The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-09-19 00:00:00

THE SrIDEiVCE TAKEN BEFORE THE AGRI,
CULTURAL COMMITTEE,

After the lapse of some months, i. at lenctlielgh. -
fished, and has seen in the hands of the priviieg4 a
week or ten days. It is nn'st unnecessarily imr4leii-
some, and expensively cumbrous, extending to nearly
five hundred folio pages of printing, such as is usn-
- ally executed at the cost of the public, by the order
of the House of Commons. It has all the appearance
of a most curious and important document, published
' in compliance with common usage and common de-
cency, in a form and hulk to render it as little accts•
s'ble as possible to the public at large; a document
whirls ought to have been condensed into as small a
cornrows, as possible, and to have been ordered to be
read iu every Church and Chapel in the Kingdom—von,
it is a document, from the contests of which the Agri-
cultural Committee has pronounced that, under pre-
sent eireamstauees, it is impossible to Jima without
10,8, .=
Ihers, and occupiers of land, throughout the
ronntrf, have been plainly told that the same Com-
mitteecan recommend nothing to alter those circum-
stances so that the whole body of agriculturists of
the eitintry are turned over to be the sport of chance, or
consiged to be the victims of despair. The influence
Ministers are known to possess in the nominating of
committees, the notoriety of Lord Londonderry having
what is technically (and we suppose also literally) called
eve maaar,•ement Vila house of Commons, his conduct
at the sittings of the committee, and his polite attention
to the members of it at its dissolution, warrant the con-
-elusion, that it is the opinion of Ministers,—First, that
it is impossible, under present circumstances, to farm
without Loss;—and, secondly, that it is out of their
power to alter these circumstances. Thus, has the dis-
covery of the desperate state of the Agricultural inter-
ests been at length made! Discovery did we call it i Can
that now be discovery to them, which has been long
known and proclaimed by others, who hare not half the
opportunity for ascertaining the facts which they pos-
sess? Can that be discovery which has been the sub-
ject of fatal experience fur six years ? if Ministers have
been ignorant of the real state of the Farming interests
up to the period of the sitting of the late committee,
such ignorance is most gross, must culpable, almost mi.
raculous. lint if otherwise—if they were aware of the
r:111 situation of the country,—then, by that country
have they acted most treacherously, and its best interests
they have sacrificed most unpardonably.
But, be this as it may, Ministers afford to the farmer
ta hope of remedy; and sure are we that the present de-
plorably wet and expensive harvest will give them no re-
lief, though it will impose additional evils on the public.
It is now acknowledged that the charges of production,
in the articles of farm•produce, greatly exceed the prices
the country can afford to pay, or their present (item:t-
-ea:lces" will admit of being paid. This we long ago
said was the case; but we were scoffed at. We never,
however, so much or so greatly despaired of the country,
in our most gloomy moments, as to believe the distress
the occupiers of land have long suffered, and which the
landlords are about to suffer, admits not of remedy.—
A constitutionally Reformed Parliament would remedy
the matter in a trier ; persistance in the present corrupt
system never will. Let the landlords, and the yeomanry
ani tenantry of the country look to this, before it be toe
late to work out thei r salvation