The History of this country, from the earliest accounts to the union of the crowns, is given in the Encyclopedia, under the article ENGLAND. It is continued from that period to the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, under the word BRITAIN; and will be brought down, in this SUPPLEMENT, to the late general pacification and settlement of Europe, under the head of GREAT BRITAIN. The present article will, therefore, be limited to those inquiries which belong to the Statistics of England; but, even in this view, we must leave out such parts of the subject as have been already treated in the Encyclopaedia, and confine ourselves to the supplying of omissions, and of recent or corrected information.

I.—Situation, Extent, Face of the Country, Soil, and Climate.

England, the southern, and by far the most fertile division of Britain, is parallel in latitude with Holland and the North of Germany, extending from 50° to 55° 45' N. Its figure is nearly triangular, and its extent of coast is very great, both from being much indented and from the sea bounding it on all sides, except along a width of seventy miles on the Scottish border. The adjacent seas are the German Ocean on the east, St George's Channel on the west, and the English Channel on the south. No country can be more fortunately situated; its climate is temperate; its extent is sufficient for its political security; while its insular position not only presents the greatest capabilities of aggrandizement in a commercial sense, but has, by rendering a great military force unnecessary, in all probability been the chief cause of preventing the executive branch from usurping absolute power, as in the countries of the Continent.

Its superficial extent had long been a question of considerable doubt, and the different estimates varied no less than ten millions of acres. Mr Pitt, on the authority of Arthur Young, assumed, in 1798, the superficial extent of England and Wales to be nearly 47,000,000 of acres: a later calculation by Dr Beecke, approaching more to accuracy than any preceding one, fixes it at 38,500,000 acres (Observations on the Produce of the Income-Tax, &c. 1800): but a still more recent survey (Report to Parliament on the Roads in 1818) declares the area of England and Wales to be only 57,960 statute miles, containing 37,094,400 acres.

England is, in general, a level country: in the north, Westmoreland, and a considerable part of Cumberland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, are mountainous, but most of the other counties of England present a succession rather of picturesque eminences than of great elevations; forming a striking contrast to the barren ridges of the northern part of the island, and still more to the abrupt and awful scenery of Switzerland, or the south of Germany. The highest mountains of England are in the northwest, where there are several exceeding 3000 feet in height; of these the most noted, if not the highest, is Skiddaw. Between Lancashire and Yorkshire, there is a range of nearly equal altitude; in Shropshire there are various hills; also in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, none of which, however, reach the height of 2000 feet. There is a long hilly range which traverses the southern counties, in a line nearly due east and west from Dorsetshire to Kent; and another that goes in a north-east course from Wiltshire to the East Riding of York, but both are of inconsiderable elevation. The traveller, who proceeds northward from London to York, meets very few hills and hardly one mountain in a distance of 200 miles. To the east of this road, the country, particularly Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and part of the East Riding of Yorkshire, is almost entirely level, and bears a great resemblance to Holland; consisting of fens apparently gained in a very remote age from the sea. In Wales, the face of the country is altogether different, being mountainous throughout, and some of the hills, in particular Snowdon and Cader Idris, attaining a height nearly 3600 feet above the level of the sea.

The sea coast of England presents a very different aspect in different situations: in some quarters, as in Cornwall, in Kent, in part of Norfolk, and in Wales, it is steep and elevated; in other parts it is low, sandy, or marshy; exhibiting, on the whole, a variety which hardly admits of being brought under a uniform description; and which, though partaking much more of a level than rugged character, still differs greatly from the opposite shore of Flanders, Holland, and Friesland, which is one continued flat for more than 300 miles.

Of the rivers of England, the largest are the Thames, the Severn, and the Trent. The Thames has no pretensions to romantic effect in any part of its course, nor is its body of fresh water large; but it is navigable for more than 120 miles, and in the approach to London from the Nore, presents to the admiring spectator a prospect, which, whether we consider the quantity of shipping, the thickening population, or the high state of improvement of its banks, is wholly without parallel. The Severn, though not equal to the Tay in quantity of fresh water, is superior to the Thames, and during the first part of its course preserves the characteristics of a mountain stream, being clear, and at times bordered by picturesque scenery; but on leaving Wales, and entering a more level country, it assumes a different aspect, and becomes a full slow-flowing river, admitting of easy navigation, and facilitating greatly the commerce of Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. Towards its mouth it receives the Wye, a large navigable river from Wales. The Trent rises in Staffordshire, and after a course, often tortuous, but generally in a north-east direction, falls into the Humber, which soon after becomes a broad estuary. The Mersey, as a river, is of no great importance, but as an arm of the sea it affords, from the west, a very capacious inlet to the trade of Liverpool, and facilitates the conveyance of the produce of the interior. The Tyne is a large stream, having Newcastle on its banks, and Shields near its mouth. The Medway, as a fresh water river, is small and sluggish, but acquires, by the influx of the tide, such a width of channel and such a depth of water at Chatham, as to adapt it to the reception of the largest men of war. Speaking generally, it is only the rivers of Wales, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and a few mountainous districts that are rapid or transparent; the great majority of English rivers, particularly in the eastern and central part of the kingdom, are slow in their course, and owe the degree of beauty they possess, less to the effect of the water or scenery, than to the high cultivation and elegant disposition of the adjacent grounds.

A similar remark applies to the lakes of England: Lakes and nothing can exceed the beauty of Winandermere, Keswick, and Ulleswater, while the unvaried and uninteresting collections of water, such as Whittleseamer, and others in the fen district, are to be compared only to those in North Holland or Friesland. In regard to wood, England is very well provided, without having many of those extensive forests which are met with on the Continent on great mountain ranges; such as on the Jura ridge between France and Switzerland, and the Suabian Alps on the Upper Rhine. It is in private plantations of limited extent, but of very frequent occurrence, and sometimes of great beauty, that the chief stock of English timber is to be found. Several extensive tracts, such as the New Forest in Hampshire, the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, belong to the Crown.

The soil of England is suited to a great variety of products; but it has not the exuberant fertility of southern climates; much labour and vigilance being requisite to obtain from it a grateful return. The quantity of moisture makes it admirably adapted to pasture; a characteristic which does not particularly strike those whose travels have never extended beyond their own country; but is of the highest importance in the view of those who have visited the Continent, and have witnessed the parched and arid state of the richest plains in the months of autumn. In regard to husbandry, it happens, by a singular coincidence, that, in England as in Scotland, the best is practised in the east part of the island; particularly in Norfolk and Northumberland. As to mineral treasures, the eastern half of England, at least of England to the south of Yorkshire, is remarkable for containing no mines either of coal or of metal; these valuable deposits are to be sought in the more uneven districts of the north and west, viz. in Durham, Westmoreland, Lancashire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Devon, and Cornwall. In the east, particularly in Lincoln and Cambridgeshire, vast improvements have been made in the present age by draining, but there is still the means of making farther and valuable acquisitions. Much also remains to be done in bringing into culture extensive heaths and moorlands in almost every county in the kingdom; the soil of these is in general poor, but the tillage required would seldom be obstructed, as in many parts of Scotland, by the ruggedness of the surface. Comparing the soil of England with that of the adjacent countries, we find it greatly superior to that of Scotland, except along our eastern coast; it is perhaps better also than that of Ireland, fertile as the latter naturally is; nor needs it, on the whole, dread a comparison with the soil of France, where, amidst districts of great beauty and luxuriance, the eye of the traveller is often struck with extensive tracts of heath or marsh.

The soil of Norfolk is particularly adapted to barley; and the fens of Lincolnshire and the adjacent counties for oats. Leicestershire has long been accounted the first of our grazing counties; Herefordshire takes a lead in orchards; while Surrey and Worcestershire, but above all Kent, are celebrated for hops.

The following table, given by Mr Comber, in his treatise on National Subsistence, exhibits the results of a computation of the extent of land under cultivation in England and Wales:

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Acres.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Wheat</td> <td>3,800,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Barley and rye</td> <td>1,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Oats and beans</td> <td>8,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Clover, rye, grass, &c.</td> <td>1,200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Roots and cabbage cultivated by the plough</td> <td>1,200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Fallow</td> <td>2,300,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hop-grounds</td> <td>34,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nursery-grounds</td> <td>9,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Fruit and kitchen gardens</td> <td>41,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Pleasure-grounds</td> <td>16,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Land depastured by cattle</td> <td>17,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hedgerows, copses, and woods</td> <td>1,600,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ways, water, &c.</td> <td>1,300,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Commons and waste lands</td> <td>5,094,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total</th> <th>37,094,000</th> </tr> </table>

The quantity of corn raised per acre is, of course, very various, according to the soil; 2\( \frac{1}{2} \) quarters for wheat, four for barley, and 4\( \frac{1}{2} \) for oats, may be stated as a fair average return; though any calculation from such data must be very vague, as on some spots the produce of wheat amounts to six quarters, in others to only 1\( \frac{1}{2} \) quarter per acre. The average weight of a bushel of good English wheat is about 58 lbs.; in bad seasons, it does not exceed 56 or 57, but in good years, and in the best wheat districts, it is found to weigh from 60 to 62, and in some particular spots 64 lbs. It yields 43 lbs. flour for standard wheaten bread, or 46\( \frac{1}{2} \) lbs. for household. The culture of rye in England is now much restricted, compared to what it was in former times; also that of buck-wheat, which, under the name of Sarrazin, is so common on the opposite coast of France. The cause of this decrease lies in the preference given by our peasantry to wheaten bread, and in the cultivation of more valuable grain on the land formerly appropriated to the inferior sorts. Of hops, the quantity raised throughout the kingdom is necessarily very fluctuating, but it may be computed at an annual average of twenty millions of lbs.

The climate of England is that of an insular country of limited extent, subject, in consequence, to rain, and exempt from intensity of either heat or cold. Compared with the adjacent countries, it is less humid than Ireland, which, like Portugal, in a different latitude, is the first land to intercept the vapours of the Atlantic; on the other hand, the climate of England is less dry than the opposite shores of Holland and Germany, to which every wind but the west arrives across a tract of continent. The climate of the south of England resembles much that of the opposite coast of Brittany, Normandy, and Flanders; while that of the north is very similar to the temperature of Denmark, which, like the north of England, is a narrow country enclosed on either side by the sea. In regard to the relative degrees of heat or cold, if England has not so much summer warmth as continental countries on the same parallel, she generally escapes in winter that intensity of frost, which in less than 48 hours of easterly wind so frequently seals up their harbours. On the other hand, our weather is much more variable than in the inland part of the continent, and our sky less clear; still it by no means follows that the balance of disadvantage is on our side. The moderate heat and frequent returns of rain preserve throughout the year that verdant pasture which, in autumn, the continent enjoys only in its maritime districts; while those droughts in spring, which are so noxious in the south of France and similar latitudes of the continent, are hardly known among us. In point of salubrity also, we may fairly stand a comparison with our neighbours, for, variable as is our atmosphere, perhaps no country exhibits a larger proportion of examples of longevity.

There exists, however, a considerable difference in the climate of different parts of England. The west, exposed to the Atlantic, and containing hills and mountains which intercept the clouds, is much more rainy than the east, where the aspect of the country is level, and the expanse of adjacent water much less considerable. Another, and equally remarkable difference, arises from latitude, the season being a fortnight or three weeks later in the north than in the south of England. Notwithstanding all the skill of the Northumbrian farmers, the traveller who leaves the harvest finished in the south of England in the first week of September, and who sees the corn cut, if not carried, in the midland counties, will generally find it, in the middle of that month, untouched and standing in most parts of the country to the northward of York. In winter this difference in the temperature of the North and South of England is less perceptible. As to the spring months, March is, proverbially, raw and cold, from the prevalence of easterly winds, particularly in the part of the kingdom adjacent to the German Ocean: April is, in general, wet and favourable to vegetation, but May, though a pleasant month, can hardly be said with us to bring more "indulgent skies." It is in June, July, and August, that our climate takes a more settled aspect; while, at the same time, the power of taking exercise on almost any day is indicative of a very gratifying advantage over the sultry atmosphere of our southern neighbours on the Continent. November, though frequently wet and foggy, is only a prelude to winter; even December does not often bring intense frost, which is commonly reserved to January; and during the last twenty years we have been repeatedly without any frost of consequence, or heavy falls of snow until a considerable time after the days have lengthened.

During the six winter months, from October to March, the mean temperature of the central part of England is commonly between 42° and 48° of Fahrenheit. In December, January, and February, it is generally below 40°. In July and August, 62° to 65°. The variations of temperature within the space of 24 hours are felt most strongly in the equinoctial months, March and September. In these there is often a difference of 18° or 20° between the day and night, while, in the summer months, this difference seldom exceeds 12° or 15°, and in December or January, is only from 6° to 8°. The mean annual temperature, noon and night, of the central part of England, is about 50°. The greatest summer heat seldom exceeds 80°, and the cold of December or January is rarely below 20° or 25°. In mild situations in Devonshire and Cornwall, the winter temperature is 2°, 3°, 4°, and even 5° higher than in London. Penzance is the spot in England least visited by severe cold; and it is consequently much recommended in pulmonic cases.

Of rain, the largest proportion falls in the N.W. of England, particularly in Westmoreland and Lancashire, owing to the neighbourhood of the sea and the height of the mountains. There, the average quantity is found to be 45, 50, and, in some situations, 60 inches, while the average of the kingdom at large is from 30 to 40.

No period has been marked with a more sensible variation of seasons than the last five or six years: the winter of 1813-14 was long and severe; the summer of 1816 cold and wet; the summer of 1818 uncommonly dry and warm. This will at once appear from the state of the thermometer. During the summer of 1815, which may be termed one of medium warmth, the thermometer was at or above 70° during 27 days; in 1816 it rose to 70° in five days only: in 1817, which was also deficient in warmth, it reached or exceeded that limit on 17 days only; but, in 1818, it was at or above 70 during no less than 70 days, and in the three days of greatest heat it was between 83 and 87. In all these instances the case was the same throughout the continent of Europe; the crop of 1816, for some time very promising, became, in a great degree, lost for want of warmth; that of 1818 proved on the Continent as in England, abundant in wheat and scanty in most other grain; while last winter was equally mild, and the summer of this year (1819) was still more forward on the Continent than in Britain.

The prevalent winds in England are west and south-west. Our outward-bound merchantmen are often detained from the want of a Northerly or Easterly wind, but it rarely happens that our home-ward-bound are kept beating in the Channel by the want of a westerly breeze. In these respects, also, the case is the same on the opposite shores of the Continent; the Dutch and French outward-bound vessels often experiencing detention from the continuance of westerly winds.

II.—Divisions, Civil and Ecclesiastical.

The civil divisions of England are those of counties, hundreds, and parishes. The county divisions, like several of our national improvements, take date from the reign of Alfred, and though subsequently increased by the acquisition of the three northern counties from the Scots, have not, in other respects, experienced much alteration since his time.

The 12 counties of Wales added to the 40 counties of England make a total of 52. The name of "County corporate" is given to most of the cities of England and to some of the towns; this distinction, little attended to by the public, and seldom mentioned but in law-papers, implies that the district in question is governed by its own sheriffs and other magistrates, to the exclusion of the officers of the county at large.

The division into hundreds must have originated in a reference to the existing population, and have implied a district containing either a hundred able bodied men, or a hundred families. As population increased very differently in different situations, great inequality ensued in regard to these divisions, and, in the reign of Henry VIII., many of the larger hundreds were partitioned into smaller districts. Hundreds were farther subdivided in the time of Alfred into tithings, or associations of ten men, for the purpose of mutual defence. But both these subdivisions were unknown in our northern counties from their not having been subject to the Saxon legislator: these counties, on their subsequent annexation to the crown of England, were divided into "wards" and "wapentakes;" terms sufficiently expressive of the warlike character of the age, and of the exposed situation of a frontier province.

The ecclesiastical division of England is into two archbishoprics and twenty-four bishoprics. The archbishopric, or "province" of York, though by much the smaller of the two, comprises Northumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Cheshire, Lancashire, the chief part of Yorkshire, and the Isle of Man: Canterbury extends over all the rest of the kingdom, including even Jersey and Guernsey. The bishoprics are very different in extent of jurisdiction as well as in annual emolument. The Encyclopædia contains a list of the dioceses, and of their respective revenues, as entered in the king's books; but their present incomes are greatly increased, in consequence of the rise in the value of land. The third and most familiar of the ecclesiastical divisions of England is into parishes. This mode of division seems to have existed from a very remote period, and to have continued during the last five centuries on the same footing, with very slight variation, as at present. The total number of parishes in England and Wales is 10,674.

III.—Harbours, Roads, Canals, Bridges.

We have already noticed the great navigable rivers of England. In regard to sea-ports, after London, which is perhaps the most capacious and happily situated in Europe, the principal are Liverpool, Hull, and Bristol. Liverpool and Hull are situate on great inlets of the sea, while Bristol stands on a comparatively small river, and, though long a seat of commerce, is indebted for its present magnitude to recent improvements.

Liverpool gave the first example of wet-docks, originally on a small, afterwards on an extensive, scale. Hull followed the example, her first dock dating from 1774, her second from 1803. Meantime the metropolis opened successively the West India, London, and East India docks; and in 1805, Bristol commenced a great work of the same description. Considerable extensions of the wet-docks of Liverpool and Hull are going on at present. (1819.)

The chief sea-ports of England, after the four just mentioned, are Shields (for Newcastle), Sunderland, Whitby, Scarborough, Grimsby, Lynn, Yarmouth, Harwich, Sheerness, Chatham and Ramsgate, on the east coast; Portsmouth, Southampton, Poole, Weymouth, Dartmouth, Plymouth, and Falmouth, on the south; with Swansea, Milfordhavon, Chester, Lancaster, and Whitehaven on the west. In the English Channel, the depth and capaciousness of a number of harbours on our side form a striking contrast to the French side, where there are only St Malo, Cherbourg, and Havre de Grace, none of which are convenient stations. Our great naval stations, such as Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Chatham, have been already described under Dock-Yards.

It was not until after 1660 that the public took an active part in regard to the highways. Turnpikes were at that time placed on the great North road, in the counties of Hertford, Huntingdon, and Cambridge; but it was not till after the peace of 1748 that adequate exertions were made to redeem our public roads from their wretched state. After 1760, the increasing price of agricultural produce, and the general spirit of improvement, were of the most beneficial operation in this respect; and in the fourteen years from that time to 1774, no less than 452 acts were passed for the amelioration of our roads. It was then also that our inland navigation assumed an aspect of activity. The Bridgewater and Trent canals were begun; yet the number of Canal acts that passed between 1760 and 1774 was only nineteen. The American war interfered considerably with public improvement; and it is only from the date of its cessation that we enter on an active and prosperous era.

<table> <tr> <th rowspan="2">Years.</th> <th colspan="2">For Roads and Bridges.</th> <th colspan="2">Canals and Harbours.</th> <th colspan="2">Incloising, Draining, and Dividing Land.</th> <th colspan="2">Paving and other Local Improvements.</th> <th rowspan="2">Total for each Year.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>For Roads</th> <th>and Bridges.</th> <th>Canals</th> <th>and Harbours.</th> <th>Incloising,</th> <th>Draining,</th> <th>Dividing Land.</th> <th>Paving</th> <th>and other Local Improvements.</th> </tr> <tr><td>1785</td><td>31</td><td>7</td><td>22</td><td>20</td><td>80</td></tr> <tr><td>1786</td><td>40</td><td>4</td><td>25</td><td>14</td><td>83</td></tr> <tr><td>1787</td><td>30</td><td>3</td><td>19</td><td>14</td><td>66</td></tr> <tr><td>1788</td><td>37</td><td>5</td><td>36</td><td>14</td><td>92</td></tr> <tr><td>1789</td><td>36</td><td>6</td><td>36</td><td>18</td><td>96</td></tr> <tr><td>1790</td><td>30</td><td>9</td><td>27</td><td>20</td><td>86</td></tr> <tr><td>1791</td><td>44</td><td>13</td><td>39</td><td>20</td><td>116</td></tr> <tr><td>1792</td><td>54</td><td>17</td><td>41</td><td>19</td><td>131</td></tr> <tr><td>In 8 years of peace</td><td>302</td><td>64</td><td>245</td><td>139</td><td>750</td></tr> <tr><td>1793</td><td>62</td><td>32</td><td>62</td><td>15</td><td>171</td></tr> <tr><td>1794</td><td>35</td><td>22</td><td>74</td><td>5</td><td>136</td></tr> <tr><td>1795</td><td>36</td><td>13</td><td>80</td><td>10</td><td>139</td></tr> <tr><td>1796</td><td>27</td><td>18</td><td>76</td><td>8</td><td>129</td></tr> <tr><td>1797</td><td>39</td><td>14</td><td>91</td><td>7</td><td>151</td></tr> <tr><td>1798</td><td>41</td><td>7</td><td>52</td><td>7</td><td>107</td></tr> <tr><td>1799</td><td>49</td><td>10</td><td>66</td><td>4</td><td>129</td></tr> <tr><td>1800</td><td>52</td><td>16</td><td>88</td><td>6</td><td>162</td></tr> <tr><td>In 8 years of war</td><td>341</td><td>132</td><td>589</td><td>62</td><td>1124</td></tr> <tr><td>Peace</td><td>1802</td><td>49</td><td>14</td><td>105</td><td>12</td><td>180</td></tr> <tr><td>War</td><td>1803</td><td>60</td><td>16</td><td>111</td><td>17</td><td>204</td></tr> <tr><td>1804</td><td>49</td><td>11</td><td>57</td><td>10</td><td>127</td></tr> <tr><td>1805</td><td>41</td><td>22</td><td>75</td><td>10</td><td>148</td></tr> <tr><td>1806</td><td>43</td><td>19</td><td>85</td><td>33</td><td>180</td></tr> <tr><td>1807</td><td>54</td><td>17</td><td>98</td><td>21</td><td>190</td></tr> <tr><td>1808</td><td>52</td><td>9</td><td>94</td><td>17</td><td>172</td></tr> <tr><td>1809</td><td>71</td><td>19</td><td>132</td><td>21</td><td>243</td></tr> <tr><td>In 8 years</td><td>419</td><td>127</td><td>757</td><td>141</td><td>1444</td></tr> <tr><td>1810</td><td>52</td><td>9</td><td>114</td><td>25</td><td>200</td></tr> <tr><td>1811</td><td>58</td><td>15</td><td>134</td><td>17</td><td>222</td></tr> <tr><td>1812</td><td>53</td><td>13</td><td>123</td><td>24</td><td>213</td></tr> <tr><td>1813</td><td>47</td><td>7</td><td>117</td><td>20</td><td>191</td></tr> <tr><td>1814</td><td>53</td><td>6</td><td>119</td><td>21</td><td>199</td></tr> <tr><td>Peace</td><td>1815</td><td>44</td><td>10</td><td>82</td><td>26</td><td>162</td></tr> <tr><td>1816</td><td>34</td><td>4</td><td>49</td><td>22</td><td>109</td></tr> <tr><td>In 7 years</td><td>341</td><td>64</td><td>738</td><td>115</td><td>1298</td></tr> </table>

The last period presents a good deal of fluctuation; still the annual average is fully equal to that of the preceding series.

The total length of paved streets and paved roads in England and Wales is (from a Parliamentary return in 1818) nearly 20,000 miles. The total length of all other roads nearly 96,000 miles. In France the highways are under the care of government, and are kept in repair out of the general taxes, without any tolls or turnpike dues; in Eng- land they are managed by the respective counties, represented by Commissioners, and no part of the expence comes out of the public treasury. It is defrayed partly by local imposts, partly by dues levied: the local impost is discharged either by labour or by composition money; thus:

The value of labour in kind (on an average of the years ending October 1812, 1813, and 1814) was, L. 535,423 The average amount of composition money, 278,506 The average amount of dues or rents levied, 601,954

Annual average of the expenditure on the roads of England and Wales, L.1,415,883

being at the rate of nearly L. 12, 6s. 8d. per mile. In the Highlands of Scotland, where the travelling is so much less, one-third of this allowance is sufficient for the annual repair of the roads.

The Canals of England are extremely numerous; no country except Holland entering into competition with us in this respect. Among the principal are the Grand Junction, advancing from London above 100 miles into the midland counties; the Grand Trunk, extending from the Severn northward into Staffordshire, a distance of 139 miles; the Liverpool and Leeds, extending 130 miles; the Oxford 91 miles. To proceed with the enumeration would be almost endless; suffice it to observe, that the English canals are of moderate size, being from 25 to 30, 35, and 40 feet in width, and, in general, from 5 to 6 in depth; the barges navigating them are very long, frequently 70 or 80 feet on a width of 10, 12, or 14 feet; but in many cases their dimensions, at least their width, are necessarily smaller, the less frequented canals being narrower than those we have mentioned. Could the application of steam to navigation have been foreseen, the canals of England would have been made much wider; at present there would be great hazard of injury to the embankments, from vessels so propelled.

The principal Bridges in the kingdom are the five erected across the Thames at London, three of which have been opened since 1817. Of these, two, the Southwark and Vauxhall, are of cast iron; the former of three very large arches, the latter of nine arches, each of 78 feet span. The first example of an iron bridge on a large scale, either in England or any other country, was that erected in 1796, at Waremouth in Durham, the span of which was 240 feet. In the same year was finished at Buildwas, near Colebrook, Deal, over the Severn, an iron bridge 130 feet in span. See BRIDGE in this Supplement.

IV.—Agriculture.

Of the state of English agriculture in former ages, we can form some idea from a reference to the acts of the legislature. In these we find, at a very early date, the traces of that policy which expects abundance and cheapness to result from discouraging the export of corn. No permission of export seems to have been granted till 1394, and then only, on the payment of certain duties: in 1436, some additional latitude was given, and export was allowed, when the quarter of wheat did not exceed a price corresponding to nearly 13s. of our present money. The reign of Elizabeth was the epoch of a great rise in the prices of corn, originating, not as was vulgarly asserted, in the "decay of tillage," but in the sudden depreciation of money, produced (as we have explained under the head of Corn Laws) partly by degradation of the coin, and partly by the influx of silver from the mines of America. The complaints of the "decay of tillage," if they express any thing more than the ordinary discontent of the ignorant part of the consumers, are to be accounted for by the gradual consolidation of small farms, and by inclosing land for pasture, with a view to the export of wool. In these days, however, government participated in the prejudices of the people; and the general purport of the acts passed under Elizabeth and her successors, was to shackle export and prevent a rise of price. It was not till the reign of Charles II. (1670) that the export of corn was exempted from a tax; and it is from 1689 that we are to date that fundamental change in our Corn Laws, which encouraged export by a bounty.

