The Sun.
London, England, 1826-04-27 00:00:00

MR. JACOB'S REPORT ON THE TRADE IN CORN,

AND ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE NORTH OF EUROPE
DATED FEB. 21. 1826.

To the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Hie
Majesty's Privy Council for Trade.
My Loans—ln pursuance of the instructions communicate,)
by your Lordships on the 25th June last, I proceeded to the
Continent, passing through the Netherlands, the Prussian Pro-
vinces on the Rhine, and the dominions of Saxony, to Berlin,
mad from thence by Stettin to Dantxic.
From Dantzic I travelled through the kingdom of Poland, vi-
siting Thorn, Warsaw, and Cracow ; deviating in several direc-
tions from the main road, returned through Gallicia, Moravia,
Austria, Bavaria, and Wirtemburgli, to Strasbilrgh, where I en-
tered France, and by -.7ay of Paris, reached England.
I was induced, by my instructions, to direct my principal at-
tention to the supplies of grain, and the nature of the commerce

The commerce of corn generally in the countries whose con-
nexion with the sea is maintained by the river Vistula has been
extensive during a long series of years. The shipment to foreign
countries was, during a long period,, almost exclusively confined to
the city of Dantzic.
The Government of Prussia viewed with some jealousy the trade
of that city, which was then one of the independent Hawse Towns;
and having the land on both side!, the river, from the briendaries
of Poland to those of Dantzic, endeavoured, by forming the city of
Elbing into a free mart, to draw the trade through that place and
its port of Pillau.
Some success attended this plan, and the trade was carried on
through the two rival channels, with a competition which:has
been continued to the present time; for though Dantzic has been
since added to the Prussian territories, and the preference given
to Elhing consequently withdrawn, the latter city = seems to have
retained its proportionate share of the export of corn.
Attempts are at this time making by Russia, to divert the corn
trade of Poland, but especially of the provinces of that country,
which have been separated from it, and are now comprehended in
Russia, to the port of Riga as the place of 03ipmefit. For this
purpose canals are now constructing, which are intended to faci-
litate the conveyance of goods to the river Duna. It is not host*.
ever probable, that a very great proportion of the trade wilt be
drawn into that channel. The port of Riga is closed by frost a
much longer time than that of Dantzic ; the passage from it to the
countries where corn is wanted is longer ; the climate is less fa-
vourable for drying the grain after, removing it from the barges,
preparatory to shipment ; and it, at present, has not those spicious
and well-adapted warehouses, for the secure deposit of corn, by
which Dantzic is eminently, distinguished.
Some portion of the corn is at present brought down to the sea
shore, larthe river Neimen, and after paying a transit duty to
Prussia, at the town of .s:'clitnalettingken, is conveyed to Memel.
This branch of the trade is, heweVer, but small, as it appeari (see
Appendix, .No. 1,) that in the three years, 1816, 1817, and
1818, a period when the general trade was the greatest, thewhole
quantity thatpaid the transit duty was only 49,59 t; quarters of
wheat, 21,830 quarter* ot 'bailey, 185,299 4tuirters of rye,• and
109e4.82 quarters of oats.
Prorn the southern province's of Poland, viz. Sandomir and
Cracow, in which the greatest quantity of the hod wheat is pro-
duced, a portion is annually sent into the neighbouring Prussian
province of Silesia, by land, where a-part of it is consumed by the
few inhabitants of Breslow, and the other cities, who eat wheaten
bread. The greater part is, however, conveyed by the river
Oder, and then by the canal which unites that river with the
Havel, to the city of Berlin. It forms an article in the Weekly
returns of the corn market of that capital ; and, by the whiteness
of its flour, is preferred fur pastry and confectionary. In those
years, when the prices of grain have been the most rake! in Eng-
land, some of it has been sent here from Stettin, whilst those of
the inhabitants of that neighbourhood' who used wheat were sup-
pile with an inferior kind, .of•their own growth.
Those other channels, by which the surplus corn of Poland is
distributed, bear, however, but a small proportion to that which
passes by the mouths of the Vistula, at Dantzic and Ming, and
the manner in which the trade by these places is carried on may
deserve detailed notices.

