2^2 Agricuhural I?2ieU:gence. May 



ciples •, but ns Scotland has enjoyed an exemption fince 1725, no 

 good reafon has been fhewn why it fhould now be withdrawn -, and 

 without doin^- that, you don't make out your cafe. If the t«x was 

 now \o be laid on for the hrft time, your arguments might be re- 

 levant j but under the drcumftances of the butinefs they^ do not 

 •apply, and might be ufed with equal propriety in fupport of an 

 act nnpohng an equal land-tax in both countries. You may tell 

 me, tliat flatute-law (in other words, the articles of the Union,) 

 regulates the latter j but has not the other been regulated by com- 

 mon law, or, which is the fame thing, by ufe and v/ont, for feven- 

 ty-eight years ? Now, it may be remembered that you once boldly 

 afhrmed, in that very chair, that common law was above ftatute 

 law •, confequently, if you was then right, a ftronger cafe may 

 be made out for a reduced malt-duty than what can be produced 

 in favour of the rule by which the land-tax is collecled. ' 



Before we leave this fubjc6t, we fhall juft (late, that accounts 

 from all parts of Scotland confirm the opinion we have giverr up- 

 on the act of lail SjlFion. In fome counties the greateil part of 

 lall barley crop ilill remains on hand j and in others, where fales 

 have been partially made, the prices given are much below the 

 rates at which it can be cultivated. Under all the ftoppage and 

 declenfion of the home trade, importations from England have 

 gone briikly forward j and fo long as barley can be got in that 

 quarter, we venture to predicf , that the principal dealers will from 

 thence receive their fupplies. It is their intereil to do fo till 

 Scotch barley finds its full artificial level ; and in another feafon, 

 if tlie malt-duty is not altered, this will inevitably happen. 



All our letters of intelligence concur in reprefenting the prefent 

 feafon as the mod favourable for {ted work that could be wifhed ; 

 and though the weather was variable and uncertain till the middle 

 of March, when the work commenced, yet an hour has hardly 

 ilnce been lolt. In the upland diilricts labour was hnifned much 

 earlier than cuflomary, which it is to be hoped will be followed 

 by the moil beneficial effe£l:s. The young wheats, at the date 

 of thefxi communications, were confidered as in a proinifing itate, 

 and clovers and other graiTes in a thriving way; but v/e dread that 

 the perilous weather fmce experienced (the moil difmal ever felt at 

 this feafon) may prove vaftly injurious to their future progrefs. 



The grain market has not varied much in the courle of this 

 quarter, though fales are far front) being brifk, efpecially for malt- 

 ing barleys, which, as already fald, ilill remain extenfively in 

 hand. Wheat and oats keep tolerably Heady, and the demand 

 feems equal to what is prefented. Beans and peas, though not 

 confidered as yielding well, have lately experienced a depreffion, 

 which is the more furprifmg, efpecially when their increafed va- 

 l-ue is attemled to, now that they are fufiiciently dried. 



Fat 



