The Cabinet Lawyer; or Popular Digest of the Laws of England. 332 An Examination of the Policy and Tendency of relieving Distressed Antologia, Giornale di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti Gamba's Travels in the Southern Provinces of Russia, with a view to the establishment of a new Commercial Route Tieck's Dramatic Criticisms, (Vol. II.) Maury's Flowers of Spanish Poetry, with a Dissertation on the MONTHLY REVIEW. SEPTEMBER, 1826. BRARY ART. I. Mr. Jacob's Report on the Trade in Corn, &c. Ordered by This defect is now, in a great degree, supplied; and the publication of Mr. Jacob's report will oblige those who tremble at the notion of imported corn, to seek food for their fears in some other part of the world than the north of Europe. pro In the summer of last year Mr. Jacob, at the desire of the Board of Trade, proceeded upon a tour through those countries, the ductions of whose soil are usually exported from the depots of the Baltic and of the North Sea. His instructions were numerous and minute, and pointed his inquiries to every subject connected with the supply of foreign corn, especially with a view to ascertain what quantities of grain had been conveyed during a series of years to VOL. III. NO. XI. B the various ports, and how much was then warehoused; what likelihood there was that an increased demand from England would be followed by an increased supply, and what effect such a demand would probably have upon the prices of corn; what was the course of cultivation in those countries, and, generally, the state of agriculture and manufactures, and the wages, skill, habits, and mode of living of the lower orders of the people. The route which Mr. Jacob took was judiciously selected. 'He passed through the Netherlands, the Prussian provinces on the Rhine, and the dominions of Saxony, to Berlin, and from thence by Stettin to Dantzic. From Dantzic he travelled through the kingdom of Poland, visiting Thorn, Warsaw, and Cracow; deviating in several directions from the main road, returned through Gallicia, Moravia, Austria, Bavaria, and Wirtemburg, to Strasburgh, where he entered France, and, by way of Paris, reached England.' The information which he collected, during this long course, is full, minute, and satisfactory. Scarcely a subject relating to the main scope of his enquiries seems to have escaped his observation; and the few points in which his report may be deemed defective, are either of little importance to the purposes of his mission, or such as were incapable of complete examination, by one traversing such extensive districts in so short a period. Mr. Jacob appears to have left England in the end of June (1825), and to have returned in the beginning of last February. The chief depots for the exportation of corn in the north of Europe are Dantzic and Elbing. The vast tract through which the Vistula is navigable, is almost wholly devoted to agriculture, and sends all its productions, designed for foreign sale, to be warehoused at these ports, and thence transmitted to the foreign markets. Konningsburg, Memel, and Riga to the north, and Stettin to the south of the mouth of the Vistula, are less favourably situated, both from the inferior facilities afforded by navigable rivers, and the smaller quantity of surplus produce yielded by the countries of whose productions they are the outlets. Riga, in particular, to which the government of Russia have been for some time endeavouring to divert the corn trade of Poland, is not likely ever to become a great corn depot, owing to the length of time during which that port is closed by frost; the difficulty, arising from the severity of the climate, of drying corn preparatory to shipment; and its distance from the countries which may happen to require supplies of grain. For these reasons, Mr. Jacob thinks that Riga has little chance of being made a successful rival to Dantzic and Elbing. Of the sea-ports on the North Sea, which afford exit to the corn that passess down the Elbe and the Weser, Hamburgh, as might be expected, has the largest share in the exportation of grain; but the quantity sent annually from these ports is small, when compared with the shipments from the mouth of the Vistula. |
