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1796.]

English Syftem of Finance.

fo much danger from the funded debt, as from the immenfe quantity of Banknotes, which he afferts, have been manufactured and introduced into circulation for the ufe of government. Thefe he has multiplied to the fum of fixty millions, for which he has produ.ed certain data, whh do not prove, to my mind, that there is a fixth part of that fum in circulation. But, whatever that fum may be, it is certain, that it is no more than the exchange of property admits to be made in paper of fome denomination, otherwife it would flow into the Bank, and be exchanged for cash. I agree with him, that if all the holders of bank-notes were to call for their money in one day, they could not obtain it; but this is no more a proof of the infolvency of the bank, than a merchant not being able to pay all his acceptances in one day, is a proof that he cannot pay them all in proper time, and have a large fortune left; this would be a ftoppage, indeed, which might impeach his credit, and produce examination, but there might or there might not be infolvency.

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good faith of the nation, pledged in the moft folemn manner, for the due payment of the intereft, but not for the payment of the principal, which they can only obtain by felling their stock in the markets as other proprietors do. Admitting for a moment, that the lofs on that fale was very confiderable, still it would not affect the creditors of the bank, or the holders of their notes, until it had fwallowed the whole capital which the proprietors of bank ftock have advanced to carry on their bufinefs as joint traders, amounting to about twelve millions, a fum not much inferior to the whole money which they have advanced government.

To fupport the idea of there being fixty millions of banks notes in circulation, he afferts, that England requires eighty millions of cash or paper moncy to tranfact her business; that there is but twenty millions in gold and filver, therefore, the remaining medium muft be in bank notes, but there he chooses to forget the large amount of merchant's draughts, in which almoft all the commero of the nation is carried on, the amount of which, in conftant circulation, I apprehend, far exceeds the amount both of the gold and filver, and the bank notes.

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The national debt I confider to be a claim, which the holders of stock have upon the whole property of the nation, for the intereft of the money which has been advanced to its government, and for which intereft, all the produce of the permanent taxes are pledged to them in preference to any other services. they prove efficient, the amount will be upwards of feventeen millions, befides the produce of the land and malt taxes voted annually, which will make the whole about twenty millions fterling.

The property of the bank consists in a quantity of the precious metals coined and uncoined, of fecurities from individuals for bills difcounted, and of fecurities from government. The quantity of the precious metals in their poffeffion is not known to the public; whatever its amount may be, it is a part of capital entirely unproductive, and probably does not amount to a great many millions. The fecurities from individuals amount to a very large fum at prefent, although the affiftance formerly given by the bank to commerce is very much contracted; but the principal part of the property of the bank must confift of their ftock in the funds, and other government fecurities, for which they receive an intereft, and for which they have the fame fecurity, that all the other creditors of government poffefs, no more, viz. the

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The demands upon this fum confift, first, of the intereft of the national debt; and fecondly, of the expence of the peace etablishment. Admitting the war to be brought to a termination at the end of this campaign, the amount of the debt cannot be much lefs than four hundred millions, when all the expences are funded; the intereft at three per cent. would be twelve millions per ann.; but as part of the debt bears four, and part five per cent. the whole intereft muk amount to twelve millions and a half: it would be ufelefs to be very exact in numbers, when they are changing every day. The amount of the peace establishment is ftill to be added; and, I fear, it cannot be estimated at less than feven millions and a half, which would make the annual outgoing equal to the income, without leaving any thing to be applied to the reduction of the debt during a peace; a fubject often much dwelt upon in theory, but never much proved by practice-the liquidation of the debt in the last ten years' peace, not having equalled even a moiety of this year's expences of the war.

The amount of the peace establishment, however, will always depend very much upon the talents and integrity, or the extravagance and dishonefty, of those who

have the direction of it, and a virtuous adminiftration will be able to apply a pretty large fum annually to the reduction of the debt.

Writers on political economy, fome years ago, have eftimated the property of the nation at one thoufand millions; in the last feffions of parliament, the Chancellor of the Exchequer valued the landed property as high as feven hundred millions, and the perfonal property as high as fix hundred millions, making together, a capital of thirteen hundred millions. It cannot be fuppofed, that he would ftate the loweft eftimate; but admitting that the former ones of one thoufand millions were not over-rated, the increase of manufactures and commerce, as well as the rife in the rent of land, have been fo great, during the laft peace, that the prefent capital of the nation cannot be lefs than twelve hundred millions, upon which there is charged a debt of about four hundred millions.

The income arifing from this capital of twelve hundred millions, may be eftimated at about five per cent,; the land produces fomething lefs, and the perfonality, on the whole, fomething more; taking them together at that rate, the income would amount to fixty millions, arifing from capital.

