1830.] 



Norfolk and Somersetshire. 



485 



phraseology 10 notorious in more august as- 

 semblies! 



At a meeting held, March 18, by the inhabitants 

 of Leeds, convoked by the Mayor, it was resolved 

 to petition parliament for a further reduction in 

 the public expenditure, and also for a full, free 

 and equal representation of the people in the 

 House of Commons, without which no retrench- 

 ment can be permanent, and likewise for abo- 

 lishing all useless places and pensions. 



Some of the leading whigs of Yorkshire have 

 drawn up and circulated a protest and petition to 

 Parliament, in which they call for a direct tax 

 upon the funds to the amount of 1 ,000,000, toge- 

 ther with the raising of the standard of gold to 

 j6, and of that of silver to 7s. 9d. or tos. per 

 ounce. 



Great efforts are making in the West Riding to 

 obtain the removal of the assizes for that Riding 

 from York to Wakeh'eld, on the ground of the 

 saving of time and expense to suitors and pro- 

 secutors residing in that district. 



There were no lees than 111 applications for 

 relief to the Court of Insolvent Debtors, held at 

 Waketield, for the West Riding of Yorkshire, on 

 the 5th, 6th, 8th, and 9th of March. 



NORFOLK. At the recent adjourned sessions 

 for this county, Lord Suffield delivered a charge 

 to the Grand Jury, in which, noticing the present 

 distress, he strenuously recommended the plan of 

 Cottage Husbandry, as a means of curing one of 

 the causes of the general distress, the amount of 

 the poor's rate, and the paramount importance of 

 the moral degradation of the poor labourers. 

 The answer of the Grand Jury to his Lordship 

 tended to infer that all our distress is owing to 

 high rents, tithes and taxes, in addition to the 

 poor rates.* 



A Common-hall has been held at Norwich, the 

 Mayor in the chair, " to take into consideration 

 the cause of the unprecedentedly distressed situ- 

 ation of the country, and to petition the Legis- 

 lature for a reduction of that taxation which 

 operates so powerfully upon the middle and lower 

 classes, and to enforce the most rigid economy 

 into every department of the state ;" when 13 re- 

 solutions were passed, and a petition founded on 

 them unanimously carried. Trie meeting was at- 

 tended by nearly 2,000 persons, and was held in 

 St. Andrew's Hall.f 



* The Grand Jury thus conclude their answer : 

 ' From various causes it is quite apparent that 

 his Majesty's Ministers are not disposed to ease 

 the burthens which now weigh so heavily upon 

 us ; on the contrary, they have evinced a much 

 to be lamented disposition to turn a deaf ear to 

 the petitions of the people. From the Legislature 

 therefore we have no expectation, and the only 

 hope of relief to the yeomanry of the country 

 must be placed in the landholders, and in the 

 landowners only. If the plan suggested by your 

 Lordship for the relief of the poor should be 

 carried into effect, and should be found to answer 

 the proposed end, it would benefit the agriculturist 

 only to a certain extent, and that benefit would of 

 necessity ultimately accrue to the landlord, in the 

 better rent he would be enabled to obtain for his 

 land. The only burthens of tithes and taxes 

 would still remain xvithout the slightest means in 

 the power of the tenant of relieving himself from 

 them." Norfolk Chronicle. 



f The speeches made upon this occasion were 

 eloquent, and repeatedly cheered, the Norfolk 

 Chronicle informs us. In one of them it was 

 stated, " that the distress was real, was oppressive, 



SOMERSETSHIRE. The poor at Shepton- 

 Mallet are not only unemployed, but their con- 

 dition is wretched in the extreme ; beyond the 

 power of the few, who bear themselves above the 

 reverses of the times, to alleviate, except in a 

 very small degree. Their wretchedness is such, 

 that they have lost all respect for character ; they 

 have no excitement to industry, to prudence, or 

 economy; and what means have they but that of 

 thieving to mitigate their miseries? Several of 

 them have been sent to the Swan River, at the 

 coat of the parish. There are about 3,(tOO re- 

 ceiving parish pay. Here are nine factories, for- 

 merly all cloth, but latterly some of them have 

 been occupied in the silk and crape trade, of 

 which three are totally unoccupied, and the rest 

 only partially occupied. 



fVells, March 5. The universal cry of po- 

 verty and distress is as vehement here as any 

 where. The farmers have no money -the la- 

 bourers no employ and the tradesmen no custom, 

 at least, comparatively. A retailer told me, his 

 usual takings were from 20*. to 30s. a day, and 

 are now, frequently, not more than one shilling. 

 The manufactories here are all closed, and many 

 of the windows broken ; one has scarcely a whole 

 pane of glass in the building : the poor rates are 

 therefore much increased, and the overseers have 

 been obliged to borrow money at the bank, to 

 carry them through the year. 



The last report from the Bath Savings' Bank 

 states the receipts to have been, since its com- 

 mencement, .252,260. 17*. 4d. ; and the balance 

 in hand at present is .208,3/6. 15.2d., the num- 

 ber of depositors have been 3,922, besides 70 cha- 

 ritable and friendly societies. 



and cannot he borne 1" "We are living in a 

 population of 60,000 souls, and of that population 

 20,000 of them are unal'le to maintain themselves 

 without parochial relief! !!" " If we look to the 

 1m her and larger establishments of this city, we 

 see them breaking and falling to ruin I ! !" Allu- 

 sions and comparisons were made to Ameiica by 

 another speaker, where the chief magistrate re- 

 ceived .5,000 per annnm, and where there were 

 no taxes but those paid on articles imported im- 

 mediately on their entry! The French revolution 

 was also alluded to by another, with their sans 

 culottes : " what with bankruptcies, assignments, 

 and compositions on every side, our own popu- 

 lation were so reduced, that we shall soon see 

 them sans culottes here !" " Taxation is the 

 sole, direct, and immediate cause of all their 

 suffering." " In the palaces of fund-holders, loan- 

 mongers, and placemen, all i* luxury and ease. 

 The poor are degraded to a .-tate tif universal 

 and reckless pauperism small shopkeepers and 

 tradesmen are broken and ruined manufacturers, 

 farmers, and merchants can scarcely stem the 

 swelling torrent that threatens to sweep them 

 away!!!" " What has caused the unitingof whig, 

 tory, liberal and brunswicker, loyalist and ra- 

 dical reformer, and unchangeable quietist, and 

 alarmist? What has wrought this miracle? Why, 

 the awful sense of our common danger, the 

 pressure of our overwhelming, universal, and 

 intolerable distress!!!" The" resolutions were 

 introduced by Mr. Robberds, in an admirable 

 speech. Indeed, times are wonderfully altered, for 

 we percehe better speeches made out tUan in 

 the legislature no parliamentary phrases like 

 " running liis rigs upon me 1" nor " bothering 

 me always!" are to be found in any of the late 

 provincial orators' displays, either at the manu- 

 facturing towns of Birmingham, Leeds, or Nor- 

 wich ^carcely anything resembling " pot-house 

 speeches," or even " pot house manners !" 

 No coughing, nor scraping of shoos on the floor, 

 as a delivery from unanswerable argument! !- 



