cess distinguished by her virtues and piety, were successively dragged from the Temple to the Conciergerie, and thence to the scaffold.-The dauphin, though originally of a vigorous constitution, fell a victim, at the age of ten years and two months, to the studied barbarity of his treatment.

We have to regret that these memoirs are not continued after the dauphin's death, though Madame Royale (now the Duchess of Angouleme) remained in the Temple six months after that event, exposed alone to the persecutions and insults of her enemies. She was released on the 11th of December, the seventeenth anniversary of her birth, to experience vicissitudes no less wonderful, though happier in their issue, than those through which she had already passed.

Whatever opinion may be entertained of the principles which led to the revolution in France, no diversity of sentiment can prevail with regard to the atrocities of the Revolutionists. It will ever remain a problem in the history of mankind, that a people distinguished by their refinement, should have become all at once equally distinguished by their barbarity ;—that a people almost singular in their attachment to monarchy, should, under the reign of the best of their monarchs, have forgotten their loyalty and allegiance; and, in the wildness of republican frenzy, have sought to annihilate every thing connected with a government, for which, but lately before, they thought it all their glory to live and to die. The poison administered by their philosophists might, perhaps, vitiate the principles of the whole mass of the community; the corrupt example of a court might have diffused through all ranks its pernicious influence; but will these causes account for the violence of their revolutionary fury, unless we suppose, that the force of the revulsion, which burst asunder all their former political associations, tore up at the same time all the good principles of their nature, and drove them from the excess of admiration and devotion, to the opposite extreme of contempt and hatred?

The translation, conducted on the most correct ideas, combines, very successfully, the simplicity of the original with the purest English idiom. The translator has occasionally elucidated the text with notes, which will be

found very useful to those who are not intimately acquainted with the early history of the French revolution.

On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. By DAVID RICARDO, Esq. Murray, London; Blackwood, Edinburgh. 8vo. 1817.

THE Science of Political Economy owes its rise to the eighteenth century. Many facts, and several of the principles which now enter into treatises on that subject, had been previously ascertained, but it was reserved for Stuart, Turgot, Smith, and other eminent men of the last age, to combine them into one consistent and harmonious whole, and to analyze, in a much more accurate manner than had ever been done before, the sources of wealth, and the laws which regulate its distribution among the different classes of society. Since the publication of the Wealth of Nations, political economy has been greatly improv ed.

That great work, by shewing its infinite importance to our best interests,-by proving that no legislative measures could be adopted clashing with its principles, but what must be vitally injurious to the community at large, and by successfully exposing many absurd theories, enactments, and practices, hitherto looked upon as the acme of genius and wisdom, contributed in a very high degree to draw public attention to the science of which it still continues the brightest ornament. More lately, the profound and original inquiries of Mr Malthus have cast a new light on many subjects, which had either been entirely neglected, or only cursorily noticed by Dr Smith; while the extraordinary events of the last twenty years have enabled us, in various instances, to try the deductions of theory by the touchstone of experience. The suspension of cash payments at the Bank of England, with the subsequent depreciation of our currency, and derangement of the exchanges, rendered us much better acquainted with the theory of banking and money. And amid all the complicated evils arising from our general factitious system,— the orders in council, the corn laws, and such like measures, have at least served to bring under our view a variety of unprecedented phenomena in economics, and by interesting the pub

lic, and giving rise to much animated discussion, have conspired to disseminate and improve the science. Among the writers who have signalized themselves in these discussions, Mr Ricardo holds a distinguished place. His Essay on the "High Price of Bullion," first clearly pointed out the circumstances regulating the amount of circulating medium in all commercial countries; and his Essays "On the Profits of Stock," and on" Currency," develop principles of the utmost importance, and abound in views equally just, novel, and ingenious. Such being the case, a more than ordinary interest must be excited by the appearance of the work before us, in which this able economist has explained his opinions respecting some of the fundamental doctrines of the science, and in which, as it appears to us, he has established some highly important principles, and rectified many prevailing errors.

Nothing has contributed in a greater degree to perplex and confuse the investigations respecting the principles of political economy, than the confounding together of what Dr Smith has termed value in use, and value in exchange. Air is extremely useful; it is not possible to exist without it; but as it can be had at pleasure, as all can acquire it without any exertion, it has no exchangeable value. Utility, then, as Mr Ricardo has observed, is not the measure of exchangeable value, although it is absolutely essential to it. If a commodity were in no way useful,-in other words, if it could in no way contribute to our gratification, it would be destitute of exchangeable value, however scarce it might be, or whatever quantity of labour might be necessary to procure it.

