Had these Institutions been adopted at the time Mr. Colquhoun first pressed them upon the public, several millions of money would have been by this time collected, the virtuous accumulations of honest industry, the resort for the period of need and distress and it is hazarding no theoretical conjecture to say, that this deposit would have been the means of comfortable supply to very many distressed families in the present severe pressure, from the want of employment. This is not the place for eulogizing or enlarging upon the merits of Banks for Savings; but I cannot avoid quoting, from the Treatise on Indigence, the following lucid and useful observations relative to this subject, which shew with what a prophetic and masterly spirit Mr. Colquhoun wrote on these Institutions twelve

years ago.

"It is shewn in the progress of this work, that the virtuous poor are subject to numerous casualties, incident to a state of civilization, by which they retrograde into indigence, without any culpable cause. A national system, which would enable this valuable part of the community, from their own resources, effectually to provide against such a degradation, producing unmerited misery and distress, would be a godlike work. To this class contingent aids are peculiarly applicable; and it is through this medium, under a well-constructed national institution, that security is to be afforded against the calamity of indigence, either in the progress of human life, while labour remains in their possession, or in old age, when it ceases to be produc

tive.

"The great desideratum in political economy, is to lead the poor by gentle and practicable means into the way of bettering themselves.* Establish a system that shall not only convince them that they have a stake in the country, as well as the rich; but that the Government and the Legislature will place that stake on so secure and respectable a footing, that they may look up to it with certainty as a relief in time of sickness, and a prop to old age; and success will be the result+-Include the

*This admirable observation deserves to be written in letters of gold.

+ So completely verified has this been, by Government Debentures issued to the Saving Banks bearing a regular interest of

Navy and Army in the same national design, that they too may partake of its benefits, and that there may be an indement to spare a little (while they can spare it) to prevent themselves and their families from descending into indigence."

From these and very many other very valuable observations, Mr. Colquhoun suggested that a National Deposit Bank should be established in the Metropolis, with branches in certain districts in the country, conveniently situated to be managed by a President and Directors, entitling the individuals to the benefits arising from their respective deposits

With a view of rendering the Saving Banks more connectedly, and at the same time more universally beneficial, it is advisable that a general amalgamation of the different Provident Banks throughout the Island should take place, according to the plan originally developed and fully detailed by Mr. Colquhoun, in his treatise—a work which is handled in a manner in some respects new, and it contains, on other subjects too, many suggestions which appear to be of vital importance to the improvement of the morals, and consequently to the increase of the comfort and happiness of the labonring classes of the kingdom.

During the interval from 1806 to 1813, Mr. Colquhoun appeared to have employed himself in his various official duties, as a Police and Parochial Magistrate, as Chairman of the Court of Lieutenancy; in attending different Charitable Institutions; and particu larly in collecting materials for his last great work on the Wealth, Power, and Resources of the British Empire.

This work was published in the month of August 1814, and a second edition was called for in the month of March following. He appears to have been stimulated to proceed in this arduous and laborious undertaking, in the contemplation of the peace with France, which took place in that year, for the purpose of pointing out the various resources which the nation possessed for the occupation of a redundant population, augmented by the discharge of men employed in the naval, military,

4 per cent, to the depositors, that one is inclined to believe it is taken from this book.

Treatise on Indigence, c.iv. p. 122-3.

and other departments of Government. This work, from the great mass of useful and well-arranged information which it contains, will be perused with no inconsiderable degree of interest by all who are well-wishers to the prosperity of the British Empire. The indefa tigable author has entered widely into the great subject of Political Economy, which has never been discussed in the same manner. In his important and useful details, he has comprised almost every species of information which the statesman, the country gentleman, the merchant, the manufacturer, or the political economist, strictly so called, may wish to acquire: -at the same time, as a general book of reference on all subjects connected with the prosperity of the country, it must be considered as a very valu able acquisition to British literature. It has already been translated into the German and some other foreign Janguages, and has greatly attracted the attention of foreigners in elevated stations of life; and there are just grounds for believing that it is highly appreciated by the statesmen of this country. It is impossible to examine this very important production, without being filled with astonishment at the great labour which must have been exerted in compiling the Tables, and in bringing such a variety of subjects, replete with truly useful information, under the eye of the reader.-Under whatever circumstance, and in whatever way, we contemplate Mr. Colquhoun's powerful and energetic efforts; whether we look to the well-timed and valuable productions of his pen,-whether we examine his labours for the distressed,-whether we see him clothed with magisterial power, in the dispensations of justice, -or superintending the erection and management of schools, we shall find his actions tending to one great object, the general prosperity and improvemant of his country: his efforts have all contributed to meliorate the condition of the poor, and to prevent moral and criminal offences, by the promotion of religious and moral ha bits, industry, education, knowledge, loyalty, good government, and, in short, all those relative and positive moral attributes and duties which mainly tend to increase the wealth, power, and resources of the British Empire.

