post-master-general, the secretary of the post-office feels it to be his duty"—to do what? To threaten the people of Ireland by a public advertisement, with a punishment severer than that prescribed by law. Where was Earl O'Neil, the other post master-general? He also is a representative peer, and colonel of the county of Antrim militia. The fact is, no man can properly discharge the duties of two or three offices in distant places at the same time. No individual ought to be post mastergeneral who cannot personally attend to the office, and to that alone. This advertisement may have been drawn up in só ridiculous and unconstitutional a manner, through the officious zeal of a public officer, anxious to display his vigilance and attention to the interest of the revenue, and on that account, the warmth of his expression may be excused. I shall have occasion to enlarge further on this subject in another part of this work; I only speak of it here as it affects the post-office. This instance of care, may well be supposed to have arisen from a desire to prevent the editors of newspapers from forwarding their journals to their customers through any other medium than that which should yield a profit to these post-office

dealers.*

The following is the statement of the Revenue of the Post-Office during the last twelve years, with all the charges against it.

In the Ninth Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry, the following statement appears, p. 26. "While we were making up this report, we were informed that frauds affecting the post-office revenue to a considerable amount, had been committed by the Clerks of the Roads, in claiming the compensation we have before stated to have been granted to them in 1802; and we were surprised to find that (though the nature and extent of these frauds had been investigated by order of the post masters-general pending our inquiries into the state of this department) instead of being communicated to, they had been studiously concealed from us, and that it was not even intended, as it would seem, to have communicated them to government. A transaction so extraordinary would naturally have excited our inquiries, but they became more necessary when we found that it was proposed to make up an account between the public and the clerks of the roads, on principles manifestly erroneous," &c.

This is an encouraging account, but it must be recollected, that in the course of the above time, the privilege of franking has been greatly abridged, and hence a most delusive statement is exhibited, in order to prove the prosperity of the country from the revenue of the post-office. One public board which used to receive their letters free of postage have lately paid £13,000. in one year, towards this branch of the public income. If this be the manner in which the revenue appears increased, it is impossible to draw any conclusions, particularly when coupled with the known fact, that post-office accounts had never been settled since its establishment, up to the 24th of May, 1809.+

CARRIAGE OF HEAVY GOODS.-The next head to be considered is the carriage of heavy goods. Corn is transported to most parts of Ireland on cars drawn by one horse, but a machine called a Scots dray, with high wheels and iron arms, drawn in the same manner, has been introduced of late years, and is general throughout the north; the latter can carry about 22 cwt. More linen is conveyed from the north to Dublin, than from any other part of Ireland; and these drays are universally used for this purpose.

It is generally said in Ireland, that the scarcity of tradesmen and mechanics in the country places, renders it necessary for the lower orders to construct and make every article or implement for themselves, and hence they acquire by habit, a readiness of turning their hand to any thing, though their productions, as might be expected, are rude and clumsy; a family spins, weaves, and manufactures its own linen and frieze: those who use candles make them themselves; and all these people at the same time, cultivate a small piece of land, and raise food sufficient for their maintenance. In a word, as in all uncivilized nations, every man may be said to be his own carpenter and mason. A system of this kind exhibits in a striking point of view the situation of a country; as long as it exists, there can be little encouragement to manufactures; the transit of goods must be very small, and this is actually the case in Ireland.§ A few

* See Mr. Parnell's Speech on the 24th of May, 1809. Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xii. p. 682. + See the Speech of the Right Hon. John Foster, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the 24th of May, 1809. Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xiii. p. 682.

January 28th, 1809. Tinehaly.-All grain raised in this neighbourhood is sent to Enniscorthy on the Mr. Dawson is anxious to have a canal old narrow wheeled cars, which prove a great destruction to roads. from the Slaney to the Barrow, which would afford a conveyance from Wexford to Wicklow.