"Possessing utility, commodities derive their exchangeable values from two sources: from their scarcity, and from the quantity of labour required to obtain them.

"There are some commodities, the value of which is determined by their scarcity alone. No labour can increase the quantity of such goods, and therefore their value cannot be lowered by an increased supply. Their value is wholly independent of the quantity of labour originally necessary to produce them, and varies with the varying wealth and inclinations of those who are desirous to possess them.

"These commodities, however, form a very small part of the mass of commodities daily exchanged in the market. By far the greater part of those goods, which are the objects of desire, are procured by labour;

and they may be multiplied, not in one country alone, but in many, almost without any assignable limit, if we are disposed to bestow the labour necessary to obtain them. their exchangeable value, and of the laws "In speaking then of commodities, of which regulate their relative prices, we mean always such commodities only as can be increased in quantity by the exertion of human industry, and on the production of which competition operates without restraint."

In the early stages of society, the exchangeable value of these commodities, or the rule which determines how much of one shall be given in exchange for another, depends solely on the comparative quantity of labour expended on each.

"The real price of every thing," says Dr Smith, "what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What every thing is really worth to the man who has ac quired it, and who wants to dispose of it, or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose on other people. If, among a nation of hunters, for example, it usually cost twice the labour to kill a beaver which it does to kill a deer, one beaver should naturally exchange for, or be worth two deer. It is natural, that what is usually the produce of two days', or two hours' labour, should be worth double of what is usually the produce of one day's or one hour's la bour."

That this is the only real foundation of exchangeable value seems indisputa ble; and hence it follows, that every increase in the quantity of labour must augment the value of that commodity on which it is necessarily expended, as every diminution of that quantity must proportionally lower its value.

It may perhaps be thought, that although this is the case in early stages of society, in an advanced state it would be different; but Mr Ricardo has shewn that, in all cases, commodities vary in value conformably to this principle. It is of no consequence among how many hands the labour of making a pair of stockings is divided. If the aggregate quantity is on the whole either diminished or increased, the exchangeable value of the stockings will fall or rise in proportion.

From what we have already stated, a most important consequence, first pointed out by Mr Ricardo, necessarily

results, viz. That no increase in the wages of labour can increase the relative exchangeable values of commodities.

If a stocking manufacturer employs one hundred men, during ten days, in manufacturing stockings, which exchange for the gloves manufactured by the same number of men in twenty days, the values of these products are precisely equal. But if some more expeditious method of manufacturing gloves should be discovered, if one man was enabled to do as much work as was previously executed by two, the value of gloves, compared with stockings, (supposing, for the sake of simplifying the question, that the value of the raw materials consumed in both manufactures are equal,) would be reduced one half. If an equal improve ment had been made in the stocking manufacture, the relative values of both commodities would remain the same as at first-a greater quantity of the one would merely be exchanged for a greater quantity of the other. It is obvious, however, that an increase in the wages of labour could not affect this conclusion. Suppose wages to rise 10 per cent. the stocking manufacturer could not say to the glove manufacturer that he must have a greater quantity of gloves în exchange for his stockings, on account of the increased wages of his workmen, because the other would answer, that the same rise affected him in precisely the same degree. The relation of proportional numbers is not altered by being all multiplied by the same number. If a pair of stockings be exchanged for a pair of gloves when wages are at 1s. per diem, the same exchange would take place after wages had risen to 20s. per diem. In the one case a very small share only of the produce of the labourer's exertions would belong to himself, and a large share to his employer; in the other, the labourer's share would be much augmented, and his employer's proportionally reduced. The value of the commodity would, in both cases, be the same, but it would be very differently divided.

Mr Ricardo, however, has not only shewn that a rise in the wages of labour does not raise the price of the commodities purchased by that labour, but he has also shewn, that when fixed capitals, and machinery, are employed in producing, a rise in the wages of VOL. I.

labour REDUCES the price of commodities.

