of July, failed in making a very impor- | every body has read; the fate of Holland is tant distinction in his view of the "reso cent lution" which has caused me to address you. He evidently views the resolution as inferring, that with reference to the debt, the permanent revenue has increas ed in warth; but that gentleman should have stated how much of the charge was permanent, and, deducting the amount from the permanent revenue at each period, should have cast out what per age the increase of the latter period was upon the earlier period, and then in his and your present view of the subject we should have seen whether, compared with the ad vance of prices, or as you and Mr. Wheatley term it, the depreciation of money, a real augmentation had taken place in the worth amount of that part of the permanent revenue applicable to the fluctuating charge. The permanent charge upor the consolidated fund, including the sinking fund, was, in 1992, 11,432,000 1., and the produce of the permanent taxes for that year was 14,281,0001, leaving a surplus of 2,852,000l. applicable to the fluctuating charge. Now an increase of 617,000l. upon this last sum is rather more than 21 per cent., which increase is fully equal to the increased per centage of charge in the departments of the Lord Steward, Lord Chariberlain, and Master of the Horse, stated by Mr. Rose, indeed, at only 20 per cent The fact, however, is, that every other war than the last, in which this country has been engag. ed, during the last century, the permanent taxes existing at their commencements sunk in their amounts as each war advanced. In other words, every other war so exhausted the national resources and impoverished individuals, that consumption materially lessened, and the revenue suffered in proportion: whereas, during the last war, consumption was rather upon the increase.I am, Sir, with respect, yours, &c. D. W. SLAVE TRADE. before our eyes; in both of which states, money-grubbing baseness turned its stings upon its own agents. With Great Britain, great in freedom and in men, commeree has been the handmaid of faith, and has followed her with steps of purity and obedience. The golden rule then is to repress the spirit of commerce, by the spirit of true honour, Not that honour which is a fallacy against fortitude and piety, but the honour which esteems merit before riches. In number 53 of the Guardian is this paragraph: "-Alas! what is there in all the gratifications of sense, the accommodations of vanity, or any thing that fortune can give to please a human soul, when they are put in competition with the interests of truth and liberty?" With this authority I proceed to the slave trade. The slavery of the West-Indies is sui generis, on account of the peculiarity of the negro complexion. If the Africans had been long. haired, doubtless, Guinea merchants would have abhorred the idea of trafficking with and for creatures like themselves. Is it to be a question of habit or of reason? Hume ridicules the convenient ignorance of men, whose conscience is at ease in the human market, by means of the skin deep difference of colour and woolly heads. All our chief writers in religion, morals, and politics, are of Hume's opinion. The advocates of slavery defend it from habit, as masters as merchants. The inquisition of Portugal, and the cannabalism of savages, are no arguments to justify habit. Public speakers and writers of the day admit the injustice of the trade, but dispute the policy of abolition, repres senting the licentious instinct of negroes, or rather habits, to be inconformable to the re straints of morality, and the discipline of freedom. An abolition, say they, would exterminate the innocent and the guilty, and the very objects of misguided charity would finally be destroyed in mutual betchery. The propriety of the slavery granted, it fol lows that the trade must not be discontinued. Suppose the trade at an end; the negroes decrease; for where there is neither marriage, nor strict polygamy, but promiscuous connexion, where is a sufficient succession to come from? It must be known, that the ' profligacy of the negroes is worse on account of the intercourse of the whites with them. This demeanour of the whites is not reckoned disgraceful, for they look upon, the West-India colonies as temporary-fairs of speculation, to leave after requiring wealth, and settle in Europe in domestic vi tue, like courtezans who turn methodists. SIR,-The slave trade will, at the next meeting of Parliament, be decided upon for or against, it may be presumed. It is unbecoming the independence of Great Britain to disguise, or sliun the encounter of this most weighty business; let then a final resolution be adjudged upon this procrastinated subject of obloquy. No. nation since the world began reposed its greatness with success on the supremacy of commercial polities. Trade is useful as a subordinate ma chipe, to be guided by public good, so far as. is chisted with itself, and the sound welfare of individuals. The story of Carthage An abolition of the trade, and a persisting in DIS slavery, is a perversion of all experience. | The negroes are the most prolific people in the world; yet that quality is counteracted by the spirit of a West-India colony in the confusion