The Sun.
London, England, 1821-03-08 00:00:00

by increaser' consumption. Could any man be-
lieve that the capital and not the income of - the
country was not spent. He would ask the Right
Hon. Gentleman was there not a reduction in
tobacco, the real comfort of -the poor ; there was
also a great reduction in shoes. But with all
these circumstances, it.still appeared that. France
intercepted- supplies intended for this country,
and •in June, 1819; corn fell, there 20s. a quarter.
'There came Mice from India equal to a.consump-
tion of two month's supply. There were even
now 40,000 quarters. of- foreign wheat in the
-market of this country ; if, after all:this, the agri-
culturists were left without protection even for
three weeks, fifteen weeks' supply would be poly:-
ed. into this..couutryi to the great injury and de-
struction of the. British grower. lie disclaimed
those prices that bore hard on the manufac-
turing districts, he. only asked the. interests of
grower- and courumer to he equally. considered.
Would any one say. that low prices improved any
party- If fifty millions. were now reduced, it was
that that ruined, the home market of this conntry,
which was the truly profitable market for any
country. The return to cash payments might
have had some effect ; but it was taking away this
fifty millions that operated to the great evils of
which the country now complained.: He. wished
for no extremes: extremes 'in either way pro-
duced the same unhappy results. lie wished for
no countervailing duties beyond what were ne-
cessary. The Poles said 12s. a quarter would
completely repay them ; at eight shillings they
would not complain. How, then, could the
-English farmer enter the market ? The. Right
lion. Gentleman said 600,0001. was produced to
this country by the duties on foreign butter and
cheese, and he was asked, would he resign
that ? Certainly not. But he wanted to in-
crease it and at the same prevent the agri-
cultural distress. Eighteen millions of quar-
ters were consumed in England and Scot-
land, and only seven millions five hundred thou-
sand quarters were grown on particular or poor
soils. Now, who that remembered 1796, could
trust to the recurrence of such times, or look to
it without horror? Again, it should be considered
that this land was cultivated by about 300,000
persons, and at an ex-pence of 6,000,000/. ! It was
said our distress now arose from over production.
Good God ! must not the farmer ..be a madman.
to produce by extra labour or capital
.more than
he could sell ? The reverse was the fact ; and if
there were an appearance of over production,
it was the worst sign of the times.lnformer times
the manufacturer required five acres to feed him ;
now he was reduced to that of the labourer, to
three acres ! The manufacturer was obliged now,
to feed on potatoes and barley bread, while-
formerly fed on meat. What could inducE
the farmer to wish his best customer to decline
buying his commodity ? Ile regretted the Go-,
vernment had not Much earlier taken up this
,subject; and if the GovernMent did not take-it,
up, the people had a right to enforce it. .lle would:
now put a challenge ;to the-Noble Lord, andlie,
begged him to ask any thousand farmers he pleas-'•
ed,- have you or have you.not lessened- your ex-:
tent of labour? If that were true, if the. labour
were so lessened, nothing more fully proved, the:
deterioration of land. No man would say,this!
was not to be met in every.-quarter, friendly or
unfriendly to the Noble,,Ler.d. A Noble Duke,
friendly, to the Noble Lord,, had reduced his-
rents because his tenantscould.not pay him ; and
he hoped the same results would generally hap-
pen. But it-so happened, unfortunately, that the
complaints Id the people
.were
.not believed ; they
were considered unfounded ; yet the truth wasp
the greater the reduction of rent, the., greater the
inability to meet the taxes generally. Taxes
should be reduced. He would not shrink from
avowing his opiniop—that all sorts of property
should share in taxation. The first principles of
society said, men should pay for their protection.
He denied that the persons on his side of the House
wished to taunt or annoy the 'Goverimient.- If
any-thing were to be-done with the fund holder,
it would be by-
--thee Noble Lord and his friends,
and not by the 'Gentlemen at his side of the
hi-louse. Economy- should take place, not 'of
cheese-parings and candle-ends, but genuine and
substantial economy. If, it (lid not, the same
effects would happen here as did in France, when
the Government-- were, perhaps,' the greatest of
the sufferers. It would be idle to go into a
Committee if ultimate relief were not intended.
lie had often urged Ministers to relieve the peo-
ple in a spirit of conciliation. Was ever a country
'placed in the situation of Great Britain ? When
every man looked up
.to the qovernment of the
Country with patience for relief, and were now
trembling .on the brink of despair. . Public
ruin would take place if thuse persons who pro-
fusely enjoyed the public money did not now re-
gorge it. Whatever the influence of the Noble.
Lord might hitherto Lave been, whateVer effect
he was able, to produce on those who supported
his measures,,unless a substantial economy took
place it would not be for him to tell what was
to follow. The present discussion was forced
upon the country., It
.was one ef the first and
last importance to the stability -of the country.—
He implored the ileuse..fullyan,d,attentively, to
weighs it ; to look to the, people ; to pacify.; to:
relieve them. ,No spirit against the Gov.ernment
,operated on this question ; it was one of vital im-
portance to the people of the country now, and
not less so to their
.posterity.—(Cries of hear !)
, Mr. Wurrmon.F. rose„ bt4 was for several mi-
nutes inaudible in the gallery. We understood
the Hon. Member to refer to .the averages at dif-
ferent given perieds_which lie stated, and to their
influence upon the general question then under
consideration.. lie then, in alluding to the situa-
tion of the .Empire, observed that he thought it
would be the, best policy to- abrogate all the
duties which restricted - commerce in; Ireland,
except perhaps that. which related to corn, where
perhaps, some protection was necessary for the
English grower. In his opinion the main cause
of the
,present distress.wastaxation.-7-(Hear!)—
It was that which had so altered the prosperity
of the country. It was,_ he thought, idle when
particular interests. were affected: to fly to legis.
lation, or merely t 0.104 at- the,particular laws af-
fecting any one species of commerce:. Vufortu-
nately that had been the course pursued ; (trait ,