other scientific chemist, entertains no doubt, there are many combinations of muriatię acid which, if explained according to Davy's hypothesis, are quite inconsistent with well-ascertained chemical proportions. At any rate he at least thinks that all the facts at present known concerning muriatic acid and its combinations, may be equally well explained upon our old opimons. MONTHLY COMMERCIAL REPORT. As far as regards the interests of the ontports and the nation at large, the following were the resolutions passed during the last sessions respecting the affairs of the East India Company. Resolved, That it is expedient that all the privileges, authorities, and immunities, granted to the united company of merchants trading to the East Indies, by virtue of any act or acts of parliament now in force, and all rules, regulations, and clauses affecting the same, shall continue and be in force for a further term of twenty years; except as far as the same may herein-after be modified and repealed. Resolved, That the existing restraints respecting the commercial intercourse with China shall be continued, and that the exclusive trade in tea shall be preserved to the said company during the period aforesaid, Resolved, That, subject to the provisions contained in the preceding resolution, it shall be lawful for any of his majesty's subjects to export any goods, wares, or merchandize, which can now or may hereafter be legally exported, from any port in the united kingdom to any port within the limits of the charter of the said company, as herein-after provided; and that all ships navigated according to law, proceeding from any port within the limits of the company's charter, and being provided with regular manifests from the last port of clearance, shall respectiv be permitted to import any goods, wares, or merchandize, the protinet and mamfacture of any countries within the said limits, into any ports in the united kingdom which may be provided with warehouses, together with wet docks or basins, or such other scentifies as shail, in the judgment of the commissioners of the treasury in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, be fit and proper for the deposit and safe custody of all such goods, wares, and merchandize, as well as for the collection of all duties payable thereon, and shall have been so declared by the orders of his majesty in council in Great Britain, or by the order of the lord lieutenant in council in Ireland: provided always, that copies of all such orders in council shall be laid before both houses of parliament in the session next ensuing. Provided also, That no ship or vessel of less than 350 tons, registered measurement, shall be permitted to clear out from any port in the united kingdom, for any port or place within the limits aforesaid, or he admitted to entry in any port of the united kingdom from any place within those limits. Provided also, That no ship or vessel shall proceed to any place within the limits of the company's charter, without a licence to be granted for that purpose; and that no ship or vessel clearing out from any port within the united kingdom, shall proceed to any port or place within the limits of the company's charter, and under the government of the said company, except to one of their principal settlements of Fort William, Fort St. George, Bombay, and Prince of Wales's Island; and that every ship so proceeding shall be furnished with a licence for that purpose from the court of directors. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent any ship or vessel from proceeding to any place upon the continent of Asia, between the Ri ver Indus, and the nearest point to Prince of Wales's Island, and not one of the principal settlements under the especial authority of the commissiouers for the affairs of India; but that all applications for licences to proceed to any such place all be made to the court of directors, who, unless they shall have thought fit to grant the same, shall, within fourteen days from the date thereof, transmit the same to the board of commissioners for the affairs of India, with any representation which the said court may think proper to make upon the subject of such application; and that the said court, if directed so to do by the commissioners for India, shall issue their licence or licences accordingly. Provided also, That no ship or vessel clearing out from any port within the united kingdom, shall proceed to any port or place within the limits of the charter of the said company, and not being upon the continent of Asia, between the River Indas and the nearest point to Prince of Wales's Island, without a licence from the commissioners for the affairs of India; and that the said commissioners shall from time to time make known the rules and regulations under which such licences shall be granted; and that in any case of such licence being granted otherwise than under such rules and regulations, the special circumstances under which such licence shall have been granted shall be recorded in the books of the office of the said commissioners. Provided also, That no slap shall be permitted to clear out from any port of the united kingdom for India, unless attested lists in duplicate shall have been delivered to the prin cipal officer of the customs at the port of clearance, specifying the number and description of all persons cinbarked on-board of the said ship, and all arms laden therein; and that that all persons proceeding upon such ships, shall upon their arrival in India, be subject