A. D. 1778. 629 



morial to the king, wherein he remonftrated againfl the detention of 

 their veflels, and demanded their reieafe (September 28'"). In reply, 

 the earl of Suffolk informed him, that the king had given orders, that 

 all the Dutch vcffels loaded with unexceptionable cargoes Ihould be re- 

 jeafed, and the naval commanders fhould be directed not to interrupt 

 their Lnvful commerce; and that the naval ftores, which were feized, 

 fliould be paid for at a fair valuation, together with the freight, and a 

 reafonable allowance for expenfes and damages (Odober 19'"). 



Notwithflanding the flattering pidure of the profits and advantages 

 accruing to the nation from the war, drawn by fome fpeakers in parlia- 

 ment in the beginning of this year, the calamities infeparable from a 

 flate of warfire, which the bullle of preparations at the commencement 

 of it had in a great meafure kept out of fight, and the rapid fortunes 

 made bythofe, who were drawing great emoluments out of the national 

 purfe, had varnifhed over with an impofing glare of profperity, were 

 now too generally and feverely felt by the commercial part of the com- 

 munity in the lofs of their veflels, and the derangement and ruin of 

 their trade. Hence the number of bankruptcies this year role to the 

 unprecedented number of 675, of which there were 83 in the one 

 month of November ; confidcrably more than twice as many as there 

 were in a year at the beginning of this century : and the excefs would 

 be fiill greater, if we could compare the amount, as well as the num- 

 ber, of the bankruptcies at the beginning of the century with thofe of 

 this year. It has been aflumed as a maxim, that a great number of 

 bankruptcies is a proof of the greatnefs of commerce, and that the in- 

 creale of the one keeps pace with the extenfion of the other. But the 

 events of this year furnilh at leafl: one exception to that rule ; for the 

 exports of it appear to be above five millions ihort of thofe of the year 

 1774, during which there were only 360 bankruptcies*: and a confider- 

 able part of the goods now exported were carried, not into the ports they 

 were configned to, but into American and French ports, by pri/-e-mallers. 



This year the legiflative afiembly of Jamaica granted an exclulive pat- 

 ent to Mr. Samuel Sainthill for introducing the ufe of clarifiers in the 

 procefs of boiling fugar f. 



For ages after the dilcovery of the art of printing there was no per- 

 fon in this country capable of making good types for the printers, and 

 they continued to be imported from Holland, Germany, &c. till Gallon 

 arofe, who firfl: attempted with fucccrs to make elegant types : and thofe 

 of his manufacture loon obtained luch a character, that the continent 



• See Mr. Chalmers's Tabic of bankruptcies provcmcnt to his friend John Prociilus Baker Efq', 



during this century in iiis FJlimate of the omf.ini- whofe J^ffiiy on lie art of mailnj mufavaJo fu^-ir, 



livejlrength cf Grtal Britain, />. xlvi, eJ. 1794. piibiilhca in the year I 77 J, tic fayi, is ' a pcr- 



f For a dclcriplian of the clarilicr and the ufc • forinancc, that, for ufcfui knowlcd^je, luciJ or- 



of it, tlie reader is referred to the llijhry of the ' dcr, and elegance, both in oirau^niciil and com- 



lyejl-fnclies, V. ii, /. J25, rd. 1794, by Mr. Ed- ' pofitiun, would liarc done huuuur to the fiill 



^yards; who afcribes the wi^jVu/ luciit of the iin- ' wuicr of tiic age.' \ 



