AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS. (Hansard, 29 April 1822)

§ Mr. Gooch
presented a petition from several considerable land owners in Suffolk, complaining of agricultural distress. The petitioners prayed, that such a reduction of public expenditure might be effected as would justify a further reduction of taxation; but they expressed an apprehension, that no immediate relief could be derived from that source. He viewed with great dismay the distressed state of the agriculturists. A remission of taxation he knew would assist them; and as far as a reduction of establishment could enable that to be done, he would do it. He had felt it his duty to move in the last session, that some notice should be taken of the numerous agricultural petitions on the table of the House. In the committee which was appointed, he was nominated chairman, and he would not flinch from any of the responsibility that might attach to him on that account. It had been thought proper that that committee should be re-appointed this year; but he was sorry to say, that their report contained nothing satisfactory to the country. It proposed no measures calculated to afford immediate adequate relief. It should, however, be borne in mind how difficult it was to discover any such remedy for the present evils. The markets were glutted to the extreme, and corn must either be removed from the market, or more money must be brought into it for that purpose. A prohibitory duty on the importation of corn was what would be most beneficial to the farmer. When the ports were opened in 1820, by means of a fraud, 700,000 quarters of oats were admitted; and with an average consumption of 30,000,000 a-year, it was surprising the effect which that importation had in lowering the prices. He agreed in the system of duties, but not as to the quantum: the duties recommended by the report were not sufficient. This country could not maintain her station in Europe if its agriculture were allowed to sink. The petitioners, amongst other remedies, prayed for a reform in parliament. In this he did not agree with them, being satisfied that reform would not put one shilling into the pocket of the farmer.

§ Mr. Hume
observed, that this was not the first time that the hon. member had I expressed his anxiety to relieve the dis- 143 tress of the agriculturist. But in the numerous motions which had been made for the remission of taxes, and the reduction of expenditure, he did not recollect having had the pleasure of having the hon. member in the minority. What was the use, then, of presenting petitions of this kind, and talking about raising the price of corn, if he would not assist in lowering and abolishing useless establishments, in order to effect that which he acknowledged to be the only remedy? The only way to relieve the country was, to reduce the price of production, and to export the surplus corn to other countries; Up to the year 1760 or 1770, this was an exporting country. He hoped the hon. member, by his future conduct, would make up for his past omissions.

Mr. Coke
presented a petition from the hundred of Earsham, in the county of Norfolk. He stated the distress in that part of the country to be such, that many formers were quitting their farms, and giving up agricultural pursuits altogether. He believed most firmly that no relief was to be expected from the noble marquis who had so long managed that House and the country. This was the opinion of the petitioners, all of whom went further than formerly, and called for reform in that House as the only remedy for the existing distress. He agreed with them that the only perfect remedy for the evil was to be found in a reform in that House, and he hoped the example set by these petitioners would be followed by every hundred in the country. If this were done, it would be impossible for the government to resist the public voice. Ultimately, the public voice would make itself heard; but he feared that it would be in some other way than through the medium of that House. He complained of the manner in which the complaints of petitioners had hitherto been treated. Some years ago, on a petition being presented, the noble lord opposite had remarked on the "ignorant impatience of taxation" which prevailed. Perhaps similar language might be held on the present occasion; but, whatever might be said, it was most afflicting to see the county to which he belonged, and which was so closely identified with that noble science to which his life had been devoted, reduced by the burthens under which it laboured almost to a state of beggarry. Relief ought to be given without delay. No attention, however, was paid to the 144 distresses of the petitioners. They complained of the distress which had fallen on them, and prayed for that protection to which the British farmer was entitled. They prayed for a reform in that House, and a system of fair and equal representation, of which property should be the basis. They demanded retrenchment in every department, and called for the reduction of sinecures, and all useless offices. The petition he presented with pleasure, as he was always gratified when his constituents called for reform in firm, but constitutional language. In the hundred from which this petition came, there were but two magistrates, both of whom were clergymen. On the propriety of placing clergymen in such situations he offered some remarks, and commented on their conduct in withholding their sanction, from the meeting at which this petition had been voted, and thus attempting to interpose an obstacle to the exercise of the right of petitioning.

