A letter to the President and members of the Chelmsford Agricultural Society, upon the causes of the distressed state of the agricultural classes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

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LORD WESTERN'S
LETTER

TO

THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS

OF THE

©ftelmjsfotrtr &grtcttUural ^octets,

ON THE

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

FOURTH EDITION.

A

LETTER

THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS

UPON THE CAUSES OF THE

DISTRESSED STATE OF THE AGRICULTURAL CLASSES

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

BY LORD WESTERN.

FOURTH EDITION.

LONDON :

JAMES RIDGWAY AND SONS, PICCADILLY.

MCCCXXXV.

A LETTER, &c.

Sir,

I addressed a Letter to you some little time ago,
as President of the Chelmsford Agricultural So-
ciety, suggesting a plan, by which some little relief
might, I thought, be obtained for the Agricultural
interest, under its present overwhelming difficulties.*
I then only hinted at the cause of that pressure,

* This proposition is simply to allow the bonding of British Malt
and British Spirits under the King's look, without payment of duty
till taken out for consumption.— Malt will keep two or three years,
with little or no loss of quality ; Barley will not ; it will not malt so
well even during the latter part of the malting season ; but it is obvi-
ous that the duty forces an immediate sale of these articles— whereas,
if they were allowed to keep them without duty till they were brought
into market, they would form a deposit upon which the owners might
found a credit, thus bringing their property into immediate activity,
instead of loading the markets at one time, sinking the price, and in-
creasing the consequent loss ; the credit taken upon these deposits
would add a little to the circulating medium of the country, and in
that way be productive of some advantage. There should be power
to bond British Spirits also, as well as foreign, which would also en-
able the Distiller to employ his capital to better account, and Spirits
improve in quality by keeping, and become less noxious to the health.

4

which for years has weighed down the Agriculture
of the country, and which now presses with such
increasing severity as to occasion very serious and
general alarm. I have again and again pointed
out the cause to be the Currency Act of 1819, and
however discouraging the inattention to it, I never
will cease to avail myself of every opportunity to
strive to awaken the public mind to its destructive
consequences, because I am more and more con-
vinced there can be no permanent relief to the in-
dustrious classes till it is materially altered. Mi-
nisters have nibbled at it several times, though
they will not acknowledge it. They have counter-
acted its influence repeatedly, but they have done
nothing effectual. It is not that any violent pro-
ceeding is necessary, such as many persons appre-
hend by an alteration of that Act, but an alteration
upon a sound and safe principle is indispensable —
nothing else is wanting, nothing else can avail. Total
continued neglect of it is frightful.

Our alarming difficulties are, in truth, owing to
the state of the markets and the fall in the price of
corn since that Bill passed, comparatively with
what it bore during upwards of twenty years pre-
ceding. Taxes and Tithes, excess of population, and
various other causes I have heard alleged, have nothing
to do with it. This is a bold assertion, but I shrink
not from it. But, before I proceed -to shew the
extent and consequences of this fall of the markets,
I feel it necessary to premise that I do utterly pro-
test against any desire to raise the market price

again by diminishing the supply of corn. I never
have been guilty of the unpardonable folly of
ascribing to productive seasons any portion of our
distress. I do not complain of the increasing sup-
plies to England from Ireland ; so far from it, I
rejoice in the improved and improving cultivation
of Ireland as I should in that of any other integral
part of the Empire. I say abundance never did
any harm, but exactly the reverse, and I shall ever
hail with joy and gratitude those seasons which
render the earth productive. Then why not (some-
body will say) admit foreign corn ? Why, because,
if it produces a temporary abundance, it will, I
firmly believe, lead to a future scarcity, and sub-
ject us to the mercy of foreign countries for our food;
such, at least, would be the consequence under the
present financial condition of the country, or rather
under the pressure of that monetary system esta-
blished in 1819. Give us a copious, but carefully
guarded supply of the medium of exchange, and
our powers of competition with foreign countries
would be considerably increased, the Ports would
fly open under the provisions of the present Corn
Law in a very short time, for the money price of
corn would speedily advance, aye, and remain at
a higher standard than at present, even with open
ports : I may be told, that the people can hardly
pay the price, of corn now, how would they then ?
My answer is, the price could not advance till
money had begun freely to flow into their pockets.
The corn market must be governed by the means

