of this their intention it would be found in the recent attempt to make the Assembly furnish the means of sending to Europe the French prisoners lately carried into Jamaica from St. Domingo, than which a request more contrary to justice and to reason cannot be conceived.--After the reader has perused the minute of the Assembly, which he will find in a preceding page of this sheet, and which contains the Governor's message and the Assembly's answer, he should be informed, that the number of prisoners was soon after doubled; so that, if the Assembly had consented to the request made to them, the Island would have been put to an expense of at least 100,000l. according to the estimate of the Governor himself; and who is there that does not know how far such estimates always fall short of the final amount. It is probable the expense would have amounted to nearly, if not quite, 200.000l. and this the people of Jamaica were to pay as a sort of fee for the favour of having imminent danger removed from them; danger in the producing of which neither they nor their representa-tives had had any concern. The prisoners amounted, at last, to about eight or nine thousand, at a moment when the British troops in the Island were considerably short of four thousand. If the Admiral knew that he could not depart from his orders; if he dared not take upon himself to engage vessels for the purpose of sending home these prisoners, why did he take them from St. Domirgo? That, in assisting to re-establish "the hideous black empire," he should imagine he was doing a service acceptable to Mr. Addington and his colleagues must be wonderful to all those who recollect the grounds on which those gentlemen justified the permission they gave the Consul to send out his fleet and army; but, at any rate, if the Admiral thought it right to cooperate with Dessalines and his comrades, there could be no reason why the people of Jamaica should pay for it; there could be no reason why they should be called upon exclusively to defray the expense of an expedition undertaken for the general interest of the empire. The unreasonableness of such a demand upon them was evident; but it was thought, perhaps, as in the case of the black slave regiments in 1793, that terror would supply the place of reason and of justice. Had the coffers of the Assembly been full, it is probable they would have given way; but, if they had been willing, they were, as they assert, unable.- Whether ships have been sent out to bring the prisoners to Europe, or not, is not certain.

The public have, however, been tecéutly informed of a conspiracy having been detected, from which it appeared, that a rising of the prisoners was to have taken place, and that they were to have been aided by other French and some Spaniards 'who were to come over from Cuba. This intelligence may have been premature, but it is by no means improbable; and, if any unfortunate stroke should fall upon Jamaica from the cause here spoken of, the nation will find but a poor compensation in any punishment that can be inflicted upon those, to whose folly or wickedness the calamity must be attributed.*

CORN LAWS.-Another of these laws is now passing, or has just passed. It were sincerely and devoutly to be wished, that conjugal love always burnt with as steady a flame as the love of law-giving! About three or four years ago law upon law came forth to prevent the exportation and to lower the price of bread corn; and now we have begun to make laws to encourage what we then prohibited. If no law had ever been passed upon the subject, and if courts of justice had never meddled with the matter, the scarcity would hot have been nearly so severely felt as it was; and the plenty would not now have been swelled to a superabundance, not so alarming, indeed, to the country, as the scarcity was, but injurious to it, aud, eventually may be productive of very bad consequences. The restriction as to exportation is taken off, too, at a wrong time. There is no telling, as yet, what will be the produce of the next harvest. We have had four dry summers successively; five successively have not been known in this country, within the memory of the oldest man living; and if we should now have a harvest like that of 1799, the quartern loaf may yet sell for a shilling before Christmas. If that should happen to be the case, will it not be said with truth, that Mr. Addington is the luckiest of mortals! Just as the reins of power were put into his feeble hands, plenty began to return: the next harvest favoured by the seasons as well as by the extraordinary exertions in agriculture occasioned by the high prices, was the most abundant ever known in England.

The

* It may be necessary to refer here to the several parts of the Register, where the documents and observations relating to the disputes between the Government and the Assembly of Jamaica are to be found; to wit; Vol. II. p. 254, 265, 313, and 328. Vol. V. p. 397, 403,771, and 796. Vol. VL P. 1 and 65.

produce of this harvest began to come to market, just as his measure of peace was concluded. He it was, therefore, that gave the country 66 peace and plenty;" and thus this most dangerous fallacy got possession of the minds of the people. Plenty seems now to have increased till it ought to go no farther; till, in fact, it is, in the opinion of the legislature become an evil; and, in order to lessen it, we are to pay, out of the taxes raised upon us, a bounty for sending corn out of the country. This seems, therefore, to be a proper time to look back upon the progress of this plenty, and to see how it has been affected by the opposite states of peace and war, as exhibited in the price of the quartern loaf.

