The National Register. — London, England, 1818-01-04 00:00:00

REVIEW OF LITERAICI?E. ON TOE DETERIORAIION OF THE CLIMATE OF GREAT BRITAIN. [From the Journal of Science and the Arts.] The last number of the "Journal of Science and the Arts," contains the following most interesting paper, tiotn the pen of Mr. Brande, on the Deterioration of ,tit the climate of this country, a subject on which we iill take frequent occasion to complain. Whether we are about to be revisited by those genal gales and warm er suns, which cheered the days dour ancestors, we will not predict, lest we be disappointed; but if the accounts be true which have been received from the Northward, we may safely conclude that some convulsion in na ture, has detached those masses of ice, the accumulation tit a'es, which have wrought so unfortunate a change ia our climate. That for several centuries past the climate of England has undergone a very material change for the worse, appears demonstrated by' the most irresistible historical evidence ; nor I en there indeed be a doubt that the springs are now later, and the summers shorter, and that those seasons are colder and more Itninid than they were in the youthful days of many persons, and those not very aged, who are now alive. We learn from our old chronicles, that the grape has formerly been cultivated in England, for the manufacture of wine, but we cow know that even with much care and attention it can scarcely be brought to ripen a scanty crop ender walls expos ed to the still, sheltered from cold wind, and in every respect in the most favourable aspect ; and it would be fully to attempt it. growth in the method of a vineyard, as a stand ard. Of this real luxury of more genial climes, we have so long been deprived, that we trouble ourselves little about those golden days when Bacchus smiled upon unr bills. But what may be considered as coming more home to the business and bosoms of the present generation is, that Pomona is about to desert our orchards, and that ou ground where the clustering vine once flourished, the apple has of late years scarcely ripened. Indeed we are informed upon good audio• rite, that it is now sixteen years since the orchards have af fOrded d plentiful crop. It is really melancholy to think that at lio very remote period our posterity may in all probability be in the fame situation in regard to cyder, that we are now placed in, in respect to wine ; when the apple tree, like the vine, will only afford a penurious supply of sour fruits, and will be cultivated in forcing houses to supply the tables of the rich. Lest, however, we should he set shown among the screech owls of mankind, whose race, we are sorry to say, shears no symptoms of extinction, and who make it their business " to lessen the little comforts ' and shorten the short pleasures of our condition by painful remembrances of the past, or melan choly prognostics of the future ;" we shall now beg leave to give our readers a few facts connected with this change of climate. which may perhaps throw a little light upon the subject, and tend to exhibit the cause of those effects which we have just deplored. " It is demonstrable, that in the nothern parts of our hemi sphere the mean annual temperature is on the decline, and ou recurring to the accounts of modern travellers, it appears that in mountainous parts of Europe the accumulation of ice and snow is vi-ry sensibly increasing. This is perhaps particu larly the case, and easily observable, in the vicinity of Mont Blanc ; and the Glaciers which, descending from the slims snits of that and the adjoining peaks, invade the adjacent valley of Chamouirey, are making such progress as to threaten at no very remote period, to render the heart of that district inaccessible to the traveller. In a recent number of the " Bite* liotheque tie Sciences et des Arts," Professor Pictet informs us that the Glacier des Bossons has very lately advanced ffity feet, much to the dismay of the neighbouring villagers. But if we resort to more northern clinics we shall find yet more alarming evidence of the great increase of snow and ice and of this, the history of Greenland furnishes perhaps the most remarkable facts upon record. We know that that country, which was probably first peopled by Europeans from Iceland, received its name from its verdant appearance, and that the original colony continued to prosper, and to carry on an extensive commerce with Norway, until the beginning of the I.sth century, since which period all communication with East Greenland has ceased, and what was once known respecting it is almost buried in oblivion. Since that period too, the east coast of Greenland, which once was perfectly accessible, has become blockaded by an immense collection of ire, so that till within these few mouths no vessels could ap proach near enough even to see land in that direction. "The following quotation from Fabricins• will, we pre. some tiirnish satisfactory proof of the great increase of the inland ice of Greenland, and seems particularly apposite to our present purpose. " ' land.ice (Fisbrac) in Greenland is one of the most remarkable phenomena in nature, and in extent far exceeds any other hitherto known, running from one end of the country to the other, and covering it with au eternal ice, leaving only some taps of mountains, which rise black and naked above it. When you ascend ally of the highest moan taius free (ruin ice on the sea-coast a dreadful view is pre added. As far as the eye can