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PART 11. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Prices of Commodities. — The progress of a town depends greatly on the 

 abundance and cheapness of consumable commodities; and hence we find 

 that all the large cities of ancient times were situated either near the sea, or 

 on the lower part of navigable rivers. Such were Nineveh, Babylon, Memphis, 

 Carthage, Rome, and Constantinople. All these places enjoyed the advan- 

 tage of water-carriage, without which even Babylon, though placed in the 

 midst of a most fertile country, never could have swelled its population to 

 a million, or three-quarters of a million, of souls. At the union of the 

 ci'owns of England and Scotland, Edinburgh did not probably contain 

 20.000 inhabitants ; and yet such was the difficulty of feeding them, that 

 every foot of the soil to which the plough could be applied, on the high 

 parts of Arthur's Seat, was torn up. Why was this? Simply because 

 Scotland having few ships, and being no match for England by sea, her 

 capital necessarily had all its supplies brought in by pack-horses. Hence 

 the expense of conveyance was so great, that it was more profitable to 

 raise corn on the very worst soils in the neighboiu'hood, than to bring 

 it from the best soils at some distance off. With our improved roads, our 

 canals, and our shipping, 150,000 persons could be more easily fed in 

 Edinburgh at this day, than 20,000 at the time of the union. Railways 

 will go far to place inland towns, I'emote from rivers or the sea, on a level 

 in this respect with those which have the most abundant means of water 

 communication. {Scotsmaii, k\yY\\ 18. 1829.) 



Extending this reasoning to countries, corn and raw commodities of all 

 kinds ought to be cheaper in Great Britain than in any other country in 

 Europe ; because there is a greater demand there than in any other 

 country, and because Great Britain is surrounded by the sea, which 

 serves as a canal to any other country, and, unlike other canals and tracks of 

 communication, requires no expense to keep it in repair. What is it, then, 

 that renders corn, with every other raw material, dearer in Britain than in 

 any other country ? The corn laws, restricted commercial intercourse, the 

 interest of the national debt, and the expense of the national church; and 

 the problem is to get rid of these with perfect justice and honesty to all 

 parties concerned. No ftlan that is not perfectly just and honest is worthy 

 of Great Britain. — Cond. 



Use of Systematic Names. — Every gardener is at home with every other 

 gardener, no matter whether he ever saw him before, or in what part of the 

 country he may find him, or even if they do not understand the common lan- 

 guage of each other. To be convinced of this, it is only necessary to observe 

 the personal intercourse of the Continental and British nurserymen, which 

 with a few exceptions is almost entirely carried on by pronouncing a few 

 systematic names of plants ; these systematic names being what may be 

 called the universal language of gardeners. If, therefore, the systematic 



