Peppers are abundant at 22 cts., long price. Mind to prevent our running under a cash disbursement. 5787 sticks of fustic. A quantity of logwood, weighing20 bundles of steel. 375 pigs of lead, loose. 100 pipes of oil-proof brandy. Le poivre est offert à 22c., droit compris. Ayez soin de ne pas nous laisser en avance de caisse. 5787 buches de bois jaune. Un grenier de campêche, pesant 20 bottes d'acier. 375 saumons de plomb, en vrac. 100 pipes d'eau-de-vie, de 22} deg. Connected with commercial instruction, the pupils at Sion House Academy are initiated into the technicalities of trade, and learn to draw receipts, bills of exchange, accounts current, bills of lading, and so forth; a description of knowledge so rarely taught, that ninety-nine out of a hundred young men who have received what is termed a liberal education, are totally ignorant of the subject. We admit that book-keeping will be more readily learned in a counting house than at a school but many never enter a counting house, who, nevertheless, ought to possess a general knowledge of mercantile routine and commercial terms. We also notice with approbation the method adopted in teaching the higher branches of mathematics, as geometry, algebra, and trigonometry. "Our mode of teaching algebra," says the Report, is that developed by Mr. Perry, which corresponds in its chief particular with that recommended by the Journal of Education, the great principle of which is to work an example before the pupil, stating the reasons of every step, and then requiring him to deduce laws,-note them, and afterwards compare them with the rule in his text book, &c. &c.' The plan of teaching land surveying is also deserving of praise. It is quite true that an object submitted to the eye makes a stronger impression than if the laws relating to that object are merely communicated to the ear. Horace told us so long ago: Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem, quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus. This is particularly the case with practical subjects. The Report says, "the pupils of the land surveying class frequently go out with a teacher, to survey some adjoining piece of land. They take notes in a regular field book, and work the survey on their return." The discipline of the school is modelled on a sound basis. The appointment of school officers from among the boys, as the magistrate, the conservators of school property, the librarian, and the dormitorial police, teaches the pupils to legislate for themselves, and they are thus initiated, in early life, in some general ideas of political government. On the whole, we cannot but accord very high praise to Sion House Academy, and if the practice really corresponds with the Report, of which we have no doubt, the establishment richly merits the patronage of parents and guardians. One thing is certain, that all is open and above board; for the principal, Mr. Elias Neel, by printing his system of education and entering into every minute detail, affords every person full opportunity of forming an accurate judgment of the merits or demerits of his establishment, and there is no better guarantee of truth and fair dealing than publicity. SUMMARY OF MONTHLY LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. ELECTION OF A JURAT. THE Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council, having granted the prayer of the petition of Peter Le Pelley, esq., to resign the office of jurat of the Royal Court of Guernsey, the Bailiff issued a Billet d'Etat, ordering a new election to supply the vacancy, worded in the following terms. "The choice of a successor to Mr. Le Pelley, whom we regret under so many circumstances, can be safely entrusted to the good sense of the electors. They have, on all occasions, shewn proofs of their intelligence, independence, and love of their country, and they will feel, as myself, that it is the most noble and important of their duties. They who wish to refuse the people every thing, see perhaps with pain, but are nevertheless bound to confess, that the inhabitant of Guernsey possesses great and just rights, and that he is worthy of exercising them. Honour to the liberty and dignity of man! Should these attributes be despised every where else, let us hope that they will ever form an essential characteristic of the inhabitants of the Channel Islands, and that justice, administered by upright magistrates of their choice, will ever preside over them. "For this purpose, you will please to commu→ nicate the present notice of convocation to your Rector and Douzaine, and bring a correct list of the latter. (Signed) "DANIEL DE LISLE BROCK, "Bailiff. Guernsey, 9th March, 1836." A variety of candidates were proposed for the vacant office, by the local papers, but when the hour of contest arrived, all excitement had totally subsided. Mr. John Harvey had announced his intention not to canvass: Mr. Valrent followed his example; so that the trial of strength was merely nominal, and Mr. Harry Dobrée, jun., of Beau-Séjour, was chosen by a vast majority. Mr. Valrent is well known as a gentleman deeply versed in the customs and institutions of the island, possessing a vast fund of mercantile knowledge, and enjoying an irreproachable public and private character. These qualifications would have justly entitled him to a seat on the bench, which he would unques tionably have honoured by his presence; but as he retired from the Town Douzaine, in consequence of being more than sixty years of age, the electors appear to have considered, that if he was too old to attend to the affairs of the parish, a fortiori, he was too old to undertake the laborious and fatiguing duties of a Magistrate. In that opinion we concur, and we believe that Mr. Valrent himself took the same view of the subject. We consider that the electors made a very proper choice, when they selected Mr. Harry Dobrée, jun. It was with pain that we read a letter from one of the correspondents of the Star, recommending the rejection of this gentleman. Appreciating, as we highly do, the talents and liberal mind of our excellent contemporary, we were the more disappointed and astonished at his suffering his sound discretion to be surprised. For our part, we are delighted at seeing on the bench a gentleman, who has associated in the innocent recreations of