The Sun.
London, England, 1816-04-10 00:00:00

AGIIIESULTURA DISTRF.Sti,

On the Ordertof the -pity being read for the
tionio going into 4 Committee on the :Agricultural
Distress of
.the Country,,
WF.S•Entst said, in the thin state of the
House, on the suppbsition that from the fatigue
of public business and other eirealustances, they
were not prepaied to enter upon, the inquiry, he
did not wish to urge thew to go into the Com-
mittee. Ha threw himself upon the considera-
tion of the .House, and left it for them -to 41eCIde
Whether it world not be better that the subjcct
should hi: p‘istpoued for the piesent.
Lout CASTLEREAGH stated Ministers to have
'been Constant ill their attendance when questions
were expected to collie' before the House, awl to
he disposed to proseeme,the inquiry with the tit-
moat a.74icinity. In the 'then state of the House he
did not think they could enter ovon it with tol.
vantage. He hoped, 11ever, what had already
been .done would watisly the Country that the
House had the interest of those engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits at heart, and trusted the Hon.
Gentleman would not he disconraged by the ap7
pearanee-of the House that night, mitt withdraw
himself front the prosecntiou of the inquiry. (-le
thought it would he well that the Committee
should be kel4t alive., and alter the holidays he
hoped the subject would be taken up wall inure
success. •

. .
Mr. J. P. GRANT thought it desirable that the
sullfrrt should be postponed, in the then state of
the

Mr. U4Algaconcurreet with the hist speaker, in
the view lie took .of theimportatiec of, this
s hject. Xtter the recess, they would come to it
will) a. knowied2c of the effect produced by what
haul eio Ile. •

Sir J NO.:pour thought, if the general ques-
tion %vete postponel till after
,the recess, that it
would be welt to appoint k.Comurittee•to in vesti.
gate else question of Wool and Seeds. He was
of opinion this would be of great' service to en.
ablethem to view the subject in all its bearings.
Lord- CAsTLzitetkon had no objection to .the
Committee proposed being now appointed, but he
witilled to ',state the impression oft his mind to he
at present against imposing any. Protecting Duties
on the , linportatino of Wool end Seeds. Our Ma--
, nufactnrers had heretolOre been perhaps protected
by duties, more than they ought to have been even
for their own interest. This system pursdied,
Yaldil burr forced . all the capital into the bands
of the Manufacturing Interest, to the ruin of "the
,Agricultural Interest. It was proper to take a mid-
dle course, anti to let the capital take its proper des.
dilation equally between them. On this principle
he. bad supported the Corn Bill Having dune
this, he had thought k right to give moderate en-
couragement to,the man,ifacturers of cheese and
butter, as it certainly could not be for the interest
of the country, that by favouring the Kt owth of
corn alone, thrfarmer should be tempted to break
up ground for thexultore of it, which night be
better fitted to produce other coointiodities.—
Though disposed Altus to give every reasonable
~proteetion.to the agricult oral interest, he was hot
willing to lay duties, on the importation Of articles
which entered largely into our manufactures. Con-
siderations thus might arise on the question re-
specting the ontimrtation of-wool' and se ds, which
might overpower those suggested by the-claims Set,
tip for the,agrioulturril interest. •He wished to act
fairly between the manatactoring. and tire landed
interests, and.to guard against Inle 'gaining a mo-
nopoly over the other. .
Mr. S. TuotINToN thought the interests of
tbo,c concerned in this tpre4itisin tiinteht -be best
attended to by postponiug the diseassion of it till
alter the holidays •
. Mr. L. I%7'v:tan:tit asserted the lauded interest
to desire hot a fair rot colon. • ,
Mr. li}EitelluN wos extremely reluctant that the
6mimittee should,now he positioned; Its tithed
the House.• should imuJediatuly go into the
subject ; he wished to have it discuistill as' Ire-
queutly as: possible,- us, tiom frequent' discupiion,
he WNS canvincvd the greatest advantmiei would
roulr. Ho trusted, therefore', his !lots, Priend
WO old, min, urge for the Chmmittee.proseedinito
Now he-was on his legs., 'be wished to ask the
Chancellor :of the Exchequer two questions re-
latiee to the fucome Tax: The first Was, mite,.
thee it was intended to extend. the tithe allaweel
for paying the. half year's Income Tax dite on the
fith of this month beyond lune. next ; and se
eondly, whether.. 'any allowatieie in the Landlords'
and Tenant's TeX was to be • *italic, where re-'
ductions had taken place in 'saints' for the lust six' 1
months.

