°

Bramston, Thomas Gardiner

A practical inquiry into
the nature and extent of the
present agricultural
distress

HF

2tm

$7*

PRACTICAL INQUIRY

INTO THE

NATURE AND EXTENT

OF THE

present Agricultural Bistrtss,

AND THE

MEANS OF RELIEVING IT.

BY

THOMAS GARDINER BRAMSTON, ESQ.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR J. HATCHARD AND SON,
PICCADILLY.

-

Priated by S. GosuelJ, Little Out en Stzect, London.

PREFACE.

THE few following pages profess no more than
to contain a plain statement of facts, and of
figures in illustration of them. An attempt is
made to simplify a subject of general interest;
and, if possible, to contribute something towards
the gradual restoration of public prosperity, in
that most essential branch in which it is now
blighted, and towards the revival of a state of
comfort in those invaluable classes of society,
who have never ceased to deserve the gratitude
and protection of their country.

PRACTICAL INQUIRY

X HK present distress of those engaged in agri-
culture is so oppressive in its nature, and so
intense in its degree, that their complaints re-
quire no apology ; and their lamentations are at
least entitled to compassion and indulgence. The
question is not, does the evil exist ? but, does it
any longer admit of relief? If a saving hand
cannot now be stretched out to rescue him whom
the blow has already stricken to the ground, can
it not still avail to avert from other heads the
ruin, which to them is as yet only impending ?

But to what quarter are we to look for relief,
if happily it can any where be found ? To the
wisdom of the Legislature, and to the omnipo-
tence of Parliament, the usual and proper refuge
in times of public distress ? Whoever carefully
examines the present evil, will find it lies too
deep, and that its ramifications are too exten-
sive, to allow the operative skill of the Legislature
to extirpate it ; nay, in any great degree to re-
lieve it. Parliament may, and indeed is about

B

to administer palliatives ; but the landed interest
must place its chief dependence upon itself;
upon the combined efforts of landlord and
tenant ; upon their cordial co-operation with
each other ; upon their frank and liberal consi-
deration of each other's situation ; upon their
mutual forbearance, prudence, perseverance, and
patience.

The immediate cause of all the farmer's
troubles, is the depression in the price of grain :
of the effects produced by this cause, he is ne-
cessarily sensible,, for they are felt by him in the
inability to discharge his pecuniary engagements;
his receipts no longer corresponding with the
charges upon him.

What avails it to tell him of the depreciated
currency, in which payments were said to be
made during the war ? If the depreciation of the
currency at that time be admitted, it must also
be admitted, that those were times of prosperity
to him ; and that the evils of that depreciation
were unknown to him.

What avails it to tell him of the recent too
hasty return to a metallic currency ? The deed is
done, and if it can, it may safely be asserted,
that it ought not to be recalled : the measure is
pregnant with future good ; but let the farmer

3

live to see it : let him not be overwhelmed with
present evils ; he is as willing to pay, and as
well prepared to pay in produce as ever. Appor-
tion then the demands" to the means ; let receipts
and payments be made in the same measure, and
confidence and comfort will be restored, and
again exhibited and enjoyed.

The price of wheat has been before held to
be the just criterion and standard of relative and
general value ; let it again be acknowledged to
be so. The object, then, which ought first to ar-
rest our attention, is the present, and probably
future value of that grain.

The average price of wheat stated in the
Gazette of Saturday, 12th January last, as
founded upon the returns of wheat sold in all
England and Wales, in the week ending on the
preceding Saturday the 5th, was 45s. 1 1 d. That
we may fairly regard this as the minimum of
price to which our attention is likely to be di-
rected, is reasonably to be inferred, from the con-
sideration, that the supply of grain brought to
market for many weeks previously had not
borne relation to the wants of the consumers,
but to the necessities of the growers ; necessities,
which in ordinary times have always called for
the sale of an undue proportion of produce at
this period of the year; but which in the present

B 2

case have been aggravated in innumerable in-
stances by demands for rent, tithes, rates, and
taxes in arrear, and by claims of interest due
upon money borrowed, and of borrowed capital
called in ; necessities, thus producing by their
combined influence so great an overflow and
glut in the markets, that it is well known the
millers have often appeared to be conferring a
favour, and have actually conferred a favour,
upon those whose samples they have selected
for purchase; and a large proportion of the sam-
ples brought to market, have frequently not
been disposed of at all for want of demand.

The imperative obligation upon many to sell
upon any terms, if practicable to sell at all,
being admitted, the greater the depression of
price, the greater would unavoidably be the
overflow of the supply; for it is obvious that, to
satisfy an arrear of rent of 100/. 50 quarters of
wheat must be brought to market and sold, if
the price obtained be only 40*. though 40 quar-
ters would equally suffice, if the price be 50*.
and scarcely more than 33 quarters, if the price
be 60*.

This inordinate pressure of supply is, however,
in its nature terminable ; for, if the peculiar ne-
cessities which produced it are not relieved, the
means of creating it must at least become ex-
hausted.

Let us then proceed to estimate the probable
influence of these extraordinary causes in pro-
ducing this extreme depression (as it may not
unreasonably be deemed), and to assume a price
which might probably have been found about the
actual price, if these peculiar necessities had not
(unnaturally as it were) intervened to depress it.

The average price in the corresponding week
of 1821, was 54s.*; and in the nineteen weeks
comprehended in the period between 23d De-
cember 1820, and 28th April 1821 (both days
inclusive), the average of the prices stated in the
Gazette was 54s. \ d. In May, June, July, and
part of August, the prices were a little lower,
rendered so, no doubt, by the prospect of an abun-
dant harvest; but at the end of August a dispo-
sition to advance was produced by the unfavour-
able weather; and at the latter end of September
the apprehensions excited by this cause continu-
ing to operate, and with increased force, the
prices rapidly so advanced as to raise the average
of one week to 70s. 7d. Since that time the ex-
traordinary causes of depression before referred
to, that is to say, the extraordinary necessities
of the farmers, have been in full operation, and
have had power to counteract and repel the ex-
traordinary cause for advance derived from the

* In speaking of the average prices, the prices in " all
England and Wales,*' are always intended.

B 3

6

serious and extensive injury the crop of last year
sustained.

The experience of the next few months
will show, whether, as the extraordinary cause
for depression becomes weaker, the influence
of the other natural cause of advance will or
will not be felt, so as to produce a temporary
advance above the level of ordinary years, and
above that customary and permanent price,
which with average crops and propitious seasons,
and a continuance of foreign and domestic peace,
we may with reason and probability look forward
to. But should this prove the case, and should
a material advance take place between this time
and the next harvest, adding 10s. or 20s. or even
more, to the present value of the quarter of wheat ;
as the cause will be temporary in its nature, the
effect must be expected to be temporary also ;
and the inference will by no means be destroyed
or disturbed, that 54s. is now as high a price as
any prudent occupier will rely upon in making
his future calculations.

Let us, then, here pause, and stop to make a
comparison between the effects of prices at 80s.
and at 54s. and let us take as an example the
case of an occupier at a rent of 100/. set under
the supposition that wheat was to maintain the
price of 80s. per quarter, and that his gross re-

turns were to be equal to four rents, or 400/.
The reduction of price from 80s. to 54?. must at
once subtract 32^ per cent, from the gross re-
turns of his farm, reducing them from 400/. to
2701.

