Mr. LUKE HOWARD'S meteorological results for the period com mencing with the 19th of May, and terminating with the 16th of June, are as follows: Winds variable, but generally northerly. Rain which fell ... Mean of the Hygrometer, (for 20 days,)........ 52° The general character of this period has been ungenial; and the medium temperature about 5° less than that of the corresponding period of 1815. 1.26 inches CONTENTS OF No. XVII. hPUBLIC AFFAIRS.-The disappointment of many on the return of Peace-the Contest with the Algerines→→ late Royal Marriages-present general Distress of the Country-Moisture of the Season-the Necessity of Retrenchment and Economy in all the Departments of State-Proceedings of the Committee for the Re lief of the Poor-Tythes-Usury Laws, &c. II. Travels of Ali Bey in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, III. The Noble Stock-Jobber, or Facts unveiled; irrefutably THE Augustan Review. N°. XVII. FOR SEPTEMBER, 1816. ART. I. Public Affairs. THE rejoicings that took place on the signing of the treaty of Paris, owed more of their splendour and animation to the triumphant consideration of Buonaparte's having been overthrown, than to the more rational consideration of hostilities having ceased. Many who had been enriched through the war, were by no means averse to its continuance; some of them did not yet hate the tyrant; all of them still loved money. We will add, that comparatively few of our countrymen would have desired peace so anxiously as they did, had they foreseen that it would come unaccompanied with that plenty, with which, in expression at least, it is usually associated. Are we at peace even now? Shall we of the existing generation live to behold the reunion of the two sober cheerful sisters? One of them unhappily lingers at a disThe other is turning her tance, veiled in thick clouds. back upon us for a while; if the operations about to be carried on against the freebooters of Barbary deserve the name of war. However this may be, the contest with them will be one from which Great Britain can derive no martial glory, at the same time that it will contribute somewhat to her financial difficulties, and consequently to that load of taxes, of the weight of which many among us already complain so bitterly. It will, however, be allowed to be one, which it would have been inhuman, unchristian, and every way disgraceful in England to have declined. It will present a field in which the Holy Alliance may with singular proNo. XVII.-VOL.[II.—Aug. Rev. priety be unfolded. And if it terminate-not indeed in the subjugation of the marauders, for that seems impracticablebut in their publicly disclaiming all right to make slaves, in their final relinquishment of every thing of the nature of tribute, and in the total destruction, or permanent occupation by the Christian powers, of all their harbours and maritime fortresses, our proportion of the expense will be borne cheerfully. What if the humane spirit which now sends the forces of so many nations to Algiers, should by and by direct them to Alexandria and Constantinople? At the former of these cities there has been-or is said to have been, a massacre of the Christians; and as all such heinous crimes ought to be avenged, we ought not to suspect the imperial protectors of Christianity of a wish to withhold their powerful interposition. Buonaparte often laid a foundation for the overthrow of a neighbouring state, in the massacre of some of his own people! Besides, it is reported that the Sultan objects strongly to any interference whatever with his African vassals, and would prevent it if he could. Now, though such reports are seldom wholly true, they usually convey the wishes of those with whom they originate. A rupture with the Porte would not be unacceptable to some of its neighbours. But the contemplation of affairs at a distance we waive for the present, that we may have leisure to look into our own. In different places at home, affairs have lately presented very different aspects. At court, there has been unusual gaiety; in the city, and throughout the country, unusual gravity; and both with sufficient reason. Few families, in any condition of life, have been less addicted to matrimony than the present royal family of England. Now, however, the spirit has moved them; and some thinking of their own wants, others of those of the nation, have contrived to fill all our palaces with joy and feasting. No fear needs now be entertained of a want of heirs to the throne, though some of the late unions do not promise a very numerous progeny. Add to this, that while there is a prospect of "the blessing of an heir," the princes call for no augmentation of their revenues. Prince Cobourg seems satisfied with the small sum settled on him. The Duke of Cumberland, satisfied or dissatisfied, asks for nothing; and the Duke of Gloucester has furnished his friends, east of Temple-bar, with a theme of lasting praise, by declaring that, as his own income added to that of his princess, is fully adequate to all their wants, he desires |