The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-03-03 00:00:00

DIOCESAN CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY.

On Friday last, the fifth annual meeting of the Chester
Diocesan Society for promoting the building of churches in
the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and Cheshire was
held in the Blue Coat School. Many of the local clergy, and
a great number of ladies, were present. In the unavoidable
absence of the Rev. Jonathan Brooks, senior rector of Liver-
pool, the Rev. Robert Raikes, Chancellor of the Diocese, was
called to the chair.
The Rev. C. W. L.:MRENCE, one of the secretaries to the
society, having offered up prayer,
The Rev. CHAIRMAN addressed the meeting. After having
dwelt upon the general efficacy of prayer, he said that on the
present occasion there were peculiar circumstances, personal
as well as public, to make the audience feel the advantage of
having recourse to God in prayer. lie then referred to the
disturbed and unsettled state of the minds of the people in
various parts of the country, and feelingly alluded to the ab-
sence from that meeting of both the rectors of Liverpool, one
of whom (the Rev. Rector Campbell) had been compelled to
seek, in retirement at a distance, that health which had
doubtless been in a great degree sacrificed by his unremitting
spiritual labours, and the other, (Rev. Rector Brooks,) who
should that day have presided, was necessarily absent in
attendance in the chamber of death. If, again, they looked
at the affairs of that society, they had abundant cause to re-
joice at the resource offered them in prayer. They were
engaged in a work, the greatness, the overpowering greatness
and difficulties of which became more apparent the further
they progressed. Every step that they took only served
to develope more and more the wants of their fellow creatures.
and to exhibit rrillre strikingly the overwhelming picture of
the spiritual destitution that surrounded them. If they had
merely to rely on their own resources for the encountering of
those difficulties, how lamentable would be their situation ;
for there was unquestionably presented to them, at the first
glance, such an amount of difficulties as might sink the
stoutest heart in dismay, and paralyse the efforts that they
might be disposed to make. There had been printed a state-
ment on the subject of the spiritual destitution of this diocese,
which he would take the liberty of reading. It was as fol-
lows :—" Unless some change, such as it is impossible to
foresee and painful to anticipate, shall turn the tide of ma-
nufacturing industry towards other countries, it is not easy
to assign the amount to which the population of these districts
may be carried by the natural and regular process of increase.
In 1801, the population of the county of Lancaster.was
672,731. In 1831, it had reached 1,335,800. In other words,
the population had, as nearly as possible, doubled itself in
the course of the thirty years, and 663,069 souls had been
added to the amount of-the inhabitants. If we suppose that
1000 is the average number of inhabitants in one of our pa-
rochial districts, and that this population requires a church
and a resident minister, the increase in numbers would have
required an addition of 663 new churches, and of the same
number of clergy. If we suppose that two thousand is the
number that may be comprehend©a ;..
inz the character of spiritual superintendenFe, the number of
wo,u sun oe .5.31 ; on either supposition,
a comparison of the number of churches needed with the
number that has been supplied, will leave a very melancholy
conclusion as to the inadequacy of the religious provision
that has been made for the community. But how melancholy
soever may be the view in looking backwards, it is still more
painful to look forwards. If the population continue to in-
crease in the same ratio, and it must increase, and will
increase in the same ratio, if the manufacturing system is
maintained, the county of Lancaster, in the year 1861, will
contain 2,667,600. The church accommodation must be
enlarged, so as to meet an increase of 1,330,000 in the num.
her of inhabitants ; and the present number of churches mus
be doubled in the course of thirty years, if even the present
inadequate measure of accommodation is to be offered '

Such vas the extent of the work that was before them—the
difficulties in accomplishing it must necessarily be many, and
thereon it was that he grounded the consolation, and the privi-
lege of having, in such cases, recourse to prayer, and casting
all their wants and burdens upon God, who alone could send
that help which would make them triumph over every obstacle
and_every difficulty.