If the charges remain the same, in what way
is this deficiency of receipt to be supplied ? It
often happens, perhaps most frequently, that a
farmer of this class possesses no property but the
stock upon his farm ; he makes no calculations,
he sets apart no specific portion of the pro-
duce for payment of the interest of the sum
invested upon the farm, or for the mainte-
nance of himself and his family ; but he lives
hard, and the means of a hard subsistence
are necessarily taken from the produce of the
farm as they are wanted; for they can by pos-
sibility be derived from no other source. Let
us then see in what way the gross produce of
400/. is likely to have been appropriated.

Take the folio wing as a probable application* :

* The calculations to illustrate a farmer's situation are
not offered as applicable in terms to every case ; on the con-
trary, it is known that they can perfectly coincide with only a
few ; but it is conceived that they exhibit a principle, which
is applicable to all, and that if this principle be so applied*
mutatis mutandis, the results will probably not be materially
dissimilar.

B4

8

£. s. d.
For Rent 100 0 0

— Tithes 28 0 0

— Rates 25 0 0

— Labour 90 0 0

— Seeds for the ensuing crop.

— Oats for the horses.

To replace live and dead stock . ^
worn out.

— Bills of Tradesmen.

— Direct Taxes.

Interest of oPIOOO, the supposed")
capital employed, and for the re- I
ward of skill and superintendence,
at 7£ per cent.

:-

^400 0 0

If the charges remain the same, at the end of
the first year, he is in debt 130/. But of whom
is he to borrow ? Who will lend, where there is
no security for repayment; where there is an
obvious likelihood of a total inability to repay ?
If no payment whatever is made on account of
rent, he will still be 30/. in debt; and this, exclu-
sive of debts previously accumulated, as he has
found the times grow worse and worse. More-
over, the stock upon the farm is likely to have
been already reduced in quantity, and that which
may be left, to have unavoidably suffered depre-
ciation in value similar to other property of the
same sort. If his landlord, and if his other ere-

9

ditors forbear to demand their just dues, he may
linger for a while, but the use of legal coercion to
effect their payment must immediately consign
him to prison, and his family to the workhouse.

It may, however, perhaps be thought that the
instance which has been taken, has been drawn
from a class of farmers, who with their slender
means ought never to have engaged in the occu-
pation, and that in the higher walks of practical
agriculture there has been no exposure to the same
distress ; and that even if inconveniences and
difficulties have been there encountered, they
need not be at all regarded by others ; because
they are to be sustained by persons who can bear
them, and ought not to complain ; who, when they
found they had a good bargain, never thought of
proposing to their landlords to accept more rent,
and are now only called upon to draw out of the
stores of previously acquired unreasonable gains.

Let us then take the instance of a person farm-
ing at a rent of 400/. per annum, estimated in
the same manner as the rent of 100Z. has been
before estimated. The estimate of the gross re-
turns upon this farm will then be quadrupled,
and amount to 1600/., and the reduction in
the price of wheat from 80s. to 54s. will of
course quadruple the reduction ; thus operating
as a subtraction of 520/., and rendering that

10

amount 1080/. only, which had previously been
1600/.

In the scheme of distribution of expenses,
there is no article which can be omitted in
this case rather than the other; there is no
apparent opportunity of material abatement of
charge; for, although some small diminution
might possibly be obtained under the heads of
labour, of feed of horses, and of the bills of trades-
men, it is likely to be counteracted by a more
active spirit of improvement, by the use of horses
of better quality, and the desire to keep them in
better condition, and by the stronger wish in
this occupier of land to have every thing about
him in good order. The share devoted to the
occupier is, indeed, much enlarged, being in-
creased from 75 /. in the one case to 300 /. in the
other ; but it is not enlarged in undue propor-
tion ; and if 4000/. has been invested in the
cultivation, as probably it may, no more than
7^ per cent, will still be returned as inter-
est, and for skill and superintendence.

In what way then is this assumed loss of 5201.
to be met ? If the individual under these circum-
stances formerly turned the season of prosperity
to the best possible account, if of his 4000/. capi-
tal invested he made 20 per cent, and of this
large per centage laid by one half for several

11

years, he certainly amassed a sum which might
at present supply him with the means of dis-
charging all demands upon him, although at the
annual loss which has been supposed.

It is not denied that individuals, who realized
profits of this large description, are to be met with ;
but the number is small, so very small, that they
can with no propriety be permitted to govern
our judgment in taking a general view of the sub-
ject; but are rather to be regarded as exceptions
to common rule. And even in these cases of ex-
ception, if investigation were to be pursued, it
would probably be found, that the accumula-
tions of better days are at this time rarely avail-
able. They have been devoted perhaps to the
education and advancement of a son to a higher
walk in life ; to the establishment of sons in bu-
siness, or daughters in marriage ; to the purchase
of a farm, or the erection of a house. But by
the infinite majority of occupiers of land no such
accumulations were ever made ; by a portion of
them the unexpected gains were immediately
expended in the farther improvement of the land
from which they came ; by another portion, un-
doubtedly the larger one, they were dissipated
(venially, though unfortunately for those whose
frugal habits thus became forsaken) in more
costly diet, clothes, and furniture, and in a more
free enjoyment of the amusements and pleasures
of life. And where a part of the profits of these

12

prosperous years escaped these applications, it
may with too much reason be assumed as fact,
that the remnant of prosperity has been con-
sumed in an unsuccessful endeavour to contend
with the reverses of the last few years, during
the progress of the state of agriculture from good
to bad, from bad to worse.

The conclusion then seems irresistible, that
the holder of a farm at the rent of 400/. is not
generally in a condition to bear an annual loss of
520/. any better than the holder of a farm at a
rent of 100/. is to bear an annual loss of 130/.
If the demands and payments be as 100, and
the receipts as only 67^, the same touch of coer-
cion will probably expose insolvency in one case
as in the other, and one common ruin must over-
whelm them both.

There may possibly be some favoured dis-
tricts of the kingdom, to which this picture of
agricultural distress does not apply, or in an
abated degree ; the seasons may have been to
them uniformly favourable, the quality and quan-
tity of the produce may have been excellent and
abundant ; they may have possessed better mar-
kets, and the rents may have borne a nearer re-
lation to present prices; but it is believed, that,
upon taking a general view of the kingdom, the
truth of the picture which has been drawn, must

13

stand confessed, attested by the despair of some,
the alarm of many, and the apprehension of all.

It is not thought necessary to exhibit in de-
tail, the situation of the occupier of a grass-land
farm in the same manner as that of a farmer of
arable land. It would, however, upon examina-
tion be found to be generally very similar. Per-
haps, indeed, the dairy farmer may have suffered
in a somewhat less degree ; but the grazier,
whether of oxen or sheep, can rarely show any
exemption from losses of an equally ruinous
amount. The progress of depreciation may,
however, be correctly illustrated by the following
statement of the prices obtained by the owner of
a breeding flock of Southdown sheep in the last
three years. He has an annual sale of his draught
stock by auction in small lots ; the sales have
been always well attended ; the stock has been
in each year of the same quality ; and he has
had reason to believe, after comparison made
with the prices obtained at the great sheep fairs
held about the same time, that he has fully ob-
tained the best prices of the day.

In 1819 the number of head sold was 200

In 1820 189

In 1821 280

The average prices obtained were as follows:
1819. 1820. 1821.