The prices of corn in England have been regularly noted only since the middle of the seventeenth century; yet this comparatively short record is of importance, as indicating very remarkable fluctuations. The price of wheat, which, in the beginning of last century, was 50s. became reduced to 40s. 30s. and eventually, in the ten years between 1740 and 1750, to so low a rate as 24s. a quarter. No wonder that the culture of corn should now receive a check, and that a large proportion of our arable land should be transferred from tillage to grazing. The effect of this conversion, and of an increasing population, raised the price of corn in the ten years from 1750 to 1760, to an average of 42s. 6d.; and, in a few years more, turned the scale from export to import; a change which, with more or less fluctuation, has continued ever since. From 1764 to 1790, the average price of wheat varied from 42s. to 50s.; our annual imports from 200,000 to 500,000 quarters of all kinds of corn. But since 1792, the average prices have been from 50 to 60, 70, 80, 90, and even 98s.:* our annual imports from half a million to two millions of quarters of corn of all kinds.

These periodical statements are useful in showing the proportion that our corn produce has at different times borne to our population. Another mode of forming an idea of the progress of agriculture is by the number of acts of parliament passed annually for inclosing common-land. The first parliamentary act that seems to have been thought necessary, or of which we have a record, was in the reign of Charles II.; the next in that of Queen Anne. From this

* See the Article Corn Laws, Vol. III. p. 352, of this Supplement. Agriculture time forward, such legislative permissions were accounted indispensable preliminaries to inclosing commons. We subjoin a list of them from the proceedings of Parliament.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Inclosure Acts.</th> <th>Average Number of these Acts annually.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>From 1719 to 1759, there were passed</td> <td>249</td> <td>8</td> </tr> <tr> <td>From 1764 (when the price of corn rose) to 1779,</td> <td>941</td> <td>58</td> </tr> <tr> <td>The absorption of capital in the American war affected the extension of tillage, and the average, from 1780 to 1794, was only</td> <td>445</td> <td>30</td> </tr> <tr> <td>The high prices of 1795 and 1796 multiplied inclosures, and produced for those two years,</td> <td>146</td> <td>73</td> </tr> <tr> <td>From 1797 to 1803, both years inclusive,</td> <td>581</td> <td>83</td> </tr> <tr> <td>From 1804 to 1811, ditto,</td> <td>736</td> <td>92</td> </tr> </table>

Since 1811, the change in political circumstances has caused considerable fluctuation. We add the number of acts in each specific year.

In 1811 (high prices), . . . 134 (This is the greatest number in any year.) 1812 (very high prices), . . . 123 1813 (peace had become probable), . . . 117 1814 (peace), . . . 119 1815 (Prices had fallen greatly), . . . 82 1816 (Great agricultural distress), . . . 49

The average extent of each inclosure is computed at 1200 acres; the outlay about L.10 per acre.

The total superficial extent inclosed, in virtue of acts of Parliament during the last 100 years, may be calculated, or rather guessed, at nearly five million of acres. These acts relate only to England and Wales; for in Scotland such improvements do not require a special authority.

We have already, in the article AGRICULTURE, treated of the points of superiority in our husbandry over that of the Continent, ascribing it to various causes, and to none more than the medium size of our farms, which differ equally from the large unmanageable tracts held by Polish noblemen, and the diminutive occupancies so common among the French peasantry, particularly since the Revolution.

The size of farms in England is greatest in the best cultivated districts; that is, in the counties to the east of the metropolis,* viz. Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. Farms are extensive, also, in Northumberland. In these counties, the engagements of farmers are for larger sums than in East Lothian, Berwickshire, or any part of Scotland; rents being frequently from L.800 to L.1200 and L.1500 a-year. In more retired districts, particularly in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Wales, the occupancies, whether farmed or held in property, are in general Agriculture very small; and an average of all the farms of England and Wales would not much exceed L.150 a-year.

Leases in England are, with the exception of particular districts, granted for seven years only; when the term is longer, the case is peculiar, and applies to land that evidently requires very extensive improvement. Farms are also let occasionally from year to year. There is in such cases something like an assurance, on the part of the landlord, that the tenant shall not be removed for a certain number of years, or that otherwise the improvements shall be considered and allowed for. When a tenant holds from year to year, there is a written agreement, with specified covenants; the tenant being subjected to fines in the event of a deviation from them.† Both methods are highly injudicious; and it is in the prevalence of them, more than in the existence of tithes and poor's rates, that we are to look for the backward state of agriculture in many of our finest countries. No class of men have more liberality than the English landholders; but it would be in vain to expect a tenant to lay out much capital on the improvement of a farm of which his tenure comes to an end in seven years, or may be disturbed by the commission of a trespass, or the occurrence of a death. A tenant so situated loses the habit of reflecting on improvements, and even of carrying into effect those which he is aware would, in time, be advantageous. If he succeed in saving money, he is much more likely to place it out at interest than to employ it in his own business.

The expence of cultivation has increased greatly during the present age; the enhancement consequent on war and taxation not having been counteracted in agriculture, as in manufactures, by ingenious discovery, improved machinery, or any great augmentation of capital. The following table contains the averages of three distinct years, at periods considerably remote from each other.

Average Expence of Cultivating One Hundred Acres of Land, for three distinct years. ‡

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1790.</th> <th>1803.</th> <th>1813.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Rent</td> <td>88 6 3½</td> <td>121 2 7½</td> <td>161 12 7½</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tithe</td> <td>20 14 1½</td> <td>26 8 0</td> <td>38 17 3½</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Rates</td> <td>17 13 10</td> <td>31 7 7½</td> <td>38 19 2½</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wear and Tear</td> <td>15 13 5½</td> <td>22 11 10¼</td> <td>31 2 10½</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Labour</td> <td>85 5 4½</td> <td>118 0 4</td> <td>161 12 11½</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Seed</td> <td>46 4 10½</td> <td>49 2 7</td> <td>98 17 10</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Manure</td> <td>48 0 3</td> <td>68 0 2</td> <td>37 7 0½</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Team</td> <td>67 4 10</td> <td>80 8 0</td> <td>134 19 8½</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Interest</td> <td>22 11 11½</td> <td>30 3 8½</td> <td>50 5 6</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Taxes</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>18 1 4</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total</th> <th>411 14 11½</th> <th>547 10 11½</th> <th>771 16 4½</th> </tr> </table>

* Arthur Young On the Progressive Value of Money, p. 7. † Evidence of Surveyors in Corn Committee Reports, 1814. ‡ Returns made to the Board of Agriculture, and published by Arthur Young. The last column may be taken as a fair representation of agricultural expence at the present time. There have been reductions in some particulars, especially labour and taxes; the tax on horses employed in husbandry (17s. 6d. a-head during the war) having been materially reduced in 1816; but this is balanced by some additional expences, particularly the charge for manure, which is not fully stated in the above column. Surveyors are accustomed to calculate the produce of land with reference to the rent: highly cultivated land ought to produce three rents, that is, one-third of the gross produce should go for the rent, another for the expences, and the remainder for the farmer's profit; inferior land, requiring additional expence in cultivating, the rent is in general only a fourth, sometimes only a fifth, of the gross produce. * It was in 1813, after the discomfiture of Bonaparte in Russia, that land surveyors began to lower their estimates of rent, in the prospect of peace. †

A century ago, our cattle, from feeding on wastes and commons, were not one-half, sometimes even not one-third, of their present weight. To calculate the number of cattle in England is a matter of considerable difficulty. It is commonly computed to contain from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 oxen. Horses are, of course, much less numerous, and do not appear to exceed 1,500,000, of which about 1,000,000 are used in husbandry. 200,000 are kept for pleasure, and 300,000 are colts and breeding mares. In all these departments of rural economy, an increase of number takes place as improvements are introduced, and pasturage ameliorated; but, in one of the humbler objects of a farmer's care, we mean poultry, the progress of society operates to produce a reduction. This is owing chiefly to the number of farm houses diminishing as farms increase in extent, and to the abridged supply of that waste provision which forms the chief food of poultry.

The number of sheep in England is a point of interest, both in a manufacturing and agricultural sense. We are inclined to take the average at 18,000,000 or 19,000,000 sheep, and 7,000,000 lambs. The number of long-woolled sheep is fully 4,000,000; their fleeces average 7 or 8 lbs.; of short-woolled sheep the quantity is much greater, and probably exceeds 14,000,000; but the average weight of fleece is only from 3 to 3 1/2 lbs. The whole quantity of wool annually shorn in England seems above 80,000,000 lbs. The merinos were introduced about the beginning of the present century, and were imported in large numbers after our alliance with Spain, in 1809. Opinions differ in regard to their utility, the carcase not having answered so well as the fleece. Considerable advantage, however, has been derived from crossing them with our own breeds, and farther experience may lead to more beneficial results.

The great pasturage counties are Leicester, Northampton, Lincoln, and Somerset. Of the counties for butter and cheese, the principal are Cheshire, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire. Of butter, England, from the richness of her pasture, should naturally make large exports; but taxes press so much on our agricultural produce, that our Custom-house returns exhibit no shipments worth notice, except to the Brazils and to our own colonies in the West Indies and North America. In fact, in this respect, our agriculturists have stood in need of prohibitory duties on the produce of the Continent.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Butter.</th> <th>Cheese.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>In 1812,</td> <td>25,867 cwt.</td> <td>87,657 cwt.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>115,776</td> <td>145,562</td> </tr> <tr> <td>During nine months of 1815,</td> <td>90,000</td> <td>76,630</td> </tr> </table>

At that time the rate of duty on foreign butter imported was only 5s. 1 1/2d. per cwt.; on foreign cheese only 4s. 4 1/2d. per cwt.; but, in 1816, these duties were quadrupled, and the imports greatly reduced. From Ireland, the imports of butter to London only were, in 1812, 160,000 cwt.; in 1816, they were of nearly equal amount. At that time prices were low, but, since the imposition of the high duties on Continental butter, the Irish are assured of a steady demand and good price for this very important article of their produce.

A national peculiarity, of some importance in itself, and claiming our notice in connection with the nature of our climate, is the much larger consumption of butcher-meat among the lower orders of our people than in the same class on the Continent, particularly in France. This has long been the case. It was a saying of Prince Maurice of Nassau, the able successor of the first Prince of Orange, that the English soldiers newly come over were, on account of their generous food, "fit for enterprises of high mettle." §

The annual amount of profit from farming, that is, the return for the capital and personal labour of farmers throughout the kingdom, is as little susceptible of a definite calculation as any thing in the range of statistics. It can be judged of only by approximation, and by adopting the broad rule of land surveyors, who, in their estimates, assign an equal sum for farming profit as for rent; this gives nearly thirty millions for the farming profit of England and Wales; an estimate confirmed by the returns under the property-tax, as well as by the probable amount of the farming capital of England, viz. between L. 250,000,000 and L. 300,000,000 Sterling.

Connected with these calculations, is the value of the total annual produce of land in England. This is necessarily subject to fluctuation; the high price of a particular season leading, in the next, to an extended tillage, and vice versa. Taking wheat at the medium of 80s. and other corn at

* Evidence in Corn Committee Reports, in 1814. † Returns to the House of Commons, 1816. § Sir William Temple On the Netherlands, Chap. IV. p. 102. † Ibid. Agriculture—the prices at which importation begins to be allowed, we shall find an average produce of somewhat more than sixty millions Sterling in corn; to which, adding a similar value in pasturage, and a farther allowance for hops, fruit, and vegetables, we have a total of from 130 to 140 millions. Such seems to be the collective value of the annual produce of the land of England and Wales, and of the labour and capital bestowed on it. That this estimate is not materially wrong, appears from a reference to the government returns of rent (under the property-tax), which, in 1810, amounted to nearly thirty millions; and it is common to consider the rent from a fourth to a fifth of the gross produce.*

In Scotland the rent bears a higher proportion to the gross produce; being in general not less than one-third. (Evidence in Corn Committee Report, 1814.) This is owing, certainly, not to greater capital, and still less to superior soil, but to an exemption from tithe and poor's rate; also to the use of long leases. A farther difference of rent in favour of Scotland is found, on examination, to be but apparent, and is explained by the larger size of the Scotch acre. It is in tillage, not in pasturage, that the Scotch farmers lay claim to superiority. On comparing English agriculture with that of the Continent, we find that our chief superiority consists in machinery and live stock. Thrashing machines are, in a manner, unknown on the Continent, and all iron manufacture is of inferior quality. In regard to live stock, the countries that approach nearest to us are Jutland, Holstein, Holland, Flanders, and Normandy, all evidently indebted for their extensive pasturages to the vicinity of the sea; in the interior of the Continent, pasturage is, in general, very indifferent. Even in these maritime provinces, the cattle, though frequently large, are not fattened in the same gradual manner as in our grazing counties; the meat, consequently, is not of equal flavour. In horses the inferiority is more apparent to the eye, and holds both as to size and shape. Flemish horses are large, but heavy, while the Norman breed, though capable of much labour, is small in size when compared with the English. No where are horses seen of such bulk and strength as the drays in London; if they are, as is supposed, of foreign origin, they have greatly surpassed the primitive stock, since neither the Netherlands nor Holstein can now match them.

The Corn Committees of Parliament, in 1813 and 1814, collected a great deal of useful information relative to the agriculture of the Continent, and the price at which foreign corn could be imported into England. That price is not so low as may at first be imagined. In Poland, land and labour are very cheap, but the means of bringing down the grain from the interior are very limited. The great rivers are navigable only at particular seasons, and the labour of conveyance is considerable, when we take into account the bringing back the barks with men and oars against the current. It is thus profitable to Agriculture, ship for England only when the London market is at or above 70s.† The quantity of wheat annually exported from Poland varies from 200,000 to 500,000 quarters; that from Pomerania, and the rest of Germany bordering the Baltic, from 100,000 to 150,000. Flanders seldom makes a large export; the year 1810 affording almost the only example of the kind in the present age. In Russia, the price of wheat, though considerably lower than in England, is said to have risen since 1780 in nearly the same ratio; and in France, landed property is burdened with a direct tax (the foncier) of 25 per cent. on the rent, which, of course, enhances materially the price of produce. These facts are useful in enabling us to arrive at a definite conclusion on a topic hitherto involved in vagueness and obscurity,—the relative prices of corn in England and the Continent. To consumers on the spot, prices are, on an average, about 30 per cent. below our peace currency, which corresponds to a difference of 25 per cent. when the freight and other import charges are added to the price on the spot. In butcher-meat, the Continent, in general, is also about 30 per cent. below the peace prices in England. The variation of prices among the continental countries is much smaller than we generally imagine; and the variation from season to season is also much less than in England, because butcher-meat enters comparatively but little into the food of the lower classes.

We cannot close this part of our subject without a few remarks on the connection between the state of our agriculture and the extent of our financial burdens. Those who compare the heavy pressure of our taxes with the lighter burdens of our continental neighbours, have, in general, the satisfaction of finding some counterpoise in the superior dexterity of our people, and the productiveness of our capital. This holds true, in regard to our navigators, our merchants, and our manufacturers; and it holds in agriculture in regard to grazing; because in grazing little personal labour is requisite, while capital and active habits of business are of the most beneficial operation. But, in the department of tillage, much remains to be done ere England can claim any great superiority. Farms are yet too small in more than two-thirds of England; and leases generally too short. The course of husbandry is frequently injudicious, the ploughs on a bad construction, and there exists a gross misapplication of animal strength. However light the soil, and however strong the horses, it is still customary to put three four, and frequently five, in a plough, throughout almost all our west and south-west counties. These are the main causes of the comparative unproductiveness of our finest counties, and of our being obliged to pay so heavy a premium in the shape of corn laws to support our agriculture. Without the corn laws, our lower classes would be supported on nearly the same terms as their continental neighbours;

* See the preceding Table of the number of acres Laws, p. 364. † Evidence of Mr Jolly, Corn Committee, 1814. and there would be no occasion, with all our taxes, to dread the competition of foreigners in almost any branch of industry; but, if the manufacturers of England are obliged to pay for their support 30 per cent. more than those of France and Germany, while their wages are very little higher, what other prospect have we than that of increasing emigration, and the augmentation of the poor rates?

The quantity of land still lying uncultivated in the shape of wastes and commons, is a frequent topic of animadversion; persons unacquainted with agricultural calculation calling loudly for their being brought into culture, while the landed interest object to passing a general inclosure act, or, in other words, to giving unlimited scope to speculative cultivation. We by no means participate in their apprehensions; but we would abstain from giving any artificial stimulus to this, more than to any other branch of industry. Let the progress of inclosure be regulated by the gradual increase of our population, and the discovery of better methods of turning such land to account. No benefit can be derived from applying to this purpose any more capital than goes into it voluntarily; and every experienced farmer is aware, that the best prospect of profit lies not in reclaiming new soils, but in bestowing farther labour and expense on the land already under culture.

V.—Mines—Quarries—Iron, Copper, Tin, and Salt Works.

In regard to minerals, England does not yield to any country in Europe in natural abundance, and takes the lead of all in the extent to which these rude treasures have been converted to purposes of utility. Our great superiority lies in our coal-mines, which are not only more productive, but much more advantageously situated than those of the Continent. To the mines along the coast, a ready conveyance is afforded by our insular position, and to those in the interior by our inland navigation. The consumption of coal in England, for domestic use, has been computed, or rather guessed, at 15,000,000 of tons annually. Large as this quantity is, and larger as it must be, when we add to it the vast consumption of manufactories, such as iron-works, salt-works, glass-houses, &c. there is no reason to apprehend the exhaustion of this precious mineral; the depth of the coal beds being very great, and the extent of ground containing them amounting to many hundred thousand acres. The principal tracts for coal lie in Northumberland, Durham, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Glamorganshire. The ports for shipping it in large quantities are Newcastle, Sunderland, Swansea, and Whitehaven. The motive of the tax on coal exported to foreign countries is thus neither an apprehension of eventual scarcity, nor even a calculation of revenue, so much as a dread of giving our continental neighbours the means of rivalling our manufactures. Coal is not wanting in France and Germany, but the mines are at a distance from water-carriage, and as yet very imperfectly wrought, while for domestic fuel the inhabitants give a preference to wood.

Duty on Coal shipped to foreign parts, reckoned by the Newcastle chaldron, which is nearly double the Winchester.

To the United States, in British shipping, L. 0 17 0 in foreign shipping, 1 10 3

To the Continent of Europe, or any foreign country, except the United States. In British shipping, . . . . L. 1 2 0 In foreign shipping, . . . . 1 15 4

Home Duties on Coal since the Peace in 1814, per Winchester chaldron.

Carried coastways to London, . . . . L. 0 9 4 To any port in England, except London, 0 6 0

Amount of Duty paid on Coal in the following years:

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> <th>1817.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Home-duty in the port of London,</td> <td>535,157</td> <td>570,066</td> <td>538,342</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total home-duty on coal carried coastways in England and Wales, including London,</td> <td>894,497</td> <td>930,496</td> <td>885,973</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Duty on coal exported to foreign parts,</td> <td>77,750</td> <td>63,182</td> <td>54,326</td> </tr> </table>

Quantity of Coals shipped coastways in England in the year 1817.

<table> <tr> <th>Newcastle,</th> <th>Sunderland,</th> <th>Swansea,</th> <th>New Port and Cardiff,</th> <th>Llanelly in Caermarthen,</th> <th>Liverpool,</th> <th>Pembroke,</th> <th>Whitehaven,</th> <th>Hull,</th> <th>From all other parts,</th> <th>Winchester chaldrons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>1,189,319</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>89,576</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>688,901</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>126,150</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>38,113</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>30,206</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>18,697</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>17,613</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>17,062</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>12,921</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>17,093</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="10"></td> <td>2,245,651</td> </tr> </table>

Export of Coal in 1817 to Ireland and foreign parts.

<table> <tr> <th>Whitehaven (chiefly to Ireland),</th> <th>Winchester chaldrons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>184,092</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Liverpool, do.</td> <td>53,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Swansea, do.</td> <td>28,664</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Llanelly (all to Ireland), (In Caernarthenshire.)</td> <td>18,459</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Chester (chiefly to Ireland),</td> <td>17,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Preston in Lancashire,</td> <td>5,379</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Newcastle to foreign parts,</td> <td>96,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sunderland do.</td> <td>22,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>London,</td> <td>8,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Other parts in England,</td> <td>98,406</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ports of Scotland to Ireland,</td> <td>122,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>to other parts,</td> <td>12,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">665,000 *</td> </tr> </table>

* All these statements are taken from Returns to the House of Commons in May and June 1818. To Scotland, a considerable quantity of English coal (about 40,000 chaldrons) is shipped annually. In Wales, the coals carried coastways are chiefly from Swansea to Beaumaris, and vary from 20,000 to 30,000 chaldrons; the culm carried coastways in Wales goes chiefly to Pembroke, Cardigan, and Beaumaris, and is computed about 18,000 chaldrons.

Of inland coal, the consumption in London is very inconsiderable, the duty not exceeding L. 1600 a-year. Recent discoveries in regard to the application of steam, both for cooking and for warming apartments, appear to promise a considerable reduction in the consumption of coal. Much apprehension was excited in the coal counties, by a proposition brought forward in the present year (1819), for an equalization of the duty on coal, on the plan of relieving London and the maritime counties, by finding an equivalent to government in a reduced tax imposed on all coal, or, to use the technical phrase, on "coal at the pit's mouth." This equivalent might have been found by a very reduced rate of tax, since the whole of the coal that at present pays duty appears to be below a fourth, perhaps below a fifth, of the total consumption. But this apparently small tax was represented as replete with ruin to many of our manufactures, whose situation had been determined by the cheapness of coal, and whose preservation depended on a continuance of this advantage. The petitions soon became so numerous and urgent, that Ministers hastened to announce that the idea was wholly relinquished on their part, and the question, when brought forward by an individual member, was lost by a great majority.

In quarries, whether of stone or slate, England is not rich, particularly the eastern half of the kingdom: hence the almost universal use of brick in ordinary buildings. It is not till the traveller reaches Durham, that he finds stone commonly used. In the northern counties, quarries occur frequently; in the south, those of Portland and Bath are the most considerable. Still the annual profits of the whole are inconsiderable, when contrasted with the product of our mines, as appears from the following return:

Profits in 1810 from the Quarries, Mines, and Iron Works in the counties where they are principally situated; extracted from the Parliamentary Papers on the Property-Tax:

<table> <tr> <th rowspan="2">Quarries.</th> <th colspan="2">Mines, as well of Coal as of Iron, Copper, Tin, and Lead.</th> <th rowspan="2">Iron-Works.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>L.</th> <th>L.</th> <th>L.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Cheshire,</td> <td>877</td> <td>(coal and iron)</td> <td>9,568</td> <td>8,334</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cornwall,</td> <td>2,147</td> <td>(tin and copper)</td> <td>106,028</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cumberland,</td> <td>952</td> <td>(coal)</td> <td>32,466</td> <td>656</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Derbyshire,</td> <td>1,950</td> <td>(coal and iron)</td> <td>18,678</td> <td>34,613</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Devonshire,</td> <td>3,907</td> <td>(tin, copper, and iron)</td> <td>10,830</td> <td>13,043</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Durham,</td> <td>1,668</td> <td>(chiefly coal)</td> <td>51,071</td> <td>12,259</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Yorkshire,</td> <td>3,800</td> <td>(chiefly coal)</td> <td>34,506</td> <td>7,659</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lancaster,</td> <td>3,248</td> <td>(coal and iron)</td> <td>30,813</td> <td>18,726</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Northumberland,</td> <td>3,796</td> <td>(chiefly coal)</td> <td>45,013</td> <td>17,420</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Shropshire,</td> <td>1,706</td> <td>(coal and iron)</td> <td>21,058</td> <td>6,430</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Staffordshire,</td> <td>327</td> <td>(coal and iron)</td> <td>21,306</td> <td>8,303</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Warwickshire,</td> <td></td> <td>(iron)</td> <td>250</td> <td>16,715</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Flintshire,</td> <td></td> <td>(coal)</td> <td>14,019</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Glamorganshire,</td> <td></td> <td>(coal and iron)</td> <td>28,057</td> <td>29,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Monmouthshire,</td> <td></td> <td>(coal and iron)</td> <td>11,960</td> <td>2,362</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Other Counties,</td> <td>4,573</td> <td></td> <td>47,788</td> <td>46,182</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total, L. 29,160</th> <th>L. 483,491</th> <th></th> <th>222,672</th> </tr> </table>

No branch of our industry has increased more rapidly in the present age than our iron-works. A century ago, it was computed that we required an annual import of 20,000 tons of foreign iron; an import that for many years seems to have been on the increase, so as to carry the quantity required, after the middle of last century, to 30,000, 40,000, and even to 50,000 tons. This supply was brought to us from Sweden and Russia, and though burdened with duty, it was, in quantity, more than double our native produce. Fortunately, after the year 1780, discoveries were made which increased greatly our supply at home. Bar iron had been manufactured in England, as on the Continent, with charcoal fuel only, coal being deemed inapplicable to that purpose. Under that impression, the rapid consumption of the wood in the neighbourhood of our different iron-works, had necessitated a removal, at a great expense, of materials from one spot to another, and was on the point of causing an alarming decay in the business, when our iron-masters, after long perseverance, succeeded in applying coal to their manufacture. They had to contend with various prejudices, particularly the supposed inferiority of iron so made; but, in the course of years, the manufacture acquired such an extent that there were, in 1805, 220 established blast furnaces, making 250,000 tons of pig-iron. No sooner had the trade acquired this extension, than government fixed on it as a fit object of taxation, and proposed a duty on iron of 2s. per ton; a proposition which experienced the most decided resistance from the body of iron-masters. They urged that, to put iron-works under the regulation of the excise, would interfere materially with the manufacture; that there would be great difficulty in apportioning the drawback on the hardware articles exported; and that the expected produce of the tax would be most decidedly lessened by the additional cost of the cannon, muskets, nails, and iron-work of various kinds furnished to government. Besides, a tax on iron must be charged on articles of the greatest utility; on the implements of agriculture, manufactures, and mines; on the iron materials used in our buildings and machinery as a substitute for timber; on our rail-roads, and other undertakings of great national importance. These arguments prevailed; the Ministry of 1806 desisted, and no subsequent attempt has been made to impose a duty on iron. (Papers printed by the Iron-masters, in 1806.)

The principal iron mines are in Derbyshire and Glamorganshire; but there are extensive mines in other counties specified in the prefixed table. The return of peace, by suspending entirely the demand of government, caused a long and general inactivity in this important manufacture: many of our iron-works were suspended, and the workmen with their families reduced in 1816 and 1817 to great distress. Temporary relief was afforded them by private subscriptions, and by the application of the poor's rate; but it was not until the revival of business in the latter part of 1818, that the workmen were restored to employment, or enabled to earn even a scanty livelihood. Now that the works throughout the kingdom are in activity, the computation is, that 300,000 tons of pig-iron are produced in the fur- naces of England, two-thirds of which are made into malleable iron, the other third into castings. The capital invested in these works is reckoned at L. 5,000,000 Sterling; the population employed by them at 200,000; the whole, exclusive of the capital and population employed in the manufacture of hardware, of which we shall treat in the section on MANUFACTURES.

