A. D. 1793. 281 



'0* 



bread, &c. than are allowable by law, and it being * expedient that hi^ 

 ' Maiefly fliould have the fame power during iuch tim;; as parliament 



* fhall be fitting,' he was empowered in cafes of war, hurricane, dearth, 

 or fudden diftrefs, to licence, with the advice of his privy council, the 

 exportation of 6,000 quarters of corn and 3,000 tuns of ground corn or 

 bifcuit in a year, beyond the quantities already permitted, [r. 6^] 



Many feamen, keelmen, carters, and fhip-carpenters, having riotoufly 

 obftructed the loading, unloading, failing, and navigating, of vefTels, 

 keels, &c. fuch offenders, and alfo thofe who forcibly prevent others 

 from doing their work, were direded to be confined in houfes of cor- 

 redion, and kept to hard labour, not lefs than fix, nor more than twelve, 

 months. The crime of fetting fire to vefTels, keels, &c. was made pun- 

 ifliable by death, [c. 67] 



The opprefilve and partial duty upon coals carried coaftways in Scot- 

 land was i-epealed ; and the inhabitants of the northern difirids, where 

 there are no coal mines, who confequently mufl:, from natural caufes, 

 have paid the higheft price for coals, were reheved from the vexations 

 and the enormous expenfe of cuflom-houfe formalities, which fome- 

 times turned out heavier than the prime cofl; and freight of the coals, 

 and in a great part of the country operated as a total prohibition of the 

 ufe of them. In commutation for the coal duty, new taxes were laid 

 upon the retailers of the home-made fpiritous liquor called whifky or 

 aqua vitae, which were expeded to produce eight times as much re- 

 venue *. [r. 69] 



It being found exceedingly diflScult to adjufl the value of the dam- 

 age, fometimes fuftained by figs in their importation, to the mutual 



* Mr. Oughterfon, minifler of Weft Kilbride ' place. The quantity of grain will be Increafed, 



in Ayr-(hire, thus defcribes the effeAs of the law ' and the country affume a new face.' ^Stati/lical 



now repealed. ' What renders the only expedient account of Scotland, V. xii, />. 408.] 



' for fupplying this defect (^of lime] more embar- Such were the efFcfls of the duty in a place near 



' railing is the duty upon coals carried coaftways, to coal pits : and we fliall now fee a fpecimen of 



' and even to places within the precinfts of the the havdlhip of conveying coals to a diftant region. 



' fame port, and where the coal-works are fituat- Captain Macleod, a gentleman who had feen 



' ed. This hath difcouraged farmers from bring- much of the world, and been many years com- 



' ing lime-ftone by water from Arran and the mander of a (hip in the fervice of the Eaft-India 



' greater Cumbray, where it is to be had in abund- company, on retiring from the fea purchafed Her- 



' ance, becaufe though it might be procured from ris in the Weftern iflands of Scotland, where he 



' thofe places at no great charge, there is no coal endeavoured to introduce a fpirit of induftry and 



' to burn it with, but what mull be fetched at an improvement. He told Mr. Knox, that, having 



' extraordinary expenfe. The barbarous policy loaded a floop at Greenock with coals for Herris, 



' of this law muft appear evident to every perfon ; he offered, before he fent her off, to pay the duty 



' it hath been the death of agriculture, wherever in Greenock ; but it could not be received there. 



* its baleful influence hath extended. It muft The floop fprung a leak ; and his faftor, having 

 ' g'^s pleafure to every lover of his country to unloaded her at his refidence, wrote to the colleft- 

 ' obferve, that it is now become an objeft of at- or at Stornoway, requefting that an officer might 

 ' tention to a virtuous legidature, who, liftening, be fent to meafure the coals and receive the duty. 

 ' at length, to the voice of juftice and humanity, The anfwer was, that the coals muft be fent to 

 ' have judged it expedient to take it off. In this Stornoway to be meafured. They vvre accord- 

 ' event gentlemen, whofe eftates are fituated upon ingly relhipped ; and a new voyage, of about 140 

 ' the fhore, will be induced to erc£l draw-kilns, miles out and home, undertaken, attended with an 

 ' The farmer will have lime afforded him at a expenfe utterly difproportionate to the value of 



* moderate rate. A vigorous cultivation will take the objedl of it, and with the hardfhip of derang- 



ing 



Vol. IV. N n 



