326 The French Peasant-Farmers' Seed Fund. 
had thus expected to avoid starvation, found themselves deprived 
of their last hope b}' the extreme rigour of the winter, which 
almost entirely destroyed the plant over the greater portion of the 
north of France. 
Such was the condition of affairs when, at the General Meeting 
of the Members of the Smithfield Club, the President (the Earl 
of Powis) mentioned in cordial terms of approval a corre- 
spondence between his Excellency M. Drouyn de Lhuys and Mr. 
James Howard, M.P., in reference to a project for supplying 
seed to the small cultivators of the invaded region. This corre- 
spondence was subsequently published in the agricultural news- 
papers at the instance of the Honorary Secretary of the Club, Mr. 
Brandreth Gibbs, who at the same time announced his readiness 
to register donations of seed-corn and other contributions. Not- 
withstanding this, it seemed probable that the movement would 
not be successful unless some steps were taken that would 
inspire with confidence those who were desirous of assisting the 
distressed French peasant-farmers. Accordingly, a public meet- 
ing was called by Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Delano (the Hono- 
rary Agent in England of the ' Societe des Agriculteurs de 
France'), and myself, and we were afterwards appointed joint 
Honorary Secretaries of the Seed Fund. Fortunately, Lord 
Vernon, then President of this Society, consented to preside at 
the meeting, and afterwards to become the Chairman of the 
Seed Fund Committee. 
At this meeting, which was held on December 19th, for the 
purpose of appointing a Committee to collect subscriptions in 
corn and other seeds to be supplied gratis to the suffering peasant- 
farmers of France, thus enabling them to sow their land and 
avoid an otherwise inevitable famine, the following statement, 
addressed to Lord Vernon by Mr. Howard, was read in explana- 
tion of the origin of the movement : — 
" 1 would very briefly explain why I was induced to take up 
the subject of assisting the French cultivators. In the early part 
of October I met with friends from France who gave such a 
description of the desolation wrought by the contendipg armies, 
and the utter ruin which seemed inevitable to the farmers of 
France, unless by extraneous aid they could be supplied with 
seed wherewith to sow their fields, that, after consulting with 
members of the Farmers' Club, of which I am the Chairman for 
the year, I at once wrote to his Excellency M. Drouyn de Lhuys, 
the President of the French National Agricultural Society, to 
ask his advice and co-operation. It was my intention on 
receiving his reply to put myself in communication with your 
Lordship as President of the Royal Agricultural Society, and 
other leading men in agriculture ; but on the very day I received 
the reply of M. Drouyn de Lhuys, I was seized with an illness 
