The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-21 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—The outcry raised in some districts in England as
to the distressed condition of the landed interest, and the
difficulty the " farmers' friends" seem to experience in de-
termining the cause before applying the cure some, as in
Buckinghamshire, pleading the removal of the Malt Tax ;
some, in 'Worcestershire, urging a repeal of Peel's Currency
Bill, while my Lord Darlington, in Shropshire, in addition
to both these, alludes to the pressure of certain other taxes,
such as the Poor, County, and Highway Rates), have in-
duced me to propound my notions for the consideration of
yourself certainly, and the public also, if you judge them
deserving of publication. Born a landowner, and having
been a practical farmer, I may, perhaps, be permitted to
affect some acquaintance with the subject.
Ist. THE MALT TAX.—Now, I don't deny that the re-
moval of any tax would, pro tanto, be found advantageous,
but the taking off the Malt Tax would only of necessity
afford very partial relief ; for it is only some districts which
produce barley fit for malting. It cannot, then, be the
Malt Tax which makes the alleged general depression, but
it has proved for one election a serviceable clap-trap, and it
is well to keep the bubble up for another turn.
od. THE CURRENCY.—By the way, that was a reform
with a vengeance, and no man can doubt but that the
effect of Peel's Bill infinitely exceeded all calculation,
and that all those who either from ignorance of its probable
effects, or exaggerated views of their own property, had
undertaken, or imposed on others, obligations, have had
these engagements nearly doubled. But most of the mischief
arose from the haste which the Bill enjoined. To retrace
our steps will be only renewing the injury. To ruin the
manuf►cturer, the merchant, and the trader, will do little
for the farmer, and to a change of the Currency I, for one,
am opposed. 3d. Let every purely local burden be light-
ened.; and my Lord Darlington has referred to no tables
to prove that five-sixths of the Poor Rates are payed by

the land. This I deny.
Sir,—Admitting the force of all the alleged causes of
distress, they do not altogether account for the low prices
of agricultural produce among our increased and increasing,
and generally prosperous population.
The Malt Tax touches certain soils only. The effects
of the Currency were experienced in most cases before the
leases now in course were entered into. The local burdens
have been lightened, and are greatly mitigating. To what
cause, then, are " farmers' friends" now to attribute the
depression ? I think there is little difficulty in till solu-
tion of this question. A new power has sprung up in our
day—a power the ultimate result of which it is almost ha-
zardous to contemplate. Sir, that power is Steam.
Some years since, at certain seasons, immense droves of
Scotch cattle were to be seen on the Roman or other
roads, under the guidance of a few hardy men : the black-
faced sheep also must be familiar to any traveller ; but in-
stead of lean stock, which of course was best fitted for
such a journey, we find our markets at times almost
supplied with fat sheep and cattle from Scotland. I am
credibly informed, that one Monday during this au-
tumn, fifty-three English beasts only were in Smithfield.
Ireland, too, teeming at once with wretchedness and riches,
treats us with both. • Her labourers undersell ours in the
market, and drive multitudes to the workhouse, and her
agricultural produce cheapen the value of English lands.
Of that produce, already immense and annually increasing,
large quantities arc daily imported into Bristol, Liverpool,
and London—oats, eggs, beef, bacon, butter, flour, whiskey
(to supply our rectifiers with the material for gin), feathers,
fowls, pigs, pork, leather, &c., in endless detail. I recollect
seeing in the Custom-house, list A, the arrival of SEVEN-
TEEN snirs so laden, reported in one day. Does the
Noble Marquis, or Earl, conceive these never might affect
prices? Or do their coadjutors in Worcestershire not per-
ceive that through such chat-Irv:l.s a cheap currency would
only render their ruin more inevitable ?
Let the landlords and tenants of such parts of England
as were forced into unnatural value by the war and the
currency of the war, fall back to peace-prices and peace-
currency—let them man themselves by advanced skill for
the encounter with the productions of new districts, which
steam has and is occasioning ; but let them not deceive
themselves into a belief that the repeal of the Malt Tax, or
a change in the Currency, would better their condition.
I am, Sir, your's respectfully,
Nov. 20, 1835. HOMO.