vi PREFACE. 
but it is to be apprehended that a remote period must 
be assigned as that of the recovery of the national 
prosperity. 
A temporary activity given to commerce by the 
renewed intercourse with the American States revived 
several branches of manufacture from the decline into 
which they had fallen, and excited flattering expec- 
tations ; but, as usual in such cases, the supply much 
exceeded the demand; the markets were overstocked ; 
great quantities of goods lay unsold or unpaid for, 
and numerous failures were the consequence. The 
commercial distresses were unfortunately coincident 
with extraordinary difficulties under which the agri- 
cultural part of the community was labouring, occa- 
sioned by a reduction in the price of corn and other 
products of the ground, rendering the cultivators 
wholly unable to indemnify themselves for greatly 
advanced rents, and augmented taxes. From these 
conjoint causes, there has rarely been a time of more 
widely-diffused complaint than the close of the 
current year; and all the triumphant sensations of 
national glory seem almost obliterated by general de- 
pression. Peace, although a consummation long anxi- 
ously looked for, was scarcely welcomed ; and the 
deficiences in the usual employments and demands in 
war, were more perceptible than the diminution 
of its expenses. Few objects, domestic or foreign, 
remaining to excite political interest, the public 
feelings were nearly concentrated upon private and 
personal distress. If, however, the conclusion of this 