There is alfo a large income to be added, which does not arife out of capital; fuch as annuitants under government, placemen, penfioners, &c. the army and navy; in fhort, all thofe who receive the twenty millions of taxes annually amongst them, and expend it in the kingdom.-There are, befides thefe, the profeffions of the church, law, and phyfic, as well as all the labourers, manufacturers, and artizans, every one of whom, according to the income they expend, muft pay the taxes on confumption, and thereby contribute, according to their abilities, towards the fupport of the ftate. Perhaps, it would not be too high a calculation of all the income of thefe claffes, if it were estimated at fixty millions, confidering the produce of the taxes fupply one-third of that fum; but taking it at fifty millions, it makes one hundred and ten millions of income,

added to the fixty millions arifing from capital. If a conjecture may be allowed, where my limits will not admit of proofs, I fhould fay, that out of that fum there is faved, by the accumulation of individuals, during every year of peace, at leaft ten millions,

which is added to the productive capital employed in commerce, until a war breaks out; when it is withdrawn from commerce to be fupplied to the expences of war, from whence it returns no more. The remaining income of one hundred millions, I confider to be expended annually, for the fupport of individuals, out of which expenditure, there is collected, by taxes on consumption (with the addition of the land-tax) twenty millions, or exactly four fhillings in the pound, which, though a heavy burthen on all claffes of people, is far from making the profpect fo ruinous as Mr. Paine would wifh to establish.

Although my fentiments differ fo much from thofe of the author of the "Decline, &c." yet no man can condemn the war more than I do. It appears from the correfpondence of Lord Grenville with the French minifter, in the beginning of the year 1793, that it might have been avoided with honour, and therefore fhould have been avoided. At the end of every campaign, the object of it appears more difficult to attain, and the fituation of the allies more difaftrous, though we have fuffered the leaft; therefore, the fooner it is ended, the better it will be ended.

Its confequences refpecting ourselves are fhortly thefe :- While it continues, the productive capital of the nation will every year be diminished at the rate of twenty millions, and the debt encreased as much; to pay the intereft of the additional debt, new taxes must be added to the prefent ones, to the amount of one million per annum; while our ability to pay them is diminishing, by twenty millions per annum being withdrawn from the productive employment of commerce, to the deftructive game of war, at which all that we can win is a barren tract, in an unhealthy climate, which may serve for a Gazette Extraordinary, and for a burying place, to filence the complaints of our brave defenders. Liverpool, July 28.

T. F.

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1796.]

Lalande's Hiftory of Aftronomy, 1794.

Although I have endeavoured to tranflate LALAND's entertaining, narrative with care and fidelity, I yet deem it proper to accompany fome terms of art with the original French. I have alfo found it neceffary to abridge the paper which contains thirty-four and a half 8vo pages, in the original, in order to procure it admiffion into your entertaining and inftructive Mifcellany; but I have in no cafe omitted any thing that appeared to me to be of importance. You will, doubtless, be aware that nothing of this kind has yet appeared in the English language. Your very humble fervant, London, July 2, 1796. VIATOR.

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nomy.

I am often afked the following queftion: Are we to have any eclipfes this year? People in general are ignorant that lunar eclipfes are of very little importance to aftronomy, on account of the fmail degree of precision of which our obfervations are fufceptible, and that the eclipfes of the fun are lefs important, and lefs exact, than thofe of the principal stars.

There has only been one eclipfe of the fun, and that of little confequence, in the courfe of the last twelve months; but there have been several eclipfes of the ftars. The eclipfe of the fun occurred on the 12th Pluvoife (31ft January); we did not fee it at Paris, but it was observed at Touloufe, by citizen Darquier, and at Montauban, by citizen Duc la Chapelle. I have difcovered that the true time of the conjunction calculated for Paris, was 11° 30′ 25′′. Ever fince 1752, it has been my conftant habit to calculate eclipfes as foon as they occurred, which was not cuftomary before my time, on account of the extreme length of the process. During nearly a whole century we had the calculations of two eclipfes only inferted in the Memoirs of the academy (in the volumes published in 1744 and 1755). I have

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been induced to this from the facility of the operation, in confequence of the dif covery of a mode for fimplifying it; and in the courfe of the laft obfervation, after 40 years' practice, I was enabled to avoid no less than fix diftinct operations; in fhort, I have reduced the labour in fuch a manner, as to be able to calculate the conjunction in an hour and a half. Citizen Delambre, in a Memoir on the equation of time, has proved, that Lacalle, Mafkelyne, and my felf, or rather that a the aftronomers along with us, have been led into an error, respecting the admiffion of the fecond part of the nutation in the calculation of the equation of time, and in (redu funt à l'Equateur} confining to the equator the fmall equations of the fun. (Aftronomie, art. 971.)

