State 4 to Our motto for the present volume, will bear the name of the good and great TURGOT. When this minister of was asked for permission to give his name to a merchant ship, what coast does she sail?" To Africa. "For what purpose?" To purchase negroes. "Give her any name but that of Turgot." This enlightened politician, this practical philanthropist, this sagacious statesman, this faithful minister would have preserved the French monarchy, if the monarch who chose him, had possessed sufficient constancy or consistency of character to keep to his choice; if he had not always resolved irresolutely, and made unhappy distinctions between his personal and political friends. Is there no man, such as Turgot, to come or to be brought forward, at this great crisis of the empire, not a man with the mastery of mouth such as we witnessed in the last William Pitt, not a man with the personal weaknesses and good-natured credulity of Charles Fox, but with the mastery of mind, and imperative momentum of the first William Pitt, who, at a period, when the public safety is the supreme Jaw, might dictatorially promulge some grand expedient, honourable to the state, unobjectionable by its enemy, some magnanimous proposal fraught with justice, honesty, liberality and the SPIRIT OF PEACE? Is there such a man among us, whether in cabinet or in field? What. is his name? Is he to be found among the personal or the political friends of the Prince Regent? for there seems to be growing up such a dangerous distinction. is be to be found among the men of business and experience in office, or among great law lords, or ex-chancellors reposing upon their ample pensions, or among men who having performed a circumvolution through the first situations in the state, suddenly revert into their primitive and origi-. nal insignificance. Great is the difference between a legislator and a lawyer; as great as the distance between a statesman who generalizes and looks to futurity, and a minister of the day, who is acquainted only with the detail of office, and provides only for existing circumstances. If then in Britain, far-famed Britain for science, arts and arms, no such heroic man yet appears among all her people, in this fast-approaching crisis of her fate, what then remains ? What resource is left? why this :If there be no such man among her whole people, let her whole people be made to act AS ONE MAN. By means of COMPLETE EMANCIPATION, · and ADEQUATE REFORM; let the whole empire be made to act as one heroic individual with the same unity of purpose, the same consistency of conduct, the same combination of effort, by which the individual commands the combination of the different muscles of the body in the accomplishment of the fixt resolution of the soul. Let our Prince Regent seat himself between Emancipation and Reform as between the Pillars of Hercules, while the Genuis of the constitution in defiance of Napoleon, inscribes the same words as on the ancient Pillars-NE PLUS ULTRA. DOCUMENTS. At a public meeting of the inhabitants of Liverpool, held on the 4th of November, John Bourne, esq. Mayor, in the chair; it was unanimously resolved, upon the motion of John Gladstone, esq. seconded by Thomas Rodie, esq. that a petition should be presented to the Prince Regent, praying that he would suspend the further Distillation of Spirits from Grain, until the Meeting of Parliament. THE HUMBLE PETITION, &c. &c. Sheweth, That your Petitioners, being deeply interested in the welfare of this populous town, and this great manufacturing county, cannot but view with great anxiety the progressive and alarming advance in the prices of corn, in connexion with the fact row ascertained, that the produce of the late harvest is very deficient, and that the weather for gathering it in, in the northern parts of Great Britain, and for preparing the wheat lands generally for the next crops, has been extremely unfavourable. mate mar That your petitioners are well informed the potato crop in Ireland has so rially failed that this important necessary of life, now sells in the Dublin ket at the excessive price of six shillings per cwt.; from which circumstance your Petitioners apprehend that the usual supplies of Corn from Ireland, upon which the numerous population of this town, and the county of Lancaster, are known in a great degree to depend for subsistence, are likely to be much curtailed. That in times like the present, when no dependence can be placed on receiving supplies of Foreign corn, it becomes of the first importance to husband to the utmost the crops of this country. That the average weekly prices of Corn in England and Wales, according to the returns received in the week ending the 26th of October, as published in the London Gazette of the 2d November, are as follows: Wheat,.........101s. 6d. per quarter. Which equal, and in several instances exceed, the prices at the different periods when the legislature, in their wisdom, thought fit to interpose to prevent the Distillation of Spirits from Grain, (the year of extraordinary scarcity only excepted), as will appear from the following comparative statement, taken from the official returns: Average price