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

FEB.

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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 of intetest, tr.) the great iejtiry of four-fifths of the na-
tion, yet persons at these meet ings have been tempted b‘.
the past as 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
oars 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 acres, 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