The National Register. — London, England, 1815-02-19 00:00:00

FEB. - . . TO THE EDITOR OP THF.../4ATIONAtiREGIgTEII.. Sre,—Meetings are now takittg place in most counties be the landowners and Wine's,. who are actuated by furs tires o f intetest, tr . ) the great iejtiry of four-fifths of the na tion, yet persons at these meet ings have been tempted b‘. t h e past a s well as the future prospect of gain; even to libel the feelings of Englishmen; by asserting 'they are for the general good of the population. As I aln, Sir, one of the Old School, I shall endeavour to trace the defect of our agri cultural system to i!s head. and examine our relative situaj tion with respect to the agriculture of France , as the two I countries were situated from 1 . 715 to 17.55. At that period I o ars was . an exporting country for corn. At the Bedford ' meeting Mr. Whitbread wished this country was an-export ing country: How shall we account for this change of rela five situations in the last 60 years; probably we have changed our old and good systems for bad, as I shall endeavour tot elucidate, by a statement laid before the Court of France, in 1755, when that state improved the law that governed their agriculture, by devising substantial improvements, by which means they have altered their relative situation, and now can supply us with corn at a leas price than our, own farmers. By the above statement, this country, composed then of little indtistrious farmers, exported in 40 years 21 millions of quarters of wheat, beside other grain, on the average of aboVe a million yearly. In . return we received one million in specie; this Wa6 a surplus above (Air consumptioe. Bread sold at sd. the loaf. Now, Mr. Editor, probably the pro moters of these meetings may assert that the population has increased : this may be true, but we must observe, that some thousands of acres of waste land has been brought into culti vation during the last 60 .years, and we have been told by 1 agriculturists, that agriculture is now conducted on improved principles. If this is correct, our farmers produce a greater , quantity of earn, froth the proportion oflanil„ than the farmers ist 1755. If so, what with improvements, the produce of the waste lands, and the annual export of half a million, this country sh -uld want no assistance, if all was gold that glitters. Is it probable that a great farmer, with' 500 or 1000 acres, can produce so great a quantity - of corn from that land, as that divided into to or i 5 little farms would produce? This was the .situation of the country when we exported, and would be again if the old system was revived. The !Ng farroers stood at that periad tl.e same as the foreign farmers now stand. We could send them corn at one third less than Vey could procure it at home. Yet, strange to relate, we have improved from a good system to a very bad one, since we laid the small farms into large ones, by the bribes otnred by great farmers of doable rents. As there is a question betwixt the landlord and farmer, the legislature must not interfere in, the prohibition of corn : if their aid is necessars-, break up the monopoly of great farmers, and that will rouse the true spirit of agricultural industry, which was to be found in the small farms of 60 or 70 acre s , whose emb:ems of industry flowed with the instinct of the bee : eve . y child and inmate were farmers miniature; each had his portion, each had his particular profits; as our fashion airle ladies claim their pin-mottee. In those days-of indus try our markets were well' stated will pigs, poultry, but-. ter, cheese, eggs, and various productioes of their respec tive farms : the capitals of these farmers, though small, were real, which rendered the exchange more frequent, andtept trade is all the market towns 'alive. Do the same advantages ri-eto the public vote by our great farmers? No; the same Van% of land cceok4a:l by is) or. I'diltirvntl 125 peroits, wiith families ana houses, is now occupied by Gm.. and that a splendid mansion and princely equipage, &c. this princely establishment destroys all the minor prodixe of this 1000 acres of land,' so by this improvement the pub. lie loses the advantage that small farms produced. If this is improving our condition, Mr. Editor, I consider it to be, a defect in our first principle. If lam wrong, I should be very happy to be suet right, as agriculture is the rock on which national wealth rises, whose springs of aetiots should not be checked: from this source of wealth we lay the foundation of trade. The supply of things drawn . Irons trade, and absolutely necessary for its subsistence, must de. lend upon accidents and contingencies, which trade cannot foresee or hinder in its operation, by the continual Iluctus tions of fancy ; but it is quite otherwise with wealth pro. duced from cultivating the earth, which is fixed and perms. neat. The wants of man require as great a quantity of corn or other provisions now, as the same required at the first fOr. Anation of .the universe ; therefore the real value is the same, because the operation is unchangeable, and nature require, the same, so - that no alteration in the action or principle can • rise on the nature of corn and pro Visions. The duty of a wise legislature is to frame laws for the general bene6t of the community, and our ancestors framed a law to prevent ariy person holding above two farms in one parish. By 21st of Henry VIII. chap. IS, it was enacted, that no person should hold above two farms in the same parish, under tbs penalty of 3s. 4d. per week. The high price of provisious . caused this la-s, to prevent the small farms from being laid into large ones by the opulent. If legislative interiereneefs necessary, amend this law, that no one farmer shall rent oe work above 100 acres, except it is all his own freehold. This would rouse a stimulus in our agricultural pursuits hy ann. merous body of cultivators, and make this country *tat Ms. Whitbreiul wishes, au exporting country. • I am, Mr. rilitor, Au ENGLISHMAN OF THZ OLD StINGO I L. Southwark, Febriiiiry 8, 181,i. JOANNA SOUTHCOTT AND Tug Pia " FACED WOMAN, There has been for come months a story in circulation. o a young Lady of high flintily and fOrtuue, on whose life and issue bx marriage, a very large estate depends, having a head of such deformity as to resemble that of a pig. It is uot im possible that theme may be such a case, though all the Medi cal Professors of the metropolis say it is unknown to them :! but it has been magnified into a monstrous deviation frame nature; and a thousand idle tales are propagated of her hay,• ing frightened a female engaged to attend her; and that shi had actua:ly the head of a pig: A desperite f o rtune.linntei (advertises that he is ready to marry her, however deforn:ed. MR. EDITOR,----J was greatly atutt<ed at the dexterity with which you coupled those two inaaginary persons, ,Jnanna4 child, and the woman with a p i g's face, together. I bay.e since been in doubt, whether they may not both be one and 'the same person; that is, whether old mother Soot hcott 13.12,* not have brought the pig•factel woman into the world in a -state of complete puberty • and, as her followers were heard to declare, even after her death, '‘ that still the _Lords siTni 'was not skortenet!," be may (with reverence be.it spoken) .have .taken this way of eiteviing it, by lengthening the nose of • J.oanu4 Qou this suppositioD, you :ire Mist:lieu 1