132] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



a member, in omitting to do some 

 things that had been proposed, as 

 well as in doing what they had done. 



Sir W. Young, too, also justified 

 the conduct of the committee ; and 

 trusted that much regard would not 

 be paid to the declamation of an 

 honourable member (Mr. Bird) 

 when he said that the report of the 

 committee was of but little use, be- 

 cause it did not accomplish more. 



Some very useful hints were 

 thrown out by Mr. Addington and 

 Mr. Wilberforce for alleviating the 

 distresses of the present scarcity, 

 and preventing them in future. 



Mr. Addington found it stated in 

 a report of a committee, in 1795, 

 on the testimony of a miller, that 

 excellent bread may be made of the 

 whole wheat, without taking away 

 any of the bran ; and a gentleman 

 had proved it to be so ; for he him- 

 self had seen a bread of that kind. 

 He had now to state, on the autho- 

 rity of a person, to whose exem- 

 plary life he owed the first of all 

 obligations, that the best bread was 

 made of the entire wheat. On 

 mentioning the different classes into 

 which the ancients divided their 

 bread, he said, that the first was 

 made of the finest flour ; the second 

 was a mixture of that flour with the 

 pollard ; and the third class was the 

 whole flour with the bran. That, 

 of those three kinds of bread, the 

 first and second seemed to have been 

 little used ; but that the third sort 

 was in general use, from its excel- 

 lent effects. It was found, on ex- 

 periment, by chymists, that this sort 

 contained a vast quantity of essential 

 oil, and in this consisted the true 

 spirit of the wheat; not that which 

 was fiery and caused fermentation, 

 but that which was mild and nu- 



tritious. Had this consideration: 

 been earlier attended to, there 

 would not have been now any cause 

 of alarm. He recommended en- 

 couragement of the growth of po- 

 tatoes ; the importation of rice ; 

 and an increase of swine. He made 

 a handsome panegyric on the libe- 

 rality of the country, which had so 

 generously come forward for the 

 relief of the poor. The different 

 classes were more nearly linked 

 together ; and the poor were now 

 taught to consider those as their 

 friends and benefactors, whom they 

 considered before with an invidious 

 and angry eye. The cottage and 

 the palace were united in the gene- 

 ral pressure, and the rich and poor 

 in feeling and respect for one ano- 

 ther. 



Mr. Wilberforce said, he was 

 not a member of the committee 

 appointed to inquire, and make a 

 report on the subject which was 

 now before the house ; but from 

 the character of those who consti- 

 tuted it, from their means of infor- 

 mation, and their earnest desire to 

 promote the welfare of the com- 

 munity, he must be satisfied that 

 they had done every thing that 

 could be expected of them. It ap- 

 peared to Mr. Wilberforce that if 

 the whole grain were used, if not 

 universally, yet in part, it would 

 serve to lengthen out the supply 

 wanted. There were various 

 sources from which the country 

 might look for supplies and for 

 savings : such as importation of 

 grain ; animal food, not roasted or 

 baked, by which mode of cookery, 

 a great part of its strength and sub- 

 stance was lost, but in the shape of 

 soup ; the prohibition of fancy rolls 

 and biscuits ; the prohibition of the 