The Rev. C. W. LAWRENCE read the fifth annual report
of the committee. This document, which was of consider-
able length, stated that seven churches had been consecrated

in the past and fourteen in the present year; that grants to
the amount of £3OOO had been made to several parishes and
districts. The report also stated that the income of the so-
ciety had experienced a reduction in consequence of Liver-
pool and Manchester having to support similar societies of
theirown.

CHARLES GROVES, Esq. Liverpool treasurer, read a state-
ment of the accounts from which it appeared that the out-
standing grants amounted to £4680, and the balance remain-
ing in hand £2220.

The Rev. JOHN • RustrroN, incumbent of New Church,
in Pendlc, moved that the report should be adopted, and
printed and c;rculated under the direction of the committee.
He said it was natural to inquire what had been already
done by the society which the public were called upon to sup-
port, and he would briefly allude to the beneficial result of

. -
its operations on the district from which he himself came.
In that district nine churches had been erected, and five
others were in the course of erection, and he, therefore, had
an opportunity of making known somewhat of the society's
results. First, then, as respected the clergy. In that dis-
trict, where the population of the parishes varied from 700 to
17,000, the labour had been subdivided, and, consequently,
places which had been previously unaccustomed either to
the presence or the name of a clergyman, were now attended
to. Again, the beneficial results ware apparent in another
point of view. The erection of new churches had not tended
to lessen the attendance in the older ones, nor to decrease
the number of the communicants or of the scholars in the
Sunday schools ; but, on the contrary, in nearly every in-
stance there had been a very great increase in the congrega-
tions, the communicants, and the Sunday school scholars,
and in the schools themselves. To illustrate the advantages
attendant on the location of a clergyman in the district, he
would mention one out of a number of facts which he could
bring forward. During the building of one of the new churches,
school, and parsonage, the clergyman who was to officiate was
located at a considerable distance from the church. After

the lapse of about twelve months, the church and parsonage
being ready, the clergyman prepared to depart, when the pop-
ulation of the place where he had resided, assembled round
him, and, with tears in their eyes, expressed their regret at
his departure. "My good people," said he, " I am indeed
going, but it is to no very great distance ; it is to a place that
is within your sight." The peoplen•eplied that so much had
they felt the blessing of his presence, that they were sorry he
was going, even though the distance was so short ; they had
felt the advantage of his presence in the peacefulness of the
district. That was one out of many instances in which it had
been made apparent that a clergyman was more efficient in
preserving order, comfort, and peace, in a district than ten po-
lice-officers could possibly be.
The Rev. GEORGE DR.Ti,FIELD, vicar of Prescot, seconded.
the resolution, and said that it rejoiced him to do anything to
promote the interest of so valuable a society, the beneficial
effects of whose operations had been felt in his own parish.
When he first went into that immense parish, twenty-five
years ago, there were in it only five churches and five clergy-
men. Now, he was happy to say, there were nine churches
and fourteen clergymen., and he hoped that it would not be
long before there were one or two more.