6

of the multitude as well as by the supply of corn.
The consumption of the rich cannot, of course,
have any material influence : a large proportion of
the wealth of the rich, or comparatively rich, must
get into the pockets of the multitude, before the
corn and flour markets can, by any possibility,
advance, unless, indeed, there is a defective supply
of corn ; then the price rises, or rather the quan-
tity of corn, for the same money is diminished, or
if a larger aggregate of money is drawn from their
pockets for food, they must give up other comforts
or necessaries. God forbid, therefore, that I should
contemplate for one moment a rise of price conse-
quent upon a diminished supply : instead of a
diminished supply of corn, I want an increased
supply of money : I want to see money so plenti-
ful that a quarter of wheat may purchase consi-
derably more than it does now, for money is as
much purchased by wheat as wheat is by money ;*
I want to enable the labourer to purchase with his

* Mr. Hume, in his Essay on Money, observes, that the prices of
every thing depend upon the. proportions between commodities and
money ; that any considerable alteration in either, has the same
effect ; heightening or lowering the price ; increase the commodi-
ties, they become cheaper, that is, they become purchaseable with
less' money. Increase the money,— the money becomes cheaper,
and the commodities rise in value ; that is, will command more
money. Mr. Locke says, that persons who will take the trouble to look
a little beyond names, will find that money, like all other commo-
dities, is liable to the same changes; and if the quantity is in-
creased, or lessened, the alteration of value is in the money, not
the commodities.

7

labour, 14s., 16s., or 20s. 3 with his week's work,
instead of 7s., 8s., 10s., or 12s. Let us only be
supplied with money freely, and I am confident
the agriculure of the country would speedily be
relieved from all difficulty ; plenty of employ-
ment FOR ALL OUR SUPPOSED EXCESS OF POPULA-
TION, AND PLENTY OF FOOD, WOULD BE CONSE-
QUENT upon plenty of money, and in conjunc
tion with all the other industrious classes, we
should find the genial warmth of the sun as it were
again revivify the face of nature, enliven all our
faculties, and sweeten all our labours with that
success which industry, skill, and perseverance are
so justly entitled to command.

I shall now proceed to show you, by a very
simple statement (on the correctness of which I
challenge enquiry), the marvellous change pro-
duced in the condition of the practical farmer ;
and the consequence upon the country at large
will be obvious at once.

I suppose a farm of one hundred acres, of fair,
good arable land well cultivated upon the four
course system, the produce of wheat, at 3|qrs. per
acre, barley, 5qrs., beans and peas, 3Jqrs.
Wheat, during nearly a quarter of a century from
1797 to 1819, had averaged 80s. the quarter; 15
years preceding 1819, 85s. ; the rent founded
upon these data, I take at 35s. per acre ; the mo-
ment the Bill passed, the markets fell 30 or 40 per
cent., and in the 15 years succeeding, the average
price has been, as near as may be, 55s.; it has

8

subsequently fallen still lower, and is, I believe,
now only 40s. I therefore consider the price of
wheat to have fallen, on the average, 30s. per
quarter ; barley, 20s. ; beans and peas, 20s.
Upon these grounds, I estimate the reduction of
the money receipts of the farmer upon 100 acres to
amount annually to £325. The reduction of price
upon clover, tares, and turnips, is loosely esti-
mated, but moderate. I take no notice of the
change of price of various minor articles, the pro-
duce of such a farm. This aggregate and enor-
mous difference in his return, I think, I clearly
establish, upon the following calculation ; — I take
the produce on the four course system to be as
under —

Acres Qrs. Diminution.

Wheat 25 — 3J per acre 30s. per qr. . £131 15s.

