The Sun.
London, England, 1822-02-02 00:00:00

AGRICULTURE.

;•`, COUNTYOF ITER.TFORD MLETING.
LAndholders _and. Farmers
-wat 'yesterday held at the Shire Hail, in conse-
qpence of the following Requisition having been
pTlesented' to the • High Sheriff (J. TIMPERON,
. .

• "-We, the undersigned, request that you will please to call
a Meeting of the Owners and Occupiers of • Land in the County
of Herts, for the purpose of taking into consideration the pro-
priety of Petitioning Parliament upon the Agricultural Dis-
tresses of the Country.
(Signed)-4 Lord Dacre, N. Calvert; Sir CUlling Smith, W.
Baker, D-Giles, W. Hall, jun., A. 3/eetkerke, NV. Wiltshire,
W.. Dent. J. .Causton, Rowland Alston, - Thomas Daniell
Lloyd, Thomas Newcombe, John. E. Cooke, W.
Kimpton, H. Cozens, W. BoyS, Thomas Gregg, Saml. Adams,
• John Carter, Geo. Mickley, W. Flack, W. Heard, C. Tween,
.1- = Thos. Kimpton, Wnr. Tween, Thos. Jackson, Wm. Bigg, W.
Cater, W. H: Feilde, H. H. Feilde jun."
;:. To this Requisition the Sheriff "returned the •following An-
swer :
. ." In pUrsuance of the above Requisition I have appointed-at
.c. Meeting to be held at the Shire Hall,' in the town of Hertford,
en Friday, the first day of. February next, at twelve o'clock at
noon. " JOSEPH •TIM PERON."
• 4' New Barnes, Jan. 17.
At twelve o'clock the High Sheriff entered the Hall, follow-
ed by the Gentlemen who signed the Requisition. There were
also present the Maruuis of Salisbury, Earl'of 'Bridgwater,
7iscbunt CranboUrne, Sir J. Sebright, (M.P. for the County),•
tie Honourable Mr. Lamb (M. P. tbr the County) Colo-
; nel &c. &c.—The body of the room was filled by
•• ,Browne,.farmers of the most respectable appearance.
At a quarter past twelve o'clock Mr. MEETKERKE came for-
ward-and observed, that the precise period fixed for opening the
meeting had already elapsed ; he shoal therefore propose that
• the IligUherifido take the Chair.
Mr. N.TALVERT said it was usual on such occasions to
• give an hour's law ; a Meeting called for twelve was understood
to be-fixed for one o'olock. He hoped, therefore, that time
would be given for the arrival of many, Gentlemen who had
. delayed coming under this impression.
• A Gentlonan at the Ta-bleobserved, that at the last Meet-
ing the Chair was taken rather before the time fixed•• by the .
notice.

Sir Srotato tit hoped that the Meeting would.not allow
themselves to getinto any unnecessary discussloh, and that,
above all things, they would avoid sipping up old grievances.
On the motion. of Mr:MEET/U:1111E it was put and carried
that the High Sheriff should take the Chair.
• 'The HIGH SHEltar said that he had ;elt it his duty to con-
vene this Meeting in'consequence of having received a Requi-
sition for that purpose, which was numerously and most respect-
ably signed. The object of the meeting Was to Petition Parlia-
-I..?nent for relief from the distress under which the agrieultural
Interest laboured, and he hoped that every Gentleman who at-
, ttlided the Meeting had come with that view, and with that
view only ; and he hoped also that every Gentleman who came
forward to deliver his sentiments should receive a fair and int-
pattial hearing.
Lord DAcrtE rose and was received with loud
and 'repeated cheers. His Lordship commenced
by Observing, that the alarming state of distress
under which the agricultural interests laboured,
was such that it was felt expedient to call this
meeting. of the owners and occupiers of land in
that,county, in order to consider the propriety
of petitioniug• Parliament for redress. Some
friends of his (wild' a kind partiality, for which,
: however awkwardly it might place him, he sin-
terelythanked them), had requested him to open
the proceeding of the day. He should, in the
first instance, in his own name and in that of the
meeting, return his best, thanks to their worthy
.High Sheriff for the readiness with which he had
acceded to the wishes-of the Requisitionists.—
(Applause.)—Having thus far completed a small
• portion of the task which devolved upon him, he
could not help stating that he rose with much
difficulty, delicacy, and anxiety upon this occa-
sion.—(Hear, hear, hear!)—lle felt that he was
about to enter upon a subject of vast extent, and
of the most vital importance ; a subject which it
.-was his duty to lay as clearly as possible be-
fore the meeting. in attempting this, his feel-
ings of anxiety and delicacy arose from his
knowing the heat and warmth with which he
was in the habit' of expressing himself upon
• political subjects, and -frequently with a strong
political bias. Those who knew him best, knew
that it was his practice, upon all occasions, to go
direct to his object. If he wished to introduce
Parliamentary Reform (a question which he
should upon every proper occasion support upon
sound constitutional principles), he should go at
once to the point; but at present they were as-
sembled to consider of the distresses under which
the agriculturists laboured, and of pointing out,
if possible, a remedy for, those distresses. In
stating the means by which, in his view of the
case, those distresses could be mitigated, if riot
wholly removed, he should trust to their patience
and indulgence. The main difficulty under which
,the landed interests laboured,' could be stated in
a few word's : the inadequacy -of the, price of
produce to cover the expences of cultivation.—
(Hear, bear !)---And he .had' no hesitation in say-
ing, that if the distresses which now existed were
to continue much longer, then the cultiVation of
the lands of England must cease altogether.—
(-Hear, hear !)—Perhaps it would be here neces-
sary to state, that in speaking of the expence of
cultivation, he did not include rent. Rent, strictly
speaking, was what remained to the cultivator after
every expence incident to cultivatiOn. was paid:
The expencesko which he alluded were the Poors"
Rate, road expences, the expences of labour,
for whether the labourer was employed or in the
workhouse, he was' equally supported by the
land.(Hear, hear !)—When all these expences
were paid, the residue, if any, was rent; b'nt un-
til, those expences were paid, the land'could not,
anal ought not to pay any rent.—(Hear, hear
Tu. speaking of the 'necessity of a- 'remunerating
price to the farmer, he wished to guard himself
against any idea of wishing. to keep up rc.qit or
high prices:: There was not a single iota of such
a thing either in what he said or what he thoUght.
The question Was not now between the land
owner and the occupier, the question was -whether
the whole of. the lands of England. were to be
transferred to other holders.—(Hear!)--But even
if this 'transfer could take place, and that culti-
vation could still go on, he for one would pause
before he -proposed any measure'to prevent such
a change 11 for it was of little Moment, in a
tinahcial point of view, whether lands were
transferred or not,• so long as -they continued
prodnetive.-L(Heir, hear, hear !)-I.ut, the mis-
chief. was, that unless some efficient remedy
was-proposed, this transfer -must go on ; there
mot be a. series of transfers front holder to
holder ; 'and this would have the effect of ruin-1
ing the happiness of the people, Of
,ruining the
country, and of lowering us in the- eyes Of 17u-
rope. The price of grain -depe.tided upon the
quantity produced, as well as upon the amount
of the circulating medium., For the distresses
which were.adthitted on all hands to exist, Va-
rions remedies' were proposed. One was a mono-