difficulty with which they procure a scanty pittance of grain, that the harvest had been very defective. Artificial scarcity can never be extreme, or of long duration. Now had this calamity befallen the country at the most flourishing period of our manufactures, it would have been severely felt. Money cannot multiply the produce of the earth, nor alter its physical properties. But the tremendous difficulty which we have to encounter. is the concurrence of this great visitation of Providence with a general stagnation of commerce, a necessary cessation of labour, and an unemployed and half-starved population. Pitiable, indeed, is their case at present; yet it is still more so, that in attempting to account for this unexpected phænomenon, they should lend their understandings to men at once shallow, plausible, and wicked, who teach them to ascribe it to causes scarcely more connected with the effect than planetary influence. Could the extinction of pensions and sinecures, for instance, afford、 every sufferer a meal in a month? Or would Annual Parliaments and Universal Suffrage have any effect upon the Atmosphere? nay, even on the flux and reflux of Commerce? Would they not rather consume the time of the poor in cabals and intrigues, in idleness and waste? The great combination of causes to which our present evils are to be traced, has in some degree perplexed the deepest thinkers to those who suffer most severely from them, they are certainly not wholly intelligible-yet these plain considerations may be of some use. The astonishing energies put forth by the Nation in the last long protracted struggle, were not like the temperate exertions of a man in health, but the vio·lent efforts of a patient in a fever they must in consequence be succeeded by relaxation and debility.-The very waste of war itself brought out so much raw material of every kind, modified in such a variety of ways, and employing such a multitude of hands, that while the Nation, as such, was on the point of being exhausted by the expence, all the gradations of society employed in manufactures were individually prosperous. -It followed, that for all the necessaries of life they were able and willing to pay advanced prices: this occasioned the racking of rents, and that in many instances for terms yet unexpired.-Still, with all these advantages experienced by the landed interest, taxation was severely felt; so that while one half of the people was living in plenty by the War, GENT. MAG. March, 1817. 4 the other half was embarrassing the Government by clamours for Peace. Peace at length arrived-the vast machine of Commerce suspended its motions at once; and an effect unhappily followed which the wisest of men had ral, but, we trust, temporary distress. not distinctly foreseen-namely, geneThere is in poverty a tendency to propagate and perpetuate itself. Its first effect is diminished consumption, extending itself to every rank in society, and every necessary of life. A few familiar instances may suffice to illustrate this observation:-The first object of economy is cloathing. Now necessary of life is food, and the first when the labourer or mechanic is on the point of being reduced from a proportion of nutritious animal food to preparations of grain, his first struggle will be to procure even a diminished supply of the first; his second, to obtain food at all. In proportion as the first is abandoned, want recoils upon the butcher, and from the butcher upon the grazier. Hence the rent is unpaid, or paid by means of a ruinous distress. Again, poverty and rags are two ideas more frequently associated than poverty and emptiness; and the reason is obvious that the former appearance is produced in order to remove the latter. Hence it follows that articles of cloathing lie unpurchased on the shelf-the mercer wants not his usual supply from the manufacturer- the manufacturer discards his work men-the farmer's wool lies unpurchased in his storehouse, and the landlord, as before, is the ultimate sufferer. Still, however, the evil can be but temporary; human wants will sooner or later force a supply-this will stimu late the reviving spirit of industry, and the rewards of industry will once more increase the circulation and consump tion. But there is another cause of the present stagnation, which cannot be remembered without thankfulness-our houses and villages have not been destroyed by the flames of war; our fields laid waste, or our fences leveled, by its ravages. All these mischiefs have befallen the unhappy countries which have been the seats of war--countries too, which, from the mildness of their climate, are more independent upon importation than ourselves.-These mischiefs must first be repaired; and where is the wonder, if, during the period at which this great and universal process is going on, foreign commerce should be suspended? The work, however, will in no long time be accomplished; the inha bitants bitants of those countries will once more discover that they want cloathing as well as shelter, and a large proportion of that cloathing must come from Great Britain. These views of the subject are at least as rational as the theories of demagogues and political quacks. It would be a waste of time to say any thing on the more rational and feasible sehemes of Parliamentary Reform, because the persons with whom we have to contend, are no less hostile to them than ourselves; but with respect to the great topic of annual parliaments, and universal suffrage, a few remarks may not be thrown away. First then (for nothing is too extravagant for modern effrontery to assert, or modern credulity to swallow) it may seem to be the persuasion of some men, that, at a period of perfeet wisdom and justice, no one can tell