USHPUL PROJECTS. 
to wheaten bread; that the conse- 
quence has ‘been a considerable re- 
duction of price to the labouring 
poor in such places; and that the 
use of it has not been found to be 
attended with any inconvenience. 
The variety of different species of 
mixed bread is such, as to offer a 
considerable number of alterna- 
tives to different parts of the coun- 
try ; and they will be naturally led 
to select those which are least fo- 
reign to their habits and preju. 
dices, and of which, from local cir- 
cumstances, they can most conveni+' 
ently procure a supply. 
That the sacrifice of some degree 
of indulgence, or of prejudice, is 
one, which, under the present cir. 
cumstances, can be made, and 
ought to be made, and that without 
such a sacrifice to a considerable 
extent, the country will be exposed 
to still greater difficulties than 
those with which it has so lately: 
contended, is an opinion with which 
your committee are so strongly im- 
pressed, that they cannot tooearnest - 
ly recommend it to the serious at- 
tention of this house, and of the 
nation at large. 
Deeply, however, as they feel 
this impression, they are far from 
proposing any legislative measure 
to enforce a compliance with this 
suggestion. ‘They well know that 
the people of this, and of every other 
country, are attached by habit to 
their accustomed species of food ; 
and that however they may, by re- 
commendation and example, be 
induced to make a partial change, 
yet any sudden and compulsory al- 
teratioh might, perhaps, be more 
sensibly felt than the very grievance 
ft was intended to remedy. 
[42 
There are indeed many prece- 
dents in the statutes of this country, 
of the interposition of the legisla- 
ture for this purpose, at times 
when, from the less advanced state 
of cultivation and commerce, dis- 
tresses of this kind occurred much 
more frequently and severely than 
at later periods ; and even in more 
recent times, an att passed* which 
authorizes magistrates, whenever 
they think the case requires, to-set 
the assize upon standard wheaten 
bread alone, and thereby to pro. 
hibit the making of all other sorts 
of bread. Your committee, how- 
ever, entertain great hopes, that 
without applying this principle to 
the present case, the general im- 
pression produced bythe late dis. 
tress, and continued by the present 
scarcity, -will incline. men of all 
descriptions to unite voluntarily in 
the only measure which can give 
effeGtual and immediate relief ; 
and they conceive, that if this 
house should give to such a measure 
the sanction of its example and 
recommendation, there could be 
little doubt of its being adopted 
by a proportion of the community 
sufiiciently numerous to secure the 
attainment of the object in view. 
Your committee beg leave to 
submit this suggestion to the wis. 
dom of the house; and they hope 
it will not be thought beyond the 
line. of their duty, if, upon an 
occasion so ufgent in point of time, 
they presume also to suggest the 
principal points which such an en- 
gagement ought, in their humble 
opinion, to embrace. 
To reduce the consumption of 
wheat in the families of the per- 
sons subscribing such engagement, 
#42 Geo, IM, 
Ee3 by 
