short and fine wools, by an overwhelming importation.

"With respect to other wools, I would repeat it again and again, we should never relax in our efforts to obtain for them a sufficient protection in our own market. The cause is so

just that it must succeed at last, when

its merits shall be better understood and the question more fully comprehended: a single petition, however, will not be sufficient. There should be petitions from every district where fine short wool is grown; and by this means, certainly, a protecting duty will be obtained in favour of wool, similar to that which is extended to every other produce and manufacture of the coun try.

"We may judge what would be the effect of such a duty on wool, from the effect which has been produced by the policy of protection respecting the Iron Trade of this country. The importation of unwrought iron into these kingdoms was very great, until Parliainent laid on a duty of 31. 178. 8d. per ton imported in British, and of 47. 12s. 6d. in Foreign ships. The consequence has been that the importation of foreign iron is extremely reduced, and yet the manufacture is so increased, that it was lately supposed, we had surpassed the demand abroad for many articles of iron.

"It is much to be lamented that the Legislature did not see the importance of a duty on wool to the revenue at a period when revenue was so much wanted. On the importation which took place in the year 1814 of 15,712,517lbs., it would have produced, at the rate of one shilling per pound, an addition to the revenue of 785,6257., and it would have saved the country the expense of such extraordinary importations as those which, in the year above mentioned, amounted, at the low rate of 2s. 6d. per pound, to the sum of 1,964,0647. And it deserves further to be observed, that this addition to the revenue is not all the country would have gained by the imposition of the duty; for it would have prevented the extreme debasement which took place in the price of British wool, and by securing that article an adequate market, would have contributed to increase the supply, and thereby to advauce our woollen manufactures.

I am sorry to say, that our lauded interest, on which the real prosperity of

the country so essentially depends, is too often borne down in the House of Com'mons by the clamours or efforts of men who are, comparatively, little concerned in the general welfare, and who seem to imagine that every thing should give way to their views of the monied and manufacturing interests of the king. dom. Yet none have a greater stake in the country, or are so much interested in its real welfare, as the owners and occupiers of the soil; and the policy which has so frequently neglected or resisted their claims, must eventually excite great and well-founded discontent, and promote opinions calculated to encourage innovations injurious, if not fatal, to the order, the welfare, and the constitution of the realm.

"There are those who ou this ques tion seem to think every thing is to be sacrificed for a foreign market, as if that market were the only one on which we had to depend for the sale of our productions, or as if it were the best and the most profitable. Now the truth is clearly the reverse. It is not only not the best and most profitable, but the most precarious and fluctuating. We may be driven from it by the contingen cies of war, by the artifices of policy, by the effects of competition, and by that failure of demand for our own, which may arise from the growing manu factures of other countries. Whereas, the sure and highly improving markets of the British Empire are liable to none of these causes of unsteadiness or decline, are always sufficient to employ a vast number of manufactur ers, and to consume infinitely the greater part of our manufacture. This, generally called the home, in contradis tinction to the foreign market, includes, as stated to you on a former occasion, not only England, Scotland, and Ire land, but all our Colonies in North America, the whole of the West Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, Gibraltar, Malta, and all places now in our occu pation, containing a population of nearly thirty millions, exclusive of Negroes and Indians. Such a market, compared with which our export trade to foreign nations is insignificant, we cannot consent to impair or sacrifice for any other, by no means, for the supply (so much exaggerated of late by certain declaimers) of the few millions of people, not very opulent, scattered over the thinly inhabited country of the American States. The woollen manu

terest of the country would be proportionally encouraged and advanced.

"The necessity of encouraging the growth of our own wools does not depend on these arguments alone for its confirmation and support, by observations like these. It is certain, that if we suffer our wools to decline, our woollen manufacture must decline also, in precisely the same proportion. The whole world would not be able to supply us with wool sufficient for our de

the declarations of the merchantsex-]

porters.....10,200,927 8,404,5287,918,919 "Now, of the whole of this export, scarcely the amount of one million actually ever went to foreign markets for direct consumption. The rest is consumed in the home market, which includes, as before stated, Ireland, the Colonies, and other dependencies of Great Britain. I do not mean, however, in thus adverting to the superior importance of the home market, and the claims which it possesses to all possible encouragement on the part of the Legis. lature, to imply an opinion that our foreign trade is to be neglected or sacrificed. It is principally beneficial as taking off any redundancy that may occur, and thus preventing the loss and discouragement of the manufacturer. If, indeed, the home and foreign markets were to be put in opposition to cach other, and the alternative of necessarily abandoning one of them presented itself, there would be no difficulty in deciding which should be preferred.But I am decidedly of opinion, that the due encouragement of the home market would operate favourably on the foreign; and if, by a duty on the import of foreign wool, we might be induced so to cultivate our own wools as to render us independent, or nearly so, of foreign nations for their fleeces, we should preserve a considerable portion of our capital at home, which is now paid to foreign countries, for wool, to the annual amount of upwards of two millions sterling; we should be able to supply our own woollen manu. factures with the raw material, more certainly, and on better terms, than they are supplied at present; and by this demand for a home product, in preference of a foreign, the agricultural in

