100 
propriefor in his ancient condition as a 
gentleman. The cause is this: the 
land is under mortgage to public credi- 
tors, who, unlike landlord's, have no 
local affections, and no residence among 
the payers. They are either pure muck- 
worms residing in holes or corners 
in the purliens of the Stock Exchange, 
or, at best, as gentlemen in the me- 
tropolitan county. Part of their expen- 
diture finds its way by devious paths 
into the country, but they pay little 
more for produce than is paid in dis- 
tant markets, which do not enjoy the 
advantages of their residence. The na- 
tional debt is, therefore, the primary 
cause; and the congregation of the na- 
tional creditors in one place, is the 
secondary and proximate cause of the 
distressed condition in which the coun- 
try finds itself at the present moment. 
It occasions a drain from the country to 
the metropolis, in and near which four- 
fifths of the public annuitants reside, 
and therefore directly impoverishes the 
country; while the returus from the 
annuitauts are partial, slow, indirect, 
selfish, and inefficient. 
The exhausted country does not en- 
joy even the palliative of a course of 
exchange! The receiver-general of the 
district amasses the collections exacted 
from house to house and from manu- 
factory to manufactory—and the whole 
of the social blood of the inhabitants 
which can be drawn off at one time 
without total exhaustion, is sent off till 
new and continually increased exer- 
tions produce a new accumulation, 
which is again drawn off in like man- 
ner! A more horrid picture of the 
rapid decay of a great nation by inches 
—by the wickedness of system—by the 
blindness of pride—by the ignorance of 
wisdom, never before was presented to 
the astonishment of the world! 
In thus plainly stating the cause of 
this great evil, no blame is meant to 
be attached to the annuitants. The 
fault is in those who created the annu- 
ities, and whose diabolical passion for 
war rendered them necessary. The 
annuitant, by a species of natura! in- 
stinct, prefers to reside near his pro- 
perty that he may govern and controul 
it, and may receive its periodical pro- 
duce. It is not his fault that the so- 
ciety in which he lives, has placed him 
in an enviable situation, and, indivi- 
dually, he is innocent of the great 
social mischief which the habits of his 
fraternity create. 
Tf landlords were led by any instinct 
or passion to congregate in like manner, 
Causes of the Agricultural Distresses Investigated. 
|March I, 
in any one district of the empire, 
their drains would be equally pernici- 
ous. Mischief has in truth resulted 
from the increase uf town-houses, of 
winter-establishments, and watering- 
places, habits which have led to the 
desertion of baronial establishments 5 
but the proprietors of land are far more 
numerous than stock-holders, and their 
local interest tends to scatter one class, 
while it concentrates the other. 
To familiarize the subject by an ex- 
ample—if we suppose that the currency 
of a country were twenty millions, and 
that ten millions were annually drawn 
to the metropolis by mortgagees, and by 
a portion of landlords, who accumulate 
two, spend two in foreign luxuries, and 
return in slow and indirect ways but 
six back to the country—then at the 
end of the FIRST YEAR the currency 
of the country, instead of an operative 
twenty millions, will be only sixteen 
nhillions. But at the end of the SECOND 
year it will be only twelve millions— 
atthe end of the THIRD year only eight 
millions—at the end of the FOURTH 
year but four millions, when all capi- 
tal must supply deficiencies—and at 
the end of the FIFTH year the country 
will be drained, and to pay the ten 
millions, capitals must be exhausted, 
and part of the land itself sold or for- 
feited to the accumulating and sordid 
annuifants, which for some time past has 
been the condition of the tenantry and 
proprietry of the British islands. 
In the meantime the general price 
of commodities will not be measured 
by any relation to the twenty millions, 
but by its proportion to the operative 
currency of the country, which it ap- 
pears is constantly diminishing—al- 
though (including the residence of 
the mortgagees) the Total remains the 
same; while at the place of their resi- 
dence there would nevertheless be a 
glut ofcurrency, just as we know is the 
fact among the monied interest and the 
bankers of the British metropolis. 
In transferring these figures to the 
actual circumstances of Great Britain, 
thirty-six millions may be taken as the 
drain, including the mixed considera- 
tion of the entire taxation, and account- 
ing for landlords who reside in Len- 
don and abroad. It is, however, obvious 
that such a drain could not be supplied 
with a public currency of thirty mil- 
lions, were it not for the simultaneous 
issues of local banks, the operation 
of which tends in several indirect ways, 
to palliate, though not to cure the evil. 
Such palpably is the cause of the 
distress. 
