I protested that it was I who had to ask pardon for having disturbed her, but she replied that her refusal to open the door had been chiefly founded on the belief that I wanted to be alone with her; and that, consequently, she had been very wrong in judging of me by the conduct of others, from whom I seemed to differ in every respect. “My God!” she exclaimed then, “I now perceive that the ceremony is over, and that I have made you lose your time as well as your money.” Pray do not be distressed on that account,” said I, “the moments which I have spent with you could not possibly have been better employed. I have long wished to become acquainted with you, though you may never have noticed me.” “Supposing, however, that I had,” was the reply, “must not the difference in our circumstances have made me anxious to avoid an intimacy, rather than to encourage it?” “Then I beg that you will not, henceforward look upon our circumstances as an inseparable barrier.” “Mr. Haller, I have often had reason to repent of my having chosen my dwelling so near to an inn; but I did it in compliance with the request of a lady who lodged there, and who wished to have me within call. Men are but too apt to suppose that poverty opens the way to seduction; and, unfortunately, there is no want of examples to confirm the belief. I have sometimes considerable trouble in keeping intruders at a distance; and even some of the neighbours conceive themselves at liberty to use little ceremony with a person in my situation. What would they think if they saw me hold much communication with you?” “Think! well let them believe that we have business to transact; and, in order to make their belief a true one, I can let you have employment. I understand that you embroider in a superior manner, and it is in my power to recommend you.” “In that case, I can immediately show you something which my aunt happens to have in her care.” The piece was produced, and it actually proved to be finished in the best taste. I declared, forthwith, that I would take it as a specimen, and that she might fix her own price.
[To be continued.]
The Political Economist.
IN FAVOUR OF THE REPEAL OF THE USURY LAWS.
TO THE EDITOR.
Sir,—As I think the arguments of Prenez Garde, in a late number of the Mercury, against the proposed repeal of the usury laws exceedingly weak and inconclusive, I beg leave to make them the subject of a few remarks. His two propositions are,
1. That the repeal will check the rise in the world of industrious men, unprovided with capital.
2. That it will so unhinge the present established forms of trade as to embarrass and iniure the national prosperity.
1. That a large portion of our national wealth originates in the active intelligence and industry of men originally without capital, or with capital disproportionate to their spirit of enterprize, is very obvious, and has been powerfully insisted on as an argument for free trade in money, by those very political economists whom P. G. insinuates to be ignorant of it. If the repeal, then, would really increase the expense of borrowed capital, and so limit the number, and cramp the exertions of those who want it, this writer’s first proposition would be proved: but, in respect to such of this class as are commencing business, he adduces nothing in support of his opinion; and, of those already established, his whole reasoning is confined to the query, “What shall prevent the banker, who now lends at five per cent. from then requiring double that rate of interest?” I should have thought it a plain and satisfactory answer, that, if it were not both safe and profitable to lend to such persons at five per cent. it would not now be done; that while it continues to be so lenders will abound; and that, as there is nothing in the repeal of the usury laws which can diminish the prudence of such loans, they will be as cheaply attainable when money transactions are unfettered as at the present moment. It is further probable, that, if the repeal have any effect at all on established rates of interest, its influence must be to lower them; for, without increasing the number of men already accommodated at four or five per cent. a free trade in money will induce other capitalists to enter the market, to meet the demands of those whom the usury laws have either excluded from accommodation or forced to obtain it on extravagant terms. The number of bankers, &c. will thus be increased; and cheapness in the commodity they deal in result from their competition. In reference to this latter view of the subject, we see a solid benefit opposed to a visionary apprehension. The law, at present, excludes those from the advantages of capital whose trades, &c. as they involve more risque, justify the lender in requiring, and the borrower in granting, a larger interest than five per cent. This injustice once removed, additional wings will be added to commercial industry, to the manifest increase of private enjoyment and the public welfare.
2. But the proposed repeal “will so unhinge established forms as to embarrass and injure the national prosperity.” These very general apprehensions are subsequently explained to mean, that the buyer and seller will have their bargain to make on the bills to be given in payment, and that a second bargain must be made with the banker for discounting them. I beg to ask whether this is not the case at present? Whether the terms are not always regulated by the relation of price to credit, that is, to the period when payment is supposed to be cash? Commercial men soon understand each other, and regulate the transactions of every day and hour by customs of easy application, which, once established, become matters of course, occasioning embarrassment to nobody. If some difference in the respectability of bills be now consistent with a pretty uniform rate of discount, thereis no reason why it should not continue so, competition among capitalists keeping down the profits on money as on other things, and experience having already demonstrated the rate at which bills in general may be profitably discounted. As to keeping credits of the same level or value, and thus patting the moneyless man on an equal footing with the great capitalist, it is sufficient to reply,—1st, That it is an error to suppose it now done. 2dly, That it cannot occur while the distinctions of rich and poor, safe and unsafe, remain: and 3dly, That if practicable, it would be injurious, and therefore undesirable.
