APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 



12] 



to obtained, is far from being suffi- 

 • cient to enable your committee to 

 lay before the house any correct 

 statement of facts, much less any 

 well-considered opinion resulting 

 from them. To form such an opi- 

 nion, requires the attentive consi- 

 deration of a great body of existing 

 laws, and a minute acquaintance 

 with an extensive system of trade, 

 together with all the variations 

 which have talcen place, either by 

 the authority of the legislature, or 

 by changes of practice arising from 

 an alteration in the habits of the 

 people, or from the growth of com- 

 merce, and the increase of wealth. 

 The subject also is of a nature which 

 requires peculiar caution, from the 

 danger which might attend an erro- 

 iieous judgment, misled on the one 

 hand by popular prejudice, or on 

 the other by plausible theories, 

 formed without sufficient examina- 

 tion of facts. 



Your committee have also con- 

 sidered, that the interval will be 

 very short between the conclusion 

 of the present session and the meet- 

 ing of the parliament of the united 

 kingdom, when the inquiry into 

 this, and other parts of the subject, 

 may, and (as they humbly con- 

 ceive) ought to be immediately re- 

 sumed. They think it therefore 

 more consistent with their duty, to 

 leave whatever information they 

 have collected as the groundwork 

 of future and moi-e complete inves- 

 tigation, rather than to hazard any 

 hasty suggestions or statements upon 

 •A matter of so much delicacy and 

 difficulty; and they are persuaded 

 that the delay which may be thus 

 occasioned, will be amply compen- 

 sated by more mature discussion, 

 and a more deliberate decision. 

 Your committee, upon review- 



ing the different measures which 

 have been adopted during the pre- 

 sent session, have thought that it 

 might be satisfactory to the house, 

 if, before they conclude, they were 

 to take some general view of the 

 probable amount of the supply or 

 saving which may be obtained from 

 the various sources which they 

 have pointed out, compared with 

 the deficiency of the crop of wheat. 

 It is unnecessary to observe, that 

 such a statement must be in many 

 respects conjectural, and deficient in 

 precision; but it may perhaps fur- 

 nish a general estimate, capable in 

 some degree of guiding the expec- 

 tations, and of i-elieving the anxiety 

 of the public. 



The quantity of wheat consumed 

 in an ordinary year cannot be ascer- 

 tained with any accuracy; but your 

 committee conceive, that after 

 allowing for the proportion of the 

 population commonly subsisting 

 upon other grain, the usual con- 

 sumption of wheat cannot be sup- 

 posed to exceed 7,000,000 quarters 

 per annum. Upon an average of 

 ten years, including the very defi- 

 cient harvests of 1795 and 179.9. 

 about 125,000quartersof thisquan- 

 tity have been furnished by impor- 

 tation from foreign parts. The pro- 

 duce of an average crop may there- 

 fore have amounted to about 

 6,700,000 quarters; and the pro- 

 duce of the late harvest would, upon 

 this supposition, have been about 

 .5,000,000 quarters. The defici- 

 ency to be covered in order to en.' 

 sure the supply of the country for 

 twelve months, from the 1st of Oc- 

 tober, 1800, to the first of October, 

 1801, may be about 2,000,000 quar- 

 ters; of which, according to the 

 average importation above stated, 

 about 300,000 quarters might be 



