Earl of Chatham, by whom he had three daughters, viz. Hester Lucy, born in 1776-Griselda, married to Mr Tickell-and Lucy Rachel, the wife of Mr Taylor, for whom the late Mr Pitt obtained a lucrative place. This lady having died in 1780, in 1781 his lordship married Louisa, only daughter and heiress of Mr

6. Principles of the science of Tuning Instruments.

7. An Address to the Peonle of Great Britain and Ireland, en the subject of an Union.

8. Various Papers in the Philosophical Transactions.

1017.

Lord Stanhope was singular in his person, his dress, and his manners. As a philosopher, be conferred honour on the country in which he was born, and the age in which he lived: as a statesman, he was enlightened, bold, and decisive, in so far as concerned the claims of the public liberty, and the rights of private conscience: at times he was eloquent, but, in general, there was a certain quaintness in his manner, that produced laughter, even from the woolsack. He was assuredly learned in every thing that respected the constitution and ecclesiastical polity of England.

One of the circumstances which do most honour to Lord Stanhope is his leaving a handsome legacy to the ingenious Mr George Dyer, from no motive but that of respect for his talents and principles.

The following is a list of his works: 1. A Treatise on the means of preventing Fraudulent Practices, in respect to the Gold Coin.

2. Principles of Electricity. 4to.

1779.

3. Observations on Mr Pitt's plan for Reduction of the National Debt.

4. Letter to Mr Burke on the French Revolution.

5. The Rights of Juries defended; and the opposition to Mr Fox's Libel Bill refuted.

HE two following documents have been issued from the Exchequer; the one containing an exact account of every branch of the public revenue for the years ending on the 5th Jan. 1816 and 1817; and the other, a comparative statement of the consolidated fund, war taxes, and annual duties for the two corresponding quarters, ending 5th January 1816 and 1817.

The first of these accounts is the most important, as it presents a distact and general view of the state of the revenue for the two last years; and on comparing the produce of the one year with the other, we find a deficiency of revenue for the last year, to the amount of £.9,185,108. In every branch of the revenue there has been a deficiency, except in that of the stamps and land tax.

In 1815 the net revenue amounted to £.66,443,802-in 1816, its net amount is £.57,360,694, including the produce of the property tax for that year, amounting to £.11,559,590. Deducting on this account 11 millions, the revenue for the present year will amount to about 46 millions, which leaves about £.2,500,000 of surplus revenue, after paying the interest of the national debt. In this, however, is included the whole produce of the sinking fund, amounting, we may estimate, to 13 millions annually, which, added to the surplus of £.2,500,000, forms, according to the late accounts issued by the Treasury, an unincumbered revenue of £.15,500,000 applicable to the service of the country.

Abstract

SCOTTISH REVIEW.

I. Observations on the Prospectus of the Proposed Union Canal. 8vo.

THE subject of this pamphlet has, for some years past, excited a peculiar interest. Its importance in deed is too obvious to require any comment. We can only wonder, that, during so active an age of improvement, measures should not earlier have been taken to establish a complete water communication between two great cities placed so near to each other as Glasgow and Edinburgh. A channel was also wanted, by which the latter may draw from the interior of a fertile country, a supply of provisions and necessaries. Two plans, having these objects in view, have contended for the public patronage. One, called the Level Canal, is led by a comparatively level line from Edinburgh to the immediate neighbourhood of Glasgow, whence it can be locked down upon the Clyde; the other is carried from Edinburgh to join, near Falkirk, the Forth and Clyde Canal, which would then afford a channel by which vessels might proceed to the neighbourhood of Glasgow. The latter plan, after being fully matured, and brought before Parliament in the course of last session, was thrown out, chiefly through the influence of the Town Council of Edinburgh. Of late, however, it came to be understood, that subsequent deliberation had removed the objections in that respectable quarter, and that there was every reason to believe that the application to the same effect, which was to be made in the ensuing session, would be attended with success. Suddenly, however, a very vehement opposition has arisen; the merchants of Leith, whose opinion on such a subject certainly deserves the highest attention, have openly declared their hostility to the plan; and be sides the present pamphlet, several

articles have appeared in the public papers, which treat the project as altogether ruinous and illusory. We can with truth profess ourselves to have no personal interest or concern in the measure. We regret most particularly, that we have no funds to embark in such an undertaking, with a view, either to our own benefit, or that of the public. In considering the question, we are animated solely by the interest we have always felt in the prosperity of that part of the united kingdom to which our labours are peculiarly addressed. We shall therefore state very frankly the opinion we have formed on the subject; in which, if it appears to any of our readers that we speak unwisely, we shall very readily give place to any thing that they may have to say against us on the subject.