reach in every direction nothing is seen but a glittering surface, which merits the ap pellation of any icy ocean. " ' ice is extending every year, increasing in height as well as breadth, and has already occupied the greatest part of the country. hen it meets with high mountains it is checked in its progress till it has readied an equal height, and then proceeds farther without obstruction. An experiment Las been made of placing a pole in the earth at a consider. able distance front the line of ice, and that place has been found occupied by the ice the following year. Its progress is indeed so rapid that Greenlanders, who are still living, re member their father's hunting rein-deer among naked moun tains, which are now completely covered with ice. I have ID ytelf seen foot-patiis leading to the inland of this pencil' the country, which arc now obstructed by glaciers. It is chiefly in the valleys that the ice is accumulating, and where these reach theses, and the inner part of the bays, the ice projects is large blocks over the water. Part of the ire appears to be even and smooth, particularly in the middle, b ut a part of it very uneven, especially at the extremities towards the naked land, and in :hose places, where small hillocks have been covered. Ilid if yea proceed farther on the ice, that which seemed to be even, consists of sallies with everal strata. There are also a number of rents of different Nye Smiling al tiet Kov;:k141 Daub Vidar.kabus T. S. 8M THE NATIONAL )tECTISTER., widths, and so deep that the eye seeks the bottom in vain That part of the ice which appeared to he uneven is nothing but projecting hillocks w ith deep ravines. *here it is impos sible to proceed, and which bear the appearance of the sea in most violent motion, instantly congealed. If yon look down into the rents or observe the ice at the extremities, youti nd the lower stratum of a blue colour, which is darker towards the bottom, but towards the serfage the colour is lighter, the uppermast stratum having its natural whiteness . . The noise of water•fslla is heard in some of the rents, and a thundering sound is frequently heard under your feet, when a new rent is made. O■ inspecting the extremity of the ice, when it is forrunig in low places, you will find it undermining the ground and pushing it aside as if it were by a plough. This detritus lies collected in heaps all along the sides of the ice, like walls, arid at the first breaking sip of the ice is sunk into it for ever. In many places entire lakes re filled up; the ice spares nothing. The blocks of ice, that form a continnation of the land-ice and project over the water in tho inner parts of the bays, are yearly increasing. The sea below throws its waves over them, and makes such excava tions, that in many places large poles of ice are hanging down at the sides, having the appearance of pipes of organs, and in other places it forms immense arches. In proportion, as these blocks increase above and become heavier, and the excavations below are extended, immense masses are preci pitated into the water. Many bays are really deep enough to receive smith ice mountains. As one mass falls down, that which is behind is carried along with it, and thus one follows the other with a tremenduns cracking noise, like a heavy can nonade. The sea, as is easily imagined, is thereby put into a violent motion, and nverdows the land to a great height, and this inundation is felt at the distance of several miles. It has even happened that tents pitched at a considerable diatance from the sea have been carried away and the people have perished. Boats are also in great danger. " Such masses of ice are at first precipitated deep in the water, and returning to the surface cont' for a long time in motion. Sometimes they rrc united to the tlat ice in the bays by congelativa, and thus remain surrounded by it for a time, or they break in their fall the ice which is already formed there. " • Another circumstance which increases these mountains, is that in some places there are large lakes above the ice blocks, discharging their water through openings under them. Round the edges of thr lakes are banging pieces of ice, which in the above-described manner are precipitated into them. They are then driven to the mouth of the opening, through which the smaller pieces are carried down into the tea, but the larger ones block up the opening, by which not sonly the water is stopped, but also the masses of ice. The water rising higher detaches still more of those pieces, and the lake is at last so full of them, that they break a new channel. Thus the masses that were heaped one upon the other are hurled into the sea, accompanied by a continued thundering miss. The sea is put into terrible commotion, and the inhabitants in the neighbourhood, when they hear this roaring, expect to sec the whole bay blocked up with ice, _ . " If the ice mountains remain for some time under the projecting blocks of ice (which depends on the state of the wind and the current) their size is then increased, and they rise to a terrible height, assuming the most curious shapes.