The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-01-16 00:00:00

whole, no favourable view of the condition of the Greeks,
confirms the statement of the mission from Constantinople
to the Morca. The rank of the parties shows that their
journey is deemed of the highest importance.

The modern system of Pot.rei CAI. ECONOMY has of late
attracted a great portion of the public attention, and as
several of cur leading Statesmen are not only numbered
among its patrons, but are about to apply its principles
practisally to the commerce of Great Britain, the influence
of those principles, whether for good or evil, will come to
be felt, at no distant periud,in all the concerns of trade, do-
mestic and foreign,—in all that affects the revenue of the
country—in all that touches the subsistence and well-
being of its population—in all that bears upon the interests
of its agriculture, its commerce, and its manufactures—in
a word, the merchant, the manufacturer, the monied capi-
talist, the farmer, the tradesman, the labourer, have their
interests all deeply and fearfully embarked in the result.
The stake is tremendous. It behoves every Member of
Parliament 19 acquaint himself thoroughly with the princi-
ples to which he is about to give effect. It behoves every
man in the kingdom to divest himself of all prejudice
in discussing the policy of this new system and its probable
operation. If its principles, however just in themselves,
should be improperly applied, the consequences may be
beyond the reach of remedy. For ourselves, whatever
opinions we may offer upon the subject will be offered
purely with a wish to assist in unfolding those principles,
and to throw whatever light we may be able upon the
foundations on which they rest. We have no interest but
the interest of the country, and of that stake which we all
have in its prosperity. We have no predilection in favour
of the old school of political economists; very far from it;
but we suspect the practice of our commercial forefathers
to have been much wiser than their theories, and that we
should do them great injustice were we to estimate their
knowledge of the true principles of trade by the mis-
chievous regulations for its government which abound in
our statute law.

If Great Britain were di ;encumbered of her public debt,
and were prepared to start on anything like equal terms
with her foreign competitors, no rivals could enter the lists
against her whose superiority she would have the slightest
reason to fear. Free trade could not fail to he beneficial ;
all would then be prepared alike to participate in its ad-
vantages. The liberal principles which we are note advo-
cating would Men be in harmony with times and circum-
stances; but if acted upon in the present state of things,
the very same system might tend to bring the whole of our
commerce into hazard, and to break up all the foundations
of property.
Mr. RICARDO, in his treatise " On else Principles of
Political Economy," has a chapter " On sudden changes
in the channels of trade," which, as his reputation stands
high, are well deserving of examination. On whatever is
connected with the bullion question, Mr. RICARDO writes
with a fulness of information that may always be con-
sulted with advantage. But when treating on other topics
of political science, he is by no means so safe a guide. He
was worthy and intelligent man, well acquainted with all
the arcana of the money-market, and who often trimmed
his midnight lamp while studying " The Wealth of
Nations." All his pursuits led that way, and he turned
his meditations to profit. But as fur that philosophic and
commanding intellect which qualifies a man to guide th*
opinions of the world, he was at an immeasurable distance
from it. His Treatise on Political Economy shows his
claim to dictatorship on this science to be very slender.
His style is for the most part vague and confused; he deals
too much in assertions which he makes no attempt to prove ;
and he never, in any one instance, takes that profound
view of his subject which is essential to its illustration.
Let us take the Silk Manufacture, for instance, as one that
would induce the reader to seek for information, as to
the manner in which it was likely to be affected
by " the sudden changes in the channels of trade." The
greater part of the looms belong, as is well known, to the
workmen; if, therefore, they are thrown out of employ
the value of this their fixed capital is destroyed. If the
British Silk Trade is unable to bear up against foreign
, competition the costly machinery of the silk-throwster is
likewise rendered useless. When we inquire the result of
' this situation of things, we are told by Mr RICARDO that
" In rich and powerful countries, where large capitals are
invested in machinery, more distress will be experienced
from a revulsion in trade than in poorer countries, where
there is proportionally a much smaller amount of fired,
and a much larger amount of circulating capital, and where
consequently more work is done by the labour of men. It
is not so difficult to withdraw a circulating as a fixed capital
from any employment in which it may be engaged. It is
often impossible to divert the machinery which may have
been erected for one manufacture to the purposes of
another; but the clothing, the food, and the lodging
of the labourer in one employment may be devoted
to the support of the labourer in another ; or the same
labourer may receive the same food, clothing, and lodging
while his employment is changed. This, however, is an evil
to which a rielm nation must submit; and it would not be
more reasonable to complain of it, than it would be in a rich
merchant to lament that his ship was exposed to the
dangers of the sea, whilst his poor neighbour's cottage was
safe from all such hazard."—(c. xix, p. 311.)
We have a strong objection to a comparison which, like
the one at the close of this paragraph, is worth nothing in
the way of illustration, and only serves to abstract the atten-
tion of the reader from the errors contained in the reason-
ing which precedes it. As to the loss of all the capital
vested in their machinery, this is very coolly considered as
an evil to which the manufacturers must submit. But
it is the task of the political economist to combat
this difficulty instead of thus escaping from it. Mr. RICARDO
treats this calamity—without regard to what may be the
cause of it—as if it were inseparable from a rich nation
as such ; and as if it would be as useless and as unjust for
the manufacturer to murmur at it, as for a farmer to re-
monstrate against the blight of the spring or the smut of
the harvest; whereas it was his duty to have dwelt in
detail on the conseqUences which would result from this
annihilation of the fixed capital of any great branch of ma-
nufacturing industry. He should have demonstrated the
mischievous effects that must inevitably arise from the de-
struction of that most invaluable of all capital in a commer-
cial country—Us machinery, the great mine of all its
wealth. With regard to the workmen, which this revul
sion, as it is called, throws out of employ, from the easy
way in which this point is disposed of, their fate is not
made to excite any sot t of sympathy, nor is the event itself
looked upon with any sort of alarm ; and this happens from
its being put before the reader as if it were the case o'
a single workman—" the clothing, the food, end the lodg-
ing of the labourer in oat employment may be devoted t )
the support of Me labourer in another; or the same labourer
may receive the same food, clothing, end lodging, whilst
his employment u changed." Now, it is true that there'.