Barley 25—5 ditto 20s. ditto . 125 —

Beans and Peas 12J— 3 J ditto —- 20s. ditto . 42 —

Clover. . • . . 12£— ...... 15 —

Turnips & Tares 12 J— ■ 12 —

And fallow . . 12 J— •—

Acres 100. £ 325 l5s -

The extraordinary change here exhibited, and I
may say proved, surely calls for the most serious
consideration of those who direct the Councils of
the Kingdom.* It will hardly be now denied that

* If £325 is thus withdrawn from the circulation of the country,
upon every hundred acres of land in tillage, it will be found that
upon a fair account of the total arable land of the united empire,
£65,000,000 sterling annually are lost to the circulation from that

9

this change which was at all events coincident as
to time to a moment with the passing of the Cur-
rency Act was caused by that measure. If this is
not to be altered, our Statesmen should, at all
events, shew the means of restoring the financial
equilibrium of the country, so rudely shaken.
First, what reductions are necessary to the farmer ?
I will touch upon rent, — to begin :—

If the landlord reduces 15s. per acre, or in other
words, reduces his rent from £175. to £100., the
tenant has £75. to set against £325. ; if the land-
lord sinks his rent 20s. the acre, and, instead of
a rent of £175. puts up with a rent of £75., the
tenant has £100. to set against £325. I will not
stop to comment upon the situation of the landlord
under such circumstances— it must be too obvious
to need any observations. I will go on to suppose
the entire rent done away : the tenant will still be
under the necessity, singular as it may appear, to
reduce his expenditure in other ways, to the extent
of £150., to make up, with the rent £175., the
loss of £325, to put himself upon the footing on
which he stood prior to the year 1819. I cannot

source. I take the wheat consumers at 1 5,000,000 persons, at a quarter
per head : divide by three quarters, and multiply by four years (wheat
being grown only once in four years) and we have 20,000,000
acres, or £200,000, which multiplied by £325, amounts to
£65,000,000. If this calculation is said to be vague and exag-
gerated, which, however, I think it is not, the reader must see that
upon any calculation the total of money withdrawn from circulation
by the loss proved upon 100 acres must be enormous; and must
not the country shopkeepers feel it as much as the farmers, and must
not the manufacturers who supply the shopkeepers I

10

discern where he can look to means at all ade-
quate to effect this reduction, even if I give him
the Malt Tax wholly repealed into the bargain.
When I ascribe it all to the Currency Act, which
is vulgarly still called Peel's Bill, it is by no
means with a view of throwing particular blame
upon him : it was inflicted by the singularly mis-
taken views of certain Statesmen, who took the lead on
the Opposition as well as on the Treasury Benches,
at that time, and to whom, indeed, more perhaps
than the Tories, the mischief may be attributed.

Upon looking at the result of this simple state-
ment, I have again and again thought I must be
wrong, for it is difficult to comprehend how the
cultivation of the country can be carried on at all
under these circumstances; that there must be
annually a sacrifice of capital in many cases, if not
all, is indisputable, unless, indeed, my statement
can be overthrown, which, upon repeated exami-
nation, I believe is impossible.* Here we see at
once the cause of the labourers' distress The far-
mers, so shorn of means, and many as it were at
the last gasp, can by no possibility give employ-
ment to the same number of men ; they are irre-
sistibly driven to shifts, which reason does not
justify, but necessity enforces. The labour market

* The only question that can be raised upon the propriety of my
statement, that occurs to me, is the reduction of price upon barley
and beans to be 20s. per quarter each, instead of 15s., which would
be the just proportion to wheat, in which case the difference would
be 31Z. 5s. in barley — 101. 10s. in beans. But wheat has fallen
nearer 40s. than 30s.

11

cannot be sustained when the farmer is so 're-
duced— the labourers, finding no adequate demand
for their sole commodity, are deprived of their
independence, and cruelly transformed into beggars
and paupers, the fatal consequence of which is
that their moral character is injured. The human
mind cannot bear such an infliction as that I have
described without being inflamed and irritated in
the first instance, and, when inured to begging
and pauperism, degraded and debased. Too evi-
dently have these lamentable changes already
taken place. I am aware that calculations are
made to shew that labourers are better off now
than they were before Peel's Bill • if they are, it
is clear that it must be at the sacrifice of the
capital of their employers. But these calculators,
relying upon the nominal daily wages and com-
parative price of provisions, never consider the
number of days men are unemployed and the
number altogether out of work, besides which, it
is absurd to suppose that, when the labourer is
obliged almost to go upon his knees to the farmer
to give him employment, that he can command
the adequate wages for Im labour which he can
when his commodity is eagerly sought after ; and
equally absurd to suppose that the man can be
well off when the master is subject to so severe a
pressure as I have thus, I think, unanswerably
shewn to be his fate.

