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

measures: er ore, the relief of the land from. heavy
charges, and the other, the raising of the price of pro-
duce so as to meet the expense of labour and culti-
vation'. There were numerous charges upon the
landed interest, and none, he would, venture to say,
was more generally complained of or more generally
felt than the tithes. This was a subject which had
long engaged his attention, and though he did not
wish to press it particularly upon the House at pre-
sent, he hoped to see some new regulations respecting
them at some future period. He had understood,
and he hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman Would in-
form him if he was correct, that Mr. Pitt had intended
to relieve the farming interests almost altogether
from that part of the tithing system which was most
oppressive, and that he had postponed the farther
consideration of this subject till he had succeeded in
his plans with regard to the redemption of the Land
'ax. This, was said to have been his reason for drop-
ping a measure which would have been very beneficial
to the agriculture as well as to the country at large.
And so great a benefit as it appeared to be, he did not
think that it would be very difficult to carry a mea-
sure which might effectually relieve the farmers,
by procuring a substitute. Various methods had
been proposed of finding substitutes for the tithes.—
That ohe which he'd been propcced of a commuta-
tion of lands, was not to be thought badly of, as be
had no doubt but it would be found much less op-
pressive than the tithing system. Another plan of
collecting corn rents had been suggested, which was
much less generally disagreeable than the method in
which the tithes were levied. These rents hethought
it much better to have made payable upon the pro-
prietors. He should not, however, enter at present
at great length upon this most important subject, be-
cause, as tie said before, he hoped to have another op.
portunity of considering it. The time when tithes
were most oppressive was, when a large capital was
thrown into land ; but now it was taken out of land
to be employed in every other possible manner ; in-
deed he did not think that they would be so grie-
vously felt at the present time as they had been felt
for any part of the last ten years. But a great ques-
tion which he had, indeed, before hinted at, and the
thorotrat: consideration of which might relieve the
agriculture as much as any other measure that it was
possible to propose, was the poor-rates. When the
vast weight was contemplated, which the great mass
of population called the poor composed, upon the
landed interest, and when it was recollected that they
were principally supported by the land, an easy re-
medy presented itself to the agriculture, that of
making other interests and other bodies of the people
contribute to the support of their fellow creatures.—
If the present system was pursued, however, he be.
lieved that the agriculture of the country would be
utterly ruined and subverted. He had considared ,as
well as he had been able, the distressed state of the
kingdom, and if he had wanted any information cm
the subject, the Hon. Member who had moved for
the Committee had amply supplied the deficiency.—
The alterations which be thought would be most
expedient in the l'ocr Laws Would be, to limit the
maims by the age of the claimant, and to make
some considerable distinction between the treat-
ment of the orphan who could labour, and the Aged,
who were unable to mike any great cxettious.—
He should likewise think it necessary to make a
difference between those whose poverty had been
the consequence of their vices, and thase who had
owed it to their midortunes, though industrious.-
-The Resolutions of the Honourable Member were
principally for the removal of charges and the in-
creasing the price of produce, as he had before stated,
though there were some which were calzolatA to en-
force both those remedies. The fOurth, fifth, aad
sixth were of that nature. After having gone thieugh
the chief measures of proposed relict, he came to a
great alleviation of distress, which 012 Minister him-
self had made. He alluded to the discontinuance of
the Malt Duty, which hid been so considerable a re-
lief to the farmers, that he would venture to say that
a person who had 400 acres of arable land would feel
much lighter by its discontinuance than by the aboli-
tion of the. Property Tax. The country, he was sure,
was grateful for this voluntary concurrence of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer with the voice and the
feelings of the. people, and the Right Honourable
Gentleman deserved the thanks of every man who
had ever known the peculiar oppression of that duty,
for he did not believe that, next to the discontinuance
of the Property Tax, there was any measure for which
the people ought to think themselves under greater
obligations. But he hoped the Right Hon. Gentlerriaoll
would explain himself on one circumstance, and he i
wished he had been in his place that he might have
heard what he was about to state. It was evident that
it the war duty on malt should be continued till the sth
July, there would be a general stagnation of the brew-
ing trade, unless the brewer could have a relief upon
the beer equal to the relief he would have upon a quan-
tity of malt when the duty should be discontinued.
—The general anxiety, he could assure the House,
was very great to be informed Of the precise inten-
tions of the Right Honourable Gentleman on this
' subject; and he hoped he would decide early, is order
that that anxiety might be quieted. 'lle Molester,
it was plain, would- wait for the war drawback. and
the whole of the trade would be completely at a
stand. From the statement he had made, and from
the general expectations of the country, he did not
• think Government would acquire any thing from its
continuance till the sth of July. The Honourable
Member then commented upon each. of the Resolo•
tions which he had generally mentioned. He con-
sidered that part which regarded prohibitions as par-
ticularly necessary, especially as respected linseed,
rapeseed, and some others which were once articles
et commerce and of some profit, but which were now
used as a change of provender for sheep in Lincoln.
shire, in Cambridgeshire, and in seine parts of Nor-
folk, where they had been carefully cultivated. As
the butter trpde was to come under discussion sepa-
rately, he should not trouble the House at present
upon that subject. The Honourable Member, after
expressing a hope that the Committee would frame
' such measures as would restore the drooping agri-
culture of -the country, concluded with thanking the
House for the attention with which they had heard
his observations. -

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
thought it better to hear the opinions of others before
he ventured to state his sentiments-upon such an im-
portant subject as the present. It was sufficient for
him to answer a stagnant which !lad hogn made