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England, where it is not customary for the mercantile banks to allow interest even upon the largest deposites. If associations of this kind, in that country, should therefore comprise a large proportion of men of information, and the number of their members be consequently very limited, they may certainly find their account in managing their own affairs; but the character of such societies has but a very slight affinity with that of Saving Banks.

Having been led to notice the remarkable difference in the conduct of English and Scottish banks, in regard to the advantage they allow to depositors, I cannot avoid observing, that the practice of the latter, in paying interest on deposites of so small an amount as £10, has materially contributed to diffuse among the lower orders of this country, that abstinence and foresight by which they are so favourably distinguished from the same class in England. The desire of accumulating a little capital is never, except among the very worst paid labourers, or such as have large families, repressed in this country, by the difficulty of finding for it a secure and profitable depository. Partly to this circumstance, perhaps, though it has been generally overlooked, it may be owing that so many Scotsmen have been enabled to rise from the class of labourers; and, by habits of application and economy, which are very generally combined, establish themselves in a few years in the learned professions, or arrive at independence through the more lucrative pursuits of commerce. In England, on the contrary, there is no such facility to the secure and profitable investment of small savings: monied men,-at least bankers, the most convenient and accessible of this description,-pay no interest; and landed proprietors cannot always be safe depositories, while the laws of England protect their estates from the just demands of their creditors.

On a future occasion I may probably offer you some remarks on the moral effects to be looked for from the introduction and increase of Saving Banks, when I shall venture to examine what I think is a most injudicious, and by no means impartial, article on this subject, in the Part of the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica

recently published. It is written with so much ability, and with such an appearance of precision and of close reasoning, that those who take a deep interest in so promising an institution, cannot fail to be astonished, as well as somewhat alarmed, at the extraordinary opinion of its author, when, after a very imperfect, though an imposing view of their probable utility, he comes to this conclusion,-that, "taken by themselves, it is at least a doubt whether Saving Banks * may not produce as great a quantity of evil as good.” Hi.

20th February, 1817.

TALES AND ANECDOTES OF THE

PASTORAL LIFE. No I.

MR EDITOR,

LAST autumn, while I was staying a few weeks with my friend Mr Grumple, minister of the extensive and celebrated parish of Woolenhorn, an incident occurred which hath af forded me a great deal of amusement; and as I think it may divert some of your readers, I shall, without further preface, begin the relation.

We had just finished a wearisome debate on the rights of teind, and the claims which every clergyman of the established church of Scotland has for

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It is a curious circumstance, that an appropriate term for those banks should still be wanting. Saving Banks," though the most common appellation by which they Edinburgh reviewers long since found fault are known, seems to please nobody. The with it as it was then printed. The writer of the article referred to in the text tells us, that some adjunct is wanted to distinguish this from other species of banks, and no good one has yet been found. He rejects "Provident Institution," and " Frugality Bank," equally with Saving Bank;" and thinks that " Poor's Bank," would be the best, if it were not humiliating. Mr Duncan gave the Ruthwell Institution the ample title of the "Parish Bank Friendly Society of Ruthwell." The Quarterly reviewers will not consent to this, and propose the term " Friendly Bank," with the name of the place prefixed. But the Edinburgh and other banks, in which the depositors are strangers to each other, and do not interfere in the management, are not very unless it be understood to apply to the manaptly designated by this latest invention, agers exclusively.-Be so good as insert this note for the purpose of exercising the ingenuity of your readers.

Hi.

a grass glebe; the china cups were already arranged, and the savoury teapot stood basking on the ledge of the grate, when the servant-maid entered, and told Mr Grumple that there was one at the door who wanted him.

We immediately heard a debate in the passage, the parson pressing his guest to come ben, which the other stoutly resisted, declaring aloud that "it was a' nonsense thegither, for he was eneuch to fley a' the grand folk out o' the room, an' set the kivering o' the floor a-swoomin." The parlour door was however thrown open, and, to my astonishment, the first guests who presented themselves were two strong honest-looking colleys, or shepherd's dogs, that came bouncing and capering into the room, with a great deal of seeming satisfaction. Their master was shortly after ushered in. He was a tall athletic figure, with a black beard, and dark raven hair hanging over his brow; wore clouted shoes, shod with iron, and faced up with copper; and there was altogether something in his appearance the most homely and uncouth of any exterior I had ever seen.

