distress, for want of means to retire the bills the bank had taken, the notes issued for them having been returned for guineas, which were exported; when these bills should become due, there would be no medium to retire them with. Should the bank, instead of persisting, stop issuing notes altogether, the extent of the evil, in regard to it, would soon be known; guineas might be demanded for the whole, or the greatest part of the notes then in circulation, and when that was done, the matter would be at an end as to the bank; but the consequences to the mercantile world would be fatal, the notes being all retired, and the guineas exported, when the bills the bank held became due, the acceptors would have no mode whatever of retiring them; and, therefore, unless the Bank took goods in payment, or other bills, their acceptors would be liable to all the distresses and horrors of bankruptcy,although their property might be much more than what they owed.

In this view, the restriction bill was one of the wisest acts that ever was passed, and one that has been of the most essential benefit to the country; by it, the bank was not only relieved from the embarrassing circumstances it was placed in, and from the danger of being obliged to give up accomodating the public with discounts, but it was, at once, enabled to enlarge that accomodation without any risk, and thereby to give a medium of circulation to supply the guineas that were either exported or hoarded up; and yet this act was not only, at the time it was passed, reprobated and abused, but after ten years experience of its beneficial effects, it is still the subject of attack, and many attempts have been made to have it rescinded, in order that the bank might be obliged to renew their payments in specie. Should such a step ever be taken, it will be the commencement of the ruin, not only of the bank of England, and all the banks of the country, but of the country itself.

The writers in favor of this repeal argue, that there being now no check to the issuing of bank notes, they have been over issued, so as to cause a depreciation; and that, in consequence of this depreciation, the rate of exchange with foreign countries had risen; these assertions have been already combated, and it is hoped successfully; but there remains one on the subject of exchange, not yet noticed, and a most extraordinary one it is. It was first stated by lord King, and from him quoted and enlarged upon by his followers, as an axiom from unquestionable authority; his lordship says, the balance of trade alone can never occasion any greater difference in the state of the exchange above par, than what will be sufficient to pay the expenses and profit of the merchant who exports the precious metals to restore the balance;" and this expense and profit he fixes at eight per cent. from London, to the continent of Europe, expressly declaring, whenever the exchange is above that, it must be owing to a degraded currency. Upon what data his lordship went in fixing it so high, he does not say, it is well known that two to three per cent. for expenses and profit, would be a sufficient inducement for a British merchant to export bullion, and that, therefore, if the doctrine was correct, the rate would never be above three per cent. but in order to show that the doctrine was correct, his lordship ought to have mentioned one essential circumstance, which is, where the merchant is to find the precious metals to export. His lordship does not seem to have taken into consideration, the possibility of a country being so far in debt, as that all the precious metals the merchants could find to purchase, would not pay. A community, like an individual, may run in debt beyond a possibility of immediately paying; and his lordship might as well tell an individual, who had spent all the funds he had at command, and was still in debt, that it was of no consequence, he had only to be at the trouble of putting his hand in his pocket, and at the expense of sending gold to his creditor.

In a country where there are no mines, an unfavourable exchange will soon exhaust the quantity of the precious metals at market, and they cannot be restored until the balance of payments take a favourable turn. This is a doctrine that has been supported by all the best writers on the subject, and seems even to be allowed by his lordship, in another part of this work, where he says, a slight attention to the commercial relations of Ireland must satisfy us, that this uniformly, unfavorable exchange against Dublin, must be, in a great measure, nominal; and that it can, upon po intelligible principles, have been produced by an actual balance of trade against Ireland. A really unfavourable exchange would imply, that there had been, during all this period, a constant excess of imports above exports, and a constant

remittance of bullion, or specie, to pay for the difference, where a country does not possess considerable mines, such a continued remittance of the precious metals can only be made, in consequence of corresponding remittances from other countries; and it therefore implies a constantly favourable exchange in some other quarter; but Ireland has no regular course of exchange with any part of the world, except through the intervention of England." Here he certainly makes such an allowance as completely does away the axiom in question, so that he may be truly said to have contradicted himself; but that is nothing extraordinary; if necessary, many other cases of the same kind may be produced; indeed it is conceived, that the above quotation is sufficient to prove, that his lordship was most deplorably ignorant of the first principles, and that he had been at no pains to inquire into facts, regarding the subject he wrote upon. In the first place, a very slight attention to the commercial relations of Ireland, would have been sufficient to have shown the real causes for the uniformly unfavourable exchange against Ireland at that time. In the second place, he ought to have known, that a really unfavourable exchange never appears whilst bullion, or specie, can be got to export; and that, therefore, as long as a constant remittance of bullion, or specie, to pay for the difference continued, there would be no rise on the price of bills of exchange; consequently, no appearance of an unfavourable、 exchange; and, in the last place, he should also have known, that a very unfavourable exchange could never appear against any country that, at the same time, haɖ a favourable exchange against another equivalent thereto; as the rise upon the price of bills of exchange is always in consequence of the general balance being against a country, not a particular one.

