Star. — London, England, 1822-01-05 00:00:00

. Manufactures. This they have constantly done, in the hope of gaining ttetheir side the Monied Interest. But they have failed ; and, in a great measure, they have lost - the Agriculcurists, who had adhered to them till they were ruined The next grand cause of our agricultural distresses, is the late rash and ill-advised return to cash payments. We are now, in a great' measure, without a circulating medium : we have abundance of produce, and abundance of consumers, or of those who would wish to be consumers ; .but we are in want of that which is necessary to bring the two together—a new circulating medium. For this evil I know of no remedy but time ; and our dis tresses are so pressing, that it badly suits us to wait ; and a thriving and flourishi4 commerce, which, by bringing bullion into the country, may furnish a suc cedaneum for the paper currency which has departed, which should not have been allowed to depart till a proper substitute had been provided. For want of a requisite circulation an utter stagnation has taken place, not merely of speculation, which is the life and soul of trade, but of the usual and ordinary com merce of corn. We cannot again recur to a paper, currency, for this will cause the Exchange to fall, and we should be deprived of the small pittance of gold now in circulation in the country; and we should have a second time to undergo the dreadful operation .of a return to a metallic currency. Ministers were highly culpable for having allowed themselves to be bullied by their opponents into this rash measure; they were constantly branded with the impossibility of the return : the coin would never be seen again in circulation in the country. To give the lie to these taunts, they had made an effort beyond the strength of the country. Millions had been disbursed under the name of loans (the repayment of which was never e rected), for the relief of foreign countries—millions f(.:- the building of Churches—millions, at various tunes, for the relief of Commerce and Manufactures, but not a shilling h ad ever been given °dent to the Agt cultnrists. Nu small part of our distresses is to be, ascribed to the oppressive and grinding taxation with which we arc burdened. How this is to be endured' and sustained, I cannot imagine; for 15 millions each quarter (a sum nut exceeding our whole circulation) ' were to ken from our pockets and carried into the Trea sury. There is no reason why the Stockholder should not coot, ibute to the support of the National Clergy, for the) have souls to be saved as well as the Land ownci s. There can be no reason why they should not coati ibate to the support of the poor, for they -are the cause of making paupers as well as the Land owners. The National Clergy and Pauperism bring me to the consideration of an ample topic of grievance —the state of the laws relative to the poor and tithes. In this country the poor are a greater burtben, per haps, than in any other, and whether it . would be politic to make a large class of property subject to the Poor-rates, as contemplated by the 4.34 of Queen Elizabeth, which has not yet been done, it is difficult to sat. The best remedy would probably be, to in crease the wages of the poor, to better their condi-1 tion, and to render them independent of the Over seers; for there is too much season to think that pau perism would be aiways co-equal to any quantity of property that might be subject to its influence. I shall say but little on the subject of tithes, for ft is one of great delicacy, though productive of g,e.tt evil. I make no allusion to the Clergy, tUr 1 sincerely think that, upon most occasion-, they are snore moterate in their demands than the lay impmpriators, of which' I myself am one. But lam convinced that a revi sion of the laws which relate to tithes might add to the respectability of the Clergy, to the contentment' of the Laity, and the general benefit of the cause of Religion." Mr. Funnra observed, that the speech of the Hon. Member as, in his opinion, much better suited to the meridian of the House of Commons than to that of the Meeting which he bad then the honour to ad dress; for, in that Meting, it was only necessary to state the case of the Agriculturists, and the grounds of their complaint, and then leave it to Parliament to consider of the means of affording them relief.— Without further preface or observation, he should read the Resolutions which, according to his own judgment, and that of others with whom be had the. honour to consult upon this occasion, he thought it proper to submit to the consideration of the Meet ing.