§ General Gascoynepresented a petition from the gentlemen, clergy, merchants, and other inhabitants of Liverpool; setting forth, "That the said town essentially depends for the supply of bread to its numerous inhabitants, and a large and populous district in the interior of the county of Lancaster, upon importations of corn and flour from other parts, and that a large proportion of such supply has heretofore been derived from foreign countries; and that, of late, in consequence of the unhappy situation of the continent of Europe, and the embargo which has taken place in the U. States of America, the importation of foreign corn and flour has ceased, and the prices of these articles have advanced considerably, and are still advancing, while, at the same time, from the stagnation of trade, and the consequent want of employment, and depreciation of wages, the labouring classes of the people are become less able to purchase these necessaries of life at a high rate, or even more reasonable rates, as fully appears by the Report lately made of evidence taken before a committee of the house, ordered to be printed on the 12th of April last, on 254 the Petition of certain cotton manufacturers and journeymen cotton weavers living in the county of Lancaster; and that, from the united operation of these circumstances, the petitioners have been, and continue apprehensive of much distress amongst the poor in that populous town and county; and it was with peculiar satisfaction that they observed, in a late Report of a committee of the house, the recommendation of what the petitioners humbly deem a wise measure of precaution loudly called for by the existing situation of the country, namely, the suspension of the use of Grain in the Distilleries of this kingdom, and the restriction of them to the use of Sugar for a limited period; and that, in proportion to the satisfaction of the petitioners in so well-timed a recommendation, is their regret in perceiving that meetings have been held, in some parts of the country, for the purpose of obtaining petitions to the house against the measure in question, as calculated to injure the farmers, and discourage agriculture; and that the petitioners humbly contend that this measure cannot produce those effects, as it appears, by the Report of the committee, that, on an average of the last five years, the importation of foreign corn into Great Britain has not been less than 770,000 quarters per ann., which must, of course, have found a consumption, but which can no longer be imported, while the quantity of corn used in the Distilleries of the United Kingdom does not exceed 780,000 quarters; and therefore the corn to be excluded from the Distilleries by the proposed measure, supposing it to extend to Ireland as well as Great Britain, will only supply the place of the quantity hitherto imported from foreign parts; and that, in addition to the usual foreign supply (of which a large proportion has been received at Liverpool), there has been imported into that place from Ireland, on an average of the last five years, 242,525 quarters of corn, flour, and oatmeal per annum; that, during the period now past of the present year, this usual supply has been greatly diminished, and in place of a continuance thereof at this time, orders for the purchase of considerable quantities of wheat and oats have been received by merchants in Liverpool from millers and others in Ireland, at unlimited prices, to be shipped from thence for the supply of districts in that part of the U. Kingdom, where scarcity appears to be apprehended; and that large supplies of 255 corn are annually received at Liverpool from Scotland; that these supplies, during the present year, have been much less than usual, owing to the deficiency of the last crop in several quarters of that part of the U. Kingdom, all which tends to enhance still more the price of bread in that town, already too high for the labouring poor generally to afford, and particularly the manufacturing poor, from the present want of employment, and consequent depreciation of wages; and that, if any insuperable obstacles should prevent this restriction from being extended to Ireland, it appears there would then be a deficiency of 300,000 quarters of foreign supply, to be provided for, if possible, by an extended cultivation of the soil of the U. Kingdom, in order to meet the usual consumption of the country, without taking into the account the extraordinary supplies of corn, flour, and bread, which, in the present situation of affairs, must inevitably be wanted by the West India colonies from the U. Kingdom, as well as that our allies, the Swedes, being deprived of their usual supply of bread corn from the opposite shores of the Baltic, and their own growth being generally inadequate to their ordinary consumption, may at this time be compelled to resort to this country for supplies of barley, which, when mixed with rye, is, as the petitioners are informed, used for bread in times of scarcity in Sweden; and that, in the opinion of the petitioners, the prices of corn are likely to continue high, though they trust that the adoption of this measure will prevent them from becoming exorbitant; that the advantage of exorbitant prices even to the farmer is very questionable, experience having shewn that they terminate eventually in uncommon depreciation, while in the mean time the evils that ensue to the public at large are unquestionably great; and the petitioners feel assured that the house will deem the good of the whole to be preferred to a doubtful interest of one class of the people, however numerous and respectable, a class moreover which being protected, by a special act of the legislature, from the injurious effects of an excessive depreciation of the prices of corn in times of plenty, by bounties on its exportation payable out of the public revenue, ought at other times in fairness and justice to submit chearfully to such measures as may be necessary to guard the public against the contrary extreme of exorbitant prices, particularly in 256 the present peculiar situation of the country, and unprecedented state of the continent of Europe; and that, with regard to the local interests of any particular districts in which barley maybe chiefly cultivated, the petitioners conceive they have still less claim to be put into competition with a measure of general advantage; but they are of opinion that even the local interests of the barley countries are not likely to be materially affected by the proposed measure, for though barley is the grain chiefly used in the English distilleries, and though it appears there are some lands in this kingdom where no substitute for the crops of that grain can be resorted to without injury to the farmer, yet, on the other band, it appears there are also lands on which barley is grown where oats would prove an advantageous substitute; and when the petitioners consider, that of the quantity of barley annually produced in England, only one sixteenth part, or thereabouts, has been consumed in the distilleries, they cannot doubt that such a change of culture might take place as would prevent barley from being reduced below its proportionable price, compared with other grain, or, if it should for a time be somewhat lower than its just proportion, it would soon, in the opinion of the petitioners, find a more extended consumption as bread corn, the effect of which must inevitably be to raise it to its natural level; in confirmation of which the petitioners are enabled to state to the house, that of late, in consequence of the advance of wheat and oats, as well as the reduction of wages, the lower classes in the county of Lancaster have begun to have recourse to barley bread, which they are not accustomed to use, except in times of scarcity and comparative dearness of other sorts of grain; and that the petitioners conceive the confining the operation of the measure in question to a single year, with a power vested in his majesty in council to put an end to it within that period if necessary, would be so guarded a proceeding as not to cause in the minds of those concerned the least feeling of alarm or apprehension; and that, although the petitioners are anxious to recommend the proposed measure to the house on grounds of general benefit, without reference to any partial interests, yet they cannot be insensible of its tendency to afford relief to the West Indian colonies in their present distressed situation, which has been shewn to have peculiar claims on the considera- 257 tion of the legislature, and which, in the apprehension of the petitioners, affords a strong additional argument in favour of this measure, more especially as the preservation of the colonies from the ruin which threatens them is confessedly an object of the first national importance, as it appears the article of sugar alone pays an annual duty of above three millions to the country; that the manufactured goods exported annually to these colonies have exceeded six millions in value; and that this trade is one of the principal remaining nurseries for our seamen and of employment for our shipping; and therefore praying, that the house will pass an act to suspend the use of grain in the distilleries of Great Britain and Ireland, and to confine them to the use of sugar, for one year, from the first day of July next, subject to a discretionary power to be vested in the king in council, upon a sufficient notice, to do away the suspension, and allow the distilleries to carry on their trade in the accustomed manner."—Ordered to lie upon the table.