Star.
London, England, 1829-12-07 00:00:00

STATE OF THE FARMERS.

From Cobbett's Register. •
li:wing my • rural. rides in the country—which rural
!We l, by site by, I have just collected together in one thick volume,
;,rice itic—during these rural. rides I have made many speeches to.
bodies farmers, and I have never omitted, in one single instance,,
to exhort •hem to be merciful to the labourers; to be kind and;
gut,tl to them in time; for that the day must come when they;
themselves, must fluke conituon cause with the labourers against,
the harpici of taxation: - remember that .I' did this at fiallsburf
in particular ; and though I got sour looks from a part of. my•
hearers I persevered In repeating my exhortadons, and I anted!
them with so motif force-that I left the greater part of my hearers
convinced that the day would' cpme when thetas-eaters would re-
duce then, to as law -a.seate aethe labourers themselves., I always.
rrcollect with peculiar Plea•wire my. conduct during those rural
rides. I knew that niy,doctrines Were not • generally palatable; .
but I despised frowns and sour looks' *hen put in the balance
ag atilt my duty. Mrtteat object was to pkad the cause of the
I shourers. and to convince the farmers that one common ruin
awaited t .e renter and the labourer of every farm in the kingdom.
The following account of prisceedings before the magistrates of
Aylesbury and Buckinghamshire will show that even this terrific
predictioo Is in a fair way of fulfilment. The'accouht to which
I allude has been published in the following words :
At the Magistrates' Chamber, Aylesbury, u.s Saturday last. 4e.
vete' poor person. of Haddenham again complained mat they could
not get their money. One of them had 4'3 6s. 9J. due to him, but
this was on a for Mer becardon ; none of them blamerthe oversees.
Mr. Teter, the oveneerksaid he could not procure money from the
rate-payers ; three parts of them, he believed, were unable to Ray.
He had„advanced money out of his own pocket to pay the poor
with, and he sincerely wished he could. pay them every week ; but
if the whole sate was collected they, would not have stiffiCient to do
so. . Mr: Piggott was, howeter, gone round collecting money, to
meet the present'emergency. Lord Nugent deeply lamented their
situation. It certainly was a bard case to attain upon a whole
parish ; still the poor mast not be kneed. They, as Magistrates,
had co 'course to pursue but that which the laws directed.. Mr.
Archer—' That will be reducing the farmers to pauperism.' LOrd
Nugent:-.' The poor cannot live without money; if they are not paid,
they will be driven to acts of dishonesty. Neither can the overseer
pay without money. We, as Magistrates,cannot do more than the
law directs.' Mr. Archer—' The distress among the agriculturists
is such, that they cannot raise money to pay the rates with."—
Warrants of distress were then granted against numerous farmers.
—Lord Nugent sald, the only suggestion they could make was,
that the parish should consult together, and excuse some of them a
part of their rate for a time..." His lordship then kindly presented
each of the poor applicants • with a shilling. Applications of.* si-
milariature,were also Made from other parishes, all tending to
shoe. the distress and misery which now devastate this once happy
.and flourishing
.district,"
If die shillings W.hich Loa Nugent-kindly presented to each of
the poor applicants • if these shillings amounted to a hundred in
number,and they 1;0,1/Amounted to so many, his lordship kindly .
gave to pre fellows one farthing and a fraction of another farthing, •
for eeery pound that his uncle, Lind Grenville, receives every year
out of the tazeapirtly paid by these poor creatures for his sinecure ,
office of auditor of the exchequer, which office he has had for pretty
nearly fifty years, and Owing which time he has received as many
thousands of pounds as Lord Nugent gave farthings to these poor
Eogliabriteud_. Just. about the same may be said of -his uncle. Thomas
Grenville. who has been reeeiving, for a like time, 42,316 aeyear,
as Chief Justice South of Trent, in which office he has never per-
formed one day's duty since his appointment; and, if Lord Nugent
gave s bundted shillings to these poor people,. he did not give one
shrines. for every ten thousand.pounda that his own father received
out of the tezes as teller of the exchequer ; in which -capacity be
received for nearly thirty years upwards of twenty thousand pounds'
a-year, without the performance of one single day of duty. • Away,
then, With this kindness. Let Lord Nugent get us back the Million •
of money thatikfamlip basvescived since he and I were born. •
So albeit for Lord, Nugent, and 'his kindness ; and now for the ,
farmers, three parts of whom, .we are told, are unable to pay the
pog.satas. It •is hard. the/ .say, to distrain upon a whole perish!.
Aye, kis hard, especially when werecellect the sums of motley that
thi4reniilles have got. Mr. Archer says, that the distress among
the "farmers boo great Mar they cannot pay the poor-rates.. But they.
Must pay the poor-rites, they must pay them, and the landlord must
go unpaid ; and he oughetololuittaid.if he will make no effort to
lop off the enormous sinecures of the two uncles of Lord-Nugent,
and will make no effort to get flack the aixteen hundred thousand
pounds given to the 00MM:opt of the taxes. Filth, the Prince of
Waterton and' hli iriessurei" are bringing the landlords to 'their
hearings : they' wanted a " terica. Conqueror of France," and they
have bhn. • Long before thepoor will have taken possession of the
land, which they will..der to w certainty Veil the present measures
and taxes be persevered iti;thalandloids will have found Leisure to
repent• of their ittwilenee towards thepeople,'and of their brutal in-
solence towards the 'French' at. the time • when" his Highness' of
Waterloo was at Par*. -.011*Goo! how sweat it is now to recollectl
those thiogs.. Thewicked haadlggedthe pit with his own hande,
and has fallen into ft bitiseit.7 How they rejoiced ; hew the isa-
roughmangers aalluit and sang ! recollect seeing in 'Fleet-street,
I forget exactly where, an AlsmienielY large picture which • bid
been used as a trauspatener....called .the Dance of Soveitigni!"
And there. they were taking hold pf each other's hands, dal/clog
round an inimense &hermits(' trampling caps of liberty under their
feet. They thought they had us site ; they thought that we Were
never to•ralse our WA& again f. they bid beaten ns all by piece-
meal ; but now, misery itself raises her bead, and makes them
tremble. Let them beat the poor; those whom they cannot make
worse, And those whomliatine itself ails they shall not destroy.

