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elected for the borough of Armagh to serve in the Irish Parliament, where he conceived that he could be more useful than in the other. The management of the House of Commons in Ireland appears to have been confided to him; and in it he often spoke but he never took a part in the debates of either of the British Houses of Parliament. This is the second public situation in which his biographer exhibits him; and his conduct in it is stated to have been all perfection. The ministers, at least, seem to have been satisfied with it; and he certainly bore an active part in the administration of Lord Townshend, the commencement of which was marked by a very material and useful alteration in the government of Ireland, by freeing. the country from the dominion and rapacity of the Lords Justices, commonly known there by the name of Undertakers. Several of the measures of that noble Lord were spirited and manly, and in a short time contributed materially to break in pieces the formidable aristocracy of that kingdom, which had in a great measure long dictated its own terms to the English government.

After his return from Ireland, Sir G. was in June 1772 nominated a Knight Companion of the Bath; and, as he had given up the office of muster-master-general for that country, in order to accommodate the Lord-Lieutenant, he was in 1774 appointed governor and constable of Toome-castle, with a nominal salary of 1300l., producing in London 1c361. 58. annually. Mr. Barrow considers this as a scanty reward for four years' services in Ireland.-In October 1774, he was elected a member of the British Parliament for the boroughs of Air, Irwin, Rothsay, Cambletown, and Inverary; and in December 1775 he was appointed Captain General and Governor in Chief of the southern Caribbee Islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, and Tobago. On the 10th June 1776, His Majesty was also pleased to make him an Irish peer, by the title of Lord Macartney, Baron of Lissanoure in the county of Antrim.

[To be continued.]

ART II. The West-India Common-Place Book; compiled from par liamentary and official Documents: shewing the Interest of Great Britain in its Sugar Colonies, &c. &c. by Sir William Young, Bart. F R.S. M,P. 4to. pp. 256. 11. 5s. Boards. R. Phillips. 1807.

B its very designation, this work places itself almost without the province of criticism. We may not look in it for method, symmetr,, nor style. If the facts be correct, and the observations

observations just, these are the only circumstances that can properly be required from it. It is to be regretted, however, that Sir William Young, who is not without experience in authorship, did not farther add to his materials, and form them into a complete statistical account of the interesting districts to which his collection relates. The abundance of essential data, which these pages present, cannot fail to attract the particular attention of all persons connected with our colonies; while the importance of these dependencies, or rather parts of our empire, will draw to it a great degree of general interest.

Of the nature of these multifarious contents, we cannot convey a better idea to our readers, than by extracting the heads of the chapters into which the volume is divided, and which are again subdivided into sections:

Chap. I. On the African Slave Trade. II. On the Cultivation, Produce Progressive Improvement or Decline, severally, of the British Sugar Colonies. III. General Produce and Export from the British Sugar Colonies. IV. British Shipping employed in the West India Trade. V. Imports of Colonial Produce to Great Britain and Ireland. VI. and VII. Export Trade of Great Britain to its Sugar Colonies; and how far exclusive and secured by Law. VIII On the Intercourse of the British West Indies with America, and in particular with the British Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. IX. On the Intercourse and Trade of the United States of America with the British West Indies. X. On the Navigation Laws, and on the Shipping Interest of Great Britain, as affected by the Trade of America to the West Indies. XI. The British West Indies considered as a Depôt of Foreign Trade. XII. Navigation to and from Great Britain and the West Indies, and with Convoys in Time of War. XIII. On the Military Defence of the West Indies. XIV. On the Mortality of European Troops in the West Indies, and the Means of Prevention or Remedy. XV. Ob. servations on Limited Military Service, as applicable to Troops serv ing in the West Indies. XVI. In Times of War, the Transport Service an essential Resource to the Shipping Interest of Great Britain, with comparative Returns of the Ships built in the Ports of Great Britain at different Periods.'

From a table of the produce of Jamaica, compared with the total produce of the British West Indies, Sir W. Young deduces these results :

First, That Jamaica alone, returns above one-half of the sugar produced by the whole of the British colonies.

Secondly, That Jamaica produces above three-fourths of the total coffee.

Thirdly, (and it is the most important result in views of this compilation), That Jamaica is yet a growing and improving colony, and that, its cultivation appearing progressive, and especially of coffee, a further increase of produce may yet be expected, and a further market in Europe become necessary, and to be provided.

• Jamaica

1

Jamaica exports, and sends to Great Britain yearly, about 20,000 puncheons of rum, being about two thirds of the total rum freighted home from the British colonies,'

With regard to the influence of the colonies in increasing our shipping, the author observes that,

The West India ships will appear to be of a size suited to the employment of seamen in the line of practice and knowledge of their business, which may best fit them for future service in ships of war; whilst yet the dimensions of the shipping are not such as to require the largest oak timber, and deprive the public dock yards in any degree of that resource which, it is feared, is yearly diminishing, and more difficult to procure.

The navigation from five to eight weeks, or five months out and home, has the advantage of more distant voyages, by returning the crews at certain periods within the year, for national service, if eventually so required: at the same time carrying the seamen through various climates in so short a period, and in so frequent succession, enures their habits, and fits them to bear the fatigues of duty in every quarter of the globe.'

From a table of the quantity of coffee imported to Great Britain by our West India islands, Sir William argues that,

Coffee is to be considered rather as an article of trade and export, than of national consumption: teas have superseded its general use in England. Abroad, coffee is in general use; it is the beverage of all persons in Turkey; of the nobility and middle ranks of life in France and Italy; and the drink of all, to the very porters and postillions, in Germany; and to the north the demand for coffee is in-, creasing it is, however, a plant of no difficult culture. It is said that plantations in Jamaica alone are made, or making, which may yearly return 400,000 cwt. and finally the European market may be overloaded, and the article depreciated, and then its further culture will be stopped.'

