Newspapers to France are forwarded free of charge to the Lender. A rate of 4 centimes (nearly equivalent to d.) is charged upon delivery in France. Newspapers from Abroad. Newspapers arriving from those foreign parts to which newspapers are despatched free, are delivered free of postage, except those from France, which are charred d. each. From places abroad, to which they are not despatched free, newspapers are charged here 2d, each, e-crpt as stated in the above paragraph. All newspapers must be printed in the language of the country from which they are erit, unless specially exempted by the lords of the treasury. Newspapers hy private Ships. If put into the office within 7 days after publication, are forwarded to the Cape of Good | Hope, Mauritius, or Isle of France, Hong Kong, Sydney, New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, Swan River, South Austra lia, Chili, Peru, Guatemala, and the Western Coast of Ame rica, and the East Indies, on payinent of Id. with each paper; to St. Helena and the Western Coast of Africa, viz. : St. Mary's, River Gambia, Sierra Leone, Cape Coast Castle, Fernando Po, and Ascension (Isle), at the same rate; to China (Hong Kong excepted) and places not British, on payment of zd. each, under the above regulations as to date, &c. N.B. All newspapers forwarded through the Ship Letter Office, except those between ports in Great Britain, and Ire land, must be paid for when put in. Offences against the Post-Office. The laws relative to offences against the Postoffice were consolidated by the act 1 Vict. c. 36., of the more important parts of which we subjoin an abstract. Contravening the Privilege of Post-Office. - Every person who shall convey otherwise than by the post a letter not exempted from the exclusive privilege of the postmaster general shall for every letter forfeit 54., and every person who shall be in the practice of so conveying letters not so exempted, shall for every week during which the practice shall be continued forfeit 1007.; and every person who shall perform otherwise than by the post any services incidental to conveying letters from place to place, whether by receiving, taking up, collecting, ordering, despatching, carrying, re-carrying, or delivering a letter not exempted from the exclusive privilege of the postmaster general, shall forfeit for every letter 57.; and every person who shall be in the practice of so performing any such incidental services shall for every week during which the practice shall be continued, forfeit 100%.; and every person who shall send a letter not exempted from the exclusive privilege of the postmaster general otherwise than by the post, or shall cause a letter not so exempted to be sent or conveyed other than by post, or shall tender or deliver a letter not so exempt in order to be sent otherwise than by post, shall forfeit for every letter 54.; and every person who shall be in the practice of committing any of the acts last mentioned shall for every week during which the practice shall be continued, forfeit 100%; and every person who shall make a collection of exempted letters for the purpose of conveying or sending them otherwise than by the post, or by the post, shall forfeit for every letter 51.; and every person who shall be in the practice of making a collection of exempted letters for either of those purposes, shall forfeit for every week during which the practice shall be continued 1007. And be it declared, that the term post shall herein include all post communications by land or by water (except by outward-bound vessels not employed by the post-office or the admiralty to carry post letters); and the above penalties shall be incurred whether the letter be sent singly or with any thing else, or such incidental service be performed in respect to a letter either sent or to be sent singly or together with some other letter or thing; and in any prosecution for the recovery of any such penalty the onus shall lie upon the party prosecuted to prove that the act in respect of which the penalty is alleged to have been incurred was done in conformity to the post-office laws. - § 2. Ship Letters retained after delivering of Letters to Post-Office. - Every person, being either the master of a vessel inward-bound, or one of the officers, or one of the crew, or a passenger thereof, who shall knowingly have any letter in his possession not exempted from the privilege of the postmaster general, after the master shall have sent any part of his ship's letters to the post-office, shall forfeit for every letter 57.; and every such person who shall detain any such letter after demand made, either by the officer of the customs or by a person authorised by the postmaster general to demand ship's letters, shall forfeit for every letter 107. — § 3. Clause 4. relates to the abuse of the privilege of franking, and is no longer of importance. Penalties on Masters of Ships not taking Letter Bags. Every master of a vessel bound to Ceylon, the Mauritius, the East Indies, or the Cape of Good Hope, who shall refuse to take a post letter bag delivered or tendered to him by an officer of the post-office for conveyance, shall forfeit 2007.