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alized? I wish not to exaggerate, but I believe I may affirm that that work was allowed an unchecked circulation during a period offcarcely lefs than two years. With in that fpace it was printed in all forts of forms, difperfed by all methods, openly fold in all fhops, anfwered and commented up on by numerous writers, fo that, at laft, when profecuted and condemned as a libel, there was fcarcely a bookfeller in the ifland who had not. incurred the danger of being proceeded against as a publisher; nor, indeed, many private men in the kingdom, among thofe who were approvers of its general doctrines, who had not participated in the guilt of difperfion, by lending, recommending, or fome other overt act. I do not in this inftance accufe minifters of defign in their long delay. I believe it was purely owing to hesitation and difference of opinion among themselves. But the effect was fuch as I have ftated; and after the work, through their own neglect, had done all the mifchief of which it was capable, a vast number of innocent perfons were rendered obnoxious to punishment.

What then is the remedy against this poflible, this actual evil? A JURY. This facred institution, the only fafe defence, perhaps, that human wisdom can devite against tyranny and oppreffion, is exprefsly defigned to limit that fummum jus, which is fo often fumma injuria. It is impoffible to doubt, efpecially fince the late decifion of the highest legislative authority, that a jury has a right in matter of libel to take to itself the confideration of the whole cafe, and make intention the interpreter of fact. The Attorney General fhall bring a man before them, and charge hun in as grofs terms as he pleafes with (being a wicked feditious perfon, because he has fold a copy of a work deemed to be a libel. He fhall prove his facts; and with all the eloquence of real or affected regard for public juftice, demand his victim. "No"! the jury may fay--" the man you have chofen to bring to the bar is not the real criminal-he has no culpable intention about him to render him a proper fubje&t for the feverity of the law. What he did was through mere inadvertence--indeed, it was a neceffary confequence of his following his profeflion. We find him NOT GUILTY.

I am aware that fome late juries have not thought proper to determine in this manner. They feem to have conceived that the guilt of the vender followed as a corollary from the libellous character of the work fold, however complete might be his juftification with refpect to intention. They certainly had a right to decide

according to their own ideas of the cafe, nor do I mean to caft the flighteft fufpicion on their integrity. But it is manifeft that nothing lefs can follow an adherence to their principle, than the utter extinction of the freedom of publication. Bookfellers will themselves become cenfors or licenfers of the prefs. To every offer of concern in a work which they fufpect may prove dif agreable to the exifting administration, they will fay, "How can you be fure that it will not be conftrued a libel, and that I fhall not be involved in its penalties ?" Thus, none but the lowest in character and circumftances will be found ready to undertake the hazard of giving the public that inftruction and thofe warnings on public topics which, under the best administered governments, it can never cease to want., The effects of this alarm are but too apparent at the prefent inftant; and works, the innocence of which it is a libel on the times to doubt, are in actual want of a publisher.

I have dwelt more upon the case of bookfellers than of authors, because it seems to be the policy of the day rather to direct attacks against the former than the latter. And indeed this is the true fpirit of doing bufinefs by wholesale; fince one confiderable bookfeller heartily frightened, may render abortive the fchemes of a fcore of adventurous writers. To them, therefore, the protection of the public fhould peculiarly be extended, if the public really with for a continuation of that rational freedom of the prefs, to which the conftitution of this country is fo much indebted. But if the prevalence of alarm, and the habit of confounding abufe with ufe, and affociating bad caules with good, have taken fuch poffeffion of men's minds as to make a majority really defirous of abridging the usual licenfe of difcuffion, "actum eft de republica," the caufe of liberty is at an end! and its votaries have nothing to do but to wait in filent expectation of the return of a better fpirit.

