1830.J 



Essex, Devonshire, Cambridge, Berks, 



to the state of the poor in general, and the best 

 mode of affording them relief. They coincided in 

 opinion that the best plan would be to let them 

 have small portions of land to cultivate. Sir J. 

 King mentioned an instance in his own parish 

 where a person, who occupied a small quantity, 

 for which he paid a rental of .6., maintained 

 himself and family independently of parochial as- 

 sistance. 



ESSEX. The calendar at the recent quarter 

 sessions of this county furnishes an apt illustra- 

 tion of the demoralizing effects of the distress 

 generally felt throughout the kingdom. There 

 were 62 prisoners for trial, 35 of whom were 

 charged with stealing property, the aggregate 

 value of which did not exceed 10 or .15 at the 

 utmost ; and this, too, after a gaol delivery only 

 one month back. Essex Mercury. 



DEVONSHIRE. A meeting of the freeholders 

 of this county has taken place at Exeter, at which 

 upwards of 2,000 persons attended to take into 

 consideration the state of the Tithe Laws, when a 

 petition was unanimously agreed to be presented 

 to the legislature " under the firmest conviction 

 that the existing Tithe Laws are highly injurious 

 to the best interests of society, both in a religious 

 and political point of view, and praying such 

 alterations and arrangements as may be deemed 

 more consistent with justice* and religion." Pe- 

 titions to be presented in the House of Lords by 

 the Lord Lieutenant, and in the Commons by 

 the county members. Thanks were voted to the 

 Sheriff. 



CAMBRIDGE. Sir S. V. Cotton, bart., in 

 moving the petition, said, that by striking at the 

 root ol the licensing system, affecting the repeal of 

 the malt and beer duties, they would at once afford 

 relief to the agriculturists of the kingdom. The 

 petition was unanimously agreed to, after much 

 speechifying, uproar, proposals for impeach- 

 ment, &c. &c.f 



At a late meeting of agriculturists belonging to 

 Ely and Witchford Hundreds, it was unanimously 

 resolved to petition Parliament to take into con- 

 sideration their present state, as well as those of 

 the labourers, and to adopt measures for their 

 relief. It appears from a statement produced at 

 the meeting, that the arable farms in the neigh- 

 bourhood were cultivated at an expense of 

 22. 5s. 6d. (including rent and tithes) for three 

 acres of wheat, barley, and beans, and that the 



* "Disputes respecting payment of Tithes," 

 say the petitioners, " are determined in a court 

 constituted in a manner peculiar to itself, and 

 without the constitutional intervention of a 

 jury !!!'' This allusion will apply to the Chancery, 

 as well as the Ecclesiastical Court. When it was 

 mentioned at the meeting, by the Hon. Newton 

 Fellowes, he was interrupted by rounds of ap- 

 plause, and cries of " It's the Inquisition I" " Re- 

 lics of Popery!" &c. &c. 



j- Mr. Wells, of Huntingdon, said, it was over 

 taxation, a standing army, a countless host of 

 placemen and pensioners, that was the cause of 

 our distress. In looking over a document he held 

 in his hand, he found that in Huddersn'eld there 

 were 13,226 individuals subsisting upon 2d per 

 day ; he mentioned other places in the same 

 miserable state, and then compared their situa- 

 tion with Colonel Trench, whose salary and pay, 

 he said, were about b. 10s. per day, equal to 

 what is daily earned by nearly 600 poor labourers 

 of Huddersfield, and sends supperless to bed every 

 night 300 honest Englishmen II! 



produce of the crops, at the present prices 

 amounted to .21. 7s. 6d. ; thus rendering the oc- 

 cupation not merely profitless to the tenant, but 

 the returns 6s. per acre minus the disburse- 

 ments !!! Cambridge Chronicle. 



BERKS. At the quarter sessions, the chair- 

 man (C. Dundas, Esq., M. P.) adverted to the 

 general state of crime throughout the country, 

 and could not forbear observing that its influence 

 arose principally from the universal distress which 

 was spread throughout the kingdom ; it was un- 

 questionable that the poor were in a most misera- 

 ble state ; the consequence was, they were driven 

 to the commission of dishonest acts. It was la- 

 mentable to notice that some magistrates had been 

 compelled to commit offenders for stealing articles 

 of a very trifling nature.* 



NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. The Annual Poul- 

 try show at Lord Althorp's farm, Chapel Bram- 

 ton, notwithstanding the unfavourable state of 

 the weather, was never more numerously and 

 respectably attended. The competitors were also 

 numerous, and the various descriptions of poultry 

 exhibited, afforded ample testimony of the progress 

 of improvement in breeding, &c. 



SOMERSETSHIRE. The parishes at Bath 

 of St. Peter and St. Paul, Bathwick, St. Michael, 

 and the Abbey, have had meetings on the subject 

 of the assessed house and window taxes (which, 

 when they were laid on the people during the re- 

 volutionary war, were promised to be repealed 

 whenever peace should be established), and re- 

 solved, " That a memorial be presented to the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, pointing out the 

 oppressive and grievous nature of the assessed 

 house and window taxes, more particularly in 

 Bath, where a large portion of the inhabitants 

 obtain their livelihood by the letting of lodgings, 

 and who, owing to the general depression of the 

 times, are threatened with total ruin from the 

 pressure of these burthens, and that a deputation 

 be appointed to present the same." 



DORSETSHIRE. A new road is now being 

 formed between Crewkerne and Langport, which 

 will be opened by Lady-day next, by which means 

 an easy communication will be opened between 

 Dorset and the most populous district of Somer- 

 setshire. It will lead from Crewkerne to Mer- 

 riot, Lopen Head, Compton Durville, Kingsbury 

 EpiscopS, Muchelney, and across the river Par- 

 ret, over a handsome stone bridge, which is now 

 in course of erection, to within a quarter of a 

 mile of Langport, where it will join the new road 

 which has been completed from that place to 

 Bridgewater. 



SHROPSHIRE. Petitions to parliament for 

 repealing the duty on malt are rapidly spreading 

 through this county. Already have they been 

 signed at Ellesmere, Whitchurch and Wem, 



* The committing for trifling offences, it seems, 

 is not confined to Berks, for two babies fabout 

 six years of age !) were charged at the Westmin- 

 ster sessions, Jan. 8, with having robbed a mercer 

 of a pair of stockings!!! The principal witness 

 was a policeman, who admitted that he knew 

 they were about to commit a robbery, and there- 

 fore watched till he saw them do it! So much 

 for the new plan of preventing robbery! The 

 chairman very properly restored the infants to 

 their parents for correction at home, rather than 

 try them at the bar! 