The resolutionrwas passed unanimously.
Tee Rev. R. P.--Bunnicom moved the second resolution.
He said that professing themselves simply to be Christians—
to believe that they had immortal souls, which had been re-
deemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ—that all their
hopes of mercy were in Him, in His glorious person and
finished work, it was impossible to imagine that there should
be, not an uplifted hand of dissent to such a motion as he
had then read, but even a passing thought of opposition.
There could be no question as to the extent of spiritual des-
titution in various parts of the kingdom, and most especially
in this diocese, after what had been laid before them in the
lamentable account of the geometrical advance of the popu-
lation—for so it might be termed—whilst there had been no-
thing like an arithmetical provision of churches. In the
course of a comparatively short period, this diocese had been
changed from a pastoral into a manufacturing district, and its
surface, instead of being thinly populated, had been covered
by many and densely inhabited streets, running along it for
miles. This had not arisen altogether from the increase of
the home population ; for the i nmigration into Lancashire
had been, in eighteen months, to the amount of nearly nine-
ty-seven thousand persons. The science of statistics was of
comparatively recent growth in this country. France and
Germany had done more for it than England had done : so
also had Scotland ; but we were becoming awake to the ne-
cessity of operating in a similar way. We had statistics of
the manufacturing and agricultural population, and medical
statistics, and statistics of crime ; and latterly the necessity
for the statistics of spiritual destitution—the great parent of
crime—had become strikingly evident. They had recently
been called together to stimulate the government of the coun-
try to extend church accommodation generally ; for it was
felt, he believed, through a great part of the land, that indi-
vidual efforts could by no means meet the necessities of the
case. The efforts of the voluntary system had failed entirely,
as fail they must, to supply the spiritual wants of the people.
Those efforts had, in conjunction with other circumstances
not necessary to be mentioned, caused the church to make
efforts in the same way ; but they (churchmen) had the great
advantage of being able to fall back on the principle of a na-
tional establishment, so that they had a resting place for in-
dividual and social exertion, as well as for that which he
hoped ere long to see forced, by the cries of the country,
either from a willing or an unwilling government. Unques-
tionably the want of spiritual instruction was, as that motion
full well declared, to leave the people to moral, social, and
everlasting evils. And to what moral evils did that want leave
the population exposed ? There was, in the length and breadth
of the land, a voice of immorality, of crime, of disregard to
the fundamental principles of all law and justice—a voice of
defiance against all authority, and it would be well if that
voice did not sound still more loudly and violently than
it had hitherto done. lie believed that the only mode of
silencing that voice would be to remove the difficulties that
impeded the progress of religious instruction. And what of
the social evil of which they were all well informed ?
That miserable and cold-hearted assault on all that is good,
and great, and amiable, and honest, and decent, and honour-
.

able in the land—how would it have sprung up if the land had
been provided with a sufficiency of churches—if there had
been faithful ministers of God who had recommended Chris-
tian morality on Christian principles, and called on men to
adorn the doctrines of God in all things ? If children had
been brought up in the knowledge and fear of God—if from
their earliest infancy they had been imbued with the first
principles of the oracles of Christ, it was impossible that such
a state of things could have existed ; it was impossible that
either socialism, which aimed at the throne of God in heaven,
or chartism, which aimed .to overturn ate institutions
under which England had so long been a happy and a peace-
ful country, could have attained its present giant proportions,
and stalked boldly through the land. As respected their ex-
ternal welfare, the people, in the commercial and manufac-
turing, to say nothing of the agricultural districts, had been
grossly neglected; they had just been regarded in the same
light as the machinery at which they were employed. Nay,
not so much ; for it was quite striking to go into a manufac-
tory, and observe, not merely the exquisite adaptation of the
machinery to its ends, but its high state of polish, the orna-
ment and the beauty with which it had been expensively pro-
vided. What, however, had been done for the immortal and
accountable beings who attended those machines ? They had
been classed by the side of the steam power that moved the
machinery, and when the fire was out in the one case, and
the life in the other, both were equally disregarded. Their
efforts to counteract this state of things were not of long
standing ; they had, however, broken ground, and that was a
. great thi was happy to say, too, that they were not far
re
from the depositaries of socialism and chartism ; they had
come very nigh to the fortress, and should now use steadfast
endeavours to bring it down. It had been said that there
were many difficulties and discouragements to be encountered
in the carrying out of their objects. This was quite true ;
but those difficulties were necessary; for if their course was
down a clear and untroubled stream, without a cloud above
or a wave below, it would be an extremely easy task to be
employed in works of love aud mercy, of charity and benevo-
lence. But the difficulties that gathered round the persons
employed in such works, the hindrances and discourigements
that thronged thickly on the right hand and on the left, and
which, in their result, made each one engaged like holy Job
—all these were in order that they might, on a dark day, put
their hands into the hand of their Heavenly Father, and be
led along the path of faith, assured that he would, in his own
time, make darkness light, and the difficult easy. It might
have been thought that the attempt to compass, by their fee-
ble efforts,
such a mighty work as that in which they were en-
gaged, was something like the conduct of the man in the imam-
ble, who began to build a house and could not finish it,
not having counted the cost. ut it appeared to him that
they were not in this predicament; their excellent bishop had
counted the cost of the work ere he committed himself to it.
After having read an extract from the lord bishop's account
of the churches consecrated, Mr. Buddicom proceeded to say
that that and other societies had struck the spark which had

