Star.
London, England, 1822-04-05 00:00:00

grNTINGDON COUNTY MEETING.

Wednesday. a Meeting of the Freeholders and In-
ligiiitants of the County of Huntingdon took place in
the Shire Hall 4 pursuant to advertisement, in order
to address Parliament on the present alarming state
el Agricultural Distress, and to petition for a Reform
in the House of Common:. The High Sheriff, C.
PFMBERTON. Esq. was in the Chair.
HAMMOND addressed the Meeting at consider-
able leigth on the objects for which they were as-
sembled, and concluded by promising a series of Re-
solutions to the effect that Agriculture, the great
source of national wealth, was in a Jewesses' state—
that the farmers were in such distress that they could
ap!srehend nothing but ruin to themselves and fami-
lies. unless some effectual remedy he speedily ap. lied.
That the source of this misery, by which neither the
landlords could receive a compensation for their land
nor the farmers a remuneration for their labour and
the employment of their capital, was in the abuse of
the funding system, and in mortgaging the revenues
of the country beyond its natural resources. That the
only preventions of the like evils for the time to come
are to be sought in ret,encbment and reform ; in a
INluction of taxation, and a more equal representa-
eru of the People.
A Petition, founded on these Resolutions, to the
House of Commons, was then read, and both seconded
by Mr. Treat° WiNo, and on being put to the vats,
were both carried without a dissentient voice.
M:. DAVID WELLS moved that the Petition be
pre tinted to Parliament by the County Members.
Nlr. MARGETTS, of Huntingdon, said be quite
agreed iiith the sentiments of the Meeting as to the
distressed state of agriculture, but be was sorry that
Parliamentary Reform was n:entioned in the Petition.
Several other Gentlemen addressed the Meeting,
after which it was dissolved.

CAMBRIDGE COUNTY MEETING.

Thursday, pursuant to a Requisition to the Ilion
Siinntrr, a Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabit-
ants cf this County was held, for the purpose of
taking into consideration the propriety of again peti-
tioning for a Reform in the Commons House of Par-
liament, as the most effectual means of relieving the
preseia agricultural distress, and s. curing the future
prosperity of the kingdom. The HMI. SHERIFF
having opened the business of the day,
J. D. MERELST, Esq. came forward and addressed
the Meeting. With regard to agricultural distress, he
said, it was unnecessary to say a word—the tenantry
were reduced to ruin—the yeomanry, the pride of
their country, were fast sinking to poverty—and the
labourer reduced from comparative affluence to ab-
ject beggary ; and, lastly, the impoverished landlord
was obliged to resort to his capital to keep up ap-
pearances. He ridiculed the idea that distress was
occasioned by over-production, and that the only
rd of to be looked to was in the sterility cf the land.
Ile allude,: to the Agricultural Report, just printed,
and declined his opinion that a greater mass of de.
lusion had never before been set forth—(Hear, hear).
It was only by the reduction of taxation proportionate
to the loss pi ice of corn, that effectual relief could be
afforded. It was asked then, how could the public
creditor be t.aid ? He would answer, by a reduction
cf. the Civil List, places, pensions, &c. and he denied
that there was any necessity for a breach of faith
with the lundholder until these remedies had been
tried. A Reform in the House of Commons he
deemed essential, and hoped to see the day when Re-
form would triumph over Ministei ial corruption, and
that the House of Commons would become the guar-
dian of the rights and liberties of the people, in-
stead of a machine to extort money out of the
pockets of an impoverished and overburdened people.
Ile concluded by proposing a series of Resolutions,
declaring that the situation of the People was too
melancholy to be longer endured in silence by men
who di i not wish to become accessaries to their own
ruin and degradation. That the main cause of the
distress was in an exorbitant taxation ; and that the
removal of a large portion of the public burdens was
the only effectual relief; and that a reformed House
of Commons was the only security against that system
of misgovernment which had nearly overwhelmed all
classes of society in one common ruin.
The Rev. G. A. BROWNE supported the Resolu-
tions. He said, formerly the danger to the liberties
of Englishmen was in the unbounded limits of the
Royal prerogative; but the danger now to be appre.
hended was from another power, a power which for
years had been growing with the growth, strengthen-1
ing with the strength, of our debt and taxes, and of
which we might say, in the language of the Poet,
A pigmy once, but now of giant size,
" It stalks on earth, and towers to the skies !"
To curtail this influence, by the diminution of place-
tnen, and by a Reform iii the House of Commons,
ought to be the object of all Public Meetings. A vi-
gilant and independent Parliament would teach mo-
desty to the bold, and caution to the rash—would
make the incompetent shi ink from the acceptance of
office, and would awe knaves into honesty.
The Duke of BEDFORD he had waited to see
whether any Gentleman would appear to oppose the
Resolutions. He had not been in the habit of attend.
ing Meetings in this county, but he tholight it his
duty to attend this, and urge a Petition for Reform,
without which there was no salvation for the country.
His 4,1,1,,t)11 was not founded on slight grounds t lie
had sat thilty-four years in Parliament, and his ex-
perience convinced him of the necessity of it. Asti-