The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-29 00:00:00

PRICE sd,

TO THE LAND-OWNERS ANT) OC

CUPIERS OF WEST SOMERSET.

GENTLEMEN,—As I am convinced only one wish can
animate you in regard to the much-agitated question of the
Corn-laws, and that is, to have it discussed and settled
upon the broad principle of doing justice to all ; I presume,
havit.g tor many years considered the several points bearing
on this important subject, to shortly remind you of the
present position in which you stand, under the hope that
you will be prepared to take such a line of conduct as shall
.be most suitable to a crisis which I think all must perceive
is near at hand.
I begin then, by calling your attention to the too often
repeated, but as I think untrue charge, that the Corn-laws
were made for the sole benefit of the landowners and oc-
cupiers, and consequently to the injury of the other classes
of our fellow-subjects.
This charge may be plausible, but it is not true, nor can
it be substantiated. The present laws which regulate the
trade in corn, were made after much doubting and hesita-
tion by the Legislature at a period when great, if not uni-
versal distress, was felt by the whole population of this vast
country, on the cessation of the Bonapartean war, which
had continued for more than a quarter of a century, when
no man could venture to say correctly what, was the position
in which all classes and interests found themselves ; when
some said, it arose from the currency ; some, from the
heavy burden of the public debt, or from both combined ;
and some, that the low prices which were supposed to cause
the distress, arose from the influx of foreign corn : and
I admit, to this latter opinion, the landowners and occu-
piers so strongly inclined
,that they induced the Legiskiture
by an inundation of 'AttEs.ms, to enact what was then
deemed to be a scheme or protecting duties on the imparta-
tion of all corn from foreign countries. It is true, they
were opposed by the trading, manufacturing, and commer-
cial interests, but they succeeded ; and the present laws,
were, in 1815 or 1816, enacted, being, however, greatly
modified and recast in the years 1827 or 1828, whn the
present scale of fluctuating duties were introduced, and
which are now said to be enacted only for the benefit of the
landowners and occupiers, and not for the whole people.
At that time, and long before, I had the honour of repre-
senting you in Parliament, and of serving on the Agricul-
tural Committee of 1821 and 1822—and I took an active
part in advocating an alteration of the then laws, by pro-
posing " open ports with fixed duties," and I moved in op-
position to the Government of that day, that corn of all
kinds, should at all times be imported at a " fixed duty."
The.duty I moved was then thought too high, and I only
carried with me from 80 to 90 Members, on a division of
the House. But it was generally admitted that the prin-
ciple was right, and had it been adopted, " Corn," from that
time to this, would always have been admissible from
foreign countries, thereby creating a demand for, and a re-
gular supply of grain of all kinds from foreign growers.
The want of which, is now found to be of vital importance
for it is a well-known fact that owing to this market (the
largest and best in the world) having been so long closed
to general and constant importation, a large breadth of
wheat-growing country in the north of Europe, has long
ceased to be cultivated ; proving to you, and the people of
this country, " that you cannot have a supply of Cern
when you want it,' if you will not take it in when you
do not want it,' " a principle in trade, which is found to be
true in other articles, viz. :—in cotton, in wool, in silk,
timber, and many other articles, and for which your ports
being always open, there is a regular supply on pay-
tnent of a " fixed duty ;" and will you allow me
to ask if this is so, why should not the same
principle be applied to corn,? I will venture to t,ll
you why it should be—it is (not merely because it is the
general wish of the people of the whole nation, as well as
of the continent, but because it is in consistence with the
benign wisdom of the Almighty Ruler of the universe, who
has willed, that one nation should (through the medium
of his Great Watery Highway) supply another ; or in other
words, that the intercourse between different countries
should be formed and carried on upon the broad principle
of mutual aid, and not upon that selfish and exclusive
policy which the short-sighted and illiberal motives of some
narrow-minded reasoners would propose.

