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would be of great importance in large towns, where the noise of the hammer is so serious a nuisance.

State of the Arts in France.-There are in France, at the present moment, 82 museums; 162 public schools for the advancement of the fine arts; 2231 exhibiting artists, namely, 1096 painters, 150 sculptors, 113 engravers, 263 architects, 309 painters in water colour and draughtsmen. There are in Paris alone, 35 public schools of art, 20 museums, 773 painters, 106 sculptors, 102 engravers, 195 architects, 209 painters in water colour and draughtsmen; in all, 1385 artists. Besides the institutions above enumerated, there are societies for the encouragement of art, and exhibitions of modern pictures in all the principal provincial towns in France. The five departments, which are the richest in artists and in art, after that of the Seine, are those of the North, the Gironde, the Rhone, the Lower Seine, and the Seine-cum-Oise. There is scarcely a town of any importance throughout France that does not boast of its annual exhibitions of modern pictures, its society for the encouragement of art, and its honorary and substantial rewards for artists.

According to the Dutch papers there were, on the 1st of January, in Holland:-Calvinists, 1,489,505; Roman Catholics 8,57,951; Lutherans, 65.931; Jews, 46,665; Jansenists, 5007; Remonstrants, 4970; other sects, 1975. The population of the kingdom of Portugal, according to the last returns, amounts to 3,372,940; the National Debt, 6,400,000.; the Loan just contracted, 900,0007.; in all, 7,300,000.; the revenue being 2,200,000/.

The budget of the city of Paris for 1837 presents a very favourable aspect. It appears that 4,782,064 francs will be applied to useful public works and embellishments. When the accounts of 1835 are balanced, it is expected there will be a surplus of 4,095,000 francs, which, it is believed, the Municipal Council will apply to public works in 1837. If this be the case the total sum employed would be upwards of 9,000,000 francs. (360,0007.)

Colonel Chesney started on his voyage down the Euphrates some time ago, and, according to a letter from Alexandria, he had proceeded a hundred miles down the river prosperously. As he sails with the stream, his voyage, though a thousand miles in length, would not necessarily occupy much time; but it is probable that he will be much retarded by shoals. For a great part of the way the country on both sides of the river is a desert, infested by Arab freebooters; it was so even in the time of the Romans, for Strabo states that the mercantile caravans travelling from the Mediterranean to Babylon or Ctesiphon crossed the river high up, and struck far into the interior of Mesopotamia, to avoid the plundering tribes of the desert. If the expedition succeeds, our next accounts of it will probably be from Bussorah.

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Reports from the Agricultural Committees in both Houses of Parlia ment-Confused and contradictory nature of the evidence collected — Remarks on the erroneous views contained in both Reports-Supply and demand the only permanently regulating principles-Present state and progress of agricultural operations.

The Committees of the Lords and Commons have come at last to their conclusion, and it can but be deemed "most lame and impotent." Reports have been prepared for both and rejected by both, so that nothing but the bare evidence will come before Parliament. This, from its volume, will be read by few, if any; and, when read, it will be found to contain a mass of crude, contradictory opinions, enveloping and confounding the few facts which may be profitably applied. But such an estimate ought not to stand

upon assertion-nor does it. The Report proposed in the Lords' Committee has been printed, and it will be found to be such as we have described: the evidence is a tissue of contradictions, of which it is our purpose to give some proofs in the progress of our speculation. The fate of that prepared for the Commons was the same-namely, rejection; but accompanied with some circumstances worth relating. The following appears to be the most accurate account of the proceedings:

The Committee met the week before last, when the Chairman read to them the proposed Report. It was then resolved that they should meet again last week, to take the same into their consideration. They accordingly met on Thursday or Friday, when Sir James Graham rose, and after paying a just tribute to the ability with which the Report was drawn up, observed that he knew enough of the opinions of the Members of the Committee to enable him to say that it would not be approved of by them. There were, in fact, parts of it of which he entirely disapproved; and as he felt that there would be great difficulty, indeed, in framing a Report which would have the concurrence of the Committee, he suggested, as their best course, that they should report the evidence alone to the House, and he accordingly made a motion to that effect. Lord Chandos seconded the motion. We hear that Lord John Russell expressed his astonishment at this proposition, and that he thought it extraordinary in Lord Chandos, who had so often pressed the condition of the agriculturists upon Parliament, as one that required immediate consideration and relief, now to second a proposition for postponing any expression of the opinion of the Committee on that subject. It was nevertheless determined, after some discussion, that the motion of Sir James Graham should be adopted.

