pear to me to be incapable of removal, though some trouble and expence would undoubtedly attend it. By ascertaining the depth to which the sap-root of the apple-tree usually runs, and the breadth to which its other roots usually spread, and the description of soil which is best adapted to its culture, and then excavating the earth to a corresponding depth and breadth, and filling up the cavity with the proper soil, and planting the tree in the centre of it, the impediment might be removed, and thus every one of our counties would become capable of producing cider. It is true, that to form an orchard in this manner, would at first occasion a considerable expence; but the expence, once incurred, would never afterwards need to be repeated, and the produce of the trees, when they began to bear, would soon repay it with abundant interest; particularly when it is recol. lected that the home-close of a farmhouse, when planted as an orchard, remains as fit for the purposes to which it was before applied as if the trees had never been planted in it; and that therefore the profit produced by the cider inade from the apples, would be a clear and considerable addition to the former annual value of the close. To gardens especially, and particularly to the gardens of gentlemen, where expense is seldom put in competition with the attainment of a desired object, the plan I have proposed is peculiarly adapted; and it might be applied to other trees requiring a particular soil, as well as the apple-tree. Kentish-Town, May 13th, 1811.

H.

Church Government of the Quakers, which contains many palpable misrepresentations; it is my intention, by publishing correct statements, to endeavour to efface the erroneous impression which many persons must have contracted in consequence.

This writer introduces his observations with an affected candour, and apparent concern for the real interest of the society in question; but very little pene tration is requisite to discover, from the context, that it is his design to throw an odium on that religious body. He then charges its members with an avaricious disposition, with a spirit prone to bigotry, and with a contempt for learning. Supposing that these unamniable traits had place in reality, and that they were attributable, as is insinuated, to the discipline of the society being conducted by a comparatively small body, whose proceedings are veiled in profound secrecy, even to the generality of the members, whence would the latter become contaminated? Surely some communi cation of improper principles must take place before injurious effects could arise. But these accusations are unfounded, since they are exploded by the more li beral members of the community, and sufficiently refuted by Clarkson, who, indeed, states it as his opinion, that the society has not hitherto been adequately attentive to the literary education of its members, but admits that respectable. schools are on the increase. Is this proof that the qnakers “look with a jea lous eye on science and literature."

It is asserted, "that the really-effective part of the government of the society is exercised by the select meetings." I would observe en passant, that this is an improper term not to be found in the official publications of the discipline of the quakers. On the more important question it will be sufficient to quote a passage from the author I have before appealed to, which will serve to place the subject in its true light. "Of the ministers and elders it may be observed, that it is their duty to confine themselves

wholly to the exhortation of one another for good. They can make no laws like the ancient synods, and other convo cations of the clergy, nor dictate any article of faith. Neither can they meddie with the government of the church. The quakers allow neither ministers nor elders, by virtue of their office, to inter fere with their discipline. Every proSU

position

position of this sort must be determined upon by the yearly meeting, or by the body at large."*

Even on the chief point upon which this writer's arguments rest, that "the members of the select meeting are selfelected," I shall prove him to have misstated the fact. By consulting either the work which I have just quoted, or the abstract of the discipline of the society, published under the title of "Yearly Meeting Minutes," he will find that the elders are appointed by the recommendation of the monthly meeting, sanctioned by the approval of the quarterly meeting. Here we discover the tottering foundation of that structure which Verus has raised, of that which has furnished him with a topic for his exordium, of that on which he has introduced poetical quotation, and descanted throughout with so much complacency. I would farther observe that the proceedings of the meer ings of ministers and elders are not so studiously, concealed as is represented, since the queries proposed at these meetings, with other information respecting their functions, may be found in the "Yearly Meeting Minutes."

George Fox is charged by "Verus" with entertaining superstitious notions. On this head candour would have pointed out to him the difference which has taken place on such subjects, between the ideas of the present age and that in which G. F. lived. But I cannot conceive, that this circumstance is calculated to detract from his merit, in having established a discipline which has been defended by many persons of real ability and learning, and a system, of the peaceable tendency of which the unprejudiced of different denominations have so frequently testifed their approbation.

