The National Register.
London, England, 1808-01-03 00:00:00

• STATE OF TIIE 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 loss and gain which had befallen It during the
preceding twelve months ; and to consider how the one might he
diminiilied and the other encreased, 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 nations, like indivi-
duals, are perpetually recommitting the blunders for which they
have already smarted, or deploring the want of advantages
which are already in their power. The past, when unobserved,
fails to instruct ; and the future, when seen through the duskL
maze of mere uninformed conjecture, presents nothing but`
chaos in which all 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 bafnnce of
its profits and losses from a comparison with a former periodt,
to ascertain the causes which led to prosperne; or pernicious
results, and, aided by the powerful yoke U experience, to in-
culcate upon our countrymen, the course which their own wel-
, fare requires them to pursue.
Bit our labours for the use of the public ate as yet only in
their commencement ; we have not had an opportunity to deve-
lope to oar countrymen the real nature of preceding transac-
. lions; and the political events, even of the last twelvemonth,
are sufficiently numerous, important, and intricate, to require
a volume for their detail, discussion, and due appreciation.
But *hat lies within our power we shall endeavour to effect:
• we shall attempt to draw upon inventory of the national affairs,
for the commencement of the present year, .and to inform the
public, as brikly 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 agriculture, the funda-
mental source of national wealth, daily receives fresh improve-
metes : societies, established for the purpose, encourage and
promulgate the discoveries of cultivators; the great and the
rich proprietors employ themselves in those extensive experi-
ments which are beyond the means of the farmer ; and large and
unproductivie 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 greatnesst display an equally exten-
sive augmentation.
POL. I.—No. I.

/..:

Mee
; people t malt . Int
odious quarrels witlgtheir teachers; the poor laws still lay their.
iron hands on the industrious, and give encouragement to idle-.
ness and vice: the want of cheap and general means for educa-!
tion still leaves a large portion of thepeople of England in la-
mentable ignorance, with all its attendantitaiseries and crimes :
the remains of the feudal institutions are dl owed to encroach on
the equal rights of the nation, and the proprietors of land still-
retain the privilege of cheating their just creditors with im-
punity.
Yet are not these blots on our national prosperity to he con-
sidered as any signs of degeneracy, as evils which we have in-
curred by recent misconduct : their baneful influence has long
hung upon onr.political constitution, and we are now making
greater efforts than ever to shake off the distemper. Plans for
commuting the tythes have been suggested; devices have been
presented to the Legislature for the gradual abolition of the
poor laws; methods for the education of the lower classes have
there also been discussed, and warmly approved; while a bill
for the partial abolition of the ignominious privilege of the
landed proprietors has been introduced into Parliament by one
of the greatest lawyers of our age. Though ignorance and
prejudice may, for a while, maintain their sway, these facts
prove, that the sun of knowledge and improvement is rapidly
rising on our country.
There is one, and perhaps only one cause of fearful presage,
which seems to blacken as we advance, and threatens, ultimate-
ly, to overcast the national glory with its baleful shade. It,
cannot be dissembled, that our public burthens have, in the
course of a few years, increased to an amazing degree, unprece-
dented in the history of any other nation; that our taxes Lye
been necessarily augmented in the same distressing proportion;
that, after laying, on nearly every article, as great impositions
as they could bear, without diminishing the consumption, our
government has, at length, been obliged to have recourse to
direct and galling taxes, which send the tax-gatherer into our
houses, and compel every man to a disclosure of his private
affairs :—these evils cannot be dissembled, and no adequate
remedy has yet been devised. We do not overlook the merits
of the Sinking Fund, but we distrust its efficacy, especially •
under its present modifications, when we compare the amount
of the annual loans with the amount of the annual redemption.
We derive no consolation from those recent palliatives, which
only put off the evil to a future day; and we see no prospect
of those decisive economical retrenchments, without which, we
fear, the ultimate catastrophe cannot be averted.
Temporary facilities ought to be taken into the account, as
well as permanent advantages. Our finances present a most-
flourishing appearance, and even exceed, in productiveness,
the calculations of our Ministers. The intricate laws, relative
to the income tax, have becatnebetter understood; our tax-p-
-tberers have become more expert by practice; our wealth and
population are greatly on the increase; and, in spite of adverse
circumstances, even our custom-house duties are unusually pro-
ductive. Our national credit stands as high, and our facility of

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POLITICAL DISQUISITION.
, , - Thi; exhrtirating prospect, however, is not without its
I========i • darker shades. Tie tythe-laws still serve to turn the hearts of
it - NUMBER ONE.
the people against literality and religion, by embroiling them in.
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