Lord A. Hamilton is here charged with a wish to excite discon. tent, and to embarrass the government, by making its leader an object of universal opprobrium. The late measures are asserted to be perfectly constitutional, and the old Opposition are asked how they can express any regret at the part which Mr. Pitt has acted; when in fact they ought rather to rejoice, as it divided them from a man so unfit for such pure company.' This man is Mr. Fox, whose political character is afterward attacked, and whose exclusion from the King's cabinet is justified. We admire not such personalities, which savour of a deficiency of argument, and prove the existence of more passion in our politics than is consistent with wise government. If this writer has some gratification in vilifying Mr. Fox, he has a greater pleasure in commending Mr. Pitt; who is said to be intitled to the thanks, the praise, and even the prayers of the people, for having coura geously stood forth the champion of his King and Country at this crisis of peril and necessity.' In this assertion, the thing to be proved is taken for granted: a convenient mode of arguing in some cases. In one respect, this writer endeavours to "be even" with the Opposition; and while they complain of unjustifiable measures employed in restoring Mr. Pitt to power, he charges them with unjustifiable measures in attempting to remove him.' Art. 45 In the very outset of this interesting discussion, Mr. Magens falls into a mistake, which is indeed a very common one, that of regarding the precious metals as a sign of value, as that of which the possession is merely desirable: but he afterward shews that gold and silver are things not of conventional, but of real independent value, as much so as any other articles which meet the wants or serve the convenience of man. This value, like value in all other cases, is founded on the intrinsic qualities, the rareness, and the labour in procuring them which belong to these metals: of which Mr. M. seems fully aware, when he contrasts their solid advantages with the aerial nature of paper money, and when he enumerates the circumstances which have induced nations to select them as the media of circulation. In the first part of the inquiry, the author compares the operations of gold and silver with those of paper currency, and states the difference between real and accommodation bills of exchange. His objections to the latter appear to us to be extremely just; for they certainly are abuses of credit, and a deception on the public, as they bear these words "value received," or "value in account." We believe, however, that he mistakes when he says that the legislature has required the insertion of the above words in all bills; since we are informed that the practice has no other foundation than the cus tom MON tom of merchants; and a bill in which they are omitted is valid. Fictitious bills, he observes, may be created to any extent, while the regular bill is confined to the amount of the goods sold, or property transferred; the first creates artificial capital for undue specufation, while the latter only causes a speedy return to the trader, by converting these bills into cash for the future concerns of his business. He very strongly censures the conduct of government, on account of the advances which it made of exchequer bills in 1793 to the commercial world generally, and in 1795 to the Grenada merchants: he terms it a scheme fraught with novelty and mischief, the effect of which is to convert the merchant into a speculator; a turn which, he says, is already too prevalent at the present moment; it has a tendency to force trade beyond the demands which support it; and to which it appears, from his observations and reasonings, that the laissez nous faire is in this, as well as in other respects, appli cable. He very ably illustrates the position that bills of exchange form no part of the circulating medium, in opposition to the contrary notion; which, as far as we are informed, rests solely on the authority of Mr. Thornton. Nothing enters into the circulating medium but the precious metals and that which commands them at the instant without difficulty, delay, or diminution. This is the doctrine of all the writers on the subject, and it is here fully substantiated. Dissenting also from the same authority, Mr Magens is of opinion that, however convenient circulating paper may be, a country may carry its trade to the highest pitch without that expedient. We regret that our limits will not permit us to follow this well informed guide through his observations on the constitution of the Bank, and the causes of its stoppage in 1797. He contends that its being a finance exchequer in the hands of government unfits it for being the emporium of British commerce. Take from it the power of making advances to government, and it will, as easily as the London private banks, in all emergencies, fulfil its engagements with the public. Take away this cause, and it will, as they do, brave very great public calamities: but, as now constituted, it must, like the country banks which issue their own notes, on such lamentable but possible occasions, fail in its engagements, and add largely to the quantum of private misery. He supposes that there may be from six