debtors, throughout the whole of the colonies. By bringing their affairs, when in a hopeless state, to a crisis, it would save them many years of anxious and unprofitable labour; while, under better circumstances and prospects, nothing would more powerfully tend to induce the creditor at home to make liberal advances, than the command which he would continue to possess over his funds.

Without meaning to express any opinion on the propriety of refusing a representative body to Trinidad, we cannot avoid noticing a passage in an official paper of General Hislop, which seems to justify the doubts entertained of the fitness of the inhabitants to govern them. selves. It is this; "I have resided in Trinidad as governor almost eight years, a period which from its commencement to the present day has been subjected to the most untoward scenes of difficulty and per plexity."

AGRICULTURE.

Art. 17. An Account of the Introduction of Merino Sheep into the different States of Europe, and at the Cape of Good Hope; describ ing the actual State of these Animals, the number of them, the different Modes of Treatment which they experience, and the Advantages which they render to Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce. From the French of C. P. Lasteyrie. By Benjamin Thompson, with Notes by the Translator. 8vo. pp. 245. 7s. 6d. Boards. Harding. 1810.

Those English sheep-farmers, who are in the habit of looking into books on the subject of rural affairs, will feel themselves obliged to Mr. Thompson for this version of M. Lasteyrie's treatise on the Merino race of sheep, which we noticed in the xlth Volume of our New Series, p. 513. The notes by the Translator are few, but manifest good sense we much question, however, whether Mr. T.'s remark, in the dedication, on the quality of the mutton of the Merino breed, be not too strongly expressed. The carcase of the Merino will not bear a comparison with the generality of good English mut ton; and Dr. Parry's endeavour to improve it by crosses is truly judicious. By crossing with the Arabian race of horses, we obtain a breed of these animals superior to that of the pure Arabian; and by pursuing the same system with the Merino sheep, whose carcases are of no estimation in Spain, we may improve the mutton without any deterioration of the wool; thus attaining the double object of a good fleece on a good carcase; but Englishmen are too well fed, to be brought to subscribe to the doctrine that true Merino sheep yield good mutton-This translation appears to be well executed.

Art. 18. Cheap and profitable Manure, &c. Plain and Easy direc tions for preparing, and Method of using an excellent Compost for manuring Arable, Meadow, and Pasture Lands, in general, in the cheapest manner, from which greater productions of Grain, &c. will be obtained than from any other Manure, at equal Ex. pence. Discovered solely, by John Morley, of Blickling, in the County of Norfolk, &c. To which is added, his much approved Plan of clamping Muck, whereby a considerable Expence is saved to the Farmer; and also the Manner of improving the Growth of Underwoods

P 2.

Underwoods in the most luxuriant way. The second edition, revised and corrected by the Author, with additional Observations. on various kinds of Manure not in general Use in this and the adjoining Counties; and Remarks on Cultivation of Turnips, improving Grazing Lands, &c. &c. 8vo. 7s. Boards. Scatcherd and Co. &c.

Puffing is now become as common in the farming as in the auctioneering line, though in the former it is less excusable than in the latter. Mr. Morley makes a wonderful parade with his cheap and profitable Manure, which is obtained by ploughing up the headlands, carting muck on them, adding to this a quantity of lime, and then turning over and mixing the whole together. This manure is extolled as preferable to all others;' by the help of it, he says, 'wheat will grow higher by four inches than wheat cultivated in the common way; and, marvellous to relate, while this compost nourishes all useful plants, it destroys all pernicious vegetation.'-By clamping muck, the author means no more than making ridges or hills on the headlands, five feet high and three yards wide, with layers of muck; and then covering the whole with mould, so that the hill or clamp shall resemble the roof of a house. When the muck is rotten, the whole is turned over like a common compost-hill, the dung and the mould being mixed together. This is Mr. Morley's much approved plan of clamping. His observations on lime are perfectly ludicrous. The remarks on various manures are good, but want novelty.-The plan of improving the growth of underwood occupies three pages, and consists merely in laying down young shoots from old stumps to fil up vacancies, in the manner practised by nursery-men in making stools of a plant which they want to multiply. In the concluding hints to graziers, Mr. M. recommends them so to rail out ponds of standing water, that cattle may drink it without making it muddy by trampling in it.

BULLION-QUESTION.

