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talked of than many other wonders of the country, this is, in my opinion, a scene that is peculiarly interesting. It is wild, romantic, solemn, and impressive; recal. Jing the memory of former times, and in the contemplation of the mutilated frag ments of the proudly soaring precipices that seem as if fixed for ages in the earth, reminding the observer, that even the world, and the most apparently durable of nature's works, are subject to decay; while in ourselves

Swift down the pathway of declining

years,

As on we journey through this vale of tears: Youth wastes away, and withers like a flower,

The lovely phantom of a fleeting hour; "Mid the light sallies of the mantling soul, The smiles of beauty, and the social bowl, Inaudible, the foot of chilly Age Steals on our joys, and drives us from the stage.

Hodgson's Translation of Juvenal. Farewell. My next will contain an hasty sketch of my journey to the north, and scenes more congenial to my taste, than are to be found amongst the din of forges, or the busy countenances of money-making manufacturers.

THE WANDERER.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine,

SIR,

THE parish of which I am the miHE parish of which I am the mi

overburthened with poor; and the circumstances of distress on one hand, and injury to the estates on the other, are equally melancholy in contemplation. Any man possessed of common prudence, must know the peril of letting off projects; but I trust that, what I have to state, does not come under that denomination. I conceive, that poor's rates may be abolished gradually, and that, by the means absolutely practised by the wiser poor themselves.

The principle of all legislation is to compel men to consult what is, in fact, their own good; and prevent their annoy ance of their neighbours, in life, property, or reputation. The necessity of concentrating a disproportionate mass of the population upon one spot, for the purposes of manufacture, is a grievous oppression upon the local landholder, in any places. He derives no benefit fom the labours of that trading population, and the rent of his farm is propor tionally diminished. I do not deny the national profit; I do not deny the

general benefit; but the local oppression still remains.

T

In an adjacent market-town, we have a benefit club by which I have found that a very comfortable provision is made for members who have been necessi tated to recur to its pecuniary assistance. There are, perhaps, already made, cal culations where such institutions can be conducted upon a sure principle; and I submit it to the candid and benevolent, whether the following ideas bear an aspect of absurdity, and whether philanthropic and enlightened gentlemen would find them of difficult execution. They do not require half the concern which is bestowed upon the game; and they would find the benefit much greater than from pulling down cottages, and taking measures which, in a general view, are not politic.

I would suggest, that a plan upon a benefit-club which cannot fail, be estabproper footing, upon the principle of a lished in districts or parishes, as found best. I would then recommend gentlemen to give notice to their tenants, (manufacturers exercising the same power in relation to their workmen,) not to em ploy persons who did not belong to such a fund, and pay a proportion, by no means oppressive, but rated according to their earnings and families. This fund I would aid by contributions of the principal inhabitants, upon ratios of assessment settled among themselves; such sums being suffered for the first seven years to accumulate, and thus have the operation of a tontine survivorship, in aid of the future demands. For in stance, the population of this parish is more than 3000 persons, and the poor'srate exceeds 12001. yet the rent-roll of the parish scarcely exceeds 3000l. The manufacture is cloth-working; and, when trade has been commonly good, the weavers, shearmen, and others, can earn 11. 21. Sl. or even 41. per week, Where would be the cruelty of a manufacturer saying, "John, I pay you so much. I insist upon your belonging to our institution, according to the ratios of your family and earnings;" the workman refuses. The natural answer is, Then, I will not give you but so much; and he deducts the amount. Unmarried men, and servant-maids, could afford to pay something. Day-labourers could afford little, it is true, with families; cottages, with an acre or two of land, and a good garden, are the best provision for them; but they should never be their own, he

cause

cause they are apt to mortgage or sell them; they should be permitted to live in them, on condition of never having parochial relief, and paying to the institution; and so many cottages of this kind, as the quantity of annual workmen requires upon each farm, should be annexed to each farm. I would also suggest, that twice a year accounts should be taken of the state of the population by the vestry, and the increase or decrease noted, as well as the sex. I would then suggest, a bounty to be offered to boys not wanted, upon condition of enlisting in the navy, or army; and apprenticing girls. The advantage of females in trade is inconceivable. They spend, if single, most of their money in dress, all manufacture; and, if married to labourers or workmen, the income is consequently doubled of the husband and family.

