Star.
London, England, 1820-08-03 00:00:00

We are requested to publish the following Lena
as particularly claiming the attention of those who
have been improperly treated under this complaint:

TO VIE EDITOR 07 THE STAR.
Stn—Observing a paragraph in your Paper respecting the
.oare of an Hernia • (of a large sire), by. the Medical 'Board, at
'Charlotte-House, Great Charlottie-strett, Elackfrida-coad, in
justice to Wm; ei•Orza and Co. I add my persmal testimony.
Having been afflicted nearly no yeas, sad deemed inettrable by
eminent Surgeonsi I patiently bpre my affliction, expecting every
hone to be my last: I at length applied to the Medical Board,
ir.tiliave reason to pray for that excellent Establishment, far al-
tbovgly I am nearly 10, I was perfectly cured in a few weeks, and
now, thank ton, enjoy good health. C. CLEVELAND.
Hog and Stile, Se. Georgei-fields.
Messrs. COOPER and Co. are consulted at Wood,
Istock,House Woodstock-street, dAily, and at Char-
lotte-Houke, -.eat Chkrlotte-street, opposite the Rfv.
'RowlandHill's' Chapel. Mecbinics hair 'Advice
gratis every' Ereni at, froth' SilL till' Eight ; and ian
'Sunilai Mornings tuna Twelirto'Cibtk. •
Private. Doors at each' nutty and Paivate
Doors for Females.

I REPTEW,OF THE iiDINNURGH It MEW
' OP- MIL OWIIN'S PLAN FOR -itlLiktiitlen THE
NATIONAL riiintts3.-lIT an. A. bOtNLOP.
Mr. Ricardo is certainly much indebted to the Re-
viewers for the clear, explicit; and concise manner in
which they have detailed his principles of political
economy ; but he would hate been still more in-
debted to them, had they acknowledged these prin-
ciples to be his, and not attempted to pass them on
she Reader for their own. -
In the recent and existing scramble for power be-
tween the Whigs and the Tories, the former have ge-
nerally monopolised nearly the.whole science which
has been displayed in Parliament, while the latter are
not only deplorably ignorant, but are even conscious
of a total want of information on many subjects, on
which, as Ministers, it is necessary for their leaders
to decide. On no one subject has this modest con-
sciousness of ignorance been more conspicuously dis-
played, than-on that of political economy ; on which
these Ministers have, with the most perfect apathy,
seen themselves impelled from side to side, like a
political shuttlecock, by their more learned oppo-
nents. And it may be doubted, whether they have
been urged to the adoption of the most ruinous mea-
sures with- a view to create, or rather to augment,
.their own unpopularity, or whether their prompters
have really themselves been deceived. The Re-
viewers most accurately state that, " In all the
sciences, except those which relate to number and
quantity, a principle is nothing more than a general
rule, ascertained by the process of induction, from an
examination of particular cases. To lay down a prin-1
ciple, therefore, is merely to assert that some one at-
tribute or circumstance, is common to a whole class
of phenomena ; and if, upon actual observation; or
experiment, this attribute is found not to be com-
mon to the class, the. assumed principle must neces-
sarily be erroneous." By this just and well-defined
rule we shall proceed to examine some of the princi-
ples laid down by the Reviewers. 4, In old and ad-
vanced countries (say they) the great obstacle to the-
-1 further increase of wealth and- population is-the re-
duced effective power of agricultural industry,
brought on by the necessity of resorting to inferior
soils for additional supplies of raw produce." live
would ask the Reviewers, to what countries they
alluded by the terms ,4 old and advanced ?" France
is older in civilisation than England'; but the latter
has made the most rapid advance in wealth, and is
-undoubtedly the country, the present situation of
which, the Reviewers intend to elucidate. That the
increase of population causes recourse to be had to
inferior soils, and-that the cultivation of interior soils
' leedt-directly to reduce the profits of stock, we most
readily admit ; but that the present general distress
in the British Islands arises principally from this
cause, we most pointedly deny. During the greater
part of the wars of the French Revolution these •
islands were reduced to depend for subsistence on
their own production in a much'greater degree that=
they had been for the period prevsous. to the wir, or •
for•that since the peace took.place. During the war,
the• population increased with 'a rapidity unprece--
dented in these islands; a sure proof that wealth was
not then on the decline ;. and in no etlnal period of
our- history was such a rapid advance made in the
cultivation of our soil, both by the increased applica-
tion-of capital on the more fertile lands, and by re-