Copper-mines have long been known in England, but they were wrought with very little skill or effect until towards the year 1700. Even at that time the annual produce, after smelting the metal from the ore, was only a few hundred tons of copper; and it hardly exceeded 1000 tons annually down to the middle of last century. From that time forward the increase became considerable, as well in Cornwall as in Devon, North Wales, and Derbyshire; in all of which copper mines were discovered and wrought. In North Wales there were two mines (Parys and Mona), which, for some time after the year 1780, yielded annually a large quantity of ore, but they are no longer productive: the mines of Devon and Derbyshire continue to be wrought, but the great product is from Cornwall, the mines of which yield 80,000 tons of ore annually: the metal obtained varying from 5 to 15 in the 100 parts, may be stated at 8000 tons of copper. It is the Welsh collieries that afford to Cornwall, as to Devonshire, the great means of smelting; and as the ore is less heavy than the coal required for this operation (one ton of ore requiring from two to two and a half tons of coal), the practice is to convey the ore in vast quantities to Wales, particularly to Swansea. The total quantity of coal consumed for this purpose at Swansea is nearly 200,000 tons a year; exclusive of a farther consumption of coal at the copper mines of Cornwall, in working the ponderous steam-engines used in throwing out the water from the pits. In this, as in other minerals, France is greatly behind England. She has various copper mines, but her coal mines, at least hitherto wrought, are at too great a distance to make such undertakings profitable; she consequently requires an annual import from England. For the destination of our exported copper, we refer to the following table:

British Copper exported in 1817, wrought and unwrought.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Cwt.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>From London,</td> <td>85,029</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Liverpool,</td> <td>32,989</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bristol,</td> <td>6,150</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Swansea,</td> <td>5,740</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Other parts,</td> <td>3,297</td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">133,145</th> </tr> </table>

To the following Countries.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Cwt.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>East Indies,</td> <td>52,595</td> </tr> <tr> <td>United States,</td> <td>22,733</td> </tr> <tr> <td>France,</td> <td>14,550</td> </tr> <tr> <td>West Indies,</td> <td>11,180</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Brazil,</td> <td>8,382</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Holland,</td> <td>7,798</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Other parts,</td> <td>15,907</td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">133,145</th> </tr> </table>

The price of copper in 1746, and the succeeding years, was generally about 1s. 3d. per lb.; in 1765, it fell to 1s. 1d., in 1778 to 10d.; since 1781 it has not been under 11d. In 1805, it reached the unexampled price of 1s. 11d. per lb.; and large importations took place during 1806, 1807, 1808, 1809, and 1810; but the average price of the last 60 years may be called 1s. 2d. In using copper for coin, it has been proposed to take 16d. per lb. as the rate of value, which would leave a profit to government on the mint operation, without affording a temptation to individuals to melt the pieces. (Grenfell on Copper Coinage, 1814.)

Cornwall is also the great seat of the tin-mines of England. A century ago the average produce of our tin mines hardly exceeded 1500 tons. From 1720 to 1740, the average produce was 2100 From 1740 to 1760, 2570 From 1760 to 1780, 2740 From 1780 to 1800, 3100

The produce of the mines does not materially differ from the last of these averages. From abroad we receive tin from one quarter only, viz. the East Indies, in particular from the Island of Banca. Of this we imported, in 1815 and 1816, nearly 600 tons, the chief part of which was re-exported to the Continent of Europe. Of our own tin, about the half is used at home, and the other half finds its way to the following countries:

Return to Parliament of British Tin Exported:

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>In 1815.<br>Cwt.</th> <th>In 1816.<br>Cwt.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>To Russia,</td> <td>5,556</td> <td>6,139</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Germany, including<br>Prussia,</td> <td>670</td> <td>3,482</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Holland,</td> <td>600</td> <td>1,562</td> </tr> <tr> <td>France,</td> <td>1,002</td> <td>2,809</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Spain,</td> <td>220</td> <td>1,396</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Italy,</td> <td>1,118</td> <td>3,412</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Malta,</td> <td>232</td> <td>1,088</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Turkey,</td> <td>3,708</td> <td>4,252</td> </tr> <tr> <td>East Indies, and Asia<br>generally,</td> <td>9,447</td> <td>7,733</td> </tr> <tr> <td>All other parts,</td> <td>2,338</td> <td>3,263</td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">24,891</th> <th>35,156</th> </tr> </table>

The lead mines of England are principally in Cumberland, Northumberland, and Derbyshire; the whole calculated to produce from 12,000 to 15,000 tons annually. Black lead is found in abundance in Cumberland, in the romantic district of Borrowdale; but the mine is opened only periodically, that the market may not be overstocked.

Salt is already a very important product in England, and is likely to become much more so from the measures urged of late years on the Legislature, part of which have been adopted, while a farther part seem only to wait a season of less financial pressure. (Report of Committee on the Salt Duties, June 1818.) Salt is obtained in several ways; partly from brine springs, partly from the rock, partly from sea water. In the last manner it is manufactured in various salt pans along the coast, viz. in Hampshire, Kent, and Essex; also in the northern counties of Durham and Northumberland, where the abundance of coal cheapens materially the expense of the process. But the great supply is from the rock salt and brine springs of Cheshire, situated in the southern part of the county, near Northwich. From these springs it is obtained (see the article CHESHIRE) at the rate of one gallon of solid salt from four gallons of liquid, while common sea water does not yield above one in twenty-eight. The price of rock-salt at the rocks is only 12s. per ton; it is there mixed with the brine from the saline springs, and refined in large iron pans, after which it is called white salt, and is sold, the inferior at 23s. the best from 35s. to 40s. the ton. On salt for home consumption there has been, since 1805, the enormous duty of 15s. per bushel, nearly fifteen times the prime cost. The sale price was thus raised to L30 the ton. This duty has rendered to government, since 1805, no less than L1,400,000 nett; it is, besides, of easy collection, from the mines and manufactories of salt being confined to particular districts, and smuggling readily prevented.

This concentration will, it is hoped, be the means of facilitating materially the expected changes in the law, since it will render practicable the use of rock salt duty free to certain manufactures (as sal-ammoniac, magnesia, and Glauber's salt) without any great risk of fraud on the revenue. An act of great importance was lately passed (27th June 1817), permitting the free use of rock salt, not only in curing fish, but in making mineral alkali, an ingredient of great use as a substitute for barilla, in the manufacture of soap. This alkali is subjected to a duty, which, it is believed, may soon be raised to 10s. per cwt., producing about L400,000 to the revenue. Were the whole salt duty taken off, the mines and springs of Cheshire might produce annually 24,000,000 bushels of salt, each bushel of 56 lbs.; but the actual quantity extracted, as appears by evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, in May 1817, is only about 10,000,000 bushels.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Year 1813.</th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Bushels.</th> <th>Bushels.</th> <th>Bushels.</th> <th>Bushels.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Northwich salt exported (this is duty free).</td> <td>7,754,000</td> <td>8,677,000</td> <td>11,595,000</td> <td>8,392,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Northwich salt delivered for the fisheries, also duty free,</td> <td>984,000</td> <td>1,106,000</td> <td>1,087,000</td> <td>702,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Northwich salt which paid duty,</td> <td>937,000</td> <td>897,000</td> <td>933,000</td> <td>893,000</td> </tr> </table>

The capital vested in the works is about L700,000: and the persons employed, including women and children, about 2400.

Our agriculture has already felt the good effects of the recent relaxation of the salt regulations. The high duty of 1805 had necessitated the absolute loss of a quantity of refuse, thrown out from the salt-pans, and eagerly bought up in former years by farmers. This precious manure is now restored, and affords the means of giving fertility to 100,000 acres annually. On salt used for feeding cattle, this duty is reduced to 5s. a bushel. For bleaching or refining, salt is delivered duty free; in the latter the quantity used considerably exceeds 1,000,000 bushels a-year. (Return to House of Commons, 2d April 1818.)

VI.—Fisheries.

A season of peace is always favourable to the extension of our fisheries; and, if we may judge from the progress lately made, this branch of our national industry is likely to be carried much farther than at any former period of our history. Of this we shall treat more fully under the article FISHERY. At present our space allows no more than a brief notice of the principal branches of our fisheries.

The mackerel fishery is strictly English, and is carried on with great vigour on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, in May, June, and July. Large as the supply is, it would still admit of augmentation; and herrings, also, might be caught in vast quantities on the coast of Kent. In October and November. The desideratum with the fishermen, now that peace has reduced their expence, is not so much a high price as a certain market; and the most effectual way to procure that is, to quicken, by every possible means, the conveyance to London. The navigation of the Thames not being at all times certain or expeditious, it was proposed some time ago (in 1812) to improve, or rather to re-make, the road to London from the small harbour called Holyhaven, situated on the Essex side of the river, about 30 miles from the metropolis. The late discoveries in the mode of applying steam to navigation, may perhaps render this unnecessary, but it cannot supersede another and more important plan, that of accelerating, by improvements in the roads, the conveyance of fish by land carriage from Brighton, and other parts of the Sussex coast, to London. An association of gentlemen, under the name of the Downs Society of Fishermen's Friends, was formed in the end of 1815; they have since made several interesting reports, and give reason to hope that various improvements will be effected.

The pilchard fishery takes place chiefly on the Pilchards' coast of Devonshire and Cornwall, and, though subject to great fluctuations, as well from the seasons as from our political situation relatively to the Con- tinent, forms, on the whole, an important branch; employing a number of seamen both in catching the fish and in carrying it to foreign markets. Its season is generally from June to September.

The herring, the most important of all our fisheries, is happily now in a state of rapid extension. It formed, during the seventeenth century, the great employment of the Dutch seamen, and was contemplated by their neighbours with very jealous eyes. Accordingly, in the reign of Charles II., particularly after the rupture with Holland in 1672, several acts were passed for the encouragement of our fishermen, and in a spirit of hostility to the Dutch. The subsequent accession of William to our throne, and the long friendship between the two countries, relaxed the exertions of government; and it was not till after the peace of 1748, that a large bounty was given on the tonnage of the busses, or masted vessels, so employed. Still our fishermen proved unable to compete with the experience and patient perseverance of the Dutch, and it was found necessary to raise the bounty from 30s. to 50s. per ton. This had the desired effect, and the number of busses increased; but the additional 20s. being withdrawn in 1771, the fishery again declined. The American war, and, subsequently, the wars of the French revolution, proved extremely adverse to its extension: at last, in 1808, an act was passed, carrying the bounty to L. 3 a ton on the busses, with a farther grant of 2s. per barrel on all herrings caught whether in busses or boats. This important act was farther confirmed in 1815, and the bounty per barrel raised to 4s. with the essential qualification that the herrings should be gutted before curing. A farther and still more important law (27th June 1817) declares, that not only common salt but rock salt, which is much cheaper, may be used duty free for our fisheries.

These acts form the grand charter of the British fisheries. The bounty, which was formerly reckoned by the tonnage of the shipping employed, is now awarded on the quantity caught, the barrels being branded by customhouse officers. The mode of curing adopted by the Dutch has been communicated to our fishermen, and bounty refused in all cases in which either the herrings or barrels were in improper condition. The success has been correspondent: successive reports made by the Commissioners of the Herring Fishery, in 1816, 1817, 1818, and 1819, concur in exhibiting a progressive increase in the quantity gutted before curing, and, of course, entitled to the higher bounty. The increase of our fishing-craft, however, has been only in the number of boats. In the busses, or masted vessels, there is no augmentation, the bounty, even on its present footing (L. 3 per ton), being insufficient to counterpoise the superior economy of the boats. (Fraser on the Fisheries.)

Greenland was first discovered by the English, but in this, as in other branches of navigation, we long allowed the Dutch to take a lead. It was not till after 1750 that, government having granted a bounty of 40s. a ton on every vessel employed in the whale fishery, a considerable increase took place in this branch.

In 1750, the vessels employed were only 19; in 1756, they had increased to 67. The war soon caused a decrease of one-half; but, at the return of peace in 1763, this fishery revived, and in 1770, the vessels employed amounted to 50; in 1773, to 55; in 1775, to 96. The American war again caused a decrease, and in 1782, the vessels so employed were only 38. In 1784, they increased to 89, and in 1785, to 140; after this they exceeded 200 annually till 1793; but the long continuance of the late wars reduced them below the half; and the advantages of peace have been counteracted by causes which have as yet prevented the English vessels from regaining the number employed previous to 1793.

The Newfoundland fishery has been considerable for fully a century past; as a nursery for seamen, it is accounted of such consequence as to have formed the object of a specific article in most of our treaties of peace. The fish caught, particularly in time of peace, is sent less to Britain than to the Catholic countries in the south of Europe; a market subject to all the interruptions attendant on a change of political relations. The number of vessels employed in this fishery at different times was as follows:

<table> <tr><th>In</th><th>1731,</th><th>70</th></tr> <tr><th>1764,</th><th>140</th></tr> <tr><th>1774,</th><th>254</th></tr> <tr><th>The American war caused a diminution, but in 1784 the number was</th><th>236</th></tr> <tr><th>1785,</th><th>292</th></tr> <tr><th>At this rate the fishery continued until the war of 1793, after which, particularly after our rupture with Spain in 1797, it fell off greatly; the fishing vessels in 1798 being only</th><th>140</th></tr> </table>

The continuance of war, and the aggrandizement of the French in Italy, occasioned additional depression, so that, in 1810, the number of our vessels employed at Newfoundland did not exceed 92. The peace seemed to promise a revival of this important nursery of seamen, and, in the year 1816, the number of vessels that arrived in Newfoundland was 795, manned by 6000 seamen (Report of Committee in June 1817, p. 7); but the trade, both then and in 1817 and 1818, proved unprofitable, in consequence of indifferent seasons, of the high duty imposed on fish imported in British vessels into Naples, and of the competition of the French fishermen, who are supported by a high bounty from their government. It will thus require a considerable time to reinstate this branch of our fisheries. A treaty with the United States, concluded in the end of 1818, determines the limits within which the shipping of each nation have the power of fishing.

It is matter of surprise to foreigners that a maritime nation should not have more effectually cultivated this great means of facilitating the support of our population. The ample supply that might have been afforded by the Nymph Bank on the south-east coast of Ireland has been avowedly neglected; and it is but very lately (October 1818) that we made the discovery of a Bank of almost equal productivity in the vicinity of Orkney. Fish is little known to the mass of the people in our inland counties. While the value of the butcher-meat annually consumed in England exceeds L. 80,000,000 Sterling, the value of our fish caught on our coasts and rivers hardly exceeds L. 2,000,000. Yet its price, with the economy and improved arrangements attendant on a state of peace, would not exceed 20s. a cwt., while other animal food costs fully three times that sum. It might easily be conveyed in a corned state by light waggons through the interior of the country. The London Association for the Relief of the Poor made, in 1812, some most encouraging experiments in this respect; having forwarded corned cod, in quantities of one or two tons, to various manufacturing towns. This cod, on being steeped 48 hours in cold water, was found to eat with potatoes almost like fresh fish. And all this was done on an extensive scale at the almost nameless sacrifice of L. 55. A spirited imitation of this example would greatly increase our exports of fish to Spain, Portugal, and the Mediterranean; while at home it would afford the readiest means of supplying a nutritious food to the lower orders; a considerable proportion of whom must, from the nature of our poor-laws, perhaps from unavoidable causes, continue for a length of time a burden on the community. To accomplish this effectually, the duty on salt ought to be entirely taken off. Fishermen living in hamlets or in detached cottages along the sea-side, can never conform to the rules of the excise, and will never, without their complete removal, be able to fish at any day and hour that may suit their other avocations. Every great fish-market should have beside it a salting-house for curing the fish remaining unsold at a prescribed hour; these might afterwards be sent into the country, or put apart for a winter store.*

VII.—Manufactures.

In this great department of our productive industry, we begin with woollens, which, although no longer the largest of our manufactures in point of export, nor even in the value annually made, is entitled to the first place from the priority of its establishment, as well as from the substantial basis on which it rests. England, from the extent of her pastures, abounded in wool from a very remote age, and the inhabitants were, doubtless, capable of manufacturing it into rude clothing; each weaver working in his separate cottage, and with very little aid from machinery. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, we appear to have had only the most humble fabrics, and to have imported all cloth of finer texture; sending abroad our wool in quantities to Flanders, a country whose inhabitants were at that period much farther advanced than the rest of Europe, with the exception of Italy. It was in the middle of the fourteenth century that a better system was introduced. Flemish manufacturers were invited over to England, and improved greatly the quality of our home made woollens. The seats of this branch of industry appear at that time to have been Kent and Essex; afterwards Gloucestershire, and subsequently the West Riding of Yorkshire. It occupied at first the southern and more improved districts, and spread afterwards to the northward, on account of the cheapness of labour, the abundance of coal, and the convenience of waterfalls for the machinery. The general character of the woollen manufacture of England has been that of slow progress, but of little fluctuation; the latter evidently a consequence of its depending much more on home consumption than on export. It was extended, not like cotton and hardware, by means of discovery and invention, but by the progressive increase of our population; having been so considerable in the end of the seventeenth century, that the total value of woollens manufactured was computed at eight millions sterling, of which five were for home consumption, and three for export. In the long period from 1700 to 1780, the exports experienced a regular, but not rapid rise; amounting in the latter years (after distinguishing between the real and the customhouse value) to an average of six millions sterling, while our home consumption increased in proportion to our augmenting numbers. After the peace of 1783, woollens partook of the benefit of several of the mechanical discoveries and inventions of the cotton manufacture, and continued to extend, notwithstanding the competition of other countries, as appears by the following table:

<table> <tr> <th>Year</th> <th>Export of Woollen Manufactures, not official, but real value.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1790, (peace)</td> <td>L. 7,300,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1791,</td> <td>7,700,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1792,</td> <td>7,700,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1793, (war)</td> <td>5,200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1794,</td> <td>6,600,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1795,</td> <td>7,600,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1796,</td> <td>9,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1797,</td> <td>7,400,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1798,</td> <td>9,700,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1799,</td> <td>10,200,000</td> </tr> </table>

Of these extensive exports, the largest proportion went to the United States; our shipments thither, in 1770, exceeded L. 2,000,000, and, increasing regularly with the capital and population of America, amounted, in 1799, to L. 4,000,000. Holland was also a good customer; and to Portugal and Spain our exports were not inconsiderable. From 1800 to 1807, the woollen manufacture was, on the whole, thriving, and our exports were large and steady; but after 1808, the Orders in Council, Bonaparte's pro-

* Sir T. Bernard On the Employment of the Labouring Classes. † Official value is distinct from real value, being a computation founded on a series of rules for estimating merchandise by the package, prescribed so long ago as the year 1696. The increase in the value of commodities since then, though very different in different articles, has been fully 50 per cent. on the whole, which it is necessary to add, to arrive at the real value. hibitory decrees, and our unfortunate disputes with America, caused a great fluctuation and diminution in our exports.

Export of Woollens from Britain.

<table> <tr><th>Years.</th><th>Value.</th></tr> <tr><td>1808,</td><td>L. 7,280,370</td></tr> <tr><td>1809,</td><td>8,124,226</td></tr> <tr><td>1810,</td><td>8,659,821</td></tr> <tr><td>1811,</td><td>6,664,817</td></tr> <tr><td>1812,</td><td>7,627,486</td></tr> </table>

The political agitations of these years were productive of great distress among the woollen manufacturers, particularly in 1811 and 1812, as was but too amply shown by the mass of evidence collected for the repeal of the Orders in Council in the latter year. This distress would have been still greater, had not the large demands of government for army clothing in some degree supplied the blank.

Export of our Woollens in Peace.

<table> <tr><th>Years.</th><th>Value.</th></tr> <tr><td>1814,</td><td>L. 7,567,507</td></tr> <tr><td>1815,</td><td>10,198,334</td></tr> <tr><td>1816,</td><td>8,404,481</td></tr> </table>

We select 1815, a year of large export, for the purpose of showing the proportion in which our woollens are sent to different countries.

<table> <tr><th>YEAR 1815.</th><th>Value.</th></tr> <tr><td>Countries.<br>(Real not Official.)<br>Germany, including Prussia,</td><td>L.539,745</td></tr> <tr><td>Netherlands,</td><td>383,446</td></tr> <tr><td>Portugal,</td><td>727,805</td></tr> <tr><td>Spain,</td><td>231,610</td></tr> <tr><td>Gibraltar,</td><td>137,605</td></tr> <tr><td>Italy,</td><td>124,556</td></tr> <tr><td>Malta,</td><td>153,327</td></tr> <tr><td>Ireland, and Isle of Man,</td><td>822,920</td></tr> <tr><td>East Indies,</td><td>1,062,926</td></tr> <tr><td>America, viz. United States,</td><td>4,378,198</td></tr> <tr><td>Our North American Colonies,</td><td>599,686</td></tr> <tr><td>West Indies,</td><td>357,896</td></tr> <tr><td>Colonies of other powers,</td><td>427,431</td></tr> <tr><td>To all other parts,</td><td>251,873</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2">L.10,198,334</td></tr> </table>

The year 1799 was one of unexampled demand and high price. An inquiry, instituted the year after by Parliament, into the state of the woollen manufacture, afforded a variety of useful data relative to the extent of capital and number of persons employed. The result, as far as the name of result can be given to inferences founded on a partial knowledge of facts, was, that the

Total annual value of woollens manufactured in England was L.20,000,000 And the value of the raw material, 6,000,000

leaving a much larger proportion for wages than in the case of our cotton manufacture;—a circumstance which would be of very serious import to a country so much more loaded with taxation than its neighbours, were it not in a considerable degree counterbalanced by the raw material being of home growth.

It was computed in 1800, that of the whole woollens made in England, more than a third was manufactured in the West Riding of Yorkshire; a proportion which, from the advantages of this quarter over others, is now, we imagine, not far below one-half. Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire, are the other seats of this manufacture. For shipping our woollens, London was long the only considerable port. About the year 1700, the usual exports were to the value of a million from the outports, and of two millions from London, where the business was managed by the Blackwell hall factors; but since inland navigation has become extensive, the Yorkshire woollens, even when bought up by London merchants, are in general exported from Liverpool.

Extensive as are our sheep pastures, our manufacturers find it necessary to make an annual importation of foreign wool. This takes place from different parts of Europe.

Countries from which Wool was Imported into England in 1815.

<table> <tr><th>Countries.</th><th>Lbs.</th></tr> <tr><td>Germany,</td><td>8,137,000</td></tr> <tr><td>France,</td><td>757,000</td></tr> <tr><td>Portugal,</td><td>1,146,000</td></tr> <tr><td>Spain,</td><td>6,929,000</td></tr> <tr><td>Ireland, and Isle of Man,</td><td>1,355,000</td></tr> <tr><td>Other parts,</td><td>1,667,000</td></tr> <tr><th colspan="2">Making a total of 14,991,000</th></tr> <tr><th colspan="2">(Customhouse Returns to Parliament, 1816.)</th></tr> </table>

These importations being duty free, and operating materially to keep down the price of English wool, the vendors of the latter, or, as they are termed, the wool-growers, have of late years been very urgent with Government to impose a duty on foreign wool, not on the Spanish, which they admit to be necessary as a mixture with our own, but on those species of foreign wool which come more immediately into competition with their own growth. They took occasion, under the auspices of Lord Sheffield, to bring their claim before Parliament during the agricultural distress in 1816; but the committee appointed to consider of it made no difficulty in declaring, that no part of that distress arose from an inadequate price of wool; and the evident impolicy of burdening a raw commodity which employs the labour of so many thousand individuals, prevented ministers from listening to such applications, until the financial difficulties of the present year led at last (Mr Vansittart's Speech, 7th June 1819) to the proposition of a small duty calculated to produce L.100,000. The importations are a full tenth of the total consumption, having in 1818, as in 1814, exceeded 15,000,000 lbs. The wool-growers complain of the great pressure of taxation, but the price has also risen considerably since the beginning of the wars which aggravated our financial burdens.

In the twelve years that elapsed from 1789 to 1800, there took place a rise of 20 per cent.: of the subsequent prices, an idea may be formed from the following table:

Prices of Fleece Wool in the years between 1801 and 1815. (Evidence before the Committee on Seeds of Wool, in 1816.)

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Best Sussex Downs, per lb.</th> </tr> <tr><td>1801</td><td>21 d. to 22d.</td></tr> <tr><td>1802</td><td>20 22</td></tr> <tr><td>1803</td><td>19 21</td></tr> <tr><td>1804</td><td>22 24</td></tr> <tr><td>1805</td><td>28 30</td></tr> <tr><td>1806</td><td>22 24</td></tr> <tr><td>1807</td><td>22 24</td></tr> <tr><td>1808</td><td>23 24</td></tr> <tr><td>1809</td><td>32 36</td></tr> <tr><td>1810</td><td>28 30</td></tr> <tr><td>1811</td><td>20 21</td></tr> <tr><td>1812</td><td>23 24</td></tr> <tr><td>1813</td><td>23 24</td></tr> <tr><td>1814</td><td>26 28</td></tr> <tr><td>1815</td><td>21 24</td></tr> </table>

The quantity of wool grown, on an average, in England is 144,000,000 lbs.* two-thirds of which consist of short clothing wool, and one-third of a much more valuable kind, called long combing wool: the latter has, it seems, never been produced on the Continent of a quality equal to ours, except in some small districts in Flanders. The ordinary length of the staple of foreign wool is about two inches; that of our long combing from five to seven inches. Without the latter, the continental manufacturers cannot equal us in the stuff goods and others made from fine worsted; and hence the importance, say our woollen manufacturers, of keeping the law as it stands; that is, not only of receiving foreign wool, but of preventing the export of our long wool.

The progressive augmentation in the import of Spanish wool is of importance, as indicating the increased fineness of our cloth.

