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that he has been at great pains to prove, by a variety of examples, that nothing deferves to be fo little relied upon as the opinions generally diffeminated by political writers, concerning the profperous or unprofperous ftate of the manufactures and trade of the nation, at the time of the publication of their works, fince it appears that many men of great character and eminent abilities have frequently reprefented the nation as being in an uncommonly declining ftate at the very moment, when (as our author contends) it was enjoying an extraordinary degree of profperity. Nor are they party writers only, who are faid thus to mireprefent the circumftances of the prefent times, but men of unblemished morals, totally unconnected with all parties. Even the ingenious Herrenschwand whofe work we had fo lately occafion to mention with applaufe*, may be adduced as an example of this kind of mifreprefentation; for he ftates it as a notorious fact, that since the lofs of America, our trade thither, and confequently our manufactures, have greatly declined, fo as to exhibit very unequivocal fymptoms of the exiftence of a political malady of the most dangerous tendency; yet our author fhows that in the year 1771, 1772, 1773, our average exports to the American colonies amounted to the value of 3,064,8431 and in 1784 to 3,359,864. So easily may men believe what they have preconceived fhould naturally come to pafs !

Although Mr. Chalmers has judiciously availed himself of every collateral circumftance, that came within his reach, to eftablish his pofitions, yet he has, in general, relied on cuftomhoufe entries, as the fource of his principal facts,-and notwithftanding all that he has urged with a view to remove the objections brought against those accounts; we cannot help thinking that these objections are fuch, as do not authorize that confidence which he has all along placed in them. It is not enough to fay, that the errors at one period arifing from vanity, or fraudulent views, will be nearly counterbalanced by the fimilar errors occafioned by the fame motives at another period : before this be admitted, it must be proved that no alteration has been made in the laws during thefe two periods, for if any alteration in the law has taken place, it may not only remove the whole excefs, on one fide, occafioned by the circumftances abovenamed, but may even throw the faulty excefs to the oppofite fide of the account. Thus, if at one time no duties were charged on certain articles exported, vanity might naturally prompt the merchant to make entries far above the truth, fo as to augment the value of the exports greatly beyond what they fhould have been; but if, at another period, a high duty should be demanded on exporting the fame articles, care would not only

Vid. Rev. Feb. 1787. Art. I.

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be taken not to over-rate them, but pains would be bestowed to enter them as much under value as poffible. From thefe, and other obvious confiderations, we are fatisfied that no reliance fhould be had on cuftomhouse entries, &c. in matters of great confequence, unless they are accompanied with an accurate account of the ftate of the law at the time. Without this, thefe accounts are more likely to mislead than to direct the judgment. We cannot, therefore, help wifhing, that the ftrefs laid upon them fhould be less than has, of late, been the fashion.

One other remark we fhall beg leave to make on this fubject: viz. that it were well if the internal commerce obtained a greater degree of attention, than it usually receives. A foreign trade may fometimes be augmented in confequence of a deranged internal œconomy; where people emigrate, the food and neceflaries they ought to have confumed, muft either be exported or fuffered to perifh; but an encrease of foreign trade originating from this cause, is a great evil inftead of a bleffing. We might extend our remarks farther on this fubject, but fhall content ourselves with recommending it to political fpeculators, never to lose fight of this maxim-that the internal traffic of any nation is of much higher value, and an object of much greater importance to preferve undiminished, than its external trade-and therefore fhould ever be attended to as the first object.

As we presume the intention of our author's performance was merely to remove fome prejudices that are fuppofed to have been imbibed from the perufal of certain popular treatifes, it was not to be fuppofed that he would choofe to embarrass the clafs of readers for whom it was intended, with subtle difcuffions which would have been neceffary to difcriminate, in all cafes, between truth and error, had he even been capable of thefe difcuffions, or difpofed to enter on them himfelf. It was enough to produce plaufible arguments, and it would have been improper to exprefs any diffidence himself, where he meant that his readers fhould feel none.

We fubjoin a few miscellaneous facts that will prove interefting to many of our readers :

In the 51ft of Edward III. (1377) it was found that the population of England and Wales amounted to about 2,092,978 fouls,-in 1483 to about 4,688,000; at the revolution (1688, about 6,500,000 or 7,000,000; and at prefent probably to near 8,000,000.

In the year 1377, the undermentioned towns were, by enumeration, found to contain inhabitants as follow:

33,000 fouls

Weftminster 10,000

London

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Poor's rates at the end of the reign of Charles II. amounted to 665,3027. at 1776 to 1,556,804 Query, What do they amount to at prefent?

The Navy of England contained,

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In 1781 422,760

Nothing, we are told, gave foreigners a higher idea of the power of England than the fudden force raised by Elizabeth to oppofe the Spanish Armada; yet, our author adds, it is not too much to expect that Lancashire alone, confidering its numerous manufactories, and extenfive commerce, is now able to make a more steady exertion, amidst modern warfare, than the whole kingdom was in the time of Elizabeth. The traders of Liverpool alone, fitted out at the commencement of the late war with France, between the 26th of August 1778, and 17th April 1779, 120 privateers, armed each with ten to 30 guns, but moftly with 14 to 20. From an accurate lift containing the name and appointment of each, it appears that these privateers measured 30,787 tons, carrying 1,986 guns, and 8,754 men. The fleet fent againft the Armada in 1588, measured 31,685 tons, and was navigated by 15,272 feamen. From the efforts of a fingle town, we may infer, that the private ships of war formed a greater force during the war with the colonies, than the nation, with all its unanimity and zeal, was able to equip under the potent government of Elizabeth.

