Star.
London, England, 1822-01-05 00:00:00

at present, the worthy Gentleman stated, in West-
moreland, at the distance of SOO miles, apolcigized
for his absence ; and, in ieferring to theNihieet of the
Meeting, thut,expressed With regard to
the relief that is to.be applied, it is not to be done.
either by the repeal of the Corn' Laws, which have
had but little or no effect, or by substituting a pro.
tecting duty, which would, in my opinion, be a pre-
ferable measure. The present state of things has been ,
produced by increased and enormous taxation (Ap-
plause), and by a decreased taxation it can alone be
remedied, which decrease will necessarily require a
diminution of the public expenditure"---(Applaffse).
_ The Resolutions were then agreed to amine cox-
tradiaente, as the Chairman stated.
A Committee was then appointed, each Member
of which was nominated upon the proposition of Mr.
FULLER, who called, in addition, for the attendance
on the Committee of such Gentlemen present as were
at the late Meeting at Itobertstown.
The Committee retired; in order, as the motion
stated, to draw up the Petition, and after a few mi-
nutes' absence they returned with the fallowing Peti-
tion, which was read by Mr. FULLER

" TO THIL HONOUSAILI WC Common or ?NI Vows Knomors
Of GNICAT BILITAIN AND I , IN PANLIAMINT ASSZSISLZI).
" We the Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders, and Occupiers of
Land of the Rape of Hastings, in the County of Sussex. most
humbly represent to your Honourable House that the distress
throughout the district in which we reside has Irrived at an en-,
precedented height, and is daily increasing to an alarming extent
•1 The progressive decline in value of all productions of the
soil, during the last three years, has gradually destroyed the pre-
viously acquired capital of the farmer—has, by curtailing the
means of pursuing the usual course of husbandry, deprived out-
third of the labouring population of employment, and reduced
many industrious and highly deserving occupiers to pauperism.
" The Landlord is in very many instances without his rent,
the Clergyman without his tithe, the Tradesman without his
usual business, and the Mechanic without his accustomed em-
ployment; and this unhappy state of things, unless arrested by
the interposition of the Legislature, must speedily terminate in
universal ruin.

" We therefore humbly pray your Honourable House that
this our deplorable situation may occupy your serious attention,
and that you will adopt such measures for our relief as you in
your wisdom may deem expedient." (Signed. &c. &c.)
Mr. HoLioway moved the following Amendment
to the Petition:
" That it appears to your Petitioners, that their present un-1
exampled distress is chiefly attributable to the resumption of cash
payments ; not that your Petitioners by any means wish to see a I
return to a depreciated paper currency, such is existed Awing
the war; on the contrary, they reprobate such 'a measure. as
fraught with evils of a still worse kind; but what your Peti-
doners wish most particularly to urge to your Honourable House
is, that a return to cash payments (without a proportionate re-
duction in taxation) has, by lessening the quantity of money in
circulation, tended to reduce the value of all kinds of property,
and more particularly that of all agricultural produce, to such a
degree, as to put it utterly out of the power of your Petitiont rs
to answer the demands which are made upon them, without
touching upon their capital, a circumstance which must even-
tually be attended with the must ruinous consequences, not only
to your Petitioners thentsAves, hut to the Nation at large. It
must be well known to.your 11o:tout-able !louse. that your Pe-'
titioners have to pay in direct and indirect Government taxes
(joined to the Poor-rates and other parochial burdens) greater