<table> <tr> <th>lbs.</th> </tr> <tr><td>In the early part of last century, this import did not exceed</td><td>1,000,000</td></tr> <tr><td>It increased very slowly, for, on an average of five years, ending with 1776, it was not quite</td><td>1,600,000</td></tr> <tr><td>But in the five years ending 1787, it was nearly</td><td>2,000,000</td></tr> <tr><td>In the five years from 1787 to 1792, it exceeded</td><td>3,000,000</td></tr> <tr><td>From 1792 to 1800, the average was nearly</td><td>4,000,000</td></tr> <tr><td>Since 1800, though fluctuating from political causes, it has considerably increased, and now averages nearly</td><td>6,000,000</td></tr> </table>

Our cotton manufacture is entitled to the greatest attention on different accounts. Of all our manufactures, it affords the largest export, and exhibits the most rapid improvements in machinery. Its introduction, though not remote, is less recent than is commonly supposed. It appears to have taken place about two centuries ago, when it was established at Manchester; but it was long conducted on a very limited scale. The raw material, imported at first only from the Levant, in particular from Smyrna, began, after 1660, to be supplied by our West India colonies. The quantity imported amounted, about the year 1700, to 3500 bales; but, increasing with the extended cultivation of our colonies, it averaged, about the year 1720, something more than 7000 bales. From the colonial conquests of the war of 1756, our import of cotton received a farther augmentation; but the manufacture increased very slowly, a great part of our cotton being re-exported to Holland, for the supply of Dutch and German weavers. It was not till after the peace of 1763, and the invention, first of a carding machine, and next of the spinning jenny, that this manufacture became considerably extended. In 1775, the average import of cotton approached to 18,000 bales. A variety of improvements, explained in our article on COTTON MANUFACTURE (pp. 396, 397), now took place, and increased the average import of the raw material, in 1781, to 25,000 bales. Fine calicoes and muslins were now introduced; the workmen were withdrawn from their detached dwellings, and collected into large factories; and the price of the finished article experienced a reduction, notwithstanding a rise in the raw material, and the wages of labour. The period that followed the peace of 1783 is perhaps unexampled in the history of human industry, for the rapidity of discovery, the reduction of price, and the extension of sale that took place in regard to cotton goods. The unexpected commencement of hostilities in 1793 gave this branch of our industry a severe shock, but the improvements in machinery continuing, the cotton manufactures soon recovered, and increased beyond expectation; requiring a progressive and large augmentation of the import of the raw material, as appears by the following table:

<table> <tr> <th>Bales or Pack-ages of 275 lbs. each.</th> </tr> <tr><td>Average import of cotton in five years, ending with 1796,</td><td>98,000</td></tr> <tr><td>Average of the next five years, ending with 1801,</td><td>153,000</td></tr> <tr><td>Average of the next five years, ending with 1806,</td><td>214,000</td></tr> <tr> <th>Particular Years.</th> <th></th> </tr> <tr><td>1807,</td><td>283,000</td></tr> <tr><td>1808, (Orders in Council),</td><td>168,000</td></tr> <tr><td>1809, (Orders in Council relaxed),</td><td>440,000</td></tr> <tr><td>1810, (ditto ditto),</td><td>561,000</td></tr> </table>

* Maitland On Wool, a pamphlet published in 1818. Particular Years. 1811, (Distress of trade; suspended intercourse with the United States), 326,000 1812, (War with the United States), 261,000 1813, . 219,000 1814, (Peace), 288,000 1815, . 369,000 1816, . 369,000 1817, . 479,000

Of these large imports, a very small part came from the Levant, our original source of supply; our West India colonies contributed more; the East Indies sent at times large, at other times insignificant shipments; Brazil was more regular; but the grand supply was from the United States, where, in the southern provinces of Carolina and Georgia, the culture of cotton has been rapidly extended since 1790. Of the cotton now imported into Britain, a very small part, at present not more than a twentieth, is sent out unmanufactured; a larger proportion (from an eighth to a tenth) is manufactured in Scotland; the residue is all worked up in England. The total value of the cotton manufacture of Britain (cloth and yarn) is computed at somewhat more than L.30,000,000 Sterling.

The rapid rise in the general price of commodities, in the present age, has induced many to consider enhancement as the unavoidable consequence of extended commerce, and to question the accuracy of Dr Smith's opinion, that the diffusion of productive industry has a tendency to cheapen produce. But never was there a more satisfactory confirmation of the arguments of Dr Smith than in the progress of the cotton manufacture. The price paid for spinning a pound of cotton thread, which, in 1786, amounted to 10s. was reduced progressively to 8s., 6s. 8d., 4s., 3s. and 2s. 6d., not by lessening the gains of the workmen, but by a series of inventions for abridging labour; until the great improvements after 1795 led to a reduction of the spinning price to 8d. per lb., at which it has since continued. In like manner, the sale price of cotton yarn has progressively decreased, notwithstanding the rise in the raw material.

Price per lb. of Cotton Yarn. (No. 100.) <table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Price.</th> <th>Years.</th> <th>Price.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1786,</td> <td>38s.</td> <td>1805,</td> <td>7s. 10d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1790,</td> <td>30s.</td> <td>1806,</td> <td>7s. 2d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1795,</td> <td>15s.</td> <td>1807,</td> <td>6s. 9d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1800,</td> <td>9s. 5d.</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> </table>

The prices have since varied from 6s. 9d. to 4s. 5d. according to the state of the trade; and amidst all these reductions, the quality of the yarn is much improved.

Value of Cotton Manufactures and Cotton Yarn Exported from Britain. <table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Manufactures.</th> <th>Yarn.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>17,394,000</td> <td>2,907,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815,</td> <td>19,127,000</td> <td>1,781,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816,</td> <td>13,079,000</td> <td>2,707,000</td> </tr> </table>

We add some farther particulars for one year, to show the countries which take the largest proportion of our cottons.

Export of Cotton Cloth from Britain in 1816.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th colspan="2">Printed Calicoes.</th> <th colspan="2">Plain Muslin.</th> </tr> <tr> <th></th> <th>Yards.</th> <th>Yards.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>To Germany,</td> <td>16,902,000</td> <td>5,575,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>the Netherlands,</td> <td>7,601,000</td> <td>3,200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Portugal,</td> <td>5,725,000</td> <td>1,925,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Italy,</td> <td>4,454,000</td> <td>2,790,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gibraltar (as a depot),</td> <td>5,168,000</td> <td>2,157,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Malta (ditto),</td> <td>2,406,000</td> <td>3,210,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Dennmark,</td> <td>571,000</td> <td>445,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ireland,</td> <td>146,000</td> <td>123,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>India and China,</td> <td>969,000</td> <td>462,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>United States of America,</td> <td>16,922,000</td> <td>5,495,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>British North America,</td> <td>1,988,000</td> <td>344,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Brazil,</td> <td>7,960,000</td> <td>2,800,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>West Indies and Spanish America,</td> <td>15,792,000</td> <td>4,760,000</td> </tr> </table>

It is of importance to remark the quantity sent to Germany, notwithstanding the rival manufactures in that country. To France, our avowed exports are inconsiderable, there being a duty on the import of British cottons; but large quantities are taken off by French smugglers. The demand from the United States is at present, and is likely to continue, the greatest of all; that from Brazil is deserving of attention, as well from its steadiness as from its magnitude, when we consider that the population in that country, accustomed to wear European manufactures, does not exceed a million of souls. Gibraltar and Malta serve as entrepôts for the supply of the south of Spain, and other parts of the Mediterranean.

The following short table is useful, in pointing out the countries which carry on more or less of the cotton manufacture, without making the yarn (at least the whole of the yarn) themselves.

Cotton Yarn Exported to the following Countries.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Russia,</td> <td>L. 669,000</td> <td>L. 494,000</td> <td>L. 408,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Germany,</td> <td>1,600,000</td> <td>857,000</td> <td>1,754,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Netherlands,</td> <td>462,000</td> <td>248,000</td> <td>281,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ireland,</td> <td>116,000</td> <td>107,000</td> <td>79,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>France,</td> <td>7,780</td> <td>78</td> <td>978</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Italy,</td> <td>21,752</td> <td>12,495</td> <td>48,302</td> </tr> </table>

The insignificance of the export to France, implies not that the manufacture of cotton in that country is of trifling amount, but that the French import the cotton wool direct from the countries of its growth, and manufacture their own yarn.

Loaded as we are with taxes so much heavier than those of our neighbours, it becomes a question of great interest, and anxiety, whether we are likely to maintain our superiority in this, the greatest branch of our exports? With the view of facilitating this inquiry, we shall hazard a conjectural estimate of the component parts of the cost of our cotton manufactures. Cost of the raw material, . . . . L.11,000,000 Wages of men, women, and children, in peace, . . . . 8,000,000 Salaries of clerks and others, not comprised under wages, . . . . 1,000,000 Interest (at 5 per cent.) on the supposed capital invested in buildings, machinery, and mercantile credits, . . . . 2,500,000 Annual wear and tear of the machinery and buildings, . . . . 2,500,000 Profit of the manufacturers, exporters, and venders, . . . . 3,000,000 Duty on raw material (about L.400,000); loss by bad debts, travelling charges, postage, and a variety of expenses exclusive of the above, . . . . 4,000,000

L. 32,000,000

The total number of persons employed, directly and indirectly, in the cotton manufacture of England, is computed at from 400,000 to 500,000. Machinery performs here a vast deal; and manual labour, when requisite, can be done in so many instances by women and children, that the average wages of all persons so employed, is not reckoned more than L.15 per head per annum. The points in which foreigners have the advantage are fortunately limited to the wages and the duty; the last of which it is not impracticable, in a time of exigency, to take off. In other respects, viz. in the purchase of the raw material, the command of fuel, moderate interest of capital, machinery, and subdivision of employment, we stand either on equal or better ground. The wages form certainly a heavy drawback on our side of the question, but, on the whole, the chances in a continued competition seem to be in our favour, as our readers will see by a reference to our article on Cotton Manufacture. To the remarks there made, we have now to add, that at Paris and its vicinity, which is in part the seat of the French manufacture, the support of a workman and his family (and consequently the wages) is fully as expensive as in Lancashire, while at Rouen the difference against us is not considerable. To Switzerland, a similar argument applies, while Saxony and Austria, the other seats of continental competition, though cheaper than England, are remote from the sea, and consequently subject to a heavy carriage on the raw material.

The seats of the cotton manufacture of England are, first, Manchester, which takes decidedly the lead of all other places; afterwards Preston, Bolton, Blackburn, and Wigan, all situated in Lancashire. After these come several other places, partly in Lancashire, in Cumberland, and the West Riding of York. The introduction of cotton works into the last, the great seat of the woollen manufacture, is owing to the practicability of the same workmen turning, in case of need, from wool to cotton, and vice versa. The master-manufacturers in the cotton trade are not, as in the woollen, a host of individuals with small means, and great only from their multitude; they consist of a limited number of mercantile establishments, each possessed of considerable capital. But in other respects, the parallel is less favourable to the cotton manufacture. From its dependence on foreign demand, it bears many characteristics of a business of speculation; the workmen being at one time in great request, at another reduced to wages quite inadequate to the maintenance of their families; hence that frequent recurrence of complaint and combination against the masters.

We have already noticed the surprising increase in Hardware. the produce of our ironmines since 1780. This increase of the raw material, joined in some cases to the command of coal in the vicinity, and in all to a facility of conveyance of coal and iron by canals, has given, in the last forty years, a great extension to our hardware manufacture. In it we take as decidedly the lead of foreigners as in our cottons; and if the ratio of increase has not been altogether so rapid, it is owing, not to inferior ingenuity in the workmen, but to radical differences in the two manufactures. In no department has the subdivision of employment been carried to so great a length; in none are its effects in cheapening production so conspicuous. Birmingham and Sheffield are the two great work-shops for our hardware; the latter is confined to iron and steel; while, in the former, not only iron and steel, but copper and brass, constitute the materials of labour. Sheffield fabricates articles which are less for ornament than utility, and which possess, in general, a certain bulk, such as grates, spades, sickles, files, knives, fenders, fire-irons; while in Birmingham there is, in addition to articles of solidity, a surprising variety of toys, fancy goods, and petty manufactures; each trifling when considered separately, but the whole forming an aggregate of great value. The most insignificant of these, such as a brass-cock or a button shank, passes through a number of hands; each artisan performing only a single operation. He thus acquires an extraordinary dexterity in his limited department, and, in the course of a day, dispatches several hundred, perhaps a thousand articles, through his particular stage, the result of all which is, that the price, when sold in quantities, is incredibly low. Another and very interesting feature in the situation of Birmingham, is the populousness of its neighbourhood. The manufacturing district, extending about sixteen miles, is estimated to contain 300,000 inhabitants, in addition to nearly 100,000 in the town. (Committee on Repeal of Orders in Council, 1812.) Yet in none of our large towns is living less expensive; an advantage owing partly to the abundance of coal, partly to the ready supply of milk and vegetables consequent on the wide space occupied by these extraordinary numbers.

The nail trade is carried on, not in the town of Birmingham, but in a part of the district just described; it is computed to employ 30,000 men, women, and children; for even this heavy article admits of a subdivision of employment, which lightens the labour, and enables a workman to avail himself of the aid of his family. Of the two towns, Sheffield is by much the more ancient; the command of coal and iron in the same neighbourhood having rendered it, so far back as the thirteenth or fourteenth century, a place for the fabrication of the homely articles used in these days by our ancestors. It is about a century since its razors, knives, and files began to take a more delicate shape. Birmingham embraced a wider range, and advanced with much greater rapidity; but Sheffield also has its adjacent district inhabited by manufacturers, though to a much less extent than the vicinity of Birmingham. This district, called Hallamshire, extends six or seven miles to the west of Sheffield.

Hardware is made in several other places, such as Wolverhampton, Dudley, and Walsall. Each of these towns is situated in Staffordshire, and, in point of manufacture, is small only in comparison with Birmingham or Sheffield. Articles, apparently very trifling, are made to a surprising extent in different places; such as pins at Gloucester; needles at Redditch in Worcestershire; watch movements and main springs at Prescott in Lancashire. The total value of our articles of iron, steel, brass, and copper, including the manufacture from its earliest to its most finished stage, is necessarily fluctuating, but may be computed at L.15,000,000 annually; two-thirds of which appear to be consumed among ourselves, while the other third is exported to two great markets, the Continent of Europe and the United States. A return during three years of peace, but of unequal mercantile prosperity, will suffice to show the average of annual export.

Metals and Hardware Exported from Britain.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1. Metals, as a raw material, or in the first stage of manufacture.</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Iron and steel, wrought and unwrought,</td> <td>1,143,356</td> <td>1,280,928</td> <td>1,095,782</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lead and shot (partly from Scotland),</td> <td>222,138</td> <td>327,528</td> <td>329,478</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tin unwrought,</td> <td>127,290</td> <td>148,624</td> <td>171,886</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2. Manufactures in a finished state.</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hardware and Cutlery,</td> <td>1,033,235</td> <td>2,349,676</td> <td>1,987,092</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Brass and copper manufactures,</td> <td>479,517</td> <td>752,611</td> <td>675,004</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Plate, Plated ware, Jewellery, and Watches,</td> <td>200,205</td> <td>284,312</td> <td>302,077</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tin and Pewter wares, and Tin Plates,</td> <td>236,591</td> <td>324,738</td> <td>331,605</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>3,442,339</td> <td>5,468,918</td> <td>4,892,924</td> </tr> </table>

The number of persons, young and old, employed in our hardware manufactories, is reckoned between 300,000 and 400,000. In no branch of industry is the transition from war to peace more sensibly felt; government, the great customer for arms and artillery, withdraws entirely from the market; while the stagnation of commerce, the postponement of new buildings and new machinery, in short, the various evils inseparable from a sudden and general change, which have been so cruelly felt throughout Britain since the peace, all operate most materially against the sale of the heavier and more useful articles. Similar causes cast a damp over the purchase of ornamental and fancy goods; so that, in no department of our population have the sufferings of the labouring classes or the augmentation of the poor's rate been greater. But there is happily a point beyond which depression cannot go, the reduced price of a commodity rendering it applicable to more extended uses, and adapting it to the means of humbler customers. Iron has not been found suitable as a substitute for stone in paving the streets of the metropolis; but, if its price continue low, it is likely to supplant timber for a variety of purposes, of which the public at large are not as yet aware. Reduction of price will lead also to a demand from the Continent for our hardware; the article in which of all others the French and Germans are most behind us. Their mines of iron are seldom adjacent to their mines of coal, and, with the exception of a few places, such as Liege in the Netherlands, and St Etienne near Lyons, the hardware workmen are not collected in such large associations as to admit of the necessary subdivision of labour. As improvement advances, and a taste for comfort becomes diffused, the inhabitants of the Continent will extend their purchases; they will see in the keys, the locks, and other neat and convenient articles of English fabric, a substitute for the bolts, the latches, and other coarse contrivances, with which they have hitherto been obliged to content themselves. In the United States, iron and coal are found, it is said (Mellish's Travels in America, chap. 67), in abundance, in a quarter (Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania) where land and provisions are certainly much cheaper than in Britain; but the scattered state of American population must, during several ages, oppose serious obstacles to the division of employment necessary in all the nicer branches of the hardware manufacture; particularly as the ease with which the Mississippi and Ohio are navigated by steam, opens even the western states to the import of British goods. On the whole, therefore, we look on our hardware manufactures, notwithstanding their present depression, as resting on a solid basis, because in them we combine several advantages—the raw material, the command of cheap fuel, and the use of machinery, which, the more it is adopted, will bring a greater proportion of the work within the compass of women and boys, and thus lessen the proportion borne in the cost of the finished article by wages.

Linen has never formed one of the staple manufactures of England, flax having been less cultivated among us than on the opposite shore of the Netherlands; a country which, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, supplied the rest of Europe both with the finest linens and woollens. When England subsequently advanced in manufacturing arts, the abundant supply of wool pointed out the most suitable branch; and we were contented to continue our imports of linen from the Netherlands, from France and from Germany, or to favour the manufacture of the sister island in a department which did not excite our jealousy. In Ireland, the linen manufacture dates about two centuries back, and is said to have owed much of its extension to the measures of the unfortunate Wentworth in the reign of Charles I. The annual consumption of linen in England a century ago, was probably not far below that of her double population at present; owing to the very general substitution in our time of cotton articles. Then, as at present, the linen manufacture of England was established chiefly in Lancashire, in Cumberland, and in a county very remote from these—Dorsetshire. In 1745 government, apprised of the extension of the manufacture of coarse linen in Silesia and other parts of Germany, and actuated by the fallacious notion of making a monopoly of all kinds of productive industry, granted a bounty of 1½d. per yard on the export of all British linen of a value from 6d. to 18d. per yard; in other words, a premium of 20 or 25 per cent. on the prime cost of all inferior qualities exported. So large a grant soon augmented the manufacture of Osnaburgs and other coarse cloths, particularly in Scotland, although the ratio of increase was infinitely smaller than in the case of cotton, where there was no premium but a rapid improvement of machinery. The demand for bounty, in the ten years ending in 1755, was about L. 33,000 annually. Since that time these impolitic issues have greatly increased, and of late years above L. 100,000 has been paid for bounty on linen and canvas exported from England and Scotland.

The following returns from the Customhouse books show the extent to which we are dependant on foreign countries for a supply of the raw material; and on countries too which have linen manufactures of their own:

Linen Yarn.—Foreign imported into Britain in <table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Russia,</td> <td>5,780</td> <td>323</td> <td>220</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Germany,</td> <td>39,980</td> <td>39,879</td> <td>9,466</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Other parts,</td> <td>166</td> <td>994</td> <td>5</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>45,926</td> <td>41,196</td> <td>9,691</td> </tr> </table>

Flax Imported into Britain. <table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1807.</th> <th>1810.</th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Russia,</td> <td>372,000</td> <td>473,000</td> <td>20,000</td> <td>9,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Prussia,</td> <td>7,500</td> <td>20,000</td> <td>15,000</td> <td>880</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Holland,</td> <td>34,000</td> <td>1,000</td> <td>73,000</td> <td>58,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>416,000</td> <td>511,000</td> <td>326,000</td> <td>213,000</td> </tr> </table>

Into Ireland, on the other hand, the importation of foreign flax is almost nameless, seldom amounting to 100 tons.

The late war gave considerable vigour to our sail-cloth and cordage manufactures at Bridport, Lancaster, Workington, &c. the great source of supply was from Scotland; the manufacture of canvas for the navy having been carried on extensively in that part of the kingdom, particularly on the east coast. The average value of the linen of all kinds made in England hardly exceeds a million a-year; and if we wish to contemplate this fabric in a state of extension and prosperity, our view must be directed to Ireland, where, without any aid from government, the manufacture of fine linen has continued progressively to augment, and has obtained the command of the market of England, reducing our imports from the Continent to a very small comparative proportion.

Average import of Irish linen into England for home consumption in the 12 years from 1800 to the end of 1812, . . . . . . 32,800,000 Ditto from Germany, also for home consumption, about . . . . 2,000,000 Ditto from Russia, nearly . . . . 2,000,000

A similar superiority in favour of Ireland is proved by the Customhouse returns for years of peace.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Plain linen of Germany and Silesia retained for home consumption, about</td> <td>600,000</td> <td>300,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Russia,</td> <td>2,300,000</td> <td>330,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ireland,</td> <td>29,864,000</td> <td>31,026,000</td> </tr> </table>

Having thus shown the mode of supplying the home consumption in the only great article of manufacture which England does not make for herself, we are next to convey an idea of our exports. This will be best done by two extracts from the Customhouse returns, the first for the linens of England and Scotland, exclusive of those of Ireland.

<table> <tr> <th>To</th> <th>1812.<br>Yards.</th> <th>1814.<br>Yards.</th> <th>1815.<br>Yards.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Continental Europe, 4,328,000</td> <td>2,807,000</td> <td>980,000</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>E. Indies & Asia, United States, British N. America, British W. Indies, Foreign W. Indies, Other parts,</td> <td>60,000<br>455,000<br>183,000<br>6,613,000<br>1,789,000<br>547,000</td> <td>101,000<br>(war)<br>736,000<br>10,147,000<br>4,255,000<br>706,000</td> <td>33,000<br>2,275,000<br>977,000<br>10,879,000<br>1,510,000<br>529,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">13,987,000</td> <td colspan="2">18,752,000 17,183,000</td> </tr> </table> (See Customhouse Returns, 5th April 1816.)

To these is to be added an export of canvas to the amount of about a million of ells annually, which goes chiefly to our North American and West India Colonies. The finer linens exported, viz. those above 10d. per yard, are not entitled to bounty. We come next to a more comprehensive table—to our linen exports generally.

Export of Linen Manufactures from Great Britain. <table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Value real not official.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>L.1,732,691</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815,</td> <td>1,828,203</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816,</td> <td>1,476,143</td> </tr> </table> Of these a large proportion is of Irish manufacture.

It remains to add a few words in regard to the transit trade of England in foreign linen. This subject was, so lately as 1817, brought under the consideration of Parliament, and arguments of weight were offered for taking off the duty, collected for many years back on the German and Russian linen which passed through this country. Government, however, persisted in retaining it; less, in all probability, with a view to revenue, than to prevent foreign linens from rivalling British in the supply of our colonies.

In the silk manufacture, as in linen, we have had to contend with established manufacturers in other countries, particularly in France and Italy. We have had also to import the whole of the raw material. Such a manufacture was, therefore, unsuited to England, and would not have been attempted by our countrymen, but for the great profits expected from an article of general use among the higher classes. Its introduction among us goes back to the fifteenth century. About the beginning of the seventeenth, it seems to have been carried to a considerable extent, owing certainly not to the luxury of the age, or to any great proportion of affluent persons in the community, but to silks being almost the only article of apparel in which the vanity of dress could display itself. Towards the end of the reign of Charles II., about the year 1680, raw silk began to be imported in quantities from India; and the English manufacture received a substantial addition by the numbers and ingenuity of the Frenchmen who settled in this country, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1683. Various circumstances thus contributed to preserve, and even to extend the silk manufacture; and, as our rate of wages did not then materially exceed those of our neighbours, it seems to have experienced no great or general shock till the rivalship of cotton, after the surprising improvements introduced into that branch, between 1785 and 1795; but such was that rivalship, that it became in vain for the East India Company to increase their imports of silk, or to introduce, as they did at this period, into Bengal the Italian method of winding it. Nothing could counterbalance the cheapness and elegance of the new substitutes; and the weavers of Spittalfields became reduced to that penury, which, with few exceptions, has continued their lot ever since. It was a radical error to attempt establishing a great manufacture in London, where provisions, fuel, and house-rent, are necessarily higher than in the country. Accordingly, Coventry, Leek in Staffordshire, Macclesfield in Cheshire, Manchester, and other places, proved successful rivals to the metropolis. The present distress of the workmen in Coventry appears, by a very circumstantial exposition,* to be greater than has for some time existed in Spittalfields; but any superiority in the latter must be but temporary, and must arise from the operation of the poor's rate, or from the regulation of wages by act of Parliament.

The persons, young and old, employed in the silk manufacture in London, are computed at about 25,000; the number in all the provincial towns about 40,000; but the total value manufactured, in an article of such price, exceeds the proportion suggested by these numbers. It is calculated at L. 4,000,000 Sterling a-year; an amount which is probably within one-fourth of the most flourishing state of the manufacture about the year 1785; and the magnitude of which, notwithstanding the general adoption of printed cottons, is chiefly to be accounted for from our augmented population.

The following years are selected to show the periodical variations in the supply of silk from different countries:

<table> <tr> <th rowspan="2">Years.</th> <th colspan="2">Raw Silk from Bengal.</th> <th colspan="2">Ditto from China.</th> <th colspan="2">From other Countries, chiefly the South of Europe.</th> <th colspan="2">Thrown Silk imported.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>lbs.</th> <th>lbs.</th> <th>lbs.</th> <th>lbs.</th> <th>lbs.</th> <th>lbs.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1807</td> <td>513,823</td> <td>55,277</td> <td>208,099</td> <td>346,144</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1809</td> <td>164,100</td> <td>90,603</td> <td>443,486</td> <td>501,746</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1812</td> <td>986,178</td> <td>86,197</td> <td>257,731</td> <td>617,885</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816</td> <td>764,663</td> <td>88,987</td> <td>92,142</td> <td>192,130</td> </tr> </table>

Bengal has thus gained greatly over the south of Europe. In an article of such value for its bulk, the freight even from India is of little consequence; but there is another and a more substantial reason in the difference of duty. Raw silk from Bengal pays on warehousing only 5d. per lb., and 3s. 9d. additional when entered for home consumption; raw silk from China is taxed considerably higher; and that from other countries is no less than 5s. 6d. per lb. Each are entitled to a drawback, when re-exported in a manufactured state.

Export of Silk Manufactures from Great Britain.

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Value, real not official.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>L. 624,749</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815,</td> <td>692,929</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816,</td> <td>533,374</td> </tr> </table>

The chief vent for our silks is to our North American colonies, the West Indies, and Portugal; also to Ireland; but to the United States comparatively little, for we have never been able to rival the French in this manufacture.