possess, we could not procure from other countries more than they could spare from their own supply, and which would he utterly inadequate to our wants; if we could procure a sufficient supply, the price would rise with the demand, and the demand increase in proportion to the decline of our own wools, till, supposing our capital could afford such an expenditure, our woollens would advance to a price which would necessarily exclude them from the foreign market. It is therefore of great moment to the prosperity of our woollen manufactures to encourage the growth of our wools at home. By such meaus only we can render ourselves independent of other countries, for an article of the utmost importance to our trade; and if we should once become dependent on them, they will know how to regulate their prices by our wants, and thus impose on our great manufacture a burden, under which it must infallibly decline, and eventually perish.

"As it may be interesting to the meeting, and assist many in forming an estimate of the value of their wool, I have collected from the different counties and districts where short and fine wool is grown, the following accounts:

"At Hereford the coarse wool sold on an average for 25. per lb. The Ryland, of which there is very little pure, being mostly mixed with Leices ter, from 28. 5d. to 38. 24 per lb. Price sold his merino wool at 4s. 43d. per lb., and 4s. was refused for merino of rather inferior quality.*

Mr.

་

"At Ross fair on the 20th instant, rycland trinded sold at 28. 114d., and merino at 4s. Id. per lb.

Thetford fair was very fully attended, both by sellers and buyers, and business was transacted with great spirit; and the sales took place in the room. Mr. Coke offered his wool at 38. per lb., which was immediately ac cepted; he declaring that he should not sell it so low, if it was not sold in the room. The wool of the prime flocks sold readily at the same pricesome wool about a halfpenny less. We have no account of the coarser wools. "The price of wool of the same quality in Suffolk and Essex, it is expected will be nearly the same. But the account of their wool meetings have not yet reached us.

"The fair at Dorchester in Oxfordshire, was well attended, both by growers and dealers. As usual very little business was done till after dinner; nearly the whole of the wool was disposed of. South Down....2s. 5d. to 2s. 7d. per lb. Do, mixed......2s. ląd. to 2s. 4 d. do. Berkshire.... .2s. 1d. to 2s. 3 d. do.

with}

Do, mixed with 2s. 11d. to 28. 34d, do.
Leicester...

Welch Long Wool 2s. Od. to 2s. 04d, do.
Merino Wool was sold at 4s, and Lamb's
Wool at 2s. 7d. per lb.

"I see no reason why our best south down wool should not sell at least as high as it does in other counties; viz. 38. per lb., and in proportion for wool not equally fine. I am sorry to find that some wool growers, contrary to agreement, sell their wool before the fair; by which practice they may injure the sale in general, and seldom do themselves any good.

Some principal wool-staplers in London speak of a great demand for south down wool, and appear surprised that it is so, as the foreign wool is coming in very fast; and they affirm that 6,300,000 lbs. of foreign wool have been imported into London and Bristol, since the 1st of January last, and that wool will not continue to bear any advance upon last year's prices. So that their opinion is, that British wool will not retain its present price, and I ain disposed to agree in that opinion, if an unrestricted importation of foreign wool should be continued."

The address having been read, the

latter class, for which Bs. Od. is required; but the chief of this class of wool may be bunght at 59. 9d. to 6s. 34.

meeting unanimously requested that their thanks might be given to Lord Sheffield for the valuable information he had afforded them.

INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB OF THE LATE JAMES COBB, ESQ.

The following is the inscription on the tomb of the late James Cobb, Esq.* which we feel assured will be read with interest by those who know how to appreciate departed worth.

Sacred to the memory of James Cobb, Esq. late Secretary to the Hon. East India Company, which important situation he filled with distinguished ability, integrity, and zeal.

His moral and social character was marked by the tenderest sympathy for bu man suffering, and the most benevolent exertions for its relief,

To the graces of an accomplished mind he united the most endearing virtues. He gladdened life by the charm of his manners and adorned it by his example.

