being equivalent to saying that he had too much of riches," and so on. Such language is held only by men who never study foreign trade, upon which, however, the wealth and importance of all countries depend. They never speak of foreign exchange the wretched effects of its frequent variation, &c. Others are those, who are for the most part young and sanguine, or persons only engaged in the home trade, or men of limited capital, who think that by a facility of getting discount they promote the increase of their trade. Old stagers, and men of capital, not disposed to overtrade themselves, are seldom found to talk in this way, whatever selfish bankers may do. There are only three Banks at Manchester, where the returns are ten times the amount of Birmingham; the reason is, that they pay only in legal currency (new Bank-notes), and manufacture no rags of their own. Liverpool is the same as Manchester, and if the Bank of England paid in coin, instead of six Banks at Birmingham, there would not be more than three. When the Bank pay in coin, they cannot issue beyond a certain quantity of paper: if they do, it will always be brought back for gold payment; and this is their natural check against an over-issue. All the paper issued by the Bank of exchange for mercantile bills is bottomed on real property. All beyond it is fictitious capital. If the Government give them 10 millions of Exchequer-bills, and they give the government 10 millions of Bank paper, this last is circulated through the country, together with those Bank-notes given for mercantile bills, and they (the 10 millions) are fictitious capital-assignats in the shape of Bank-notes. The amount is, perhaps, quadrupled by the country bankers' local notes: the whole passes from hand to hand, causes the manufacture of goods that would not otherwise be manufactured, and being more than the market requires, which would be fully supplied with the real capital of the country, without any part of the fictitious money, the said goods are ultimately sold to a loss; great part of them is exported as so much productive industry, and are sold for little or nothing beyond the foreign duties and 'expences. This is the history and the consequences of overtrading as a community. A single individual frequently runs the same round. Ferraday of Bilston did it. He sold goods for less than they cost him, and made up for the loss by fresh issues of paper. To say, therefore, that no man can overtrade himself, or that Birmingham has not overtraded itself for some years past, is downright nonsense, and too ridiculous to reply to. But the Bank all the while receive hundreds of thousands for the interest of this paper, and the country banks get as much by their additional issues, besides their fees of postage, commission, protesting, &c. all which is a tax upon trade without increasing the trade one sixpence. As to increasing a trade, it is impossible to increase it beyond consumption; no human effort can push trade beyond it. A man who wants a spade that cost the maker 2s. 6d. if he can buy them for 1s. each, will he buy more than he wants? Can he use more than one at a time? It is the same with every thing else. At this moment there are goods, at New York, that no one will buy at any price; say, card wire, used to make cotton or wool cards for their manufactories, and many other articles; here then capital has provided goods, but it does not cause the actual use or consumption of a single ounce more than the natural wants of mankind require. Other articles have been sold at auction for 9s. and less, that cost 20s. Will a man or a woman wear two pair of stockings, or two gowns, or two coats, merely because the price of them is less than half the maker could get them up for? No! but he will, on the contrary, purchase what his necessities require at the lowest price, and the return of property to this country as payment for such goods is diminished in proportion, or perhaps nothing at all is returned to us. The nation so far trades to a loss. Manufacturers are unemployed, and they discharge their workmen, and a scene of general and extensive distress is sure to follow. The Bank and bankers, however, are sure to gain. It may be conceded that excessive cheapness will encourage consumption, and increase it to a given extent; that a man will buy a new spade or a new coat before the old one is worn out; but if this stimulus to consumption has already been given as far as trade can be carried on to a profit, all further increase of consumption can only be the result of a trade carried on to a loss, of course the greater the consumption and the more we sell the poorer we are. No man can tell the time when orders orders for our manufactured goods either for home trade or foreign, were refused for want of capital. Then if we have capital enough for all the orders we can get, if we can supply all parts of the world with as many goods as they are disposed to make use of, or can give us any thing for in return, that we deem a sufficient remuneration -if we can do all this with