The Sun.
London, England, 1801-12-15 00:00:00

l'"ould.do, to the encouragement of Agriculture by '1
encouraging 'the growth of Grain. The- objea oflls .,
Hon. Friends who supported the Motion now
before the Hnure, he knew to be daudable ; it Was
to keep within proper bounds, the price of the ne-
cessary articles of life.. He was happy to say there •
was on this occasion but one contest betweco the
Members of that House, which was, who could'
most usefully promote the welfare of the Public, at
large ; the difference was only as to' the Means by
which that intetest was to be promoted. In the
discussion of which, on this occasion, he was aware
he should be under the necessity of going over the
ground he had gone over on former occasions, in a
great measure ; but the nature of the subject • ren-
dered that unavoidable, /and he should do it with as
Thuch brevity as possible. It was admitted, not as a
thing founded on cotijeaure, but ascertained as a
fat, and the information was in the possession of
the. House ; it was the result of much investigation
before a Committee appointed by the Ho'use. He
thought he should be able to prove before he sat
down, it was impossible that so large a quantity of
Barley should be employed in the Distilleries ay had
been already stated; and the- view which he llati of
the subjeal, etnhraced, in his- apprehension, the in-
*crests of the Poor ; and what was equally import-
' ant, although nothing could be more so, the Interest
of that class of the Community. Whiich was immedi-•
ately above the Poor—a great and an important and
Yaluable class of the Community in width we live ;
to all whom, as well as to the Poor, the opening of
thca-matitterylvataansefut, in his opinion, and highly
valuable, on account of the circa which the Refuse of.
the Distillery would have on, the price of the tiff-
' ferenr articles of Butchers' Meat. His Honours_
hie Friend, had stated, that in t 795 and 1796, it
Wes determined that the Distilleries should be
;tapped when ahe price of Barley was' about 35 Or.
365. per quarter. Now he would refer to a Report
of a Committee to which he' had already alluded :
parliament met before Christmas, and in March,
rBOO, the price of Barley, at the highest, was at
88s. the lowest 685.: it rose afterwards to 9os. and
Sts. Be it recolletted, that while the price of Bar-
ley
was thus most ehortnously high, the • price lof
utchers' Meat was lower than it is now, and yet .
the Committee thought *then that the Distilleries
ought not to be stopped. The highest price of
tittle
at this day was 48s: and at that price very
tittle was sold ; whereas the highest price then Was
4)ls. An opinion was entertained then, that the
Price of Food would be affeCted by' theatOppage of
the Distilleries. The Committee proceeded to ex-
%nine that.subjett.—[Hete Mr. A.DDINGTON read
the Report of the Committee, the-result of which
vas, that when Butchers' Meat was lower than it
i% at-present, and the price of Barley otS: instead of
I.Bs. still it was 'not expedient to continue the ae-
ttrialon upon the Distilleries.]--He then observed,
that if the Committee aCted
.rightly then, there
Could be no doubt of opening the Distilleries now.
"a
-Thus the matter stood with regard , to England :
4% to Scotland, at this time, .he was glad to observe,
that the_price of labour there was sufficient to en-
able an industriou's labourer to subsist in comfort.
;the peck of meal was at 15ila 'and-the:price of-la-
°our 2od. a day; by which it appeared there was
iks danger in that quarter from the opeoing of the
Distilleries ; but, independent of this considera-
tion, there was anothei, to which he- wished the
douse to attach considerable importance : it was
this-a-that any attempt to put a stop to the Dis-
tilleries by-Law, would have, the certain eifeet,
'tot of lessening. the Distilleries, but of driving it
to another quarter, which would be most injurious
,to the Revenue, by-making it run in a channel of
Illicit praftice, in which tberb were many who
were very expert in that part of the Kingdom, and
for which- the disposition of the populace was ex-
tremely favotlaable, Of whieh he had information,
bY letter, from ; friend this day (who was perk-ally
tespealablei but whose name the House would see
the propriety of his passing by), stating,. that in
3eizing some spirits made clandestinely, the Officers
°ls the Revenue were obliged to abandon the
attempt, until the .Military came to their as-
ti4tancea—that they were, opposed by more than
fifty persons, and that it, was. extremely doubt-
flll whether at last they would succeed in
their °Neel. Having ,read the substance of this
letter, he observed it proved the dispositionof the
lower classes of the People in that part of the King-
dom in folrour of this clandestine trade ; consider-
4ag, therefore, that this praCtice would continue if.
