3HT 1C 

 NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



one,, the melancholy effects of which have been so pathetically expatiated 

 on in the city, as to produce an extraordinary gloom throughout the 

 Fish-street Hill, Thames-street, and Billingsgate-market. It is neither 

 more nor less than the inconvenience the dinner-loving public are likely 

 to sustain by the embargo on the Dutch fishing-boats, and the conse- 

 quent stoppage of further abundant supplies of a most wholesome item 



of our daily consumption. Alderman , who has just commenced 



a series of public dinners, has taken the affair so much to heart, that, it 

 is supposed, his political conduct will be materially influenced. thereby. 

 A meeting of the principal dealers in fish will, of course, be held to 

 petition his Majesty on the present aweful crisis of affairs at Billings- 

 gate, and to beg him to dismiss his ministers. Alderman Scales, who 

 has warmly espoused the matter, will take the chair. The fishermen 

 must be supported. What is to become of our turbot and lobster sauce ? 



NETHERLANDS NEGOTIANT. The conduct of the Dutch King which 

 has been so repeatedly stigmatized as obstinate and self-willed, has more 

 reason in it than meets the apprehension of an ordinary observer. The 

 apparently simple fact of evacuating the fortress of Antwerp, involves 

 consequences, which the shrewd tradesmanlike eye of his majesty has 

 instantly foreseen. There is not a smarter tradesman in Europe, if we 

 except Mr. T. Baring, than the King of Holland, and not a more suc- 

 cessful speculator. He clings to Antwerp with the tenacity of an 

 alarmed vender, grasping his till from the professional clutch of a 

 dextrous conveyancer. 



When the Duke of Parma reduced Antwerp, after a most obstinate 

 defence, he closed the Scheldt. Up to this period Antwerp might be 

 considered the lichest city in Europe. Ships of every nation crowded to 

 to her harbour ; she was an entrepot for the wealth of the world. When 

 the source of their prosperity, the Scheldt, was closed, the wealthy and 

 industrious classes sought other fields for their enterprize, and thus 

 rose Amsterdam and the towns of Holland. Were the river free, the 

 produce of the Dutch Indies would all find its way to Antwerp, and 

 Amsterdam would gradually succumb to the superior advantages of the 

 situation of her rival. The prosperity of the Dutch cities has been 

 created and maintained by this unjust monopoly ; and so perfectly well 

 aware are the Dutchmen of this fact, that when the Emperor of Austria 

 contemplated the freedom of the river for the benefit of his Brabant 

 subjects, the Dutch averted their own ruin by an enormous bribe. The 

 rogues knew well the arguments most in vogue with the " father of his 

 people." 



" Ecelente Caballero 



Es Don Dinero !" 



is the Dutchman's motto. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that 

 the Royal Mynheer t( should contemplate with feelings of the deepest 

 alarm the present unnatural coalition," so the Tories term it, to make 

 him render to others their own. Whenever the balance of trade is 

 argued, the Dutch generally contrive to get the scales in their hands ; 

 like the gourmand in the play " they are not particular, the best in the 

 dish will do for them." Where . s. d. are concerned, who ever got to 

 windward of Nick Frog, but Old Nick himself. 



" Give him abuse, disgrace, and be may mock it, 

 But keep your hands out of his breeches pocket." 