1802. 1st January.... 1s. Old.

of in the preceding sheet, p. 46, where some quotations were made from an excellent work of Mr. Parnell. The same subject has been ably discussed in a still more recent publication entitled "An Essay on Com"mercial Exchanges, &c. &c." by Mr. J. L Foster, a nephew, it appears, of the present Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer. This, as far as I am able to judge, is, as to the far greater part of it, a very valuable addition to the works relating to the science of which it treats. Like the work of Mr. Parnell, it discovers great profundity of thought as well as a very extensive acquaintance with facts. If Ireland be doomed to ruin from financial errors, it will not be for want of knowledge amongst Irishmen. From the title of Mr. Foster's work it will naturally be concluded," that it does not confine itself to the circumstances relating to the exchange between Great Britain and Ireland; but, the only part of it that I think it necessary particularly to notice upon this occasion is that which comes to the support of what has, at different times, been advanced upon that subject in the Register, earnestly recommending the whole work to the perusal of the reader. In noticing the facts stated by Mr. Parnell (see Register, p. 50) relative to the exchange between Dublin and Belfast, between London and Belfast, and be. tween London and Dublin, I should have applied them to establish the fact of a real depreciation of the English bank paper as well as the Irish. This Mr. Foster has done. Having previously proved that the real exchange, that is to say the exchange independent of all considerations as to the present value of paper in either country, is în favour of Ireland, he proceeds, in a subsequent part of his book, as follows. "It is evident that if the Bank of England "notes have suffered no depreciation, and "that the real exchange between England "and Ireland is at far, the premium paid "for guineas in Dublin must equal the un"favourableness of the nominal exchange. "But if the Bank of England notes are de

preciated and the real exchange is at par, "the premium paid for guineas in Dublin "must equal the unfavourableness of the "nominal exchange plus the depreciation "of English paper; for it must be recollect"ed that the exchange of England against "Dublin is not of Irish paper against gold,

but against English paper." He then in serts a table showing the amount of premiums paid for gold in Dublin, from Janu ary, 1803 to March last; as also the rate of the nominal exchange (that is of English against Irish bank notes) during the same period; and, in a third column, he shows

the exchange between English bank notes and Irish gold. "From this table," says he, "it will appear, that the depreciation of English bank notes first produced a sen"sible effect about the month of September last; for, adding the premium on gold to "the real exchange and subtracting the no "minal exchange 8 + 1—6} = 28, the "depreciation of English paper. If such a "result bad appeared only in that month, "we might seek for some other cause of the "sudden fluctuation; but it has, on the

contrary, continued permanent since that "time: a permanent effect must be referred "to a permanent cause." The progress of the depreciation of English paper is stated to be as follows. 1803, Sep. 25, Oct. 2, Nov. 212, Dec. 22; 1804, Jan. 2, Feb. 2, March 31. It is remarkable that the result of this calculation agrees with the fact centioned by Mr. Burrowes before the select committee on Irish exchange, that 24 is now paid in London to procure gold in exchange for Bank of England notes. It agrees also with the excess of the market price above the mint price of gold, which gives a depreciation of somewhat less than three per centum.

"Thus also," continues Mr. Foster, "it will be easy to account for the exchange "of London having been of late so much in "favour of Belfast, sometimes even 3 per ་་ centum ; for this was an exchange of gold against bank of England paper; and the "reader will observe, that in October, 1803 "(that is the month after the depreciation "of English paper first appears to have "been sensibly felt), the exchange became "suddenly 2 per centum in favour of Bel"fast; and it is remarkable, that it has "since continued in favour of Belfast,

to

nearly to the same amount that the Eng"lish paper appears to have been depre"ciated."--Leaving this statement produce the conviction which can scarcely fail to follow a perusal of it, I beg leave to remind those who have long been my readers, of the censure and abuse that have been heaped upon me by the hirelings of government, for having insisted, that the work of depreciation had begun upon English bank paper. This assertion is now openly and unequivocally made by Mr. Foster. It has recently been half made by others; but this gentleman makes it in so many words; and I shall be much deceived if any Treasury pen will be drawn forth for the purpose of contradicing him.- -The fact of depreciation. being asserted by Mr. Foster, let people now apply to him to know, how the paper can possibly be depreciated while a one pound "note and a shilling will buy as much bread

