in the system of Europe. We have no where contracted the obligation to defend these states in all their conflicts with their sub- jects, or each other. We have no where ex- cluded ourselves from the question of prudence. Accordingly, when the late invasion of these states occurred, the first consideration of our own government was; is there any thing in the circumstances of these dissentions, which either affects the permanence of the g'^iieral settlement of Europe, or menaces any interest peculiarly British. The answer to these ques- tions was in the neuative. No interei,t was 106" conccrnul but the iuterual state of the coun- tries themselves. As resjicctetl Eno;lan(l, our interference euuUl be accouipunietl with no possible goo thcni. They have yet to learn, that the personal iu- tlispositioa of foreign sovereigns and states, pot to say their actual hostility, is a matter of 9uch utter inditference to the government and people of i'lnglaiid, as to he needlessly incurred by the application of intemperate language and indecorous terirjs to kings and emperors. They have yet to learn, that tHe rules of prudence and decorum in common life are not to he car- ried into political intercourse; and that in dis- cussing the ordinary dilVerencc'j of states and governments, the tone of mediation is not more effectual, as well as more courteous, than that of arrogance antl menace. Our relations next in order, are those with Austria and Uussia. As regards Austria, it is unnecessary to go into any detail; the princi- pal point of incidental contact between Austria andourselvcshaving been touched upon above , Some points, however, may appear to deserve, observation. One of these is, the erroneous estimate amongst our popular speakCiS and writers, of the character and alleged views of this government. No sovereign is perhaps more injuriously treated than the Emperor of Austria. He is not the despotic prince 108 which our libellous writers represent. Consi- dering the extent of his dominions, and their exposed condition, the defensive power of th j Emperor of Austria is not equal to the dignity and station of his empire in the European com- mon-wealth. His kingdom is composed of members too distinct, having little more union than in the circumstance of their being go; verncd by a common sovereign; whilst each member is alike sus,picious, lest the force of one part should be directed towards the sub- version of the privileges of the other. The power of the sovereign, under the Hungarian constitution, amounts to little more than the feudal superiority of the supreme chief over his; barons. In his German states, the power of the emperor is rather patrimonial than politi- cal. In Italy, he has to contend with an ad- verse public opinion, and with the natural hos- tilit} of a people subjected to a foreign ruler. The local character of his dominionvS, and their relative situation towards each other, are equally ill adapted to compose a compact power, or to constitute a force of ready application. The greater portion of his kingdom consists of a plain level country, intersected indeed, by large rivers, but almost totally without any defensive strength upon iis frontier. The political charac- ter of Austria is necessarily governed by these cii- I I 101) cuinstances of its iniperrect means of protection. If the re-oonstrurtion of the Dutch barrier, by means of the kingdom of ihe Netherlands, have give, additional security to Austria on the part of Fra'.cc, the growth of the Prussian monar- chy, and the extenbiou of that of Russia, have introdueed other and larger objeets, which, in the vicissitudes of time, ^tni in the varying po- Kicy of cabinets, may nioi^ sericMisly afi'ect the safety of the House of Austria. It is far, very far from the purpose of the present observations, spargere voces arnbiguaSy or to give countenance to reports which, under present circumstances, have no shadow of foundation in truth. But the prudence of states, which we call policy, has necessarily a longer reach than the precaution- ary wisdom of private life. It is the duty of Austria to consider the future as well as the present. The generosity and model ation of her present neighbours are their personal virtues; their successors may be more open to tempta- tion. Under 3och circumstances, the situation of Austria is one of much delicacy and difficulty, and her policy necessarily partakes of this cha- racter. She must vigilantly attend to the maintenance of her actual power; she must jealously guard that system of Europe, the con- tinuance of which is her best security, and most effectual strength, In a word, it peculiarly be- 110 longs to Ikt relations to enconntei', in tlieir first iT-appcarancc, tlic retuiu of those principles, to the pro^^rcss of which slic would necessarily hocomc tlic first sacrifice. The lone and conduct ot the British govern- incni towards Austria, !ja\c heen rcgulateil by a knowledge of tlicse circumstances in her si*, tuution. Donhtle:?>''"^v/» Majesty's ministers well knew her rfidkuUies, with regard to ber Italian states, aivd as the due power of Austria is necessary for the system of Europe, they must at once have knowai and lamented the reluc- tant ohediencj of her Italian subjects. They could not but he informed by their resident ministers in Italy, that a very dangerous fac- tion was gaining a most alarming strength, and tlint it particularly menaced the Austrian do- minions. Considering the local contact of the Al|>inc states with France, and with that part of France which, within a very sliort period, had been the chief scene upon which the troubles of Europe were renewed, the British cabinet, could not but entertain some apprehension for the safety of the general system. The next liouse had caught fire, before the flames were well extinguished in its adjoining neighbour- hood. It was under these circumstances, that his Majesty's ministers deemed that the situa- tion of Austria justified some latitude in her Ill ^lefensivi' measuivs. If tlu' Austrian i>:ovt*rn- meiit appeared to some persons, to assert too broadly the prin(!iple of this invasion, the Bri- tish cabinet deemed it sulVielent npon tlieir part, to declare their own eonstrnction of the public law of Europe ; at the same time rcuder- iiip^justiee to the peculiar situation of Austria. This danger, and assuredly not an inconsi- derable (lano-er, has now liappily passed away. We are now instructed by events. But will it be denied in the face of these events, that ex- j)crience has well justitied the wisdom of the policy pursued by the British government? What might not have been the situation of Eu- rope, if the King's ministers, following the. rash but perhaps generous impulse of public opinion, and adopting the injudicious vehe- mence of the opposition, had immediately in- volved the nation in this contest. Naples Would still have been over-run, and Sardinia would still have submitted. Iler revolution- ary army would still have been dispersed. VVe could have intermeddled with no other effect, than to excite an wnfriendly feeling in our for- mer alIies,andto cherish the designs of tlie ill-dis- posed throughout Europe. We must have interposed, if at all, either by the exercise of our influence, or, more authoratively, b}'' a di- rect declaration that the rights of nations were w-: invaded. H'bv our inllucnce, the peril of Aus- tria was possibly too immediate to induce her to surrender the interests of her own safely to our remonstra'^rc and advice. If vvc had as- sumed a mon. ithorit'^.tive tone, our naval armament, in support of our declaration, would scarcely iiave reached the Neapolitan seas, he- fore the submission of Naples and Piedmont would have rendered it nugatory. What must then liave been the course suital)lc to the honor and dignity of England? Either we must have renewed the general war for such objects, or have withdrawn with a barren exertion of our authority. To say nothing of our in- ternal situation at this period, and of the im- portance of not suffering any remote and inci- dental object to impede us in the great work of national retrenchment. The interests of the several European states are so involved with each other, that it is per- haps an imperfect method to enumerate, thus distinctly, our foreign relation with the several states individually. Our relations with Rus- sia, are but little different from the same rela- tions with Austria. Our leading object with both, has been to confirm the full confidence established at the period of the treaties. His Majesty's ministers have felt none of that jea- loi^sy towards the Emperor of Russia, to which i i \ 11.1 they have been strongly urged by the gentle* men of the Opposition. They have seen no- thing in the con»luca of Kusrsiii to justify sueh a jealousy. All the public measures of llussia since the peace have been charaeterized v itli the sincerity and moderation of lier emperor. The powers of Europe, whose dominions arc in immediate contact with those of Russia, have expressed no jealousy of tliis kind; and his Majesty's ministers have deemed it absurd to admit apprehensions for Austria, Prussia, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, MJiieh none of those states feel for themselves. Possibly the personal character of the empiroi of Rus- sia is better known by his Majesty's ministers than by gentlemen more remote from official intercourse. It is impossible but that much variety of opinion and feelings must exist in a court and cabinet composed like that of Rus- sia; but it is equally notorious, that the per- sonal moderation of the sovereign is seconded in its eft'ect by his uncontrolled power under the Russian constitution. Ministers cannot forget, that, when the vast spoil of the French conquest was in medio at the period of the ge- neral peace, the Emperor Alexander contended with England in a high-minded and generous abstinence from all claims for himself. Thev cannot forget, that having then the power to I J 114 retain, and certainly not >vitl)out tlit strong- est <'lain)» to indemnity for his sufferings dur- ing the invasion of his empire, he concurred a» fully as tliemsclvcs in the rfistoration of king- doms, provinces, cities, and towns, to th».'ir for- mer possessors, Uemcmhering this, they pos- siMy think tliey do him only ju«»ticc in infer- ring his moderation, under less temptation, by his experienced magnanimity under greater. Gnu event indeed has arisen which has placed the Kmperor Alexander in a situation of much dilhculty, and wliich, in some of its circumstances, has apparently given coun- tenance to the assertions of popular writers. The insurrection of the Greeks against Turkey has necessarily involved a prince and people of the same religion with themselves. There is a strange injustice amongst our party-writers in considering the situation of the Emperor Alexander, as regards this unforeseen event. They entirely overlook circumstances obvious to all but themselves, and which stand forth upon the very face of his situation. They impute to his own seeking, and to his seeking for a selfish purpose, an extreme state of diili- culties, manifestly thrown upon him by for- tune. The Russian people, and of course the Russian army, are not only of the same reli- gion, but exercise it precisely in the same form l\5 witli tin* CJiccks. Tlir great 1)0(fy of the UuS' sian populiition lias n(»l yet readied the hit!;h degree of civilization of some parts of Europe. It is metre simple in it«t habits, and at the fiame time less corrupted. Tlieir hearts are most warmly attached to the religion of their country: — Their religious faith is more .singly the ohjcct of their ulfection. VVe may all r«mcrn})ti what i degree of popular clamor was excited anioiig'st ourselves, about three years since, by some false and absurd reports of a persecution against the Protestants in a remote part of Trance. ?Jut ii such a feeling, and up(m such an occasion, was raised amongst our own people, wtiosccharacter at the present day is assuredly not an excess of religious en- tliusiasm, and whose alfections are subdivided amongst the hundred other objects of attach- ment in a rich and luxurious community; is it dinicult to conceive what must be the general sensation throughout the Russian empire, where such acts, exercised against the most sacred persons of the same religious faith, were passing in adjoining provinces; and where tliese acts were brought home with so much increased force to their feelings and passions, by the daily reception and personal supplica- tion of the persecuted fugitives? Is it any reasonable subject of astonishmert, that, un- tier tho presence of .sueli images, and under the daily exhortation of priests of the same religion, a kind of epidemic indignation should run through the body of the Russian people, and that the contagion in some degree should reach the army? Far be it from the writer of these remarks to insinuate any imputation against the officers and men of an army, who in the co*nmon contest for the deliverance of Europe sustained at least their equal part. The truth is, that thcv couid not have been men, and assuredly not the brave and gene- rous people which they are, if they had be- held without sympathy the scenes and acts whicli were passing before their eyes. Un- der such circumstances, is it necessary to in- sist further upon the extreme difficulty of the situation of the Emperor Alexander in the dissentions between Greece and Turkey? Sup- posing for a moment, but which must not be supposed, that he did not himself partake of this feeling of his people and army; it is mani- festly contrary to every rule of prudence that he should oppose himself singly and directly to this national enthusiasm. It was totally impossiblie to stem such a ♦^^orrent by moving in a direct line across it. There are some cir- cumstances in the general condition of a fo- reign state, which should be touched with the i, 3BEil5S«^atffiBM/'.