The CHANCIILLOR of. the. Eix6mao.uxtr, .in reply,
to, the Hon. Member's questions). said he hoped,
at an early, day,, to bring in a Bill, couttilning re-
gnlations oti this subject;. at present- hetuniti not
aeentetaly- state. what these regulations would he,
but the allowance of time would form' w part ; With,
respect' to' the other branch-of the Hon. Gentle-
' man's tptestioni thee Hon. -Gentleman' war-twarti'
that an order had been isoted'ibr making, 'Mow.
ante to landlords and tenants) in cases Where the
rent had been-reduced fur the infriothif twelve
months ; whether, that . measurer lirouki be extend
ed to eases•of reduction of six' months standing").

he conk' not say.
- ' Mr: PRIITOa rose-to speak; btit was called 'to'
order.b_t
cif:Holt istoit, who retnioded..hitst theta Woe
no qtiastiou before thy House.

•
!,7...”1
fe.St.r .‘6llt j thetehttli:lllY was ho goes-
• the Hototen should
-.-tinlni':rb„elitvt!reevltil:let
t4l4,oytat?ise.vvining
decide 4011 the propriety of proceedingimith,the
„ma.nce. 1-Jc moved (to hring. a, questritssi,lte,-
fore the Ilotise) ;that the Speaker shOtildieltretbe
• Me: 1;11OUGIIA14.1 had come down for the purpoSe
of Otl,tiog his Seotiments oh the subject, and
WiSli'el.d the COnlinii,tee to be go!le into.
Sir .1. NE:tl'roltr and Mr. 1.310 NO spoke it, favour'
of 'referring.the questiOn ,on the ‘% our amid
to a Committee tip stairs.
Mr. Cultwex wished the House to proceed'
now svith the impity, as.•it-WaS •of.,importance
that the views of .I:inisters on the subject should
he kuoiva.- f t.!tl not without fears diet the dis-
tress of the manufacturer would shortly be greater .
than even those of the agriculturalist. He gate.
.Mitijsters credit for some of their measures.,
If the whole of their conduct had been •like that'
part of it to which lre'refeired, they -would 1)04-
sets the Confideneeof that
.House, and. no man
would be fdand in it willing. to displace them. TO
entitle them, however, to that confidence, they
ought tb:rednee the national eipence much more
than they berg yet proposed to do. It was impoS:-
sihte• to %oppose any nation could prosper that
continued, to increase its debt in time of peace.;--:-
It teas the duty of MiniSters to reduce the annual
expendithre till it was brought within the annual
income Of the....coontry. • .
Suitt hoped the Committe would not
be postponed.
Mr. Litioucinim entered at etinsitle6ble length
into a_teview of, the subject of the causes of the
rise of price upottagricultoral and the
recent depression of value and consequent distress
of the agricitFulist,'and'observed, that the first
great and material cause of the rise in price :was
the restriction of cash 'prams by the Bank of
Engla'nd, the,iticeease of
,couiltry'Llanki, mid the
unrestricted .issue ot, paper.. 11e did tint mea' to say
that this system was in the evil;!,011 the
contrary, considering the stoppage of the Na-
tional Bank; had the issue could ry paperbeen
more gradual, atol -had its, cttliiug in been. also
more gradual, it would, in fact, have~ beet) all
advantage, as it encouraged and 'gave °poor-,
cooky for the cultivation, of. waste land; ~but
the rapid calling in of. this paper had eertitinly
been out' great cause of the existing distresses of
the agriculturist. Another.cause of the evil, was
`the mooopoly which for some years we had of
colonial produce; This bad had a most.eXtraor-
1111mq-effect in stimulatiug agriculture, and TM's-
ing.the prices, imsl that monopoly having ceased,
smite(' with the withdrawing' of, credit, had ope-
rated very considerablyrn depreaing the prices. An-
other. cause of the inerettsd of prier was the star,
which, though it diknot briiie moreMotalts,
brought in unavoidably a system of greater con-
sumption, and the purchases made ,by .Govern-,