*; and every master of a vessel who shall open a sealed letter bag, with which he shall be intrusted for conveyance, shall forfeit 2007.; and every master of a vessel who shall take out of a letter bag with which he shall have been intrusted for conveyance a letter or any other thing shall forfeit 2001; and every master of a vessel who shall not duly deliver a letter bag with the contents at the post-office on his arrival in port, without wilful or unavoidable delay after his arrival, shall forfeit 2004.; and every person to whom letters may have been intrusted by the master of a vessel to bring on shore who shall break the seal, or in any manner wilfully open the same, shall forfeit 201.; and every master of a vessel who shall refuse or wilfully neglect to make declaration of having delivered his ship's letters to the post-office, shall forfeit 50%.; and every collector, comptroller, or officer of the customs who is required by the act 1 Vict. c. 34. to prohibit any vessel reporting until the requisites of such act have been complied with, who shall permit such vessel to report before the requisites of such act shall have been complied with, shall forfeit 50%; and every master of a vessel (not having been able to send his letters ashore previous to his arrival at the port where the vessel is to report) who shall break bulk or make entry before all letters on board shall be sent to the post-office shall forfeit 201.; and every master of a vessel, or any other person on board any ship liable to the performance of quarantine, who shall neglect or refuse to deliver to the person or persons appointed to superintend the quarantine all letters in his possession, shall forfeit 2.- §6. Penalties on the Carelessness of Persons engaged or employed in carrying, conveying, &c. Letters. — Every person employed to convey or deliver a post letter bag or a post letter who shall, whilst so employed, or whilst the same shall be in his custody, care, or possession, leave a post letter bag or a post letter, or suffer any person, not being the guard or person employed for that purpose, to ride in the place appointed for the guard in or upon any carriage used for the conveyance of a post letter bag or post letter, or to ride in or upon a carriage so used and not licensed to carry passengers, or upon a horse used for the conveyance on horseback of a post letter bag or a post letter, or if any such person shall be guilty of any act of drunkenness, or of carelessness, negligence, or other misconduct, whereby the safety of a post letter bag or a post letter shall be endangered, or who shall collect or receive, or convey or deliver, a letter otherwise than in the ordinary course of the post, or who shall give any false information of an assault or attempt at robbery upon him, or who shall loiter on the road or passage, or wilfully mispend his time so as to retard or delay the progress or arrival of a post letter bag or a post letter, or who shall not use due and proper care and diligence safely to convey a post letter bag or post letter at the rate of speed appointed by and according to the regulations of the post-office for the time being, being thereof convicted, shall forfeit 204.-87. Clauses 8. to 24. inclusive impose penalties on hackney carriages plying for hire opposite the general post-office in London or Dublin; exempt mail coaches from toll; and direct how penalties shall be sued for. Opening or delaying Post Letters a Misdemeanour. Every person employed by or under the postoffice who shall, contrary to his duty, open or procure or suffer to be opened a post letter, or shall wilfully detain or delay, or procure or suffer to be detained or delayed, a post letter, shall in England and Ireland The 3 & 4 Vict. c. 96. extends this penalty to the master of every vessel outward bound who shall refuse to take a post letter bag delivered or tendered to him for conveyance. be guilty of a misdemeanor, and in Scotland of a crime and offence, and being convicted thereof shall suffer such punishment by fine or imprisonment, or by both, as to the court shall seem meet: provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to the opening or detaining or delaying of a letter returned for want of a true direction, or of a letter returned by reason that the person to whom the same is directed is dead or cannot be found, or shall have refused the same, or shall have refused