to eight millions of bullion locked up in the Bank chests; and that this circumstance causes the foreign exchange to be so much against us. Another effect of this hoarding is to heighten the price of bullion, and to occasion the depreciation of Bank paper: which will not now buy the specific quantity of either gold or silver which it represents; since the one pound note, if em ployed to buy bullion, will purchase only eighteen shillings. Mr. M. however, properly observes that, when the restriction is removed, the Bank will be obliged to make up this deficiency; that, as it issued the notes when bullion was above standard price, so, when it receives them, it will give for them standard coin. He states it as a The well known answer of the trading Lyonese, when the cclebrated Colbert asked them whether he could render them any service. conclusion Ff3 conclusion from his facts and reasonings, that it is dangerous to render paper equal to specie beyond a certain point, and that a very narrow one; and that, if a circulation of paper, issued without ready means of fulfilling the terms of agreement on the face of the note, be once permitted, every step brings us nearer to the errors of the noted calculator Law, in France; and sooner or later must produce equally ruinous consequences. He represents the secure bases on which the London private banks stand, and observes that the great national bulwark of credit ought to rest on the same grounds He notices the case of the American banks, which are precluded from advancing money to any government, even their own. Banks, says Mr. Magens, cannot subsist under arbitrary power; neither can they flourish in a free country, if controuled by ministerial influence. Separate the exchequer from the bank; let the former depend on itself alone; and let the bank maintain its own sphere, as a house of agency for government, and of accommodation and convenience to the mercantile part of the community. By such means, it may speedily be enabled to resume its payment in specie: the government will be more secure, and general confidence better established. Nothing is wanting, but a resolution on the part of the minister, to consider the Bank only as an agent, and never to borrow from it, or interfere with its concerns, unless some violent convulsion overturns all system. Maintaining this plan, the government and the Bank would be strengthened, and the national wealth encouraged and increased. Pursuing the system of the last ten years, nothing but weakness and eventual disgrace can be expected to occur.' We are glad to find that persons who possess such weight in the commercial world, as may be attributed to this gentleman, undertake the discussion of a subject which naturally occasions much apprehension. It has been our invariable opinion, that the continuance of the restriction on the Bank payments is an unfavourable symptom, a measure injurious to our commerce, and a just subject of alarm to the country. Jo. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 46. A new System of Short Hand, in which Legibility and Brevity are secured upon the most natural Frinciples, with Respect to both the Signification and Formation of the Characters: especially by the singular Property of their sloping all one Way according to the habitual Motion of the Hand in common Writing. By Richard Roe. 8vo. 4s. Darton and Harvey. In calling the attention of the public to a new system of Shorthand, its superiority over other systems must be stated. Mr. Roe is of opinion that sufficient advantage has not been taken of the affinities of articulate sounds, nor sufficient regard paid to the habitual motion of the hand; and the value of his invention consists in his having availed himself of these principles. To decide positively on the merit of this attempt, it is necessary that we should "set ourselves doggedly to work" to learn Mr. Roe's new method: but, we have neither time nor inclination for such a study. It appears to us, however, from the degree of attention which we have been able to bestow bestow on this subject, that Mr. Roe's method possesses the advantage of great brevity; and that, by the inclined direction of all his characters, a facility of writing must be much more easily acquired, than in the case of those systems which include characters lying in all directions. Art. 47. Remarks on a late Publication, entitled "An Essay on the Principles of Population, &c. by T. R. Malthus, A. M. Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge." 8vo. 2s. Bickerstaff. Had this author correctly stated Mr. Malthus's principles, or substantiated against him any charge of error or inaccuracy, we should have felt pleasure in attending to him; since we have professed a strong desire to have the leading doctrines of that Gentleman's important work discussed, and have testified an anxiety that it should receive from the public that attention which it merited. If, however, we admit that just and sensible observations occur in these pages, we have to complain that they do not apply to the matters in discussion, and therefore are not calculated to arrest our attention. Art. 48. A Description of a Patent Hot-House which operates chiefly by the Heat of the Sun, without the Aid of Flues, or Tan Bark, or Steam, for