The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-31 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL DIST

TO THE EDITOR OF THE

• ---____
" The rent of land is not what the landlord may please to
demand or can afford to take, but what the tenant can afford
to give."—Smith's Wealth of Nations.

Szn,—The public mind is at present much engaged on
t us subject of paramount importance. Widely different opi-
nions and observations are everywhere held and advanced
respecting it. I therefore beg leave to offer some remarks
wi.lich you are at liberty to insert in your Journal, either
entire or in part, as they may appear to you deserving

notice.
It is asserted by some that too much grain is grown since
" etc cessation of that universal demand for corn, xhich,
during the war, swelled agricultural incomes to an,unpr eac-
dented extent," and that attention is not sufficiently turn,-:d
to a greater production of beef and mutton, &c. The state
of the currency is blamed by others ; high rents and local
taxation, and ether apparently, and, in some measure, real
causes, are advanced by a third party ; but none seem to
me to place the trade-
,Of farming on a footing with other
mercantile pursuits, mid prove it by the same ascending and
descending scale, which the farmer is certainly entitled to,
in common with his fellow traders. But here let me pause
for a moment, while I state the essential differences which
distinguish the farmer from all other traders. With all.
other manufacturers the article brought into market rises
or falls with the price of the raw material in connection with
the price of labour, and is only occasionally influenced by
causes foreign to its manufacture, such as a glut of the par-
ticular article in the market, or some of those ruinous and
capricious panics produced by' our present money system ;
while with' the farmer, though all the products he can bring
into market are subject to, and controlled by the sal ne in-
cidental chances, the like rises and falls in prices, liab:e to
the same risk of overstock, and also the caprice of our bank-
ing establishments, yet his raw material continues always .it
the same price it was contracted for, probably in war times..
He is bound by a deed he cannot escape from, (and, possi-
bly, without blame being to be attached to the contractee,
who may not have it in his power to alter the bargain,) and
the rates of labour and local taxes continue nearly unaltered.
This incapacity of accommodating the price of the raw
material (the land) to the demand, and consequent value of
its produce, is, in my mind, the chief cause of the present
distress among agriculturists, which has been coming on, in
some degree insensibly, owing to the peculiar position of a
farmer compared to other traders, with respect to the pay-
ment of the principal demand against him. Other traders
must pay their engagements to the day ; whereas the land
trader's chief creditor is his landlord, who can be put off
for a wiiLle without risk of expense or bankruptcy, till the
last penny has been extractett from the tenant's stock. I
am aware many nuestions may here be asked, such as, why
not retire in time 'torn an unprofitable trade, and embark in
some other likely to be attended with better success, and
many other such like. .t 1 reply here would be foreign to
the subject (the cause and remedy for agricultural distress),
but I conceive that any unprejudiced mind will easily sug-
gest satisfactory solutions to such questions, by a moment's
calm reflection on the habits and occupations to which a
farmer has been accustomed, alike ill fitted for the sedentary
counting-house, or bustling activity and enterprise of the
general merchant.
The. farmer should grow less corn, say soma : he may do
so, and undoubtedly will get a higher price for what he does
bring to market, but then the quantity will be less, and he
will stand in pretty much the same position as befiere, for
funds to pay his rent.
Peed more cattle, say they : granted, then the increased
quantity' reduces the value. How happens it, says another;.
" that of late, ii tillage be so very unprofitable, more land
it appears has been broken up and corn-sown then during
previous years ?" Vie terre tenant reduced to extremity
has diminished his own any his family's comforts, and ex-
erted himself to make the land
,;'field for the present exigency
its utmost of saleable produce, weD aware that such tilling
will in a short time exhaust the substance of the soil and
leave it little worth ; butalle puts off the evil day in hope of
better. times.
Thus, Sir, I appear reduced to the conclusion that high
rent is the immediate cause of present agricultufeil distress.
Be it so ; then it will naturally be said, rents should be re-
duced, even by legislative enactment if necessary, to a fair
and proper standard. Certainly government often (exer-
cises an extensive power most seriously affecting the pie-
duce of the farmer's capital and labour by the admission of
foreign corn, when prices of grain here become higher than
is deemed convenient to all other manufacturers' interest ;
why not with even handed justice and even policy, enact
some legislative mode of protecting the food manufacturer,
when his interest is injuriously affected ; but I must fear
(without wishing to say anything invidious) that a serious
obstacle would be here presented, by the apprehension of
the loss that must necessarily fall on the incomes or either
rent rolls of the landed proprietory—but, sooner or later,