or neglected to pay the postage thereof; nor to the opening or detaining or delaying of a post letter in obedience to an express warrant in writing under the hand (in Great Britain) of one of the principal secretaries of state, and in Ireland under the hand and seal of the lord lieutenant of Ireland. Embezzlement, &c. of any Letter or Packet, Felony. Every person employed under the post-office who shall steal, or shall for any purpose whatever embezzle, secrete, or destroy a post letter, shall in England and Ireland be guilty of felony, and in Scotland of a high crime and offence, and shall, at the discretion of the court, either be transported beyond the seas for the term of 7 years, or be imprisoned for any term not exceeding 3 years; and if any such post letter so stolen or embezzled, secreted or destroyed, shall contain therein any chattel or money whatsoever, or any valuable security, every such offender shall be transported beyond the seas for life.-- § 26. Stealing Money, &c. from or out of Letters, Felony. Every person who shall steal from or out of a post letter any chattel or money, or valuable security, shall in England and Ireland be guilty of felony, and in Scotland of a high crime and offence, and shall be transported beyond the seas for life. Persons stealing Post Letter Bags, &c. to be transported for Life. Every person who shall steal a post letter bag, or a post letter from a post letter bag, or shall steal a post letter from a post-office, or from an officer of the post-office or from a mail, or shall stop a mail with intent to rob or search the same, shall in England and Ireland be guilty of felony, and in Scotland of a high crime and offence, and shall be transported beyond the seas for life. Persons stealing Post Letter Bags or Post Letters to be transported for 14 Years.— Every person who shall steal or unlawfully take away a post letter bag sent by a post-office packet, or who shall steal or unlawfully take a letter out of any such bag, or shall unlawfully open any such bag, shall in England and Ireland be guilty of felony, and in Scotland of a high crime and offence, and shall be transported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding 14 years. Receivers of Property sent by the Post and stolen or embezzled, guilty of Felony. Every person who shall receive any post letter or post letter bag, or any chattel or money or valuable security, the stealing or taking or embezzling or secreting whereof shall amount to a felony under the Post Office Acts, knowing the same to have been feloniously stolen, taken, embezzled, or secreted, and to have been sent or intended to be sent by the post, shall in England and Ireland be guilty of felony, and in Scotland of a high crime and offence, and may be indicted and convicted either as an accessary after the fact or for a substantive felony, and in the latter case, whether the principal felon shall or shall not have been previously convicted, or shall or shall not be amenable to justice; and every such receiver, howsoever convicted, shall be liable to be transported beyond the seas for life. Fraudulently retaining, after Delivery thereof, &c.—Every person who shall fraudulently retain, or shall wilfully secrete or keep or detain, or being required to deliver up by an officer of the post-office, shall neglect or refuse to deliver up a post letter which ought to have been delivered to any other person, or a post letter bag or post letter which shall have been sent, whether the same shall have been found by the person secreting, keeping, or detaining, or neglecting or refusing to deliver up the same, or by any other person, shall in England and Ireland be guilty of a misdemeanor, and in Scotland of a crime and offence, and on conviction shall be liable to be punished by fine and imprisonment. Stealing, &c. printed Votes or Proceedings in Parliament, &c. - Every person employed in the postoffice who shall steal, or shall for any purpose embezzle, secrete, or destroy, or shall wilfully detain or delay in course of conveyance or delivery thereof by the post, any printed votes or proceedings in parliament, or any printed newspaper, or any other printed paper whatever sent by the post without covers, or in covers open at the sides, shall in England and Ireland be guilty of a misdemeanor, and in Scotland of a crime and offence, and on conviction shall suffer such punishment by fine or imprisonment, or both, as the court shall direct. Forging the Handwriting of the Receiver General in England or Ireland, Felony. - Every person who shall knowingly and wilfully forge or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be forged or counterfeited, the name or handwriting of the receiver general for the time being of the general post office in England or Ireland, or