The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-02-28 00:00:00

thit STATESMAN:

The ezpence and difficulty of procuring adequata
manure was apparent, from the much smaller con-
sumption of animal food. The Hon. Member con-
eluded by pointing out the historical fact, that the
French Revolution opened with the proscription
of the manufactering and commercial interests, and
ended with the subversion of the agricultural. The
whole alreight of meeting the National Debt was
thrown on the latter, until at length, from 25
1 years purchase, the value of land was reduced to
1 six or seven.
Mr. DAVIES GIDDY declared his belief to be,
I not that the effe:t of the measure before the House
i would be to render corn cheaper than at present, but
to prevent it ever becoming inordinately dear. If
' any unpopularity attended an opinion of this kind,
I he was ready to meet it.
Mr. BARING thought that whoever supposed the
present question was one from which popularity might
Ibe gathered would find it very short lived, even if it
should be attained. Every Gentleman had disclaimed
tall insinuation about motives, and yet motives had
been pretty liberally imputed on both sides. For his
Own putt he had the highest opinion of the landed
interest ; he looked upon their predominance in Par-
liament as a general advantage; he considered the
liberties of the country as most safely placed in their
hands. lie believed that in the kite run it would be
found they were the class which acted with the
greatest independence. The present question, how-
ever, as it affected merely the rent and produce 'of
land, was to them a question more narrow in its
. nature, and with respect to which they might natu-
rally be supposed to act under a bias. It was some-
what remarkable that he had not heard during the
, whohe of the night, when the question was, of
I bringing up the Report of the Resolution, affirming
1 80s. to be the minimum at which foreign corn
should be imported, one word to show that 80s.
was the proper price, or the looest price that
could pay the expences,and remunerate the labours of
the farmer. The manufacturers had been pretty
roughly handled; they had been treated as the scum
of the eartti—[Cries of \'o, no!]—but no reasoning'
had been offered to convince him that 80s. was the
fit and necessary sum. How this point had been
overlooked, he could only account for by supposing
that the measure itself was utterly indefensible; and
that as it could not be carried by force of argument,
it must be carried by clamour and by numbers.—
[Renewed trice of Alo,no.]—lfe had himself no in-
terest in the issue of this question beyond that of
any other person : he was not engaged in the trade of
corn, and never had been. What he observed was,
the result of his own free and deliberate judgmeut.—
The Report of the Committee, partial as it was, did
not justify the present measure: it did not even cor-
respond
with the evidence on which it pretended to
be founded. The Committee wanted protection
against present rents and present charges, but had;
forgotten to report accurately what their own wit. I
nesscs had told them. Instead of its being true, as
they stated, that only one person had thought a
lower price than 80s. sufficient, one witness con-
ceived
725. in time of peace, and five others 765. up
to 80s. as a full compensation to the farmer.—
He should tint refer to the wild opinion that rent
did not at all enter into the price of corn ; but
he wished to observe, in consequence of what had
been said of the stimulus derived to the farmer
by his paying a high rent, that the same stimulus to
an exertion of his powers would be found in his ex-
perience of a declining produce. At all events ne
he was quite satified that our modern improvements
in agriculture had not tended to augment our agri-
cultural population. If measure; of the kind of that
now before them were to he resorted to, and ertifi-
cial means adopted to keep up prices, it woul be vain
to expect to see our money circulation return to its
natural state, and they must make up their minds to
Hank notes and Bank tokens for the future. Here
the Hon. Member entered into a calculation to show
that the whole quantity of cultit ated land in Great
Britain and Ireland was 63 millions of acres, and
that a bounty of 10s. to the landlord, in the shape
of a tax on the rest of the community, already este-.
blished by law, would allord the result of which was
annually paid, nearly 32 millions sterling, ns stated
by him on a former evening. The Hon. Member
concluded, amidst considerable marks of impatience
for the question on the part of the House.
Mr. W. FITZGERALD replied, with much ani-
mation to the last speaker. Many of the topics of
the Hon. Gentleman's speech were not adapted to
the meridian of the House of Commons, but to other
places. The House ought to meet public opinion
feat lessly, and as to the discussion of the question of
price, the proper time would be after the Report was
received. On the subject of circulation of specie he
differed so widely from the lion. Gentleman (Mr.
Baring) that he thought nothing could have such a ten.
dency to restore it, as the prevention of the importa-
tion of foreign corn, as the state of the exchange had
become more unfavourable .for s since the went
importation of foreign grain.
Sir F. FLOOD stated, that the number of the ma-
I i jority spoke strongly in favour of the 11111. lie had
received letters from some of the chief agrkulturists
in Ireland, that if some steps should not be taken
for the protection of agriculture, there would be a
1 necessity for stopping the plough and the harrow.—
I He trusted that Great•Britakt and Ireland would not
prefer foreign aid to domestic support. From what
!he had said, his vote might lie inferred.—[ Laugh.]
—An Holt. Gentleman (Mr. Whitbread) having
I misconceived him, had, in consequence of such mis-
conception, misrepresented him, and he trusted the
I House would acquit him of the gross bull that • had
been imputed to him.—[Laugh.]
Mr. WHITBREAD professed Isis regret for hay-
ing turned the Hon. Baronet's bullocks into bulls;
but as he had seen a bull drawing in the plough in
England, he supposed that there might sometimes be
six bulls so employed on the heavy lands in Ireland.
Another Honourable Member (Mr., Marryat) seemed
to feel extremely sore at an allusion to what he had
said on a former night. What ne had then said on
.the subject of land-owners being equally entitled to
call upon merchants for an account of their profits,
was merely as an illustratiou to show the absurdity
of his reasoning; and
.when the Hon. Gentleman
chose to sneer at the supposed profits of his (Mr.
Whitbread's) trade, he was only giving him credit
for what that Hon. Member would pay quite as
much attention to as may man. He meant no of-