75 



It is unjust towards the class of our home cul- 

 tivators, and inexpedient in regard to the pub- 

 lic interest. 



It is unjust towards our home cultivators, 

 in laying that burden on them, which, if borne, 

 should be borne by the whole community. It 

 is a positive restriction on their industry, in fa- 

 vour of the colonial industry. Nay, the injus- 

 tice is not merely in laying the burden on the , 

 limited class of cultivators, (though the whole 

 will suffer), but in laying its immediate weight 

 on a small number of that class, the growers of 

 barley. This hardship is great at any time, 

 inasmuch as it forces into a different mode of 

 culture, those soils which are best fitted for 

 that produce * ; and it is peculiarly aggravated 

 in being imposed, without previous warning, at 

 this season of the year, when the barley crop 

 is already sown, or the land so prepared for it, 

 as not to be conveniently turned to any other 

 produce. 



But it is said, the whole amount of grain 

 used in distillation is small, and the loss to the 

 British farmer will be trifling. It is further 



* " I consider the cultivation of barley as almost necessary to 

 the existence of Norfolk." Evid. of Mr Nathaniol Kent, A pp. 

 p. 118. The impossibility of turning barley land so ^ell to any 

 other culture, is also stated by Mr Cox and Mr Henuin^, p. 149, 

 Mr Elmar, p, 153, and Mr Wakcfield, p. 109. 