currence to soils very-inferior to whit had been cul-
tivated since the peace. For it seems to have escaped
the Reviewers' consideration, that the first breaking
up of inferior soils generally renders them very far
superior to what they were before, and that conti-
nued- cultivation often changes them into land of
good quality. If, therefore, during a period of twenty
years, of our most extraordinaryrecurrence from !Ad
to worse soils for our subsistence, this general dis-
tress was not felt, but commenced at a period when
supplies of food from foreign countries made it both
unnecessary and unprofitable to have further re-
course to inferior soils, and continued gradually in-
creasing through -five years, during which some of
the worst lands were annually thrown out of culti-
vation, we must look to some other cause or causes
for the present prevalent distress, " than to the ne-
cessity of resorting to. inferior soils for additional
supplies of raw produce." From the. year.l6l3 to
this of 11120, " our climate has not changed ; our sun
is as warm ; our admirable machinery for the abridr
ment and perfecting of labour, has in no way dete-
riorated ; our working classes have, as yet, lost no-
thing of their wonted- industry, energy, and skill ;"
and we certainly do not now cultivate such inferior
soils as we did seven years ago, when the breaking
up of commons was at the height: yet in these seven
years the country has stank from prosperity to a state
of unprecedented misery, and we conceive that a very
adequate and coincident 'cause may be pointed out
as producing this effect, 'and one which would not
have escaped the sagacity of the Reviewers, had it not
been called into action at the argent instance of that
political party which the Reviewers have embraced.
All political' economists have admitted, that taxes
laid on labourers must *ultimately Tall on the capital
which.employs these labourers, because the Wages of
labour consist in the necessaries which the labourer
receives in recompense for his toil, rather than':in
the money with which he freqUently
.bnys these ne-
cessaries; whatever, therefore, tends to enhance the
price of those- corn in edities which the labourer con-
sumes,. tends at the same time to diminish the profit
on the sock which employs-the labourer. It is also
nearly self-evident, that, the higher the rate of tax.
ation affecting income is carried, the lower the yam
of prdfit must beehine. 'All taxes, *therefore, which
are paid either-by the lAourer, 'or by the akricßl.
!twist; niannfiettireri Cal mere h anti becomedhintitai
'diminutions to the: profit of stock. 'And, iheriefitett
as taxes affecting the, lower and middle ditsertise
atisinented, so in proportion the profits on. %get
'toast t E, • and the. . encoarageMent to test it in
1
, the ' Ojfinent of -labour 'must consequently-6mi- ,
nish. is is exactly what has taken place through

the urgent instance of the political party with whkh-
'the kevieWers act. in 1413 the circulation was al- '
together paper, which, from the time of the restricia-
tion on the Bank Of England, hid gradually become
depreciated, till two pounds money of the Mint
would exchange for about three pounds of the tit.
culating paper. But, as the public but diens (tildeit,
-tithes, and pook•rrates), amounting to 'about ninety
millions, were then payable in this depreciated paper,
so, in fact, our ppblic burthens.for that year did in.
reality. amount only to about sixty millions of Mint
money. In the progress, however, of our return to
a metallic currency of the old Mint standard, a re-
gard to its Own interest obliged the Bank of England
to narrow its discounts, till its paper should be
broug'it -to an equal value with the metal which
might be demanded in exchange for it ; and thus, in
1820, the public hurthens (taxes, tithes, an 4 poor-.
`pates), amounting to about eighty millions, in reality
as well as nominally,.a-re in fact about one-tried
more considerable Than they were in 1813. alae
-proportion also of the taxes which fall on the low*
and middle classes. is at present much greater that
it was in 181$, so that we may probably not be far
distant froth the truth, in_estiniati ng the p: oportion
of the income derived from capital employed in in.
dustry, whiCh is at present absorbed by the payment
of public burthens, at about double what it was im
1813. This we conceive to be a much more pro-
bable solution of the cause of the present distils,
than the recourse to the cultivation of inferior soils,
which have not, in fact, been had recourse to during
the last five years of this Progressive distress.
Although we perfectly join the Reviewers in think-
ing that nothing can "be more fallacious than Mr.