-.:.SS"f,'3i-»."5S i ^ 117 same delicacy as it' belonging more inune- (liately to the privacy ^>f common life. It is presumed, that enough has already been said to enable tlie candid reader to enter into the situation of the Emperor Alexander, and to deduce the inference, that this sovereign has not failed in his obligations to the general system of Europe. Nor in forming an estimate of the con- duct of this sovereign should it be omitted, tliat he most readily assented to the British protection of the Ionian Islands, and tliis at a period when all Europe was ringing Avith a clamor against his alleged designs in the Mediterranean. This act of magnanimity is, indeed, in itself an answer to all illiberal suspicions; for if the object of Russia had been the conquest of Turkey, and the ultimate appropriation of its provinces, her cabinet could never have consented to this anticipated cession of a part of her spoil, and still less could have augmented, if not established, a controlling power in the Mediterranean. At the time these observations are writing, the question of Greece and Turkey is still un- determined. In such a state of tilings it must • be suiVicient to observe, that there exists a sincere effort amongst all the powers of Eu- rope, and with the Engjish government in 118 particular, to procure a settlement of these differences upon views of general ]>(»licy and a due consideration of the whole case. Their mcd'ation between Turkey, Russia, and the Greeks, is regulated upon two main princi- ples the first, the termination of a state of things, which, in its ultimate consequence, may affect the general peace of Europe; the second, a security on the part of Turkey against any fanatical revenge or future excesses by her misguided populace. If the Greek in- surrection, and the pending discussions be- tween Russia and Turkey, can be finally set^ tied upon this basis, all parties may have just cause for satisfaction. The Greeks will obtain a security against future oppression; the Em- peror Alexander will have satisfied his peo- ple and himself; and Europe will have extin- guished a fire, which, though beginning only on its remote circumference, but, finding fuel as it moved along, might have burned to the centre. It is doubtless a natural wish amongst all Christian nations, that a people so connected with the fopdest images of our imagination, and carrying us by associations not only to our own early livesjbutto scenes and characters immorta- lised by poets and orators, should obtain a better return for its sufferings, and should more nearly accomphsh its independence. But in this case. as in others, where the subject is the member of a system, the question has two bearings — tliere is a particular interest, md there is a general interest. As regards ^hc particular inter- est of Greece only, there can exist no doubt what ough< to be the wish and object of her- self and friends. But as regards the general intere t of Europe, and as respects the main- tenance of principles, upon which the safety of all empires must stand, it is impossible that the great powers can actively co-operate in the pending contest. The very progress of this conflict, without their co-operation, holds forth such a possible state of things so many dij- jointed members, and such a difficulty to effect a due disposition of them such a disturb- ance in the actual state of possession, and such an uncertainty of retaining the relative equality of states by a new proportionate dis- tribution, as to render even neutrality a very tjuestionable prudence. Sed incedimus per ig' nes. It is one of the hard renditions of for- tune that our duties are sometimes in direct opposition with our feelings. But let it not be said or thought, that Englishmen cannot feel for Greece. The wheel of human affairs, running through every possible evolution, may ultimately cast up a condition of things in which our wishes and duties may be in union; ISO and Greece in hei freedom may delight us with a more hvcly resemblance of tlie mother from whicli she springs — Turne^ quod optanti S^c> Our relations with Turkey arc necessarily comprehended in those with Greece and Rus- sia, A word only may conclude this part of the subject; Whatever may be the character of Turkey and her government, Turkey is lie facto an independent power in Europe, and has a certain place and station to fill. Having such a character, it is to the interest of Eu- rope that Turkey should possess the means of maintaining it. She cannot fail in ' er part without proportionately disturbing the gene- ral order. It is peculiarly the interest of England that Turkey should possess this rela- tive sufficiency; and it is our best preventive policy to maintain her in this degree of strength. Our diplomatic intercourse Vf\t\\ her government has always been directed to- wards this end. But, under present circum- stances, in order to accomplish this object, it iias perhaps become necessary rather to in- crease, than to reduce, her power. The elli- ciency of Turkey is counteracted by two main circumstances— her internal dissensions, and the peculiar character of her military force. But if it be our manifest policy to uphold Turkey in a certain degree of strength, it is IQl assuredly a violation of all prinriple to en- courage these sources of lier weakness. His Majesty's ministers are doubtless acting upon an inference so manifestly just. They can see no certain advantage in further reducing the power of Turkey, nor in concurring in any line of policy, which would eifectually lead to such a reduction. They see that Turkey in her actual state gives no disturbance to the general system; but they are not equLiUy cer- tain, that a new state of things may not lead to very unforeseen consequences. They can see no prudence in foregoing a safe actual con- dition for an uncertain futurity. It is under these considerations, that the British minister at Constantinople is probably instructed to re- gulate his intercourse with the Turks. He is probably authorized to second the representa- tions of the Sublime Porte to Russia, that the militia of the provinces is retained, encamped, and in winter-quarters, less under any desire or apprehension of war, than with the purpose of using the occasion to reduce and extin- guish the Janizaries. He is probably instruct- ed to confirm the assurances of the Porte, that the abolition of this barbarous and fanatic force would be the best guarantee against fu- ture excesses. Under the constitution of Tur- key the Janizaries arc a standing army almost independent of the government, and there- fore its absolute master. They are u feudal army, a deliberating army, a military corpo- ration; having privileges of their own, and all, ofTicers and men, uniting in maintaining and advancing them against their sovereign and fellow subjects. It is scarcely possible not to feel for a sovereign in such circumstances, and possibly this representation has not been made in vain lo the Emperor Alexander. Our foreign relations next in order, and OUT last in the long list, for we pass over those with the minor states as necessarily involved in our policy towards the greater, are those with the United States of America. It is a just observation of moral writers, that the happiest condition of human fortune is in the uniform and uninterrupted current of ordinary life, aftbrding, from d?y to day, only the same unvaried aspect. The same observation may be extended generally to the relations of kingdoms, and to those between England and America in p;»,rticular, which are perhaps never more satisfactory than when they least afford matter of remark. Our relations with Ame- rica are those of two governments respecting the character of each other, and remembering their common origin whilst they look around, upon their different institutions, ■■ ,,[ 123 The situation of America, and her manifest policy under it, is marked by one strong cir- cumstance: Of all the nations in the world America has suft'ered most by the return of peace. Her commerce, her customs, and her total revenue, have been diminished, at certain periods since the peace, by more tlian one lialf. In the year 1815, tlie net produce of her cas- tums exceeded thirty-six millions of dollars. In the year 1819, the produce of the same du- ties was only seventeen millions, being a di- minution of nineteen million dollars out of thirty-six. Her total revenue, in 1815, was in round figures forty-nine and a half millions of dollars. In 1819, her total revenue was not twenty-one millions and a half. This di- minution was chiefly in her customs, which declined from the cessation of her carrying trade, and the resumption by foreign nations of their own commerce. These circumstances in her situation are of so much more importance to us, a& they at once explain the canses which, in a less degree, affected ourselves, and as their opera- tion in both countries has been in kind the same. As England, during the war, manu- factured for the world, America, in a very great degree, was the carrier of the world. Even her raw produce was raised to an im- niense price by the dcmund for it on the con- tinent of Europe, There was a constant ex- portation of lier flour to England, on an aver- age exceeding half a million of barrels, and, in the years 1801, 1802, and 181 1, exceeding a million. Her flour, cotton, tobacco, and whatever else she exported of raw produce, thus attained a price exceeding in all articles one third, and, in many, double its present amount. Her freights, her shipping, her navy her price of land, her amount of cir- culating currency, her wages of labor, and her returns of capital; in a word, her agriculture, her commerce, her navigation, her internal industry and improvement, and whatever she possessed of rough domestic manufactures, increased in the same general rate as amongst ourselves. Under the general competition of one branch of employment with another, added to the universal demand for labor, and to the abundance of money in paper and cash, prices rose throughout all commodities, and in every division of industry. 