not sufficient to sustain our population un- | statements were made, showed the conditil the next harvest came in. He was led tion of England, if the accuracy of that to this conclusion by the rapid decrease of account could be relied on :-Northumberwheat in his own county, and by all the in- land, stackyards very empty, Mr. John quiries which he had made as to the gene- Grey, Dilston; Westmoreland, one-third, ral supply throughout the country. In his J. Crosby, Kirkby Thore; Yorkshire, oneneighbourhood, in Cambridge, Huntingdon, sixth, H. Briggs, Overton, Wakefield; Ely, and Royston, the corn markets had Lancashire, very little, E. Evans, Wigan; been recently attended by buyers from Lincolnshire, one-twelfth, R. Westland, France and Belgium, who had purchased Freeston Boston; Shropshire, nearly all so largely, that in one week corn rose from gone; Rutland, probably one-fourth, S. 96s. to 120s. per quarter; and, as a further Cheetham, Oakham; Huntingdon, nearly proof of the correctness of the view which exhausted, P. Purvis, Kimbolton; Camhe took, he could refer their Lordships to bridgeshire, one-fifth, S. Jones, Ickleton; a document which had been placed in his Suffolk, one-seventh, W. Green, Ashfieldhands. It could not be considered official place; Monmouthshire, one-tenth, R. W. or authentic; for, unfortunately, they had Puchas; Kent, very short, R. Matson, no means of obtaining such information; Wingham; Devonshire, one-eighth, S. but it appeared that some person or per- Cornish, Kingsbridge; Wales, not onesons had endeavoured to ascertain an ac- tenth, E. W. David, Cardiff; and accordcurate statement of the condition of food ing to the statement of Mr. W. Edmond, in the country, and had written to accre- Swansea, the stock in Wales was almost dited persons in the different counties for exhausted. That was the state of Engthat purpose. From the statement that land, Scotland, and Wales, if the accounts had been made in answer to those applica- in the document which had been placed in tions, he should select the places that were his hands were correct; and as it was the in the worst condition, though in selecting only information to which he could have those he might assure their Lordships that recourse, he would ask Her Majesty's Gothe condition of the rest was extremely bad. vernment if they had any reason to think Supposing that the harvest in Scotland that those statements with regard to the last year was of such an extent that, at the supply of wheat were well founded? commencement of autumn there was enough own impression was, that there was not housed to last until the next harvest came enough in the country to maintain our poin, as there were now two-thirds of a year pulation until the next harvest came in; and elapsed, there ought to be in Scotland at if the buyers from the Continent were to present one-third of the supply of the whole continue purchasing corn in our markets, year, or sufficient for four months' con- he would ask, was there a prospect of an sumption; but from the document which he equivalent importation on our part? The held in his hand it did not appear that such competition of the continental buyers with was the case. In Perthshire, it appeared, us in the markets of the north of Europe, from the statement of Mr. Playfair, of the and on the banks of the Vistula, as well Carse of Gowrie, that there was only one- as Odessa, and the ports of the Meditertenth of the wheat of last harvest left; in ranean, was such, that we had to look Lanarkshire, as stated by Mr. D. Gaird- principally to America, and even there ner, of Hamilton, one-eighth; in Mid the quantity already purchased for Europe Lothian, as stated by Mr. J. Finnie, of was very considerable. If what he had Swanston, there was little for disposal; in heard stated were true, the prospects for East Lothian, as stated by Mr. J. Bruce, the country were most dismal; and alof Waughton, the quantity much under the though our condition might be so far irreusual stock; in Fife, one-third; in Roxburgh- parable, yet by a proper economy of our shire, one-sixth, according to the account corn, and by putting the ship's company of Mr. J. Brodie, of Hawick; in Wigton, on half allowance, we should be enabled to almost all was gone, as stated by Mr. A. tide ourselves over this trying period, and H. M'Lean, Stranraer; in Ayrshire, about so arrive at the next harvest in health and one-eighth, as stated by Mr. Tennant, of security. It would require the greatest Shields by Ayr; in Stirling, one-sixth; in economy to effect that object, and it beForfarshare, one-fourth. That was the hoved them to lay aside all luxuries and state of the supply in Scotland as regarded indulgences, in order to accomplish it. home produce; and the following list, with Brown bread, made of the whole corn the names of those on whose authority the ground, might be used with the advantage

His

LORD CAMPBELL thought that this course was calculated to encourage mobs -meal mobs as they were called in Scotland.