But fomething very remarkable and important has occurred in the courfe of 1794, which, perhaps, was never known before; this is no lefs than ten eclipfes of the ftars of the firft magnitude, Aldebaran and Regulus; all of which were visible at Paris within the fpace of about thirteen months; feveral of them have been obferved with great accuracy; and among others, that of the 18th Frimaire (November 8th) by citizen Meffier. Some of thefe eclipfes have been alfo noticed at Marfeilles, by citizen Tulis; at Tou. loufe, by citizen Darquiér; at Montauban, by citizen Duc la Chapelle; I have calculated them all, and they will afford ample means of comparifon for the better verification of the longitudes of the places where they have been observed; they will alfo tend to make us more intimately acquainted with the figure of the earth, as M. Cagnoli has expressly demonftrated in the Journal des Savans for 1792.

A more difficult and important achievment in aftronomy ftill remained to be attempted; this was an exact review of all the ftarry heaven, and the determination, which I had first undertaken, in 1789, with my nephew, citizen Lefrancois, of the pofitions of 30,000 stars. This has been continued the whole of this year with equal zeal: we have already afcertained more than 29,000, and the able practitioner who affifts me, has difplayed a degree of addrefs and precifion of which I fcarcely know any example. His wife, the female citizen Lefrançois, feconds the zeal of her husband, by means both of her obfervations and calculations; two or three hundred are often the produce of one fingle, cold, and

laborious

laborious evening's toil. Mankind will be interested in learning, that, amidst the convulfions that agitate Europe, immenfe labours are executed during the filence of the night, which will furnish the means of preparing for future aftronomers, a monument calculated to refift the greatest revolutions. The dangers with which we were furrounded, during nine months, did not interrupt our exertions; even then I confoled myfelf with my ftars, and was tempted to exclaim, with Horace :

66 Exegi monumentum ære perennius."

The first part of thefe obfervations has been inferted in the Memoirs of the late Academy of Sciences for 1789 and 1790, which are, at prefent, printed, and will probably be very foon published. We are already certain that the real po fition of 130 ftars are different from thofe affigned to them; and we have 1500 of the fifth or fixth clafs which have never been afcertained before. Flamfteed, in his catalogue of 2300 ftars, has only 1700 of the fixth clafs and thofe below it. This demonftrates the importance of an exact furvey of the whole heavens, without which we fhall never have any well-grounded expectation of making a confiderable progrefs in aftronomy.

The declination of eight principal ftars, determined with great care, by means of excellent inftruments, has been fent me from England; and I have been pleafed to find that our calculations have correfponded exactly in fome cafes, and that in others the difference has only amounted to one or two feconds. I have added to thefe, the right afcenfion of 139 northern ftars, felected from the 8000 which we have from the pole to 452, and which will furnish the means of comparing the others.

At the National Gbfervatory, the citizens Nouet and Perny continue to determine the declinations of the principal ftars; they have already finished 47, each of which has been viewed feveral times with a circle that multiplies the obfervations, fo as to be precife to a fingle fecond, according to the method of Mayer, perfected by citizen Borda; a defeription of this inftrument may be found in the work, intitled, "Expofé des. Opérations faites en France, pour la fonction des Obfervatoires de Paris & de Greenwich, par M. M. Caffini, Mechain, & Legendre, 1791.'

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M. Zach, aftronomer at Gotha, in Saxony, who is in poffeffion of a charming obfervatory, and one of Ramfden's

eight-feet telescopes (d'une Lunette meredienne de 8 pieds, de Ramsden) has at feve ral different times, re-examined the right afcenfions of 2800 ftars of Flamsteed's British catalogue, and he himself is about to publifh a more correct catalogue, with new tables of the aberrations and nutations, which are now printing, at the expence of (Milord) the Duke of Marlborough. This work will be exceedingly important to aftronomers.

The oppofition of Mars, on the 5th Floreal (24th April), prefented a remarkable fpectacle' to the public, and we difcovered, with great fatisfaction, that the errors in the table of this star were very trifling.

On the evening of the 26th Pluvoife (24th February) a total eclipfe of the moon occurred, and those who contract to light the lamps in Paris, having forgotten to confult the almanac, the city was left in total darknefs. The fame thing happened on the 18th of March, 1793, and great confufion enfued, on the breaking up of the various places of public amufement.

The impreffion of the Grand Collection of obfervations, during the 17th century, drawn up by citizen Pingré, is ftill going forward. Notwithstanding he is now 83 years of age, he perfeveres with his accustomed zeal, in labours to useful to the interefts of aftronomy. I hoped to have been able to announce the publication of the great work, by citizen Laplace, on the Celestial Attractions; we all know, it is to this able geometrician we are indebted for the latcft and moft bril, liant difcoveries of this kind-the cause of the accelerations of Jupiter and the

moon.

