134 
both sides of the systems in contro- 
versy ; and which would remind them, 
how little is the inference that can be 
drawn by either, even from a host of 
negative testimony. That which has 
occurred, is evidence of what may; but 
that which has not occurred, is ‘no evi- 
dence at all that it may not. But 
enough, Sir, for the present, from 
your’s, &c. 
‘ A Dovustrr or ContTacion. 
————_ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: 
| WAS much gratified by the obser- 
vations of your correspondent C. on 
the subject of the English and Bristol 
Ship Canal. He has satisfactorily shewn 
the advantages which must follow from 
it to Ireland, and the Principality, and 
the western districts of England. Per- 
mit me to offer a few observations on 
the latter point, in which I am person- 
ally more interested. 
_ Without referring to the towns of 
Taunton and Bridgewater, both of which 
must experience an incalculable increase 
of commerce, if we survey that part of 
the country through which the summit- 
level of the canal is proposed to pass, 
and continue on towards the southward, 
it will perhaps be difficult to finda dis- 
trict in England which more requires the 
advantage of inland communication. The 
various towns and villages in the centre 
of Somersetshire are full of labouring 
poor, unemployed in manufactures, ex- 
posed to all the miseries of a rigorous 
climate, without the means of obtaining 
fuel, and subject to all those disadvan- 
tages which must ever result from an 
overstocked and increasing population. 
In tracing the river Axe to its conflu- 
ence with the sea, we find a beautiful 
valley, of which it may be said, that 
Providence has done every thing, and man 
nothing. Blessed with a fertile soil, a 
delightful climate, and easy communi- 
cations with the capital and the north 
of Somersetshire, it may fairly be asked, 
why it should exhibit such universal 
symptoms -of decay and want of im- 
provement? The answer is, from the 
absence of the grand stimulus to com- 
mercial. enterprize — Intrrnat Navi- 
GATION ; and from the resident land- 
holders on both banks having hitherto 
been satisfied with living in a semi-baro- 
nial state, receiving rents, from their 
tenants, as they wouldhomagefrom their 
vassals, and withholding those advan- 
tages. which the increased progress of 
civilization and knowledge has effected 
in other parts of England. 
English and Bristol Ship Canal. 
(Sept. 1; 
These obseryations will appear the 
more forcible, from the probability that 
the port of Maridunum, under the Ro- 
mans, was situated at the mouth of the 
Axe; and from the vestiges of build- 
ings at this moment, allowed to be 
covered with a mass of shingle. ‘If the 
public works of that great nation may 
be allowed to influence our judgment, 
we may conclude, that, in this instance, 
they exhibited their usual good sense, 
and knowledge of mechanical principles. 
How sadly has their proverb naturam 
sequere been perverted at the present 
day ! The natural course of the stream 
is permitted to lose its original force, by 
its rectangular windings: and the result 
of all the artificial means hitherto em- 
ployed has only produced a depth of 
about eight feet, high water, spring- 
tides. In place, therefore, of those ad- 
vantages which the river Axe possessed 
thirteen centuries ago, we now only find 
an expenditure without return—a harbour 
without water. 
On the opposite side of this beautiful 
bay, nature has formed a cove, of all 
others best calculated for the construc- 
toin ofa harbour. Independent, therefore, 
of those advantages so clearly detailed 
by Capt. Nicholls, the employment of a 
population of 1,800 souls, and the in- 
troduction of those habits which must 
arise from a well-regulated commerce, 
and an extension of the fisheries, these 
must be allowed points of so important 
a consideration, that the formation of a 
port at Beer is alone more than ten times 
equivalent to all the imagined evils com- 
plained of by a few interested or monos 
polizing opponents. 
SoMERSETSHIRE LANDOWNER. 
ae 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: 
LTHOUGH not learned inthe 
law; yet, as your correspondent 
Cato (M. M. No. 413, p..11). puts: his 
case rather on the grounds of equity 
and humanity, I have less hesitation in 
offering the following observations :— 
That re-appointment to a benefice 
is, in other cases, legally considered as 
a new appointment, I happen to know ; 
and that, in the present case, the 
Bishop’s conduct is according to the 
letter of the law, your correspondent 
seems to admit, when. he .appeals, to 
equity.. Yet, at the same time that he 
does this, the reason of the.re-appoint- 
ment, the advantage: (for it must be 
voluntary) arising to “the incumbent 
therefrom, the only grounds -on which 
the equity of the case can be determin- 
ed, 
