1800.] 
of an oath, which in its nature and effects 
completely alienated the lower clafles of 
people from the highelt, and widened ftill 
more the chafm of focial order. 
T have no defign, at prefent, of recount- 
ing the different fteps in this ftrange and 
dreadful hoftility of power againft opinion ; 
nor fhall I inveftigate which party, in this 
reciprocation of animofity, was the aggre{- 
for: but I mean merely to ftate that the 
effect on national manners has been of the 
worlt kind, and has illuftrated, even to 
the eyesof minifters, the perfect ineflicacy 
of religious or political perfecution, in 
comparifon with that management and 
influence which very lately has been ufed 
with fuch fuperior fuccefs, particularly 
among the clergy both of the Catholic and 
Prefbyterian perfuafion ; the Catholic hie- 
rarchy, and Prefbyterian parity, being 
alike the penfionaries of roval bounty. 
The Prefbyterian fyncd of Uilter is at 
this moment debating, whether they will 
accept a large augmentation of this 
bounty lately offered—that they will do 
moft thankfully ; but they only hefitate 
whether the principles of their perfoafion 
allow them to be arranged in diftin& 
clafles, which are to be renumerated in 
different proportions, at the pleafure of 
Government. The ancient habits of the 
human mind have loofened their hold_— 
Every fymptom foretels or forebodes not 
merely a fchifm in the fe&t, but a more ex- 
tenfive fchifm of the Laity from the Cler- 
gy. The influence of prieftianity in all 
perfuafions is much diminifhed, and it is 
probable that the richeft Prefbyterians 
will foon melt into the religion of the 
ftate, little caring what it may be, while 
the poorer will embrace, for a time, the 
tenets of methodifm, whofe motto is 
pleafing to every government—‘‘ Let every 
foul be fubjeét to the higher powers, for 
the powers that be are ordained of God.” 
The miflionary fpirit of the Evangelical 
Society, who fend popular minifters to 
preach the Gofpel of Grace throughout 
the country, ‘‘ to caufe a fhaking,” as they 
call it, ‘* of the dry bones,” and to bring 
converts into their own fold, without 
obliging them to change their religious 
denomination, has obtained the patronage 
of Government, with a vicw of turning 
the minds of the people from political 
topics ; but it willin reality fap the eftab. 
lifhment. D. 
—— 
To the Editor of tbe Mouthly Magazine. 
I TAKE the liberty of requefting you 
would infert the following query in 
. MonTuiy Maa, No. 65. © 
Caufes of the bigh Price of Provifions. 
329 
your ufeful Magazine, wifhing that fome 
of your correfpondents would favour me 
with an an{fwer: 
“© What is the beft method of prevent- 
ing the faline, or other moilture from 
oozing out of walls ; as it frequently in- 
jures the paper or colouring of rooms?” 
Your's, &c. 
July 11, 1800. GhPs 
a 
Tothe Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
MONG the caufes of the high price 
A of provifions, none has appeared to 
me more correét than thofe contained in 
the following paflages, which I have ex- 
tracted from a fmall pamphlet publifhed 
by a Mr. Jofhua Collier. If any of your 
readers fee reafon to dovbt their fuffici- 
ency, their remarks, in a future Maga- 
zine, cannot fail, at this crifis, to behighiy 
interefting to all your readers. 
“© The caufes are a fubjeét not underftood 
either at court or in the fenate; ftill lefs by 
profeffional men, or by men of letters ; little 
underftood by the middling claffes, and not at 
all by the lower; but they are known to the 
wholefale dealer, to the merchant, to the 
negociator of foreign exchanges, to town and 
country banks, and it is known, if it dare be 
reflected upon, atthe Bank of 
<¢ And what is the more extraordinary, it 
proceeds from a fyftem morally good. It is 
abftraétedly good that I fhould love my neigh- 
bour, that I fhould with to ferve him, that I 
fhould extend my good offices fomething be- 
yond the limits of common prudence; in 
fhort, ** todo by him as I would be done by :”” 
hence arifes among other things a difpofition 
to place confidence in him, and to allow him 
an extenfive credit; joint engagements, pa- 
per accommodations, and the like, are reci- 
procally entered into, as occafion requires ; 
and thefe are nurfed and encouraged by the 
pernicious fyftem of banking. 
“¢ It alfo frequently occurs on the Royal 
Exchange, and within the immediate {phere 
of my own knowledge, that a parcel of goods 
is fold and refold many times before the cre- 
dit on the firft faleexpires. What is the con- 
fequenge ? Eight or ten parties value on each 
other for the very fame goods. Bills are, per- 
haps, at one time under difcount at the Bank, 
or elfewhere, for eight or ten times the amount 
of the property they reprefent; thefe enable 
eight or ten buyers to return intothe market, 
with an aggregate increafe of capital in the 
proportion of eight or ten to one 3 which ftil] 
increafing, as it is eafy to conceive, in geo- 
metrical progre'iion, circulation, and confe- 
quently middle buying, in this fingle inftance 
may be carried on to an enormous extent, ~ 
‘¢ The means that fome houfes can em- 
ploy in foreign exchanges, by drawing and 
re-drawing between London, Hamburgh, Lif- 
a bon, 