The society is advised to adopt the made of ballot instead of the means at present pursued of deciding on the subjects which claim its attention. This proposition I was scarcely prepared to expect even from "Verus." When it is considered that on such occasions every member is allowed to speak his senti. ments, and that during a series of years unanimity has been preserved; would it not be folly to introduce a practice which could only serve to foment opposition? How much more consonant is the method now adopted with the seriousness of the subject discussed, with

"Portraiture of Quakerism," by T. Clarkton, M.A-Vol. I. p. 275.

that spirit of Christian charity which ought ever to pervade a religious assembly. And surely there can be no reason to apprehend unpleasant consequences from that deference to age and experience, to which allusion has been made, Considering the nature of his materials, "Verus" has certainly proceeded to the accomplishment of his design with very plausible effect. It is not therefore my intention to deny him the praise of ingenuity; but I would press upon his serious consideration the necessity of procuring accurate information before he again arraigns the conduct of any sect; since this alone will enable him to adopt with propriety the appellation he has assumed. DEFENSOR,

Leominster, 5mo. 15, 1811.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

I

SIR,

TRUST your correspondent in the Monthly Magazine for last month, who wishes information on the effects of vegetation on the air, may receive the desired knowledge from the following simple experiment, which I believe to have been practised so repeatedly as to leave no doubt of the results.

If in a receiver filled with air rendered incapable of supporting animal life or combustion, (having been decomposed in its passage through the lungs of an ani mal,) be placed a sprig of mint, and thus exposed to the action of light, it will in a few hours be so completely altered (by the power of vegetation) as to be restored to a similar state it was in at the time it was first inhaled. The reason is this: atmospheric air is a chemical combina tion of gases, principally oxygen and nitrogen. In the passage of the air (when we breathe) through the lungs, it imparts its oxygen to the arterial blood, and is thrown out again at the mouth in the state of nitrogen and carbonic acid gas; part of the oxygen having, as before stated, entered into the composition of the arterial fluid, whilst the other, uniting with the carbon of the blood is thrown off in the state of carbonic acid gas; the nitrogen, by its superior levity, as cends whilst the carbonic acid gas, or fixed air, falling by its gravity (being the heaviest gaseous body known) is received by the vegetable organs of respiration, and there depositing its carbon it is evolved again; and the air thus freed in the vegetable from its carbon, is again fit for breathing. So we see the fluid that is rendered, by having passed through

the lungs, not only useless, but even highly prejudicial to the animal economy, has been by the action of the vegetable, again rendered pure. This is the pro cess and effect of vegetation, not in one particular plant, but through the whole of nature-Not but some plants may exude effluvia pernicious to the ani. mal economy; but fortunately they are extremely rare. I have no knowledge of any in this kingdom. An instance of one is related, said to exist in the East Indies, whose baneful effects extend to a considerable distance.

The medicinal properties of plants are to be extracted only by different processes, such as infusion, distillation, &c. Products often of the most opposite qualities are obtained from the same plant by va rying the treatment. Thus, from a highly pois nous plant is procured the cassava bread of the American Indians and the tapioca of Commerce. In the communication of Dr. Sins last month, is related another instance. The leaves of the stramonium are unquestionably, as I have witnessed, highly useful in asthma; but it appears the effect of the seed and wood are quite different. The nightshade, a well known poison if eaten, I never found to affect the air, although growing in considerable quantities: the aroma or vegetable substance, is little known; it appears generally to be obtained in

the essential oil.

In answer to your correspondent on the analysis of soils; I should presume in many instances the substitution of nitro-muriatic acid, for muriatic may be found useful; but I submit to that gentleman's consideration, whether his apprehensions of a false result being obtained are not groundless; it appears to me that if the iron is already so far satu. rated with oxygen as to be insoluble in the acid, it cannot gain weight in the process of destroying the vegetable matter by fire.

Supposing the steel ball suspended in the manner an Amateur in Philosophy describes, its vibrations would be stopped from the following causes:1st. Although the magnetic powers might at first be adjusted with the greatest accuracy, the adjustment from the nature of the attractive fluid would be quickly destroyed.-2dly. Were the pendulum suspended according to the most approved mechanical principles, there would still remain a portion of friction sufficient to impede and even tually stop its action.-Sdly. The force of gravity would be greatest, and the

tendency of the pendulum to a state of inaction, greatest at that point where the small power of the magnets would be exerted to counteract each other; viz. the midway of an arc of a circle, the centre of which would be the point of the pendulum's suspension. J. BENNETT.

Greenwich, May 15, 1811.

For the Monthly Magazine. Facts relating to ADMIRAL PATTON, having a reference to the CENSURES of a REVIEW upon his " NATURAL DEFENCE of an INSULAR EMPIRE."

