navy, muft foon become tributary to fome more powerful state, a high opinion of the conduct of thofe, whose peculiar duty it is to watch over the means by which, what Blackstone calls the "national bulwark," can be erected or kept in repair. It is not the writer's intention to blame one fet of minifters, or of foreft-officers, more than another; but to state generally, from what he has feen and learned to be the real ftate of the nation, in regard to a ftock of fhip-timber, that the conduct of the officers of the crown in this respect, during the whole of the now almost expiring century, has been fo uniformly remifs, as to merit the moft fevere cenfure of every individual who wishes the extenfion of British commerce, or the continuance of British freedom. Without bringing forward evidence to fupport this affertion, it may by fome be faid to be founded on falfe principles, and by others to be matter of opinion only, and in either case unworthy of regard. It will, however, appear in the fequel, that the charge, ferious as it may appear, is too well founded, and that the confequences to be dreaded are no lefs ruinous than disgraceful to the British nation. The increase or decrease of timber in England, fit for building or repairing ships of war, was long a controverted point, as matters of opinion always are. Commiffioners having, how. A 2 evera ever, been appointed by Parliament fome years ago to inquire into the ftate of the royal forefts, &c. the matter was afcertained, and the decrease proved to be fo great as ought to have given caufe for general alarm, although it is believed not one measure likely in any effential degree to prove effectual for remedying the evil has fince been adopted. By the reports of these commiflioners, as laid before the King and Parliament, it appears, that owing to the extreme negligence of thofe who were appointed by the state to watch over this fource of national profperity and fecurity, the royal forefts have in many inftances become royal waftes; and that Britain, great as it is called, is well known to be reduced to the neceffity of depending on other countries for a supply of navy timber. In a word, while our wars and our commerce require immenfe additional fupplies of fhip-timber, our forefts and woodlands have been allowed to fall into decay. A perufal of the following extracts will establish the fact: "In these reports (fay the commiffioners) we have endeavoured to explain the defects in the present fyftem of management; we have fhown, that the intereft of the officers of the forefts, and that of the public, are directly oppofite to each other; and that fuch has been the effects of the wasteful fyftem, that the woods, forefts, and chaces belonging to the Crown, though though of very great intrinfic value, have furnished no more than 2000 loads of timber annually to the dockyards*.-That, befides the value of thefe 2000 loads, and of all that the forests produced from the year 1761 to 1786, there has been expended on them a further fum of L. 144,882: 16:0; fo that, inftead of yielding any clear revenue whatever, they have actually brought a confiderable lofs upon the pu. blic: While the forests are so far from being in an improving condition, that they are every year growing worfe-That, according to the information we have received, there is a general and alarming decrease in the quantity of great timber growing in this country.-That the quantity of oak-timber wanted for various internal purpofes, and for the fhipping employed in the trade of this country, will be as much as can be fupplied from private eftates.-That the following statement will fhow the increase of commerce within the present century: "That the consumption of oak-timber is probably greater than even the increase of the trade, because the whole muft now be carried on in British bottoms; whereas, previous to the American war, many fhips built in that country were employed in our trade.-That if the royal forests fhall be improved and properly managed, they may in time be brought to furnish a supply, which will prove a competent fecurity against the fcarcity which there will otherwise be too much reason to apprehend.-Qn the whole (add the commiffioners), we are persuaded we fhall not be thought to go beyond what is warranted by the information before us, when we form this conclufion: That if the profperity of this country fhall continue, the confumption of oak-timber for its internal purposes, and for the fhipping neceffary for the whole of our trade, including that of the Eaft India Company, will, at no very distant period, furnish an ample demand for all that can be expected to be produced on private property in this kingdom; and fuch is the present state of the growing timber, and the profpect of future fupply, that this country will in all probability experience a fatal want of great oak-timber, and become dependent on other powers for the means of supporting her navy, if care be not taken to provide a fupply in future, by the improvement and better management of the royal forefts, and to reduce the con fumption fumption of it by the utmost care and frugality in the expenditure." Were any perfon difpofed to doubt the correctnefs of the reports above alluded to, or the fources of the commiffioners information, they have still other means of fatisfying themselves in regard to the deplorable state of the royal forefts. Gilpin, in his forest scenery, mentions a particular foreft, the name of which the writer does not at prefent recollect, which contains between fixty and seventy thousand acres. This foreft, about the year 1660, furnished, by his account, 500 oaks annually to the dockyards. The number is now reduced to fixty; that is, under one oak tree annually for every thousand acres. The once large and thriving royal forest of Sherwood is now probably the most extenfive wafte capable of improvement of any in England. From a perufal of the agricultural report of the county of Nottingham, in which that foreft is fituated, a pretty correct idea of the conduct of the fuperior foreft officers in the kingdom at large may be formed, by what is there defcribed to be that of the Duke of Newcastle, who is Lord Warden of that foreft. While the part of it belonging to the crown is allowed to continue in a waste ftate, we are informed what wonders the Lord Warden has performed in improving what is called "a foreft break;" that is, . |