THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 55Z 
 ^675
 
 k
 
 mA 
 
 
 _lMj£.
 
 CORN versus CURRENCY; 
 
 OR THE 
 
 forgotte:^^ addresses 
 
 PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT AT THE 
 CLOSE OF THE SESSION: 
 
 nr.IXG A SUPPLEMENT TO 
 
 A PAMPHLET LATELY PUBLISHED, 
 
 EN-TITLED 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NECESSITY AND EQUITY OF A 
 NATIONAL BANKING AND ANNUITY SYSTEM," &c. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY SMITH, ELDER, & CO. CORNIIILL ; 
 
 A. W. MACLKAN, UEGISTKll STRRKT, KDINBURGH ; 
 AND A. DROWN & CO. ABERDEEN. 
 
 183L
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 Printed by Robert Hardie, 
 
 Old Bank Close.
 
 CORN versus CURRENCY. 
 
 Towauds the termination of the late Session of Par- 
 liament, two most imjjortant conflicting documents were 
 presented, touching the most vital interests of this 
 great Empire, which the all-engrossing question of re- 
 form has made the people almost entirely overlook. 
 The first of these documents was a Memorial from the 
 Iron-founders of the West of England, descriptive of 
 the woeful state of that valuable branch of native ma- 
 nufacture, and imputing this condition to the perverted 
 nature of the currency, and calling for investigation and 
 a better arrangement in its principles. 
 
 The other was a Petition from the inhabitants of 
 London and Westminster, also deploring the fatal state 
 of trade and commerce. It was presented to the House 
 of Commons by Colonel Torrens, who ushered it in by 
 a reference to a book written by a Mr. Henry Drum- 
 mond, entitled, " Cheap Corn good for Farmers." It 
 is to this singular petition we chiefly call your atten- 
 tion, because it assumes a speciousness of reasoning 
 which it declares must be self-evident, that the corn- 
 laws are the cause of all the evil suffered by the nation, 
 and because, after detailing in the most logical style 
 the dreadful and universal ruin (according to its jn'o- 
 phetic phraseology) which impends over us by an ad- 
 herence to those laws, it concludes by deprecating Par- 
 liament notwithstanding against opening the ports, or 
 Avitlidrawing such compensating protection as the Bri-
 
 tish agriculturist requires, to place him on a level with 
 the other branches of the national industry. 
 
 But as every species of commodity forms part of the 
 farmer's expenditure, to comply with the prayer of this 
 petition the House of Commons behoved either to leave 
 the question where it is, or to rescind every tax and 
 duty whatsoever. 
 
 We strongly suspected, upon first reading the said 
 petition, that it had covertly the diversion of the iron- 
 founders' opinions and ideas from the object of their 
 complaint — in a word, to shift the saddle upon a wrong 
 horse ; and it is for those who are interested in up- 
 holding the momentum of our national resources, the 
 value of our native products, as well as of our mer- 
 cantile returns, to judge whether the chief object of 
 the foresaid petition be not really what we suspect it 
 to be. As for us, we have no point to gain but the 
 simple truth. As a people, we may be kept in hard 
 labour by foreign powers, and have a sufficiency of 
 wholesome food in exchange for our labour ; but if we 
 take away a large part of the capability to cultivate 
 and adorn our country, we may to a certainty expect 
 an immence shortcoming in the demand for many of 
 those articles imported in exchange for our labour. 
 What, for instance, could induce any proprietor here- 
 after to inclose and improve his estates, if he received 
 not such a rental as repaid the interest of his outlay — 
 if the expense of such undertakings were to be in- 
 creased, on the common supj)osition that the free im- 
 portation of corn should raise the price of labour, and 
 depreciate the price of British agricultural produce ? 
 And if we thus broke down the frame-work of property 
 at home, there would remain for our manufacturers 
 and artizans only one resource— to go a-begging over
 
 5 
 
 the globe, piping " Buy, buy very cheap ;" while all 
 at home would be starvation in stays. 
 
 We apprehend, that on the extent to which the va- 
 rious native resources of a country are carried, does its 
 real improvement depend. Commerce is much more 
 evanescent in its results. But the petition jDroceeds 
 on the assumption that the world appreciates what is 
 best, which experience denies that it does. What al- 
 though the exquisite perfection of our machinery and 
 manufactures, and the perseverance of our labourers, 
 qualify us to supply the wants of half the world, as 
 the petition declares, we defy all the people in Britain 
 to make vise of a cent part of all that would come to our 
 shores in return for so much toilsome labour : if it then 
 behoved to be made up again and transhipped to some 
 foreign land, and there to be sold at any price it might 
 bring, where would lie the profit ? This should lead us 
 to see, that the encouragement of private and domestic 
 trade is the primary interest of the Government and of 
 the peojile themselves, and no man in business will pre- 
 fer a foreign to a home trade. The world have many 
 motives and many prejudices against giving a preference 
 to our arts and effects, and only in certain instances will 
 it award to us our price for them. We have so toiled, 
 and have so held out our wares by drawbacks and boun- 
 ties, as to have pampered the world too long to our hurt. 
 But still the world is ungrateful, and we have pinched 
 ourselves, and mean to pinch ourselves still more, to a 
 point of insanity, before we are permitted to see our 
 error, if this petition is approved of, and the prayer of 
 the memorial set aside. This petition proposes we 
 should not buy so much corn from English Giles, be- 
 cause his corn is higher in price than we can get it to 
 buy from Wilhelni. 'i'o be sure, we do not order more
 
 than we can consume ; but this much destroys the hopes 
 and prospects of Giles, because he has to pay so high 
 for the clothes he wears, and for his harness and dairy 
 utensils, his tea, wine, ^c. &c. And here comes tlie ab- 
 surdity of the business : we ruin Giles, and we go on 
 for another space sending our goods at half-price to 
 Wilhelm, and to Jonathan, and to Don Felix; but when 
 we expected that Giles would continue to subscribe his 
 proportion of the drawback and bounty, we are asto- 
 nished to find he is bankruj)t, and that in consequence 
 the proprietor's family have sold their carriage, and 
 that the head of the family has determined to keep only 
 a cook and nursery-maid, and only one riding-horse ; 
 that he has opportunely sold his pictures and silver- 
 plate, and laid out at interest the proceeds of all he has 
 so disposed of, in the Foreign funds ; that in a year or 
 two, the tolls fall off so much that no means remain of 
 repairing the highways and bridges ; and that the cattle- 
 trysts become unusually meagre, because of the want of 
 remunerating prices, caused by the free trade in corn 
 and cattle, which has turned our beauteous land into 
 barrenness. 
 
