The National Register.
London, England, 1808-01-04 00:00:00

No. 1.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

NeMBER ON.

STATE OF OF THE NATION.

It is a practice which would prove no less beneficial to a
nation than to a private trader, to make up a distinct account
of its actual situation at the close of every year;, to observe the
proportion of the loss and gain which had befallen it during the
preceding twelve months ; and to consider how the one might be
diminished and the other increased, in a succeeding period. It
is from ignorance of what has happened even to themselves, from
inattention to those lessons which experience
,is constantly en-
deavouring to impress on their minds, that nationg, like indivi-
duals, are perpetually recommitting the blunders fur which they
Lace already smarted, or deploring the want of advantages
which are already in their power. The past, when unobsersed,
fails to instruct ; and the future, when seen through the dusky
maze of mere uninformed conjecture, presents nothing but a
chaos in which ;di is visionary hope, or groundless apprehen-
sion.

Were our limits as extensive as our wishes. we should endea-
vour to make up the national accounts, to deduce the balance of
its profits and losses from a comparison with a former period,
to ascertain the causes which led to prosperods or pernicious
results, and, aided by the powerful voice of experience, to In-
culcate upon our countrymen, the course which their own wel-
fare requires them to pursue.
But our labours for the use of the public are as yet only in
their commencement ; we have not had an opportunity to dere-
lope to our countrymen the real nature of preceding transac-
tions; and the political events, even of the last twelvemonth,
arc sufficiently numerous, important, and intricate, to require
a volume for their detail, discussion, and due appreciation.
But is hat lies within our power we shall endeavour to effect :
we shall attempt to draw up an inventory of the national affairs,
from the commencement of the present year, and to inform the
public, as briefly as possible, of the situation in which the in-
terests of our country are placed both at home and abroad.
Every succeeding week will afford us an opportunity of point-
ing out the progressive changes in this state of things: and the
commencement of another year will be the period for striking a
balance. •
Our internal condition still, displays an undiminished vigour
and a progressive advancement. Our *Friculture, the funda-
mental source of national wealth, daily*ceives fresh improve-
ments: societies, established for the
„Purpose, encourage and
promulgate the discoveries of cultivators ; the great and thy•
rich proprietors employ themselves in those extensive experi-
ments which are beyond the means of the farmer; and large and
unproductive wastes are continually reclaimed to useful vegeta-
tion. Our manufactures increase in number and refinement with
the increase of our population and wealth : our internal com-
merce, the great instrument for diffusing comfort and riches
through every part of the nation, and our coasting trade, the
main prop of our maritime greatners; display an equally extcn-
stie augmentation. •
1.14. T.