I think that I may safely say, that I have proposed no more (ratios of the population excepted) than what is absolutely done by the wise and prudent poor themselves. To render wisdom and prudence compulsory in them by the authority of the master, is no hardship, unless it can be deemed one, to convert a fool into a sensible man, or make a thoughtless fellow less injurious to society. The advantages to the poor themselves, to men of property, and to government, are self-evident, and the trouble infinitely less. Nothing but military discipline can reform the drunken or worthless character; and the custom of sending such persons on board a tender, is the wisest that can be adopted.

form or other expended upon the popu lation; and whether through the conquests of the enemy, the decay of trade, may not render the poor's rates an intolerable burthen, will, to politicians who do not consider it scientific to admit mere hope into their calculations, be a subject which merits very serious reflection.

Parliament rarely interferes to any extent in the internal concerns of the country; but how any body of men can accurately legislate, without annual returns of the population, and their several employs and avocations distinguished, is to me inexplicable. I am satisfied that it would be wholly in its power, by easy means, and better, perhaps, than I have suggested, for the Quakers have actually done it, gradually to abolish poor's rates; but it is the curse of every honest heart, and every friend to improvement, that he is compelled to find " oracular dogmas," and "lions in the way," let the good proposed be ever so mighty. In the imposition of taxes, difficulties are only made to be overcome; in the alleviation of them, the converse is the fact. In every country where interest is paid for money, its whole income is in some

THOMAS DUDLEY FOSBROOKE, Horsley, Aug. 26, 1810.

P. S. If any of the local newspapers think that my ideas would be attended with any utility, at least excite attention to the subject; perhaps, in the present scarcity of news, they inay copy this article.

For the Monthly Magazine. OBSERVATIONS on the PRESENT STATE of

the COTTON COLONIES. (Concluded from page 234.)

NOTHER scheme of reasoning is

A derived from the fancied injury to

the manufacturing interest, which would accrue from any restriction being imposed on the introduction of foreign produce. This would be very true, if we had any great manufacturing rival, which possesed similar naval resources to our own; but as no such power has existence, the reasoning is inapplicable. There is no market in Europe that can enter the lists with that of Great Britain, for cotton-wool; and America, from moral causes, cannot be a manufacturing country for a very long time. Ages may yet revolve, ere such events take place. Great Britain therefore is, and must be, the great mart for this kind of produce. America must pour it in increasing quantities; nor can she be restricted from doing so, but by regulations which no man in his senses would wish to see promulgated.

One means of bringing the American and the British cotton-planter to an equality, is to double the duty on all foreign cotton, now taxed the same as that of our own colonists, and to take off the whole of the duty paid by British cotton-wool. By doing this, the public révenue would be increased to à sum exceeding the present duties on cottonwool of British as well as foreign growth, by several thousand pounds, while the average price would remain the same, the exorbitant profits of the foreign cotton-planter being reduced; and those of the British proprietor reasonably increased: or, in fact, by making fo reigners contribute something to a coun

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£. s. d. 791,666 13 4 383,333 64 1,174,999 19 8

760,024 11 4

£414,975 8 3

Deduct total of present
duties
Balance in favour of the
proposed plan
But this estimate has been framed on
the supposition that all American cot-
ton-wool is imported into this country
in British vessels: this, however, is not
the fact; and we may safely assume that
the whole is conveyed in their own ships.
Not that this is the case; but as it occurs
in a greater degree with the Brazil cot-
ton, this assumption may be granted, as
the original estimate of the Brazil pro.

duce will be retained.

The increase on importations made in foreign vessels, should certainly be proportional to the duty on British shipping; and if that be the case, the revenue would be augmented by at least onethird.

And there can be no doubt respecting the preference which the Americans will continue to give to their own ships, in despite of the increased duty; for the navigation charges would be so much less as to render them the most economical mode of conveyance.

It cannot be urged in opposition to this scheme, that foreigners thus taxed, may lay countervailing duties on British, manufactures, and thus give a vital stab to the manufacturing interests. The truth is, that this may be done, though at the expense of the consumer. The price of produce being the same in this country, the manufacturer can fabricate his cotton. wools as cheap as before. No country can vie with us in them; and the people of the country, imposing countervailing duties, must ultimately repay the British merchant. This statement extends more forcibly to our woollen manufactures,

which physical causes preclude on the great continent of America.