fired the train, and the flame which had been kindled would
go on extending its brightness through the land, and purify-
ing the moral atmosphere. He concluded by a reference to
the immense and praiseworthy exertions of the diocesan, to
his entire devotedness to the great cause in hand—exertions
and devotedness such as ought to engage the sympathy and
support of even ordinary beholders ; but when it was recol-
lected that they were fellow Christians with him, embarked
in the same cause, having the same duties, feeling the same
love of God, and alike beholders of the same sad spectacle of
thousands perishing for lack of the bread of life, how much
more intensely ought they to he delighted at the successful
result of his lordship's efforts, how much more earnestly and
heartily support him in continuing the good work, and enable
him to go on till the moral desert bloomed and blossomed
like a garden !
The Rev. 3. H. GUNNING, rector of Wigan, seconded the
resolution. He said that the population of Wigan amounted
to 35,000 souls, and there was church accommodation for
only 3300. He was enabled, from that fact, to bear testimony
to the statement embodied in the resolution, and he could also
speak to the lamentable consequences that had arisen, and
were likely to arise, from the want of church room in that
town.

The Rev. JAMES FURNIVAL, vicar of St. Helen's, moved
the next resolution. He alluded to the erection of a small
church at Parr, in the district of St. Helen's. at a total cost
of nearly £lOOO (X 350 of which was a grant from the so-
ciety,) and said that unless for the stimulus given to the re-
sident gentry by that grant, the church would never have
been built. He could bear testimony to the correctness of
what had been said by his rev. brother who had first spoken,
as to the beneficial effects which had resulted from local
ministers, and was certain that each clergyman was as ef-
fectual in restraining vice as, not ten merely, but twenty or
more police-officers.
The Rev. W. 111`IvErt, incumbent of West Derby, se-
conded the motion, in doing which he said he might be per-
'flitted to make one or two observations upon the indirect
' benefits that had arisen from the operations of this society.
Our revered and beloved Diocesan had had the high honour
of being the founder of such institutions as this. When the
idea was first mooted many persons supposed the society
would soon break down for want of funds ; but its proceed-
ings had been carried on in faith, and we had the happiness
of seeing the example set in this diocese followed in every
other diocese in the kingdom. Every original contributor'
to the funds of the society had therefore the satisfaction of
thinking that he done something towards a movement which
had done more to restore the Church of Engiand to her pre-
sent position than had been done by any other means since
the reformation. Previously to the institution of this society,
and only a few years ago, when application was made to the
government for a grant of public money in aid of church
building, the answer was—" The Church of England is rich
enough to build churches herself." " She," said they, "has
the royal family, the nobility, the landed aristocracy, and a
majority of wonlth in her pale, and therefore she
is rich enough to build churches nerseir.,,
had an air of plausibility and truth ; but the experiment had
since been fairly tried, and with what result? In this diocese
we had the support of the highest ecclesiastical authority, of
many of the leading nobility, and the mercantile towns, and
of some portions of the middle classes ; but what hadbeen
done had been totally inadequate to supply the want. We
bad therefore an answer to the government, that the volun-
tary principle had been tried under the fairest circumstances
and had failed ; and to say to them—" give us that relief
which nothing but the public funds can supply." He be-
lieved he was right in saying that if the population of Lon-
don went on at the present rate of increase, it would be in a
worse condition when .the proposed 40 churches were built
than now. This fact sheaved the necessity that lay upon the
government, willing or unwilling, to foster the Church of
England as the guardian of the moral and social happiness of
the people, and to supply her with funds to erect churches in
proportion to the spiritual destitution of the population.
(Applause.) He seconded the motion.
The resolution was carried.

Thanks were then moved to the reverendchairman, and
le meeting separated.

