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fend forth fuch miferable nonfenfe to the world! Experience only could juftify our belief of the fact. The nonfenfe is even too grofs, we conceive, to impofe on the credulity of the French public.

In the note to page 71, the author accufes the Bank Directors of having, by an ingenious device, produced the confiderable rife which took place, of the exchange with Hamburgh, in the ten months which followed the foppage of payments, in fpecie, at the Bank. This rife was certainly a ftumbling-block in his way, and he has very ingeniously leaped over it. But, if an increafed circulation of paper was to be the caufe of a fall in the exchange, as he himself afferts, it would have been out of the power of the Bank Directors, by any posible opera tion of theirs, to produce a rife in the Exchange for the long term of ten months.

We could point out many more contradictions, perversions, and ab. furdities of a fimilar nature; but we have already extended our remarks fo far, that we must neceffarily bring them to a concluficp. Two or three more paffages only fall we notice.

Mr. Boyd is a rigid disciple of Adam Smith's; he treats monopoly, foreftalling, and regrating, as chimeras; calls our judges to account for the opinions which they have delivered on the fubject from the bench; and rejects the idea of regulating Speculation by law. This will n't appear furprifing to those who recollect the boundlets fpeculations of Mr. Boyd, who projected the eftablish ment of a Bans, in opofition to the Bank of England, and laboured to monopolize all the loans in the country. But we conld state a fact or two to our readers, which would, we apprehend, convince them of the neceffity of impofing fome bounds, at leaft, on the fpeculations of men. One will fuffice for our prefent purpose. In an early part of the French Revolution, a houfe was established at Hamburgh, by one Walquiers, for the exprefs purpofe of fupplying the French armies with corn. Several perfons applied to the House, whofe connections were very extenfive, for cargoes of corn for the English market; but they were conftantly refufed, by Walquiers, who had no fcruple to ftate, that he would fooner throw his corn into the fea, than fend it to England. Mr. Walquiers's confidence in the rulers of the French Republic was very properly rewarded. He became a bankrupt, in 1795, when it was proved that a British Houfe, in the city, had been connected with him in this fcandalous traffic, and fuffered materally by his failure. A hint of this connection was given in one of the public prints, and a full account of the tranfaction was promised; but an immediate application to the proprietor of the paper, accompanied by an offer of 50001. in the new loan (which produced a profit of 2001.) prevented further notice of the fact. We are well convinced, that even Mr. Boyd himself would condemn a fpeculation of this nature, and deem it a proper object for the cognizance of the law.

any

The rafh and unwarrantable cenfures which are inflicted by the author, on the Bank Directors and the Chancellor of the Exchequer are of fuch a nature as to be referred only to private pique, and difappointment. The one may have limited their difcounts too much; the other may have fuggefted plans which Mr. B. might

have wished him to adopt. Hinc iræ hinc Lacrymæ. But when Mr. Boyd ventures to affert, that he has, "in fome inftances, been the victim of the errors of the adminiftration," his arrogance and prefumption become too intolerable to pass without chaltifement. And his ingratitude is ftill more confpicuous than either; for never, we will affirm, was any private individual under fo many obliga tions to a Minifter as Mr. Boyd has been under to Mr. itt, who, from the perfuafion that his fall would be felt, in a certain degree, by the whole mercantile world, carried his protection and fup port of him to an extent which was scarcely justifiable, and which under no other circumstances would have been excufeable. But there are some minds of infatiate as to deem any thing short of an abfolute compliance with every demand, an infult which cancels all paft obligations, and authorizes a difplay of refentment. Haply Mr. Boyd's mind may be of this defcription, in which cafe he may, poffibly, confider it as a crime in his Majefty's Chancellor of the Exchequer to have rejected the offers of an infolvent debtor, to become the subscriber of millions to a public loan!