The first argument is, that the Union Canal will never yield any revenue approaching to the estimate, or which can reimburse the subscribers. The main argument on which the writer here rests, is the analogy of the Forth and Clyde Canal. He observes, that, since that Canal was opened, its average annual revenue amounts only to £.17,237; and the expence of management being £.10,000, the clear annual revenue does not exceed £.7237, little more than a seventh of what is expected from the Union. This argument, we apprehend, is completely fallacious. The average is taken for the last 42 years; being from the first time when dues began to be collected on that canal. But it is well known that this great undertaking remained long in a completely unfinished state, and totally incapable of answering the purposes for which it was intended. To take its produce in that state as a criterion of what the Union Canal will produce, when finished, is altogether unfair.The improvement of the country within the last twenty or thirty years, is also to be considered. The criterion

must

must then be drawn from the produce of the Forth and Clyde Canal in its finished state, and at the present time. This, according to the report of Mr Hopkirk, quoted in another part of this very pamphlet, was, in 1814, not less than £.48,000. We cannot indeed help thinking it bold in the Union projectors to estimate the produce of their canal as equal to that of the Forth and Clyde, which is both longer, and receives vessels of greater burden. If, however, we suppose the Union to be two-thirds, or £.32,000, this sum, deducting £.7700 for management, would leave £.24,300, or not much less than 10 cent. on the original expenditure,

The writer does not conceive that merchant goods to any extent will go by the canal. We are ready to admit indeed, that the more bulky articles are still likely to go by Grangemouth; but all those which, for regularity of arrival and delivery, are now sent by land, would certainly, we conceive, find their way much cheaper by the canal. This part of the estimate however is probably exaggerated at £.11,000.

We cannot see upon what principle the writer asserts, that the Union Canal will never produce half the revenue from coal that the Forth and Clyde produces; while, at the same time, he admits that Glasgow is not supplied with coal by the latter channel. Doubtless, Edinburgh will not be exclusively supplied by the Union, but in part still by the collieries to the south, who will lower their rate, in order to meet the competition of the canal. By this reduction, however, the poorer, and more distant, will be thrown out, and a great part of the supply will come by the Union.

It is next attempted to be proved, chiefly by a writer in the Caledonian Mercury, that the estimates of expence are much under-rated. The writer supposes the details of the estimate may be correct, but rests his

charge chiefly upon the omission of the interest which the projectors, it seems, have undertaken to pay to the contributors, from the time of their first advance. This is a measure which we do not mean to applaud. It is attempting to reap the harvest when they should be only sowing the seed. It will be poor economy, if they thus render the funds inadequate, by which the work is to be completed. But we do not see that this interest can be considered as an addition to the capital embarked in the undertaking. It is merely a premature replacement of some part of the original capital, the amount of which is thereby diminish. ed. It is said, there must also be a compensation of £.30,000 to the town of Edinburgh for the loss of shoredues at Leith. But, according to the doctrine of the pamphlet, which we incline to concur in, most of the merchandize which now goes by Grange mouth will continue to take that direction; in which case there will be no claim for any compensation; or if the contrary takes place, the canal dues on the merchandize will easily pay the compensation.

It is next added, in order to lower the sanguine hopes of profit held out, that parliament uniformly stipulates, that the revenue shall not exceed 10 per cent. on the expenditure; but that, in such case, a corresponding reduction of rates shall take place. It is certainly fair that there should be some limit; but we think this limit is rather narrow, in the present state of the money market. Ten per cent., according to the recent state of the mercantile world, has scarcely been the ordinary profits of trade, and therefore not, perhaps, quite an adequate compensation for the risk and long outlay incurred in such an adventure. As we incline, however, so far to concur in the pamphleteer's estimates, as not to think it very probable that the revenue will soon, or greatly exceed 10 per cent., the clause in ques