—Here the Hon. Gentleman read the follow ing Resolutions: " At a Meeting of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, Freeholden, and Occupiers of Land, of the Rape of Hastings, in the County of Sussex, held at the George Inn, Hattie, on Thursday, the 3d thy of January, 1822; the Right lion. the Hasid AsasavissuAst in the Chair— " Resolved, That deeply impressed with a sense of the un precedented and increasing distress of all cLasses of persons within this district, this .Meeting consider it an imperative duty respectfully to solicit the attention of the Legislature to their situation, and earnestly to implore the adoption of some measure for their relief. Tlyar - the progressive decline in value of an productions of the sql, during the last three years, has gradually destroyed the previpusly acquired capital of the farmer—has, by curta ili ng t h e mearg of producing the usual course of husbandry, deprived one. third of the labouring population of.rmployment, reduced many iiidustrlaus and highly deserving occupators to pauperism, and, unless speedily arrested, must, in the opinion of this Meeting, be productive of universal ruin. "That this deplorable state of things is not confined to the occu pier of the soil merely, but, through him, its influence has extru ded to the other classes; the landlord, in very many instances, is without his rent, the clergyman without his tithe, the trades man without hi-4 usual business, and the mechanic without his acLuaternedemployment. 'That Petitions, in the spirit of the foregoing Resolutions, to both I lousus of Parliament, be prepared and signed; that the Earl of Ailtburattant be requested to present that to the House of Loris, and K J. Curttis, Esq. that to tbe !louse of Commons.' Mr. BRIT fON hoped the County Members would see the propriety of speaking to Ministers in a more authoritative tone than they had hitherto done. He wished not to be an Opposition man, or to thwart the measures of the Government : he cared not by whom the country was governed; but unless something were done the country would sink, never to rise again. The same quantity of property would perhaps be oc cupied, but would the same class of useful Agricul twists occupy the land? Many men in the neigh bourhood hid already sunk, and another Christmas would not pass away without a recurrence of the same thing. He trusted that on their return to the House of Commons, the Representatives of the County would give a lesson to Ministers, and support the third party, which might crush the other two to atoms. Here Mr. LA Nlisouo read the following extract of a letter with which he had been honoured by Lord George Cavendish, and which he was desired to com municate to the Meeting. The Noble Lord, who was , at present, the worthy Gentleman stated, in West moreland, at the distance of SOO miles, apolcigized for his absence ; and, in ieferring to theNihieet of the Meeting, thut,expressed With regard to the relief that is to.be applied, it is not to be done . either by the repeal of the Corn' Laws, which have had but little or no effect, or by substituting a pro. tecting duty, which would, in my opinion, be a pre ferable measure. The present state of things has been , produced by increased and enormous taxation (Ap plause), and by a decreased taxation it can alone be remedied, which decrease will necessarily require a diminution of the public expenditure"---(Applaffse). _ The Resolutions were then agreed to amine cox tradiaente, as the Chairman stated. A Committee was then appointed, each Member of which was nominated upon the proposition of Mr. FULLER, who called, in addition, for the attendance on the Committee of such Gentlemen present as were at the late Meeting at Itobertstown. The Committee retired; in order, as the motion stated, to draw up the Petition, and after a few mi nutes' absence they returned with the fallowing Peti tion, which was read by Mr. FULLER " TO THIL HONOUSAILI WC Common or ?NI Vows Knomors Of GNICAT BILITAIN AND I , IN PANLIAMINT ASSZSISLZI). " We the Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders, and Occupiers of Land of the Rape of Hastings, in the County of Sussex. most humbly represent to your Honourable House that the distress throughout the district in which we reside has Irrived at an en-, precedented height, and is daily increasing to an alarming extent • 1 The progressive decline in value of all productions of the soil, during the last three years, has gradually destroyed the pre viously acquired capital of the farmer—has, by curtailing the means of pursuing the usual course of husbandry, deprived out third of the labouring population of employment, and reduced many industrious and highly deserving occupiers to pauperism. " The Landlord is in very many instances without his rent, the Clergyman without his tithe, the Tradesman without his usual business, and the Mechanic without his accustomed em