the ball-room and the race-course, for he must there have learned some knowledge of the world, the better qualifying him to decide on the value of evidence. Surely a Judge is not to be taken from the section of recluses and ascetics, who, making no allowance for the frailties or indiscretions of their fellow-creatures, condemn without mercy, and sentence with unmitigating vengeance! No, no; let us have Magistrates who have mixed with all classes of society; who never take a one-eyed view of a question; who are not wedded to the ruling prejudices of a coterie ; but who can take an enlarged, liberal, and comprehensive survey of man, his motives, and his actions. We believe Mr. Dobrée to possess these requisites, and as he is now in the vigour of his age, possessing considerable talents, and enjoying the command of his time, we have no doubt of his proving himself worthy of the high honour conferred upon him by the unasked and free suffrages of his constituents. GRANGE ROAD. This beautiful avenue to the town is now to be macadamized, and improved by a granite foot-way. We congratulate the public on this decision; but we cannot forbear remarking, that the order itself emanated from an authority which we deem to be unconstitutional. The subject was brought before the Court, when sitting in its judicial capacity, and composed of the Bailiff and eight Magistrates. The proprie. tors of houses situate in the road were heard at the bar, and a great difference of opinion at first prevailed among them; but, at length, a compromise took place, the result of which was, that the road is to be macadamized; that in future the proprietors should pay the equivalent, and also half the expense that may be required in repairing the present footpath. Now, what we complain of is, that the Bailiff and eight Magistrates should assume a power which is really vested in the States, and by their votes bind all the absent representatives of the people. We readily admit the goodness of the measure about to be adopted; but we protest against the means employed for its enforcement. Surely this state of things requires an immediate reform. JERSEY TESTIMONIAL TO THE BAILIFF OF GUERNSEY. AT a convocation of the States of Jersey, on the "To the Members of the States of the Island manner? "Our mission required neither dévouement nor sacrifices. It went only to show the truth, -to ask for justice,-and when the one appeared, it was certain that the other would be administered by a wise government, and a parliamentary committee composed of men of honour. "It is impossible to conceive sweeter occupations than those which, under such favourable circumstances, had for their chief end the good fame and the welfare of our country. The pure joy of our success was, certainly, for me a sufficient reward; but you add to my own feelings the expression of the interesting island of which you are the representatives. I feel deeply for your high favour of gratitude, but I cannot find terms adequate to express my feelings for the language which accompanies it. "Let me be allowed to add my wishes for the continued good understanding which has shown itself in our last meeting. "All men have a right to our good will; but nature, reason, and religion, impose on us the duty to concentrate more particularly our attachment towards our neighbours. The Channel Islands, those beautiful daughters of the sea, form one family, one country, united in their welfare, by their mutual origin, their wants, and the necessity to give each other a helping hand. The brightest blood of England and France has sprung from those Normans who acquired so great a renown with such trifling means; who contributed so largely to European civilization, and whose princes governed with that wisdom and justice before unknown, and which has ever been so rare. "May we prove their worthy descendants; and may the Author of all good deign to shed his blessings on the island of Jersey and the other Channel Islands! "Such is the sincere prayer of him who has the honour to subscribe himself, "The obedient and humble Servant of the States of the Island of Jersey. (Signed) "DANIEL DE LISLE BROCK. Guernsey, 1st February, 1836." Mr. Constable Godfray proposed that this letter, alike creditable to the head and heart of the worthy Bailiff of Guernsey, should be registered in the books of the States; a proposition which was carried unanimously. S. BARBET, PRINTER, NEW-STREET, GUERNSEY. THE GUERNSEY & JERSEY MAGAZINE. MAY, 1836. ON NATIONAL WEALTH. ALL wealth is the effect of the application of physical and intellectual labour to raw materials. The earth is the depository of all raw materials, and the genius and industry of man may be considered as the animated machine by which they are manufactured into articles, adapted to our necessities and comforts. Value is originally bestowed on every thing by appropriation, for so long as it remains in common, it has no value, but only the capacity of being converted into value. In this sense, the whole earth was valueless before the creation of man; for we can form no notion of property independently of a proprietor, and no notion of value abstractedly from human labour. Value in use cannot exist without, at least, one consumer, and value in exchange requires, at least, the presence of two contracting parties. Time was when the spontaneous fruits of the earth satisfied the human race, when their drink was water, the undressed skins of beasts their clothing, and the shadowing branches of a tree their place of rest. Emerging from this rude state, man became a hunter and fisher: he next entered the condition of a shepherd; from that he advanced to the rank of an agriculturist, and finally reached the station of a commercialist and manufacturer. When society has arrived at this last stage, it is said to have attained the point of civilization, and the component classes of a community so circumstanced, are distributed in the tripartite classification of landlords, capitalists, and operatives; the first living on the rent of land, the second being maintained by the profits of stock, and the third being subsisted by the wages of labour. In order to have a clear view of the origin and gradual development of national wealth, it may be well to notice those general and elementary principles which are apparent in the rise and progress of all political communities, from barbarism to civilization. It is the knowledge of those principles which reduces the art of government into a science, and the judicious application of them to the varying condition of a country, and Vol. I.