the Distilleries were stopped, to the injury of ahe
-evenue, and considering therewas no apprehen.:
tion in the present price of the articles of life and
the price of labour, that the Poor would in the least
legreel, nor the class immediately above them be
Nored, the policy of opening the Distilleries in
that part of the Kingdom was tnanifest. wasa
'ell known, that by the Aft of Union, no distinc-
tion was taken betreers Spirits distilled from Grain
dad that of Molasses; it was required by the Aril,
°EUniora.that the -same. should, be attached to -
Loth in England andireland. Now it might hap_
fen that the price of Barley should be high in
"tc and- low in the other of these parts of
the United Kingdom ; the evils resulting from
tohieh, in the event of .the_ _Distilleries. being.
- 'topped, he expatiated upon, in the present most
abundant-state of produce in Ireland; particularly of.
tttaroes'and Oats. If the Distilleries were stopped, -
r• now proposed, he argued that it would be most
Injurious to Agriculture both in Ir4andand in Eng-
and,atiodar the present, circumstances, by discou.
„a. raging the Land Owner in both ; and as to the,.
ml.t.illery from,, Molasses, it Would not answer the
tlrpose es a marketable article. The spirit thus ex-
rated not suiting the taste of the Public, and parti-
tatltatly-ofthe Irish People; the consequence of which
'ouid be, that this sort of article would be under-
'old v
by those who smuggled the other from grain.
was'scrfully_imptessed with :this idea, that ap-.
l; Ying -it Spirits; particularly in Ireland, pata-
doxical irk Might seem, .he was convinced, that
discourage the consumption of Spirits, :was to
license Ole distillation of them, because, while they
Were
th licensed,- the progress nfinaking them, and of
sale, was open and' sabjeCt to observation :
whereas, by atteMpting to—atop the trade al toge-
thera it was driven into obscure, -corners,. where it
Iv a,s imPosible to find 'it out, and where the danger
ar 'slog from too much.ase, of the article, • was inUCII.

greater than it would be if the trade:was Public,—
: Besides, this trade was prOhibited, he was aware
that the smuggling would besuchfrqin Ireland here,
that it could not be in the poWei of those who
tilled from .MolasSes to' stand the, coMpetitipn ;
for not only would Much distillaiion go: on in
Ireland, which, from circumstances peculiar to
that Country, the Officers of the Revenue cell;',
in some cases not suppress, and in other could
not deiCtf; but besides large quantities of Spirits
would be brought there frOm the Continent,
and which would find their way into thiS country,
notwithstanding all the vigilance 'tve could use to
prevent thattrallick voe should therefore. be giving
avv ay the 'Revenue, without diminishing ihe con-
sumption of Spirits, by stopping the Distillcrie. I
As to Cite consumption of. Barley between this and
February next, by means of the Distilleries, it was
extraordinary ihat any body could suppose it could
iffe& the price of Grain, for he was inforMed from
a person on whom he could rely, that in addition
to what there is in hand, there will not be wanted
of Barley more than to,Ooo quarters : a quantity
the consumption of which, he was persuaded, could
not Operate materially on the price of that
article : the price' of which at present, he
was happy to say, made the quay tern loaf of.
Barley-bread only 64-d.—a price at which those
who were disposed to eat it, and in the part of the
Country where it was common, did not amount to
any hardship to the purchaser. This got
.over one
of the most Material objections which had been
stated against opening of the Distilleries, since it
kept clear of the distress to the Poor and the class.
immediately above them. -He apprehended that the
t'JperafiDn of stopping the Distilleries would be,that
of injuring the Trade of Ireland ; it would be go-
ing a great way towards exhausting the pr'oduee of
that Country, and that without diminishing. the
.
