ing industry. Amid all these various and unlooked for changes; amid all the complicated principles of action which set in motion the vast and nicely regulated machine of modern society, it is a most curious, as well as an instructive, task, more especially where such precious interests are involved, to trace effects to their causes, and to endeavour precisely to ascer tain the source of all those fatal disor ders under which our commerce has been suffering, that we may, if possible, prevent their recurrence, and that we may thus derive instruction for the future from the unerring experience of the past. Political economy differs from some other sciences in this, that we can make no experiments on the objects in which it is conversant. But the great map of society lies open to our inspection; and it is only by a diligent and close examination that we can distinctly trace out all its intricate relations, and that we can, in this manner, reconcile all apparent anomalies, by referring each particular fact to the operation of some general law.

In any inquiry of the nature proposed, there are three points which present themselves to our consideration; 1st, What were the immediate causes which produced the stagnation of our commerce? 2dly, Is it likely that it will revive, and to what extent? and, 3dly, What is the cause of the present increasing plenty of money, and what are likely to be its effects?

I. The immediate causes which produced the decline of our commerce, appear to be sufficiently obvious. During the whole course of the last and former wars, the commerce and manufactures of Britain were in the most flourishing condition, and many causes concurred to give to this country a very large proportion of the trade of the world. The distractions of France, in consequence of the Revolution, and the wars which desolated the continent, the effect of which was, to dissipate and destroy the funds of productive industry, were both adverse to the progress of commerce. In the mean time, Great Britain, enjoying domestic prosperity and peace, was rapidly accumulating capital, and improving in manufacturing skill. The great and increasing demands, both of Europe and America, gave a new and

extraordinary stimulus to every spe cies of industry. To supply this growing market, manufacturing establishments were extended,-labour was more and more subdivided,-new and ingenious machinery was erected,and, under this system, the industry of Britain, in place of directly producing a supply of commodities suited to her own particular wants, came at length to be gradually adapted to the general supply of the world. All her great manufacturing establishments produced a surplus of their particular commodity above what was required for home consumption. This surplus was necessarily exported, and foreign commodities, for which there was a demand at home, were imported in return. In these circumstances, our manufactures, evidently depending on the foreign market for an outlet to their produce, they are suddenly interdicted from the market of Europe' by the hostile decrees of France, with a vast army to execute them, and from that of America by the war which unhappily broke out between the two countries. In the loss, therefore, of all our accustomed markets, we find a perfectly adequate cause for the decline of our commerce and manufactures, and for the general distress of all that numerous class who depended on trade for employment and subsistence.

II. The more important question, however, remains to be considered, namely, whether commerce will speedily revive from its present depression? That it will ultimately revive we have no doubt. But considering the long continued annoyance to which it was exposed, some time must necessarily elapse before it can be restored to its former flourishing condition. Its progress during the late wars has already been pointed out, together with the various causes which, by increasing the demand, and extending the market for British goods, contributed to enlarge the different branches of our manufactures far beyond the scale of our own particular wants. Under this great extension of our commerce, the industry of the country was most skilfully managed, and its productive powers were greatly increased. But the manufactures produced were now in a great measure adapted to the foreign market. There was a large surplus above what was wanted at

home, and when the demand there fore ceased abroad, or when the intercourse was obstructed, the supply, in order to avoid the difficulties which followed, ought to have been proportionally retrenched. But various circumstances prevented this. An immense capital was now invested in the new and somewhat artificial state of things, which had grown up in consequence of the disorders which had prevailed throughout Europe, and it could not be suddenly diverted into another channel without the most prodigious loss. The habits of the mechanic, also, were thoroughly adapt ed to certain branches of industry, and these being abandoned, it was evident that he would be exposed to idleness and misery. The manufacturers, besides, hoped for better times, and various causes concurred to induce them to exhaust their capitals in continuing their respective employments, and thus the supply of British manufactures was prevented from being reduced to the level of the demand. The intercourse both with America and Europe was obstructed, -the demand and the consumption had ceased, but it was long before the supply fell off in proportion, and the consequence was a continued accumulation of unsaleable produce, The market was completely overstock ed, and when peace re-opened all the former channels of British commerce, an inundation of goods from the glut ted warehouses of Britain were forced into the markets both of Europe and of America. Prices fell ruinously low, and little relief was afforded, because, although goods to a great amount were exported, they were sold to no profit, and they bore no proportion to the supply which was still left at home, and which had been accumulated during those years when there was little demand and little consumption. The evil then by which the manufacturer is oppressed, the weight which still clogs the movements of commerce, is a load of unsaleable produce, and until the market be cleared by the increase of consumption, of what is superfluous, the industry of the country will not be restored to a state of soundness and vigour. But the supply and the demand naturally tend to suit themselves to each other, and a little time, therefore, will necessarily bring them