£.s.d. sg.s.d. £.*.d.

For the ewes ., I 19 S 1142 125

For the wether lambs 1 10 1 146 0 14 8

14

1819. 1820- 1821-

sg. s. d. gg. s. d. £. s. d.

For the ewe lambs... 160 120 0120

In 1819, the average price for the 200 head

sold was 1 13 3

In 1820, the average price for the 189 head 177

In 1821, the average price for the 280 head 0 16 9

Disappointment and discontent are indeed
too nearly allied ; but let us remember, that to
indulge ourselves in invective and clamour will
not extricate us from our difficulties ; and let us
at all events first manfully put our shoulders to
the wheel, and either remove the evil altogether,
or render its pressure as light, as by the exertion
of our energies we may be enabled to do.

The immediate and substantial point of at-
tention, is the degree and extent to which the
outgoings incident to a farm may be accommo-
dated to the reduced income it affords. And with
this view it is proper more particularly to exa-
mine the farmer's situation in respect to each of
those heads of expenditure to which we have
before referred.

And first as to rent.

All computation of rent of land, upon certain
and just principles, must refer to the quantity
and to the value of the produce. It is true, that
in ordinary cases the rent will often appear to

15

have been named and agreed to without any cal-
culation at all; the landlord being guided in
naming a rent, by no other rule than the success-
ful examples of other landlords ; and the tenant
contenting himself with an opinion, that what
another can afford to give, he can afford to give
also; but still the current price of land originated
in calculation, although frequently adopted and
extended in application without it; andthe found-
ation of that calculation upon arable farms
must have been laid in the actual or presumed
price of wheat.

The price of wheat must be always subject
to variations. In bargains for the hire of land,
exemptions from corresponding variations in rent
are by implication stipulated for ; and the bar-
gain must be held to proceed upon an equitable
adjustment of the chances and probabilities be-
tween the parties ; the one (viz. the landlord)
directing his views by the expectation that the
actual or presumed price will not be materially
advanced ; and the other (the tenant) placing
his confidence for the successful discharge of his
engagement, upon the assumption, that the
price will not materially be depressed. A corn
rent may therefore be deemed to be virtually
always in force.

Nor let the landlord hastily imagine that if
his land has been let during the last seven years,

16

or fourteen years, or twenty-one years, upon an
assumption that the average price of wheat
would be 80s. the tenant must necessarily have
derived such advantages from the tenure, in
consequence of the prices which have been ob-
tained in excess of that price, that he has, or
might have had, an aggregate of profit in hand,
which would enable him to afford to pay at this
time a rent proportional to the difference be-
tween 80s. the former assumed price, and 54s.
the present actual price. For, an impartial exa-
mination of the average prices during those
periods, combined with a candid consideration
of the circumstances of the case, will at least
manifest some uncertainty in the conclusion,
that he ever could have realized such profits,
and also an improbability that he has to this time
retained them in his possession, if ever he did
possess them.

The following are the average prices, taken
from the returns of all England and Wales,
during this period of twenty-one years, ascend-
ing from 1821 to 1801.
s. d.

1821 56 6

1820 66 3

1819 72 5

1818 84 0

1817 94 0

1816 75 0 ,

1815 64 0 s. d. s. d.

.. 7) 512 2 73 2

17

s. d. s. d.

Brought over 7) 512 2 - 73 2

1814.

74

0

1813

...108

9

1812

...125

5

1811.

94

6

1810

...106

2

1809.

95

7

1808.

79

0

683 5

14) 1195 7 - 85 4

542 4

1737 11 - 82 8

Thus, if a rent of 100/. was estimated in 1814,
upon the supposition that the price of wheat was
to remain for the ensuing seven years at 80$. per
quarter, the tenant would at the end of that
term have incurred a loss of about 8 per cent,
upon the gross returns of the farm in the whole
period ; and as these would, at 400/. for one year,
have amounted to 2800/. in the seven years, the
whole loss would amount to 224/. ; a sum nearly
equal to the entire rent in 2| years out of the
seven years, to which the calculation applies.

c

18

If a rent of 100/. was estimated in 1807 in
the same manner, the result would undoubtedly
be different ; for the average price of 14 years
appears to have been 85s. 4d. ; showing an
advantage to the tenant of 61. 13s. 4 d. per cent,
which, extending over the assumed gross re-
turns of 400/. per annum during the whole
period of 14 years, and therefore applying
to the sum of 5600/. would leave in his hands
a profit of 373Z. 6s. Sd. nearly equal to 3| years'
rent, out of the period of 14 years.

In case a similar rent was fixed in 1800, as
the average price during the 21 years has been
82s. Sd. an advantage would still attach to the
tenant, although reduced in its amount ; for it
would be only equal to 31. 6s. Sd. per cent,
upon the gross returns during the period of
21 years; which being at 400/. per annum
8400/. he would in the aggregate have received
a profit of 280Z. ; equal to rather more than 2|
years' rent out of the period of 21 years.

It has been already seen, that various modes
of application of surplus gains might reasonably
and naturally present themselves to the tenant
to supersede all accumulation of capital, or to
render it unavailing for present purposes, if ever
it was realized.

19

In truth, the contemplation of a change of
times, and of a reverse of his prosperity, was
not likely to occupy the mind of the tenant any
more than that of the landlord ; who with the
increase of his rental generally enlarged the
scale of his expenditure, and seldom appro-
priated the unexpected accession of income he
was enjoying as a provision for the inconve-
niences of its future reduction ; and thus the
tenant's continuance to make the enlarged pay-
ments is in general opposed by the insurmount-
able obstacle, that his present means deny him
the power of making them, and that his former
profits have long ceased to exist in any shape
applicable to present use; so that we appear
to arrive at this inevitable conclusion, that
prudence and liberality, and perhaps strict
justice, concur in disposing the landlord to ac-
cept, at this time, a rent computed upon the
present price of wheat, and thus, as it may
happen, to consent to an abatement of rent, as
in the instances which have been given by way
of examples, of 321. Ws. from 100/., or 130/.
from 400/. ; reducing the former to 671. 10.9.
and the latter to 270/.

Secondly, as to tithes. The usual modes in
which this payment is made being either by the
tenth of the produce actually set out, or by a
composition beaiing relation to the value of that

c2

20

tenth ; the extreme amount of this charge is of
course definite and easily understood ; for it
cannot possibly exceed the value of the tenth of
the gross produce; and if that be 400/. the
sum can be no more than 40/. ; and if that be
1600/. it can be no more than 160/. ; and it
follows, that if the 400/. be reduced to 270/. the
40Z. will of necessity be reduced to 271. ; and
if the 1600/. be reduced to 1080/. the 160/. will
t>e reduced to 108/.

But the charge of collection forms a certain
deduction from the value of tithes ; the charge
of poor rates also, assessed upon the sum which
the tithes are worth, to be let at an annual
rent, constitutes another deduction.

When a composition takes place, both these
charges are transferred from the tithe-owner to
the tithe-holder ; and it must be supposed that
the sum stipulated is less than the gross value
by the computed amount of these charges.
The specific amount of these charges will vary
according to the circumstances in which the
particular parish, and the particular part of it,
in which the tithes accrue, may be placed ; but
they will probably be found to constitute a de-
duction of not less than 30 per cent. ; reducing
the 271, in the one case, to 18/. 18$. and the
108/. in the other, to 75 /. 12s.