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by the plumb-line, which has always been fuppofed to have a direct and invariable tendency towards the center of the earth, in all latitudes; and even fince it has been discovered that the earth is an oblate fpheroid, or the diameter of the Equator longer than the polar axis, it has been concluded that the direction in which bodies defcend is accurately perpendicular to the furface of the earth and fea, yet it would be impoffible, fays Mr. Dunn, to find the longitude either at fea or land, within thirty geographical miles of the truth, without making ufe of fuch corrections as he fuggefts in his treatise. These corrections are deduced from the following principles :-1ft, If the earth be confidered as a perfect fphere or globe of solid and homogeneous matter and at reft, a body let fall towards the earth, will move in a right line towards the earth's center, becaufe the quantity of matter and the quantity of attractions in the northern, fouthern, eaftern, and western hemifpheres are exactly mutual and equal to each other. 2d, Suppofe this globe to continue folid and to have a motion round its polar axis once in 24 hours, then will this falling body be impelled by two forces, one tend ing towards the center, the other in the direction of the centrifugal force. But it is known that when a body is acted upon by two forces under different directions, it will defcribe the diagonal of a parallelogram between both thefe directions. Confe quently the falling body, fuppofing the earth a perfect fphere in motion round its polar axis, would not move in a right line, towards the center of the earth, but towards a point fituated to the eastward of that center, fuppofing too that the diurnal rotation is performed in a direction from weft to east.-3d, Suppofe the earth to be a fpheroid, flat towards the poles and at reft, a falling body will not move in a right line towards the earth's center, because the quantity of matter in the northern and fouthern hemifpheres will, except under the equator and at the poles, be unequal, and confequently the falling body will move in a line towards a point fituated to the fouthward or northward of the center, according as the defcending body was either in north or fouth latitude. That is, the point to which the line of direction tends will be to the fouthward of the center when the falling body is in north latitude, and to the northward when in fouth latitude.--4th, Suppofe this Spheroidal earth to be turning from west to eaft round its polar axis, then will the falling body be impelled by two forces as before in the spherical earth

and will move in the diagonal of a parallelogram formed by these two forces. Hence a deviation not only in longitude, but alfo in latitude will take place from the true and abfolute perpendicular.

On thefe principles Mr. Dunn founded thofe corrections already noticed; and he alfo found that the direction of a plumb-line at Greenwich is 14 15 different from a right line drawn perpendicular to the furface of the earth. I am, Sir, yours, &c. &c. Edinburgh, April 5, 1799.

S. L.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR

bodies page 96, muft have pleafed many YOUR correfpondent W. S. on falling of your readers, but had he given an example by way of illustration he would have pleafed them more; that task be mine.247 feet French are equal to 263,433 feet English, or 43,3 fathoms, from which height a heavy body will fall in 4,045 feconds. Now fuppofing DE LALANDE made his experiments at Paris, the length of a degree of longitude there, according to Gen. Le Roy, is 40303,2 fathoms, and the femidiameter of a fegment of the globe in the latitude of Paris is 2309233,3 fathoms, to which, adding the height of the tower 43,3 fathoms, gives the encreased diameter 2309276,6 fathoms. Then, as 240 feconds, the time of revolution of one degree of the earth's motion, is to 40303,2 fathoms, or one degree in the latitude of Paris, fo is 4,045 feconds, to 679,277 fathens, the motion of a point on the earth at Paris. Again-as 2309233,3: 679,277 : : 2399276,6: 679,39 fathoms, the fpace a point will move through at the height of 263,433 feet, the point of fufpenfion at the top of the tower. The difference of the motions on the earth and point of fufpenfion is 0,013 fathoms or 0,936 inches, the quantity the body will fall to the eastward of a plumb-line, which reduced into French lines, is 8,77; and Mr. DE LALANDE by experiment makes it 8,5 lines. EDMONTONIENSIS,

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

I
FEEL myself much indebted to your
his valuable communication in your laft
correfpondent (a Practical Farmer) for
Magazine, in anfwer to my queries.

