1810.] 
eiently impressed, ‘against the’ careless 
and too indiscriminate .use of the cold 
bath-—a fashionable remedy,. which is 
much more frequently injurious than 
those who have recourse to it are in ge- 
neral aware of. There are certain cor- 
poreal irregularities which the shock of 
the cold bath may be calculated to rec- 
nfy, or remove; but that a course of 
shucks should be likely to invigorate a 
feeble, or give what is called tone to a 
relaxed, constitution, is too glaringly in- 
consistent with the suggestions of ordi- 
nary sense, to harmonize with the genu- 
ine principles of medical philosophy. 
A patient is in general to be raised to a 
state of strength from the depression of 
debility by those influences which are 
gradual and scarcely perceptible to him- 
self. Like the air which we are con- 
stantly breathing, although we are sel- 
dom conscious of its inspiration, or that 
‘process of assimilation which is every 
hour going on in the body, without our 
being aware of it, Bathing in the sea, 
where bathing at all is advisable, is for 
State of Public Affairs in July. 
13 
the most part more beneficial, and less 
liable to be attended with danger or ins 
convenience than the ordinary cold bath, 
principally, 1f not entirely, because the 
temperature being higher, the transition 
from one element into anocher is less 
violent in the former case than in the 
latter. As tothe saline particles, or any 
of the chemical constituents upon which 
are supposed to depend, in @ great mea- 
sure, the virtue of other baths of medi- 
cinal celebrity, they can scarcely have 
any important effect upon the body dure 
ing the usual period of is immersion. 
"Regarding, as it seems reasonable to 
do, the act of bathing as beneticial only 
so far as it performs the office of ablu« 
tion, it will appear tnat the utility of 
every species of water is equal in refere 
ence to external application. 
July 25, 1810, J. REID. 
Grenville-street, Brunswick-square. 
Erratum.—No. 200, p. 589, for ae 
read ** centrifugal.” 
s 
STATE OF PUBLIC 
AFFAIRS IN JULY. 
wE 
Containing official Papers ‘and authentic Documents, 
— E 
FRANCE, 
Report tothe Emperor.——-Paris, uly 1, 1810. 
I! HAVE the honour to lay before your Ma- 
jesty an act of the King of Holland, dated 
the 3d inst. by which that monarch declares, 
that he abdicates the crown in favour of his 
eldest son, leaving, according to the constitu- 
tion, the regency to the Queen, and establish- 
€5 a council of regency composed of his minis- 
ters. Such an act, sire, ought not to have ap- 
peared without a previous concert with your 
Majesty. . It can have no force without your 
‘approbation. Ought your Majesty to confirm 
the disposition taken by the King oi Holland? 
The union of Belgium with France, has 
destroyed the independence of Holland. Her 
system has necessarily become the same with 
that of France. She is obliged to take part 
in all the maritime wars of France, as if she 
were one of her provinces. Sincethe creation 
of the arsenal of the Scheldt, and the annex- 
ation to France of the provinces composing 
the departments of the mouths of the Rhine, 
and the mouths of the Scheldt, the com- 
mercial existence of Holland lias become pre- 
carious. The merchants of Antwerp, Ghent, 
and Middleburgh, who can, without any re- 
striction, extend their speculations to the ex- 
‘tremities.of the empire, of which they form 
a part, necessarily carry on the commerce 
which Holiand- tramsacted Rotterdam and 
Dordrecht are already an the verge of ruin; 
MeontTury Mag. No, 202. 
these cities having lost the commerce of the 
Rhine, which goes direct, by the new fron- 
tier, to the ports of the Scheldt, passing 
through the Biesbock. The part of Holland 
which is still alien to the empire, is deprived 
of the advantages enjoyed by the part united 
thereto. .Compelled, nevertheless, to make 
common cause with France, Holland will 
have tosuvport the charges of this allowance, 
without reaping any of its benefits. Holland 
is sunk under the weight of her public debt, 
which amounts to between 85 and 90 millions, 
that isto say, a fourrh more than the debt of 
the whole empire; and if a reduction had 
been projected by the government of the couns 
try, it would not have been in its power to. 
give a guarantee for the inviolability and per- 
manence of such a measure, inasmuch as the 
debt, if even reduced to 30 millions, would 
still be beyond the actual means and ability 
of that country. It is estimated, Holland 
pays triple the sum that France pays. ‘The 
people groan under the weight of 23 distinct 
desCriptioss of .cqntributions. The Dutch 
nation sinks. under its contributions, and can 
no longer pay them. Nevertheless, the ne= 
Cessary expences of the government require 
that this burden should be augmented. fhe 
budget fcr the marine amounted, in 1809, 
to three millions only of florins, a sum 
scarcely sufficient to pay the administrators, 
the officers, and seamen, and to defray the 
expence of thearsenals, and which has noc ade 
is mitted: 
- 
