1830.] Essex, Cheshire., Warwickshire, Shropshire, 



367 



sured. The noble owners, Lord and Lady Ren- 

 dlesham, are at Paris. 



ESSEX. A meeting of the freeholders of this 

 county has been held at Chelrasford, on the ge- 

 neral distress that prevails all through the king- 

 dom, when it was resolved to petition Parliament 

 on the subject.* Some thousands attended the 

 meeting, convinced, as Mr. Conyers observed, 

 " that it was their duty to state to ministers that 

 distress existed in its most afflicting shapes in 

 every village and hamlet, and not existing only in 

 some places." 



CHESHIRE. In consequence of a requisition 

 to the High Sheriff, signed by gentlemen of all 

 parties, a county meeting was held at Norwich 

 on the present distress which prevails throughout 

 the kingdom, and a petition unanimously agreed 

 to ; to the House of Lords, to be presented by the 

 Lord Lieutenant, and to the House of Commons 

 by the county members.f The petition particu- 

 larly recommends " a rigid system of economy 

 in every department, the distresses which exist in 

 every part of the country commanding the most 

 serious attention I" 



By the abstract of the expences for this county 

 for the last year, it appears that the total amount 



* The petition states, " that inordinate and un- 

 equal taxation is the great and paramount grie- 

 vance of the country," and it suggests a reform in 

 the House of Commons an entire repeal of the 

 duties on malt, beer, hops, and all those taxes 

 which more immediately bear upon the labour 

 and industry of the country abolition of all sine- 

 cure places and offices, and pensions without ser- 

 vices reduction of salaries simplification and 

 equitable application of the poor laws revision 

 of our jurisprudence, with a view to intelligi- 

 bility, economy, and promptitude in administra- 

 tioncommutation of tythes remuneration of 

 the clergy, apportioned to tlieir labours to make 

 them easy and respectable, but not intolerant and 

 luxurious and the overthrow of the many des- 

 tructive monopolies which characterize the pre- 

 sent artificial state of the nation." 



f Mr. Davenport (M.P.), mover of the petition, 

 said : " Gentlemen, 1 hope we shall all be una- 

 nimous in adopting a petition which shall carry 

 conviction to that callous body to which it is ad- 

 dressed, and shew them that, in Cheshire, at 

 least, a county meeting is not a farce ! Cheese, 

 the staple commodity of this country, has fallen 

 30 per cent, within six months ; the quantity made 

 in the county has been estimated at 12,000 tons 

 annually, and taking the loss to be only .20 per 

 ton, there is a loss on this one article of agri- 

 cultural produce alone of .240,000 ! !! The work- 

 ing classes are in many places bordering upon 

 starvation ; poverty and crime abound every- 

 where, and at the county sessions last week, two 

 children were prosecuted for stealing a bit of 

 bread from a shop window, being unable to resist 

 the cravings of hunger ! ! I Gentlemen, if, as some 

 say, government can do nothing for us, I should 

 like to know what we pay them for? They can 

 do something for us by retracing their steps, and 

 not persevering in their present course. Suppose 

 any one of us were to ride into a bog, does he 

 stick there ? or make the best of his way back 

 again ? Similar representations will come before 

 Parliament from other quarters; but I must con- 

 fess, while the House of Commons is constituted 

 as it is at present, 1 have but very slender hopes 

 of any efficient relief. All inquiry is resisted, all 

 allusion to the cause of distress put down by 

 clamour. I have heard the speeches of Mr. At- 

 wood in the House of Commons received with an 

 uproar that would disgrace a pot-house; and yet 

 this is the system which we are told ' works well,' 

 and needs no amendment ! ! !" Chester Chro- 

 nicle. 



was .42,264. 14s. 3d., .24,000 of which was ex- 

 pended in jurisprudence and the etceteras of 

 crime ; upwards of .6,000 for the work at the 

 Lunatic Asylum, and near .4,000 for repairs of 

 county bridges and causeways. Chester Chro- 

 nicle. 



WARWICKSHIRE.-Many parishes in this 

 county have commenced local petitions to the 

 legislature on the unparalleled distress which 

 prevails amongst all the industrious classes of the 

 country, and praying a repeal of the malt and 

 beer taxes.* Amongst the number, are Leaming- 

 ton, Weston, Wappenbury, Huningdam, Eathorpe 

 Marton, Frankton, Leek Wotton, Lillington, Cub- 

 bington, Ryton-upon-Dunsmore, Baginton, Bub- 

 benhall, Stretton, Princethorpe, Woolston, Bran- 

 don, Bretford, &c. 



Mr. Fyler said, in'the House of Commons, Feb. 

 8, that he could bear testimony to the existence of 

 extreme distress in those parts of the country with 

 which he was acquainted. In the city and county 

 of the city of Coventry, and in many parts of 

 Warwickshire, and in other places, there were 

 thousands in such a state of distress as not to 

 be able to support themselves. In one district of 

 the county of Warwick, a parish, containing a 

 mixture of manufacturers and agriculturists, the 

 population amounted to 7,100 persons, on a space 

 of 6,500 acres. Of these, there were 2,000 re- 

 ceiving parochial relief; 2,100 not receiving re- 

 lief, but not able to contribute any thing to the 

 rates, the whole weight of which was borne by 

 500 heads of families, the representatives of the 

 other inhabitants. 



SHROPSHIRE. The petition to the Legisla- 

 ture from Oswestry, which has been circulated 

 through the several parishes of the county, states, 

 *' That the unexampled difficulties of the agricul- 

 tural interest are become so great, that it will be 

 impossible for the occupiers of land to continue 

 to cultivate the same under the existing distress ; 

 and, unless some speedy relief be afforded, not 

 only the yeomanry of the kingdom, but also the 

 whole of the labouring! and industrious classes 

 dependent on them for employment and support, 

 must be reduced to utter ruin!!!'* 



WALES At a very numerous and respectable 

 meeting of the nobility, gentry, clergy, and free- 

 holders of the county of Flint, held at Mold the 

 8th February, in pursuance of a requisition to the 

 High Sheriff of the said county, to take into con- 

 sideration the general distress which so unhappily 

 pervades all classes in this country, it was una- 

 nimously resolved to petition Parliament there- 

 upon, representing the great and unprecedented 

 distress now prevailing through the country, in 



* " By the Parliamentary returns of last ses- 

 sion,'' say they, " the population of 1/87 was 

 7,400,000 persons, who then consumed 3,400,000 

 quarters of malt ; whereas, the population had 

 increased in the year 1828 to 13,500,000, who con- 

 sumed but little more than 3,000,000 quarters of 

 malt, being an actual decrease of nearly 300,000 

 quarters, with a population nearly doubled !!!" 



f The sum of eight millions, forming nearly one- 

 half the whole revenue of Excise, is collected 

 from the malt and beer duties. Well, therefore, 

 may the people complain of oppression, and ine- 

 quality of taxation, when the amount imposed 

 upon the necessaries is seven times greater than 

 on the luxuries of life. By repealing the above 

 duties, upwards of 200 penal clauses would be 

 got rid of, together with one-half the enormous 

 expensive Excise establishment ! 