We have too recently witnessed the entire dependence of North America on this country for manufactured goods, to entertain a doubt upon the question; for at this moment, the government of that country is fulminating decrees against Britain, and at the same time covering the seas with her coasters, freighted for Britain: an artful policy, which requires to be encountered with firmness and resolution.

I have hitherto reasoned on the supposition, that no fiscal regulations with regard to foreign cotton of the nature already described, could enhance the price to the British manufacturer. But were the utmost increase that can be conceived to take place, the alteration in the price of the goods for sale, could scarcely be perceptible. For illustration, let us suppose that one pound of cotton-wool can be so manufactured as to fetch the sum of twenty shillings, which is below the average. The present selling price is about two shillings: were any enhancement of price to occur, for instance, were the Americans and Portuguese to retain their produce by universal consent, unless they could get half a crown per pound, the additional six-pence would not be perceived, when distributed over the various articles manufactured from the pound of the wool.

I have however been informed by a manufacturer, that this loss (if any) does not devolve on the manufacturer, but on the workmen; for in proportion to the low price of the material do the wages of the latter approach a certain standard; or in proportion to its high price, do they recede from it. This is certainly the fact in some parts of the kingdom. The complaints therefore of the manufacturing interest is unjust, ungenerous, and illiberal.

If, after all, the foregoing proposition should be deemed inadmissible, there is another to which I candidly confess there are many objectious on the score of revenue, and yet the cotton-planter's situa tion calls so loudly for alleviation, that, bad as the alternative, it would have been so far preferable, as it would tend to alleviate his distresses.

This might be effected by taking off the duties on cotton-wool of British growth, (that is to say, produced in British colonies) and continuing those on foreign produce. By this means, the British

colonist

colonist would be benefited, and the foreigner would remain as he now is: and the manufacturing interests would be little affected by it, or they might derive advantage from it. For if the British planter's duty, which is nearly twopence per pound, were taken off, he could afford to sell his produce at one penny per pound less than he now does, and derive a larger revenue. Foreign cotton would of course sell at a lower rate; but this could only be considered as the fortune of trade.

I apprehend that no principle, independent of the loss of the revenue, can be adduced against such an arrangement. Every principle of humanity calls loudly on our extending every fair and honourable protection to our own citizens, in preference to those of foreign states; and these claims are peculiarly enforced by the present exigencies.

But its opponents will find a more unanswerable argument to any thing they can state, in the singular fact which has been recorded in a foriner part of these pages, that American cotton-wool paid a duty less than that paid by cotton-wool of the British colonies, from the period of its first imposition to the month of April, 1805, when fairer regulations were framed, and have been since persisted in. This fact furnishes us with analogical reasoning, which may in the present case be employed a fortiori.

At the same time it cannot be denied, that the present is by no means the period at which the revenue of Great Britain can bear any diminution; if therefore the same redress can be procured by other means, it would be decidedly preferable. But if these other means be inadequate or inexpedient, the question then resolves itself into one of policy, Whether it be better to lose a part, or the whole, of the revenue? There can be no doubt as to the decision, if the premises be granted; and it cannot be denied, that, if the present ruinous system be persisted in with regard to the British cotton colonies, that total loss must be the inevitable consequence.

But there is no necessity that the revenue of this country should be at all diminished, if a more extended policy be adopted. Recently, for the benefit of British colonists, an additional duty on foreign timber has been proposed and acceded to: thus admitting the very principle contended for in the earlier parts of these observations.

MONTHLY MAG. No, 205,

Might not this, or any other protect ing duty, be so managed as to compen sate very amply for the change proposed, either by improving British resources, or by actual contribution into the imperial treasury? This is an inquiry worthy of the attention of those who manage our

commercial concerns.

The colonists have suffered long without repining, and now they only claim justice, which certainly prompts an ame liorated state of their affairs. Ail that they wish for, is such an adaptation of their peculiar case to existing circunstances, as will preclude all unnecessary grievance. They do not, cannot, wish, to embarrass by whining complaint; they would accommodate themselves to the principles by which they have been heretofore taxed, without examining those principles with more minuteness than may suit their unstable and imperfect nature. If however they are urged by dire necessity, they may with unquestionable correctness shew, that the system of taxing British colonial produce originated in, and has existed by, error: by error, too, of the most pernicious nature, as it undermines those distinctions between commercial and agricul tural objects, which, in a great trading nation ought to be most accurately defined. These distinctions are not framed of metaphysical fantasy, but of sound substantial facts, open to examination.