consumptton of Spirits either there or here ; for the
deficiency would be made by foreign supply, and
whieb; after being.imported into Ireland, would come
from thence into England. The stoppage of the Di-
stilleries would be still more dangerous than he had
yet mentioned in this Debate. It would,check the
commerce of Corn between the two Countries.—
Gentlemen said, it would be a good measure to
provide, that When Barley came to a certain• price
the Distillation of it should cease. This was a rule
which could not he, made applicable to Ireland.in
the present condition of things, •as established by
Law. There was no such thing as getting the
Avetage Price of Grain as between- England, and
'lreland, because -the Trade in that article was not
perkaly, free. The Average between England and
Scotland, or between England and Wales, could
'never have been taken, if' the Trade in the article
'was not free. , The Trade between England and Ire-
land in that article was not free... He knew that by
the AA of 'Onion, a period of zo years hid been
'fixt upon beftire.the People:of the two, Countries
were to be called upon to pay alike to the State in
every particular,, accordingly there must be a dis-
tindion observed in the regulations of some articles
Of trade, but he did not think that dodrine applica-
ble to the commerce of Grain, which, he thought
should be a's free as posSible, as an encouragement
to- the Agriculture of that country, that having.
the mostdireet tendency:to preserve the tranquillity,
and bi Y prornoting the interest.of the residentland-
ed'proprietor, contributing to make the inhabitants
a greater, more powerful, and happier Part, than
thFy are at present, of the British .Empire. Now
it was to'be observed, that this.Cqpntry. either did,
or it did not furnish suilicientfood for its inhabi; '
tants: If it did, there was no apprehension from its
draWings any from Ireland by means of the Distil-
lerY. If it did not-there was no reason why, we should
notpay to Ireland the pride we must otherwise pay
to the' Continent for What We want--=He knew that
Sueli-a change as he 'allude-a to, could not, and it.
ought not, to -be adopted 'Without great .considera-
tion.--He knew also, it would involve questions of
great private interest ; but heistated this to shew,
that'.until such a system be adopted, .we shall be un-
der difficullies, not only such as he had enumerated,
but many others. He was unwilling to trespass
further Upon :the attention of ,the House; lie had
stated many, but not all the objeftions he saw to
the Motion before' the House ;. but if they, had less
weight titan they had, he was satisfied, they would
be ffi sutient against the Motion now before the
'Honse. It was now
:Ave' weeks since it was stated,
therewas no desire by Government,,to continue the
Restridioo on the Distilleries ; during. which
:no Motion had been made in the House for that con-:
Itinuance. Many Gentlemen had gone into the. Cour._
:try, not to enjoy the Recess merely, but also to ad„,
minister comfort to those of :their neighbours who
were interCsted in their presence. He did not think
it Was respedful to them to agitate a, Proposition
like this in the HouSe in their absence. He knew,
that if any thing demanded theitattendance,' they
would consider it as a paramount obligation, and
they would come up from the. different parts. of ,
the Country, where they . now are conduding
concerns, in many respects highly intetesting to the,
Community ; and he must say, that no. case had
.been made out which called'for their attendance on
`this Motion ; nor did there appear to be any thing
:like a sufficient reason for changing ,a system (for
this Motion went to that) which had been adopted
for' so many years in this Country, the .benefi.
cial effias of which 'had been so often felt for he
. .
took it to be a maxim_ in Politics, that no esta-
blished. system` should be- changedi until its ,e,yils
were clearly, established, and the utility of that.pro-
posed in its stead was plainly Proved. .Such war, not
the case' here, but the contrary, for which reason
he would not concur in any Motion like
He opposed it from clear conviClion ~of itn,.
propriety
.at this , moment, , and ~not. from,any' .
pertinacity or adherence to his foruwr opinion
on the subjea:' Not saying that: he. could nexee.,
chtnge that opinion, if, upon given. citrctimstan-.:.
ces, which did not appear at licserit, the ge-
neral interest of the Community„shOuld require
it., He was not presumptuous enough to say that
circumstances might not change his opini%i, upon this
matter ; all he said' was, that such circumstances:
did not:appear at present. As toithe private cha_..
raC.ier as well_as the public,condutt of those Gentle-.
men who were in the trade. of the Distillery, he.
must observe, there was no qi,?sof His Majesty's
subjeCis more respectable-4his he did not utter for

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