A similar state of things prevails in Norway. Professor Fabricus says, "Those who exercise the Mechanical arts are but indifferent workmen; they also require, it is said, a high price for their labour, and I have myself seen that people not only send for chairs and other furniture, but even for shoes, to Dantzic, Lubec, and various foreign places. To this may be added, that the peasants purchase very few of those articles which are scarce among them, made in the towns; partly because they lie at a distance, and because ready money being they are induced to make every thing themselves; a peasant therefore is not only farmer and fisherman, but exercises at the same time every other trade. They do not indeed, make much progress in any They, however, are able to supply their own wants, and by these means lessen the consumption of artis manufactured in the towns." J. C. Fabricius Reise nach Norwegen Hamburgh, 1779. Introduct, p. 54.

of the arts.

years ago, some one had the folly to introduce an English broad-wheeled waggon, but it met with the fate it deserved; for a more barbarous vehicle than the broadwheeled waggon dragged along by six, and sometimes eight heavy horses, which traverses all parts of England, never disgraced a polished country. Two thirds of the number of Irish garrans yoked to a Scotch dray, will move a much more ponderous load; the former animals, notwithstanding their immense size, can draw only six tons; six Scotch drays, each drawn by a single horse, and carrying only 20 cwt. perform as much work. The comparison thus far relates only to the force employed, but if we take into account the cutting and wearing the roads, which occasion a most enormous expense, the result must be still more in favour of the Scotch drays.

Soon

Around Kilrush, in the county of Clare, the roads are excellent; every thing there is carried on horses, which are first used for that purpose when two years old, and by being continually employed in this manner, their backs in the course of time become quite hollow. In that district, conversing with several of the peasants who were conducting these animals, I found that each carried twenty-two stone. after being at Collon, I stopped many Scotch drays drawn by one horse, which were conveying corn to Drogheda market, and on asking how much a horse drew, was told 22 cwt. In the one case, therefore, the animal draws as many cwt. as he carries stones in the former. But at the distance of only nine miles from the last mentioned place, is the seat of the Right Hon. John Foster, and almost the whole country around, the other belongs to a Right Hon. Vandeleur.

In Fermanagh, Kerry, and some of the mountainous parts of Ireland, a slide-car, as it is called, is used, but in direct violation of an act of parliament, which requires all persons who carry loads on carriages, to furnish them with wheels.

BRIDGES.-The wooden bridges over the Foyle to Londonderry, the Suir at Waterford,* the united waters of the Nore and Barrow at New Ross, the Slaney at FerryCarrick, and the Bay of Wexford, excite a grateful remembrance of their builder, an American, named Emanuel Coxe. To shew the construction of these bridges, I shall subjoin Mr. Tighe's account of that of Waterford. "The present bridge, the only one upon the Suir which passes into this county, was constructed previously to that of Ross, and, like it, is of American oak. This bridge has suffered no derangement since it was erected, and has produced twelve per cent to the subscribers. It is 832 feet long, 42 broad; has two sets of piers, each of seven pieces besides cut-waters. The longest pile driven was seventy feet; the depth at low water is thirty-seven feet, and seventeen feet the rise of the highest tides. The purchase of the ferry, and expense of the bridge, including a thousand guineas to the architect, was £30,000. which was subscribed in one day. Of this, the ferry cost £13,000. the tolls produced, in 1800, above £2,800. The foot passage is nine feet wide, and railed.

* The tolls of this bridge let for £3,400. per annum.

Each of these bridges has a draw-bridge for the passage of vessels; the toll here for a chaise is 1s.; for a horse 1d. and unladen 1d. ; a car 21d.; cattle 3s. 4d. per score, or 2d. each; calves, each 1d.; fowls 2d. per dozen; foot-passengers id.; a dead pig 1d. and a live one, d."*

CHAPTER XIII.

MANUFACTURES AND NATIONAL INDUSTRY.

