1802.] f 
together, of wafte committed by war, of 
laree farms, and banking accommodations; 
all of thefe have produced, and fome of them 
continue to produce fome part of the effect, 
but will never account for doubling and 
even tripling the ufual prices. The real 
ftate of the cafe may eafily be illuftrated 
by a circumftance that took place in this 
neighbourhood, not long fince. An old 
man, who gained his livelihood by felling 
bags of fand, from the fea-fhore, at a half- 
penny per bag, fuddenly railed his price 
to one penny per bag, and gave the waras 
his reafon for fo doing ; and being afked 
whether there was any fcarcity of the 
grains of fand on the fea-fhore, replied 
that he mult live by his fand, and the 
fcarcity was not of that, but of the pence. 
This, Sir, in my opinion, applies to all 
fpecies of grains, as well as thofe of fand, 
and fhews decidedly, that an increafe of 
300,000,000]. to the national debt, the 
interelt of which is fcrewed- out of the 
pockets of the nation, through the opera- 
tion of direé&t and oblique taxes, obliges 
every one to increafe the price of the par- 
ticular article by which he lives, in order 
toenable him to fupport that additional 
taxation ; but fome articles can be dif- 
penfed with, and others cannot ; the na- 
tion mutt have neceflaries, coute gw il 
coute. The conlequence is, that thefe 
foon find a higher level than luxuries, and 
therefore, when we take a comparative: 
view of the price of grain, &¢, with other 
articles, we exclaim, that a farmer isa 
knave, and afks an exorbitant price for 
his produce: but in fact, it is the neceffity 
of the community to buy, and not the pe- 
culiaily extravagant demands of the farmer, 
that fettles the price of the article. There 
is nadgubt, the farmer will afk as much as 
he finds he can obtain for his produce; and 
hie produce being a neceflary that mutt 
be bought, if poffible, by the confumer, 
to’ fupply the wants of the moment, at a 
‘time when the want of money to the far- 
mer is not fourgent, the bargain is al- 
ways againft the confumer, and the effect 
of the taxation, and even more than that, 
is transferred from the feller to the pur- 
chdler. I would beg leave to afk fome of 
the many fplit-hair reafoners on this fub- 
jek, how a confcientious farmer is to a@? 
Is be to fell his corn at what the parcha- 
fer may call a tair price, and thus ‘ofe half 
his capital? or is heto accept the common 
market-price of the time, and take ad- 
vantage of the dearnefs he is not conf{cious of 
being acceflary to, »lthough as one indi- 
vidual of a great body of men, who col- 
lectively produce the effet, he may be faid 
‘MontTury Maa. No. 83. 
Landlords defended. 
33 
to bear his fhare in the blame? TI fear, 
if the page of human events were fairly 
unfolded to us, we fhould not find en- 
couragement to believe, that it is within 
the limits of uneducated nature, for any 
large body of men toaé& uniformly again 
their immediate intereft, in compliance 
with more evident rules of moral right 
than the prefent cafe prefents to their 
view—may we not truly infer, that any 
other fet of illiterate men, placed in fimi- 
lar circumftances to thofe of the farmers, 
would act in a fimilar manner, and there- 
fore that no peculiarity of reproach is 
due tothem? If the farmers are little 
‘to blame, their landlords are ftill lefs fo, 
in raifing the price of provifions; for con- 
fefledly they increafe their rents in con{e- 
quence of the high price received by the 
farmer, and therefore, hawever they may 
contribute towards retarding the fall, they 
certainly did not produce the rife of the 
price. ‘The increafe of rent which fome 
few landlords have put upon their farms, 
does not, in my opinion, in general exceed 
an eighth part of their rent five years ago; 
and as many have not raifed their rents at 
all, I fhould fuppofe that on an average, 
throughout the kingdom, an additional 
payment of one-tenth from the tenant to 
the landlord will exceed the truth. The 
landholders then can only be charged with 
keeping up the produce of the earth at 
cne-tenth additional price within thefe 
five years 5 whereas adouble and even tri- 
ple advance has actually taken piace. The 
farmer hasivtrequently fold an acre of 
wheat for 2igl, and, fometimes as high as 
361. atthe time that he paid from oné to 
two pounds rent for that acre’ to his 
landlord. How long were men, opprefied 
by the affefled taxes, and then by the in- 
come tax, in contemplating this ftate of . 
things, before they put forth their flow, 
but juft, claim to a flight fhare of the 
general increafe of income? Their mo- 
deration has been furprizing, and can only 
be referred to their fenfe of honour and 
ef the condudé that became men who hold 
fo high a rank inthe community. The 
proprietors of land, were perhaps the only 
body of men, who payed fairly to the in- 
come-tax. Their property lay fully ex- 
pofed to view, and would have given the 
lie to any falfe flatements ef income, had 
they withed to prefentthem. TI thall only 
add one more plea in favour of landlords, 
and thatis, that when other men were 
making from 5!. to rol, per cent of their 
capital, they were {carce making 3]. 10s. 
—a fufficient apology in itielf to excufe any 
attempt towards an increafe of income. 
F With 