'The general peace over- took America in this state of things. Her commerce immediately fell, and fell by nearly one half. Her circulating capital, her paper- Currency, were necessarily called in, or forced back in the same proportion. Most of hep banks, trading only on accommodation, broke >» I I'i5 Up, and by their bankruptcy, atul the gene-* ral alarm excited by it, still farther reduced, or rather almost extinguished, their paper medium. Under this general state of things, prices now fell as abruptly in peace, as they had risen during the war. The cessation of a great portion of foreign demand, necessarily caused a glut of all raw produce in her mar- kets. Prices thus fell from abundance. The withdrawing of the foreign carrying trade, and of foreign commerce in general, reduced the general income of the nation; and as this tra iluccment to create or to contimic it artilici- ally. Prices thus fell from the third cause of the reduced quantity of money. Under this concurrence of circumstances, America hns been suffering in a greater degree than our- selves, and affords a strong illustration of tho actual causes of what we have seen amongst our own merchants, manufacturers, and fann- ers. If we have suffered, indeed, in a less de- gree from some of these causes, it is only be- cause our state of society is more advanced, and that our capitalists are less dependent upon their income from year to year. The national wealth of England is composed of two descrip- tions, accumulated capital, and current in- come. The one may suffer in the vicissitudes of commerce, trade, and in the pecuniary value of produce in the markets; but the other fund is necessarily more permanent, and in a rich so- ciety will maintain a large consumption for many successive years. But in all new coun- tries, like America, the national wealth con- sists in little more than in the annual income. For the time, the withdrawing of income is with them reduction to poverty. This condition of America leads to another important conclusion, and to one more imme- diately bearing upon our foreign relations with her government. Of the whole actual levenue 187 of the Uiiitod St;it»*s, about twcnty-fivc million dollars^ eigbtccn millions arc raised !)y hcrcus* toms. Of so much importance to that govern- ment is the collection of hor customs, or in other words, the continuance of her commerce. Ihit it is unnecessary to observe, tliat an inter- est of this kind must bind her strongly to the maintenance of her pacific and friendly rela- tions with England. It is impossible to ima- gine any event more injurious to the commerce of America and England than an interruption of these relations. It must be a war directly against the commerce of each other. America must at once lose three out of five parts of her national revenue, and whatever she retains of trade must disappear from the face of the ocean. England, on the other hand, would undoubtedly lose the supply of her best customer, and it is dif- ficult to imagine any thing tliat she could gain. The foreign relations of the two states have necessarily some respect towards these cir- cumstances of their relative situation, as great commercial dealers. It would assuredly be as unjust, as it is mean, to impute the ex- isting amity to these causes only. The go- vernors of both proceed from a stock, with Avhom justice and generosity are always more than mere names, and who require no proof of interest to retain them within the o1)1ig.'ition<^ ofiiior.'il duty. Ijitt it is in the na< tuicoi'nian, and indeed it is hisflnty, togiveduc weight to considerations of personal prudence. With every allowance for national generosity, the practical statesman will always sec with pleasure tliis concurrence of interest and duty in neighhourino; states. He has a good reliance, who has to deal with good faith and honor. IJut he has a better, who has to deal with good faith and common interest. : As to any practical subjects which have re- cently arisen untler the head of our foreign relations with America, three circumstances of principal importance have occurred since the war, in all of which has been mani- fested the amicable disposition of the two states towards each other. The convention of commerce, which was to expire in 1819, has been renewed .'or ten years, until the year 1828. The British government has opposed no obstacle to the cession of the Floridas: but, on the contrary, has co-operated with the Ame- rican minister in removing difficulties, and in influencing the Spanish government to execute the articles of their 'reaty with the United States. The third circumstance regards the navigation acts of the two countries. It was not consistent with British policy to extend the admission of foreigners into our colonial lay trade. It woultl have iiitcrlcrcd too much wiiU llic interests of ouv own nuTchants and «hippin^. Ihit wc diled America to supply herself directly with British colonial produce, and thus saved her tlie expense of longer voyages, and larger freights. The American government was still dissatisfied, and in 1H)7, and 1818, |)assed her own navigation laws. Wc admitted her right to do so, and the friendly relations of the two governments remain uninterrupted. It may he allowed us to express a sincere hope, that the confidence and amicable intercourse of the two governments may long continue, and that the United k>tatc8 may rapidly recover that condition of foreign commerce, and inter- nal trade and industry, which so long rendered them the large and liberal customers of the merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain. It will be time enough, a century hence, to think of contending interests. It is the ab- sence of a friendly spirit to anticipate, amidst peace and good-will, the possible condition of rivalry and hostility. The sea is open to both nations, and assuredly there is no disposition in England to appropriate this highway of the \ w^ 150 World. America has a territory, and a new and virgin territory, almost as spacious aj the face of the seas themselves. She is of the same stock, and has the same materials of great- ness and future glory with Great Britain. Let her use the example we have set her, and run the same race. Such is the question as regards the integrity of our foreign relations. ii) HOME DEPARTMENT. The province of the minister in this de- partment is to maintain the general order and tranquillity of the kingdom, and to secure and superintend the due admiL'stration of the laws. In accomplishing this object, his Ma- jesty's Secretary of State for the Home De- partment has to direct his most vigilant attention to wt^atever may menace the internal order of the country. It is his duty to foresee and to prevent, as well as to en- counter and suppress, all acts of turbulence and disorder. It is his further duty, in exe- cution of the same object, to assist ai?d up- hold the local magistracy of the kingdom. He must employ the means of govf;rnment, and apply the wisdom and learning of the m 131 law-officers attaclicd to its public service, to explain difficult points of duty. He must call into action the power of government to maintain the administration of the law against a populace inflamed into seditious proceed- ings. In presei ving the peace of the metro- polis, as well as of* other districts, he must superintend and regulate the police; Remem- bering always that he is the minister of a free government, and that every department of administration should have reference to the general character of the constitution, he should execute his duties with as little cost as possi- ble to personal liberty. He should deser.e the praise that the first of all historians gave to one ©f the first of all ministers.- ./w rebus arduis sever it a te^ sed non asperitate utens, rem- pubiicam composuit; unde restituta reverent ia legibus, judiclis auctoritas; et sacrisy et mori' bus, et unocuiquejus et honos. He should not apply the extraordinary means of the consti- tution to its ordinary perils. His weapons, and the s e of them, should not exceed the call of the occasion. His first duty is to sup- press the peril; his second, is to effect this purpose with as little cost as possible. In his apprehension of an extraordinary danger, L& should not lose ail apprehension of the certain violence to general principles by extraordinary 132 means, lie slioul uiar statute against *:he unqualified dominion of a 148 proprietor over his own property, would be alike an invasion of the first principles of our constitution Under tliese principles, the two first heads of complaint absenteeship and high rents admitted but the same answer; they belong to manners, and not to laws; to the native, local gentry, and not to the United Parliament. The third alleged cause is the want of em- ployment and of capital; the absence of al- most all manufactures but linen; and the comparatively defective state of industry. It was equally impossible to deny the existence of this head of causes; but "it is at least equally absurd to impute the existence of this condi- tion to government. In England, the employ- ment of the poor is distributed through agri- culture, commerce, manufactures, internal trade, the mechanic arts, and the supply of the large consumption of a highly civilized, rich, and luxurious people. The circulating capital of the country may possibly employ about three-fourths of its laboring population; tli€ income of accumulated capital, expended only in consumption, affords nearly a full employ- ment to the remainder. In Ireland, the amount of capital circulating in trade is assuredly very little; and the amount of income from capital formerly accumulated, or the fruits of Siaviiigs from large incomes, hears a very small propor- tion to the »ame species of income in England. Whilst the population of Ireland is nearly one half oi' that of England, the consumption of Ireland of all articlesof elegance, convenience, and luxury, is less than one-tenth of that of England. The gross actual receipt of the ex- cise for England, in the year ending the 5th of January, 1821, was upwards of twenty- seven millions; whilst the same receipt for Ireland was little more than one million nine hundiv^d thousand pounds. It is true that the excise of the two countries does not compre- hend entirely the same articles, nor in many cases the sam.i duties; but there is nearly the same disproportion of one to ten, if the pro- duce '>f the same commodity in the one coun- try be compared with its produce in the other. It is therefore perfectly true that Ireland con- tains at once a great redundant population, and a very inadequate employment for its laboring classes. The unfortunate system of subdivi- ding the land, in some of the counties, into an infinite number of small tenements, is the undoubted cause of the redundant population. Every acre is thus made to produce as many mouths as it can miserably feed. In the in- considerate language of her best poet, every rood of land maintains its man. Hence a de- 150 feet of agricultural capital, and hence like- wise, as unhappily proved by experience, an invincible temptation to idle ^nd vagabond habits in the Irish poor, from the absence of the necessity of the owners of these tenements and their families to procure the food of the day by the labor of the day. May the exam- ple become a salutary lesson to England of the effects of the minute subdivision of the soil, and of the absurdity of that loose and idle ..' declamation, which would relieve the current distress of the poor by distributing amongst them the wastes and commons of the country. It was impossible therefore to deny the jus- ; tice of this heatl of complaint; but what re- medy does it admit on the part of govern- ment? Is England to supply capital for the Irish manufacturers and agriculturists? Would the supply of such capital be of any effect under the actual condition of the Irish? Is money wanting, or is trade wanting? But do we not in fact actually contribute a portion of this capital? At whose expense are the linen bounties paid? To whom is Ireland indebted for the continuance of this tax, but to the United Kingdom, for her peculiar benefit? In aid of whose manufacture do we further vio- late every just principle of commercial policy, by a continuation of the transit duties on fo- reign linen? Upon what principle, except upon that of a free gift to a sister kingdom, can the imposition of snch duties, operating as ger^ral restraints upon trade, be justified? Is it nui in fact so much given to Ireland by England? The Scotch poor are assisted by the sums voted for the completion of the