 The petition assumes that a disposition to pui;chase 
 our wares shall invariably prevail, than which nothing 
 can be more absurd ; and goes on to charge the corn- 
 laws as the cause of all the distress now suffered ; and 
 states, what we think is not the case, that these laws 
 lead to the cultivation of such land as produces nothing ; 
 whereas, whoever examines the scale of corn importa- 
 tion-duties must see, that while the farmer is exposed to 
 the precarious condition of the most speculative adven- 
 turer, he is not at liberty to take advantage even now, 
 by the law as things stand, of extreme profits, and 
 which he can only have by an absolutely exclusive pro-
 
 tection, which it would not be proper to give, any more 
 than it would not be safe to allow a free trade, so long- 
 as our national debt remains ; or we must find some 
 other means of paying the interest of it. If the world 
 objects to the prices we put on our exports now, it is 
 clear, that before this commerce can be extended in any 
 farther degree, these prices must be made much lower 
 still than the odds between British and foreign corn. 
 
 The true reason why the price of labour is not en- 
 hanced proportionally with the enhancement of provi- 
 sions is the power of dispensing with many of the 
 manufactured wares, which cannot be the case with 
 bread, and the uncertainty which attends the result of 
 the aptitude of many of the products of our manufac- 
 tures to the views and desires which they are intended 
 to gratify ; because there are nine out of every ten of 
 these arts intended to minister to the luxuries of a peo- 
 ple living at ease, and in the enjoyment of affluence ; 
 and any circumstance which deranges this state, or 
 gives reason to apprehend it, destroys the inclination 
 to buy. And it greatly arises also from the prevailing 
 partiality in the nature of the currency, which, as is 
 well known to a few, serves much more as an accom- 
 modating medium to particular parties, than it does to 
 others, or to the community in general ; and especially, 
 it operates unfavourably on the value of labour, and 
 it is perfectly easy to introduce a better system, so as 
 to obviate these disproportionate effects, and likewise 
 to render a metallic standard less necessary than a de- 
 nomination of value, to serve as an ordinary measure 
 of value. We do not mean to insinuate, that specie 
 could be dispensed with properly, or that private com- 
 panies should be relieved from the salutary obliga- 
 tion to pay in the metallic coin of tlie realm if de-
 
 manded ; but we say, that a plan has been presented to 
 the public lately, which, if adopted, would render such 
 a precautionary obligation a mere eventual penalty — a 
 secondary concern, and seldom or ever necessarily re- 
 sorted to, — a plan whereby the greatest security and 
 benefit would be conferred on the banking interest, and 
 the means, capacities, and views of all men would be 
 fostered much more impartially than at present, and 
 the result made to flow in a fairer ratio, and with un- 
 doubted certainty of success, in every department of the 
 business of society. 
 
 The petition puts a hypothetical case, which ought 
 never to form an illustrating part of any petition, and 
 proceeds by presupposing that agricultural produce may 
 rise fully one third in value, without admitting any cor- 
 responding increase whatever in the value or price of 
 manufactures and other wares. Such a case is impos- 
 sible under the scale of importation-duties in use ; and 
 if it were, the evil would not be remedied by a free im- 
 portation, but, on the contrary, we think would prove 
 destructive to every branch of industry in the space of 
 twelve months after the adoption of such a false re- 
 medy, and be followed by a national chaos : and what- 
 ever be the issue of the present disastrous condition of 
 this country, we feel confident that the historian of an 
 after age will impute its resuscitation to a revisal of its 
 currency, or its final ruin to the neglect of this remedy ; 
 or perhaps, that it shall have been accelerated by the 
 free admission of foreign grain. In the great dearth of 
 1801, we rummaged for corn every where, and pur- 
 chased at great expense all we could get, which in the 
 end amounted only to twenty-eight days consumpt. 
 
 But the 11th and 12th paragraphs of this petition 
 proceed with the most unfair inferences — first, that the
 
 manufacturer cannot or will not be enabled to get a 
 better 2>rice for his goods when agricultural produce 
 rises, and, by its rise, raises (mark, the petition admits 
 this) the rate of wages, which it is absurd to suppose : 
 he will make the endeavour at least, and will surely 
 obtain a i)artial, if not an equivalent advance on his 
 goods ; but if this disproportion in the fluctuation be 
 so destructive, with the admitted increase in wages, will 
 the opening of the ports, and the consequent fall in 
 wages, by the curtailment in the domestic requirements 
 of the agriculturists and proprietors of land, together 
 with the command of a monopoly, which it would give 
 the corn-factor, whose prosperity would afford no com- 
 pensation for that immense curtailment, and whose in- 
 herent principle is gain, and peculiarly assisted as he 
 would be by the bank which he and his party will 
 have established to accommodate themselves — prevent 
 its occurrence ? We believe not. The remedy is kept 
 out of sight by this petition ; and the 12th paragraph 
 goes a stej) farther, in inferring that an improving 
 market, in place of contenting the farmer, excites his 
 cupidity so much, that in s])ite of the uncertainty of 
 our climate, he will be mad enough to sow where he 
 cannot hope to reap. At any rate, the language of this 
 part of the petition makes no allowance for any returns 
 from the cultivation of the poorer soils, admitting even 
 such a resort ; and we cannot imagine but that barren 
 rocks would deter any man from ploughing and sowing 
 upon them — which cannot be the meaning of the peti- 
 tion ; and consequently, though we do not approve of 
 a resort to poor soils, still we say some partial return 
 will be got from the very worst which any man will 
 cultivate. We have elsewhere shewn that such a resort 
 is held within physical limits, independently of legisla- 
 
 B
 
 10 
 
 tive restrictions on extremes, and many things conspire 
 to prevent such a resort as this petition supposes. 
 Moreover, the petition, by its own shewing, allows that 
 the more land there is in cultivation, the increase in 
 consumption of every requisite of rural life is doubled. 
 Where, then, can there be found a stronger proof of 
 the urgent oare there should be had of promoting, by 
 every possible and fair means, the utmost degree of 
 cultivation by the British farmer? Where can the 
 British merchant or manufacturer find a market so 
 safe and so convenient as within our own dominions ? 
 Would the inhabitants of the Polar regions have their 
 intercourse with the world circumscribed, by exacting 
 a duty upon every vessel engaged in the fishery? — or 
 would the duty be an additional advantage to the in- 
 tercourse previously subsisting ? 
 
