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and all our other proofs of decline in num1bers (ost of which were urged by Dr Price and M. Jackson and were refuted by me morghan thirty years ago; the returns to the opulation act have sufficiently proved wh was right) these, methods of depressing alfir adversary; (than whom no man more Cadhires your talents) rarely answer longer than for a moment the triumph is short;

the objects of them might jostly and reason, ably have entertained with respect to the use of their property, this prohibition to the cot growers seemed to bead And I some what wondered that you had not, in your former discussions of this subject, expressed your disapprobation of this prohibition. But, now I parceive, br your yesterday's Regiss ter, that you agree with me in this sentis ment, and, therefore, I now earnestly and confidently hope, that your arguments will have the effect of procuring success to the present bill for the relief of the poor sugar planters, without that prohibitory clause against the coru growers. For the planters are really in great distress, and justly entitled to the attention and compassion of government, by all practicable and reasonable methods and are, as you rightly observe, the subjects of the crown as much as the inhabi tants and natives of Great Britain itself. And the arguments of Mr Arthur Young and Mic. Wakefield, against the intended permission to the sugar planters, when unaccompanied with the prohibition to the corn growers, appear to me to have been thoroughly refu -- SIR,- I am a constant reader of your ted and overthrown by the answers you have excellent Political Register, and a great ad-given them remain your obedient-ser

and you will certainly admit that I did For produce to the committee the authority of a writer who mistook rabbits for women. Although you are ready to declare that the singular fact I produced has nothing to do with the main question, you must permit me to think very differently. It ought to convince the legislature that barley is the last object upon which to make experiments; that depressing consumption is not the way to encourage production; these truths, so obvious to plain understandings, are denied, Sir, by the evident tendency of all you have written on this business of the distillery. am, &c,-ARTHUR YOUNG.

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CORN AGAINST SUGAR.

vant, I. T-May 15, 1808–

CORN AGAINST SUGARICU

mirer of the powerful reasons, and your clear Land strong manner of stating them, with which you generally support your opinions; and, for the most part, I accede to those opiSIR, I have read with much pleasure, nions. And I have accordingly had great your very excellent address to the Freehold pleasure in reading your reflections on the ers of Hampshire, and I think the country measure now in parliament, for permitting highly indebted to you, for the clear elucida the sugar planters of our West India islands tion of the subject therein given. There is, to distil, for the use of the inhabitants of however, one part of your statement (in Great Britain, the great quantities of sugar which Mr. Wakefield appears to acquiesce) they have lately been imported into England, not quite correct. You assume that the cutn and which they cannot otherwise dispose of used in the distilleries is, as food 5 thrown to their advantage. Your reasonings upon away." This is not the fact, for of the this subject convinced me that this permis- 470,000 qrs, of grain used (as the Report of sion ought to be granted to them; but they the Committee states) in the British distilledid not thoroughly convince me that the billries, there remain after the extract is made that is now in parliament, ought, in its present form, to pass, because, I understand that this bill does not only grant a permission to the sugar planters to distill their sugars, but prohibits the growers of barley from diskilling their corn and this I thought rather hard upon them, as it was depriving them by an ex post facto Jaw (excuse the expression borrowed from the Latin language, as I don't know how so readily to express the ruatter in plain English,) of the liberty of employing their corn in the manner in which they might have intended to employ it when they sowed it in their fields general I have an aver sion to restrictions and prohibitions, and especially to such as are unexpected and contrary to the views that the persons who are

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300,000 grs. of grains. There is also a very considerable quantity of wash left after the spirit is drawn from the extraet of the cord, These grains and wash are used in the feedIng of cattle, which must otherwise be fattened on corn. This statement, however, so far as it goes diminishes the value of the dis tilleries as a granary. For if grain be probibited in the manufacture of spirits, there must still be a quantity of coru used either for feeding cattle or making bread to supply that deficiency of food occasioned by the want of the refuse of the com distilleries, la estimating the value of three quarters of grains (the refuse after the extract is made), to be equal in the production of food to one quarter of barley, I think I am rather under