Ca- ledonian Canal and other public works in Scotland. The Irish poor arc assisted by the linen bounties, and transit duty on foreign linen. Nor should it be omitted under this head, that the Irish poor are further assisted by se-^ veral distinct acts for the improvement and ex- tension of the fisheries on the coast of Ireland. The first and principal of these acts, the 36th Geo. III., has been continued and extended by the 59th of the same king. Whilst the progress of just commercial principles has in- duced the government and legislature of Great Britain to relitsve themselves as much as possi- ble of the system of bounties; whilst in some branches of our peculiar industry these boun-^ ties have entirely ceased, and in others are gradually reducing, such ravor has been afford- ed to the particular condition of the laboring classes in Ireland, that, with respect to them, the ancient bounties are still continued, and others have been recently superadded and aug- mented. . • . . .:,- ' 1.32 It has never escaped the parliament of Great Britain, that, under the erroneous principles of our ancestors a century back, Ireland was called upon to sacrifice her incipient woollen trade, and that the parliament of England then contracted the obligation to favor her linen manufactures. In discharge of this obli- gation we have always given an exclusive support to this staple manufacture of the sis- ter kingdom. It is unnecessary to call to the remembrance of the Irish manufacturers, what jdifficulty our merchants have to encounter in forcing the Irish linens on the South American markets, and how urgently the English go- vernment has been solicited to make such a change in the present system as would admit the exportation of assorted cargoes. The next cause of complaint is the absence of all poor-laws. As a cause of distress, there can be no doubt that it is justly alleged; but, un- der the experience of the effect of these laws in our oMm country, there can surely be no en- couragement to extend the same system to Ireland. -But tlie abtience of all provision of this kind unquestionably aggravates the con- dition of the Irish poor. They are not only miserably poor, but are poor without refuge. They have no resort but in mendicancy and vagrancy. Hence another fertile source of in- ^ V- 15!5 tcrnal (iisscti.sions, and lieiicc that clannish and congjrcgMing spirit common to the Irish of the present day, and to the Scotch of for- mer times. Without fixed residence, with- out a home, without a parish, and without any ci'-cumsrances to render them local, or to attach them to a particular spot, they have a natural propensity to herd together in masses, and to form those irregular brotherhoodti and societies by which the peace of Ireland is continually assailed. Doubtless this is a very unhappy condition of society; but what re- medies does it admit? Is it not one of those general states arising from remote circum- stances long continued, which can only be cured by the gradual influence of equal laws, regular governn eui, and by the example and infusion of a mere disciplined people? With what justice is this barbarous state of the Irish poor (if so it must be called) to be im- puted to the government of England, whose manifest and unquestionable interest it is to remedy it, and who, by local institutions and general laws, have attempted to do so. But the effect of centuries is not to be cured by the regulations of a day : it is totally impossi- ble to civilize a people by act of parliament. All that can be done is done. To the sacrifice of oui own interest we consume nearly exclu- sivcly the peculiar manufacture of Ireland. In despite of the jealousy of our landed interest, we admit her corn of all kinds equally with that of our own counties. We know no distinction between English and Irish industry. We con- fine and limit to her the West India market; We force her commodities upon South Ame- rica. We provoke retahating prohibitions from the Netherlands by the exclusive admission of her butter and provision trade. To say all in a word, we foster a trade which will not be fostered ; w« cherish and invite the augmenta- tion of her existing manufactures, and the origination of others; but unhappily we che- rish and invite in vain. But to put this ques- tion in the strongest point of view The ex- ports of Ireland, for the year ending January 5th, 1821, to England and all parts of the world, amounted to seven millions; of which portion England alone took more than six mil- lions, and the remainder was the amount of her total exportation to all other quarters of the globe. Such unhappily is the comparative state of English and Irish industry; an effect from causes too deeply rooted to admit of any sud- den cure. ;i The next alleged cause is the effect of illicit distillation. . Unhappily, this feature in the condition 15A of Ireland is sulTuicntly obvious, and is at once a cause oF distress and a circumstance of disorder. Jkit this practice likewise arose from the two peculiar circumstances in the general condition of the Irish papulation — the non-residence of the native gentry, and the imperfect civilization of the lower orders. The pernicious propensity to the extravagant use of spirituous liquors always exists strongest in societies approaching nearest to a state of na- ture. The use of such excitements is the sole remedy for the painful listlessness of savage life. The imperlect civilization of the Irish poor leads them to this sad resource. The absence of their native gentry removes the supervision and control of their natural pro- tectors. They are thus k;ft to themselves, and follow wl ere the precipitate misery of their condition leads them. But the habits of smugglers are from the onset the habits of outlaws ; they become too easily, and by too natural a progress, the habits of more atro- cious criminals. There can be no doubt both of the bearing of this cause on the general distress of the country, and of its extent. But, on the pavt of government, no efforts have been neglected to check the progress of this mischief. u In the year 1820, a bill was introduced into \S6 parliament, by the Clianccllor oi' the Exche- quer, for extcntiing the practice of Scotland into Ireland, and allowing the use of small legalised stills, of a capacity to contain pot less than a hundred gallons, by all persons who should make a proper entry. It is to be hojx'd that this measure will have the same beneli- cial effect in Ireland as in Scotland, where it' had assisted both landlord and farmer by rais- ing the price of oats and barley, and facilitating the consumption of the produce of those ar- ticles in the vicinity. If this measure, and other measures directed against the evil of illicit dis- tillation, should turn out to be nugatory, the fault surely cannot rest with his Majesty's mi- nisters. The principle of this measure was soli- cited by the Irish membere themselves, as the representatives of the public opinion in their own country. It was only with the same purpose of effec* tually eradicating this most mischievous prac- tice, that the government so long maihtaiJied the salutary measure, originally introduced into the Irish parliament, that of making districts responsible for unlicensed stills discovered within their precincts. But the Irish gentry themselves complained of the extreme seve- rity of this law, and in compliance with the general feeling his Majesty''* ministers con- l/»7 scntcd to relax it. The Irish Still Fines Bill was brought iti with this purpose. But so sen- sible were his Majesty's ministers of the real character of this measure, and of its merely par- tial utility, that they accompanied the intro- duction of the bill by observations almost pro- testing against it. But the Irish members in- sisted, and the bill was accordingly carried. If illicit distillations have since increased, if the stewards, middle-men, and resident fac- tors, of absentee proprietors, have since coun- tenanced this practice if the produce of the illicit still be employed to pay the exactions of these sub-landlords if a system of most pernicious toleration, not to say actual conni- vance, have originated upon a repeal of the old acts: if the charges of the judges, and the exhortation of the superior orders of magis- trates, be nullified by the known practice of men of power and intluence, immediately it;- sident amongst themselves; if all tliese evils have arisen from the effectual repeal (for so it may be called) of the old Still Fines Bill, the fault must not at least be imputed to his Ma- jesty's ministers. ; The next, and last alleged head, compre- hends in substance some loose complaints against the local magistracy of the country, and a more formal recommendation, that go- J58 vrrnment should try the effect of stronger ineasures. In a brief examination of this head, the inquiry distributes itself into the two points — first) whether stronger measures were required at the period of this recommenda- tioUj 1820; and, secondly, whether a state of things may rot arise (perhaps has arisen since) which may unquestionably require the intro- duction of stronger restraints. In the year 1820 his Majesty's ministers cer- tainly declined the application, on the part of some gentlemen, magistrates of Ireland, to renew the provisions of the Insurrection Act, They saw no necessity for the renewal of this act under the circumstances of those times. The existing statutes appeared to have pro- duced their full effect. The memorials al- leged disturbances in Gal way, Clare, and. Mayo. But the disturbances in Clare had been effectually suppressed by the active efforts of the resident gentry. The disturbances in Gal- way had been more considerable, but they had been suppressed in that county likewise by the concurrent effect of the zealous efforts of the local magistracy, and by the Peace Preserva- tion Bill. In Mayo the resident gentry had suppressed them almost as soon as they ap-. peared. Thus government 3aw no necessity, at *hat period at least, for any measure re- 159 quired by the failure of the existing acts. Nor was there any thing •; Oie character of these extraordinary m .'aiJi i s to recom- mend their adoption upon tlicir own merits. During the last fifty years, it had been the constant effort of successive administrations in Ireland, to »"elieve themselves and the country from the system of extraordinary measures, by which that kingdom had been governed during the two preceding centuries. Kxperience had taught the true character of this system. If it put down the evil for the present, it cherished its re-appearance with increased malignity for the future. It put out the fire by kicking about the brands. It re- pressed the disturbance for the time, but pro- voked retaliating passions, which afterwards broke out with increased outrages. It is the character of a free government, and of fixed constitutional laws, that such a government should operate more by its influence than by its power; and that being recognised by every one as a system of equal protection, it should command obedience, more from the feeling of general prudence and common interest, than und-^.r terror and intimidation. It is contra- ry to all principle, to hold forth the law, to a whole people, as an angry and vindictive avenger, instead of a benevolent and paternal r 160 protector. His Majesty's ministers acted un- der these principles. They saw the necessity of doing some I .