The National Register. — London, England, 1822-01-20 00:00:00

,Z P r t 4 L'z .NORFOLK AGRICULTURAL MEETING. A meeting of the Proprietura and Occupiu is of Land in the county of Not folk, ass held on Saturday last, its the Shire-house at the Castle of Norm ich, for the purpose of taking, into considt patron the ;install depressed stale of agri• culture. The hum axed by the Iligh Sheriff, Sir J. Aat tor the commencement of the business of the day. was 12 o'clock at nowt. A g the indivithil , pi esent were the Earl of Albemarle and Lund Sudield ; T. W. Coke and E. Wilde house, Esquires, members for the county ; the Reverends Archdeacon Mahon!, G. Glover, J Presto'', J. I). !t0rt,,,,, and many other gentlemen of fortune and respectability. At a quarter pa.t 12 the high Sheriff rose, and stated that he bad deemed it his dot), in coma (mener of the tolliciail situ anon which be Own held, to call a niceinig of the county impost • requisillimt whWli he hod received from a au eraus and respectable body of the ktudholders within it. Ile Bleu e tare Caine forward to declare that the meeting Wall nom le gaily cons cutest for the porpose stated in the requisii be should not take up more thee than was sutficieut to express A hope that gentlemen mould confine their otsser vhtion, to the objects for which the meeting had been called. After the Under Sheriff had read the requisition, and the • Mich Sheriff's answer to it, The Earl of A LIMM AK CE moved, and Lord SUFFIELD ieeoOded the proposition, that the High Sherilido take the chair. It was carried unanimously. After the Well She. sir had taken the cha Mr. THURTELL tose and said, that having been one of the Italixidwala who had signed the remosition which had been transmitted to the High Sheriff, he felt it incumbent upon him, in the discharge of his public duly, to make a few ob servations explanatory of the (111154.4 atelth led to the pre sent alarmitig and dig resaing state of tlw agricultural interest He had given, as was its duty, his best cousideimtinti to that subject ; and he did slut hesitate to declare, after such con sideration, that the injection:l cause of the existing distress mus the etiornious mid ovens het g taxation oldie country. (Loud applause.) It was said that the landholders had the remedy in their oho hands—they could reduce their rents, and the clergy their lanes. lie would, liou ever. take tit himself to insert that, even if resits and tithes should he te• duet d to what they mete in 1792, the cubit atom of the land mould find it impossible to gut on. (Cheers.) But would any tuna be bold enough to say that, if the landlords mete to re duce their rents to what they mere in 1192, that they could support themselves its the Fervid Mute of thing- ( ertainly they could not. Clula the clergy live m till their tithes reduced in a similar proportion ? Certaii.ly not. Could the labouring man, who received 10s. is meek, live now upon it as he had done in 1192 ? Certainly not. Then they ought to inquire 4110 the cause .11 this great and ilogresaing and it they did so inquire, t h ey %%Milt; lied cause in the great and oppressive taxation of the u wintry . The horthy gentleman concluded by submitiutg taw follow leg reeolutious: " I. That the present alarming mid dem ewed state of api culture in this kittgd ttttt must inevitably and speedily lead to the utter ruin of the occupiers of diet:toll, and a dl eventually be most injurious to the um suers of land, unless ellectu::l measures be immediately adopted by Parliament to arrest its destructive ptogress. " 2. That it la the opinion of this inectin::. that 01011100 pre. balite, and therefore most pi oper, uucans of alfording relief, is 10 restore the concise y lit the standard of unglue in exist ence, previously to and nt the time of pawing the Cash Resumption ()avocet Act (cominualy called Mr. Peers 11.110 as in reference to that standard of value ;mutely all she existing contracts were made, aud debts incurred, and the deparlale from whit 10, it longer peniged in, must inevitably involve Ibe ss hole sigricultural community in the common Rio. " 3- That no measure of relief can he per:mown. and effectual, unless the most rigid rcu hcsln be enforced to every del,: novelle of the stale, motel the eeps.talitioe theleof, :Is well naval as military, IF 000 the head of the executive down to the lowest tankers of tr nef ttttt he very materially reduced—measures, the adopti tttt of which, a ill 'elite we all classes from the civet w helloing burden of taxation which now oppresses them, enable