56 
THE AGRICULTURIST 
formed themselves into one grand association, under the name 
of “ The Central Agricultural Society of Great Britain and 
Ireland and the truth of the alledged cause of their meeting — 
the unexampled distress of the farmer — being too palpable to 
admit of a moment’s doubt, they proceeded to take into con- 
sideration the remedy. It seemed to have appeared to the 
committee, that the first and the most advisable step was, to 
instruct one of their body, a member of the House of Commons, 
to move, early in the ensuing session, for the appointment of a 
select committee, before whom witnesses might be examined as 
to the existence and extent of the distress, its causes, and the 
means by which it might be alleviated. 
Nothing could be more proper, or better calculated to effect 
the desired object. It was the first time that such an assembly 
had been convened in Great Britain. It represented the agri- 
cultural interest of the country. It spoke the feelings and the 
wishes of British farmers almost everywhere. It was a grand, it 
was an awful meeting; and its deliberations cautiously con- 
ducted, and its determination calmly and respectfully expressed, 
its object could not fail of being obtained. The case would be 
honestly inquired into, and the remedy, if there was any, would 
be applied fully and fairly, so far as it could be without prejudice 
to national faith and the legitimate interests of other classes. 
Unfortunately, however, a talented, but theoretical and vision- 
ary speaker arose, and occupied the attention of the meeting 
for a full hour on the robbery effected by Peel’s bill, and the 
atrocities of the New Poor Laws’ Bill, and the proper standard 
of currency, and of the borrowing in paper and paying in gold, 
and the necessity of demanding justice, and many a similar sub- 
ject, calculated to confuse the judgment and inflame the mind ; 
and he concluded with moving a resolution which, were it not 
that, connecting it with what had been the empassioned theme 
of his discourse it bore the character of dictation and menace, 
would have been a ridiculous truism, that “ nothing would be 
of avail in relieving the distress of the farmer but the diminu- 
tion of his burthens proportionate to the depreciation of the price 
of his produce, or an increase in the price of his produce pro- 
