The Sun.
London, England, 1822-06-17 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS.

Ma. Enrron—Seeing in the public Papers the
report of a very interesting debate on the pre-
sent truly distressful state of the Kingdom, in
which Sir T. LE'TIIBRIDGE, M. P. for the county
of Somerset, and his supporters are said to have
used too bold and dangerous a language ; and as
the subject is at this time of the deepest interest
to every member of the community, I think it
not amiss to give the heads of that debate at large,
and subjoin such observations as occur to me on

the subject :
" Mr. COKE presented a petition from certain Agriculturists
of Norfolk, complaining of distress, and praying for relief.
" Sir T. LETunitiDGE rose to protest against the general
indifference manifested by the Government on this subject.—
He had hitherto•suppdrted the Government ; but if lie sup-
ported them now, he should do so at the risk of having one
man lift his hand against another, and do injury to the Consti-
tution. Nothing less than injustice was now played off against
the people, whether regard were had to the parliamentary or the
parochial taxation. He had a motion fixed on the subject, and
would endeavour to show that high protecting duties were ab-
solutely necessary for the preservation of the farmer. From
being an agricultural we had become an highly mercantile and
monied people ; we had, in fact, changed our character, and
tiresome as those petitions might be, it was better to bear this
now than meet something worse hereafter.
" The Marquis of LONDONDERRY was glad the period was
now arrived when the House would be put in possession of the
Hon. Baronet's proposal. He- thought those daily speeches
had something of an inflammatory character about them, and
the more so when it was recollected how much the Government
had done in the remission of taxes. In fact nothing seemed to
call forth more jocularity from the other side of the House than
any measures of practical relief for the people. He understood
the whole object of the Hon. Baronet to be, that butter, cheese,
and flax should be protected ; but he was quite sure the great
operations of nature could not be altered, and that wheat at 475.
a quarter could not be sold at 70s. Protection, in his vocabu-
lary, only meant price, andhe was at length glad that the mo-
tion was to come forward. If his views could be accomplished,
he would most warmly second him. But at the same time he
lodgged it might not be considered unbecoming of him jibe did
not oftener rise to meet those inflammatory exclamations. He
gave the Hon. Baronet credit for his manliness, but thought
some of his observations might be spared.
" 11Ir. BENETT (Wilts) said, it was not unnatural that the
landholders should use strong language, aye, even terms of re-
monstrance. The tenantry were ruined, and the landholders
were called upon to speak their opinions boldly in this House.
If the Government did not attend to the petitions of the people,
other petitions, and couched in very strong language, would
be reiterated. He did not wish to have insulting petitions re-
ceived, but mere formality should not interpose to prohibit the
people from the exercise of their rights.
• " Mr. H. G. BENNET said, in his view, the time for dis-
cussion was on the presentation of petitions. He cared not for
majorities in this House, but he wished for discussion out of
doors. No doubt the Noble Lord had rather enter into discus-
sion when he had his trained bands about him, or, to use a
favourite phrase of his, when'he had a field day' in the House
of Commons. At this side of the House they did not laugh at
the relief afforded to the people though they certainly were
jocular at the powers of face exhibited by the Noble Lord and
the Chancellor, who took away by filching and larceny from
the Sinking Fund what they dared not do openly; and yet
they had still preserved that fund. As he before said, the
Noble Lord was forced into Ale reductions which he made, and
though he boasted of this splendid measure, it was one which
he knew he never could carry into effect. The Noble Lord
might think it better to discuss matters when surrounded by
his forces, but for his (Mr. B.'s) part, he thought all occasions
should be taken for remedying the distresses and hearing the
prayers of the people.
" Mr. 111oNcx. entirely concurred in the observations of his
Hon. Friend.
" Mr. LEYCESTER corroborated the statement of the Hon.
Member who had presented the Petition. He recollected an
anecdote of our late Sovereign, who, on one occasion, reviewing
a regiment of Yeomanry, observed-4 I like these people, not
for what they have in their hands, but for what they have in
their pockets.' Those pockets were now turned out : he left it
to the Gentlemen on the other side to draw the moral.