landlinels to lower their rent, the clergy their tithes, and lessen the enormous puor's rate 111111 other heavy expenses iw ideutul to the occupancy and ems ti vation of the " 4. That 'he present heavy and oppressive duty on malt operates greatly to the disadvantage of the roamer, by re dating the cumumistion,lind cows quently the Nice of barley; and that the total annilidatiun of that tax is sit vital import ance to the agricultural inter e 4. " 5. That a petltion. entbi;icin4 ail the foreg • g objects, be addressed to each I louse of l'adounent as early as pews sible in the next session, and that the Earl of Albemarle, mid the Lail of Haunt lie I l'4lllesli`ll it present the same 10 the Iluuse tif Lords, ;111d she county Meltlhelb to the (louse of Commons." Mr. WATSON Seconded the resolutions at considerable lemth. The Undcr di then 'cad the resolutions. After they had been read, 'Tire Eatl of A bfilial thba came foe ward, amid loud and long combated clam.' mg, to adds ess the meeting. He commenced his speech by subset tog, that ilie first tic , hicli to should make of the opportunity Oleo afforded Mail to address the county of Not sulk, would he to return his sincere (batiks to the respectable gentlemen who had signed the requisition for calling it together—thereby enabling him and lila Limiter freeltublers to exercise their aueleist wholesome stud constitutional rights, of fairly, openly, and fearlessly, discussing ally mutters which they considered public giicvances.—(Loud cheeriog.) His heat thanks were due to lilt! Hugh .sheriff of the county too die traelitiess which lie had shown to meet the Maim at the requisitientists, and len the handsome manner in hich he had allot del the sanction of his high office to the objects which they pooh ssed to have in view.— lk had also to i violin hit 11141140 to the gentle the n of the county for hut haviog allowed Themselves to be iiitlitent ed by theeee petsuits, out, naked, of their owls County, but or 0111141 S, who writ• desirous of prevent ing, by else, y mraus 111 Ilat•If power, the exercise of the. soya 111, a bule.utor, stud coustitutiunal eight* of Euglish. so. it- - k (:twe is.) lour could lie yet us tram lions rem' ll ioo las illaules to the gentleman who tool noised the setulu ions', and to whom lie load out the I 00000 4411 f of being know us, lot the 116411 y 111411114 1 111 %Well I.e heal expressed Isis svii tinieuts segaitlisse slit so; wn would lie leave out of the list of O , 110111 us. this u• casou 1114 gratitude Miii• Otte, lit sla WWI W4ls 0000 who had so ably seconded the geittlesmat a 1..) had hi unght rut wail' the blislisess tit the day. lie would ucxl to) Shot he admitted tile prestiii got cling wain pule sail ti , 1•11 htlij, and hot lets rthigi ttaly deem butt MOW be webbed to THE NATIONAL REGISTER --- - make a distinction, and to inform the 'fleeting that he addressed it more from ditty than inclination. To speak the honest truth, lie was unwilling to address them upon the present subject, because lie found it to be too intricate for Mill. lf, in the privacy of his own retirement, lie could himself scarcely understand it, how much inure difficult would it be for hem to make himself to be under stood upon it amidst the bustle and confusion which all ways naturally attend at a public meeting. This was only one of the ;difficulties a Melt he felt on the present occasion ; lie had also another of rather a ilitl'erent titre. It had been stated by his worthy liiend (Mr. W.) that politics were totally irrelevant to the purposes for which they were assembled; and with the strung feelings Inch Ise ( Lot d Albemarle) possessed :won Ciat subject, lie would put it to the lion. gent, who stood near Into (Mr. Wodeltotise) whether lie was nut putting a little restraint upon himself when he determined not to penult himself to titter even one single groan (laughter) against those whom he believed to be the anthors of all the culemities under which the country was at that moment sufferiug.— (Loud cheering.)