Oughtbn' in his litters fro,* a Mahratta Camp,
states that.. :ths..Prime leaguer ,himself perambulates tke busts
or. market phoost and if ht# should happen to detect a.tradoso)an
selling gOdds by, fake weight or Measure, this great officer breaks
the cuipties *Mid withs a
.birge wooden isiallet, kept espeelally for.,
tbstpurpoee."
Txn GEIC*LEIWir .111PrIt.—This person reached,
Statafosd.on Friday 'lilt, 'by the Leicester coach;- and
after requiring a private' room at the George and Angel
fortifying hinielf-nithiert 'of -a bottle •or wine,
and.ebengingthedrese,.of ',gentleman 'for his " hod-•
den: graylAieguisie,Are; sallied. forth into the streets
with+ his, hise-pipes,, to gather this .'contribUtions of
charitable: The paragraph .in. titir pepet of • thiit Morn-
ing, which stated some particulars of him whet...it:Mel-
ton Mowbray, 'on thh+receding Saturday, operatecliiii- a
useful precursor, by *hat*. tio;-ctwinekty of • the
public : and he naiibehatilpifiktmeliti•-, the streets than
a crowd of pereioe§ellected 'arooighiii. His harvest in
Stamford(fin F=riday Must hrotiLlieen considerable; silver
was-often gesentefLt • .One poor *Mean -istihtt Butter.
Malic4r bustled thi"010-thetrowd4tre UM., a penny,
and dropPlag a 4riesey,a44,l I, knots.. you, my Lord".i
(it will amuse LordAtrat,liaven taliesi-that many of the'
good folks at the Market itabibb:d a "mitid.n,that liid Lord
ship- War! the eriiittipl4o;.piptirtial cettiiinly as far is
thqiiii:ng *WA tki would not: be disgraced by •
the performance, forlhey were said to be the. sweetest.
notes ever heard" from a; pipirlietireen Mobiles ind Linark•
shire.)4. The minsiirels*iVed: his penny with his emus-
loneed thankfulneshbiti atiored 'the good woman that his
was ". no laird." AftetToerfortning his iound'of duty,
hereturned to his init; and in his private room enjoyed*
a gOod dinner. In tWetening he, by invitation,. joined
in another* room adiumerous party of tradesmen and
others, who were aftm- AO to the George . and Angel
or, the occasion, and. be amused them highly for an•
hour or two by piping end his conversation.
On his retiring;:- b:. handsome sum was collected,
and was sent to' hip., in a plate. He spent Satur-
day in the vocation for which his bodden-grey suit
and green spectacles are provided, and Sunday he
passed at the lodgingief a musical professot in the town,
"Lose admiration- of his -skill led him to give an invita-
tion to the stranger, which the latter accepted ; and we
understand he well repaid the hospitality of his enter-
tainer by his conversational .po,wers, which sliewed him
to be a gentleman who has both seen and read a great.
deal. :His speech leads to the confident belief that he
is really a Scotchman, as his garb when collecting contri-
butions would imply, and tbere.is reason tO,believe that
te.je sty °Scar in the,,ariny but his features (his nose
verylarge.aarl remarkable) ars pronounced, by.sornesport
inginen• who -saw him.to•be certainly not thew.. of Cap-
tain Barclay. He left Stamford on Monday for Pe-
terborough ; , and we Lindero:l*nd - proceeded thence on
Wednesday -night for Huntingdon and Cambridge.—
Stamford Mercury.