CORRESPONDENCE

THE BRITISH COLONIES

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

Sin,—l have long been a reader of your valuable paper ;
for the quality of its promiscuous reading, the well-digested
contents of its leading articles, and the interest it evinces for
the welfare of England and her colonies, conspire to endow
it with a character, as a provincial paper, which few others
can boast of. I need not tell you, therefore, that lam an
admirer of your journal.

I have had frequent opportunities of ascertaining what
your feeling is towards the British colonies : I believe you
feel an interest in putting those colonies into such a position,
that they shall be happy and prosperous in themselves, and
be at the same time highly contributory to the commercial
interests of their common mother country. I write now to
offer a suggestion which may not be unworthy of the notice
of your readers, nor unfit for the practical adoption of go-
vernment. That an immense number of operatives of every
description, in every part of the country, are at present un-
employed, and have no means of subsistence, save what they
may be able to obtain on credit, or from others' generosity,
is a fact which I suppose is known both to you and to the
state secretaries for the home department and for the colo-
nies ;—that in New South Wales, Australia, New Zealand,
Guiana, and other British colonies, there are vast tracts of
land inviting cultivation, and inexhaustible sources of pro-
fitable labour, is also a fact not open to question. The ad-
vantages of emigration must be apparent to all ; for if labour
were transferred from this country, where there is 11 super-
abundance of it, to those places in the colonies where it is
most wanted, and where the soil, if cultivated, would pro-
duce the richest fruits, the results would be—first, that the
emigrant labourers themselves would, by leaving a place
where their labour is neither wanted nor remunerated, and
settling in a place where their labour is both wanted and
well remunerated, be benefitted;—secondly, that the colonies
into !which labour was introduced would be infinitely im-
proved in value ;—and, thirdly, that the mother country
would be relieved from burdens which now weigh her down
to the ground—her present evil of over-production of manu-
factured goods would be removed, and her superabundance
of labour would be a thing not known; but her labouring.
population would be prosperous, and her commerce healthy.
My suggestion therefore is, that the government should take
immediate steps to make emigration facile and inexpensive
to the emigrants, and to remove the present existing restric-
tions as to qualifications. The proceeds of the sale of colo-
nial landS render the expense of mere freight a trifle ; then
why should people starve here ?—why should the operatives
carry on existence in a state of inactivity, unusefuhiess, and
disgrace?—why 'should adult labourers, having families de-
pending on their resources, be compelled to sacrifice their
best feelings of independence, or rather principles of self-
dependence, and either turn out on the highway as desperate
robbers, or skulk from door to door with piteous face, igno-
bly begging the bOon of charity? I ask, in indignation, and
with my heart almost bleeding with sympathy for these poor
beings, why should this be the case, when government have
it in their power to change starvation for plenty, anxiety for
content, in the homes and minds of a labouring people, who,
I scruple not to aver, are treated with as much callousness
of feeling by men in power and of wealth, as are the beasts
of the earth ?

There is, therefore, every motive to encourage emigration
on the part of government : now for the practicableness of
the process. I would say, let all go out free of expense who
wish, of whatever description of qualification they may be,
if they be of sober character; and this point might be easily
ascertained by any person disposed to emigrate presenting a
note of recommendation from his present or late employer.
There is scarcely anybody who would not be able to assist in
felling trees, ploughing, fencing, tending cattle, &c. ; and,
therefore, let no one say that the labouring population gene-
rally are not qualified to make useful colonists. But, sup-
posing some idle, immoral, and worthless characters avail
themselves of the proffered free passage, the evil consequences
would fall on their own heads, as, if they would not work,
they would of course suffer—an evil which would necessarily
be most felt by themselves. Now is the time for emigration:
the colonies are waiting with extended arms, to receive an
ingress of settlers : then let the utmost encouragement be
held out to emigrants ; convey them free of expense to which
colony they desire, and let free passage be promised to all
who may desire to avail themselves of it. The present re-
strictions are too restrictive. I believe hundreds and thou-
sands would emigrate now, but for the ceremony, bother,
and uncertainty of obtaining- a passage. The bare removal
of a portion of the home population would be a great relief
to this country, and therefore I cannot conceive any objec-
tion to a perfectly free mode of emigration. I for one have
experienced the difficulty I have mentioned, and the conse-
quence is I am still a resident here.

