cumstance to be noticed. The belly was satisfied; and “ peace and plenty" became the standing sentiment. peace and fine dry harvest and a most abundant crop. After this last war commenced the bread continued to fall in price, as you will perIn my inquiry into the truth of this sen-ceive by the statement. Yet, the favourite timent, I resorted to the actual weekly ac- idea, the sweet alliteration of “ counts of the price of the quartern buf, as" plenty" continued to vibrateon the ear; recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine; and the vulgar, the stupid notion became and the result of which inquiry I publish- rooted in the minds, even of men of talents ed, in detail, in an article in the REGIS- and general knowledge, who did not give TER, which article I wrote, as it oddly themselves the trouble to inquire, or the enough happens, at Southampton, the first time to reflect. But, indeed, why need we day that I ever saw that town, the 18th of recur to former times of war and peace? August, 1804. The following is an The wheat was at a lower price last Deabridged statement of that result. It will cember than it is now. It fell to the lowest give you a view of the average price of the price that it has yet been at before there was quartern loaf, in the several periods of any prospect of a peace. Was it peace, peace and of war for a space of time ex- then, that made it cheap? Is it not to set reeding half a century. The price is stated common sense at defiance to hold such a in pence, farthings, and fractions of a far- notion? Experience, which is said to thing. The years are stated inclusively. make fools wise, seems to plead in vain when the belly is concerned. At the time when the wheat began to grow cheap, the war existed, and upon a more extended scale than ever. We got no wheat from America, none from France, very little from the Baltic; and yet it became at half the price that it was the year before. Still, in the face of all this; with these facts so fresh before our eyes, we affect to believe that it is peace which makes wheat cheap; and there are men, to whom the public look up, who talk about the "social connection "between peace and plenty." From 1750 From 1757 To 1762 From 1763 From 1776 From 1783 To 1792 From 1793 To 1801 end of Sept. From 1801 end of Dec. To 1803 end of April From 1803 end of April To 1804 erd of July } d. Peace... 5 War...54 Peace...........7 War............ 64 Peace... 77% War............. 11 Peace.........10 War............9 Now, as my source of information is open to every gentleman in the country, you will hardly suppose me to be stating here that which is not true and if it be true, where is the foundation of your fine idea of "peace and plenty?" We see here only one instance out of four in which the loaf was dearer in war than in peace; and that instance will surprize no one, who recollects, as I do, that the harvest of 1800 was so wet, that the wheat grew in the car over one half of the kingdom, the preceding crop having been very poor indeed; and that the peace, luckily for the Minister, came in the same month with a very Coming now to the other mode of meeting this vulgar prejudice, let me ask any of you, what are your reasons, leaving experience out of the question, for believing that peace and plenty are, or ought to be, inseparable associates ? Do you think that the people of the country will become less numerous in time of peace, and so the demand become less? Do you think, that, continuing the same in number, their appetites will become more moderate? Do you think that the soldiers and sailors will eat a less quantity on their return home than was sent to them to eat abroad? Do you think that the sun will shine stronger, and that the dews and rains will be more propitious? What, then; what, in the name of common sense, do you think? And why were you led to hope that corn would become cheaper with peace? Do you think that more will be imported? And, if so, why? During the far greater part of the war, we have had all the corn from America that the Americans thought it worth their while to send us. We have always had all the corn that France could spare us. Be 66 "must effectually and permanently destroy 66 "5thly. That as the word 'aggregate' comprehends all sorts of wheat, how in"ferior soever in quality; and also wheat "that has been injured by blights, smut, mildew, heat in the mow, or by damages "on shipboard or otherwise; and also Irish "wheat, which is altogether of an inferior "quality, and which never bears the price "of English wheat within from eight to "fifteen shillings per quarter; the consequence must certainly be, that when 86 shillings per quarter is the average of the aggregate quantity, thus including all "sorts of wheat, the actual average of good "and uninjured wheat, such as is brought "to the English market, will be from ten price, before relief can be obtained from "to fifteen shillings per quarter above that 66 66 66 tween England and the Baltic the inter- your Resolu แ any foreign market. That, thus, when "this plan shall be felt in its operations, "the actual importation price in England "will be above 100 shillings per quarter: "which sum is about 50 shillings per quarter higher than the price at which importation was allowed at three-pence per quarter duty under the Act of Parlia "ment called Governor Pownal's Act; a "law that had for its basis the benefit both "of the landed interest and of the consu 66 66 mer: so that the absolute difference "between the importation prices will "exceed the entire price of wheat at the "time when that Act passed. 