sums of money now, that the price of all the articles of their
produce is so much ;educed, than in the time of war, when they
sold at so high a rate. Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly
pray your Honourable House will take their case into your most
serious considerat;oti, and make such a reduction in the expenses
of the State, as shall be equal to the present increased value of
money."
Mr. BRITTOX animadverted upon the tenour of the
Petition, and still more upon its omissions. Among
those omissions he declared himself particularly asto-
nished at the abstinence from all allusion to the state
of our circulating medium, all of which, at present
found its way into the Exchequer no less than twice
a year. Under such circumstances, he thought it
as preposterous to suppose that the country should
go on as that a man should By without wings, or that
any other iroposs,ble thing should take place. The
reduction of taies was, in his view, the only effec-
tual remedy that offered for the general distress of
the country. lie seconded the Amendment.
Nil-. LAMB deprecated the adoption of the Amend-
ment, as that would involve a departure from the
principle upon which the Agi icultut ists bad uni-
formly acted for the last three years. The Honour.
aisle Gentleman dwelt upon the injury done to the
Agriculturists by the import of foreign corn in Isl 9,
—the influence of which was still severely felt upon
the price of corn. Forty thousand quarters of this
corn were still, indeed, in the market, operating to
the prejudice of the English Agriculturist. All,
then, that our Agriculturists prayed, was, that they
might be put on the same footing as the foreign
Agriculturists, who derived so much advantage from
decreased taxation. 4‘ Let us," exclaimed the Hon.
Gentleman, " be placed only on equal terms with
the foreign Agriculturists in our own market, and,
if we have not sufficient skill and industry to cope
with them, let us go to ruin."—(Applause.)
Mr. FULLER begged, for sake of unanimity, that'
the Mover and Seconder 'of the Amendment would
consent to withdraw their proposition, which was not
calculated to do any good.
Captain HAVII.AND asked, whether the Honour-
able Mover of the Amendment was either a Free-
holder or an Occupier of Land in the Rape?
Mr. Hou.crwav said that he was not a Freeholder,
but that he was an Occupier of Land in the Rape,
while he was proprietor of some land in °Hair:psi:ire;
nearly on the borders of this county, and conse-
quently much interested in the question which had
convened the Meeting. But, whether a Freeholder,
or Occupier of Laud, or not, he expressed his sur-
prise at the interruption which he had experienced,
declaring that he should not himself have attempted
to prevent any Gentleman from expressing his opinion
as to the object of the Meeting, upon any such ground.
The CHAIRMAN decided that the Mover of the
Amendment was strictly in order.
Mr. BRITTON thought that, if any practical good
were to be expected at all from the declarations of
the People upon this subject, those declarations should
be full, frank, arid explicit.
111 r. FULLER thought the best way would be to put
the question first, and discuss it afterwards--(Lasigh-
tes)—which, addressing himself to a Reporter at the
table, he observed, that Gentleman knew was not un-
frequently the practice elsewhere—(Laughter).
The Amendment being put from the Chair, the
Noble Chairman declared that it was negatives by a
large majority, who afterwards voted for the Petition,
which was ordered to be sent for signatures to various
places, and particularly to those places where the
Magistrates meet in the Rape.
Thanks having been unanimously voted to the
Chairman, for his very impartial and urbane conduct
in the Chair, the Notie Lord expressed his acknow-
ledgments for the honour conferred upon him, de-

