cessfully the voice of a majority of parishioners will avail in any opposition, against interested parties, the results of proceedings in several places regarding new churches will sufficiently

show.

Experience has amply proved the impolicy and danger of the measure so far as it concerns the children. In an essay towards the encouragement of charity schools, Dr. Isaac Watts has recorded, that "there was a charity school set up in Gravel-lane, Southwark, by the Protestant Dissenters, a little before the revolution and our deliverance by King William of glorious memory. Many others were formed by persons of the established church, to which several Dissenters subscribed largely. But at last they found, by sufficient experience, that the children were brought up in too many of those schools in principles of disaffection to the present government, in a bigotted zeal for the word church, and with a violent enmity and malicious spirit of persecution against all whom they were taught to call Presbyterians, though from many of their hands they received their bread and clothing." (Works, vol. 2, p. 724, 4to. 1753.)

For the foregoing and many other reasons, the Dissenters are actively opposed to the Education Bill, and are in all quarters exhibiting, in a constitutional way, that they are duly alive to their own interests. Their success must greatly contribute to the national good, for, as Dr. Doddridge has said, "The cause of the Dissenters is the cause of God!"

With any parliamentary regulation regarding the compulsory instruction of the children of the established church, the Dissenters have no right or wish to interfere. But, if parliament in its wisdom should resolve that the whole community must pay towards general education, equity would seem only to require that the designation of a Dissenter's contribution should be to some school within his own choice, (provided such school be known to exist, by being registered within the parish, or otherwise) and the tender of a receipt equivalent in amount to any rate fixed by authority, should be accepted as his discharge. Such a regulation, by the competition it would ensure, would best promote" the great benefit of improvement in knowledge, morals, and religion," which is the

ostensible object of Mr. Brougham's bill; and it would be in accordance with an observation of Dr. Adam Smith, that" those parts of education for the teaching of which there are no public institutions, are generally the best taught." (Wealth of Nations, book 5, chap. 1.)

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Mr. Brougham's attention is respectfully invited to the following remark. In a pamphlet entitled " A Letter from a Layman in Communion with the Church of England, &c. 1714," at p. 24 it is stated that "Monopolies will ever be found as fatal to learning as to trade; and the deepest ignorance will some time or other be the consequence of all restraints upon literature.” 8, Temple-place,

B. HANBURY. Blackfriars Road, Aug. 1821.

For the Monthly Magazine. NOTES written during a late Residence at BUENOS AYRES, by an English Gentleman, formerly of Bene't College, Cambridge.

(Continued from No. 357, p. 33.)

OF

F the birds, many are of the same general appearance, but of a different species from those of Europe. In this way there are wild turkeys, smaller than the tame, partridges, pheasants, woodcocks, snipes, and plovers, the latter distinguished from those of Europe, by a spur or horny excrescence on the pinion of each wing. Partridges and pheasants are brought in profusion to market, from a distance, both by Indians and Spaniards. Not a shot can be found in them, as they are killed by men who ride full gallop amongst immense coveys, and strike them down with a long cane. Another man follows, and puts the dead birds into bags or panniers of hide, which hang one on each side of a horse. Great quantities of wild ducks of various kinds, as well as snipes, are shot for sale. White geese with red legs, storks, and swans, are common. Flocks of gulls from the river, are seen feeding on the great square, and the various killing grounds. A kind of wild pea is found in marshy places.

On the plains are numerous ostriches, the eggs of which, though coarse eating, are exposed for sale during the spring. There are also hawks, vultures, and owls, one kind of which is a day bird, and lives under ground, in the holes made by the biscaccias.

Swallows different from those of Europe, which however retreat in the winter,

winter, and many other kinds of birds that would require a naturalist to describe them.

The smaller tribes of birds are very numerous, and beautiful; one is all black, another all black except the wings, which are milk white. There are two or three beautiful species of turtle dove, one of which is little larger than a sparrow. Oh! for a Bewick, to depict and describe them. I have seen but two humming birds, and believe that full nine tenths of the inbabitants

have never seen one at all.

Fleas

Of insects, the most common and troublesome are flies and fleas, which swarm in every place during the summer; the flies soil every thing, covering fruit or sugar in an instant. abound in the streets and in the houses, and are an excessive annoyance. The only way of keeping them out of a house, is to wash the floors continually, but this is too much trouble for a Spaniard. In the autumn, in some situations, mosquitoes are troublesome; in the town there are very few of them. Ants abound, and do a great deal of injury in houses, gardens, fields, &c. Fire flies are common, as are glowworms; there are a few large humming bees, but the domestic bee is unknown. This might certainly be introduced with advantage, and wild honey is found in Paraguay. Spiders are considered venomous, as is the cientopie; a few small scorpions are found.