VOL. I.

to a level. When this takes place, the demand for British produce will revive,-prices will rise,-wages will be increased, and all classes of manu, facturers will be enabled, as before, to draw a comfortable subsistence from their capital and from their industry. The commerce of the country, indeed, may not be enlarged to the same extent as before. Other nations will no doubt employ their capital in the prosecution of manufacturing industry, and the restrictions and duties which have been imposed upon the importation of British goods into Europe by those who, from allies in war, have become rivals in trade, will undoubtedly be unfavourable to the extension of British commerce. But, to' overcome these obstacles, we must trust, in some degree, to the greater capital, and to the improved machinery with which the industry of Britain is aided, and to the superior skill and ingenuity also of the British mechanic. Hitherto, certainly, neither the newly established manufactures of Europe nor of America, have been able to stand before the competition of British goods, and one effect favourable to our commerce has thus resulted from the great accumulation of British manufactures, namely, that the infant establishments both of Ame rica and Europe have, in many cases, been entirely ruined, and have, in all cases, received a serious check from the immense importation of goods which has taken place from this country at such low prices, that they have made their way through every opposing barrier, either of unfavour able laws, or of protecting duties.

III. Since the restoration of peace, capital has been accumulating in the country-money has become more plentiful, and mercantile confidence has begun to revive. The obvious cause of this appears to be, the cessation of the immense loans required by the public service during the war. The contributions of capital which the war imposed on productive indus try were employed in supporting soldiers or sailors; by whom capital is destroyed without any commercial equivalent being produced in return. This annual waste, therefore, necessarily retarded the accumulation of capital. It created a void in the money market, which productive industry was called upon to fill up. All

F

the capital which was taken out of the market in this way, never more to appear, is now left in the hands of the merchant and manufacturer to accumulate; and this includes not only the immense sums which were raised in the way of loan, but all the taxes which have been remitted to the country in consequence of the restoration of peace, namely, the propertytax, the war malt-tax, and several others of less importance. During the latter part of the war, also, the country was distracted by mercantile embarrassments, and by the decline of its agriculture. There was a great loss both of commercial and agricultural capital, from the depreciation of stock, as well as from the convulsions and bankruptcies which shook every order of the mercantile community, and diffused a spirit of universal distrust. All these causes, therefore, concurred, with the waste occasioned by the war, in preventing the accumulation of capital, and in rendering money scarce. So many unpropitious circumstances were at work to counteract the efforts of productive industry, that, for some time, the capital of the country was rather diminishing than increasing. But these evils appear now to have spent their force. According to the observation of Hume, there is a point of depression below which human affairs cannot remain for any length of time; and our affairs, from a combination of untoward circumstances, having ebbed to this point, the current now begins to flow in an opposite direction. The efforts of individual industry, in accumulating capital, being no longer counteracted, begin to be felt, and the general result is marked by the increasing plenty of money, and the restoration of commercial confidence.

