ment of the late war, and much the greater part within the laft four years, during which time, or longer, the three per cent. ftock hath feldom I think never) exceeded fixty, and the four per cent. ftock eighty percent. (excepting only for a few months about the time, and immediately after, the late peace but thele ftocks have been almost conftantly, and ftill continue, confiderably under those prices, and from prefent appearances are unlikely to rise above them: And if we take into this account the old ftock transferred, it will, I think, apear no exaggeration to fay, that at least one half, perhaps a greater portion, of the three per cents. and the whole nearly of the four per cents. have been either transferred or funded under the prices laft stated'. It is impoffible that any fcheme fhould be ftarted for the accomplishment of that defirable object, which unites the wifhes and the hearts of almost every Englishman, that fhall not be attended with unpleafing effects. To difpofe of the land-tax in perpetuity, and folemnly to deprive the nation for ever of recurring to fo fair, fo equal, and fo natural a refource, is certainly a thing not to be reforted to úpon a flight occafion. If poffible, it would be ftill worse than this, by a fraudulent engagement to difpofe of the resource for ever, and to revive it at pleasure. Leaving out of confideration the moral turpitude of this conduct, the confequences with which it is fraught would be ruinous and fatal. The public will be aware how poffible it is, that a future minifter, and a future parliament, fhould difavow the engagements of their prede ceffors; and, after every precaution that can be employed, this will inevitably reduce the price of the property in question. But fuppofing the tax to be actually revived in a few years, or even after the expiration of thirty or a ftill greater number, the enormity would be flagrant and pernicious. And yet this idea is ftarted by our author in the project itself. An annuity for ever fo long a term can never have the intrinfic value of a perpetuity. And to fell an annuity for thirty years, under the pretence of its being perpetual, is an impofition fo fhameful, that, if it were practifed, the credit of Britain muft never expect to rife higher than that of the most favage and arbitrary nation that ever exifted. of man. "To tafte the good without the gall to it," is not the lot A real benefit is generally attended with a real, though perhaps an inferior mischief. And this must be expected to be true in proportion as the advantage is great and defirable. We are not difpofed peremptorily to decide against our author the question, which of all others is of the greateft importance to him, whether his fcheme be or be not the best that can be propofed for the accomplishment of his purpose. At any rate we have been edified with the apparent fincerity and patriotifm with which the phaimplet is dictated. The scope of the the project is stated with much precifion and perfpicuity. Many of the objections that may be brought against it are fuggefted by the force of his understanding, and many of them parried with confiderable success. His manner is lively and forcible, and the folidity of his ideas only yield to their ingenuity. In a word, whether or not the plan deferves finally to be adopted by the legiflature, the perufal of it at leaft will, in our opinion, be of ufe to every man who wishes to turn his efforts and abilities to the melioration of our finances. ART. X. A Propofal for the Liquidation of the National Debt; the Abolition of Tithes ; and the Reform of the Church Revenue. Third Edition. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Law, 1784. ART. XI. An Explanation of the Proposal for the Liquidation of the National Debt. 8vo. 6d. Law, 1785. IT T were natural to fuppofe, when our obfervation fuggefts to us the many fchemes that have been formed for the annihilation of the national incumbrances, that it were no very difficult thing, and that a wife and virtuous adminiftration, if ever fuch an administration be placed at the helm of Britain, would have nothing to do but chufe among a variety of plans, all plaufible, many effectual in their confequences, many gentle and mild in their operation. None of our political caftle builders have certainly ever fuggested a propofal more infallible and adequate to his object, than that which is here laid before the public. The project confists in a fimple transfer of the debt, now chargeable against government, to private individuals, in parts according to their refpective property. The intereft of this debt is taken by our author at 9,600,000. But, as a confiderable part of individual opulence is placed in government ftock, he fuppofes, that real property will not be charged, upon his fyftem, with the yearly payment of more than 4.8,000,000; real property he eftimates at £. 50,000,000 per annum. The incumbrance thus transferred is to be confidered in the light of a mortgage, to the amount of four years income. The transfer is to ftand in the ftead of all our public taxes, except customs, and duties on falt and on ftamps, for the fupport of the civil lift and our peace establishment. Thus we have a refource of taxes, to the amount of £. 9,600,000, to be revived in cafes of exigency and war. "We may confider," fays our author, "thefe dormant taxes as a refource, certain and inexhauftible, in all poffible cafes; and, as fuch, it will operate to the abfolute annihilation of that monfter of the age, a national debt, debt, never more to rife in judgment against us.' The rezfoning that is employed in favour of the fyftem, may be exemplified as follows." It is propofed in lieu of taxes to burden real property amounting to fifty millions per ann. with a yearly payment of eight millions ; which payment is equal to a drawback on rents of three fhillings and two pence halfpenny in the pound nearly.It is further propofed, in time of war, when taxes will have a temporary revival, to levy the land-tax according to the prefent amount by an equal rate, affecting not only the land-holder, as now, but, in due proportion to their clear receipts, all other perfons who are entitled to payments, fecured upon land, or upon proprietors of land.-In other words-It is proposed, in time of war, to levy two millions in lieu of the prefent land-tax, by a rate affecting equally the whole property of this country, valued at fixty millions yearly.