to all the existing regulations of the local governments, and to all other rules and regu lations that may hereafter be established, with regard to the European subjects of his majesty resident in India. Provided also, That upon any application made to the court of directors, by or on behalf of any person desirous of proceeding to India, the court of directors (unless they shall think fit to grant a licence for that purpose) shall transmit every such application, within the term of one month from the delivery thereof, to the commissioners for the affairs of India; who, if they shall see no objection thereto, may, and they are hereby authorized to direct, that such person or persons should, at the special charge of him or them, be permitted to proceed to India; and that any such person or persons so desiring to proceed, shall be furnished with a certificate by the court of directors, according to such form as shall be prescribed by the said commissioners, signifying that such person or persons have so proceeded with the cognizance and under the sanction of the said court of directors; and that all such certificates shall be considered by the governments in India as entitling such persons, while they shall properly conduct themselves, to countenance and protection in their several pursuits; subject to all such provisions and restrictions as now are in force, or may hereafter be judged necessary with regard to persons residing in India; provided always, that the said court shall be at liberty to offer suck representations to the said commissioners, respecting persons so applying for permission to reside in India, as they may at any time think proper. Provided also, That no such ship which shall have proceeded as aforesaid, shall be admitted to entry in any port of the united kingdom, without 'a regular manifest, daly certified, according to such regulations as may hereafter be enacted. Provided also, That no article manufactured of silk, hair, or cotton wool, or any mixture thereof, shall be entered or taken out of any warehouse, except for exportation, unless the same shall have beon brought into the port of London, and deposited in the warehouses of the said united company; and that all such articles shall by them be exposed to public sale by auction, in order to ascertain the duties payable thereupon; and in all other ports, as well as the port of London, such articles, when entered and taken out for exportation, shall be charged according to their value, under the regulations legally applicable in other cases to duties payable ad valorem. Provided also, That on the return of every ship from India, lists of her crew, specifying the number and description of all persons embarked on-board the said ship, and all arms laden therein, shall be delivered to an officer of the customs at the first port at which she shall arrive, and shall be by him transmitted to the court of directors, according to and subject to such provisions as may be made with a view to the discovery of any British subject who may have gone to or remained in India contrary to law. During the two last months the arrivals of a prodigious fleet from the Baltic, and of fleets from other parts of the world, have increased the entries inward beyond any example within an equal period. And the opening of several new markets by the changeable events of the war, to Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Russia, and Poland, has enabled certain of the merchants to give orders for manufactures; and so to prove to the manufacturing districts the bene ficial effects which would result to them from A GENERAL PEACE. We wish to see pros perity restored through the ascendancy of JUSTICE, as the only means of securing its pernianency; but it affords us pleasure to be able to quote, as a proof of temporary benefits, the following passage from the Manchester Gazette. "On Tuesday last, our market displayed a degree of briskness that we have not been wont to see for some time past. Calicoes, we are told, rose considerably, and they were much in demand. The prices of weaving, we rejoice to hear, have also risen, and the poor man's heart is made glad:-this pleasing change, with that of a reduction in the price of the staff of life, must be grateful to every feeling mind.--But this truly pleasing intelligence, we feel additional satisfaction in stating, is not confined to Manchester. In the neighbourhood of Stockport, Wigan, Bolton, &c. calicoes are in great demand, and fustian cords have advanced from 58. to 6s. per cut. The woollen market also feels the exhilarating effects of the glorious change, and the trade at Huddersfield, Leeds, and Wakefield, is on more alive." On the subject of the Yorkshire clothing trade, we have the respectable authority of the Leeds Mercury, that "the trade is remarkably brisk-for army clothing, that is, for broad cloths, at from three shillings to four and sixpence per yard! which swells ama zingly the annual returns at Pontefract, and the sale of which is a source of as much profit to the country as the sale of two sixpences for a shilling is to a shop-keeper. That there is a good home trade and a brisk trade to the British colonies will also be admitted; and these demands in some degree compensate for the loss of the former outlets; but that the trade with the subjects of other governments, formerly so beneficial both to our merchants individually, and to the country collectively, is extremely diminished, cannot be denied except by ignorance and prejudice." , Port, old 120 0 0 0 2 8 per lb. 120 0 0 per pipe. At Messrs. Wolfe and Co.'s Canal Office, No. 9, Change Alley, Cornhill; Commercial Dock shares fetch 1301.