^ ibr the Irish people in the way of gradual discipline. It was more con- sonant with the personal feelings of his Ma- jesty's ministers to conciliate than to menace, and amongst means equally efficient for the same.GDd, to prefer those of lenity, moderaticm,, and forbearance. >- As to the second point of the question, whe- ther a state of things may not arise to ren- der necessary a resort to stronger measures ; it admits only of one answer; that, under the actual state gf the country, composed of such elements, a condition of this kind unquestion- ably may arise. But it will then be time enough to consider the necessity of such mea- sures. Assuredly, unless under circumstan- ces of actual necessity, it would be contrary to the benevolence of government to renew the Insurrection act. Is it forgotten, that this statute is almost the Curfew act of King Wil- liam. It forbad the inhabitants of the dis- turbed districts to be absent from their houses from sun-set to sun-rise. It established a per- petual sessions, composed not of judges, but of magistrates. Every person apprehended might be taken on the spot to this sessions, and without a grand jury, or a petty jury, on T the sole opinion of the magistrate of tliesc ses- sions, and condeinncd to transportation for seven years. But will it ever be objected to a British ministry, that under tlie influence of anotlicr system of government, and personally accustomed to an administration upon different principles, they felt a natural reluctance to re- new the provisions of an act of this kind, and that they were slow to invest themselves with this tremendous power. If they had consult- ed only the facility of administration, they would naturally have coveted the possession of a power, which, however severe towards its objects, must necessarily be effectual in its end. If they had consulted only the pre- sent interest, the readiest means were the best, and the most powerful were the rea- diest. But they could not forget that Ire- land had suffered much under the erroneous system of former times, and that in the ex- cesses committed by her population, there was mtich to commiserate, as well as to punish. Upon these principles, the administration of Irish affairs has been directed towards the two objects of attempting improvements by a gra- dual return to the ordinary progress of law and government; and applying force only to those occasions, where local disturbances might de- mand it. If new excesses, and in an alarming I6*i degree, should require the renewal of the In- surrection act, renewed it must be, however the occasion may be lamented. Jiut his Majesty's ministers have never for a moment overlooked the actual situa- tion of Ireland, and have attempted to im- prove it, more by a course of gradual disci- pline and the reform of pressing evils, than by any precipitate measures. To any one who will cast his eyes over the history of Irish legislation, for the last twenty years, these remarks will be obvious. From this principle of amelioration by measured steps, and by bringing round the habits of the people to the influence of better morals, as well as of fixed laws, have arisen innumerable acts. By the Irish Peace Preservation bill, his Majesty's mi- nisters endeavoured to return, by one step, to- wards the maintenance of public order in Ire- land by the ordinary administration of justice. This act was a departure from the severity of the Irish Insurrection act; retaining so much only of the rigor of that statute, as was un- happily still necessary to restrain the excesses of the disturbed districts. The object of this act was to assimilate, as nearly as possible, the local administration of the law in the two kingdoms. If the local magistracy of Ireland, (it is said, without offence, and speaking only \63 generally, and with numerous exceptions) be still very far removed from the character of the country magistracy in England, the fault is not from any want of effort on tiie part of his Majesty's ministers, but in that prominent fea- ture in the condition of Ireland — the absence of her great local proprietors. It is impossible for government to work without suitable sub- ject matter. It is impossible to procure in Ire- land the same weight, condition, habits, and respectability, which characterize the magis- tracy of England. It was under the sense of this inconvenience, that Government endea- voured to repair it by a provisional magistracy, appointed from the bar. Here again, is ano- ther example of difficulties; the intentions of his Majesty's ministers have been illiberally slandered; this most salutary measure being imputed more to a desire of augmenting their patronage, than of improving the local admi- nistration of the laws. The Grand Jury Pre- sentment bill was a measure of similar charac- ter. Its object was to cure an abuse leading to much practical oppression. But a still more useful measure of the same kind, was the sa- crifice of Government of its ancient appoint- ment of sheriffs of counties. Here, ministers grave up a very important portion of the patron- age of the crown. But it is unnecessary to cuter into fuitljer detail (»i'thc luimerous mea- sures flowing from the same principle; that of gradually amending the administration of law in Ireland, and of departing, step by step, from that extreme and rigorous system, which had affected the good-will of the two countries. It is but just however to add, in conclusion of tl)is subject, that none of the present dis- tractions in Ireland can be ascribed to reli- gious differences Catholics and Protestants are alike sufferers and aggressors. It is but rank faction, therefore, to refer her present state to tythes, taxes, and the absence of a complete Catholic enancipation, - ,,^. ^ , . So much upon the general administration of the Home Department. But it would be un- generous to conclude this part of the subject, without the expression of the public obliga- tion to the noble lord, so long at the bead of this office. It is surely not too much to say, that in the execution of his arduous, and it must be added, his invidious functions, he ha» carried the virtues of his private character into the performance of his public duties. In the history of the last ten years, his long admi- nistration of this department will be character- ized for its lenity, moderation, conciliation, and benevolence. Most truly, his office has been no sinecure. Most truly, it has had no- 165 thiiio- of that scciini (juie.s, that oiium cum ilign'UdtCj which every one imist now wish him to enjoy, Tlie ordinary brandies coniprehenflctl un- der this department have been before men- tioned. But it has not been mentioned, that this high oHicer has likewise the ad- n.inistration of the most painful duties of the execulire. It belongs to him, in great measure, to designate the objects of punish- ment, and royal clemency. But if mercy nnist always take the seat of justice at the side of royal power, mercy, like justice, has still the sword for her emblem. The guilty must suf- fer, that the persons and properties of all may be safe. Mercy, therefoic, herself, must ap- pear with the appendages of justice, and must hence participate in the invidiousness accom- panying the performance of her austere duties. What she spares, is too often forgotten in what bhe is seen to strike. Her blows make a more forcible appeal to the senses, than the exercise of her lenity and compassion. But is it neces- sary to insist, that, under the administration of this high officer, this branch of the prerogative has been aided by the feelings and sympathies of private character; and that no one has suf- fered whom any public consideration could axlmit to escape. -siu.itj.i.iiA.iaiihit.-'.^-'.r.- ■f^ 166 COLONIAL DEPARTMENT. Th& next division of public business is the Colonial office, which, for the sake of com- prehending a more enlarged view of the sub- ject, may be considered in conjunction with the Board of Trade, though not officially be- longing to this department. It has been stated in a former part of these observations, that our colonies admit of a con- venient distribution into the two classes, of the Old Colonies and the New Colonies. With- out insisting further upon this division, it will be sufficient, as regards the present head, to confine our attention to the three principal subjects of Canada, Jamaica, and the Free Port islands in the West Indies; adding a few ob- servations upon the Cape of Good Hope, and the Ionian islands. These heads will conve- niently embrace the actual principles of our Colonial system. It has been too much the practice of popu* lar writers to undervalue the possession of Canada. Canada is of three main uses to the British empire The first, that of constituting a point of contact with the United States; se- condly, that of administering to the mainte- nance of the British navy, by the employment 167 of a large aiiunint of tonnage, and by the for- mation of seamen in long and rough voyages; and thinlly, that of consuming a very consi- derable portion of our manufactures. Under the first of these heads, it has been the policy of successive administrations to re- gard the possession of Canada as a point of primary importance. It would be ungracious to anticipate events yet hidden behind the clouds of time, and which every man hopes may be of very remote occurrence. But, as empires are not the creatures of the day, poli- tical prudence must extend its reach beyond the precautions of a living generation. Quid brcvi fortes jacuiemur avOy \s not a rule of po- litical wisdom. In the vicissitudes of human affairs, a breach with America is assuredly not an impossible event. But if former statesmen liave justified the retention of Gibraltar, a point of much more questionable wisdom, upon the sole ground of its affording a position on the Peninsula, and a port and station in the Mediterranean; and if the experience of the last fifty years has sanctioned this policy ; how much stronger is the argument for the same provisional precaution with regard to British America, and the West Indies. In any future war, a large naval force could be promptly ap- plied from this quarter to the American seas. 108 Possibly, this may he consideictl as of im in- con siJtT.ih I c importance. r Under the next heat), the seamen and ton- nage engaged in trading with Canada are not to be overlooked. They compose a very ma- terial proportion in the total amount of our navigation. It has been before mentioned, that the vessels employed in our trade with Ca- nada amount to nearly one fourth of tlic ton- nage of the British empire: add to this consi- deration, her supply of timber in anj event of a war with the northern powers of Europe. Under the third head, the consumption of British manufactures in Canada exceeds the amount of the consumption of ''ic East Indies. A further and a final circumstUitce, not to be omitted, arises from the late American naviga- tion laws. Under the operation of these laws, our West India Colonies, without the aid of Canada, would be subjected to great occasional distress. So much iis to the importance and value of Canada. f The colony next in order is Jamaica. It has been stated in a former part of these ob- servations, that this colony is of the utmost im- portance to the revenue, wealth, and naviga- tion, of the British empire. It is the chief place for the growth of sugar; the corn of the Tro- pical world, and now become so much an ar- 169 tide of necessity ihiou^liout civilized Europe, and so largely consumed, that, in value uiwl importance, it occupies the next ])liice to the agricultural produce of our own lands. A^ re- gards revenue, the gross receipt ot'the customs for sugar amounted in the year \S2\ to live mil- lions; a sum exceeding by two hundred thou- sand pounds the gross receipt of the whole reve- nue for Ireland. As respects its comparison with corn, the gross actual receipt of the excise for ail the malt duties of England, in the year I8i^l, was four millions and a half. The gross actual receipt for the sugar duties, as above stated, exceeded five millions. It is very far from our pur[)Ose to depreci.Ue, for a single moment, the due estimation of our landed interest, or to detract from the as- sertion of the agriculturists, tliat the land is the main, if not the almost sole supply, of the wealth and revenue of the empire. This al- legation is true, if the landed possessions of our colonies be comprehended in the argu- ment, liut it is not true, if our colonial pos- sessions be omitted. In one article only, our sugar duties, the revenue received from the colonies surpasses the revenue received from malt. If we add to this sum the amountof the re- venue on the colonial articles of rum, tobacco, and snuff, ( ocoa-nuts, and < oifeCj pepper, in- / 170 digo, $i>ices, ami drugsj, it will appear tliat tlic customs uiul excise on our colonial produce atVord little less tJian eight millions two hun- dre»l thousand pounds to the revenue of Great Uritain. Now the total of all the sums raised upon the land in Great Ikitain and Ireland, under the several heads of beer, malt, hops, and land-tax, for the year 1821, was in gross re- ceipt about nine millions. So just is the claim of our sugar colonies, indeed of our colonies in general, to a degree of political relation next only to our landcil interest ucc longo inter- valio proj'imus. So absurd are all the systems, which, for the temporary purpose of inviting j>articular attention to one interest only, invi- diously exclude and undervalue all others. Of the total amount of colonial produce, Jamaica alone exports annually one hundred thousand hogsheads of sugar, employing twen- ty thousand tons of British shipping and five thousand British seamen, and affording two millions net receipt to the revenue of the country. Of such value and importance is Jamaica. As regards the g«neral conduct which has been observed in the civil policy and a"♦ --. / •"» . The same attentive consideration has been given to the state of the Ionian Islands. We have faithfully fulfilled our duties as their protector; we have purified, as much as in 175 us lay, the inveterate evils of the old adnnrinis- tration; — .we have raised the character of the interior classes of the people, and have re- duced tlie feudal chiefs to ohedience of the laws. They no longer afford the riiost disgrace- ful spectacle in the midst of civilized Europe — a people without law, private morals, or pub- lic honor. In process of time we may contri- bute as much to their culture and commerce, a^ we have already done to their laws and morals. A promising fruit trade may hereaf- ter become of proportionate importance to our foreign trade. ■ . '. ■ . \. ^kO:.