ried to W. N. W. the Admiral could not bear more to the windward than the centre.--At length, at noon, profiting by a light fresh breeze, the Admiral took his station to cut off two ships in the rear of the enemy's line.-Scarcely was this manœuvre indicated, than five ships of the double line tacked and bore down upon the division. The plan of attack of the Admiral was changed, and in order to prevent being placed between two fires, he tacked, in order to meet the two first of the ships which had thus bore down upon him, and to attack them.--At half past twelve the first shot was fired from the Marengo, and immediately afterwards the engagement commenced. The enemy's ship which was nearest having experienced some damage, slackened sail, but being supported by those which followed, they formed anew, and kept up a very brisk fire. The ships which had bore down, joined those which were combating the division, and three of those which had first taken part in the action, manœuvred to double the rear, whilst the rest of the fleet crowded sail, announcing the project of surrounding the division.-The enemy by this manoeuvre had render. ed the position of the Admiral very dangerous. The superiority of their force was discovered; and there only remained to deliberate on the part which ought to be taken to avoid the sad consequence of an unequal engagement. The Admiral, profiting by the smoke which enveloped them, took a course to the E. N. E. and distanced the enemy, who continued to pursue for three hours, until they saw the division had gained upon them several leagues.--The Admiral remarked during the action, that six or eight vessels fired from two decks; and he does not doubt that they had a desire to be attacked, since it was not till the moment of the engagement that they shewed their first deck. This engagement lasted forty minutes: the enemy's shot did but slight damage to the ships of the division, and no person was wounded.—— This cruize offering no other advantage, the Admiral determined, on the 15th, to sail for Batavia. After having re-passed the Strait of Gaspard, the division was joined on the 21st by the Atalante, and on the 25th anchored at Batavia.-Vice Admiral Hartzinck, commanding two ships and a frigate, recently arrived from Europe, had also anchored in that road. The limited instructions of this admiral did not permit him to undertake any expedition against the enemy by combining his forces with those of the Admiral.-In five days the division had com

pleted its water and six months provisions, together with a stock of refreshments for the sick, of whom the number was about 70 on board the Marengo alone.--The Admiral, desirous of accelerating the sale of the prizes, the Admiral Reynier and the Henrietta, after having concerted with the captains of the division, accepted the proposition which had been made to him by the Shabendar, of purchasing, in gross, the two prizes, with their cargoes, for the sum of 133,000 pias ters, exempt from all expenses The High Council of Regency, out of respect for its allies, consented to the exportation of this money on board the division - On the 4th, the division anchored at Batavia, where it met that of Vice Admiral Hartzinck at anchor under the Isle of Nord; it had not been four days arrived. In passing into the Straits of Sunda, by the passage of the Isle Nord, to the middle, the French division was surprised by a calm, and carried away by the extreme violence of the current; it was for some time in great danger. A small anchor of La Belle Poule, was happily all the loss we had to regret. On the 6th, being out of the Straits of Sunda, the Admiral detached the frigates La Belle Poule and L'Atalante on a cruize, and kept with him La Semilante and Le Berceau, steered for the Isle of France, where he arrived safely on the 1st of April.

Extract of a letter from Captain General De caen, to the Minister of Marine and Colonies. Head Quarters, Isle of France, May 28, 1801.

I had the honour, Citizen Minister, of announcing to you, in my preceding letter, No. 45, the return of the two frigates, La Belle Poule and Atalante; they came to anchor at the Isle de France on the 8th of May, with the prize the Althea, valued at about 5,000,000 francs (200,0001.)

DOMESTIC OFFICIAL PAPERS. Circular letter to the Lords Lieutenant of Eng land. Signed by Lord Hawkesbury, Sec. State, and dated Sep. 15, 1804.

As it is of the utmost importance to the defence of the country, that every exertion should be used to complete the levy of men to be raised for the additional force, in the manner prescribed by 44 Geo. III. cap. 66; and as considerable delays have, from various causes, taken place, it is my duty to call the attention of your Lordship, and, through your Lordship, that of the Lieutenancy of the County, to the neces sity of supplying, without delay, the force which is required of the County of

by the above mentioned Act.It is to be distinctly understood by the Lieutenancy, that the number of men to be raised, in the first instance, and until an appointment shall be made by the Privy-Council of the future number, is only the amount of the deficiencies and vacancies (from death, desertion, and discharge), existing in the Army of Reserve and the Militia; the amount of which, in regard to the Army of Reserve, will have been ascertained' in the manner pre cribed by the first nine clauses of the Act; and, with regard to the Militia, in the usual mode of notification, by the commanding officers of regiments to the subdivision clerks.As, however, the time specified by the 20th clause of the Act, within which the number required to be raised in respect of such deficiencies and vacancies, is already expired, I have to acquaint your Lordship, and request that you will immediately communicate the same to the Deputy Lieutenants of your County: that the commanding officers of the regiments to which such men are to be attached, will not receive orders to raise any recruits to make good the deficiencies aforesaid, until the for the County

