tive parallelism between the brain-babes' of our two Urquharts. The transmission even of idiosyncracies of temper and genius through half a score generations is rare; but in this case the truly marvellous circumstance is the direct inheritance of tenets, theories, views, tastes, and opinions. To be understood and appreciated, their works must be studied together. The truth, for example, is that the whole logic of 'The Pillars of Hercules' would be unintelligible but for the pedigree sketched in the 'Pantochronochanon.' David II. has written these two volumes principally to prove that the Highland clans, with clan Urquhart at their head, marched from Achaia to their present localities in Inverness, Cromarty, &c., viâ Canaan, Egypt, Morocco, and Andalusia, and that accordingly the most marked traces of identity are still clear and evident between the said clans and the Moslem, but especially the Moors. Now, although hypotheses of a kind not dissimilar had been broached with no contemptible ingenuity by Vallancey and other Milesian antiquaries, it is undeniable that their readers always desiderated a solid substratum of evidence; but who will hesitate to admit that this hiatus is supplied by the unquestionably authentic traditions of the personal movements and adventures of the successive heirs of Seth, of whom Esormon was the first to assume the ancient and honourable' surname Urquhart? * We expressed our hope at the outset of our paper that the living Chief might hold his earthly honours longer than befel the illustrious Parresiastes. We are confident that at all events one whose tendencies are so avowedly to the Mussulman section of the Christian world can be in no danger of having his days shortened in consequence of any such indulgence in tumulencious symposiasms as has been reported of the enthusiastic Cavalier of 1660. It would, however, be wrong to allude again to that solitary spot on Sir Thomas's reputation without noting that in this matter that gifted man had a prophetic glimpse of some things that afterwards came to pass. Such at least is the interpretation we put on a very striking chapter of his Logopandecteision, where, after justly stating that wine drunk with mediocrity conduceth to wisdom and learning,' he adds that on the other hand, if immoderately taken, it oftentimes occasioneth much prating, * Sir Thomas, at p. 162, refers to the voluminous History of the House,' of which the Pantochronochanon' is only a compendium. We hope if his descendant possesses the larger history, he will edit it forthwith. We observe that in the copy of Dod's Parliamentary Companion for 1850, there is a note, intimating that the honourable Member's pedigree is disputed' by a certain Mr. Urquhart of Meldrum. The publication now suggested, clearly establishing the regular transmission of the Archives of the House,' would of course silence this Aberdeenshire pretender to the representation of Esormon. For ourselves, the internal evidence of the Member's own writings, as compared with those of Sir Thomas, is more than sufficient. and and enrageth those that in taverns be well whittled with Septembral juyce;' of which last and most fatal result the actual insanity supervening upon jovial commensalls-he gives some touching and memorable examples observed during his own travels in regions not remote from the Pillars of Hercules, Thus : : 'In many that kind of disease taketh such deep roote that no remedie can prevaile. I saw at Madrid a bald-pated fellow who believed he was Julius Cæsar, and therefore went constantly in the streets with a laurel crown on his head.'- Works, p. 364. As to David Bey, our only apprehension in this 'connexion' (as the Yankees say) is that he, like another profound statesman of our times, M. de Lamartine, may be tempted to venture occasionally on a too liberal dose of the orthodox hashish. He certainly rather alarms us by the modest statement in the Pillars of Hercules (vol. ii. p. 90), that ere he had been long in Barbary he found, by the ultra-reverential demeanour of the natives, that he had entered on the hereditary privileges of a Saint or Madman.' ART. VI.-Facts in Figures, a Quarterly Digest of Statistics, abstracted chiefly from Official Returns, with Practical Deduc tions. No. 1, New Series, March, 1850. London. Pp. 32. CONSIDERING the course which legislation has taken of Nor late years, and the prevailing taste of the country in matters political, we should be disposed to set much value upon a wellexecuted abstract of official statistics, periodically issued. might there seem to be much difficulty in the way of such a publication, for Parliamentary papers are now attainable at a low price, and to prepare an useful popular digest of them requires only industry, fidelity, and some moderate degree of political intelligence. Nothing, however, is more rare than an accurate abstract of official or Parliamentary documents; and the pamphlet now before us, though it has the names of several respectable booksellers on its title-page, is only noticeable for its superlative worthlessness. We are sorry for the publishers; but it is difficult to conceive how anything so grossly erroneous, should, even by accident, have been given forth with their imprimatur. What is rightly stated could only have been learned from documents containing upon the face of them other facts which are either wholly omitted, or completely misunderstood and misrepresented; and the philosophical deductions appended to these mutilated and perverted data data are nothing better than servile repetitions of the most stale and questionable dogmas of the Manchester School. We shall give a few examples of the bad faith or the almost incredible blundering of this pamphlet, before proceeding to offer some details of things as they really are. Under the head of Trade,' its editor presents An Abstract of Imports during 1848 and 1849, showing the increase or decrease therein.' One looks naturally in the first instance to the import of bread stuffs, of the increase of which every one has heard. The import of wheat is set down from the official return, and all sorts of grain and pulse, down to pease and beans;-but of the import of wheat-flour not the slightest mention is made, though the quantity taken for home-consumption in 1849 was no less than 3,937,219 cwt. Butter and cheese are omitted-though of the former 282,501 cwt., and of the latter 379,648 cwt. were imported in 1849. The import of eggs is not mentioned-though it reached the number of nearly a hundred millions. The import of oliveoil for salads is recorded-but no notice occurs of oil-cake for feeding cattle, the import of which was 73,029 tons in 1848, and 59,144 tons in 1849. Among provisions,' fresh pork is alone set down, amounting to 924 cwt.