of any person employed by or under him, to any draft, instrument, or writing whatsoever, for or in order to the receiving or obtaining of any money in the hands or custody of the governor and company of the bank of England or Ireland on account of the receiver general of the post-office, or shall forge or alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any draft, warrant, or order of such receiver general, or of any person employed by or under him, for money or for payment of money, with intent to defraud any person whomsoever, shall be guilty of felony, and on conviction shall be transported beyond the seas for life. Clause 34. relates to the forging or altering franks. The remaining clauses relate to the punishment of accessaries, determine the mode in which the postage duties shall be sued for, define terms, &c. Irish Post-office. The most gross and scandalous abuses were long prevalent in every department of the Irish post-office. The commissioners of Revenue Inquiry exerted themselves to abate the nuisance; but, as it would appear from the evidence of the Duke of Richmond before the committee of the House of Commons on public salaries, without much effect. His Grace, however, laboured with laudable activity and zeal to introduce something like honesty, order, and responsibility into this department. The gross revenue of the Irish post-office amounted, in 1842, to 128,9844, the expenses of collection for the same year being 127,8564; so that it may be fairly said that under the new system Ireland pays no postage UNITED STATES. We subjoin an account of the number of post-offices, the extent of post roads, the rates of postage, &c. in the United States. Double letters, or those composed of 2 pieces of paper, are charged with double the above rates. Triple letters, or those composed of 3 pieces of paper, are charged with triple the above rates. Quadruple letters, or those composed of 4 pieces of paper, are charged with quadruple the above rates. Aletters weighing 1 ounce avoirdupois, or more, are charged at the rate of single postage for each of an ounce, or quadruple postage for each ounce, according to their weight, and no letter can be charged with more than quadruple postage, unless its weight exceeds 1 ounce avoirdupois. The postage on ship letters, if delivered at the office when the vessel arrives, is 6 cents; if conveyed by post, 2 eents in addition to the ordinary postage. Newspaper Postage. For each newspaper, not carried out of the state in which it is published, or if carried out of the state but not carried over 100 miles, 1 cent. Over 100 miles, and out of the state in which it is published, 1) cent. Magazines and Pamphlets. If published periodically, distance not exceeding (00 miles, 14 cent per sheet. over 100 24 Small pamphlets, containing not more than a 4 sheet royal, are charged with the above rates. Eight pages quarto are rated as one sheet, and all other sizes in the same proportion. The number of sheets in a pamph et sent by mail must be printed or written on one of the outer pages. When the num ber of sheets is not truly stated, double postage is charged. Every thing not coming under the denomination of news. If not pub. period. dist. not exceed. 100 miles, 4 cts. per sheet papers or pamphlets is charged with letter postage. over 100-6 The total post-office revenue of the United States, in the year ended the 30th June 1842, amounted to 4,546,246 dollars, the expenditure during the same year being 4,235,052 dollars. - (American Almanac for 1844.) POST ENTRY. When goods are weighed or measured, and the merchant has got an account thereof at the Custom-house, and finds his entry, already made, too small, he must make a post or additional entry for the surplusage, in the same manner as the first was done. As a merchant is always in time, prior to the clearing of the vessel, to make his post, he should take care not to over-enter, to avoid as well the advance, as the trouble of getting back the overplus. However, if this be the case, and an over-entry has been made, and more paid or bonded for customs than the goods really landed amount to, the land-waiter and surveyor must signify the same, upon oath made, and subscribed by the person so over-entered, that neither he, nor any other person, to his knowledge, had any of the said goods over-entered on board the said ship, or anywhere landed the same without payment of custom; which oath must be attested by the collector or comptroller, or their deputies, who then compute the duties, and set down on the back of the certificate, first in words at length, and then in figures, the several sums to be paid. POTASH (Da. Potaske; Fr. Potasse; Ger. Pottasche; It. Potassa; Pol. Potasz ; Rus. Potasch). If vegetables be burned, the ashes lixiviated, and