" Sir F. BURDETT wished to offer a few words. He trusted
that the Hon. Baronet (Sir T. L.), as well as the rest of the
Country Gentlemen, would not suppress their understandings
with regara to their own condition ; that they would make
their sentiments known to the House; and then it would fol-
low that a feeling would arise in the country which would find
a re-action in the House, and oblige Ministers to take measures
for the recovery of the _country. He did not despair of the
country, and he believed that its distresses were chiefly to be at.
tributed to the ignorance of Ministers, who did not know its real
state. In one respect he dissented from the Hon. Bart., for he
felt no gratitude to Ministers for the remission of taxes which
they had just granted. On the contrary, he thought that the coun.
try had a right to have expected that remission many years ago.
How often had the House been told, that if they did not sup-
port the extravagance of Ministers they would resign ; and how
often had that threat procured the support of Members, against
their own conviction. He did expect now that some Reform
would take place. God forbid that he should speak of a Reform
so startling as Parliamentary Reform, though they would even-
tually be obliged to come to that, for the Country Gentlemen
would find, that unless such a Reform did take place, Minis-
ters would not consent to any reduction of taxes. lie felt,
therefore, no gratitude to Ministers; for they had afforded the
Country no relief. Even if the Country had been relieved, even
if the Country were now in a most flourishing condition, if its
actual circumstances were to be reversed, still he would say
that no gratitude was due to Ministers, for they had done no
more than their duty. The Ministers ought to have considered
the effect of their own measures on the currency. They ought,
before the adoption of those measures, to have considered that
their own salaries had been increased during a depreciated cur-
rency, and ought therefore now to be reduced in proportion—
they ought to have considered the relative situation of those who
had entered into debts and contracts during the depreciated
currency. Bit they had acted in the dark, they had not taken
due precautions, and had been totally unaware of those conse-
quences which had been so obvious to others. On the score of
gratitude, therefore,_ lie thought the Country owed the Noble
Lord nothing. The Noble Lord had taxed the Hon. Baronet
with using inflammatory language. Now ha would ask the
Noble Lord whether, after having reduced the country Gentle-
men to the situation they were in, when they could receive no
rents, he expected them to pay their taxes ? If the Noble
Lord could screw himself up to that opinion, then he (Sir F. B.)
imagined that the Noble Lord would hear language still more
inflammatory than any that he had already heard.
" Mr. Secretary PEEL observed, that he had felt some sur-
prize at the language used by the Honourable Baronet respect-
ing the measure passed in 1819 to restore the currency of the
Country to a proper standard. It was not the first time that
the Hon. Baronet had characterized that measure in terms which.
it did not deserve; but which, even if it did deserve, spoke
strongly in condemnation of the Hon, Baronet himself. If the
measure had been so unjust in principle, and if its evil conse-:
quences had been so obvious, then he would tell the Hon. Bart.'
that he had himself been guilty of a gross neglect of his public
duty in not warning them against those consequences at the time:
when themeasure had passed. The Hon. Bart. had called thq
measure an iniquitous one ; if so, it had been iniquitous in 1819,
as well as at the present moment. Policy might vary, but the.:
iniquity of a measure remained the same in character. Thta
Hon. Baronet might not have possessed the quality of forej,
sight ; but if he thought at that time that the principle of the:,
measure was bad, then he was bound to tell them so, and it.!
was not for him now to come down to the House and say, that;
the consequences of the measure had been obvious, although
they were not those which he had predicted. The measure
itself had not been a Government measure. It had met with
the decided approbation of most of the great authorities on
the other side of the House. For himself, regretting, as he
did, any aggravation of the distress of the country, which
that measure might have produced, yet, judging from its gene.
ral results, 'he was perfectly satisfied with the part he had
taken in bringing it forward ; and heedeclared, that, under
similar circumstances, viewing the country as standing on the
precipice on which it then stood, he would now- adopt the
same line of conduct. He was sorry that he had saul so much
on the subject, as an lion. Gentleman opposite had given no,