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same year in which he was so honourably chosen Chief Magistrate of Glasgow, he was appointed Commissioner by the convention of royal boroughs of Scotland to proceed to London, to obtain an Act of Parliament to place the British linen manufactory on the same footing as that of Ireland.

Glasgow having greatly extended, and having become a manufacturing as well as a commercial city, and legislative facilities being required in consequence of changes which were taking place, and as there existed then no combined body of men interested in the diversified branches of trade, calculated to collect information, or to give force, energy, or system, to any public mea. sure necessary for partial or general benefit, Mr. Colquhoun turned his thoughts to the means of remedying this inconvenience, and devised a chamber of commerce and manufactures, for which he afterwards obtained a royal charter, erecting the same into a corporation. This institution has since proved of essential service to the trade and manufactures of the city. In this year, likewise, he was elected president of the Committee of Management of the Forth and Clyde Canal; to the affairs of which he paid much attention, for nearly ten years, as a great national object. In the year 1783, we find this indefatigable magistrate chosen chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Manufactures, now consisting of about 300 members, 217 of whom attended the election so that, in this year, Mr. Colquhoun had his comprehensive mind employed in attending to the functions of the following important situations, besides being necessarily occupied by an attention to private concerns:

1. Lord Provost of Glasgow.

2. Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Manufactures.

3. Chairman of the Toutine Society. 4. Chairman of the Committee of management of the Great Canal,

In the spring of this year Mr. Colquhoun proceeded to Manchester to collect information relative to the then extent of the rising manufactures, preparatory to a negociation with the minister, and for obtaining the assistance of the manufacturers in England, in procuring a drawback on the bleaching materials. After a most tedious and laborious negociation with Lord John Cavendish, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and with other members of go

vernment, which ultimately proved successful, the Convention of Royal Boroughs transmitted to him a vote of thanks, accompanied by a handsome piece of plate, as a mark of the high sense they entertained of the services rendered to the manufactures of the country. This being the year, also, in which Mr. Colquhoun, while in London, obtained a royal charter for erecting the Chamber of Commerce into a corporation, that respectable body voted him their thanks, accompanied by a valuable piece of plate. This was, likewise, the year when Mr. Colquhoun was, on the 30th of September, unanimously chosen, for the third time, Lord Provost of Glasgow; he was, at the same time, appointed a magistrate for the county of Lanark, and a delegate from the Council of Glasgow, for the election of a member of Parliament.

In October, 1784, Mr. Colquhoun ceased to fill the office of Chief Magistrate of Glasgow, but continued to execute the duties of a County Justice of the peace, and to attend sedulously to all other objects respecting the trade and manufactures of the city, and to other public objects connected with the prosperity of the country.

In 1785, we find Mr. Colquhoun's attention almost unceasingly devoted to the means of relieving the distresses of the manufacturers in different brauches, particularly those engaged in fabricating cotton, in printing calicoes, tobacco manufactures, and other trades. And, in March of this year, he proceeded to London, delegated by all the manufacturers of Scotland, to meet those of England, to concert measures to avert the calamities which were likely to be caused by the adoption of the Irish propositions, and to obtain legislative relief for the languishing condition of the cotton manufactures. In March he was sedulously and constantly engaged, in conjunction with the delegates of the manufacturers from different parts of England, in representations and in negociations with the Minister, and in conference with Members of Parliament representing the different districts from whence the delegates were sent. After encountering, and ultimately overcoming numerous difficulties, Mr. Colquhoun, after a residence of three months in London, finished the object of his mission, the result of which was, that by a new modification of the Irish propositions, many points were conceded

to the British manufacturers. The manufacturers of printed goods were thus exempted from an additional duty which was contemplated, and an act was obtained, which was considered as extremely beneficial; and further, the cotton and muslin manufacturers obtained a repeal of the duties which pressed hard upon them. These advantages, obtained after the most unwearied exertions, laid the foundation for that burst of prosperity which the cotton manufacturers afterwards expe rienced, and made a deep impression on the minds of all the parties concerned, who expressed their gratitude by the presentation of four valuable pieces of plate, with appropriate inscriptions and devices, from tour differ ut public bodies. At the same time, on Mr. Colquhoun's return to Glasgow, the Corporation of Weavers unanimously resolved