Mr. Colquhoun, in his domestic ar

rangements, sacrifices nothing to outward shew and ostentation, but much to rational, sober, and solid hospitality. During the long period of forty eight years, that he has stood at the head of a family, not only some of the most distinguished members of society, where he has resided, but foreigners of high rank, and respectable individuals, from almost every quarter of the British Empire, have been, at different times, his guests. He had the honour to he known to the late Dr. Robertson, Mr. Gibbon, Mr. Burke, and Dr. Adam Smith-the two last have partaken of his hospitality; and at this time an assemblage of highly respectable and intelligent persons of all ranks, from different quarters of the world, is generally to be found at his table.

After a long life, devoted in a great measure to the public for the last thirtynine years, during which period Mr. Colquhoun has transacted business with all the Prime Ministers who have presided over the affairs of the country, he, now finding himself incapable, from age and declining health, to execute all the different important duties, which, under the peculiar circumstances of a Magistrate, he may be called upon to perform, has considered it a duty he owed his country, to make room for a successor of more bodily strength. In the full and unimpaired possession of all his intellectual powers, which have been so constantly exerted for many years, he therefore, for the above reasons, offered his resignation, as one of the Magistrates assigned to preside at the Public Office in Queen-square, in the month of October, in the last year; but His Royal Highness the Prince Regent did not accept it officially until the 5th of January;-since which, Mr. Colquhoun has received an official letter from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, of which the following is a copy: the original is in his Lordship's own hand writing.

66 SIR, Whitehall, 5 January 1818. "As you have determined, from your advanced age, to retire from the official situation at the Police Establishment of Westminster, which you have long usefully filled, I think it incumbent upon me to express to you the high sense entertained by His Majesty's Government of your public services, and especially of the manner in which you discharged your duty as a Magistrate.

And in the glorious Portrait hail Colquhoun."*

The same undeviating ardour of pursuit characterized his public proceedings-and the accurate fidelity with which he has discharged the important and unsought-for trust of Diplomatic Agent in Great Britain for Hamburgh, and ultimately for all the Hanseatic Towns, and for some of the West India Colonies, so honourably conferred upon him, evinces no small share of talent in the intricacies of diplomacy; for during a series of years when great and intricate commercial questions must have been agitated, he must have managed with considerable adroitness to reconcile jarring interests, to preserve conciliation among the parties, and to acquire to himself, by the ability with which these affairs were conducted, increased respect and esteem. Be it recollected, too, that his diplomatic exertions were made during the period of an unexampled war, when the country of his constituents was frequently convulsed by sanguinary battles, and alternately in the possession of the contending parties. Thus his extended and equitable view of commercial concerns, with the experience and knowledge he had acquired in deliberating on these affairs of mankind, enabled him to soften, as far as the blind heat of passion would allow, the asperities of contending disputants. This country has felt largely and solidly the advantages of his labours; she has the satisfaction to know, as has been already stated, that his services have not burthened the public with the smallest pecuniary sum.

* Verses on various Subjects, written in the Vicinity of Stoke Park in 1801.

† ἐμπορία δὲ καί δοξαν είχεν οιχειωμένη τὰ βαρβαρικὰ καὶ προξενώσα φιλίας βασιλέων καὶ πραγμάτων εμπείρες ποίησα πολλῶν.

The study of mercantile transactions is of considerable value; it gives to your own the advantages of other countries, conciliates the amity of the Rulers of states, and produces a skilful management in all mul. tifarious affairs, PLUTARCH, Life of Solon.

It is not easy, however, to estimate the pecuniary benefits the nation has derived from the suppression of the trade which had long injured the comexcessive plunder and of the illicit merce arising from the commercial intercourse of the River Thames; but in a trade of unexampled magnitude, amounting (as Mr. Colquhoun has shewn) to above sixty millions annually during the war, and producing an annual revenue of more than ten mil lions, it will be immediately acknow ledged, that he was most beneficially employed, when he had the public spirit and the boldness, even at the risk of his life, and under great obstacles, to attack and annihilate as powerfully criminal a confederacy, as ever was formed of a similar nature in any country, and by which the most extensive depreda tions were committed. The Secretary of State, in the House of Commons, in July 1800, on the Thames Police Bill, observed, that "Goods to the "value of sevenly millions of money "could not be removed from place to

