The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-11-14 00:00:00

ira EDITOR OF THE STATESMAN.

poring the continuance of 22 years war the
„.. of Great I3ritain, placing an overweening
• Sit!once in the virtue and integrity of their rot-
,lireetors, contentedly endured every variety
erplication, constantly indulging the fond hope, that
thy establishment of peace would at once relieve their
opringc, amt open to their view such an unclouded
presect of future prosperity and repose, as would
co„,rbsate them for every, sacrifice. It was repre-
v„,,.l by some, end expected by others; that upon
ow termination of hostilities trade would revive, tales
odd decrease, plenty would abound, and the triur-
Ins of discontent be overpowered by the jocund
vociferations of merriment and festivity. How woful
has been the disappointment, the present langour and
sullenness of the country too fatally explain ! There
I:, indeed, an apparent cessation from hostile acts ;
Lit %here are the anticipated blessings of peace?—
The tradesman can neither sell his wares, nor the
agriculturist his produce ; extents for taxes, distresses
for rents, n lid executions for debts, are the prevailing
topics of discussion in every parish ; and the sympathy
excited amongst numbers by their reciprocal com.
mubications of distress, seems alone to preserve the
unhappy sufferers from silent desperation. Our
parishes are burthened with millions of poor ; our
cities aid towns are crowded with misses of
nottruployed men and women, urged by necessity to
heroine bogctrs, thieves, or prostitutes ; the lands
remain unfilled for want of capital already exhausted
by taxes, poor rates, excessive rents, or expensive
labour ; bankruptcy, with all its concomitant evils,
Treads its contagion, like the plague, from house to
Yos,e, and misery and complaint follow each other
is unremitting succession. I was reflecting with des
ommlesicy on this consummation of national afflic-
t; •;!, when my gloomy meditations were agreeably
i, te,rupted by your Paper of Saturday evening, con.
hining Mr. Cooper-It's very entertaining epistle to
tlt (.:lANCRLLOR of the ExcitEotrEa, who will hare
I.lohab'y so much to do in answering the memorials
of the farmers on the subject of their grievances, as
to require the united aid of all the talents in the Ca.
and though I am utterly at a loss to conjec.
!lire what Ministers may, in their wisdom, attempt
, relieve the country, I fully agree with Mr. Cox-
strT in thinking, that " something must be done,"
aatlas Macbeth says, " If it be done (to the pur-
p.,se). when 'xis done, it were well 'twere done
rick(y."
The country is now in the condition of one en-
f,ebled and emaciated by long continued quackery;
um prospective schemes and si.eculative remedies of
I,,,!itical adventurers, will no longer inspire confi-
4..tore, or repress impatience. Oar hopes of relief
1•. ce been so long deferred, and at last so completely
that.few can have the audacity to re-
tpc re faith in the successful operation of fut thvr es-
-I,eHments. In this discouraging state of thing,, it is
it rr tibt presumptuous to suggest any expedient, how-
rs-r beta-ticial and practicable; for if the sagacity of
wia in power, who have been so liberally rewaided
ht the country, for attempting every thing and doing
molting, at last is ineffective, hew can it be expected
that the suggestions of vulgar and obscure individuals
should be regarded ? If we look back to what we
might have done, we regret the past—if we contem-
plate %hat is to be done, we despair of the future.—
I tit projects generate ideas only of new taxes and
fte,h exercises of arbitrary oppression. Instead,
then, of expecting any thing from visionary projec-
lms, absorbed in luxury and contaminated with cor-
ruption, who have already led a facile and generous
;smile into the labyrinths of insolvency, there to re-
main amidst inextricable difficulties, let us just ex-
am:ste what has formerly been performed by other
Powers with advantageous effect, and if it be pos.
sihle, let us avail ourselves of their measures, and
imitate their example.

The ;midi,: Fisheries and the uncultivated lands of
this kingdom, though thought undeserving of consi-
(ligation, whilst the parer bubble was expanding,
nil now, perhaps, when it is preparitig to burst, be
found of some importance to the nation, and may,
prove to be its only resources. The im-
portance of our fisheries, especially the Herring
121`her, may be best discovered and illustrated by re-
ferring to the history of our neighbours, the Dutch, a
people who, without either lands or mines, became,
by means of our fisheries, the most wealthy, as well
its the most powerful nation in Europe,and are, again
at this moment, proceeding to pursue the same methods
of acquiring political wealth and power. It will
give us some idea of the vast advantages of the public
fishery, if we consider that in the beginning of the
17th century the Dutch employed on our coasts above
Ii(X) vessels of various descriptions; and in the Her-
ring Fishery, round the coast, from Scotland to the
bowns, they employed above a hundred thousand
mariners. The profits arising from this traffic were
incalculable. Dr. BENJAMIN WOILSLEY, in a valua-

lion of the Dutch imports of fish, made in the reign
Of CHARLES 11., who was a zer.lous promoter of the
fisheries, stated the the fishing aleve of Holland
produced a greater sum than either the manufactures
and commodities of EttglAnd or France, or the pro-
duce of Old and New Spain. In fact, about the
time of the Revolution, the Dutch agreed to pay the
English Government an annual tribute of 100.0001.
Only for lenve to fish on our shores; but as King
WILLIAM soon afterwards was called to the Throne,
it was never required ; on the centrary, we were
Persuaded to purchase our fish of than) instead of