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and vague declamation: but where is that passage to be found, either in the Gospels or the Epistles, which maintains the fact which these peevish individuals cannot or will not discern? Dr. R. does not make a single reference. The fair and rational advocates for an established religion do not take such high ground, but their positions are much more tenable.

A preacher of the Established Church may be expected to combat the system of modern Socinianism, but Dr. Rennell only caricatures it. He describes it, in a note, 'to consist merely of a train of whimsical paradoxes, which are in truth mere abortions of the mind! strange without originality, dull without sobriety, flippant without wit, and contagious without allurement.' No idea can be conveyed to the mind by such a delineation. What have flippancy and wit to do with a set of religious doctrines? Calmness and Charity,' Dr. R. ob serves, in another place, ought to accompany theological research:' but here surely he may be charged with having violated his own rule;-unless it be urged in his favour that the above is not theological research: a plea which, indeed, we cannot refuse to admit.

To the French Revolution, frequent references are here made; and Dr. R. deduces the Anarchy and Atheism which prevailed in France from Romish Fraud and Tyranny :

Be it well and constantly remembered, that it was not the decay and downfall of Popery which produced the principles of the Infidel Philosophy and Jacobinical Anarchy, but that it was the absurdity and barbarity of Papal superstition which engendered that baleful and tremendous pestilence.' The Abbé BARRUEL, in his late History of Jacobinism, has strongly and justly depicted the nature and consequences of the Atheistical System of Philosophy; but he has prudently declined pointing to its causes. Those who have carefully read any authentic History of the Massacre of ST. BARTHOLOMEW, the revocation of the Edict of NANTZ, and the long tissue of sharp and savage persecution of the Protestants in FRANCE, con tinued down to a period not far removed from the commencement of the Revolution-those who learn that this persecution was not only promoted in PRACTICE, but calmly and distinctly defended in PRINCIPLE, by the most distinguished of the Gallican Prelates in their writings, (and particularly by BoSSUET and the Bishop of Agen) -whoever is informed of all this, will not wonder that those to whom the blessed Gospel of Christ came only through the medium of Popery should lose all traces of humanity, " and shut the gates of mercy on mankind.”

The sermon on 2 Peter, ii. 17. preached in 1792, first misrepresents and then argues against the absurdity of the doctrine of Equality:

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The doctrine of Equality, which is now by some made the foundation of all civil government, is not only mischievous in its operations, but completely false in fact. At no time were men BORN equal, at no time did they BECOME, or if they were, could they CONTINUE equal. Even previous to the existence of civil government, this inequality existed. It is asserted, and with the utmost truth, by the profoundest reasoner and maturest thinker in Pagan antiquity, that man BROUGHT not EQUALITY, but SUBORDINATION, to political society. The family distinctions of FATHER and CHILD, HUSBAND and WIFE, MASTER and SERVANT, existed LEFORE, and prepared the way for the civil relation of SUBJECT and MAGISTRATE. The same inequality which subsisted in the origin, is essentially necessary to the continuance of the political machine. The inc quality of property is the foundation of all honest industry and exertion; the protection of property once acquired is the only preventive of never-ceasing bloodshed, violence, and confusion. The com monest sense must inform us, that the contrary doctrine is equally destructive of poor as well as rich. Deprive the Merchant of his opulence, and where can the numerous manufacturers and their families find that plentiful and comfortable maintenance, which lies open to honest industry in every commercial town in these kingdoms? Take from the Landholder his estates, and where will the Farmer, and much more his Labourer, fly for refuge? Where will be those improvements and operations of agriculture, which suppose, and necessarily infer, a much larger portion of landed property than can come to any man's share upon an equal division?'

Dr. R. is perfectly justified in his assertions, but he fights a man of straw. The Equality here combated was not an equa lity of property, but equality in the eye of the law.

We find nothing critical nor explanatory in the sermon on the Atonement, from Gal. i. 4, but it is asserted, though the text intimates the contrary, that it is not enough to say that Christ suffered for us, he suffered in our stead.'

The language of the 13th Article of our Church, which asserts that Works done before Faith in Christ have the Nature of Sin, is said by Dr. Rennell (sermon xiii.) to be strong and warranted. Strong we allow it to be, but we cannot consider it as warranted. The charity of the Good Samaritan, and the prayers and alms of the Centurion, were "done before Faith in Christ;" yet who can maintain that these acts had any sin in them? Of the latter, it is expressly asserted in Scripture that they ascended as a memorial before God; and Peter declares that, in every nation, the man who fears God and works righteousness will be accepted.

We shall not, however, protract this article to any greater length: but, in laying aside the volume, we must repeat our regret that, while it displays the learning and talents of the author, it has so few claims to the character of being fair

temperate

temperate, and argumentative. Why is it forgotten that, however contemptuously authors may speak of human reason, by reason the merit of their writings and the force of their exhortations must be appreciated?

The style of these compositions is laboured and exuberant; yet it is incorrect, particularly in some points of the most ordinary attainment and observance,

ART. XI. Thoughts on the Restriction of Payments in Specie at the Banks of England and Ireland. By Lord King. 8vo.

2 S.

THE

Cadell and Davies. 1893.

PP. 106.

