tions of an author: yet he has contrived in this pamphlet, we must be permitted to say, to commit an excess both in diffuseness of style and in multiplicity of topics. It is not enough that he takes up such subjects as the poor-laws and parliamentary reform, (each tolerably comprehensive,) but he also diverges (p. 164.) into the general question of morals, and laments in a pathetic strain the prevalence of vice in all ranks and conditions of society.' Mr. Yates is also unequal to himself; adopting at one time very sound and moderate notions, and being led away at another by a string of common yet often refuted prejudices. Of the former, is the opinion (p. 52.) that it would be folly to attempt any permanent increase of our paper-currency; that it would be impolitic (p. 68.) to augment the bounty on the export of corn; and that (p. 78.) the effect of the long-continued war has been to substitute among merchants a dangerous spirit of adventure for patient industry and frugality. To the same class belongs the judicious idea that (p. 124.) the great commerce of every state consists in its inlandexchanges; that the assertions so boldly made by our men in office, in March 1813, about the operation of our sinking-fund, were gross misrepresentations; and that, in all our attempts to relieve the existing distress, we should confine the people to those employments for which our country is more particularly fitted by its soil, its climate, and the national habits. After having been gratified with such observations as these, we little expected to find Mr. Yates adopting (p. 9.) the notion that the late war gave us a monopoly of the trade of the world; and (p. 29.) that Great Britain had become in 1812 the grand emporium of the commerce of the Atlantic.' If he will look back to the official documents of that year, he will soon discover that our manufacturers were plunged in the deepest distress; and that Lord Liverpool found it necessary to adopt, immediately on coming into office, a most important departure from the policy of his predecessors, by the repeal of the Orders in Council; yet these Orders must be the measure which Mr. Yates had in contemplation, when expatiating on our fortunate accumulation of the Atlantic commerce. We might forgive him an error on so disputed a point: but what are we to think of his grave argument (pp. 167, 168.) that our national industry is owing not so much to our religion, our liberty, and the security of our property, as to the nature of our climate; forgetting that he has only to cast his eye over a long list of similar temperatures, to find himself in the regions of indolence and barbarism?

After such repeated examples of error, Mr. Yates must excuse us if we decline to take a detailed notice of his general views, and restrict our chief attention to those particular statements which his opportunities as a mercantile man have enabled him to collect. In p. 133. he communicates the notable fact that muslins, and other light cotton-goods manufactured by our machinery, can be sold in India on cheaper terms than they can be provided by manual labour in that country, though the weavers work at the trifling wages of 2d. or 3d. a day. Mr. Y. recapitulates likewise

an act of parliament of considerable interest at the present moment, viz. Mr. Pelham's act of 1749 for reducing the rate of interest from 4 to 31, and eventually to 3 per cent.; the last, however, to take place only eight years afterward: :- a qualification to which we may in a great measure ascribe the general adoption of that otherwise unpalatable arrangement by the stock-holders of the day. The most gratifying passage in this tract, however, is a report in the Appendix (p. 13.) on the health and morals of the manufacturers employed at the cotton-works in the parish of Duffield in Derbyshire; where, among so mixed a body as 1500 persons, we find that the non-attendance from sickness has been only six hours yearly for each on an average, although the number of working-hours is above eleven daily. The size of the rooms is ample, and fresh air may be transmitted into them constantly at the rate of not less than 150 gallons per minute for each person; the consequence of which is that the complexion of the manufacturer, instead of manifesting the paleness of most sedentary persons, has much of the freshness of the labourer in the open air. Schools also are provided for the children, and none are allowed to labour under the age of nine. Before the establishment of these works, the children were chiefly maintained by begging, and the grownup persons were notorious for idle habits; at present, all is industry, decorous behaviour, and regular attendance on public worship.

Mr. Yates has given several other documents in his Appendix, and he might without impropriety have enlarged the number; the habits of gentlemen in his situation being much more favourable to the collection of documents as materials, than to the formation of general conclusions.

Art. 22.

On the present State of Public Affairs. 8vo. pp. 104. 4s. Murray. 1817.

