tered the church, where the appropriated part of the burial service was read, and then a psalm sung, after which we repaired to the grave to witness the conclusion of the melancholy ceremony. We will not attempt to describe the grief of the poor widow and her daughter, nor can we pourtray the forcible effect which the impressive delivery of our beautiful burial service had upon all present. We can only say that the scene, taken altogether, was one of the most affecting we ever witnessed, and he must be a hardhearted being indeed who could have beheld, and shared in it, with unconcern or apathy. Our attendance at this humble funeral we consider as one of the most fortunate occurrences which happened to us in our travels. We have witnessed by it a peculiar, and certainly a very interesting feature in the character and manners of our western neighbours. We can safely say that few tourists have had advantages so gratifying as with Mr. W-, of Dolgelly, than whom those we possessed by our acquaintance no one can be more highly respected, or better known in the country. Since our return to town a friend has pointed out to us Mr. Pennant's description of the customs which formerly attended the funeral of the Welsh mountaineer. As the passage is not long, we subjoin it. 46 Previous to a funeral," he says, "it was customary when the corpse was brought out of the house, for the next of kin, be it a widow, sister, mother, or daughter, for it must be a female, to give over the coffin a quantity of white loaves in a great dish, and sometimes a cheese with a piece of money stuck in it, to certain After that, they pre sented in the same manner, a cup of drink, and required the person to drink a little of it immediately. When this was done they knelt down, and the minister, if present, said the Lord's Prayer, after which they proceeded with the corpse; and at every cross * This little church, if we mistake not, is the one belonging to Barmouth, and is situated about two miles from the town. Nothing can be more bleak and exposed than its situation. Built on the summit of a barren hill, it overlooks the sea on the south, and a range of rocky mountains on the north. But it is a pleasing object amidst so much barrenness, and shines more conspicuously from the cheerless sterility which surrounds it. was way between the house and the church they laid down the bier, knelt, and again repeated the Lord's Prayer, and did the same when they first entered the church yard. It is also customary, in many places, to sing psalms on the way, by which the stillness of rural life is often broken into, in a manner finely productive of religious reflections. Among the Welsh it reckoned fortunate for the deceased if it should rain while they were carrying him to church, that his bier might be wet with the dew of Heaven. In some places it was customary for the friends of the dead to kneel, and say the Lord's Prayer over the grave, for several Sundays after the interment, and then to dress the grave with flowers. "Manibus date lilia plenis Of these ceremonies few are now practised. Psalms are still sung on the way, and the Lord's Prayer is also repeated at the church porch. In some down at the grave the first Sunday afparts of the country it is usual for terwards, and say the Lord's Prayer; and the graves are still occasionally decorated with turf and wild flowers. those who attended the funeral to kneel The other customs enumerated by Mr. Pennant have fallen into desuetude, and are, perhaps, now forgotten. For the Monthly Magazine. THE POLITICAL ECONOMIST, No. II. Consisting of Observations and Strictures on Modern Systems of Political Economy. REAL CAUSE of the RUIN of our COMMERCE, iu the INCREASE and MISAPPLICATION of MACHINERY.* Rin all cases the best method of eliciting truth. Our attention, therefore, is demanded, as a preliminary, to an explication of the origin of com ECOURSE to first principles, is merce. mutual advantage to be derived from the Commerce originated in the supply of reciprocal wants. In its progress, avarice and ambition became the ruling incitements; and from the inordinate desire of grasping at too much, we have in effect ruined all. Not to dilate unnecessarily the real and proximate cause of the ruinous condition of trade, is OVER SUPPLY. Mutual advantage is the foundation and actions of tyrannical government, still with the immense population of the Chinese, we do not find the mass of the people (as in what are called the more civilized nations,) exposed to actual want and misery, or dependent upon public or private contributions for support. Here then we see strongly exemplified the proper limit to the exercise of artificial powers. Where human powers end or fail us, they begin. The natural limit, will in most cases, be found the just limit. Their misapplication, however, is alone to be deprecated, not their use, which is frequently beneficial. To instance: nothing is more conducive to health and comfort in our houses, than abundance of water: in cities and the more elevated parts of towns, it often could not be obtained so effectually any other way. In the case adduced, it is im only support of the commercial system. From over supply disadvantage or loss invariably results. Thus, to provide a remedy, a knowledge of the circumstances which have led to, or produced it, becomes indispensable. The cause of evil is not, as many persons have supposed, the introduction of machinery, but its subsequent misapplication. In particular lines, and in particular districts, occasionally losses have at all times been sustained from over supply, an evil that formerly corrected itself. Trade was then in the main beneficial to the trader, which it ought to be, and afforded remuneration to the mechanic, as well as to the artisan. It no longer does so to either. Only, however, within the last half century, since the indiscriminate and universal use of inachinery, has it ceased to do so, and over produce become general.