of blacks and whites; the absence of proprietors, and the relative dependance on the mother country, which superinduces all the policensed manners of temporary re-idence. The stream of supply being dried, the negroes will be overworked and tortured to desperation of existence, that may burst out into insurrection. The estates of a colony are managed by white servants transported from Great Britain, who endure the climate and the labour with a prospect of gain. This gain begins with the purchase of a few negroes: but the trade is at an end. No Europeans will be induced to hazard their lives and their health for nothing. The estates then must employ mulattoes and negroes as servants. This is giving power to the slaves, and, the nature of slavery cannot endure.concessions, but will use them for the last gift or conquest of emancipation. The complexion of the slaves is the obstacle to every redress; their complexion is suitable to the climate; that alone is a host against superior European discipline. and knowledge. The inherent hatred of slavery against its masters is made inveterate by the, distinction of colour. No tempor-zing subterfuges of change will do good. An instantaneous emancipation is as bad, or worse, It is a system that is incurable as mortality. The slightest innovation will spread like flames over the sun-burnt fields of a West-India island. The trade and the slavery must stand together, or the latter will fall. There must be no experiments of gradual prohibition of trade. The whites minst keep up adequate numbers of themselves, of the strictest military discipline and beadlong courage, with a constant watchfulness - against arming the negroes, and above all, that every roving missionary be exp-lled from their conversation, and that they be immersed in illiterate stupidity. From this last opinion, it is plain that the writer of this looks upou the whole of the West-India colomzation as the hot-bed effervescence of European luxury, rather than the wholesome corn fields of European utility. Your's, &c.-A. B. Majesty Napoleon, Emperor of the French, does himself the honour to notify hereby to Baron Bielfield, that a Senatus Consultum has definitively settled the organization of France, and firmly established for the fature, the denomination, forms, and exq ercises of the sovereign power in France. These objects were hitherto the only ones in the organization of France, which were found not fully commensurate with the greatness and necessities of the state. His Majesty Napoleon, the Emperor of the French, is therefore by the laws of the state invested with the imperial dignity in such a manuer, that this title and dignity shall descend to his posterity in the direct male line, or failing that, in the direct male line of their Imperial Highnesses the Princes Joseph and Louis, the brothers of the Emperor. From the well known sentiments of the Prussian court, the andersigned cannot doubt of the Baron Bielfield, in this important and happy event; and therefore only avails himself of the present opportunity again to assure him of his high(Signed) BRUNE esteem. The Answer of Baron Bielfield. The undersigned envoy from his Prussian Majesty considers himself as greatly. ha noured by the communication, of the note, of the 29th of Prairial, by which the Frencht ambassador has notified to him what has been determined in France relative to the form and investigation of the supreme dig. ity. Mach flattered by the above com munication, he makes no delay to thank, his excelency for the important communi-: cation, and entreats him to confide in his well known sentiments, and to be convinç, ed that he shall always take a true and sincere participation in every thing which may promote the welfare of the French nation and its Government. The undersigned avail himself of the present opportunity to renew to the ambassador the assurance of his very special esteem. (Signed) BIELFIELD. Vote of bis Majesty the King of Sweden, in the Deliberations at the Diet of Ratisbon, relative to the Imperial Russian Note of the 7th of May concerning the sizure of the Duke d Enghain.-Dated Ratisbon, July 27, 1804 His Majesty the King of Sweden, as Duke. of interior Pomerania, has charged his Envoy to insert the following vote in the pro tocol, on the subject of the declaration of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, laid before the Diet on the 7th of May last.-His Majesty, who on so many occasions has rus, SUMMARY OF POLITICS. PRICE OF BREAD.