66

66

place, without suffering great loss; "the great depredations actually committed, however, were far greater than, "such unavoidable losses great to a degree which no man unacquainted "with the subject could possibly con"ceive. The West India Merchants "had been so sensible of this, that they "had entered into a voluntary Associa "tion to protect their property, the "benefit resulting from which has been astonishing. The public revenue upon sugar was increased thirty thousand pounds annually, by the prevention of depredations on that article, from the "adoption of Mr. Colquhoun's plan." There are good grounds for believ ing that it has considerably exceeded this amount, while the saving to the Planters and Merchants has been immense. This augmentation of public revenue, and saving to private individuals, have not been upon one article only, but upon coffee, rum, and indeed every species of goods imported and exported; and a considerable check has been also thus given to the nefarious trade carried on by the connivance and assistance of the inferior Excise and Custom House Officers.

An Officer of Justice, standing close to Mr. Colquhoun, was wounded by a shot fired by the Rioters, who attempted to pull down the Marine Police Office, Wapping, in October 1799.

Hence, in every way, has accrued large additional increase of the income of the country, and of benefit to individuals. These great advantages may be fairly, and with justice, included in the catalogue of Mr. Colquhoun's public services. Upon the whole, if, through the medium of Mr. Colquhoun's personal exertions, and literary labours, prejudices have been removed, and plans have been already executed, which have produced so much public benefit, if he has contributed, during a period of public calamity and danger, to tranquillize the minds of the mass of the people, in a great metropolis, and to prevent in a considerable degree those excesses a scarcity of food often produces,-if, in addition to this, he has devised plans, approved of by very high authority, for the improvement of the Revenue, without increasing the public burthens, while at the same time they secure the person and property of the subject from violence and fraud, and the public stores from extensive spoliation, it may be said, in the fullest force that the terms can imply, that he has deserved well of his country.

The Compiler of this Biographical Sketch, craving the indulgence of the reader for the imperfect manner in which it has been performed, cannot conclude it better than in the following emphatic words of the late Dr. Lettsom.*

"When the importance of the morals of the community, with its influence on individual as well as general happiness, is duly considered, one cannot but contemplate a public character, who, with unceasing exertion, endeavours to promote every virtuous and charitable sentiment, with gratitude and reverence A Magistrate clothed with power to enforce obedience, but possessing benevolence more coercive than power; who views with vigilance, to arrest its progress, every species of vice, and commiserates, as a man humanized by Christian amities, every deviation from rectitude, and reforms while he pities, is a Being clothed with robes of divinity.-In this point of view I introduce my friend, Patrick Colquhoun, Esq. whose exertions point to every direction, where morals require correction, or poverty

* Hints to promote Beneficence, Temperance, and Medical Science, Vol. I. p. 923.

and distress, the aid of active benevolence. As an indefatigable Magistrate, and as a polite writer in general, Mr. Colquhoun is well known throughout Europe.-I introduce him in this place as the founder and promoter of various institutions for supplying the poor in distress with cheap and nutritious articles of food, to an extent truly astonishing, and without which famine must have been superadded to poverty. The enumeration alone of my friend's publications, must evince the activity of his benevolence, with which his time and fortune have ever kept pace. May the reader en.

+ In addition to the eleven different

publications already mentioned in the first part of this Biographical Sketch, the following list contains the titles of Mr. Colquhoun's other Works, besides many ephe meral productions, of great use at the time they issued from the press.

1. An important National Question relative to the Principle of Legisla tion introduced into the present Corn Bill.....

....Lond. May, 1790

2. Reflections on the Causes which have produced the present Distress in Commercial Credit, with Suggestions relative to the Means of remedying the Evil in future.....

......1793

3. An Account of the Rise and Progress and Present State of the Charity School, in the Parish of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch .... .........London, 1793 4. Observations and Facts on Public Houses, interesting to Magistrates in any Part of Great Britain, London, 1794 5. A Plan for affording extensive Relief to the Poor, by raising a moderate Sum of Money by Subscription, to be laid out in redeeming Pledges of honest industrious Families, who have been compelled to Pledge their Goods and Working Tools for Subsistence during the late severe Weather, London, 1794 6. An Account of a Meat and Soup Charity

............

.1795

7. Suggestions favourable to the Comfort of the Labouring People, shewing how a small Income may be made to go far in a Family, so as to produce a considerable Saving in the Article of Bread. Printed at the Public Expense .... London, 1795

8. Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, explaining the various Crimes and Misdemeanours which at present are felt as a Pressure on the Community, and suggesting Remedies, London, 1795 Second Edition... Third Edition Fourth Edition Fifth Edition.. Sixth Edition..

.1796

.1797

..1798

.1799

.1800.