ployment; and this unhappy state of things, unless arrested by the interposition of the Legislature, must s peedily terminate in universal ruin. " We therefore humbly pray your Honourable House that this our deplorable situation may occupy your serious attention, and that you will adopt such measures for our relief as you in your wisdom may deem expedient." (Signed. &c. &c.) Mr. HoLioway moved the following Amendment to the Petition: " That it appears to your Petitioners, that their present un- 1 exampled distress is chiefly attributable to the resumption of cash payments ; not that your Petitioners by any means wish to see a I return to a depreciated paper currency, such is existed Awing the war; on the contrary, they reprobate such 'a measure. as fraught with evils of a still worse kind; but what your Peti doners wish most particularly to urge to your Honourable House is, that a return to cash payments (without a proportionate re duction in taxation) has, by lessening the quantity of money in circulation, tended to reduce the value of all kinds of property, and more particularly that of all agricultural produce, to such a degree, as to put it utterly out of the power of your Petitiont rs to answer the demands which are made upon them, without touching upon their capital, a circumstance which must even tually be attended with the must ruinous consequences, not only to your Petitioners thentsAves, hut to the Nation at large. It must be well known to.your 11o:tout-able !louse. that your Pe-' titioners have to pay in direct and indirect Government taxes (joined to the Poor-rates and other parochial burdens) greater sums of money now, that the price of all the articles of their produce is so much ;educed, than in the time of war, when they sold at so high a rate. Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray your Honourable House will take their case into your most serious considerat;oti, and make such a reduction in the expenses of the State, as shall be equal to the present increased value of money." Mr. BRITTOX animadverted upon the tenour of the Petition, and still more upon its omissions. Among those omissions he declared himself particularly asto nished at the abstinence from all allusion to the state of our circulating medium, all of which, at present found its way into the Exchequer no less than twice a year. Under such circumstances, he thought it as preposterous to suppose that the country should go on as that a man should By without wings, or that any other iroposs,ble thing should take place. The reduction of taies was, in his view, the only effec tual remedy that offered for the general distress of the country. lie seconded the Amendment. Nil-. LAMB deprecated the adoption of the Amend ment, as that would involve a departure from the principle upon which the Agi icultut ists bad uni formly acted for the last three years. The Honour. aisle Gentleman dwelt upon the injury done to the Agriculturists by the import of foreign corn in Isl 9, —the influence of which was still severely felt upon the price of corn. Forty thousand quarters of this corn were still, indeed, in the market, operating to the prejudice of the English Agriculturist. All, then, that our Agriculturists prayed, was, that they might be put on the same footing as the foreign Agriculturists, who derived so much advantage from decreased taxation. 4‘ Let us," exclaimed the Hon. Gentleman, " be placed only on equal terms with the foreign Agriculturists in our own market, and, if we have not sufficient skill and industry to cope with them, let us go to ruin."—(Applause.) Mr. FULLER begged, for sake of unanimity, that' the Mover and Seconder 'of the Amendment would consent to withdraw their proposition, which was not calculated to do any good. Captain HAVII.AND asked, whether the Honour able Mover of the Amendment was either a Free holder or an Occupier of Land in the Rape? Mr. Hou.crwav said that he was not a Freeholder, but that he was an Occupier of Land in the Rape, while he was proprietor of some land in °Hair:psi:ire; nearly on the borders of this county, and conse quently much interested in the question which had convened the Meeting. But, whether a Freeholder, or Occupier of Laud, or not, he expressed his sur prise at the interruption which he had exp er i ence d, declaring that he should not himself have attempted to prevent any Gentleman from expressing his opinion as to the object of the Meeting, upon any such ground. The CHAIRMAN decided that the Mover of the Amendment was strictly in order. Mr. BRITTON thought that, if any practical good were to be expected at all from the declarations of the People upon this subject, those declarations should be full, frank, arid explicit. 