Leather, however little it may figure as an article of export, is necessarily one of extensive home consumption in every civilized country, particularly in such a climate as ours; and it is matter of regret, that we should have so very few data, official or otherwise, on which to form an estimate of the export or import of hides in former ages. Such an estimate would possess interest, as indicating the extent of our pasturage and the number of our cattle in comparison with our population. Whatever may have been the case at a remote date, the custom-house returns, for many years back, show by the annual imports, that the demand for leather has ex-

* Debate in the House of Commons, May 1819, on the state of the silk manufacture of Coventry. ceeded the home supply of hides. For a long time this importation took place from the continent of Europe, and from the least civilized quarters; from countries, such as Lithuania and Poland, where the quantity of hides furnished by the cattle materially exceeds that of the leather required by the inhabitants. But since the opening of South America, particularly in 1807, it has been found advantageous to import hides from that continent, where the herds of wild cattle are so numerous as to meet the eye of the traveller in almost every point of the horizon.

Account of the Number of Raw Hides imported from various Countries into Great Britain during the years 1814 and 1815.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Continent of Europe,</td> <td>148,730</td> <td>161,362</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ireland, and the Isles Guernsey, Jersey, and Man,</td> <td>30,838</td> <td>30,111</td> </tr> <tr> <td>East Indies,</td> <td>742</td> <td>10,819</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Africa,</td> <td>55,885</td> <td>56,962</td> </tr> <tr> <td>America (chiefly South America),</td> <td>541,979</td> <td>783,171</td> </tr> <tr> <td>West Indies,</td> <td>46,031</td> <td>20,460</td> </tr> </table>

The quantity of hides tanned in England and Wales is computed at nearly 9,000,000, weighing about 350,000 cwt. The largest tanneries are in Bermondsey in Southwark; but there are also very extensive establishments of the kind in the country,—in Cheshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland; also in Lincolnshire. The late war, by its long continuance, and the magnitude of our army and navy, produced great orders from government for our leather manufacture. Shoes were and still are made wholesale, in several towns of Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Northamptonshire. In this, as in other departments of manufacture, we suffer materially by our high wages, shoemaking on the Continent being considerably cheaper; but here also the spirit of invention has been active; and we have lately been informed, that, in the neighbourhood of London, machinery has been applied to what has hitherto been thought indispensably to require manual labour.

Of the annual value of our leather manufactured into shoes, boots, harness, saddlery, &c. there are no means of forming a correct estimate; but we have merely to consider the population of England, and the unavoidable extent of their wants, to be satisfied, that from ten to twelve millions sterling are rather below than above the mark. But while our home consumption is so considerable, our export is comparatively small, and does not exceed half a million sterling. To Ireland, the leather we ship is merely tanned; to other countries our exports are in a manufactured shape.

The increased duty imposed on leather towards the close of the late war, has been the subject of much discussion. This duty was brought forward in Parliament in the spring of 1813. It was evidently liable to the most serious objections, from increasing to the lower orders the expense of an indispensable article, and raising to farmers and others the price of harness and saddlery. Accordingly, the tanners, the leather-merchants, and the various classes affected by it, created an opposition which had well nigh defeated the bill. It was, however, carried, and has been continued without diminution since the peace. Its produce is nearly L. 280,000 above the old tax, as is shown by a return from the Excise-office, dated 5th March 1818; from which it appears that the five last years of the old duty, viz. from 1807 to 1811, both inclusive, amounted to

L. 1,460,436

Five years of the new duty, leaving out the year 1812, and reckoning from 1813 to 1817, both inclusive,

2,842,480

Connected with our general manufacture of leather is the Glove Trade, a branch of no inconsiderable extent, being carried on in several of our midland and western counties, viz. at Woodstock, Worcester, Ludlow, Hereford, Yeovil in Somersetshire, &c. The exports being chiefly to the United States, this branch of industry suffered severely from the war in 1813 and 1814. Nor has it by any means recovered its prosperity since the peace.

We come next to a branch of industry of a very different description—the Brewery. The amount of capital and labour, invested in brewing establishments in England, is very large, and particularly striking to those who have lived on the Continent, and have contrasted our situation with that of the wine countries of the south of Europe. It is only in Flanders and Germany that breweries are numerous; and, in the latter, from the limited capital, and the scattered state of their population, there are hardly any of those large establishments which exist in our metropolis. In London, this important branch of business is chiefly in the hands of eleven great houses, who, conjunctly with the smaller establishments, brew on an average 1,700,000 barrels of porter. (Excise Return, 15th May 1818.)

Quantity of Barley made into Malt during Ten Years of War.

<table> <tr> <th>Years</th> <th>Quarters of Barley.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1804,</td> <td>2,817,285</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1805,</td> <td>2,792,928</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1806,</td> <td>3,435,990</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1807,</td> <td>3,114,020</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1808,</td> <td>2,800,787</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1809,</td> <td>2,851,598</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1810,</td> <td>3,035,401</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1811,</td> <td>3,349,760</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1812,</td> <td>2,332,336</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1813,</td> <td>2,797,741</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>3,263,785</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>2,962,875</td> </tr> </table>

In peace the average is comparatively higher in beer from the cheapness of barley, and in spirits from the exclusion of sugar from the distillery.—Computing the whole barley made into malt in England in peace, at an average of 3,300,000 qrs. And supposing the distilleries in England to require 300,000 Remains for the breweries 3,000,000 Spiritous liquors form one of the great branches of manufacture in which England is dependant on her neighbours; as she imports an annual supply of corn spirit from Scotland and Ireland, rum from the West Indies, and brandy from France. During the distress of the West India planters, particularly in 1807, 1808, and 1811, Committees of Parliament were appointed to inquire into the expediency of substituting sugar for barley in the distillery, and a great deal of useful information was the result of their researches. The consumption of British spirits in England was computed at nearly 5,500,000 gal. Of which distilled in England nearly 4,200,000 Brought from Scotland 826,000 Ditto from Ireland 470,000 (Distillery Committee of 1808, Evidence, p. 54.)

In the subsequent years Ireland fell off greatly in her supply of spirits, but Scotland, on the other hand, increased.

Spirits imported into England from Scotland and Ireland in the three years ending 5th April 1815, 1816, 1817. (Return to Parliament, 1817.)

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Scotland. Gallons.</th> <th>Ireland. Gallons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1815</td> <td>1,748,351</td> <td>428,933</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816</td> <td>1,360,380</td> <td>283,621</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1817</td> <td>1,262,539</td> <td>20,069</td> </tr> </table>

Notwithstanding the great increase of distillation in Scotland, there seems to have been no diminution in that of England; the return of the excise duties from 1807 to 1815 being from L.1,500,000 to L.2,000,000, while the latest accounts, we mean those of the year ending April 1818 and April 1819, are far from indicating a diminution.

Of rum the consumption in England varies with the price of British spirits and several other causes, but averages from 2 1/2 to 3 millions of gallons. (West India Committee, July 1807, p. 71.)

Import of foreign Brandy (stated in gallons) during three years of War.

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>France.</th> <th>Spain.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1805</td> <td>2,663,000</td> <td>405,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1806</td> <td>1,418,000</td> <td>263,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1807</td> <td>2,167,000</td> <td>156,000</td> </tr> </table>

Import into England of Rum, Brandy, and other Liquors (exclusive of Corn Spirits from Scotland and Ireland), in three years of Peace.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Gallons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>In 1815</td> <td>8,832,776</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816</td> <td>7,966,052</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1817</td> <td>5,240,436</td> </tr> </table>

To the remaining manufactures our limits allow of little space, though several of them would be accounted of great importance in any other country than England. The extent to which such articles, as soap and paper, are made among us, is amply shown by the Excise Returns; but the list of our exports is of more consequence to the political economist; not from the vulgar notion, that it is by export only that national profit is realized, but as indicative of those commodities for which we possess, in our soil, our climate, or our colonial possessions, advantages that give us a superiority over our neighbours. Thus, in the case of glass, the abundance and cheapness of our coal outweigh our higher wages, and enable us to make an annual export of between L.600,000 and L.700,000. In the manufacture of hats, likewise, our command of wool for the coarser kind, and of furs from our North American colonies for beaver hats, enable us to ship to an extent of L.300,000, L.400,000, or L.500,000 a-year. In earthenware we have the advantage of clay, of fuel, and of ready communication by canals. These, joined to the taste and ingenuity of individuals engaged in the manufacture, carried it, in the course of the eighteenth century, to an extent that has rendered it a national object; a tract of seven or eight miles in Staffordshire, called the Pottery District, being almost entirely appropriated to it. The population of this tract is about 40,000. The great outlet is Liverpool, and the shipments take place partly to the United States, partly to the Continent of Europe. Our exports, comprising Porcelain, average from L.500,000 to L.600,000.

The stocking manufacture is carried on chiefly in the counties of Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester. It formerly employed vast numbers of women in knitting; but in this, as in other branches, machinery has greatly superseded manual labour. Lace is made in large quantities in the midland counties; and here also machinery has of late years been extensively applied. All its aid, as well as that of protecting duties, is necessary to maintain a competition with the neighbouring shores of the Continent, where lace-making is the chief employment of the females, and where a young manufacturer thinks herself sufficiently recompensed with sixpence a-day, while the pay of an experienced one seldom goes beyond a shilling.

After this account of particular manufactures, it remains to add a few general statements relative to this great department of our national industry. To point out those of our counties that take the lead as the seats of manufacture, we subjoin the following return:

<table> <tr> <th>Counties remarkable for Trade or Manufacture.</th> <th>Number of Families so employed.</th> <th>Return under the Property-Tax of Annual Profits from Trade, Manufacture, and Professions in these Counties.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Middlesex,</td> <td>135,400</td> <td>13,420,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Surrey, includ. Southwark,</td> <td>35,160</td> <td>1,623,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Yorkshire,</td> <td>110,000</td> <td>1,840,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lancashire,</td> <td>114,500</td> <td>1,800,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Somerset,</td> <td>23,700</td> <td>1,296,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Stafford,</td> <td>34,000</td> <td>495,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gloucester,</td> <td>30,000</td> <td>365,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nottingham,</td> <td>19,000</td> <td>310,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cheshire,</td> <td>23,000</td> <td>276,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Durham,</td> <td>17,000</td> <td>237,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wales,—Glamorgan,</td> <td>8,000</td> <td>132,000</td> </tr> </table> The whole number of families in England and Wales employed in trade, manufactures, and professions, was, by the return of 1811, 959,622. Their total income, L. 32,210,000. To discriminate the persons engaged in trade from those engaged in manufacture, would not be easy; the above numbers being taken from the returns under the Population Act, which make no distinction between the two. The money return is for the year 1810, and indicates a rate of annual income, which, although below the vulgar estimate of mercantile profit, and considerably below the amount anticipated by Mr Pitt on first proposing the income-tax in 1798, is, we fear, above the actual rate of such profits at the present day.

An idea of the relative extent of capital and labour employed in each manufacture, will be best conveyed by the following table:

Excise Duties paid in Great Britain in the twelve months ending 5th April 1819, in British Produce and Manufactures.

<table> <tr> <th>British spirits</th> <td>L. 3,210,959</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Malt</th> <td>3,006,143</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Beer</th> <td>2,718,018</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Hops</th> <td>107,510</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Licences</th> <td>683,320</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Salt</th> <td>1,518,498</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Tobacco and snuff</th> <td>1,470,692</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Soap</th> <td>845,627</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Leather (hides and skins)</th> <td>615,331</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Glass</th> <td>497,611</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Paper</th> <td>486,971</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Printed goods</th> <td>433,902</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Bricks and tiles</th> <td>319,571</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Candles</th> <td>299,883</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Starch</th> <td>51,241</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Lesser articles of British manufacture, as vinegar, cider, &c.</th> <td>88,959</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total of the excise duties from British produce and manufacture</th> <td>L. 16,353,736</td> </tr> <tr> <th>The remainder of the excise arises from public auctions</th> <td>267,070</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Or from foreign articles, as tea</th> <td>3,097,746</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Wine</th> <td>1,137,911</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Foreign spirits (chiefly brandy)</th> <td>2,150,922</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Coffee and cocoa</th> <td>110,030</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total</th> <th>L. 23,125,815</th> </tr> </table>

The above affords the best means of judging of our home consumption of manufactures: of our export, a collective view is given in the following table:

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Year 1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> <th>Exports.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Cotton manufactures,</th> <td>17,393,796</td> <td>19,127,266</td> <td>13,078,791</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Cotton yarn,</th> <td>2,907,276</td> <td>1,781,077</td> <td>2,707,385</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Woollen manufactures,</th> <td>7,660,507</td> <td>10,198,334</td> <td>8,404,491</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Iron and hardware,</th> <td>3,442,332</td> <td>5,468,318</td> <td>4,892,924</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Linen manufactures, chiefly Irish,</th> <td>1,732,791</td> <td>1,828,203</td> <td>1,476,143</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Silk manufactures,</th> <td>624,749</td> <td>692,929</td> <td>553,374</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Haberdashery and millinery,</th> <td>500,034</td> <td>603,585</td> <td>496,040</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Glass of all sorts,</th> <td>658,671</td> <td>779,070</td> <td>782,770</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Leather wrought and unwrought,</th> <td>573,639</td> <td>582,821</td> <td>403,236</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Saddlery and harness,</th> <td>81,907</td> <td>126,112</td> <td>115,854</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Earthenware of all sorts,</th> <td>463,900</td> <td>716,222</td> <td>637,201</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Hats, beaver, and felt,</th> <td>320,237</td> <td>303,692</td> <td>247,191</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Hats of all other sorts,</th> <td>144,318</td> <td>115,179</td> <td>69,996</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Refined sugar,</th> <td>3,260,444</td> <td>2,942,042</td> <td>2,153,476</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Beer and ale,</th> <td>315,863</td> <td>384,534</td> <td>351,007</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Salt,</th> <td>263,813</td> <td>224,114</td> <td>152,619</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Lesser articles of produce and manufacture,</th> <td>6,344,638</td> <td>6,161,677</td> <td>5,490,053</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="4">46,598,015 52,035,375 41,994,546</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Coals and culm,</th> <td>418,026</td> <td>465,581</td> <td>425,305</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Beef and pork salted,</th> <td>349,073</td> <td>231,519</td> <td>166,526</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Fish of all sorts,</th> <td>485,739</td> <td>484,970</td> <td>368,879</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total of British produce and manufacture,</th> <td>47,851,453</td> <td>53,217,445</td> <td>42,955,256</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>

It being customary to include our exported produce in the same return as our manufactures, we subjoin the former to complete the table.

We are next to compare these large sums with the inferior amounts of former years. The customhouse returns form here also our guide, and though our produce exported is included in the amounts, by far the greater part consists of manufactures.

Export of produce and manufacture from Great Britain, on an average of six years, ending with 1792, L.22,131,000

Average of six years, ending with 1798, 25,658,000 Ditto, ending with 1801, 36,817,000 Ditto, ditto, 1810, 43,575,000

These sums are formed by adding 50 per cent. to the official estimate. In peace, a partial reduction takes place in the price of most merchandise, and we adopt a scale of valuation somewhat lower, by taking the value as declared by the exporting merchants.

Exports since the Peace.

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Declared Value.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>L.47,851,453</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815,</td> <td>53,217,445</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816,</td> <td>42,955,256</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1817,</td> <td>43,626,253</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1818,</td> <td>48,903,760</td> </tr> </table>

This is, of course, exclusive of the foreign and colonial merchandise exported each year.

Such are the principal facts in regard to the manufactures of England—the department of our productive industry which, of all others, has most conspicuously displayed the inventive powers of the na- tion, and most largely contributed to the unparalleled burdens of the late wars. In this age of rapid enhancement, manufactures present a striking exception to the general rule; for, while land, houses, fuel, corn, cattle, in short almost every thing else, has risen in price, manufactures have fallen, and fallen greatly. That this should have taken place in spite of the rise both of wages and materials, is to be ascribed altogether to mechanical inventions, the extent of which has been such as to render it not improbable that, in some fabrics, such as cotton, one person can now make, in a day, as much as, half a century ago, could have been made by a hundred. A writer, whose views, both on the practice and principles of trade, are entitled to attention,* has lately exhorted us to make a considerable change in our mercantile code;—to forbear all attempts at a monopoly of manufacturing industry, and direct our capital and labour altogether to those branches, such as hardware, woollens, and cotton, in which we possess local and permanent advantages. The principle of this reasoning is incontrovertible, but its practical application should be a work of great care and caution; for were we at present to throw open our ports to the import of goods manufactured abroad, our countrymen would emigrate by thousands to the Continent, for the mere purpose of labouring in untaxed countries for the supply of the British market.

VIII.—Commerce and Shipping.

Much of what relates to the Commerce of England has been already treated under the preceding section; and the colonial part of our trade shall be noticed in the next: At present, we are to exhibit a brief sketch of our commercial intercourse with Ireland and the Continents of Europe and America.

With Ireland, the intercourse of England is very great; that country sending us linen, cotton, salted provisions, and butter, to the amount of six or seven millions annually, and taking largely, in return, our manufactures, particularly cotton, woollen, and hardware.

North of Europe.—From Russia, our chief imports are hemp, flax, linen, timber, pitch, and tallow; from the Swedish dominions, iron and timber; from Poland, wheat, timber, and potash; from Prussia, wheat, timber, and flax. All these countries take our cottons, hardware, and colonial produce.

Central part of Europe.—From Holland, our imports are not foreign merchandise, as in the seventeenth century, when the Dutch were the carriers of Europe, but agricultural produce,—oats, wheat, seeds, hemp, cheese, butter; also gin; the whole to a large amount: in return for which the Dutch take our hardware, cottons, and woollens. From France, our imports have long been burdened with heavy duties; still they are large and increasing; consisting chiefly in wine and brandy, and, in a smaller degree, in silk and lace. With Germany, our chief intercourse is through the medium of Holland and Hamburgh. Our exports are large, particularly in cottons, hardware, and colonial produce. Our imports are very various, partly of corn, flax, timber, linen, and wine, from the vicinity of the Rhine.

South of Europe.—Here we enter on countries of much less industry. From Portugal we take wine in very large, and fruit in smaller quantities, in return for our cottons, our woollens, and hardware. From Spain, wool is the great commodity received; wine, brandy, oil, are imported in lesser quantities. Italy, without any commercial treaty, takes annually a portion of our manufactures, and gives in return silk, oil, and fruit. With the Levant, our traffic is similar, consisting in an export of manufactures, particularly printed cottons and hardware, and of an import of silk, fruit, and drugs.

The United States are, notwithstanding our political antipathies, our best customers, receiving from us manufactures of almost every kind, to a great amount, and sending us, in return, cotton, tobacco, rice, and flour. But the merchandise received from them being far inferior to the value of our exports, the difference is paid by remittances in money, from the Continent of Europe, arising from American merchandise sold there. With South America, a wide field of commercial intercourse will ere long be opened; at present, the chief articles received from that vast region are, cotton, hides, indigo, and cochineal. The trade is, and will long be, subject to the various disadvantages of a newly-settled country, bare of capital, deficient in industry, and possessing but a small number of consumers of European commodities in proportion to its extent and fertility.

Having, in the preceding section, given the exports of British produce and manufactures, it remains to give those of colonial and foreign produce. To convey an idea of the relative value of different articles annually exported from Great Britain, we select a particular year.

Export of Foreign and Colonial Produce in the year 1816.

<table> <tr> <th>Cotton,</th> <th>L.343,768</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Hides, raw and tanned,</td> <td>212,393</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Indigo,</td> <td>829,130</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Logwood,</td> <td>111,238</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Pepper,</td> <td>424,365</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Piece goods of India,</td> <td>1,419,232</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Rum,</td> <td>824,820</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sugar, raw,</td> <td>1,594,635</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tea,</td> <td>546,701</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tobacco,</td> <td>259,141</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wines,</td> <td>220,789</td> </tr> <tr> <td>All other articles,</td> <td>7,759,718</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total,</th> <th>L.14,545,933</th> </tr> </table>

* Observations on the Principles of the Commerce in Grain, by Dugald Bannatyne, Esq. 1816. We shall next show the average annual amount since the beginning of the late wars.

Average of the Export of Colonial and Foreign Produce from Great Britain during periods of Six Years:

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Real Value.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>From 1793 to 1798,</td> <td>L.10,756,875</td> </tr> <tr> <td>— 1799 to 1804,</td> <td>14,525,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>— 1805 to 1810,</td> <td>13,012,916</td> </tr> </table>

To exhibit a comprehensive view of the export of both foreign and domestic merchandise, we add

Average of the Total Exports from Great Britain in periods of Ten Years.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Real Value.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>From 1761 to 1770,</td> <td>L.21,652,650</td> </tr> <tr> <td>— 1771 to 1780,</td> <td>21,173,700</td> </tr> <tr> <td>— 1781 to 1790,</td> <td>27,769,100</td> </tr> <tr> <td>— 1791 to 1800,</td> <td>40,890,300</td> </tr> <tr> <td>— 1801 to 1810,</td> <td>52,846,800</td> </tr> </table>

Since the peace, the total exports have been as follows; taking British goods at the value declared by the merchants, and adding, in the case of foreign or colonial goods, 25 per cent. to the official value:

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Value real, not official.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>L.73,488,758</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815,</td> <td>74,371,819</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816,</td> <td>61,137,711</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1817,</td> <td>58,032,406</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1818,</td> <td>64,262,852</td> </tr> </table>

Proportion of our Exports sent to different parts of the World.

To exhibit this, we take the exports, not of recent years, in which commerce has experienced such rapid transitions, but of 1807, the last year during the war, in which neutral intercourse was undisturbed.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Real Value.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>To Ireland,</td> <td>L.7,032,272</td> </tr> <tr> <td>To the Continent of Europe,</td> <td>15,420,514</td> </tr> <tr> <td>To the East Indies and China,</td> <td>3,555,392</td> </tr> <tr> <td>To the Cape, and the rest of Africa,</td> <td>1,022,745</td> </tr> <tr> <td>To the United States,</td> <td>12,097,942</td> </tr> <tr> <td>To the West Indies and other parts of America,</td> <td>11,353,796</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">L.50,482,661</td> </tr> </table>

For the distribution of our commerce in a year of peace, see the tabular statement of shipping for 1816.

Our imports excite much less attention than our exports, being apparently less intimately connected with that productive industry which affords a national surplus, and favours the popular notion of our extracting an annual revenue from our neighbours. They are, in general, from ten to twelve millions below the amount of our exports; a difference which was long, and still is, considered by many to indicate the amount of our annual gains; it being supposed that the excess of our exports constituted a favourable balance, which was remitted to us in money or bills of exchange. But money and bills of exchange are sent abroad as well as remitted, and had our metallic currency been in reality swelled by these successive importations during the last century, it would, ere this, have amounted to L. 400,000,000 Sterling. The Bullion Committee of 1810, aware of the fallacy of this notion, and desirous to arrive at as great a degree of certainty as was practicable in so complicated a calculation, obtained from the Inspector-general of our imports and exports a computation, in an amended form, of the balance of trade. This estimate* exhibits an apparent favourable balance of L. 8,000,000 or L. 9,000,000 Sterling; but is evidently defective in some very material points, particularly in taking no notice of government remittances for garrisons abroad.

A list of bankruptcies forms an unpleasant part of our mercantile picture, particularly as their number is found regularly to increase with the extension of our commerce.

<table> <tr> <th>In 1703, there were only</th> <th>No. of Bankruptcies.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1753,</td> <td>214</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1763,</td> <td>233</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1773,</td> <td>562</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1783,</td> <td>528</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1793,</td> <td>1,304</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816,</td> <td>2,442</td> </tr> </table>

If, as we believe, a large proportion of these failures has been owing to political convulsions, and to the indirect effect of the usury laws (See Art. Commerce, pp. 281, 282), we are not without hopes that settled peace, and a change in the laws in question, may materially improve this distressing part of our mercantile situation.

The following is a statement of the progressive Shipping increase of English Shipping:

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Tons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1663,</td> <td>95,266</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1688,</td> <td>190,533</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1701,</td> <td>273,693</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1715,</td> <td>421,431</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1737,</td> <td>476,941</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1751,</td> <td>609,798</td> </tr> </table>

In the following years the shipping of Scotland is included:

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Tons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1765,</td> <td>726,402</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1774,</td> <td>901,016</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1785,</td> <td>1,074,862</td> </tr> </table>

We have selected years of peace, because in war the necessity of resorting to neutral flags generally causes a diminution of British shipping. The above column expresses the tonnage, not as permanently registered, but as entered in the Customhouse books on the outward clearance of vessels.

On coming nearer to our own times we possess more satisfactory documents; viz. the Tonnage and

* Appendix to the Report of the Bullion Committee, p. 228. Seamen permanently registered in England, exclusive of Scotland, Ireland, and the Colonies, from the Customhouse returns on 30th September each year.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Tonnage.</th> <th>Seamen.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1792,</td> <td>1,186,610</td> <td>87,569</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1800,</td> <td>1,466,632</td> <td>105,037</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1812,</td> <td>1,951,234</td> <td>124,896</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1813,</td> <td>2,029,637</td> <td>127,740</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>2,088,204</td> <td>131,078</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815,</td> <td>2,139,301</td> <td>135,006</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816,</td> <td>2,152,968</td> <td>134,060</td> </tr> </table>

We add for one year (30th September 1817) the total tonnage and seamen belonging to the British empire.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Tons.</th> <th>Seamen.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>England, Scotland, and Ireland,</td> <td>2,397,655</td> <td>152,352</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man,</td> <td>23,689</td> <td>3,190</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Colonies,</td> <td>243,632</td> <td>15,471</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total,</td> <td>2,664,976</td> <td>171,013</td> </tr> </table>

Number of Vessels, with their Crews, which entered British Ports during 1816, including their repeated Voyages in the course of the year.

