has been often adduced; it is in the article of coffee, of which, when the duty was 1s. 7 d. per lb., the quantity imported was 1,157,014 lbs., yielding a revenue of L.152,759; but of which, when the duty was reduced to 7d. per lb., 9,251,837 lbs. were imported, yielding a revenue of L.245,886. Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Poulett Thomson have done something to remedy these blunders; but much yet remains to be done. A few of the articles, the consumption of which is now, or has formerly been, greatly restricted by heavy duties, are-tea, sugar, tobacco, French wines, beer, silk, foreign wool, coffee, cocoa, soap, Baltic timber, and many kinds of spices, drugs, and dyeing wares. It is obvious that the morals as well as the purses of the people are injured by this system; the natural fruits of which are smuggling, illicit manufacture, and fraudulent adulteration. The means of extending British Commerce still farther are indicated in our enumeration of the causes which have retarded its growth. The removal of those causes would certainly do much to extend trade; the repeal, immediate or gradual, of all monopolies, whether exercised by companies, as the East India Company; or by classes, as the agriculturists; some classes of manufacturers, the West India planters, and the Canada and shipping interests,-would enlarge the markets for British manufactures, reduce the cost of many important articles of consumption, and make trade more safe, stable, and profitable. An alleviation of the weight of taxation, and an improved adjustment of its pressure on the several articles, would give increased activity to trade and manufac

tures.

No country is in a better situation for giving full play to the principles of free trade than England. In adopting that system she would have to make fewer sacrifices than most other countries, and those sacrifices would be more speedily compensated. And as she could more easily act on the free-trade policy, she would also derive more benefit from it than other nations. Her commerce, gigantic though it is, has not yet nearly attained its full growth. It is very far from being equal to that of Holland in the seventeenth century, considering the size and population of the two countries, even independent of our superior resources and advantages. No limits can be assigned to its future progress, if, like that manufacture which forms so large a portion of it, the trade of England should be wholly unfettered. The magnitude of the national debt, and the apparent impossibility of liquidating it, render it of moment that every cultivation should be given to the national resources, in order that the load may be more easily borne. It is only to an extension of commerce that we can look for any great augmentation of the national wealth and power. Agriculture, though a most important and essential branch of industry, and still susceptible of improvement, especially in Ireland, is not, from its very nature, and the limits of our territory, extensible in any thing like the same degree as trade; and an extension of it, under the forcing system of protection, is a source of weakness rather than of strength.

It is, therefore, the duty of Ministers, and of the Legislature-a duty which we trust a reformed Parliament will not neglect to give all possible attention to the interests of trade,-not by adding to the number of regulations and protections, but by repealing those which now exist as fast as possible. And, as a Polar star for their guidance in this important work, let them take THE INTEREST OF THE CONSUMERS. It has been too long the practice to endeavour to please and enrich certain classes of producers, with scarcely a single thought as to the effect it had on

the body of the nation. This penny-wise and pound-foolish system is, in fact, still the reigning system in the commercial legislation of the world. The childish simplicity of robbing the whole nation, to put paltry gifts into the pockets of every particular class which composes the nation, however amiable in its motive, is too ridiculous, as well as (unintentionally, yet inevitably) too unjust, to be persevered in at the present day. The most effectual way to benefit the producer, is to enrich the consumer; but how can the consumer be enriched when he is plundered on every side?

Many who admit the general principle of free trade have still a lingering notion that, in order to make free trade either just or safe, there must necessarily be a perfect reciprocity of advantages between the nations which carry it on. "We will freely admit," they say," the productions of any country which will receive ours; but to admit their productions without this reciprocal liberality, would be foolish and unjust: it would be, in effect, to give freedom to a community which places fetters upon us." So long as this erroneous and puerile notion is cherished, there will be no real approach to free trade among the nations of the world. Mr. M'Culloch exposes it in his admirably clear and forcible manner :

