receiving of them, through the hands of his agents, receipts for the whole.

A despot may shew his benevolence by adopting such expedients to ameliorate the condition of his subjects. But the measures themselves will ever be liable to abuse, and can have no general and permanent effect.

Liberty is the mainspring of the whole economical system, whether we regard agriculture, manufactures, or commerce; and, if this be wanting, all its movements will stop as soon as the hand is removed which may give them a forced and temporary motion.

The following are the principal measures adopted by the Danish monarchs to palliate the evils of this wretched system. In 1755 Frederic the Fifth encouraged agriculture among the Norwegians by giving premiums to such as should contribute to its advancement.-He, at the same time, granted £16,000 as a bounty to the Iceland fishery.-He, moreover, issued an ordinance, forbidding the importation of wrought silk.a

As a further means to promote agriculture, the king in 1754 sent proper persons into England, Flanders, and other countries, to instruct themselves in the practice of that art.

In 1755 his majesty established an African company, with a capital of 500 actions, each action consisting of 500 rix-dollars, divided between thirteen adventurers. "

In 1758 Frederic the Fifth invited foreigners to settle in the waste districts of Jutland by grants of land: and a great number of Germans, preferring subjection to an oppressive government with land to oppression without land, were induced to accept his proposals."

To promote trade, the king declared the ports in his two islands of St. Thomas and St. John in the West Indies to be free, under certain restrictions.ti

Christian the Seventh's administration was at this time distinguished by some measures which shew that he was not destitute of patriotic intentions, and that his reign might have been more prosperous, had his weak under

standing been assisted by better counsellors.-On his return from his tour through France and England, in 1769, he instituted a royal society of agriculture. He founded hospitals for disabled seamen and soldiers. And he declared Gluckstadt, at the mouth of the Elbe, a free port.

k

In 1775 the Danish East India trade was declared free, on the payment of a duty of eight per cent.'

The canal of Kiel, a work which promises to be of great benefit to the neighbouring parts of Germany, Denmark, and the Baltic states, was begun in 1777. Mr. Coxe gives us the following account of it. "The canal begins about three miles north of Kiel, at the mouth of the rivulet "Lewensawe, which heretofore separated Holstein from Sleswick, and will " form a new boundary between those two duchies. The distance from "its beginning to the last sluice at Rendsburgh is twenty-seven English miles; but as the Eyder is navigable about six miles and three-fourths "above Rensburgh, and only requires to be deepened in some places; "the cut which is necessary for the completion of the water communica"tion between the two seas is only twenty miles and a half." TM

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The same author enables us to form some idea of the extent of the trade which the Norwegians carry on in deal, and the profit derived from it. "The environs of Christiania not yielding sufficient planks for expor"tation, the greatest part of the timber is brought from the more inland parts. The trees are hewn in the forests, and floated down the rivers and cataracts. Saw-mills are used for the purpose of cutting the planks, but "must be privileged, and can only cut a certain quantity. The proprietors are bound to declare on oath, that they have not exceeded that quantity; and if they do, the privilege is taken away, and the saw-mill destroyed.

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« There are 136 privileged saw-mills at Christiania, of which 100 belong "to the family of the Ankers. The quantity of planks permitted to be "cut, amounts to 20,000,000 standard deals, twelve feet long, and one "inch and a quarter thick."

"For the encouragement of the Greenland fishery, his Danish majesty in 1785 issued a proclamation for encouraging foreigners,

as well as natives, to embark in the whale and seal fisheries from that kingdom to Greenland, Iceland, &c. by which a bounty of fifteen rix"dollars per Danish commercial last (or about thirty shillings sterling per "ton, British measurement) was offered to persons choosing to embark in "that trade from the said kingdom; to be paid down in cash before the ship is fitted out, on security being given that such vessel or vessels shall be ready, and do sail on that errand, (wind and weather permitting) "at the time appointed in the royal proclamation."

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REVENUE.

Zimmermann gives the following statement of the Danish revenue:

The debts in 1771, according to the above authority, were 15,000,000 dollars.

ARMY.

According to the new plan of 1785, says Zimmermann, the number will be as follows. Cavalry 6,073 men.-Infantry 33,475 men. For Norway 35,715 men, including cavalry, artillerymen, &c. making a total of 75,263 men.

The expence of this establishment amounts to 1,663,922 rix-dollars.

To

To provide a supply of officers for it, a military school has been established at Copenhagen.

In 1779 the Danish

NAVY.

navy consisted of the following ships.-Thirtyone ships of the line. Nine of 50 guns. Twenty-one frigates. Beside which there are sloops, bombs, and fire-ships. Of these twenty-five ships of the line and fifteen frigates were then fit for service: nor did it appear that this force was augmented in the year 1801.-There is an academy at Copenhagen for the education of naval men.°

EXTENT AND POPULATION.

The whole of the Danish dominions have a population of 2,500,000 persons, including the colonies, upon 182,400 square miles. Of that number Denmark proper has 1,125,000. The islands 450,000. Jutland 400,000. Sleswick 248,605. Holstein 310,000. Norway 720,000. Such is the vast sextent of uninhabited country, or nearly such, that the popu lation is averaged by Zimmermann at only twelve to a square mile.

SWEDEN.

NATIONAL CHARACTER AND GOVERNMENT.

THERE is no nation who have more of the essentials of greatness than the Swedes. In their persons they are robust and active; in their temper and disposition high-spirited, brave, and persevering, and they are invincible to hardships in the path of glory:-It might reasonably be expected that such a people would hold the highest rank among the nations of Europe. In fact they have proved that they merit that distinction by the fame which they have acquired whenever they have had a monarch who was worthy to govern them.

Political circumstances, not moral defects, have been their impediment. All the revolutions which have taken place in this kingdom, and the evils which have befallen the nation, may be observed to have originated in the want of a constitution which has a proper balance of power among its constituent parts.-Gustavus Vasa, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, relieved them from the oppression of Christian the Second, the cruel tyrant under whose dominion they had groaned. But that illustrious patriot did not use the proper means to prevent a return of the misery from which he had redeemed his countrymen, by giving them a well-constituted government.-After his death, the kingdom again became a scene of confusion, and continued so, with little intermission, till Gustavus Adolphus restored good order among them, and led them to military glory in his wars in Poland and Germany.-Unfortunately, whilst the Swedes were sharing with their monarch in his triumphs, nothing was done towards such a reform in the constitution as might secure them personal

comfort