* It is a maxim of Chinese policy, never to sub-portant to remark, no over supply takes stitute the use of machinery for any purpose within the compass of human powers and industry; nor does it practically appear any other than the soundest policy. For although constantly hearing of the oppression, nay, the ex Various are the causes to which our distresses have been attributed: but to none so futile, as to the depreciation and altered state of our currency; since in many countries where no such alterations have taken place, similar results have been produced. Currency was introduced and adopted, for the sake of convenience, an artificial medium only, by no means essential to commerce, and has proved, moreover, practically injurious, by facilitating speculation, monopoly, and wars. Even a legitimate currency, gold, is intrinsically of no more worth than any other dirt; unless, as an accommodating medium for effecting valuable exchange. Were curren cy of every kind to be annihilated it might prove inconvenient, but would in no respect sap the foundation and support of the commercial system, viz. "The mutual advantage to be derived from the supply of reciprocal wants." Had the pound note, from an over paper issue, been at any time depreciated below a shilling value, or to nothing, with no over supply of corn and wool for instance in the country, how would it have prevented the barter, and valuable exchange of these commodities? Barter, on valuable exchange, took place before currency had existence, and would continue to do so were it to cease. Without overproduce becoming GENERAL, NOTHING can permanently prevent a remunerating price, or the valuable exchange of commodities from taking place. place: the surplus produce or what is not wanted, passing away without injury. Not so, the indiscriminate application of machinery in our manufactories; where surplus produce is synonymous with oversupply. An additional disadvantage attending its use is the following: inaction is ruin. What prior to its introduction constituted a reasonable profit to the manufacturer, is now absorbed in the additional insunk, before produce commences; in terest of capital, and with fortunes the event of unsuccessful trade, they are nearly, if not wholly lost. Working at all times, to cover expences ;† or to avoid the greater loss inseparable from standing still: By anticipation, an already superfluous stock is ever augmenting. Employment moreover, under such circumstances, is both partial and without permanency, and admits not of a remunerating price to the labourer: hence the appalling increase of our poor rates. Nor is this all, the system is demoralizing and a monopoly ; since none but capitalists can engage it. it. That such has been the practical result is unquestionable, and to this, Such too is the case in Bengal, and throughout India, where machinery is not substituted for manual labour; and where every individual obtains adequate subsistence by his exertions. + Unhappily, this is the principle upon which our manufactories have been at work the last few months; the proprietors in many lines, are certainly so engaged with the expectation only of covering the expences of their establishments. our our manifold distresses are in great part to be attributed: nor can they cease whilst the system is persevered in. Its capacity for mischief is incalculable: since, according to the well-intentioned and benevolent Owen, in "his Memorial to the Allied Powers," we are told, p. 14. Already with a population under twenty millions, and a manual power not exceeding six, with the aid of her new power, undirected except by blind private interest, she supplies her own demands, and overstocks, with her manufactures, all the markets in the world, into which her commerce is admitted. She is now using every exertion to open new markets, even in the most distant regions, because she feels she could soon supply the wants of another world equally populous with the earth." p. 15. "Thus have two men, Watt and Arkwright, by introducing improved scientific power of a peculiar description given to the world the means of creating wealth more rapidly than it can be used." Upon the preceding quotations we may briefly remark, that a capacity for unlimited production, or the power of overstocking the world, is here admitted to be in actual operation, and in our own country. When, and wherever exerted, it must prove both unprofitable and injurious: not, according to Mr. Owen," as the means of creating wealth more rapidly than it can be used," which is a mere solecism: but by making that, which before was wealth, cease to be so. What constitutes wealth, is the power of changeability, or of valuable exchange: overstock, or oversupply, undermines the capability, and if carried to excess, annihilates it. The absurdity, therefore, to say nothing worse, of substituting artificial powers for natural ones, and of a description not wanted, is self-evident; powers, the very exercise of which defeat their own purposes. But until avarice and ambition shall have ceased to be actuating principles, the capability of unlimited production will ever be found to terminate, as it hitherto has done, in overproduce; and wherever consumption has limits, which is necessarily * When Sir R. Arkwright, submitted to the then minister, Mr. Pitt, his discoveries, or his practical application of discoveries, stating, the capability of unlimited production to result from it, Mr. Pitt, drily, but with sound judgment, observed, "Sir, you will soon want