of ; in which interval it is expected that the parish officers will leave nothing undone to discharge the duty required of them by law, and which it should be explained to them to be their own interest, and that of the parish, that they should perform; but at the expiration of which time, if the full number of men required shall not have been raised by the parish officers, the commanding officers of regiments will receive immediate authority to recruit for the deficiency; and in every such case, the pcnalty will be forthwith assessed and levied upon the defaulting parish, in the manner laid down by the 35th clause of the Act in question

Kingdom called Great Britain, to prepare a Commission for proroguing the same ac cordingly; and we do further, hereby, with the advice aforesaid, declare our Royal Will and Pleasure, that the said Parliament, shall, on the said 27th day of November next, be held, and sit for the dispatch of divers urgent and important affairs: and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, and the Commissioners for Shires and Burghs of the House of Commons, are hereby required and com manded to give their attendance according ly, at Westminster, on the said 27th day of November next.-Ginaf our Court, at Weymouth, the 20th day of September, 1804, in the 44th year of our reign.-God save the King.

Letter from JOHN TURNBULL, Chairman of a Committee of Spanish Merchants, to the Editor of the Morning Chronicle, relative to a conference between those Merchants and Lord Harrowby Sec. State for Foreign Affairs-Dated Sep. 28, 1804.

SIR,-The substance and particulars of what passed at the interview which took place at Lord Harrowby's Office, on Tues day last, the 25th inst.. between his Lordship and a Committee of the Spanish Merchants, who, by his desire, waited on him, having been very erroneously stated in the public Newspapers, I have been desired by the gentlemen of that committee, to request that you would insert in your paper, that the sole communication which his Lordship made on that occasion, was, in substance, as follows:-That his Lordship had desired to see us, in order to acquaint us, that his Majesty's ministers had received intelligence, that considerable armaments were prepa ring in the Ports of Spain, of which no explanation whatever had been received, nor did it appear likely that any satisfactory explanation could be given; and his Lordship

of Parliament.

GEORGE R.-Whereas our Parliament stands prorogued to Thursday the 4th day of October next, we, with the advice of our Privy Council, do hereby publish and declare, that the said Parliament shall be further prorogued on the said 4th day of October next, to Tuesday the 27th day of November next: and we have given order to our Chancellor of that part of our United

communicate this information to us, in order that the merchants concerned in the trade with Spain, might then act in their commercial concerns as they might judge expedient.--Lord Harrowby gave no fur ther information than the above on the subject in question, either at the first meeting,. or at the one of yesterday, which was confined to a particular application from the merchants, for the convenience of trade.

=

VOL. VI. No. 15.]

[PRICE TOD.

EFFECTS OF PAPER MONEY IN TIMES OF

SCARCITY.

SIR,As the high character which your Political Register has deservedly at tained, gives it a considerable influence ou public opinion, it is a matter of general im portance that the doctrines which are circulated under the authority of its name, should be impartially examined. I observe that you give a fair opportunity to those correspon dents who differ from you in opinion, of fully stating the grounds of their dissent; a practice which will certainly tend to give additional value to your excellent publication. On subjects which spread out into a variety of intricate relations, and which naturally present themselves under various aspects to different minds, a person of the least manliness of character, or of a liberal turn of thinking, would undoubtedly prefer an unrestrained interchange of opposite opinions, to a tame and indolent acquiescence in his own particular views. "He that wrestles with us," observes an admirable writer and an illustrious statesman, 66 strengthens our nerves. Our antagonist is our helper." In the ardour of speculation we are too apt to fancy that we have struck out into a train of original thinking, that we have exhibited a new and luminous exposition of an obscure subject, when to an indifferent spectator we appear to be blinded by the malignant influence of our own vain and foolish paradoxes. Opposition to our opinions forces to an intimate acquaintance with our subject; we are compelled to retrace our steps, and to examine all the intermediate gradations, by which we are conducted through a long process of ratiocination, from the radical position to the final conclusion, and we often discern on a second examination, omissions and inaccuracies which escaped the superficial glances of the mind, while yet warmed by the contemplation of its own ingenuity.

Availing myself therefore, of the privilege which you have so liberally extended to your correspondents, I shall point out to you the opinions in your Register which I think exdeptionable, and the grounds on which I dis sent

After a few observations on the Corn Bill lately passed, with which I cordially

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agree, you lay down the following position, that the paper-money system tends to rise the price of corn, by the facility which it af fords the corn speculator to withhold supp from the market, and you support opinion by a long quotation from Ir. Howison.