- -In an article, published previous to the passing of the law for the exportation of corn, and for granting a bounty upon such exportation, an opinion was expressed, that every law of that kind was injurious to the community, every law restraining, or granting a premium upon, either the export or import of corn. The code of corn-laws and regulations present a mass of absurdities hardly to be equalled; and, what makes the matter worse, they are absurdities which are characteristic of a shallow brain. One would think they had resulted from the deliberations of an assembly of shop-keepers and handicrafismen. The nation has al ready paid dearly for these laws, to which no small portion of its present disgrace and danger may be fairly attributed, but it is very likely, that we shall soon experience effects more fatal than have ever heretofore been experienced from this cause. We have had three years of abundance, especially with regard to bread; and, it seems very probable, that the next year, beginning with September, will prove a year of what may, in this country, be called scarcity. The case pointed out in the pas sage which has been selected as the motto to this sheet appears to have happened; for, it is now the middle of August, and there has been scarcely a fine day since reaping began. The wheat is, besides, much blighted. It is stated to be so all over the kingdom, and that the statement is correct with regard to two counties I can take upon myself to aver. The effect of this has already appeared in the sudden and very considerable rise in the price of bread, the quartern loaf having, in the space of six weeks, risen from 8d. to rod. That every day's rain will add to the price is certain. Wheat, were the weather now to become fair, must continue to rise for some time: bread must also rise; and, it would be by no means hazardous to suppose, that, before March next, the quartern loaf may sell for eighteen-pence. It be comes us, therefore, to consider by times what may be the consequences of scarcity, especially now that those who will feel the pressure are amply provided with arms, and have just received discipline enough to ren der them formidable to the state, should they unhappily be misled either by evilminded persons or by their own wants. Scarcity is always accompanied with dis content in proportion to the sufferings which it creates, and, at this time, scarcity would be productive of uncommon sufferings because the previous abundance was uncom monly great, and, which is another impor tant circumstance, was preceded by scar city uncommonly severe. The mass of the people will never perform any more labour than is sufficient to yield then support in a way according with the customs of the country. The high wages of 1800 and 1801 having been kept up, the years 1802, 1803, and 1804 thus far, have been ycars of com parative ease, not to say of idleness. A rise in the price of provisions, without another corresponding rise in the price of labour, which cannot take place all at once, will make work scarce, not because there will be less of it to perform, but because more must be performed by one man in order to procure him support. It is not that "hands have been scarce" for three years past, but that provisions have been plenty. In times of scarcity we never hear of a want of labourers, but in times of plenty this want is a subject of continual complaint. Scarcity will, then, compel people to work harder than they lately have done; and how this will suit them, just at a time when other causes have contributed to confirm them in habits of idleness, it is not very difficult to foresee. They hate Buonaparté, and would, if put in the right way, defend their country against him; but, by the time that they have experienced half a dozen more premature alarms, the dangers of invasion will become an evil of magnitude much inferior to that of a scarcity of provisions. To talk to them philosophically upon the subject will be perfectly useless. Individual distress is but too frequently ascribed to the government, and when it becomes in any degree general, to expect that the government will not be looked to as the cause is to discover but very little knowledge of mankind. Considering, therefore, the critical state of the nation, the Minister should have been cautious how he adopted any measure that might afford a plausible pretext for making the monarchy answerable for the effects of an unproductive season; he should have listened with great caution to the advice of contractors and corn-merchants, or to that other new race of beings who have sprung up from the dunghill of paper-money and who are called speculating-farmers; yes, he should have listened to these persons with great caution, and even with distrust, when their object was to obtain a law evidently for the sole purpose of advancing their own interests, though the well-being of the whole nation should thereby be hazarded. Were I to allow that corn-laws, as they are quaintly termed, are at all neces ary; and were it possible for me still further to allow, that, in times of plenty, it is wise for the people to tax themselves in order to give premiums for the exporting of the produce of their labour, I should then certainly say, that last Christmas would have been not an improper time for the passing of a law to open the ports for exportation; but, to pass such a law upon the eve of the harvest, and of a harvest, too, respecting the produce of which no very favourable opi. nion was entertained, was an act which, for reasons that need not be mentioned, I shall forbear to characterize, and indeed justly to characterize it would be no easy matter. The bill, upon its unexpected return from the House of Lords, was arrested in its operation till the 15th of November. It, therefore, never will, probably, operate at all except in an indirect way upon the store of the speculator, and directly upon the minds of the people, who, though they see whole fields of wheat blackened with the blight; though they see the rain fall