Mr. Wodehouse
said, that with respect to the report, he thought it right to say, that it had proved generally unsatisfactory, to the country. It did not protect the farmer against the importation of foreign grain; but he had no hesitation in saying, that effectual relief could not be afforded till the great pressure of the public burthens had been mitigated. As the language he held was thought inconsistent with his conduct in some instances, he was anxious to explain his reasons for voting in favour of keeping up the sinking fund, and for opposing the repeal of the salt-tax. Whether in the present state of the country it was wise to preserve the sinking fund was certainly questionable. But he could not make up his mind to dispense with it: as it was difficult to calculate what effect this might produce on public credit. When the question on the salt-tax was brought forward, he had looked at the peculiar situation in which the government was placed. They had lost by the malt-tax, which had been given up, 2,000,000l. The repeal of the salt-tax would have taken from them another million; and this too at a time when the government was engaged in paying off the 5 per cents. Under these circumstances, he had not thought it right to vote against ministers on that occasion. He had now a few words to offer on what had fallen from his hon. colleague on the subject of the meeting at which this petition had been voted. He had alluded to 145 the refusal of the magistrates to sanction it on the requisition being first proposed. After the language which had been held at some of the meetings he did not wonder at there being a reluctance on the part of the magistrates to comply with the requisition. He felt it incumbent on him to explain more particularly the situation in which the county had stood. They had unfortunately had two men executed in it, who, at the moment of their leaving the world, had, declared, that the outrages which they had committed had no object but to frighten the farmers into increasing the allowances of those in their employ. The House might recollect that at the meeting in Surrey, lord King had held forth at some length on the merits of Mr. Cobbett. That speech had been printed in handbills, and circulated in Norfolk. Norfolk was held to be the best place to circulate this paper, because it was known that great distress prevailed there. Now, when a peer of the realm thought proper to bestow unqualified praise on a man, who, it was known, had no regard for the rights, to property, he could not but think such conduct dangerous. In his opinion, it was most improper—most unkind to the country, and most unworthy of the situation which, that noble lord held in society. He had been taunted with having voted last year, first against reducing the army by 10,000 men, and then against taking 5,000 from its numbers. Now, he looked back on the votes which he had given on those occasions with much satisfaction, and regretted the reduction which had taken place. If the effect of this reduction were properly explained to the public—if it were seen by them, that men who had been twenty years in the service of their country, were sent out again to rot in places where they ought not to have been called upon to serve any more, he thought the public would be inclined to say, "a fig for such retrenchment." When gentlemen were so fond of taunting others with inconsistencies, he must remind them of their own. After calling for the reduction of the army, when the first question of the present session was brought forward relating to Ireland, the first words uttered were, "Why not proclaim martial law?" To him there appeared no small inconsistency in declaring against a standing army, and then, on the first appearance of disturbances, of calling for martial law.

Mr. Bennet
said, that he was present at the Surrey meeting alluded to, and would observe, that if lord King had not so spoken of Mr. Cobbett, he (Mr. B.) would have said, what he now declared, that Mr. Cobbett was entitled to the thanks of the country, for the able and clear manner in which he investigated many interesting subjects. But if lord King had thought proper to make such a statement, what right had the hon. member to condemn him in his absence? The opinion of the noble lord was as good as that of the hon. member. There was in that noble lord that quickness and acuteness of intellect which, while he was by birth a descendant of the great Locke, was a further proof of his claim to the honour of which he had so much reason to be proud.

Mr. Wodehouse
said, he believed the words used by lord King with respect to Mr. Cobbett, were to the effect, "that he was the most able and intelligent writer of this or any former time, on political subjects." Mr. Cobbett had been a good deal in the county of Norfolk of late. His exertions during the last year had been directed to persuade the people of England that the farmers were the greatest brutes in nature. To hear such a man held up as an object of admiration was shocking; and therefore it was: that he had made the observations which had fallen from him.