knew that he was injuring the unity of the structure; that he was sacrificing for the sake of the unnecessary oratories much that conduced to the beauty and lucid arrangement of the parts; he felt that his fame would suffer, and as he was a sincere and pious man, he might mourn for the land which he suspected was, at no distant day, to experience the revival of religious strife. As soon that altitude which could not have been attained by the small stones of our quarries, had the more simple style of antiquity been adopted. Wren, after fifteen years of sketching and controversy, having seen all obstacles removed, commenced building with great spirit and under favourable auspices, “In the beginning of the new works of St. 66 as the king Paul's," says his son, an accident was taken notice of by some people as a memorable omen. When the surveyor in person had set out upon the place the dimensions of the great dome, and fixed upon the centre, a common labourer was desired to bring a flat stone from the heaps of rubbish, such as should first come to hand, to be laid for a mark and direction to the masons; the stone, which was immediately brought and laid down for that purpose, happened to be a piece of a grave-stone, with nothing remaining of the inscription but this single word, in large capitals, RESURGAM." This omien has the look of premeditation. had approved of the plan, Wren resolved to make no more models, nor publicly expose his drawings, which expeence taught him occasioned much loss of time and much idle controversy with incompetent judges. His favourite model was now laid aside-that on which he had expended so much thought and time; it was made to scale with great accuracy, and carved with all its proper ornaments, and consisting of one order only, the Corinthian, exhibited a structure at once classic and picturesque. This beautiful and costly work, when St. Paul's was finished, found sanctuary along with a fine model (likewise rejected) for the high altar, over the morning prayer chapel, and there they still remain, not a little injured and neglected; the original drawings are preserved, with much care, in the library of All Souls' Oxford. The approved design has been called a free imitation of St. Peter's at Rome, avoiding the defects of that structure, and including more than its beauties. Wien took the Gothic form of building, and sought, as he informed his son, to reconcile it to a better manner of architecture, with a cupola, and above that, instead of a lantern, a lofty spire, and large porticos. Those who estimate the genius displayed in this splendid work have to consider, first, the injurious change in the original plan occasioned by the interference of the Duke of York-and secondly, the nature of the materials with which Wren had to rear his structure. The former has robbed the exterior of much of its elegance and simplicity and the latter has compelled the architect to sacrifice breadth and majesty for littleness of parts and neatness of combination. It is the nature of classic architecture that no lofty work can be built without such immense masses of stone as British quarries cannot at all times, for a continuance, yield: the Parthenon may be attempted in freestone, but where would we find materials for such a temple as that of Diana, at Ephesus? Now the loftiness which St. Paul's required compelled the architect to imitate the Italian style of building in preference to the ancient Grecian; by successive stories of columns and courses of pilasters, he gained The church of St. Peter's, at Rome, had twelve architects, and took one hundred and forty-five years to build; that of St. Paul's was built in thirty-five years, and had but one architect. There are other differences still. On the artists who couceived and raised the Roman fabric, nineteen successive Popes showered honours, wealth, and indulgencies; on the architect of St. Paul's, the king bestowed £200 a year; his brother injured the unity of the design out of love for oratories; the clerical lay comissioners harrassed him with captious and ignoraut criticisms; and, before the last stone was laid, persecuted him with rididulous and groundiess charges, PRICES AND QUALITIES OF EN- THE means of deciding as to the use which the India Company have made of their monopoly, are accessible to every one. Though they have succeeded in getting their countrymen excluded from the trade to China, they have not, heen able to extend this exclusion to foreigners. The merchants of Liverpool and Glasgow dare not send a single ship to Canton, or import a single pound of tra; but the merchants of New York and Hamburgh labour under no such prohibition. They ↑ Abridged from the Edinburgh Review.No. CIV. engage in the trade to China, as they engage in that to France, Brazil, or any other country, and conduct it on the principle of free and unfettered competition. Here, then, we have an unerring standard by which to try the proceedings of the Company. If they be really as self-denying as their apologists would have us to believe, the prices at which they sell teas will not be higher than those at which they are sold in the great trading cities not subjected to any monopoly; for no one has ever ventured to contend that there either is or can be any reason, other than the difference between a free and a monopoly system, why the price of tea should materially differ in London from its price in Hamburgh, New York, &c. Accounts of the quantities of the different sorts of tea sold at the East India Company's sales, and the prices at which they were sold, from 1814-15 to 1828-29, have been printed by order of the House of Commons. (Parliamentary Papers, No. 22, Session 1830). Now, to determine whether the prices charged by the company be excessive or not, we have only to compare those given in this account, with the prices of similar teas at Hamburgh, New York, &c., as deduced from the Price Currents published in those cities. But in so far as regards the year 1828-29, we are furnished officially with the means of comparing our prices with those of foreigners. In order partly to obviate any cavils that might be made as to the statements in Price Currents, and partly, as will