HE work of a professional man upon

TH

a professional subject, where judg ment and opinion are submitted to public consideration, may be expected to produce an influence proportioned to the professional character of its author. The art of depreciating such a work will con sist in the endeavour to lessen the profes sional credit and estimation of its author with the public.

The review opens its censures upon the Natural Defence of an Insular Empire, by ridiculing clubs of old naval officers meeting frequently together to extol the navy of their day, and depreciate the present; not one word of which will bear the smallest reference to Admiral Patton's habitudes and occupations.

The reviewer seems to have been supplied with a list of the naval services in which Admiral P. was engaged, which is accurate as far as it goes, but it is not complete; and it omits what was most essential to establish the admiral's claim to attention upon the subject of discri minating the views, the wishes, the merits, the intentions, and the proper management of seamen, which facts will specify.

In the list given of naval services, where Admiral P, was present, the taking of the Harannah is omitted, where he was made a lieutenant; and Sir Hyde Parker's ac tion off the Dogger Bank, where he com manded a frigate, and discovered one of the enemy's ships, which was sunk in the night, and brought her pennant to the admiral.

The reviewer states a circumstance to prove the impartiality of the admiralty in conferring favours, in an instance which had Admiral P. himself for its object, when he was in the station of a coin mander, by appointing him to the temporary command of a ninety gun ship, on a service of importance. This certainly was the case, and before this appoints

ment took place, the admiral commanding at Portsmouth, had given him an acting commission for the same ship. These circumstances seem to infer a confidence at that time placed in his professional qualifications. But the reviewer does not mention an important occur rence which took place on this occasion. When at sea, the crew of this ninety gun ship actually mutinied. Capt. Patton took the instant means to quell this mu tiny, had the ringleaders secured, sum moned the ship's company upon deck, explained his orders, the nature of their crime, and the tendency of their disobedience, and then ordered exemplary punishment to be inflicted. Discipline was hereby completely esta blished; and before he quitted his com mand, he received strong marks of attachment from the ship's company. About this time (the close of the American war) several mutinies took place in Jine of battle ships: let the reviewer en quire the result of those mutinies, and whether discipline or mutiny was trium phant!

There was an obvious cause for this tendency to mutiny in the navy at that time, traced by Capt. Patton to the peculiar hardships in the situation of the first order of seamen in the king's ships. Upon the renewal of the war, the same causes produced the same effects, or rather the causes and the effects were aggratated. The difference between complete and incomplete seamen is unknown to Tandmen, and not always sufficiently attended to by professional men.

Upon this subject Lord Nelson seems to acknowledge the acquisition of experience, in a voyage he made to the West Indies in a trading ship*. It is in the merchant service that the merits of a

lished.

The following is an extract from his own Memoir of his Services, in his Life lately pub"But this business with Spain being accommodated, I was sent in a West India ship, &c. with Mr. John Rathbone, who had formerly been in the navy in the Dreadnought with Capt. Suckling.-From this voyage I returned to the Triumph at Chatham, in July 1772, and if I did not improve in my education, I came back a practical seaman, with a horror of the Royal Navy, and with a saying then constant with the seamen : After the most honour, forward the better man!" The better man meant the better

seaman.

His lordship adds, "It was many weeks before I got in the least reconciled to a man of war, so deep was the prejudice rooted." This illustrates the ideas of practical seamen.

complete seaman are fully recompensed in time of war: besides very high wages, if he be sober he is almost certain of attaining the station of a mate; and if otherwise qualified, that of a master. From receiving very high wages, and the prospect of these advantages, such men are forcibly taken by the impress (they never enter voluntarily) into the navy, to be put upon a footing with inferior seamen. These were the circumstances that influenced the opinion of Capt. Pat ton, who apprehended, from what he knew and observed, that the common sufferings of so many men, wrested from better situations, debarred from higher prospects, confined to ships under mili tary discipline, and withheld from ever seeing their families or relations, might produce some shock disastrous to the British fleet. Strongly impressed with this apprehension, he drew up a memorial upon the subject, pointed out the danger, and suggested the remedy; which was to give complete or prime seamen encouragement in the navy fully equal to what they received in the merchant ser vice, by adequately raising the wages of such stations and situations as complete seamen alone could fill, and which could not be occupied by inferior seamen. This and other indulgencies, which would attach them to the service, would remove all cause for discontent in them, and prove an absolute security against mutiny in his majesty's ships, because the prime seamen are always the leading characters on ship-board.