when, the British Constitution was hit off at a stroke, with all the equipoises and adjustments of a new and finished machine; but that, time having corroded some of the parts, and human folly and interest having disarranged others, it has at length reached the period of corruption and decay, in which it now totters and vacillates towards its last movement. Now it may, or it may not, benefit the ingenious persons who have made this discovery, to be assured that there never was such a time or transaction; and that, whereas the two higher branches of the Legislature, by which, according to the best Legal Antiquaries, are to be understood the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, may be traced through the long period of the Saxon annals, the democratical branch arose at a much later zra. But this branch of the Legislature was for a considerable time almost wholly under the controul of the Nobles. Before their vast estates were subdivided, whole Counties were nearly shared between them, the Bishops, and the Religious Housesthe Boroughs for the most part, rose under the walls of their eastles, and were dependent upon them. In direct contradiction, therefore, to the crude ideas of modern theorists, every thing has been gradually tending to augment the power and independence of the House of Commons. - The great estates of the old Nobility have been gradually frittered away, while the dissolution of the Religious Houses created Freeholders almost without number. Then again, the vast depreciation of money has encreased the number of persons entitled to the elective suffrage in the ratio of more than ten to one: and from all these causes it is demonstrable that the Electors of Representatives in Parliament were never so numerous as at present. Inequalities, undoubtedly, and great inequalities, in representation there are. A Nobleman, for example, of their own party, by the help of a few posts numbered and ticketed in his park, makes no scruple of returning as many members as the County of York; but, on the whole, the principle of inequality is evidently weakening; whether for the better or the worse, I shall not presume to determine. To Universal Suffrage there are these objections. First, that a set of men returned by the mob must necessarily be bold and illiterate demagogues, incapable of sober deliberation. Secondly, that the class of voters excluded by the present system are of all others the most accessible to bribes, and the most unfit to judge as to the qualifications of a candidate. Thirdly, that this scheme is of all others the worst for the purpose of independence; poverty and low selfinterest being the characteristics of such an assembly. Fourthly, supposing them, as the votaries of this system fondly conceive, to preserve their independence inviolate, this circumstance alone would destroy (as it has once happened already) the balance of the Constitution; for those who hold without controul the purse of the Nation can at any time reduce the other branches of the Legislature to insignificance, or to nothing. Remember the Long Parliament, and the influence of the absolute independence bestowed on them by the King, on himself and the Lords. Next, as to Annual Elections, there are sober persons who presume to think that a recurrence of epidemical riot and phrenzy throughout the Nation once in seven years is quite enough; and with respect to the risque of bribery, the shorter the term of enriching themselves, the more shameless and the more rapacious they will grow. The history of Provincial Governors appointed for very short terms affords an example of this. But Annual Parliaments and Universal Suffrage are contemptible objects to the radical and fundamental Reformers, the equalizers of property and of mankind. This monstrous scheme, after having slept in quiet about twenty years, has lately been revived by some desperate men, who, having nothing to lose by the dissolution of the whole frame of human society, promise to themselves much more than equality in a future distribution. Neither in that event are their expectations unreasonable; for equality, even equality in ruin, is a state Commence state which cannot subsist for a moment. It was pledged to the deluded populace of France; and how was that pledge redeemed? After they had massacred one-half of the Nobility and Clergy, and driven the rest into exile, then, if ever, it might have been expected that the experiment should be made; that this new and blessed order of things should that the measuring line should go through the land, and thence forward "Every rood of ground maintain its man." But mark the event. The great leaders, as in the partnership of the Jion and the other beasts, seized the prey for themselves, while the wolves and jackalls bowled in vain for their stipulated portions. But let it be granted for a moment that such a partition has once taken place. Equality must be maintained as well as established, otherwise the principle and the argument are at an end. Now the true Jacobinical position is, that every one has a natural and indefeasible right to an equal portion of the earth, or its produce, according to his wants. Suppose then this wild maxim to be carried into practice, and what will be the event? In this ever-changing scene of human life, not a day, nor an hour elapses, without some change which will require a new distribution. The birth or the death of any individual in a family, the growth and increasing wants of children, and a thousand other causes, if the principle were acted upon, would immediately produce such a scene of confusion in consequence of this everJasting shuffle of property, adding, substracting, giving, taking, claiming, remonstrating, and wrangling, that universal