In our last number, we published the Report of the Visters of the Academical Institution, we now insert the Report of the MANAGERS. REPORT OF THE MANAGERS OF THE ACADEMICAL INSTITUTION. The Managers, finding that a general Meeting of Proprietors is to be held this day, to decide on a question which they have always considered as of the utmost importance to the well being of the Institution, have thought it their duty to lay before them the following Report, that their Constituents, by being acquainted with the present state of their affairs, may have the necessary information, to come to a correct decision on the subject. On being appointed to succeed to the board of Managers which vacated that of fice on the sixth day of November last, according to the act of Incorporation, they conceive that as the Proprietors had marked out no particular line to be pursued by them in the management, it was intended that they should adopt the system on which the former Managers had acted, in pur suance of the Resolutions of the several Meetings, which determined, that the Schools and Lectureships should not be opened until suitable buildings be erected, and that these should be commenced immediately; they therefore made the arrangements to proceed with all possible activity in forwarding the buildings, and for this purpose, adopted measures for procuring a superintendant, properly qualified for the situation. In this they have succeeded as well as they could have wished for the interests of the Institution; having chosen from among a number of applicants a person well recommended by those who had hitherto employed him, and whose conduct during the short time they have had experience of it, has fully corresponded with their expectations, This appointmeat took place on the first of January last; his first duty was to draw up an estimate, in order that the Managers might see to what extent they could go, in obeying the directions of the general Meeting of March, 27th, 1809, which directed that the buildings should be gor ready, before any Schools or Professorships should be commenced. This estimate has been given in on the 5th February, from which it appears that the part of the buildings pointed out by the Board of Visitors as absolutely necessary, in their message of the 12th December, (to which the Managers refer,) would cost £8,387. On examining the state of the funds, to see how they could answer this demand, they found that the amount of the subscriptions was upwards of £16,000; yet, notwithstanding the indefatigable exertions of the Treasurers, a considerable part of it yet remains unpaid; that the sum actually collected, including interest, amounts to £12,375; and that of this, the sum of £4,202 has been expended in the uses of the Institu tion, as has been stated in the Auditors' accounts, laid before the several general Meetings. Although it is not their intention to recur particularly to proceedings which are now irrevocable, as having received the former sanction of the Proprietors, expressed by the adoption of the several reports annually laid before them, yet they cannot but notice that which relates to the build · ing of a wall of enclosure, as it may appear to those unacquainted with the circumstances to have been attended with an ill-timed and unnecessary expense. In the year 1808, when the Proprietors had deterinined in consequence of the high price of timber, that the buildings should hot proceed, it was thought that during the total stagnation of all trade connected with building, a favourable opportunity presented itself of raising a substantial wall of enclosure on more moderate terms thap could have been done at any future time; they therefore built a wall round three sides of the ground, which will, they trust, be permanently serviceable: the front has been left open, because it is intended to secure it by a railing, as in other public buildings, and therefore they avoid ed the expense of a wall, which would have to be soon removed. In the statement of the money spent, is included the timber now on hands, amounting to upwards of £1,500; this still remains towards the building, making the funds that may be appropriated to that purpose, £9,573, 2 sum which, from their superintendant's report, they conceive will be fully ade quate to raise such a portion of the building as appears to both the Boards of Visitors and Managers, sufficient, though barely sufficient, for the commencement of the Institution, and to admit of these buildings being finished in a manner not unbecoming the purposes for which they were designed, though by no means splendid or unnecessarily ornamented. To prevent any fur ther delay, when the season permits, they have contracted for a large quantity of brick, and sufficient cut stone, for those parts, without which the workmen must of necessity be kept idle: conceiving therefore that the sum now in hands would effectually provide for the completion of the building, without farther delay or disappointment; and that if any part of the funds were at present appropriated to any other purpose, the building, without which the Schools and Lectureships could not even be opened, must be at a stand, they thought it their duty, after mature and frequent deliberation, to give a