<table> <tr> <th rowspan="2">From</th> <th colspan="2">British Vessels</th> <th colspan="2">Foreign Vessels</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Ships.</th> <th>Men.</th> <th>Ships.</th> <th>Men.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Russia,</td> <td>600</td> <td>5,667</td> <td>56</td> <td>837</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sweden,</td> <td>65</td> <td>603</td> <td>73</td> <td>768</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Norway,</td> <td>130</td> <td>1,005</td> <td>177</td> <td>1,598</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Denmark,</td> <td>41</td> <td>280</td> <td>34</td> <td>235</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Iceland,</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Germany, including Prussia,</td> <td>986</td> <td>7,951</td> <td>191</td> <td>1,882</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Holland and Flanders,</td> <td>1,148</td> <td>7,266</td> <td>556</td> <td>2,619</td> </tr> <tr> <td>France,</td> <td>1,522</td> <td>9,296</td> <td>1,294</td> <td>6,029</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Portugal, Azores, and Madeira,</td> <td>437</td> <td>2,735</td> <td>39</td> <td>340</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Spain and the Canaries,</td> <td>302</td> <td>2,033</td> <td>58</td> <td>503</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gibraltar,</td> <td>36</td> <td>331</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Italy,</td> <td>175</td> <td>1,554</td> <td>6</td> <td>60</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Malta,</td> <td>17</td> <td>220</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ionian Islands,</td> <td>14</td> <td>135</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Turkey and Levant,</td> <td>26</td> <td>247</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total of Foreign Europe,</td> <td>5,501</td> <td>39,206</td> <td>2,484</td> <td>17,671</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ireland,</td> <td>7,575</td> <td>33,814</td> <td>27</td> <td>291</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Isle of Man,</td> <td>636</td> <td>1,656</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Guernsey, Jersey, and Alderney,</td> <td>768</td> <td>3,617</td> <td>5</td> <td>36</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total of British Europe,</td> <td>8,999</td> <td>39,087</td> <td>32</td> <td>327</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Asia (India and China),</td> <td>116</td> <td>8,737</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Africa,</td> <td>42</td> <td>444</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>United States of America,</td> <td>175</td> <td>2,194</td> <td>305</td> <td>4,170</td> </tr> <tr> <td>British North American Provinces,</td> <td>763</td> <td>8,788</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>The West Indies,</td> <td>773</td> <td>12,466</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Spanish and Portuguese America,</td> <td>190</td> <td>2,093</td> <td>4</td> <td>85</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total of America,</td> <td>1,921</td> <td>25,531</td> <td>309</td> <td>4,255</td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Whale Fisheries,</td> <td>175</td> <td>6,774</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Grand total,</td> <td>16,754</td> <td>119,779</td> <td>2,828</td> <td>22,253</td> </tr> </table>

The total of British shipping thus employed was nearly 2,000,000 tons; that of foreign nations only 318,000. The chief cause of this great superiority lies in our exclusive navigation to the East and West Indies; but as this proceeds in a great measure from our navigation laws, it is fit to look abroad and to compare our numbers with those of other nations in the comprehensive record kept in the entrance to the Baltic. The number of British vessels that entered the Sound in the year 1817 was 2088 out of 6758. In tonnage we bore a still larger proportion, perhaps the half of the whole, the majority of other vessels (Swedish and Prussian) being of inferior size.

As the preceding table does not include the coasting trade, we annex a computation of the number of vessels employed in that department of our navigation.

<table> <tr> <th>Vessels.</th> <th></th> </tr> <tr> <td>From the whole of the Out-ports to the Port of London,</td> <td>700</td> </tr> <tr> <td>From Newcastle, Sunderland, and Blythe, with coals to London,</td> <td>450</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Vessels in the Coal trade to other ports from ditto,</td> <td>470</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Vessels employed from Whitehaven and other ports in the Coasting Coal Trade,</td> <td>250</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Vessels employed in conveying produce and merchandise to and from one Out-port in the United Kingdom to another, about</td> <td>1130</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total,</td> <td>3000*</td> </tr> </table>

Of these vessels the half in tonnage, if not in number, belong to the coal trade. Of the value of the merchandise or property thus transmitted, there are at present no means of judging; it being exempt from duty, and a great part of it either uninsured or covered in such a manner as not to come under the policy duty.

The shipping interest have long complained of the decay of ship-building, but an accurate inquiry was made in 1806, which showed, that whatever might be the case in regard to our southern dock-yards, the northern had increased their business, and that, on the whole, there was an augmentation. The returns made to government exhibit an instructive example of the migration of industry according to the price of living. The following Table shows a decrease:

<table> <tr> <th>Tons of Shipping built in the two Years</th> <th>Tons of Shipping built in the two Years</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1790 and 1791</td> <td>1804 and 1805</td> </tr> <tr> <td>London,</td> <td>16,372</td> <td>12,680</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bristol,</td> <td>3,071</td> <td>1,623</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Liverpool,</td> <td>6,710</td> <td>4,154</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Rochester,</td> <td>1,342</td> <td>1,087</td> </tr> </table>

But the case is very different in the ports remote from the metropolis.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Years</th> <th>Years</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Sunderland,</td> <td>3,951</td> <td>14,198</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hull,</td> <td>8,193</td> <td>10,839</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Newcastle,</td> <td>12,444</td> <td>15,054</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Berwick,</td> <td>481</td> <td>1,690</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Whitehaven,</td> <td>3,630</td> <td>6,750</td> </tr> </table>

* Colquhoun on the Resources of the British Empire. Ship-building is carried on extensively in other ports, particularly at Whitby and Scarborough.

Total Tonnage of Ships built in Great Britain and Ireland.

<table> <tr> <th>Vessels,</th> <th>Tonnage.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1791,</td> <td>720</td> <td>65,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1805,</td> <td>740</td> <td>80,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>706</td> <td>86,075</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815,</td> <td>913</td> <td>102,943¹</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816,</td> <td>851</td> <td>84,676</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1817,</td> <td>758</td> <td>81,263</td> </tr> </table>

Of this tonnage, about three-fourths is built in England, and the remainder chiefly in Scotland, very little ship-building having as yet taken place in Ireland.

IX.—Colonies and Foreign Dependencies.

The colonies and dependencies of England in the four quarters of the globe are,

EUROPE. Guernsey, Gibraltar, Jersey, Malta, Isle of Man, Heligoland.

AFRICA. Cape of Good Hope, Cape Coast, Sierra Leone, St Helena.

ASIA. India, Ceylon, Prince of Wales's Island, Bencoolen, Isle of France, New South Wales, or Botany Bay.

AMERICA. Continent.—Canada, Upper and Lower, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia. Islands.—Cape Breton, St John's, Newfoundland, Bermuda.

THE WEST INDIES. Jamaica, The Leeward Islands, The Windward Islands, The Bahamas, The Virgin Islands, On the Continent.—Demerara, Essequibo, Berbice, Honduras.

North America.—Our exports to our North American colonies (see the account of CANADA, Vol. II. p. 599) vary from one to two millions Sterling. Our imports from Canada consist of furs and skins to a large amount. From Nova Scotia and New Brunswick the chief article received is timber; from Newfoundland, fish and seal skins. A great traffic is carried on between our West India and our North American colonies; the fish, flour, and staves of the one being exchanged in great quantities for the rum, the coffee, and the sugar of the other.

Shipping employed between Great Britain and her North American Colonies.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Ships.</th> <th>Tons.</th> <th>Men.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1805,</td> <td>288</td> <td>52,412</td> <td>2,707</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1814,</td> <td>392</td> <td>81,930</td> <td>4,277</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815,</td> <td>672</td> <td>145,448</td> <td>7,241</td> </tr> </table>

West Indies.—Imports into Britain from, and Exports to the West Indies, both in official value.

<table> <tr> <th rowspan="2">Years.</th> <th rowspan="2">Imports.</th> <th colspan="2">Vessels entered Inwards.</th> <th rowspan="2">Exports.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Ships.</th> <th>Tons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1763</td> <td>2,849,006</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>1,154,109</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1773</td> <td>2,836,093</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>1,355,773</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1783</td> <td>2,891,805</td> <td>614</td> <td>124,239</td> <td>1,796,982</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1793</td> <td>4,392,158</td> <td>689</td> <td>156,962</td> <td>2,695,220</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1798</td> <td>5,411,962</td> <td>637</td> <td>163,399</td> <td>5,197,913</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1803</td> <td>6,040,067</td> <td>614</td> <td>180,950</td> <td>2,344,647</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1808</td> <td>8,716,918</td> <td>805</td> <td>228,082</td> <td>5,850,773</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1814</td> <td>8,200,506</td> <td>685</td> <td>212,776</td> <td>6,284,353</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815</td> <td>8,371,193</td> <td>701</td> <td>223,246</td> <td>6,862,371</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1816</td> <td>7,428,617</td> <td>680</td> <td>219,042</td> <td>4,559,665</td> </tr> </table>

The most remarkable fact in this table is the increased dimensions of the vessels; the average size of a West Indiaman, which, in 1783, was only 200 tons (registry) being now fully 320. The revenue arising from our West India imports is five millions annually, of which about three millions are from sugar; the rest chiefly from rum. The trade of these colonies has been exposed, particularly in the years 1806, 1807, 1808, and 1811, to the most distressing fluctuations. At the peace of 1814, Surinam was restored to Holland; but Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo, remain to Britain, with certain provisions in favour of the Dutch proprietors of plantations. They are at liberty to send their produce to Holland, and to receive from that country the stores or other articles of supply necessary for their estates; but they are not allowed to import Dutch commodities for sale.

East Indies.—Average of Exports from England to India (exclusive of China), on a series of Six Years, from 1806 to 1811.

<table> <tr> <th>On account of the East India Company,</th> <th>L.1,371,666</th> </tr> <tr> <td>of private merchants trading to India,</td> <td>453,666</td> </tr> <tr> <td>of the captains and officers of the Company's shipping,</td> <td>418,333</td> </tr> <tr> <th>L.2,243,665</th> <th></th> </tr> </table>

This includes the specie exported, which, however, was to a small amount. The value of goods imported from India is increased by the freight, interest of money, expected profit, &c.; and, though very fluctuating, might be averaged previous to 1814 at L.300,000 Sterling; and the seamen employed, at 6000. But since the trade has been laid open, speculations have been entered into from Liverpool, Bristol, and other ports, which have greatly altered the aspect of this branch of our commerce, and put all correct calculation out of the question. The exports are increased to a degree which cannot continue, as British merchandise has for some time sold in India considerably below prime cost.

Tonnage of Shipping cleared outward to the East Indies.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> <th>1817.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>From London,</td> <td>78,431</td> <td>87,866</td> <td>85,172</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Liverpool and other ports in Britain,</td> <td>1,549</td> <td>10,655</td> <td>19,456</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">79,980</td> <td>98,521</td> <td>104,628</td> </tr> </table>

(Customhouse Return, dated 1st May 1818.)

China.—This branch of trade remains in the exclusive possession of the East India Company. Our annual exports, from L.1,000,000 to L.1,200,000, are chiefly of broad cloth: our imports consist of tea in vast quantities; also of nankeens and raw silk. This trade employs nearly 20,000 tons of shipping, and 2000 seamen. (See the Article CHINA in this Supplement, Vol. III. p. 108.)

X.—Establishments for Religion and Education.

The Church of England has two archbishops and twenty-four bishops; all peers of the realm, and all indebted for their appointment to the Crown. The bishop of the Isle of Man is appointed by the Duke of Athol, and has no seat in the House of Lords. The province of York comprises four bishoprics, viz. Durham, Carlisle, Chester, and the Isle of Man; all the rest, to the number of twenty-one, are in the province of Canterbury. The clerical dignity next to the bishop is the archdeacon, whose duty, though very different in different dioceses, may be termed that of a representative of the bishop in several of his less important functions. The number of archdeacons in England is about sixty. The name of Dean (Decanus) was probably derived from his originally superintending ten canons or prebendaries. Each bishop has a chapter or council appointed to assist him, and each chapter has a dean for president; but there are in the Church of England many deaneries of other descriptions. Rector is, in general, the title of a clergyman holding a living, of which the tithes are entire; vicar is understood of a living where the great tithes have passed into secular hands. The very general name of curate signifies sometimes (as curé in France) a clergyman in possession of a living, but more frequently one exercising the spiritual office in a parish under the rector or vicar. The latter are temporary curates, their appointment being a matter of arrangement with the rector or vicar; the former, more permanent, are called perpetual curates, and are appointed by the impropriator of the tithe in a parish which has neither rector nor vicar. The name of priest is, in general, confined to the clergy of the church of Rome; in the church of England, the corresponding term is a "Clerk in Orders." A parson (parsona ecclesiae) denotes a clergyman in possession of a parochial church. Deacon is, in England, not a layman, as in Calvinist countries, but a clergyman of limited qualifications, entitled to preach, baptize, marry and bury, but not to give the sacrament. "Readers" are not regular clergymen, but laymen of good character, licensed by the bishop to read prayers in churches or chapels where there is no clergyman. See Adolphus on the British Empire, Vol. I.

A clerical education in England is of much less length than in Calvinist countries; in Scotland, Holland, Switzerland, or the North of Germany, after going through a course of classics and philosophy, a second course is required for theology solely, but in England the former is sufficient. The degree of bachelor of arts requires an examination and a university residence of three or four years; but to qualify for the acceptance of a curacy, a certificate of attending a single course of lectures in divinity is all that is necessary.

The number of church livings in England and Wales is very great, being fully 10,500. From this multiplicity of benefices, and from the general smallness of the incomes, have arisen two irregularities,—pluralities and non-residence,—both forbidden by the ancient statutes of the church, but both long sanctioned by usage. Many clergymen hold livings without doing duty at any of them; others do duty in one or in two that are adjacent to each other, and have a curate for the more distant; while curates frequently do duty at two and sometimes at three distinct places of worship. To prevent, or at least to lessen the abuse of non-residence, an Act of Parliament was passed in 1813, directing that every non-resident incumbent should nominate a curate at a salary of not less than L.80 a-year, unless the entire living should be less. The effect of this Act was to reduce the number of non-resident clergymen by 800 fully; they had previously been about 4700; but in 1815, the official return to Parliament of the incumbents in England and Wales was as follows:

Non resident from the following causes:

<table> <tr> <th>Sinecures,</th> <th>52</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Vacancies,</th> <th>164</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Sequestrations,</th> <th>40</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Recent Institutions,</th> <th>87</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Dilapidated Churches,</th> <th>32</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Held by Bishops,</th> <th>22</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Law-suits, absence on the Continent, &c.</th> <th>122</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Livings from which no report,</th> <th>279</th> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">Incumbents non-resident from other causes, 798</th> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">Incumbents resident, 3,856</th> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">Incumbents resident, 5,847</th> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">10,501</th> </tr> </table> The rental of England and Wales was, by a late return, discriminated as follows in regard to tithes:

<table> <tr> <th>Tithe free in toto</th> <th>L. 7,904,379</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Tithe free in part</th> <th>856,185</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Free on payment of a modus</th> <th>498,823</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Subject to tithe</th> <th>20,217,467</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Total</th> <th>L. 29,476,854</th> </tr> </table>

A part, and by no means an inconsiderable one, of the tithes of England, is held by laymen; but as the church has other sources of income, its total revenue is computed at nearly L. 3,000,000; but the absorption of large sums by several of the prelates (as the Bishops of Durham, Winchester, and London), and the accumulation of the best livings among a few individuals of influence, reduce the annual average income of the curates, or most numerous class, to little more than L. 100 a-year.

Tithes necessarily fluctuate with the state of agriculture, and, during the distress of 1815, the deficiency in this respect became alarming. It was then that the clergy felt what they should have felt long before, that tithe was an unsuitable and impolitic source of revenue. Application was made to Parliament, and the subject was for some time under serious discussion; but the rise of corn, in 1816 and 1817, prevented any other measure than an Act founded on a Committee Report of 18th June 1816, authorizing the possessors of tithes (laymen as well as clergymen) to grant leases of them for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

A late return to Parliament (June 1817) specifies the incomes of those benefices where there is no parsonage-house, or at least none that forms a suitable residence.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Living.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>From L. 10 to L. 100,</td> <td>615</td> </tr> <tr> <td>100 to 150,</td> <td>442</td> </tr> <tr> <td>150 and upwards,</td> <td>793</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>1850</td> </tr> </table>

A prior and more comprehensive return had stated the number of churches and chapels for the established faith at 2533; and as these were inadequate (the members of the established church being about five millions, or half the population of England and Wales), an act was passed in 1818, and even pecuniary aid given by government, for the erection of a number of additional churches. The previous attempts to raise the requisite funds by the issue of briefs and voluntary subscriptions, had exhibited a miserable specimen of misapplied labour; the expences of the collection, and of the patent and stamps, absorbing more than half the money received from the subscribing parties.*

A prebend is a provision in land or money given to a church in probandum, that is, for the support of a clergyman whose title may be either prebendary or canon. Advowson (advocatio) is the right of presentation to a living, and was first vested in those laymen who were founders of, or benefactors to livings. A living is held in commendam when, to prevent its becoming void, it is committed (commendatur) until conveniently provided with a pastor. Modus (modus decimandi) is a composition for tithes; it may be either perpetual, or during the lives of the contracting parties.* The lay impro priators of tithe, so frequent in England, date from the dissolution of monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII.; patrons were then allowed to retain the tithes and glebe in their own hands, without appointing a clergyman; in cases of such appointment, the clergyman was called vicarius, or representative of the patron.

The dissenters in England are, first, the Presbyterians, who nearly coincide with the Church of England as to doctrine, but differ in church-government, allowing no hierarchy in individuals; next the Independents, who go farther, and disclaim hierarchy in synods and other collective assemblies; the well known sect of Quakers date from the middle of the seventeenth century; the more numerous Methodists from 1729. Of the Anabaptists, the chief characteristic is their not receiving baptism till they become adults. The Catholics in England are not numerous, but comprise a large proportion of wealthy families. The Test Act declares that no person can be legally elected to a public office unless he be a member of the Church of England; but an act of Parliament is annually passed to indemnify all persons who shall not have complied with the requisitions of the Test Act.

In regard to the mode of education in England, Education there is much both to commend and censure. Scotland has been for a century past in possession of a larger proportion of parish schools; but the utility of these is much lessened by an established routine of teaching Latin to almost all youths, whatever be their intended line of life. In England this absurdity is less prevalent, because most of the schools are private undertakings, the managers of which are necessarily guided by considerations of utility.. The youth destined for a life of business are thus saved a serious waste of time; their education, if imperfect, is not supererogatory; but, on examining the higher seminaries of England, we find much ground for disappointment, and many marks of a blind adherence to ancient usage. Two universities are evidently inadequate to the education of the nobility, the gentry, and the clergy of so populous a country. Their course of study, also, is quite unsuitable to the future occupations of many of the students. They were originally designed for the education of churchmen; and, to this day, Latin and Greek, with the addition of mathematics at Cambridge, form the chief objects of instruction. In a country of which commerce forms the strength, there are no teachers of political economy. Under a government

* See Return of Briefs delivered to Parliament, 19th May 1819. which has so long borne the representative form, there are no classes for the study of modern history, or the principles of legislation. There are here hardly any of those public lectures, which, in the rest of Europe, constitute the grand characteristic of a university, and distinguish it from schools:—all, or nearly all, is done by private tuition. Each college has two, three, or more tutors (appointed from among the fellows), who receive in their rooms the students at stated hours, and read Greek or Latin with a class, which, in Oxford, rarely exceeds half a dozen at a time. Again, in point of constitution, while in other countries a university forms, in general, one large association, in England each college is a distinct body, having its head, its fellows, and its students, who, as far as education is concerned, have very little connection with the rest of the university. It is, doubtless, this insulation, both as to study and discipline, that has prevented the formation of public classes, and been the cause of the very uniform and limited course followed both at Oxford and Cambridge. In one point, however, these venerable seminaries redeem their faults, and assert the dignity of their character;—we mean in their public examinations. These, since the early part of the present century, have been put on an admirable footing; both at Oxford and Cambridge; distinguishing the relative degrees of proficiency with great accuracy, and converting into a full and impartial trial that which in other universities is almost always a mere form.

No country rivals England in the magnificence of her academical buildings. While in France, Germany, or Holland, a university possesses only a single pile of building, Oxford and Cambridge can boast for every college a large, commodious, and generally an elegant structure. The endowments appropriated to them are very various, both in their origin and destination, but they arise chiefly from land, and, having increased with the rise of rents, are in many cases very ample. The destination of these funds is regulated by the bequest of the donors, and the established usage of the colleges: part going to students, under the name of exhibitions or scholarships: part to the head and fellows; and a farther part, consisting in livings, which devolve in succession on the fellows, and lead to their removal from the university. The number of students has of late been considerably on the increase in both universities; but the public lists retaining the names of many who have long left college, the number actually engaged in a course of study does not exceed 2500, taking Oxford and Cambridge together. A hall is an inferior college; an academical establishment not incorporated or endowed, but possessed of exhibitions or other provisions for students. Oxford has nineteen colleges and five halls. Cambridge twelve colleges and four halls.

Boys in England are taught the classics, either in the lesser schools, established at every town of consequence throughout the kingdom, or at the great public schools. Of the latter, the principal are Eton, Westminster, Winchester, and Harrow; also the Charter-house, St Paul's, and Merchant Taylor's school. These seminaries, at present so expensive, and attended by youths of the first family, had their origin in a fund or provision, set apart for scholars of humbler birth. This has served as the basis of a stately superstructure, each school having attracted, by the advantage of situation, or the repute of the teachers, a much greater number of pupils in independent circumstances. But in each a proportion of the scholars are still on the foundation. At Eton there are 70 thus provided for; at Winchester the same number.*

On the education of the poor, a great deal of useful information has been lately laid before the public, by the Reports of the Committee appointed to "inquire into the education of the lower orders;" at first in London, afterwards throughout England at large. The earliest of these Reports, dated in June 1816, contains various statements of the proportion of the poor, who are destitute of the means of instruction. In the neighbourhood of Covent Garden, the proportion was 679 uneducated out of 829. In Southwark, of 12,000 children between the age of five and fourteen, 6000 were unprovided with the means of instruction; but of all ignorant and abandoned districts, St Giles is beyond comparison the worst; containing more than half the Irish in the metropolis, whose children, in number about 3000, were not only uneducated, but trained, after the age of seven or eight, to habits of begging and thieving. Elementary schools were not absolutely wanting in London, nor was the price of admission unreasonable; but the want of decent clothing was, in very many cases, the cause of not sending the children thither. The whole number of children in the metropolis, unprovided with education, was computed at more than 100,000; and in all England, the number is certainly not overrated at 500,000.

The efforts of the National Society, as Dr Bell's adherents term their establishment, make a very conspicuous figure in the evidence annexed to these Reports. The amount subscribed from 1811, the time of its formation, to last year, was (Second Report, p. 10) about L40,000; the chief part from occasional donations, the annual subscriptions amounting only to L1500. This society, though it has established only one great school, that of Baldwin's Gardens, in Gray's Inn Lane, has contributed to the erection or enlargement of more than 200 schools, by pecuniary grants, varying from L15 to L100, and amounting, in particular cases, to L200, and even L300. Above 500 teachers, male and female, have been trained on Dr Bell's plan, and the number of children now receiving education on this system is between 150,000 and 200,000, distributed over more than 1000 schools in all parts of the kingdom. Of these, the greater part have adopted Dr Bell's plan, without receiving any other aid than a supply of elementary books. The conditions required by the Society in return for

* Reports of the Education Committee, 1817 and 1818. their aid, were, that the liturgy and catechism of the Church of England should be followed, and that no religious tracts, except those sanctioned by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, should be admitted into the schools. The Society, however, is by no means illiberal, extending its instruction to children of all denominations, even Jews (Report First, p. 32), and allowing dissenting pupils to attend divine service in the place pointed out by their parents. In regard to expense, though not so small as asserted in some extreme statements which have gone abroad, nothing can be more gratifying than to find that, even in the opinion of the witness disposed to rate it at the highest, it does not exceed (Evidence, p. 268) 12s. per head per annum. One master, with the aid of monitors, can superintend 500 scholars.

The British and Foreign School Society, for that is the name adopted by the supporters of the Lancasterian plan since their separation from its founder, without possessing such extensive support as the National Society, have been extremely liberal and active; having collected above L.20,000 previous to 1816, and having expended considerably more; the trustees advancing the balance from their own property. Among other supporters, this Society reckons one who conceals his name from all but the treasurer, and who has already come to its aid with the large sum of L.3000! The original and central school of this Society is in the Borough Road, Surrey. The number of schools throughout the kingdom for boys and girls is supposed to exceed 400, having, on an average, from 150 to 200 pupils. The expence of the Society in aiding schools, and still more in training male and female teachers, is between L.2000 and L.3000 a-year.

Until these benevolent establishments were disseminated, the principal means of instruction for numbers of the poor were in the Sunday Schools; an institution highly advantageous, in preventing an improper observance of Sunday, but necessarily of very slow effect in the business of teaching. The number of Sunday scholars in the metropolis is computed (First Report, p. 76) at 40,000; but the time required there by a child to learn to read extends to two, two and a half, and even to three years. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge is of old date, having been founded in 1698. Its object is to assist parish schools which belong to or are not adverse to the Church of England, with books at a very reduced price, about half the prime cost. The funds arise partly from money in the stocks, partly from voluntary contribution. The annual income and expenditure exceed L.40,000.

The Education Committee brought its labours to a close in a Third Report, dated June 1818. Their concluding observations were, That the discussion excited by the inquiry had greatly improved the administration of institutions for the education of the poor; but that much remained to be done; the efforts of private benevolence being almost entirely confined to towns, and the aid of government being wanted in the thinly peopled districts, to the extent, at least, of the purchase or erection of a school-house, leaving the annual expence to be defrayed by private subscriptions. The Committee recommend farther, a connection between such schools and the Established Church, although, in England, this is a matter of greater difficulty than in Scotland, where, in point of doctrine, the dissenters differ very little from the Establishment. In regard to the anxiety of the poor for the education of their children, there is, say the Committee, the most unquestionable evidence that it is not only unabated, but daily increasing.

XI.—Establishments for purposes of Charity.—Poor Rates.

The public charities of England are very numerous; the bequests of benevolent founders in this country exceeding those of the zealous Catholics of France or Spain, as well as those of the once affluent Protestants of Holland. Our limits admit of the notice of only a few of the foundations in the metropolis and its neighbourhood.

Among the principal Hospitals are, Bethlem Hospital. St Luke's, Old Street. St Bartholomew's, West Smithfield. Guy's, in Southwark. The Lock Hospital, Hyde-Park-Corner. The London Hospital, Whitechapel Road. The Magdalen Hospital, St George's Road. The Middlesex Hospital, Berner's Street. The Foundling Hospital. Among the Dispensaries and medical charities are, The General Dispensary, Aldersgate Street City Dispensary in the Poultry. Finsbury Dispensary. Various Vaccine Dispensaries. The Fever Hospital, instituted in 1801.

A College, in the sense of a charity, is an almshouse on an enlarged scale, under the direction of a master and other incorporate officers. There are only three in the neighbourhood of London, viz. Bromley, Morden, and Dulwich Colleges.

Alms-Houses.—These are very numerous, viz. the Haberdashers', Mercers', Skinners', East India Company's, &c.

School Charities.—These also are very numerous. Among the most remarkable are, Christ's Hospital, or the Blue Coat School. Marine Society. School for the Indigent Blind. Deaf and Dumb Asylum. Debtor's Children. Ladies' Charity School. Masonic Charity. Raines's Charities.

Miscellaneous Charities.—Under this head are comprised several extensive and well known associations. The African Institution. The British and Foreign Bible Society. Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The Missionary Society. The Literary Fund.