uproar must inevitably ensue. To all this is to be added, that meanwhile there is no Magistrate to controul, no umpire to decide, for, if there were, equality would be at an end. But in this paradisiacal state, I presume, the great masters of human nature who have devised it suppose an extinction of human passions, so that fraud, selfishness, and violence, would be no more, and that the native equity of each man's own breast would repress every unreasonable expectation, every inordinate desire. On the contrary, a contest would instantly commence between the strong and the weak, the cunning and the simple; superior powers of body or mind would instantly gather about them a band of followers; equality (theory and practice) would be at an end; the chief and his followers would make a distribution for themselves, and a military despotism would ensue. This is human nature, and this, I fear, is the best account which can be given of the origin of civil society. Let us now view the subject for a moment in another light. From inequality, even when carried to the length of an high Aristocracy, result some of the best and most generous affections of the human breast: courtesy, compassion, bounty, forbearance, patronage, protection, on the one hand; and on the other, attachment, gratitude, fidelity, and duty. I have already proved that Revolution can at most produce but a change of masters ;-that change may indeed, abstractedly, be either for the better, or the worse. In France it was the exchange of a qualified but still irksome state of oppression for a ferocious and brutal tyranny: amongst ourselves it would be nothing better than the rejection of that mild and beneficent superiority, which arises spontaneously out of high birth, cultivated minds, polished humanity, and sense of character, for such a set of masters as now dictate to a Westminster mob, and prompt the attempted assassination of their Sovereign. The providential escape of that august Person, while it fills the heart of every one who deserves the name of Englishman with thankfulness, is to be hailed as one of the greatest blessings in another view, since it will unquestionably hasten and invigorate the exertions of the Legislature, in crushing with overwhelming and instant ruin the abettors of those detestable principles which are already precipitating that last period of the great political malady, the period of proscription and bloodshed. It is of far less importance, yet of some, to observe that the practical tendency of these doctrines among ourselves has been verified, by one attempt to return to the first principles of things in a general pillage; in other instances by sturdy claims of right, rejecting the tenders of bounty; and in some, by accepting the boon and insulting the giver at once, like the base quadruped, which at the same moment attempts to snatch the offered morsel, and to bite the hand by which it is extended. -- There is something in the genius and the language of Jacobinism, which renders it almost unassailable by reason and persuasion. For the first, its strength consists in the tremendous power of inflaming cruelty, rapacity, pride, and selfishness.-Of the second it is more difficult to speak. But after some attempts at a critical analysis of this atrocious style, its peculiar fascination with the vulgar appears to me to consist in broad humour, applied to excite contempt for every thing really venerable; together with the faculty of stripping an idea, or an image, of all adjuncts and circumstances, and afterwards cloathing it in a phrase, strong, coarse, clear, and pointed. No man ofeducation or taste would thus write down to their understandings; neither, if he were willing, would he be able.-This, therefore, is a species of influence which we must fairly give up to their seducers. Still the cause is neither to be given up, nor to be left to mere coercion; for I am far from believing that, excepting in a few places, the great body of the people are yet tainted; while among those who are, different degrees of contagion undoubtedly prevail.-There are many prejudices yet vincible, many latent sparks of better and more generous feeling which may yet be resuscitated. With these, gentleness and compassion, mild expostulation and familiar instruction, may yet prevail. It will be felt, perhaps, that this is the peculiar province of my own Order. With respect to the stubborn and the turbulent, the obscure but known agitators of the party, parochial relief to their distressed families (distressed not unfrequently by the idleness of their incorrigible parent) may, perhaps, be a duty; but, in the voluntary distribution of bounty, it is but fitting that they be left to eat the bitter fruit of the tree which themselves have planted, and charity is never grafted upon a Jacobin stock. Far be it from me to reproach the patient and the industrious with past misconduct. Yet it can scarcely be forgotten by those whose estates are now taxed for the relief of the poor almost to the extent of the actual rental, that the time has been, when a fund might have been laid up by thousands, which would have supported them in comfort and independence under a change of circumstances. But where are now these intoxicating superfluities, and whither have they fled? One solitary instance alone has reached me, in which they have not been wholly dissipated in waste and riot. After all; to this deluded people, in their various degrees of criminality, we owe one important duty; which is, to open their eyes this day to a very wholesome truth, namely, that all the authority, the property, and the patriotism of this district will henceforward be embodied and in array against their machinations. Hitherto perhaps we have been too