contributions. In the other states of Europe the proportion is still greater; and it clearly appears from this that every direct impost proceeds from ignorance, and that the indirect are the result of science. England alone possesses a perfect knowledge of this science, and to it chiefly it owes a revenue of £33,333,333. 6. 8, arising from eight exciseable articles.

The produce of the English Custom House (amounting nnually to £10,000,000.) proves the extent of the commerce, and immensity of consumption in the country, and it exceeds the total produce of all the other Custom Houses in Europe! The English post office revenue amounts to £1,833,333. 6. 8, annually; but in France only to £500,000. The good policy of England directs her to provide for the general wants of mankind, whereas on the continent a less sound principle of administration provides almost exclusively for superfluities. It is easy to determine on which side good sense is to be found! In France, and still more in Spain, it is impossible that there should be general easiness in circumstances, or observable circulation of money, because the habitual condition of the mass of the people is wretched, and the enjoyment of the comforts and superfluities of life is confined to a few. Hence the interior of these countries often present the melancholy scenes of a people badly lodged, clothed and fed, and of public ways silent and deserted. The appearance of the English population offers a remarkable contrast. In 1814, when the allied sovereigns visited the British metropolis, and among the well-attired crowds, who followed their steps, recognised none of that misery, so striking in their own states, they demanded of their attendants, where were the people? a homage the most complimentary ever paid to the prosperous condition of England! In England the sea and numerous canals facilitate communications, and of all countries it is the one where the roads are the most frequented. The English consume more provisions than all the rest of Europe, with the exception of bread, and as one proof we may instance their consumption of sugar, amounting to four hundred millions of pounds, whilst in France it scarcely reaches one hundred, and this in a population greater than that of England by one and a half. This difference of consumption will sufficiently evidence and prove the different systems of economy practised in the two countries. It is officially declared by the British minister, that the internal commerce and consumption is more importaut even than the external commerce, and what is the most remarkable is, that consumption, the source of the public wealth, annually increases, in proportion to that wealth, without any prospect of its being limited or arrested in its career, owing to the wise principles of the administration. England, as well as other nations, can boast her literati,

her statesmen, and her men of superior genius; but she alone possesses a population, among which is extensively diffused the instruction necessary to enable it to form correct judgment of men and matters; to distinguish that which is profitable and suitable; and to defend itself from that which may have an opposite tendency.

CHAP. IV.-Commerce.

COMMERCE and knowledge (that is to say "illumination of mind") are inseparable companions; therefore an enlightened peo ple will always be found to cherish a taste for commerce. If we compare the condition of those countries who respectively enjoy, or who do not participate in the benefits of commerce, we shall find the latter wholly ignorant of the world, and of its varied. capabilities to contribute to the happiness and welfare of mankind; as for instance, Poland;-Spain;-Hungary, and the interior of Russia. There is in fact neither social comforts, nor enlargement of the human intellect, but where commercial intercourse is in active operation. In other countries it is the influence of commerce which enables a people to compass the world; to explore all its divisions; to make all its productions their own; and in so doing to provide at once for the actual wants and imaginary necessities of mankind. Thus in England the spirit of commerce operates in the plenitude of its power. The following statement published by the ministry in 1822 will give the mean term of the British exportations from 1793 to 1802; as thus, £31,583,335. 6. 8; from 1803 to 1812, £37,966,666. 13. 4; and from 1815 to 1822, £60,145,833. 6. 8; whereas in 1821 the French exportations amounted only to 450,000,000 francs, or in British coin £18,750,000. Thus it will be seen that the commerce of England has annually increased since the last peace, and has fully indemnified itself for the diminution occasioned by the loss of its exclusive enjoyment of the advantages of commerce during the war.

The extent and the solidity of the commercial wealth of England, with the demonstration of the principles and means which have advanced and maintained it at its present degree of elevation, must be our next consideration.

The improvement, which has been introduced into the British manufactories, by the use of machinery, and the advantages which England derives from her almost exclusive trade with India, has caused her manufactured silks to exceed in substance and beauty the hitherto unrivalled productions of the French and Italian looms. The cotton and cambric manufactures of Manchester, Glasgow, and

of Paisley, have nearly expelled from the market the piece goods of France and India. The exportation of manufactured cottons from England amounted in 1821 to £22,916,665. 13. 4, and woollen goods to £6,000,000. During the reigns of George the First and George the Second they did not exceed £833,333. 6. 8. The wools of the British colony at Botany Bay surpass in quality the finest wools of Saxony and Spain, and so contribute largely to the wealth of the mother country.

Canada, which was burdensome to France, furnishes employment to a fourth part of the commercial navy of England. In 1822 nine hundred ships were launched from the merchants' yards, for the purposes of commerce. The home built vessels, which entered and departed from the British ports, during 1822, amounted to 16,000, and the foreign built to 8,500.

The following table is without parallel in the history of the world. England exports to Germany £10,000,000; to Russia £3,416,666.19. 4; to Italy £3,500,000; to China and India £3,250,000; to the Brazils £2,250,000; to the former possessions of Spain in America, £958,333. 6. 8.