This," said the minister, "is Peter Plash, a parishioner of mine, who has brought me in an excellent salmon, and wants a good office at my hand, he says, in return." "The bit fish is naething, man," said Peter, sleeking down the hair on his brow; "I wish he had been better for your sake but gin ye had seen the sport that we had wi' him at Pool-Midnight, ye wad hae leughen till ye had burstit.' Here the shepherd, observing his two dogs seated comfortably on the hearthrug, and deeming it an instance of high presumption and very bad manners, broke out with-" Ay, Whitefoot, lad! an' ye're for being a gentleman too! My certy, man, but ye're no blate!-I'm ill eneuch, to be sure, to come into a grand room this way, but yet I wadna set up my impudent nose an' my muckle rough brisket afore the lowe, an' tak a' the fire to mysel-Get aff wi' ye, sir! An' you too, Trimmy, ye limmer! what's your business here?"-So saying, he attempted, with the fringe of his plaid, to drive them out; but they only ran about the room, eyeing their master with astonishment and concern. They had never, it seemed, been wont to be separated from him either by night or

by day, and they could not understand why they should be driven from the parlour, or how they had not as good a right to be there as he. Of course, neither threats nor blows could make them leave him; and it being a scene of life quite new to me, and of which I was resolved to profit as much as possible, at my intercession matters were made up, and the two canine associates were suffered to remain where they were. They were soon seated, one on each side of their master, clinging fondly to his feet, and licking the wet from his dripping trowsers.

Having observed that, when the shepherd entered, he had begun to speak with great zest about the sport they had in killing the salmon, I again brought on the subject, and made him describe the diversion to me.- -"O man!" said he, and then indulged in a hearty laugh-(man was always the term he used in addressing either of us-sir seemed to be no word in his vocabulary)—“ O man, I wish ye had been there! I'll lay a plack ye wad hae said ye never saw sic sport sin' ever ye war born. We gat twall fish a' thegither the-day, an' sair broostals we had wi' some o' them; but a' was naething to the killin o' that ane at Pool-Midnight. Geordie Otterson, Mathew Ford, an' me, war a' owre the lugs after him. But ye's hear:-When I cam on to the craigs at the weil o' Pool-Midnight, the sun was shinin bright, the wind was lown, an' wi' the pirl* being away, the pool was as clear as crystal. I soon saw by the bells coming up, that there was a fish in the auld hauld; an' I keeks an' I glimes about, till, faith! I sees his blue murt fin. My teeth were a' waterin to be in him, but I kend the shank o' my wastert wasna half length. Sae I cries to Geordie, "Geordie,' says I, " aigh man! here's a great chap just lyin steeping like a aik clog." Off comes Geordie, shaugle shauglin a' his pith; for the creature's that greedy o fish, he wad venture his very saul for them. I kend brawly what wad be the upshot. "Now," says I, "Geordie, man yoursel for this ae time. Aigh, man! he is a terrible ane for size-See, yonder he's lying.” The sun was

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shinin sae clear that the deepness o' the pool was a great cheat. Geordie bait his lip for perfect eagerness, an' his een war stelled in his head-he thought he had him safe i' the pat; but whenever he put the grains of the leister into the water, I could speak nae mair, I kend sae weel what was comin; for I kend the depth to an inch. Weel, he airches an' he vizies for a good while, an' at length made a push down at him wi' his whole might. Tut!-the leister didna gang to the grund by an ell-an' Geordie gaed into the deepest part o' Pool-Midnight wi' his head foremost! My sennins turned as suple as a dockan, an' I just fell down i' the bit wi' lauchinye might hae bund me wi' a strae. He wad hae drowned for aught that I could do; for when I saw his heels flinging up aboon the water as he had been dancin a hornpipe, I lost a' power thegither; but Mathew Ford harled him into the shallow wi' his leister.

"Weel, after that we cloddit the pool wi' great stanes, an' aff went the fish down the gullots, shinin like a rainbow. Then he ran, and he ran! an' it was wha to be first in him. Geordie got the first chance, an' I thought it was a' owre; but just when he thought he was sure o' him, down cam Mathew full drive, smashed his grains out through Geordie's and gart him miss. It was my chance next; an' I took him neatly through the gills, though he gaed as fast as a shelldrake.