afterwards be seen, for other purposes, letters were sent, in 1829, by direction of the Board of Control, to most of our Consuls at the principal foreign emporia, directing them to purchase and send home samples of the different species of tea in ordinary use in those places, with a note of their prices, &c. These prices were afterwards submitted, by order of the Committee of the House of Lords, to Dr. Kelly, the author of the "Cambist," who converted them into equivalent ones in sterling money per pound weight. Comparing, therefore, the prices and quantities of teas sold by the company in 1828-29, with the prices of the same descriptions of teas at Hamburgh, the results, neglect. ing fractions of a penny, are as follow: Comparative Account of the Prices of Tea at London and Hamburgh. Deduct Pekoes, 131,281 lbs at 9d. Total excess of price received by the Company over and above the price of similar teas at Hamburgh We may further remark, that Mr. Thornely, a very intelligent merchant of Liverpool, has deduced, from a careful calculation of the prime cost of tea in China, and the expense of freight, insurance, &c. the excess of price charged by the company at 1,727,934. Mr. Rickard's calculations gives very nearly the same results. It appears from this authentic comparison of the accounts rendered by the East India Company with those furnished by the Board of Control, that the Company sold their teas in 1828-29, for the immense sum of 1,832,3561. more than they would have fetched had the trade been free! From the same official accounts rendered by the company, it also appears, that the average price of the different sorts of tea sold by them in 1828-29, amounted to 28. 4d. per lib.; and it appears from the statements now laid before the reader, that the average excess of the price of the company's teas, over the price of the teas sold at Hamburgh, amounts to 18. 3d. per lib., being an excess of more than FIFTYTHREE per cent. But the Company's advocates are not easily driven from any position. We admit, say they, that it would appear, on the face of such accounts as the above, that the Company sell their teas at an enormously enhanced price; but nothing can be more fallacious. The teas sold by the Company are, they allege, incomparably superior in point of quality to those to be met with on the continent or the United States; and this, they add, is the natural result of our mode of managing the trade at Canton, where, we are told, the company's agents have the choice of all the teas brought to market; the Americans and other foreigners bemg obliged to content themselves with the damaged samples, with the refuse, in fact, that is thrown aside by the Company. Those who brought forward this statement, imagined, no doubt, that they had made a masterly diversion in favour of the company, and that by withdrawing the public attention from accounts of sales and the statements in Price Currents, to fix it on an unprofitable and endless discussion about tastes and qualities, comparatively little opposition would be made to a renewal of the monopoly. But this ingenious scheme has been totally subverted; and, what is yet more galling, it has been subverted by those to whom the Company looked up for support. The delegates from Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow, had nothing to do in the matter. The Board of Control has the merit of having proved, to the conviction of every one, that the teas sold by the Company, instead of being superior, are actually inferior to those sold by the free traders on the continent and in America. We have already alluded to the circumstance of the Board having ordered samples of tea to be purchased and sent home from a great variety of foreign markets. When brought home, the Board of Control, desirous, we presume, of doing a service to the Company by demonstrating the truth of their statements as to the superiority of their teas, had the samples submitted to the inspection of the most skilful tea-brokers of London, who were requested to fix the prices which they supposed they would bring at the Company's sales. Nothing, it is clear, could be fairer than this proceeding. The brokers knew nothing of the prices paid by the Board of Control for the teas, neither did they know whence they came It appears from this decisive statement, that the common teas, such as bohea and congou, sold at Hamburgh, are about as good as those sold at the Company's sales; and that most of the finer teas, as pekoe, twankay, hyson, &c. are decidedly better. Let us, therefore, hear no more as to the superior quality of the Company's teas. Those who would vindicate their monopoly must take up other grounds than this. The fact is demonstrated that the Company sell their teas for fifty-three per cent more than they would be sold for were the trade open; and that the teas for which they exact this monstrous overcharge, are, speaking generally, of a comparatively inferior quality. But the more skilful or cunning of the Company's advocates do not pretend that they sell their tea as cheap as it would be sold were the trade open. They take another ground. They affect the utmost candour, and admit that abuses exist in the monopoly, and some of them go so far as to say that they are inseparable from it; but they contend that the existence of the monopoly is indispensable to the existence of the trade; that the Chinese are a peculiar people, whose habits and modes of thinking and acting are quite different from those of other nations; that the Fast India Company have luckily found out the secret of managing them; but that private traders would infallibly get embroiled; and that were the experiment of opening the trade once made, the inevitable consequence would be, that we should, in a very short time be driven from the Chinese markets, losing at one and the same time our supplies of tea, and the revenue of about £3,200,000 derived from it. Even before the schoolmaster was 8. d. 4 4 1 abroad, such statements would, we apprehend, have been listened to with suspicion. They might do very well in Dahomey or Spain, but they are rather too much for the meridian of London. Has not the experience of the Americans decided this question? Are