"Suppose," says Mr Ricardo," that an engine is made, which will last for 100 years, and that its value is £20,000. Suppose too, that this machine, without any labour whatever, could produce a certain quantity of commodities annually, and that of the goods produced would be annually profits were 10 per cent., the whole value £2000: 2:11; for the profit of £20,000, at 10 per cent. is And an annuity of 2s. 11d. for 100 years, at 10 per cent. will, at the end of that period, replace a capital of £20,000,

Consequently the goods must

sell for

£2000 0 0

0 2 11

£2000 2 11 "If the same amount of capital, viz. £20,000, be employed in supporting productive labour, and be annually consumed and reproduced, as it is when employed in paying wages, then to give an equal profit of 10 per cent. the commodities must sell for £22,000. Now suppose labour so to rise, that instead of £20,000 being sufficient ducing the latter commodities, £20,952 is to pay the wages of those employed in prorequired; then profits will fall to 5 per

cent.; for as these commodities would sell for no more than £22,000, and to produce them £20,952 would be requisite, there would remain no more than £1,048, on a capital of £20,952. If labour so rise, that £21,153 were required, profits would fall to 4 per cent; and if it rose, so that £21,359 was employed, profits would fall to 3 per cent. the owner of the machine when profits fell "But as no wages would be paid by to 5 per cent., the price of his goods must fall to £1007: 13:8, viz. £1000 to pay his profits, and £7:13:8 to accumulate for 100 years, at 5 per cent, to replace his capital of £20,000. When profits fall to 5 per cent. his goods must sell for £816:3:2; By a rise in the price of labour, then, unand when at 3 per cent. for £632: 16: 7. der 7 per cent., which has no effect on the prices of commodities wholly produced by labour, a fall of no less than 68 per cent. is effected on those commodities wholly produced by machinery lasting 100 years. If the proprietor of the machine sold his goods for more than £632: 16:7, he would get stock; and as others could furnish themmore than 3 per cent., the general profit of selves with machines at the same price of £20,000, they would be so multiplied, that he would be inevitably obliged to sink the price of his goods, till they afforded only the usual and general profits of stock."

In proportion as the machine was more or less durable, prices would be more or less affected by a rise of wages; but for a further elucidation of this subject, our readers must peruse Mr Ricardo's own statements.

We have here supposed, for the sake of perspicuity, that the value of money was invariable, but whether it is rising or falling has no effect on these conclusions. Like every other commodity, the exchangeable value of money varies as the labour of producing it is increased or diminished.

It does not follow, from the very important principles which Mr Ricardo has with so much talent and ingenuity endeavoured to establish, that wages may be increased in one country, though they should remain stationary in others, without any inischievous consequences being experienced. If the wages of labour in Great Britain, from the effects of taxation,from the operation of the corn laws, or from any other cause, are higher than in any other country of Europe, the profits of stock must be proportionally lower. Hence, there is an inducement to remit capital abroad to where it will yield a larger return; and although capitalists, as well as other men, have a natural repugnance to remove to foreign countries from the land of their fathers and their friends, yet, as Mr Ricardo has justly observed, "There are assuredly limits to the price, which, in the form of perpetual taxation, individuals will submit to pay for the privilege merely of living in their native country."

The vast number of English families which have emigrated to the continent since the peace, is a too convincing proof of the accuracy of this statement; and until the weight of our taxation is diminished, and the profits of stock rendered as high, and the expense of house-keeping as cheap, in this country as on the other side of the water, the tide of emigration

will continue to roll on.

Besides adventitious causes, such as taxation, &c., which may raise the wages of labour and lower the rate of profit, Mr Ricardo lays it down as a general principle, that in every country the profits of stock must be diminished according as it becomes more difficult to raise food. If corn, or manufactured goods, always sold at the same price, profits would be high or low, in proportion as wages were low or high. But although corn rises in price because more labour is necessary to produce it, that cause will not raise the price of manufactured goods, in

the production of which no additional quantity of labour is required. “If then," says Mr Ricardo, wages continued the same, profits would remain the same; but if, as is absolutely certain, wages should rise with the rise of corn, then profits would necessarily fall."

Mr Ricardo had already developed this principle, though more concisely, in his "Essay on the Profits of Stock,' and had successfully applied it to shew the folly of restricting the corn trade; for, by forcing us to have recourse to land of a very inferior quality for our supplies of food, the restrictive system necessarily lowers the profits of every kind of stock throughout the country, and increases the desire to tranfer capital abroad.