Art. 19. Observations on Money as the Medium of Commerce, showing the present circulating Medium of this Country to be defective in those Requisites which a Medium of Commerce ought to possess, and pointing out in what Manner the Defect may be remedied; and also the real Effect that a greater or less quantity of circulating Medium has on the Country; together with Re-, marks on the present State of the Nation; to which are subjoined a few practical Inferences. By James Cruickshank, A. M. of Marischal College, Aberdeen. 8vo. pp. 137. 3s. 6d. Rich,

ardson.

Of all the singular performances ushered into the world since the Bullion-controversy began, this of Mr.Cruickshank appears to us the most remarkable. Our readers will recollect that we have already characterized him (Vol. Ixiv. p. 443.) as one of the hottest disputants on the Distillery-question: but his excentricities on that occasion were insignificant compared to those of the present more deliberate and comprehensive production. He will prove,' he says, that there can be no such thing as an increase of taxes, and that

taxes, instead of being a burden, or in any degree hurtful to a country, are a great cause of increasing its wealth and prosperity.' We, for our part, had hitherto been apprehensive that a rise in the price of commodities was a great public misfortune: but this Aberdonian A. M. stoutly maintains that it is productive of most beneficial effects to the country; it betters the condition of the poor, increases the conveniences of the people, of course also the wealth of the country, and as all this is consequent on an augmentation of taxes, the latter must of course be a public benefit.' In regard to the national debt, which, to our plain understandings, has always appeared a serious concern, Mr. Cruickshank is equally decided. It is most absurd in my opinion,' he exclaims (p. 98.) to say that the nation is in debt. Who would not laugh at the idea of a person saying he was in debt to himself? The national debt is no burden to the public, it only occasions an addition to be made to the nominal amount of taxes. It is beneficial, moreover, to the public in two points of view. It secures the attachment of those to whom it is due to the government of the country; and as it is traded on as a mercantile commodity, we may consider it an addition to our trading capital.' Some cau. tious persons may reply, "If the price of our commodities becomes higher and higher, other nations will step into the supply of our foreign markets, and our foreign merchants will be ruined." To all arguments in this style, Mr. Cruickshank gives a most pointed negative. No part of our taxes,' he says (page 1c2.) is paid by our merchants; no addition is made to the wealth of the country by foreign commerce; and I deny that our foreign commerce can be hurt by the enhancement of our labour or commodities; for however much these may rise, other nations are not thereby in the least degree enabled to supply the foreign markets with articles at a cheaper rate than we can afford them.' Mr. Spence had gone, in the opinion of most of us, quite far enough in denying that foreign commerce was productive of advantage: but Mr. Cruickshank leaves his brother pamphleteer altogether in the back-ground, and declares (p. 118.) that he can shew that the wealth of the nation would increase faster if our foreign commerce was put a stop to; and that the people are made less able to pay the taxes by reason of the encouragement that is given to foreign commerce.' No wonder that the promulgator of such extraordinary doctrines should deem the generality of the public wholly ignorant of the real nature of the case, and should pronounce that former writers had taken too limited a view of the subject. Certain it is (he adds) that this subject has hitherto been improperly treated; but I flatter myself with being able to explain it to them in the manner in which it ought to be explained; and if I am successful in accomplishing this, I shall certainly thereby have performed a most important piece of service to the public. It is impossible that this subject can be properly explained by any person, unless he takes the most comprehensive view of it that possibly can be taken.'

We are now to exhibit the plan which this hopeful writer condescends to propose, after having dealt around so abundant a share of

