PRICE OF STOCKS FOR EACH MONTH IN 1812.-Lowest and Highest.

Mr Peter Joseph Brown (Henrietta-street) for an improved construc tion of buoys for ships or vessels, and for mooring chains.

Mr Joseph Bagnal (Walsal) for a method of making bridle-bits, snaffles, &c. of iron, steel, or other metal.

Sir Howard Douglas (High Wycomb) for an improved reflecting circle or semi-circle.

Mr Joseph Bastone (Bridgewater) for improvements applicable to bedsteads and various other things.

Mr Thomas William Sturgeon (Howland-street) for improved cas

tors.

Sir Saml. Bentham (Hampstead)

for an invention for a secure and economical mode of laying foundations applicable to the projections of wharfs and piers into deep water.

Mr William Good (London) for an improvement in valves for various purposes.

Mr Ralph Sutton (Birmingham) for an improved self-acting curtain or window-blind rack.

Mr John Craigie (Craven-street) for improvements on carriages, by which friction may be saved, labour facilitated, and safety obtained.

Mr Joseph Baker (Cuckfield, Sussex) for kneading dough by means of machinery.

Mr Thomas Pearsall (Willsbridge, Gloucester) for a method of constructing iron-work for certain parts of buildings.

Mr William Fothergill (Greenfield, Flintshire) for a method of making copper-rollers for printing.

Mr John Miers (Strand, London) for a method of accelerating evapora tion, of destroying the noxious effluvia from spent lees, and of generating an increased degree of heat, without additional fuel.

Mr John Hudson (Cheapside, London) for a composition for printing or painting on paper, linen, stuc coed walls, boards, &c.

Mr Jacob Zink (Mile-end) for a method of manufacturing verdigris.

Mr Richard Withy (Kingstonupon-Hull) for improvements in his invention for the construction of steam-engines.

Mr George Dodd (Vauxhall-place) for machinery and the application of

steam to communicate heat and motion to wines, porter, &c. in cellars, storehouses, and other places.

Mr Henry James and John Jones (Birmingham) for an improvement in

the manufacture of barrels of all descriptions of fire-arms.

Mrs Sarah Guppy (Bristol) for tea and coffee urns, &c.

Mr Thomas Marsh (King-street, Clerkenwell) for improvements in the construction of watches.

Mr Robert Giles (London) for the invention of a cap or cowl to be placed on the top of chimneys.

Mr Michael Logan (Paradisestreet, Rotherhithe) for an instrument for the generation of fire, and various purposes in chemical and experimental operations.

Mr Andrew Patten (Manchester) for a discovery and improvements in the tanning of leather, by the use of pyroligneus or wood-acid.

Mr William Strachan (Chester) for a method of preparing the ore of cobalt for trade, manufacture, and painting.

Mr Jeremiah Steel (Liverpool) for a new apparatus, and for distilling and rectifying spirits.

William Everhard Baron Von Doornik (Wells-street) for an improvement in the manufacture of soap to wash with sea-water, with hard. water, and with soft-water.

Mr James Adams (Pitkellony, in the county of Perth) for a method of drying malt and all kinds of grains and seeds.

Mr George Smart (Westminster) for an improved method of preparing timber so as to prevent its shrinking. Mr Blenkensop (Middleton, Yorkshire) for mechanical means by which the conveyance of coals, minerals, and other articles is facilitated, and the expence attending the same is render ed less than heretofore.

Messrs Peter Moore and Co. (London) for a vertical bond in buildings, &c.

Mr Lawrence Drake (Cloaklane, London) for a method of preparing the various sorts of isinglass from river and marine fish,

Sir Saml. Bentham (Hampstead) for a new mode of excluding water of the sea, of rivers, or of lakes, during the execution of under-water works of masonry, or for the security of foundations, applicable to the construction of sea-walls, wharfs, piers,

&c.

Mr William Hardcastle (Abing. don) for improved cranes, to prevent accidents from the goods attached to the pulley overpowering the person at the winch, or in the walking wheel.

Mr George Dolland (London) for an improved method of lighting the binnacle compass, used for steering. ships at sea.

Mr. Benjamin Milne (Bridlington) for an improved double bell and gun alarm.

Mr Frederic Albert Winsor (Shooter's Hill) for a method of employing raw or refined sugars in the composi tion of certain articles of great demand.

Mr John Justice (Dundee) for an improvement in the construction of stove-grates calculated to prevent the smoking of chimnies, or to effect their

cure.

Mr John Simpson (Birmingham) for improvements in the construction of lamps.

Mr Robert Bill (Rathbone-place) for an apparatus to facilitate the ope ration of washing clothes, and other processes necessary in family and other establishments.