decided negative to the recommendation of the Visitors, stated in their Report: another reason which served to strengthen them in the idea, that their decision on this point was consonant to the wishes of the Subscribers, as well as tending to the benefit of the Institution, is, that it removes the objection made by many persons to pay up their subscriptions, on the grounds that no progress has been made in the buildings; this objection being removed, the managers think that the funds will be augmented, so as to ensure a sufficiency to commence some of the literary departmente, inde pendently of the money they hope ta derive from the sources just now to be mentioned. But while they have thus determined, as far as depends on a decision of their board, to finish such part of the buildings as is wanted immediately, they have not neglected the consideration of forming a fund for the support of the Professors and Teachers, without whom, all else is nugatory; they have, therefore, at present prepared a Petition to Parliament for pecuniary aid; the success of which, from the reception of their former application, and from the liberality of the Legislature to other similar public Institutions, they can have little cause to doubt of; and they are also conscious, from their knowledge of the public spirit and desire of literary improvement that pervades this part of the kingdom, that though at present there may be a disinclination in many to cos tribute when little appears to have been done, yet when it is seen that a building is ready, or nearly ready, many will gladly come forward with zeal and liberality, to put the finishing hand to the undertaking. The building, if the proper supplics be allowed to carry it on with speed and energy--if it be not checked in its commencement, by withdrawing from it son e of the funds absolutely necessary for its completion, may be finished at the termination of this year, or certainly during the course of the next; but if, when it is raised as far as one half, or two-thirds of your present funds will admit, it is to stop for want of the money which lies unemployed for payment of Professors and Lecsurers, who can have no existence until they have a place to teach and lecture in," it is impossible to say when it may be finished, or when the portion set apart for the literary department is to be applied to tl e uses for which it was originally subscribec. These are the motives which have induced this board to the decision now n their books; they have acted to the best of their judgment; to you it remains to decide, whether the funds, fully adequate to the completion of one object of primary necessity, shall be so employed; or that they shall be divided in such a manner as to be competent to the completion of no one part; or whether, proceeding as you have hitherto done, you will accede to the wishes of your fellow-citizens, and countrymen, in supplying them immediately with a place where their children of his feet was crushed in the fall, which, bringing on a lock-jaw, terminated his mortal career. Mr. McCoy was a man universally esteemed and beloved, as far as his acquaintance extended; polite and unassuming in his deportment, and ever ready to oblige, few men have acquitted themselves so well in his station of life. He died in his 32d year. According to his own desire, his remains have been conveyed to Newry, the place of his nativity, where his wife and two infant children were interred in one grave about welve months ago. AGRICULTURAL REPORT, From 20th February till 20th March. The fine weather has at last set in, and the farmers are diligently emploved in preparing for the different crops of the season; much of the land is yet to plough, and it will require great exertion to accomplish it before the usual time of sowing. The early ploughed ground which was broken up in a wet state, where the soil is inclined to clay, will probably harden so quickly by the dryness of the weather, as to prove extremely difficult to harrow, and those who are possessed of such land, ought to ger it sown immediately, even if they should have to leave some of their less retentive fields untilled, for some time longer. The long continuance of wet weather has prevented the usual quantity of wheat from being sown, which will probably induce many of the farmers to substitute barley in its place. It might probably be a good speculation to sow flaxseed in some of the Iind designed for wheat; the present obstructions to a commercial intercourse with the ports in the Baltic, and the unsettled state of things between this country and America, seem to point out the propriety of guarding against the recurrence of such a scarcity of flax and seed as was experienced two years ago. It is surely wise and politic in the inhabitants of Ireland to render themselves as little dependant on other countries as possible, especially for the raw material of our staple manufacture. The prices of grain and oat-meal have not fluctuated much since last report. Potatoes are plentiful in the markets, and at a reasonable price. Hay seems rather scarce, and selling at a rate unusually high in some parts of the country. Coald the occupiers of Land be prevailed on to sow a patch of their farms with the Swedish Turnip