I am, sir, your humble servant,

A 'READER
Horton, near Bradford, Feb. 27th, 1840.

THE CORN LAWS.

TO COLONEL WILLIAMS.
SlR.,—The following report of your speech, in reply to an
observation made by Mr. Lloyd, at the Liverpool Corn-law
Meeting, is copied verbatim from the Albion of Jan. 13.
Mr. Lloyd stated that the inevitable result of the free intro-
duction of foreign corn would be to throw hundreds of thou-
sands of acres out of cultivation, and to deprive the manu-
facturers themselves, of their best customers.
" Colonel Williams then rose, and was received with much
applause. He said he was what the last speaker called a
practical man : he was a practical farmer, and he stood before
them in the character. of a landowner also. This gentleman,
in the plenitude of his sympathy for the farmers, said they
would all be ruined if the corn-laws were abolished. Now
he (Colonel Williams) did not fear being ruined ; but he
wanted to say a word or two more to the mover of the amend-
ment. That gentleman said, that, by_ the abolition of the
corn-laws, a vast number of acres would be thrown out of
cultivation. He would leave gentlemen connected with com-
merce to answer other fallacies, but, with respect to the acres
thrown out of cultivation by the abolition of the corn-laws,
he looked upon that to be the grossest fallacy that ever dwelt
in the brain of any pseudo political economist. He should
like to know, looking to his own fields, whether, wh9n he
ceased to grow corn in one of his fields, it would not grow
something else ? (Hear, hear.) It was the greatest fallacy
to say, that the country ought to be enforced to grow wheat,
excepting so far as it was wanted, and could be supplied on
advantageous terms to all parties, for if they did not grow
wheat,. they could grow cattle, and he did not see if the gen-
tleman was so fond of a loaf why he should not like to have a
round of beef with it. (Much cheering.) Such stuff as this
was unworthy of notice, and he would not say a word more
upon the subject." -
The only inference that can be drawn from the above is,
that Mr. Lloyd's fears are groundless, and that the country
would sustain no injury, as the additional number of cattle
that would be reared would amply compensate for any dimi-
nution in the produce of corn. As your opinion was given
with the authority of a practical farmer, it was received by
the meeting as a fact that could not be disputed, and has gone
through the manufacturing districts as a triumphant answer
to one of the strongest arguments in favour of the corn-laws.
But, positive as your assertions are, they will deceive no
one that has the least acquaintance with farming. My at-
tention has for the last forty years been directed to mercan-
tile pursuits ; I cannot, therefore, have much knowledge of
agriculture ; yet, limited as it is, I knew that what you so
confidently stated could not be borne out by facts ; but, as
it would have been presumptuous in me to have put my
opinion in opposition to a practical farmer, I determined
to apply to another practical farmer, who has for many
years cultivated land such as Mr. Lloyd alluded to. I re-
quested he would state what 200 acres of this laud now pro-
duced, and what it did produce in its original state. This
answer, which I give below, will convince even you that the
change from arable to pasture of one-third of the cultivated
land in the country would be a heavy blow to the prosperity
Qf the country, and deprive, as Mr. Lloyd justly observes,
the manufacturers of their best customers. The practical.
farmer to whom I applied for practical information, s Y
only profitable mode of cultivating poor lightlanldso
" I shall reply to your first question by statings,itshzbatyt_sttililee
quarters
rotation system, and that 50 acres will producets hinder-ends,
and 7 quartets
marketable wheat, say at 605.,
marketableei at 40s. ; 50 acres will produce 225 quarters
bar-
ley, at 305., and 11 quarters hinder-ends,
seeds, 46 acres turnips, and 4. acrestte awtil2lOss.u;ppsooratcirooes
30 beasts, wintered
as ht e4e4ps,. bredea andh ine psruo dBoan; and sold off each year,
linseed-cakeo each, their improved
on strawe tares,nd a
total of £1,262 10s. From this sum
valy4VXlso ;—making
)aid for 15 tons linseed-cake, at £lO
we Mist deduct—sash
and half-a-ton.
cdcuecsesi7wtaool,nzee
at 2s.t6ackl.en; ;
together,sfurnodmrietsh,eXalb2ovleo,s.win
£262 10s. sum,
per ton ;
e e £l,OOO, which this farm under tillage adds annually to
800 bushlhoTnihe.s,
leave
evwealth of the nation. The pigs and poultry fed upon an

