ever on persisting in their experiment; but they talk incoherently
about some future measure of relief, which, if we will consent to
be quiet, they may possibly, out of their great bounty, vouchsafe
to the victims of their policy. Now, let us see in what position we
are placed. For the first time probably in the memory of man, the
Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer has a surplus; but he does not well
know what to do with it; and he thinks that perhaps the best way
of employing a portion of it is to give the manufacturers another
bonus by taking the duty off bricks; but he calls that a boon to the
agriculturists. (Hear.) Why, in a single factory stalk there are more
bricks than would build cottages for a whole parish! Let us see,
however, how that surplus has been occasioned. That surplus would
be a deficit, and a large deficit, were it not for the property and
income tax laid on by Sir R. Peel--(hear, hear)--under a promise as
solemn as ever flowed from the lips of man, that it was to be but
temporary in its operation. But that tax has never been removed,
and never will be removed, unless this country shall speak with
more determination upon the subject than it has hitherto done. How
does that tax work on you farmers? (Cheers.) You are charged to the
income-tax in proportion to the amount of your rents, so that you do
not pay it out of your profits. Now, I say that the continuance of
that tax on the farmers, after the legislature has deprived them of
the profits of their business, is a crying iniquity. (Hear, hear,
and cries of "We will no longer pay it.") I suppose you will not pay
it because you cannot pay it; that is, no doubt, the reason. But
let us see what argument is advanced in favour of the continuance
of Free Trade. What tangible ground have they for telling us that
we are still bound to persevere? There is none; there cannot be any
argument advanced in its favour. The experiment was adopted, we are
told, with a view to stimulate exports, and to give the manufacturers
of this country more extended markets for their produce. Well, but
last year the amount of these exports had not reached the amount of
the year 1845--the last year of Protection. (Immense cheering.) So
then, even the exporting manufacturers have been disappointed. As to
the home trade, we all know, and the manufacturers themselves know to
their cost, in what a wretched position that is placed. But when the
Free-traders were asked why they had adopted the Free-trade policy
or why they continued it, they replied that it was because if they
had not done so there would have been a revolution in this country.
(Hear, and laughter.) That is, indeed, the most precious reason I
have ever heard assigned for any course of policy. What does that
say for the loyalty of the individuals for whom the change has been
made? (Loud cries of "Hear, hear.") But you are known to be loyal,
and you therefore the class selected to be sacrificed to buy up the
loyalty of the towns. (Enormous cheering.) Test this argument of
theirs in any way you will, and I defy you to arrive at any other
conclusion. Is it not enough to make one sick to see such legislation
going on? But it is not confined to Great Britain alone: we have it
in Canada also at this moment. There the Government is buying up the
rebels, compensating those who rose in arms against this country,
and spreading disaffection among the loyal people of that colony,
who were ready to lay down their lives in defence of the Queen and
the Constitution. But I fear I have already detained you longer than
I ought to have done. We are here simply to tell you, that in this
great national struggle, for a principle which is scarce less vital
to us than our liberties, our co-operation, according to the measure
of our ability, shall be cordially and unreservedly given. (Loud
cheering.) This is not England's battle only: it is ours as well;
and therefore are we here to-day. It is matter for regret that the
tenantry in Scotland have not oftener had opportunities of meeting
their brethren in the south, and, indeed, that the agriculturists
of the country generally cannot, from obvious reasons, be brought
into contact with each other as frequently as would be desirable.
But this I will say, that I believe the feelings among the yeomanry
and the tenantry in both countries are the same; and that those two
classes who, in days long gone by, met in hostile conflict, are
now united in their determination to have the infamous measures
which are over-riding us all repealed; and when the red cross of St
George and the silver cross of St Andrew are blended indissolubly
together, I fear no Cobdens--I fear no opposing force: I fear neither
the machinations of the intriguer, nor the empty bluster of the
demagogue. (Loud and long-continued cheers.) I despise their threats,
as I know that their hearts are cowardly; and I tell them that their
insolent challenge has been taken up, in a manner which they fear to
answer, by the true men and the valiant spirits of Britain; and in
the justice of the cause we repose our faith in its issue. (Loud and
vociferous cheering.)