slow in undeceiving them, and may thus have permitted them to believe that we were indifferent, or perhaps intimidated. Now, however, in the very focus and centre of meditated insurrection; and, unprotected but by the laws of the land, we publicly declare, that wherever any breach of the peace shall be actually committed, we are already armed with sufficient authority to suppress it, and will suppress it; trusting, however, that the time is shortly to arrive, when the wisdom and promptitude of the Legislature will strike at the root of Sedition by farther enactments. To that Legislature we also owe an united declaration of our purpose to support the existing Laws and Constitution of our Country with our lives and fortunes; and such an assurance will not, we trust, be considered as unimportant, when it is understood that the population of this District amounts to no less than an hundredth part of the Population of England. By such a conduct we shall also discharge the solemn obligation which we owe to our hearths and altars, to the laws of civil society, and to that posterity for whose benefit as well as our own, we hold the sacred pledge of Constitutional Liberty. T. D. W. I Mr. URBAN, Feb. 20. HOPE some of your Correspondents will send you an accurate account of the appearance of the sky on Saturday night, the 8th of this month. From seven o'clock till ten that evening, how much longer is not known, there was as much light as if there had been a Full Moon, distant objects being seen distinctly, though the Moon was then 22 days old, and I observed consequently not risen. this phænomenon about eight o'clock, but, being indisposed, for a shorter time and with less attention than I ought to have done. I perceived no streamers or coruscations, such as the Aurora Borealis generally exhibits; but there was a steady and uniform diffusion of light in the North-west, like a strong twilight. There were some clouds, and some stars appeared. Venus at that moment was about due West, and among bazy clouds, not very brilliant. An article in the Papers relating to the same occurrence, dated Paris, Feb. 9, says, Saturday evening a beautiful Aurora Borealis was seen at Paris. The sky was serene, and the air mild." 66 My Barberry tree (vol. LXXXV. ii, p. 294) was much blighted last year; but neither the Spring-wheat, about 30 yards distant, nor Lammas about 50, was at all injured by this (supposed) noxious neighbour. R. C. Chettle, Feb. 5. I Mr. URBAN, SEND you an account of an uncommon appearance (as I believe it to be) which has lately been observed here; and which may probably be interesting to Ornithologists. A pair of Swallows, the Arundo rustica, Lin. Syst. having bred up a nest of young ones the last Summer, in a hovel adjoining a dwelling-house in this Village, without being disturbed, came on the eleventh day of January last and visited their nest, and one of them was seen in it busily employed either in pulling it down or repairing it, the other sitting on a rafter near. They both flew in and out many times in the course of the day, and appeared strong on the wing. It was a warm day for the season, and some guats were perceived in the air; they departed about one o'clock. In about ten days after, they revisited their nest, but made a much shorter stay, the weather not being so favourable; and have not been seen since *. W.C. TIMBUCTOO; I call it so because this orthography, first established by Jackson in his Account of Marocco, &c. is confirmed by Depuis, *The mildness of the evening of Friday Jan. 31, was so unprecedented at this time of the year, that several bats were observed flying about in the suburbs of Ipswich, and one actually flew into a shop upon the Corn-hill, where it was secured. The account given by Pennant of this extraordinary creature is, that "towards the latter end of summer, the bat retires into caves, ruined buildings, the roofs of houses, or hollow trees, where it remains the whole Winter, in a state of inaction; suspended by the bind feet; closely wrapped up in the membranes of the fore feet, and makes its first appearance early in the Summer,"-EDIT, the g gutteral. Any African traveller desirous of ascertaining the situation of El Gazie, would be unable to make himself intelligible, unless he pronounced properly the org guttural; see Jackson's Account of Marocco, &c. 2d or 3d edit. p. 286, note. غ Adams's account of Rings worn through the cartilage of the nose (see his Narrative, p. 18) is a confirmation of Jackson's account of Nose-rings; see his Account of Marocco, p. 290, note. It appears that it is the fashion to wear these Nose-. rings through the middle cartilage of the nose, at Wangara, as well as at Soudeny. Adams, page 21, confirms Jackson's account of the name of the King of Timbuctoo; see Jackson's Account, 2d edition, p. 299; where the King is called Woolo. It is remarkable also that Jackson's account of Woolo, King of Timbuctoo, is confirmed on the authority of Lhage Mohammed Sheriffe, in the second volume of the Proceedings of the African Association, who says that Woolo, King of Bambarra, took possession of the City of Timbuctoo from the Moors in the year of Christ 1800. Notwithstanding this extraordinary corroboration, the Annotator of Adams's Narrative, speaking of Jackson's authority, says, Mr. Jackson further states that the same King of Timbuctoo was also Sovereign of Bambarra; in which respect, however, as in many other instances where he relies on African authority, it is apparent that he was misinformed, for the name of the King of Bambarra from the year 1795 to 1805 inclusive, was certainly Mansong. Now, I would ask the annotator, how is this fact ascertained; and he must necessarily answer that it is established on Mr. Park's |