640 Register-Deaths. Samuel Guise Thomson, son of Alex. Thomson, 9. At Agra, John Burnett, Assistant-Surgeon, 10. At Meerut, Captain James Innes Gordon, 35th regiment Bengal native infantry, third son of the late James Gordon, Esq. of Rosieburn. 16. In the cantonment of his regiment, in the island of Calabah, near Bombay, East Indies, Alexander John Ralph, Esq. M.D., Assistant-Surgeon, 2d (Queen's Royal) regiment of foot, aged 28 years. 22. In Virginia, aged 114, Alexander Berkeley, Nov. On his voyage to China, George, second 3. At the Preside: ey, Captain Gilbert Melville, 1826. Jan. 13. On board the ship Pomona, while on a voyage to Jamaica, Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Howard Drummond, of Kelty, late of the 72d or Albany Highlanders. -At Concordia, in the island of Tobago, Dr Andrew Kenney, formerly physician in Edinburgh. 15. At Jordanhill estate, island of Trinidad, Francis Brown, Esq. aged 30. 18. At Kingston, Jamaica, Mrs Waddell, relict of the late James Waddell, Esq. of St. Andrew's, in that island. Feb. At New Orleans, Mr Robert Bogle, merchant there, formerly of Glasgow. 18. At Mamee Gally, Jamaica, Mrs Shand, wife of William Shand of Arnhall, Esq. March 1. At St. Thomas, Mr Archd. Galbraith. 14. At Larkhill, Worcestershire, where he had gone for the education of his family, after a few days illness, John Halliday Martin, Esq. Major of the Kirkcudbright Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry, much and justly regretted by every member of the corps. 15. At Belham, Mr Walter Oswald, late of Hallhill, parish of Colessie, Fifeshire. 16. At Magnera, Mrs Ann Mulholland, at the At Halle, Professor Vater, the celebrated 17. At Derby, Lieut. George Castle, R. N., only 18. At Haddington, Georgina, youngest daughter of Mr James Miller, printer. -At Brora, in the 111th year of his age, Alexander Urquhart, late tidesman of the customs. This honest, but eccentric veteran, was born at Tain in the year 1715. Possessing the full use of his reasoning faculties, and his memory remaining unimpaired to the last, he was a living and faithful record of several interesting particulars regarding the memorable rebellion in 1745, -many of the leading characters of which, particularly the celebrated Colonel John Roy Stuart, he had frequently seen. share in the conflicting troubles of that eventful Honest Sandy bore no period; but he had his bloody fields notwithstanding-and his gun was seldom or never out of his hand. It was not, however, in the sanguinary warfare where man is opposed to his fellow-man, that Sandy wielded his arms; he never at any pe riod of his life was a soldier; but he was a sportsman, acknowledged by those who were qualified to judge, of the first rate abilities--as cool. deliberate, and deadly a shot as ever took the heather. Employed in the capacity of gamekeeper to the [May 1826. late Earl of Sutherland, he had frequent occasion to be in the moors with those noblemen and gen. tlemen who usually resorted to the north, to enjoy the sporting seasons. With Baron Norton, Sir John Gordon of Embo, and the late General Wemyss, he was a particular favourite. Many of his anecdotes and repartees on this and other occasions are still remembered-to be laughed at right heartily; for, though he was a plain unas suming sort of man, his mode of conversation was tinctured with a venial kind of bluntness and sarcastic humour peculiar to himself, that rendered the aptness of his remarks irresistible, and no person, how dignified soever in rank, was exempted from his satire. Sporting was his ruling passion, but it did not deprive him of the enjoyment of fishing; he was a most expert ang. ler-a true sportsman in all respects; and like his famous prototype, old Isaac Walton of angling memory, whom he very much resembled, it was almost impossible to be long in his company with out being smit with his love of the art. Of hooks, rods, and flys, he would talk with enthusiasm; but of the more modern improvement of gut and seaweed casting lines, &c. he spoke with contempt, as being the "only resource to which novices would resort in sustaining a strong pull with bad management." He would consider it a sort of insult to recommend these things to his notice. By the interest of Lord Ankerville, who always maintained a high regard for him, he was appointed on or about the year 1780, Tidewaiter of the Customs at Inverness, from whence he was soon after transferred to the port of Brora, but wes supperannuated in 1812, with an allowance of £.23 a-year, which he enjoyed till his death. He was a man of very temporate habits-was never known to have been, even once, intoxica ted. He would most willingly take one glass of spirits, but no persuasion would induce him to go beyond that, as he always considered one dram his gage, as he called it, and above that was hurtful. He never complained of ill health, till within about the last twelve months of his life.