Sir M. RIDLEY WHITE, Bart., of Northumberland, seconded the
resolution. He could undertake to say, from his personal knowledge,
that, in the important county with which he was more intimately
connected, the Free-trade policy had proved most seriously
prejudicial to the agricultural classes. Earl Grey had declared that
he did not consider the value of his property had been diminished by
the adoption of that policy. But he (Sir M. Ridley White) could state
one very striking fact, which, he thought, would show how groundless
was that declaration. The noble Earl possessed, among other fine
farms on his large estates, what might be called the picked farm
of the county, as regarded the production of barley and turnips.
That farm had been tenanted, a few years ago, by an intelligent and
enterprising man, who had hitherto paid for it a rent of L.2240. The
tenant had, some time since, announced that the circumstances of the
times were such that he could no longer pay that rent, and that it
should be reduced to L.1600. That proposal had not been agreed to by
the noble Earl, and the farm had been advertised in all the local
prints, as well as in other portions of England and in Scotland.
One offer had been made for it, which, however, had subsequently
been withdrawn, and the highest sum afterwards bid for it was a
rent of L.1680. That offer had been refused by the noble Earl, and
the result was that that farm, the pick, as it were, of the county,
was at present occupied by the noble Earl himself. (Loud cries of
"Hear, hear.") With such a fact staring the noble Earl in the face,
he (Sir M. Ridley White) supposed he would not again get up in his
place in the House of Lords and say that his property had not been
depreciated by the adoption of the Free-trade system. But he should
proceed to lay before the meeting a number of other facts, the truth
of which he should at any time be ready to substantiate, for the
purpose of showing how much the value of agricultural property had,
of late, been diminished in the county of Northumberland. Many farms
in that county had been recently relinquished in consequence of the
depressed state of the markets for agricultural produce, and the
rentals of those that had been re-let, had, in general, been reduced.
A few instances to the contrary might be cited, but that variation
could be satisfactorily accounted for. In the farm of Berwick Hill,
the old rent had been L.500, the new rent was L.300. In Great Ryle,
in the parish of Whittingham, the old rent had been L.1100, the new
rent was L.855, being a decrease of 22 per cent. In Morwick, in the
parish of Warkworth, the old rent had been L.715, the new rent was
L.533, being a decrease of 22-1/2 per cent. Prestwick East Farm, in
the parish of Dinnington, within five miles Of the populous town
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which had been recently let at L.300, was
re-let this year at L.220, being a diminution of 26-1/2 per cent.
Then, again, he found that agricultural capital had been reduced
very considerably, and in many cases rents were being paid out of
the capital, and not from the returns of the farms. Reductions had
been made in the wages paid to labourers to the amount of from 1s.
to 2s. per week, and in the northern parts of the county to 2s. 6d.
The sales of farm-stock had been unprecedented, both as to numbers,
extent, and importance: the reduction in value at ready-money sales,
as compared with former years, had been very considerable in every
instance, varying from 20 to 40 per cent. Many labourers had been
thrown out of employment, and the demand for able-bodied workmen was
much reduced, while improvements in agriculture were not carried on
to the same extent, or with the same spirit, as in former years.
The demand for adventitious manures had also decreased, and that
depression extended to the towns throughout the county, in which
the tradesmen, whose prosperity was mainly dependent on that of the
agriculturists, had suffered a depreciation to the amount of from
30 to 35 per cent. Having submitted those facts to the meeting, he
had much pleasure in recommending the resolution for their adoption.
(Cheers.)
The resolution was then put, and unanimously agreed to.