 The 13th paragraph of this petition seems to us to 
 imply nothing more than that a superiority of means 
 in the hands of certain persons may be abused to the 
 ruin of their neighbours. If so, the disposition must 
 not be confined to farmers only — it must be considered 
 general ; and it i^ a very good argument for the inquiry 
 into the state of the Currency craved by the memoria- 
 lists, and for ascertaining how far a currency, such as 
 that which now prevails in Great Britain, has a ten- 
 dency to produce the woeful consequences now imiver- 
 sally felt to exist amongst us. We submit the Me- 
 morial to your perusal, as copied from the Morning 
 Chronicle ; and secondly, the Petition, as it appeared 
 subsequently in the Suyi newspaper : — 
 
 (From the " Morning Chronicle.'''' ) 
 
 The most critical, urgent, and unanswerable reasons for a 
 short prorogation of Parliament, and an immediate settlement 
 of the one vital and agitating question of the Reform of the
 
 11 
 
 representation, are the depressed and threatening state of trade 
 and agriculture. A constant and continuous fall of prices has 
 annihilated profits, and must necessarily have extinguished 
 much active capital. In the meanwhile, the burthens of the 
 productive classes — the King's taxes, the county and parish 
 taxes, corn-laws, and the various costs of production — have 
 been maintained. The state of Europe, torn with political 
 convulsions, and prostrate under the rage of a devastating 
 epidemic disease, has contributed to aggravate a depression 
 ■which can no longer be concealed or denied. The colonial in- 
 terests are involved in similar distress. Incendiarism again 
 stalks abroad ; and at such a period Ministers are said to con- 
 template a prorogation of three months ! We speak advisedly 
 when we thus characterise the crisis. Controversy on the sub- 
 ject of the causes will not alter the fact of effects. ^Ve will 
 take, for instance, the iron trade, now the second great staple 
 manufacture of the kingdom. The following astounding re- 
 presentation of the state of this great national manufacture is 
 now before us, having been printed and privately circulated by 
 the trade : — 
 
 At a Meeting of the Staffordshire Iron Trade, held at Dudley, 
 the 4th day of October 18S1, Michael Grazebrook, Esq. in the 
 Chair, 
 
 It was resolved, that this Meeting cannot but regard with con- 
 siderable anxiety and apprehension the present appalling and long- 
 continued depression in the prices of iron, and which they attri- 
 bute, mainly, to the injurious operation of the existing laws relating 
 to the currency. 
 
 That the following memorial of the iron and coal trade be pre- 
 sented to Earl Grey, by a deputation, and that a copy thereof be 
 sent to the Cliairman of the Welch trade, requesting the concur- 
 rence and co-operation of the gentlemen of that district in its 
 prayer :— 
 
 " Memorial to the Right Honourable Earl Grey, First Lord 
 of his Majesty's Treasury. 
 
 " VVe, the undersigned Iron-masters and Coal-masters, of the 
 Staffordshire iron and coal district, think it our duty respectfully 
 to represent to his Majesty's Government the following facts : — 
 
 " 1. That for the last five years, ever since what is called tlie 
 panic of 1825, we have foinid, with very slight intermissions, a 
 continually increasing depression in the prices of the products of 
 industry, and more j)articularly in those of pig-iron and l)ar-iron, 
 w hich have fallen, respectively, from upwards of JLH per t(»n, to 
 under i.; |)er ton, and from £\5 per ton, to under £.^> per ton.
 
 12 
 
 " 2. Against tLis alarming and long-continued depression, we 
 have used every possible effort in our power to make head. We 
 have practised all manner of economy, and have had recourse to 
 every possible improvement in the working of our mines and ma- 
 nufactories. Our vrcrkmen's wages have, in many instances, been 
 greatly reduced, and such reduction has been attended with, and 
 effected by, very great suffering and distress : — but the royalties, 
 rents, contracts, and other engagements, under which we hold our 
 respective works and mines, have scarcely been reduced at all, 
 nor can we get them effectually reduced, because the law enforces 
 their payment in full. 
 
 " 3. The prices of the products of our industry having thus 
 fallen within the range of the fixed charges and expenses which 
 the law compels us to discharge, the just and necessary profits of 
 our respective trades have ceased to exist ; and, in many cases, a 
 positive loss attends them. 
 
 " 4. Under these circumstances, we have long hesitated in de- 
 termining what line of conduct our interests and our duties re- 
 quire us to adopt : — If we should abandon our respective trades, 
 our large and expensive outlays in machinery and erections must 
 be sacrificed, at an enormous loss to ourselves, and our honest 
 and meritorious workmen must be thrown in thousands upon pa- 
 rishes, already too much impoverished by their present burthens 
 to support them : — and, if we should continue our respective 
 trades, we see nothing but the prospect of increasing distress, and 
 certain ruin to all around us. 
 
 " 5. In our humble opinion, the great cause which has been 
 mainly instrumental in producing this depression and distress in 
 our respective trades, and among the productive classes of the 
 country generally, is the attempt to render the rents, taxes, royal- 
 ties, and the other various engagements and obligations of the 
 country, convertible, bi/ law, into gold, at £,3 : 17 : lO^d. per oz. 
 This low and antiquated price of the metallic standard of value is 
 no longer capable of effecting a just and equitable distribution of 
 our products betv/een the pi'oducer and the consumer ; it renders 
 incompatible the permanent existence of remunerative prices, with- 
 out such a reduction of taxation as we cannot hope to see effected 
 in time to afford us any relief — and it thus tends, ultimately and 
 surely, to destroy the industry and the peace and happiness of the 
 country. 
 
 " 6. That until the establishment of a circulating medium, of a 
 character better suited to the various and complicated demands of 
 society, and to the increased transactions and population of the 
 country, and more competent to effect an interchange, and pre- 
 serve a remunerating level of prices in the products of industry 
 generally, we can see no prospect of any permanent restoration 
 of the prosperity of our trades, or of tlie country being able to 
 escape the most frightful sufferings and convulsions.
 
 13 
 
 " We, therefore, most respectfully, but very earnestly, request 
 the early attention of his Majesty's Government to these great facts 
 and considerations, and we trust they will recommend to Parlia- 
 ment the speedy establishment of some Jiixt, adequate, and efficient 
 currency, which may properly support the trade and commerce of 
 the country, and preserve such a remunerating level of prices, as 
 may ensure to the employers of labour the fair and reasonable 
 profits of their capital and industry, as well as the nsfeans of pay- 
 ing the just and necessary wages to their workmen. 
 