The public commentators express their wonder, that," although a large majority of the Committee consisted of landowners, they were unable to agree as to the remedies for agricultural distress." To us it affords not the slightest wonder, for he must have a more than ordinarily clear understanding who could classify and arrange the conflicting opinions of men reasoning from local contingencies, affected strongly by personal prejudices, and guided or regulated, in but few instances, by any knowledge of principles. All that could be done is shown in the Lords' Report, to which we have alluded, and this is to balance those opposites. The result of such a process must needs be the production of a series of equivalent contradictions.

The commencement declares broadly that "there can be no doubt that a great and generally prevailing distress has affected, and, except mitigated by circumstances of a questionable character, both in respect of real relief and of probable duration, still continues to affect the agriculture of this kingdom." Now, we doubt the fact. Let us be understood. We doubt whether agriculture has been affected to any degree beyond that distress which has at intervals fallen upon commerce, manufactures, and navigation; and if it has not, agriculture has only shared in common the fluctuations incident to natural and political causes.

The Report thus adverts to the three classes:-" The owner of the soil is labouring under fixed charges, with greatly diminished rents; the occupier is contending with reduced prices of produce, while the wages of labour, the cost of implements of husbandry, and most of the costs of production, are, in comparison, but slightly diminished; and the yeomanry, uniting the character of the two, and sharing in the distress of both, are suffering in a still greater proportion in the general depression which prevails."

First, of the first-the owner. By "fixed charges can only be meant, fairly taken, the taxation to which he is subjected; for if any allusion be intended to purchases of land made during the artificial state of things created by the war, or to mortgages contracted in order to enable the owner to make such purchases, they fall not legitimately within such a term;-they are merely the effects of miscalculation, or no calculation at all.

It is admitted that it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to demon'strate that land is more burdened by taxation, on the whole, than other property. The plain truth, therefore, appears to be, that the diminished rents are simply a return to the natural relations of value. The case of the landlord, then, is not made out.

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The doctrine, with respect to the occupier, appears to fall equally short of proof. The charges upon him are these:-1. Rent; 2. Tithes; 3. Poorrate and taxes; 4. Labour; 5. Seed corn and horse provender; 6. Tradesmen's bills; and, 7. Interest of capital. Now, then, let us take these articles in succession. "Rents," says the Report, are greatly diminished," which means, if it mean anything, "disproportionately diminished;" if not, of what has the landlord to complain? This, therefore, relieves the tenant of this part of his burden. Tithes adjust themselves, almost universally, to the price of produce. Produce," says the Report, "is too low." Of these, then, the occupier cannot complain; added to which, they form the subject of computation in bargaining for his hire, and act always as a drawback upon the rent.

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Concerning taxes, it should seem that the malt tax forms the only great item which even this Committee can advert to. Now, it is questionable (we think it certain) whether any advantage would be derived from the repeal of the tax to the tenant, for that is now the point under consideration. It seems, to us, reducible to a clear rule. The rent of land rises or falls with the rate of the productions of land, and nothing can be more certain, than that if barley were to rise permanently, more rent would be asked. On the contrary, it is almost equally certain, that were the price of barley greatly above the relation of price to other grain, more barley would be grown, and an augmented supply would bring down the price. Taking these two contingencies together, there can scarcely be a doubt, that, after a short, and a very short, period, the farmer would be injured rather than benefited, because his rent would be fixed during his lease, and probably barley would again fall before its termination. So much for relief from taxation. There does not, we say, appear to be any partial or greater pressure on those engaged in the cultivation of land, than on the other classes of the community. With respect to the poor-rates, the country rings with their diminution through the new poor-law; and, again, it must so happen that high poorrates operate to diminish rent, wherever such is the case. In none of the first three great items does there exist, then, the grievance which the Report would insinuate.