No doubt this article might be made to supersede the use of tea to a vast extent, if the art of extracting from it the palatable beverage, which is universal in many parts of the continent, were introduced into this country. The Caffé au lait of our neighbours is more grateful, and we presume more nourishing, than our favourite tea breakfast. As coffee is in one sense a home production, would it not be worth while to favour its consumption rather than that of tea; and might not this be effectually done by naturalizing among us the foreign mode of preparing it?

In the section relating to the export trade of Great Britain with the sugar colonies, the author observes that,

In proportion to the value of the articles laden, the freight of the export is greater than that of the import trade. Charged on bulk comparatively, as on value or weight of the article, it operates to a third, to a half, or even to the full value, of sundry exports. Of

hoops

hoops for binding hogsheads, all of which are supplied from Great Britain, the cost and freight are nearly equal. From examination of various and actual invoices of stores sent to the plantations, I compute the freight (in time of war) as at least one-fourth of the invoice; and on the total export, to a yearly value of six millions; the freight is then 1,500,000l. This is a great interest; and I think that of the West Indian is no ways repugnant to the just claims of the British ship-owner to hold and keep the advantage; for if he did not pay a saving freight outwards, and the ship came to the islands light, or in ballast, the planter would have a proportional surcharge to pay on the freight of his produce home. The planter has no interest in requir ing, and therefore should not be supposed to require, any articles from America, and in American shipping, but articles of immediate necessity, and which Great Britain will not supply at all, or cannot supply as wanted.'

Sir William ably vindicates the provisions of the American intercourse bill, which, at the time of its passing, excited so much unjust and unfounded clamour, but which its opponents, now that they have the power of repealing it, do not chuse to disturb. He thus concludes the view which he takes of this subject:

• On the medium of ten years, from 1793 to 18c3, the supply to the British West Indies from the United States, was annually 164,680 barrels, each 196 lb. of bread flour; and, in the same period, the average supply from the British provinces was only 1570 barrels ; whilst the supply of flour from Great Britain is limited by statute to 3200 tons, or 32,000 barrels, of 2 cwt. leaving a deficiency of this article of life, of 131,110 barrels, to be supplied by the United States, supposing even Great Britain henceforward to supply its complement, and to have sent no flour to the West Indies for years past: but the British supply taken apart, as supposed at all times, the deficiency, if left to Canada and Nova Scotia, is of 163,110 barrels of bread, wanting for the usual and annual consumption of planters, British officers and soldiers, in the West Indies!

On a view of this statement, which will be explained and confirmed by official documents, no benevolent man, no considerate statesman, no friend to his country and its colonies, will require that they should depend for provisions, that is, for food and life, on supplies to be furnished exclusively by and from the British provinces in America.'

A return is afterward inserted, which was made to the House of Commons, May 5, 1806, of the provisions and lumber imported into the West Indies, exclusive of the conquered colonies, from the American states, in the years 1773, 1793, 1797, 18co, 1803; and Sir W. remarks:

It appears from the column 1793 of the preceding return, that Great Britain or Ireland, in times of peace, can furnish all the beef and pork; and that Newfoundland and the home fisheries supply most of what is required of the important article, fish; but bread-flour

and

and rice (most essential to the subsistence of the planters and negroes in the West Indies) seem in no case, and at no time, to have been fully provided, excepting from America. Of oak staves too, as it appears, England can furnish a considerable part of the supply; but I must doubt, that it is the national interest so to do.'

At this moment, when so much discussion is taking place with regard to our commercial relations with America, the following statement is powerfully interesting:

By a return made to the House of Commons, 18th April, 1806, the total export of British produce and manufactures for three years, ending 1801, was, average the year, 40,056,015l.; of which, the export to the United States of America, as above, was 9,349,380l. being nearly one-fourth of the whole export. And from the above table it appears, that this valuable trade hath nearly doubled during the war in 1800-1, rendering an actual balance of trade in favour of Great Britain, to the amount of 6,781,428. It matters not, in this view, whether America is wholly the consumer, or in part the mere carrier, for Great Britain.'

Where all the matter is so curious, it would be easy to multiply extracts which would interest the reader: but we must conclude with one which does the greatest credit to the head and heart of the writer, and which is taken from the close of volume:

Long protracted wars ever have been, and ever must be, pregnant with mischief and disorders to every condition of people and government so unhappily engaged; but most of all, will they fatally affect a commercial people, and a free government, such as ours.

Long duration of war must, in its nature and course, divert from social duties and occupations; must depress industry, and obstruct commercial intercourse; must corrupt manners and morals; and, finally, must effect a change, not only in the characters and conduct of men, but in the character and constitution of the state itself; for at the same time that long habits of military dissipation and distinctions must cast in oblivion, or impair the domestic virtues and gradations of society, the military principles of despotism and subjection will creep in to vitiate, and ultimately to supersede those of regulated government and liberty.

⚫ Commerce, and a carrying trade, is but one of the losses, and not the most important loss, to be apprehended, from an over-protracted state of war.

Justin, speaking of the continued war with the Peloponnese, says, non erant Athenienses vi victi, sed fortunæ varietate debellati” -Industry was warred down, commerce was warred down, the sense of virtue and freedom was warred down, and all finally was lost.

I have heard the language, and in societies where I should have expected better and wiser consideration, "that war is to be preferred to any peace with the present enemy of Great Britain." Vain, light, and improvident indeed is the language, which objects not to terms of peace, but to peace itself; as if a state of perpetual war

was

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