Star.
London, England, 1816-03-29 00:00:00

i.mrpooprogirirteaaicinft)ctael eiipikuiltect4. '
respecting the continuenee of the War Malt n Uty•
reply to which seemed to be be much desired. ti,
wns not at all surprised at the anxiety which had he, i
consideringlerm:;oanc the (treat
o,giulreledatatbox
question to the agricuure. He by no means tlesee,l
that the cout.try would be relieved !Teich by ant
of ihe tIX, for he
that by thus relieving nne party the weight would!),
' thrown upon another. The best made of canciliarier
ttipatiattimidealit:ittee,
all parties, he considered,
to the Excise, to allow a draw-back upon all boor
t
brewed before the time of discontiwsing the tar, ere
collectors keeping, a correct account that the 5i10,,,
ante might be made according to the quinityodi
•
Malt manufactured.
Lord LASCELLES believed, that there were
great distresses somewhere, and indeed tit thee who
possessed his senses could be unconscious o r i
t lee; wit
he had never yet heard any person define the cause
of these
.distresses. He could not but think that they i
were principally owing to the state of the circulatio7
On the very tirst view of the Hon. Gentianes ~4
gulations, it was evident, however, that the ....
county
had been very greatly relieved already by the discs :t.
cinuance of the Income Tax and the war Malt Duty
and the only remaining parts of the Suhi:ct were to '
diminish charges, and to induce speculations ie
grain. This country was princ;pally complete; of.
two great bodies, the firmer and the tnanuteavra •
and he conceived, that one was equa:ly de ..,.;
protection as ith the other. He agreed in tee pic.,h,-.
bitien of, a number of commodities, bat niitkere
nor Itis constituents could agree to any prohikeee,/
foreign wool. That was one instance in which, th u;11
we might not g.sin by the raw material, we prefect
by selling the manufactured article in the very toile-
try from which we originally received that mtterril,
The Noble Lord concluded by expressing it to be his
firm opinion, that a gradual retrenchment was the
great expedient which ought to be resorted to for tae
resuscitation of agriculture and commerce.
Colonel WOOD thougia, that when the House
protected the butter trade they ought not to kept
the great advantages 'hut we uld accrue from pro.
tecting measures towards those parts of the kingAom
which produced cheeses in great aeundauce. He
would have a protecting duty on all articles produced
in this country ; but he would not take off' the ditty
on spirits ; on the contrary, he would increase loud
diminish that on malt and beer. Now, with respect
to salt, he would have the duty on that artick also
diminished, if not tak:n away entirely. In the whole
Principality of Wales there was not one bit of fresh
meat eaten by the poor from one end of the year to
the other. On salt meat they entirely lived, aid
therefine the Salt Duty was kit by them very !leanly.
With reepect to the Horse Duty, he would harethet
also taken off from the law termer; and likewise
with regard to the Tithes end Puor Rotes, he emu&
a great alteration wits necessary. He thought :rho
that regulations about the circulating medium wee
necessary, though be would not presume way v.h.o
those regulations ought. to be.
Mr. CURWEN cook a different view of the sub.
jest from his Hon. Friend in some respects. Tl:e
great and unexampled distress of the agricehurdl
part of the country no person could deny, and no
one was raore alive to than himself. Bat he coal
not agree with his Hon. Friend,. that the distress
arose from the surplus produce of the country. 11
it did, there Wai no.saying to whit leneth it enslef
go. Sr the thirty years up to 1813, there was an
i import of thirty four millions and a h elf of queers
! cif };rein, toot in 1513 an import of only twelve
Ultras intl. Therefore as the import had diminishel
in proportion as the home produce increased, he &I
not think the distress could procted from a serples
produce. Here he would allude to an opinion which
had been entertained by some persons, that it nu
better kr the country to be an importer than a
grower of corn. Ths opinion vas certainly a very
dangerous ore, ;!:d 'kid been very fortunately long
discarded by every pe:s:):1 ti the least isilecten, I.T
it could not be wall thought that it W. 15 Inner :..; he
dependent for the first necessaries of lite oft navel
countries thin independent. From the year ISO:,
there had unfortunately existed a jealousy between
the mercantile and agricultural interests, as if the
advantages of the one were inconsistent with those of
the other ; but now there was luckily an end to that
feeling, and most persons were convince; that the
interests of both classes were so united, that one
could not possibly suffer without the cditr. He
really believed, there was not one tolerably informed
man in the country who was not sensible of the trio
dom of Parliament in adopting the measure of the
Corn Law•of last Session. It any persons differed
from this general concurrence of opinion, it was per-
haps some of the lower classes of mioulatturers,
who ouly looked to the immediate puke of bread,
without considering any of the consequences of the
low price of that article. They also, he thought,
would some time have thew eyes opened on this tub-
jict ; for they would see, that in proportion as e.e
price of corn fell, their wages would be lonted'—
But he could not think with his Honourableftkvis
that the depreciation of corn arose from the surples
produce of that article, and this he consdered I!.e
most cheering prospect that the country bad before
it. He. was convinced that his MjestVs Z•l'n'ttrS
were as anxious as any persons in the country to re-
had but one object in view on the subject I !:;:t ti'''
move the prt sent state or agricultural &stress, awl ail
difficulty was how, or what were the means to pro-
vide a remedy for this distress ? He agreed with he
Honourable Friend in thinking diet the Lamers Ltd
not made such great profits as they were supposed
to have made. They were believed to have made
in general three rents, or three rents and a halt ;
but be could not believe this, indeed he knew tat
they did eot in general make more than two, or
at most two rents :Rol a half ; and when the prLsi
sum of the times, the general distress, and the Ica
of taxation, the tithes, and the poor-rates, were con-
sidered, he could not but imagine that that very
. general prejudice which • had existed with regard
to them, that two years of distress were not sot
1
slant to reduce their profits to an equality with
those of the other classes; must be abandoned.--
They also had laid out their capitals with liberality,
as they expected the same returns which they for-
merly bad. There was an opinion likewise enter-
tained with regard to them, that their distresearose_
from their extravagance; but this he was convinced
was unfounded; for he perfectly well knew, that they
did not live more beyond, or up to their means, these