for feeding cows during the winter, they would seldom experience a scarcity of fodder in spring, and the cream, milk and butter would amply compensate for the trouble and expense of the culture, whilst the superior condition of their cattle would convince them of the propriety of persevering in the system. COMMERCIAL REPORT. Statesmen have been accustomed, when the people complained of taxes, and of the burdens of the war, to represent the flourishing state of trade, and adduce Customhouse returns as vouchers for the facts. When the people are averse front the trouble of thinking, these returns were admitted as proofs of the growing prosperity of the country. But by looking deeper, the fallacy might have been detected. Returns from the custom-house merely stated the gross amount of imports and exports, and even in some cases, as where no duties were payable, these returns were not very accurate. But at best, they only showed the quantity of goods imported or exported, without any referrence to the state of the markets. The combined operation of the British and French governments, hostile in their intentions, but combining in producing similar effects, by orders in council, and decrees, had shut out British manufactures from their accustomed markets, and paralyzed the commerce of these countries. Other markets were sought after, and a delusive opening to trade to South America was eagerly grasped, and immense quantities of articles sent out to a market, with the nature of which we were unacquainted, where the white population, from which a demand could only be expected, was very small, and where inveterate prejudices and suspicion in matters of trade, prevented a free intercourse. The large stock of goods improvidently forced out to Heligoland lay rotting on the quays, and but a small portion gained a clandestine admittance to the European continent. Even the commerce to Archangel, and the Baltic, under the fiction of neutral colours, became more precarious, and subject to all the caprices and contradictory ukases of the Russian government, of which many of our merchants were convinced to their cost, by the confiscation of their vessels, while Sweden has latterly fallen entirely under French influence, and Denmark been rendered permanently hostile to us, by the attack on Copen hagen, and the spoliation of her fleet. Even a short period of uninterrupted trade, permitted with the United States of North America, did not produce so extensive an open for our manufactures as was expected, for the orders in council, has forced forward American manufactures some years sooner than such a rapid progress would have occurred in the natural course of events. This is the state of our export trade. Let us now view our imports. Foreign produce was hastily brought in, not,on a calculation to supply the regular wants of trade, but lest if the present opportunity were not snatched, another might not speedily be found. Hence resulted improvident importations, met by a, diminished consumption, and a consequent glut of the market. The capture of the French West-India Islands, added to the stock of colonial produce already too great during the total exclusion from the European continental market, and increased the already existing difficulties. By this train of consequences, all resulting from the war, both foreign trade and domestic manufacture suffered: bankruptcies ensued, and we are now in a crisis of unexampled commercial distress. At former periods of stagnated trade, as in 1778,1793, and 1797, the causes were of a more temporary nature, and the country had more strength of constitution to facilitate the hopes of convalesence. Now the causes are of a more permanent nature, and are inflicted by a systematic exertion of power, and of a state of things, over which we have little or no controul, while the war continues; for France will not relax in her powerful plans to exclude from the continent of Europe, nor will America be likely to concede while we continue in hostility to the rights of neutrals, and maintain the fiction of a paper blockade, or the right to search neutral vessels. There can be no reliance placed on an adoption of more moderate counsels, or that war will be carried on in a less irritating manner, War and moderation are incompatible. Peace alone appears capable of removing the present distress. In the mean time, few but feel some share, more or less, of the pressure of the times, from the great capitalists to the lowest tradesinan, from the loan-making Goldsmids and Barings, down to the working hosiers of Nottingham, who for want of employment, to keep themselves from starving, are forced to submit to sweep the streets of that town, and are paid 14s. per week by the corporation for this service. There is a class still lower. It is asserted, that a million and half of paupers in England, now subsist on a parish allowance of 2lbs. of bread per week to each person. Such is the state of the once wealthy and flourishing England, We have our abundant share of misery in Ireland. To meet the present distresses, a plan is adopted to issue six millions by exchequer bills, as a loan to the merchants and manufacturers in Great Britian. A loan on similar principles had been previously granted in Ireland. The