with the continent of Europe. Such is the proportion of trade, on which it is in the power of the master of the Continent to inflict a wound; a proportion by no means insignificant when we consider how dependent the various branches of national commerce are on each other, but which at the same time is greatly below the estimate assigned by current opinion even among ourselves. If to this we add the consideration that the utmost exercise of Bonaparte's power has been able to take away a part only of this fifteenth, we may safely infer that our mercantile suffering would have been much smaller, had we fostered, with an impartial hand, the other branches of our commerce; above all, our trade with the United States and with the West Indies, the amount of which is nearly equal to that which we carry on with the whole of the European continent. From these various circumstances, it is apparent how much larger a share of the national income proceeds from inland than from foreign trade; a truth which cannot be too strongly enforced, since many among us, and even some persons high in office, are disposed gravely to adhere to the old doctrine that inland trade is unproductive, and consists of a mere transfer from hand to hand.

If the maintenance of our continental commerce be, according to M. de Montgaillard, so essential to our national existence, the decrees of which the object was to extinguish it must be intitled to his highest praise. Accordingly, they are always extolled as chefs-d'œuvre of policy.

The imminent dangers which at present surround Great Britain, proceeding principally and absolutely from the just and rigorous shackles imposed on her trade by the Berlin Decree — such an alarming situation for the people of the United Kingdom, must grow worse in proportion to the length of time which the British com merce is interdicted on the Continent of Europe.

Assuredly it is impossible to misconceive here the striking and happy effects already produced by the Berlin and Milan Decrees! These measures may, indeed, occasion some privations; they may cause some private losses, or momentary embarrassments in the com. mercial proceedings of Continental States; but they strike directly at the commerce of England. By this alone they must soon produce favourable results to the merchants and manufacturers of the French Empire, and of all the States of Europe. The French Empire being deprived, for a moment, of the power of fighting Great Britain upon the ocean, had no choice of means for attacking this nation, the primary cause of all the plagues and wars which have for twenty years afflicted Europe. The French Empire has declared war against the Commerce of Great Britain, and this policy proves the profound views and political wisdom of the Court of the Thuil. leries,'

The

The Decrees of Berlin and Milan are essentially the protectors of the maritime rights of nations; the arrangements made by those Decrees ought to be the law, the public law of nations, as long as England shall refuse to acknowledge the independence and sovereignty of flags.'

It appears, indeed, to be one of the principal objects of this book to promulgate the praise of these Decrees, whether with the view of reconciling the persons at present labouring under them to a continuance of privations, or to render more acceptable their introduction into quarters in which they have not yet been adopted.

The day on which the consumption of colonial goods shall be deemed unnecessary for the Continent, the fortune of Great Britain will experience a total revolution. It is, therefore, of importance to the peace, the ease, and the prosperity of Europe, that her various States should learn to dispense with British merchandises; that they should encourage the industry of their own subjects, and that national manufactures should every where make war against those of Great Britain.'- They would, by these means, free themselves from those odious tributes which are levied on them, by force of arms, through the avidity and exactions of the British Ministry. By depriving this Ministry of the gold which it has levied commercially in every Empire, of that gold with which it excites and pays for every war, the Sovereigns of Europe will ensure the tranquillity of their reigns and the peace of their territories.'

The most noble tribute that a faithful subject can offer to his Sovereign in the present period, is to repel and abandon the consumption of British merchandises, and to set upon them the seal of infamy!' -It is by fighting England with the arms which she has employed against us, that we shall obtain a general, a glorious, and a permanent peace. It is the two capitals of England, Manchester and Calcutta, that we must attack; and we can do this, by merely proscribing, under pain of ridicule and contempt, both the colonial produce and the manufactured goods of Great Britain. In short, it is time to re-conquer our commerce and industry, and to give to the august Chief of the Empire, the first of all means for giving a perpetual fecundity to regenerated France, and to ensure for ever the prosperity of our manufactures !'

One of the most singular errors in the present work, though an error which is very common among foreigners, is an exaggerated estimate of the advantages which we derive from the possession of India. That country has been so greatly celebrated, both in antient and modern ages, as the source of inexhaustible wealth, that it requires either an actual residence in it, or an attentive scrutiny at home into the reported gains of the public and of individuals, to exempt us from the influence of the general delusion. Such a scrutiny would satisfy us that the Company, as a body, has long been carrying on a losing

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a losing trade; and that the proportion of successful individuals in India, deducting for deaths, disappointments from loss of health, and other causes, is not greater than a similar proportion out of a given number of persons settled at home. A foreigner, however, has no access to such direct and particular information; current rumour forms the basis of his conclusions; and the ignotum omne pro magnifico prevails with full force in regard to this region of jewels and pagodas. "It is not," say many persons," with her possessions in Europe, but with those in the two Indies, that Britain supports the brunt of war. It is not London but Calcutta which is her real capital. It is the inexhaustible treasures of Bengal which enable that power to make efforts which astonish the uni

verse."

It is the produce,' says M. de Montgaillard, of the sales of muslins and sugars, which must supply the greater part of the public expenditures of Great Britain: it is the benefits of commerce which must counteract the National Debt, a debt which has increased so prodigiously within the last twenty years, that all the revenues of the British power in Bengal are not sufficient to pay the interest of it alone! This interest has risen to about twenty-two or twenty-three millions sterling, and the most partial of the English writers do not estimate at more than twenty millions sterling the whole of the revenues which Great Britain derives from Bengal. In fact the United Kingdom has its head and its arms in Europe, but its body is really in India: hence the allegory of the statue of gold on legs of clay is perfectly appropriate to the political situation of England.'