daring
in the distress which had convened this Meeting,, as
dence being
that he was comparatively as much. implicated t
arty one who heard him ; his sole demo
ways
been
landlord and
tenant could never have any separate interest—
ub:: oneth e
orPr produce
ce
w of
fho his land.
that Rut
the
he
had al
(Aawst).
Mr. Fut.t.ast exclaimed, that the last words of the
Noble Chairman deserved to be written in letters
of gold. .
Mr. LAMS took occasion, before the Chairman left
the Chair, to state that the Rape of Hastings, in Sus-
sex, is composed of 42 parishes. The population of
1811. was 32,281 ; the population of 1821, about
41,860; of which 1313 men are unemployed, or un-
profitably employed.
The Meeting broke up about three o'clock, and
soon after the majority of the Gentlemen present sat
down to dinner in the Great Room where the discus.
sion took place. Mr..CuaTers was unanimously
called to the. Chair ; and upon its being mentioned
that Mr. Complex, who sat in the orchestra during
the debate, was in an adjoining room, a Deputation
was appointed by the Meeting to invite that Gentle-
man to the dinner. Several Gentlemen proceeded
accordingly to the apartment of Mr. Comm., and
who called
buypotihtethueniirlerretsaurnl
awppitlhautsehatofGtehned3eimeeanti,nhge, was hailed
ups bum 'to occupy the Chair at the second table,
wheie he accordingly took his seat.
After dinner, " The King," with the usual toasts
demonstrative of
.loyalty, were drank with the most
ardent testimonies of applause.
Mr. BRITTON, after pronouncing a high eulogium
upon the great talents and public services of the Gen-
tleman to whom he was about to refer, proposed
The health of Mr. Cobbett, with three times three.
Mr. CURTEIS, after declaring that he had no in-
tention whatever to oppose the proposition for chink-
ing the health of Mr. Cobbett, to which he was not
at all adverse, submitted to the consideration of the
worthy Mover, as well as to dint of the company,
whether it would be consistent or proper to drink
this Gentleman's health with three times three, while
that of the King, and the other eminent rersonages
who had been already toasted, was not accompanied
by any such distinction ?
Upon this suggestion the three times three were
omitted; but the health of Mr. Cobbett, which was
immediately proposed by the Chairman, was drank
amidst very loud applause.
Mr. Conarrr immediately rose and said—Gentle-
men, nothing was ever to me more unexpected than
this honour, which, whether I consider the occasion
itself, the persons by whom the honour is conferred,
the circumstance of the Gentleman who has given 1
the toast being wholly unknown to me, and never
having been, to my knowledge, seen by me before ;
or whether I consider the manner in which the pro-
position was made and has been received ; whatever
view I take of the circumstances, the thing is calcu-
lated to give me the greatest satisfaction. Upon oc-
casions
like this it is usual to go somewhat beyond
the mese returning of thanks, which having returned
most sincerely, I will now, taking up as little of your
time as possible, offer you a remark or two that ap-
rear to me likely to be of use relative to the great
subject which has brought you together to-dor. 1
am decidedly of opinion, Gentlemen, that a Corn
Bill of any description, no matter what its I.rincipks
or provisions, can do neither tenant nor landlord any
good ; and 1 am not less decidedly of opinion, that
though prices are now low, they must, all the present
train of public measures continuing, be yet lower,
and continue lower upon an average of years and of
seasons. As to a Corn Bill—a law to prohibit or
check the importation of human food, is a perfect
novelty in our history, and ought, therefore, indepen-
dent of the reason, and the recent , xperience of the
cate,to be received and entertained with great suspicion.
—Heretofoie premiums have been given for the ex-
portation, and at other times, for the importation, of
corn; but, of laws to prevent the importation of human
food our ancestors knew nothing. And what says
recent experience ? When the present Corn Bill was
passed, I, then a farmer, unable to get my brother
farmers to join me, petitioned singly against this Bill ;
and I stated to my brother farmers, that such a Bill
could do us no good, while it would not fail to excite
against us the ill-will of the other classes of the com-
munity ; a thought by no means pleasant. Thus has
it been. The distress of agriculture was considerable
in magnitude then; but what is it now? And yet the
Bill was passed ; that Bill which was to remunerate
and protect is still in force; the farmers got what they
prayed to have granted them ; and their distress, with
a short interval of tardy pace, has proceeded rapidly
increasing from that day to this. What, in the way
of Corn Bill, can you have, Gentlemen, beyond abso-
lute prohibition ? And, have you not, since about
April, 1819, had absolute prohibition ? Since that
time no corn has been imported, and then only thirty
millions of bushels, which, supposing it all to have
been wheat, was a quantity much too insignificant
to produce any sensible depression in the price of
the immense quantity of corn raised in this king-
dom since the last bushel was imported. if your
produce had fallen in this manner, if your prices
had come down very low, immediately after the
importation had taken place, there might have been
some colour of reason to impute the fall to the
importation ; but it so happens, and as if for the ex-
press purpose of contradicting the crude notions of
Mr. Webb Hall, that your produce has fallen in price
at a greater rate, in proportion as time has removed
you from the point of importation; and as to the cir-
cumstance, so ostentatiously put forward by Mr. Hall
and others, that there is still some of the imported even
unsold, what does it prove but the converse of what
those Gentlemen aim at, that is to say, that the holders
cannot afford to sell it at present prices ; for if they
could gain but ever so little by the sale, would they
keep it wasting and costing money in warehouses?—
There appears with some persons to be a notion, that
the importation of corn is a new thing. -They seem to
forget that, during the last war, when Agriculture was
so prosperous, the ports were always open; that pro-
digious quantities of corn were imported during the
war; that, so far from importation being prohibited,
highpreminnts were given, paid out of the taxes, partly
raised upon English farmers, to induce men to import
corn. All this seems to be forgotten as much as if it
had never taken place ; and now the distress of the'
English farmer is imputed to a cause which was never
before an object of his attention, and a desire is ex-
, pressed to put an cod to a branch of commerce which