^ iv ' " ' ' ' BOARD OF TRADE, It will not require a long examination to shew that the Board of Trade has performed its duties to the public, and that the industiy, manufac- tures, and commerce of the country have re- ceived many solid benefits from its deliberate attention. These services may be distributed under the general heads of the Navigation Acts, the Warehousing System, the removal of nume- rous prohibitions and impediments under the Restrictive and Protective Statutes, an aug- ment^ation of ihe sphere of the Colonial Trade and of British Commerce, and the simplifica- 17(> tlotji of the laws relating to Forfeiture, Regu- lation, anci (yiistoms. - IJfuler the head of Navio-ation Laws, the l}oard has been long occupied in a most useful and laborious investigation of the complicate system of these statutes. The result of its labors has been the preparation of several mea- sure$, which will probably become acts of the legislature in the session now ensuing. The enactments of these laws will possibly confer more upon British commerce than it has re- ceived within the last hundred years. They will assist the business of the general mercharat j they will advance the trade and commerce of the country, foreign, colonial, and lomestic; they will remove much grudge and jeaJousy in foreign nations without any proportionate sa- crifice of our own peculiiir interests. It of course does not tall within the possi- ble purpose of a short pamphlet to enter into a review of the involved and laborious system of our Navigation Laws; but, m justice to the labors of this department and its able Pre- sidents, a few observations are reifftired, and a few only will be sufficient to expiain tiieir pub- lic services under this part of tlise wibject It is scarcely necessary to premise, except for the sake of order, that British commerce, M'ith reference to the Navigation Laws, is > I u 177 distributed into the tivc beads: the European trade, the trade to Asia, Africa, and America, not being colonial the Colonial Trade, the Coasting Trade, and the Fisheries. The Na- vigation System is composed of a class of rules arranged under these titles, and applica))le to each. Withrest)ectto the European trade, the rule is, that all goods, the produce of Europe, shall be imported into England in three spe- cies of ships only — ^in British built ships; in ships of the build of the country or place of which such goods are the growth; or in ships of the build of the port or place which is the usual place of the shipment of such goods. With respect to the trade beyond Europe, not being colonial, the general rule is: that the growth or manufacture of such countty cau be imported only direct in British ships; such im- portation to be made either from the place of growth or manufacture, or from the usual place of shipment only. Thr * >rce rules of the Colonial Trade, Coasting Tr^Jc and Fish- eries, are merely exclusive of all ships but those of British build and ownership. Such, speaking in general terms, is the outline of our Navigation System. But however wise the general system of these laws, and most wise has it been proved by the experience of its effects, the exact and ri- N" 17S gill application of all the above rulvs lias hceu attended with particular mischief pressinir hardly upon general trade. The first rule, for example, consists of two partSj the former of which confines the importation of European goods to British ships, to ships of the build of the country, and to ships of the build of the usual place of shipment. By a second part of this rule, an invidious and most groundless exception is made against the produce of Holland and the Netherlands; certain articles of which are prohibited to be imported in any ^hips whatever. It is indeed true, that these exceptions, originating in particular feelings against Holland at the time the acts were j>assed, have been much reduced by subsequent statutes. But it is equally hue, that enough of these jealous restrictions still remains to create embarrassment in trade, and to excite an angry feeling in a friendly people. Many goods are prohibited iVom Ostend, which may come from Calais; and, more absurdly still, many goods may come from Calais, which would be for- feited, coming from Dunkirk. Again, under the rule of the trade beyond Europe, not being colonial, British ships can briugthe produce of such countries from the place of their produc- tion, or place of usual shipment, directiy only. •** Hence," as well observed by the able Vice *S^IZulj^~3^. iSBpi-' Pjcsidfiit of the lioard of Trade, in his elo- fjucnt ipccch in the Mouse of Commons, uj)on thi« subject, " if a Britisli ship finds in an American, an African, or an Asiatic port, arti- cles the produce of any of the other quarters of the world, however convenient for its assort- ment, or market, such ship is prohibited from re- ceiving and carrying them.undcr the penalty of confiscation of sliip and cargo, on its arrival in a British port." Again, the rule of the Euro- pean trade confines, as above gaid, the importa- tion of European produce to British ships, or .«^hips of the country of production. By the effect of this rule, it becomes totally impossi- ble for a foreign merchant, trading from a port abroad, to send an assorted cargo to a British port, inasmuch as the goods of each country require a separate ship. Such in practice arc the main actual inconveniences under our ex- isting navigation laws. The labors of the Board of Trade, and of its most intelli^:ent president and vice president, have been directed, in the first instance, to apply a remedy to these particular defects of a system so generally excellent. Accordingly, under a course of persevciaig industry, a bill will probably be passed in the ensuing session, which will remove the^e heads of grievance, common to ourselves and foreign nations; and IbO will &0 simplify the general system of our oa- vigatio.' laws, as greatly to facilitate foreign and domestic commerce. Under the proposed clauses of this bill, the invidious and useless exceptions respecting Holland and the Ne- therlands, will doubtless be repealed. Britisli ships will be enabled to bring cargoes from any port or place of iSsia, Africa, and America, not being colonial, without the useless and mis- chievous restriction of such cargoes being the produce of the place only from /hich they are brought. And still more importantly, and with a promise of much future benefit to general commerce, foreign merchants will be enabled to bring assorted cargoes in the European trade. , The subject next in order and Importance is the Warehousing system. The object of this system, and of the new measures proposed to parliament under it, is to invite the deposit of foreign commodities, of every description, in British warehouses; for the purpose of enabling British and foreign ships, departing from the ports of this country, to take assorted cargoes, and thus to carry on a general exportation trade to every part of the world; subject, however, to the regula- tions necessary for the security of the revenue, and for preserving tp our own manufacturers 181 a jubt preference in our own markets^ If this sysfem be not entirely new, it is new at least in the extent and liberality in whicli the Board of Trade now proposes its adoption. This de- pot or transit system was first introduced into practice by the 43d of the late King. IJut this statute, like all other incipient measures, has a strong infusion of the jealousy of the times in which it was ventured; and whilst it recognises the principle, proceeds with much timidity and hesitation in the practice. Whilst it admits the importation of raw produce and materials, it excludes under this jealous feeling almost every species of foreign manufactured goods. The reason of this restriction was doubtless in the apprehension of assisting the competition of foreign manufacturers with our own dealers in foreign markets. But the employment of such means f f i such an end i» as nugatory as it is mischievous. It is mis- chievous, because itdepri^ cs ufiof the incalcu- lable advantage of beco ning the general ma- gazine of the world, and of superadding the profits of general trade to those resulting from dealing only in our own manufactures. It is nugatory, because, in the present state of European nations, no prohibitions of this kind can prevent foreigners from supplying them- selves from the best mart. The sole security 182 for preference to British manufacturers is in their own superior skilly intelligence, and ac- tivitj; in their vast accumulated capital, iind in a magnitude and quality of machinery, the growth, like our capital, of a hundred years of successful commerce. All other means are accessible by all, and will be employed by all. Under such considerations, it has been tho laborious effort of the Board of Trade to re- lieve the general commerce of the country from this restrictive system, and to awaken our manufacturers to just views of their own interests. Such is the object of the Warehous- ing bill.* Ji N» » ; !> r, ,) , t" ' The subject next in order and importance for the consideration of the Board was such a new arrangement of the Timber duties, as. might reconcile the fair claims of our North. American colonists, and our British ship own-^ crs, with the. interests of general commerce, and with the rftasonable expectations of friendly nations. To this subject the Board, in common with his Majesty s ministers, directed its most laborious attention ; and the result was the Act: il ' .>'rni •■•?«') r' '"rf'Mfj ». , * For a mora detailed vkw of the Navigation and Warehousing system, and the pro\)0!ied amendments, the reader is referred to the most able speech of the Right Hon. T. Wallace, Vice-presi- dent of the Board of Trade, made in the House of Commons, June, 1821. .... ... . . 18U of the last version uf partlanient, by which this object lias been ciVectcd- It is scarcely iicffCHsary to observe, that the former duties upon timber had bein imposed in the year 1809, when our nuval resource.