There are many opulent land-owners who look
no further than the audit-day to judge of the con-

['2

dition of the farmer, and who never dream of, and
hardly believe if told, of the farmer's sacrifice of
capital to meet his landlord's demands. There are
others, landed Grandees of boundless extent, who
say they never have a vacant farm ; but they have
plenty of applications, at as good rent as before,
and their thoughts and their knowledge go not
beyond the Land-Surveyor's or Steward's report,
which may be satisfactory in consequence of Their
Lordships' former Steward having very possibly,
twenty-one years ago, taken a premium of the
farmer and let the farm at half the proper rent, or,
perhaps, so inordinately rich are they, and so
cradled in the lap of fortune, that they cannot be-
lieve that any body is, or need be, poor.

Besides which, great farmers under these great
Lords- have various advantages, which cannot be
fairly estimated, hardly comprehended within
the limit of any legitimate calculation, and cer-
tainly not within the compass of the dry pro-
ducts of the ordinary cultivator of the soil ; exten-
sive and fine-breeding grounds, flocks and herds
upon which no expenditure is required, capitals to
avail themselves of the best periods of market,
which makes them also dealers in corn, hay, and
live stock, and numberless little douceurs which
the little tenant of the lesser landlord knows
nothing of ; and even these mighty men have
begun some time since to bow their heads, and
are staggering under the increased difficulties of
the present moment.

13

Independent, however, of these circumstances,
the owners good convertible land, well situated for
market will have candidates for vacant farms as
long as it is possible to carry on the cultivation of
the soil, or any portion of it, at all ; they enter
upon their- farms, too, at half the expense their
often-ruined predecessors did fifteen or twenty
years ago, and, after all, these new men can with
great difficulty make both ends meet, and indeed,
often fail in their expectation, even under the ad-
vantages just described. The farmers cannot
change to other employments, and they actually
take their farms very often solely upon the pros-
pect of more favourable times, and, in that con-
fidence, if they are men of capital, cheerfully
submit to a present loss. Of all the grievous inflic-
tions that ever visited an industrious people, that
Act of 1819, which unfortunately for Sir R. Peel
has taken his name, certainly has been, and con-
tinues to be, the most destructive. How should it
be otherwise ? During very near a quarter of a
century the produce of the labour, skill, and
capital of the farmer and other industrious classes,
yielded a given proportionate annual money
amount; every business transaction and all money
engagements in life were founded upon it ; in-
dustry met with its due reward in the multitu-
dinous occupations of life ; when, at one single
stroke of the pen, as it were, that money amount
of their annual produce is reduced one half, and
their capital of live and dead stock, equally, if not

14

more degraded in price, and this reduction perma-
nent, even increasing at this hour.

How is it that the Statesman does not see in this
revolution of property, the change of temper of the
industrious classes, and the general dissatisfaction
which still prevails, and the consequent danger
that awaits us ? — How is it that he does not see that
all the political changes which have occurred since
that time, whether for good or evil, have, in truth,
their origin in the distress occasioned by Peel's
Bill ? Whilst the industrious classes were flourish-
ing, they would listen to no counsel for change,
either for good or bad ; awakened by distress,
they listened to some good counsel, and directed
their energies to some useful, and one supremely
important measure ; this acquisition, however,
brought no relief, from the insidious workings of
that truly revolutionary monetary infliction : and
they now cast their eyes wildly about, and seem
resolved to effect a political revolution, in the vain
hope of relieving themselves from the very painful
revolution they have undergone in their individual
conditions. Nothing can appease them whilst they
continue to be robbed of the legitimate rewards of
industry ; grant to them that, and Government
would have little to fear ; employment, with adequate
remuneration, would supersede all complaints both
here and in Ireland ; without it, vain all reforms of
every description that can be thought of.