The EARL of HARDWICKE said, his object was to prevent the stocks being purchased up by the large dealers, and then retailed at enormous increase of price to the people. He hoped that such of the landowners and gentry as had large supplies of corn would hold them in their own hands, so that they would be better able to meet the pressure when it arrived. He begged to ask the noble Marquess, whether he was aware of the quantity of corn then in the country; and if they had not a sufficiency, whether he was enabled to state that a sufficient supply could be procured from foreign countries?

of a great saving of food, whilst a cessa- | noble Earl had alluded, and who had retion from the consumption of starch would cently printed the returns he had received. also be the means of increasing in a very Any opinion, therefore, as to the amount considerable degree the supply of corn for of stock, he should decline to give; but food. He did hope and trust that the thus much he might say for the satisfaclanded gentry would take the case into tion of the noble Earl-not subscribing to their consideration, in their own counties, his opinion as to the amount of stock at and take means to prevent the corn from the end of the harvest of last year-that leaving those counties, in order to enable there had not since the harvest been the people to meet a time of emergency. brought into the markets of this country a He saw that a noble Lord opposite did not more considerable or a greater amount of appear to concur with him. corn than during the corresponding period of the former year; and, therefore, unless the deficiency of the last harvest was much more than the deficiency of the preceding, it must be presumed that a considerable quantity was now in stock. There he should have stopped, had not the noble Earl gone further; but he should now state to the noble Lord, what he was sure it would be satisfactory to him to know, that there had been an enormous and an increasing amount up to that moment of the importation of corn into this country, not announcing in any degree that diminution of supply at which the noble Earl appeared to be alarmed. In the month of January, in the present year, 661,000 quarters had been imported; in the month of February 557,000 quarters had been imported; in the month of March 929,000 quarters had been imported; and in the month of April 1,043,000 quarters had been imported: thereby indicating an increase proportioned to the amount of the demand, and that on the appearance of the deficiency, of which at an early period of the year the public were not aware, there were corresponding efforts made to supply the demand; and the result would be, if the supply were continued during the entire year at the same ratio as during the last four months, the amount of supply for the year would be 9,000,000 quarters. Another statement, equally satisfactory, he could make in explanation to the noble Earl, and one which, he conceived, was peculiarly satisfactory, as showing the complete command of the markets of the world which had been enjoyed by this country subsequently to the knowledge that there would be no interference here with the course of trade. The moment that was known, an increased and increasing activity was kept up; and the result was, that while, as was unfortunately too well known, other countries were labouring un der the same affliction with ourselves, and whilst the demands of those large and populous countries were daily increasing, and

The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE was sure that the noble Earl, who had, in the exercise of his public duty, thought it right to put these questions, would feel that they were questions which related to a most perilous subject, and would feel also that he (the Marquess of Lansdowne) exercised a sound discretion in abstaining, on his own part, and on the part of the Government, from hazarding anything like an opinion which might have the effect of deceiving the public or any interest in the country. The noble Earl stated rightly, that in this great country there was no organized machinery by which they could become accurately possessed of the amount of stock in the country, or of the probable amount of demand as compared with that stock. Every individual had the same means of judging as he (the Marquess of Lansdowne) had; every individual had the same means as Her Majesty's Government of collecting information on this subject; and he knew of no information which could be collected more carefully or with greater attention to accuracy-though, as he did not know the particulars, he could not speak to the entire accuracy of his returns than by the individual to whom the VOL. XCII.