the Purpose of heating it. To which is added an Appendix containing Remarks upon a Letter from T. A. Knight, Esq. on the Subject of Mr. Forsyth's Plaster. By James AnderI 2mo. 4s. 6d. Boards. son, LL.D. F.R.S. F.A.S. E. &c. Cumming. The improvements here suggested, in the construction and management of hot-houses, professedly consist in the application of Dr. Anderson conknown philosophic principles respecting heat. Mo-y. siders in what way heated air may be most economically and effectually generated, preserved, and managed, so as to keep up a regular supply of equable heat in the business of forcing fruit. He objects to the present construction of pineries, stoves, &c. as being more expensive than necessary, and as occasioning a great waste of heat. Every judicious reader will perceive that many of his remarks are well founded: but how far, in his endeavour to avoid the errors observable in the general practice, he has fallen into others, by not adverting and accommodating himself to all circumstances, must be Dr. A. recommends that the left to the decision of experience. roof of the hot-house should be flat, and made air-tight, to prevent the escape of hot air; which, from its superior lightness, always ascends to the top, and, in the common practice, escapes between the panes of glass, which are lapped over each other. When the air becomes over-heated by the excessive action of the sun, the superabundant caloric is conveyed by means of a pipe into an air-chamber, which is placed over the house, while cold air is admitted below; and the heated air in the air-chamber is preserved, to be returned, by means of the communication-pipe, to the hot house, when the operation of the night air, or of clouds or cold winds, has cooled the internal air, and consequently diminished its volume. The patent hot-house here described, which is intended to be heated by the sun alone, or by means of an Argand lamp, requires no kind of masonry in its construction, and is to be placed in an Ff 4 Jo. open open situation detached from every wall or building. The walls or upright sides are to be of glass, so as to admit light from every point of the compass. When it is necessary to employ culinary fire, Dr. A. endeavours to guard against every possible loss of heat; and instead of flues running along a wall, the defect of which in the economising of caloric is evident, he advises that the stove should be constructed so that the smoke may pass into a smoke-chamber below the house, through the floor of which almost the whole of the generated heat will proceed upwards into the region where its influence is required. Some ingenious contrivances are suggested, by the use of valves, for the transmission and regulation of heat; together with some useful hints for the internal management of the grapery, pinery, and stove. Dr. A. has built a small hot house, which is constructed and regulated according to the plan here detailed: but we are not informed that the trial has been made on a large scale, and sanctioned by the adoption of professed horticulturists. The ingenious inventor is so very sanguine in his expectations of success, that we shall not attempt to injure his patent by any frigorific observations: but we may be allowed to think that he displays too much warmth of imagination when he supposes that, by the treatment of the conservatory which he recommends the fuccia coccinea, and heliotropium odoratum may be made to advance from six to eight feet in one year, instead of as many inches.' Gardeners will be much obliged to Dr. A. for the secret of making the fuccia shoot eight feet in one year. Directions are given for the management of vines, pines, melons, peaches, cherries, &c.; and hints are offered respecting the causes and cure of the disease called Damp. When personalities are diffused into a controversy, we wish to decline all interference; we therefore shall not resume the subject discussed in the Appendix, any farther than to observe that, though Dr. A. is extremely angry with Mr. Knight, he candidly allows that he has expressed himself incorrectly. Art. 49. The Recorder: being a Collection of Tracts and Disquisitions, chiefly relating to the modern State and Principles of the People called Quakers. Vol. I. By William Matthews, of Bath. Small 8vo. s. Boards. Johnson. If any system of church union promised, by its simplicity, to exclude strife and contention, it was that of the people called Quakers: but we find, by some late publications, that the Society of Friends cannot altogether exclude "the foul fiend" division, and enjoy unity of spirit in the bond of peace. The pamphlets on the case of Hannah Barnard have exhibited them to the world in a light very different from that in which they were considered by the liberal part of the community; and Mr. Matthews, himself a Quaker, speaks in harsher terms than it is necessary for us to use. It seems to be reserved, (he says,) to the present times, for the Friends to exemplify a large degree of intolerance, and of readiness for persecution among themselves, respecting mysterious points, unessential to practical religion; and still further, to imitate some of their adversaries, in the reproachful imputation of Deism and Infidelity.' In adverting, also, to the Moy. |