66 "6thly. That a graduated scale for imposing a duty on this most necessary article, "must have a tendency to check, and even " absolutely to prevent importation, in "times of dearth and distress, when it "should seem that every encouragement and facility should be afforded to the im porters, in the laudable exercise of a "branch of commerce, which at the best, "is always subject to innumerable risks. "That these risks will be so increased by "the effects of the graduated scale, that it can scarcely be expected that any prudent man will venture to send orders abroad "4thly. That the allowing at all times" for wheat; because, as, at the end of "of the unrestrained exportation of wheat" every three months, new returns will re"and floor, and the prohibiting of the im-"gulate the duty on importation, and as portation thereof, at the low duty, until" various delays may cause cargoes to be "the average price of the aggregate four or even six months on their voyage, quantity sold in England and Ireland" a declension of price at home in the mean "reaches the exorbitant rate of 36 shillings" time may actually subject the importer to " per quarter, must necessarily be attended a duty of 24s. per quarter, while he has with most grievous consequences, and" also to bear other losses, that in such I will now insert the rest of tions, promising, that it is only on the 7th" and 8th that it will be necessary for me to offer you any observations, the rest relating to the detail of a measure, which, I hope, will not be adopted, and which detail, if we really understood it, could be of no except to some one in the situation of a Custom-House-Officer. use 66 66 66 cases must arise from the late arrival of his cargo. He classes, who have borne the burden and pres. sure of the times? Has not every land"7thly. That since, for so many years, holder in the country borne his share? "the middling and lower classes of his Have not his land, his house, his windows, "Majesty's subjects have borne the burthen his horses, his carriages, his dogs, his scr "and pressure of the times, in a manner vants, his malt, his wine, his spirits, his "that reflects the highest honour on their sugar, his soap, his candles, his salt, his "good sense, and just value of the blessings every thing, been taxed heavily? How, "of good government and social order, then, has he escaped the burden and pres"they have a right to expect that, in the sure? By the middling and lower classes present state of things, the opulent land- Mr. RowCLIFFE must mean the Trades "holders of this kingdom should be prepa- men and the Labourers; for, he manifestly, "red to make some sacrifices; that, in con- has no feeling for those who have been farsequence of the excessively high price of mers: And how has the pressure been con"corn, hay, and butcher's meat, since the fined to those two classes? Tradesmen "commencement of the war, the landhold- bave raised their prices; labourers wages "ers of the United Kingdom, on the expi- have nearly been doubled; scrvants wages "ration of leases held under them, have have undergone the same change: And "from time to time raised their rents from who has been paying this advance, but "one to two hundred per cent. and in many those who have employed those tradesmen "instances still higher, while rectors and and those labourers? How, then, have lay-rectors have also, with better reason, these classes suffered more than any other "raised their tythes in like proportion; so class? The common labourer, at Botley,, "that these classes have thus been in a did, until last Autumn, receive, upon "great measure, if not wholly, indemnified an average, about 2s. Sd. a day. against the taxes and consequences of the now receives but 2s. even in the month war; while gentlemen, (not being land- of June; and his average pay for this "holders,) men of slender fortunes, annui-year will not excced 1s. 6d., for the crowds 66 tants, tradesmen, and the poor at large, of labourers, who are out of work, it is "could have no indemnity nor relief what- quite surprising to see. A year and a half ever; but were obliged to bear the heavy ago we were glad to employ any creature "burthen of the government and parochial that we could find. We have now to pick taxes, both for themselves and for those and choose. It is surprising what an imexonerated as aforesaid. prover of manners this low price of corn is! In 1812, I gave twelve shillings an acre for hoeing, which I can now have done for six shillings, being in no sort of fear of giving offence, if I find fault with the execution of the work. Many men employed in that year, earned, before harvest, from six to eight shillings a day. None of them will earn, this summer, at the same sort of work, above three shillings. Farmers will judge of the state of our labourers, in 1812, when I tell them, that some men asked me a guinea an acre for hoeing out turnips, drilled in two feet ridges. I can now have the same work performed by men for about three shillings an acre. I did not give the guinea, to be sure; I had the work done by women, who worked by the day. But I notice it as an instance of our situation at that time. My harvest-men