Mr. Bosanquet, in his admirable tract on this subject, has clearly shewn that much of the grievances which the West Indies labour under, originate in the confusion of the principles of taxation.

The distinctions pointed out between trade and commerce by this gentleman, appear to be perfectly unanswerable. It matters not what terms are used, so that they are made perfectly intelligible. Trade, he considers, as the "first conversion into money of the grower's produce." This is an act of necessity, and therefore not liable to taxation. This principle is recognized in the non-imposition of duties on corn and various other articles. The inability of the grower to command the supply in many instances, is the stronghold of those who contend, that articles of trade should never be liable to tax.

Commerce is the subsequent exchange of the same produce, made with a view to profit. This is an act of choice, and has always been considered a prolific 2 S

source

source of revenue. The merchant can generally command the supply.

It seems also to be a political axiom, that the consumer should in all cases pay the duty that may be imposed.

The most characteristic distinction between trade and commerce, as defined by Mr. Bosanquet, is the command which is to be maintained in the latter by the merchant; and the total inability of the agriculturist, or trader, to keep the market at his own command. Reim bursement and profit are necessary, whence the consistency in general of the laws with the principles.

Supposing the general doctrine laid down in these observations, of the relation borne by the colonies to the mother country, to be founded in truth, the whole produce of the West India colonies should be exempted from all duties; for although the speculations in that part of the world, resemble, in some points, commercial matters, yet in the main they are strictly agricultural, and meet very fairly Mr. Bosanquet's ideas on the subject of trade. But, were this perfectly erroneous, it is not difficult to shew that the present practice is inconsistent with the principle. It has never been denied, that in this, as in all commercial cases, the tax was to be paid by the consumer; but certain conditions, (some of which have been already pointed out) are essential to realizing this principle. These are all wanting in the cotton trade. The British planter having no means of regulating the supply, is under the dire necessity of bearing the whole burthen of the tax himself; and then, as if his slender profit were too great, his income is liable to every tax of the country. Surely this is a singular deviation from principle, which, if adopted, ought certainly to be respected. Upon the whole, it will be safe to conclude, that the present taxation of West Indian produce is founded on error of the most serious kind. It may be again repeated, that the West Indian proprietors would not examine into these circumstances too minutely, if they could only obtain jus.

tice.

If however this system is to be persisted in, some eforts should be made for extending our foreign relations. Those in Europe are unluckily beyond our grasp; but the western hemisphere presents a field for speculation, which must giadden the heart of every zealous and enterprising politician. South America is in the condition most fitted for re

ceiving and conferring commercial advantages. Nor is there any reason against Great Britain's securing to herself those advantages, which would flow into other channels, if neglected by her. The local situation, the peculiar struc-, ture of the coasts, fit that country in an eininent degree for commerce, of which the government of this country must be fully aware. The recent discoveries of Humboldt on that continent, present facilities hitherto unknown; and it is most carnestly to be wished, that no narrow schemes of policy will put those means beyond our grasp, which are now so completely within it.

The recent events in Venezuela and Buenos Ayres are the most favourable for proper enterprise; and there appears to be every reason for expecting similar conduct in every part of that vast con tinent. A population of nearly sixteen millions of people, without the means of internal supply of many of the necessaries of life, whose habits of refinement are rapidly becoming confirmed, would furnish an enormous demand not only for cotton manufactures, but for every ar ticle of British commerce; and would give an impulse to the decaying spirit of commerce in this country.

The great question of peace or war, necessarily affects the colonists in a preeminent degree. There can be no doubt of the advantages which would result from the former; but there can be also little doubt, that at present it would be perfectly impracticable on solid and substantial grounds; and the colonists appreciate too fully the honour, the inde. pendence, and the security of the parent state, to cherish for one moment an idea so directly subversive of them all,

Substantial justice may be rendered with out such a dire resource; and as it is imperiously called for by the necessities of the colonists, it behoves those who can grant it, to act advisedly; and to relieve a numerous class of meritorious, though oppressed, individuals.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

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