of wheat, barley, and Oats, in England and Wales, according to the weekly returns, nearest to the following periods. Date. NEAREST WEEKLY RETURN. Wheat. Barley Outs. d. s. d. s. Distillation. S. 93 10 45 0.99 52 328 415 10 133 076 741 8 76 944 1 25 4 1795 Prohibited. That, on these grounds, your Petitioners humbly conceive there exists an ur gent necessity for the interposition of the Royal prerogative before the meeting of Parliament, more especially as, should the measure be deferred till that per od, the distillers will have laid in their stocks of grain for the season, a large proportion of which will either be distilled, or converted into a state unfitting it for the food of Your liberal and indefatigable attention to the welfare and commerce of Ireland, and in particular your being a Trustee of the Linen Manufacture, induce me to address your Lordship on the subject of this le.ter, which will not fail to call forth your attention, and which I solicit on no less a subject, than what relates to the utter destruction of the Linen Trade of Ireland, with resorted to, in order to meet the if the most powerful means are not forthimpending danger, and which, if neglected, will daily assume a more ungovernable aspect. And I am the more solicitous to momentous, that no imputation may be use the plainest language, on a subject so thrown on me, if those who have it in their power to stand forth for your native country, should desert her at this moment. In giving your Lordship a timely warn ing of the event, I might be satisfied with having done as much as might be required from me, but I do not wish to shrink from the goodness of my cause, or to deny myself a pleasure in assuring your Lordship that I am ready to make very considerable sacrifices, as an individual, to avert this heavy blow:-and I am aware that I am addressing a Nobleman, the sincerity of whose zeal for the benefit of Ireland, cannot be doubted, and who, I trust, will measure my sincerity by his own. Your Lordship is well aware, that in Ireland flax is chiefly spun by one spinner, producing only one thread at a time, and that it is the low price of labour in freland, which enables the Irish spinners to preserve the linen trade of their country; the Manchester manufacturer cannot find spinners in England who will spin at so low a rate, but whenever linen yarn, in large quantities, can be obtained in Lancashire, at as low a rate as the poor pittance the Irish receives for spinning, at that very moment the cotton manufacturer will launch out with an unlimited capital into the linen trade. Now this, my lord, it is evident, can only be done by finding a poorer place than Ireland. I mean where human labour is to be had on cheaper terms, or else by machinery-and be it known to your Lordship, that the day is arrived when flax is spun by machinery, with the same facility that cotton is spun, whereby better linens are made; and instead of one spinner spinning one thread at a time, one spinner spins upwards of one hundred threads at a time;-in a word, the day is arrived, when the benefits which Sir Richard Arkwright bestowed, by machinery, on the cotton trade, are extended to the linen trade.---The method of doing which I claim, and the monopoly and sole liberty of using, exercising and vending this invention, my Sovereign has been pleased to bestow upon me, by his letters patent, extending throughout England, Ireland, and Scotland, for 14 years. The using of this grant, I can easily foresee, requires considerable discretion, and in imploring, which I now beg leave to do, your Lordship's abilities to direct and assist my well-meant efforts, I build upon your Lordship's patriotism, and in the worthiness of my cause. To be better understood, I will at tempt, unable as I feel myself to the task; first, to point out a few consequences which will naturally result from your Lordship's patronage in following up, and cultivating my statement; and, secondly, what will result from your Lordship taking no heed of my suggestions. 1st. Then, it is now in your Lordship's power to protect the linen trade, and to preserve it as the staple trade of Ireland, by introducing my system, by furnishing the linen weavers with spinning machines, henceforth converting 99 spinners out of 100, into weavers;-a change which would benefit Ireland in a most incalculable manner; for keeping the hungry spinners in a state of poverty is, alas! not to be wished for, but the raising of them from spinners, to the higher rank of weavers, would be a work worthy of your Lordship. And it belongs to me to have the honour to say, that it is in your Lordship's power to do much more, if your Lordship should be hearty in the cause. I shall be found ready to second your Lordship's exertions, even by a sale of my English and Scottish patents, with an assignment of my Irish patent, on liberal terms; which would give to Ireland, under a grant of the crown, a monopoly on my system, and best preserve her shuttles. 