another world of customers.'' everywhere, overproduce is oversupply. New worlds, therefore, (as Mr. Pitt sagely remarked) must be found, to answer their insatiable demands. To affix a permanently beneficial value upon all commodities, supply must be regulated by demand; the only means of rendering trade advantageous, and thereby of relieving our distresses. Oversupply is the hydra to be destroyed; begot by avarice upon the daughter of ambition, and nurtured by the misapplication of artificial powers. Happily a monster of our own creation, for were it a God-send, its extirpation might be impossible. Our next consideration, is the best mode of riddance. The experience of all practical men convinces us, that no measure, however demonstrably advantageous to traders en masse, will ever be adopted, if depending upon their united concurrence; and the interference of government with trade, or its regulations, is highly objectionable; but, upon the present occasion, we have no other effectual remedy. Better, therefore, a committee be appointed to ascertain the practical injury that has already resulted from the misapplication of machinery: whether by expediting production too much, an unlimited and surplus produce have not been the consequence?-and if so, that its future use be prohibited wherever the exercise of human powers are commensurate to the supply of any reasonable or possible demand; unless in cases where the effect cannot be produced without it, or in the few instances that might accrue, where (like the water) surplus produce and oversupply are not synonymous. Palliatives manifestly can prove of For instance: no essential service. could taxation be dispensed with altogether, the mill-stone, by so many supposed to be sinking us, no real benefit to trade would result from it: the indiscriminate application of machinery continued. But the principal means of overproduction removed by the regula tions proposed, every future diminution of the taxes would then operate as a stimulus to beneficial exertion, and consequently any suggestions for their reduction be no longer misapplied. Oversupply is most injurions when proceeding from the misuse of machinery; arising from this cause, all future permanent advantage from trade is precluded; and it also prohibits a remunerating price to the labourer; con ditions ditions that must be realized in order to the welfare and happiness of every country, and the want of which is the real source of our distress. Overproduce may certainly result from other causes; strikingly evidenced since the peace in America, and most of the agricultural districts in Europe, where it has taken place without it. Much waste, and artificial consumption, having ceased with the war, the unbounded scope for speculative demand, and real demand ceased with it. Hence, the distresses in which those countries have been involved. So, indeed, would it have been in our own, as it regards the produce of the soil, the injury resulting from machinery out of the question, only not to the existing extent, and for the following reasons:-From the immense waste inclosing within the last 30 years, and more so from the practical improvements in agriculture since that period; whence produce from the same land may safely be affirmed to have increased fourfold. In many districts it has doubled within the last fifty years. Consulting the necessary documents, farming, even before this, upon an average never admitted of unreasonable remuneration, proving that natural means always have been adequate to SUPPLY, without the aid of artificial powers. The misuse of machinery is so strongly deprecated, because from its capacity of unlimited production, (a consequence which does not apply to the soil) it is unavoidably calculated to perpetuate the evils of which we complain. Were there no other advantage to be derived from the regulations proposed, the beneficial employ that would thence result to all who need it, were of itself a sufficient reason for their adoption. The spinning of the country alone would then advantageously occupy every now superfluous hand. An actual demand for labourers ensuing, fair wages both would and could be given; and thus our poor rates, so alarmingly an increasing evil, would soon be reduced to reasonable and just limits. The speciousness of the artificial system at its commencement is not denied: but when we consider the inextricable ruin in which it has eventually involved us, it will at least be deprecated by every reflecting mind. At first, undoubtedly our foreign trade was benefitted by the prevalent application of machinery, materially expediting production, and lowering the cost of commodities. It enabled us successfully to compete with foreigners, and our trade was thereby carried to an extent before unknown; much time too was necessarily spent in bringing a power so colossal into full play; and in the interim considerable profit accrued. No sooner, however, had it arrived at maturity, than the supply exceeding the demand, the illusion of any future benefit from the system vanished at once and for ever. The golden age over, we did not ourselves kill the bird in return for the golden produce it had afforded us, but, totally exhausted, it died of itself. How direful the result of this temporary and artificial flourish of our trade! What determined the commencement of the late unjust and ruinous war, but our thus augmented resources, as they were called. Thirty millions of additional permanent taxes is a part only of the bitter portion we have thence inherited: a proportionate increase in the scale of the public expenditure having been coupled with it. Happily our foreign trade, even at its highest reach, exceeded not one fourth of our commerce, and which