committee of the house of commons, ground the policy of this measure on the good success, which attended a similar measure in 1793. But the times, and the causes of the distress are very、 different. Loans may be useful in a period of temporary stagnation, when there is reason to believe the difficulties may be speedily removed, but the loan will open no new markets, or give any fresh channels for increased consumption. It may increase the stock of manufactured goods, and thus produce an accumulation of the evils by bringing forward a greater glut in the market. Statesmen can do little for trade but by leaving to it a free course. But wars, which are the statesman's harvest of dishonest gains, do much to derange the operations of trade. Enlightened policy asks not money from them, but that they would allow us to have peace. Yet the people too often, like their rulers, are fond of war and are dazzled by its false glitter. "But war's a game which were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at."— Government are now openly by their agents purchasing guineas on the Exchange of Belfast. Will the English believe that the prosecutors of De Yonge, are themselves buying guineas for their purposes, and admitting a trade in Ireland, which they attempt to prevent in England? The premium on guineas has risen to 10 per cent. Purchases in large quantities are now making by agents of government for the purpose of supplying the foreign stations in Spain, Portugal, Sicily, &c. The unsettled state of South America has prevented the usual quantity of dollars being received, which latterly superseded the use of guineas in the foreign services of the British army and navy. From the high prices they now bear, our stock of guineas, except the small portion which may be hoarded, will propably soon be bought up and removed out of the country. The high premium on guineas is much lower than the price of bullion in England. Gold is now at £5. per oz. or £1. 2s. 14d, above the coinage price, making an advance of bullion above coin of upwards of 27 per cent. Silver has also risen since the bank fixed their tokens at 5s. 6d. instead of 5s. To explain the curious phenomenon of bullion being so much higher than coin, we must recollect that guineas by being forced to circulate with a depreciated paper currency, and restricted from finding their own level, by being publicly sold as in Ireland lose their value as gold, and are reduced to the standard of the paper in the company with which they occasionally circulate. While in the shape of guineas, gold is subject to the same rate of depreciation, as the paper. It is another of the evils of the war, that we are reduced to have only a circulation of pa-" per, which cannot be considered as a substantial representation of our former currency, for so long as the national banks are restricted from paying in cash, bank notes are only substi tutes for gold, but cannot be said either politically or commercially to represent it. The overextended issues of bank notes not grounded on payments in specie form another effective cause of the present bankruptcies, Money, such as it was, became too plentiful, and for a time aided speculation. But at length bankers found it necessary to curtail discounts, not from a scarcity of the circulating paper medium which is in too great abundance, but from rational doubts of the securities offered. In 1795, the security was good, but money scarce. These circumstances strongly mark the difference between the two periods, and the dangers which attend sooner or later on a too great extension of paper credit. At page 238, is given at full length the report of the committee on the present commercial distress. In the debate on receiving the report, it is worthy of observation, that the chancellor of the exchequer held a lower tone than usual, and as the case really required, partaking, of despondency and doubt as to the efficacy of the proposed relief. How different from the former boasts of prosperity! Yet there is no room to hope, that either he, or perhaps the nation at large, is sufficiently instructed in the school of adversity, so as to produce a speedy change of the war system, although so bitter are its fruits. In making the next loan, it may be anticipated that he will encounter many difficulties from the depres sion of omnium, and the casualties attending on that circumstance last year. Our domestic manufacturers languish. The cotton trade is very bad. If in comparison with the cotton trade of Britain, the outcry of distress is less, it is owing to ours never having been in so flourishing a state as theirs, and consequently the reverse is not so great, nor the comparison between present and former times, so strongly marked. The linen trade improves but little. The loss however falls more on the draper than on the manufacturer and weaver. The latter are indemnified by the high prices obtained for brown linens, and are in a better situation than the weavers of cotton, but the draper suffers by the reduced prices at which the sales of white linens are forced in the several markets. We have one free export trade, which America permits-The ships returning to America from the northern ports of this country are filled with emigrants. When a |