2dly. On the other hand, if this favourable opportunity is neglected, instead of convert ng 99 of your spinners into weavers; both your spinners and your weavers will be driven to seek other employment, as the trade will go where capital will furnish machinery; and if I am compelled to take what might be the more lucrative step, the granting of licences, as Sir Richard Arkwright did, by virtue of his letters patent, does not the present state of the cotton trade afford very substantial inducement for several thousand adventurers to embark, at a moment's notice, who have machinery ready, and weavers ready to start to-morrow, and with whom if I once enter into contracts, it will be too late for me to give to Ireland the boon I now offer you in her behalf? To show you that I am prepared to enter into contracts, I take the liberty of enclosing, (or rather of forwarding to you in another envelope, by this post, as I am fearful of encreasing this letter beyond the weight of a frank), a printed form of a contract, which, in justice to myself, I may be allowed to say, must not be longer in a dormant state, than the time I may fairly expect to be honoured with your Lordship's sentiments; and, with a proper attention towards your Lordship, have to declare, that at present I am wholly unconnected with any kind of partnership, or have I at this moment granted any licence to any one. Before I close this letter, it may be ne cessary to inform your Lordship, that my process is to cut the flax into lengths, short enough to card and spin on cotton spinning machines; and in general to bleach it before it is spun, as in its open and cut state the fibres or staple are not only rendered much finer, and more soft and flexible but the cloth requires very little or scarce any bleaching after it is wove, more than cleansing it from the dirt, it has collected in spinning and manufacturing, by the weaver's size, &c. This is no contemptible advantage, as the cloth gets into the market almost immediately after it comes out of the loom, and is not impoverished and harassed by ashes, and the burning system of bleaching, or in other words, by forcibly taking from the cloth a considerable portion of its component parts; for though less elegant, it must be allowed that by the old system unbleached linens will last much longer than bleached linens; but not so by my system. :-for that which the cloth loses in becoming white by the old method, is by the new method extracted before it becomes a thread, consequently the thread is composed of only the best parts of flax, and my cloth having no earthy particles, or soluble matter to lose, is capable of being washed without being impoverished. Many months are also saved in bringing the cloth from the hands of the weaver to those of the consumer; and if a given weight of flax requires a very long and tedious time to whiten, it is self evident, the interest on capital must be very considerably less by this operation taking place b fore it is spun, and wove, than after the spinners are paid. Dr. Adam Smith states, that it requires four spinuers to keep one linen weaver at work, and with shame be it spoken, little has been done for linen-spinning since his day though it is an incontestible fact that linen is in all cases far preferable to cotton; besides this, the raw material is not only a home produce, but it is a much cheaper raw material than cotton, and which the uncultivated bogs of England and Ireland (according to Mr. Arthur Young) would yield to an indefinite extent. This invention I can assure your Lordship has cost me many anxious hours, and in money not less than twelve thousand pounds, to perfect, and it is now in a state which requires no new experiments to be tried upon it. To speak in a language which cannot be misunderstood, I have now at hand a dozen pieces of linen, superior to any which were ever manufactured in Ireland, and which have beca manufactured by my system, and the spinning part effected wholly by cotton machines, without in any degree altering the machinery, but accomplished merely by the preparation of the fax:the machines alternately spinning a handful of flax this minute, a handful of cotton the next, (or any larger quantities) in which there can be no deception, and no subterfuge. The day is not far off when I hope to be allowed to enlarge on other advantages, but I trust that I have said enough to rouse your Lordship's attention and wonted sagacity, and that will be sufficient. I am, myLord, your lordship's most obedient humble servant, JOHN DUMBELL The Right Hon. Lord Frankfort. Extracts from the President's Message to Congress, November 1811. IN calling you together sooner than a separation from your homes, would otherwise have been required, I yielded to considerations drawn from the posture of our foreign affairs; and in fixing the present, for the time of your meeting, regard was had to the probability of further developements of the policy of the belligerent powers towards this country, which might the more unite the national councils, in the measures to be pursued. At the close of the last session of Con gress it was hoped that the successive confirmations of the extinction of the French decrees, so far as they violated our neutral commerce, would have induced the government of Great Britain to repeal its orders in council; and thereby authorize a