21

Thirdly, as to rates *. It may perhaps be
safely assumed, that, in the country at least,
three fourths of the money raised by the poor
rates is disbursed in flour or in money, com-
puted with reference to the current value of that
article. The value of flour, of course, declines
with the value of wheat ; though, as recent ex-
perience has shown, not with an exactly corre-
sponding gradation. It may, however, not
unreasonably be stated, that upon the sums we
have allowed for poor rates, viz. 25/. in the
one case, and 100/. in the other, abatements
will be found, in general, of sums equal to 30
per cent, upon three fourths of the sums raised,
and 10 per cent, upon the remaining fourth
part; thus reducing 25 /. to 18/. 15s., and 100/.
to 751.

When adverting to this subject of poor-
rates, indulgence may perhaps be given to the
introduction of a few general remarks upon it.
The amount of expenditure upon the poor, in
any parish, is by no means to be deemed a
certain evidence of the state of comfort they
enjoy; nay, on the contrary, it will be some-

* No other rates are here spoken of than poor rates ;
but it is not forgotten that churchwardens' rates, highway
rates, constables' rates, and county rates, may create occa-
sionally charges of importance, and will always be charges
of some amount.

c3

22

times found, that where the greatest expendi-
ture has taken place, the least degree of comfort
has been realized. The legitimate and surest
source of comfort to the poor man is his own
industry: let the habit of industry be duly
encouraged by constant work and reasonable
wages, and the safest foundation will be laid of
content to the labourer and economy to the
parish. There is still in general no want of
good principles in the agricultural labourer;
but when he finds that at one time his employer
dismisses him altogether, without reason as-
signed or known, and he can get no employ-
ment at all ; and that, at another time, he ca-
priciously curtails his wages, and tells him to
apply for the rest of his maintenance to the
overseer, the feelings of the man are naturally
wounded ; and with the resentment of one suf-
fering from supposed, if not actual ill usage, his
demands upon the parish have, from that time,
no other limit than the utmost extent of what
he can get.

With a regular supply of work, and reason-
able wages, the applicants for parochial relief,
with the exception of those whom the law may
properly correct, will, it is believed, be con-
fined to the sick, the aged, and the impotent ;
and to that class, who in the strength and
vigour of life, and with the full exertion of them,

23

are, from the disproportion between their earn-
ings and the unavoidable charges for the main-
tenance of their numerous families, incapable
of subsisting entirely upon their own resources.

When industry has no opportunity for exer-
tion, or when it is not equitably rewarded, it
naturally withers ; the man is degraded in his
own estimation, and in his most valuable and
most essential qualities. When industry is pro-
perly excited in youth, it becomes the habit of
manhood ; and frugality coupled with industry
in early years may still provide the means by
which the man may subsist upon the fruits of his
own labour, till visited by extraordinary afflic-
tion, or debilitated by age.

But when the young man is paid by a rate
of wages strictly calculated by the charges of
his personal subsistence, and not by the value
of the work performed, he is, as it were, for-
bidden to aspire to independence ; he is denied
the opportunity of making provision for future
years by early frugality, and he is too frequently
induced to take the desperate step of marrying
in his boyhood to entitle himself to a higher
rate of wages ; regardless of the certain expenses
he is thereby about to entail upon the parish ;
or perhaps prompted to the act by the secret
desire of imposing this burden upon it.

c4

24

There are, no doubt, special causes, operat-
ing in particular parishes, to render a greater
amount of poor rates necessary in them than in
others : but the excess of charge under this
head will, it is believed, be not unfrequently
found to arise from mismanagement, and erro-
neous judgment in those who administer the
funds, or, contributing to them, exercise an au-
thority or influence in their distribution.

Fourthly, as to labour. The price of agri-
cultural wages has been materially reduced in
many parts of the kingdom. In one parish a
reduction is known to have been made equal
to 25 per cent, the former wages having
been 12,?. a week, and the present wages being
only 9s. * And in the parish in question the
labourers, being all provided with constant la-
bour, are contented and satisfied. In the
scheme of appropriation of expenses, this head
of charge was estimated at 90/. upon a farm of
100/. rental : the saving will then be 22/. 10s.
in this instance, and 90/. upon a farm of 400/.
rental.

* Of course the greater part of the work is performed
by the piece, or is let ; by which the superior industry of
the labourer is, or ought to be, rewarded by some accession
to the amount of daily wages ; but when work is let, the
price still bears relation of course to the customaiy price of
daily labour.

25

The fifth head of charge comprehends seve-
ral items : in the article of seeds for the ensuing
crop, and in that of oats for the horses, deduc-
tions at the rate of 32^ per cent, have already
taken place ; from the expense of replacing
live and dead stock worn out, at least 25 per
cent, may be deducted : from the amount of
the bills of tradesmen 12| per cent. ; and from
the direct taxes a deduction has been made of
no less considerable apart than 10/. 2s. 6d. out
of 12/. 12s. 6d. the former taxes charged upon

him being (as assumed),

£. s. d.
For Property-tax * 7 10 0

Husbandry horses (3) ... 2 12 6

Windows(9) 2 £ 0

A dog 080

12 12 6

The aggregate deductions under this head will
thus appear to be 29/. 7s. 6d. ; leaving an out-
going upon the farm of 531. 5s. instead of
mi. 12s. 6rf.f

* The property-tax, it will be recollected, expired on

April 5, 1816.

f 1821. Deduction. 1814.

£. s. d. £. s. d. £. s. d.

Seeds 20 5 0 9 15 0 30 0 0

Oats 6150 350 10 00

To replace, &c. 15 0 0 500 20 0 0

Tradesmen ... 8150 150 1000

Taxes... 2 10 0 10 2 6 12 12 6

53 5 0 29 7 6 82 12 6

26

In the instance of an occupier at a rent of
4007. the deductions are likely to correspond ia
a great measure in the four first items ; but in
the direct taxes, as the original charge for win-
dows and for a dog, will not be quadrupled,
neither can the reduction be made in that exact
proportion; and there are other direct taxes
likely to affect the greater holder, and not to
affect the less, to which the former will pro-
bably remain liable, viz. the taxes for a horse
held to be kept for pleasure ; for a taxed cart
with springs ; for an occasional groom, and for
an occasional gardener ; amounting all together
to 61. 12s. 6d. *; and diminishing, in his case,
in that amount the quadruple of the abatements
under this head of expenditure. But if he uses
a horse for his business only, and for attendance
at market, and at a place of public worship;
and if he is contented to be carried in a taxed
cart without springs, these taxes will all together
amount to 31. 10s. only, instead of 61. 12s. 6d. -j-

£. s. d.
* Horse 2 17 6

Taxed cart with springs ... 215 0
Occasional gardener ...... 0 10 0

Occasional groom, &c. ... 0 10 0

£ 6 12 6

t Horse 1 1 0

Taxed cart 190

Occasional groom 0 10 0

Occasional gardener....... 010 0

£ 3 10 0

27

The actual situations, then, of the holders
of land in 1814, under the presumption that the
price of wheat was to be maintained at 80$.
compared with their situation at this time under
an admission that 54*. ought to be now deemed
the permanent price, and that rent ought to be
set in conformity to that price, may appear by
the following summaries :

THE OCCUPIERS OP THE LOWER CLASS.