had eight pounds for the twenty-eight days of the harvest month, including four Sundays. They reaped and mowed, some of them, with pipes in their mouths, as the Hanoverians, in America, used to march to 66 "Sthly. That a Petition, grounded on "these Resolutions, be presented to the "House of Commons, praying that they "will by no means sanction a plan that "must inevitably fix the rent of land at a "permanently extravagant rate, confirm "the load of parochial burdens for the main"tenance of the distressed poor, render the "most necessary article of subsistence perpetually dear, bar the bounties of Provi"dence from the majority of his Majesty's "subjects, and hopelessly discover the plea"sing association of peace with plenty and cheapness, that has so long been a source of consolation in the midst of extensive ca"lamity." 66 66 Before people make assertions, they should take some pains to ascertain the truth of them. Almost the whole of these, which you have here made, are wholly untrue! and, it must be allowed, that Mr. ROWCLIFFE, who has put his name to them, is, in some measure, answerable for the falsehood.-What does he mean by asserting, that it is the middling and lower will be, because it must be, that the workmanship in all those trades must fall in price, and that too, in proportion to the price of corn; and it will be still worse than it was before for tradesmen, because, not only must their prices come down, in proportion to the price of corn, but the extent of their employment must be dimi nished; and, as in the case of the labourers, many of them will have no work to do; or, which is the same upon the whole, they will be frequently out of work. Mr. RowCLIFFE should propose a law to compel the owners and cultivators of the land to pay `battle. They took the thing very coolly. | docs Mr. ROWCLIFFE suppose, that other I can now have more work done for three labourers are not to feel the effect of any pounds. If If my neighbours gave less fall of the price of the products of their in money, they made it up in drink and labour? But, the truth is, that Mr. food. What, then, has the labourer gain- RowCLIFFE does not reflect at all upon the ed by the low price of corn, and how is he subject. He takes up the matter upon the to gain by it? How did he bear the bur-vulgar cry; and he puts forth notions which dens of 1812? The fall in the price of are perfectly absurd. With regard to corn has been a great injury to him. His tradesmen, too, does he suppose, that those cloaths have not fallen in price? his salt, who own, and those who till the land, will his sugar, his candles, his soap will not pay them at the same rate at which they fall, nor will his heavily taxed heer fall in paid them when wheat was 40%. a load? price. So that his lot is greatly worsted, Will the man, who receives 157, instead of and he is every where praying for the re- 40%. have so much work done by smiths, turn of the prices of 1812. It is not only carpenters, wheelwrights, bricklayers, colthe farmer's labourer who feels this, but lar-makers, saddlers, tinmen, plumbers and every labouring man, in whatever way he glaziers, as he had done before? He will may be employed. The labourers of brick-not, because he cannot. The consequence layers, in gardens, in nurseries, in woods, on roads and canals and it must be so; for, not being wanted in the fields, they must seek work. elsewhere, and thus they must reduce the price of labour in other departments. The lower class, therefore, have felt nothing of the burden of the times. Their very manners have changed with the change in the price of corn. They are, all of a sudden, become humble as beggars. They surround our doors with cap in hand to obtain work. We were the beggars before; but, not now having the same motive to solicit their services, and to put up with their misbehaviour, we re-tradesmen and labourers as high prices now sume the tone and authority of masters; yet Mr. RowCLIFFE asserts, that this is one of the classes who have borne the burdens and pressure of the times, and that the hour is now come, when they had a right to expect, that the masters would make some sacrifices! Mr. RowCLIFFE seems It is asserted that the landowners and to think, that the landholder and the farmer farmers (for they must go together) haye (for they go together), ought to pay the indemnified themselves against the taxes labourer the same wages when wheat is and consequences of the war; that gentle 15. a load, as when it is 40%. a load. Does men (not landowners), men of slender for Mr. RowCLIFFE happen to know any ma- tunes, annuitants, tradesmen, and the poon nufacturer, who acts thus? Let him con- at large, have been obliged to bear, not sult that venerable old placeman, Mr. only their own share of the Government ROSE, or his son, GEORGE HENRY ROSE, and parochial taxes, but have also borne who has the reversion of a 3,000l. a year the share of the landowners and farmers. sinecure, whether the manufacturing la-I will not call it impudence to make an asbourers are not paid in proportion to the price of, and demand for, the products of their labour? Those gentlemen will tell him, that the stocking-weavers' wages were, some time ago, lowered to one half their former amount; that they rioted on that account; that many of them were shot; that laws were passed to punish them, in certain cases, with death. Why, then, as