Labour, it is asserted, is too high, because it has fallen one-eighth or oneninth, while produce has fallen from thirty to fifty per cent. But this is a very short view of the matter. Labour, at the very highest, cannot be computed at more than one-fifth of the outgoings of a farm. What then is the reduction the fall of produce bears to the whole, and does labour stand in a just proportion? Taken in this, its true ratio, it will be found that it affects the farmers' profits so little as to be of very slight importance in the account. One-eighth compared with one-fortieth looks enormous, but when reduced to its true dimensions, when one-fortieth is subdivided by one-fifth, it sinks to its real proportion, and, from the incontrovertible laws which govern these items, it must be so. There is, we believe, no ground for asserting that labour is paid beyond the relation of price.

The fifth items-seed, corn, and horse provender-regulate themselves by the price of produce. If the farmer get a high price for oats and hay, he is repaid; if not, the cost of his seed and feed are depressed accordingly. The tradesmen's bills fall within the laws of general price, and they form but a small sum in the total. Implements, &c. are part of the interest of capital. Now it cannot for a moment be contended but that much less capital is required than formerly, and even upon that which is employed the interest is much lower, say one-fifth. This is a truth always kept out of sight in agri

cultural computations, though (perhaps because) it is one of the most important. If the amount of capital depend upon the rate of the price of produce, which it does, only compare the effect. When produce was at 60s. 900l. was required to cultivate a tract of land for which 6007. will suffice when produce is at 40s.

Now, suppose the first sum was necessary for 100 acres (which is not far above or below the average truth) when wheat was at 60s., and five per cent. the rate of interest, 45l. per 100 acres was then the charge for capital. Suppose wheat at 60s., the rate of interest four per cent., and 600l. to be required, the capital would be only 241. per 100 acres. Hence there would be a diminution equal to a fourth of the rent, for we conceive the average rent of the kingdom not to exceed 17. per acre. Add to this that the farmer pays nothing for his house, compared to the commercial classes, and we do not see that the case is made out as regards the occupier in any single particular. The truth will rather appear to be, that the fall in all the several items of the tenantry expenditure has obeyed the general laws that govern the relations of cost and price.

Again, when it is remembered that all these things form the subject of computation in taking a farm, we cannot perceive any peculiar hardship the farmer labours under more than other manufacturers, among whom, notwithstanding the distinction of names, he must be classed.

The labourer (the most doubtful point of the whole), the Report, on the authority of Mr, Cayley, insinuates to be "thriving at the expense of his employer." Till very lately the complaints of the condition of the labourer were heaviest, and we do not see what has so suddenly operated to remove them. There is but too much cause to suspect that a reduction of labour is so strongly anticipated and dwelt upon, merely because it is a reduction which seems to be most within the absolute power of the tenant. But here a disappointment may arise. The emigrations abroad, and of those employed in the manufacturing districts, have created a demand for labour, which, augmented so vastly as it must shortly be, by the railroads and building of work houses, &c. must rather tend to a rise than a fall in wages. We can speak positively to the fact that in many districts it has been difficult to obtain harvest-men even at an advanced rate of price; while the weather, crowding hay-making, turnip-hoeing, and the general harvest, into a narrow period of time, has enhanced that difficulty. If it become a question which of the three-rent, or tithes, or labour-is to undergo a reduction, there is no doubt which ought to give way. Making the inevitable allowance for the effects of demand and supply, we should still say the two former must be the first to sink to the times, for under the exasperation amongst the labouring classes, produced by the effects of the new poor-law, were the crisis the Report anticipates (bad seasons raising the price of necessaries) to occur, there is no computing the disastrous consequences that might and would arise.