they not private traders, influenced solely by the love of gain? And have they ever, during the forty-six years that they have traded to China, been seriously embroiled with the natives, or suffered half as many interruptions to their commerce as, we have done? The truth is, that the Chinese, though, in many respects a peculiar, are a highly commercial people. They are the great traders of the Eastern Archipelago. Vast numbers of them are settled at Batavia, Singapore, and other commercial emporia, and are all actively engaged in trade, or in some species of useful industry. They are in the Eastern what the Hollanders are, or rather were, in the Western world. Numbers of Chinese ships, or, as they are called, junks, some of them of 800 and 1000 tons burden, annually sail from the southern ports of the empire, laden with the most precious commodities, to Java, Borneo, Celebes, Singapore, &c. And, notwithstanding the statements so often rung in our ears as to the anti-commercial character of the Chinese, it is a fact, that they have at this moment a far larger amount of tonnage engaged, under a system of free competition in the trade with the Indian archipelago, than the East India Company employ in their trade with China, notwithstanding their possession of the monopoly of the British markets! The body of Hong or Cohong merchants, is one of the bugbears held by the Com pany to make those unacquainted with the circumstance believe, that there is something in the Chinese institutions to justify their monopoly. The fact is, that the Chinese government continues wedded to those maxims of commercial policy to which Mr. Sadler has lent the sanction of his authority. They have not, indeed, attempted to suppress foreign trade, but they have subjected it to certain regulations. Among others, they have established, not in Canton only, but in every port of the empire, a limited number of persons denominated Hong or security merchants; and every foreign ship must, on her arrival, get one of these merchants to become security for the import and export duties payable on the inward and outward cargoes, and for the conduct of the crew. It may be supposed, perhaps, that difficulties are occasionally experienced before such surety is obtained. But such is not really the case. Not the least hesitation has ever been evinced by a Hong merchant about securing a ship. The Americans, who have had as many as forty ships in one year in China, have never met with a refusal. The captain of a merchant ship may resort to any Houg merchant he pleases, and, by way of making him some return for his becoming surety, he generally buys from him 1001. or 2001. worth of goods. Individuals are, however, at perfect liberty to deal with any Hong merchant, whether he has secured their ship or not, or with any out side merchant, that is with any Chinese merchant not belonging to the Hong. So that, though there are only eight or ten Hong merchants at Canton, there is, not withstanding, quite as extensive a choice of merchants with whom to deal in that city as in Liverpool or New York. The East India company are the only foreigners trading to China who never deal except with the Hong merchants. The Company's factory at Canton divide their business among them in shares at their own option; the profit accruing upon which is very considerable. We need not, therefore, be surprised to learn, that the Company have considerable influence with the Hong merchants, and neither need we be surprised to learn the use they have attempted to make of it. The substau tially free trade carried on at Canton has been established, not merely without any assistance from them, but in despite of their machinations. The Americans, by dealing for the most part with the outside merchants, had virtually set aside the Hong merchants, and, by so doing, had very much increased the facilities for car rying on an advantageous trade. The pampered servants employed by the Company at Canton, instead of endeavouring to oppose the competition of the Ame ricans by increased activity, deemed it a more congenial course to stimulate the Hong merchants to petition the viceroy to prevent the Americans from dealing with the outside merchants. The Hong merchants are said to have entered with reluctance into this precious scheme. But, be that as it may, the proclamation which the viceroy issued upon the subject, in 1828, was as little regarded as his imperial master's edicts against opium. The trade speedily returned to its old channels. And, at this moment, dealings may be as easily, and as openly and avowedly, carried on with the outside merchants as with the Hong merchants. MILTON AND SIR HUMPHREY DAVY. In Dr. Paris's "Life of Davy," there is this passage: "A great poetic genius has said, ' If Davy had not been the first chemist, he would have been the first poet of his age.' Upon this question I do not feel myself a competent judge: bnt where is the modern Esau who would exchange his Bakerian lecture for a poem, though it should equal in design and execution the Paradise Lost?"" We believe if this choice were proposed, the number of Esaus would be very considerable indeed; not because there are many who really enjoy and prize the poetry of Milton, but because most persons think it necessary and proper to profess an admiration for his "Paradise Lost," while few know any thing whatever of the "Bakerian Lecture. The vast majority of Dr. Paris's readers will be startled by seeing the two performances mentioned in the same sentence. The national admiration for Milton is of a very general, and also of a very distantly respectful kind; it is commonly quite clear of intimacy, for people venerate without troubling themselves to know his writings. Speak of Milton, and you hear of Satan's Address to the Sun, and such other passages as have become familiar through "Entick's Speaker," the "Elegant Extracts," and, perhaps, Addison's "Critical Notices." But though the admiration of Milton is an ignorant admiration of a name supposed to imply all poetic excellence of the noblest kind, yet it is not certain that the preference which this blind respect would dictate would not be the preference accordant with reason. |