-East India ditto, 611. per cent--and West India ditto, 1451.-The Grand Junction CANAL shares fetch 2101.-The Grand Surry, 901. per share. And the Leicester Union, 1051.-The East London WATER-WORKS, 611.The Grand Junction, 371.-And the West Middlesex, 371.-The Albion INSURANCE OFFICE shares fetch 451.-The Globe 105.--And the Imperial 421. The 3 per cent. consols on the 28th were 57, 5 Cent Navy 88, omnium 64 prem. THER BOTANICAL REPORT. HERE has been so little of novelty in the botanical world for some months past, that we have met with nothing sufficiently interesting to rouse us from our lethargy; and we have suffered the usual period to pass over again and again without furnishing a report on the subject. The BOTANICAL MAGAZINE has indeed continued to be regularly published, and many very curious plants have been there described and figured; English Botany too has eked out its dribblets; but this long-beaten track we have not felt disposed to tread over, expecting some inducement to deviate into a more interesting path. At length a new work has appeared, which, for its importance and more especially for the excellency of its execution, deserves to be particularly noticed; we shall offer no apology for making it the subject of the present report. It is entitled FERDINANDI BAUER illustrationes Fiora Nova-Hollandiæ sive icones generum quæ in Prodromo Flora Nova-Hollandiæ et Insula Van-Diemen, descripsit Robertus Brown. This work is intended to consist of figures of all the genera described by Mr. Brown, in his Flora Nova-Hollandiæ; of which, as yet, only a part of the Prodromus has been made public. In general one species only in each genus will be figured, except when the genus shall consist of several species, divided by the author into two or more natural sections, the different habit or structure of which may require illustration, when the necessary ex amples will be given. No letter-press will accompany the plates, but with the first number is given a general table, to which the letters, figures, and marks on each plate refer. Thus, by always preserving the same characters to denote similar parts, one gcMeral table of explanation serves for the whole; a mode which is attended with this farther advantage, that any person studying the genera from these plates will soon acquire 3 a prima. a prima-facie knowledge of all the characters, and will no longer find it necessary to refer to any explanation. Description is supposed to be rendered unnecessary, by the reference, always engraved on the plate, to Mr. Brown's work, where it is to be expected that every necessary information will be found. At present however a part only of the Prodromus Flora NovaHollandiæ is published; but it is to be hoped that the remainder will not be much longer withheld from the botanical world. When the larger work, of which this may be considered as the herald, shall appear, more ample details may be expected. But should no more than the Prodromus ever see the light, when this shall be completed the botanical reader will not much feel the want of a more copious history. But, to return to the ILLUSTRATIONS. The drawings, we are informed in the Preface, have been, for the most part, made from the living plants in their native soil; for Mr. Bauer and Mr. Brown both accompanied Captain Flinders on his voyage round the Coasts of New-Holland, in the years 1802, 3, 4, and 5. For some of the genera, not detected in this voyage, Mr. Bauer is indebted to the collection of drawings made under the direction of Sir Joseph Banks, during Captain Cook's first voyage round the world; and some few will necessarily be taken from dried specimens, preserved in the herbariun of this botanist, or in that of Mr. Brown. The first number consists of the five following articles; 1. JOHNSONIA lupulina. Brown Prod. `page 287. 2. PTEROSTYLIS grandiflora. 3. BANKSIA coccinea. 4. CHLOANTHES stachadis. 5. STYLIDIUM violaceum. Ibid, page 327. Ibid, page 394. Ibid, page 514. Ibid, page 569. The drawings are executed in the first style. The whole plant, or such portion of it as the size of a large folio plate will admit of, is represented of the natural size, and dissections of the parts of fructification, in almost every point of view, are added. Many will, we apprehend, think that these have been multiplied even beyond what is necessary. But when it is recollected that Mr. Bauer is not only a draughtsman of the very first order, but is likewise au excellent botanist; and that these dissections are made, the drawings taken, and the engravings executed by the same hand; the botanical student will feel very grateful for the pains that have been taken to display the minute organs of fructification in such a conspicuous manner, that the structure of the different genera may perhaps be better studied from these representations, than from the plants themselves; for very few persons are capable of making such dissections, and adapting them to the microscope, so as to display the various parts in so lucid a manner; and to those that can, the value of the time spent in such enquiries, will be no mean consideration. Certain persons who value these things more as pictures than as illustrations of the science of botany, may probably consider the plate as too crouded, from the number of these dissections; and we are not sure but that our artist would have acted more