"It is sometimes contended," says he, in the article on Commerce,' "by those who assert, on general grounds, that restrictions are inexpe... dient; that it would be unwise on the part of any country to abolish them, until she had obtained a security that those imposed by her neighbours would also be abolished. But the reasons that have been alleged in favour of this statement are not entitled to the least weight. It is our business to buy in the cheapest, and sell in the dearest markets, without being, in any degree, influenced by the conduct of others. If they consent to repeal the restrictions they have laid on commerce, so much the better. But whatever others may do, the line of policy we ought to follow is clear and well defined. To refuse, for example, to buy claret, brandy, &c., from the French, because they lay absurd restrictions on the importation of British hardware, cottons, &c., would not be to retaliate upon them, but upon ourselves. The fact that we do import French wine and brandy, shows that we do export to France, or to some other country to which France is indebted, an equivalent, in some sort, of British produce. The fear of being glutted with foreign products, unless we secure, before-hand, a certain outlet for our own, is the most unfounded that can be imagined. The foreigner who will take nothing of ours, can send us nothing of his. Though our ports were open to the merchants of all the countries of the world, the exports of British produce must always be equal to the imports of foreign produce; and none but those who receive our commodities, either at first or second hand, could continue to send any thing to us.' No one can reflect on the magnitude of British Commerce, on the extraordinary changes it has undergone within a few years, and on the national importance of true principles in commercial legislation, without perceiving the value and necessity of such a work as Mr. M'Culloch's. It is important, both practically and historically. To the merchant it will be useful, by instructing him, not only in the principles of trade, but in the practical management of his own particular branch. To the lawyer it will be useful, as it contains a careful digest of the laws on almost every subject of commerce. And it will be pre-eminently useful to the statesman, both as a statistical work, unequalled in the number of its facts, and as a philosophical application of the principles of political economy to the elucidation of those facts; or, rather, as a comprehensive

deduction of principles from facts; for such a work allows, in every page, of examining facts and principles together; and it furnishes the materials at once for confirming true principles, and disproving false. Such abundant light is poured upon the effect which taxation has upon trade, that future Chancellors of the Exchequer, acting on wrong fiscal principles, will be wholly inexcusable.

There was no Commercial Dictionary, before this, worthy of the name. The materials which Mr. M'Culloch has brought together with such astonishing industry and skill, have been collected from a thousand sources, but few of which were at the command of the general reader. He has drawn his facts and illustrations from all times, all countries, and many languages. Prodigious reading,—a scrutinizing, patient, and sagacious examination of official documents,-an accurate estimate of the value of different authors,-a firm hold of sound principles,-equal power of comprehension and expression,-and a cool, impartial, steady pursuit of truth, qualify Mr. McCulloch, beyond any other man, for the great work he has executed. He has raised a monument equally to British commerce, and to his own fame. We perceive that he has had the assistance of some eminent merchants and accountants, as well as of official persons, in the parts where practical knowledge was most required; but his own capacious and enlightened intellect has presided over the whole, and thoroughly pervades the work. We trust he will not be without his reward.

THE TWO GREAT NORTHERN UNIVERSITIES.

THERE may be some persons who are not aware of the existence of the two establishments, Kat exochen, denominated, the two great Northern Universities, and we suspect that there are many individuals lamentably ignorant of the constitution, policy, method of education, manners, costume, and other highly important subjects connected with them. To put an end to such egregious ignorance, and to bring before the learned world many interesting particulars on these weighty subjects, is the aim of the present essay. We assume the task, with a full consciousness of the dignity of the subject, and the weighty consideration it requires.

The two great Northern Universities are, King's College and University, Old Aberdeen; and Marischal College and University, New Aberdeen. Aberdeen, we believe, is the only town in the world which possesses two actual universities within a mile of each other. If ever city was honoured by literary distinction, this is the one. Containing, as it does, within itself as many seminaries of the higher branches of learning as the whole of England, it is not wonderful that its inhabitants should be a little vain of their distinction. It is only surprising that these amazing honours have not rendered them too proud, and that they look more with a charitable condescension than with contempt upon the less fortunate people of England. So much by way of definition. And, now, before entering on our more complicated constitutional investigations, let us give some idea of the locality and appearance of these two great and celebrated seminaries of learning.

If ever any man should wish to find himself in the last century, to be for a while in the midst of the things, the people, and the manners of a hundred years ago, let him go to the village of Old Aberdeen. There,

