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Riga, Revel, Narva, or Petersburgh uncertain
Carron, Leith, Perth, and Aberdeen
Glasgow.

..

2gs.

West Indies.

2 gs.

218s. ret. 21.

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2gs.

Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Newry, Belfast, and Londonderry... Limerick, Galway, or Sligo...... 4 gs. Portsm. Spith. Poole, or Isle of Wight.. 11 gs. Weymouth, Exeter, Dartm. or Plym..... 2 gs. Bristol, Wales, Chester, Liverp. Whith. Yarmouth, Lynn, Hull, Newcastle, &c... 14 gs. Alderney, Guernsey, or Jersey.. Inverness, Shetland, Orkney Islands. Tonningen (neutrals).. ..2 gs. Gottenburg, Christiana, &c... ..... 5 gs. Stockholm and places adjacent 6 gs. Musquito shore, Honduras, places adjacent 10 gs. Newfoundland, Coast of Labradore...6 gs. ret. 31. Cape G. H. or St. Helena (Comp. ships).... 4 gs.

..2 gs.

1 gs.

1 gs.

United States of America (Brit. ships)8 gs. ret. 47. Ditto (American ships).

Liverpool or Chester

5 gs.

6 gs. ret. 41.

20s.

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Daily Prices of STOCKS, from 20th NOVEMBER to 20th DECEMBER, 1807.

Navy

5

per

Cent.

Long

973 174

98174

98

17

98# 17%

98

17

981 17%

174

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174

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174

Annuities. Consol.

Short Anns.

5 p. Cent. 1797.

Omnium.

Imperial
3 p. Cent.
Ditto
Annuities.
India
Stock.

India
Scrip.

India

Bonds.

South Sea

Stock.

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Of the line. 50 to 44 guns. Frigates. Sloops. Gun-brigs. Total.

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In Ordinary

46

12

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THE

LITERARY PANORAMA.

FOR FEBRUARY, 1808.

On the Cultivation and Preparation of Hemp; as also of an Article, produced in various parts of India, called Sunn, which with proper Encouragement, may be introduced as a Substitute for many Uses to which Hemp is at present exclusively applied. Compiled from various Authorities, by Robert Wissett, Esq. F. R. and A. S. Clerk to the Committee of Warehouses of

the East-India Company. Royal Quar to, pp. 221. Not Published. London. 1804.

WHEN the naval power of a comtry rises to consequence and magnitude by slow degrees, it is possible that the country itself, if of extensive dimensions, may furnish an adequate supply of the stores necessary to support it; but, a country which rapidly extends its maritime concerns, may be so situated, as not to produce within itself a sufficiency of those commodities, without which its fleets cannot be fitted out. Or, the connections which its commerce has formed, may be able to afford stores of this description at a lower rate, than the country itself can grow them: so that, the capital vested in this trade may appear to be more advantageously employed than if it were expended at home. If the wealth of such a country increase in the same rapid manner as its commerce, the regular ratio at which money is depreciated, may be so sensible, as to render it not worth the while of individuals to cultivate those products of the ground, which in poorer countries may yield a fair profit to such as raise them. The money remitted to these poorer cultivators may be sufficient to compensate their labour, and to supply their wants, because it has not yet been accumulated among them; VOL. III. [Lit. Pan, Feb. 1808.]

nor has it felt the consequences of superabundance. This intercourse, then, establishes a mutual dependence of the two countries: one expecting produce, the other expecting money. If by any per verse system of politics, the governments of these countries should become enemies, nothing can be more evident, than their mutual detriment. That country which had been accustomed to receive