It is in America and India that the Cabinet of London has found the resources, by means of which it has enslaved Europe, and saturated it with blood!'

The conquest of the Peninsula of India, effected in fifteen years, has given to the British Government the commercial riches of the East: this conquest has permitted the said Government to increase in the space of ten years, its financial resources, in the simple nature of taxes or duties, by the sum of fourteen millions sterling per annum; but the greatest part of the commercial goods or manufactured merchandises of Bengal and the rest of India, will no longer find either ports or purchasers in Europe.'

To those who know that the Company have never been able to make good the payment of their promised half million annually to government, it must be amusing to hear M. de Montgaillard speak with such confidence of an annual contribution of twenty millions. To judge from the nature of the official communications to parliament, the affairs of India are likely, during this session, to undergo an investigation; a discussion that will shew to this declamatory Frenchman as well as to ourselves that, in respect to public revenue, India is

not

not an assistance but an expence to us. The Company's dividends have of late years been paid, in a great measure, by aid from parliament; and their debt, it is apprehended, must eventually become an addition to the burdens of this country, accompanied, however, by a transfer of their territorial revenue. The amount of taxes levied on our importation of Eastern commodities, though below M. de Montgaillard's sanguine statement, is undoubtedly very large: but it consists of consumption-duties, and is paid out of our own pockets. The possession of territory abroad is by no means the productive cause of this revenue; our treasury might receive the same amount of taxes were the goods imported from an independent country, as China for example, whose produce bears, in fact, a large proportion of the revenue for which credit is given, in common opinion, to the resources of the Company. The way to estimate the advantage of India to this country is neither by its direct contributions, nor by the magnitude of our consumption-duties on its produce, but by ascertaining the profit on the capital invested in the trade, and the extent of property realised by our countrymen who have gone abroad. Both have been considerable: but we repeat that it is by no means clear that they have exceeded the amount which would have been acquired by the same capital and the same labour employed at home. Those who find themselves ill prepared to assent to this doctrine would do well to read, with attention, Dr. Smith's disquisition on the expediency of colonial trade: or, if they object to theoretical authority, let them repair to the city, and ascertain on 'Change whether most money is made by home or by foreign commerce; and whether the experienced merchant does not prefer the business of smallprofit and quick return, to the long credits and large commissions which captivate the imagination of the young beginner.

A different topic from the above-mentioned, and one on which M. de Montgaillard is much more at home, is the customary tribute of adulation to Bonaparte. We have seldom seen fulsome flattery carried to a greater length,-amid protestations, too, of strict impartiality:

It is necessary to explain the naval power and the commercial riches of England, and to explode in the face of all Europe, this phantom of prosperity which has deluded every government, which oppresses every people, and which might have enchained the universe by the most scandalous and rigid laws, if, amidst all the prodigies and every kind of glory which can do honour to human nature, Providence, in its eternal justice, had not indicated to all nations the avenger of their rights, and the protector of their liberties- such,

in

in short, might have been the result, if Providence had not granted to the French Empire a statesman profound in his councils, a warrior invincible in the field, the wisest administrator, and the greatest as he is the best of monarchs. Far be from us every idea of flattery, every sentiment of animosity or hatred.'

Mr. Perceval believes, like his predecessor, that he has to deal with an ordinary French King; he does not see that Napoleon is not a French King, but the Emperor and the Child of Victory.'— The political system of the Thuilleries is as fixed and immutable as the power and glory of its Sovereign !'

During the last ten years, the whole political face of Europe has changed; a Great Man has seated himself upon the throne of France; he wills the grandeur of his Empire; his resolutions are those of wisdom and of genius, and his power is as comprehensive as his mind!

Maria Louisa has given birth to that race of heroes on whom will for ever repose the destiny of France, the fate of the world! All the prayers, all the hopes of the innumerable subjects of the Emperor of the French are fulfilled; the happiness and the glory of the Empire are secured, and the Imperial Dynasty becomes eternal, like the glory of its founder !' Such happiness is worthy of the hero and politician who saved France, when about to be devoured by factions and invasion-the warrior, whose every step has been marked by prodigies and triumphs, the administrator whose whole thoughts are employed for the benefit of his people! The love of all Frenchmen is the only recompence worthy of so great a soul.'

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It was our wish and intention to lay the whole of our remarks on and extracts from this work before our readers at once: but we find them too extensive for the space which at this period of the month yet remains open in our pages, and we must therefore here suspend this article and resume it in our next number.

[To be continued.]

ART. XII. Remarks relative to the Danger attendant on Convoys; together with a Proposition for the better Protection of Commerce from Sea-risk and Capture; earnestly recommended to the Attention of all Merchants and Ship-owners throughout Great Britain. By Richard Hall Gower, Author of a Work on Seamanship, and of an Account of the four-masted Vessel, Transit. 8vo. IS. Mawman.

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HIRTEEN years have now passed since the acquisition of a decided naval superiority over our enemies enabled government to keep a sufficient number of men of war in readiness for the protection of our trade, and led, in consequence, to the adoption of the Convoy-Act. The provisions of that act were two-fold; first, an obligation on all unarmed vessels to put themselves

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