122 
the exorbitant charges which are incur- 
red, by thips lying at the chains or at 
the wharfs, and the material injuries 
fuftained by them in their gear and 
boats, either by the neceflity of frequent 
removing, by the conftant driving up 
and down of fuch a quantity of large 
craft on the river, or by the interelted 
malicionfnefs of individuals. 
In all public evils, fome men will find 
fubftantial benefit; and in review ing thofe 
under our prefent notice, we {hall clearly 
fee, that the numbers who reap advan- 
tages from them, are very confiderable. 
But the queftion is, “* Are we to confider 
‘¢ their intereft, at the expence of the 
“€ more refpeétable part of the commu- 
* nity?’’ I fancy there can be but one 
anfwer to this queftion. 
The next object is, What plan is to be 
a‘lopted as a remedy for the grievances 
complained of >—One is offered, not an 
untried, or a mere fpeculative project, 
but plain and eafy to be underftood, that 
carries all its advantages on its face, and, 
"what is more, that has been carried into 
full effe€& in various places where the 
confequences have been more beneficial 
than even the moft promifing expectation 
could have fuggefted. 
Liverpool, Hull, and Briftol, but ef- 
pecially the two firft, have proved the 
advantages of wet docks, in the moft 
convincing mapner. At two of thofe 
ports, great prejudices were at firft form- 
ed againit the improvement; and [I re- 
member, that, at Briftol, about twenty 
years ago, when the merchants purchaf- 
ed Champion’s dock, the cry of the ig- 
norant part of the inhabitants was ex- 
actly fimilar to that which is now to be 
heard in London. Inftead, however, 
of their boding fears being realized, they 
have found benefits they could not have 
expected. 
We are told, that the trade of Lcndon 
1s to be removed. Is, then, Wapping at 
fuch a mighty diftance from London, as 
to give the citizens juit grounds for this 
fearful apprehenfion >? Or can receptacles 
for about four hundred fhips threaten 
the whole river Thames, up to London 
bridge, , with defolation? It is really 
Atcange that people, who pretend to dif- 
7 cernment, can be fo infatuated as‘to cre- 
dit fuch filly chimeras; or that men, 
however wedded to their interefts, can 
_ hold them out for the credence of their 
fellow-citizens ! 
_ The quays and the river will not ap- 
pear lefs fapplied with fhips, when thefe 
ie 
London Docks. 
[March 
docks are built, than they are at prefent; 
nor will the warehoufes be left unen- 
gaged. There is trade enough to occupy 
the whole. It is true, fome men may 
find a lofs by this improvement; and fo 
sid copyifts, in the invention of printings 
and monks in the progrels of the refor- 
mation. 
Great ftrefs is laid on the chartered 
rights of the City of London. Does the 
City of London, then, hold rights, that 
fhall ftand as a ber in the way of com- 
mercial improvement? Is the general 
trade of Great Britain to be cooped up 
within the pale of her chartered rights? 
Shall the, though the emporium of the 
realm, fay to encreafing trade, “ thus 
“far fhalt thou go, and no farther ?”— 
Away with fuch pretences! Let fuch 
rights, if their claim is to proceed to 
fuch an extent, be fwept away from the 
face of the earth! I am not an enemy 
to charters, but 1f they ftand in the way 
of general intereft, then I dare not fay, 
what otherwife I would, E/fo ‘per- 
petud. 
London has no right to prevent the 
improvement contended for. It is a de- 
fien for the benefit of the whole king- 
dom. The merchants, throughout Bri- 
tain, have a right that their property 
fhould be better fecured in London, than 
it has hitherto been. If the prefent 
plan is calculated to obtain this fecurity, 
it ought to receive no oppofition from 
any quarter. 
It may here be urged, that the city 
will accommodate the mercantile inte- 
refts in her own way. 
I afk, can the plan propofed by the 
corporation, be fo beneficial as the one 
adopted by the merchants? I fhall go 
further, ‘and venture fo affert, that their 
plan goes only to a partial remedy, and 
that too, but to an inconfiderable degree. 
iam, Sir, your humble fervant, 
‘London, March 18, 1796. J. W. 
EE 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HAVE perufed the Firft Number of 
the Monthly Magazine, with fingulap . 
fatisfa€tion; and as one objet of .the 
Work is to promote free enquiry, and 
liberal difcuffion, permit me to propofe 
a Query, for the iclution of that gentle- 
man, who, when {peaking of the Soci- 
nians, in the 37th page, fays, “ At pre= _ 
‘“‘fent, they are a numerous and refpeét- 
“able body, and are daily encreafing,” 
when Dr. Pricftley,. in. his Appeal 
te 
