structress is to teach not its extirpation, but its regulation. It is to be counteracted by exercising ourselves in magnifying the idea of others, and in giving a preference of attention to the claims not connected with self. These counsels are developed and detailed in a fifth essay, which is intitled an Inquiry into the Means appointed by Providence for the Developement and Cultivation of the Benevolent Affections. It is divided into eight chapters, which constitute the mass of the second volume, and are terminated by a concluding summary, which attains a high degree of pious and religious fervour. Great as is the merit of this long composition, we may not conceal from our readers that it exhibits an inclination to pro lixity. Every thing is spun out; and to make a little staple of argument supply the longest possible thread of discourse seems to be the aim and ambition of the spinner. Paley's Natural Theology is a miracle of amplification: but here, with less of exemplary fact, and chiefly by the resources of methodical subdivisions, and of a diction which may emphatically be called prosing because it studiously shuns the picturesque or brilliant colouring of poetic eloquence, a larger succession of sheets is thickened into a heavy book. Were we employed to distil back to its essence this fluid mass, and to separate those elemental ideas which are here diluted and accommodated to the thirst of the multitude, we should observe that the first volume is employed to enforce the duty of attention; that the second is made to enforce the duty of diverting that attention from self; and that the pith, the substance, and the result of the whole may consequently best be expressed and condensed in these two emphatic words: MIND OTHERS. The study of works on female education may expediently be recommended not only to the mother but to the daughter. They inspire docility, and prepare superintendance. Indeed, it is not to the female world alone that they are likely to be useful since commonly, as here, they contain a multitude of sage, benevolent, and familiar exhortations, practically sound and elegantly phrased, which are adapted not merely to be read in the parlour but to be proclaimed from the pulpit; which on the week-day would instruct, and on the Sunday would properly amuse. ART. ART. X. Observations on the Corn-Laws and the Corn-Trade in 1813 and 1814. 8vo. pp. 48. Richardson. ART. XI. Observations on the Effects of the Corn-Laws, and of a Rise or Fall in the Price of Corn on the Agriculture and General Wealth of the Country. By the Rev. T. R. Malthus, Professor of Political Economy at the East India College, Hertfordshire. 8vo. pp. 44. 2S. Johnson. 1814. ART. XII. Substance of the Speech of the Right Hon. George Rose, in the House of Commons, 5th May 1814, on the Subject of the Corn-Laws. 8vo. pp. 79. 2s. 6d. Cadell and Davies. ART. XIII. The Substance of the Speech of Charles Callis Western, ART. XIV. 8vo. Is. 6d. A Letter on the Corn-Laws. By the Earl of Lauderdale. 8vo. pp. 89. 3s. Longman and Co. 1814. ALTHOUGH the subject of the trade in corn, and of the influence of legislative enactments with respect to it, is at all times interesting, it has at the present moment particular attraction as being an object of Parliamentary discussion and of new propositions. Our readers, therefore, will probably thank us for bringing before them, at one view, the contents of the tracts of which the titles are placed at the head of this article, and for dwelling on them at some length. The author of the first of them appears to have been among the earliest of those who have employed their pens on this topic; and, from the practical information which his pamphlet contains, we infer that he is a corn-dealer. At the close of his preface, he signs himself John Brickwood. He is a friend to our old corn-laws, and discusses them in a manner which shews that he did not anticipate the storm which the attempt to revive them has excited. Apparently, he deemed it impossible that, while other branches of industry enjoyed legislative protection, the same safeguard would be withholden from agriculture: but, if we correctly understand his meaning, he regards as too high the scale of duties which was lately rejected by parliament, namely, 24s. per quarter on foreign wheat, whenever the average of the United Kingdoms should be at or under 105s. 2d. per quarter, of 2s. 6d. per quarter, whenever the average should be at or above 105s. 2d. and under 135s. 2d. per quarter, and of 6d. per quarter, when the average should be at or above 135s2d. per quarter. Mr. Brickwood would not have the duties so heavy as to amount to a prohibition. To prohibit importation,' he says, would not only be to reject abundance, but would be contrary to the policy Dd 4 - policy of rendering us the emporium for all commodities from every country, whether coming in exchange for our manufactures or allured by our capital. It is (he adds) essential to the prosperity of those of our manufactures which are consumed in continental corn-countries, that we should not only encourage the consumption of their corn, but also in order to keep down their cost in the markets in which they enter into competition with foreign manufactures.' Mr. B. seems to be anxious to impress on his readers the following facts, viz. that, under the old system of the cornlaws, Great Britain was an exporting country; that the high price of provisions rendered her such in a small degree in the year 1811; that the climate and soil of Great Britain are in the best manner adapted to the cultivation of wheat; and that policy requires that our West India colonies should derive their supplies of corn from the mother-country. Those who are to legislate on this subject will not, by a perusal of this pamphlet, throw away their time. It is written in a simple and unaffected manner, and is equally pleasing and instructive. In the tract which stands second in our list, no opinion is given on the general question: the eminent author professing merely to state the advantages and disadvantages on each side, without pronouncing between them. Its determination, according to him, will depend on the answers to the following queries: Would the United Kingdom, if the trade in corn were free, grow an independent supply of corn? If that should not be the case, is such a supply so desirable, as to justify the interference of the legislature; and, if such interference should be deemed proper, what restrictions are best adapted to attain