the nation has always freely carried on. I chill, Ger.
damn, that here are reasons quite sufficient to make
any man but Mr. Hall slow to impute tl.e oiesent di.-
,
tress to the importation of corn: but, at aof rate, wl at
can iron have beyond absolute efficient probibitior
No raw, no duty, however high—nothing that the
Parliament.can do, can gel beyond this; and this yr,ei
now have, in direct, as completely as if this were ;he
only country beneath the sky. For these reasoLs‘
Gentlemen (and to state more would be a waste of
time, and an atront to your understandings), Ism
convinced, that,,in the way of Corn Bill, it is impo,.
sible for the Parliament to afford you any, even n e
smallest, portion of relief. As to the other polish,
Gentlemen, the tendency which the present
and course of things have to carry prices lower, ar,4
considerably lower than they now are, and to keep
them for a permartency at that low rate, this is
matter worthy of the serious attention of all con-
nected with the land, and particularly of that of
renting farmer. During the war no importations ti;s.
tressed the farmer. It was not till peace can.e that ti:c
cry of distress was heard. But, doling the war, th,
w.is a boundless issue of paler money. Th!-,se isya.;
were instantly narrowed by tke peace, the law 1,(.;„;
that the Bank should pay in cash six months at'ir
the peace should take place. This was the casis:!
that distress which led to the present Coin Bill. T!ie
disease occasioned by the preparations for cash Fa....
meats has been brought to a crisis by Mr. 1),.e..s
which has, in effect, doubled, it not toil leap, n e
real amount of the taxes, and violated all cont•,,cs
for time—given triple gains to every !enter,
placed every borrower in jeopardy—(Applair4e
Ile contended that the return to cash pay r: ents
indispensable, and that the nation cowl! Levu Le
without it. He censured the Act of Mr. Peel, as c.i .
culated to ruin all mortgagees, all per sons bound liv
lease, and finally every landholder. " So sensiblc,
said Mr. Cobbett, " was I of these effects, that, upi,a
the first hearing of the intention to return to ca•.l..
payments,
in 1818, though I was then abroad, I
a Petition to the House of Commons, confided t.)
Lord Folkestone, who refused to present it, aleg::,l
that it was too long—an excuse, seeing that his
ship is an houest man, arising, most likely, fioir hi;
conviction that it would not be at:ended to. In tha
Petition I prayed, that the standing a: my shouid
greatly reduced ; that all salai ies, pensions, and p;,v,
issuing out of public money, shouid he reduced; tha:
the public debt should he reduced ; and that
mortgages, rent-charges,leases,and other contracts
time, should be revised and rectified on the basis (.4;
and in proportion to, the rise in the value of money.
I saw clearly all the consequences of resuming ca,:t
payments without these concomitant rneasule:, ar I
wished, as I had a right to wish, that these opi:iitint
of mine should be placed on record in the books o:
the Parliament. I hear people mad enough to ca':l
for a reduction of the interest of the debt ; but, Gen-
tlemen, will it ever be borne, that this reduction shall
take place while the standing army, v‘lidiy utinece:-
sary, shall be kept on foot ? %Vhile such enormous
pensions, and while those high salaries, of which I
was glad to hear the Honouiable Gentleman now Li
the Chair complain to-day ; while these shall remaia
unreduced, will it be borne, that a :eduction shall
take place of the interest of the debt r
Mr. Cobbett was of opinion that the pikes of g:
would continue to fall until, upon an average of se,:-
sow., wheat would not be more than three shillin6s per
bushel ; it was natural that when cash payments mere
completely resumed, prices would return to the mark
at which they were when cash payments were stopped.
He spoke strongly on the excess of paper money, and
the ruinous consequences it had engendered. It is,
said he, a mistaken notion, that, because the sea sur-
rounds us, we are isolated as to matters of this s,irt.
This country is the centre, indeed, of all commercial
and great money transactions ; and for that. very rea•
son it can adopt no very material change in mate:ls
of currency which shall be unfelt in the other co :.-
tries of the world. Thus we see that prices of pr:-
duce are falling in France, and for the first tin:e.
France is about to have a Corn Bill, or at least some
thing of the kind has been proposed. And v,..y
have prices fallen in France? Because its ciica-
lating medium, which is gold, has been lessened in
quantity by the drain to supply England, and this
drain had been occasioned by Mr. Peel's Bill.—
It is, Gentlemen, an absurdity ; it would be a mill-
ster in human conduct, if one nation, the centre cr
the commerce of the world, could continue to have
high prices in gold, while all the nations trading
with it had low prices in the same metal. No : there
may, occasionally, be slight differences in the price ci
food in two nations situated relatively as France and
England are; but, on an average of year s, gold being
the currency of both countries, the prices of food
must in both be nearly the same. As we continue to
draw gold from other countries (and we have a great
deal to draw yet), the prices in those countries must
continue to fall; and ours must follow, until they
overtake them; for the prices in England have not
yet reached their ultimate point of depression.
Mr. CURTEIB declared that he had always been an
advocate for the good old constitutional doctrire,
that a Representative was bound to follow the ii:-
structions of his Constituents. Upon this doctrine,
indeed, he had always acted, and should always con-
tinue to act, whatever might be his own opinion.—
He, indeed, owed no allegiance but to the judgment
of his Constituents. The Honourable Gentleman
concluded with proposing—" Less Taxes and more
Money"—( App&use)—which toast would, he hoped.
meet the approbation of Mr. Cobbett's side of the
house.—(Applause.)
This toast was drank with great applause.
Mr. Bnurros, after complimenting Mr. Cobbett
as one of the most able and best friends of the Agt
cultural Interest, proposed—
" Speedy and effectual relief to our unfortunate perseourei
fellow-subjects in Ireland."
This toast was drank with the most enthusias:
applause. _ _

_ After the healths of several Gentlemen present
had been drank, the Meeting broke up at about )calf
past ten o'clock.

" We understand that Lieutenant-General Sr En-
WARD G.C.B. now commanding the Forces
at Ceylon, is appointed Commander-in-Chief in tl-e.
East Indies, from which the return of the Marquis f
IlAsTunis, who holds that appointment, as well . s
that of Governor-General, appears certain; as also
that a Civilian will succeed the Mtrquis is Govern.:-
Gencral."—lllorning C'hrunkle.