—On that subject, however, he would say r o more at present. With the resolutions which had had just ;imposed to then', as, f the respect 'ie to Its not thy fractal Mr. Cake, both ns a large landed pm victor, and their long tried tepresentative, they had been scut to him, he (Lord Albemarl-) was previously acquainted, and he had therefore berm enabled to give them a inure at tentive considernt• hat lie should hare dime, had he now beard theta for the first time. His anxiety to aura with theta had in a great number of smuts been completely gra tified; but in some he mint say that it had been a little it ',appointed. His disappointinent, however, was rather as pintos of nmie-ion, than to points at a hick an oi was wok expressed. lie rejoiced as a Norfolk man, that the county :of Norfolk had been the first in which a comity meeting had been (unveiled oil the distre-s of agricul ture ; and he further rejoiced that in that great agri cultural county, distressed as it was lemma' to be, they bud not said taw w ord about a torus-bill, that they had ant sought relief from restrictive dunce, null that they find tint dreamt of supporting any measure that nett calculated to give an artificial rise to the price of corn. Ile blt weal pleasure at bueli an occurrence, because the measures to is Bich he had alluded were in any shape unjust; and as nor c could be more interested in them than the farmers of the county of Norfolk, he trusted that in future they %timid not even he considered beneficial. They were not practicable, they write net politic, they were not just; but even if they were it once mucticable, politic, and just, lie was convinced they would not yield the agricultnrists any sensible relief. In reminding them of the view which had bceu taken of this subject by colitis, lie must beg also to remind them, that while cola was geld at 40s. a coomb in Eileen I, and at 1110 s. a cumuli elsewhere, it was impossible by any restrictive duties to benefit the English agriculturist. It was tint to the power of Parliament itself, Dime pi-tent us it was called, and powerful as they all from sad experience knew it to be, to give bun the slightest aid by the adoption of such a system. He had English feeling enough about hen to condemn most severely the conduct of such of his countrymen is, under the existing circum stances., soaped together the remnant of their property with the intention of spending it among foreigners. If he was to be reduced to the necessity of spending his last shilling, even then he would not quit the country, but would still retain the melan choly satistaction of spending Ins last shilling in it. tCheers.)— He must now allude to another topic, and here, again, he must express his satisfaction that the tanners of Norfolk h a d not at tributed their distress to the importation of foreign corn. How that fallacy could continue so long to be credited, be was at a loss to conceive, inasmuch as foreign corn had not been in competi tion with our corn for the last three years. There might have been a little at market, but it eould not have amounted to any such quantity as was calculated to affect the price of British corn. Hittit n . thins alluded to the points omitted in the re s olutions, he should now proceed to M 0.,: contained in them. The first re medy which they proposed for raisin agriculture front its present depressed state was the repeal of Mr. Peel's bill. Now, no ar guments had been advanced in favour of this measure, and he must soy that he should like to hear whet arguments could be advanced in favour of that repeal before he consented to make tt. What he would ask, then, had been the great Louse of all the calamities under which they were labouring? Was it not the great circulation of paper which had formerly prevailed What were they now proposinti as the remedy for those calami ties P The repeal of Mr. Peel ti bill, and a recurrence to a paper cut rency. %Vita was the disease? A paper currency. What was the remedy proposed to be applied for it? Why, the very disease itself. The noble Earl then Tread his resolutions, of which the first was the same as that proposed by Mr. Thurtell. The remainder were as follows : " 2d. That the amount of public expenditure, and conse• qucntly of public demands by direct and indirect taxation, is :he plain unquestionable cause of our present sufferings; and That the only ba'se and practicable remedy is to be found in such a di minution of those demands as may enable the fanner to grow his produce at a reasonable rate, and thus equally spread the benefit of its influence through every class of society throughout the kingdom. 