the solution boiled to dryness in iron vessels, the mass left behind is the potash of commerce the impure carbonate of potass of chemists. It is intensely alkaline, solid, and coloured brown by the admixture of a small portion of vegetable inflammable matter, which generally becomes moist. When potash is calcined in a reverberatory furnace, the colouring matter is destroyed, it assumes a spongy texture, and a whitish pearly lustre; whence it is denominated pearl-ash. The latter generally contains from 60 to 83 or 84 per cent. of pure carbonate of potass. The ashes of those vegetables only which grow at a distance from the sea are employed in the manufacture of potash. Herbaceous plants yield the largest portion, and shrubs more than trees. It is principally manufactured in America, Russia, and Poland, the vast forests of which furnish an inexhaustible supply of ashes. Potash is of great importance in the arts, being largely employed in the manufacture of flint glass and soft soap, the rectification of spirits, bleaching, making alum, scouring wool, &c. At an average of 1840 and 1841, the entries of pot and pearl ashes for home consumption, amounted to 82,381 cwt. a year. Of 99,295 cwt. imported in 1840, 98,260 cwt. were brought from the British possessions in North America. The ashes of the U. States are the purest, and bring the highest price. Ashes from Canada are duty free: those from Russia and the United States used pay a duty of 68. a cwt., which was reduced, in 1842, to 6d. POTATOES (Ger. Kartoffeln; Du. Aardappelen; Fr. Pommes de terre; It. Patate, Pomi di terra; Sp. Patatas manchegas; Rus. Jabloki semlenüe), the roots of the Solanum tuberosum, of innumerable varieties, and too well known to require any description. 1. Historical Notice. The potato, which is at present to be met with everywhere in Europe, and forms a principal part of the food of a considerable proportion of its inhabitants, was entirely unknown in this quarter of the world till the latter part of the 16th century. It is a native of America, but whether of both divisions of that continent is doubtful.-( Humboldt, Nouvelle Espagne, liv. iv. c. 9.) Some authors affirm that it was first introduced into Europe by Sir John Hawkins, in 1545; others, that it was introduced by Sir Francis Drake, in 1573; and others, again, that it was for the first time brought to England from Virginia, by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1586. But this discrepancy seems to have arisen from confounding the common, or Virginian potato (the Solanum tuberosum of Linnæus), with the sweet potato ( Convolvulus battatas). The latter was introduced into Europe long before the former, and it seems most probable that it was the species brought from New Granada by Hawkins. Sweet potatoes require a warm climate, and do not succeed in this country; they were, however, imported in considerable quantities, during the 16th century, from Spain and the Canaries, and were supposed to have some rather peculiar properties. The kissing comfits of Falstaff, and such like confections, were principally made of battatas and eringo roots. -(See Collins' elaborate note to Troilus and Cressida, act. v. scene 2.) On the whole, we are inclined to think that we are really indebted for the potato (as well as for tobacco) to Sir Walter Raleigh, or the colonists planted by him in Virginia. Gerarde, an old English botanist, mentions, in his Herbal, published in 1597, that he had planted the potato in his garden at London about 1590; and that it succeeded there as well as in its native soil, Virginia, whence he had received it. Potatoes were at first cultivated by a very few, and were looked upon as a great delicacy. In a manuscript account of the household expenses of Queen Anne, wife of James I., who died in 1618, and which is supposed to have been written in 1613, the purchase of a very small quantity of potatoes is mentioned at the price of 2s. a pound. The Royal Society, in 1663, recommended the extension of their cultivation, as a means of preventing famine. Previously, however, to 1684, they were raised only in the gardens of the nobility and gentry; but in that year they were planted, for the first time, in the open fields in Lancashire, - a county in which they have long been very extensively cultivated. Potatoes, it is commonly thought, were not introduced into Ireland till 1610, when a small quantity was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to be planted in a garden on his estate in the vicinity of Youghal. Their cultivation extended far more rapidly than in England; and have long furnished from to of the entire food of the people of Ireland! Potatoes were not raised in Scotland, except in gardens, till 1728, when they were planted in the open fields by a person