The repeal of the usury laws seems, then, highly expedient for every class of persons among us, and not the least so for our manufacturers, tradesmen, and merchants; but, were the measure more exposed to speculative objection, it is surely well worth a trial, whether the same freedom which gives animation to all other trades may not be advantageously extended to the most important,—in short, to the life’s blood of the commercial world; a measure, too, alike suggested by common sense, and the decision of the most enlightened minds which have hitherto deliberated on our commercial interests.
March 10, 1824. PUBLIUS.
Literature, Criticism, &c.
ON THE STUDY OF HISTORY.
“History is philosophy, teaching, by examples, how to conduct ourselves in every situation of private or public life..”—Dion. Ital. quoted by Thomson in Lectures on History.
If there is one department of literature more interesting and instructive to the general reader than another, it is that of history. The correctness of this remark will appear more striking, if we look back on the historic records of former times, and contemplate the mighty revolutions that alternately raised and depressed the empires of ancient Greece and Rome; or, if we muse over the page of British history, and trace her slow but steady progress from a state of darkness and barbarism to her present greatness and glory, a greatness and a glory far surpassing the most splendid æra that is to be found in the annals of all times.
But it is not for me to attempt an epitome of the great events that are recorded in the histories of Greece, Rome, or Britain; it would require the pen of a Gibbon to do justice to so luminous a subject, and it would be foreign to my purpose, as my object is simply to direct the attention of the juvenile reader to the importance of the study of history; for, “of all the studies that occupy the attention of the statesman, or employ the leisure of private individuals, that of history justly claims the pre-eminence in dignity and in utility. To the statesman it furnishes the most important lessons of political wisdom; and the private individual may hence extract maxims for the improvement of his understanding, and rules for the regulation of his conduct.”[1] If such, then, be the importance of history, it is undoubtedly equally important that we should know how to study it, that we may be enabled to derive the most information from it.
The first objects that attract the attention of youth in the perusal of history are those of the least moment. They read with avidity the descriptions of battles and of sieges, whilst they merely glance over, or entirely omit, what are of infinitely greater importance—the causes that give rise to those mighty events they dwell upon with such satisfaction and delight. It is possible that we may read many pages, run over the transactions of past ages, boast that we have devoured many volumes, and yet be totally unacquainted with men and things. The man who is able to name the nations which have appeared and acted with applause on the theatre of this world, who knows the date of their rise, the periods of their progress and decline, the conquerors who have been the scourges of mankind, and filled the earth with the calamities of war, may be admired for his historical knowledge. But to know the rise or fall of nations, the exploits of warriors, when such or such a battle was fought, by whom gained, and the number of killed and wounded in each army; when the renowned cities of antiquity were founded, and by whom taken and destroyed; to be able to give an account of these things and be ignorant of the causes that produced them, or not to think them worth attending to, is to read history to no good purpose.
“The philosopher and politician read the memoirs of nations and individuals with a different view. They cultivate an acquaintance with the history of mankind, not to gratify an idle curiosity, but to enrich their minds with useful knowledge. Scenes of violence give them disgust rather than pleasure; but to know that these were the effects of ambition, pride, and revenge working in the mind, instructs them in the knowledge of the human heart. A transient glance at the descripton of a battle, or a siege, is enough to them, whilst they carefully attend the historian in his delineation of the characters of nations and eminent men, in his investigation of the causes of events, in his tracing the beginning of laws and government, of civilization, manners, arts, and sciences.”[2]
If we wish to profit by the study of history, we should habituate ourselves to a careful examination of the characters of nations or individuals, as described by the historian, and the chain of events he relates. By a proper attention to this, we improve ourselves in the most useful parts of knowledge, and, in time, become qualified to fill the various departments of life with propriety and usefulness. In a word, by carefully observing and retaining in mind the great revolutions, which, in the course of Providence, have taken place in nations, and the progress of society amidst these revolutions; by a just investigation of the many, and even opposite causes, that often concur in producing one effect, or one cause, from which sometimes many effects follow; by a near observation of the characters of those who have made a figure in society, what were the motives for their conduct, and the nature of the passions, that led them on to action,—it is by pursuing a method similar to this that any real advantage can be derived from the labours of the historian.
Liverpool, March 30, 1824. E. B.
The Housewife.
“Housekeeping and husbandry, if it be good,
Must love one another as cousins in blood:
The wife, too, must husband as well as the man,
Or farewell thy husbandry, do what thou can.”
Preserving Vinegar for Domestic Purposes.—Cork it up in glass bottles, set them on the fire with cold water, and as much hay or straw as will prevent them from knocking together; when the water nearly boils, take off the pan, and let the bottles remain in the lees a quarter of an hour. Vinegar thus prepared never loses its virtue, though kept many years, or occasionally left uncovered, and is peculiarly suitable for pickles.
To clean Plated Articles.—Take an ounce of killed quicksilver, and half a pound of the best whitening, sifted; mix them with spirits of wine when used.