HE subject of this pamphlet is not more important, than the remarks suggested on it by this intelligent nobleman are judicious. Acknowleging the utility and advantages of paper currency, under proper regulations, Lord King protests against an excess of paper circulation, and exposes the evils with which it must be pregnant. He contends, and we think with great reason, that the power of immediate conversion into specie is the only circumstance which can prevent the excess or maintain the value of any paper currency;' and he remarks that, as the quantity of the circulating medium can only be judiciously regulated by the effective demand,' when a paper circulation cannot be converted into specie, it is deprived of this natural standard, and is incapable of admitting any other. The persons to whom the duty of regulating such a circulation is entrusted are in danger, with the very best intentions, of committing perpetual mistakes.' This general position is followed by a direct avowal of the object of the present publication; which is designed to shew that there are strong reasons for believing that the Directors of the Bank of England, and in a still greater degree those of Ireland, have in reality yielded to the temptations of their situation, and that they have made an undue and improper use of the powers entrusted to them by Parliament.'

This charge, and the material facts designed to support it, were adduced by Lord King in the course of different debates in the House of Lords; and the interesting nature of the discussion suggested to him the propriety of giving them to the public in a more correct and extended form. The alterations which, since the Suspension Act, have taken place in the price of bullion, and in the state of the exchange, are the facts to which Lord King appeals. It will generally be found, he observes, that the variations in the price of bullion and in the state of the exchange, since the suspension of cash payments, have corresponded in a remarkable degree with the variations in the

quantities

quantities of Bank notes.' The rapid advance, which for more than three years has taken place in the price of bullion, is considered as a proof, not that this article has become dear, but that the paper for which it has been exchanged has been rendered cheap.

It is stated, as an unquestionable fact, that there is a constant influx of the precious metals into this country, from the continent of Europe, by which we are enabled to carry on our advantageous trade with the East:

The exportation of silver is the most lucrative branch of the Indian commerce, because it is that commodity which, with the smallest cost in Europe, will purchase the greatest quantity of labour in China and the East Indies. It is the extraordinary profit attending this branch of export trade which constitutes the principal advantage of a commercial intercourse with those countries, and which must have chiefly contributed to enrich those nations which have successively enjoyed this commerce.' It is the great and constant demand for silver produced by this branch of commerce, without mines to supply that demand, which imposes upon Great Britain the necessity of purchasing by means of her manufactures from the continent of Europe a large surplus quantity of the precious metals, to be exported again with a profit to those countries where they are deficient. When the subject is considered in these different points of view, it will appear that in one quarter of the globe our exports must always exceed our imports, and that in another our imports must exceed our exports; but that, in the aggregate amount of the commerce of this country with the whole of the world, the balance will be reduced on an ave, rage to the most perfect equality.'

From the view here given of the commercial system, it follows that the real balance of trade with the Continent must be on the side of Great Britain; and that an unfavourable exchange, long continued, is alone a decisive proof of a deranged and depreciated currency.

While Lord King attacks the conduct of the Banks of England and Ireland, he appears as an advocate for our Country Banks; which, he thinks, have not only contributed to the success and security of the National Bank, but on the whole are highly beneficial to the public; and therefore he is of opinion that to restrict them, in any manner tending to give an exclusive privilege to the Bank of England, would be as unjust and impolitic as to grant a monopoly of any other branch of skill and industry to any private merchant or company.'

In the recapitulation of his argument, his Lordship observes: Though the depreciation of the English currency is not sufficient. to produce an actual difference in value between gold coin and bank notes in the ordinary transactions of commerce; yet its effect, though less perceptible, is not the less real or certain; and it must have con

tributed

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tributed together with other causes to that general increase of prices and that diminution in the value of money which has taken place within a few years. The inconveniences which have resulted from hence are universally felt and experienced. The public creditors and that numerous class of society who subsist upon limited or stipulated incomes are injured in their property; the faith of contracts is indirectly violated, and those alone escape loss who have the means of augmenting their revenue in the degree in which the value of money is reduced."

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The act of suspension, which has now been continued for more than six years, (the restriction of payments in specie commenced in Feb. 179,) is regarded as the creation of power in the Directors of the Bank, which is not entrusted by the Constitution even to the Executive Government; a power of regulating, in a certain degree, the standard of the currency of the Kingdom, and of varying this standard at pleasure. A precedent has also been established, by which, on any suggestion of temporary expediency, the whole personal property and moneyed interests of the country may be committed to the discretion of a commercial body, not responsible to the Legisla ture, and not known to the Constitution.'

At the time of the restriction, the amount of English Bank notes in circulation was £11,103,880; and in Feb. 1803, the sum total was 16,108,560. During the same period, Bank of Ireland notes have advanced from £737,268 to 2,633,864. This increase of notes must augment the difficulty of resuming cash payments.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,
For JULY, 1803.

LAW.

Art. 12. Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of
Chancery. Collected by John Dickens, Esq., the late Senior Re-
gister of that Court: revised by John Wyatt, of the Inner Temple,
Esq., Barrister at Law. 2 Vols. Royal 8vo. pp. 900. 11. 8s.
Boards Butterworth. 1803.

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s the nature and contents of this publication are distinctly stated by Mr. Wyatt in a short and well-written preface, we transcribe it for the information of our readers:

The following reports have been prepared from the MSS. of Mr. Dickens, the late Register of the Court of Chancery; all of them written in his own hand, and, though without order or arrangement, yet evidently with a view to publication. They establish many important principles of Equity, and comprize many points relative to the practice of the Court, with which the author, from

situation

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