l8o4. On the Mult Tax. 67 



only a few years since we imported very large quantities o£ 

 barley, — that the barley and bear crops are of so j^reat conse- 

 quence to an improved agriculture, as well as our chief reli- 

 ance in a calamitous season, — and that we were very lately- 

 obliged to offer high bouuties, and to hold out high indemnify- 

 ing security, to encourage importation. As the vScotch bar- 

 ley, and still more the Scotch bear or big, is so m.uch inferior 

 to the barley of England, e\-en in a good season, as there is 

 still a greater disproportion between these in unlruitful sea- 

 :50ns and late harvests, when, from the inequality of its size, 

 and ripening of the grain, Scotcli barley malts unequally, and 

 often a third part of the Scotch bear is carried away with the 

 chaff, or skimmed off in the malt-steep or cistern ; and far- 

 ther, as an established proportion between the taxes on Eng- 

 lish and Scotch malt had continued so long, it is a'so submit- 

 ted to you, whether the new proportions of taxation, which 

 were introduced without a previous enquiry, sliould not be- 

 laid aside, and the old proportion, which has not only pre- 

 scription, but reason, truth, and laws of climate, to support 

 it, should not be restored. Let not the patrons of the agri- 

 culture of Norfolk, or any other English county, fi'drti pro- 

 vincial attachnients, or local interests, (or rather from a false 

 view of these interests, or ill Founded prejudices), wish to check, 

 far less to injure the agriculture of Scotland. It is not England 

 and Norfolk, it is Great Britain and Ireland, that are r.ow united 

 by the closest of ties, — a national Union of Legislature and of 

 Crovernment. Jocky of Norfolk, be hot too bold I Let no 

 rash man attempt to oppose the general good of the empire. 

 Let the old established proportions of taxation be restored ; 

 let the ties of affection only be increased by the Imperial Par- 

 liament of this united kingdom. \V -.atever may liave happeried 

 above po years ago, when national jealousies had not subsided, 

 and when party dis^putes run very high, it cannot be sup- 

 posed that the Imperial Parliament will now, after mature 

 enquiry, lay any burdens on the people, but for the. good of 

 the whole, and with due regaj'd to the circumstances and abi- 

 lities of every part of the united kingdom. 



In the mean time, let me admonish you, my countrymen, 

 to lay aside your unjust suspicions, your local attachments, 

 and little animosities. Let me also request you to assert no- 

 thing but ^vhat is true, to a^k nothing but what is right ; to 

 have confidence in your representatives, to submit dutifully 

 to the laws, and to pay clieerfully those taxes which are ne- 

 cessary for supporting our free and happy constitution. Where 

 you consider yourselres injured, rcpre:.ent with due respci c 

 the hardships under which \ou lie-, from a very high tax, or 

 from a late alteration in the proportion of vour taxes, compu- 



E 2 ' red 



