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

ante of the late harvest was Considered; account foe
the extravagant prices demanded for every species
of Grain, was therefore the probability was; that
the high price arose rather from artifice and com-
bination than from just and natural catises: The
evil that must result from suffering the, Corn to
continue long at this high price; Would be great
indeed, and every Gentleman
.who inquired into
the distresses of the- Poor; and who observed the
patience and fortitude with which they suffered;
must be convinced of the necessity of the Le..
gislattire taking every stepin its power to prevent
the pride of Proyisions being affected by any such
artifices. In the inquiries which he had occasion to
make last summer, he was informed by several Medical
Men that the deaths and diseases of the Poor were mare
iiumerous than usual. All those gentlemen ascribed
the inmate of deaths to the scantiness of their pro.
'visions, and to the bad quality, of that scanty allow_
ante: This evil might not exisr to the full extent
that had been stated, but if it existed in any con-
siderable degree, the House would, Ist was sAIEc
willingly adc:l.r any measure that would tend to re.
inedy It had -.been said; that very erroneous
opinions'had been eisrertained respeaing•ithe 'quaff=
tity of COrn tonsumectin Distilleries: he admitted
the consumption of Corti' -in Distilleries, was much
less than it was in generalsupposed to 'be. 'With.
ant entering into minutim, the quantity of Barley
consumed in .the year by Distilleries: amounted to
from aso,ooo to .4cia,coo quarters, in this part of
the UnitedsKingdbin, and in.the Northern part the
.consumption was to are equal, if not to a greater-
amount ; and it appeared by some calculations, that
this quantity was; not more than equal to 360' coo
quarters of Wheat. :Admitting this to be the fact,
still it was to be recolleted that a quarter of wheat
was supposed to lbe•• sufficient food fief a man for :a
whole year, so that "-'the•Legislature prevented
this quantity from being used. for distillation, the
Consequence would be, that there would-, be :a saving
of as much food,as was necessary for 360,000 men.
This
,was a subjeta of the greatest impOrtanee, but
it was .tinnecessary for him to enter more. into it,
because it was plain to every. body's understanding.
It was to be-;observed; that-a great part 'of the
People of this Country fed upon Barley, and con.
sidered it as more nutritious }acid than Wheat, be.
cause it enabled them to sustain a greater degree of
hard labour.. l3iffetent. plans had been suggested td
remedy the evil which subsisted upon this subjea ;
it was-proposed to lower the Duties upon-Spirits
distilled from Molasses, and an attempt 'had been
made to enlighten the minds ,of the Plibtie, by let-
ti_ng them know exaCtly the quantity-of Barley used
by the Distillers. These • Measures. had been tried
now for some weeks; and instead of producing the
desired circa,- from the tine thit the Dealers in
Corn-found that the Distilleries were to-be opened,
the price -of Corn had continually increased: it
would not,' then, he hoped; be said, that these
Petitions had come too late: The persons from
whom they came were good and loyal Subjeas, who
did not petition against these grievances until they.
felt them ; but the evil of which they complained
had now risen to such a pitch; that it had created a
real alarm, among them-. 'The next objea that Was
to be taken into consideration, was that of Revenue,,
and here he was ready to admit, that the Revenue
would sustain a considerable loss, if the prohibition
was continued; though the CHANCELLOR of the .Elc.
CHEQUER did -not consider it quite so great; But
if it injured the Revenue in one way, it would be-
nefit it in another, because, in the first place, it
would increase the Duties upon the. Importation of
Spirits; it would'also increase the Revenue arising-
from Breweries: But if the Revenue was injured
by this, proposition, it certainly must be made up
by other means.. The persons from whom these
Petitions were presented, were not persons of the
lowest order, :and who did not. know the collar-
(veneers of what they were asking for. They- were
discreet, sober-minded men, who knew., that if
in, consequence 'of their Petitions' being come
plied with; the Revenue was, diminished, that
they, in common with the rest of their fellow -
subjeas mast make it up in another, way. The
next argument that had been urged in favour of
opening the Distilleries-was, that if the Prohibition
was continued; it -would encourage the clandestine
'use of Stills, by•which Means the Revenue would be
injured, and the. same quantity of Corn would be
consumed. In answer to' this; he had only to say,
that the, Prohibition ought to be extended to
Ireland and Scotland, arid if the Prohibition of
distilling in 'lreland had the elle& of reducing
the price of - Grain in that Country, it wokllci
lead to the' importation of it into England.—
It had also been urged, that it would tend to en-
courage the smuggling of Spirits into this Country;
in answer to this; he could only say, that Govern.
ment must employ a greater number of Vessels and
Revenue Officers than -they did at present. And it
would be much more difficult td elude the vigilance •
of the Officer; if the prohibition was general upon
,all kinds of grain, 'than if it was only partial. It
was undoubtedly the interest of the Distiller to
'distil from Wheat rather than from any other kind
of grail'', because it produced more spirit. The
duty was pi:tids/spoil the wash, and an equal quan.
city of wash produced from Wheat would produce_
more spirit than the wash produced from any other
sort of grain ; therefore the interest a the Distiller

to distil from Wheat was most obvious. If he was

permitted tobring in a Bill upon.. this .subject, he
confessed he should be more inclined to bring it in
prohibiting the prohibition while grain was at
certain priee,: than for prohibiting it for a.srcific
iime, because when the time was, fi.::ed, it afforded
room- for speculation. The last argument, urged-
upon this subjelt was one personally in favour of the.
Distillers: he considered .tlicln its a very respedable.