wisely, that is, more consonant to his own interest, had he put these dissections into a separate plate, by which means the beautiful representations of the plant would have stood distinct aud unincumbered. We hope that Mr. Bauer will meet with due encouragement to proceed with his illustrations, which, when completed, will, in our opinion, ont rival the most celebrated botanical works, that are now carrying on upon the continent. The circumstances of the times, it must be allowed, are not very favorable to the prosecution of works of this nature; yet it would be a disgrace to the nation, if this excellent artist should not be able to proceed for want of encouragement, whilst, under similar difficulties, not one only, but several, more expensive works are carrying on at the same time in Paris; none of which, however, in faithfulness of representation and accuracy of dissection, can vie with the one which we are now recommending. The price of the number coloured is one guinea and a half, and only five shillings plain. These prices seem a little disproportionate, but the coloured copies may really be considered as cheap, when the high style in which they are finished, hardly exceeded by the drawings themselves, is taken into the account. They are dissected, drawn, and engraved, by the same hand, a circumstance of great moment to insure faithful imitation; the colouring of the present number is executed in so masterly a manner, that we cannot but suspect that Mr. Bauer himself has at least put a finishing hand to them. The fourth and fifth volume of the Hortus Kewensis, which finishes the work, have been some time printed; we fear the publication is delayed by Mr. Aiton's indisposition. MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. THE late drought having been succeeded by moderate showers, it is not easy to conceive the quantity sown throughout the island, it is affirmed, will be great beyond all former example. Open weather continuing, this business, although commenced late, will soon be finished, excepting upon the heavy lands insufficiently worked, or mortared by the rains. The few early young wheats appear healthy and thickly planted. Carting beans will finish with the month; the crop is universally large, as is that of clover seed, and the sample likely to be bright and heavy. A considerable sprinkling of smut has been found among the wheat, in some parts, beyond any thing which has lately appeared, whilst others are entirely free from it; but there has been found a portion of the grain dry and shrivelled, without either smut or mildew. Turnips, and seed of all kinds, much improved by the showers which have fallen, and the mildness of the season: the demand and price of lean stock enhanced of consequence. The ruta baga, or Swedish turnip, increasing in general estimation, and the breadth of it supposed to be greater this year than ever before. A great increase of slugs, grubs, and other insects, generally noticed. Potatoes prove a large crop, the quality excellent, with the exception of those soils upon which the roots were affected by the drought. Many corn-stacks have been heated, and in great danger from premature carrying, perhaps cutting the crops. The price of fine hops is expected to be very high. Long and middle wools in request. Smithfield: Beef 4s. 8d. to 6s.-Mutton 5s, to 6s. 4d.-Veal 5s. 4d. to 6s. 8d.Pork 7s. to 88. Corn Exchange: Wheat 70s. to 94s.-Barley 38s. to 528-Oats 246. to 42s.The quartern loaf 14d.-Hay 31. to 51. 53.-Clover ditto 61. to 71.-Straw 1l. 13s. to 21. 28.-Middlesex, Oct. 25. The quantity of rain fallen this month is equal to 54 inches in depth. The average height of the barometer for the mouth is 29.464: this will account for the quantity of rain fallen, which exceeds by much what has fallen for several years past m the mouth of October. The mean height of the thermometer is 49.6. There have been no considerable changes in the degrees of temperature from day to day. On the 7th we had a violent thunder-storm early in the morning. The proportion of fair and brilliant days to the number of those on which rain fell is 11 to 19. The wind has blown pretty equally from the easterly and westerly points of the compass, TO CORRESPONDENTS. INQUISITOR is informed that the Proclamation of Soult, the Letter of Bernadotte to Napoleon, and the other IMPORTANT state Papers to which he refers, are unblushing forge ries, manufactured for the London papers to pamper the diseased appetite of the Public. This system of falsehood and forgery, practised for purposes of delusion, is not more disgraceful to the moral character of the age, than the eagerness with which falsehood after falschood, and forgery after forgery, is received and credited. The Arguments of DEVONIENSISs are unsupported by facts, and unconnected with any assigned or assignable interest of Great Britain, If he will connect some facts with that interest, we will chearfully print any observations with which he may favour us. A variety of communications are deferred, partly for want of room, and partly from their coming to hand too late. The Letter from Aberdeen, marked important, was returned to the post-office. We shall be glad to receive information relative to the state of the manufacturing dis tricis; and als) from Officers at the various scats of War, ERRATA. In the notice of the steam boat, in our last, for "401. the daily expence," read "40s."-And in the account of Mr. West's great Picture, in our present Number, for "34 by 16," read "24 by 16 feet,” |
