The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-11-06 00:00:00

uSJUSTIFIAIII.Is MGR PAWS oF BREAD,
TO Till,. !AUTON OF TUE STATESMAN.
siol—The corn-dealer who last year favoured us
from Norwich, with a couple of his letters in de.
fence of his fraternity, has shifted his ground, and
coe addresses us in London ; and like the Ghod in
ilautlet, he is hic et villique.--1" The edger (he says)
uerer stay to weigh the soundness of opinions ad.
vanes), or the justice of that abuse levelled, against
corn-dealers, that the welfare of our fellow-creatures,
ice—Having proceeded to olake a few fallacious
and prefatory nbservations, all :e favour of mono•
poll-ars, forestallers, corn-deale &c. he then
proCeeds to quote Dr. AnAM timiTM, who asserts,
that the interests of the corn-dealer, and the
great body of the people, in years t../ scarcity (no
doubt like this), are the same;" this is a most ex-
traordinary doctrine, when corn-dealers have beets
knot% n, in years of scarcity, to keep back grain
from market until it was absolutely spoiled. He
then goes on to quote Dr. S., " it is his interest (the-
corn-dealer's) to raise the price as high as the real
scarcity, and no higher." Let me ask this censcieu-
Cous corn-dealer, does he, or the fraternity, stop
there ? and also let me ask him, is there any scarcity this
year to justify the enormous high price of bread, and
other provisions P—Again, Dr. S. " if he (the corn-
(loafer) raise it too high, he subjects himself to
1 s,, by not being able to sell ; and by not raising it
high enough, he looses part of his profit." Dr.
ADAM SMITH, when you write such sentiments, you
shew your complete ignorance of human nature, and
of mealmen and corn-dealers ; for who ever knew
these gentry not to screw up the poor and the public
to the highest pitch, even at the risk of letting grain
spoil, turning bankrupts, and jfnally hanging them-
sch.es,,, Were it possible for one company of mer-
chants (he says) to possess themselves of all the crops
in the kingdom, some danger might be apprehend. I
eel."—l still tell hint, in reply, that there are many
and numerous companies of such speculators, and
avarice actuates the whole of them. Dr. S. (he says),
is of opinion, " that all legislative interfereace is
impolitic;" if so, eby did our Legislators feel them.
selves under the necessity of enacting such severe
laws against such people ?....Either Dr. AD.su
Seem was dreemiug, or our Legislators were fools.
Dr. S. again says, " the populist fear of engrossing
and forestalling, may be composed to the popular
terrors of witheraft :" this is pretty reasoning for a
learned Doctor, when the ogee is only a foolish
error, but the other is red, and sensible, and too
severely felt by the great body of the people at large.
This writer admits of a meet abundant harvest ; but,
to make his falsehoods palatable, he charges the
whole to the accoaut of the war. I mutt tell him
that our domestic enemies are the wont ; and these
who subject us to llsmbie, in the midst of plenty, are
our worst enemies. This corn-dealer may attri-
bute wrong motives to me, Sir, but no weight can
possibly be attached to such people'. opinions; there
i% plenty in the land, mid my object is to let the poor
t.11:1 and his fatally have bread to eat at a fair price;
and it is the imperious duty of Government to see to
this, and put down a nest of monopolisers that arc
starving the public.

The population of this immense metropolis seems
to be without any proper authority to do it justice.
One Lord Mayer gets his vote of thanks for doing
twtiiing—is titled—makes his bow, and walks out of
office; another comes swaggering in, full of bombast
and professions, which all end in a bottle of smoke;
alti so they sue one another. Let any one look
at your Agricnitura Report, of Saturday, and then
say whether the people have not cause to complain.
I conclude, Sir, by observing, that your Papor,
which has so firmly and repeatedly advocated the
r use of the public, on this rital question, deserves
tho patronage and support of the community, in its
fullest extent. Yours, &c.
PUBI.ICOLA.