The cultivators of that corn which is supplied to trade, are al-
most universally both owners awl occupiers of the tooll on which
it grows. They cultivate it by the labour of their tenants or sub-
jects, who raise sufficient for their own support, but have scarcely
any iMrplus. It does not, as in most other countries, come to the
several markets in small parcels. As wheat particularly can
scarcely be there considered an article of fi►od, it would scarcely
ever find purchasers among the inhabitants of the countries in
which it is grown, if it were brought to the weekly or other mar-
kets in their own towns. It is almost exclusively an article fur
foreign consumption.
The whole of the internal commerce of Poland is in the hands
of the Jews, who are very numerous, comprehending nearly one-
seventh of the whole population, ►uid not being engaged in culti-
vation, nor inhabiting villages, forming the majority in mo.•t of
the market towns. They are acute, temperate, economical, rather
active than industrious, and are said to be possessors of the far
larger proportion of the floating capital of the country. Almost
every transaction passes through their hands, and few persons can
either buy or sell, borrow or lend, without the aid of some indivi-
duals of that race. Though not allowed by the late to call them-
selves brokers or factors, they are effectually such to the whole of
the nation.

They are accused of nourishing a most implacable hatred to-
wards all other people, and of deeming it uo moral crime to
deceive and cheat Christians. Whatever of truth there may be
in these charges, these supposed feelings of the Jews, are met on
the part of the majority of the other inhabitants, by a degree of
contempt and degrading treatment, of the most aggravating na-
ture ; a treatment so remote from what is exercised towards that
people in England, Germany, France and Holland, that it may
have perhaps maiulX contributed to form the character which they
are accused of bearing.

It will not appear surprising, on referring to the changes that
Poland' has undergoney.—the ravages she has suffered (rain wars,—
the demands for the personal services of her proprietors in the
armies, of the successive masters that have ruled the 'country,—
the exclusion from all foreign trade, and, till of late, the total ab-
sence of all manufactories,—thut there should be now great indi-
vidual distress, even whilst the country, as a whole, may be ad..
vancing in prosperity. •
The individuals who most suffer are thelanded proprietors, and
they have, with a few exceptions, became dependent, in a greater
or less degree, on the more monied Jews.
There is every reason to believe, that few landed proprietors
are wholly free from incumbrances, and that many of theM are
involved to such an extent, that they are compelled to deliver to
their creditors the whole surplus prodnee of their estates, as soon
cs it can be prepared for removal. The Jews, by their universal
connexion with others of their nation in distant places, have far
better opportunities of what prices they are likely to obtain for
corn, than the gentlemen who raise it ; and the latter, from their
situation, must take that 1111 the price which their creditors may
determine.

warehouses well
corn, at the places whence it is most con-
Vistula there... are many
vatelantrezi;tihtfoeurbeat;nrike°eiagr(krv'f preserving
The are generally removed from the
farms of the proprietors as speedily us possible, and remain there
iu the power of the creditor, who either allows far it a sti➢ulated

When the cargo arrives at Dantsic or Ming, all but the grown
surface is thrown on the land, spread abroad, exposed to the sun
and air, and frequently turned over till any slight moisture that it
may have imbibed, is dried. If a shower of rain falls, as well as
during the night, the heaps of wheat on the shore arc thrown to-
gether, in the form of the steep roof of a house, that the rain may
run off, and are covered with a linen cloth. It is thus frequently
a long time after the wheat has reached Dantzic, before it is fit to
be placed in the warehouse.
The warehouses are very well adapted for storing_corm They'
consist, generally, of seven stories, three of which are in the roof.
'the floors are about nine feet asunder. Each of thenfare divided
by perpendicular 'partitions, the whole length, about four feet high,
by which different parcels are kept distinct froth each other. Thus
the floors bare two divisions, each of them capable of storing from
I ti() to 200 qttarters of wheat, and leaving sufficient epee for turn-
ing or wreening it. There are abundance of windows in each
fluor, which are always thrown open, in dry weather, to ventilate
the corn. It is usually turned over three times a week. The meu
who perform the operation, throw it with their 'shovels as high as
they can, and thus the grains are separatedirom wit other, and
exposed to the drying influence of the air.