- -Now-Two millions to be raised upon fixty millions, is eight pence in the pound exactly. The fum therefore to be annually raised in every pound of Together make an aggregate of Which little fum, although it covers the whole interest of our prefent enormous incumbrance, and makes befides an annual allowance of expenditure in time of war of two millions, falls fhort of that rate which is now paid by many counties for land alone, three halfpence in the pound! It is therefore clear to a demonftration, it is felf-evidently clear, that it is more tolerable for fuch counties to be at war under the new régulation, than at peace under the old one. Having thus fairly ftated the war account with thefe gentlemen, I fhall proceed next to contrast and lay before them the peace establish ment. Any perfon who will give himfelf the trouble to calculate the amount of the land and otlier taxes, will find at a moderate computation that they cannot be laid, in what he spends, at less than fifteen fhillings in the pound, or feventy-five per cent. This then is the prefent contribution of fuch counties, to the state, in time of fettled peace, Let us now look back to the amount of that incumbrance, wherewith the author propofes to faddle his countrymen. It amounts to little more than three fhillings in the pound-inftead of what ?-instead of fifteen fhillings-to fixteen pounds per cent, instead of seventy five. So that thofe gentlemen who are either unavoidably, or through choice, as now-a-days is much the practice, in the habit of spending their incomes, faving thereby of what they spend in the proportion of fifteen Afteen fhillings to three, or thereabouts, may live as well and fare as daintily, and yet lay by, if fo they are difpofed, for rainy days, or for their childrens ufe, four fifths of that which now is needlessly extorted from them.' The file of the pamphlets before us is fpirited, manly, and vigorous. It has in it no traces of elegance and polifh, and few of ingenuity or penetration. We profefs ourselves, however, pleafed with it, as bearing the marks of genuine zeal, and honeft patriotifm. It affords us a good fpecimen of the fpirit which has, in fome measure, diftinguished the county of York, and its neighbouring provinces, and would not be totally uns worthy of a Pensylvanian or a Virginian. In a word, if the inhabitants of Britain felt, in all refpects, like our author, we fhould not defpair, through the spirit of contagion, of feeing revived among us the more generous periods of Greece and Rome. But as it is, of all the projects for liquidation of the national debt, the prefent is leaft likely to be carried into execu tion. It contains in it too much of what is immediately repulfive and difcouraging for us to expect that forty English counties will unite in recommending it. And no minifter would dare, without this fanction, to patronife a fyftem, which, the moment it was heard of from that quarter, would be confidered as the most arbitrary, oppreffive and tyrannical measure that was ever invented. It is neceffary to add, that the propofal before us is not to be confidered like the majority of projects, as the mere fuggeftion of an individual, fince it was publicly taken up, three feveral times. in the county of Northumberland, in the year 1783, but without fuccefs. Our author's fcheme, for the reform of the church revenue, has nothing in it worthy of a diftant notice, and coincides in moft of its leading particulars with the celebrated plan of the bishop of Landaff. ART. XII. An Inquiry how to prevent the Small-Pox'; and Proceedings of a Society for promoting General Inoculation, at ftated Periods, and preventing the Natural Small-Pox, in Chefier. By John Haygarth, M.B. 8vo. 3 s. boards. Johnson. 1784. THIS is a moft laudable and ingenious attempt to establ sh fome propofitions of the utmost importance, with respect to a difeafe which ought to be a greater object of attention in this country than any other, as it is the greateft fcourge by which it is vifited. We do not believe, however, that a perfuafion of the atmosphere's being impregnated with infection, is either. fo general, or fo deep-rooted, as Dr. Haygarth ima gines. Every man of reflection must have been led to doubt ENG. REV. Vol. VI. Jan. 1786. D of of this, by thofe observations on the plague which have been published by Swieten, and confirmed by the writers on the Ruffian plague of 1770, and the following years. Nay, this idea has been combated exprefsly by a physician of Mannheim, who published, 20 years ago, on the fmall-pox, under a fictitious name. The propofitions which the author endeavours to establish, are the following. • Sect. I. The small-pox is an infectious diftemper. Sect. II. The fmall-pox was never known, fince its original commencement, to be produced by any other caufe than infection. Sect III. The variolous poifon is foluble in air. Sect. IV. If two perfons be expofed, for the first time, to the variolous infection, they very rarely both escape catching the fmall pox; and, if three perfons be expofed together, they much more rarely all remain uninfected. Sect. V. The period between infection, and the commencement of the variolous fever, is generally from the 6th to the 14th day inclufive, after inoculation: and this period is not much longer in the natural fmall pox. Se&t.VI. Perfons, liable to the fmall-pox, are infected by breathing the air, impregnated with variolous miafms: either, 1. very near a patient in the diftemper, from about the time that the eruption has appeared, till the laft fcab is dropt off the body; or, 2. very near the variolous poifon, in a recent ftate; or, 3. that has been clofe fhut up, ever fince it was recent. Sect. VII. Clothes, furniture, food, &c. expofed to the variolous miafms, never, or very rarely, become infectious. Sect. VIII. The air is rendered infectious, but to a little diftance, from the vari olous poifon. Sect. IX. Confequently, the fmall-pox may be prevented; by keeping perfons, liable to the distemper, from approaching within the infectious diftance of the variolous poifon, till it can be deftroyed.' The third propofition, notwithstanding all that is faid in its favour, appears to us to reft on very uncertain ground. The only argument, indeed, which is offered in its favour, is taken from the tranfparency of chemical folutions. But it is to be obferved, that, as this poifon is, at all times, hid from our fenfes, there is no reafon why we fhould expect to fee it, even though it were only diffused through the air, and not diffolved in it. When the author talks of his having 66 exposed the air impregnated with variolous miafms to a ray of funshine, let into a dark chamber," and argues, that fince they did not become vifible, as fome fmall and otherwife imperceptible bodies do, in these circumftances, they must have been in a ftate of folution, he appears little better than ridiculous. A contrary opinion might be founded on another chemical law, equally well established. A body, when it is made to enter into a chemical union, no longer retains thofe properties which it had when uncombined. The variolous vivus produces its fpecific effects when undiffolved in air; it will therefore probably lofe |