"But the sport grew aye better.Geordie was sae mad at Mathew for taigling him, an' garring him tine the fish (for he's a greedy dirt), that they had gane to grips in a moment; an' when I lookit back, they war just fightin like twae tarriers in the mids o the water. The witters o' the twa leisters were fankit in ane anither, an' they couldna get them sindrie, else there had been a vast o' blude shed; but they were knevillin, an' tryin to drown ane anither a' that they could; an' if they hadna been clean forefoughen they wad hae done't; for they were aye gaun out o' sight an' comin howdin up again. Yet after a', when I gaed back to redd them, they were sae inveterate that they wadna part till I was forced to haud them down through the water and drown them baith.'

But I hope you have not indeed

"Ou na,

drowned the men," said I. only keepit them down till I took the power fairly frae them-till the bullers gae owre coming up; then I carried them to different sides o' the water, an' laid them down agroof wi' their heads at the inwith; an' after gluthering an' spurring a wee while, they cam to again. We dinna count muckle o' a bit drowning match, us fishers. I wish I could get Geordie as weel doukit ilka day; it wad tak the smeddum frae him-for, O, he is a greedy thing! But I fear it will be a while or I see sic glorious sport again."

Mr Grumple remarked, that he thought, by his account, it could not be very good sport to all parties; and that, though he always encouraged these vigorous and healthful exercises among his parishioners, yet he regretted that they could so seldom be concluded in perfect good humour.

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They're nae the waur o' a wee bit splore," said Peter; "they wad turn unco milk-an'-water things, an' dee away a' thegither wantin a broolzie. Ye might as weel think to keep a alevat working wantin barm."

"But, Peter, I hope you have not been breaking the laws of the country by your sport to-day?"

"Na, troth hae we no, manclose-time disna come in till the day after the morn; but atween you an' me, close-time's nae ill time for us. It merely ties up the grit folk's hands, an' thraws a' the sport into our's thegither. Na, na, we's never complain o' close-time; if it warena for it there wad few fish fa' to poor folk's share.”

This was a light in which I had never viewed the laws of the fishing association before; but as this honest hind spoke from experience, I have no doubt that the statement is founded in truth, and that the sole effect of close-time, in all the branches of the principal river, is merely to tie up the hands of every respectable man, and throw the fishing into the hands of poachers. He told me, that in all the rivers of the extensive parish of Woolenhorn, the fish generally run up during one flood, and went away the next; and as the gentlemen and farmers of those parts had no interest in the preservation of the breeding salmon themselves, nor cared a farthing about the fishing associations in the great river, whom they viewed as monopolizers of that to which they had no

right, the fish were wholly abandoned to the poachers, who generally contrived, by burning lights at the shallows, and spearing the fish by night, and netting the pools, to annihilate every shoal that came up. This is, however, a subject that would require an essay by itself.

Our conversation turned on various matters connected with the country; and I soon found, that though this hind had something in his manner and address the most uncultivated I had ever seen, yet his conceptions of such matters as came within the sphere of his knowledge were pertinent and just. He sung old songs, told us strange stories of witches and apparitions, and related many anecdotes of the pastoral life, which I think extremely curious, and wholly unknown to the literary part of the community. But at every observation that he made, he took care to sleek down his black hair over his brow, as if it were of the utmost consequence to his making a respectable appearance, that it should be equally spread, and as close pressed down as possible. When desired to join us in drinking tea, he said "it was a' nonsense thegither, for he hadna the least occasion;" and when pressed to take bread, he persisted in the declaration that "it was great nonsense. He loved to talk of sheep, of dogs, and of the lasses, as he called them; and conversed with his dogs in the same manner as he did with any of the other guests; nor did the former ever seem to misunderstand him, unless in his unprecedented and illiberal attempt to expel them from the company. "Whitefoot! haud aff the woman's coat-tails, ye blockhead! Deil hae me gin ye hae the mense of a miller's horse, man.' Whitefoot instantly obeyed.- Trimmy! come back aff the fire, dame! Ye're sae wat, ye raise a reek like a cottar wife's lum -come back, ye limmer!" Trimmy went behind his chair.

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It came out at last that his business with Mr Grumple that day was to request of him to go over to Stride kirton on the Friday following, and unite him, Peter Plash, in holy wedlock with his sweetheart and only joe, Jean Windlestrae; and he said, if I "would accompany the minister, and take share of a haggis wi' them, I wad see some good lasses, and some good sport too, which was far better." You Vol. I.