P 3

censure

censure on the labour of others. Our metallic currency, being ob. tained in exchange for an equivalent stock of articles, or productions is the representation of value in a foreign country: paper-money, on the other hand, costs us no such price. So far Mr. Cruickshank will obtain general assent, since nobody will deny that paper is a much cheaper currency than coin: but he will have fewer converts to his next argument (p.23.) that Bank of England-notes are the more eligible because government owes the bank eighteen millions, a debt which gives the public the greater security.' He makes no objection to the magnitude of the Bank of England-circulation, except in as far as it exceeds their advance to government; as if the quantum of currency were not a point altogether distinct from the amount of a loan. Like Mr. Law, Mr. Cruickshank would impose no limits on the extent of our circulating medium; all that he wants is security; and it is only from a sense of deficiency in that respect that he would call on our chartered banks (p. 32.) to deposit stock in the hands of the attorney-general; or that he would subject private bankers to that plan which it is the object of his publication to recommend, and to the developement of which he now proceeds. His proposition is that country-bankers should withdraw the whole of their notes from circulation; that a quantity of new notes, at least equal, should be issued and made current by public authority; and that government should ascertain the tolls and dues payable on roads, bridges, canals, harbours, and other public works throughout the kingdom, for the purpose of vesting authority in certain commissioners to purchase the right to as many of these as would amount to forty millions, the computed quantity of country bank-notes. The next step would be to empower these commissioners to stamp notes, certifying that the "bearer hereof has value to the amount of 11. 5l. 10l. or 201. (as the case might be) on the turnpike roads, &c. of this kingdom." With these notes, the commissioners would make payment of the agreed price of the turnpike roads; a transaction which would send the notes into general circulation. The tolls, continuing to be levied, would form a fund of about two millions annually accruing to the commissioners, and applicable by them to an accumulation; which, in less than twenty years, would produce a sum equal to the whole forty millions, and enable government to relieve the public altogether from the burden of these tolls and dues. The beauty of the project does not end here. New notes might be issued, and expended in making new roads, bridges, canals, &c. ad infinitum, all on the desir able plan of being free of toll in twenty years.

We need hardly detain our readers by a serious refutation of this visionary project: yet Mr. Cruickshank is perfectly confident of its success, and treats all objections as insignificant. Land-banks, he admits, have hitherto failed, but how? By undertaking to pay in specie which they did not possess. Metallic currency, we may naturally conclude, appears quite vulgar and antiquated in the eyes of so sanguine a calculator. What stupidity, what infatuation,' he exclaims, in the public, to be so much bigotted in favour of an article which they daily lose by using. How blind to their own interest when they insist on using coin as a medium of commerce.

How

much service would that man do to the public, who would bring about the enactment of a law obliging every guinea and shilling in the country to be immediately sent out of it.'-The Bullion-Committee are of opinion that we should aim at raising the value of our currency by a partial decrease of its quantity: but this, says Mr. Cruickshank, would be the certain ruin of the country. It would ruin all the agriculturists in the kingdom, and they are the prop, the support of the nation. It would be the means of making the people indolent and inactive. The House of Commons will do well to take care what measures they adopt; let them be aware how they proceed, The man, I say, whoever he is, that endeavours to persuade that House, that an increase in the quantity of circulating medium is hurtful to the country, is either wholly ignorant of the matter, or he is an enemy to his country. After so positive a denunciation, we need not be surprized to find this vehement advocate declare in his summing up, that there can be no real increase in the amount of taxes, and that a tax of one hundred millions a-year is as easily paid as a single million, provided there is a sufficiency of circulating me. dium to pay it in that taxes, instead of being a burden, are highly for the good of the country, and ought to be increased: that government cannot be too profuse in its expenditure, provided all the taxes levied are expended on its own population.'

The finale of this extraordinary performance is worthy of the preceding part, and consists of the repetition of a conditional eulogium by the author on himself, He observes with great self complacency: I flatter myself that this subject has now been explained in the manner in which it ought to be. If I have been successful in accomplishing this, I shall not consider my time or trouble lost, as I shall certainly thereby have performed a most important piece of service to the public. Art. 20. A Plain Enquiry into the Nature, Value, and Operation of Coin and Paper-Money; and the Methods whereby Nations acquire and lose the precious Metals; pointing out the Causes of the present Scarcity of legitimate Coin, and the only Method of restoring: it to permanent Circulation, By Peter Pennyless, Gent, 8vo. PP. 62. 2s. 6d. Whitmore.

Although a large portion of common-place is mixed up in this pamphlet, it will be found to contain, on the whole, much useful matter. The author begins by explaining, that every commodity is to be valued in proportion to the labour bestowed on it; a proposi tion which, however clear to the political economist, is by no means, familiar to the bulk of mankind. The business of mining in Ame rica, like that of banking in this country, is supposed greatly to surpass other branches of trade in the ratio of its profit; the public. not taking time to compare all circumstances, and to consider that the application of equal capital and labour would, in all probability, be productive of an equal result in other occupations. As a farther example, we may mention that our merchants have had to learn, by experience dearly bought, that trade with the golden regions of Spapish America may be less profitable than with the rugged but better cultivated shores of New England. The precious metals, says the,

P 4

author