of the name of Prentice, a day labourer at Kilsyth, who died at Edinburgh in 1792. The extension of the potato cultivation has been particularly rapid during the last 40 years. The quantity that is now raised in Scotland is supposed to be from 10 to 12 times as great as the quantity raised in it at the end of the American war; and though the increase in England has not been nearly so great as in Scotland, it has been greater than during any previous period of equal duration. The increase on the Continent has been similar. Potatoes are now very largely cultivated in France, Italy, and Germany: and, with the exception of the Irish, the Swiss have become their greatest consumers. They were introduced into India come 70 or 80 years ago; and are now successfully cultivated in Bengal, and have been introduced into the Madras provinces, Java, the Philippines, and China. But the common potato does not thrive within the tropics unless it be raised at an elevation of 3,000 or 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, so that it can never come into very general use in these regions. This, however, is not the case with the sweet potato, which has also been introduced into tropical Asia; and with such success, that it already forms a considerable portion of the food of the people of Java, and some other countries. So rapid an extension of the taste for, and the cultivation of, an exotic, has no parallel in the history of industry; it has had, and will continue to have, the most powerful influence over the condition of mankind. —— ( For further details with respect to the history of the potato, see Sir F. M. Eden on the State of the Poor, vol. i. p. 508.; Humboldt, Essai sur la Nouvelle Espagne, iii. 460–465. 2d ed.; Sir Joseph Banks on the Introduction of the Potato; Phillips's History of Cultivated Vegetables, vol. ii. art. Potato.) -- 2. Influence of the Cultivation of the Potato on the Number and Condition of the People. - There is a considerable discrepancy in the statements of the best authors as to the number of individuals that might be supported on an acre of land planted with potatoes, as compared with those that might be supported on an acre sown with wheat; some stating the proportion as high as six to one, and others at only two to one. According to Mr. Arthur Young, 1 lb. of wheat is about equal in nutritive power to 5 lbs. of potatoes. But Mr. Newenham, who has carefully investigated this subject, states that "3 lbs. of good mealy potatoes are, undoubtedly, more than equivalent to 1 lb. of bread,”(Newenham on the Population of Ireland, p. 340.); and his estimate is rather above Mr. Wakefield's. Supposing, however, that 1 lb. of wheat is fully equal to four lbs. of potatoes, still the difference in favour of the superior quantity of food derived from a given quantity of land planted with the latter is very great. According to Mr. Young, the average produce of potatoes in Ireland may be taken at 82 barrels the Irish acre; which, at 20 stone the barrel, is equal to 22,960 lbs.; and this being divided by four, to bring it to the same standard, in point of nutritive power, as wheat, gives 5,740 lbs. Mr. Young further estimates the average produce of wheat, by the Irish acre, at 4 quarters; which, supposing the quarter to weigh 480 lbs., gives in all 1,920 lbs., or about part of the solid nourishment afforded by an acre of potatoes. — ( Tour in Ireland, Appen. pp. 12. 24. &c. 4to ed.) This estimate must, however, be somewhat modified, when applied to Great Britain; the soil of which, while it is better adapted to the growth of wheat, is generally supposed not to be quite so suitable for the potato as that of Ireland. But it notwithstanding admits of demonstration, that even here, "an acre of potatoes will feed double the number of individuals that can be fed from an acre of wheat."(General Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 571.) It is clear, therefore, on the most moderate estimate, that the population of a potatofeeding country may become, other things being about equal, from 2 to 3 times as dense as it would be, were the inhabitants fed wholly on corn. But it is exceedingly doubtful whether an increase of population, brought about by the substitution of the potato for wheat, be desirable. Its use as a subordinate or subsidiary species of food is attended with the best effects - producing both an increase of comfort and security; but there are certain circumstances inseparable from it, which would seem to oppose the most formidable obstacles to its advantageous use as a prime article of subsistence. The discussion of this subject can hardly be said properly to belong to a work of this sort; but its importance may, perhaps, excuse us for making a few observations with respect to it. It is admitted