194 
troclus and Heétor were preferved unble- 
mifhed and fair, by the ambrofial inftilla- 
tions of Apollo and Venus. 
Are the notions of refurrection, incor- 
ruptibility, and immortality to the illuf- 
trious of our race, difcoverable thus in 
Homer? If fo, it behoves us to fearch 
the Scriptures, and fee whether or not, 
like the Greeks, we give heed and cre- 
dence to fables cunningly deviled. 
. Brook, Fuly 1804. W. E. 
P. S. Without prefumption, it may be pro- 
pofed as a thefis to any of your critical corre- 
fpondents—‘* A comparative eftimate of the 
authenticity and credibility of the works of 
Mofes and of Homer, confidered as authors, 
whofe compofitions, theological and hiftori- 
cal, were accredited in Judea and in Greece, 
and produced a moral effect, or exerted a prac- 
tical influence of the moft confpicuous and 
durable nature on their refpective country- 
men, the Jews and the Grecians?” 
a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
REPORT of t#@ COMMITTEE of the 
HOUSE of COMMONS, appointed to en- 
quire into the STATE of IRELAND, as 
to its CIRCULATING PAPER, ifs SPE- 
CIE, @nd CURRENT COIN, and the Ex- 
“CHANGE between that PART of the 
UNITED KINGDOM avd GREAT BRI- 
TAIN, with their OBSERVATIONS and 
OPINION thereupon. 
(Continued from p. 39. No 118 ) 
OUR Committee now proceed to 
the third and moft important head 
of their arrangement, the remedies of the 
evil; but firft they wifh to obferve upon 
an opinion entertained by fome of the 
witnefles, that the prefent high exchange 
«perates aS a tax upon abdfentees, and is 
in effect a bounty on export, and a dilcou- 
ragement to import. If the real ex- 
ehange were unfavourable to Ireland, the 
op:nion might have fome foundation; but 
it it be, as it has been already fuggefted, 
in favour of Ireland, the abfentee who 
Feceives his rents in guineas has a gain 
inftead of a lofs on the remittance; a fact 
which is felt and acknowledged by all 
proprietors in thofe diftriéts where rents 
are fo paid. On the other hand, if the 
rates of the nominal exchange againit 
Ireland arife from the depreciation of the 
circulating paper there, that depreciation 
muft equally affect the refident and the 
abfent proprietor; the difference is, that 
the abfentee fees the depreciation reduced 
to an ztem in his account, when the 
paper is to be converted for him into the 
currency of another country, but it ope- 
yates on the refident, by raifing the price 
=~ 
Report of she Comimitiee on the State of Ireland. 
Rene y 
of every thing; and thouch ke feels the 
effect, yet its operation is fo blended with” 
the price that it does not prefent itfelf 
ofentibly. 
As to an exchange founced on depré= 
Ciation operating on exports and imports, 
your Committee cannot -exprefs their 
fentiments in clearer terms than Mr. Bor- 
rowes ufes, when he fays, *¢ that fuch an 
excliange has not the fmalleft influence on 
the trade of the country, either by encov. 
raging its exports or checking its im- 
ports, becaufe in the cafe of exports the 
xporting merchants pay as much meré 
as the depreciation for every article 
which the exporting merchants draw 
back in the exchange, and which renders 
the exchange nugatory upon exports; 
and in the cafe of imports, the importing 
merchants receive fo much more as the 
depreciation amounts to, which prevents 
Irifh exchange aéting as a reftraint, and 
thereby an exchange, founded ona depre- 
ciated currency, ftands upon principles 
totally different from an exchange founded 
on acurrency not depreciated.” 
The great and effeétual remedy te 
the high and flutuating rates of the ex- 
change, undoubtedly, would be the re- 
peal of the reftriftion aét from whence 
all the evils have flowed; the common 
circulating medium being thereby reftor- 
ed, the rife of exchange above par would 
be limited to the expence of tranfporting 
{pecie; and pdper being convertible into 
gold, its depreciation would be prevented. 
The expence and difficulty to which the 
bank of Ireland and other banks might 
be expofed, in the event of the reftriGtion 
being taken off, under the prefent circum, 
ftances of the exchange, form however a 
ftrong argument againft the fudden adop- 
tion of fuch a meafure. 
No other reafon arifing from commer- 
cial motives has fuggelted itfelf *o your 
Committee for its continuance in Ireland, 
more efpecially if the real exchange be 
favourable, as they have already ftated 
that it muft be in their opinion; but as 
its continuance may be conneéted with 
political confiderations, the difcuffion of 
which would involve your Committee in 
a very extended and tedious enquiry, they 
abftain frem entering into the general ex- 
pediency of removing or continuing the 
reftriction at the prefent time, or intoany 
conjecture of the period when it may be 
expedient. 
"Such remedies, therefore, as may an- 
{wer to give redrefs during its continu- 
ance, are next to be confidered; and the 
great object of many of thofe woich have: 
been 