were it now greater, might henceforward be safely dispensed with, since it never can again become permanently advantageous. The benefit supposed to be derived from it to the revenue, is altogether too fallacious; the fact being undeniable, that for years past, the losses of the merchants, manufacturers, and traders, have alone been the source whence it has been supplied; and such, until the present unnatural system be abandoned, must ever continue to be the case. The artificial system has practically failed, both as a source of profit to the trader, and as a support to the revenue. Long ere the termination of the late war, under the specious name of a property aud income tax, a proportion of the real property of every possessor was taken. Now, had not the system been of temporary benefit only, hollow and deceptive, so violent an expedient need not have been resorted to. The extension of our trade, and of our foreign trade more particularly, has been made the pretext for many of our wars; fifty millions of permanent taxes are the inglorious result. England, is still a great nation, and has resources within her own dominions to enable her to continue so without leaning upon foreign aids of any kind for support; which if she dues, does, at no distant period she must inevitably sink into her original insignifi cance. Temporary greatness, resulting from the exercise of artificial powers, is not prosperity: a country may flourish, but not prosper; a fact woefully exemplified in the case of our own, during the late successful, however ultimately ruinous war; when numerous individuals by speculation suddenly amassed great wealth, but not indeed by the most desirable means, when it is known that the consumer during the war, from this very circumstance, paid from one to two hundred per cent. additional upon all commodities used; thus enriching a few at the expense of the many. A country to prosper, must rest for support upon its own resources; prosperity having no value without permanency, which can in no ease result from foreign trade. A temporary and artificial benefit, however specious, is deceptive, and in reality valueless. Like the glaring meteor, it excites only momentary admiration and astonishment, but is of no other use; or like the majestic, and seemingly glorious ascent of the balloon, raised altogether by artificial powers, a mere spectacle to gaze at; but soon, very soon, it returns from the region of the skies to its native element without real benefit, without having effected any valuable purpose whatever. Humbling, as is the consideration, to the aspirant after sudden wealth, to the would-be-great, nothing is more certain than that permanent prosperity is to be effected alone by every-day means; and that neither the sudden greatness of states, nor sudden rise of individuals, is compatible with the ordinary course of things, or, in general, with their own permanent prosperity. Agriculturists, manufacturers, merchants and traders of Great Britain, the cause of your sufferings is ascertained, the remedy in your power: simply regulate supply by demand: of yourselves unite to do it or you must be compelled to do so by legislative enactments, otherwise your universal ruin must ensue. Advantageous commerce alone, is the only commerce desirable to you or to the nation; and no commerce can be beneficial, in a public or private sense, when the supply is greater than the demand, or when it can easily be made so by the avaricious and unrestrained competition of those who manufacture by machinery. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, SIR, HERE appears to be a perverse THE disposition in many of the public writers of this country, and particularly in those connected with the periodical press, to abuse the inhabitants and misrepresent the present situation of the United States of America. This disposition is exceedingly to be deplored, because it tends to foment animosities between countries whose best interests depend upon the most amicable communication, and a reciprocal interchange of commodities, scientific information, and friendly offices. It is truly surprising to observe the unblushing effrontery with which assertions are so roundly made in some of the public prints, relative to this young and rising giant of the west. Some of these are the offspring of a few disappointed emigrants, who have returned from that land of promise, not finding mines of gold; but to their just and merited mortification, that IDLENESS is not a productive commodity, and that America is not the country for those who are fruges consumere noti. No, sir, America does not want idlers without money or without principle; and he who emigrates not possessing these two commodities, or the disposition to acquire the first by LABOUR, will certainly on emigrating to that country be most grievously disappointed. It is to be lamented that the DUTY OF LABOUR is not more particularly inculcated in this as well as other civilized states, by more positive and direct instruction; and particularly so upon the young and rising generation. It has occurred to me that some such axioms (for axioms I presume they are or ought to be) as the following, may be very beneficially impressed upon all classes of society in their outset of life; and that if perseveringly taught in our schools they must produce the most beneficial results, not only in youth, but in manhood, and throughout the whole period of life. No person has a right to live by the labour of another, if able to labour himself. It is the duty, therefore, of every member of a state to support himelf, and those who are immediately depen dent on him, by his own labour. The exceptions to this rule are, the impossibility of obtaining employment, infancy, |