I

TAKE one bufhel of fresh cowdung; half a bufhel of lime-rubbish of old buildings (that from the cielings of rooms is preferable ;) half a bufhel of wood-afhes; and a fixteenth part of a bufhel of pit or river fand. The three laft articles are to be fifted fine before they are mixed, then work them well together with a spade, and afterwards with a wooden beater, until the ftuff is very fmooth, like fine plafter used for the cielings of rooms. The compofition being thus made, care must be taken to prepare the tree properly for its application by cutting away all the dead, decayed, and injured part till you come to the fresh found wood, leaving the furface of the wood very fmooth, and rounding off the edges of the bark with a draw-knife, or other inftrument, perfectly smooth, which must be particularly attended to. Then lay on the plafter about oneeighth of an inch thick, all over the part where the wood or bark has been fo cut away, finishing of the edges as thin as poffible. Then take a quantity of dry powder of wood-afhes, mix

SIR,

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ed with a fixth part of the fame quantity of the afhes of burnt bones; put it into a tin-box, with holes in the top, and shake the powder on the furface of the plafter, till the whole is covered over with it, letting it remain for half an hour, to abforb the moifture; then apply more powder, rubbing it on gently with the hand, and repeating the application of the powder, till the whole plafter becomes a dry fmooth furface. All trees cut down near the ground should have the furface made quite fmooth, rounding it off in a small degree, as before mentioned; and the dry powder directed to be ufed afterwards fhould have an equal quantity of powder of alabaster mixed with it, in order the better to refift the dripping of trees and heavy rains. If any of the compofition be left for a future occafion, it should be kept in a tub, or other vessel, and urine of any kind poured on it, fo as to cover the furface; otherwife the atmosphere will greatly hurt the efficacy of the application. Where lime-rubbish of old buildings cannot be eafily got, take powder chalks, or common lime, after being flaked. month at leaft. As the growth of the tree will gradually effect the plafter, by raifing up its edges next the bark, care fhould be taken, where that happens, to rub it over with the finger when occafion may require (which is beft done when moistened by rain,) that the plafter may be kept whole, to prevent the hair and wet from penetrating into the wound.

WILLIAM FORSYTH. [Edinb. Mag.

ferved an egregious error, for my currection of which you will doubtlefs be obliged to me.

In your annotations on the ninth chapter (letter B.) you obferve, At what period the Britons were firft 'called Welsh, or from whence the word Wallia is derived, is not, I believe, as yet afcertained: laborious may have been the researches, ⚫ and various, no doubt, are the con'jectures. From whatever origin the word may have been derived, it is not, however, unreasonable to fuppofe, that it was at firft a term of reproach applied by the Saxons, fince the Welth almost invariably • denominate themfelves Cymii.'

Now, the etymon of the name is fufficiently obvious to preclude the neceflity of laborious research, or hypothetical conjecture.

When the Saxons conquered this ifland, the few natives who efcaped the general deftruction retired to the mountainous country beyond the Severen, to which they gave the name, not of that which they had abandoned (however dear to them), but the generic one of their nation, Gall, which the Saxons, according to their practice, have changed into W, a letter peculiar to their own dialects. Thus they who retired to the western extremity of the island, applied alfo the national name to their territory, prefixing a term which in their language, as in its offspring the Latin, defignates its geographical figure, Corn Gall, Cornwall, quafi Cornu.

The truth of this may be illuftrated by other examples. About the time of Julius Cæfar the Germans made frequent incurfions into Belgic

Gall, from which they were feparated by the Rhine; and as the Roman power declined, they got poffeffion of the whole country, and the porterity of thele men from that circumftance acquired the name of Walloons. About the 8th century, a colony of Galls eftablished themfelves in Dacia upon the Danube, and called their territory Gallacia, which the Teutonic people who furrounded them changed into Wallachia. The Teutonic people on this fide the Alps still call the Italians Welsh: De la fiert que les Germains au nord des Alpes appellent Wallaidh et par contradiction Wailih le peuple qui fur leur frontiere habite l'ancienne Gaule Cifalpine et les Italiens en general.*

Geraldus Camb. teftifies that' Adulterino vocabulo ufitatoque magis fed proprio minus, modernis diebus Wallia dicitur. And Wallis, literarum g& w frequentiffima eft commutatio (Preface). And Spelman, Galli jemper g utuntur pro Sax. w.t (Gloff. verba Garrantie).