As one of your body, as a landowner and occupier, I
protest against the present Corn-laws as impolitic and un-
just ; and I deny their being anything like a fit and ade-
quate protection. But if they were, I would not accept
of them if I found they produced a well-grounded enmity
and dissatisfaction in the minds of those who belong to the
trading and manufacturing classes, and who have a full
right to have the power to purchase their food, wherever
and whenever they can purchase it, best and cheapest ; but
I deny that the protection these laws pretend to give us, is
worth our notice ; and I aver, on the contrary, that they
chiefly tend, and are more calculated to benefit the specu-
lators in foreign corn, than for any other purpose, and that
they create a surer monopoly in the trade than any scheme
ever before invented ; a proposition which I conceive to he
at once proved, when it is shown that the present trade in
corn is only, and can only, be carried on by men of vary
large capital, who, by gigantic operations, know how to
manage the whole affair, excluding all minor men, and
being enabled to run great risks at certain periods, for the
purpose, at sonic future day, of receiving vast gains. If any
man doubts that this is the case, and has been so for
many years last past, let him inquire at Mark-lane, at
Liverpool, and at Hull, and he will find a ready and com-
plete answer to his questions ; and these are the " men"
who are protected by the present Corn-laws, and not the
landowners and occupiers of this kingdom, although the
latter class bear the odium, and are charged in no light
manner, in consequence thereof. I further beg to remark,
that the market prices of all kinds of grain, since the last
laws passed in 1827 or 1828, will show that the home
grower has not been receiving a larger price than would
just remunerate him for his skill, toil, and capital, employed
in the cultivation of his land ; and that now, when the prices
are rising, owing to a small and inefficient supply from abroad,
added to a deficient crop both of corn and potatoes at
home, he is by no means receiving an exhorbitant return or
rate of profit. I admit the prices are become too high, and
that Os. the imperial bushel is quite high enough, with
a good crop, to satisfy the home growers, and to enable
them to keep their lands in a proper state of cultivation ;
for it must be always remembered, that by a general lower-
ing of rents since 1815 and 1827,—by the repeal of many
agricultural taxes,—by a fair adjustment of the Tithes, and
lastly, by an alteration of the Poor Laws, the costs of
production have, and will be in a very material degree re-
duced ; and nothing, I believe, can be more against the
desire of the landowners and occupiers in general, than a
high and exorbitant price in bread corn, nor is anything
more untrue, than the charge of the present Corn-laws
being (whatever they may have been intended for), an un-
due protection to the home growers. But the time is ar-
rived, when the landowers and occupiers can prove to their
fellow-countrymen, that they disdain any partial or unfair
advantage, and that they are ready and willing to compete
with the foreign gro.vers on fair and equal terms, and that
they ask no favor. Therefore, Gentlemen, I trust you
will, without delay reeson this matter among yourselves,
and join with me in urging the Legislature, to free us
from the unjust charge laid at our doors, and that
some other plan may be followed (if any is neces-
sary) to regulate the trade in Corn. I perceive
no other, but " open ports with fixed duties," thus
treating the food of man, as every other article of trade is
treated, and allowing corn at all times to come here and
be sold in our markets, upon payment of a duty from Bs.
to 10s. the quarter of wheat and other grain in proportion.
If any of you should be alarmed at this proposition, let me
remind them of what took place in the article of •.vool, in
the year 1829, when the import duty was lowered from
6d.
per pound to Id. per pound, an alteration that was pre-
dicted by the growers of wool at that time to be destructive
to their interests, and it was said must tend to the lessen-
ing of the breed of sheep all over the kingdom. I beg to
ask any flock master if this has been so? On the contrary,
I aver the breed of sheep has been increased, and, conse-
quently, the quantity of British wool, in spite of the enor-
mous importation of that article. And this fact leads me
to deprecate the absurd cry that is now and then heard
against the principle of free trade, which on a close ex-
amination,
and tried by the test of experience, will h, found
to be based on sound sense and strict justice to all coun-
tries, and to have produced an increased degree of hapP i
ness and enjoyment of the fruits of the earth, in every part
of the world. I trust, therefore Gentlemen, 'entertaining a
sincere desire, to come to a just view of our present situa•
tion, I shall be excused in thus addressing you, and in
urging you to come forward in an endeavour to allay un-
just clamour, and to prevent all apprehensions of futurefo
famine, which (with our vastly-increasedltid, population from
14,000,000 to 18,000,000 in
ranatd
Wales, to say nothing of Ireland) cgana only be donee by en-
couraging at all times the largest p
whether of home growth f - cis
add, that
or oreign. I will
-sible- supplof food,
only
I took the liberty some two
years since to addre,s a latter
to you, in regardto the rise of wages. I earnestly repeat
,
that Gall, and desire to add, that
never did the love of our
feliow-creatures, the love of justice, and the love of God,
call louder upon us than at the present moment, to raise
the wages of every individual employed in agriculture, and