134 
this new power: so that we may say it 
is not more than seven or eight years 
since this species of navigation was 
fully recognized and vigorously sup- 
ported. Yet we have now regular 
steam-packets from London to Edin- 
burgh, Liverpool, Calais, Rotter- 
dam, Havre-de-Grace, Corunna, Ca- 
diz, &c.; from Liverpool to Dublin, 
Greenock, &c.; and within the last 
few days, a new steam-packet, the En- 
terprize, 500 tons, has been launched, 
at Deptford, and is now in dock, fitting 
out for the East-Indies. The entrance 
of a steam-packet, from the Thames, 
into the Ganges, will be an event rarely 
paralleled in magnitude :—one of the 
most splendid triumphs of science and 
art. 
[There is at length a fair prospect that 
‘the subject of Pulitical Economy will be 
completely popularized. The poignant 
misery endured by all the industrious 
classes of the country in 1816-17, has since 
led to the formation of a society of intelli- 
gent artizans, for the purpose of inyestigat- 
ing the causes of that misery, and for ascer- 
taining how far a recurrence of such dis- 
tress may be avoided in future. After five 
years of incessant application on the part 
of the Committee, appointed for the pur- 
pose, they published, éarly in 1824, a sum- 
mary of a report of their proceedings, pre- 
sented to a general meeting of the society, 
with a view of some representation on the 
subject being made to parliament during 
the last Session; which representation, 
however, was postponed, in consequence of 
the delusive hopes excited amongst the 
artizans of the country generally, by the 
repeal of the Combination Laws. The 
delay, however, appears to have been at- 
tended with some advantage, inasmuch as 
the Committee appear to have been assi- 
duously engaged in a further investigation 
of the subject; and a variety of additional 
proofs -of the correctness of the. various 
positions laid down and inferences deduced 
in the former report, have been the result 
of their labours during the past year. 
The Analysis of the Occupation of So- 
ciety and Statistical Illustrations, which 
were inserted in the Supplement of the pre- 
ceding volume of the M. M., are a part of the 
result of those labours, and will shew, bet- 
ter than any observations which we can 
offer, the comprehensiveness of view taken 
by, and the extent and minuteness of detail 
into which the Committee have entered ; 
as it is our intention to avail ourselves of 
future opportunities to advert to the various 
subjects which the Statistical Illustrations 
exhibit, we shall confine ourselves, on this 
occasion, simply to recommending them 
to the attention of those who prefer 
matter of fact to subjects of speculative 
imagination ; the sixteenth and last state- 
Improved Condition of Labouring Classes. 
[Mar. 1, 
ment of the series (See M. M. Supple- 
ment to Vol. 58, p. 640)* will be seen to be 
quite original, and as curious as it is novel; 
and if the various hypotheses of which 
it is composed, and deductions of converg- 
ing influence and diverging misery drawn 
from them, should prove true and incon- 
trovertible, the destiny of England must be 
considered any thing but enviable, maugre 
the dazzling glitter which at present pre- 
vails in the metropolis. | 
——= = 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: 
J HAVE read with surprise, in your 
. Number of this month, the let- 
ter of your correspondent “ A.L.L. ;” 
and though his observations on “ Edi- 
torial Responsibility”? may be very 
just, I entirely differ from him when he 
says that the increase in the last year’s 
revenue ought not to be taken as a cri- 
terion of the increased comfort of the 
British people. He has selected from 
the other items the sum of £440,000. 
as the increase on sugar, to prove his 
position ; and as I observe you admit 
the excellence of the maxim, “ hear 
both sides,” I dare say you will give 
me a place, in your valuable magazine, 
for the other side of the question.— 
“ A.L.L.” says, “the duty on sugar, 
in the past year, only exceeds that of 
1817 by £54,928;” but, perhaps, he 
may not be aware that, in the year 1817, 
as well as many previous years, there 
was an immense export of refined su- 
gar, and that the raw sugar, from 
which the refined sugar was made, had 
paid the home consumption duty. Now, 
it is well known, that the export of re- 
fined as well as of raw sugar, for many 
years previous to the peace, was quite 
a forced trade—that large bounties on 
the former, and drawbacks on the lat- 
ter, alone enabled the West-India plan- 
ter to get rid of his produce, (for there 
was but a trifling consumption at home), 
and that such trade was a disadvantage 
to the country. It has nevertheless 
been continued to the present time; but 
the disadvantage to the country has 
been 
* N.B. The sixteen tables here alluded to, and 
that preceding, (p. 624), Analysis of the Occupations 
of Society, though placed in immediate succession to 
the article on Mr. Mili’s Elements in the Supplement 
referred to, have no other connection with that ar- 
ticle, than that of having reference to one common 
subject, Political Economy. They-~are from dif- 
ferent hands, and it is with no small degree of pride 
that we see, in our successive pages, the labours of 
such distinguished upholders of, in some respects, 
antagonist opinions, upon a subject so worthy of the 
most ample discussion and illustration.—Eadie. 