ruetit iti tlit market, had a direct tendency to
raise the value of the
,cotiottodity. of which they
were the luti'ehaseii,ind 'the stinoilits thus giVen.
to the grtiwerS of corn had encouraged inchisures,
whiCh had taken place within the last ten yeitrs to
the amount of .two'ntillions of acres ; and had
also•encouraged• the farmer to embark 'MOre capi-
tal, and to raise a still greater quantity of corn
thamat any 4ornier period, on the lands previoitsly
in a coltivated state, These &11,:nnistillieel, Record-
ing totheculettlatious of persons IN Ito had write&
theirattention tot his subject, had g is en au increase
of 6,000,000 qteartm qi'vt'heat annually, whilst the:
population in the same -period had increased oily 2
millions-Thusallowingaquarteroleornfortheton-
sumption of each peusoo, there would be asatrplus of
four millions of quarters. Such was the situation.
of things op :to 11,310 ; when, followed the chain of
circumstances which bad tended peculiarly to de..
press the:prices. The two nett .years; II and 12,
were years of extraorllinaryproditee-; :these,. yea i s
were followed in 1813 and 1814 by a change from
war to 'settee, which had. a must evident
upon the price of grain.
_Add to these tlie.dis-
ties4s •of the manutacturrers, Mid the opening
of ,the porta of this. country to the Continent,
im! 'the priocipai reasons of. the. reduction of
prices sv, add be apparent. lie be ed this
evil would be bat tempOritry ; hot 'at the ..anie
thee win of opinion that eirctonstances Must !;et
„worse before they•got beitee,..if they went on as
they were now doing. (inc great cause of these
tills seas the immense anuoint of the t;xl►eliditume
of the couch y from what..it was twenty•five ye is
Fign, front 15 to 75 millions. lodued, one year,
"includiugloams„ the eNperditure was.not less than
out loindied arid twelity,mitions. iii eireci thil
lc-
medie:s c4)01,1 lie appliedksi unless there
was a redaction taxatiuu. The t,l\m-s
un leather,:salt , slispiod eamile4„ proihte.ng only
itibotit two millions a-year, bore verx.4l,clivy ou the
farmer, for they wile whichheing, plac, 114,1)
the tietcss'aries of life, went tin ectly raisethe plies!
of labour. 41.troshot111i time Malt Tax 'be taitelloll'.
still, While the others .were stattered to et:mail', it
would be intitp.silile'lo.returits to the tormor prices
of cores with any prospect of ',itivatitage to the
farmer. Ile iustanced the extreme unfairness of
rating manufacturers onlyas the occopiers.of largq
hoUses to the puoi. rates,,while the fanner was
lilt 61' a'to the alssol;tni amount of his., propeil
the fm
orerbeing, thefts selves the greatest catty
of the increase Of
,the numbet., of ,
(rusted, how.ever, that the former Waf gradually
titittergoing....a cl).1;11,e frctun high to moderate
prices—or ai least he hopetft he Legislature wotdd
eodeavonr to chit' it so. 'Amt. the sudden revo-
lution of things
,the price. pf labour had come
flown unnaturally; awl he'hope.l that evil wultld
be temporary. lo lli9 opinion the principle
of the Corn Bill was not t0',14 run down as AI orrice
Measure of tent/an:try advaulttge ; but he could
nut go Si) far with the 171014
4..19evr (Al u.Westerit).
143,t9ropose bouuty on the. exportation of corn,
He thought liii'fion.Frieutl's corn would be as safe.
Iron) rats and other vermin in his own harns,.as it
Would be in theGovetumeut svarehouses.Long be
tore. the corn wasripened in the ear, the tutrchmits
tMtde of the probable, crops of the
country, in ordee'to enable thew to speculate. If
it were possible to eglialiZe the.
poor-rates, that
alight be sew lemetly for the farmers' .hurdens ;
but that could only he done. by unite such tura-
,„
sure' as-tue rropertk Tax, to ascertain the aniatlllt
of NAPIr 01104 roperty.,' Ma was afraid thte
pour had just that pride that would formerly keep

