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

LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S LETTER TO THE
YEOMANRY AND FARMERS OF TILE
COU.siTY OF HUNTINGDON.

*WOBURN ABBEY,JANUAIRT 4, 1622.

- -
gl GENTLEMEN—I understood lately from one of
'your body, that it was your intention, or at least the
intention of some amongst you, to Petition Parlia-
ment again on the subject of the agricultural distress.
When this question was discussed last year, I had an
opportunity, in a County Meeting, of explaining my
views, and declaring the motives by which I was go-
verned. But as I shall probably not have a similar
occasion presented to me this year, I shall take the
liberty of laying before you Mir opinions upon the
course you ought to adopt, as well as the reasons
upon which my conduct during the ensuing Session
will be f(unded.
" I must, in the first place, beg of you to believe,
that if I do not support the propositions that are afloat
for a new Corn Bill, it is not from any insensibility to
the distresses which you experience. lam perfectly
aware, show much the agricultural county of Hun-
tingdon has suffered, and is still suffering.- Those
times may indeed be esteemed calamitous, when
men,-pursuing an honourable occupation, and thriv-
ing by honest industry, find themselves reduced to
beggary without stay impeachment to their honesty,
or any diminution of their exertions. This state of
things is, to my mind, aggravated by the reflection
that the evil has been caused, not by any sudden ca-
lamity, which no man could foresee; not by storms
or tempests, plague, pestilence, famine, or otherinflic-
tion of HEAVEN, but by the deliberate acts of our
ltulers. It was to them we owed the influx of
paper money, which, followed as it has been; by a
restoration of the old standard, is now generally ac-
knowledged to be a main 'cause of our distress. Even
our Rulers, naturally anxious to throw the burthensoff 1
their own shoulders, have hitherto been able to dis-
cover no additional causes of our .difficulties, but
peace and plenty ; things which do not seem, of
themselves, necessarily to imply the very great misery
that we see around u-.
_ _ _

" Laying these considerations aside, however, I
wish to discuss calmly with you whether the usual
remedies proposed by the agricultural associations
are likely to cure the evil ; and if not, whether any
other remedies have been offered, which promise
better success ?

" You will remember that last year, I could not
assent to. the opinion of those who attributed your
sufferings to the• Corn Bill. The conclusions which
I formed at that time have been much suengthened
by what has occurred since. Nearly another year
has elapsed, being. the third, during which no foreign
corn has been imported. The price of 80s. at which
corn must be before the ports can be opened, has be-
come of a still higher value than it was then, by the
general reduction of the currency and of the prices
of all produce. YOU therefore enjoy, as far as corn
is concerned, a monopoly of the home market. Some,
indeed, say, that smuggling is carried on in the trade
of corn; if this be the case, which it can hardly be
to any great extent, I confess I do not see how high
duties can afford you better protection against smug-
gling than the present system. Others affirm, that
Corn-merchants lay out upon foreign corn to be
warehoused in England those sums which they would
otherwise expend in purchasing English wheat. But
that an English merchant, wishing to speculate in
corn, should prefer buying foreign corn to be ware-
housed, when English wheat is at an average price of
49,. the quarter, seems to me, I own, to the greatest
degree improbable. The manner in which foreign
corn reaches this country I take to be the following :
English manufactures, for which there is no demand
in England, are exported to find a market, and are
paid tor by coin sent to this country. It is this, I
imagine, which occasions so large a supply of foreign
corn to our warehouses. But as long as it remains
there, it can occasion no diminution of your profits.
The lots falls upon the manufacturer and merchant,
le-ho do not get paid for their goods in any other way.
44 There are persons, however, who seem to ima-
gine, that by some Corn Bill, which yet remains to
be devised, it may be possible to raise the prices to
the height at which they stood during the war. This,
I need scarcely say, to men of sense, is quite impos-
sible. The vast Expenditure of our Government, at
home and abroad, the monopoly of trade by sea, the
continual atiditions to the quantity of paper currency,
and the inadequacy of the land then in cultivation to ,
supply the increased demand for corn, were the
causes that raised the price of all agricultural pro.
duce. They cannot be renewed at will. The paper
money, indeed, might again be issued in large quan-
tities; but such issues not being supported by any
thing of real value, we should soon be obliged to re-
turn again to a metallic currency, with all the diffi-
culty which we at present experience. It would be
as if a man that has spent his fortune should endea-
vour to maintain his expenditure by giving drafts on
banks where he has no credit. He might prosper for a
time, but, in the end, would be more surely ruined.
" It being impossible, therefore, by means of a
Corn Bill to restore the war prices, I beg of you seri-
ously to consider whether a new Corn Bill is likely
to do you at present any good whatever ? Supposing
you were allowed to frame it yourselves, or that the
Legislature should enact a prohibition at all times to
import any article the produce of the soil of Great
Britain, would your distress be at all relieved ? I
think not. I think also, if you agree thus far, you
must also agree with me that any efforts in this direc-,
tion are not likely to be attended with benefit to your-
selves. Fur the truth of this, I appeal to the best of
all tests—the experience 9f last year. By active petil
toning, you obtained a Committee on the state of
Agriculture. And what was the result? Evidence,
proving the distress beyond all doubt, and a Report
suggesting no relief but time and patience. Time
has not yet brought you any consolation ; and as for
patience, you surely did not require twenty-one Gen-
tlemen to sit three months for the purpose of recom-
mending that well-known virtue.
" But the Committee have also advised an altera-
tion of the Corn hill. That is to say, they recom-
mend a lower importation price with a duty. Whe-
ther suds a law as a permanent system might nut be
better than the present, I ato not quite prepared to
decide. But it is clear that lowering the importa-
p price would bring you no relief for present dis-
tea,* And I * inclined to behove, that with plah,