1814.

Interest or Gross

Rent. Tithes. Rates. Labour. Seeds, &c. Income. Returns.

£. s. d. £. s. d. £. f. d. £. s. d. £. *. d. £. s. d. £. s. d.
100 00- 28 00- 25 00- 90 00- 82 00- 75 00- 400 0 0

1821.

67 10 0 - 18 18 0 - 18 15 0 - 67 10 0 - 53 5 0 - 44 2 0 - 270 0 0

THE OCCUPIERS OF THE HIGHER CLASS.

1814.

£. s. d. £. s. d. £. s. d. £. f. d. £. s. d. £. *. d. £. ,. d.

400 0 0 - 112 0 0-100 0 0 - 360 0 0 - 328 0 0-300 0 0 - 1600 0 0

1821.

270 0 0 - 75 12 0- 75 0 0 - 270 0 0 - 219 12 6- 169 15 6 - 1080 0 0

In the former instance we observe the in-
come is reduced from 75/. to 44/. 2*., a reduc-
tion which may at first sight appear excessive ;
but it is not to be forgotten, that whilst this
great change has been proceeding in the amount
of income derived from the produce of the land,
the capital employed has sunk in value also.
The depreciation will probably be found to be
not less than 40 per cent. ; and that an invest-

28

ment of 600/. in farming business in 1821.
would effect as much as 1000/. effected in 1814.
This capital of 600/. at 7£ per cent, would
produce only 461. and the assumed income in the
case before us is 44/. 2s.

And if it be still contended, that this sum
will not provide a maintenance for this occupier
of the lower class and his family, though it
must be acknowledged that the maintenance is
likely to be a scanty one, yet to this sum we
must not omit to add the value of his own la-
bour as contributory.

Let us, however, further examine the compa-
rative adequacy of the means to the ends in
1814, and in 1821. The principal article of
consumption and charge in the family is cer-
tainly bread-corn, and in that we have already
seen that there has been a reduction of 32^ per
cent. The consumption, and charge for fresh
meat, pickled porkr cheese, and butter, may
perhaps collectively cause disbursements equal
to the charge for bread-corn. In all of these
he finds a similar reduction of price, viz. from
30 to 35 per cent. In malt and hops also he
finds an equal reduction. In soap and candles,
in sugar, and in many articles of clothing, an
abatement has been experienced, if not of a simi-
lar amount, yet at a rate of not less than
from 12£ to 15 per cent. It is true, that in

29

some articles of clothing, and more particularly
in such as are made of leather, and in salt, and
in tea, little or no abatement is yet perceptible :
but the reduction of charge for all the main ar-
ticles of his consumption being what it has been
represented to be, it is a fallacy to suppose that
his situation has been rendered worse in the
same proportion as his income has been render-
ed less ; for, on the contrary, the relation be-
tween his charges for maintenance, and his
means of providing it, has become in a most
important degree assimilated.

With the greater holder the case is not ex-
actly the same, for a greater proportion of his ex-
penses arise from the consumption of articles
not so strictly to be termed the necessaries of life,
and upon which the reduction of prices has not
been yet in the same degree experienced. Under
the influence of the same depreciation, the value
of the stock upon his farm has indeed been pro-
bably reduced in the same proportion, viz. from
4000/. to 2400/. But the income he may still
receive, will probably be found (as has been
shown) equal to 7 per cent, upon this diminished
capital; and with the discontinuance of certain
indulgences, and the resumption of habits in
some respects less expensive, it is assumed with-
out distrust, that he may still acquire upon the
land, with the abatement of rent before speci-
fied, the means of maintaining his family, and

30

of possessing that degree of competence and
comfort which the frugal and industrious ha-
bits of the British farmer used to entitle and
enable him to enjoy.

It is natural that the land-owners should be
disinclined and reluctant to admit the infer-
ences and conclusions which the reasoning
here introduced has been calculated to esta-
blish ; for they present a result no less formi-
dable than an impending if not inflicted ex-
tinction of their incomes, amounting probably
in its least degree to one tenth, and in other in-
stances, to one eighth, and from thence ex-
tending to one quarter, one third, or even one
half.

It is too much to suppose, that immediate
assent will be given to a proposition by which
the man who has been enjoying an income of
12,000/. per annum may at once be called upon
to become contented to receive no more than
8000/.; the man of 9000 /. per annum to receive
no more than 6000J. ; the man of 6000Z. to re-
ceive no more than 4000/. ; the man of 3000/.
no more than 2000/. ; the man of 1500/. no
more than 1000/.: but yet, unexpected as the
proposition may be to those who have not hi-
therto calmly investigated the subject, and
grievous as the change may be to some in its pre-
sent consequences, it is apprehended, that this

31

change will be imposed upon them by a neces-
sity irresistible in its nature, although not in-
capable of material and early alleviation; and
when a conviction of this necessity shall have
once arisen, the sentiments of kindness and of
honour by which the landlord's connexion with
his tenantry has been generally cemented, will
again prompt him to regard their comforts with
little less solicitude than his own interests.

When expenditure exceeds receipt, the more
usual, because the more agreeable, operation
or attempt, is to restore the level by the in-
crease of receipt. Till that attempt has become
hopeless, the consideration of the practicability
of effecting the same end by the reduction of
expenditure but rarely occurs. But the alter-
native no longer exists. A diminished, a ma-
terially diminished income is all the land will
now supply. The quantum of necessaries of
life, of comforts, of conveniences, and of lux-
uries, which this diminished income will com-
mand, is the one material object that a prudent
landlord has to make inquiry into. The rent
of land must in many cases, perhaps generally,
undergo as it were the process of recomposi-
tion *. If it was originally set at an assump-

* The newspapers of the day have communicated to the
public, that Earl Fitzwilliam and the Marquis of Stafford
have already carried this principle into effect, and other less

32

tion of any given price of wheat, the price of
80s. for example, or any other price, let it now
be adapted to the price of 54s. or to the actual
price of the day. If the subsisting terms bear
no distinct relation in their original adoption to
any specific price of wheat, the course of hus-
bandry and the ordinary produce of lands of
the same quality, will show the probable ag-
gregate produce of the arable part of any
particular farm in any one year, and in the
average of years. Of this aggregate produce,
the landlord's part may be taken to be, accord-
ing to variable circumstances, from a fourth
to a third; but the exact portion having been
once agreed upon between the parties, its value,
or the rent to be paid, may be determined by
the actual price of wheat on each succeeding
quarter-day *.

splendid examples have been stated also; and hundreds of
landlords in the different parts of the kingdom, yielding to
the force of necessity, or anticipating its arrival, or prompt-
ed by their own humane and liberal consideration of the situ-
ation of their tenantry, have no doubt already pursued a
similar course.

* Suppose a farm to consist of 100 acres of land, of which
80 are arable and 20 pasture.

