290 Mr. Burridge on 



pense, super-added to the present 

 revenue, of any maritime contest. It 

 is true, tbat the sinking fund would 

 operate more efficaciously from its 

 very nature in war than in peace : but 

 from past experience, it is too evident, 

 that no bounds can be set to tlie rapa- 

 city of a Minister, or the complaisance 

 of a Parliament, yielding at once to 

 the influence of the Ruling Powers, 

 and the natural and anxious desire of 

 immediate relief. It would, therefore, 

 be best and wisest, voluntarily to give 

 up what would hereafter certainly be 

 seized upon by political violence; and 

 to suspend the operation of the fund 

 altogether till the return of peace ; 

 satisfied with preventing any actual 

 increase of the debt during war. 



lu justice to the grand designs now 

 in contemplation of the government, 

 it is gratifying to acknowlege, that the 

 large sums voted by Parliament, for 

 the purposes of national utility, or 

 magnificence, are far from being a 

 waste of public monej . They employ 

 great numbers of persons, and cause 

 a salutary circulation of wealth. 

 Had the present Sovereign acceded 

 to the Crown early in life, his reign 

 apparently would have been the reign 

 of magnificence ; but then the magni- 

 ficence of flie monarch ought to be, 

 what Voltaire truly affirms of Louis 

 XIV., the magnificence of the nation ; 

 whereas, upon the present plan, the 

 public are excluded as far as possible 

 from the enjoyment of what is pnr- 

 cliased by the public money. Even 

 the beautiful river-terrace of Somerset- 

 house, is suflFered rather to be over- 

 grown with grass, than to be opened 

 as a Sunday promenade ; and the 

 Thames front of that noble edifice 

 still remains unfinished. Certainly 

 these things " are ordered better in 

 France." 



Unfortunately, a person is now pla- 

 ced at the head of all plans and pro- 

 jects of public improvement, whom 

 the general voice, confirmed even by 

 that of Parliament, has pronounced 

 totally unqualified for a department 

 in which taste, judgment, and happi- 

 ness of invention, are indispensably 

 requisite. But, in viewing the Pavil- 

 Hon at Brighton, the Palace, as it is 

 called, of Carlton House, and all the 

 deformities of Regent Street, and 

 Mary-le-bone Park, who can forbear to 

 exclaim, "What sums are thrown 

 away!" In uo ago is there a failure 



the Dry Rot. [May I, 



of human genius, Isnt it depends on 

 the discernment of those in power, 

 whether it shall be called into action. 

 Charles I., however, could do justice 

 to the talents of Inigo Jones; and 

 Chnilcs TI to those of Sir Christo- 

 plier Wren ; but who would think of 

 adding the name of N * • *, to com- 

 plete the architectural triumvirate ? 



M. M, 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIH, 



i AM informed that the pretended 

 Review of my "Treatise on Naval 

 Dry Rot,'' &:c. which appears in " 'J'he 

 Quarterly Review," was written by a 

 man in Office. However, ray siijiple- 

 mentary edition, styled " Britannia's 

 Protest against the Destruction of tJie 

 British Navy," which was printed and 

 published before the Quarterly Review, 

 contains a stronger answer than a 

 million of arguments, but a most 

 melancholy fact, viz. that all the Navy 

 has been consumed since the Peace, 

 except seventy-one ships ; alias, that 

 nine hundred and sixty-nine vessels 

 have been broken up, sold, condemned, 

 &c. between 1814 and 1820. 



Yet it is roundly asserted, by 

 Authority, that there is scarcely a 

 symptom of Dry Rot in our Docks 

 or Ports ; wherefore it is incumbent 

 on Navy Boards to explain the occa- 

 sion of this apparently intentional 

 destruction of the Navy; for, if official 

 reports be true, as 1o the extinction 

 of Dry Kot, why have Ihey voluntarily 

 destroyed our ships, or jumped from 

 one fire into another, which multiplies 

 the loss, &c.? 



The facts are too simple to admit 

 of any controversy, without the grossest 

 perversion ; and this perversion, I un- 

 dertake to prove, will assume a most 

 criminal shape, if woefully persisled 

 in any longer. The act of James I. 

 was either wise or foolish : if wise, 

 why is it broken ? if foolish, why 

 is it not repealed? 



It is absurd to say it is repealed ; 

 for, if it was, there are many sensible 

 land-owners, who would return to the 

 ancient practice of hewing oaks for 

 ship-builders in winter ; and many 

 commercial ship-builders, of common 

 sense, who would be glad to purchase 

 it, which landsmen are prevented from 

 doing, under the penalty of the for- 

 feiture of the trees, or double tl>e 

 value 