-His dress was invariably the same; full round-breast. ed coat, a vest of old-fashioned cut, and a small flat blue bonnet. A lady once made a present to him of a fine hat, but he considered it such an invasion on the ancient rights of the bonnet, that it was laid aside and never used. He was married, and has left his widow, a very aged woman, still living at Brora, in a house which they have long occupied, rent free, through the kindness of Lady Stafford; but the widow is otherwise unprovided for, as the superannuation allowance has ceased at her husband's death. 19. Mrs Guy, eldest daughter of the late Sir Francis Elliott, of Stobbs, in the county of Roxburgh, Bart. 20. At Whitethorn, Milnathort, Mr James Morrison. 21. At his house, St. Vincent-Street, Glasgow, James Murdoch, jun. Esq. merchant. -At Aberdeen, in the 56th year of his age. George Kerr, Esq. surgeon, after a protracted and severe illness, which he bore with his characteristic fortitude. Dr Kerr's abilities and attainments were of a very high order. Without fortune or patronage at the outset of his medical career, be raised himself to a distinguished rank in his profession; he had an extensive acquaintance with general history, was skilled in most of the scien ces, and had a very correct taste for the fine arts. Early in life he attracted the notice of the late Lord Monboddo, from whom he imbibed an enthusiastic admiration of ancient literature, accompanied, no doubt, with some of his prejudices against modern innovations. How deeply he was imbued with a taste for the abstract philosophy of antiquity, is sufficiently evinced by his communications in the Classical Journal, under the title of "Vindicia Antiquæ," and he has left behind him, we understand, some MSS. which contain the most unquestionable proofs of his acquaintance with the works of the Stagirite and of his Alexandrian commentators. To study their system, and to recommend it to others, were the occupations in which he took the most delight; nor could any objections alter his decided opinion, that all our recent departures from the spirit of this philosophy have been deviations into error. Ruthven & Son, Printers, Edinburgh. The Correspondents of the EDINBURGH MAGAZINE and LITERAT MISCELLANY are respectfully requested to transmit their Communications for the Editor to ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & COMPANY, Edinburgh, HURST, ROBINSON, & COMPANY, London; to whom also orders for the Work should be addressed. Printed by J. Ruthven & Son. 3 THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, AND LITERARY MISCELLANY. JUNE 1826. MR M'CULLOCH'S ESSAY ON THE RATE OF WAGES, AND THE CONDITION OF THE LABOURING CLASSES. In publishing this Essay at the present moment, Mr M'Culloch has rendered a most essential service to the cause of humanity. At a period when want of employment has occasioned the most appalling distress among many thousands of the labouring classes in our country, and when the attention, not only of these classes themselves, but of the wealthy and influential inhabitants, is so intensely drawn to the investigation of the causes and probable remedies of these wide-spread calamities, it is doubly acceptable to receive, from the pen of a writer of so much acknowledged talent, and whose attention has been so exclusively devoted for many years to inquiries of this nature, the results of his reading, his experience, and observations on the state of the labouring classes. He has executed the task which he has undertaken with his usual ability, and in a style, too, which renders the Essay level to the capacities of the persons for whom it appears chiefly to be intended. The main truth, which he seems most anxious to inculcate on the labouring classes, is, that they are the framers of their own fortunes, that it rests almost entirely with themselves, whether they shall be all their lives subject to the extremes of penury, and consequent degradation in the scale of human society, or shall raise themselves to comfort, and at least a moderate degree of independence. The subject has been often treated of VOL. XVIII. already; but the new lights which have been thrown upon it by the investigations of Mr Malthus and Mr Ricardo, and more especially by the copious evidence which has been laid on the table of the two Houses of Parliament relative to the state of Ireland, have rendered our knowledge more precise, and enabled us to lay down as demonstrated truths various doctrines, which had been but partially broached, and of the soundness of which their authors themselves entertained many doubts. When Science thus lays hold of facts, which have been established by the best evidence, and produces from them axioms for the guidance of human conduct, we conceive that she is occupied in the most dignified manner; but when these axioms are inculcated with the earnestness, the