 " Michael Grazebrook, chairman of the Staffordshire Iron Trade, 
 Netherton Iron Works ; W, and I. S. Sparrow and Co., Bilston 
 Iron Works ; W. H. Sparrow, Lane-end ditto; Bishtons and Un- 
 derbill, Parkfield ditto ; Jones, Barker, and Co., Coseley ditto, and 
 Blama Iron Works ; Walker and Yates, Gospel Oak ditto ; Chil- 
 lington Coal and Iron Company, Chillington ditto ; Parkes and 
 Co., Cp.pponfields ditto ; Thomas Timmins and Co., Wolverhamp- 
 ton Furnaces ; John H. ^Bate, Eagle ditto ; William Hunt and 
 Sons, Brades Iron and oteel Works ; T. and H. Price, Bilston 
 Brook Iron Works ; James Bottesley, Wednesbury New Field Col- 
 liery ; Hains and Horton, Cophall ditto ; Hood and Hains, Ocker- 
 hill ditto ; J. Halford, Wednesbury Lyne ditto ; G. Pi-ker, Old- 
 bury ditto ; I. T. Fereday, Bradley Iron Works ; Johu i'>awes and 
 Sons, Bromford ditto ; D. and J. Horton, Ebenezer Colliery ; Wil- 
 liam Izon, Westbromwich and Brierly Hill Colliery ; W. and J. 
 Firmstone, Ley's Coal and Iron Works ; D. and G. Hovtnn, Ley 
 and Russell's Hall Coal and Iron Works; William Banks, Wordes- 
 ley Colliery ; Thomas Banks, Etti-igshall Iron Works ; William 
 Mathews, Broadwaters Furnaces ; William Ward, Priest Fields 
 Coal and Iron Works ; Josh and David Smith and Co., Great 
 Bridge Colliery ; Samuel Bill, Gold's Hill ditto; Bill, Weston, and 
 Riley, Hill Top ditto ; James Batson, Great Bridge Iron Works ; 
 John Bagnall and Sons, Gold's Hill ditto; John Bagnall and Sons, 
 Ryder's Green and Greet's Green Collieries ; Lloyd's, Foster, and 
 Co., Wednesbury Old Park Furnaces; Samuel Dawes, Bush Farm 
 Colliery ; Thomas Hood and Co., New Church ditto; Hood and 
 Haines, Round's Green ditto; G. and E. Thorneycroft, Shrubbery 
 Iron Workt : George Parker, Dudley Port Furnaces ; Thomas Wes- 
 ton (Executors of the late), Small Heath Colliery ; Bill, Jones, and 
 Bill, Dunkirk New Colliery ; Hadley and Page, Smethwick Iron 
 Works; 31. Hill and Son, 'Tipton Green Iron Works; E. Creswell, 
 ditto, ditto ; the Birmingham Coal Company, per T. Horton, Se- 
 cretary, Toll-End Furnaces and Iron Works ; J. Whceley and Co., 
 BrettcU-lane and Bromley Coal and Iron Works; J. Co.\, Common 
 Side Colliery ; .losepli and David Smith, Eight Locks ditto ; Bills 
 and Mills, Darlaston Green Iron Works; Henry Nock and Sons, 
 Grange Colliery ; Jonah Jeavons and Co., Tividale ditto ; Edward 
 Crockett, Deepdalc Furnaces ; Nock and Vo., Round's (jrccn Col- 
 liery."
 
 14 
 
 We are thus particular in citing the whole of this extraor- 
 dinary statement, with the highly respectable names attached 
 to it, and which unquestionably vouch for the accuracy of its 
 facts, because we know that it is often extremely convenient to 
 say that memorials are " got up''"' and preferred from party or 
 private views. But here is a solemn document, signed by 
 nearly three-fourths of the Staffordshire iron-trade (and we are 
 informed subsequently by nearly all the Shropshire iron-mas- 
 ters), with representations of prices and make, which cannot be 
 fictitious. The above signatures alone comprehend the firms 
 of upwards of sixty blast furnaces, making from 3000 to 3500 
 tons of pig-iron per week, and giving employment and support 
 to many large families — all, be it observed, imbued with the 
 strongest opinions on reform, and bitter hatred of the borough- 
 mongers — attributing to the machinations of the oligarchy the 
 great causes of alternate seasons of distress, and the felonious 
 alterations of currency during the last iff ty years. In the Staf- 
 fordshire iron district, it is computed that there are about 128 
 furnaces. Of these, perhaps a dozen are in ruins, or unservice- 
 able ; 59 were out of blast (" blown out," in technical phraseo- 
 logy) in February 1830; 41 in July 1830 ; and 49 of the 128 
 are now out, leaving about 79 iiow in blast. The average 
 make of a Staffordshire furnace is about fifty tons per week. 
 So much for the jargon of over-production. A few facts from 
 the trade — from those practically conversant with, and inte- 
 rested in our staple manufactures, are worth a sack of theories 
 and treatises. We shall not be suspected, with our well-known 
 opinions, of depreciating the inquiries or labours of economists ; 
 but it would be well if theoretical writers would inform them- 
 selves more correctly of the data on which they venture bold 
 assertions and baseless positions. We will not here enter on a 
 discussion of the alleged or various causes of the serious de- 
 pression of prices, which it appears 1ms not even yet reached 
 its minimum. Nor is this cruel depreciation of value confined 
 to the ra7v articles of iron, wool, cotton, lead, and other staple 
 commodities. It pervades all their various manufacture and 
 manipulations. An intelligent merchant of Birmingham some 
 weeks since compiled the following curious table : —
 
 15 
 
 WET^r^ 
 
 -5H^^'^r'rr'^l'TioooD3C3a;c3WD:>> 
 
 t 
 
 
 '< s ^ - • 
 
 -j^-. ETP «--o o t» P" S..^ 0Pcccx'::'0'^s!3 
 
 
 
 p O p-3 p 
 
 a3oCl-^rerer^Oa'-<33lS-n.^!a-r'a.<.2 
 
 
 n 
 
 'ils 
 
 Is, polisl 
 -screws, 
 ts for do 
 ces for c 
 ;, tinned 
 tons for 
 tons, sm 
 ry-comb 
 dlestick: 
 imode k 
 ing-pani 
 Iges, cas 
 e hamm 
 ches for 
 ks for d 
 ks for g 
 ted Stiri 
 die-iron: 
 vel and 
 ned Tab 
 ce Chait 
 es for bl 
 anned T 
 a Wire, 
 ss Wire 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 > 
 
 I < 
 
 :r)S 3 
 
 ce 3 3 
 'dQfg &. 
 