The printers are ftill bufied on Laperoufe's Voyage round the World; and the plates which are to accompany it are now working off. We have juft heard of the death of captain d'Entrecafteaux, who went partly in fearch of him, and partly to complete his enter prize, by circumnavigating New Holland. This defign has not been completely executed, but much knowledge, and that too highly important to geography, has been acquired.

Citizen Delambre, one of the best aftronomers now living, is employed in adapting citizen Laplace's method of calculation to all the planets, which has already fucceeded fo admirably in respect to Jupiter and Saturn. He is alfo en-. trufted with a new admeasurement of the circumference of the globe, and the dif

covery

1796.1

Lalande's Hiftory of Aftronomy, 1794,

covery of a certain ftandard for French measurements. He is in poffetfion of all the new inftruments, which were executed under the inspection of Borda, Lavoifier, and Lenoir, in the course of last year, with a degree of genius and precifion which will furpafs thofe formerly conftructed in England, when Ramfder, the optician, and General Roy, wifhed to leave France behind in this fpecies of attainment.

The citizen Darquier, who has fitted up an obfervatory at Toulouse, and already publ thed two volumes of Remarks, continues his labours with unremitting zeal. This able aftronomer is fo fituated as to be able to contemplate the stars at thofe times when we are prevented, by bad weather, both at London and Paris, from having even a glimpse of them.

The obfervatory built at Toulouse by Garipuy, has been entrusted to the care of citizen Vidal, who is a man of calents.

Citizen Duc-la-Chapelle, who has caused an Onfervatory to be erected at Montauban, a place enjoying a ferene fky, which enables him to obferve Mercury at the meridian, when he is not vifiole to us at Paris, continues to tranf mit interefting obfervations to me. His zel and affiduity, added to the use he makes of his fortune, at an age when other young men think only of their pleafures, are exceedingly edifying. The Citizens S. Jacques and Thulis, directors of the Naval Obfervatory at Marseilles, have alfo communicated their remarks; they have obferved feveral eclipfes of the ftars, which we could not difcover heré.

The tables of logarithms, of which Jombert and Callet gave an 8vo edition, in 1783, being now fcarce, Firmin Didot, a diftinguished printer, affifted by Callet, profeffor of mathematics, is publishing a new edition, at the expence of the Republic. As a fufficient quantity of type has been procured from the National foundry, all the forms have been preferved, and they are carefully foldered underneath, to prevent accidents, while in the prefs.

The committee of public inftruction belonging to the National Convention, interests itself greatly in the progrefs of aftronomy, and the organization of the obfervatories of the Republic. Thofe of Marseilles, Touloufe, Montauban, Montpellier, Bourdeaux, Breft, Strafburg, Lyons, and that which I have caufed to be built at Bourg-en-Breffe, will be rendered highly useful, through the attention of this committee, and MONTHLY MAG. NO. VII.

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especially of citizen Lakanal, who has proved himself the friend of aftronomers. He had before merited the esteem of the learned, by the benefits he conferred on the late academy of sciences, which he fupported and defended, and which he will, perhaps, have the fatisfaction of reftoring, fo as to add to the glory of France, and the happinef of mankind.

The office of confultation, charged with the task of diftributing a hundred thousand crowns, by way of recompence to artists, has diftinguished the citizens Carochez, Fortin, Lenoir Hautpots; the citizens Grateloup, and Putois who have made improvements in the achromatic telescopes, have also been rewarded for their labours.

The Lyceum of Arts, although unprovided with pecuniary refources, has contributed to the general emlation, by conferring crowns and medals on learned men and diftinguithed artifts, in the prefence of crowded and brilliant affemblies; among thofe noticed by it are, Carochez, Fortin, Lenoir, and the fe male citizen Le François, who has calculated 300 pages of the horary tables for the marine.

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The citizen Callon, a deputy to the Convention, has formed a Complete National Museum of Geography, under the aufpices of the Republic, and employed the citizens Mechain, Laplace, Delambre, Gofflin, Rofilly, &c. fuperintend it. Befides a continuation of the labours about the meridian, he has taken the neceffary measures to procure a variety of knowledge relpecting Afia, and to perfect Geography in all its branches; a circumftance far from being unconnected with aftronomy. This trea fure is to be enriched with the charming collection of ancient and modern charts, both French and foreign, left by Danville, which is at prefent depofited at the late office for foreign affairs at Verfalles. Citizen Teffier, in whose cuftody it is, is employed in drawing up a catalogue, and he has already enumerated 7000 articles.

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Citizen Perney, pro tempore director of the obfervatory of the Republic, has published a report, delivered Lyceum, refpecting the univerfal inftrument of citizen Hautpois, which has been purchafed. for 10,000 livres, for the Obfervatory.

Our communications with foreign countries have been fufpended by the war; but by means of the neutral states, and more especially by the zeal of M. Zach, I have been enabled to procure Herfchel's

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