538 
That the national funds are, on the 
whole, favourable to commerce, may be 
confidently denied, for the reafons al- 
ready fuggefted. Were there no public 
funds, the country gentleman would lend 
more freely to the trader, and the trader 
would more conftantly apply the furplus 
of his gains, not employed in his current 
expenditure, to the enlargement of his 
trading capital. In fhort, every advan- 
tage, real or imaginary, which is afcribed 
to the funding fyftem, will vanifh, when 
brought into fair comparifon with the 
mifchiefs and infelicities which it ,has 
produced, and ftill threatens to produce, 
and which fully authorife us to pronounce 
it unjuft and impolitic. 
By what means thofe ftates which 
have involved themfelves in the grievous 
embarraflment of this fyftem, may be 
extricated from their difficulties, and 
efcape impending ruin, is a queftion 
which may perplex the wifef ftatefman 
or philofopher. One thing, however, is 
evident; that an unjuft and impolitic 
fyitem ought to be abandoned. He who 
is loft in a labyrinth, fhould proceed no 
farther, till fome kind Ariadne prefent 
him with a clue to guide his courfe. To 
the man who ftands upon the edge of a 
precipice, another flep may be defiruc- 
tion, 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
t BEG permiffion to correét an error of 
your Correfpondent A, in his account 
of Drouet, page 401, of your Magazine 
for June. He is ftated to have been deli- 
vered over tothe Auftrians by Dumou- 
rier, with Camus and others ; but Drouet 
was commiuilioner Maubeuge, and 
during its blockade, he attempted to 
pafs from thence to Phillipville, under 
an efeort of about fixty troopers, when 
fallitg in witha detachment of Blan- 
kenftein’s huflars, himfelf, with fifteen of 
his efcort,; were made -prifoners; the reft 
efcaped, as would Drouct, if his horfe 
had not falien. eh or 
at 
s 

To.the Editor of the Monthly Magarine. 
sti: ett ak 
rT HE. endeavours of your Correfpon- 
dents, J7W. and J. W. F. to‘ex- 
pofe the inal-praftices of fome profeffors 
of the law,-and apply a remedy for the 
vilg refulting therefrom, “are certainly 
Jaudabie and deferving attention. “Al- 
Correfion of Mal-Praéiice in the Law. 
(Aug. 
low me to contribute my mite towards fo 
defirable an object. 
The evils complained of, may, I think, 
be traced to two fources: the ignorance, 
and the poverty of praétifers. That 
thefe may exift wholly unconneéted with 
each other no one will deny: we free 
quently fee men of fplendid talents op- 
prefled with pecuniary misfortunes 
and who, 1f thofe misfortunes were ree 
moved, would prove ornaments to their 
country. Of thefe, it might be faidy 
they thould confine themfelves to the 
more humble walks of life; but let us 
remember, that had all fuch done fo, we 
fhould not fee fo many fhining charac- 
ters as we do. Onthe otherhand, we 
may obferve, that wealth is not always 
accompanied either by fhining talents or 
probity. Any regulation, therefore, in 
re{peét to the members of the profeffion, 
which fhall embrace only one defcription 
of them will lofe half the defired effect. 
When the prefent Chief Juftice came to 
the Bench, we heard much of “ cleanjing- 
the Auzean Stable: his Lordfhip, how- 
ever, muft have obferved, that vice 
would frequently be able to elude the 
purfuit of juftice; and that only the 
bold and daring villains, a defcription 
‘always comparatively few, would feel 
the lafh of punifhment. The evil was, 
therefore, to be prevented by cutting off 
the fource of it; and then we have the 
“* Attornies’ Clerks’ Tax.” This, as being 
a tax on a particular fet of men, already 
‘heavily taxed, was an invidious meafure : 
but, befides this, it was not adequate to 
the evil; for, although it may prevent 
the admniffion of neceffitous perions into 
the profeflion, yet if a man is of ability 
to pay the rool. however ignorant or 
dithoneft he may be, he is equally cligi- 
ble as before: whilft a Pratt, a Murray, 
or, perhaps, even a K——, if the rool, 
could not be conveniently fpared, muft- 
‘betake himfelf to fome mechanical em-- 
ployment, ill-fuited to his genius; and 
where his talents would be of little fer- 
vice to his country. 
I admit that there are many evils 
which arife from the poverty of Attor- 
nies : men who muft live, and, from their 
fituation, are compelled to fupport a 
genteel appearance; and who, when 
prefled by neceffity, are apt to foment 
Gifcord to gain employment; verifying 
‘the proverb, “* Bon Avocat, Maunvais 
Voifix.” But, I muft fay, and I believe 
experience juftifies the affertion, that 
evils, by far more numerous, and of much 
greater 