removal of the existing obstructions to her commerce with the United States. Instead of this reasonable step towards satisfaction and friendship between the two nations, the orders were at a moment when least to have been expected put into more rigorous execution; and it was com municated through the British envoy just arrived, that, whilst the revocation of the edicts of France, as officially made known to the British government, was denied to have taken place; it was an indispensable condition of the repeal of the British orders, that commerce should be restored to a footing, that would admit the productions and manufactures of Great Britain, when owned by neutrals, into markets shut against them by her enemy; the United States being given to understand that, in the mean time, a continuance of their non-importation act would lead to measures of retaliation. At a later date, it has indeed appeared, that a communication to the British government of fresh evidence of the repeal of the French decrees against our neutral trade, was followed by an intimation, that it had been transmitted to the British Plenipotentiary here, in order that it might receive full consideration in the depending discussions. This communication appears not to have been received: But the transmission of it hither, instead of founding on it an actual repeal of the orders, or assurances that the repeal would ensue, will not permit us to rely on any effective change, in the British cabinet. To be ready to meet with cordiality satisfactory proofs of such a change, and to proceed in the mean time, in adapting our measures to the views which have been disclosed through that minister, will best consult our whole duty. In the unfriendly spirit of those disclosures, indemnity and redress for other wrongs have continued to be withheld, and our coasts and the mouths of our harbours have again witnessed scenes not less derogatory to the dearest of our national rights, than vexatious to the regular course of our trade. Among the occurrences produced by the conduct of British ships of war hovering on our coasts, was an encounter between one of them and the American frigate, commauded by Captain Rogers, rendered unavoidable, on the part of the latter, by a fire, commenced without cause, by the former; whose commander is, therefore, alone chargeable with the blood unfortunately shed in maintaining the honour of the American flag. The proceedings of a court of inquiry, requested by Captain Rogers, are communicated; together with the correspondence relating to the occurrence, between the Secretary of State and his Britannic Majesty's envoy. To these are added, the several correspondences which have passed on the subject of the British orders in council; and to both, the correspondence relating to the Flori das, in which Congress will be made ac quainted with the interposition which the government of Great Britain has thought proper to make against the proceedings of the United States. The justice and fairness which have been evinced on the part of the United States towards France, both before and since the revocation of her decrees, authorised an expectation that her governa ment would have followed that measure by all such others as were due to our reasonable claims, as well as dictated by its amicable professions. No proof, however, is yet given of an intention to repair the other wrongs done to the United States, and particularly to restore the great amount of American property seized and condemned under edicts, which, though not affecting our neutral relations, and, therefore, not entering into questions between the United States and other belligerents, were nevertheless founded on such unjust principles that the reparation ought to have been prompt and ample. In addition to this, and other demands of strict right, on that nation; the United States have much reason to be dissatisfied with the rigorous and unexpected restrictions, to which their trade with the French Dominions has been subjected; and which, if not discontinned, will require at least corresponding restrictions on importations from France into the United States. On all those subjects our minister plenipotentiary, lately sent to Paris, has carried with him the necessary instructions; the result of which will be communicated to you, and by ascertaining the ulterior policy of the French gom rnment towards the United States will enable you to adapt to it that of the United States towards France. I must now add, that the period is arrived, which claims from the legislative guardians of the national rights a system of more ample provisions for maintaining them. Notwithstanding the scrupulous justice, the protracted moderation, and the multiplied efforts on the part of the United States, to substitute, for the accumulating dangers to the peace of the two countries, all the mutual advantages of re-established friendship and confidence; we have seen that the British cabinet perseveres, not only in withholding a remedy for other wrongs, so long and so loudly calling for it; but in the execution, brought home to the threshold of our territory, of measures which, under existing circumstances, have |