"To bestow the freedom of their corporation on Patrick Colquhoun, Esq. late Lord Provost of the city, in testimony of their approbation of his public conduct particularly of his seasonable and spirited exertions in warding off, from the muslin manufactures of this country, an oppressive and ruinous tax, equally pernicious to the landed inter ests, the manufacturers, and the great collective body of the people; humbly requesting that Mr. Colquhoun will honour them by his acceptance of this public demonstration of their esteem aud gratitude, and permit them to add his name to the roll of the corporation. "Signed, at Glasgow, the

16th of July, 1785, in
the name, and by the
appointment of the Cor-
poration,

"JOHN PAUL, Deacon." Notwithstanding the multiplicity of all these important and urgent avocations, Mr. Colquhoun, from 1783, published the following works, in furtherance of the various national objects committed to his management:

1. Observations on the present State of the Linen and Cotton Manufactures...

Printed 1783

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8 Observations on the Means of extending the Consumption of British Calicoes, Muslius, and other Cotton Goods, and of affording Pecuniary Aid to the Manufactur ers under Circumstances of the highest Advantage to the Fade ..1788 9. Queries on the Present Distressed Situation of the Cotton Manufactures of Great Britain, and on the Means of Relief......178$

10 A Representation of Facts relative to the Rise and Progress of the Cotton Manufactures in Great Britain, with Observations on the Means of Extending and Improv ing this valuable branch of Trade..1789

11. A Representation of the Facts relative to the Sufferings and Losses of the Merchants residing in Great Britain who carried on Trade to the United States of America........1789

During the interval from 1785 to 1788, Mr. Colquhoun devoted most of his time, to public business, and to the means of extending and improving the trades and manufactures of his country, and in devising means to remove the difficulties which were opposed to their extension, which now became an important desideratum, in consequence of the rapid increase of the cotton mills, not only in England, but also in Scotland. In consequence of this state of things, a general meeting of the manufacturers was called, and Mr. Colquhoun was strongly solicited once mor to advocate their cause in London. He accordingly proceeded to Manchester on his way to the metropolis, for the purpose of collecting accurate information as to the then situation and actual extent of the mills, and of the state of the cotion manufactures in England. After passing two days there, and after having oblained

the fallest information, he arrived in London, and associated himself with the principal manufacturers then on the spot. His first object was to prepare a digested view of the actual state of the cotton trade in Great Britain in 1788, which he presented to the Minister Mr. Pitt, who, until that period, had no means of procuring a general view of the rise and progress of this important manufacture Mr. Colquhoun was fur ther employed in preparing papers for the press calculated to elucidate the subject, and for the purpose of distri bution among the Members of Parliament and of his Majesty's Government, with whoai, and with the East India Directors, conferences were at different times held. As the result, an Act of Parliament was obtained exempting British manufactures from auction duty, in contemplation of public sales after the manner of the East India Company, as the means of extending the demand of British manufactures, and of rendering them better known on the Continent by a cheaper diffusion. Mr. Colquhoun, returning to Scotland by the way of Manchester received, on the 12th of Jone, the thanks of the manufacturers for his services in London. On the 20th of the same month, a very numerous meeting of the manufacturers of Glasgow voted their thanks for the services rendered the trade which was followed up on the 24th of the same month by a similar vote from the manufacturers of Paisley.

On the 19th of March of the same year, the Governors and Council of the Forth and Clyde Navigation, uganimously voted their thanks to Mr Col quhoun, with a piece of plate, value 1007, in testimony of the benefits derived by the proprietors from his ser vices in the management and superin. tendance of that important establishment, and which has since proved also so useful to the country. At the close of the present year. 1788. Mr. Colquhoun went to Ostend, being then a depôt for East India goods, to ascertain how far similar British manufactures could enter into competition in the soles in that part After making arrangements for an experiment the ensuing spring, he returned to ondon in January 1789, and finishen a connection which promis ed to prove highly beneficial to the trade at large; but the jealousies which arose among some of the more opulent manufacturers ultimately defeated one

of the best measures which could have been adopted for the benefit of the whole, and which afterwards became a subject of regret with some of the leading opposers, and a great disappointment to a numerous class of industrious manufacturers, who looked forward to the measure with a well-founded confidence that it would have been the means of renovating the trade then greatly depressed.