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the mark. Upon this supposition, however, in case the distilleries should be compelled to use sugar instead of corn, 100,000 qrs. of barley would be required for producing that food which is now supplied from the distilleries.I must say, Mr. Cobbett, that before so general and determined an opposition to this measure had been raised throughout the country, it would have been but decent to have waited till the report of the committee, and the evidence given before it, had been printed, in order that the principles, on which the prohibition of corn in the distilleries is recommended, might have been calm ly considered and fairly discussed. The report and the appendix are now before me, and if any reliance whatever is to be placed on the opinion of Mr. Arthur Young and Mr. Wakefield (the great champions of the agricultural interest), the probibition of the use of corn in the distilleries is a measure not only fit and proper in itself, but such as the ministers of the country are bound to do all in their power to carry into effect. On Mr. Young being asked." Q. Under the "probable circumstances of the country "with respect to the supply of foreign grain, can we look forward to the effects "of a short crop or mildew, or a wet har "vest without apprehension? A. Not "without great apprehension." In fact, the whole tenor of his answers, upon which you have so ably commented in the Register of last week proves the great distress this country would suffer in the event of a short crop, and even with a plentiful harvest there would be a deficiency in the usual supply equal to the amount of the importation. Mr. Wakefield after stating the average annual Importation from 1800 to 1806, to be 1,447,500 grs., was asked, "Do you conceive that we are likely to have a supply "equal to the average of the last five years, in the present state of Europe? A. Knowing the, ports of the Baltic to be shut against us, I should say, certainly not. I "know that the importations from America have been very trifling indeed. Q. Must you not then, apprehend that there will *be a great scarcity of grain in the market? A. The present prices of wheat best speak the contrary fact at this moment: but if a short harvest was to take place next year, the coming-in year, I should think' the country in an alarming state indeed."; Now, Sir, having before us this evidence from two of the best practical agriculturists in the country, shut out as we are from the whole continent of Europe, and excluded from all commerce with America, having in 'addition to all this, our own West India co

lonies to supply from the growth of this country, can any unbiassed man hesitate for one moment, as to the propriety of bringing into consumption as food 370,000 qrs. of grain, (for I take it for granted that 100,000 qrs. would be still required for feeding cattle) especially, too, when it is recollected that the king in council will be enabled to put an end to the prohibition of the distilleries whenever the interests of the farmer shall require it? It appears to me, that very serious consequences may be the result of our not availing ourselves of every mean of increasing the food to be used in this countay; and, I cannot but hope that the patriotism of the landed interest, will induce it to withdraw its opposition to a measure so just in itself, and, under the present political circumstances of Europe, so necessary to our welfare.I am, &c.-Z.-May 12, 1808.

CROWN LANDS. A

SIR,--The present disposal of the << crown lands," would certainly be worth investigation, and I much wish that the public attention should be directed to the subject. I am surrounded by a valuable portion of them, which have been leased for so many fent family in the neighbourhood, as to be years back to the representatives of an opuconsidered at this day a part of their own property. This family, of course, is enabled to return the members; for the crown lands and houses are judiciously stocked at an under rent with free and independent electors, as I understand they usually are in cities by the leading men. I sincerely hope that an immediate resumption of these grants may be made. First, that the benevolence of the king, which might be directed to more deserving objects, should not be intercepted and turned to unconstitutional purposes by the middlemen. Or, secondly, that in these times of difficulty, the government should draw the full value of its estates, now by no means the case, and which can only be fairly ascertained by a public auction. And, finally because, by the destruction of this source of undue influence, the first stone would be thrown into the chasm which yawns be-k tween the honest voter, and the independent candidate. UTOPIAN.-May 12, 1908.