-while of salted pork, amounting to 347,352 cwt., and of beef, amounting to nearly 150,000 cwt., nothing is said, Among seeds, clover seed is equally ignored-though it is the only import under that head which paid duty. In spices none but pepper is given. In the return of sugar this abstract-maker includes more than a million hundred weights of molasses. Tallow he altogether omits. 6 But all this is correctness itself when compared with the abstract of exports. A table is given, purporting to be an abstract of the export-trade in the under-mentioned articles during the years 1848 and 1849;' but neither in the said abstract, nor in any other part of this singular Digest,' is there the slightest record of the export of any one single article of British production. The compiler, by accident we are to hope, fell upon the official table of the export of Foreign and Colonial merchandise from the United Kingdom, and this he copies as if it were the total export. Thus if one were to rely upon the facts' of our very liberal master of 'figures,' the export of cotton goods from the United Kingdom would be taken at about 225,0007.—this being in truth only the foreign supplement to an export of nearly twentyseven millions' worth of home manufacture, about which he says not one word! It is not necessary to pursue further the stupidities of this publication. Great as our foreign trade is, the ideas which generally prevail here, here, and yet more upon the Continent, with respect to its comparative importance, are much exaggerated. In France it appears to be taken for granted by public writers that the principal part of the industry of Great Britain is devoted to the manufacture of goods for foreign markets, and that the principal dependence of this country is upon the sale of domestic or colonial productions to foreigners. This is a most erroneous supposition. Let us take the last year (1849), when the exports of Great Britain exceeded by 20 per cent. the exports of the preceding year. According to the official return of the Board of Trade, the total value of the exports of the principal articles of British and Irish produce and manufactures for the year 1849 was 58,848,0427., and this includes the value of the raw material, which, in respect to some of the most important articles of British export, is of foreign production. Now this sum, large though it be, is probably not more than an eighth part of the annual production of wealth in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Mr. W. F. Spackman, in his elaborate work on the Occupations of the People,' gives the following estimate as an approximation to a correct statement of the annual 'creation' of wealth in the United Kingdom : Foreign commerce, including the shipping interest, 10 per cent. on the amount of our exports and imports Fisheries 15,000,000 3,000,000 £450,000,000 Mr. Porter estimates (or did estimate some two or three years ago) the annual value of the produce of the land of the United Kingdom at upwards of three hundred millions. As to the gross value of manufactured productions, Mr. Spackman estimates it at 187,184.2927, of which 118,600,000l. are for the home trade, and 58,584,2921. for the foreign trade. His general conclusion is, that of the products of manufacturing industry, the foreign trade absorbs one third, and the home trade two thirds. It is probable that foreign writers may have been misled by looking too exclusively at our cotton manufacture. Of the products of that particular branch of industry the larger portion is exported. It is calculated that the home consumption is to the export consumption as 20 to 25. VOL. LXXXVI. NO. CLXXII. 2 G The ww The official return of Exports for 1849 gives of Cotton Cloth, 1,335,654,751 yards (value) £18,834,601 Lace and Net, 105,918,378 yards Stockings (value) Thread, 4,950,451 lbs. . Cotton Yarn, 149,502,495 lbs. 487,300 427,422 439,551 6,701,920 6 £26,890,794 The import of raw cotton in the year 1849 is officially returned as 6,745,259 cwt. Taking this at the value of 50s. the cwt., the sum paid out of the kingdom for the raw material would be 16,863,1477.; so the gain upon this branch of trade is not so very great as might at first be supposed from looking merely at its vast extent. Even in that view, however, especially as regards the employment of the people, misapprehension very widely prevails. Writers of some authority are found to assert that the cotton manufacture of Great Britain gives employment to nearly two millions of the population. It seems, however, by a carefully prepared digest of the Population Returns of 1841, presented to Parliament in 1844, that the numbers employed in and about the manufacture of cotton have been estimated much beyond, and as far below the truth. The actual number, including men, women, and children, amounts to 302,376.' The same return states that the number of boot and shoemakers is 214,780. Thus it will appear that the manufacture of cotton goods does not stand in so toweringly pre-eminent a position among the sources of British employment as is generally believed-even though we take into account a subsequent statement of the com missioners, that if to the numbers strictly employed upon cotton fabric were added those returned as lace and hose manufacturers, together with a proportion of weavers, spinners, &c., the whole number to whom the cotton manufacture furnished employment in 1841 might be fairly assumed to be near upon half a million. the The following is a list, taken from the official return for 1849, of the export of each article of home production, the total value of which exceeded half a million of money. |