3d. That the diminution is to a very great extent capable of being in.stsuitly made without any public detriment whatever, by a rigid economy enforced in every department of the state, naval, military, and civil, from the executive down to the lowest offices of Government, relieving all classes from the overwhelm. ing burden of taxation that at heavily oppresses them, enabling lancllords to lower their rents, and clergymen and impropriators their tithes, and by improving the situation of the poor, lessening the amount levied for their subsistence; in short, reducing all the heavy and intolerable expences now incidental to the occu pancy and cultivation of the soil. " 4111, That though this meeting, disavowing all selfish mo tives, and anxious only lot the metal welfitre and prosperity, is willing to leave to the wisdom of l'ailiament the particular items upon which a reduction of taxation may be best made, yet it feels dust the repeal of the malt duties, together with the heavy imposts upon soap, candles, salt, and leather, amounting to gether to live millions and upwards, levied upon articles closely co nnected with agriculture, and ranking among the indispensa. blc necessaries of life, must especially call fur the most attentive consideration. 5111. That this meeting feels itself compelled to urge its re re,olutions with the greater earnestness, train reflecting that six years of peace, the usual anti only season in all countries for the relluction of these burdens which war imposes. and the nourish ment of public prosperity and individual wealth, have now passed away, nut only without Inducing in this country any atleipiate relief, but that during this long period commerce has languished and agriculture declined from one degree of depression to another, till at last it has reached a crisis, in which either some very important amelioration must take place, oa total derange. milt of the whole order and relations of bociety must ensue." Whilst the 4111 irmilati MI was reading, an individual exclainted—" flow, th, it, is the national creditor to he paid i" Alto Lund ALULM A lILE had read the resolutions, and before they were put by chic High Sheriff, General WALPOLE observed, that a gesillt man bad just tidied a question towhat' tt was proper that au aus wc r .1 should be given. The question was, " How is the 111116011 a creditor to be paid r' He t eplied that he ought not to be paid at the sole expense of the land. (Cheers.) The fisnelholder ought also to bear sonic part of the pressisie which was now weighing down all the rest of the empire. The first resolution was then put, and rattled ottani niously. On the second resolution being put, Mr. TlitlaTELL rose, and In telly explained the reasons which had induced him to propose it. lie like wise added, that he had no wish to oppose that which had been joint proposed in its stead by Lard Albemarle. (Ilear.) 'the Earl of Akuxuattia replied, that his objection to the resolution was simply this— that it dill not follow that, as the enactment of :111. Peel's bill had done h ar m, the repeal of it would produce a contrary effect. Lord SLEFIELD then came forward to address the meet ing, and was received with loud cheering. He COllltliellecil his observations by slating that he kit considerable em barrassment in addressieg them, enact he es as to public speaking. He had to follow the Earl of Atti Mei le, whose speeches never failed to 811111se and insiiiict all who heard them. It appeared to him, that there were only tee° remedies for the present depressed state ulagii cultelie. Of these, one was to increase the price of coin by iespective duties, until it became a remunerative pike ; and the other to remove the causes which pre vented corn from reirchitig that puce at pi email: and lucre lie must be permitted to j with the noble land Who had preceded him, in rejoicing in nut having heard any thing at that time of that stupid and ridiculous doc trine, that selling coin at high prices would relieve the cultivator of the soil flout the difficulties by which he ads at resew surrounded. What, lie would ask, would be the effect of raising corn to a high price? Why, that his friends in the north—fur lie had ft lends in Lancashire as well as in Norfolk—would alisolutely starve. Did they recollect the state of eltsti ese , to which the 11111a1111fACtIlVi . 