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The

ment given in Mr Pitkin's Statistical View of the Commerce, &c. of the United States, published last year, it appears, that in 1810 above TEN MILLIONS of pounds weight of sugar had been manufactured from the cane in the state of Louisiana:* and so rapidly has its cultivation extended, that in 1814, only four years afterwards, not less than FIFTEEN MILLIONS of pounds, or above 8,300 hogsheads, were made in the same district. culture of the cane has also been introduced into Georgia, and there seems little reason to doubt of its succeeding equally well as in Louisiana." In 1805,' says Mr Pitkin, "Thomas Spalding, Esq., a gentleman of wealth and enterprise, procured one hundred cane plants from the West Indies, for the purpose of trying them on his plantation, on an island near the seacoast of Georgia. After repeated trials, in which he was guided principally by his own judgment and experience, he completely succeeded. About three years since, he made a

*Hennepin, quoted by Labat, asserts that the sugar cane is indigenous in Louisi ana, and was found growing spontaneously near the mouth of the Mississippi on its first discovery.-Edwards' Hist. West Indies. Vol. ii. 208, 4to ed. D

small quantity of sugar of a good quality; and in 1814, he had one hundred acres in cane, which produced seventy-five thousand weight of prime sugar, and four thousand gallons of molasses; and but for the want of boilers, which, on account of the war, could not be brought to his plantations, he would have produced one hundred thousand weight. The culture of the cane is found not to be more laborious than that of cotton, and is not liable to so many accidents. One thousand pounds per acre is not considered a great crop. This at ten cents, (54d.) would be one hundred dollars. Almost every planter along the sea coast of Georgia is now turning his attention, more or less, to the culture of the sugar cane; and from experiments already made, the cane is found to grow luxuriantly as far north as the city of Charleston in South Carolina."

These facts render it nearly certain that America will soon be in a situation to export sugar; and I confess that I contemplate the probability of that event without any feeling of regret, and am even convinced it will be much to the advantage of this country. -If the Americans cannot undersell our planters, the latter have nothing to fear from their competition; but if they can afford us a valuable necessary at a cheaper rate, very cogent reasons indeed would be required to shew, why we should not become their customers. There is surely nothing so very attractive, or advantageous, in the possession of the West India islands, as to induce us to tax ourselves for their support, for such, to the consumers, is the real effect of every monopoly. Sufficient employment for capital can still be found in this country, and it is not necessary to force it into the colony trade, by giving an undue preference to its products over those of other countries; and even if such employment could not be found, it would be impolitic in government to give any factitious encouragement to one department of industry, inasmuch as it is certain some other branch must be thereby proportionally depressed. No bad consequences have resulted to us from purchasing the cotton of the United States; on the contrary, it has been attended with the happiest effects.-The Americans have taken an equivalent in our manufactured goods, and it is always reckoned

good policy to import raw materials with a view to export them when wrought up. If we shall hereafter purchase sugar from America, it will enable her merchants to order still larger quantities of our manufactures. They will not, we may rest assured, send us their produce gratis, and they cannot take money in payment, the real value of gold and silver being greater here than on the opposite side of the Atlantic. But supposing them to receive payment in gold and silver, it would only shew, that we found it more advantageous to export manufactures to countries abounding in those metals, and then to pay them over to the Americans, rather than export directly to the latter.

The remarks I have just made, apply equally to the case of any other power who might come into competi tion with our own sugar colonies: and now that peace has been restored to the country, and the attention of the legislature is no longer attracted by the momentous discussions to which an arduous and long protracted contest gave rise, I do hope that our system of colonial policy will be thoroughly investigated. I am not aware that it has been materially changed since Dr Smith exposed its mischievous tendency; and I confess, I cannot see the utility of employing our soldiers and sailors at an infinite expense, to preserve a precarious authority over isles situated in an unhealthy and pestiferous climate, if we can purchase their products cheaper elsewhere.

No colonies were ever reckoned so important to this country, as those which now form the powerful republic of the United States. But has their independence had any bad effects on the wealth, commerce, or industry, of Great Britain? The reverse is decidedly the fact.-Without the expense of maintaining armaments to defend these distant and extensive territories, we have continued to enjoy every previous advantage resulting from their commercial intercourse.-As long as we can afford to sell manufactured goods to the Americans, cheaper than they can prepare them at home, and cheaper than they can purchase from any other power, we shall continue to supply their market to precisely the same extent we should have done had they still remained our colonies. Surely no person ima

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