92] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



press fire tlian that of augmented 

 taxation, which seemed counter- 

 balanced by the increase of the 

 public revenues. 



But when these advantages 

 were cut off by the peace, and 

 Great Britain lioped to retrieve 

 herself, by resorting to her usual 

 customers on the Continent, she 

 found them immersed in general 

 poverty, and all eager to supply 

 their wants by the exertions of 

 their own industry. ]'»ritish ma- 

 nufactures, therefore, which, by 

 the improvements of mechanical 

 ingenuity, htid been accunudated 

 to a vast amount in the merchants' 

 warehouses, found no regidar de- 

 mand, but were forced by specu- 

 lation into foreign markets, wiiere 

 they could obtain a sale only at 

 prices much below the prime 

 cost. In consc(|iience, the manu- 

 facturers fcmnd it necessary, ei- 

 ther entirely to susj)end, or greatly 

 to reduce, the fabrication of their 

 goods ; whence a number of 

 workmen in almost every branch 

 became destitute of employment, 

 and were plunged into severe dis- 

 tress. 



Such is the deej)-rooted cause 

 of a calamity, too widely dif- 

 fused to admit of effectual relief 

 from partial measvues, and which 

 demands a remedy applicable to 

 the circumstances, not of one 

 country only, but of all which 

 have formed a part of the same 

 system of policy. Europe re- 

 ([uircd a breathing time, of a 

 continuance propoitioned to her 

 jiast toils and sufferings. AVliat 

 her future condition will be, is 

 matter of conjecture ; but it is 

 obvious, that the spirit of internal 

 improvement, and productive in- 

 dustry, is become so general in 



its states, that no one nation must 

 hereafter expect exclusive com- 

 mercial advantages ; and if Eng- 

 land may still hope to maintain 

 her su])eriority as a manufactur 

 ing coimtry, it must be by sup- 

 jwrting a relative su])eriority in 

 skill, knowledge, and enterprize. 



After these general observa- 

 tions, we proceed to the particu- 

 lars belonging to this chapter. 



The domestic .distress which 

 princi[)ally engaged the public 

 attention in the early i)art of this 

 year, was tiiat of the agricultural 

 portion of the community. The 

 subject hiid occupied a large share 

 of the ilelibcrations of the pre- 

 ceding session of parliament ; and 

 it continued to employ the cares 

 of a sitting committee in the 

 House of Conunons, which re- 

 ceived voluminous rejiorts of facts 

 and oi)inion3 from every ))art of 

 the kingdom. In our narrative 

 of parliamentary transactions will 

 be found notices of the principal 

 discussions relative to this matter, 

 together with a set of resolutions 

 offered for legislative considera- 

 tion, by the county member who 

 appears to have taken the lead as 

 the patron of the agricultural in- 

 terest. From their tenor it will 

 be perceived that, the fact being 

 assumed, that the present state of 

 agriculture in the kingdom was 

 such as to afford the expectation 

 of a suj)erfluity in the regidar 

 supply of the necessaries of life 

 from our own growth, the object 

 was to prevent their depreci.ition 

 by the importation of foreign 

 supplies. It was therefore pro- 

 posed to lepeal that clause in the 

 corn bill of the last year, which 

 permitted the warehousing of fo- 

 rdgn grain, duty free. Fortu- 

 nately, 