We must next advert to a much more serious subject,—to the consideration of a tax, which, of all the burdens of England, is perhaps the most oppressive, we mean that levied for the Poor. The discussion, in a politico-economical sense, must be deferred till we treat of the Poor-Laws. At present we can exhibit only the principal returns and calculations, none of which, that are at all complete or accurate, go farther back than the middle of the last century.

The following table shows the expenditure on the Poor of England and Wales, making the year close at Easter, and adding the corresponding average price of the bushel of wheat.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Wheat.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1748, 1749, 1750, average</td> <td>L. 692,000 4s. 5d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1776,</td> <td>1,566,000 6s. 9d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1783, 1784, 1785, average</td> <td>2,010,000 7s. 7d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1803,</td> <td>4,268,000 8s. 1d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1813, 1814, 1815, average</td> <td>6,147,000 12s. 8d.</td> </tr> </table>

The amount of expenditure in each tenth year, calculated from the above, together with the price of wheat, will stand thus:

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Wheat.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1750,</td> <td>L. 713,000 4s. 2d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1760,</td> <td>965,000 4s. 10d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1770,</td> <td>1,306,000 6s. 5d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1780,</td> <td>1,774,000 5s. 11d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1790,</td> <td>2,567,000 6s. 4d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1800,</td> <td>3,861,000 10s. 2d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1810,</td> <td>5,407,000 12s. 4d.</td> </tr> </table>

The sums of expenditure are taken from the Second Report on the Poor-Laws (March 1818), and the price of wheat is added, because the well known rule of English parishes, in affording relief to the poor, is to proceed on a conjunct calculation of the price of bread and the number of children in a family.

The following table shows the proportion of the wages of the country labourer to the price of corn. (Barton on the Labouring Classes, published in 1817.)

<table> <tr> <th>Periods.</th> <th>Weekly Pay.</th> <th>Wheat per Quarter.</th> <th>Wages in Pints of Wheat.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1742 to 1752,</td> <td>6s. 0d.</td> <td>30s. 0d.</td> <td>102</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1761 to 1770,</td> <td>7s. 6d.</td> <td>42s. 0d.</td> <td>90</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1780 to 1790,</td> <td>8s. 0d.</td> <td>51s. 2d.</td> <td>80</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1795 to 1799,</td> <td>9s. 0d.</td> <td>70s. 8d.</td> <td>65</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1800 to 1808,</td> <td>11s. 0d.</td> <td>86s. 8d.</td> <td>60</td> </tr> </table>

These statements exhibit in the enhancement of wheat one very considerable cause of augmentation of the poor's-rate.

We now come to returns of later date; the result of the researches of the Committee on the Poor-laws, whose first and most comprehensive Report was made to Parliament in July 1817.

Return of Poor-Rates from London, Westminster, and Southwark, being from the Parishes within the Bills of Mortality, delivered to Parliament 21st February 1817.

<table> <tr> <th colspan="4">Year ending<br>Easter 1813.<br>Easter 1814.<br>25th March 1815.</th> </tr> <tr> <th></th> <th>L.</th> <th>L.</th> <th>L.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Total raised in the metropolis by poor's-rate, and smaller rates, such as church-rate, highway-rate, &c.</td> <td>446,542</td> <td>501,952</td> <td>489,321</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Charitable donations for parish schools and other purposes,</td> <td>18,983</td> <td>19,620</td> <td>20,160</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Expenditure.</b></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Relief and maintenance of the poor,</td> <td>L. 370,518</td> <td>401,954</td> <td>380,281</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lawsuits, removals, expences of overseers, and other officers,</td> <td>15,324</td> <td>17,416</td> <td>17,433</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Families of militia-men,</td> <td>12,916</td> <td>10,837</td> <td>6,613</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Church-rate, highway-rate, county-rate, &c.</td> <td>98,903</td> <td>113,574</td> <td>103,807</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Total,</b></td> <td>L. 497,661</td> <td>543,781</td> <td>508,134</td> </tr> <tr> <td><i>Number of Poor relieved permanently.</i></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>In workhouses,</td> <td>13,389</td> <td>13,373</td> <td>12,341</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Out of workhouses (without reckoning the children),</td> <td>12,654</td> <td>13,762</td> <td>13,341</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Parishioners relieved occasionally, either in or out of workhouses,</td> <td>40,993</td> <td>69,332</td> <td>70,322</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>67,036</b></td> <td><b>96,467</b></td> <td><b>96,004</b></td> </tr> </table>

Returns applicable to the Kingdom at large.

<table> <tr> <th colspan="3">Year ending<br>Easter 1813.<br>Easter 1814.<br>25th March 1815.</th> </tr> <tr> <th></th> <th>L.</th> <th>L.</th> <th>L.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Total money raised by poor's-rate; and, in a smaller degree, by church-rate, highway-rate, county-rate, &c. in England and Wales,</td> <td>8,651,438</td> <td>8,392,728</td> <td>7,460,855</td> </tr> <tr> <td>To these sums are to be added charitable donations, whether arising from land or money, managed by the clergy, church-wardens, or overseers;</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Annual average,</td> <td>238,310</td> <td>238,310</td> <td>238,310</td> </tr> </table> Expenditure.

For the maintenance and relief of the poor, Lawsuits, removal of paupers, and expences of overseers or other officers, Families of militia-men and other militia charges, Church-rate, county-rate, highway-rate, &c.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Year ending Easter 1813.</th> <th>Easter 1814.</th> <th>25th March 1815.</th> <th>Charitable Establishments.</th> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>L. 6,679,658</td> <td>L. 6,297,831</td> <td>L. 5,421,168</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>325,107</td> <td>332,966</td> <td>324,665</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>246,202</td> <td>188,576</td> <td>105,394</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>1,614,871</td> <td>1,692,990</td> <td>1,657,627</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="5">L. 8,865,8388,511,8697,508,854</th> </tr> </table>

Number of Persons relieved by this Expenditure.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Poor permanently relieved in workhouses,</th> <th>Do. do. out of workhouses (without reckoning children),</th> <th>Parishioners relieved occasionally,</th> <th>Total of paupers relieved,</th> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>97,223</td> <td>434,441</td> <td>440,249</td> <td>971,913</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>94,085</td> <td>430,140</td> <td>429,770</td> <td>953,995</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>88,115</td> <td>406,887</td> <td>400,971</td> <td>895,973</td> </tr> </table>

The property liable to poor's-rate consists of the land and houses of England, the annual rent of which, under the latest estimate, is L. 51,898,424 Deducting for various allowances and abatements, the fractional sum 1,898,424

Remains, L. 50,000,000

The average poor-rate on which, for the three years in question, is 3s. 4d. per pound. In general, the computation is made differently, and at so many shillings not in but on the pound,—thus 20s. on the pound would be half the actual rent. Sussex, the county the most burdened with poor-rates, paid 7s. 8d. on the pound in 1813.

The number of persons receiving parish relief in England is beyond example in any country or any age, being fully one person in eleven, if we compute by the above enumeration; and many more (not less than one in eight), if we comprise the children of the 400,000 or 500,000 persons who receive permanent relief at their homes. The workhouse plan is adopted in the case of nearly 100,000 individuals. Its extension was in a great measure owing to an act passed in 1782, commonly called Mr Gilbert's Act, which, to obtain the advantages arising from a collective assemblage of the poor, from a joint management of disbursement and a considerable division of labour, empowered the magistrates to consider any large workhouse as a common receptacle for the poor throughout a diameter of 20 miles. As yet this plan has by no means been successful. Proper care has seldom been taken to separate the inmates of the workhouses according to their age or their habits; nor has the division of employment been carried to the necessary length. The four shillings a week, which each pauper generally costs in a workhouse, is much more than would have been requisite at their own habitations.

Scotland was originally subjected to a similar system for the poor, but fortunately escaped its perversion, from the execution of the law being vested, not in temporary officers, such as church-wardens and overseers, but in the landholders, ministers, and elders, whose personal acquaintance with the poor enabled them to act with discrimination. It would be no small improvement in England to appoint, as overseer, a permanent officer with a salary, to act, if necessary, for more than one parish, a practice already adopted in some cases with success. The landed interest complain that the burden of the poor's-rate falls exclusively on them and the owners of houses. But there are strong objections to imposing any part of this burden on the income of the stockholders or the profit of traders. (Report on the Poor Laws, 4th July 1817, p. 6.) There would be no check to a perpetually increasing disbursement were the burden to be rendered national instead of parochial. Nor is it true that the trading and manufacturing districts have increased their paupers in a greater proportion than the agricultural. In Bedfordshire and Herefordshire, the two counties which employ the largest proportion of their inhabitants in agriculture, the same progressive augmentation of assessment has taken place. (See Report on the Poor Laws, 1817, p. 8.)

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Expended on Paupers in 1776.</th> <th>Average Expenditure of 1783, 1784-5.</th> <th>In 1803.</th> <th>In 1815.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Herefordshire,</td> <td>10,503</td> <td>16,728</td> <td>48,067</td> <td>59,256</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bedfordshire,</td> <td>16,663</td> <td>20,977</td> <td>38,070</td> <td>50,371</td> </tr> </table>

The consideration of most importance, as connected with the landed interest, is the reciprocal effect of the poor and the corn-laws; if the latter afford the landholders an indemnity for the extra burden of the former, the public may fairly claim a proportional reduction of the importation limit of corn in return for such alleviation as may be made in the pressure of the poor-rates on the land. This idea, at which our limits permit us only to hint, might, in our opinion, be made the basis of the most beneficial regulations. A great proportion of the present poor's-rate has arisen from the voluntary conduct of the more affluent classes, who, during the war, preferred paying an extra charge to raising the wages of country labour. This was shown by the remarkable fact of such labour being considerably cheaper in England than in Scotland. An effectual reduction, therefore, can take place only in two ways; either by raising wages as parish relief is withdrawn, or by approximating the personal expenses of our poor to that of the poor of the rest of Europe, by a progressive abrogation of the corn-laws.

Friendly Societies.—These associations are spoken of with much commendation in the Reports of the Committee on the Poor Laws. We extract the number of members.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>In 1813.</th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>In London, Westminster, and Southwark,</td> <td>42,965</td> <td>43,080</td> <td>52,812</td> </tr> <tr> <td>In England and Wales,</td> <td>821,310</td> <td>838,728</td> <td>925,439</td> </tr> </table>

XII.—Establishments for the Purposes of War.

The establishments both for the Navy and Army have, in the present age, been carried to an extent of which no country has exhibited an example. Greater efforts, perhaps, have been made on sudden emergencies, both in ancient and modern times; but neither Prussia, the most military state on the Continent, nor France in the reign of Buonaparte, could stand a comparison during last war with England in the proportion borne by her armed force to the population at large. The difficulty lay, not in levying every tenth, or even every eighth man in a courageous population, but in finding, from the public credit and the productive industry of the rest of the community, the means of supporting so vast a number "in arms and idleness" during a succession of years.

Annual Expenditure for our Navy, Army, and Ordnance during last War, from the Returns to Parliament.

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Navy.</th> <th>Army.</th> <th>Ordnance.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1803</td> <td>7,979,878</td> <td>11,299,406</td> <td>1,827,049</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1804</td> <td>11,759,351</td> <td>15,744,694</td> <td>3,550,141</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1805</td> <td>14,466,998</td> <td>17,019,728</td> <td>4,732,286</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1806</td> <td>16,084,027</td> <td>15,111,490</td> <td>4,511,064</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1807</td> <td>16,775,761</td> <td>15,205,550</td> <td>4,190,748</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1808</td> <td>17,467,892</td> <td>17,201,061</td> <td>5,108,900</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1809</td> <td>19,236,036</td> <td>18,463,094</td> <td>4,874,184</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1810</td> <td>20,058,412</td> <td>18,536,299</td> <td>4,652,331</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1811</td> <td>19,540,678</td> <td>23,869,359</td> <td>4,557,509</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1812</td> <td>20,500,339</td> <td>24,987,362</td> <td>4,252,409</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1813</td> <td>21,996,624</td> <td>29,469,520</td> <td>3,404,527</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1814</td> <td>21,961,566</td> <td>33,795,356</td> <td>4,480,729</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1815</td> <td>16,873,870</td> <td>23,172,137</td> <td>3,736,425</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total during 12 years of war,</td> <td>207,827,562</td> <td>340,706,119</td> <td>49,641,877</td> </tr> </table>

The navy expenditure increased very gradually; that of the army took a sudden rise in 1812 and 1813, owing, in part, to our increased scale of exertion in Spain, but more to the unfortunate fall of the exchanges, which, in these years, were nearly 30 per cent. against us. These returns refer, of course, not to England alone, but to the United Kingdom at large. The numbers maintained in the latter years were, in the navy, 140,000 seamen and marines; in the army about 300,000; viz. in regulars and in foreign corps, exclusive of our troops in India, 207,000; in regular militia, 93,000; the whole effective, and without reckoning a very numerous force of local militia, occasionally embodied. In 1814, a great reduction took place, particularly in the navy. In 1815, the alarm caused by Buonaparte's return suspended for a time the reduction of the army, but, in 1816, there were nearly 87,000 discharges, exclusive of 10,000 deaths and desertions. Still we had, in 1817, a force abroad and at home, of nearly 20,000 cavalry, 6000 foot guards, and 115,000 infantry. The expense of nearly 50,000 of these troops was defrayed by France and the East India Company; for the remainder the following sums were voted by Parliament:

Abstract of the Army Estimates for 1817, exclusive of the Extraordinaries of the Army.

<table> <tr> <th>Land forces (exclusive of those serving in France and India), 92,282 officers and men,</th> <th>Ls.351,377</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Staff officers,</th> <th>146,816</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Public departments,</th> <th>163,104</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Medicines, &c.</th> <th>26,446</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Volunteer Cavalry,</th> <th>106,665</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Additional pay to general officers who are not Colonels of regiments,</th> <th>179,045</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Full pay of those officers who have retired on that condition,</th> <th>132,536</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Total half-pay and allowances to other officers,</th> <th>813,012</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Pensions to subalterns and privates,</th> <th>1,009,530</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Widows' pensions,</th> <th>98,984</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Compassionate list, and pensions for wounds,</th> <th>163,502</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Garrison charges at home and abroad,</th> <th>34,078</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Military college (Sandhurst),</th> <th>28,155</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Military asylum (Chelsea) for soldiers' children,</th> <th>34,415</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Superannuation allowances, adjutants of Local Militia, and Exchequer fees,</th> <th>80,067</th> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">Ls.367,732</th> </tr> </table>

Since 1817, a farther and very large reduction has taken place, particularly in the course of 1818 and the present year. The peace establishment, exclusive of the troops of India, is at present fixed at 8954 cavalry, 5760 foot guards, 55,090 infantry; making a total of 69,794. This is considerably beyond the peace establishment of 1792; and in consequence of the large sums issued for the half-pay of officers and the pensions of privates, the expenditure is still very great, being computed by the Finance Committee (Second Report in 1819) at Ls.380,000 annually; to which is to be added a charge, varying from year to year, but hitherto very heavy, under the head of "Army Extraordinaries." The infantry now consists of only 93 regiments; the light dragoons of 19. During the war, there were 33 regiments of light dragoons, and 135 regiments of foot, many of them of two battalions. An extra proportion of our military are at present stationed in Ireland, to prevent illicit distillation and other frauds on the revenue. In India, our force consists of about 20,000 King's troops and 8000 Company's, all Europeans, and exclusive of 150,000 natives; the whole are in the pay of the East India Company.

The progressive increase of our naval force in Navy. Establishments for the Purposes of War.

spires no dread among the friends of constitutional liberty. In the war that followed the Revolution of 1688, our navy consisted of about 30,000 seamen; that of Louis XIV. was not inferior until the battle of La Hogue in 1692. In the war of 1740, our force was carried to 40,000, and eventually to nearly 50,000 seamen. In the succeeding war, the vote in the year 1760 was for 70,000, a number till then unprecedented. Last war, when we had 140,000 seamen in service, and above 30,000 marines, there were in commission nearly 160 sail of the line and 150 frigates. At present, the reduced state of the naval power of other countries has led to our peace establishment being brought so low as 13,000 seamen and 6000 marines. There are thus only five sail of the line in full equipment; the guard-ships have only a fifth of the war complement, and the other-vessels in commission are chiefly employed in the prevention of smuggling. Still the annual vote for this department is large, in consequence of the great exertions made in peace for rebuilding our shipping and improving our dock-yards. In 1817, the navy estimates were,

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Wages, victualling, &c.</th> <th>L.1,672,000</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Half-pay and pensions</td> <td></td> <td>1,230,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Building and repairs</td> <td></td> <td>1,391,645</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ordinary of navy and repairs</td> <td></td> <td>1,243,457</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Provisions for ships abroad</td> <td></td> <td>300,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Transport service</td> <td></td> <td>182,176</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sick and wounded</td> <td></td> <td>79,350</td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">Total</th> <th>L.6,098,628</th> </tr> </table>

In 1818, the navy estimates amounted to L.6,457,000; in 1819, to L.6,436,000. The number of seamen receiving pensions without living at Greenwich hospital exceeds 30,000, of whom nearly the half are capable of active service.

List of Navy Officers on 30th September 1818.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Total Number</th> <th>Employed</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Admirals,</td> <td>183</td> <td>13</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Post Captains,</td> <td>852</td> <td>62</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Commanders,</td> <td>789</td> <td>56</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lieutenants,</td> <td>3923</td> <td>404</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Masters,</td> <td>643</td> <td>142</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Pursers,</td> <td>815</td> <td>130</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Physicians,</td> <td>16</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Surgeons,</td> <td>934</td> <td>113</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Assistant-surgeons,</td> <td>367</td> <td>161</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total,</th> <th>8522</th> <th>1081</th> </tr> </table>

Of the fortified places of England, the principal are the Dock-yards. Chatham contains an arsenal on a large scale; our dismantled vessels lie there in great numbers, and in the naval warehouses the stores are arranged in the highest order. Sheerness has of late years been greatly improved; a change which required all the resources of ingenuity and finance; the ground on which the town stands having been progressively formed by alluvial deposits from the Medway, and wanting, in a great measure, the consistency of primitive soil. Portsmouth has the largest victualling establishment after Deptford, and the greatest store of artillery after Woolwich; in point of edifices and works generally, it is our first naval station; it is also the usual port for the equipment of an armament. Plymouth possesses a roadstead of great depth and extent; and the anchorage has been lately much improved by the erection of the Breakwater, a great national work fully described in this Supplement, under that head. Milfordhaven is a still more capacious road-stead than Plymouth, and would form a most valuable dépôt were its position less remote; as yet it has been used only for shipbuilding.

Various particulars relative to the government and economy of both army and navy will be found under the Articles Academies,—Military; Barracks; Dock-yards; Greenwich Hospital; Navy.

XIII.—Revenue and Expenditure.

The revenue of England, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, hardly exceeded L.600,000 a year; under Charles I. it was about L.800,000; under Charles II. from L.1,200,000 to L.1,500,000. James II. raised it to L.2,000,000 a sum, however, which fell considerably short of the contemporary revenue of Holland, and was not above a third of that of France. After the Revolution, the necessity of great military efforts led to the imposition of the land-tax, and the average revenue under King William was about L.4,000,000; under Queen Anne, the same motives for exertion produced an augmentation to L.5,000,000, and eventually to L.6,000,000. In the pacific reign of George I. the revenue rather exceeded L.7,000,000, and a farther but gradual augmentation took place towards the middle of the century.

Increase of the Public Revenue during the reign of George III.

<table> <tr> <th>Year</th> <th>Revenue</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1761</td> <td>L.8,800,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1764</td> <td>9,250,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1767</td> <td>9,200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1770</td> <td>9,510,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1773</td> <td>10,066,661</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1776</td> <td>10,265,405</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1779</td> <td>11,192,141</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1782</td> <td>12,593,297</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1785</td> <td>14,871,520</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1788</td> <td>15,572,971</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1791</td> <td>16,631,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1792</td> <td>19,382,435</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1793</td> <td>17,674,395</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1794</td> <td>17,440,809</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1795</td> <td>17,374,890</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1796</td> <td>18,243,876</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1797</td> <td>18,668,925</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1798</td> <td>20,518,780</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1799</td> <td>23,607,945</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1800</td> <td>29,604,008</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1801</td> <td>28,085,829</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1802</td> <td>28,221,183</td> </tr> </table>

The following table contains a comprehensive view of our taxes and loans since that period. <table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1803.</th> <th>1804.</th> <th>1805.</th> <th>1806.</th> <th>1807.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Customs,</td> <td>L. 8,024,681</td> <td>9,362,127</td> <td>10,174,213</td> <td>10,819,637</td> <td>10,592,606</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Excise,</td> <td>18,771,989</td> <td>21,477,403</td> <td>23,193,515</td> <td>24,080,663</td> <td>24,680,640</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Stamps,</td> <td>3,326,755</td> <td>3,518,545</td> <td>4,062,284</td> <td>4,278,538</td> <td>4,401,660</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Land Tax,</td> <td>1,307,941</td> <td>1,467,283</td> <td>1,536,481</td> <td>1,451,772</td> <td>1,432,789</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Assessed Taxes,</td> <td>4,468,131</td> <td>4,429,106</td> <td>4,508,752</td> <td>4,821,206</td> <td>5,451,660</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Post-Office,</td> <td>1,256,801</td> <td>1,277,391</td> <td>1,424,994</td> <td>1,490,968</td> <td>1,472,870</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Crown-lands, tax on pensions, &c.</td> <td>142,441</td> <td>162,524</td> <td>212,159</td> <td>198,912</td> <td>199,993</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Property-tax,</td> <td>378,326</td> <td>3,665,063</td> <td>4,516,883</td> <td>6,162,558</td> <td>10,138,007</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total raised by Taxes,</th> <th>L. 37,677,063</th> <th>45,359,442</th> <th>49,659,281</th> <th>53,304,254</th> <th>58,390,925</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Lottery, net profit,</td> <td>351,507</td> <td>432,645</td> <td>378,648</td> <td>496,010</td> <td>774,694</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Loans, actual receipts,</td> <td>11,950,000</td> <td>13,209,251</td> <td>25,130,401</td> <td>19,699,268</td> <td>15,257,211</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Increase of outstanding Exchequer Bills,</td> <td>2,611,600</td> <td>6,185,900</td> <td>1,926,900</td> <td>27,100</td> <td>7,735,400</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Unclaimed dividends and various receipts,</td> <td>289,824</td> <td>276,425</td> <td>495,530</td> <td>263,782</td> <td>121,952</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Exchequer bills funded,</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total money raised,</th> <th>L. 52,879,994</th> <th>65,463,768</th> <th>77,590,768</th> <th>73,790,409</th> <th>82,279,482</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Deduct loan and lottery for Ireland,</td> <td>2,117,444</td> <td>3,733,291</td> <td>3,211,062</td> <td>1,768,000</td> <td>3,681,251</td> </tr> <tr> <td>And charges of the collection of revenue,</td> <td>1,955,368</td> <td>2,135,176</td> <td>2,257,185</td> <td>2,375,828</td> <td>2,999,048</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total applicable to the service of Great Britain, L.</th> <th>48,807,182</th> <th>59,595,296</th> <th>72,122,516</th> <th>69,646,581</th> <th>75,899,183</th> </tr> </table>

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1808.</th> <th>1809.</th> <th>1810.</th> <th>1811.</th> <th>1812.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Customs,</td> <td>L. 10,600,776</td> <td>12,016,451</td> <td>12,488,243</td> <td>11,038,148</td> <td>11,895,195</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Excise,</td> <td>25,592,819</td> <td>23,470,546</td> <td>25,796,008</td> <td>26,078,297</td> <td>23,531,736</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Stamps,</td> <td>4,680,071</td> <td>5,305,782</td> <td>5,505,632</td> <td>5,236,020</td> <td>5,273,907</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Land Tax,</td> <td>1,582,732</td> <td>1,511,550</td> <td>1,418,337</td> <td>1,333,432</td> <td>1,368,128</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Assessed Taxes,</td> <td>5,915,623</td> <td>6,840,551</td> <td>6,233,161</td> <td>6,006,865</td> <td>6,091,948</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Post-Office,</td> <td>1,476,558</td> <td>1,558,409</td> <td>1,709,065</td> <td>1,685,936</td> <td>1,796,586</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Crown-lands, tax on pensions, &c.</td> <td>276,073</td> <td>288,202</td> <td>76,916</td> <td>150,276</td> <td>72,123</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Property-tax,</td> <td>11,413,561</td> <td>12,413,803</td> <td>13,504,004</td> <td>13,234,896</td> <td>13,140,231</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total raised by Taxes,</th> <th>L. 61,538,207</th> <th>63,405,294</th> <th>66,681,366</th> <th>64,763,870</th> <th>63,169,854</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Lottery, net profit,</td> <td>457,620</td> <td>454,819</td> <td>469,616</td> <td>302,887</td> <td>373,396</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Loans, actual receipts,</td> <td>10,102,620</td> <td>14,675,668</td> <td>13,242,356</td> <td>16,636,375</td> <td>29,268,586</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Increase of outstanding Exchequer Bills,</td> <td>5,150,300</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>3,205,500</td> <td>3,914,600</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Unclaimed dividends and various receipts,</td> <td>766,225</td> <td>242,104</td> <td>405,816</td> <td>253,867</td> <td>1,263,402</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Exchequer Bills funded,</td> <td>4,000,000</td> <td>7,932,100</td> <td>8,311,000</td> <td>7 018,700</td> <td>5,431,700</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total money raised,</th> <th>L. 82,014,972</th> <th>86,709,985</th> <th>89,110,154</th> <th>92,180,699</th> <th>103,421,538</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Deduct loan and lottery for Ireland,</td> <td>2,589,166</td> <td>2,921,527</td> <td>5,294,416</td> <td>4,432,292</td> <td>2,888,500</td> </tr> <tr> <td>And charges of the collection of revenue,</td> <td>2,816,568</td> <td>2,886,201</td> <td>2,934,876</td> <td>3,096,581</td> <td>3,278,242</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total applicable to the service of Gr. Britain, L.</th> <th>76,068,238</th> <th>80,902,257</th> <th>80,880,862</th> <th>51,651,826</th> <th>97,25,7969</th> </tr> </table>

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1813.</th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> <th>1817.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Customs,</td> <td>L. 11,985,900</td> <td>12,835,831</td> <td>11,360,190</td> <td>9,177,591</td> <td>12,713,588</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Excise,</td> <td>25,272,414</td> <td>26,471,224</td> <td>27,206,806</td> <td>23,595,268</td> <td>22,829,364</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Stamps,</td> <td>5,473,409</td> <td>5,778,579</td> <td>6,139,585</td> <td>6,184,289</td> <td>7,101,767</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Land Tax,</td> <td>1,303,399</td> <td>1,285,982</td> <td>1,084,251</td> <td>1,127,929</td> <td>1,163,320</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Assessed Taxes,</td> <td>6,570,461</td> <td>6,725,700</td> <td>6,524,766</td> <td>6,129,978</td> <td>6,500,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Post-Office,</td> <td>1,912,114</td> <td>2,051,929</td> <td>1,755,898</td> <td>1,659,855</td> <td>1,614,925</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Crown-lands, tax on pensions, &c.</td> <td>87,702</td> <td>41,322</td> <td>244,024</td> <td>249,629</td> <td>242,251</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Property-tax,</td> <td>14,320,436</td> <td>14,493,532</td> <td>14,978,557</td> <td>12,039,157</td> <td>2,519,410</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total raised by Taxes,*</th> <th>L. 66,925,835</th> <th>69,684,192</th> <th>69,294,077</th> <th>60,163,696</th> <th>54,714,625</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Lottery, net profit,</td> <td>278,666</td> <td>356,104</td> <td>301,652</td> <td>234,681</td> <td>196,689</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Loans, actual receipts,</td> <td>35,050,574</td> <td>36,078,047</td> <td>39,421,959</td> <td>8,939,800</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Increase of outstanding Exchequer Bills,</td> <td>2,110,400</td> <td>10,421,900</td> <td></td> <td>3,208,400</td> <td>14,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Unclaimed dividends and various receipts,</td> <td>831,482</td> <td>300,646</td> <td>260,178</td> <td>438,478</td> <td>925,575</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Exchequer Bills funded,</td> <td>15,755,700</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total money raised,</th> <th>L. 120,952,657</th> <th>116,843,889</th> <th>109,280,861</th> <th>72,985,055</th> <th>69,856,889</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Deduct loan and lottery for Ireland,</td> <td>744,140</td> <td>5,953,985</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>And charges of the collection of revenue,</td> <td>3,504,988</td> <td>3,573,261</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total applicable to the service of Gr. Britain, L.</th> <th>116,703,579</th> <th>107,316,643</th> <th></th> <th></th> <th></th> </tr> </table>

No deduction, the above being the net sums collected.