111 r. FULLER thought the best way would be to put the question first, and discuss it afterwards--(Lasigh tes)—which, addressing himself to a Reporter at the table, he observed, that Gentleman knew was not un frequently the practice elsewhere—(Laughter). The Amendment being put from the Chair, the Noble Chairman declared that it was negatives by a large majority, who afterwards voted for the Petition, which was ordered to be sent for signatures to various places, and particularly to those places where the Magistrates meet in the Rape. Thanks having been unanimously voted to the Chairman, for his very impartial and urbane conduct in the Chair, the Notie Lord expressed his acknow ledgments for the honour conferred upon him, de daring in the distress which had convened this Meeting, , as dence being that he was comparatively as much. implicated t arty one who heard him ; his sole demo ways been landlord and tenant could never have any separate interest— ub:: one th e orPr produce ce w of fho his land. that Rut the he had al (Aawst). Mr. Fut.t.ast exclaimed, that the last words of the Noble Chairman deserved to be written in letters of gold. . Mr. LAMS took occasion, before the Chairman left the Chair, to state that the Rape of Hastings, in Sus sex, is composed of 42 parishes. The population of 1811. was 32,281 ; the population of 1821, about 41,860; of which 1313 men are unemployed, or un profitably employed. The Meeting broke up about three o'clock, and soon after the majority of the Gentlemen present sat down to dinner in the Great Room where the discus. sion took place. Mr..CuaTers was unanimously called to the . Chair ; and upon its being mentioned that Mr. Complex, who sat in the orchestra during the debate, was in an adjoining room, a Deputation was appointed by the Meeting to invite that Gentle man to the dinner. Several Gentlemen proceeded accordingly to the apartment of Mr. Comm., and who called b u y po t i h t e th u e n i i r ler ret sa urn l a w pp it l h au t se hat of G t e h n e d 3 e i m ee an ti , n h g e , was hailed ups bum 'to occupy the Chair at the second table, wheie he accordingly took his seat. After dinner, " The King," with the usual toasts demonstrative of . loyalty, were drank with the most ardent testimonies of applause. Mr. BRITTON, after pronouncing a high eulogium upon the great talents and public services of the Gen tleman to whom he was about to refer, proposed The health of Mr. Cobbett, with three times three. Mr. CURTEIS, after declaring that he had no in tention whatever to oppose the proposition for chink ing the health of Mr. Cobbett, to which he was not at all adverse, submitted to the consideration of the worthy Mover, as well as to dint of the company, whether it would be consistent or proper to drink this Gentleman's health with three times three, while that of the King, and the other eminent rersonages who had been already toasted, was not accompanied by any such distinction ? Upon this suggestion the three times three were omitted; but the health of Mr. Cobbett, which was immediately proposed by the Chairman, was drank amidst very loud applause . Mr. Conarrr immediately rose and said—Gentle- men, nothing was ever to me more unexpected than this honour, which, whether I consider the occasion itself, the persons by whom the honour is conferred, the circumstance of the Gentleman who has given 1 the toast being wholly unknown to me, and never having been, to my knowledge, seen by me before ; or whether I consider the manner in which the pro position was made and has been received ; whatever view I take of the circumstances, the thing is calcu lated to give me the greatest satisfaction. Upon oc casions like this it is usual to go somewhat beyond the mese returning of thanks, which having returned most sincerely, I will now, taking up as little of your time as possible, offer you a remark or two that ap rear to me likely to be of use relative to the great subject which has brought you together to-dor. 1 am decidedly of opinion, Gentlemen, that a Corn Bill of any description, no matter what its I.rincipks or provisions, can do neither tenant nor landlord any good ; and 1 am not less decidedly of opinion, that though prices are now low, they must, all the present train of public measures continuing, be yet lower, and continue lower upon an average of years and of seasons. As to a Corn Bill—a law to prohibit or check the importation of human food, is a perfect novelty in our history, and ought, therefore, indepen dent of the reason, and the recent , xperience of the cate,to be received and entertained with great suspicion. —Heretofoie premiums have been given for the ex portation, and at other times, for the importation, of corn; but, of laws to prevent the importation of human food our ancestors knew nothing. And what says recent experience ? When the present Corn Bill was passed, I, then a farmer, unable to get my brother farmers to join me, petitioned singly against this Bill ; and I stated to my brother farmers, that such a Bill could do us no good, while it would not fail to excite against us the ill-will of the other classes of the com munity ; a thought by no means pleasant. Thus has it been. The distress of agriculture was considerable in magnitude then; but what is it now? And yet the Bill was passed ; that Bill which was to remunerate and protect is still in force; the farmers got what they prayed to have granted them ; and their distress, with a short interval of tardy pace, has proceeded rapidly increasing from that day to this. What, in the way of Corn Bill, can you have, Gentlemen, beyond abso lute prohibition ? And, have you not, since about April, 1819, had absolute prohibition ? Since that time no corn has been imported, and then only thirty millions of bushels, which, supposing it all to have been wheat, was a quantity much too insignificant to produce any sensible depression in the price of the immense quantity of corn raised in this king dom since the last bushel was imported. if your produce had fallen in this manner, if your prices had come down very low, immediately after the importation had taken place, there might have been some colour of reason to impute the fall to the importation ; but it so happens, and as if for the ex press purpose of contradicting the crude notions of Mr. Webb Hall, that your produce has fallen in price at a greater rate, in proportion as time has removed you from the point of importation; and as to the cir cumstance, so ostentatiously put forward by Mr. Hall and others, that there is still some of the imported even unsold, what does it prove but the converse of what those Gentlemen aim at, that is to say, that the holders cannot afford to sell it at present prices ; for if they could gain but ever so little by t h e sa l e , wou ld t h ey keep it wasting and costing money in warehouses?— There appears with some persons to be a notion, that the importation of corn is a new thing. - They seem to forget that, during the last war, when Agriculture was so prosperous, the po r ts w ere a lways open; that pro digious quantities of corn were imported during the war; that, so far from importation being prohibited, highpreminnts were given, paid out of the taxes, partly raised upon English farmers, to induce men to import corn. All this seems to be forgotten as much as if it had never taken place ; and now the distress of the' English farmer is imputed to a cause which was never before an object of his attention, and a desire is ex , pressed to put an cod to a branch of commerce which the nation has always freely carried on. I chill, G er . damn, that here are reasons quite sufficient to m a k e any man but Mr. Hall slow to impute tl.e oiesent di.- , tress to the importation of corn: but, at aof rat e , wl at can iron have beyond absolute efficient probibi t i or No raw, no duty, however high—nothing that th e Parliament.can do, can gel beyond this; and this yr, ei now have, in direct, as completely as if this were ;he only country beneath the sky. For these reaso Ls‘ Gentlemen (and to state more would be a waste of time, and an atront to your understandings), I sm convinced, that,,in the way of Corn Bill, it is impo,. sible for the Parliament to afford you any, even n e smallest, portion of relief. As to the other polish, Gentlemen, the tendency which the present and course of things have to carry prices lower, ar,4 considerably lower than they now are, and to ke ep them for a permartency at that low rate, this is matter worthy of the serious attention of all con nected with the land, and particularly of that of renting farmer. During the war no importations ti;s. tressed the farmer. It was not till peace can.e that ti: c cry of distress was heard. But, doling the war, t h, w.is a boundless issue of paler money. Th!-,se isya.; were instantly narrowed by tke peace, the law 1,(.;„ ; that the Bank should pay in cash six months at'ir the peace should take place. This was the casis:! that distress which led to the present Coin Bill. T!ie disease occasioned by the preparations for cash Fa .... meats has been brought to a crisis by Mr. 1),. e .. s which has, in effect, doubled, it not toi l leap , n e real amount of the taxes, and violated all cont•,,c s for time—given triple gains to every !enter, placed every borrower in jeopardy—(Applair4e Ile contended that the return to cash pay r: ents indispensable, and that the nation cowl! Levu Le without it. He censured the Act of Mr. Peel, as c.i . culated to ruin all mortgagees, all per sons bound liv lease, and finally every landholder. " So sensiblc, said Mr. Cobbett, " was