To this cause, and not to any speculations of adventurers, is to be imputed the sudden rise in the value of funded property. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that government securities, differing in no respect from any other species of annuity, their price necessarily rises as the supply of capital increases, and the interest of money declines. The increase of capital, therefore, which has lately taken place, is the great and general cause of the late rise in the value of the public securities; and those who ascribe it to artificial combinations a

mong the monied men, mistake the effect for the cause. The speculations in the money market are produced by the supply of money increasing in proportion to the demand; in conse quence of which, it becomes difficult to find out any profitable mode of investing it. All the ordinary channels of commerce being amply supplied, the surplus naturally flows to the capital, which is the centre of all the money transactions of the kingdom, and where the immense mass of government securities affords continual scope for every species of pecuniary adventure. The accumulation of this superfluous capital in the metropolis, creates a demand for the public an-. nuities; the price rises, and the money market becomes a lottery in which adventurers are eager to speculate.. But those speculations do not occasion the rise of the funds. They are themselves the effects of the same cause, namely, the increasing plenty of money, which raises the value of the funds as well as every other species of annuity.

The necessary tendency of this increasing plenty of money, is to infuse new life and vigour into the languishing industry of the country. As the additional capital comes gradually to be distributed throughout the different branches of commerce and agriculture, it will create an increased de-, mand for labour, of which the wages will of course rise, and it will thus contribute essentially to the comfort of the great mass of the community. It will also raise the value of land. The smaller the revenue yielded by money lent, the greater will be the inducement to invest it in land,—the value of which will rise in proportion to the increased demand. Part of the additional capital accumulated, will also be laid out in agriculture, and will operate as a stimulus to improvement in this important branch of industry. Hence will arise a new demand for labour; while, by an increase of production, in consequence of extended or improved cultivation, the funds necessary for its support will be provided. That such will be the result of the accumulating capital of the country, cannot well be questioned. But time will be necessary to develope all those beneficial consequences. It is vain to suppose that the commerce or agriculture of the

country can be instantaneously renovated into its former state of vigour. The great arrangements of society are slow and gradual, nor can they be accelerated, though they may be thwart ed or retarded by the contrivances of politicians. But although human affairs may not advance with so rapid a progress as we may think desirable, we may rest assured of this, that society contains, within itself, the true principles of perpetual improvement. That powerful motive which is continually impelling every man to exert himself for the bettering of his condition, will never allow human affairs to stand still; and trusting, therefore, to this principle, of sure and everlasting operation, we may, in the course of no very long period, rationally look forward to a state of progressive improvement in the condition of the country.

BORDER SKETCHES.

MR EDITOR,

DURING & late excursion through some of the border districts, I jotted down a few brief notices of such things as struck me, at the time, as curious or interesting. Of these memoranda I now send you a sample, which, if not too trivial for the nature of your miscellany, may perhaps serve to amuse some of your readers in the absence of more valuable materials.

Wormeden. This place, which is a sort of marshy hollow, or recess, in the north-east side of Greenlees Hill, (Roxburghshire) is said to have formerly been the lair of a worme, or serpent, which has been celebrated by Dr Leyden in his scenes of infancy, and by Walter Scott in his notes to the ballad of Kempion. From this recess (which by the bye retains striking vestiges of having once been forest ground) the worme was wont to issue forth, as the story goes, to lay waste the country around, till at last it was destroyed by the adventurous "Laird of Lariston," who slew the monster by thrusting down its throat a fiery peat on the point of his spear. An ancient piece of rude sculpture on the church wall of Linton, still commemorates this notable achievment; another, and somewhat less ́exaggerated account of which may also be found in the "Memorie of the Somervilles."

John Leyden, father of the lamented Dr John Leyden, a most respectable and intelligent old man, related to me a curious tradition about another enormous worme which, in former times, is said to have infested the banks of the Oxnam Water, and which was also overcome and slain in single combat by a doughty Tinker or Gipsey, who, after the manner of the old Grecian worthies, attacked and destroyed it with a knotty club. May not the authority of these and innumer able other traditions of a similar description be received for the existence of large snakes in this country at a former period? or are we to suppose that all such legends are mere local variations of the old story of St George and the Dragon?