arable farm will be equal to the keep of the extra horses re-.
quired. In the above estimate a due allowance has been
made for seed. I will now show you what the same land
would produce as a grazing farm. It would support 50
beasts throughout the year, the improved value of say 60s.
each ; 30 lambs, bred and sold off at Michaelmas, at 20s.
each ; 30 bull ewes, sold at Michaelmas at 255. each ; 20 tod
of wool, one-third hog and inferior, at 265. per tod ;—toge-
ther, £243 10s., say £250. This sum, deducted from the
above, shews a loss to the country of £750 per annum on
200 acres thrown out of cultivation. The arable land in the
United Kingdom is reported by. different authorities to be
from 20 to 22 millions of acres. I will take it at 21 millions.
If, by a free importation of foreign corn, wheat should be
reduced to 40s. per quarter, and other grain in proportion,
one-third of this land would cease to be cultivated, and one-
halt of this would soon be again covered with heath or
broom, and almost worthless. The other half I will suppose
of the description above mentioned ; the annual value of its
produce would be 245. 4d. per acre. This, with the heath at
2s. 6d. per acre, would amount to £4,681,250, or, in round
numbers, say 5 millions sterling. The present value of its
annual produce is £5 per acre, or, in the whole, 35 millions.
The loss in national wealth would, therefore, be 30 millions
per year."

. - -
When wheat is at 60s. per quarter, I estiniate the surplus
income of the farmer (after he has paid for seed, rent, taxes
of all kinds, and food) at 100 millions. This immense sum
is annually circulated amongst the manufacturers in exchange
for the necessaries or luxuries the farmer may require. Now
it is evident, from the statement published in this paper on
the 21st instant, that the whole of this surplus income will
he lost if the corn-laws are repealed, and a diminution to
this amount in the demand for our manufactures. From
what quarter are we to expect orders to compensate us for
this loss, as the most sanguine repealer will not promise
that, if all his expectations are realised, our exports will be
-increased 20 millions ? If, then, we have suffered so much
from the partial loss of the American trade for the last year,
which could not exceed 8 or 10 millions, what will be the
effect if we are deprived of customers to the amount of 80
or 100 millions per annum ! But it appears that your friends
the wise men of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce
question the great importance of the home trade, and doubt
if it is improved by the price of agricultural produce betog
kept up ; for if that had been the case, they say, " the past
year Iyould have been distinguished for its prosperous home
trade ; but what is the fact ? In 1838 the home trade took
81 millions of pounds weight of cotton goods, and last year
only 60 millions." Has it never entered the heads of these
Solons that the manufacturing population consume cotton
goods as well as the agriculturist, and that more than one-
third of the population are dependent upon commerce ? If
they had been seeking for truth, they would have found that
the distress in the manufacturing districts would at once
have accounted for the reduced consumption of last year;
and if they had made inquiry of the houses in the country
trade, they would have found that the chartist riots had been
a;r;nmil cause why the demand was less in 1839 than in
1838. The alarm was at one time .0 g• cat, that the shop-
keepers limited their orders to what were absolutely neces-
sary to enable them to keep open their shops. 'With all due
deference, therefore, to you and the Manchester Chamber
of Commerce, I think it would be a suicidal act to ruin our
home customer, who expends 100 millions with us, for the
chance of gaining foreign orders to the amount of 20 mil-
lions, even supposing we do get flour 6d. or even ls. per
stone cheaper.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,
A •MERCHANT AND MANUFACTURER,
EXCLUSIVELY IN TEE FOREIGN TRADE.
Sheffield, Feb. 28th, 1840.