fheep on wet clays?"
He afks, "Is it the practice to winter
I have and do
practice this method, though I am by no
land is not to be had, as in my cafe, it is
means partial to it; but where good turnip
perhaps the best way of keeping theep

especially

efpecially if they have a good fall-back, either on a found clover-ley, or on grafs. I do not think it the best management to

winter sheep in yards, for, in my opinion,

the litter might be made into much better manure by great flock, than by fheep, as I have feldom feen greater, or more lafting benefit from sheep yard dung, than from a good fold. If turnips are fown on clays, I would by all means advise a fall-back of clover-ley of one year's standing, meant for beans; it will materially benefit the crop and not rob the turnip-land fo much as drawing off by this means I am of opinion that a farmer, on ftrong land, may be enabled to keep his stock with nearly equal advantage to thofe on the lighter foil.--But, by my queftion (vide Magazine for March) I wished to gain fome information of a fubftitute for turnips, the keep of which would be above ground, therefore much better for the sheep, and go farther than turnips, which on ftrong land are much wafted by being trod into the dirt. Ca. bages seem to be the best adapted to this purpofe.

:

With refpect to the Ruta-baga, your correfpondent allows that other turnips will not always ftand the frost, even if very carefully stacked.-Now I can very fafely affirm that no froft will injure thefe, nor do I think they draw the land any more than the common ones would do, if allowed to ftand as long (from the end of May to the end of April), neither do I think the deficiency of quantity fo great as is fuppofed the turnips are certainly smaller, but then they do not require to be fet out fo far, and the difference in folidity will, I think, go a great way towards making up the deficiency of quantity, as one cubic inch of the Swedish weighs one third more than the fame of the Norfolk white turnip. Draw them both off together, and I will allow the advantage to the common ones; and with regard to nutriment, when raifed from good feed, of the yellow fort, they much refemble a carrot, both in taste and

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To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine,

SIR,

IN your Magazine for September laft (vol vi. page 169) are inferted a few obfervations which I fent to you on the fubject of taken-work. I there ftated at large the reafons which then occurred to me for giving it a decided preference to common day-labour, hinting, however, the neceffity of taking into confideration one queftion, which, at that time, I wholly omitted noticing, namely, Whether the increafed labour which taken-work invites is injurious to the conftitution? whether it produces a prematurity of old age? It is of great importance that these questions fhould be folved, and I hoped that the solution of them might have engaged the attention of fome of your correfpondents: it is because I still hope fo that I revive the fubject, for I really do not feel myself by any means competent to form a decifive opinion concerning it: I am, however, on the whole, inclined to believe that it is not injurious. I do not intend to affert that exceffive labour will not exhauft and wear out a man as well as a horse, or any other animal; of course I admit that a husbandman may injure himself by working. But I am of opinion that, from the nature of his employment, he is much less likely to do fo than the manual labourer in almost any other occupation; and that, in the prefent ftate of fociety, the probability is, that, if he works by the piece, he will rather add to the number of his days than fhorten it.

the

In the first place, let us for a moment contemplate the nature of the husbandman's employment: but look at his face-does not it befpeak health and hilarity ? examine his limbs-do they not evince activity and ftrength? the first impreffion which the countenance and general afpect of that man make on you, is it not, that his work agrees with him? and well it may ; air which he breaths is pure and exhilarating; it is the untainted air of heaven. His work is hard-fometimes it is no doubt extremely hard; but remember this very important advantage which the hufbandman has over almoft every other labourer, that his employment is perpetually varied. If he threshes to-day he ploughs to-morrow: no set of muscles is exclufively and preternaturally exerted: by working over hours one day with another, he feels no partial debility, no peculiar infirmity, and in this respect differs from almost every other clafs of workmen: for they by exceffive application, bring on fome difeafe or