The Malt Tax repeal, if it benefited directly
the barley farmer 4s. per quarter, it is as much as

15

would be his share, which upon his annual average
growth of barley, 125 quarters, would amount to
£25, and in regard to tithes I cannot give him
more than £10, upon the change of his probable
composition into a commutation, if taken in kind it is
another matter, from the possibility of which I trust,
however, we shall soon be relieved. Thus we find
upon the repeal of the Malt Tax, and a commuta-
tion of Tithes, we gain £45, which, deducted from
£325, leaves £280 ; if we strike out the rent, £175,
£105 remains still to be squeezed out of the
labourers and tradesmen.

I do not make light of Taxes and Tithes by any
means, but they are old grievances under which
we have prospered, and I only implore you not so
to busy yourselves therewith as to overlook the real
millstone which is fast sinking us all. Six-and-
thirty millions of annual taxes have been taken off
since the war. Have they given relief? So far
from it, the remainder press with infinitely greater
severity than did the full amount before any reduction.
How can this difficult problem be solved but by a re-
ference to the working of PeeVs Bill ?

The extraordinary pertinacity of some persons
leads them still to talk of the transition from war to
peace as the cause of the fall of the markets. I
cannot stop to combat now these so often refuted and
mischievous opinions ; suffice it to call the farmer's
recollection to the years 1817-18, just at the mo-
ment of this transition upon which they dwell, and
which was, perhaps, the best farmer's year that

16

ever was known — plenty of corn and plenty of
money.*

Another set of persons, with equal pertinacity,
insist upon it that Peel's Bill cannot now be
amended — perish the country, live Peel's Bill.
Herein, I am sorry to say that many, if not most,
of our Statesmen take a lead — perish the Country
rather than they should admit their having made
so terrific a mistake. The weight of their authority
overpowers the diffident and deferential judgment
of the people generally ; but I hope you will, in
your Society, assert the supremacy of your own
understandings : you are just as well able to judge
rightly upon such a subject as any Cabinet Minis-
ter ; it is altogether within the reach of common
sense, of which most useful quality I think Ministers
do not often evince so large a share that we need
altogether succumb to their dictation.

* If the prices of that period had been caused by war, assuredly
other wars would have occasioned some advance of price, but we see
by the reference here given that no such effect was produced : —

The War of the Revolution from 1683 to 1697

£2

10

8

1698 to 1701, Peace of Ryswich

2

12

6

1702 to 1712, War of Spanish Succession .

2

4

11

1 7 1 3 to 1739, Peace of Utrecht

2

0

4

1740 to 1748, War of Flanders

1

15

'&■■

1749 to 1754, Peace of Aix la Chapelle

1

18

2

1755 to J 762, War of America . :;'

2

1

10

1763 to 1774, Peace of Paris

2

9

5

1775 to 1782, War of America :

2

1

11

1783 to 1792, Second Peace of Paris .

2

6

2

Making on the whole the price of Wheat in peace

higher than in

war.

17

Deeply and painfully have I reflected upon the
consequence of this dogged opinion of the impossi-
bility of altering Peel's Bill, for I plainly see, in
the total inaptitude of its provisions to the actual
condition of the country, the most fatal conse-
quences, and anxiously have I watched the direful
changes which it is making— and, I am afraid I
must say, has made — in the moral and political
character and temper of the people.

The difficulties (extreme they have been and
still are) under which all the industrious classes,
from the most wealthy to the lowest operatives and
agricultural labourers, have struggled, are surely
too evident to be denied. I am astonished that the
afflicting results which I contemplate do not more
forcibly strike the understanding of the statesmen
who have successively held the reins of Govern-
ment, and that they seem to be perfectly insensible to
the mighty effect which the aptitude or inaptitude of
the medium of exchange has upon the condition of
society at large, and the general prosperity ;, peace and
happiness of a country. They seem to view it only as a
question between debtor and creditor— debtor versus
creditor — as some imagine that agriculture and
trade are the one vers us the other. I am thoroughly
convinced, and I think it may be proved to the
satisfaction of any candid and enlightened creditor,
carrying his views to a very limited perspective,
that he is as much interested in an alteration of
Peel's Bill, and in an adaptation of our monetary
system to our actual condition, as the debtor ; or,