the' bull must be taken by the horns. In returning to the
opinion I endeavour to maintain, viz. " that the incapa-
city or difficulty of accommodating the price of the raw
material (the land) to the demand for, and consequent
value of, its produce, is .the chief cause of the present
agricultural distress—l must beg leave to write from my
knowledge as- an Irishman, and in making this confession,
(if such a term can apply to an acknowledgement of that
which I feel proud of), I trust I shall not here lose caste, or
be considered as excluded from the privilege of boldly ex-
pressing to Englishmen my opinion on a subject on which I
have bestowed some reflection, and in which I am not a
little interested ; nor be classed as cne of that band of agita-
tors falsely yclept patriots, that infest their country at home,
and injure her character abroad, seeking clamourously for
every change, satisfied with no boon however great, work-
ing solely with regard to their own private views and in-
terests, under the specious pretext of public good : but as
an Irishman I can write with certainty of what I am more
particularly acquainted with—both the cause and effect in
this instance, two points so necessary in supporting my
opinion on the subject-e-one example is worth a thousand
arguments. John --- holds about 4,50- acres of land
at what is considered a moderate rent in one of the best
cultivated counties of Ireland ; a considerable sum was ex-
pended in valuable improvements some years since by his
father—corn and cattle were then high ; present prices
by no means remunerate, so as to enable the possessor to
pay the rent, tithe and county charges. Suppose him to
appeal to the landlord, a nobleman with a rent roll of
20,000/. per annum, and solicit an abatement in the rent
that he is bound by lease to pay--the answer he receives,
necessarily is, that it is impossible. .The estate is for the
most part in the hands of trustees, apponitcd by creditors,
who are urgent in their demands for arrears of interest ; as
the receipts from the lands allocated for the purpose are not
sufficient, the poorer tenants being already quite drained.
This is far from being a solitary instance ; on the contrary,
I am convinced, if enquired into, by far the greater portion
of our landed proprietors would be found similarly circum-
stanced. It is, therefore, quite evident that in such cases,
the rent can not be voluntarily reduced, and a little time
must necessarily bring down inevitable ruin on both land-
lord and tenant, unless some timely remedy be applied.
Thus,, I trust, I have with tolerable cleainess and 'con-
viction brought the agricultural !distress, by a short antici-
pation, home to the door of the landlord, and it is here the
restorative must be prescribed.
If' we could for a moment suppose such an event possible,
as all leases to be void on a given day, and all farms to be
retaken, the matter would he easily settled for some time ;
for then the actual. 'value would be ascertained, as " the
'rent of land is not what the landlord may please to demand
or can afford to take, but what the tenant can affor l to eive."
However, as my objtict is to deal with probabilities, a:CI not
mere possibilities, I shall pass over all chimerical hypothesis.
In the general depreciation which has taken place of late
years in almost every article of the necessaries of life, the
means of procuring them seem in most instances to hart)
kept pace, whether as antecedent or consequent, I shall
not here step to inquire ; suffice it for my present purpose,
that it is evidently the fact. Why, then, I ask, should any
particular part of the community be exempt from the de-
pression so general—still less in that particular portion en-
titled to exemption, where it is proVed to be the chief, if
not only obstacle to relief—l' mean that party having the
incumbrances affecting the lands, and preventing the possi-
bility of ameliorating.the condition of the agriculturists ;. is
it fair—is it just—that, amidst the fall of all other proper-
ties, the fundifolder and mines, lender alone should walk
forth uninjured and unaffected by the general dechne in the
value of all other properties ? He embarked his capital pro-
bably at the war prices like the farmer—should he not share
in the fall? The debts lie claims payment of were contracted
at a tare when money was nearly half its present value, per-
haps during a period of bank restriction—has he a just or
equitable demand for payment of the same amount in cash
of the present increased value ? Let the landlords and his
&editors be placed on a fair footing, and then the former
may he called or required to listen and accord to the honest
and just expectations-of an industrious tenantry.
To correct any evil of long standing, we must strike at
the root. Let then the Legislative axe, which alone can_
be sufficiently powerful, strike at the root of this—the cause
(in Ireland at least.) of agricultural distress, and after a very.
short period of purgation, I feel convinced the disease would
heal of its own accord, and be succeeded by a wholesome
and renovated Constitution. -1
1 have the honour to remain, Sir,
Your o'.o lient litaas'ale servant,
\V. L.

December, IS 35.

A PRIZE GoosE.—The following is a verbatim'
copy of a notice .attached to a goose at the shop of Mr.
Cornish, hatcher, High-street, Woolwich :—" The Prise
Gose—This Dose was fed on barley and Water, by Mr.
Charles Bury Esquire Sunning-Hill Burkshire Weaght
Pounds," s.

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