 § .=» O 
 
 = 302^ 
 
 3' '< 
 
 2 • i" 3- "^ i-^ 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 3 P 
 
 
 P ^ 
 
 f^ "t crq 
 -(3-3- 
 
 3' 
 
 re^ 
 
 -i 3- 
 p re 
 
 en c« 
 t» - 
 
 " cr 
 
 JO -< 
 
 p 
 
 3.. en 
 
 rr 
 
 re 
 
 
 CR 
 
 
 re " 
 " 1 
 
 J ft to 
 
 ■ti 0" 
 
 >= 3 
 
 aq _: 
 
 
 
 »5 
 
 
 
 re 
 re 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 3 cr 
 
 ' 5' 
 
 ^Cif 
 
 
 
 3' "5 
 
 3 en 
 2- ' 
 
 
 p- 
 
 hJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 crq 
 
 05 
 
 
 3-3 
 
 
 
 re 
 
 en 
 
 
 9? 
 
 
 JO 
 
 cr 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3* : 
 
 
 
 
 
 re 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 re • 
 'P • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'ji 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1— 03 
 
 lO — JO 00 JO 1— JO 
 
 
 - Ci *- o 
 
 »-li-'JO^OOOlOO^OO«*>JOtOtOif>-Oi'OOiWtOO» 
 
 
 
 en 
 
 
 > 
 
 O O 05 o 
 
 oooa>o^ooo5CcooO'-ooa)Oooooo 
 
 
 ?:J 
 
 
 a- 
 
 
 C3 
 
 -a^d fD'd'dTJ'TJ-S^TJ n!'-3'T3'T;'T3'Xi'T3'TJ'T3'T3'T3*T3'T3'T3'73'T3'T3 
 
 ^. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ro ro £ re 
 
 rererere'^iSrererererererererererererererere 
 
 5' 
 
 > 
 
 ^ f^ n^ 
 
 •S ". ^ '-'• <-! O >-! 1^ ^i i-l "S l-l <-. 'S •-: r-t 'S ". '^ '^. '^. 'i 
 
 
 
 ocfq-d 2't3 roip-o-euo ^^ a.cfq erg c- 50 c-ctq asj re 
 .£«.•• " rorerere- re^reajj^re fowwr* 
 
 CO 
 
 P3 
 
 CO 
 
 W 
 
 S rt- 
 
 
 D- 
 
 
 
 ?r 
 
 ^ 3333 S S/'^^S >2cnc« 
 
 
 > 
 
 t-i to 
 
 JO >- JO OS JO h- <o 
 
 
 1— 00 w oc 
 
 OiO»i— O030iJ0JO00Oh-i00K)J0K)^O»O^O»O»J0O 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 t? 
 
 n 
 
 *. c o c 
 
 000 'O'o JO JO co^o cr. oc^oocoooooo 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 '01- 0^ 
 
 ft) 
 
 > 
 
 "TS'TS rt'dis'cs'dTS'TS !5^'^^d-c>:s^'T3-a'T3'r3'd'r)^T3':3^PT-! 
 
 t« 
 
 
 
 re re £ n> 
 
 rerererereirererererererererererererererem 
 
 3' 
 
 H 
 
 ►^ I-, o -, 
 
 ri-0 3-ri-3' NNnN^nS'NOON-NOOS. 
 
 ^cn^-r* rererere-re^retocoft) re"5"r* 
 
 s 
 
 G 
 
 «> 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 1— < 
 
 JT 
 
 ^ 3333 3 3^?'B mCoco 
 
 
 JO 
 
 >— 1— 1 ^.> I-' 1— • 1— 1 
 
 
 ^ 'sC JO JO 
 
 OOC^^^'-'Oni-'OoOCO^-h-f-'i-'ooCoif^JOCi'-'Ci 
 
 75 
 
 
 ;^ 
 
 C O O o 
 
 CiO'OOO^OOCOOSOC7)-^Or»JOOWil«OoOC^O 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 *-to C5, 
 
 0' 
 
 'Z 
 
 la'TS re'T!'T3'T3'T3'T3'T5 <5'T3'T3'T3'TS-d':3'TS'T3"a'T3*T3't3'T3'T3"d'T? 
 
 z. 
 
 C^ 
 
 a re w re 
 
 rerererere^rrererererererererererererererein 
 
 5' 
 
 
 ►1 -{ C 1 
 
 T1'-!"^-s2-'^'''^'^'^'''^'''^'^'<'^'<'^'^-t 
 
 
 
 • 5 # 
 
 oaqTS rei^J ^ Cl.CL,ci-2-0 C-'C Jl-'iS! CT? ;i- « 2^7q Crq re 
 
 « 
 
 ^"ip:sp cocos!opoT'-«o£.o"<'^s! 
 
 .ii 
 
 E. ^ 
 
 •^•^^ rtrerere-rer'reS5«re re ;«<«:* 
 
 
 > 
 
 jT 
 
 5" 3333 3 3 Y' Y' a :3 f f 
 
 
 w 
 
 Hirf 
 
 ^^ 1— * >-^ i-> 1-^ 
 
 
 O -5 -'^C 
 
 Cl^o^|-''-'0^o^ooo^'-'•-'OO^o«ooo•-'01l-'OD 
 
 
 •-^ 
 
 
 «) 
 
 
 ?o 
 
 to O -1 C; 
 
 C, C^. Ci ^ Ci C-. 'O 'O JO iO JO ^ 00 JO Ci tn Ci JO 
 
 1! 
 3. 
 