I of these effects, that, upi,a the first hearing of the intention to return to ca•.l.. payments, in 1818, though I was then abroad, I a Petition to the House of Commons, confided t.) Lord Folkestone, who refused to present it, aleg::,l that it was too long—an excuse, seeing that his ship is an houest man, arising, most likely, fioir hi; conviction that it would not be at:ended to. In tha Petition I prayed, that the standing a: my shouid greatly reduced ; that all salai ies, pensions, and p; , v, issuing out of public money, shouid he reduced; tha: the public debt should he reduced ; and that mortgages, rent-charges,leases,and other contracts time, should be revised and rectified on the basis (.4; and in proportion to, the rise in the value of money. I saw clearly all the consequences of resuming ca,:t payments without these concomitant rneasule:, ar I wished, as I had a right to wish, that these opi:iitint of mine should be placed on record in the books o: the Parliament. I hear people mad enough to ca':l for a reduction of the interest of the debt ; but, Gen tlemen, will it ever be borne, that this reduction shall take place while the standing army, v‘lidiy utinece:- sary, shall be kept on foot ? %Vhile such enormous pensions, and while those high salaries, of which I was glad to hear the Honouiable Gentleman now Li the Chair complain to-day ; while these shall remaia unreduced, will it be borne, that a :eduction shall take place of the interest of the debt r Mr. Cobbett was of opinion that the pikes of g: would continue to fall until, upon an average of se,:- sow., wheat would not be more than three shillin 6 s per bushel ; it was natural that when cash payments mere completely resumed, prices would return to the mark at which they were when cash payments were stopped. He spoke strongly on the excess of paper money, and the ruinous consequences it had engendered. It is, said he, a mistaken notion, that, because the sea sur rounds us, we are isolated as to matters of this s , irt. This country is the centre, indeed, of all commercial and great money transactions ; and for that. very rea• son it can adopt no very material change in mate:ls of currency which shall be unfelt in the other co :.- tries of the world. Thus we see that prices of pr :- duce are falling in France, and for the first tin:e. France is about to have a Corn Bill, or at least some thing of the kind has been proposed. And v,..y have prices fallen in France? Because its ciica lating medium, which is gold, has been lessened in quantity by the drain to supply England, and this drain had been occasioned by Mr. Peel's Bill.— It is, Gentlemen, an absurdity ; it would be a mill ster in human conduct, if one nation, the centre cr the commerce of the world, could continue to have high prices in gold, while all the nations trading with it had low prices in the same metal. No : there may, occasionally, be slight differences in the price ci food in two nations situated relatively as France and England are; but, on an average of year s, gold being the currency of both countries, the prices of food must in both be nearly the same. As we continue to draw gold from other countries (and we have a great deal to draw yet), the prices in those countries must continue to fall; and ours must follow, until they overtake them; for the prices in England have not yet reached their ultimate point of depression. Mr. CURTEIB declared that he had always been an advocate for the good old constitutional doctrire, that a Representative was bound to follow the ii:- structions of his Constituents. Upon this doctrine, indeed, he had always acted, and should always con tinue to act, whatever might be his own opinion.— He, indeed, owed no allegiance but to the judgment of his Constituents. The Honourable Gentleman concluded with proposing—" Less Taxes and more Money"—( App&use)—which toast would, he hoped. meet the a pprobation of Mr. Cobbett's side of the house.—(A p plause.) This toast was drank with great applause. Mr. Bnurros, after complimenting Mr. Cobbett as one of the most able and best friends of the Agt cultural Interest, proposed— " Speedy and effectual relief to our unfortunate perseourei fellow-subjects in Ireland." This toast was drank with the most enthusias: applause. _ _ _ After the healths of several Gentlemen present had been drank, the Meeting broke up at about )calf past ten o'clock. " We understand that Lieutenant-General Sr En- WARD G.C.B. now commanding the Forces at Ceylon, is appointed Commander-in-Chief in tl-e. East Indies, from which the return of the Marquis f IlAsTunis, who holds that appointment, as well . s that of Governor-General, appears certain; as also that a Civilian will succeed the Mtrquis is Govern.:- Gencral."—lllorning C'hrunkle. II 5