. • I, ~
' the!? 4041 Ipplyingfor paroettial reterbinti induce
them. -tolalmtir as lougasthey could. There otigh t
never to.have been tiny poor-rate except-for: pen-
ph:fit-nab e to work. The•frec exporta ion of wool
would no dotilit be of consWerable i chef to the
farmer. He cla,ntelidell that Seven ini.lion o,t of
the Sill itik. Witid miAlkbe apptiedto the relief of
xa
aericulture from tatiOn. Ile threw if out ai a
hint toGovernment,, that some'essurtioce tout ene•
deavotirs would be made tflopen a trade. between
';
,thi,.Coltntry and 'the Spanish ;on! Portuguese. Co-
Icoles in America, which, if we,did not, would he
th
seized, II e United States of, America. In these
.
colOnles the had not 'even A single Consul ; aft(' the
Aliiiister whjwonld
,eStablish:a commercial in-
' teic-Ourse between the two Countries would dO the
grehtest benefit to our interests; both at litmie and
• abroad.
7 • •Lord CASTLEREAGH' COlllll not Igret hi :opinion
.
'with -the last speaker, that the eVilsCOMplained of
restated principally from the rest:11:0On or cask
pnytocnts by the -Bank. That measure had givers
the coontry a commitud of ! specie, and mainly'
tended to bring us out of the 'war. with glory ;mil
advantage. That it might have entouragud im-
.. providentspeculation, he was ntn prepared to deny,
but, it was on, of the greatest maritime nts that could
have been erected to the public credit of the (mutt.-
try, which had not only horde thisoleasure long ;
but had increased under it. He wa.> glad to hear
the Hon. Gentleman say that, in his opinion, the
' ,airieoltural distress Would be but temporary. Bitt
it could not 'he concealed that they ,had heel) in-
ceea!,ing ever since 151.4, when the ii(')rt3 of the
• Continent were opened to the Britisli ;11i:r-
-eliant Zro the importation of fireigh corn' into this
country, at a I ate So-low us menaced Ate vtoy
existence of tire 'British. limner. 11,:nnii, trio.
had been forced into cultivation, wilivii would
not trearlhe reduced prices of corn ; coaSequentfy
. now that Corn had lallen iii' pr:cei,ermaiderable
quantities of lime would be thrown out orculri.
cation ; and, by, decreasing thrs,; supply of Corn,
the prices inust,,tise. Now.,that .we hail a pro-
tecting price to defend our owo;Corn Morn being
obliged to compete with that Of other countries, he
t rusted the prices would..rise, so its to give the far-
Mir a, sufficient remuneration ttn. his hibotte and
exPences. He did lint Mate these things to lining*
the ComMiitee to reit'ct the adoption of any 'mea-
sures which might stilifahher tend to the relief
of the far Mer • But he • wished rue Cortimittie. to
look at these circumstances with attention, and
to consider also, that As' Wheat'. had -already
risen in price in Scotland, whether it was likely
to be long .4t..565. in England; • He billed Par-
liament would not think proper to call on the Bank
tor cash payments until commerce should have
brought iota the country a. quantity of the pre-
chins metals sufficient to aid the savings in the
Bank coffers. He also trosted the House would
not attempt to trench.on the Sinking Fund at a
time when; the. House having rejected the Income
Tax, Government mast be reduced to 'the neces•
sity of resorting to new loans to. at small extent.
there Wits already a very large trade between this'
country and Sinlth America. . . . ;• :
Sir J. NEWPORT considered that the principal
csuse,of the distresses arose-from the, war
„in the
Peniniiila ; the operative cause tor removing 1 hem
- Was. the Cdro Rill, which provided`a prOtecting
-Pri,ce fttr.thchotne products ; still he must do-
' cl"eo Iblity4ti.ft#Y ill P!sitlittg, thc,mea,oareoleva-
• , ..-
sionen a great deal of the distres! IKith„respect
to the alirt..,.:ttinn of the'W,lreltousing System, lip
deplored the departure morn' It, cotivineed that it
. was a beneficial one for the; country. The Noble
Lord had alluded' to the Bank Restriction Bill,
which lie (ail' J.) thought had ri&thing to do with
the AriostionbefOre the Honse.' '.. • ' . . :
Alr• W, S'F.ITH did. not think.
had ;rated) that there was a neeessitylpr resorting
to it Loin. ...•. .
: Mr. WaS-ritest "conteni4erl, that there • orris no-
,thiug so dangerous as providing for a. atfettrittittg '
prtqc Of
ICOrt),. 1:11!.!.. witrcleons,iog. system: Would
haite that ` oper4tion, by permittiog the ware,!,
• housing duty free. The object wh ieh he hail' i
view-was e-tuptoyingallapitttl ill. the purchase of
Uritlsh (_'tarn joi..(lktrilotion thrOughout the out?...
itre. Bit is the syhtenk of warehousing Fyrctat
;Coro tests islopte(), it iyordst ItAve 111,.e tit ct of
discouragittg - the Agriculture greatly ill. this
country.. . . .
The LAiirtCCOLLOR of the Elccnacttiatt,,nkteefl
with the Hon. Gentleman, that the subject of'
,warehousingt ikireign. Corn deserved consideration,
,Vlobl4ltottiti be nappy tWrecekre information (lii -
that sitiqect. The Right fionf jiend,..ll)4ll did
not Wish to detain the Committee, 4e mcrely rose
adjournment; ' :to titt..Ve the adjoWhiOli he accordingly
moved.
.Ihe Chpirman then reported.progreess anti it w:ts i,itlect-,1 that lite I iouse rIo resolve • itself /ot4
a COMMltt'.'e on't Ite StateOf.Agria'nittiVe; Ott' MOn...
dav, the 29.th;instant.
~r.l. NEWPORT moved that a Committee should be ape
p.inted to examine the Policy of imposi.na MI i11er3941‘15!111
vat !b INpliscit
e Aclikiii ofAt raw! ,Osrsatty. and . to, relkirtAbvir
orinioli thereon. ,Sgree.l to, and Om Committee appointed.
Mr. PitANKLANIILMIS, mewed, twit iiistruettatii' ini
giveii to 111 e .aitt committee to ennsitter thu .laws viditti,ng IA
the Woollett Tiiirk'.• mill poweitcv'sit, notwittistaitdiffir4of
ailjourament of thellouse. Agreed to. '
The Liouse Adjourned at Balt-past One.