Mr Ricardo has also given a satisfactory, and in many respects an original, view of the nature of rent, and of the effects of taxation. As our limits, however, will not permit us to enter on these topics, we earnestly recommend our readers to have recourse to the work itself, which contains much valuable and profound discussion, as well on these as on subjects to which it has not been possible for us even to allude.

Mr Ricardo's style is simple and unaffected, but there are some parts of his work in which, perhaps, he is a little obscure, and others in which there appears too much of controversy. Of all the writers on Political Economy, M. Say stands unrivalled for perspicuity,-for natural and luminous arrangement,-and for instructive and elegant illustration.

Bingley's Useful Knowledge; or an Account of the various Productions of Nature, Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal, which are chiefly employed for the use of Man. 3 vols 12ino. London, Baldwin & Co. 1817.

THIS work well entitles its author to rank among the friends of youth. It is really what it pretends to be, a repository of useful knowledge, containing a clear and interesting account of many of those productions which are useful to man in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms.

That part of it which treats of animals has been executed on a plan

similar to that of Mavor, Bigland, and others; and the subjects of the two first parts are to be found in systems of mineralogy and botany; but there is no work with which we are acquainted, in which so much valuable information in all these departments is comprised within the same extent. There is, we are persuaded, no class of readers to whom this book will not be both amusing and instructive. To those who have already studied the subjects in larger works, it will serve to recall the particulars which are most interesting, and may be advantageously employed as a book of reference. Those, on the other hand, who have not entered upon such inquiries, will find a great deal to gratify their curiosity, conveyed in an agreeable manner. To young persons, especially young ladies, who have seldom an opportunity of studying large systems of natural history, we would particularly recommend this work. If it were read in small portions daily, and an account of the pupil's progress rendered, either in writing or in conversation, the young would soon be found to have acquired more information on the topics of which it treats, than many who have perused larger systems in a vague and cursory manner. Besides affording much information,- -as it is arranged on the plan of the best systems, it will insensibly accustom the mind to the classifications of natural history, and thereby prepare the reader for the study of more extensive works. We must not, however, forbear to mention some slight defects, which we would much wish to see supplied, whenever it comes to another edition. In addition to the general index, there should be a separate index to each volume. In the first volume, only some of the families of minerals are enumerated, and for no other reason than that the Table might all be contained in one page. Another defect in the same part of the work is, that little is said of what are called compound rocks, or even of the different soils; and nothing at all of what every one has often occasion to hear mentioned, we mean the manner in which the earth is supposed to have been formed. Now we think that it would be interesting, and at the same time easy, to give a short account of these

rocks, and, above all, of the different kinds of soils, and also to give some idea of what is meant by the theories of the earth. Another subject which we should have expected to see noticed,, is fossil remains. In this there is much to interest and amuse; and it certainly falls within the auther's plan. All these things would add little to the size, while they would greatly increase the value of the publication. It is proper also to remark, that the author might have taken more frequent occasion than he has done to impress on the minds of his readers the appearances of wisdom and goodness which are so often to be met with in the works of nature. In books intended for the use of the young, this is a duty that ought never to be omitted; and the performance of it constitutes one great excellence in the writings of Bigland and Mavor. Of the style and manner we cannot give a better idea, than by making an extract almost at random, which may be considered a fair specimen of what the book contains.

"The common pear is a well-known garden fruit, derived from an English stock, the wild pear tree (Pyrus communis), which grows in hedges and thickets in Somersetshire and Sussex. It would be an endless task to describe the different known varieties of the cultivated pear. Some of these are very large, and others extremely small: others, as the iron pear, are so hard and disagreeable to the taste, as to be absolutely unfit to eat. Pears are chiefly used in desserts; and one or two of the kinds are stewed with sugar, baked, or preserved in syrup.

some have a rich and luscious flavour, and

The

The

"The fermented juice of pears is called perry, and is prepared nearly in the same manner as that of apples is for cider. Worcestershire and Herefordshire. greatest quantities of perry are made in Squash, the Oldfield, and the Barland perry are esteemed the best. Many of the dealers in champaigne wine are said to use perry to a great extent in the adulteration of it: and indeed, really good perry is little inferior in flavour or quality to champaigne.

light, smooth, compact, and of a yellowish "Of the wood of the pear tree, which is colour, carpenters' and joiners' tools are usually made, as well as the common kinds of flat rulers, and measuring scales. It is also used for picture frames that are to be stained black. The leaves impart a yellow dye, and are sometimes employed to communicate a green colour to blue cloth."