••••••5
I will not be much difficulty in applying the funds which
subsisted one workman to the support of anollter in a iliTer-
ent description of employment, nor for an individual
thrown out of one branch of industry to get. his bread in
some other. But when, as in the silk trade, you destroy a
staple manufacture, and, throw at least tArce 11140thrd 11,4.
sand workmen nut of employ, from what source can they
be supplied with NTNE 3111.1.10N:4, paid as the wars of
their labour, and with which they were dallied, and fr*ed,
and fid? Now is this mass of the population to fence
against the misery that must overtake them? It is very
easy to dispose of these nine millions upon paper to ti,e
maintenance of operatives in some other employment, but
in the reality of life distress is not so readily remcv,d.
The political economist treads opon velvet in all his sprrn-
lations. Judging from his statement, we should be led to
imagine that the population, in whatever numbers thiy
were thrown out of employ, had no further concern than to
turn their industry into some other channel, aireays (Ten !J
1/,cm. But alas ! this is sadly the reverse of the feet.
When the manufacturing community is once thrown into
disorder, the remedy is not easily within reach, and the
community is soon made to feel that the reasenlogs of the
theorist are not trust-worthy.

We are far from denying to Mr. RTCARDO a very con.
siderable share of talent; we honor his memory, and have
no wish to displace him from the rank he holds in the esti-
mation of his disciples ; hut where the great mercantile
interests of the country are at stake, all his doctrines which
interfere with them must be content to undergo a severe
and scropnlous investigation, and to this investigation we
shall have occasion to subject them. If the old commercial
system is to be set aside, it is important that we should look
well to the new materials with which it is to be replaced.
It may be that they are greatly superior ; if so, they will
the better bear the scrutiny. In all great changes it is wise
to leave as little as possible to accident. That we have
made a considerable advance, of late years, in the science
of politics, all must admit, and we would willingly do all
we could to aid its further progress. Some there are, how.
ever, who have studied the subject with philosophical at.
tention, who fear that we are not yet ripe for the applica-
tion of those principles which, in another era, and under
different circumstances, might be acted upon with advan-
tage. Upon this point we will offer no opinion. Our only
task will be, to bring the system, as much as possible, within
the limits of fair investigation. To treat the principles not
as a subject of party controversy, but of impartial de-
eussion, and to examine them in all the difficult and hn-
pcHrtant relations in which they present themselves.
When we next recur to the subject, which we shall do in
a day or two, we shall examine the doctrines of Mr. RI•
C•ELDO on the subject of a Ace trade in Corn.