Traquair.-I was much disappointed here, when they pointed out to me the Bush Aboon Traquair,—or rather what is called the New Bush; which is nothing else than an ugly square clump of Scotch firs, planted on the side of a bleak hill, at a distance from every thing in the landscape that is pleasing or poetical. The rest of the scenery, however, abundantly compensates for this piece of bad taste. The situation and appearance of the old mansion of Traquair is beautiful and interesting in the highest degree. But what very particularly struck me, was the wonderful resemblance, in the whole aspect of the gateway, avenue, and house itself, to the semi-gothic bear-guarded mansion of Tully-Veolan, as described by the author of Waverley. It is true, indeed, that, in place of the multitudinous representations of the Bear, so profusely scattered around the environs of Bradwardine, we have here only the single pair which adorn the gate at the entrance of the avenue, and that the avenue itself cannot pretend to match the broad continuous shade through which Waverley approached the castle of the hospitable and redoubted Baron,

and also that several other important features are wanting to complete the resemblance; yet, if I be not altogether imposed upon by my own fancy, there is a likeness sufficiently strong to support the idea, that this scene formed the original study of the more finished and bold-featured picture of the celebrated novelist.

E.

The Secret and True History of the Church of Scotland, from the Restoration to the year 1678. By the Rev. Mr JAMES KIRKTON. 4to. Edinburgh, John Ballantyne, 1817.

ALTHOUGH few subjects are really more interesting than the history of the Reformation in Scotland, yet it is only of late that much attention has been paid to it, and that many who had taken it for granted that the reformers were foolish, and violent, and detestable enthusiasts, have, with some astonishment, discovered that they displayed, in their efforts to introduce the Protestant faith, an intrepidity, a zeal, and an elevation of principle, which we cannot too highly venerate.

The Reformation in this country was, from its infancy, interwoven with political freedom. It was, at its commencement, strenuously opposed by the united energy of the monarch and the church; and it thus became necessary to gain the esteem and support of the people, in order to counterbalance the resistance which threatened to render its accomplishment impossible. It was, through the prudence of those who conducted it, gradually disseminated; and it at length was so extensively embraced, that it completed its triumph, by obtaining the sanction of the legislature. Still, however, much ground was left for diversity of sentiment; and various causes united in producing a state of the public mind, which gave rise to the most memorable events,-events which powerfully affected our civil condition, and the complexion of the national character.

From the connection which Knox had with Calvin and the other illustrious divines of Geneva, he was led, as soon as the ascendancy of the Reformation was secured, to give to the ecclesiastical polity, which was to be introduced, a popular form; and his views were carried fully into effect, after his death, by Melvil, who succeeded in overthrowing the modified system of Episcopacy which he found existing, and in establishing the Presbyterian discipline. To this discipline

James the Sixth gave occasionally a cold and reluctant support; but he did not conceal the jealousy with which he regarded it; and, although he did not, whilst he remained in Scotland, directly attempt its subversion, he exerted his influence in making such changes as, by restraining the honest and manly independence of some of the most eminent ministers, would, he trusted, render it subservient to the views and the designs of the court. After he had ascended the throne of England, and had been gratified with the obsequiousness of the bishops, who exhibited, to be sure, in this respect, a very marked, and to him a very delightful contrast, to the rugged plainness of his former ecclesiastics, he determined, as the most effectual mode of strengthening the prerogative, to introduce Episcopacy into his native kingdom; and, to attain his object, he had recourse to means which alienated the affections of a vast proportion of his subjects, which still more endeared to them the principles to which they had been previously attached, and inspired them with the conviction that it was a duty which it would be impiety to neglect, to defend, even against the sovereign himself, these principles.

His infatuated and unfortunate son, when he at length turned his attention to Scotland, resolved to go far beyond what his father had effected, and to compel his countrymen to submit to a perfect uniformity of faith and polity with their southern neighbours. The rashness with which he made the attempt, his disregard of the plainest indications of aversion to his measures, the violence of the bishops whom he selected, and the disgust of the nobility excited by his marked partiality to the prelates, and his conferring upon them some of the most splendid civil offices, soon formed a general resolution to oppose his inno vations; the opposition was identified, in the public estimation, with religion itself, and by the most awful and striking oaths, administered with whatever could increase their efficacy, the enemies of episcopacy bound them