Mr J. J. ALLNATT, Wallingford, in Berkshire, proposed the following
resolution:--"That no relief from general or local taxation, which
is consistent with the maintenance of national faith, and the
efficiency of public establishments, can enable the British and
colonial producer to maintain a successful competition with foreign
productions, and that the only hope of replacing the agricultural
and other British interests in a state of prosperity rests on the
re-establishment of a just system of import duties." He regretted
to find that at that advanced hour he could trespass but a few
minutes on their attention, because he had much to say of the
atrocious position in which the agricultural classes had been placed
by the legislation adopted of late years in this country. He felt
convinced that unless that policy were speedily reversed, it would be
impossible to continue to raise the amount of revenue necessary for
the maintenance of those great establishments on which the national
safety and honour mainly depended. He did not see why the farmers
should be made the victims of an experiment which every one, except
her Majesty's Ministers and the Free-traders, had foretold must
bring ruin on the country. But what would be the nature and extent
of that ruin? Were those institutions which constituted our pride
and the world's envy to be toppled down merely that an "experiment"
might be tried? Why, that experiment had already been tried, and,
moreover, had most signally failed. He spoke as a Berkshire farmer,
representing the feelings and opinions of the Berkshire farmers, and
he might say of Oxfordshire too, for he lived upon the borders of
the Thames, which separated the two counties; and he spoke advisedly
and decidedly when he said that these insane laws had already
produced great distress amongst the agricultural classes generally
in these counties, and, he regretted to add, had also shaken those
constitutional feelings and that attachment to the Crown which were
once their boast. (Cheers.) Now, if he asked a brother farmer how he
felt upon certain points of great importance connected with these
matters, he would answer him thus--"I thought it was the duty of a
government to uphold and protect every individual who is called on
to pay taxes for the support of that government. I thought that we
owed our fealty upon certain conditions, and that we had a right to
demand protection, in the exercise of our skill and industry, against
unfair competition." I am not enamoured of the word Protection,
but I certainly thought we had a right to live and to say to any
government--"You shall not, and you dare not, put your hand into my
pocket and rob me." (Loud cheers.) Reference had been made to the
statement of Mr Charles Villiers--that L.90,000,000 sterling had been
saved to the country through the operation of Free Trade, and that
therefore the country was the richer to that amount. He (Mr Allnatt)
denied that proposition. He admitted that the agricultural interest
had been robbed of L.90,000,000, but the country was not the richer
for the transaction. (Hear, hear.) And if it were a fact that from
a depreciation in the value of agricultural produce the country
was gaining L.90,000,000 a-year, the agricultural interest had had
taken from them to that extent their capability of paying the taxes
of the country; and if so, truly did the resolution he was about to
propose express one important fact, that the national faith was in
danger. (Cheers.) Was it to be supposed that if they were still to
be robbed of 90,000,000 a-year of their income, they would not look
to the public funds and say, "It is impossible that we, the working
bees, having been plundered of our honey, can continue to support the
drones." This consideration was of great importance, and ought to
sink deeply into the minds of those who, because they possessed fixed
incomes, must of course feel a certain degree of temporary prosperity
on account of the depreciation in the value of agricultural produce;
but he warned those gentlemen not to put too much faith in that
temporary prosperity. If the agricultural interest were to be
thus treated--if they were to be thus robbed--for he could find no
other expression that would accurately describe their treatment--he
warned the fundholders that their time of trial and suffering would
speedily arrive, and that shortly the term "national faith" would
not be found in the vocabulary of the farmer. (Great cheering.)
With regard to public establishments, he was as much disposed to
support just and useful establishments as any man; but there were
establishments in existence that were much too costly; and it was
unjust that those persons who were connected with them should be in
the receipt of the same amount of salary that was paid to them when
wheat was 60s. a quarter. Therefore he told these officials--ay, the
greatest of them--for he would go to the very pinnacle of power, and
descend to the meanest of those who were paid by the State--"There
ought to be some understanding as to how we are to pay you, and
what amount we are to pay you in future." (Cheers.) But when he saw
men like Mr Cobden and Mr Bright, professing the highest attachment
to the principles of financial reform, and then reflected on their
recent conduct in the House of Commons, when Mr Henley, the honest
and patriotic member for Oxfordshire, brought forward his proposal
embodying a proposition that was irrefutably true, and these men
had the audacity, the hardihood, (a voice--"Impudence,")--ay,
the impudence to meet that proposal by voting for the previous
question, he (Mr Allnatt) was almost afraid to avow himself a
financial reformer, lest he should be thought by honest men in
some degree to partake of the inconsistency and hypocrisy of the
leaders of the Free-trade faction. (An explosion of cheers.) The
resolution concluded by the simple proposition that no relief which
could be given by the remission of general taxation could save the
agricultural interest from impending ruin. With respect to the House
of Commons, he had formerly taken an active part in getting up
petitions to that honourable house, but he had now done with that.