they paid them in 1812, and to employ them in the same numbers. Then his conduct would, at any rate, have the merit of consistency; but, at present, he exhibits to the world a sad and barbarous jumble of nonsense. sertion like this. I will call it folly; incomprehensible emptiness, to assert, that the poor at large have paid the Govern ment and parochial taxes; and I should, not at all wonder, after this, to hear Mr. RowCLIFFE boldly assert, that the poor-rates have been collected, in part, from the paupers, and even at the door of the poorhouses. Is it possible that this Mayor of Southampton should be ignorant, that the poor-rates are assessed upon the real property of the country. Is it possible for him to be ignorant, that it is the land, and the land only, which is called upon to maintain the poor? Houses, in towns, indeed, bear their proportion, and why should they not? Why should not tradesmen pay their poor as well as the farmers their poor? But, it is notorious, that a considerable tradesman, in a country town, does not pay more to the poor than a little farmer, who rents land to the amount of 50%. a-year, and who and whose family very frequently work harder and live harder than the poor, whom the laws and the justices compel them to feed: And yet Mr. RoWCLIFFE is not ashamed to give it under his hand, that those whose property has beex in land, and its produce, have borne no share in supporting the poor! This is no particular hardship upsa the landowner or farmer; because what they pay in poor-rates must finally fall upon the consumer of the corn; and they can, in the end, lose by the poor only in proportion to what is consumed by themselves and families. But, surely, they bear in that proportion. How, then, can it be said, that they have been indemnified against taxes by high prices of land and corn? I will suppose a case, in order to make this matter clear to Mr. RowCLIFFE, who, though, I dare say, a very worthy man and magistrate, certainly does want leading-strings upon subjects of this sort. The landowner, in fact, would lose all the taxes paid by himself and the farmer, if they did not fall upon the conBut, to get rid of all complexity here, we will suppose the case of a man cultivating his own land; for he is both landlord and tenant.- Now, suppose bim to be relieved from the plague of those multifarious papers which are tendered to him by the tax-gatherer. Suppose him to know nothing about poor-rates. Suppose there to be no tax upon his leather, iron, hemp, salt, sugar, soap, candles, horses, dogs, or any thing but his land; and, suppose that land to be taxed at 37. an acre, which is probably less than he now pays in one shape or another, directly and indirectly. Suppose his farm to be a hundred acres. Suppose him to grow upon it 300 quarters of wheat (and nothing else) at 4. a quarter. His produce is worth 12004. ayear. Take off the tax, and his wheat will sell for 31. a quarter; because he can afford to raise it now at 37, as well as he could sumer. before at 4/.; and because, the cultivation of the land, like all other pursuits of gain, is, and must be, subject to the unerring and unchangeable laws of competition.For, if his wheat continued to sell at as high a price after the tax was removed as it did before, his pursuit would become so profitable, that capital and talent and industry would crowd into it from all directions; and thus would competition reduce his gains to their former standard. It is manifest, then, that the tax falls upon the consumer of the wheat; and this is Mr. RowCLIFFE's idea; but he seems to think, that the grower of the wheat never eats. ary bread himself. This would be a little too hard. The Jews (God's chosen people) were forbidden to muzzle the ox employed in tredding out the corn. Would Mr. ROWCLIFFE not suffer those who grow the corn to fare as well as the beasts they use in growing it? Be this as it may, the fact is, that the growers of corn do eat some of it. They make a part of the consumers of their own crops; and, as in the case supposed, the grower would probably consume in his family about eight quarters of his wheat, he would, in fact, bear 8. of the tax to his own share, The notion of Mr. RowCLIFFE is, that the cultivator ought, some how or other, to pay the tax, and not charge it in the price of his wheat! Does this happen in other trades? The rum, in Jamaica, is worth, perhaps, 2s. 6d. 2 gallon. But, by the time that it reaches the lips of those who drink it, it is worth 20s. or 30s, a gallon. Would Mr. RowCLIFFE have the rum-grower pay out of his own pocket all the charges of cooperage, wharfage, freight, insurance, storeage, brokerage, and tax, amounting to from 17s. to 27s. a gallon, and then sell his rum at 2s. 6d. a gallon to the nervous ladies, who give themselves the comfortable coup-de-grace, by drinking hot grog before they go to bed? I do not know what may be Mr. RowCLIFFE's trade. Perhaps he is a tallowchandler. Candles pay a pretty decent tax. I do not know what it is. Suppose it to be 6d. a pound, and the price of the candles 1s. a pound; why does not Mr, RowCLIFFE sell his candles for Cd. a pound? Why does HE indemnify him. self against the tax?" And, if he does " indemnify himself" against the tax on his candles, why is not the grower of wheat to indemnify himself against the tax upon his commo rolity? By this time, my good neighbours, yan |