[To be concluded in our next.]

STATE PAPERS.

- REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, ON THE COMMER¬ CIAL STATE OF THE WEST INDIA COLONIES.

ORDERED

The committee who were appointed to take into consideration the commercial state of the, West India colonies, and to report their proceedings, from time to time, to the House of Commons; and who were empowered to report the minutes of evidence taken before them; and to whom all minutes of evidence which were taken before the committee in the last session of Parliament, on the West India planters' petitions, together with their proceedings, were referred, have, pursuant to the order of the House, examined the matters to them referred; and have agreed to the following report:

Your committee have thought it their duty, in the first place, to inquire into the situation of the West India planters at the present moment, and for several years preceding; and have examined various respectable witnesses, proprietors of estates, who have resided many years in the West Indies, and who have had the properties of several absentees under their management; and also many merchants intimately acquainted with the expenses and profits of a great variety of estates, and generally conversant with the West India commerce. From their testimony it appears, that since the year 1799, there has taken place a progressive deterioration in the situation of the planters, resulting from a progressive diminution of the price of sugar, although at the same time the duty, and all the expenses attending the cultivation, have been increasing, till at length the depression of the market has become such that the prices obtained for the last year's crop will not pay the expense of cultivation, except upon estates on a very great scale, making sugar of a very superior quality, or enjoying other extraordinary advantages. Calculations have been laid before your committee, from the accounts of estates both in Jamaica and the other islands, by which it appears, that the British supplies, and island expenses, amount to 20s. 10d. in the former, and to 19s. 6d. in the latter, on the cwt. of sugar, after accounting and giving credit for the amount received for the sale of rum. As these calculations are formed upon an average of years, and upon estates of the ordinary scale, and in no respects unusually circumstanced, it appears to your committee, that these sums per cwt. of sugar may be taken as the average expense of cultivation, independent of interest upon the capital; and your committee are confirmed in this opinion by

finding a similar calculation in the report made by the sugar distillery committee, in the last parliament. To this must be added an expense of from 15s. 6d. to 16s. per cwt, necessarily incurred for freight, insurance, and other mercantile charges, between the shipping the goods in the colonies, and their being offered to market in this kingdom, forming together an amount of from 35s. to 36s. which appears, upon this evidence, to be the absolute cost to the planter per cwt. of sugar, before any return of capital can attach. Upon a reference to the average prices published in the gazette, for the last eight months, which vary from 36s. to 31s. giving a mean price of 33s. 6d. ; it appears evident, that the planters must have cultivated their estates at a loss.The interest which has been stated to your committee, as what should be the fair profit upon a capital of such a nature as that of a sugar estate, consisting not merely of land and negroes, but of buildings of great extent and cost, necessary for the carrying on of such manufactures, and subject to various and peculiar risks and vicissitudes, is no less then ten per cent.-During the period of prosperity previous to 1800, it is stated that in general the profits did not exceed that sum; and that, from that period, they have gradually diminished to 24 and 1 per cent. till, at the present moment, there is no return of interest whatever.-It may perhaps be right to notice one exception, namely, of an estate most favourably circumstanced in every respect, where the profits are stated to have amounted during the four years 1795, 1796, 1797, and 1798, to twelve per cent. but they appear also to have declined ever since; in 1801, 1832, 1803, and 1804, to have been reduced to about six per cent. and in 1805, to about three per cent. and, subsequently, to have suffered a still farther reduction. In the course of their investigation of the situation of the planters, your committee thought it right to ascertain whether it might not be in their own power, in many instances, to remedy the evils of their situation, by converting their sugar estates to other more profitable cultivation; but the evidence on that point shews, that such a conversion must be attended with so great a sacrifice of capital, as to be out of the question as a measure of relief.-With view to the prospect for the future, they have obtained a return of the quantity of sugar at present in the West India doeks; from which, and from other evidence, it appears, that the quantity now on hand is unusually great for the time of year. The crop of last year is also on the point of coming into the market.--It should not be omitted further to state, that for many years past the islands have almost entirely escaped the natural calamities (of hurricanes, &c.) which have occasionaly proved destructive to the property in those countries.---In investigating the causes of that depression of the market, from whence the whole of the planter's distress appears to originate, the first object which strikes your committee, is that extraordinary situation in which e is placed, which prevents him alone (in exception to every other similar case) from indemnifying himself for the increase of duty, and of other expenses attending his cultivation by an equivalent increase of price to the consumer. For it appears, that since the year 1799, the duty on sugar has been raised from 20s. to 27s. and contingently to 30s. per cwt.; the expenses of the estates are calculated to have risen, in many articles fifty, and in others above 100 per cent. and the price has fallen from 69s. to 33s. 6d. per cwt. the average of the last eight months. As it appears obvious, from the above statement, that the duty is heavier than the article can bear at its present price, it is suggested that it might be expedient, for the relief of the home market, to extend the principle which has been adopted on the contingent increase of duty from 278. to 30s.; so that, from the maximum of duty then fixed, on a gross price of 80s. affording 30s. duty, and 50s. to the planter, the duty should be thrown back on a similar scale, in proportion to the depression of the market, till the price arrives at 60s. gross, leaving 20s. (the original duty) to government, and 40s. to the planter; or, in other words, a reduction of 2s. gross price, from the average then fixed for 1s. of duty on a reduction of the imposition of the new duty, as far as 20s. An increase of the bounty on the export has been also recommended; and your committee are of opinion, that it would afford great relief, if given as an accompaniment to measures of restriction upon neutrals, so as to render the expenses on British and foreign produce equal in the foreign market.