We have here, on the whole, a sprightly performance; containing in more passages than one an item of important information, but put together without any arrangement, and even without a clear statement of the object of the writer. He begins, like many of his brethren, by attributing our embarrassments to the sudden transition from war to peace, and to the absence of the extraordinary stimulus attendant on the former. A man,' (he says, p. 8.) who, long accustomed to intemperance, should on a sudden abstain from all strong drink, may for a time, and until his constitution has adapted itself to the change of living, undergo much real suffering; the absence of all stimulus, occasioned by his return to sobriety, will be the cause of this depression and debility; but because we affirm this, we are not therefore prepared to contend that he ought to return to a course of drunkenness as a restorative.'

From this observation on our commercial situation, the author passes to the often-discussed topic of parliamentary reform, and attempts to enliven this beaten track by digressions (p. 33.)about two of its most ill-fated supporters, Lord Cochrane and Mr. Cobbet. We cannot, however, congratulate him either on the

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interest or the novelty of his remarks, though he returns repeatedly to the charge, and declares himself decidedly adverse to the views of the reformists. In fact, he not only objects to any change at present, but he has no very flattering ideas of the possibility of such ameliorations at a future and even a remote period. We find somewhat more of novelty in the passage appropriated (p. 45. et seq.) to the state of the poor, and the means of alleviating their sufferings: but the only parts of the pamphlet, that are intitled to the attention of our readers, are the observations relating to public offices and the feelings of those who are at their head. Of these we have a specimen in the account (p.4.) of the very serious mortifications attendant on ministerial responsibility in such times as the present, and the refutation (pp. 83.90.) of several exaggerated allegations with regard to the amount of sinecures. The author then proceeds to shew that the total of government-sinecures scarcely exceeds 100,000l. a-year; a charge which may be deemed of little importance as to the amount of the money, but which is still of first-rate consequence as affording an illegitimate source of influence to the executive power.

Art. 23.

The true State of the British Nation as to Trade, Commerce, &c. clearly pourtrayed; and new, eligible, and extraordinary Plans proposed; whereby the whole of the National Debt may be speedily liquidated, without throwing any additional Burden on the Community, or injuring the Public Creditors; which of course would cause the Removal or happy Cessation of nearly the whole of the Taxes, Duties, Excise, &c. and at the same Time create a plentiful Circulation of Money, and a successful Chance of Competition in Foreign Markets: consequently, the Revival of our Trade and Commerce, with an Abundance of Employment for our increasing Population, and a complete Renovation of our Finances. By J. H. Reddell, Esq. 8vo. pp. 126. Stockdale, &c.

After this very copious title-page, Mr. Reddell commences by introducing himself to the public as an observer of the progress of the mechanic arts for nearly half a century, and then makes the mortifying admission that all his contributions to their improvement have been attended with very little emolument to himself. This will scarcely surprize our readers, when they are informed that this gentleman has possessed such an active mobilité d'esprit as to invent at one moment a steam-vessel, at another a new method of making nails, and soon afterward an improved plan for lighting theatres, government-offices, and public buildings in general. He now obligingly offers the public, in its day of trouble, a specimen of his happy talent of originality, and proposes one of the boldest measures that have yet occurred to any of our kind. monitors: no other, in short, than an act of parliament to reduce the price of all merchandise and all property, not by onefourth, but to one-fourth of its present amount; - all for the purpose of enabling us to manufacture goods at a cheaper rate than our neighbours, and to drive every competitor before us in

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the foreign market. The national debt is mercilessly destined to this tremendous sacrifice, and ought (according to Mr. R.) from this day forwards to be brought within the limit of 200,000,000l. sterling the result of all which would be to get rid of those most troublesome things, "taxes," the whole without causing any ma. terial suffering to his Majesty's subjects. What a pity that Mr. R. did not hold a confidential place among the hommes à vastes projets of the French Revolution, who meditated nothing less than " uniting all Europe into one family," and who accused their political opponents of the nefarious project of "undermining the Seine !" Art. 24. A Remedy for the late Bad Harvest. 8vo. 6d. Richardson. 1817.