18

in other words, that all those who have a lien, and,
in truth, their sole lien, upon the products of the
industry of the people, viz. the Government and
the public and private creditor, have as deep an
interest in a proper conformation of our present in-
applicable system, as the industrious classes them-
selves. They have undoubtedly, in the first place,
as strong a general political interest in restoring
that harmony between the different classes of
society, which has most indisputably been disturbed
by that unexampled change in all our money re-
lations which was produced by Peel's Bill. Look
at the conditions of the landlord, tenant, and la-
bourer, notwithstanding all the kindly feeling
which has generally prevailed between the British
landlord and his tenant, and the landlord's regard,
also, for the laborious classes. So strongly do
their interests and wants clash, that unavoidably
painful feelings have grown up between them.
The Landlord cannot but believe the tenant might
pay more rent, and save him from degradation,
and exile from his family residence, or country ■ .
his fate is inevitable if his estate is heavily bur-
thened. The tenant still thinks he pays too much,
for his net returns are hardly adequate to cover his
most economical expenditure, even under favourable
seasons. The labourer considers the sweat of his
brow ill requited, and, above all, the honest and
industrious man complains that he is often dis-
tressed beyond measure for want of employment,
though he is able and anxious to work, whilst

19

nobody charges' him with idleness, or can impeach
his character in any way.

The different classes, ignorant of the true cause
of their sufferings, become painfully hostile to each
other, and those delightful results of harmony and
mutual confidence, which did so happily prevail in
England, are no longer experienced ; dreadfully
changed indeed are the tempers and dispositions
of the working-classes towards the higher. Where
is the country, besides this, in which farmers cannot
go to bed without the fear that their blazing stacks
may rouse them from their midnight slumbers !
How curious it is that Mr Locke should, in 1691,
have described exactly these miseries, as conse-
quent upon the lessening the quantity and raising
the value of money ; in other words, contracting the
Currency. The aggregate quantity of money being-
reduced, it follows, he says, of course, the share of
each individual must be reduced also. The people,
not seeing it is gone, begin quarrelling among
themselves, each thinking his neighbour has got
more than his share. The struggle is generally
first between the agricultural and commercial
classes, and then between the masters, workmen,
and labourers, which latter can hardly maintain the
struggle against the richer classes, unless when some
common and great interest, uniting them in one universal
ferment, makes them forget respect, and emboldens
them to carve for their wants with force, and then they
may probably break in upon the rich, and carry all
before them, and sweep all like a deluge. To this ex-

20

tremity there are persons urging on the multitude
at this hour, and have been at the work some-
years. They are persons of talent and power ap-
plicable to such a purpose, and contribute mainly
to the promotion of such a catastrophe, as Mr.
Locke anticipates, upon the continuance of so painful
a struggle as that which unhappily now prevails.
Here I shall close this letter, already too long,
and in a future, perhaps, endeavour to shew that
our monetary system may be adapted to the condi-
tion of the country, without injury to any class of
the people, that is to say, upon the balance of ad-
vantage and disadvantage, and I am sanguine enough
to believe that, if such was effected, the brightest
scene of prosperity would open to us, even yet, that
ever was enjoyed by any country in the world

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your faithful and obedient Servant,
WESTERN.

Norman and Skeen, Fruiters, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden.

Works Publishing by James Ridgivuy and Sons.

AGRICULTURE.

Published every Three Months, price is.

With a fine ENGRAVING, by Landseer, of Earl Spencer's PRIZE OX
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The BRITISH FARMER'S (Quarterly) MAGAZINE,
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Contents : Portrait and Description of Earl Spencer's Prize Ox.— On
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AN ANALYSIS and HISTORY of the CURRENCY

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CORN LAWS COMPLETE TO 1833.

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FREE and SAFE GOVERNMENT, traced from the Origin
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