But the univerfal usage of the French nation, calling the Welh Gales, and the Prince of that territory le Prince du Gale, were fufficient to fupercede conjecture. For the etymology of Cymii, I would refer you to the Gentleman's Magazines of March and April, 1788, under the title of Obfervations on Pinkerton's Differtation on the Goths or Scythians.'-I have the honour to be, &c. &c. J. Y. London-fireet, April 27,1789. [Eur. Mag.

and Guillaume.

CURSORY

Y reading Mr. Burke's Reflections, a perfon unacquainted with the true ftate of things would fuppofe the Englith nation to be in the zenith of her power and profperity; that her citizens were happy, and without any caufe of complaint; but the reverfe is at prefent the fact; and it is no hard matter to expose the unfairness of Mr. Burke's reprefen

tations.

The English nation, at the expiration of a long, an expenfive, and an unsuccessful war, found her fituation and finances extremely impaired and deranged; her empire had been difmembered and drained of a valt number of her moft ufeful citizens, who had either perifhed by the calamities which attended the war, or had emigrated to the United States of America and to other countries: the incredible fum of one hundred millions fterling had been expended by their military operations; their taxes were increased, and the people were impoverished and oppreffed.

It was to be expected, that under fuch circumstances their government would have adopted lenient and conomical measures; that they would have retrenched all unneceffary and fuperfluous expences, and endeavoured to have conciliated the confidence, efteem and affections of the people, by a removal of their grievances and complaints but the parliament were venal and mercenary, and the miniftry defpotic and corrupt.

:

The minifter (Mr. Pitt) inftead of endeavouring to diminish and reduce the national debt, by a proper application of the finking fund, which was actually established, has, in fact,

New-York Mag. Vol. II. No. 10.

increafed it, by involving the nation in continental intrigues and difputes: he has expended near five millions fterling in the late differences with Spain, and he has gained a bubble in return.

Can a nation, who are not the miferable dupes of a corrupt and defigning miniftry, fuffer the public money to be lavishly spent and thrown away as it is now in England? Their penfion lift is a keen fatire on the public fenfe of the nation. They fuffer their money to be taken out of their pockets without any manner of refiftance, and that very money is the inftrument and the price of their oppreffion. Such a particular fum is given by the minifter to fuch a particular lord, knight, or efquire, for the purpose of obtaining a feat in the Houfe of Commons, or bestowed for fome particular and fecret fervices rendered not to the public but to the court. And even the debts incurred by the hopeful heir apparent to the crown, in gaming, horfe-racing, &c. have been defrayed out of the public treafury.

The English nation, ever fince the Hanoverian fucceffion, have been egregioufly impofed upon and deceived by their German kings. They have already expended for the protection of Hanover, three times as much as it is worth; and large fuis of money are every year paid as fubfidies to the petty princes of Germany, for the fupport, protection and defence of a foreign dominion. The deareft interefts of a great, a mighty and a magnanimous people, have been facrificed to the petty elector of a contemptible electorate, to the fervile

cup-bearer of the German Emperor. If it is afked what is become of the fpecie which ought now to have remained in the British nation from the balance of their extenfive commerce, a ready answer may be made, by replying, that no inconfiderable part of it is gone to the avaricious, mean and petty defpots of Germany: it has been the fubfidy-money for troops to guard Hanover; it has been the price and the exchange of blood.

The people of England have for a long time boafted of their freedom; but they in fact have never enjoyed it in its pure ftate. It is true that their fituation was defirable when compared with that of the other nations of Europe; but much yet remains to be done.

The oppreffions which the English nation have to complain of, are derived and may be deduced from three or four principal fources; from the ufurped, illegal and arbitrary prerogatives of the crown-from many tyrannical, unjust and oppreffive ftatute laws, formed from the extenfive remains of feudal ignorance and barbarity, and the feudal principles of conqueft-from a fyftem of corruption, difhonefty and bribery in parliament, and from the want of a juft and equal reprefentation.

The property of all the land in the British dominions is fupposed to veft and refide in the crown, and they are all faid to be held mediately or immediately of the king, as the lord paramount of all. This notion alfo proceeds from the unjuft maxims adopted by the old feudal fyftem, and it is flavish and unjuft in the extreme. For my own part, I confefs, after all my researches, and after all the attention that I have bestowed upon the fubject, I cannot find a fingle point or reason that can justify fuch a pofition.