 5* 
 
 
 <(>:oa p.r 
 
 1—4 
 
 
 
 re 
 
 >; 
 
 ►d TS 2 T3 
 
 'TJ'dXS'd'd ;t>-'3T3-3*r!^*d'T3'T3'd'd-3'd'd'd'3 
 
 X 
 
 Q 
 
 re re £ re 
 
 rerererereirererererererererererererererere 
 
 5 
 
 -< -« ^ -t 
 
 11-1>1-t^-«'-|"11T1>1'^'^Ti-«'1'1^<-1'^ 
 
 
 K 
 
 fI"' ? 
 
 re75T3 re-d ^ c-C-C-C-re 0,1- o-orq r? &- 2? S-trq Or; " 
 . »7«rr« rererert.re:»rej»««re f«KS' 
 
 § 
 
 > 
 
 ^ . r* 
 
 
 •<* 
 
 <r 
 
 S" 3333 3 ssS^S^S S^S" 
 

 
 16 
 
 Olu' retail sliops, in the prices of almost any other commo- 
 dities, exhibit the same extraordinary depreciation. We are 
 confident that the annals of no country on the face of the 
 earth present such a picture of fluctuating price. Capital 
 must have been melted, as the snow and icy glaziers waste 
 from the mountain top under the summer sun ; profit must 
 have been annihilated, labour starved, under such commercial 
 revolutions. " Peace" and " machinery" may have had their 
 effects; it may, perhaps, be difficult to say accurately the 
 exact proportion, but the revolutions of the currency, the 
 juggling tricks of chartered banks in adulterous connection 
 (like the Church) with the State, have had their part. The 
 borough mongers have too long monopolized the plunder and 
 direction of the country ; the middle and productive classes 
 are now determined to govern themselves. We are seriously 
 impressed with the fearful state of trade and commerce. We 
 know that the reform question, unsettled, operates as a para- 
 lysis on the wholesale as well as on the retail departments. We 
 heard on Saturday an eminent merchant state, that if Parlia- 
 ment was prorogued till Christmas, he should countermand 
 numerous orders he had given out ; and we are also correctly 
 informed, that payments are most reluctantly made by persons 
 of high credit and habit, while public matters remain thus 
 unsettled and in turmoil. We confess we look with dismay 
 and alarm on the prospects of the winter. We trust that Mi- 
 nisters will set at defiance all party intrigues and Mach'mvelism 
 as a mode of carrying the Reform Bill. Let them bear in 
 mind the penetrating wisdom aiid remarks of Bacon : — " The 
 matter of seditions is of two kinds : much poverty, and much 
 discontentment. It is certain, so many overthrown estates, so 
 many votes for troubles. Lucan noteth well the state of Rome 
 before the civil war; — 
 
 ' Hinc usura vorax, rapidumque in tempore foenus, 
 ' Hinc concussa fides, et miiltis utile belluiii.' 
 
 ." This same vmli-i: utile helium is an assured and infallible 
 sign of a state disposed to seditions and troubles. And if this 
 poverty and broken estate in the better sort be joined with a 
 want and necessity in the mean people, the danger is imminent 
 and great. For the reheUions of the hcllij are the xcorst?''
 
 17 
 
 CORN LAWS. 
 
 Colonel ToRRENs presented a petition from the inhabitants 
 of London and Westminster, praying for a revision of the 
 existing system of Corn Laws. The petition was of great 
 importance to the country — more particularly at the present 
 peculiar crisis at which the country had arrived. Endeavours 
 had been made, and in some places but too successfully, to place 
 the agricultural in opposition to the manufacturing interest. 
 He was sorry to perceive that a Noble Lord, in a recent speech 
 to the freeholders of Dorsetshire, had said, if the Reform Bill 
 were to pass, the agricultural interest would suffer very mate- 
 rially, and the farmers would be ruined. Now, a statement 
 more mischievous, or one more injurious to the country, could 
 not have been put forth. The two interests were so linked to- 
 gether, so dovetailed with each other, that they iv.i;-t ;tand or 
 fall together, and to set them in opposition to each other was 
 most mischievous. — (Ilea?.) Had that Noble Lord taken a leaf 
 out of the book of Mr. Henry Drummond, called Cheap Corn 
 good foj' Farmers, he would not have made such an injurious 
 statement. The petitioners entertained the same views as Mr 
 Henry Drumniond regarding the effect of the Corn Laws, and 
 stated, that notwithstanding the high price of corn, they re- 
 ceived a less reward for their toil than the labourers in any 
 other country, and they attributed that result to the operation 
 of the Corn Laws. The TTon. and Gallant Member then read 
 various pcutions of the pension, and entreated the earnest at- 
 tention of the House to the contents of it, as containing, in a 
 condensed form, the entire theory of the Corn-Law system, 
 and as developing the effect produced from it, which was so 
 injurious to the country. 
 
 The petition, of which the following is a copy, was then 
 read and laid on the table : — 
 
 To the IJonourahle the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, in Varliament asseynlded, 
 
 The PETITION of the Undersigned INHABITANTS of 
 LONDON and WESTMINSTER ; 
 
 Shciveth, 
 1. That the present alarming stagnation of trade, and tlie low 
 rates of wages and of profits, a ; well in agriculture as in manu- 
 factures, have induced your petitioners respectfully to approach 
 your Honourable House, in orJer to point out what appear to your 
 
 c
 
 18 
 
 petitioners to be some of the principal causes of these calamities, 
 and to pray your Honourable House for the removal of them. 
 
 2. That your Honourable House cannot bi;t be acquainted with 
 the fact, that labour in England is applied with more energy, with 
 more skill, and for a greater number of hours out of the four-and- 
 twenty, than in any other country of Europe. 
 
 3. That it seems reasonable that the labourer's command over 
 the necessaries of life should in some measure depend on the efficacy 
 of his exertions ; and that the high intrinsic value of British labour 
 should secure for it a high exchangeable value in the market. 
 
 4. That the industrious workman, who might form such an ex- 
 pectatioii, would experience the most bitter disappointment. The 
 due and natural proportion between the intrinsic worth and the 
 market price of labour has been so deranged, that though the 
 British labourer executes, in any given number of days, a greater 
 quantity of work than the labourer of any other country, yet he 
 receives as his daily wages a less proportion of the products of his 
 industry than the labourer in any other country ; and while the 
 manufacturers of this island are capable of supplying half the 
 world, they have frequently been unable to obtain for themselves, 
 in return for their skilled, their energetic, and their persevering 
 exertions, a sufficient quantity of the products of their labour to 
 support existence ; and have been presei s^ed by parochial relief, 
 or by the hand of private charity, from perishing from the face of 
 the earth. 
 
 5. That your petitioners are convinced that the existing Corn 
 Laws form one main and leading cause of the calamitous con- 
 dition in which the working classes of this country have been 
 placed. 
 
 6. That these laws render it necessary to resort to inferior soils, 
 and to adopt expensive modes of culture, in order to raise the 
 necessary supplies of food, and of other agricultural products. 
 
 7. That resorting to such soils, and adopting such modes of til- 
 lage, cause a greater quantity of labour to be employed in raising 
 the same quantity of the necessaries of life ; and it follows as an 
 inevitable consequence, that as more labour is required to produce 
 necessaries, more labour will be required to purchase them. 
 