Of the arable, 40 may be in each year cropped with wheat
and barley ; 20 acres being cropped with each. Twenty
acres of wheat, at 3 quarters per acre, will produce 60 quar-
ters of wheat ; 20 acres of barley, at 4£ quarters per acre,
will produce 90 quarters of barley. If the landlord and te-

33

Individuals of all classes have of late been,
as it were, inflated above their natural size, and
beyond their just magnitude. Let this unna-
tural growth be reduced. Let them resume
their proper places and appearances, and the
quantum of substantial enjoyment, of real com-
fort, and of real happiness in the world, will not
be found impaired or lessened. Luxuries are as
often displayed for distinction's sake, as for any
innate gratification they have the power of con-
veying. If the several classes and grades in so-
ciety are, as it were, let down together, the same
distances will be found to be observed between
the several orders after their depression as sub-
sisted between them before. The relative de-

nant agree that the landlord shall have a fourth part, or its
value, he will in this case have of wheat 15 quarters, of bar-
ley 22£ quarters, or their value ; and if this value be esti-
mated quarterly by the average price in England and Wales
on the quarter-day, no material advantage to one party
over the other can be derived from the fluctuations in prices.
If the land be of a staple to grow a second crop of white-
strawed grain in succession, or an intermediate crop of peas
or beans, the fourth part of the estimated produce, or its
value, will of course be added to the landlord's apportion-
ment. The 20 acres of pasture land may properly be esti-
mated, field by field, at a rent per acre only equal to the
price which this result will show to be the reasonable rent
per acre of the 80 acres of arable land, if the pasture land
be poor land ; but at an increase of one quarter if its qua-
lity be good, or an increase of one half if its quality be more
than ordinarily good.

34

gradation will be none, and the enjoyments
abandoned will be found to be few, and of little
real importance; and the necessaries, the com-
forts, and the conveniences properly appertain-
ing to the several stations in life will, with some
exceptions, still be ultimately found accessible,
and placed as completely within reach as ever
of the less amount of income, when the reduc-
tion of prices, at present partial, shall have be-
come general.

But it may be asked, Are all the evils
arising from the present agricultural distress to
be borne in patient silence? Are the three
classes whose present sufferings immediately re-
sult from it, and who in wealth, talent, pa-
triotism, energy, and numbers, collectively
equal, if they do not excel, all the other classes
of the state, viz. the proprietors of land, the
occupiers of land, and those who labour in its
cultivation, to be abandoned without assistance
in their struggles, and without commiseration
in their fall?

Upon themselves they must undoubtedly in
chief part rely; and it has been attempted to be
shown, that this reliance need not be placed
in vain. There are, however, measures of relief,
which Parliament may, if it shall think proper,
dispense ; and which, in part at least, we now

35

with confidence expect to receive at its hands.
They are of two descriptions, specific and ge-
neral. Let us briefly examine their nature and
probable efficacy.

By the enactment of the last Corn Bill,, the
Legislature conceded to the farmer, so long as
the average price should not exceed 80s. the ab-
solute monopoly of the home-market, and the
privilege of the exclusive supply of the British

empire.

i

The fallacy of the apprehension, that by the
operation of this law the price of 80s. was to
be converted into the lowest price at which
bread-corn was afterwards to be consumed, is
fully attested by the present price ; confirmed
by the fact, that three years have now elapsed
since the price of 80s. as the average price, was
attained in the markets. Had it been provided
by the same statute that a duty should be
charged upon all wheat imported for sale into
the kingdom, after the price had attained 80s.
such duty could not have been levied during
the last three years. But it does not follow that
the provision would have been nugatory and in-
operative; for, if the British corn-merchant has
entertained a belief that the advance to 80s.
was likely to take place at any given time, he
has had encouragements to his speculations in

D2

36

that article which might well prove irresistible.
For, although he might anticipate a loss of one
year's interest or two years' interest upon his
capital, during the interval that would per-
haps elapse before the average price reached 80s.
and the article he had collected be allowed by
law to become saleable for home use, yet when-
ever that sale was effected, he might expect to
realize a profit of 100 per cent, or a profit of
even much greater amount.

It matters not to the farmer as a benefit, that
they who have embarked large amounts of capi-
tal in these speculations have been disappoint-
ed, and may still have long to look for any return
to be derived from sales in British markets; for
even that circumstance is productive of ill to him ;
for the capital is thus locked up which might have
been employed in the British markets, and there-
in have quickened demand, mitigated the pres-
sure created by the overwhelming and unna-
tural supply, and averted the extremity of de-
pression which has been experienced.

It is well known, that in ordinary years, and
without the intervention of any special causes
(as has been alluded to before), the payment of
rent, tithes, rates, taxes, and the bills of
tradesmen, in the first quarter of the year (be-
tween Michaelmas and Christmas), usually oc-
casions a supply at market within that quarter^

37

in excess of the common supply in either of the
other quarters, and totally disproportionate to
the wants of the public. The purchases made by
the corn-merchant in this quarter always afford
him, therefore, a prospect of moderate profit by
re-sale in the home-markets in the ensuing
quarters; and thus, pursuing his own reason-
able advantage, he might again contribute to a
great national object, and a very desirable re-
sult, viz. the steadiness and uniformity of prices
in the markets.

No cause but the act of Providence in a con-
tinuance of unfavourable seasons, is ever likely
again to advance the price to 80*.* It might not,
therefore, be objectionable to the farmer, that
the importation price should be lowered to 70s.
provided such alteration was accompanied by a
duty of 20*. graduated till it entirely ceased at
the price of 90*.; and provided the power of or-
dering the admission of foreign corn into the
ports of this kingdom, when the price exceeded
70*. was vested in the King in council; the par-
ticular ports at which alone that admission

* According to the reports of the debates in Parliament
in the newspapers, Lord Liverpool stated in the House of
Lords on the 5th instant, that in the course of the last three
years, seven and a half millions of quarters, and during the
last nine months a million and a half of' quarters of corn, had
been imported into Great Britain from Ireland.

D3

38

should take place, the period during which it
should be allowed, and the quantities to which
it might be limited, being subjected to the direc-
tions expressed in the same Royal Proclamation.

The very best Dantzic wheat has, it is said,
been lately, and is ordinarily purchasable at
Dantzic at 35s. The freight at 5s. and a duty at
20s. would raise its cost in the port of London to
60,9. But its sale at 70*. would thus produce a
return of upwards of 14 per cent. ; a sufficient
remuneration, as it should seem, to the im-
porter ; with the addition of an increase of
profit proportional to the increase in the average
price at home above that of 70s. and propor-
tional to the diminution of the first cost at
Dantzic below the price of 35s.

To the farmer, this benefit might be expect-
ed to arise, that the corn-merchant would thus
become his customer more frequently, and to a
much greater amount, and would speculate in
corn of home growth to a greater degree than in
foreign. The consumer would, in a time of actual
or apprehended scarcity, be still provided with
foreign corn in aid of our domestic stock; nor
would he in truth pay the duty, for it would be
paid by deduction out of the profits of the foreign
growers, or out of the profits of the British im-
porter. The supposed cost and freight would,
without such duty, yield the importer a return of

39

upwards of 42 per cent. ; and the foreign grower
would no doubt sell at the price at which he
could afford to sell, if he could get no more;
though the eagerness of the customer would
probably produce a more equal distribution of
the profits between them.

It is therefore submitted, that a measure of
this kind would still be found salutary, and that
the more it is impartially considered, the more
clearly it would stand recommended by policy
and by justice; although, for the relief of the
present agricultural distress, it would certainly
be of no avail whatever *.