We shall only add, that the revenue of the poft-office, which perhaps gives a more accurate idea of the ftate of commercial tranfactions

tranfactions in Britain than any other fact whatever, which, during the four laft years of King William's reign, amounted on an average to 83,3191. arofe by a gradual progreffion till in the year 1784, it amounted to 452,4041.

ART. V. Tranfactions of the American Philofophical Society at Philadelphia. Vol. II. Continued from Page 144.

ASTRONOMICAL PAPERS.

A new Method of placing a meridian Mark. By David Rittenhoufe, Efq.

TH

HOUGH a fixed mark is not abfolutely neceffary where an observer is poffeffed of a good tranfit inftrument, the pofition of which may be examined and accurately corrected by the paffage of a known fixed ftar, yet it is convenient, faves much trouble, and fometimes prevents miftakes. The mark which Mr. R. here recommends is an eafy one; but we fear that, from its being fixed on brick work, it may be apt to vary a little by the fhrinking of the building; and, the diftance of the mark from the tranfit inftrument being only 36 feet, a very small inclination either to the eaft or weft may be attended with great error in the inftrument. The advantages of it, however, are material; it is perfectly free from parallax, it is not affected by the undulation of the air, and it can easily be illuminated in the night, fhould any accident happen that might render an adjust ment of the tranfit inftrument neceffary.

In the appendix to this article, Mr. R. recommends the ufing fpiders filaments inftead of wires, or filk threads, in his tranfit telescope; the fineft wire, or filk, he finds, obfcures a fixed ftar, especially if it have a great declination, for feveral feconds.

Obfervations on a Comet. By the Same.

Mr. R.'s firft obfervation on this comet was made January 21, 1784, when its longitude was 15° of Pifces, and latitude 16° 6' fouth. By fubfequent obfervations he found that it paffed the ecliptic on the 31ft in 25° of Pifces, and on the 17th it was in 29° of Pifces, with 13° 10' north latitude. From the beft obfervations our Author could make (for the comet appeared very faint, and was always involved in day-light, moon-light, or a thick atmosphere), he concludes that it paffed its perihelion about January 20, its diftance from the fun being nearly 0.7 of the earth's diftance from the fun. The place of its afcending node is in 25 of Taurus, and the inclination of its orbit to the ecliptic 53°.

Aftronomical Obfervations. By Chriftian Mayer.

Thefe obfervations were made for the purpose of determining the motion of the fixed ftars between themselves. Our aftronomical readers are, no doubt, acquainted with the obfervations REV. March, 1787.

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of Halley, who, about the year 1719, by a careful comparison of Flamftead's obfervations with thofe of Ptolemy, respecting a few fixed ftars, viz. Sirius, Arcturus, Aldebaran, &c. firft difcovered that thefe ftars had a proper motion of their own. Other aftronomers, pofterior to Halley, in inveftigating the proper motion of the fixed ftars, compared their own obfervations with thofe of the ancients. This method requires the labour of prolix and intricate calculations, and, after all, remains liable to doubts and uncertainty, on account of the inaccuracy of ancient observations, and the errors of inftruments. Mr. Mayer justly concludes, that, when the difference of right afcenfion and declination between any two stars is very small (i. e. a few seconds), any variation arifing from the preceffion of the equinoxes, the obliquity of the ecliptie, the aberration of light, or from any other caufe depending on the mutable ftate of the air, muft equally affect them both: he has therefore, in the space of two years, made about two hundred obfervations on fome of the principal fixed ftars, and other fmall ones near them, which he calls comites, or attendants. The difference of right afcenfion and of declinations between thefe ftars and their attendants are accurately taken. Such of thefe differences as he has obferved (of which correfponding obfervations have been recorded by Flamstead in his hiftory of the heavens, or by other observers), are inferted in a table with Flamstead's and other observations in a collateral column. By which the variation of the difference of right afcenfion and declination now, and at other times, is readily feen. For inftance, by this table it appears that the difference of right afcenfion between Arcturus and his attendant was, on February 14, 1690, 5′′ of time, the attendant preceding; and their difference of declination 26′ 30′′ of space, according to Flamftead: on May 20, 1765, their difference of right afcenfion 4", the attendant following, and their difference of declination 23′ 58′′.8, according to Markelyne: on May 18, 1776, difference of right afcenfron 6", attendant following, and difference of declination 23′ 37′′. 3, according to Mayer. Though this method is eafy, yet it requires the affiftance of other obfervations, in order to determine whether one or both stars move, and alfo to afcertain the quantity and direction of motion in each. Might not these circumstances be obtained by the obferved distances between the ftars in queftion and others in their neighbourhood?

This paper was fent to the Society in Latin; the original is printed, with the English; but we are at a lofs to know the reafon why the two last paragraphs fhould have been omitted in the tranflation: they contain a piece of very neceffary information, that ought always to accompany accounts of obfervations, namely, the fituation of the observatory where they were made,

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