YO

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LIVERPOOL PETITION. q n DISTILLATION FROM SUGAR To the Honourable the, Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and, Ireland in Parliament assembled the humble Petition of the Gentlemen, Clergy, Merchants,

and other Inhabitants of the Town of Liverpool:

Sheweth, That this town essentially depends for the supply of bread to its numerous inhabitants, and a large and populous district in the interior of the county of Lancaster upon importations of corn and flour from other parts, and that a large proportion of such supply has heretofore been derived from foreign countries.--That of late, in consequence of the unhappy situation of the. Continent of Europe, and the embargo which has taken place in the United States of Ame rica, the importation of foreign corn and flour has ceased, and the prices of these artieles have advanced considerably, and are still advancing, while at the same time from the stagnation of trade, and the consequent want of employment and depreciation of wages, the labouring classes of the people are become less able to purchase those necessaries of life at a high rate, or even more reasonable rates, as fully appears by the report lately made of evidence taken before a committee of your honourable house, ordered to be printed on the 12th of April last, on the petition of certain cotton manufacturers and journeymen cotton weavers living in this county. That from the united operation of these circumstances your petitioners have been and continue apprehensive of much distress amongst the poor in this populous town and county; and it was with peculiar satisfaction that they observed, in a late report of a committee of your honourable house, the recommendation of what your petitioners humbly deem a wise measure of precaution loudly called for by the existing situation of the country; namely, the suspension of the use of grain in the distilleries of the kingdom, and the restriction of them to the use of sugar for a limited period. That in proportion to the satisfaction of your petitioners in so well-timed a recommendation, is their regret in perceiving that meetings have been held in some parts of the country for the purpose of obtaining petitions to your honourable house, against the measure in question, as calculated to injure the farmers and discourage agriculture.--That your petitioners humbly contend that this measure cannot produce those effects, as it appears by the report of your committee, that on an average of the last five years the importation of foreign corn into Great Britain, has not been less than seven hundred and seventy thousand quarters per annum, which must of course have found a consump tion, but which can no longer be imported; while the quantity of corn used in the distilleries of the United Kingdom does not ex

ceed seven hundred and eiglity thousand quarters, and therefore the corn to be excluded from the distilleries by the proposed measure, supposing it to extend to Ireland as well as Great Britain, will only supply the place of the quantity hitherto imported from foreign parts. That in addition to this usual foreign supply (of which a large proportion has been received at Liverpool), there has been imported into this place from Ireland, on an average of the last five years, two hundred and forty two thousand five hundred and twenty-five quarters of corn, flour, and oatmeal, per annum; that during the period now past of the present year, this usual supply has been greatly diminished, and in place of a continuance thereof, at this time, ofders for the purchase of considerable quantities of wheat and oats have been received by merchants in Liverpool, from millers and others in Ireland, at unlimited prices, to be shipped from hence for the supply of districts in that part of the United Kingdom, where scarcity appears to be apprehended. -That large supplies of corn are annually received at Liverpool from Scotland, that these supplies during the present year have been much less than usual, owing to the deficiency of the last crop in several quarters in that part of the United Kingdom, all which tends to enhance still more the price of bread here, already too high for the Jaluring poor generally to afford, and particularly the manufacturing poor, from the present want of employment, and conse quent depreciation of wages.-That if any insuperable obstacles should prevent this restriction from being extended to Ireland, it appears there would then be a deficiency of three hundred thousand quarters of foreign supply, to be provided for, if possible, by an extended cultivation of the soil of the United Kingdom, in order to meet the usual consumption of the country, without taking into the account the extraordinary supplies of corn, flour, and bread, which, in the present situation of afieirs must inevitably be wanted by the British West India Colonies from the United Kingdom, as well as that our allies the Swedes, being deprived of their usual supply of bread corn from the opposite shores of the Baltic, and their own growth being generally inadequate to their ordinary consumption, may at this time be compelled to resort to this country for sup plies of barley, which when mixed with re is, as your petitioners are informed, used for bread in times of scarcity in Sweden. That in the opinion of your petitioners, the prices of corn are likely to continue high, though they trust that the adoption of this

