Graphic Table E PROPORTIONAL VARIATION OF PRICES FROM 1782 TO 1820 OF 40 COMMODITIES AT THE GOLD STANDARD. to 15s. per lb. in 1792 to 528. to 548. in 1798; copper, from 868. per cwt. in 1792 to 1608. in 1801 and 200s. in 1816; cotton wool, West Indies, from 18. to 28. per lb. in 1793 to 38. 4d. to 48. 7d. in 1799; flax, from 35l. to 37l. per ton in 1792 to 70l. to 717. in 1800, and 821. to 84l. in 1803; hemp, from 23l. to 25l. per ton in 1792 to 85l. to 86l. in 1801, and 1177. to 1187. in 1807; saltpetre, from 40s. per cwt. in 1792 to 558. in 1795; tallow, from 428. to 438. per cwt. in 1792 to 838. to 848. per cwt. in 1810; timber, Memel, from 21. 138. per load in 1792 to 147. in 1809; tin, from 928. 6d. per cwt. in 1792 to 1718. 6d. in 1811; and wool, sheep's, from 48. 6d. per lb. in 1792 to 228. to 268. in 1809. The annexed diagrams exhibit the effect of war on prices, the first relating to wheat only, the second relating to the principal commodities, as constructed by Prof. Jevons upon Mr. Tooke's Tables,2 What was the economic condition of the country at the end of the war may be gathered from the following facts: The first census of the population of Great Britain was taken in 1801, and in the twenty years between 1801 and 1821 the population increased as follows: Within the twenty years the population of London and eleven other principal towns increased as follows: On the Variation of Prices and the Value of the Currency since 1782, by W. Stanley Jevons, F.R.S. Journal of the Statistical Society, vol. xxviii. p. 294. A larger consumption of the raw materials of industry in 1821 than 1801 indicates that certain branches of productive industry were considerably developed even during the war. The consumption of cotton increased from 3.31 lbs. per head in 1801 to 6-48 lbs. per head in 1820; and of wool, foreign and colonial, from 0.45 lbs. per head in 1801 to 0.78 lbs. per head in 1820. Nevertheless, the declared value of exports decreased from 39,730,000l., or 21. 88. per head in 1801, to 36,659,000l., or 17. 158. per head in 1820. There was a slight decrease also in the tonnage of shipping entered and cleared, and in the registered tonnage of shipping belonging to the United Kingdom, when compared with the population, the same having been 1,986,000 tons, or 0.12 tons per head, in 1803, and 2,356,000 tons, or 0·11 tons per head, in 1821. In 1798 Mr. Pitt estimated the income of the people in Great Britain, for the purpose of the income tax, at 45,000,000l., in rents of lands, houses, &c., and 40,000,000l. in profits of trade and commerce. In 1814-15 the value of taxable income from lands, houses, &c., was estimated at 60,000,000l., showing an increase of 15,000,000l. in their annual value. The savings' banks were only opened in 1818, and in 1820 the capital invested was 2,915,000l. On the other hand, the amount expended for the relief and maintenance of the poor in England and Wales increased from 4,077,8917. in 1803 to 7,330,2547. in 1820. The national funded debt rose from 97,862,000l. in 1760 to 801,565,000l. in 1820, and the annual charge on the same from 3,335,000l. to 28,071,000l. One happy feature amidst all the destruction and poverty caused by the war was the steady advance of science and discoveries. Scarcely in any period has there been greater mental activity, both in France and England, than during the first years of the French Revolution; it must indeed be allowed that if that event has overturned many old institutions, it has also been the parent of not a few important reforms, and the herald of many novel and beneficent principles for which Europe and the world will be ever grateful. Some of the noblest principles of the civil code were established in the very midst of the revolution. We should never forget that, as by ovation, France proclaimed the abolition of slavery, not only in France but in all the French colonies; and that it was then that liberty of conscience, equality before the law, the participation of every citizen in the government of the state, the opening of the public service to merit, the incompatibility of the legislative with the executive functions, the freedom of the press and of meeting, the institution of the trial by jury, the publicity of debates, the abolition of torture, the free exercise of professions and trades, and open and free instruction to |