— At last they are driven from one bay into another, or they advance into the sea and float about in Davis's Streight, till by moving southwards they are dissolved in more temperate la titude. I do not mean to say that all ice mountains in Davies's Strelght have their origin on Greenland, for some of them probably came front more distant legions : but I think it most probable that the greatest part of this sort of ire has been detached from the western coast, and from the eastern coast of Greenland, which they call Old Greenland."' "From this and other evidence which might be adduced, it is clear that the quantity of ice in the northern regions has undergone a very considerable and even rapid increase, and we are of opinion that this circumstance is sufficient to ac count for that deteioration of our climate which we set oat with deploring, and which if the same causes continue to act, is equally threatening to our at present more fortunate neigh bours upon the continent of Europe. t " It now becomes a question whether there are any hopes of amendment; whether matters may not take a turn the other way; arid whether by the gradual breaking up of the ice, the climate of this part of Europe may not regain its former state. In favour of this idea, it seems in the tirst place highly impro bable, from what we know of the beneficent adjustments of Nature, that there should be no remedy or compensation provided for so great au evil ; but, secondly, it seems that within the last year a very notable relaxation of the cold has actually taken place. East Greenland, as we have before mentioned, has not only been inaccessible, but even invisible for a long period ; but last year it was observed by one of the whalers, that the ice had there suffered a most astonishing decrease; that about two thousand square leagues had disap peared, and that land was again visible. We learn too from Copenhagen, that intelligence was there received in August last that the ice which from time iinmetuorial had interrupted the communication with East Greenland hail vanished. It is further probable that the process of thawing is going on to a yet go eater extent further north, for the ice islands met with in the Atlantic are almost entirely conveyed thither by the southern current which constantly runs in Davis's Streight, and they were last year much more iiiiii %emus than usual—many, and large ones, were even seen in 420 south latitude in the summer and autumn ut' 1816, and we think it by no means improbable that the extreme chillness of that season may in great measure be referred to these visitors from the north ; for the south-west winds could nut but have been chilled by passing over these frozen masses. We think there is one other remark worth recording, though we would not be understood to lay any stress upon its reference to, or connection with the more propitious state of the weather that we now look for—it is, that at the very time we heard of the thawing of the northern ice, and a consequent proba bility of the return of those regions to their former state, the westward variation of the magnetic tn-s tile begun to decline, and it is already retrograded some degrees towards due north. 1' From America, too, we learn, that in eons:quence of the coldness of the seasons, Indian corn will no longer ripen in New England, and that the farmers have consequently taken to the culti vation of wheat, which has suceeetled so weft, as to render it likely to supersede maze. The Duke of Clarence, at dinner given bitn by the Na% a Officers resident at Rath, lamented tin slate policy that 1..1(1 prevented hint front sharing their glories and iho t -. and leading such heroes as those present to victory a,. - nown. His Royal Highness's last toast was—" Toe . wheat, the land of oats, tile Laid of potatoes, and the laud oh leds.r.-Baiil 3Ail 4. SUBSCRIPTION FOR MR. HONE. A very crowded meeting. of persons styling themselves O. friends of the liberty of the press and trial by jury was held at the City of London tavern, agreeably to advertisement s to promote a subscription fur Mr. Hone. A few minutes befog one o'clock, Mr. Waithman, the chalnnau, accompanied by Sir Francis Burdett, anal several other gentlemen, entered Irons the Committee room. Mr. Waithinan, upon taking the chair, spoke to this effect: —Although he had now to resort that a person of greater abi lity than himself had not taken the chair, yet he never felt greater satisfaction then p'n the present occasion, because no object could be better calculated to save the liberties of En glishmen than the object of the present meeting. (Applause.) He had hail no previous acquaintance with Mr. Hone, and when, a few days previously to his trial, he had met him in the street, and showed hint the jury list, he scarcely recognized him. He had never read the parodies before the trial and though he had no taste for parodies, yet he had before this periOd seen many parodies, hut never before did he see a prosecution for a parody. There was no person who cosld doubt that, if those e'arodies had been written in favour of Ministers, and in ridicule of the reformers, Isis Majesty's Go. vernment would never have noticed them. [Applause.] If the object had been to rescue religion from insidious:Meeks, the laws were open, and they would have proceeded in the ordinary course. But be wished to state, although he was irregular in introducing any ohservations of this kind, [hear, hear.] the manner in which the prosecution was executed and conducted. When the Auspensien of the Habeas Corpus woe proposed, and various papers were referred to Committees of Parliament, a great deal was said to inflame the public mind, and to enrage it, not only against political writers, but against those who were desionneed as venders of blasphemy, In. stead of prosecuting—[here the speaker was interrupted by the entrance of Lord Cochrane, which