the end in view? By none, we apprehend, will it be disputed that, if the trade in corn were free, we should import largely. As we might expect from a person so conversant with political economy, though Mr. Malthus strictly maintains his character of neutrality, he cannot conceal the raptures which he feels while he sets forth the simple, regular, and beneficial operations of free trade, and the admirable system which it establishes in human transactions. By this author it cannot but be admitted that, viewed in a commercial light, freedom of trade is incomparably the most eligible course. Two considerations seem principally to induce him to regard the question as balanced; the one, the inconvenience which would attend the removal of a system of long standing, by the provisions of which the price of corn in this country has been raised above the level of the rest of Europe;' the other, the risk which would be run by making a considerable part of our population depend upon a foreign a foreign supply of grain, whereby the country would be exposed to those vicissitudes and changes in the channels of commerce to which manufacturing states are of necessity subject.' He tells us that, if such a juncture as that which took place in 1812 were ever again to arise, the distresses which our manufacturers then suffered would be nothing, compared with the widewasting calamity which would in that case be experienced. He recommends moderation to both parties; the sticklers for free trade are reminded that cheapness of corn will not be an unmixed good; and that, if it takes place, they will see a sudden stop put to the progress of our cultivation, and that it will even suffer some diminution.' On the other hand, the advocates of restrictions are apprized that, if the methods proposed by them are adopted, they are not to expect that the eminence of agriculture can be maintained without injuring other branches of national industry, and causing a declension in them which ultimately may affect agriculture itself.' In whichever way, Mr. M. adds, the question is decided, evils must be produced, and sacrifices endured. When we consider what light the science of political economy throws on subjects like the present, and what an eminent master of it we have in the present author,-that he is not only well acquainted with its public roads and highways, but that its byepaths and lanes, and all its recesses and corners, are familiarly known to him; that he is not only a proficient in it of the first order, but that he has enriched it with greater discoveries and more extended its boundaries than any other writer, with the exception of its illustrious founder, we must admit that the neutrality of such a person is of great weight in the scale of the corn-laws. As he is, we believe, the only professor of political economy in the united kingdom, occupying this situation he seemed to be officially required to impart information to the public on the present important question. This call he has not only obeyed, but he has fulfilled his task in a manner that is worthy of his high reputation, and will give satisfaction to every intelligent reader. His performance, while it pretends to nothing out of the ordinary course, displays a soundness of judgment, a nicety of discrimination, a closeness of reasoning, and a precision of language, which are rarely manifested in the productions of the day. Whether he exposes the errors of his predecessors, states the points on which the question turns, or lays down the qualifications with which either set of measures must be adopted, we equally admire the efforts of his pen, and in every page recognize the author of the "Essay on Population:" but no where is he more himself than when he shews, in opposition to Dr. Smith, that corn - corn is subject to the same economical laws with other articles of human dealing. While we are glad that a work of this neutral character has made its appearance, we at the same time feel a wish that, for the sake of science, the present occasion may not be suffered to pass without some zealous disciple of political economy asserting the freedom of trade; and claiming that liberty in favour of the consumer, which the legislature, by a recent law, has established in favour of the grower. Not only persons who feel an interest in public measures will cast a keen eye over these pages, they will also engage the attention of those to whom a subject well treated imparts gratification. From academic bowers, we are transported to the busy haunts of men; from the lectures of the philosopher, we are called to listen to the counsels of a man of business. The present question has engaged the exertions of the Right Honourable George Rose, who here displays laudable zeal, and his characteristic industry. Two men less resembling each other than the professor just mentioned and this great placeman are rarely seen engaged in the same pursuit: but, dissimilar as are their views and trains of thinking, and although they move in a different course, they here support the same conclusion; each requiring the restrictions on the importation of corn to be moderate. To this coincidence between persons so opposite, we ascribe considerable weight; the man of detail guided by sound sense and observation, and the sage conducted by the hand of philosophy, meet at this point; the instincts of the one and the demonstration of the other direct them to the same object. Although from his former habits we should not have expected it, Mr. Rose shews himself on this occasion to be an acute and able controversialist. Indeed, his examination of the late report made to the House of Commons on the corn-laws is a masterly criticism, and detects errors in it which perhaps exceed those of any similar document. This inaccuracy alone, he observes, renders it unfit to be made the foundation of an important legislative enactment; and, though he admits that the measures which it recommends are in analogy with former similar proceedings, he shews that the innovations which it proposed to introduce are so considerable as to require a longer time for discussion than could be obtained at so late a period of the session. He objects very much to the bill in favour of exportation; and here we are obliged to separate from our brother critic. Free exportation falls equally with free importation within our principles. We do not a little wonder that so skilful a combatant should not have pressed his adversaries to disclose the reasons for the severance |