(Loud cheers.) He should no more think of signing a petition to the
House of Commons, under present circumstances, on behalf of the
agricultural classes, than he should to the man in the moon. (Renewed
cheers.) There was a time when he (Mr A.) was under the impression
that the farmers of Great Britain and Ireland would, at all events,
receive the sympathy, if not the assistance, of the majority of
that branch of the Imperial Legislature at all times of difficulty
and distress; That delusion had now vanished; and when he saw a
majority of that House disbelieving the honest representations of
those who were suffering the deepest distress, when he witnessed, in
that majority, a disposition to evade the fair inference from facts
which they dared not positively deny, and that they would do nothing
voluntarily for the relief of that distress, which had been effected
by their own erroneous legislation; then, he said, he considered it
utterly useless either to trouble himself or disturb the calm repose
of such an assembly as that, by stating to them his apprehensions
of the impending ruin of British agriculture, and humbly soliciting
their aid in averting so dire a calamity, which must ere long place
in jeopardy even the most valued institutions of this great and
powerful nation. (Cheers.) Did the farmers recollect what Mr S.
Herbert had said about them--that they were coming before the House
of Commons, ingloriously "whining for protection?" Now, I (continued
Mr A.) do not mean to "whine." I mean to say, farmers of England!
that you have no cause for whining--that you can, if you will, raise
up your heads erect and _demand_ the restoration of protection.
(Vehement cheering.) I say it advisedly, that upon you, and upon
the class which you represent, depends the great question, whether
eventually the monarchy shall rest upon a rock, stable as those
rocks which gird our shores, or whether a system shall be introduced
breeding disaffection, alienating the attachment of the good and the
loyal, and producing general confusion in the country. (Loud cheers.)
I know, and I affirm fearlessly, that the continuance of the present
system will ruin the landed interest of the country. _We_ shall go
first, but noble lords and the aristocracy of England will be the
next to follow. It is impossible that the aristocracy of the country
can be supported without the tenantry. We have lived long enough
to find out that the expression of "rowing in the same boat" has
been used figuratively, and has meant nothing. True, there are many
exceptions, and noble lords and the gentlemen on the platform are
amongst them. The allusion to "rowing in the same boat" is no longer
generally applicable. We have rowed in the same boat, but they have
too often pulled one way while we pulled another. (Cheers.) I want
to see each one with a labouring oar in his hand. Let the landlords
join the tenantry in pulling towards the desired haven, and I will
be bound that the tenantry pull harder than they. (Loud cheers.) We
come forward not only in defence of our own rights, but the rights
of our landlords, and the rights of our labourers also. I am proud
of the aristocracy of the country, and I believe their eyes will yet
be opened, and that, when united with the tenant-farmer, they will
not only re-establish his right to live and prosper on the soil of
Old England, but preserve the Throne and prevent the establishment of
a republican form of government in this country, which would be but
the prelude to anarchy, bloodshed, and national disgrace. Mr Allnatt
concluded by moving the resolution, amidst loud cheers.
Mr HUGH WATSON, Keillor, N.B., considered it a high compliment to
the farmers of Scotland, that he, as representing that body, should
be called upon to take a part in the business of this great meeting
by seconding the resolution, so ably moved and introduced, for which
purpose he now rose. He had come there as one of a deputation from
the Protective Association of Scotland, and could answer for his
brother farmers in the North, that in heart and soul they were with
them. The farmers of Scotland had been accused, perhaps justly, of
being a little slow in the Protection movement; but if they were so,
it was not for lack of good will, but from motives of expediency or
prudence. Although we had not made any great public demonstration in
the North, we had, thanks to a valuable portion of the periodical
press in Scotland, been enabled to express our feelings. To this
influential organ of public opinion, which was not to be bought or
sold, we owed a debt of deep gratitude, for it had stood by us in our
adversity as well as in former prosperity. He was sorry that he was
not able to tell that things were better in Scotland than they were
in England. The tale that he might have related to them, was one of
as great misery as any they had been called upon to listen to that
day. At this late hour of the meeting, he would not go much into
detail. The experiment now being made has nearly ruined the farmers
of Scotland--a large portion of the arable land must go out of
cultivation--and confiscation of property had this year extended to
more than the gross rental of that kingdom. But, though the farmers
felt they were grievously oppressed, they were not yet subdued.
(Loud cheers.) There was a time when the interests of the landlords
and tenantry of Scotland were regarded as inseparable; but, he was
sorry to say, that feeling was not now so strongly entertained as
formerly. Delusions and deceptions had been practised which had, in
some cases, weaned the affections of the one class from the other;
he could see, however, a growing disposition to return to the path
in which they had formerly trod. He would say to his brother farmers
of England, that some apology was due to them from the farmers of
Scotland, for the unfounded aspersions which had been cast upon them
by a few empirical pretenders, who, from their insignificance, only
deserved their contempt. Let them be assured that the farmers of
Scotland were not so ignorant of the modes of farming, the management
of stock, and the general economy of well-managed English farms,
or of the intelligence of English farmers, as to try and deceive
them by any fine-spun theories of high-farming, or any such humbug.