THE establishment of manufactures, in a country which possesses an abundant population, is attended with two advantages; it not only proves a source of general comfort and opulence, but promotes industry, by furnishing the means of employment to a number of persons who might otherwise remain without occupation. Hence we find, that among ancient nations, those which afforded the greatest encouragement to manufactures, were most conspicuous by their riches and the activity which prevailed among every class of their citizens. In this respect, the Egyptians, no less celebrated by the events which give so much interest to their history, than by their knowledge of the arts and the sciences, are pre-eminently distinguished. They carried on many manufactures, as we learn from Pliny, as well as other ancient authors; and a complete account of them, were it possible to be obtained, would afford much gratification to those fond of tracing out the causes and progress of national improvement. With the art of manufacturing flax, they were well acquainted: that plant, indeed, formed one of the most valuable productions of their country, and enabled them to maintain a very extensive trade with various articles, in the preparation of which it was used. It was wove into cloth of different kinds, both fine and coarse;› the former of which was employed for dresses, and the latter for ships' sails; nets were made of it for catching wild boars and other animals; and it was even used for making breast-plates, which are supposed to have been somewhat similar, in their con struction, to the stays so much worn by our females before they exchanged their old, awkward, and confined mode of dress, for the more convenient fashion taught them by the ladies of Greece. The Egyptians were also skilled in the art of cutting and polishing marble, of which they had various sorts; they formed vases of alabaster, which were highly valued; and they practised glass-making and pottery, the latter of which they seem to have carried to a considerable degree of perfection. In a word, all those arts which are useful in civilized life, or contribute to the gratification of luxury, were cultivated among these people; and different towns, as is the case in modern times, were celebrated for some particular manufacture. Thus Panoplus was distinguished for its

* Tighe's Kilkenny, p. 563.

linen; Mondes for its perfumes, large quantities of which were sent to Greece Italy, and other countries; Diospolis for its glass articles; and Naucrates for its vessels of earthen-ware, some of which were varnished in such a manner, that they bore a resemblance to silver. Vessels were also made at Coptos, which diffused. an agreeable odour, and on that account, were sold exceedingly dear.*

.

The emperor Adrian, speaking of Alexandria, says, in that city no one lives in idleness. Some make glass, others prepare paper, and some are employed in the manufacturing of linen. In a word, all the inhabitants are so industrious, that there is not a single individual who is not fit to make a figure in any art to which he might apply his talents. The gouty, the blind, and even those who have lost the use of their hands, find the means of employing themselves.+

This character of industry, peculiar to the Egyptians, was, in part, owing to their constitution, and the severe laws established by their first legislators against idleness.. An idle person in Egypt was treated as a criminal. Amasis, one of the greatest princes who reigned in that country, enacted a law which obliged all the inhabitants to appear, once in every year, before the governor of the province where they resided, and give an account of their profession, and the means by which they were supported. Whoever failed to comply with this requisition, or who was not able to prove that he led an honest and laborious life, was condemned to suffer the punishment of death.

Herodotus remarks, that Solon borrowed this law from the Egyptians, and introduced it at Athens, where it was most rigorously enforced. In general, all the states of Greece adopted the same maxims in regard to idleness; they considered beggars as morbid limbs, which it was necessary to separate as soon as possible from the body politic, lest they should spread corruption and disorder throughout the whole state. Plato banished such persons from his republic;§ and the Romans seem to have entertained a similar aversion to idleness, for one of the chief functions of their censors was to restrain vagabonds from roving about, and to cause every citizen to give an account of the manner in which he employed his time. Those who did not comply, were condemned to the mines, or obliged to labour at some of the public works.||

But the ancients, not satisfied with making laws and regulations against vagabonds and mendicants, carried their measures of police still farther. They took care, by procuring for them the means of employment, and rendering labour necessary, that

Plato de Repub. lib. viii. edit. Serrani, p. 552. See also Plato de Legibus, lib. xi. edit. Serr, p. 916. || Hist. Critique de la Pauvreté, par M. Morin, Mem. de l'Acad. des Belles Lettres, tom. iv. p. 301.