Tyre and Carthage would have been mere country houses in comparison with Bristol, Liverpool, and London. But constituted as society is in the world at present, there is nothing alarming, nothing in this opulence of England to awaken the jealousy, or alarm the apprehensions of other countries; for the prosperity of one state is really the proof of the prosperity enjoyed by others. The existence of the manufacturer of course proves that of the consumer; they are relative terms, and the one cannot subsist without the other. If therefore the exportations of England amount to £58,333,333, 6. 8; and those of France during the same time, to only £18,750.000; it still proves, that the manufactories of England alone have not been sufficient to meet the general demands on them. Therefore other nations have made up the deficiency. Thus Italy, Germany, and the north of Europe, have not remained without employment. They have labored on their side, and if they have imported, they have exported as well. Thus the numerous wants, and that wide appetite for varied enjoyments, which mark the progressive amelioration of society, have risen into existence. Without this craving after production and without the means of satisfying it, how could the competition of all the different manufacturers be supported? Whence could the innumerable merchants, who press their goods on the consumers, receive on them a profitable return? But both the manufacturer and the merchant find a return on their labor and dealings, and they augment in number, as advances are made in industry. There is then a corresponding increase in the means of indemnifying their respective ex

ertions. Thus no labor is without its reward. Now the consolatory conclusion, which is to be drawn from these facts is, that the number of our fellow-creatures, to whom the enjoyment of the gifts of nature, more or less precious, has been accorded, is daily on the increase, and infinitely exceeds that portion of the human family which hitherto may have been permitted to appropriate to itself exclusively the possession of some of those blessings. The opulence of England thus proves that the world at large is progressively advancing to a high degree of improvement and amelioration. Nothing however is less known; no subject, on which so many, contradictory statements are heard, and so many vague ideas afloat, as respecting the commerce of England with India and with South America. These are the new outlets, the new markets for British manufactures, of the extent of which no documents published by authority have as yet enabled the world to form an accurate calculation. The immense improvement which has of late taken place in the manufacture of the English silks is a fact nearly unknown on the continent. The same advance in excellence has taken place with respect to the English linens generally, and above all in muslins and cambrics. The British cambrics have superseded, in the general taste, the productions of that nature from the manufactures of France, who was the first to create the manufacture, and for a long time could boast her superiority in it over the other nations. At this day the markets of India, whence, during a series of ages, muslins were brought into Europe, are now supplied almost entirely with those of British production. These two facts are quite new, and being known only but by the few, should be widely communicated. They offer a striking and useful lesson on the boundless power of the genius of man, as also on the beneficial results of human industry, when sure and constant in its operations; and when attained to perfection through the aid of a higher degree of intelligence.

CHAP. V.-The British Colonies.

THE English colonies may be divided into two classes, those which she held possession of before the revolutionary war, to the number of 26, and those, which during the continuance of that war she wrested from the other countries of Europe, and which amounted to 17. None of these colonies contribute directly to the political strength of England, but rather the contrary, since they drain the mother country of part of her military and naval forces. Thus Cuba, Martinique, and St. Domingo, did not directly contribute to the real power of France or Spain. The only example offered

in modern history of the effective co-operation of a colony with the parent state, is that of the British settlements in North Ame rica uniting their native soldiers with the English forces in the attack on Nova Scotia and Canada in 1756. With this single exception, the mother countries have always been burdened with the general protection of the colonies; and considering the wars of which these possessions have been the direct object, and the vast expenditure of money and blood created thereby to the parent state, their conquest has been rather an inconvenience than an advantage to the latter. Besides, after all, they are quite a fugitive species of property, and their connexion with the mother country has necessarily its term. The chief advantage to be derived from colonial possessions consists in the extent and value of their commerce. Thus Canada employs the fourth part of the whole of the English tonnage, that is to say six hundred thousand tons, and consumes more . of British produce than even the East Indies. The Island of Jamaica alone contributes to the English custom-house an annual revenue of £2,000,000, which are levied on the importation of one hundred thousand barrels of sugar! The balance in favor of France on her commerce with St. Domingo amounted to 40,000,000 francs, or £1,666,666. 13. 4. in English money.'

The extent of the British possessions in India already forms an immense empire. With respect to her eastern territories, the same remark may be applied to England, which has already been made with respect to the relative situation of Portugal and the Brazils, namely, that her head was in Europe, while her body was in America. The disproportion of size between England and India is quite as striking as that of Portugal with the Brazils. England indeed is farther removed from her Indian colonies, and the Indian population is more numerous in proportion, and without exaggeration it may be calculated at sixty millions. This mass requires to be kept under subordination by a British force of 22,000 men, supported by native troops or seapoys, to the number of 120,000. Thus India may be said to be guarded for England by indigenous troops. Besides, the English army in India has to defend the British dominions against the incursions of neighboring and hostile powers, and who, in addition to the dissensions, which usually arise from proximity, may justly be supposed to be animated by a spirit of hate against foreign domination. The very civilisation, which England is carrying into her Indian possessions has a tendency to hasten their separation

'Before the revolution St. Domingo exported annually 250,000 hogsheads of sugar; in 1823 only 15 hogsheads. The population also has decreased from 500,000, to 300,000, and the inhabitants, particularly on the Spanish side, are fast relapsing into original barbarism, and St. Domingo, from a garden, is become a desert.