as he stalks through the quiet, straggling streets, unroused by the sound of the rattling car or the hum of commerce, he may see the old ivycovered houses, sticking their gavel ends into the pathway, with the little pigeon-hole windows prettily painted green; crow steps at the ends, and moss-covered flag stones on the roofs. There he may see tall, sturdy, weatherbeaten old men, with broad bonnets, knee breeches, and huge red velveteen waistcoats reaching almost to the knees; old women with high-topped mutches, sitting on huge stones at their doors, knitting the stocking; and, perhaps, some stately old lady of eighty winters, whose high-heeled shoes, as they clatter on the empty pavement, are faintly re-echoed by the treed of the old footman, who slinks obsequiously behind her. There he may see the grave students wandering about in their red gowns, and the Professors stalking to their classes in their black. And, finally, the place is famous for the bright eyes and rosy cheeks of its young ladies, whose pianos the stranger may hear gently struck, through the honeysuckle of some open window, as he saunters about in some fine sultry summer evening, in the Cathedral Church-yard, or the College Square. New Aberdeen is altogether a different sort of place. There are bustle, confusion, distraction. Union Street and Broad Street are crammed with shops; and, where there are not shops, there are banking houses, and lawyer's offices; and, where there are neither of these, there are schools; and, worst of all, where there are not schools, there are manufactories; and, sometimes, the whole of these nuisances are conglomerated and united into one mass. Then there are no old world carlins, nor stately ladies of the last century. The men have hurry and importance in their looks; and the young ladies march through Union Street in files, like well-booted grenadiers. The houses are built in regular rows, without projecting gables. They have large staring windows, and slated roofs. Each house is possessed either of a brass doorknocker, or a bell-pull, or perhaps of both; and a flat engraved plate officiously informs passengers. who is the indweller. Nor are the respective Universities themselves less distinguisbed from each other by peculiar outward marks. In the Old Town, a turret or two, and an ornamented crown, peeping modestly over the trees, announce the seat of learning; and, on a nearer approach, these form themselves into a quadrangle, surrounded by miniature gothic buildings, old and new, a corridor, a tower or two, and a solemn gothic chapel; at one end of which is the place of worship for the students, and at the other the library, and a museum, consisting of a coat of mail, and a great many curiouslooking arrows.

The exterior appearance of Marischal College is rather different. Walking along Broad Street, amid the clatter of carts and the clang of voices, among the numberless dark alleys passed, one may attract your attention, from its being ornamented and dignified by the immediate presence of a street lamp, and from the words "College Court" being written over the gateway. By groping a little, and taking good care how you tread, you may quickly find yourself so far into the "Court," as to behold a building, which rustics, who cannot read the dignified inscription College Court," generally mistake for the Town Jail, so much does it possess of that majestic awe which sobers the student's mind to reflection. The building consists of a front and two wings; the walls of all which are rain proof, and the roof slated. Exactly in the centre is an architectural ornament, which attracts the eye. Two stones are set upright on the top of the mason work, and between them is set a

bell, or at least something very much resembling one; beneath which is a clock, which always points to some hour or other, and most generally to the right one. The centre building contains the great hall, with all its pictures; on the boards of which people are requested to tread lightly, lest they may happen to be lodged in the room beneath. This hall is looked on with great respect; since, notwithstanding its frequent hints of the failure of its strength, it still contrives to brave out the tread of the students above, and the terrible explosions produced by the experiments of the Professor of Natural Philosophy beneath. Within the same building is a collection of book-shelves, called a library, the museum, and the public school, or student's hall, inferior to that above, (which is used for more particular purposes,) in as far as it is neither lathed nor plastered, having the bare stone walls at the sides, and the rafters above; but superior, in as far as there is no danger of its either falling down, or being blown up, there being nothing between the feet and the bare earth. The different class-rooms are disposed here and there in the two wings, and are very conveniently situated, excepting that set apart for the teaching of mathematics, which, being placed beside one of the Professors' kitchen, produces some inconvenient collisions betwixt cookery and literature, very much to the disadvantage of the latter; as it cannot be supposed that the accidental inroad of a few stray students on the cook-maid and her duties can produce such a disagreeable interruption, as the unconscious invasion of the butcher's boy, with a leg of mutton, or the tumbling in of a fisherwoman, determined to know whether any one present wants "Caller Hadies," on the Mathematical Professor, when explaining the intricacies of the forty-seventh proposition.

Such then are the outward features of two buildings, which, on a certain day towards the end of October, appear as if rousing themselves from a long summer slumber, and shew symptoms of returning animation. Large black looking doors, which have for some months past stood sullenly closed, creak slowly upon their rusty hinges; and broad gaps stand ready to swallow up the coming throng. Groups of anxious whisperers, with books under their arms, gather like swarms of bees silently in the vicinity, a dark, serious-looking figure here and there measures his steps towards the edifice, and figures are seen within, hurriedly flitting past the windows. This is a day of no ordinary interest ; the day of competition for bursaries, a most admirable set of endowments, by which many an industrious youth, whose small means of livelihood would have forbidden the prospect of a liberal education, not only receives that education itself, but generally a small sum along with it, which may allow him to indulge in a little literary property. They are most honourably acquired; as they are the fruits of a competition so regulated that it would be a difficult matter to favour any particular candidate. The Bursars are the proprietors of the respective Bursaries for four years; holding them, as well-earned property, totally independent of the Professors, and therefore not subject to their caprice. Nor can they complain of any undue superciliousness on the part of these individuals; with the exception of one liberal-minded person, who is fond of making his Bursars light and snuff the candles, and perform other instructive functions. The silent competitors for these profitable honours are all seated by long tables along the hall, like a convivial dinner-party, but employed in a very different manner. A death-like stillness prevails among all; from the pale student, whose requisite classical knowledge