The memory of his worth will be his best and most lasting monument, and has afforded his afflicted family consolation and instruction.

He departed this life after a long and painful illness, the 2d of June, 1818, in the 62d year of his age, in the humble and devout hope of salvation through the merits of his Redeemer.

CURIOUS COINCIDENCES RESPECTING THE LETTER C, AS CONNECTED WITH THE LAMENTED PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.

Her mother's name is Caroline, ber own was Charlotte; that of her consort Coburg; she was married at Carlton ford House, the late owner of which, House; her town residence was CamelLord Camelford, was untimely killed in a duel; her country residence ClareLord Clive, who ended his days by suimont, not long ago the property of cide; she died in Childhed, the name of her accoucheur being Croft.

The EPISTLE from the YEARLY MEETING of FRIENDS held in LONDON by ADJOURNMENTS, from the 2014 of the FIFTH MONTH, to the 30th of the same, inclusive, 1818,

To the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends, in Great Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere.

to

DEAR FRIENDS,

N this our annual assembly, it has again pleased our Heavenly Father, overshadow us with his love. We * For Portrait and Memoir, vide Vol. XXXI. page 155. 2

have been enabled to transact the im portaut affairs which have come before us, in much harmony and condescension, and have been comforted, and permitted to rejoice in a renewed sense of Divine goodness. Under the expansive influence of these feelings, we offer you our cordial salutation, and express our earnest solicitude, that we may indeed be a spiritual house, built up in our Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Intercessor our hope of eternal glory. We have received an Epistle from our friends in Ireland, and one from each of the Yearly Meetings in America, except that of North Carolina. Our brethren in the State of Ohio, although them selves removed from the scene of slavery, have, after the example of those in Pennsylvania, thought it right to address a memorial to their general government, on behalf of the African vace, who in various parts of the United States are kidnapped, and involved in the miseries of lawless violence. The Epistle from New-York conveys the acceptable intelligence of an act of their Legislature which declares that slavery shall cease in that State in the year 1887.

The amount of the sufferings of our members, as reported to this meeting, in support of our testimony against tithes and other ecclesiastical claims, and including some small demands for military purposes, is upwards of sixteen thousand two hundred pounds.

This meeting has been large; and in examining into the state of our Society, we have been afresh desirous that our various Christian testimonies may be maintained in purity and consistency. One of those by which we are distinguished is, our peculiar view of the subject of public worship. Great are the benefits which result from a right performance of this indispensable service. The tendency of our practice is to direct the mind unto God; and, if it be pursued with sincerity and earnestness, our hopes will be ultimately fixed on Him, the unfailing Source of help. We shall then be led from an undue dependence on outward ministry, and come to experience that state in which we can แ worship God in spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."* How circumspect, how reverent, and how watch ful, ought we then to be in our religious

* Phil. iii. S..

meetings! But we fear that too many do not maintain a waiting, dependent state of mind in these assemblies; that they do not enough seek for strength to abstract their attention from wan dering thoughts and earthly cares. Hence it arises, that they do not so fully partake of the evidence of Divine superintending regard of those consolations which the Lord in mercy grants to such as hunger and thirst after righteousness. This unwatchfulness, we apprehend to be a principal cause that so many are found to neglect our first-day afternoon meetings. And we entreat those who are thus deficient, to consider whether they are not preferring ease, and an indulgence in the pleasures of life, to the obligations of religious duty, and the possession of spiritual riches.

We believe that all who are faithful in the Christian practice to which we have just alluded, will, on reflection, discover that their care is not to be confined only to themselves. We there fore exhort friends, whether in towns or in the country, whether engaged in trade or in agriculture, to be watchful over their children and dependents, and in love to use their influence to prevent them from associating with improper company, on the day set apart for public worship. Where a consistency of conduct in this respect is observed, it is instructive to others; and its effects are, we doubt not, beneficially felt, on resuming the necessary cares of life. The offering of a word of counsel on this and on all occasions where it may appear needed, in tenderness to the object of it, and in the flowings of pure love, is worthy of the attention of all classes of our members.

And now, dear friends, who fill the important station of parents, permit us to express the warm interest which we have felt on your account, and on that of your offspring. It has often been the concern of this meeting to recommend, (and again feeling its importance we desire to enforce the advice,) that your interesting charge may from very early life be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Let it be your earnest end tender care to subject their wills, and thus prepare them to bear the cross of Christ. Cultivate in their minds, as far as is in your power, the fear and love of God, and a strict regard to truth and integrity. Neglect no endeavours to pre