called forth excessive peals of applause)—instead of prosecuting alleged offenders, as they would have dune if their object had been such as they pretended, they took quite a different course. They dragged Mr. Hone from the bosom of his family, subjected him to many vexatious distresses, and iestitnted prosecutions against him, after the constitution had been violated, and the most unf muted rumours hail been circulated to ensure a verdict for the Crown. He attended on the last day of the trials, and part of the other days, and witnessed the exertions of Mr. Hone in behalf of the liberties of Englishmen. [Applause.] He said the liberties of Englishmen, because their liberties were founded on the liberty of the press. [Applause.] He resolved on that day nothing in his power should be neglected to reward a man who had merited so much of his country. [Applause.] This meeting was instituted by a few who bail retired to a coffee-house, and who felt as Englishmen for a nuts who had antlered so much and exerted himself In a man ner so honourable to himself and so useful to his country. He had not a doubt but an intention so congenial to every English heart would be amply carried into effect, and Mr. Hone would be enabled to support himself, his wife, and his , family, with comfort and honour. [Great Applause.] Gen tlemen had prepared resolutions which would be read to the Meeting. Sir Francis Burdett rose to address the meeting amidst an uproar of applause. Those in the remote end of the room persisted to call upon the Hon. Baronet to stand upon the table. After some reluctance he complied. At length he thus addressed them :—He could not but feel extremely flattered by the manner in which they had received him ; at the same time the very few words he had to say to then would not justify so much anxiety to bear him. But if Ise were to enter lolly into the subject, lie should take more time than they could well apace: and there was in truth no subject of discussion, for the importance of the liberty of the press of England was well understood. The next to this most important subject, and next only to that subject, was the duty ofsupporting a struggling honest countryman, op. pressed by prosecutions on scandalous hypocritical press tences. [Great applause.] The resolution which Ise held in hie band was one pledging their support to a countryman in these distressed circumstances. They owed him a debt of gratitude for his manly exertions in their favour.—They were to express, too, their feelings, and those of the public at large, (for he believed the public were of the same opinion,) respecting, Cat, the false pretences on which the proseca , lion was founded, and then the oppressive manner in which lit was conducted. They were then first. to caplets their approbation; next, their gratitude; and then they were to repay. Agreeing, as be did, with the worthy chairman—and no maw, could disagree with to the liberty of tlw press and' the trial by jury, he would take the opportunity of saying, that there was no solid support for either, without a fair re presentation of the people in Parliament. [Great applause.) Without that, there was no security for either the liberty of the press or trial by jury. To this the people had as good a right as the king to his throne. They were no longer the deluded people—they were now fully aware of their griev. fasces and of theit rights. The many publications, written with so much indnstry and so ranch ability, on this subject, had produced decisive effect. So much progress had been made by the circulation of unanswerable reasoning in a plaits, easy, intelligible form, that what was once supposed beyopd the reach of human power, was actually effected, and the people of England, with one voice, demanded a reform in Parliament. This, too, was the period when it ought and must be adopted. The country was quite alive to the merit of Mr . Hone. Up to that ti me th e y owe d hi m a d e bt. H e said up to that time. They hail nothing to do with his future conduct; he bad no doubt but he would continue to act as an honest man ; but for Isis conduct up to that time he felt in. debted to Mr. Hone. The ability with which he defeated (he blushed to say it) the judges and the Court-lawyers excit ed his admiration. [Applause.] In the volumes of state trials, which were usually said to be libels on the judges, none could be foetid more oppressive than this. Against this pro. Iw:idiots Mr. Hone displayed a moral and intellectual power beyond all 'praise. The elasticity, the moral and intellectual miler he exercised was most animating, and would, he hoped, prove must beneficial to all his countrymen: bust par. titularly to every defendant in cases of libel. Another eetitleman, though not immediately brought under their ob servation, deserved the greatest honour for his successful exertions in correcting the list of special juries. Persons accused had been deprived of the great purpose of a trial by jury. That sategamd of ismocesice was thrown aside by the mana.ement of a cos rupt system, and an old, corrupt, worn 1111 i jury list I sik-red the trial by jury an instrument of cinch), and oppression. [Applause.] That individual, Mr. . Peas owl, by detecting this monstrous abuse, had laid the lona dation of Mr. Hour's triumph. This was a foretaste of the iit-slogs of a reformation in general. Juries would now be touml, not the toots or Government, hut honest Englishmen. friend, Mr. Horne Tooke, used w say, that the trial by F