* The diminution in 1816 was caused by a partial reduction of the war-taxes; and the farther diminution in 1817 by the repeal of the property-tax. <table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1803.</th> <th>1804.</th> <th>1805.</th> <th>1806.</th> <th>1807.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Interest on debt, funded and unfunded,</td> <td>L. 17,861,841</td> <td>18,698,307</td> <td>20,022,068</td> <td>20,524,718</td> <td>21,021,772</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Management of ditto,</td> <td>235,891</td> <td>253,375</td> <td>256,483</td> <td>275,108</td> <td>278,594</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sinking fund,</td> <td>6,287,941</td> <td>6,521,394</td> <td>7,181,482</td> <td>7,829,589</td> <td>8,908,673</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Civil list,</td> <td>698,000</td> <td>1,519,842</td> <td>958,000</td> <td>958,000</td> <td>958,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Various pensions and allowances,</td> <td>408,889</td> <td>336,007</td> <td>381,263</td> <td>479,976</td> <td>392,924</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Civil government of Scotland,</td> <td>79,502</td> <td>79,705</td> <td>86,918</td> <td>85,750</td> <td>85,350</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bounties,</td> <td>308,335</td> <td>359,980</td> <td>401,618</td> <td>345,119</td> <td>536,918</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Courts of justice, militia, &c.</td> <td>172,301</td> <td>570,479</td> <td>512,700</td> <td>393,752</td> <td>413,711</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Navy, ordnance, and army,</td> <td>21,106,334</td> <td>31,054,180</td> <td>36,219,012</td> <td>35,706,582</td> <td>36,175,060</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Subsidies,</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>180,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>East India Company,</td> <td>1,000,000</td> <td></td> <td>1,000,000</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Miscellaneous services,</td> <td>1,800,500</td> <td>1,161,156</td> <td>2,115,334</td> <td>1,706,676</td> <td>1,195,448</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total,</th> <th>L. 50,159,034</th> <th>160,554,493</th> <th>69,084,879</th> <th>69,303,270</th> <th>70,145,889</th> </tr> </table>

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1808.</th> <th>1809.</th> <th>1810.</th> <th>1811.</th> <th>1812.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Interest on debt, funded and unfunded,</td> <td>L. 20,986,595</td> <td>21,356,248</td> <td>21,785,732</td> <td>21,806,900</td> <td>23,051,918</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Management of ditto,</td> <td>195,972</td> <td>204,645</td> <td>203,044</td> <td>211,177</td> <td>214,481</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sinking fund,</td> <td>9,523,339</td> <td>10,155,105</td> <td>10,783,018</td> <td>11,511,486</td> <td>12,433,345</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Civil list,</td> <td>958,000</td> <td>958,000</td> <td>958,000</td> <td>958,000</td> <td>1,019,538</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Various pensions and allowances,</td> <td>398,921</td> <td>391,093</td> <td>395,114</td> <td>394,321</td> <td>532,693</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Civil government of Scotland,</td> <td>85,470</td> <td>90,954</td> <td>118,186</td> <td>109,693</td> <td>112,748</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bounties,</td> <td>473,458</td> <td>604,061</td> <td>588,281</td> <td>399,822</td> <td>892,915</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Courts of justice, militia, &c.</td> <td>554,689</td> <td>460,349</td> <td>406,526</td> <td>430,997</td> <td>432,115</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Navy, ordnance, and army,</td> <td>39,777,834</td> <td>42,073,316</td> <td>43,247,044</td> <td>47,967,547</td> <td>49,740,111</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Subsidies,</td> <td>1,400,000</td> <td>2,050,000</td> <td>2,060,192</td> <td>2,977,747</td> <td>5,315,528</td> </tr> <tr> <td>East India Company,</td> <td>1,500,000</td> <td></td> <td>1,000,000</td> <td>500,000</td> <td>2,500,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Miscellaneous services,</td> <td>1,461,359</td> <td>1,441,722</td> <td>1,236,451</td> <td>1,348,446</td> <td>2,993,243</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total,</th> <th>L. 77,315,657</th> <th>79,785,493</th> <th>82,776,588</th> <th>88,616,136</th> <th>98,738,635</th> </tr> </table>

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>1813.</th> <th>1814.</th> <th>1815.</th> <th>1816.</th> <th>1817.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Interest on debt, funded and unfunded,</td> <td>L. 24,224,349</td> <td>26,409,083</td> <td>28,357,733</td> <td>27,614,939</td> <td>31,583,058</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Management of ditto,</td> <td>220,153</td> <td>221,589</td> <td>284,673</td> <td>278,189</td> <td>275,735</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sinking fund,</td> <td>14,145,242</td> <td>12,710,706</td> <td>12,798,226</td> <td>13,422,749</td> <td>14,596,685</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Civil list,</td> <td>1,028,000</td> <td>1,246,857</td> <td>1,028,000</td> <td>1,028,000</td> <td>1,191,169</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Various pensions and allowances,</td> <td>428,067</td> <td>463,299</td> <td>436,989</td> <td>611,413</td> <td>1,032,952</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Civil government of Scotland,</td> <td>113,176</td> <td>114,032</td> <td>126,614</td> <td>128,515</td> <td>130,646</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bounties,</td> <td>228,741</td> <td>244,308</td> <td>247,903</td> <td>247,183</td> <td>330,046</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Courts of justice, militia, &c.</td> <td>594,812</td> <td>545,510</td> <td>206,633</td> <td>196,779</td> <td>201,900</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Navy, ordnance, and army,</td> <td>54,870,672</td> <td>60,297,851</td> <td>43,282,432</td> <td>25,225,620</td> <td>17,523,328</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Subsidies,</td> <td>11,294,416</td> <td>10,024,623</td> <td>11,093,248</td> <td>1,731,140</td> <td>7,502</td> </tr> <tr> <td>East India Company,</td> <td>2,000,000</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Miscellaneous services,</td> <td>1,717,132</td> <td>1,856,236</td> <td>3,187,477</td> <td>3,776,163</td> <td>2,369,800</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total,</th> <th>L. 110,864,760</th> <th>114,074,094</th> <th>100,991,928</th> <th>74,260,640</th> <th>69,242,821</th> </tr> </table>

These tabular statements form a history of our finances since 1803, and are so comprehensive as to render unnecessary any other observation, than that there is seldom an equality between the amount received and expended by government, because the accounts of the one year are necessarily blended with those of the succeeding. The deficiency of revenue in 1817 was met by a large issue of Exchequer bills. In 1818, the revenue improved by nearly L.2,000,000; but there still remained a deficiency of L.13,900,000, which necessitated a recourse in that year to temporary expedients; and, in the present year (1819), to a loan and a vote of large additional taxes.

Our national debt originated in the great struggle made under King William, against the aggrandizement of France. It amounted,

At the peace of Ryswick, in 1697, to L.21,516,000 At the peace of Utrecht, in 1714, 53,681,000 At the peace of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, 78,293,000 At the peace of Paris, in 1763, 133,960,000 At the peace of Versailles, in 1783, 238,231,000

So early as 1716 a Sinking Fund was commenced and persevered in with considerable firmness by Sir Fund. R. Walpole. The supplies for it were derived partly from surplus taxes, partly from a reduction of the interest of the existing debt. In 1733, an extraordinary demand for money caused a trespass on the inviolability of this fund, and the principle once infringed, there was no limit to subsequent encroachments. The sinking fund continued to bear the name, but it had not, so lately as 1772, discharged 15 millions of the public debt. At last, in 1786, Mr Pitt revived this measure, following in substance the plan of Sir R. Walpole, but investing the new reserve with additional precautions, by nominating a special Board of Commissioners, and rendering them independent not merely of the treasury, but, in some respects, of Parliament. It was then that the public first became familiar with the term Consolidated Fund, which means nothing more than the aggregate of the permanent taxes; from which aggregate government pledged itself to pay a million yearly to the commissioners for the redemption of the public debt. This fund of a million was to be further augmented by public annuities as they expired, and by the interest of the redeemed debt, which was to be paid as formerly by government at the bank, but into the hands of the sinking fund commissioners. The measure, now brought into operation, paid off the following sums:

In 1787, . . L. 662,750 stock. 1788, . . 1,456,900

Table of the National Debt, and of the Operation of the Sinking Fund, the whole stated not in Money, but in Stock.

<table> <tr> <th>Years.</th> <th>Total of Debt.</th> <th>Paid off each Year by the Sinking Fund.</th> <th>New Debt Contracted.</th> <th>Debt remaining Unredeemed.</th> </tr> <tr><td>1793</td><td>L.238,231,248</td><td>L.1,962,650</td><td>L.———</td><td>L.227,989,148</td></tr> <tr><td>1794</td><td>244,481,248</td><td>2,174,405</td><td>6,250,000</td><td>232,064,743</td></tr> <tr><td>1795</td><td>260,157,773</td><td>2,804,945</td><td>15,676,525</td><td>244,936,323</td></tr> <tr><td>1796</td><td>311,863,471</td><td>3,083,455</td><td>51,705,698</td><td>293,558,566</td></tr> <tr><td>1797</td><td>368,809,040</td><td>4,390,670</td><td>56,945,569</td><td>346,113,465</td></tr> <tr><td>1798</td><td>394,159,040</td><td>6,695,585</td><td>25,350,000</td><td>364,767,880</td></tr> <tr><td>1799</td><td>429,783,290</td><td>7,779,807</td><td>35,624,250</td><td>392,612,323</td></tr> <tr><td>1800</td><td>451,658,290</td><td>20,211,571</td><td>21,875,000</td><td>394,273,752</td></tr> <tr><td>1801</td><td>480,703,290</td><td>10,281,776</td><td>29,045,000</td><td>413,038,977</td></tr> <tr><td>1802</td><td>536,657,603</td><td>9,925,739</td><td>55,954,313</td><td>459,067,551</td></tr> <tr><td>1803</td><td>567,008,978</td><td>8,846,450</td><td>30,351,375</td><td>480,572,476</td></tr> <tr><td>1804</td><td>583,008,978</td><td>12,409,854</td><td>16,000,000</td><td>484,162,622</td></tr> <tr><td>1805</td><td>603,925,792</td><td>11,951,711</td><td>20,916,814</td><td>493,127,726</td></tr> <tr><td>1806</td><td>640,752,103</td><td>12,673,475</td><td>36,826,311</td><td>517,280,561</td></tr> <tr><td>1807</td><td>670,632,103</td><td>14,085,017</td><td>29,880,000</td><td>533,075,543</td></tr> <tr><td>1808</td><td>689,005,303</td><td>14,672,717</td><td>18,373,200</td><td>536,776,026</td></tr> <tr><td>1809</td><td>702,698,556</td><td>14,728,227</td><td>13,693,253</td><td>535,741,052</td></tr> <tr><td>1810</td><td>723,975,678</td><td>15,051,321</td><td>21,278,122</td><td>541,957,854</td></tr> <tr><td>1811</td><td>743,787,785</td><td>16,106,263</td><td>19,811,107</td><td>545,662,698</td></tr> <tr><td>1812</td><td>773,032,496</td><td>18,692,590</td><td>29,244,711</td><td>556,284,819</td></tr> <tr><td>1813</td><td>813,775,527</td><td>21,816,457</td><td>40,743,031</td><td>575,211,392</td></tr> <tr><td>1814</td><td>907,495,950</td><td>24,763,646</td><td>93,720,423</td><td>644,168,169</td></tr> <tr><td>1815</td><td>932,281,880</td><td>19,799,863</td><td>24,705,930</td><td>649,074,235</td></tr> <tr><td>1816</td><td>1,003,090,282</td><td>20,647,122</td><td>70,888,402</td><td>699,315,516</td></tr> <tr><td>1817</td><td>1,006,090,282</td><td>19,546,201</td><td>3,000,000</td><td>682,769,314</td></tr> <tr><td>1818</td><td>1,109,123,032</td><td>18,512,227</td><td></td><td>748,201,991</td></tr> </table>

The great addition in the last year arises from the consolidation of the British and Irish Exchequers, by which above L. 100,000,000 of stock were added to the mass, without, however, producing any virtual change in our finances; the interest of by far the greater part of the Irish debt having been previously paid in England. As the larger proportion of our debt bears only three per cent. interest, and is, of

In 1789, . . L. 1,506,350 stock. 1790, . . 1,558,850 1791, . . 1,587,500 1792, . . 1,507,100

The extinction of these sums, so inconsiderable at present in our eyes, had a powerful effect in reviving public confidence and raising the price of stock. The only dread was lest a renewal of war should necessitate new loans of far greater amount than these annual liquidations. To counteract this impression Mr Pitt added, in 1792, an annual L. 200,000 to the previous million, and (what was of much more importance) obtained an act of Parliament, declaring that all future loans should carry in themselves the means of their gradual extinction, by including, for the sinking fund, a surplus of one per cent. over and above the money required for the current service. This provision, and the great commercial prosperity of the year 1792, produced a rise of the three per cents. to the extraordinary price of 98; but this flattering prospect was soon overcast by the wars of the French revolution. After these wars burst out, our financial operations assumed a very different aspect; for though our debt sustained a periodical reduction from the sinking fund, it was augmented in a much greater proportion by the new loans. National In-course, considerably below the value of L. 100 income and Capital. For L. 100 stock, the value in cash of our debt would not (taking the three per cents. at L. 75) exceed L. 700,000,000, were there not a large addition to be made from Long Annuities and unfunded debt; the effect of which is to carry the value of the whole public debt in cash to nearly L. 750,000,000. But as there seems no more reason to anticipate the liquidation of the debt of England than that of other countries, the more correct plan is to follow the French method of computing a financial burden by the amount of the annual interest. This, in our case, is above L. 46,000,000, if we include our annual payments to the sinking fund; or somewhat more than L. 31,000,000, if we leave that fund out of the question.

XIV.—National Income and Capital.

An inquiry into this subject, interesting to every civilized nation, is of vital importance to one so loaded with taxation as England, and still doubtful of the time when she may recover from the unparalleled burdens of the late contest. Mr Pitt, on first proposing the income-tax in 1798, made the following estimate of the annual income of England and Scotland:

<table> <tr> <th>England—Rent of land, after deducting one-fifth,</th> <td>L. 20,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>The tenants' income, deducting two-thirds of the rack-rent,</th> <td>6,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Tithes, deducting one-fifth,</th> <td>4,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Mines, iron-works, canals, timber, tolls, &c. deducting one-fifth,</th> <td>3,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Rent of houses, deducting one-fifth,</th> <td>5,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Profits of professions,</th> <td>2,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>The same for Scotland, taking it at one-eighth of England,</th> <td>5,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Income of persons residing in Great Britain, derived from our colonies,</th> <td>5,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Dividends from the public stocks, deducting one-fifth for exemptions and modifications,</th> <td>12,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Profits of trade, foreign trade,</th> <td>12,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>home trade and manufactures,</th> <td>28,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">L. 102,000,000</th> </tr> </table>

This estimate was examined with great attention by the Reverend Dr Beeke,* who pointed out several heads, in particular tithes, which the minister had overrated; while in others, such as the rent of houses, his computation was below the mark. Since that period, the income of our countrymen, at least the income as represented in money, has experienced a considerable rise, and the returns under the property-tax have afforded a variety of useful data. We select the year 1810, as the latest return before the depreciation of our bank paper, and as equal (we fear more than equal) to the amount that would be declared in time of peace.

<table> <tr> <th>Rental of lands,</th> <td>L. 29,500,000</td> <th>National In-come and Capital.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Tithes,</th> <td>2,360,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Rental of houses,</th> <td>13,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Mines, quarries, and iron-works,</th> <td>740,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Trade and professions,</th> <td>32,200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Interest of money in the public funds, or on mortgage; salaries from public offices, and all sources not already specified,</th> <td>47,700,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">L. 125,000,000</th> </tr> </table>

Such are the returns under the property-tax; but to this we must add a considerable sum for the deductions allowed by government on incomes between L. 50 and L. 200 a year, and a much greater for the wages of the lower orders. Of the population of England and Scotland, a vast proportion were wholly exempted from the property-tax, their incomes being below L. 50 a year. Supposing that the property-tax, since the peace, would render somewhat less than in 1810, but that with the addition of the deductions for small incomes (from L. 50 to L. 200) the total return would be L. 130,000,000, and adding to this L. 70,000,000 for those wholly exempted, we have for England and Scotland an amount of L. 200,000,000; to which, adding for Ireland (which has never been subjected to property-tax), a conjectural amount of L. 25,000,000, the aggregate of the national income would be L. 225,000,000. This sum is considerably below the estimate of a writer of the present day (Mr S. Gray on the Happiness of States); but he makes no allowance for the depreciation consequent on the change from war to peace; and does not, moreover, distinguish between that which is income, and that which is properly created, or the annual produce of land and labour. This distinction will be best understood by transcribing from Dr Colquhoun's late work on the British empire, his

Estimate of Property created in Great Britain and Ireland in the year 1812.

<table> <tr> <th>Agriculture in all its branches,</th> <td>L. 216,817,624</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Mines and minerals, including coals,</th> <td>9,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Manufactures in every branch,</th> <td>114,250,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Inland trade in all its branches,</th> <td>31,500,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Foreign commerce and shipping,</th> <td>46,873,748</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Coasting trade,</th> <td>2,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Fisheries, exclusive of the colonial fisheries of Newfoundland,</th> <td>2,100,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Chartered and private bankers,</th> <td>3,500,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Foreign income remitted,</th> <td>5,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="2">Total, L. 430,521,372</th> </tr> </table>

A farmer's income is the profit resulting from his capital and labour; but the corn raised, or, in other words, the "property created" by him in the course of a year is obviously four or five times that amount. A manufacturer, in like manner, makes goods to an extent of probably ten times his income; so that the

* Observations on the Produce of the Income Tax, and on its Proportion to the whole Income of Great Britain. 1800.—Pamph. two estimates,—we mean that of income and that of property created, accord only in the case of professions, of salaries, of wages; and the result is, that the total property created in a year is nearly double that of income,—a distinction which explains the misapprehension of M. Say and others who have taxed Dr Colquhoun with exaggeration.

What proportion does our taxation bear to our national means? Taking our taxes as fixed by the late acts (July 1819), and estimating them by their gross produce,—such being the payment by the people, and adding the amount of poor-rates, we have (without considering the corn-laws in the light of a tax, and leaving the sinking fund altogether out of the question) an annual burden of fully L. 70,000,000 Sterling, or one-third of the national income of Britain and Ireland!—while France, whose national income is at least equal to that of the three kingdoms, is subjected to a taxation of only half the amount.

The next topic in this inquiry regards the amount of national capital. We subjoin two calculations, both inclusive of Scotland, and both made in the early part of this century.

Mr Grellier's Computation.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Value of land in England and Scotland,</th> <th>L. 823,660,000</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Houses,</td> <td>199,575,000</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cattle, and all kinds of farming stock,</td> <td>102,500,000</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>L. 1,130,735,000</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>

Dr Beeke's.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Value of land in England,</th> <th>L. 600,000,000</th> </tr> <tr> <td>in Scotland,</td> <td>120,000,000</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Value of tithes in England,</td> <td>75,000,000</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td colspan="2">795,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Houses,</td> <td>200,000,000</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Farming capital,</td> <td>125,000,000</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Mines, Canals, Timber, Tolls, &c.</td> <td>100,000,000</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td colspan="2">L. 1,220,000,000</td> </tr> </table>

Mr Grellier went very little farther, but Dr Beeke makes several very important additions, viz.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th></th> <th></th> </tr> <tr> <td>Value (in 1800) of the public funds,</td> <td></td> <td>300,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Value of our trade; home trade,</td> <td></td> <td>120,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>— foreign trade and shipping,</td> <td></td> <td>80,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Unproductive property; viz. furniture, plate, lands not yet cultivated,</td> <td></td> <td>280,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total of England and Scotland,</td> <td>L. 2,000,000,000</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>

To this Dr Colquhoun adds a conjectural estimate for Ireland; and, writing in 1814, computes the whole as follows:

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Productive Property.</th> <th>Unproductive.</th> <th>Government Property.</th> <th>Total of each Country.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>England and Wales,</td> <td>L. 1,543,400,000</td> <td>271,500,000</td> <td>32,000,000</td> <td>1,846,900,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Scotland,</td> <td>239,580,000</td> <td>38,500,000</td> <td>3,000,000</td> <td>281,080,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ireland,</td> <td>467,660,000</td> <td>87,000,000</td> <td>9,000,000</td> <td>563,660,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Military stores and other property common to Britain and Ireland,</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>45,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total of each kind of property,</td> <td>L. 2,250,640,000</td> <td>397,000,000</td> <td>44,000,000</td> <td>2,736,640,000</td> </tr> </table>

XV.—Population.

The population of England and Wales may be computed with considerable accuracy, so far back as 1377, from the returns of a poll-tax imposed that year; when the total of all ages and sexes appears to have been about 2,300,000. The succeeding century, passed in a great measure in civil war, could not be a period of large increase; but these contests were happily closed by the accession of Henry VII. in 1485, and followed, in the reign of his son, by the adoption of a religion more favourable to productive industry than the Catholic creed, with its endless holidays. These advantages, and the wise government of Elizabeth, render probable the great increase to be inferred from the survey made in 1575 (the season of dreaded invasion from Spain), the result of which seems to give an aggregate of 4,500,000. In the succeeding century, the chief data of computation are the official records of houses in the Hearth Office; from which it seems probable that the population of England and Wales, at the time of the Revolution, was between five and six millions. At last, in 1801, and again in 1811, clear and accurate returns were obtained, under acts of Parliament, when the total population of England and Wales was found to be

In 1801, : : : 9,343,578 In 1811, : : : 10,791,115

The increase, in ten years only, was 1,447,537, or at the rate of 14\( \frac{1}{2} \) per cent. for England, and 13 per cent. for Wales.

Return of 1811.

<table> <tr> <th>Inhabited houses,</th> <th>1,797,494</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Number of families,</th> <th>2,142,147</th> </tr> </table> Population. Families employed in agriculture, 723,397 ——— in trade, manufactures, and mechanical labour, 959,622 Towns, great and small, 939 Town population, 4,365,281 Country population, 5,785,334 Male inhabitants, 4,867,396 Army and Navy, 640,500

Total males, 5,507,896 Females, 5,283,219

Total population, 10,791,115

Inhabitants per Square Mile.

England, not 186, as has been stated, but 198 Ireland, 122 Wales, 80 Scotland, 56

Marriages, on an Average of Ten Years, from the Official Returns.

1755 to 1765, 56,275 1765 to 1775, 59,892 1775 to 1785, 65,479 1785 to 1795, 71,784 1795 to 1805, 79,231 1805 to 1810, (average of five years), 82,953

This increase of marriage is altogether a consequence of a previous increase of population; for it appears that the proportion of marriages among an equal number of persons has not augmented; the returns showing,

From 1780 to 1790, 1 marriage among 117 persons. —— 1790 to 1800, 1 among 119½ —— 1800 to 1810, 1 among 119½

The average of deaths varies considerably, being much greater in towns than in the country. In Middlesex, there are 1 annually for 36 inhabitants; in Surrey, 1 in 45; in Lancashire, 1 in 48; while, in the healthy agricultural districts, they do not exceed 1 in 60; and, in Wales, rise still higher, being only 1 in 64 or 67. Still the ratio of increase in population is much larger in towns, owing apparently to two causes—the greater frequency of marriages, and the incessant removal of persons from country to town.

Population of the Principal Towns of England.

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Year 1801.</th> <th>Year 1811.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>London,</td> <td>900,000</td> <td>1,050,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Manchester,</td> <td>81,020</td> <td>98,573</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Liverpool,</td> <td>77,653</td> <td>94,376</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Birmingham,</td> <td>73,670</td> <td>85,753</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bristol,</td> <td>63,645</td> <td>76,433</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Leeds,</td> <td>53,162</td> <td>62,534</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Plymouth,</td> <td>43,194</td> <td>56,060</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Portsmouth,</td> <td>32,166</td> <td>40,567</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Norwich,</td> <td>36,832</td> <td>37,256</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sheffield,</td> <td>31,314</td> <td>35,340</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nottingham,</td> <td>28,861</td> <td>34,253</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bath,</td> <td>32,260</td> <td>31,496</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Newcastle-upon-Tyne,</td> <td>28,365</td> <td>27,587</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hull,</td> <td>29,516</td> <td>26,792</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bolton,</td> <td>17,416</td> <td>24,149</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Leicester,</td> <td>16,953</td> <td>23,146</td> </tr> </table>

For an account of the Laws of England, and of the administration of Justice, we must refer to the articles Law and Court in the Encyclopaedia; and to the articles King, Lords, Commons, and Parliament, for an account of the form of Government, and of the powers and functions of the different branches of the Legislature. (D.D.)