Owen's idea, that the- want of employment oligi-
tikes in our abundant machinery, being convinced,
that until the desire of enjoyment shall become li-
mited in the human mind, want of employment can
only be occasioned either by want of capital, or of
sufficient inducement to employ capital in industry,
by the too great reduction of the general profits of
stock ; yet we are by no means so confident that
land; whether good or bad, cannot be cultivated on
the plan of Mr. Owen's villages, with advantage
both to the individuals and to the Public at large.--
We have great doubts ishe-,;•er individuals can be so
'trained as to exert theniseives in industry for the
benefit of a'comrrian stock; but if such exertion can
be generally induced, we should then entertain little
• doubt of the success of Mr. Owen's Plans, having
witnessed the very economical manner in which a
numerous society can be fed, clothed, and lodged,
in comparison of what the maintenance of the same -
nutnber of people would cost, v. hen detached in se-
parate families. The Reviewers very triumphantly,
remark, that "Mr. Owen, indeed,
..fancies- he can
overcome all these difficulties by the adoption of
spade cultitation ; but we tell him, without fear of
vontradiction, that spade cultivation, so far from
being capable bf working the miracles he supposes,
is-less profitable than. cultivation by the - plough.
-:-W4, in-the iniproved-husbandry of this country,,
ha't the spade 'been in so great a degree supplanted,
brthe plbugff? Oiily hocause experience has con-
vinced the farmer thatthe plough is the cheapest in-
strumentof production, and by employing it he ob.
tains a greater net produce." By this itinestieur and
answer the Reviewers seem to think that the subject is
set at rest.:' We, !lei:ever, have here the misfortune tp
differ very Widely froM their. In a thinly inhabited
country, such as America, where the wages of human
labour is high, and where the -price and subsistence
of heists is low, you may: perhaps sometimes pro-
cute the' labour. of half a dozen boric' for as little
monetas You would be obliged to pay for that of
obe man ; While: in the most populous provinces of
Chin, the Iaboor: -Of -six men can be pi ocurect, not
only: at the .'price of that of one; horse, but even at .
the price of that of one strong working bullock.—
The natural_ and necessary consequences follow in
these two different states of society.
.In America,
Man is rarely :employed to do any work which can
be perforiiied by horses, and in the most populous
parts of China the. plough is never used.
- . That the experience of the British farmers has
proved to them that the plough was superiorto the
spade husbandry, in one stage of population, we have
not the smallest doubt; and we caahave just as little
doubt, that if the population-of this country thoulck
continue to increase, a period will arrive, when their-
experience will,equally prove 'to them, that the spade
is superior to the plough in all soils. Nevertheless,
this lesson will not be taught equally soon on all de-
scriptions 'oftand. Broken, rocky, and deep boggy,.
1 soils, will be adiantageously cultivated with the
spadelting befOre the plough can be profitably given
up on mote level, sound, and dry.lands. Whether
'We have-yet arrived. at that period of population
when the spade can with propriety be adopted on any
foil, for, genetar. cultivation, we will not premee
positively to . say ; at the same tirpe we cannot but
think,-that if Other employment cannot bir.p*Atrud
for•ii liveitiOrtionof the people, 'to olalblf4
ter to Totgte some of them sq,:k;r. qwer4 picirguid
villages, Ivbere they would at least astna.pa-t, if-not
the %Obit, of-their subsistence, than to let them
either remain in absolute idleness, or to employ them
according to Lord Ca.stlereagh'* •flaiev is iliggipg
holes and filling them tip again; by neithep of which
mOdei, they woul4 'contribute, in any. degree, to Their
owp Support. . ;. ...:gt.
.• .
The Reviviewobseyve,'" We would, appeal to his '
(Mr. Owen s).-sobeitzninded consideration, whether
dkdivi4i4 the 'country- into districts or farms of-a
ehoueillid acres each, could improve the quality oc
th9Se. inferior to whiCh -we, are obliged to mon
fin' the su bagel?".. :To which we most p Fi*,
**Ay Telt -._
ja,frai years of ,spade la botrnapeked,
stit:olt cer,tas
ity;tzszest Inany (Oar infer*, 4110 vtty
:Qd 344,p trte Oh i. while ix.;covid .ICtrcely
low
`Tie; emihedto miel:&,„. 4494 ~,..ay. *saying
their qua'l'
ity. Bat in which theJteniewm,
rhateiviitien, may be gathered. from the following
paragraph ;---" We would entreat him to explain in