"as a guinea, and will indeed exchange for

Pre

a guinea.' This mystery I endeavoured to explain in the Register Vol. V. p. 572: perhaps he will be more successful. The truth is, however, that they are, upon this subject, to be instructed only by their feelings. They must suffer as the people in Ireland have, and yet do, before they will learn to despise the jugglers by whose tricks they are now deceived and amused: clowns never form a just opinion of the mountebank till they are half killed by the poisonous operation of his drugs. Thus I should say, that the nation is not yet sick enongh: it must b. much sicker before it will be well. cisely how much longer it will require to bring our paper to the same state as that of Ireland is in it would be difficult to say. Much will depend upon the events of the war. But, it would be foolish not to recollect, that the premium paid for gold in Dublin bas, ince January, 1803, risen from 3 to 10 per centum. It is not much more than a year and a half since the work of open depreciation began in Ireland. It started with a premium of 3 per centum for gold; and, let it be remembered, that it is a fact proved before a con \mittee of the House of Commons, that a premium of 24 per centum is already given for gold in England! It would be very silly not to keep these things in our mind, though by no means imagine that English deprecia tion will make such rapid advance as that of Ireland has made; unless an i wasion should take place, or be seriously regarded as being very near at hand. In that cae indeed the fall of the paper may be very suc'den, and great wisdom as well as energy will be required to provide against the evils that may arise from that fall. A. hold project for paying off the whole of "the national debt" or for any other pur pose of a dashing nature, would have nearly a similar effect upon the paper. The state of things is so ticklish, the fabrick is so very fra il, that it would be madness to calculate up on its resisting a serious shock of any kind.. All but fools and gambling speculators will therefore, be somewhat upon their guard thy will, as fast as they can, convert their property into things of a more solid nature; an. I, as to those who take no such precaution, it is very little matter whether they have any property or not. -Before I dis.. miss this topic 1 cannot bat indulge my va nity so far as to notice the flattering distintwhich Mr. Foster has made between me others, who have written upon the subof paper currency, and whose opinions vords he has occasionally cited or f ferred to. Mr. Thornton, Lord King, and

tion

and

ject

and

7

several others, not omitting even the Edinburgh Reviewers, he has carefully named at the bottom of the page; but from me he takes whole passages, and indeed the very foundation of his doctrine of depreciation,

1.

Register, Vol. V. p. 758.

It is not [said a correspondent] as a dol. "Iar that it now appears at 5s. but as a token which the bank has engaged to re

pay at that price, or in other words as a "promissory note of the bank." Well, if this be the case, the bank might have, affixed any nominal value to the dollar; and, indeed, this C. B. asserts. "By using the same means," says he, "the bank could "if it pleased, have established a nominal "price of six, seven, or fifteen shillings, or

any price whatever." Aye Why then it is the stamp and not the metal that gives the value to the bank dollar? But, if this were the case, why put the stamp apon dolJars? Why not choose a cheaper metal? Tin would have borne a stamp fill as well, and would have been much ligliter.

Does,

C. B. in good earnest believe, that the bankers could, by means of a stamp, induge us to take a four and sixpenny dollar at 15s. or at any price whatever?

Whoever has read the Register here cnoted. need not be reminded, tha the high nomipal value of the dollar was there stated to be a proof of the depreciation of the bank pa per. Indeed the readers of the Register must well recollect, that this point was insisted on so long as six months ago. I might point out several other parts of. Mr. Foster's work, where he has conferred on me the honour of a similar distinction. He thinks it necessary pot only to name other writers but their works also, and in some instances to characterise them; but from me he takes as it were with a consciousness that all the world is acquinted with the source, just as men quote from the Scripture. Had I time I would, take this op portunity of acknowledging similar favours trom several writers, amongst whom I should certainly not forget Lord Sheffield.

THE WAR.---Within these few days it has been rumoured, that the King of Sweden refuses to acknowledge Buonapar té as Emperor of the French. If this be true the inference that Russia is resolved on war with France appears natural enough. B. 3. *t still without Austria, without British morey and a British army, there will be no ficient combination against France; and whether Mr. Pitt will be able to send either guineas or soldiers is a question upon which there

can be very little difference of opinion. We are, in some of the London newspapers, told of the spirited remonstrances of the Emperor of Russia relative to the affair of the Duke d'Enghien. The conduct of his Jmperial Majesty in this respect is compared with that of the cowardly states of Ger"many." But, the persons who draw this comparison, seem to forget the vast difference in the circumstances of the parties respectively; the difference in the rank, and the power, of the Emperor of Russia and the Prince of Baden, and, what is by no means of small importance, the difference in the distance at which those two Sovereigns are placed from the empire of France and from the armies of Buonaparté. The answer, which it is confidently said the French go vernment gave to the remonstrance of Russia, it would not, with all our liberty of the press, be very safe to put in print, however guarded with qualifications and comments; but, if such an answer was given, there can exist in the mind of Buonaparté and his counsellors not the least fear of the anger and resentment of Russia, or of the powers that she is able to bring to her assistance. In truth, after the affair of the "indemnities," as they were called; after the parcelling outof Germany; taking from one Sovereign Prince his territories to give to another;