This memorial was presented to the first lord of the admiralty, and to the minister, two years before the general mutiny took place but it was disregarded ;— and no wonder, for there was not another professional man who had the same view of the subject. In the language of the reviewer, Capt. Patton was then held, as Admiral Patton is now considered by him, to be a croaker, Time, however, brought forth the dreadful event he had predicted, which his discernment, or his attention to circum stances overlooked by other professional men, enabled him to foresee. It was then acknowledged that his rejected memorial had proved prophetic. Had that memorial been attended to, and the means used which were there pointed out for attaching prime seamen to the service, how much would the nation have gained? what a waste of money would have been saved, which has been uselessly, because indiscriminately, applied!

The

The prime seamen, who have been the cause, would have proved the security against mutiny.

Of the unparalleled mutiny which took possession of the British fleet at Spit head, this primary class of seamen were unquestionably the first movers and the sole conductors. Such men never can be satisfied when only put upon a footing with inferior or incomplete seamen; who are not their peers on shipboard, either in their own estimation, or in that of the ship's company. The general rise of Seamen's wages has failed of giving the intended satisfaction, it recompensed in ferior seamen beyond their deserts, but was inadequate to the services and the merits of prime seamen, upon whom the peculiar excellence of the British navy depends.

The desideratum for ensuring to the state the services of the navy, is to attach these men, without whom your ships cannot act; the hardship of whose situation, under the present compulsory systen, in case of a peace supervening, without adequate encouragement to them, may drive many of them from their native country to strengthen the future fleets of our enemies. Such are the sentiments and apprehensions of Admiral Patton upon this subject, which render him anxious to avert evils which he regards as pregnant with destruction to Britain.

The quarterly reviewer, in his account of Admiral P. states that he commanded a short time at Deal. Mr. Pitt at that time being out of administration, resided in that neighbourhood, and became per. sonally acquainted with Admiral P. When he returned to the station of prime minister, the Admiral's command at Deal was interrupted by his nomination as one of the lords of the admiralty by Lord Melville. In the conduct of this able statesman at the head of the admiralty, the reviewer finds occasion to confute Admiral P.'s opinion, that professional knowledge was requisite for the direction of naval affairs, from a measure adopted by his lordship, which produced an effect decidedly and importantly advantageous to Britain, by supplying ships upon a great emergency, in the short period of a few months, for which the usual mode of repair would have required as many years; this happy effect was produced by having recourse to the plan sug gested by Mr. Snodgrass for refitting ships expeditiously and securely; whose merit in this discovery is beyond all

praise! This is certainly true, and to this expedient, which Lord Melville di rected to be carried into execution without the intermediation of the Navy Board, to avoid protraction or delay, twenty-two line of battle ships were ra pidly equipped to join the British fleets at sea; and thereby the fleets under Sir Robert Calder and Lord Nelson were sufficiently reinforced to engage and defeat the enemy, in the great and impor tant victories obtained by those distinguished admirals.

In this statement, the discernment, the promptitude, and decision of Lord Mel ville, by which so eminent a service was rendered to his country, is most justly. praised. But the following statement of facts ought also to be made known.' The person who informed Lord Melville of Mr. Snodgrass's plan of refitting ships, was Admiral Patton; to every other per son at the Admiralty it was unknowit He extracted the passages from the work, to render it intelligible to Lord Melville, and urged its adoption; and he also recommended to his lordship to issue his own immediate orders for carrying this service into execution; upon which the success of the measure so greatly de pended. In mentioning this service, the reviewer has brought forward an occur. rence, which places the professional knowledge and judgment of Admiral P. in a point of view that will not corre spond with the impression his review of

The Defence of an Insular Empire" is calculated to produce. It ought also to be further known, in justice to the motives which actuated Admiral P.'s conduct, that upon the change of adminis tration taking place, which put Lord Grey (then Lord Howick) at the head of the Admiralty; Admiral P. waited upon him, to inform his lordship of the advantage derived from the adoption of Mr, Snodgrass's expeditious plan for refitting ships, and presented him with the extracts, to render it intelligible without professional knowledge.

The Catamaran enterprize, the reviewer must now be informed, was une dertaken without any of the naval lords having been consulted. When it was at last referred to their consideration and judgment, they decidedly disapproved of it, in consequence of which it was not carried into execution. These are facts. The inference of this reviewer upon this subject, will not apply to Admiral Parton, I do not suppose that the Stone Expedient

bad