-The whole of-the corn warehouses now left (for many were
burnt during the siege of 1814), are capable of storing 500,000
quarters of wheat, supposing the parcels to be large enough to fill
each of the two divisions of the floors, with a separate heap; but
as, of late years, it has come down from Poland in smaller parcels
than formerly, and of more various qualities, which Must of ne-
cessity be kept distinct, the present stock of about 280,000 quar-
ters is found to occupy nearly the whole of those' warehouses,
which ate in repair, or are advantageously situated for loading the
ships. Ships are loaded by gangs of porters with great dispatch,
who will complete a cargo of SOO quarters in about Fusee or four
hours. It is seen by Table, No. 19, in the Aypendif; that within,
the last five or six years the whole quantity that h4usbeen brought
down has been diminishing ; but I was told that, tin sensible de-
crease had been observed in the number of the separeti bulks, only
that each bulk, or the growth of each estate, or of welt consignor,
was smaller.
worsepers
none nfoas::::hi:ev
ohl:teeeiblfhrtnsoi
The trade in wheat from Poland and Priortia, thro gh.Dantric,
is said to have been attended with most ruinotha leitae►i to all the
the expenses of cultivation, and that it hai been regularly getting
engaged
c since he
The Jews, who have taken the crops from the growers, have
found the decline of the prices such, that if they sold on their ar-
rival at Dantzie, it was attended with loss; and if they were in t►
condition to withhold from selling, and placed it in warehouses,
the loss was eventually much greater. The trade of Dantzic,
eyyeaienarsrith.ladBlTByh.ieeldgredovwu
it;jaes:etrtt:dcotvheart
which is chiefly confined to corn, has been for several years in a
distressed state. The commodity in which the traders have dealt,
has of late so vastly declined in value, that what was-purchased
cheap at one period, became in a short time dear ; the advances
they made on what was consigned to them for vale, With the ex.
pence of conveyance, and of storing and preserving, 'eon amount-
ed to snore than the value of the wheat ; and the consigners, in
Poland, seldom united the ability and the disposition to make pay-
thetas to indemnify them.
The corn now in the warehouses has cost the merchants muck•
more than the present value. The loyal Bank of Prussia, whick
has branches in the different titles of the kingdom, has advanced,
on the security of the wheat now in store, half of what was the
value at the time the several advances were midi, and as the price
has declined, has required additional security.
In calculating the stocks of wheat in the several ports of eke
Baltic, as I did not visit the whole of them, I was under the ne-.
cesaity of relying on the accounts that I could procure. • His Ma-
jesty's Consuls offered their assistance, and furnished me with the
following list, vouching for their accuracy to the best of their judg-
ment. •

Mr. Leutze, the thusul of Stettin, gives ebe following as the
stocks in Pomerania

Stettin

Andam
Demmin
Stralsund
Grietawald
Wolgast

24,266 Quarters
10,696
4,799 --
16,495 --
6,691 --
6,289 --

67,103

Mr. Gibi.on, Conant of Dantzie, to whom I am obliged firs'
inch Other nvefol information, gave me the ezfet qu"ltitY at
antoie and IlEng; viz.
Dantzie
• Ming

288,000 Quarters.
7:1,500
501,600
• ...

° By an account taken the :3104(W.Dt:4"---- Ber' 1825' since re-
eeivetl, the atoek appeared to he 4lnnit 20,000 quarteralers that.;
when 1 was there.

(TO SIX CONTIVUED.)