A considerable depreciation in the price of rum having also taken place, it has been suggested, that the encouragement of the consumption of that article would be

"

a considerable advantage to the planter. Your committee are aware that such encouragement has been given, to a certain extent, but if it were found practicable to carry that assistance further, by an increased consumption in the army and navy, such a measure would, in their opinion, have very beneficial effects; or a reduction of duty on rum might afford essential relief to the planter, without loss to the revenue, which would be indemnified by an increased consumption of that spirit.Great, however, as are the evils of the decrease of price, and increase of charges, it does not appear to your committee, that they are the original causes of the distress of the planter, by applying to which alone any practicable remedy, he could be more than partially relieved; but that the main evil, and that to which these are ultimately to be referred, is the very unfavourable state of the foreign market, in which formerly the British merchant enjoyed nearly a monopoly, but where he cannot at present enter into competition with the planters, not only of the neutral but of the hostile colonies. The result of all their enquiries on this most important part of the subject has brought before their eyes one grand and primary evil, from which all the others are easily to be deduced; namely, the facility of intercourse between the hostile colonies of Europe, under the American neutral flag, by means of which not only the whole of their produce is carried to a market, but at charges little exceeding those of peace; while a British planter is burdened with all the inconvenience, risk, and expence, resulting from a state of war.--The advantages which the hostile colonies derive from the relaxation of that principle, which prohibited any trade from being carried on with the enemy's colonies by neutrals during war, which the enemy himself do not permit to those neutrals during peace, may be in part estimated by reference to a statement of the imports into Amsterdam alone, from the United States of America, in the year 1806, amounting to 34,085 hogsheads of coffee, and 45,097 hogsheads of sugar, conveyed in 211 vessels, hereunto annexed; and to a statement also annexed, of the amount of West India produce, exported from the United States of America, between the 1st of October, 1805, and the 30th of September, 1806.