Fish are of many kinds, generally good, and different from those of Europe. They are all caught in fresh water, except some mullet, which are brought from a salt lake, twenty-five leagues back. Fishing, like every thing else in this country, is done on horseback, to which mode the shallowness of the water is very favourable. Two

men, mounted on horses used for the purpose, carry out a long net to a great distance, perhaps half a mile from the shore, they then separate the length of the net, and begin hauling it to the beach, where carts are waiting to carry away the fish, which are generally abundant. Few markets are supplied with fish better or cheaper than this.

The climate is one of the finest in the world; its salubrious air has given name to the town. It is little if at all

subject to sudden changes. The greatest heat I ever knew, was 93° at three in the afternoon, in January; the least was 26o, at seven in the morning, in August. But these extremes are very rare. The summer months, December, January, and February, are very fine weather, the heat being tempered by a delightful breeze, which blows from the river every evening, and sometimes the greater part of the day. An occasional tempest purifies the air, and the rain refreshes the ground. The thunder is oftén extremely loud, and the lightning sometimes kills men, frequently cattle and horses.

From the nature of the soil, and the continual winds, the dust is troublesome in those months; in the winter the mud is equally so.

June and July are the most unpleasant months, not so much from the cold, as from the continual mists and fogs which then prevail. On the whole, however, no climate but that of Chili excels it. Occasionally in a winter's morning, ice may be seen of the thickness of a dollar, but by noon it is all melted away.

Instances of longevity are numerous. There lived many years in the hospital of the Residencia, where he died at the age of 115, on the 18th April, 1815, Diego Antonio Fernandez, he was a native of the village of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, in Old Castile. To the last day he walked well and his voice was strong, though both his hearing and sight were impaired. He had been fifty years in the country, and had been a soldier nearly all his life.

About the same time was buried in the church of Santo Domingo, a native of the name of Goelea, aged 127 years; he had been married three times, and left 45 or 46 children and descendants.

Pinkerton's Geography, ed. 3d, London, 1811. His account of Buenos Ayres is antiquated and full of errors. The same may be said of that now publishing in the Edinburgh Gazetteer. Pinkerton says, the government of the Spanish colonies has always been conducted with superlative prudence ; whereas, it was a most hateful and stupefying tyranny, and of the most superlative jealousy. It was once wished to establish here a college of arts and sciences, but the Spanish government stopped the design, saying that there was no necessity in Buenos Ayres, for any other instruction than such as was sufficient to qualify a young

man

man to be a lawyer or a friar, which God knows is small enough. In all parts may be seen olive trees, springing from the stumps, to which they had been repeatedly reduced, by orders from Old Spain. The growth of vines too, was checked; they might eat grapes, but must not make wine. Pinkerton talks of passing amidst fertility and civilization, from Buenos Ayres to Potosi-ridiculous! The old Spaniards are detested, and their power fallen for

ever.

The work of Mr. Pinkerton is nevertheless most excellent and worthy of the nation and the age, allowance being made for its imperfections. Spanish literature is by him excessively over-rated. Some works of imagination they have, but excepting Don Quixote, none of the first class. Of the scarcity, or rather non-existence, of works of philosophy, or real worth, in Spanish, I have often heard Creoles complain, who, from their knowledge of French literature, were able to judge.

At the end of vol. I. of the geography, there is a strange note on Spanish pronunciation. Any Spanish grammar would have informed Mr. P. that their x is always guthural, excepting when followed by a consonant, or a circumflexed vowel.

Mr. Pinkerton seems to have a wonderous pre-possession in favour of slavery; he had not seen it. The Spaniards are the mildest of slave-masters, yet even here, the misery and degradation of human nature caused by it are incalculably great. Well may it be said, that the day which makes a man a slave, robs him of half his virtue; it annihilates him as a member of society; it takes from him the great sweetener of human life, hope. A slave has no proper motive to exertion: without blows, or the fear of them, the slave cannot be managed, and this punishment he must receive from one who has no right to his labour. Yet a slave-holder thinks it quite sufficient that he has bought a man, and that he is able to enforce his services. His arguments for slavery, are drawn from the expediency of the thing, or, in short, that any thing by which he is a gainer, is right. The re-action of slavery on the master has dreadful effects; from a child he is a despot without restraint, his worst passions are indulged unchecked. But every thing that can be said for slavery has been so frequently and convincingly answered,

that it may appear useless to say more on the subject. Yet it is most strange that such a man as Mr. P. should be in favour of it, and should quote a paltry Portuguese bishop in support of his opinion.

Bull fights, to the disgrace of Buenos Ayres, are in as high repute as ever. The streets are not broad; lime is not used in building, except in the churches. There is no wall to the north of the square, but a fort on the N.E.; there are no ombús near the square. In 1815, a few poplars were planted on the walk near the mole. As to the environs of Buenos Ayres, there are no inclosed fields, all is open land; the market gardens and peach grounds alone are fenced. The cattle are never penned except to mark them.

