1816.] 



Improved Steam. Boats. — Lotteries, 



or a very high sea, tlie vessel is able to 

 stand it, or run into a port, which the 

 present stcain-hoats, from their flimsy 

 and open constrnction, caimot do with- 

 out risk. If they should happen to ship 

 a sea, tliey must titlicr founder, or the 

 sea, by extinguishing the fire, will reduce 

 the vessel to a helj)lrss log. I may be 

 told, that the experiment of steam-boats 

 sailing (or rather steanjing) on the sea 

 Las been successfully tried ; it has been 

 so under favourable circumstances, but 

 I am afraid they would make a poor 

 figure in a gale of \\ iiid going through 

 Portland J Jace, or some parts of tlie Eng- 

 lish C'hamicL 



6tl). The vessel containing the engine, 

 (which we siiall call a stcam-dragger,) 

 acting like a team of horses on the 

 water, may be hired out and employed 

 in dragging ships or lighters of any size, 

 i;|) and down rivers, out of harbours, 

 and out of bays, when land-locked. It 

 may be oljjceted, tliat any vessel dragged 

 in fiiis manner, will not sail so expedi- 

 tiously as if she had the engine on 

 board. This may partly be remedied 

 J>y having the engine in the dragger 

 of a very strong power; instead of having 

 an engine of twenty-four horses power 

 in the steam-boat, which is thought to be 

 sulficicnt for the largest (at present in 

 use), let the engine in the dragger be of 

 thirty or thirty-six horses power : this 

 force I humbly conceive is sullicient to 

 tow a line-ol-battle ship against wind 

 or tide. 



It uuist be understood, that the ves- 

 sel containing the engine. See. being built 

 on purpose, may be sullicicntly strong 

 to resist tiie action or working of the 

 most powerUil engine; and, if this im- 

 provement hv. acted upon, an engine may 

 be set afloat of suliicicnt force to tow a 

 fleet all at the same time; I shall con- 

 clude with a case in point. 



A large ship, heavy laden, and bound 

 for tlie East Indies, was wind botnid, 

 about two iimuihs ago, in a port in Scot- 

 land, and iniglit have been kept there 

 lor several wri'ks; but, upon taking the 

 assistance of a steam-boat, (which had 

 gone to the jiort by accident with pas- 

 Bengers,) she was towed expeditiously 

 into a situation where she «'ould pro- 

 secute her voyage. If she had cmploy- 

 c<l boats in the old or usual way for the 

 pur|)os(' of towing, it would have taken 

 H certain number of days; this steam- 

 boat, of moderate jiower, and without 

 tin," ;,tnallest exeition of manual labour, 

 porfornied the task in the same number 

 MoMHLY Mao. Xo. ^87. 



25 



of hours. Your inserting tliis in your 

 valuable miscellany, will oblige your 

 constant reader. B. 



N. B. The writer had an opportunity oE 

 observing the progress of a well construct- 

 ed steam-boat. It lasted only two years, 

 being shaken to pieces by ijie eugiue ia 

 the centre. 



Glasgow; June 28, 1816. 



To the Editor of the Monthlif Magazine, 



SIR, 



IT is impossible to preserve the mo- 

 rals of a people where lotteries 

 abound, because tiiey call into action 

 the worst passions of human nature; 

 they not only excite false hopes, but 

 discourage industry, prudence, and vir^- 

 tue ; and exhibit the unfairness of go- 

 vernment, whose utility consists in af- 

 fording ecjual protection to all, at play 

 against the simple, with the most un- 

 e(inal chances. As they are the most 

 silly that hazard their gains against such 

 fearful odds, docs it not behove cveiy 

 one to caution and guard them fioia 

 being entrapped by the snares that are 

 so impolitically laid in their way: under 

 the hopes of getting rich by a dash, th« 

 last farthing is occasionally at stake. 

 Here, tlien, is a powerful cause of 

 suicide, robbery, beggaries, and riot; 

 for every thing that tends to fix in 

 tlie mind the desire to gain witliout 

 labour, leads to the dissolution of civil 

 society: for the same reason as money 

 gained without labour is expended 

 without care, so the sudden possession 

 of these ill-bestowed riches occasioa 

 drunkenness, disorder, and indigence. 

 But this is not all, for the evil is ao-t^ra- 

 vated by exciting others to pursue the 

 same deadly track. The argument, that 

 men are inclined to game, to live by 

 hazard, is not true; thousands do not do 

 so ; besides, were it so, would it not be 

 wise to check so miserable a propensity 

 instead of encouraging it: in truth, tho 

 evils it engenders are impolitic to en- 

 courage in any point of view; and, if 

 narrowly looked into, would be Ibuiid 

 in respect to revenue, to be unproduc- 

 tive, because the advcntmers are sine 

 to withdraw a portion of time from tl;eir 

 ordinary pursuits, exactly equal to thcj 

 hopes it excites in their mind. Tlius it 

 restrains industry, wliicii, added to th« 

 money expended for the thing expected 

 to bring tiieni the phantom, reduces 

 them lower in the scale of society, and 

 they are left with diminished means to 

 cxjicnU in the iicccssarics of life. 