 8. That thus, as your petitioners conceive, it amounts to a clear 
 and complete demonstration, that a system of Corn Laws restrict- 
 ing the importation of foreign agricultural produce, and thereby 
 requiring the resorting to inferior lands, and the adopting of high 
 and expensive modes of culture, must have the effect of raising the 
 value of the necessaries of life, in relation to aiiy given quantity of 
 laboui', or what comes to the same thing, of lowering the value of 
 any given quantity of labour as compared with those necessaries, 
 
 9. That your petitioners submit to your Honourable House, that 
 the people have an undoubted right to purchase their food where- 
 ever it can be obtained at the cheapest rate ; and, that artificial
 
 19 
 
 regulations, lowering the value of labour in relation to the neces- 
 saries of lifej are an infringement upon this right ; which infringe- 
 ment can be justified or excused only upon the supposition that 
 the evil which it inflicts upon the labouring classes is overbalanced 
 by some great and general good, thereby secured to them and to 
 the community at large. 
 
 10. That your petitioners are prepared to shew, by reasoning self- 
 evident in all its steps, that the severe privations inflicted upon 
 the labouring classes by the present restrictions on the importation 
 of foreign agricultural produce, are not compensated by any prepon- 
 derating advantage conferred either upon them or upon any other 
 classes ; that the existing Corn Laws are universally injurious ; that 
 the master-manufacturer, the merchant, the farmer, and ultimately 
 the landed proprietor, are all more or less partakers in the retarda- 
 tion of prosperity, the diminution of wealth, and the approach to 
 decline which they occasion ; and that by their operation all the 
 sources of income are rendered less productive — the same cause 
 which gives to the labourer a diminished coinmand over the ne- 
 cessaries of life, lowering the profit upon capital, not only in ma- 
 nufactures and commerce, but also in agriculture. 
 
 } 1. That in carrying on manufacturing indc.:try, a certain quan- 
 tity of agricultural produce must be consumed in the form of 
 food and material, and also a certain quantity of manufactured 
 goods in the form of clothing, tools, and machinery ; that it is 
 manifest, therefore, that manufacturing profits must fall as the 
 value of agricultvn-al produce rises : That if the relative value of 
 agricultural produce and of manufactured goods be such that the 
 master-manufacturer, with one-third of his fabrics, can purchase 
 his raw material and the food of his labourers, while he uses an- 
 other third for their clothing, tools, and machinery, it is evir^ent 
 that the remaining third will be a clear surplus, constituting ?. pro- 
 fit of fifty per cent, upon the capital expended ; but that, if the 
 value of agricultural produce rise, until it requires two-th'rds of 
 thr iUaster-manufacturer's fabrics to replace the food and rarterial 
 expended, the remaining third being as before required for cloth- 
 ing and machinery, no surplus can exist, and the master's profit 
 will be reduced from fifty ))er cent, to nothing. 
 
 ]2. That the ruin thus inflicted upon the manufacturer speedily 
 overtakes the farmer : Tliat if, before the rise in the value of agri- 
 cultural produce, the farmer used one third of liis crO|)S for seed, 
 and for tile food of his labourers, and with another third pur- 
 chased their clothing and implements, the remaining third would 
 be a clear surplus ; and he, as well as the master-manufacturer, 
 would obtain a profit of fifty per cent, upon the capital exji^nded : 
 That if the value of the farmer's produce is doubled because it is 
 necessary for him to go to an inferior soil, upon which any given 
 (|uantity of produce must be raised with a double expenditure, 
 then, instead of one-third, he must use two-thirds of his crops for
 
 20 
 
 seed and food, and the remaining third, though doubled in value, 
 will do no more than purchase for him the double quantity of 
 clothing and implements : That thus the quantity of produce ob- 
 tained will only replace the quantity expended, and the cultivator 
 of the last quality of soil resorted to will be placed on the same 
 footing with the master-manufacturer, and will have his profits 
 reduced from fifty per cent, to nothing. 
 
 13. That the fall of profit soon reaches the farmers who occupy 
 the superior lands upon which the same expenditure continues to 
 raise the same quantity of produce as before : That it is not in 
 the nature of things, that while master-manufacturers and culti- 
 vators of the last quality of land resorted to made no profit at all, 
 the occupiers of good land should for any considerable time be 
 permitted to realise high returns : That on the expiration of ex- 
 isting leases, all tliose who were in possession of disposable capital 
 would bid against the holders of fertile land, until all that portion 
 of the produce which remained after the replacing of expenditure 
 was offered to the proprietor in the form of rent : That after having 
 enjoyed a short-lived advantage from the rise in the value of agri- 
 cultural produce, the ancient tenantry of the country would be 
 either ejected from their farms, or reduced to a condition in which 
 they could obtain only a bare subsistence. 
 
 14. That the proprietors of the soil cannot continue to prosper 
 while all the other classes of the community declined. For some 
 time, rents may remain at their present amount, but at no distant 
 period the destruction of profit will cause capital to emigrate, the 
 seats of manufacture and the marts of commerce will be removed 
 to other countries, and the home demand for food and material 
 will subside, and thus England, impoverished and depopulated, 
 will, as in former times, export agricvilturai produce to the foreign 
 market, and that the proprietors of the soil will discover, when 
 too late, that it is only in the iminediate vicinity of a dense and 
 opulent manufactvu'ing population, that the value of land can 
 acquire and retain an extraordinary elevation. 
 
 15. That thus it appears, by clear and unanswerable proofs, that 
 the existing restrictions upon the importation of foreign agricul- 
 tural produce are injurious to every class of the community ; that 
 they lower the real wages of labour, reduce the profits of capital, 
 and ultimately bring down rents from that high level which they 
 reach in a country the circumstances of which lead, as in England, 
 to the impor fiiion of corn, to the low level at which they settle 
 in a country the circumstances of which lead, as in Poland, to the 
 exportation of corn. 
 
 16. That as your petitioners know, from dearly-bought expe- 
 rience, the calamities which follow from sudden changes in the 
 direction of industry, they are far from desiring such an immediate 
 and precipitate opening of the ports as might bring on a renewal 
 of agricultural distress; and as their appeal to your Honourable
 
 21 
 
 House is ibunded on the principles of impartial justice, and of free 
 and equal competition, they do not object to securing to British 
 agriculture such temporary protection as may be necessary to place 
 it on an equal footing with other branches of the national industry, 
 by compensating the farmer for whatever excess of taxation may 
 actually be imposed on him. 
 