our own capital, what necessity is there for more? Is the iron trade now cramped for want of the fictitious capital of the houses that have lately failed at Bilston, Tipton and Wolverhampton? What folly then and nonsense to talk of the advantages of forcing a trade by fictitious capital, and of pushing a trade beyond demand. The man that thinks it possible or feasible, is either very ignorant or strangely deluded by selfinterest. Ruin, distress and misery always have, are now, and always will be, the effect of this system. Trade gets into the hands of unsound or dishonest merchants, and is taken out of the hands of men of real substance. Birmingham is not only a proof of all that I have stated, but it has actually suffered more than any other part of the kingdom, and the manufacturers are the deluded victims of speculating merchants and discounting bankers. All that I know of a stimulus to industry is the same as of all other stimuli, if it is unnecessary or unnatural it is worse than useless, it is sure to do harm; but by association of ideas, honesty, industry and prosperity have been conjoined: now whatever the transcendent genius of a Birmingham banker may discover in all this, I, as a tradesman, possessing but common sense, only know that when I am paid for my industry it is prosperous, and vice versa, and that if the manufacturers are not paid by the merchants, nor the merchants by their correspondents, the industry so lost is like the industry of so many monkies, who are said to do mischief through mere activity without being at all aware of the evil they occasion. Manufac turers of Birmingham and its neighbourhood, have, the great mass of them, but small capitals; hence, from a well known principle in trade, the smaller the return the larger the profit, which is kept down here as elsewhere to its proper level by competition; but such persons are delighted with orders of 1001. or 5001. amount, which add materially to their means if they get paid, and induce them to run risks which a London tradesman, having only 10 per cent. would avoid. The Birmingham manufacturers, therefore, require protection by a recurrence to cash payments and limited discounts; and if this does not take place much of the Birmingham foreign trade will be ruinous to all fair traders. Birmingham, March 10, 1820. ORIGINAL POETRY. THE NIGHTINGALE. HAIL, sweet Zephyr, breath of spring, O'er wintery waste appearing; Wafting sweets from every bower, And by me would thus prevail, ODE TO LIBERTY. HAIL! thou that with benignant mien, With godlike step, and smile serene, Pursu'st thy light and airy way, Midst verdant meads with daisies gay; At whose approach, o'ercome with dread, The Tyrant hides his guilty head; Who open'st wide the prison gate, And free'st the captive from the grate, At whose soft touch the iron chain, That binds the victim, falls in twain; Tby name the prisoner's constant cry,All hail to thee, sweet Liberty! A constant theme for poets' lays, Deep in a dungeon, see that wretch forlorn, No spark of hope remains within his breast; Nor dreads he death, but views it as the bourne Where he may meet with happiness and rest. Like thee, he once in peaceful comfort dwelt, O'er the wide sea, in Afric's scorching heat, Nor e'er Adversity's rude billows felt, But vainly thought his happiness complete. Long had he fondly loved, nor loved in vain, A beauteous maid, of every grace possest; At length, fast bound in hymeneal chain, Himself he deemed the happiest of the blest. Scarce had he left the altar, when a band Of heartless ruffians from a neighbouring close, Seized and conveyed him to a distant land, No more to taste the blessings of repose. Four months in slavery his fate he wept, At length his sufferings urged him to escape, But quickly caught, in close confinement kept, He cursed those demons in a white man's shape! * Filled with joy and quick surprise, Rapture sparkled in his eyes; "And shall I then once more," he cried, "Behold my dear, my much-loved bride; Once more regain my native shore, Ne'er (let me hope) to leave it more? O Liberty! thou valued blessing, Which men feel not while possessing, The hapless slave, whose withered form Shews he has felt life's angry storm, Whose care-worn countenance betrays Remembrances of happier days, In thee would find a sure relief, A remedy for all his grief." The nation that possesses thee Shall ever greatest, richest be; At the mere name of Liberty; While in thy train a num'rous band Thy steps shall follow hand in hand. First Trade and Commerce, led by thee, With vessels swift shall fill the sea; Next Education shall arise, The minds of men to civilize, And teach them firmly to defy The base designs of tyranny; My humble song in notes of praise, In vain may lawless despots strive THE WORLD. ONCE all were kind and I was gay, The gayest maiden in the throngMy careless heart in ceaseless play, Without a murmur danc'd along. A. A journey take, some secret fear ascends, Or born, by death be early snatch'd away. On the SETTLEMENT of PENSYLVANIA by WILLIAM PENN. WHEN