In the spring of the year 1789, Mr. Colquhoun visited Flanders and Brabant, to open a mart in those countries for the relief of the then distressed manufacturers, and returning to London, he continued nearly three months constantly engaged in various objects counected with the improvement of the commercial and manufacturing interests, and having succeeded in various points of great importance, by conferences with the Minister, he returned to Glasgow early in the month of August, having during his absence accomplished the following important objects:

1st. His efforts in Flanders and Brabant rendered the then infant manufactories of muslins known on the Continent, and which ultimately laid the foundation for that extensive demand which afterwards took place.

2d. He procured a renewal of the act obtained by him in 1783, allowing a drawback on bleaching materials which, but for his exertions at a critical moment, would have been lost.

3d Ile procured certain amendments to be introduced into the Excise Tobacco Bill, which removed the objectionable parts so as to meet the wishes of the importers and manufacturers.

4th He was instrumental, after great exertions at a very critical moment, in procuring the insertion of the names of the merchants in the City of Glasgow, who had property confiscated in Ame. rica during the war, in a bill brought into Parliament, which enabled the parties concerned to recover a very considerable sum of money which would have been otherwise lost.

5th He procured the passing of an Act to exempt piece goods exposed to sale by public auction so as to place the goods on the same footing as the piece goods sold by the East India Company.

6th. He finally arranged with the parties in Loudon the great and important plan of a Cotton Hall for the sale of British manufactures in London, free of auction duty, on the same footing as

East India goods in respect to foreign purchasers, by a general periodical exhibition, supported by a very large capital, for the assistance of the manufacturers, and to be available in anticipation of the sales; and had the manufacturers been universally true to themselves, and had not the French war soon after taken place, the benefits which would have resulted from this great national establishment would have been incalculable.

In the month of November in the year 1789, Mr. Colquhoun finally settled in London with his family-still continuing his exertions in promoting every object which tended to give vigour and prosperity to the trade and manufac tures of Great Britain; and in affording his assistance in promoting useful legislative regulations whenever they were found necessary, during the years 1790 and 1795. In 1792, the state of the 'police of the metropolis being long a subject of reproach, from its inefficiency and from the want of a proper and more intelligent magistracy, an act was passed in this year, authorizing the establishment of seven public offices, with three justices to each, under a parliamentary establishment, and Mr. Col quhoun having been appointed to one of these offices, he immediately turned his attention to the subject of police, to the errors and imperfections of the then existing system, and to the means of improvement.

(To be continued.)

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since the best authors, both ancient and modern, have not thought it below the majesty of history to mention the like, it may be the more excusable to take notice of.

"The King being at Oxford during the Civil Wars, went one day to see the public Library, where he was shewn, among other books, a l'irgil, nobly printed and exquisitely bound. The Lord Falkland, to divert the King, would have his Majesty make a trial of his fortune by the Sortes Virgiliana, which every body knows was an usual kind of augury some ages past. Whereupon the King opening the book, the period which happened to come up was that part of Didos' imprecation against Eneas, which Mr. Dryden translates thus::

'Yet let a race untam'd, and haughty foes, His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose;

Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field,
His men discouraged and himself expelled,
Let him for succour sue from place to place,
Torn from his subjects and his sons embrace.
First let him see his friends in battle slain,,
And their untimely fate lament in vain;
And when at length the cruel war shall
ccase,

On hard conditions may he buy his peace.
Norlet him then enjoy supreme command,
But fall untimely by some hostile hand,
And lie unburi'd on the barren_sand.'

ENEID, B. iv. 1. 88.

"It is said, King Charles seemed concerned at this accident, and that the Lord Falkland observing it, would likewise try his own fortune in the same manner, hoping he might fall upon some passage that could have no relation to his case, and thereby divert the King's thoughts from any impression the other might have upon him. But the place that Falkland stumbled upon, was yet more suited to his destiny than the other had been to the King's; being the following expressions of Evan. der upon the untimely death of his son Pallas, as they are translated by the same hand:

"O Pallas! thou hast fail'd thy plighted word

To fight with caution, not to tempt the

sword:

I warned thee, but in vain; for well I knew

What perils youthful ardour would pursue. That boiling blood would carry thee too far; Young as thou wert in dangers-raw in

war!