But the wild centures of this arrogant writer are not confined to individuals, nor yet to corporate bodies; they extend to the Legislature. itself, and even to the public, at large, who are modeftly catechifed, for "not eftimating, as it deferved, the important change which the Legislature introduced, when it permitted the bank to ijue, and not to pay, their notes;"-and fill more, "for readily taking these notes, when deftitute of the quality which originally gave, 'and ultimately mult fupport, their value, with the fame confidence, as when they poffeffed that quality ;"-thus removing the apprehensions, but, unfortunately, at the fame time, falfifying the predictions, of Mr. Boyd; and fo expofing the weaknefs of his pretenfions to fifcal fore fight, and financial wifdom; if not defeating his fchemes, and dif appointing his fpeculations. If the paffage we have quoted be not as daring an attempt as ever was made by man to destroy the public confidence, the very fource of our profperity, the principal means of our commercial and political greatnefs, our powers of comprehenfion must have lost all their activity, and our judgment have been totally deftroyed. What language, then, çan fupply terms fuffic ently trong to characterize fuch an attempt at fuch a period, when the extenfion of that public confidence is, more than ever, effential to the fuccefs of our plans, for the defeat of our enerny's fchemes, and the prefervation of our own independence? If Mr. Boyd withed to makẹ friends in France, he has certainly adopted the beit means of fecuring them; but if he be anxious to maintain or acquire the good opimen of his country men, if he be ferious in his pretenfions to public fpirit, and in his profeffions of concern for the welfare of Great Britain, he has taken a means of accomplishing the former, and of demonftrating the latter, fo ftrange as to be fairly imputable only to the most unaccountable perverfenefs and obitinacy, or to a temporary deprivation

of reafon.

If we have appeared harsh and fevere in our review of this pam phlet, it has been from a full conviction that its mifchievous tendency,

and

and the utter impoflibility of afcribing its appearance to any laudable motive, both fanctioned and required the ufe of fuch harshness and feverity. We are in the habit of inferring motives from declarations and actions; and though Mr. Tierney (whom we fhrewdly fufpect of having affifted Mr. Boyd in the compofition of this tract, for it contains many of those confident affertions which have embellished Mr. Tierney's fpeeches, on matters of finance, with much of the fame reafoning too, if that can be called reafoning, which confifts chiefly of affertions, unfupported by proofs and contradicted by facts,) maycontinue to object to this fpecies of inference we shall continue to ufe it, until, at leaft, our minds fhall have become as enlightened as his own. But if any of our readers fhould still be difpofed to accuse us of uncharitablenefs, we have one inftance in reserve, with which we fhall close our obfervations on Mr. Boyd's letter.

Anticipating the reproach which must have been incurred from the indication of an alarming evil, unaccompanied by the fuggeftion of an adequate remedy, the author contends that the beft and only means of averting all our calamities, is to restore to the bank the falutary obligation of paying its notes on demand;"-and this measure, he tells us," is not only proper and practicable, but indifpenfibly necef fary."-So far he is confiftent at leaft; but what will our readers fay, when we apprize them that the meafure, the neceffity of which is here fo ftrongly enforced, has been before affirmed by Mr. Boyd himself, to be pregnant with the most fatal confequences. Adverting to the increased value of gold (P. 27.) he afferts that the temptation to melt the coin is too ftrong to be refifted; in the next page, he farther affures us, that "while fuch a temptation exifts, it is in vain to expect that any lar can prevent its going abroad ;" and in the next page to that, he speaks with till more decifion on the fubject; 66 no law of any kind can, in the prefent fituation of the exchange, prevent its going out" of the country. Yet, with this conviction fo ftrongly impreffed upon his mind, he does not hesitate to infift on the propriety and neceffity of a measure which would have the almoft immediate effect of throwing all the fpecie of the kingdom into circulation, and expofing it (unless it produced an alteration in the exchange, which, for reafons before afligned, there are no grounds for expecting) to the certainty of being fent out of, and confequently loft to, the country! We leave our readers to draw their own influence from this fact. We fhall only add, that if all the author's arguments were as ftrong as they are weak; if his motives were as pure as they are fufpicious; and if his reasoning were as true as it is falfe; all the evils, which really exift, all which bis fertile imagination has created, and all which he anticipates and pro feffes to deplore, would be light and trivial when compared with the danger, which muft inevitably refult, from the adoption of his grand Specific.

Brief Obfervations on a late Letter addressed to the Right Hon. W, Pitt, by W. Boyd, Efq. c. on the Stoppage of Iffues in Specie by the Bank of England, Sc. e. 8vo. Pr. 36. Debrett, London, 1801,

Confilia

Confilia qui dant prava cautis hominibus,

Et perdunt operam, et deridentur turpiter.

THIS is the very appofite motto adopted by the author of these obfervations which did not fall into our hands until we had completed our review of Mr. Boyd's tract, Had we feen them fooner, we should have been tempted to fubftitute many of them in the place of our own remarks. The author, with equal fairness and temperance, expofes the fallacy of his adverfary's reafoning, and very properly questions the purity of his motives. Adverting to the encreafed circulation of paper, which Mr. B. ftates to have been the certain cause of the rife in provifions, for he affirms that the latter is the inevitable confequence" of the former, he reminds that fpeculator that the increase, according to his own statement, in the courfe of five years is only 3,475,3971. whereas the increafed price of bread alone, rating it at one fhilling the quartern loaf above its general rate in years of plenty, citi mating the population of the country at eight millions, and allowing one quartern loaf in a week to each individual, amounts to no less than £20,800,000! So much for the adequacy of Mr. B.'s firft caufe!