after a perfect co-operation of Russia and France in almost deposing some Sovereigns and elevating others by the mere effect of their will and power, and without any consultation for that purpose with the Emperor of Germany, the lawful head of that very empire the members of which they were cutting up and distributing at their pleasure; after this, one might be allowed to express some astonishment at hearing either of the distributing parties complain of a breach of the laws of neutrality, and of an invasion of the rights of independent principalities, --The hope of exhausting the pecuniary resources of France is still a topic with some of the ministerial writers; and it would not be very surprising if we were, at the next meeting of Parliament to hear the same hope expressed within the walls of St. Stephen's. Incredible as it may appear to men of sense, such a hope is really entertained. But on what it is now built it would be utterly impossible to conceive. Some time ago we heard of enormous taxes being levied upon the people; but why such taxes should be levied no one can tell; for as to the war, it can occasion but very little, if any, extraordinary expense to France; not nearly so much as she draws, in consequence of it, directly from Spain, Portugal, and Hanover; of which latter country she is absolutely selling the fee-simple as fast as she can find porchasers; and, what is worthy of remark, the people remaining in the Electorate seem, if we are to believe the reports from the Continent, not much displeased at the change. A revolution, a change of property and of power, is operating in that country without making the least noise in the world. Never did a Sovereign lose his dominions in so short a space of time; never was any loss so complete; and, if one were to judge from the favour retained by those to whom the loss was attributable, never were dominions lost with so little regret. To talk of exhausting the pecuniary resources of France by war, and especially such a war as we are now carrying on, and while we have not, and cannot have, an army capable of being sent abroad, is perfect madness. The boats for the flotilla must cost something, but not half so much as our small craft, to say nothing of our navy and army, our no-army and all our other most monstroas expenses, which, if they continue for a very few years must augment the annual interest of the debt to a sum greater in amount than the annual revenue. What the dailyincreasing effect of this must be upon our paper system Buonaparte's counsellors well know, and they will not, therefore, be disposed to relieve us from all the chances

which such a state of things gives them against us, When Mr. Addington, in his badget speech at the commencement of the war, told the House of Commons that the sacrifices which he called upon the nation to make, were intended to convince the nations of Europe of the solidity of our pecuniary means, the Moniteur copied his speech and sent it over the world with only this short comment: Pay your bank notes in specie, "and then the nations of Europe will beleve you, without your making either speeches or war." The man who wrote that comment knew our situation; and, indeed, it is ridiculous to suppose, that the government of France, with so much talent at its command, should not have been able to foresee wherein our chief danger would consist.

66

“

The means which our ministers, the lastas well as the present, have resorted to in order to deceive the world are almost too low and ridiculous to be described. Two foreigners, Sir Francis D'Ivernois, Knight, and another, seem to have been doing fitile or nothing else for several years last past. With the weight of Sir Francis's arguments the trunk-makers' porters are pretty well ace quainted, and for the ruinous tendency of them more than one bookseller can be brought to vouch. The other writer to whom I allude has prudently kept his name from the title-page of his work, which hẹ calls Observations sur le compte rendu de ** l'administration des finances de la France, "pour l'an X. 1801, 1802," arid wherein. though there can be little doubt of the work having been paid for out of the Treasury, I will take upon me to say, there is more nonsense than in any other work extant of the same bulk. The apparent object of it is, to show, that, in case of a new war, Buonaparté will be compelled to yield to his adversary, unless he can make loans, things which the author seems to regard as absolutely necessary to the existence of a nation in time of Having settled this point, it only remains for him to make it appear, which I dare say he does to the perfect satisfaction and great comfort of his employers, that it is impossible for Buonaparté or any of his successors ever to make loans again! Thus, then, there is nothing necessary but to go to war with Buonaparté to overset him and his government. This work appears to have been written early in 1803. Buonaparté has not made any loans it is true, but it is because he has stood in no need of any if he had, he would have made loans as well as his neighbours; for where is the credit so desperate that speculators will not try it? 1 do not say that his loans would have been made

war.