Star.
London, England, 1822-01-19 00:00:00

Of the existence of that distress he was fully con-I
vinced, and he therefore- most cordially assented to.
the adoption of the Petition which had been submit!
ted. for the consideration of the Meeting, as well suited
;to-die nature of the object, and the situation of the
country.. Upon that topic of the learned Gentle-
man's addles: rei4tive to Parliamentary Reform
(said the Hon. Baronet) I do not feel it my duty to
enter, beCiuse "it-forms no feature of the business
which we are assembled to discuss. Had the Meet-
ing been called for that purpose, I should have felt it ,
my duty to attend, and to express my sentiments
with that fearlessness and candour which ought to
belong to a Representative in Parliament, and which
I have always endeavoured to evince. The Petition
proposed to this Meeting is a proper representation
of the People of Taunton to the Legislature, and I
fully concur in its averment—that the distress is
beyond example, and demands the most early and
rigid attention. With that sentiment I most fully,
accord, and I shall be at my post to advocate the
Petition, to urge the most attentive consideration, and
the grave and sincere application of the energies of
Parliament to the amelioration of the state of the
country. Upon the remedies which may be applied
to that distress; I would rather reserve myself until
more legitimately called upon for my opinion in ano-
ther place. I see a degree of distress pervading the
country, it is true, but not' that degree of it which
may not be remedied by the manly character of the
British nation. When I hear it said that Ministers
have pronounced the alleged distresses to be fictitious,
I unhesitatingly say that, were that the case, they
would be totally undeserving the office they respec-
tively fill. So tar, however, from their being igno-
rant of the public sufferings, I am well satisfied that
they not only know the fact, but most grievously
deplore it. The condition of the country is that from
which we cannot be relieved in a day. The Learned
Doctor has taken a comprehensive view of the na-
tional grievances; but highly as I respect his learn-
ing, his talents, and his reasonings, I do in my
heart believe him to be wrong— ( Partial disappro-
bation).—My opinions may also be wrong, but they
are given in sincerity, and in that spirit in which I
have always acted, and shall continue to proceed
through life--(Applause).--I have felt it my duty
to attend this. Meeting, to listen to the sentiments or
those about me, and, if I can, I shall faithfully en-
force them elsewhere to the best of .my ability—
(Loud cheers).
The Rev. H. Cerswer.t, insisted, at some length
upon the absolute necessity of a Reform in Parlia-
ment ;. till then, all petitioning, must be useless. He
concluded by moving a Resolution--
" That all restrictions whatever on foreign Corn be taken off'
as the first step towards laying a fir:nand stable foundation fur
the Agriculturist, on which to rest his future hopes."
Mr. °Liven Ilaywaan, as a practical farmer of
no inconsiderable extent, bore testimony to the setere
sufferings of the Agricultural Interest, and seconded
the Resolution of the last speaker.—(This Resolution
was, in a subsequent stage of the proceedings, put to
the vote, and negatived.)
%V. DICKINSON, Esq. M.P. said, in the course of
the few observations he should have the honour of
troubling the Meeting with, there were two topics on
which he did not think it necessary to dwell; the one
was the actual distresses of Agriculture, which had
been well stated to be as evident as that two and two
make four ; and the other was, that he hoped he need
not assure that Meeting of his willingness and readi-
ness on all occasions to give effect to their wishes and
complaints in the House of Commons—( C'oniinued
applause). What the I louse of Commons would say,
when they saw the whole landed interest of England
coming, in.lorma pauperis, to their Bar, was not for
him to divine; but he knew that, both from interest
and inclination, ever) attention that was possible
would he given them, though he doubted whether
any effectual remedy would be the result. One thing,
however, it was the duty of Parliament to do—to
look the misfortune full in the face ; there was a sort
of bull-dog feeling about an Englishman, he liked to
know the worst of his danger, and then he would en-
counter it well ; and if we were not yet come to the
worst, it was the business of Ministers and Parliament
to say so. Let the People know the worst they have
to expect, and they would grapple with it courage-
ously, which was the best security for success. A
Gentleman in the gallery had talked about paying
off the National Debt ! it might be written off, but it
never could be paid off; perhaps all the carriages in
London could not contain, and all the horses in Lon-
don could not draw, and if they could, all the ware-
houses would not contain the necessary sum. Nine
hundred millions is an ideal sue, it is infinitely more
than is in circulation in the whole globe, and if by
any species of alchymy the sum could be produced,
the very circumstance of such an unusual proportion
of money existing, would so embarrass the transac-
tions of the whole world, as to make them look to
another medium of exchange.
Mr. EATON said he had witnessed, in his profession
of Land-Surveyor, a dreadful degree of distress
throughout the country, and verily believed that, un-
less some remedy could be discovered, .500,000 of the
most useful class of persons in the country must be
ruined. He deprecated any endeavour to raise the
rent of farms, and submitted as the best plan to meet
the present exigencies, that rents and tithes should be
reduced 20 per cent.; that Government should lower
the interest of funded property ; and that £lO per
cent. on real property shbuld be raised as a tax, ac-
cording to the scale he mentioned. He was himself
a farmer, 'and had reckoned that in two years the
value of his flock had declined from £4OOO to £3OOO.

Mr. HAYWARD observed, that if the last speaker's
loss was no more than what he stated, he must have
found out a far better market than any other fanner
in the country.
Dr. Kt NGLAKE proposed an Amendment to the Pe-
tition that had been read, in which he introduced, in
strong terms, the necessity of Parliamentary Reform.
This was seconded by Mr. BUNTER. 1: proving,
however, to be against the wishes of the majority of
the Meeting, those Gentlemen did not press it to a diyi-
sion.—The thanks of the Meeting were then unani
mously voted to the Chairman in a neat speech, and
the Meeting dissolved.

CREDIT.—Peter I. King of Portugal, to restrain
luxury, and prevent the ruin of families, absolutely for-
bade all his subjects to buy or sell any of their com-
modities without immediate payment, and made the
second commission of that offense death