This acute obferver forefees, in the original notice of Mr. B. matter of triumph for the French gazettes" and expects" to fee Mr. B.'s opinions retailed in every page of them." He thinks with us, that when fuch a work is produced at fuch a period, "it is natural to inquire who the author is, what have been the circumstances of his life, and with what views he ventures to attack the finance arid credit of his country?" And it appears probable to him that Mr. Boyd may entertain a design of renewing his former business of a banker, at Paris, on the conclufion of a peace. If fuch be really his intent, he has certainly fecured a favourablé reception for himfelf; and we advise him to affociate himself with M. Saladin," who, in return for the protection which this country affords him, fpares no opportunity of panegyrifing its enemies, and has lately been employed in propagating, in Germany, calumnies on our government, by falfely stating, that no moderate publications, of a political nature, are tolerated in England. With us, alfo, the author is of opinion that refentment may have had a confiderable fhare in influencing the compofition of Mr. B.'s Letter. "He may, perhaps, have made an application to the Minifter to be employed as an agent in France, or have requested permiffion to go thither on his own private affairs. He may also have been refufed a compliance with thofe propofitions, and, already diffatisfied with Government, may feel his refentment heightened by fuch refufals. At all events the public has a right to form its own notions refpecting the object of fuch a production: and it may poffibly inquire whether it proceeds from the zeal of patriotifm, or a fpirit of refentment."

Whoever reads Mr. Boyd's Tract fhould peruse these observations on it; and then he may fay with Cato-The bane and antidote are both before me,'

The Author of the "Coup d'œil politique" reviewed, by us, in a former Appendix, REVIEWERS

76

The Favourite Village. A Poem. By James Hurdis, D.D. Professor of Poetry, Oxford. Printed at Bishopstone, Sussex, at the Author's own Press. 4to. Pr.210. 6s. Johnson. London. 1800. A Sermon preached in the Chapel of Princes-Street, Westminster, on Feb. 16, and Essex-Street, Strand, on Feb. 23, 1800. By Joshua Toulmin, D. D. 18. London.

Elements of Christian Theology; containing Proofs of the Authenticity and Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; a Summary of the History of the Jews; a brief Statement of the Contents of the several Books of the Old and New Testament; a short Account of the English Translations of the Bible and of the Liturgy of the Church of England; and a Scriptural Exposition of the Thirtynine Articles of Religion. By George Prettyman, D.D. F.R.S. Lincoln. Designed principally for the Use of young Students in Divinity. 8vo. 2 Vols. PP. 550 in each. 14s. Boards. Cadell and Davies.

A

SIR,

1799.

TO THE EDITOR.

YOUNG man just beginning his career in life, a stranger to the ways of mankind, and unacquainted with the arts of Crities, would naturally suppose, in reading the two last Numbers of the Monthly Review, that it was his duty to consider Bishop Pretty.man and Professor Hurdis, as both deficient in skill as writers, while Dr. Toulmin is a complete model of excellence. For it is singular, Sir, that while those two authors are treated in a manner that is extremely rude and contemptuous, the third is honoured with the most unqualified praise and admiration. What might puzzle and mislead a young man, i3 to you and me, Mr. Editor, no ænigma at all. We have been long aware of the real purposes, for which Reviews have been successively established and carried on. Sometimes we have seen them launched into the world, as vehicles of advertisement, as posts and heralds, which were to announce particularly the works published by the bookseller who was proprietor of the Review, and to give such a character of them as would quicken the sale. But the grand object has been, in the first instance, the propagation of the tenets of Dissenters; and, in more modern times, the circulation of the Jacobinical pus. Such being the views, particularly of the Monthly, Critical, and Analytical Reviewers, it entered of course into their original plan, that the works of Church-ofEngland-men should be cried down below their merits, while the publications of Dissenters were as much exalted above their merits. Hence originates the difference so perceptible in their remarks on the three authors above-mentioned. Dr. Prettyman is a Bishop: sin enough in the eyes of a Monthly Reviewer to obliterate every prétension to merit. Dr. Hurdis is a Professor in one of our Universi ties: there is no crime so great as to be an Oxopian or a Cantab. Neither of them is a Jacobin: worse and worse. One was tutor

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