money, is now obliged to forego that stimulus to the labour of its subjects, which was excited by the expectation of reward: and that country which had been in the habit of depending on the other for supplies, now finds itself unable, suddenly, to provide for its consumption. If the question were put, which of these countries suffered most severely by the interruption of their intercourse, it might be determined, by enquiringwhich of them had been best able to establish stores of the article they received. If the parties. who received money have by parsimony accumulated a stock equal to the consumption of five years, while their adversaries had accumulated sufficient for three years, only those who can endure privation for the longest period are the richer persons. On the other hand, if those who received commodities have laid in stores capable of being made to last some years longer than the others can make their money last, these are the best able to sustain a competition of privation. It is, unhappily, too true, that the present state of Europe, affords an instance of the actual existence of this extraordinary supposition.-Neither is the case much mended, if we direct our attention to the interven tion of a third party, by whom the now interrupted traffic may be conducted, in a circuitous manner. Europe at this mo ment, presents few neutral nations, and if it presented many, it would still continue 2 H

to be a question whether sound policy ad vised any nation to depend on another for necessaries to such a degree, as to expe rience a thraldoni and embarrassment by which its measures may be checked and overawed. It is much wiser, when disappointed in one quarter, to seek a remedy elsewhere; and if at home, or on national territories such a remedy may be found, the steps to be taken need very little debate, or hesitation.

whatever is distinguished by its importance. The future dealings of our island with that Empire, may be convenient, but never again shall they be necessary, Never shall Russia have it in her power to congratulate herself on the exclusive possession of a commodity for which Britain shall be obliged to frequent her ports, because unable to obtain it elsewhere. If Russia should hereafter supply not one half of the commodities that Britain lately drew from her, while the more than other half is procured from other connections, Russia must thank her own perverse politics for such a change, and if it operate as a standing lesson so much the better. When the market is once lost, and traffic has found new channels, very rarely does the whole of a commercial intercourse resume its former track, however wistful

it was formerly profitable. Taking then, as certain, that the cultivators of hemp in Russia will not speedily be supported again in their labours by British capital, we are next to direct our attention to those quarters from whence a supply of that commodity may be obtained.

It is well known, that, many of the indispensable accoutrements of a ship, are made of hemp: a plant which is capable of being cultivated wherever the soil furnishes the general conveniences of human life. This natural production does not require the heats of the equator to ripen it, as some fruits do; neither is it confined to the regions of the north. The cultivation of it is attended by no peculiarly it may be desired by the party to whom difficulties, nor does it require uncommon knowledge, or skill in those who engage in its production. Hitherto, Russia has been the great mart fer hemp, because, the lands in Russia were not so fully occupied, either by inhabitants or by superior crops, as to be raised in value above what this commodity would repay to the cultivator. Russia could afford to deliver hemp to British merchants, at a price so moderate, that after the expences of freight, and changes of merchandize, had been paid on it, it came cheaper to the consumer, than if it had been grown in Betin. Because, the rent of land in Britain, with the price of labour, and the operation of taxes of various descriptions, when added together, raised the price of the native production to more than an equality with that of the imported comnolity.

The intercourse with Russia being suspended, it becomes the duty and the interest of Britain to direct its attention in search of complete supplies of this important article. To trust to present stores, under flattering ideas of a change of circun's ances for the better, would be folly; to hope that a supply proportionate to the demand might be obtained through the agency of neutrals, would shew both a want of spirit, and an alienation of mind, in a political sense. Russia has chosen her party, and has broke with Britain; it is proper that Britain should effectuate, not merely for the present, but for time to come, an independence on Russia for

The first country from which we should naturally expect supplies of hemp, is Canada, where we have extensive colonies; and the experiment has been made in these; but, being ill conducted, it failed. Report affirmed that the Canadians expressed an uncommon unwillingness to enter into this traffic: but the prospect of profit would, surely, have overcome that reluctance, had the plan been steadily pursued:

Very great expectations were formed from liemp of a peculiarly valuable species which was discovered on Norfolk island, in the neighbourhood of Botany Bay, in the South Seas: but, though se veral years have elapsed since that island was settled and brought into a certain state of cultivation, yet we have heard nothing of any supply deserving attention, as being obtained from thence. Undoubt edly, the extensive countries of new Holland may afford soils and situations perfectly well adapted to the growth of this plant, but till this has been proved by experiment, it rests on supposition merely.