 That from all these considerations, the undersigned petitioners 
 most earnestly pray your Honourable House to enter upon a revi- 
 sion of the Corn Laws, with a view to the gradual removal of 
 every species of restriction upon the importation of food and raw 
 material, and with the iiltimate object of securing to British agri- 
 culture the only permanent protection which in equity it can claim, 
 — the abolition or equalization of all those taxes, assessments, or 
 charges, which may be found to press with exclusive or with dis- 
 proportioned weight upon the soil. 
 
 Is it not apparent to the reader, tliat when one class 
 of a community have their means of operation confined 
 strictly within their actual capital, and the other classes 
 have, over and above the direct use of their capital, 
 the facility of obtaining a loan of farther capital, and 
 also of creating a substitute, and of applying it to ad- 
 vantage, which from the respective circumstances of 
 these different classes becomes an auxiliary almost exclu- 
 sively to suit the purposes of the favoured classes, any 
 argument, which merely affects to demonstrate that this 
 triplicate advantage to certain parties (being two-thirds 
 exceeding the opportunities open to men of low degree), 
 but serves in its exclusive character to give a greater 
 spur to industry — and that unless such were the case, 
 trade and commerce would not be so much extended as it 
 is — would neither prove a perfect argument, nor would 
 it afford a satisfactory reason why a method should not 
 be adopted, whereby these advantages might still flow 
 to the rich and creditable classes, and be extended also 
 to men of low estate — whereby the ratio between the 
 application of their resjiective resources should bear a 
 much nearer api)roxiniation in the ratio of advantage
 
 obtainable through the employment of their several 
 means and capacities? This is the point at issue. 
 Observe ! as the advantage or gratification to an em- 
 ployer must always exceed in its degree the propor- 
 tion of it bestowed in wages, so a class of persons 
 kept in laborious dependence almost entirely, and that 
 too in a considerable degree on their own savings, 
 must make cm inverse prog?'ession, under such cir- 
 cumstances, to those employing them ; and such an 
 inequality would be extreme, if a considerable part of 
 this labour were not expended in producing such fabrics 
 as this dependent class chiefly makes use of, and thus 
 preserving the remnant of a controul over the prices of 
 such commodities. We are not seeking to depreciate 
 the banking system now in use by what we have said, 
 but, on the contrary, to improve it still more ; and on 
 its improvement we deem the interests of all classes to 
 depend. The foregoing documents demonstrate the 
 prudence and high degree of profound political expe- 
 rience requisite in those who are chosen to legislate on 
 svich matters, and likewise how necessary it is, in those 
 having the franchise, to know on whom to confer such 
 immense responsibility. To get at the formation of such 
 a House of Commons as will maintain and foster the 
 interest of the nation impartially, the Ministry may, in 
 the first place, determine on the several boroughs to be 
 retained, and way make the average amount of rental 
 in them respectively the qualification for a vote, and 
 give to every occupier above that medium the privilege 
 of voting ; and, in the next place, they may determine 
 to apply the same principle to ^11 the counties sepa- 
 rately, including all the unrepresented towns in each, 
 and give as many members to such counties, with their 
 towns, as shall double, treble, or quadruple, by their
 
 23 
 
 population respectively, the relative amount of the po- 
 pulation of the kingdom, for which the present number 
 of the House of Commons (658) stands as a divisor, 
 being about one member to every 34,000 persons. And 
 it may be proper, in order to set the question at rest 
 for ever, to go still farther, and, for the sake of im- 
 proving as much as possible the external condition of 
 the lower classes, to allow all under the different ave- 
 rages to join in making up a vote ; for example, if the 
 average of any town be £lO, two persons, occupiers at 
 a rent of £5 each, to have a vote between them ; and 
 five persons, paying a rent of £2 each, to have also one 
 delegated vote among the five. It might, on first re- 
 flection, appear to be most proper to confine the privi- 
 lege of such delegated votes to persons paying the di- 
 rect taxes ; but when it is considered that many of 
 these taxes may soon be taken off, the rule would not 
 be so suitable as the above. 
 
 The Marquis of Lansdowne expressed in "the House 
 of Peers, in the course of the late debate, that the ave- 
 rage of voters under the £10 limitation bill, would be 
 about £25. But that bill, had it been carried, would 
 not probably have enabled the several towns and bo- 
 roughs to have elected such members as suited them 
 best, and in many places it would have been no ame- 
 lioration whatever to them. Such a plan as this would 
 amalgamate the agricultural and trading community, 
 and remove that invidious distinction between the renter 
 of £lO and him of £9 : 10s., as the latter would only 
 require the concurrence of a renter of 10s. to complete 
 his rental to the average, and thus enable him to vote. 
 Nor would the number of voters, after all, be much 
 increased ; and it is calculated that the average amount 
 of (jualification over the kingdom wcaild still ])e £20.
 
 24 
 
 But if the new bill proceeds the length of giving the 
 franchise to all above the average rate of rental in each 
 respective borough and county, it should be received as 
 a boon of no inconsiderable kina ; and if the extension 
 of the franchise, in the way herein suggested, to the 
 very lowest, be promised at an after period, when the 
 national burdens shall have been so moulded down as 
 to render it safe to have the most radical proposals 
 discussed, without occasioning such fluctuations in the 
 public securities, &c. as would prove highly injurious 
 to any unfortunate parties who might at such times, 
 from their family arrangements or otherwise, be under 
 the necessity of selling out, &c. &c. 
 
 A constituency framed on such jDrinciples would be 
 the most complete union of population and property 
 which could be desired, and would meet the objections 
 to the former plan, which was said to be unfair and 
 arbitrary as respected the value of population and pro- 
 perty. 
 
 When we think that both in England and Ireland, 
 the freehold of 40s., and, in some places, the mere oc- 
 cupation of a hearth, constituted a qualification, the plan 
 now suggested has many recommendations. It gives 
 an impulse to the amelioration of tli ' condition of the 
 peasantry, and to all and sundry to study to rise in the 
 scale of superiority. In fact, every householder would 
 henceforth have a friend and auxiliary — his own pro- 
 pensity — to better his condition, and the help of some 
 one fibove himself, whose interest he would favour n\ 
 
 return. But the recommendations of this plan are 
 
 so many, that we safely leave it to recommend itself to 
 every reader of these pages.
 
 ^iV*"
 
 3 0112 062406910