Another specific measure of relief, which as
it has been resorted to at periods of commercial
difficulty or temporary embarrassment felt by
the manufacturing interest, has been thought
applicable to the present agricultural distress, is
the issue of a large amount of Exchequer bills
by way of loan to those agriculturists who
could give security for the repayment. But
when such a measure has been found beneficial
to the merchant or to the manufacturer, their
situations, it is presumed, have been totally dif-

* The foreign wheat in bond on the 1st of January last is
said to have been 300,000 quarters in the port of London
alone, and nearly 260,000 quarters in the four ports of Li-
verpool, Bristol, Hull, and Leith.

D4

40

ferent from the situation of the agriculturist at
the present day. They have held merchandise
or manufactured goods in their hands, when,
from peculiar circumstances, there has been a
stagnation in the demand for them. The pro-
perty in their cases had not been alienated ; it
remained entire in themselves, and delay only
was wanted to renew the activity of the demand
for it, and restore to it its former value. But
the greater part of the agriculturists, and
those upon whom the present distress has fallen
the heaviest, at this time rarely hold any con-
siderable amount of the articles they deal in ;
and, if they do, those articles have suffered a
depreciation of the most serious magnitude, and
which is believed, under present and probably
future circumstances, to be permanent and ir-
recoverable.

To lend them money upon the condition of
repayment, when this depreciation is removed, is
but to administer to their delusion, and to invite
them to affix another seal to their own ruin.
But, in truth, what security have they to offer?
The leases of those under these circumstances
will not obtain a premium, for they are worth
nothing; and their crops are already mortgaged
to their landlords and others.

We come, then, to the popular modes of re-
lief of late so strongly pressed upon the public

41

attention; the repeal of taxes, and retrench-
ment in the public expenditure. To the opera-
tion of oppressive taxes it is said that the three
great classes dependent upon agriculture, the
landlords, the tenants, and the labourers, owe
all the calamity of their present situation ; and
as a summary process capable of producing in-
stantaneous relief to the sufferers, or immediate
alleviation of all their pains and sorrows, it has
been proposed to repeal the taxes in whole or in
part upon malt, leather, salt, soap, and candles.

There is no doubt that the repeal of these
taxes, or even the mitigation of them, would be
beneficially felt : and the desire of seeing their
repeal, total or partial, carried into effect, is
perfectly reasonable, to the extent to which it
shall be shown to be consistent with national
faith and public expediency. But the country
is not yet reduced to that abject state, that it
can urge its poverty as a plea for its disho-
nesty. I

It ought also never to be forgotten, that the
war, which principally created the debt, was
the war of the country; that the feelings as well
as the interests of the country concurred in the
objects of it; that the country recognised as im-
plicated in its issue the most valuable blessings
of private life, as well as the safety and inde-

42

pendence of the realm ; and though the cost was
great, the ends were gloriously obtained.

But the immediate advantage which would
result to the agriculturist from the repeal of
these taxes, is perhaps greatly overrated. Let
us see the degree of pressure they impose upon
him.

The total tax upon malt is 3s. 6d. per bushel,
of which a part has been attached to the article
for centuries.

The entire charge thus created is rather
more than one penny per gallon upon wholesome
small beer, and about three pence per gallon
upon ale of the ordinary strength of porter, or
brewed with four bushels of malt to the hogshead
of fifty-four gallons. If that which was con-
tended for last year, namely, the additional
malt duty, be taken off, the individual con-
sumer will, or ought to be, relieved in actual
cost to the extent of one third of one penny per
gallon in his small beer, and one penny per
gallon in his ale*.

* It now appears that this point has been gained, and
that this mitigation of taxation will be forthwith enjoyed, to
the extent of one shilling upon the bushel of malt, reducing
the tax to two shillings and sixpence per bushel, but not re-
ducing it one entire third.

43

The leather tax, being three pence upon the
pound weight of leather, ought to create but a
small charge upon the consumer; to whom the
repeal might possibly produce a benefit beyond
the addition thus made to the revenue, the in-
crease of price to the consumer having, since
the tax was laid, increased as it should seem
in undue proportion to the amount of the tax.
The case of a careful and industrious labourer
with a wife and five children, has been inquired
into; and it appeared, that his payment for new
shoes in the course of a year may be properly

set at £ 2 0 0

And his payment for mending shoes at 1 0 0

0 0

The weight of leather used cannot altogether ex-
ceed twelve pounds, upon which the tax at three
pence per pound is 3s. or one twentieth of the
whole money laid out in this article ; and thus,
if one third of the tax be taken off, an annual
relief will be obtained to the extent of 1*.

The tax upon salt is 1 5s. upon the bushel of
561b. The consumption of the same labourer
in this article appeared to be about three pecks
in the year, viz. about one peck used in putting
down pork, and two pecks for all other pur-
poses. Thus the whole tax upon the entire
consumption for the year would be 11$. 3d.-, and

44

» •»

if one third of the tax be taken off, an annual
relief would be obtained to the extent of 3s. 9d.

The tax upon soap is three pence upon the
pound. The consumption in the same case
seemed to be about half 'a pound per week/ or
26lbs. in the year. The whole tax upon the
entire consumption in the year would be 6s. 6d.;
and it one third of the tax be taken off, an an-
nual relief would be obtained to the extent
of 2s. U.

The tax upon candles is one penny upon the
pound weight. The consumption in the same
case was stated to be about, half a pound per
week in the winter half-year, and a. quarter of a
pound in the summer half-year; and might be
called all together 201bs. The whole tax upon
the entire consumption in the year would be
therefore Is. Sd. ; and if one third of the tax
be taken off, an annual relief would be obtained
to the extent of nearly seven-pence.

To the labourer, then, the taxes upon malt,
Ieather9 salt, soap, and candles, are not necessa-
rily grievances; for they do not debar him from
the enjoyment of the reasonable comforts of his
humble station in life. The wheaten flour for a
family of six persons has during the winter cost,
and at this time costs, at 2s. 3d. per week,

45

6$. 9d. It has been ascertained, that five pence
per head for each of the family, or half-a-crown
for the whole, would provide the other smaller
articles. The wages of nine shillings a week,
therefore, will still nearly, if not quite suffice,
if the individual possess habits of industry, and
has due encouragement to exert it. The better
wages of hay-harvest and corn-harvest, and the
entire earnings of his wife, and any of his chil-
dren, will be found adequate to the charges for
^clothing and food, and for the payment of
rent *.

The quantum of relief to the farmer, if one
third in amount of these taxes was repealed,

* A most serious evil has of late years been experienced
by the labourer in the great increase of rent exacted from
him ; four pounds and five pounds being often required as
the rent of a cottage for which only forty and fifty shillings
was paid a few years back. A mitigation of this evil would
far more effectually benefit the labourer, than the repeal
of all the five obnoxious taxes in one third of their amount ;
for, as has been shown, by the repeal of one third in amount
upon four out of the five a saving of no more than seven shil-
lings and sixpence could be expected to be obtained; viz.

s. d.

Leather 1 0

Salt .3 9

Soap .2 2

Candles 0 7

7 6

46

would undoubtedly be greater than to the la-
bourer, in proportion to his greater consump-
tion ; but the advantage, after all, would be tri-
vial ; it would bear no proportion to the pres-
sure upon him : it would be totally insignificant,
if regarded as a means of enabling him to pay
his rent; nay, it would not probably suffice to
produce the means of discharging a poor-rate at
sixpence in the pound.