In point of comparative expense, the advantages of the hostile colonies will be further illustrated by the evidence of Mr. Marryat, supported by satisfactory documents, which show the charges of freight and insurance on sugar from the hostile colonies, through the united states of America to the ports of Holland and Flanders, and to those of the Mediterranean, to be less by 8s. 11d. to the former, and by 12s. 6d. to the latter, than those charges on British sugars to the same ports.-Your committee cannot omit to state also another important advantage enjoyed by the French colonies, from the sale of nearly the whole French mercantile marine to neutrals, under the stipulation of each vessel being returned into French ports, in order to be navigated as French ships, within twelve months after peace, and with the enjoyment, during war, of the same privileges in the ports of France, as if they were actually French, for instance, to import sugar at a duty of 4s. per cwt. less than the duty imposed on sugar imported in neutral vessels.-In order to counterbalance, in some degree, the advantages thus enjoyed by the hostile colonies, to the detriment of the British planter, it has been recommended, that a blockade of the ports of the enemy's settlements should be resorted to; such a measure, if it could be strictly enforced, would undoubtedly afford relief to our export trade.-But a measure of more permanent and certain advantage would be the enforcement of those restrictions on the trade between neutrals and the enemy's colonies, which were formerly maintained by Great Britain, and from the relaxation of which the enemy's colonies obtain, indirectly, during war, all the advantages of peace; while our own colonies, in the intercourse with whom that system of monopoly which has been held essential to the commercial and military navy of this country, is rigorously enforced, are deprived of the advantages under which, in former wars, they carried their produce to the foreign markets, and which, in the present war, by means of our decided naval superiority, would have amounted to the exclusive supply of the whole of Europe; and when those extraordinary measures are taken into consideration, which have been adopted to exclude the British colonial produce from the European market, it appears to your committee to be a matter of evident and imperious necessity, to resort to such a system, as by impeding and restricting, and, as far as possible, preventing the export of the pro

duce of the enemy's colonies from the places of its growth, shall compel the continent to have recourse to the only source of supply which, in that event, would be open to it.-As it may be apprehended, that from the adoption of such measures, difficulties might arise in that intercourse, from which the West-Indies, at present, derive a considerable proportion of some of their supplies, your committee have thought it their duty to make inquiry into the resources in that respect, to which recourse might be had in such an event. During the only period which affords an example of the suspension of that intercourse, the evidence concurs as to the fact of a supply having been obtained (though not without temporary and occasional inconveniences) from a variety of sources which may reasonably be relied upon, in case of such necessity, at the present moment, to a greater amount than at the former period. From the examination of persons who, in consequence of their residence in the British North American settlements, or extensive commercial connections with them, possess the best information as to their present and future resources, there is ground to believe, that some supply of the principal articles of lumber might be obtained from thence immediately, and to expect that, with due encouragement, the quantity of that supply might be increased to any extent.-The supply of flour which they could at present afford to the West-India market would be small, and of inferior quality. They appear to be capable of affording a large supply of fish, and what deficiency might exist in other articles of salt provisions, might be made up by supplies from Europe.-Upon the whole, the impression which your committee have received, is, that the trade now carried on between the British West-Indies and the United States of America, is very convenient and advantageous to the inhabitants of our colonies, and one which they could not relinquish without essential detriment, unless it were compensated by other advantages; but that it is not essential to their existence, or equivalent to the disadvantages of their situation, in those respects which your committee have already gone through in the present statement.-Your committee having briefly stated the distressed situation of the West-India planter--the causes which have gradually produced his distress, which are beyond his reach to remedy, and which must continue to operate with increased effect-and having stated such measures of relief as have been suggested to them, and such as, from the best sources of information, appear most adequate to the end in view, have only to add, that if those remedies are liable to objections and difficulties, there is, on the other hand, the strongest concurrent testimony and proof, that unless some speedy and efficient measures of relief are adopted, the ruin of a great number of the planters, and of persons in this country, holding annuities, and otherwise dependent upon those properties for their income, must inevitably very soon take place, which must be followed by the loss of a vast capital, advanced on securities in those countries, and by the most fatal injury to the commercial, maritime, and financial interests of Great Britain,

BUONAPARTE'S SPEECH, TO THE DEPUTIES OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY, THE MEMBERS OF THE TRIBUNATE, AND COUNCIL OF STATE. AUG. 17. "Since your last meeting, new wars, new triumphs, and new treaties of peace have changed the aspect of the political relations of Europe.

"The house of Brandenburg, which was the first to combine against our inde pendence, is indebted, for still being permitted to reign, to the sincere friendship with which the powerful emperor of the North has inspired me.

"A French prince shall reign on the Elbe. He will know how to make the interests of his new subjects form the first and most sacred of his duties.-The house of Saxony has recovered the independence, which it lost fifty years ago. The people of the dukedom of Warsaw, and of the town of Dantzic, are again in possession of their country, and have obtained their rights. All the nations concur in rejoicing, that the pernicious influence which England exercised over the continent, is for ever destroyed.

"France is united, by the laws of the confederacy of the Rhine, with the people of Germany, and by our federative system with the people of Spain, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy. Our new relations with Russia are founded upon the reciprocal respect of two great nations.