If this propofition were true at any time, it must have been fo at the time

of the Norman conqueft. It is a faƐt well known, that the conqueror feized upon all the lands in the kingdom, and parcelled them out among his followers and his new English fubjects. They were then loaded with all the intolerant fervices incident to a ftate of vaffalage, and to the feudal fyftem of tenure.

This property of the crown to all the land in the kingdom, or in other words, to the ki gdom itfelf, upon whatever principle it is defended, whether by conqueft, by grant, or by prefcription, muft certainly appear as very fallacious and abfurd.

If it is defended by virtue of conqueft, or, as it is fometimes a little more mildly termed, acquift, I reply, that neither William of Normandy could, nor can any other perfon gain a juft title by force. They may indeed gain poffeffion, but they can never acquire a right by that means. The Abbe Raynal judicioufly and exprefsly obferves, that " conqueft binds no more than theft."

If it is claimed by force of a grant, Idemand that this grant be produced; if it is not or cannot be produced, the right pretended to have arisen from it mult of courfe fall to the ground. But even if it were poffible to produce fuch a grant, I must ask, when and at what time there exifted a body of men capable of making it, and of giving and granting away all the land in the kingdom to a certain family, or to a certain imaginary thing, for themselves and for all their pofterity in infinitum? If the perfons who make a grant exceed their power and authority, it is so far void ab initio.

But let us fuppofe that the affertors of monarchy and the advocates of power should, with all the ftern voice of oppreffion, cry out, We disclaim all title by virtue of a grant, and our title is not folely founded upon conqueft; we have all fanctifying and juftifying prefcription in our favour,

and

and time will give colour to our claim-I reply, that this defence is too weak to admit of enquiry.

No length of time can give a fanction to force or to fraud. A right acquired by mere violence is no right at all, and confequently none can defcend: And no prefcription or length of time can be fet up against the law of nature and the inalienable and inherent rights of mankind. It may not be improper to inform thefe gentlemen, that oppreffion can never be juftified by force of prefcription, and that old and inveterate evils, like old and virulent cancers, require harfher and more violent remedies.

This is making large ftrides at arbitrary power and dominion: it is giving to the crown the whole kingdom: it is making the king the univerial landholder and landlord of the foil; and it is conftituting the whole nation his mere tenants. He is made the fovereign arbiter, difpofer and owner of all the real property in Great-Britain.

I deny that a king of England, as fuch, has an equitable right to an inch of landed property in the whole kingdom, though as a private incividual he may poffefs as much as he is able to purchase. If it is afked, what is become of all the lands which have accrued to the crown by reafon of efcheats, forfeitures, &c. I answer by placing them on the fame footing with the former-I am folely contending for the mere abftract principle of right.

That the king is the fountain of all honour is a principle, if poffible, more foolishly abfurd than the former. It has always been the policy of kings to inspire into the minds of the people an idea that they poffefs every great and good quality, which can either demand their admiration or enfure their respect. We may as well fay, that the king is the fole

monopolizer of all goodness and virtue, as to fay that he is in poffeffion of all the honour in the kingdom.

From this principle, abfurd and falfe as it is, the prerogative of conferring titles and peerages entirely proceeds. This prerogative throws an undue proportion of power into the hands of the king; for by this means he is enabled to carry every queftion that is agitated in the Houfe of Lords, and to fecure a majority in cafe they should prove refractory, by intruding into that houfe a number of his own creatures; and indeed it was contended by a venerable peer, in the cafe of Lord George Germaine, that the king has no authority to create a new peer without the approbation and confent of the house of peers upon this very confideration.

The king may alfo protect debtors from the public juftice of the nation, and defraud creditors of their just debts, by granting his writ of protection.

He may hinder the free citizens of England from leaving the kingdom, and render their ifland a prifon for life, by iffuing his writ of ne exeat regnum.

He may recall a citizen from abroad, and feize upon his eftate till he returns.

Allegiance is faid to be due to the natural and not to the politic perfon of the king; to the man, and not to the office. This is reverfing the order of things.

The king is faid to be the fountain of juftice; and it is faid, that all the juridicial authority exercifed in the English nation is derived from the crown.

The king hath the fole prerogative of appointing officers, and all officers are faid to derive their authority mediately or immediately from him.

The power of making war or peace in England, is fingly vefted in the The

crown.