day after day rotting the crop upon the ground, do still ascribe, and will continue to ascribe the rise of bread to the law lately passed by parliament at the instance of the minister. To an argument somewhat of this popular nature Mr. Pitt made a reply that showed him to be shockingly destitute of reflection upon the subject. During the few days that the bill lay before, the Lords, wheat and bread had risen. This rise was attributed to the bill, by the gentlemen who opposed it, and it was fairly so attributed: it was a mere speculator's rise: the stock in hand assumed additional value the moment the bill had passed the House of Commons. Mr. Pitt replied, that there was an appearance that the harvest would be scanty, and that the rise ought to be attributed to that circumstance rather than to the bill before the House, But, if Mr. Pitt was sincere, how can we find an excuse for his persevering in the bill? While he asserted that corn was already" too low in "price" and that it was necessary to prevent its sinking lower, though one could hardly approve of so crude and inconsiderate an assertion, one could not impeach his consistency; but, when he had discovered that the coming harvest was likely to be scanty, and when he contended that the price of wheat and bread had already begun to experience the effects of that cause, still to persist in passing a law, founded upon the existence of a supposed exactly opposite state of things, is what will, I am persuaded, meet with no apology except amongst the greedy speculators, whose purposes alone such law, passed under such circumstances, was calculated to serve. The law is not, it is true, to go into operation till the middle of November; but it has already done mischief; it has already assisted the blight and the rain in raising the price of bread; and, which is still of more importance, it has laid the foundation for popular complaint against the govern ment; for, though a single sack of corn should never be exported in consequence of this law, the people will ascribe to it a part, at least, of their hardships, and, at this moment, it is a general opinion amongst the common people, that ships are lying in all our ports ready to take away the corn the moment the law begins to operate, and that the rise of bread is owing to the hoards that are forming preparatory to the 15th of November!--But the consequence the most dangerous of all, is that which may arise from the erroneous, though almost general opinion, that scarcity of provisions is inseparable from a state. of war, an opi nion that has been countenanced by far too many of those who are, or who ought to be; able to discover its fallacy. After the Bishop of London had expressed his appro bation of the peace, because the people had endured nine years of war and three of faminé, it was not astonishing to hear the people themselves drown all your complaints against the terms of the peace by bawling in your ears" peace and a large " loaf;" while sentiments like those of the Rt. Rev. Prelate were repeated even to satiety from the benches of parliament, as well as from the palpit, it was no wonder that "peace and plenty" became inseparable in the minds of the people; that they became the subjects of their toasts, their songs, and their allegories; no wonder that we saw, particularly amongst the base and stupid shop-keepers of London and Westminster, Peace represented by a vulgar greasy-looking woman holding a huge loaf in one hand and a foaming pot of porter in the other. The Addingtons turned this vulgar error to excellent account: they kept their places two years by the help of it, and, were not the monarchy and the country exposed to danger, it would be well now to let it work with all its force against their selfish and juggling successors. It would, however, be but a miserable satisfaction to see them overturned amidst the general ruin, and, therefore, I shall endeavour to show, that, as far as relates to the article of bread, at least, peace is not any more than war inseparable from plenty. When I touched upon this subject last (see page 82), I confined myself to the late peace and the present war. I shall now go back to the distance of half a century, giving the average price of the quartern loaf, in London, in each year. 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 54d. 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 778 PEACE. WA It is said, and with truth, that the price of bread is not always, and in all cases, a satisfactory standard whereby to measure the value of money; but it is quite sufficient for the present purpose; for, if bread be cheap, the poor-man's provision is not dear, and if bread be dear his provision cannot be cheap. In ancient times bread was em phatically styled the staff of life, and, though modern inventions have enabled men, in certain cases, to dispense with it, yet, to the mass of mankind, to those who may be called the people of every civilized nation, it still is the staff of life. From the fores going list of prices it will be seen, then, that war has not even the slightest tendency to enhance the cost of this first article of the poor man's subsistence; for, during three of the four wars of the last half century, including the present war, the |