Mr Richard Waters (Fore-street, Lambeth) for a new method of manufacturing pottery.ware,

To provide for the subsistence of a great nation, independently of a foreign supply of grain, must be a leading object in every wise system of legislation. Without the wealth which an extended commerce affords, a people may be great and free; without the refinements of their more polished neighbours, they may be virtuous and warlike; but without an independent supply of the means of subsistence, they must for ever be at the mercy of any great combination of their enemies. The government of a country which is exposed to scarcity and famine, must have perils to encounter which no energy will overcome: the assaults of a people goaded on by want, and animated by despair, will not be easily repelled. As every great state which is dependent on the precarious aid of its neighbours for a supply of the necessaries of life must count on occasional disappointment, and as a scarcity of corn will always affect with the greatest severity those who are the most impatient of privations, and the most prompt to avenge their real or supposed wrongs, that power, of whose influence alone they are sensible, will, in such extremities, have cause to dread their resentment. will not avail their rulers, in the hour of distress and danger, to charge the sufferings of the people on foreign powers, or to impute to the unrelent

It

ing policy of their enemies the grie vances of which they complain. Such a justification will be addressed to men prejudiced by habit and deaf from despair. These weighty considerations have long fixed the attention of the most enlightened statesmen of this country on the subject of the Corn Laws; and it is a singular circumstance, that notwithstanding the numerous discussions which this great question has undergone, even its elementary principles should yet be involved in doubt and contradiction.

Whether any interference of legislative power for regulating the corn trade be justifiable on sound and liberal views of policy, has been often questioned by speculative enquirers; but on the supposition that some restraints may be beneficial, there can be little doubt as to the objects which should be kept in view in imposing them.-The leading object must be to secure, at all times and in all circumstances, an abundant supply; since it will hardly be disputed, that the dangers of dependence on foreign and hostile powers for the corn with which the people are to be fed, and the occasional recurrence of scarcity and famine, must greatly overbalance all other inconveniences. Moderation and steadiness of prices are also objects of high importance, in so far as they can be reconciled with national secu

rity and independence.-An important distinction, however, must be made among these different objects, the one being wholly within our power; the other but partially attainable; and the last depending on a variety of circumstances, the effect of which it is difficult to estimate with accuracy. By adequate encouragement, we can secure abundance until the population shall have increased beyond the numbers which the actual or possible produce of the soil can maintain; but the vicissitudes of the seasons must always present an insurmountable obstacle to any system which aims at a perfect uniformity of prices. Yet although the evils attending considerable fluc tuations cannot be altogether remedied, they may be greatly mitigated; and in this, as well as in all other questions of practical policy, it is the duty of the legislature, out of evils which cannot be wholly avoided, to choose the least. The high or low price of, corn again is not absolute, but relative; not a fixed, but a varying quantity; not susceptible of determination upon abstract principles, but to be estimated with reference to the actual price of labour, and the variable circumstances of the community.-In this very general view of the leading prin ciples of all corn laws, it may be affirmed, therefore, that an ample and independent supply is demanded by the high consideration of national safety; that steadiness of prices is required for the comfort of the lower orders; while the cheapness of corn must be eminently subservient to the prosperity of commerce.-An opportunity will occur afterwards for the illustration of these propositions; but if there be any truth in them, we may well ask, What ought to be the answer of the people of a great country, if they are called upon to sacrifice in part one or other of these advantages? Must they not confess, that as an extended

commerce is an object of worthy am bition only as it contributes to the happiness of the people and the power of the state, it ought for ever to be kept in due subordination to the higher interests of the community?-There is no reason to believe, however, that the people of this country will soon be called upon to make so painful an election; but in considering the gene. ral principles of the Corn Laws, these important distinctions must never be disregarded.

To ensure a plentiful supply of corn in unfavourable seasons, it is necessary to have a surplus in ordinary years. Those who think that the deficiency of a bad season will be compensated by the frugality of the consumers, must forget some of the most striking phenomena in political economy. It was long ago proved, that a very small deficiency in the supply of corn will be sufficient to occasion an enormous rise of price; and as the vicissitudes of the seasons render such deficiencies unavoidable, no country can be said to be independent of foreign supply as to the necessary article of grain, which does not, in ordinary years, raise a surplus beyond the wants of its domestic consumption.

How is this surplus to be obtained? It is a principle of common sense, as well as a maxim of political philosophy, that all the products of human industry will be brought to market in proportion to the demand for them; and that the prospect of reward is the only sure incitement to toil. If the home market alone be accessible to the farmer, he will proportion his supply to the demand which it presents. He may not be able indeed exactly to calculate its wants in so many quarters of wheat; but he will readily ascertain, by an infallible criterion-the state of priceswhether there be a general excess beyond the natural and accustomed li mits. You will in vain, in such circum