The nature and effects of paper-mon y have been so amply and ably elucidated by many eminent writers on political economy, that it is quite unnecessary for me to enter at any length into that subject. It is evi dent that by the substitution of a very cheap instrument of commercial exchange, instead, of a very expensive one, the accumulation of national wealth is very rapidly accelerated, and that this important improvement has operated more effectually than any other cause, in invigorating the efforts of industry, and in calling into action all the energies of commercial enterprise. It has directly tended by facilitating the rapid increase of capital, to enlarge the scale of commercial operations, to increase the productive powers of labour, by enabling those entrusted with its management, not only to follow out to a greater extent the principle of subdividing it into a variety of minute departments, but also to introduce into every species of ma nufacture the use of ingenious machinery, by which the effects of human industry are augmented to an incalculable extent. By these means a total change has taken place in the aspect of society, and the condition of the labouring classes of the community has been in a particular manner ameliorated. The great stream of national riches has not confined itself to a few indivi duals, it has broke off into a variety of lesser channels, and has diffused plenty and comfort over the whole face of the country. Indirectly it has had a very important influence on the arts and sciences, and on the political relations of Europe; and, although it would be very difficult, if not impossible, amid the various contradictory principles, by which the appearance of civilised society is affected, to assign to this or any one particular, cause its exact share of influence in the joint effect of the whole, or to disentangle it from those causes and effects with which in its

remoter operation it is complicated, yet its beneficial consequences may not be less sensibly felt, although we cannot set accurate limits to their extent.

Now, Sir, allowing your reasoning to be perfectly correct, to what practical conclusion does it lead? What remedy does it point out? How is the evil to be disengaged from the good? I do not well understand whether your disapprobation be directed against a paper currency in toto, or whether you only reprobate the perversion of those fundamental principles on which its purity depends The practice of discounting bills, of which you complain, as enhancing the price of provisions during scarcity, is not peculiar to a paper currency not convertible into specie, but must be carried on to more or less extent, under any system of paper credit whatever. No doubt the immediate convertibility of any paper-currency into specie operates as a check upon excessive issue, but it does not appear that the rise of price which you complain of, is connected with the rise occasioned by excessive issue. In the case of excessive issue, a depreciation of the currency may take place, which will occasion a nominal rise of price; but, if your complaint be just, namely, that the corndealers withhold corn from the market, and thus raise the price, and that they are enabled to do so by the facility which the papermoney system affords them of obtaining dis counts, and of postponing the dates of the demands upon them for payment, then it is an increase in the real value of corn which takes place through the influence of capital and credit. As I consider this opinion to be erroneous, and as you say it is laid down in a satisfactory manner by Mr. Howison, I shall proceed to offer you a few remarks on the passage you have quoted.

The general principle which that gentle man lays down appears to be indisputable, but he has totally failed in its application, which is, indeed, a naked assertion. "Any

means," he observes, "which enable the "possessors of such commodities (articles "of necessity) in times of scarcity, to with

hold the articles from market, enable him "to raise the price just as high as he may "choose, or, as the last shilling of the user

can reach. Discounting of bills, in the "late scarcity, enabled corn dealers to re"lieve the demands upon them for payment "of prices, and to feed the markets just as "their avarice dictated, and thereby must " he added greatly to the distress in the « dearch By a speculation in Kim, founded on discounted bill, it was raised bree rices, which limited the consumption so

66

"much as to accumulate the quantity be"yond the power of the speculators. The consequence was, the ruin of the specula"tors, &c." Allowing the preliminary observation to be correct, what evidence have we, that "the discounting of bills enabled "the corn-dealers to feed the markets just.

as their avarice dictated." Mr Howison seems to have considered this proposition as intuitive, for he has not even attempted to establish it by even the shadow of a proof, The illustration concerning rum proves no. thing. The circumstances are by far too vaguely and generally stated to admit of any positive inference. "A speculation on rum "founded on discounted bills." The very point which ought to be proved, is here taken for granted. Indeed, a case of this nature would require to be detailed in a manner the most circumstantial; facts ought first to be established, and then principles; but here facts and principles are huddled together in the most confused manner. All the unexceptionable information which the case contains, appears to be, that a few rash merchants ruined themselves by an attempt to I command the rum market. The rest is a string of gratuitous suppositions. The other position respecting corn, rests on no better foundation. There is a link wanting in the chain of syllogistical deduction; by which Mr. Howison endeavours to connect it to the preliminary proposition." Articles of "necessity must be had-any means which "enable the possessor to withhold them "from the market, enables him to fix the "price." Here follows the break which ought to be filled up, by proving that by means of paper credit corn is withheld from the market. But, as Mr. Howison has not attempted to establish this fundamental point, his whole hypothesis falls to the ground. I shall not, however, content myself with negative proof. As it is a common opinion, and as pernicious as it is unfounded, that the price of provisions are raised by unfair means, during a scarcity, I shall examine it at some length.