The territories of the East-India Company in India are so extensive, and so di versified, that plants of every description may be expected to come to perfection in some part or other of that fertile region,

We have said, that hemp is capable of being cultivated wherever the climate produces the supplies of human life: it might, therefore, be expected and it proves to be the fact, that India would furnish more than one species of hemp.

botanists. He proceeds to examine the nature of the soil best suited to their growth: the mode of their cultivation; the season proper for sowing, method of treatment after sowing, manner of gathering, average produce, and profit. These particulars are comprised in his first part.

His second part treats of the preparations undergone by these plants, before they are fit for their ultimate purpose; such as, steeping, watering or retting, drying, the mode of separating the fibres from the stems, the operations of scutching, beating, and heckling.

Mr. W, has had recourse to authorities foreign as well as native: he pays great attention to the treatise of M. Duhamel,

The first we shall notice is our common Earopean plant. This kind of hemp is cultivated in India, not for the purposes of utility to which we apply its bark, but for the narcotic qualities that nature has imparted to its seed. It is the Bang of the Hindoos, and produces intoxicating effects allied to those derived from opium. Dr. Roxburgh informs us, that he could discover no difference between the Indian plant, and the European: not -even so much as to found a variety on. A" De la fabrique des manœuvres pour les second kind of hemp, is called by the vaisseaux," Paris 1747 a work of the natives Paut, beside which, various greatest rarity and merit also, to the other vegetable substances, are employed Abbé Brulles Mode of cultivating and by them in the formation of cordage: but dressing hemp," printed by order of the the most valuable, by its properties, is Lords of the Committee of Council for that known under the name of Sunn. Trade and Foreign Plantations, 1790. He extracts also from several of our most popular British publications: from several MS. communications, and from Reports made to (and by) the public boards, and Presidencies in India. The board of trade at Bengal was desirous of causing a quantity of Sunn (the crotolaria juncea of Linneus) to be prepared in the same manner as hemp is prepared in Europe: but, as

:

The volume before us, offers a detailed and interesting view of the modes of cultivating, and preparing, these articles for use. The comparison of the soil, culture and treatment required by each, proves that either might be a substitute for the other, and that we might receive either hemp or sunn from India, at our pleasure. Mr. Wissett has manifested great labour and diligence, with an accurate and de-habit is not easily overcome, the natives termined spirit of research; he has extracted from the most authentic documents the information which he sets, as it were, side by side, for the purpose of comparison, and he furnishes us with descriptions and intelligence not in the power of ordinary writers to procure, but which his official situation, has enabled him to employ. In our first volume, p. 63., we alluded to. the present work, as being a valuable compendium," as deserving to be made more public than hitherto it had been," and as" furnishing desireable communications, which in vain might be sought elsewhere." To this opinion we still adhere; and therefore consider our selves now as doing a service to our country in describing the contents of this work, to the public, in the present article.

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Mr. W. begins his performance with a description of the hemp and sunn plants. These are well known to be of different sexes; but the terms of male and female have been erroneously applied by some

Mr.

were not inclined to vary from their es-
tablished usages. It was found, also,
that a course of experiments was necessary
to ascertain the advantages and disadvan-
tages of the different processes recom-
mended for even on the simplest modes,
opinions were not unanimous.
W.'s volume is calculated to answer the
purpose of giving great assistance in such
a course of experiments, and if it was suit-
able in 1804, it cannot but be of greatly
augmented importance in 1908. How
far the presidencies of India have patro-
nized this article since that date we are
not informed; but, it appears, that the
lords of the privy council in a letter to the
court of directors, dated Feb. 4, 1803, te-
commended the court to encourage as
much as possible, the growth of strong
henip, in their dependencies in India:
and the court in reply determined to take
proper measures for that purpose. The
wisdom of that anticipation is justified by
existing circumstances, and we consider

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