To the land-owner, the relief thus tendered
would be obviously unavailing : nay, to refer
him whose income must, if the calculations
which have been offered be correct, be reduced
in many instances from 12,000/. to 8000Z. or
from 6000/. to 4000/. or from 3000/. to 200Q/.
for a remedy of all his ills, for the reparation of
his losses, and for satisfaction under his re-
verses, to an abatement of Is. 2d. in the price
of his bushel of malt, and to the proposed
abatements in the prices of the other less im-
portant articles of consumption, could not ope-
rate as a delusion, though it might be felt as
an insult. ,

These abatements in taxation, therefore,
though good in themselves, ought to be esti-
mated at their true value. They would be salu-
tary, they would be consolatory — but they must
not be relied upon as remedial. They rather

47

resemble medicines which are gratifying and
beneficial, as affording alleviation to the ex-
tremity of acute pain, but yet are not directed
to the removal of the root of the disease.

The mitigation of taxation is, however, in
itself a positive good, and ought to be extended
to the utmost limits of justice and prudence.
But to arrive at some knowledge of these limits,
let us look to the two objects to which the pro-
duce of our taxation is directed, viz. the pay-
ment to the fund-holder, and those applied to the
maintenance of our national establishments.

Under the former head, the first and un-
doubtedly most important consideration, is the
appropriation for payment of dividends, or
otherwise, of the interest of money borrowed for
the purposes of the State, with every solemnity
of engagement on the part of the State to as-
sure the public creditor of the security of his
property. The inalienable nature of the obliga-
tion to pay the dividends has been but rarely
and but faintly called into question ; but it has
been said more confidently, that the five, or four,
or three millions5*, which have been and are
appropriated to the liquidation of capital, may
and ought to be withdrawn from that appropri-

* It now appears, that upwards of five millions might be
so applied in the present year.

48

ation, and the country relieved from a corre-
sponding amount of taxation. Nay, it has been
said, that if the Sinking Fund were abolished,
and taxes to the same amount repealed, public
credit would suffer no injury.

But, unfortunately, common experience seems
to be at variance with this proposition ; for we
know, that when an individual is deeply in debt,
if no funds are set apart for progressive dis-
charge of capital, if no arrangement is made
for its gradual extinction, his credit must stand
upon a very different footing from that on which
it would rest if a principle of redemption, how-
ever slow in its operation, were still in certain
and regular activity. Public credit is the pro-
perty of the nation : it is an article of great
price; and if it be lost, the surest if not the sole
dependence of the nation, under future circum-
stances of trial and difficulty, is lost with it.

The other object, to which the produce of
taxation is directed, comprehends what may be
called the current expenses of the country.
Under this head we have to look for the reduc-
tion of charge, without which no safe founda-
tion of a diminution of taxation can be laid.
Previously, however, to the contemplation of
that reduction of charge which may present a
reasonable expectation of an excess of public

49

income above public expenditure, we ought to
advert to the fact, that a material diminution
of public income is to be anticipated, whether
any repeal of the taxes, from which that income
is derived, takes place or not. For the dimi-
nished incomes drawn from land will impose
upon individuals the unavoidable necessity of
contracting their expenditure ; and, although
articles of pleasure and indulgence may be the
last in which we may be willing to practise the
severities of a rigid economy, yet in them only
can the means be found of practising it with
effect. Luxuries and superfluities have been
always especial objects of taxation ; and as the
disuse of them is extended and prevails, the
contribution which they have been properly
made to afford to the public income, must be-
come less and less.

Some retrenchment is therefore indispens-
able to meet the diminished power of expendi-
ture ; but the country reasonably may, and
confidently does, anticipate the adoption of a
scale of retrenchment extended far beyond those
limits which the deficiencies in the produce of
existing taxes alone are likely to command.

The expenditure which will admit of re-
trenchment, may be properly comprehended

50

under the two denominations of, public works,
and the pay and salaries of those whom the coun-
try employs. In respect to the former, it is not
to be concealed that the crisis demands the
abandonment of all public works of doubtful or
of unimportant utility ; and the suspension, or
the qualified advancement, of all those of which,
if the completion be postponed, the safety of
the country will not, in the exercise of a sound
discretion, appear to be compromised or exposed
to danger.

In respect to the latter, the pecuniary re-
muneration of the servants of the public ought
to bear relation to the means which the public
possess of remunerating them ; the importance
of the trust reposed, and the rank and station
which the individuals, in whom it is reposed,
actually hold, being candidly and liberally con-
sidered. In the humble and less exalted classes
of those who derive an income from their public
services, this principle is readily acknowledged,
and experiences no difficulty in its application.
In the higher walks of political life, and in the
offices of pure state, which Englishmen regard
with complacency, as the ancient legitimate
and proper appendages to their constitutional
monarchy, as the countiy has been led to anti-
cipate, we are about to see its application also.

51

The concession is due to public opinion ; for
that opinion is founded in justice. Whilst the
comforts, habitual, though perhaps in great part
artificial, of every one whose resources are in
the produce of the land, must suffer large
abridgment ; whilst, in every family so situated,
sacrifices and privations must be experienced
and submitted to; it would indeed be incompa-
tible with any rule of right, that the servants of
the nation should successfully plead exemption
from their common lot ; and it would be no less
unbecoming and offensive if political influence
could be made effectual to the maintenance of
such an exemption.

With many of those who qualify themselves
for the discharge of arduous public duties, in
the cabinet, at the council-board, and in the
public offices, it is not chimerical to suppose,
that patriotism is the great actuating principle.
Others are, no doubt, influenced by an ambition
of distinction in the service of the State, . from
which, whether it be absolutely laudable in it-
self or not, the State derives benefit ; and al-
though some may principally regard the pecu-
niary reward of their labours, the country never
ought to forget the maxim, that the labourer, of
the highest class as well as of the lowest, is
worthy of his hire. *

E2

52

In articles of consumption primarily ne-
cessary, a reduction of prices in a great
measure, if not entirely proportionate to the
certain reduction of income, has, as we have
seen, already taken place: the attention of
every man, who has his country's good at heart,
should now be applied to promote and expedite
the reduction of articles of secondary necessity,
and of mere convenience and of habitual and
general use, to the lowest scale of charge which
will reasonably compensate for their production.

The individual acting alone can do but
little: the exertions of individuals acting in
concert, and impelled by public motives, may
do much ; but if the Sovereign of these realms,
in whose breast benignity has a constant abode,
prompted by the suggestions of his own capa-
cious and penetrating mind, were to direct those
entitled to his confidence, to survey and exa-
mine, with the assistance of competent persons,
possessing practical knowledge and upright
minds, the details of his personal expenditure,
in order to select and correct those items which
would admit of reduction of charge without
imputed insufficiency of compensation, whether
in wages or in rate of payment for articles of
consumption or use ; the opportunity which he
would thus acquire, of aiding the operation of

53

public retrenchment, might become a source of
gratification to the royal breast; the authority of
his high example might, in a very eminent de-
gree, contribute to the amelioration of the con-
dition of the people, by hastening the general
conformity of prices to the increased power of
money, and thereby promoting and augmenting
the general comfort, contentment, and happi-
ness of his subjects.

Feb. 22, 1822.

THE END.

»

Printed by S. Gosncil, Little Queen Street, London.

HF

20U

B73

Rramston, Thomas Gardiner

A practical inquiry into
the nature and extent of
the present agricultural
distress

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