It is evident that immediately after the harvest, the whole produce of the year must be in the hands of the farmers, who dispose of it to the corn merchants at different periods, according to the various circumstances in which they are placed, or according to the still more various views of interest or convenience by which they are guided. Those whose capital and credit enable them only manage their farming concerns, will sell from necessity, and if they had not the cornmerchant, to whom they could easily and readily dispose of their produce, they would

be forced to withdraw a portion of their capital from agriculture, and employ it as grain merchants. The other class of farmers whose monied resources are not only sufficient for keeping up their lands in the highest state of cultivation, but, who possess besides, a surplus capital, may watch the fluctuations of the market. Their power of selecting such a period as appears to them most favourable for making sales, must be exactly in proportion to the quantity of surplus capital which they possess. That period must be settled therefore, partly by their various necessities, and exclusive of that consideration, will be chosen by different persons from different motives; some will sell earlier, some later; according as the appearances of things change in themselves, and according as the actual state of their minds is affected by the information which they receive; according as men are timid or adventurous, gloomy or sanguine; in short, the corn trade, like all other trades, is influenced by all the different combinations of the character and circumstances of the individuals who carry it on, and the supposition that they act upon one plan, or are influenced in the same manner by the same circumstances, is contradicted both by principle and by experience. It appears, therefore, that in ordinary circumstances, by the adequate operation of a thousand different causes, and through a thousand different channels, there must flow into the corn market a perennial supply. The only mode in which the price can be artificially raised, is by intercepting this supply in its progress to the consumers; and for this purpose the corn-merchant must buy all that is offered for sale, as the least hesitation on his part, would instantly bring down the price. According to Mr. Howison, he is enabled by the discounting of bills to accomplish this purpose, to withhold supplies from the market, and to raise the price. In the first place, it may be observed, that the relief derived from the discounting of bills is subsidiary only to capital already accumulated it extends its power, and is rendered by the merchants more frequently instruniental in enlarging the scale of their operations; than in enabling them to keep up goods. But allowing that this portion of capital, with which merchants are accommodated, is exclusively employed in intercepting supplies from the corn market, when we consider the immense value of what is daily consumed, and the immense value of what is continually rushing upon the corn merchants, which the least rise in price increases by a two fold operation, by increasing both the value and the quantity, can any man be

lieve that any capital would be equal to intercept the supplies even for one hour? But, besides the capital requisite, it is absolutely necessary that the dealers should be linked together in a firm combination, in order that they may act upon one pre-concerted plan; for, if we suppose corn merchants to be governed by the ordinary principles of action, which I have already laid down, and which, I think, are interwoven with the structure of the human mind, the increase of price which the interruption of supply will immediately occasion must, by the irresistible operation of moral causes, open the stores of the cornmerchants, who will be unable to resist the pressure of an increased quantity attracted by the high price to the market, and exclu sive of pecuniary considerations, will be tempted to sell by the prospect of immediate profit on the one hand, and the certainty of ruin on the other, which you justly observe, inevitably awaits them, if their projects should fail. Now, those who sell will not only keep the market to its natural level by the supplies which they pour into it them selves, but in case any corn-merchant should ever have indulged the chimerical idea of raising the price of grain, by withholding his own individual pittance from the market, he would soon see that he was keeping his own capital idle, and allowing others to reap the profit. Antecedent, therefore, to any scheme for keeping up the price of grain by means of capital or credit, there must exist a complete combination all over the kingdom, of which I need not waste time in demonstrating the impossibility. Any partial combination would not do; that would only effect a local rise, which would immediately attract an increase of supply, and occasion thereby a corresponding depression. It appears, therefore, that though in some points the interests of corn-merchants agree, the causes of disunion are so copiously scattered among them, as most effectually to counteract the predominance of any one powerful principle, by which their efforts as individuals, to better their own circumstances, can receive any thing like a systematical direction.

But allowing Mr. Howison's statement to be just, that the markets are fed during a scarcity by the avarice of the corn-merchants, I do not understand why they should limit their demands to the price for which corn sold during the last scarcity. Long before paper money was known, we have instances of much higher prices; now, as corndealers are represented as almost callous to the common feelings of our nature, and as avarice with which they are said to be tainted in an