on all hands, that the rate of wages is principally determined by the species of food made use of in a country. Now, as potatoes form that species which is produced at the very least expense, it may be fairly presumed, on general grounds, that wages will be reduced to a minimum wherever the labouring classes are mainly dependent on potatoes; and the example of Ireland shows that this conclusion is as consistent with fact as with principle. It is clear, however, that when the crop of potatoes happens to be deficient in a country thus situated, the condition of its inhabitants must be in the last degree unfortunate. During a period of scarcity, men cannot go from a low to a high level if they would clude its pressure, they must leave the dearer and resort to cheaper species of food. But to those who subsist on potatoes this is not possible; they have already reached the lowest point in the descending scale. Their wages being determined by the price of the least expensive sort of food, they cannot, when it fails, buy that which is dearer; so that it is hardly possible for them to avoid falling a sacrifice to absolute want. The history of Ireland abounds, unfortunately, in examples of this sort. Nothing is more common than to see the price of potatoes in Dublin, Limerick, &c. rise, because of a scarcity, to 5 or 6 times their ordinary price, and the people to be involved in the extreme of suffering; and yet it rarely happens, upon such occasions, that the price of corn is materially affected, or that any less quantity than usual is exported to England. It may be said, perhaps, that, had potatoes not been introduced, wheat, or barley, or oats would have been the lowest species of food; and that, whenever they happened to fail, the population would have been as destitute as if they had been subsisting on potatoes. It must, however, be observed, that the proportion which the price of wheat, or any species of grain, bears to the price of butcher's meat, tea, beer, &c., is always decidedly greater than the proportion which the price of potatoes bears to these articles: and it therefore follows, that a people who have adopted wheat, or any species of corn, for the principal part of their food, are much better able to make occasional purchases of butcher's meat, &c.; and will, consequently, be more likely to have their habits elevated, so as to consider the consumption of a certain quantity of animal food, &c. as indispensable to existence. And hence it appears reasonable to conclude, that a people who chiefly subsist on corn would, in most cases, subsist partially on butcher's meat, and would enjoy a greater or less quantity of other articles; so that it would be possible for them, in a period of scarcity, to make such retrenchments as would enable them to elude the severity of its pressure. But, though the population in corn-feeding countries were dependent on the cheapest species of grain, not for a part only, but for the whole, of their food, their situation would, notwithstanding, be less hazardous than that of a population subsisting wholly on potatoes. In the first place, owing to the impossibility, as to all practical purposes at least, of preserving potatoes, the surplus produce of a luxuriant crop cannot be stored up or reserved as a stock to meet any subsequent scarcity. The whole crop must necessaril be exhausted in a single year; so that, when the inhabitants have the misfortune to be overtaken by a scarcity, its pressure cannot be alleviated, as is almost uniformly the case in corn-feeding countries, by bringing the reserves of former harvests to market. Every year is thus left to provide subsistence for itself. When, on the one hand, the crop is luxuriant, the surplus is of comparatively little use, and is wasted unprofitably; and when, on the other hand, it is deficient, famine and disease necessarily prevail. In the second place, the general opinion seems to be, that the variations in the quantities of produce obtained from land planted with potatoes are greater than the variations in the quantities of produce obtained from land on which wheat, or any other species of grain, is raised. And lastly, owing to the great bulk and weight of potatoes, and the difficulty of preserving them on shipboard, the expense of conveying them from one country to another is so very great, that a scarcity can never be materially relieved by importing them from abroad. In consequence, those who chiefly depend on potatoes are practically excluded from participating in the benevolent provision made by nature for equalising the variations in the harvest of particular countries by means of commerce, and are thrown almost wholly on their own resources. We should, therefore, be warranted in concluding, even though we were not possessed |