infirmity

infirmity peculiarly confequent to their occupation. This fact is well known to the phyfician; and the anatomist is frequently enabled to detect the employment of a man by the diffection of his body. The husbandman enjoys another advantage from this variety in his employment, which, though perhaps not ftrictly connected with the fubject of the prefent paper, yet well merits to be mentioned; it is this: the faculties of his mind are kept in action. He is in the habit of obferving the effect of fuch and fuch husbandry; and though he cannot reafon on the operation of manures with the fcience and acuteness of a philofopher, he learns from experience what crops exhauft them fooneft, and what require them molt: he learns what grain is best adapted to a particular foil, and what rotation of crops is likely to be most profitable, His attention is of neceflity turned to cattle of various forts; to the afcertaining what is the cheapest food for them, the beft mode of managing them, &c. &c. The varieties of weather excite his remark, and a countryman will foretell its changes with a degree of certainty that aftonishes a citizen.

It is to the varied nature of his employment that a hufbandman is indebted for his mental activity, and I fhould add, acuteness; for I believe there is no clafs of labouring-men, who, to fimplicity of manners, unite more folid fenfe, found judgment and acutenefs, than that of farmers and their workmen. Adam SMITH well obferves, that "the underftandings of the greater part of men are neceffarily formed by their ordinary employment. The man whofe whole life is fpent in performing a few fimple operations, of which the effects, too, are perhaps always the fame, or very nearly the fame, has no occafion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his inven tion in finding out expedients for re moving difficulties which never occur. He naturally lofes, therefore, the habit of fuch exertion, and generally becomes as ftupid and ignorant as it is poffible for a human creature to become."

Now then, let us walk into the city: what fickly faces, what emafculated members do the manufacturing workmen in general prefent? pale, dirty, ragged, they are the pictures of infelicity! Look at their children—the miferable miniature of their parents! But is this wonderful? what is the nature of their employment? fedentary, dull, and unvaried. Many of them breathe a clofe, damp, deleterious at

mosphere, which he must have a ftrong conftitution who fupports without fome injury.

But it is not my intention to draw a comparifon between the labour of hufbandmen and that of workmen in different departments of different manufactories: I have stated advantages which, I am afraid, are almoft exclufive to the former, and which, I think, are fufficient to give fome fanction to my opinon, that, from the nature of their employment, husbandmen are much lefs likely to injure their conftitutions by working extra hours than manual labourers in almoft any other occupation. Far from being tenacious of this opinion, however, I fhall be truly glad to relinquish it on hearing from fome of your correfpondents that the latter enjoy advantages which counterbalance or outweigh thofe which I have stated as belonging to the former.

I fhall be brief in confidering the fecond part of my pofition, namely, that in the prefent ftate of fociety, the probability is, that if he works by the piece, a husbandman will rather add to the number of his days than shorten it.

But what is the value of longevity? to fpeak plainly, I think its intrinfic value is very queftionable: where is to be feen a more melancholy and afflicting spectacle than that of an old man, whofe daily bread was purchafed by his daily labour, reduced by the infirmities of age, to the neceffity of begging from a penurious parish a pittance for his fupport? In estimating the worth of many years to a man, the two things principally to be confidered are, the fhare of health which he enjoys, and the fhare of happisefs; they are commonly connected-aud cæteris paribus-nothing is more likely to produce old age (and fuch an old age too, as is alone defireable) than cheerfulness and contentment. But how fhould cheerfulness and contentment be the companions of a man through early life, who is apprehenfive that poverty and want will invade his dwelling, when he is no longer able by his own exertions to repel them? how fhall that man's mind be at eafe, whofe labour has not anticipated the neceffities of a fingle week, and whole family, in cafe of his fickness, must be inftantly diftreffed? The common price of day-labour in that part of the country where I refide is nine fhillings a week ; I know some place, where it is lefs even than this. How fhall a man, who pays, perhaps, three guineas, or three guineas and a half a year for his cottage, and earns only nine fhillings a week; how

fhall

fhall he feed and clothe himself, his wife and half a dozen children, and fave any money to fupport him in cafe of ficknefs? -I declare it baffles my difcernment to find Mifery muft haunt fuch a man; it muft follow him like his fhadow: and with fuch a fiend by his fide, gnawing his very vitals, old age is a punishment not very likely to be inflicted on him.

out.

