PRACTICAL INQUIRY 



X HK present distress of those engaged in agri- 

 culture is so oppressive in its nature, and so 

 intense in its degree, that their complaints re- 

 quire no apology ; and their lamentations are at 

 least entitled to compassion and indulgence. The 

 question is not, does the evil exist ? but, does it 

 any longer admit of relief? If a saving hand 

 cannot now be stretched out to rescue him whom 

 the blow has already stricken to the ground, can 

 it not still avail to avert from other heads the 

 ruin, which to them is as yet only impending ? 



But to what quarter are we to look for relief, 

 if happily it can any where be found ? To the 

 wisdom of the Legislature, and to the omnipo- 

 tence of Parliament, the usual and proper refuge 

 in times of public distress ? Whoever carefully 

 examines the present evil, will find it lies too 

 deep, and that its ramifications are too exten- 

 sive, to allow the operative skill of the Legislature 

 to extirpate it ; nay, in any great degree to re- 

 lieve it. Parliament may, and indeed is about 



B 