Third Y
Series

Z

their deficiency was daily more and more
confirmed, the whole exportation of corn
from the United States to the whole world
was 2,170,000 quarters; and of that
amount not more than 500,000 quarters
had found their way to all the rest of the
world, leaving this country in possession or
enjoyment of four times the amount ex-
ported from America to all the rest of the
world. To this statement he could add,
that he had no reason to apprehend that
the supply from America was likely to di-
minish; on the contrary, the opinion of
those most conversant with the subject
was, that the present state of prices, which
had unfortunately increased of late, was
sufficient to secure not only the whole sup-
ply of corn which had been destined for
this country, but that a portion of the
corn intended for other countries would be
diverted from those countries to this.
These were the only facts it was in his
power to state.
He had felt it his duty to
state thus much; but he abstained alto-
gether from any anticipation as to what
the amount of stock was, or what would be
required. At the same time, he agreed
that the state of the country rendered it
an imperative duty on all persons, so far
as their influence and power went, and,
above all, in their own families, to incul-
cate, as a matter of feeling, as well as of
economy, the strictest care in the use of
food.

agree to such a proposal. At the same time we stood in the singular position of being the only distressed country that did not restrict exportation: and there might come a case of necessity for such a step to be taken even here.

LORD BROUGHAM thought this to be a very important subject. Nothing could be worse than concealing the fact of a scarcity. Nothing, on the contrary, could tend more to prevent a dearth from becoming a famine, than to give timely notice of its approach; he therefore thanked his noble Friend for having brought the subject before the House. He wished he could say that he experienced no uneasiness in his mind with respect to the prospects of the country for the next two or three months. He was, however, quite clear upon one subject-that the advice of his noble Friend (the Marquess of Lansdowne) was sound advice, and that it was the imperative duty of all in their Lordships' station and in the middle classses of society to practise and to inculcate in others the most strict and rigorous system of economy, especially in husbanding the great and fundamental resource that constituted the prime staff of life. With respect to the labouring classes, they unhappily required no stimulus to exercise economy, because the rise of prices imposed it upon them as a necessity, and in this respect a rise of price operated usefully LORD ASHBURTON was understood to to correct the effects of improvidence in say that he feared the largest portion of a season of scarcity. He felt the great imwheat from America had already arrived; portance of what had fallen from his noble there might still be some Indian corn to Friend (Lord Ashburton) as to the very come, as the harvest of that grain was great impolicy of interfering with the exlater; but he feared that the noble Mar- port trade of this country in corn. It quess's anticipations of a large future sup- would tend at a time of pressure such as ply, proportioned to what we had already the country was suffering under to frusreceived, would not be realized. It must trate and defeat their own object, by prebe remembered that the cause of the de- venting a sufficient supply coming to Engficiency which here had been the source of land from America; for he entertained not so much calamity, existed also over a great the least doubt that the immense supplies part of Europe, and it was the duty of the of corn which his noble Friend (the MarLegislature to open the eyes of the country quess of Lansdowne) had stated had arto the possible consequences. He con- rived in this country within the last four fessed that nothing would give him greater months-amounting to between 3,000,000 satisfaction than to see the favourable an- and 4,000,000, of quarters-had been ticipations confirmed; but he could not en- brought hither with the view to re-exportertain them, for inquiries among his neigh- tation. And all this corn had come from bours had resulted in much the same in- America, for it was impossible that any formation as that stated by the noble Earl portion of it could have arrived from the (the Earl of Hardwicke). The only ques- Baltic, the cold season having shut up tion now was, whether they ought or ought that sea. So great was the amount of imnot to place restrictions upon the exporta-portation, that within the last four or five tion of corn; and he admitted that it would weeks there had been sufficient to supply be with great reluctance that he could this country with one fifth of a whole