The Sun.
London, England, 1816-03-08 00:00:00

alarmed, bait Lc ?.iitresscd
Corced ,to tape his co;i1 ~,matb:,.l•, and to
nith it for wl?cver
lie knew it' , was. the universal opinion that
many great fortunes lied been thistle by the
tareiers in tin! ,hat, „twenty- years. He did not
believe this opinion to be well fottioleil. To him,
'it appeared, they hadnot had the means of doing
so, The prier of 'Corn had not been so high 'lts
it might have been expected it would he under
the circumstances of the country . The price of
all commodit kit was influenced by taxation. If
this-were considered, and the price Of Corn, and
she amount of taxation, in the ten years prior to
1790, were compared with the price of corn.and
the amonnt of taxation, in the ten years froM 1800
to 1812, excluding the two years 'of scarcity, be
thought the House would be surprised that within
the last mentioned period the price of corn had
not been higher. , In the ten years preceding the
year 1790, the price of corn averaged forty-seven
shillings per quarter. The average amount of the
taxation of the country for the same ten years wag
15,000,(1001. Far the ten Years ending in 1812, The
average price of corn bad been 884. the quarter,
and the taxation of the Country had nthowited to
seventy live millions. From this it would be seen
that the price of corn hail not quite been doubled,
while the taxation of the country was quititrupled,
and under serf) circumstances it 111,1 not apeesr,
passible for the farmers to haveanade large for-
tunes. The present 'distress he thought. was caus-
ed in a great measure by the sudden withdrawal of
that circulating medium which had so long sup-
ported their speculatioes., A stagnation in. their
concerns new:illy:grew out of the wt%nt Of ac-
cam:initiation which was then experienced. It was
not to he expected that the prices of things now
should tume down to what they were In years
ago. B.otne few years ago they foie so high asto
create alarm. They now declined to the opposite
extreme.tand it was not easy to say where it would
stop. The laod rental of the country amounted
to aboitt 57 millions. The gross produce of the
land was estimated at four rents. This would
prove the value of all the land anniunteil to 228
millions, Ile would take it at 200 millions. To
relieve so inipertant nn interest, it Must be the
,itlesite of Parliament to do all that it could possi-
bly accomplish. The first which he thought it .
would' be desirable to make, was that of endea,
valuing to find a market th take (dr its •stir-
-1)1113 produce. Supposing timings to go on with-
out any interferenne on .the part of the Le.eistatere,
the evil would in time remedy itself. The' price
of laud would rise in consequence of the
dimimi-
tiun of produce ; it would perhaps rise to an ex-
cess,
.and Corn might bear a scarcity price, hut in
the mean time those now derendent on it must be
ruined. lie proceeded to shoe that it some ebange,
were, not effected, corn might be cheap, het it
would he so to the destruction of those by whom
it was grown. 'Corn might be brought down to
40s, the quarter, yet the distress of the people
would be greater ; and 'this very cheapness, would
be thisftuctive of those sources of wealth and
power which ought to maintain the population of
the country. To relieve the distress which, lie
bad proved to exist, it was desirable that an in-
creased demand for the produce of the sod shoald
be.Obtabled. If our taxes could be diminished, this
would operate to the benefit at the agricultural
interest ; but he did not think the lowest peace its.
tablishme;mt which commid he thought of would com-
pletely remove the evil. if our annual expenditure
could be reduced to 50 millions, bread could not
be sold, at, the price it was sold at while our
taxation did nut exceed 15-,00,000, It was there-
fore necessary that the country should make tip
its mind to pay a lii!rlier price, according to the
increased scale of iliX.4dol)4 Whin!' was found tie-
cessere for the exigencies 'of- the country.: The
egricuitttral interest, (night to have all the re!ief
which could be afforded, and inest have assistance
far 'beyond that which bad been promised by Go!,
*eminent. The sum •p aid in taxes for barley alone,
amounted the year to 12,400,000/. If to this
were added the sums peid far horses used in hus-
bandry, and the tenants', Property 'fax,, the total
Would zbe found' to be not less than sixteen Mil-
lions, a sums larger than the whole-aim-mut of
the revenue of the country before the last war.--
lle I:et-weeded to 'spew the effect of this taxa-
tion on the consumption of grain :—From,com•
paring the quantity consumed in the ten years prior
to 1790, with theten vents priorto 1812, taking into
his etiaNi(lerationthe increase in our population
he
tweet) the two periods, he contended it might fairly
be assumed, that there was a diminution of the
ecnvlttiption of barley emounting to between
'1,000,000 And I,loo,ooo.quarters.. In the first
`ten years the price of barley bad been 31s. 3d.
the quarter ; iii the last ten years of the period
'described, ills, Oil. It would then he seen, there
was not more than 'los. iiiirerence between the ,
prices at the 'time, he hail ,meetioned, and while
there wits, bet this increase Of 10s, the price,
-.there half Veen sin itterease,,,if 245., 8d ditty.. in
the year 1799, 3,900,000 quarters of barley, Were
consumed in the year, the price being then 30s.
per quarter. Ite the last, year 'stile consomption
which had previously fallen off greatly, had risen.
to 3,300,000 quartet's. This• was in consequence
of fherice, which had the Same effect no the eons
soMptionots taking ,off the duty wool& have. 4--
The• price of the article, "was now reduced to
20 shillings the quarter. The grower edit eauld
get no price for his crop, and the public took-pos. •
seasion of it on their, own terms, The distille-
ries in England, in theyear 1808, it appearedfrom
the inquiry which took plate; consumed annually '
500,000 ,quarters of barley,: null thotie of Eitgland
and Ireland Were supposed altogether to consume
8 4r 900,000 quarters. He eakulated from the ditty
now-paid, that the, consumption -WasAiminished
by 100,000. The consumption was fortherlessen-
ed by am' foci' ities which peace atforded for smug,
The •• very large quantities of fnreigwspis. •
lit; imported, .also tended to lesson the alemand
for' grain, the produce Of oar soil. , Evittsive of
into thi,,C01)...
'Rum, Ote-Foreign :Spirits .4.1 ()tight
tiyamounted. to three or foto,: nottions of Omit:,
Itt the year. These, if prObiSsittd,, would, beH
iikely, to eti tie. •an ,annual..alensand forA00:
thousand quottets. rat graraiti. lie oota. eantt.i
to nntiectAse Act pasted ,1;797,, for :the regnlx-,
t lop of the Caen at Act,, stesetibal
to have load Some good affect, though it hail no;
accomplished all that could be wished. He, had