It is curious that the Committee, while declaring that "it is impossible to contemplate a state of things not only possible, but to which the situation of the country rapidly tends, without the deepest apprehension," is nevertheless unable to suggest the slightest remedy; yet such was the only object of its assembling. Not the least singular part of this document is that in which the Committee acknowledges its incapacity to discover whether the depression of the price of wheat be owing to increased growth, decreased consumption, or both. The gravity with which they proceed to reason a case so clearly settled by facts is exceedingly entertaining.

Population has increased-that is ascertained. More must therefore be consumed, whether of wheat or any other sustenance; but probably it is of wheat in its proportion. For four years there has been no foreign import. Even during the present year, with an extended period between the harvests, and consequently an increased quantity consumed, the price does not risé,

the supply is adequate. How, then, in the name of heaven, can the conclusion of an enlarged growth be matter of the slightest doubt? What signifies it what witnesses say? There stands the fact--the supply more than meets the demand. A change in the currency cannot increase the quantity in the market. Its tendency in reducing price, on the contrary, is the way, they all state, to overcrop the land and throw it out of cultivation. Cash payments and currency indeed! How these budge doctors labour to get rid of the excruciating fact, that while wheat is depressed by these causes, as they aver, the same causes have not brought down barley, wool, or meat. And why? Because barley has been comparatively scarce, the sheep rotted, and beef came into demand from want of a supply of mutton. These they call “disturbing causes." Really, gentlemen, this is too good. Supply and demand. disturbing causes!-disturbing of what? of the effects of a contracted circu lation? the effects of a contracted understanding? The constantly operating causes are demand and supply--the disturbing causes, the casual and transient operation (till settled by time) of the change of the monetary system. If seventeen years be not a sufficient period for this disturbing cause to subside, then is no period sufficient. But it is sufficient. Many of the most intelligent witnesses avouch the fact ; and the general prosperity of the coun try, exhibited in its commerce and revenue, its internal condition, its increas ing affluence, and the obvious augmentation of all the accumulation of property, confirms this most important of all political truths.

The Committee next descends to the remedies, the first of which is the institution of a silver as well as a gold standard, which they infer would raise the price of produce five per cent. An inference exceedingly dubious; but it is an experiment which might be tried without involving any danger.

The importation of Ireland is the next topic, and here we have the mere equiponderance of contradictory equivalents to its perfection. Increased import is balanced by augmented population. But the remedy? To give Poor Laws to Ireland in order to enable the Irish to consume a greater portion of their produce! Bravo, my Lords! excellent economists ye are. The way to increase consumption, my Lords, is not to take from one class to give to another; but to increase the general production by labour, in order that the class which labours may obtain commodities in exchange for its only commodity. To plunder one for another under any name or form of taxation will not do this. Whatever is taken in poor-rates from one, will lessen the consumption of that one precisely to the same amount it increases the consumption of the rest. Augment the general fund of wealth by converting labour into production, and you will effect your purpose, but not by poor-rates.

Next comes the repeal of the malt tax, which we have already argued. A remission of the duty on soap is proposed, and we heartily wish it had been preferred to the taxes on knowledge.

The reasoning upon the warehousing settles itself. The agricultural classes would clearly derive no benefit from forbidding it. The simple reason why the merchant prefers to speculate in foreign corn, if he speculates in corn at all, is, because it yields him a better chance of profit. He has indeed three chances-his cargo of merchandize outwards-his freight outwards and inwards, and his corn. There is also the embarrassing fact, that the supply of English wheat having proved in average years to be inadequate to the consumption, the price has scarcely risen at all. What then is to induce the buyer to speculate? Look again, ye agriculturists, to the leading the governing phenomena-supply and demand; therein lies the solution.

All that follows about the issues of the joint stock banks, the price of gold, possible panic, and contraction of the circulation, is gratuitous supposition. That all these things may happen is certainly not out of the calculation of chances, but that they will happen is by no means within the computation

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