have recourse to barley bread, which they are not accustomed to use except in times of scarcity and comparative dearness of other sorts of grain.-That your petitioners conceive that the confining of the operation of the measure in question to a single year, with a power vested in his majesty in council to put an end to it within that period, if necessary, would be so guarded a proceeding, as under all the circumstances of the case, cannot reasonably excite in the minds of those concerned the least feeling of alarm or apprehension.-That although your petitioners are anxious to recommend the proposed measure to your honourable house, on grounds of general benefit, without reference to any partial interests, yet they cannot be insensible of its tendency to afford relief to the West India. colonies, in their present distressed situa tion, which have been shewn to have peculiar claims on the consideration of the legislature, and which, in the apprehension of your petitioners, affords a strong additionalargument in favour of this measure, more especially as the preservation of the colonies from the ruin which threatens them, is con fessedly an object of the first national importance, as it appears the article of sugar alone pays an annual duty of above three millions to the country, that the manufactured goods exported annually to these colonies have exceeded six millions in value, and that this trade is one of the principal remaining nurseries for our seamen, and of employment for our shipping. Your petitioners therefore pray that your honourable house will pass an act to suspend the use of grain in the distilleries of Great Britain and Ireland, and to confine them to the use of sugar for one year from the 1st day of July next, subject to a discretionary power to be vested in the king in council, upon a sufficient notice, to do away the suspension, and allow the distilleries to carry on their trade in the accustomed manner.-And your petitioners will ever pray, &c.

measure will prevent them from becoming exorbitant. That the advantage of exorbitant prices even to the, farmers is very questionable, experience having shewn that they terminate eventually in uncommon depreciation, while, in the meantime, the evils that ensue to the public at large are unquestionably great, and your petitioners feel assured, that your honourable house will. deem the good of the whole to be preferred to a doubtful interest of one class of the people, however numerous and respectable; a class, moreover, which being protected, by a special act of the legislature, from the injurious effects of an excessive depreciation of the prices of corn in times of plenty, by bounties on its exportation, payable out of the public revenue, ought, at other times, in fairness and justice, to submit cheerfully to such measures as may be necessary to guard the public against the contrary extreme of exorbitant prices, particularly in the present peculiar situation of the country, and unprecedented state of the cousinent of Europe. -That with regard to the local interests of any particular districts in which barley may be chiefly cultivated, your petitioners humbly conceive they have a still less claim to be put into competition with a measure of general advantage; but your petitioners are of opinion, that even the local interests of the barley counties are now likely to be materially affected by the proposed measure, for though barley is the grain chiefly used in the English distilleries, and though it appears there are some lands in this kingdom where, no substitute for the crops of that grain can be resorted to without injury to. the farmer; yet, on the other hand, it appears there are also lands on which barley is grown where oats would prove an advantageous substitute; and when your petitioners consider, that, of the quantity of barley annually produced in England, only one sixteenth part, or thereabouts, has been consumed in the distilleries, they cannot doubt that such a change of culture might take place as would prevent barley from. being reduced below its proportionable price compared with other grain, or if it should for a time be somewhat lower than its just proportion, it would soon, in the opinion of your petitioners, find a more extended The fire from the breaching batconsumption as bread, corn, the effect of teries had been variously directed till which must inevitably be to raise it to its the evening of the 16th, when they natural level, in confirmation of which, bent their undivided fury against the your petitioners are enabled to state to your left bastion with such success, that the breach honourable house, that of late, in con- would probably have been practicable by sequence of tire advance in wheat and oats, the following evening. It was under these as well as the reduction of wages, the circumstances that I received your orders to lower classes in this county have begun to evacuate the castle, and have the great satis

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OFFICIAL PAPERS.