(Cheers and laughter.) They might depend upon it, that the parties
who thus attempted to deceive them, or their landlords, were not
those sterling farmers of Scotland we have been accustomed to look
to during the last forty years. (Hear, hear.) One subject, which had
been alluded to here and in other places, had roused his Scottish
blood a little. The tenant farmers have been told that they have
not the courage, moral or physical, to stand up, and insist upon
their rights. Surely the fools who made such assertions as these do
not know of what stuff the yeomanry of England are composed. (Loud
cheers.) Surely they could never have seen such a sample of an
Irishman as was then on his left hand--(the Marquis of Downshire);
and I am quite sure they were equally ignorant of the character
of the hardy sons of Scotland, who would spend the last drop of
their blood rather than submit to insult. (Cheers.) In conclusion,
this I will say, that if such men as this Apostle of Peace and his
satellites choose to insult us, the men of England, Ireland, and
Scotland, or dare us to the strife, then say I--
"Come on, Macduff,
And damned be he who first cries--Hold, enough!"
(Vociferous cheering.)
The resolution was carried unanimously.
WILLIAM CALDECOTT, Esq.--My Lords and Gentlemen, I rise not only
as a landowner of one farm, and an occupier of another, but as a
delegate from the neighbourhood of Colchester, deputed by my brother
delegates to move the following resolution:--"That the members of the
various delegations from all parts of the United Kingdom now present
cannot separate without recording their deep sense of the invaluable
services rendered to the cause of Protection by the noble President,
the respected chairman of the acting committee, and the other members
of the National Association, in whom the whole agricultural community
repose the most deserved and unbounded confidence. And they earnestly
recommend to their fellow-countrymen who desire the restoration
of protection as the leading principle of legislative policy, to
support the Association; and whatever differences of opinion may
prevail on minor points, unitedly to follow its energetic but prudent
guidance in the great struggle in which they are engaged." In my
case, gentlemen, you see an instance of the distinction made between
classes; for, when in private life as a merchant, my funded property
escaped all contribution to tithes, poor-rates, and all other taxes;
but no sooner was I induced, by the assurances of Sir Robert Peel,
(the Judas Iscariot of political life,) that it would be madness to
alter his corn-law, to invest it in land, than it became subject to
an unequal and unjust share of public burdens, and which ought and
must be inquired into, since faith has been broken with us; or how
are we to keep faith with the national creditor when the means of
doing so are taken from us? Knowing as I do from private friends,
(Free-traders,) that the ulterior objects of the Free-traders are
the destruction of the union between Church and State, the abolition
of the Monarchy, and the establishment of a republic; and, lastly,
the application of the sponge to the national debt, I tell Lord
John Russell that, in aiding and abetting the Free-traders in these
designs, instead of being a public reformer, he will prove himself
a public destroyer, by alienating from her Majesty the most loyal
and attached body in her kingdoms--the yeomanry of England. For the
purpose of remedying the distress which was complained of, I would
not (exclaimed Mr Caldecott) petition the House of Commons; but if we
are to have no protection, let us go thousands in a body to insist
upon equality of burdens. We have the power in our own hands. If they
will not listen to the voice of reason--if constitutional means will
not avail, band yourselves together in a league for withholding the
taxes, the tithes, and the poor-rates, (immense cheering,) until the
Government do listen to your complaints.
"What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel just;
And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted."
Mr WILLIAM RIGDEN, Hove, Sussex, seconded the resolution, and said
at that late hour he would not detain the meeting, but merely make
a single remark upon the report of the "_Times'_ Commissioner" in
reference to the county of Sussex. In the course of his travels the
"Commissioner" seemed to have encountered a farm of 400 acres in
the neighbourhood of Brighton, upon which he said the occupier had
made a profit of £900 last year. He (Mr R.) undertook to say that
that statement was not true, and he now publicly challenged the
"Commissioner" to prove his assertion. (Loud cheers). As a proof of
the distress prevailing in the county of Sussex, he might state, that
within the last fortnight he had had more than fifty able-bodied
labourers applying to him for work.
The resolution was put from the chair, and carried by acclamation.