The Times 1821 - 1830 Dec 31 1822 Cumberland County Meeting

Dec 31 1822 Cumberland County Meeting

The Times, Tuesday, Dec 31, 1822; pg. 3; Issue 11756; col F                               CUMBERLAND COUNTY MEETING.                                               --------                                   [From the Carlisle Journal.] It is in agitation to call a meeting of this county, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament on the distressed state of the country; but it is not yet determined, as there seems to be a difference of opinion as to the cause of the distress, whether or not it shall embrace the subject of Parliamentary reform. We are sorry that all the leading gentlemen of this county are not yet convinced of the absolute necessity of a purification of the Commons' House of Parliament: for sure we are, that all their whining about the alarming state of the landed interest will only excite the unfeeling sneer of those who have been the chief means of plunging the country into unparalleled difficulties. Does any one suppose that Ministers and the Parliament are ignorant of the misery which prevails among the cultivators of the soil? They know it too well; and might, would they act with honesty and disinterestedness, do much to alleviate the evil. All the causes from which the present public distress has arisen have originated in the corrupt constitution of the House of Commons; and the only effectual mode of relief must be to promote, by every constitutional means, a reform in the representation of the people, from the want of which has sprung a grinding and oppressive system of taxation. From the continued depression in the value of agricultural produce, those land-owners who have not lowered their rents are now, it may be presumed, conscious of their egregious error. There are several extensive grass and corn farms in this county that cannot be let at almost any rent; an abatement of 15 per cent. having been offered and rejected. About a week since, at a meeting of a few farmers, a calculation was made of the value of their present year's crop, according to the current prices, and also a statement of their profits, after deducting for manure, labourers' wages (excluding their own assistance), poor rates, &c. The result was, that one of the company, who rented a farm of 200L. a year, found a deficit of 100L. in the receipts for his produce - so that instead of 200L. he had no more than 100L. for his landlord; and he also discovered, that from a depreciated market, his stock was 120L. less in value than it was in the preceding year. All the rest of his brother farmers who assisted him in the calculation found themselves in similar circumstances.

 

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