1801.] Report of the Committee on the State of the Corn Trade. 399 
*Tis thine, O Bedford! which fhall exfend 
As far as peace and freedomown a friend. 
May the exertions of the illuftrious Houfe 
of Ruffell, a name dear to every friend of 
freedom, be ever empSoyed in fo glorious 
a caufe! 
Of the minor poems which compofe this 
amufing little volume, the Ode on War 
will be read with confiderable intereft, 
on account of the bold and energetic 
flichts of poetry which it contains: 
Stern, feated in her iron car, 
1 fee her faulchions gleam afar, 
Her crimfon bafiners waving round ; 
The voice of thunder marks her way, 
Trembles the earth in wild difmay, 
Hoarfe the trumps of battle found, 
And now Il view 
Her ruffian crew 
Incaf’d in mail, defil’din human gore, 
Obfequicus to her fell commands, 
They hafte, they fly from diftant lands, 
As wolves from Alpine mountains pour, 
She waves her fword and rolls her Gorgon eye, 
She fpeaks, and Nature fhudders at the cry' 
Such, Mr. Editor, is the book the ex- 
tracts from which [ have fent you. Far 
be it from me to with that every rhymer, 
or perfon who can jingle words together, 
fhould be a candidate for the fame. which 
Bloomfield has acquired, by his fimple but 
delightful ftrains. The poems. of Mr. 
* Batchelor will be read with pleafure by 
thofe who delight in rural imagery and 
fnooih verfification. The difadvantages 
under which they have been writren are 
fuch as claim confiderable indulgence 
from the public, who always regard with 
candour the wosks of unaffilted genius. 
The author, by the native energies of his 
mind, has emerged from the trammels of 
ob{curity, and it has not been without 
much encouragement that he has ventured 
to meet the public eye. It would render 
the prefent communicatign too bulky to 
fend you an account of the life and firna- 
tion of the author. I will dothisina fub- 
fequent letter, at which time I will alio 
tranf{mit the critique of a literary friend, 
upon whofe opinion the public have long 
fince defervedly ftamped a value, by an 
extenfive reception of his works, . 
Iam your's, &c. 
G. D. YEaTEs. M.D. 
Bedford, Sept. 23, 1804. 
=a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
REPORT of the COMMITTEE of the HOUSE 
of COMMONS relative to the STATE of 
the CORN TRADE. 
HE committee, &c. &c. have in pur- 
_ fuance of the inftrudtions which they 
‘received, proceedgd to examine the Act of 
2 
the 31ft of the prefent king, and to take, 
from the belt information they cou!d ob- 
tain, a comparative view of the price of Ja- 
bour, and of the unavoidable expences in- 
cident to the grower, in the year 1791, and 
at this time; as the beft criterion by which 
they might judge of what ought to be the 
price of the different {pecies of grain, al- 
lowing the grower fuch a fair and reafon- - 
able profit, as may induce him to purfue 
that line of hufbandry which will the 
moft contribute to the production of fuch 
an ample fupply of the different kiads of 
corn and grain, as may be {efficient for 
our coniumption This fupply cannot 
be expegted without a confiderable fur- 
plus, in plentiful years, above the de- 
mand of the home market; it therefore be~ 
comes defirable, that the grower fhoudd 
have fuch a ready fale for. that furplus by 
exportation, and beunty if requifite, as 
may remove all apprehenfion ef his net 
being able to obtain, from a glut of the 
commodity at the home market, fuch a 
price for that furplus as will afford him 
an equitable profit on his Jabour, induftry, 
and capital, employed in its produétion. 
It appears then, to your committee, that 
the furefi mode by which an ample fup- 
ply can be expeted, is to endeavour to 
fecure an unifuim and reafonable price to 
the growers. 
Your committee find, that the A& paffed 
in 1991, giving a power to the-king in 
council, wheo parliament is not fitting, 
of prohibiting tie exportation of corn, if 
the average price thereof, taken from the 
return of the whole kingdom, is higher 
than the price at cr above which foreign 
corn of the fame fort is allowed to be im. 
ported at the low duties; and to permit 
generally, for three months certain, the: 
importation of fuch fort’ on-the loweft 
duties then payable, cought never to be 
exercifed but upon a ftrong and incontro- 
vertible neceffity ; as it may otherwife ope- 
rate as a great difccuragement to the 
growth and produétion of corn in this 
kingdom, by rendering the market un- 
certain, by making the export trade hia. 
ble to be ftopped, and by enabling a ge- 
neral import of foreign corn to be poured 
into the kingdom for the term of three 
months, at fo fmall a variation and ad- 
vance of price in the home market, as 
may perhaps be cccafioned for the pur. 
pole of producing that effect, 
Your committee are cautious of recom- 
mending a repeal of that part of the Aét, 
Jeft a neceffity for the exercife of that 
power might poflibly arife, thinking it 
better under fuch circumftances, that it 
fhould be exercifed according to law, than 
el 