13 Of Lancashire had been reduced by the high price of pi u visions? He was sure Mat they did; he was stile that they could out have forgottee how how those mansilactii rers had met to consider of the best 'Mall* of relieving their distress, and how they hail had their throats cut foe so meeting. (Loud cheee ilia, accompanied with some few hisses.) Between the onetime to which lie was alluding and the present, the only date' mice was, that the forint r took place iii a more populous district. In the county of Norfolk, it was easy to apply to the High Sheriff, and to obtain a public nieetiag, at which grievances could be discussed (clime) ; but in Lancashire, where there were ten thousand inhabitants ter every ten inhabitants in Norfolk, and where they were certainly less enlightened, the same facilities were wanted fur the exercise of that ancient constitutional right of all English men—l he right of discussing public grievances. (Cheers.) He trusted that lie should be forgiven fur the digression into which lie had entered, whilst he had wished to say a few wends in behalf of the manufacturers of Lancashire, who issue quite as much his country men as the fainters of Nut folk. But to proceed : he hail, he trusted, shown that one of the two remedies which he had mentioned fur the distress of the country—namely, the obta . g a remunerative price for the agricultmer by artificial means—wouLl be quite ineffectual. What, then, would be the other remedy which lie thought might be applied with sonic hopes of success? He would tell them—they must reduce the expenditure by the amount of 5,000,0001. per a 1111 l nia or they would do absolutely nothing. (Cheers.) Though he lamented as much as man could do the individual ills. tress which at present prevailed—it had removed a film from the eyes of many who lieretutere had been blind to the iniseries of the exiating spice'. As their pockets had become lighter, their sight had become clearer (great ap plause and laughter), and lie had little doubt that if things did nut speedily improve, they would, before lung, be come even lynx-eyed observers of the abuses of Govern meeit.—The noble Lord then proceeded to state, that when lie was discussiag the propriety and necessity of a reform, lie ought to have observed, that milees they intro duced into their petition a prayer for reform, they would absolutely lie doing nothing. (Loud sheets.) Those who were for postponing it now, would not be for postponing it long.—He then proceeded to advert to the expense of collecting the revenue, and stated, that at present it cost halt' the amount of the revenue in 179 e. One point above every other surprised I • : he heard gentlemen egaiu and again complainiag in Parliameut of the bur densome pressure of taxation, and yet be saw them alneys voting fur the fullest establishments. Then the) eerie found voting against the supplies necessary for the pay ment of those establishments; ar.d then again voting, it present at the discusaiun of the estimates, against the anieueinients proposed by Mr. Hume to tedium them, then again they were found, at the end of the Session, thank ing Mr. Hume fur the very exertions which they had done every thing in their power to counteract. (Cheers).--- There was an ineunststency in all this well worthy of public notice. Even the noble Marquis of Londondeiry —that manager of time House of Commons (cheers) —that great Leviathan, lied owned that floe country was much indebted to Mr. Hume ; and lie trusted that the present meeting would tor once credit the noble Marquis, and give to Mr. Hume that approbation which the AlillibtLr had not withheld. The noble Lord, after some Obilel Va.• tions upon the saving which Mr. atonic had elketed by his inquiry into the emoluments of the Receiver-Ocueial, and which lie stated to amount to 75,6 a h. out of 1170001., concluded his speech by heartily seconding the resole- Oohs which the Eatl of Albemarle had proposed to the meeting.—(Loud cheering.) Mr. Elm It II TA YLOil returned his sincere thanks to the t wu ruble Lords who had stated the real causes of our dish esa, and had pointed oft the fallacy of attributing it to the opciatiun of Mr. Peel's bill. Mr. flume liail tempted to show how fill retrenchment could be made in the civil, military, and naval establishments of the state, and how had his arguments been answered ? IS as it by facts ? No. But by repeated majorities of a commit House of Co 11111 l mos. (Incessant applause.) Theis was the souks of all their distresses; berreuseof the public lied been fairly represented in the House of Cour onnes, their constituents comb! have made their rept esen tatives support Mr. Hume. He bad hoped that ()neer othei of the noble Lords who had addressed the ineetiug would have proposed a resolution d e claratoiy of the de fective state oh the le pieseetation. As neither 01 dom . lied done it lie should proceed to fulfil the object lin which he had attended thigh day, aud s hould piupUSe the hollowing resolinion : Gib. '!'hat it appeared in the course of the lest session, ftoni dueeine'limS 1t oil aced by the lileuitoriutts labours ot Mi . Haw , that them is out a branch of the pnbltc