This little tract contains some good advice, conveyed in a very simple and unassuming form; the author being extremely anxious to remind us of the uncertainty of the seasons, and to render us economical in our consumption of bread, not only at a moment of emergency, but habitually and throughout the year. The upper classes ought, in his opinion, to have renounced, during the last winter, the use of fine wheaten bread, in the hope of having their example followed by the great mass of consumers. Another and a still more important source of economy consists in abstaining from the use of new bread; that is, in never cutting a loaf sooner than twenty-four hours after it is baked. Neither of these rules has been observed; and the writer is obliged to console himself with the very general and spirited use that has been made of his next recommendation, viz. that of availing ourselves of the comparative cheapness of animal food by cooking it for the poor in the shape of soup. In the present aspect of affairs, it seems likely that we shall be obliged to continue this expedient for some time; and fortunate it is that the cheapest parts of the meat will serve for this purpose as well as the dearest, the chief points being to make a judicious choice of vegetables and other ingredients. We pass over the minor suggestions of this author, not that we dissent from them, but because such matters seem of little importance when compared with his other and more essential recommendations.

Art. 25. On the present Distress of the Country, and suitable Remedies. By William Harris, Minister of the Congregational Church, Wallingford, Berks; Author of " Hints on Toleration," and of " An Enquiry into the Toleration Act." 8vo. pp. 121. 38. 6d. Maxwell.

If not possessed of much depth or novelty, this pamphlet has the benefit of more clearness and arrangement than the majority of transient publications; the writer dividing his arguments very carefully into a series of sections, and beginning by exhibiting them in a distinct table of contents. One of his principal topics of regret is the recent extent of emigration; which is productive, at a moderate computation, of an annual drain of four millions sterling, even if we limit the number of British subjects on the Continent to 40,000, and their average expence to 100l. each.

The loss to our country does not indeed amount to the extent in question, because these persons would equally draw the money were they living at home: but it would in that case be circulated and expended among our own tradesmen, thus affording to England, instead of the Continent, all the profit arising from the diffusion of so large a sum. To make the matter worse, emigration is fashionable among a class of our countrymen whose 'leave memory, says Mr. Harris, is so very treacherous as to their bills at home unpaid for the last two, three, or four years.' Another topic, on which Mr. H. expatiates with great truth and energy, is the ridiculous expence of living which has so long been general among all ranks; an error in which it would be difficult to say whether the farmer, the merchant, or the nobleman has gone the greatest lengths. Servants throw away the whole and sometimes more than the whole of their yearly wages on dress; tradesmen and manufacturers live too frequently on the capital of their creditors; while landholders have been expending, or even exceeding, the high rents of a season of war, with as much confidence as if war had been to last for ever. With equal justice, Mr. H. reprobates that rage for speculation which has infected not only the mercantile but other classes; and he con. cludes by pressing the necessity of a general subscription, on a large scale, to make a fund for providing work for the poor. He gives (p. 105.) a very good outline of the nature of the undertakings to be contemplated by the managers of such funds; and, since he published his pamphlet, he has had the satisfaction of seeing government come forwards with pecuniary means, while local committees are carrying their ideas into execution in different parts of the country.

Another branch of Mr. H.'s remedial plans, and on which he expatiates at great length, is a general inclosure-bill; a bill which should authorize at once the commencement of cultivation on every common in the kingdom, (where the enterprise might be deemed likely to answer,) without exposing the undertaker to the expence of a special act for every particular inclosure. This question has been repeatedly canvassed, and various objec tions to it have been made; partly on the plea of preserving to the poor the benefit arising from their access to extensive commons, and more from the dread that such enlarged cultivation would reduce the prices of corn below a remunerating standard. The latter we consider as chimerical, the expence of bringing waste land into a state of tillage being too serious to be lightly incurred; and, with reference to the poor, it is one argument to say that they are no where more uncomfortable than in the neighbourhood of commons, Were we to favour a general inclosureact, it would be less from a notion of such a measure leading, under present circumstances, to extended cultivation, than from the strength of the general rule that "unrestrained freedom ought to be given to industry in all directions." It is a remarkable fact that the extent of waste land was in 1808 above twentytwo millions of acres; and it may still be set down, after all the improvements