^ were me- naced by the eft'cet of the Trench decrees. Under these circumstances, an oli'er had been made to ^overnnient, by jonio merchants and ship-owners, to supply tlie necessary timber from Canada, if the employment of their capi- tal were secured by protecting duties. His Majesty's ministers accepted the offer, but with the distinct understanding, that the du- ties should only be temporary; and tliat upon the conclusion of the war, or the occurrence of another state of things, the continuance or re- peal of these duties should be open to the con- sideration of parliament. Upon this subject, his M.i)<"sty's ministers have surely a just claim to th< wraise of not having sacrificed general principU.s to the urgency of a temporary em- barrassment. Their hands were untie en the occasion was favorable. Accordin y>:jey were ■ lien enabled to consider this syocem of prcferei.v;e upon its own merits. On the one side, were the interests of the colonists, the capitals of tlie ship-owners actually employed, ;md the nationalobjectsof our naval resources, tad our navigation laws. On the other side, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^/ A 4" ^ :v'. 1.0 Ui Ui M2.2 I.I f^KS iy£ 1.25 1 =1 Photographic Sciences Corporattoii 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTM,N.Y. MSfO (; 16) •72-4503 were the undeniable interests of the general trader, and the fair expectations of the north- ern powers of Europe. In the recent act of parHament, it is presumed, that these objects are consulted in a degree due to their several importance. It is always a matter of great practical difficulty to repeal a protective sys- tem. This difficulty is not wholly removed by the circumstance of Government having acted with due foresiglit and precaution, and having reserved to itself the full right to make the re- peal. The difficult question of prudence still intervenes. Much actual capital is necessarily employed; great interests adapt themselves to existing channels of trade; adventure and speculation imprudently extend their prospect beyond the licensed Ihiiit. The boundary itself, dep'»nding upon the duration of a fluctuating state of things, is perhaps, as in this case, un- certain; and the error of expatiating beyond the line granted belongs rather to reasonable expectation, than to unwarranted folly. If mi- nisters had to contend with these difficulties, let them rather receive the just praise of hav- ing done so much, than incur any reprehension that they have been uiiable to do more. It is one thing to prune, and another to cut down. It is one thing to perform a simple operation, and an<^her to meddle with a principle or move- I 185 ment in a piece of complicate machinery, sa connected in all its joints, that a new modifica^ tion introduced into one part renders it neces- sary to carry a new relative adaptation through^ out the whole. All amendments in our com- mercial system are necessarily of this nature: We have not to repair a movement, but to re* construct a machine. The next subject of consideration was the possible augmentation of our export trade from and to India. His Majesty's ministers were most anxious to effect this important purpose, and they afforded a most earr est attention to every sober proposal upon it. It is true, that their expectations were less sanguine than those of the popular advocates for this increase. A large mutual consumption of produce and manufactures can only occur between nations of the same general wants and habits; The largest dealer with a manufacturing nation is, necessarily, a people of the same original ha- bits with itself, but which people, from the effect of some incidental circumstance, are in a different stage of social progress. Hence, the largest customer of England is America; her people having the same objects of comfort, convenience, and luxury, with the natives of Great Britain; but being as yet only in the agricultural state of society, they nec#8sarily JB^ 186 find it more profitable to confine their own in- dustry 4o the growth of raw produce, and to iake their manufactures from England. But the relative state of England and the East In- dies is precisely the contrary. A people of a temperate latitude, and a people of the tropics; a highly civilized people, and a nearly barba- rous people; a people living only on rice, and abstaining from animal food) and a people pur- suing luxury through all its endless variety. A people without the means, almost the desire, of applying to any use either the growth of our soil, or the produce of our manufactures, A people, by the immense population of their country, and the simplicity of their habits, working up their own raw produce so cheaply, as almost to render it a moral miracle, that the machinery of Europe can compete in any slight degree with their hand-work. A peo- ple, in fine, to whom the glass, leather, paper, printed goods, earthenware, salt, soap, spirits, wine, cutlery, and woollens of Europe, must be all nearly totally useless. Under such cir- cumstances, it is impossible to anticipate any large consumption amongst the millions of our Indian population. In fact, the main con- sumption in India of European nianufacture is, and always must be, by her own European subjects. But so long as India, under the po- i87 licy of tlio Coiupany, shall continue tc be a factory, her European consumption will be that of a factory only. It is a waste of words to Insist longer upon a principle so obvious. These considerations, doubtless, pressed with a due force upon the minds of his Majesty*s mi- nisters. They could not resist the conclusion, that not only under present circumstances, but under circumstances, at least, half a century to come, they must not anticipate any considera- ble augmentation in our exports to the East Indies. But they deemed it a duty to concede to the sanguine representations of the mer- cantile and shipping interests. Accordingly, by a recent act, they have established a direct trade between India and Europe, and have opened it to the private trader as well as to the company. By this measure, they have accom- plished all within their power for the possible establishment of an active and adventurous trade, directly from the ports of the East In- dies to those of Europe. The treaty with the United States of America, and their admission under that treaty to our ports in the East In- dies, had already paved the way for the esta- blishment of this active commerce; and was infusing into our Indian settlements that large mercantile and adventurous spirit, which is possibly the only promising means for the gradual civilization, and for the formatiun into European habits, of that vast member of our empire. Our own traders became, pardonably enough, but perhaps unreasonably, jealous of the activity of the commerce between India and Europe by means of American vessels. The new act remedies this alleged mischief. Our owu traders may now supply Europe di- rectly with the produce of India. In process of time, thi» opening may lead to important results. But upon such a subject it is impos- sible to anticipate the events of futurity. There can ex\h but one wish upon it. The next head for the consideration of ihe Board, was the proposed new system for the equal admission of French wines with those of Portugal. Enough has already been said upon the general nature of this proposition in afor> mer part of these observations. It has beeu: hefore observed, that the value of the Brazil trade nm&t now be comprehended in that of Portugal; and that the addition 6f this large component portion of her empire, has raiseif the value of Our Portuguese trade from its for- mer annual value of about six hundred thou- sand pounds to four millions. Before the open- ing of the Brazils to British commerce, the an- nual value of the British exports to Portugal did not reach to half their present amount. Sin,cQ « ii 18.9 our free a .But his Majesty's ministers do not require to be iiiformed, that, under a free constitution like our own, the value of public opinion is not to be overlookedi If it be the character of a light and inconstant mind to be diverted from the performance of grave and invidious duties by a mistaken popular clamor, it is no less a measure of prudence not to undervalue the aid of public opinion. It is equally an extreme to follow wheresoever the popular tempest may drive; or purposely to take a course in its teeth, where both prudence and virtue allow the use of its concurrent aid. It happily belongs to the nature of a free go- 1.9; J )Tc" tij.'it pull- vcinmtnt and an intelligent people, mar pi lie opinion is never lung misled. What the first statesman, as xvell as the iir.st orator of the Roman empire, observed of tUc nature of general truth, is equally just with regard to the particular truths of human conduct: Opinionum comment a dekl dies, naturieju^lkia. i'onfirmat, Partien and prejudices pass away, whilst the effects of wise and moderate measures necessarily enter into the future weal of the state, and, in their visible good, make an effec- tual, though perhaps tardy appeal, to the grati- tude of a generous nation. j ! . i, ; :y ^ Whilst the administration of the finances is entitled to the praise of a just economy, the in- tegrity of all the great national resources must excite the warm satisfaction of every well-wish- er to his country. Under all the heads of these resources .—our foreign trade, our internal trade and manufactures, our internal consnmp« tion..^and the correspondence of our revenue with our expenditure, the general aspect is such as to excite satisfaction for the present, and a just confidence for the future. Of the three main branches of our foreign commerce, our European trade, our trade with the United States, and our trade with Asia, Africa, and America, not being colonial, the first holds forth an actual considerable increase; the se- tt w^ cond justifies the expectation of a kpcedy return to its i'onner large amount; whilbt the third already exceeds every reasonable expec- tation. It' we ibllow the natural ouler ol' the conipoLicnt members of our Europear cum- nicrce, our trade with Portugal, including the Brazils, has augmented from two millions to four millions. The political state of Spain has affected in some degree its external rela- tions; but her exclusive tariff has been in great part recalled, and our dealings with lier, under the circumstance of our own wool-tax, exceed what could reasonably be anticipated. Our commero^. with France, Holland, tha Netherlands, and Germany, equals the average amount of anj; former year. If our exporta- tion of colonial produce to the continent of Europe be not so great in amount as during some of the war years, and the two years fol- lowing immediately on the peace, the cause is in the resumption by foreign states of their own colonies. It will be found, however, that pur exportation of raw sugar is greatly on the increase; whilst our refined sugars have gra- dually advanced, since the year 1814, from one million and a half to two millions; and our export of cotton yarn has increased dur- ing the same period from little more than one million annuallv to two millions two hundred \95 thousand pounds. Our brass and cop]>cr ma^ luifacturcs liave nearly doubled their amount. Our export of iron siili retains the Medi- terranean market, and, under the cftect of a great increasing demand and consumption^ both foreign and domestic, is becoming one of -the staples of the country, and an aUnost equal rival of Swedish iron in quality. Our woollen manufactures will be found on an average of the last five years to exceed the like average during the best years of the war; whilst our gross exports of cotton manufactures, now forming our principal export to the coutii.ent of Europe as well as to America, have ad» vanced from sixteen to twenty-one millions. - Our commerce with the United States has been necessarily affected by the diminished means of this great consumer. The seller has necessarily sufF>^red by the impaired wealth of the principal buyer. But under the extent and variety of her soil and produce, under the elastic spirit, the unwearied activity, and the hivincible industry, of her citizens (the vis in* iita originis of this British scion,) the govern- tnent of the United States is rapidly returning to its former condition ; and as our commerce shared in the late reverses, so is it participa- ting in her happier restoration. The Araeri- 19(» i: H ■can revenue from custoim, in the year 1819, was about seventeen millions of dollars. In 1820 it appropcbecl towards twenty millions. Upon making up the accounts to the close of the present year, it may be calculated from all cre- dible