Report from Lieut. Col: Robertson, Commandant of Scylla Castle.(Concluded from page 200.)

faction of reporting, that we accomplished this yesterday morning, in full view of the enemy, and without leaving an individual behind. The approach of the boats from Faro gave the French full intimation of our design, but the tempestuous state of the weather obliged us to seize the short opportunity of an hour's lull.-Every battery poured its utmost fire upon the castle, and subsequently upon the boats; while infantry with field pieces tried the breach on either side. The garrison was drawn off in succession, and the embarkation effected with the greatest order, notwithstanding the tremendous fire of grape, shells, &c. Our loss in the operation was small; and before we were a musket-shot distant, the French were in the fort-The masterly arrangement of the transport boats and man of war launchers upon this occasion, does high honour to Capt. Trollope, of his majesty's ship Electra, who personally superintended this service; and the conduct of the officers and men under him was marked with all the coolness and dexterity of British seamen. I regret to add, that one of them was killed in the operation, and ten wounded, some of them dangerously. The uniform good conduct of the garrison which I have had the good fortune to command, demands my warmest gratitude; and their intrepid spirit during the siege is hardly more commendable than the zeal with which they went through the fatigues that preceded it-The detachment of the Royal Artillery was highly conspicuous; the excellence of their gunnery was proved by the severe losses which the enemy has sustained; and I cannot too strongly express iny sense of the skill and indefagitable zeal which Lient. Dunn has displayed throughout the siege.I feel highly indebted to the exertions of Capt. Cruikshanks of the 62d, Jordan of the 27th, and Pringle of the 21st, as well as to the officers and men under them.-From Lieut Dickons, of the engineers, I received every assistance; and my adjutant, Lieut. Hadfield, of the 35th, has been throughout indefatigably zealous.—I cannot, conclude, Sir, without expressing my particular thanks to Capt. Nicholas, Assistant Quarter-Master General, whose abilities and activity rendered him eminently useful. And I have the satisfaction of reflecting, that the support I have received from all ranks has enabled me to sell Scylla dear; and that General Regnier has obtained possession of this little heap of ruins with the loss of several hundreds of his best troops.The return of cur killed and wounded is annexed. We have

lost some gallant men; but considering the weight of the enemy's fire, the number is by no means great. I have the honour to be, &c.- G. D. ROBERTSON, Lieut. Colonel, Commandant Scylla Castle, good, bad To Maj. Gen. Sherbrooke, commanding his British Majesty's troops in Sicily.

Return of the killed and wounded of the detachments forming the British garrison of the Castle of Scylla, in Calabria, from the 4th to the 17th of Feb. 1808; viz.-Royal Artillery, 3 gunners killed; 1 bombardier, 8 gunners wounded.-27th Reg. 1st bat. 3 rank and file killed, 14 rank and file wounded.-68th Reg. 3 rank and file killed, 6rank and file wounded.-62d Reg. 2 rank and file killed, 2 rank and file wounded. Total, gunners, 8 rank and file killed; I bombar. dier, 8 gunners, 22 rank and file wounded, (Signed) J. CAMPBELL, Brig. Gen.

Adjutant-General.

RUSSIA. Declaration published at St. Pttersburgh, March 16, 1808, in consequence of the Arrest of the Russian Am

bassador at Stockholm.

The emperor has informed all the cabinets of Europe and his own subjects of his constant, endeavours to inforce his rights grounded ou subsisting treaties with Sweden, and to obtain by virtue thereof the co-operation of his Swedish majesty against England. Atter having pursued these measures for several months his imperial majesty was concerned to hang that while he was endeavouring to preserve a good understanding between Russia and Sweden the latter preferred the friendship of England his enemy.-His imperial majesty has not concealed from the king of Sweden, or all Europe, that the welfare of his people required of him to employ all the means which Providence has bestowed on him for the safety and welfare of his empire.-Faithful to his system of moderation, his majesty declared to the king of Sweden his read ness to convert the step which he had measure luctantly taken, into a mere prudence, if the king would immediately and without delay, perform bis engagement and co-operate with him and the Denmark to shut the Baltic agains English fleets. The silence observed king of Sweden, the accounts given i papers of the conclusion of which subsidies, a fleet, and land forces of Great Britain the disposal of that monarch; thing bespoke the real sentiments of prince with regard to Russia every clearly shewed, that his imperial

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