The foregoing notes on Buenos Ayres were taken on the spot, during a residence of about two years. The writer possessed neither time nor the requisite attainments to furnish a complete account of the country, but he has attempted to give a more correct idea of it, in some respects, than is generally entertained in England. Every part of South America still demands the attention of the enlightened traveller, and scientific naturalist: to the latter it offers an immense field. The greater part of the country is accessible to any one who has a moderate share of courage and enterprize, sufficient funds, and a knowledge of Spanish, one of the easiest of languages. A Paraguay servant, who would also serve as an interpreter, might easily be engaged in Buenos Ayres, and, if well treated, he might be fully depended upon. South America, Chili only is properly known, the full and accurate history of which by Molina, may serve as a model to future writers. Paraguay, which the missions, as they are called, of the Guaranig, pronounce Waranith, Tucuba, and parts of Patagonia, &c. particularly deserve attention. On the account of Buenos Ayres, by our excellent geographer, Pinkerton, some observations have already been made.

In

The work of Estella I have not seen, but suppose that Pinkerton has given his most important matter. The "Notes on the viceroyalty of La Plata" are written by an accurate and candid observer. It is to be regretted that he did not see more of a country, of which he appears so well qualified to have written an account.

Davie's letters from Paraguay were probably

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reformer, appears to have been one of the first, who in writing objected to Aristotle's dogma, " Pecunia non pecuniam parit," and since his time it has found many learned advocates and opposers; notwithstanding which scholastic prejudices against usury still prevail in many nations. In England, a rate higher than the legal, subjects the lender to very severe and disgraceful punishments: and the interests of commercial men have given a sanction to these laws, originally founded in prejudice.

Some writers have contended for money transactions being left free like other branches of trade; amongst the rest that able financier Jeremy Bentham. M. Turgot, and the economists support this idea, and say, that money has a current price, like every other article, which should not be fixed by law any more than they should; and in Hamburgh and Amsterdam, the experiment has been fully tried. The rate of interest allowed to be taken in different countries, and at different periods, varies exceedingly.

By the code of Justinian it was fixed at 121.; in England, in the time of Henry the VIII. at 31.; in Ireland it is now something better than 61.; in the West Indies, 81. ; in the East, 121.; in England, 51., and in Turkey, 301. per cent. Which, therefore, of these rates shall we say is the most proper, or what regulates their amount but the conveniency of the parties? or why, we may be allowed to ask, should the law interfere to regulate the price of money, when it does not do so with other articles of trade?

The expediency of maintaining economy among numerous extravagant members of the state, is held by Locke, and Sir J. Stewart, as the chief grounds in favour of anti-usurious laws. But the real questions to be asked, are, should laws interfere to impose restraints on such persons, and if so, are they adequate to the end proposed? As long as the prodigal has any thing to dispose of, no laws will check his borrowing, nor will he be disposed to give more than the average rate of interest, while he can get money upon those terms; that is, so long as he shall be able to give proper security.

The usury laws are supposed to provide for the security of the indigent and simple, and against the rashness of speculators and projectors. With respect to the indigent class of borrowers, what may at first view appear disad

vantageous in their borrowing, may, in reality be the contrary; and as the laws have a tendency to check the facility of such persons obtaining money to carry on their concerns, as far as it regards them the interference of the legislation may be considered as officious and injurious.

As to the protection afforded to the simple and inexperienced by fixing a rate of interest, does it not operate alike on the wise and enterprising, and are not they the more numerous and valuable class of society? What better reason is there for fixing a maximum than a minimum of interest? The law seems to have professed formerly some protecting power, but is this applicable to the present state of commerce, when the lender is often poorer than the borrower, as in annuities, &c.?

Besides this, the simple would find out the market rate of interest as well as that of other commodities. Perhaps some restraint might be imposed by the legislature on two systems of usury now much in vogue; the one mentioned by Colquhoun, in his Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, when persons lend out money to poor women at the rate of sixpence per day, for each five shillings advanced, or seven pounds ten per annum. The other upon loans effected by way of annuity.

In the course of the last twenty years, a great trade has been carried on in borrowing money by way of annuity, and perhaps nothing so admirably illustrates the operation of the usury laws as this, it being a perfectly legal mode of evading them, and yet one attended with the most ruinous consequences to the borrower. The law has already imposed a number of regulations upon such transactions, with the view of preventing them from becoming too easy a means of evading the statute of usury; but hitherto, the regulations have proved insufficient, nor do I know any positive check upon such practices, except that of our ad valorem stamp duty upon the sum intended to be raised. The present mode of effecting these annuities, is by increasing the risk of the lender, and thus somewhat to raise the price to the borrower. Then the nature of the transaction renders an assurance upon the life of the borrower necessary, and this is a dreadful increase of the price of