CITY, SATURDAY EVINIRG.
There were considerable transactions in the British Funds
this morning, which had at their first opening an evident
tendency to improve; but from the circumstance of sever al
commercial failures having been r plred—at least tint
was the reason assigned fur the subl,:(Lomt depru.sion, ard
we are inclined to believe it the trua one—Cunsols declined,
and with them every other security. The embarrassments
that were spoken of to-day woul I, in ordinary times, have
had no effect whatever on the markets, but the recent alarm
has left them in that agitated state, that any unfavourable
circumstance, of the moat trivial kind, now depr,:sses them.
However, this is one of the many evil results that must
accrue from the late frightful convulsion, and it will probably
be a length of time before it passes away. The transactions
in Consols at one part of the day were very considerable.
Business was done briskly in them on their opening at
which price continued for some time, but afterwards
they declined for the present Account to Si and closed at
11. The concluding bargains for the Fobruary Account
were Sli 2. Reduced Stock was quoted at Sly}.
chetpier Bills were 4s. Is. 3s. premium.

Jobbers and Brokers in the Foreign market wise chi •fly
occupied in making up their accounts for Mawlay's (this
day's) settlement, and it was therefore very inactive as to
general. business. Colombian Bands were reported at 63H ;
Mexican Six per Cents. at 661; Greek Bonds at 14 13 ;
Spanish ditto at 13i 14; and Russian Bonds at 83}
The Share Market still continues without interest, at least
to speculators, who do not look beyond the mere fluctuation
of prices.

It was understood that Count Eleven, the Russian Am-
bassador, received despatches from his Government yester-
day morning, brought by a courier to his Excellency's
house in Dover-street, Piccadilly. They were, it is to be
presumed, of much importance, as his Excellencyproceeded
shortly afterwards to the Secretary of State's Office far.
Foreign Affairs, in Downing-street, for the purpose of
communicating with Mr. Secretary Canning; but the
Right Hon. Gentleman having some time previous left
town for Windsor, his Excellency remained for about half
an hour, between two and three t; clock, with Mr. Planta,
the Under Secretary of State.
The Paris papers announce that the Duke of Montmo-
rency has been named Govertm to his It9yal Highness rue
Duke of Bordeaux.

On the ant of December the Marquis da Silva, the
Brazilian Ambassador at the Court of Vienna, was received
in a saletnn audience by his Majesty the Emperor of Aus-
tria and the Archdukes. The empire of Brazil is thus
recognised. as one of the number of independent states.—
Conalitationoel.
General Milarodowitch, who was killed in the tumult at
St. Petersburgh, gained a great name by his krillignt
valour and his enterprising character. During the amita
campaign of 1812, the Russians compared him to the EL.
King of Naples, Joachim Murat, for his heroic valour.—
Paris Paper.
We learn by a letter from Nap'es Bay, dated..Decetnher
19, that the Right Hon. Stratford Canning, his Majesty's
Ambassador to the Porte, had Railed for Constantinople. in
the Revenge, 78, Sir C. Burrard, bearing the flag of Vice-
Admiral Sir Harry Neale, Bart. G.C.B. and that the
Thetis, 46, Sir John Phillimore, had in consequence sailed
on her return to England.—Hampshire Telegraph.
The Paella of Egypt, in order to infuse the requisite de-
gree of valour into his naval officers, has, it is announces!,
put a man on hoard every Egyptian ship, who fins ord. rs
to cut off the Captain's head if he does not do him dui V
The Captain's headsman is, we presume, to be the judge
whether or not duty has been neglected; and, perhaps, to
insure the fulfilment of his task, and as a reward for faith-
ful services, he is to succeed to the Captain's rank, with a
new headsman for himself, who may calculate on similar
promotion. - _
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