Tyranny o'er England's rights prevail'd, And bigot rage her virtuous sons assail'd; Oppress'd the gentle bosom of the surge; shore. Just was the enterprize, and great the plan, To tame, by mild example, savage man; With charms of gentle intercourse to bind, The warlike to the peaceful of mankind. The dauntless leader of a blameless band, Approached, with heart sincere, and proffered hand; Assembled chiefs, with mute attention heard, Sounds unaccustomed in the stranger's word, Calm'd were those restless passions, fierce and wild, Which Nature gives to her untutored Child; Stern warriors dropt their arms, and wondering stood, Convinc'd their reason, and their hearts subdued; For truth of eloquence divine possest, E'en finds an echo in the savage breast― Beneath an elm, the monarch of the wood, (Which long a reverenc'd memorial stood) Were witness'd deeds of light, by man renowned, Which Heaven approved, and Angels might have owned. A guileless treaty with a simple race, law; Paternal wisdom ruled with steady hand, And lull'd its fiercer passions into rest ; Whilst strong in faith, and conscious rectitude, In unmolested peace the Christian stood, Shall mark that course as beauteous Wisdom's way, Which tam'd the warrior with a gentle sway, C. BIOGRAPHY BIOGRAPHY OF EMINENT PERSONS. B where he was soon distinguished as the powerful competitor of two class-fellows, whose good fortune and talents have since raised them to the highest situations in the state, Mr. Fitzgibbon, late Chancellor of Ireland, and Mr. Forster, late Speaker of the House of Commons. He afterwards resided in the Temple, in London, and was intimately acquainted with Hugh Boyd, and Mr. Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, and suspicions are entertained that they were the conjoint authors of the famous letters of Junius. After taking a degree, Mr. Grattan was, in 1772, called to the Irish bar, and for a few years attended the four courts with an empty bag, and a mind too elastic to be confined to the forms of pleading, and too liberal to be occupied by the pursuits of a mere lawyer. Disgusted with a profession, in which he perceived he would never rise but by habits to which he could not crouch, he retired, possessing from his father, who was now dead, a patrimony which secured him independence. It was not long before he was made known to Lord Charlemont. By his lordship, who had always shewn equal sagacity in discovering, and zeal in promoting genius, he was returned to parliament for his borough of Charlemont. Entering into the legislature under such auspices, it was natural to expect that Mr. Grattan would become the advocate of his then suffering and dependent country. Ireland, indeed, at that time, was in a state of perfect humiliation, being considered merely as a province to the sister country. Her legislature was a petty council, incapable of originating laws; and her courts of justice subordinate to those of England, and incompetent to a final decision: destitute of foreign commerce, from which she had been excluded by British monopoly, her manufactures were crushed, and the industry of her people checked for want of encouragement: in short, discontent, bankruptcy, and wretchedness, covered the face of the country. THE RIGHT HON. HENRY GRATTAN, late M. P. for Dublin, &c. &c. T may not, perhaps, be too much to assert, that the British empire has produced men of as splendid genius and acquirements, in every department of arts or knowledge, as either Greece or Rome had to number among their eminently great. But if we have failed in any mode of excellence, it has not been as orators and statesmen, Chatham, Fox, and Burke will stand on a list as fit companions of the noblest orators and statesmen of antiquity. Grattan is a name entirely worthy to be placed in the high rank we have assigned to the three former British statesmen. His eloquence combined in it all that is forcible in reasoning, splendid in ornament, and irresistible in passion. If any of our great senators has excelled him in any one of the great qualities we have named, we are persuaded no one has, more completely than himself, included and combined them all in his various orations. Greatly as Mr. Grattan has been admired in England, none of his historians or critics have as yet done him complete justice. This eloquent and patriotic statesman was born in the year 1751. His father, who was an Irish barrister, and Recorder of Dublin, had derived from his talents and reputation for integrity a competent share of practice in his profession; but he was not rich, and young Grattan had been early taught to depend, for his future fame and fortune, on the exertion of his own powers. At the usual time he was entered a student of Trinity College, Dublin, To evils of such magnitude, which the calamities brought on by the unfortunate contest with America greatly aggravated, the narrow policy of the times was applying temporary palliatives. Subscriptions were collected, to keep the artificers from famishing; associations were formed to wear only do |