report to exceed twenty-two millions. Our commerce with Asia, Africa^ and Ame- rica, not being colonial, though very consider- able at present, is still greater in prospect than in possession. Fortune has here thrown up the vast and unbroken field of South American commerce. . . ■ j i.' .;tv The opening of the East India trade, and the recent extension of the privileges of the private traders, have laid the basis of a com- merce, which the activity and enterprise of British merchants will push to an incalculable extent. We see this trade almost in its infan- cy; but it must not be forgotten, that it was his Majesty's present ministers who opened it to the general merchant. • It has been before shewn how erroneous was the supposition which prevailed some time since, that our foreign trade had decreased; that our exports had diminished ; and that our former customers had rendered themselves in- dependent of us; either by manufacturing for themselves, or by drawing thsir supplies from 197 otlier quarters. It was said, that the gupitieness of ministers had caused the ports of the con- tinent to he shut against us; that we had fore- gone the opportunity of advantageous com- mercial treaties with the European states ; in a word, it was confidently asserted, that our commerce had received a shock from which it could never recover. But it has been shewn in a previous part of these observations what is the actual condition of our foreign tr..i: 199 consumption of these articles which, though thus few in amount, exceed by more than two- fokl the produce of our customs. ' Whilst such is the condition of our foreign commerce, internal trade, manufactures, and revenue, the administration of our foreign relations has in every respect upholden the honor of the country, and confirmed our na- tional security under the general treaties of Europe. In the local contentions of Euro- pean powers, we have at once respected the independence of nations, and retained entire our own friendly relations. Under a laudable prudence we have contented ourselves with the performance of our own duties, and have seen no obligation unnecessarily to involve the country by the hostile assertion of principles not proportionately affecting ourselves. The event has justified our policy. Our wise for- bearance has saved us from the humiliation of a vain ostentation of our power, and from the costly prosecution of remote interests. Un- der this system, all our foreign relations with friendly states continue unimpaired. In Eu- rope, Asia, and America, we have a voice or a vote proportionate to the dignity of our em- pire, and to the reputation of our strength, wisdom, and moderation. Under our Home Department, may it not aoo be fearlessly asserted by the friends of his Mi\jesty's ministerh, that the general aspect of Great Uritain, so far a» regards the public tranquillity, is every thing which the most ardent lover of his country could desire. The administration of the laws is no longer inter- rupted by factious clamors against the local magistracy of the country. The essential and strongest interests of all societies, re- ligion, morals, and public peace, are secured by laws, formidable only to the guilty, and operating upon them more by a salutary inti- midation and restraint than by an actual appli- cation. No one at the present day, either singly by himself, or as the leader of a field- mob, can any longer defy the laws of the state, or calumniate its most sacred institutions. The state, or any of its corporate orders, may apply with security to the juries of the coun- try. If the condition of the sister-kingdom be not equally satisfactory, it is matter per- haps rather of regret for the present than of just apprehension for the future. It is impos- sible but that her misguided peasantry must shortly return Co the protection of a paternal government. Under the head of the Colonial Departmen t, and the general administration of our shipping and mercantile interests by the Board of Trade, 5201 every person connected with these objccti cannot refuse to acknowledge his obligations to his Majesty's ministers. If Canada, in com- mon with the United States, suffer under the operation of our corn-laws, slie suffers from the necessity of the supreme government not to sacrifice a greater interest in favor of one of minor consideration. It is not that Cana- da is sacrificed to Great Britain, but that Great Britain cannot be sacrificed to Canada, Un- der circumstances of tlie most obvious policy, we withhold from our Canadian subjects not a right but a grace. But where is the person amongst us, who, under the existing depres- sion of British agriculture, can venture to pro- pose any relaxation of the prohibitory system? If the amount of colonial corn be not consi- derable, there prevails still a current opinion, mistaken, perhaps, but certainly popular, that any excess in the market, however smaH, af- fects the value of the whole quantity in a pro- portion far greater than its own amount. But there are circumstances, in which it is necessa- ry to concede to impressions probably erro- neous, and certainly exceeding the just mea- sure of their causes. Our immense interests in Jamaica are placed in a state of security beyond apprehension. The free ports in Malta and the Mediterranean are ^'iitending the 203 sphere of the colonial markets into the Greek islands and the Turkish empire. Under an intelligent system of administration we are eradicating all the vices of an old vicious go- vernment in the Ionian Islands, and are gra- dually raising thatpower to a certain station in the political and commercial system of Europe* The Cape of Good Hope holds forth a fair pro- mise of great future advantage, whilst New South Wales already assists the merchants and manufacturers of the mother-country : Her fine wool already excels that of Saxony and Spain, and when assisted by a larger capital, and by a more intelligent culture, may possibly reach the British market at such a moderate price, as greatly to abridge the necessity of foreign importation. The direct trade from India to Europe is receiving every assistance from government and the Board of Control. If we cannot reap all that is expected from the free trade between England and the East Indies, it at least will not be imputed to the indifference or negligence of his Majesty's ministers that we have not got all that we could. But Hope has necessarily a longer reach than Possibility. The beneficial labors of the Board of Trade will be better understood when they enter more distinctly into our practical system. But two of the beiu (its of this branch of the |nib- lic service to general commerce are suflicieutly large, and surticiently :;l;()vc the surface, to appr I witli effect to every mercantile eye. The er'argement of the transit and warehous- ing S}stem; the opening of the ports of the country, so as to rsnder them the depot and emporium of foreign commodities of every kind; the assisting our own merchants to take assorted cargoes of foreign and domestic goods, and the enabling foreign merchants to employ our ship-owners as carriers of foreign produce from British ports, will be njost important con- tributions to the gencrd commerce of the coun- try, and must greatly extend our navigation and carrying trade, and the sale and consump- tion of our own manufactures. Tlie consoli- dation and simplilication of our Navigation Laws, with the revision and suppression of some of the obsolete enactments, will equally facilitate mercantile business at home, and conciliate the good-will of foreigners. A third object of the recent labors of this Board a revision of the lights, harbour-dues, and pilot- age, and, in due time, of the dock-system, which now press so heavily both upon British and foreign shipping, will, it is presumed, be- come a boon equally acceptable to the mercan- tile and shipping interests. 7 A lust effort of the Uoanl of Tiaiic, in con- currence witli the niinisters, who direct and assist its o[)eratit)ns, and in which it is to be hoped tlicy will succeed in the course of the ensuing session, is the revision and amendment of the prohibitory system in general, and the substitution of protecting duties in exchange for the existing actual prohibitions. This ob- ject, or the attempt at least, has long been iH favor with every good and moral man, and possesses the strong recommendation of being equally adapted to advance the interests of our revenue, and to cut ofT a source of much vice and misery. Under the known operation of wealth and luxury, and of the vanity and emulation to which they lead, prohibitions of articles of foreign manufacture excite only a more determined purpose to possess theni. Their cost renders them a distinction, and vanity is, perhaps, as coarse as hunger in its food and fuel. The difficulty enhances only the price, and the large reward creates and animates the spirit of smuggling. Hence the prohibition is productive of little other con- sequence, as ^^egards the high and opulent classes, but that of exciting in them a spirit in opposition to itself; and of creating, main- taining, and highly rewarding, the criminal occupation of the smuggler, and all the im* / f V 20i moral habits connected witli a life of outrage against the laws. But Kuhstitutc protecting duties, and you avoid all this miscliief, and at the same time effect the object of the prohibi- tion. The opulent classes will pay the high prices under the protecting duties, as they pay the smuggler, but the revenue will gain the advantage, and not the illicit trader. The fair dealer loses nothing, as, under the prohi- biting or protecting system, the present con- sumois will equally have the articles; and under both can have them only at the same high price; but the government and the pub- lic morals gain. Smuggling must nearly cease, and with it the large cost of the present pre- ventire system. Such, therefore, is the general condition of public affairs with which we have to enter upon the commencement of a new year. After this brief and plain statement of what has been done, and what has been omitted, and through what difficulties, and under what embarrassments, is it too much for a candid observer to conclude, that his Majesty's minis- ters are fully entitled to the praise of a zea- lous performance of all their public duties ; and are so much the more justly entitled to this praise from a generous and discerning public, inasmuch as they have themselves declined to f' ii' '206 • vindicate or assert their just and obvious claims. Is it too mucli to say, that tljcrc is something peculiarly grateful to the English character in this effectual prosecution of bu- siness without pretension in this sober, stea- dy, victory over the most appalling difficul- ties, without the levity and vanity of a tri- umph? Is it unreasonable to express a confi- dent assurance, that the future annalist, if not the passing generation, will recognize the public obligation to the ministers of George the Fourth, and will hereafter enumerate them among those wise and substantial, but unpre- tending and untalking benefactors, who in times of great peril and difficulty in times of much vapouring and frothiness when every popular leader has his new n\easure, and all the infinite variety of political wisdom is re- duced into theories when every one assumes to be the builder of a svstem, and every stone is marked with the builder's name — when Bri- tish officers follow in the train of a mob against the police of the country, and wise men come from the East to shew how cheaply a nation can be governed is it too much to claim for his Majesty's ministers the praise of those, who, nihil non agentes quod reipublica necesse/uii, et sine itila ostcntatione agendi, deserve the more applause from others, as, under the most ., ■ I '207 unequivocal public services, they least as.un.c It for themselves. J)e jtgrippa et MxvenaU fjut postea judicalmnt, scntiendum et pnrc/U candum c,f, viv quosquc rcpvriri posse, qui, in tanhs r^rum periculis, tarn multa et magna, et et cum tarn minimd perturhatione hominum 'at^ que renm, pro Scnatu Populoquc Romano, re atque actujecerunt. A THE KND. W. M'Domll Printer, Ptmberton Rau; Cough Sqjiarc,