The Sun.
London, England, 1822-05-09 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS.
MR. EDlTOR—Happening within these few
days to fall into conversation with a very sen-
sible, judicious, and experienced friend of mine,
who had himself upon former occasions given his
ideas on the long since agitated Corn Question to
the public, in a manner that tended to throw
much light on that subject and reflect honour on
himself, I was somewhat surprised at finding
him strongly impressed with the notions of rela-
tive demand and supply, as thrown out by Mini-
sters, as the almost sole efficient causes of the
present depression of the Corn markets, and the
almost universal distresses arising from them, in
a greater or lesser degree to the whole commu-
nity, but more particularly and immediately to
the landed interests. He asked me if I was in-
formed of the number of Inclasure Bills passed
within this last half century, and upon my say-
ing that ,I knew they were numerous, but could
not precisely ascertain the number, he replied
that I had not acquainted myself with the most
material facts, and could not speak with any de-
gree of weight on the whole subject of present
Agricultural distress, without a previous ac-
quaintance with that material fact. Being in a
mixed company subject to perpetual interrup-
tions, it was impossible for me to go further into
the subject, or to explain, as I think could easily
have been done, that the knowledge of that fact
was in no degree material, or had any thing
whatever to do with the present question. My
friend seemed to think. that our cultivators had
for years past extended their cultivation far be-
yond the just mark, and that now their produce
having gone far beyond the natural and regular
demand, prices were lowered accordingly.
Now to lay the smallest rational ground for any
such supposition, he must haves thought that the
cultivators had from year to year hoarded up
their produce, and now bringing it suddenly to
sale, had glutted the markets, and necessarily
occasioned that depression of prices of which we
all so feelingly and sojustly complain. Whereas
facts are wholly opposed to any such supposition,
for it is well known that so far from any hoards
in the farmers' granaries at the commencement
of every harvest, there is not sufficient grain in the
kingdom for one half year's supply, a fact that at
once sets every idea of that kind wholly out of
the question. If the markets are too abundantly
supplied, it arises from the poverty of the
farmer, who is compelkd to bring his grain to
market and sell it at any price, or subject him-
self to the horrors of a prison. If, as has been
stated in my 7th letter, addressed to the public
through your Paper, my friend, with upwards of
2,000 freehold acres in his own occupation, and
his barns and granaries filled with Corn, is com-
pelled by the tax-gatherer, tythe owner, the
labourer necessarily employed in his cultivation,
and every other just claimant on the land-holder,
to bring his grain and sell it at any price, how
much greater must be the pressure on hundreds
and thousands of farmers who, exclusive of all
those several pressing demands, have rents to pay,
which necessarily must be exacted with or with-
out abatement, by every landlord in the king-
dom, or that landlord be subjected to equal dis-
tresses with his tenant ; for, as has been repeatedly
said before, many supposed opulent landed-pro-
prietors from 1 to 15 or 20,0001. per annum can-
not command a single guinea of their own but
from their tenantry. Does not the worthy re-
presentative of the county of Essex tell you that
he believes scarcely a single tenant in his rich
and productive county would be found solvent
were his affairs critically inquired into, and a
fair balance sheet made. Does he not likewise tell
you that for the three or four last years the land-
lord has been living upoj the tenant's capital,
and not upon the fair produce of his lands?
Does not this most fully and satisfactorily account
for all the glut of Mark-lane and other markets,
without laying the smallest foundation for any
supposition of over supply from excessive culti-
vation ? Can any rational being suppose that at
this moment the quantity of grain in the kingdom
exceeds that of former periods ? yet upon that, and
that ground alone, are founded all the arguments
of superabundance of supply and deficiency of
demand. In the teeth however of the most
glaring facts, and of every just conclusion to be
drawn from them, it is plainly seen by what
has been above stated as the opinion of a sen-
sible and judicious man, that people who have
not thoroughly considered the subject in all its
various bearings are carried away with that
delusive opinion, and consider Ministers as jus-
tillable in acting upon it ; whereas it is down-
right fallacy, and cannot be for one instant sup-
ported by facts or reasonings fairly deduced from
them. But the public in general as well as the
powers that govern it, are tired to death with
everlasting complaints from the agricultural
classes of society, and wishing to rid themselves
of the teasing subject, say, when the revenue,
the manufactures, and the external commerce of
this great country are all, as established by
papers on the table of Parliament, in a most
flourishing condition, and all the consumers of
this great country perfectly satisfied with the
low prices of every article either of necessity,
and comfort, and even of luxury, why are we
to be teased and worried to death because one
single portion of the community suffers a tempo-
rary depression, which Ministers tell us will soon
be done away, when supply and demand are
equalized, and find their natural level ? To this
the plain and decided answer is, this supposed
inconsiderable portion of the suffering community
consists of at least seven or eight out of ten of the
whole population of the kingdom, and by far not
only the more numerous but more substantial
portions of the whole community are involved in
this vital question. That the ideas of demand
and suppiy are wholly fallacious ; that instead of
things coming round and finding their just level,
they will become worse and worse from day to
day, till 'the whole kingdom falls into one
mass of complete disorganization. Men who
are led away by these fallacies should like-
wise be told that, wholly independent of the
Corn Question, every debtor in the kingdom, as