In my former communication on the fubject of labour, I stated, that were the two workmen, whom I conftantly* employ at taken-work, reduced to labour by the day, they would lofe about one fourth of their prefent earnings, which, on an average of the year, are, I apprehend, twelve shillings a week-they would lofe, each of them, feven guineas a year, or thereabouts. The first and most obvious confequence would be, that they could neither of them be fo fully fed, fo well clothed, and fo warmly housed, as they are at present: the confequence of this, again, might be, that they would not be fo able and willing to undergo the fatigue of common day-labour then, as they are to undergo the fatigue of extra day-labour now; and whatever may be Sir MORDAUNT MARTIN'S opinion on the fubject, I think another confequence is probable, namely, that they would be more frequently feen at the ale houfe then than they are at prefent. Indeed they are never seen there now, except at their purfemeetings, or on fome fuch occafion of feftivity; foreach has a comfortable clean cottage to go home to after his day's labour. Deprive them of comforts at home and people must go abroad. Many a poor wretch is driven to the ale-houfe by the

fore, the probability is, that if he works by the piece, a husbandman will rather add to the number of his days than shorten it.

In eftimating the fuperiority of takenwork to day-labour, in point of advantage to the workman, I forgot to mention in its proper place one very important circumftance, namely, the employment of children. It were ealy to declaim on this fubject for half an hour, but I will not, Mr. Editor, thus trefpafs on your time and patience. Suffice it to say, that if a man can earn but eighteen pence a day, he will leave his boys at home, or they will probably be fent to pick up fticks and break hedges; thus will they tear their clothes, the mending of which, in all probability, will coft more money and more time than twice the value of the flicks. On the other hand, if a man's wages depend on the quantity of work executed, he will bring his boys into the field aloft as foon as they can run alone, and although they can earn nothing till they are ten or twelve years old, it is fomething that they are kept out of mifchief, and are training up to be useful, by habits of early induftry. It is aftonishing that this advantage belonging to taken-work fhould have escaped me, as it is daily and hourly before my eyes: but, in examining diftant objects, it is no very uncommon thing to overlook thofe that are near us.

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SIR,

LTHOUGH our contributions for

with which inhabits his cottage; his A the expences of government have

earnings are infufficient for the maintenance of his family, and that very infufficiency is the ultimate caufe why he reduces those earnings ftill lefs than they are: a tankard of ale is, to him, the only Lethean cup in which he can drown his wretchednefs. Whether the alternation of mifery and intoxication is not more likely to bring a man untimely to the grave, than hard labour relieved by cheerfulnefs and fupported by plenty, is a queftion on which there will fcarcely be much difference of fentiment: in my opinion, there

Every farmer knows that there are, occafionally, jobs to be done which it would be imposible to put out; fuch as rifing wood, topping trees, &c. My expreilion, however, though not rigidly correct, is fufficiently fo, as 1 very feldom employ either of thefe men in day-labour.

The

rifen to an enormous fum; the apportioning of thefe burthens, according to the real abilities of the members of the state, has been little attended to. object of the propofers of our taxes has been an immediate increase of revenue, in the mode leaft obnoxious to the people; and with this view, taxes on articles of confumption have generally been resorted to, which, if they are not impofed directly on the neceffaries of life, ineet with little oppofition, because they appear to leave an option of faving, or not paying the tax, by retrenchment or difufe, while they make the rich and poor contribute in proportion to their confumption of the article. But few comparatively of the millions who pay taxes, perceive the injuftice of this mode of taxation, which favours the rich in proportion to the increase of their wealth; although, if

any

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