plainness, and convincing power which are displayed in this Tract, and withal put into the hands of almost every man in the country, she is then occupied in the most useful manner; and we cannot help envying the feelings of the man who, by the powers of an enlarged and penetrating intellect, can produce the beneficial effects upon the minds of his countrymen, which we feel morally certain will be produced by the Essay before us. The principles of that benignant science, which is, unfortunately, but of very modern growth, which teaches us to discover the primary causes of national grandeur and decay, are here unfolded 4 M in their bearings on the fortunes of the lower orders of society in a style to which these orders have scarcely ever been accustomed; and we hold it to be the chief merit of this little work, that it may be read with equal pleasure and advantage, by him whose mind has received the last touches of a finished education, and by the man whose knowledge reaches little farther than to the mere ability to read his school collection. Such a work is calculated to be equally beneficial to all,—to the higher orders, who possess the greatest portion of the capital of the country, in settling their notions as to the true relation in which they stand to the lower classes of society, and to these lower classes themselves, who subsist chiefly on the wages derived from the capital in the possession of the higher orders, in exhibiting a faithful display of those circumstances on which their well-being mainly rests. Mr M'Culloch defines wages to "constitute the reward or compensation paid to labourers in return for their services by their employers." The labour or service of man may, like every thing else which is bought and sold, vary in its price. The labourer who at one time receives a certain quantity, or the value of a certain quantity, of the necessaries and conveniences of human life, in exchange for a certain quantity of his labour, may, at another time, receive a different quantity, or the value of a different quantity of these necessaries and conveniennes, in exchange for the same quantity of labour. And as labourers always form the great majority of the population of every civilized society, and as their comfort and welfare must be, in a great degree, dependent on the rate of wages they receive, it is obviously of the greatest importance, in a national, as well as individual point of view, to trace and exhibit the circumstances which determine the rate of wages, or the reward paid to the labourer for his services. In proceeding to investigate these circumstances, Mr M'Culloch lays it down as a fundamental principle, that "the rate of wages in any given country, at any particular period, depends on the magnitude of the fund or capital appropriated to the payment of wages, compared with the number of labourers." What is called the capital of a country consists of all that portion of the produce of industry existing in it, which can be made directly available, either to the support of human existence, or to the facilitating of production. That portion of capital, however, to which alone it becomes necessary to advert in the inquiries before us, consists of the food, clothes, and other articles required for the use and consumption of labourers, as this portion constitutes the fund out of which their wages must be wholly paid. If the amount of these articles is increased without a corresponding increase taking place in the population, a larger share of them will fall to each individual, or the rate of wages will be increased; and if, on the other hand, population is increased faster than capital, a less share will be apportioned to each individual, or, in other words, the rate of wages will be reduced. Mr M'Culloch illustrates this fundamental principle in a clear and convincing manner. "Let us suppose," says he, "that the capital of à country, appropriated to the payment of wages, would, if reduced to the standard of wheat, form a mass of 10,000,000 of quarters. If the number of labourers in that country were two millions, it is evident that the wages of each, reducing them all to the same common standard, would be five quarters; and it is farther evident, that this rate of wages could not be increased otherwise than by increasing the quantity of capital in a greater proportion than the number of labourers, or by diminishing the number of labourers in a greater proportion than the quantity of capital. So long as capital and population continue to march abreast, or to increase or diminish in the same proportion, so long will the rate of wages, and consequently the condition of the labourers, continue unaffected'; and it is only when the proportion of capital to population varies,-when it is either increased or diminished, that the rate of wages sustains a corresponding advance or diminution. The well-being and comfort of the |