140 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



1 794, 1795, and 1796, is a proof 

 that we are in a state of increasing 

 demand upon other countries, and 

 that to expect so great a deficiency 

 as has been stated in the foregoing 

 resolution, to be constantly supplied 

 from foreign countriesmustbedelu- 

 sive, if we consider that it is gene- 

 rally believed that, in a common 

 year, the produce of com in Eu- 

 rope is very little, if any thing, 

 more than equal to the consumption 

 of its inhabitants, and that in any 

 scarcity recourse must be had to 

 America; and that since the year 

 1 790> it has been proved by expe- 

 rience that America has not, in any 

 one year, furnished much more 

 corn and flour than was sufficient 

 for seven days' consumption of this 

 country. 



Resolved, That this country 

 being in such a state of inability 

 to provide, by its annual produce, 

 grain for the annual consumption of 

 its inhabitants, andhavingso scanty 

 and precarious a resource in foreign 

 countries, it is become a matter of 

 most imperious necessity to consider 

 of its future amelioration in this 

 important respect. 



Resolved, That it appeared from 

 the report of the committee of waste 

 lands, that there remained in Eng- 

 land, in common, waste, and uncul- 

 tivated land, the immense quantity 

 of 7,800,000 acres. 



Resolved, That without assert- 

 ing or imagining that all these are 

 convertible into a more productive 

 state, it is evident that, in attention 

 to this mine, lie the only true, per- 

 manent, effectual, and wise means 

 of redressing our prcsent,or securing 

 against future wants, and of obvia- 

 ting the necessity of a precarious 

 dependance upoi. foreign assistance. 



Resolved, That this country, 



happily possessing within itself the 

 means of its own salvation, it seems 

 a matter of clear, urgent, and ne- 

 cessary policy to call them into ef- 

 fect; and it is hoped that the wis- 

 dom of the legislature willtakeinto 

 its serious consideration the framing 

 of such laws and regulations as may 

 best promote the immediate bring- 

 ing into the best cultivation all such 

 parts, as may be capable of it, of 

 the great tracts of land that are now 

 Iving in the state above referred to. 

 Resolved, That it seems a very 

 well-founded opinion, that was 

 given by the persons appointed to 

 examine into and report upon the 

 general state of agriculture in this 

 country, when they almost unani- 

 mously and uniformly declared, that 

 the want of a fair and permanent 

 compensation to the proprietors, in 

 lieu of tithes in kind, is one of the 

 greatest obstacles not only to enclo- 

 sure, but to the due improvement 

 of agriculture. 



Resolved, That, amongst other 

 means which will doubtless occur 

 upon a due investigation of the sub- 

 ject, it would be useful to facilitate 

 enclosure, by lesseningits expenses, 

 not merely by reducing certain fees 

 that have been talked of, but by 

 moderating the charges of solicitors, 

 commissi oners, and public meetings ; 

 by removing obstacles between 

 party and party (of which fair and 

 adequate commutation for tithes is 

 a principle) ; and by giving encou- 

 ragement to the more spirited ma- 

 nagement of land, and to agricul- 

 ture in general that respectability 

 and importance in the scale of the 

 public consideration, that it so pre- 

 eminently deserves. 



(Signed) George Armitage, bart.; 

 Foreman ; and the rest of the grand . 



jury..., ;; . , 