O curst essay in arms,-disastrous doom,Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come." Ibid. B. xi. 1. 230.

1

EXTRACTS FROM A LAWYER'S called Slyass, even if the whole twelve

I'

PORTFOLIO.

(Continued from page 100.)

T appears from the Regiam Majestatem, that Trial by Jury was used in Scotland as early as David Ist. 1124. From Olaus Wormius (Monu. Danm. cap. 10. p. 72), that the trial by twelve men was introduced into Denmark by Regnerus, who began to reign in 820, from whom it was borrowed by Ethel red. 'Tis not improbable that our jury decided originally without a judge all controversies within a certain district. We are in the dark concerning their proceedings till the time of Edward II. when the Year Book began. Unanimity was required, 1st, out of mercy to the prisoner; 2dly, from the danger of attaints against jurymen; 3dly, to prevent any individual from being obnoxious to the crown or to parties. In the time of Henry III. this unanimity was not required in the first twelve impannelled, for, according to Bracton, if they disagreed, a number equal to the dissentients, or at least six to four, were added. From Fleta it seems this was the practice in the next reign, but the judge then appears to have had a power to oblige the first twelve to agree. In Scotland the decision is by a majority even of one, and the number is fifteen. Aldermen and citizens of London in the third Henry's reign had the privilege for a trespass against the King to be tried by twelve citizens, for a murder by thirty, and for trespass against a stranger by the oath of six citizens and himself. (Vide Fabian's Chronicle.) -Hickes, in his Thesaurus, the most learned research into Saxon antiquities, proves it was unknown to the Saxons,' and supposes it was introduced into England by Henry II. (Ibid.)"

Such were the contents of a torn paper which the wind wafted to the feet of Sheriff Elliott, as he took his morning walk. He said as English lawyers are wont to say on a more important occasion "I spy a Brother;" and opened the next fold with great care and curiosity.

"It is remarkable, that the English have always preserved an even number in their juries; thinking, perhaps, that among every twelve men there will bea majority of wise ones, or that the wise minority may always govern the majority of fools: but, saith my learned friend Silas Mucklequack, commonly

Europ. Mag. Vol. LXXIII, Mar. 1818.

should judge wrong, one full woman would set them right, for she would contradict them all.""

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The Sheriff laughed, having no womankind at home, and turned another fold. Every body knows how a learned German ornithologist contrived to foster his motherless broods of chickens white he pursued his studies. Now, saith the aforesaid Silas, if such broods were properly distributed in the chambers of the senate, in courts of law, colleges, and coffee-houses, where a few irrelevant chirpings and crowings would not be strange, long sittings would prove marvellously useful, and speculating philosophers might be tolerably certain of providing their own dinners, and something for the benefit of the state."

Mr. Elliot looked round for the pro bable owner of these citations, but saw no one except an old hen-wife at the door of her cothouse. 66 Truly," said

he to himself, "this rogue's wit runs through his law like quicksilver through a tube of tough leather-What will come next?"-But he found only a few lover-like verses addressed to an "Elfin Arrow," commonly called a Scotch pebble.

Neil Elliot, Sheriff-depute of a Scotch district, had once claimed only the humble designation of writer to the signet but powerful connections, quick talents, and a happy address, placed him soon among the most important commoners in the west-country. He was as ear nestly sought on festival-days as at magisterial meetings and arbitraments: and perhaps the fragment he had found was more touching to the humorous than the legal polity of his character. He perused it twice before he noticed a letter lying on his breakfast-table, addressed to him in the same hand-writing. It contained a concise and modest petition for employment among his junior clerks, with an intimation that family circumstances deprived the writer of any recommendation, except that which the Sheriff's benevolence might find in his diligence and integrity. Mr. Elliot held this appeal in his hand when his servant entered to remove the mul tifarious abundance of a Scotch breakfast; and after some preamble, he enquired if the person who waited his reply had the air of a lawyer's pupil· or clerk.

Silas Mucklequack was on some occa sions a clerk himself, and be answered

C

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