-No. 5. 18 the altering circumstances of a people, is the best and only test of a statesman. For every nation must be in one or other of these three conditions, advancing, stationary, or retrogressive; whence it follows, that legislation must fluctuate in its objects, and adapt itself to the spirit of the age. A system, which pushed a country forward to a given point of wealth, may become impolitic after that point has been gained, and a perseverance in it may cause a retrograde movement. The absurdity of continuing the same discipline with an adult as with a child is manifest, and it is equally ridiculous, though not so palpably glaring, to govern an old country on the principles which are applicable to a young and unformed community. The first link in the chain of political society is the consciousness which every individual feels of being able to receive some benefit from his fellow man. This is the origin of barter, when a person, having a superfluous quantity of any article, exchanges it for an equivalent with some other person, who desires to obtain a portion of the redundant quantity held by his neighbour. This primitive mode of mercantile intercourse could only suit the limited wants of a limited population, inhabiting a very limited space of territory. Rude, however, as the system was, it is the origin of all commercial transactions. It must have been soon felt that some medium or instrument of exchange was necessary to carry on the increasing operations of an increasing community, and the invention of man, ever prompt to aid his reasonable wishes, quickly provided the object desired. Money was substituted for barter, that is to say, a middle term was established between the two commodities about to be exchanged, as between wine and wheat, which middle term became a common measure of value both of the wine and wheat. The first metallic currency was copper; next was added silver: and this was followed by gold. With these representatives of labour and wealth, the commercial system went on for many centuries, but they were at last found inadequate to the wants of mankind. The same necessities which compelled the abandonment of direct barter, and led to the adoption of coined money, introduced promissory notes, bills of exchange, the banking and funding system. These three different modes of commercial intercourse, to wit, barter, the precious metals, and a paper currency, were established at different epochs, which are marks and boundaries in the history of civilization. The instrument of exchange, of whatever it may consist, whether in the precious metals or in paper, is not wealth, but the conventional representative of wealth, the sign, but not the thing signified. Gold and silver have certainly an intrinsic value, as commodities, but this value is only the measure of the labour necessary to extract them from the mines. It is, therefore, essential not to confound their value as raw bullion, with their value as coin, for the former is real, while the latter is artificial. People have agreed to take them in exchange for merchandize, and long usage has sanctioned the existing prejudice in their favour. But if we look below the surface, we shall find that all their superiority consists in their scarcity and indestructibility, for, in point of portability, or the faculty of representing a large value in a small compass, they are much inferior to paper, while their cost, as a circulating medium, is vastly higher. All money, whatever its description may be, ought to be considered as a mean to an end, and the end of society is the greatest happiness of the greatest number for the longest period of time. When a nation has arrived at a high degree of civilization, and internal and external commerce has become extensive, the precious metals and paper currency combined, become insufficient to carry on mercantile operations. Another fictitious medium of exchange is established in the shape of credit. The wholesale manufacturer trusts the retailer, who trusts the consumer, and thus a new element of barter, to wit, time, is superadded. It is in this manner that government receives credit from the fundholder, who takes his dividend half-yearly, thus allowing six months to collect the taxes, the payment of which is, strictly speaking, a contingent event. All these operations are conventional, just as much as the instrument of exchange itself, whatever may be its description. In tracing the monetary transactions of a country from that early period, when direct barter was the only medium of intercourse, down to the complicated machinery of funding, national mints, and banking establishments, it is obvious that the instrument of exchange has always expanded with the labour and necessities of an encreasing population. Not only has the circulating medium been augmented, and manufactured out of different commodities which have passed current together at the same time, but its efficient power has been greatly enhanced by the amazing rapidity with which it passes from hand to hand. Of this the changing house of the London bankers is a striking example, and the slightest attention must convince any person who attends to the subject, that the vast weekly fund of wages is no sooner paid to the operatives, than it finds its way into the pockets of the retail tradesman. This rapidity of circulation is one of the most efficient causes of national wealth; for, as Lord Bacon has truly remarked, Money is like manure, it is of no use till it is spread. It appears, then, evident that all the financial arrangements of a country should be regulated with a due regard to the peculiar circumstances in which that country is placed: whether it be stationary, retrogressive, or advancing: whether its resources be chiefly drawn from agriculture or manufactures; whether its population be diminishing or augmenting; whether it be free from, or burdened with, debt. Not only are these considerations recommended by general principles of reasoning, but they are fully supported by the evidence of history. The elements of change. |