&c.

at large, your Committee might be induced to recommend it," &c. He had now to remark, that we were more embarrassed than we were in 1795; for, on referring to the Report of that year, it will be found it was but a partial failure. Though the crops of wheat had failed, the other crops of grain were fuccefsful. This was a circumftance on which we could not now rest our calculation. The ufe he would make of this was, that we should derive from the grain of the wheat the greateft poffible quantity of flour. The calculation, as it now ftands, is in the proportion of 47lb. of flour to 60lb. of grain, as that which makes the propereft aliment for 'man. The reasoning on this proportion in the Report, does not appear to him conclufive. It is admitted, that a nearer proportion of 52lb. to 59lb. may be applied to the nutriment of bread. In 1795, a Committee reported, and on agreement did not allow fo much as 7lb. He found in the third Report, a diminution of 5lb. only was admitted.

He asked why was it not as neceffary now as

then? and until he heard a reafon, he should think fo. He found it ftated on report, that on the testimony of a miller, excellent bread may be made of the whole wheat, without taking away any of the bran and a gentleman has proved it to be fo; for he himself had feen a bread made of that kind. He had now to ftate, upon the authority of a perfon, to whofe exemplary life he owed the first of all obligations, that the beft bread was made of the entire wheat. On mentioning the different claffes into which the ancients divided their bread, he faid, that the first was made of the fineft flour; the fecond was a mixture of that flour with the pollard; and the third clafs was the whole flour with the bran. That of those three breads, the first and fecond feemed to have been little ufed; but that the third fort was general, from its excellent effects. On experiment, it was found by chemifts that this fort contained a vast quantity of effential oil; and in this confifted the true fpirit of the wheat; not that which was fiery and caused fermentation, but that which was mild and nutricious. Had this confideration been early attended to, there would be now no caufe of alarm. This was the fentiment of a perfon who was never difpofed to give his opinion but upon juft and deliberate reafons. He then faid, that he approved of the noble Lord's plan, but did not fee the objections to any proper compulsory law in fo ftrong a light as he did. Let us but once convince the people of the neceffity of fubmitting for the common good, and take with them a fellowship in their fufferings, and we shall foon be poffeffed of their compliance with whatever law we propofe for fuch a purpofe. He found too upon report another confideration which he would wish to admit. On the

teftimony of a miller, it is proved that damaged wheat may be amended by a commixture with the good. The ufe to be made of this obfervation was, that on the fupply from America we should adopt the most effectual methods to render that fupply efficient; and here he would wish to fubmit to the attention of the Committee the idea of a compulfory law, as that grain may be mingled up with the damaged to a proper degree, and be brought to the fuftenance of man. On his part, he fincerely wifhed all might be done by admonition and example. He had great fatisfaction in listening to measures of precaution; he thought too they should be followed up. Should an abundant or an average harvest grow up, he thought precaution and forefight neceffary. He thought the cultivation of a vegetable which was the next beft fubftitute for bread, he meant potatoes, fhould be encouraged. This might be brought into consumption about July and August, and might fill up the time between the old and new harvest. On the cultivation of potatoes, he thought it would be matter of encouragement, if the tythes on potatoes were made equal to the tythes on wheat, a circumftance which at prefent tended much to difcourage their growth. This was a matter for contemplation. He had alfo to ftate his extreme apprehenfions on the rife of butchers' meat. From the lower parts of the country which were flooded from the continual rains, great quantities of cattle were deftroyed and fent up early to market; in order to remedy that evil, he wished the country to get a little repofe. This refpite might be gained by the ufe of fwine, the increase of which he recommended. One plentiful year would reflore many years of fcarcity. Another commodity he would recommend as a guard against the evil, was the importation of rice, which was fo low in Bengal as one farthing the pound. This was a food suitable to fedentary perfons, and might be fold in this country for three halfpence the pound. The length of the voyage, the risk of the fpeculation, might difcourage individuals, but it might come under the contemplation of Government. The improving state of agriculture was strongly marked in the number of inclofures; and on this he had to felicitate the country. Yet, great as this spirit was, he wished it was ftill more promoted. The Houfe, he was fure, would always give its cordial affiftance to every attempt of this kind; and he had to regret that there should be so great a drawback on it, as to make the charges fo high, that a sum of almost 2401. was neceffary to carry a bill of inciofure through its respective ftages. It was faid by an honourable Member, in allufion to a certain high character (the Lord Chancellor), that no confideration could compenfate him for the fees of his place on those occasions. VOL. X.

4 I

On this he had to fay, that if the charges on bills attending fuch meafures difcouraged them, it was not owing to any want of fpirit or liberality in that noble perfon. And it was a duty and respect he owed to him, to inform that honourable Member who said so, that if he knew that noble Lord as he did, he would not say so of him: and he had it now in his power to remove the opprobrium of such an imputation, by contradicting it. The charges arofe from folicitors and other perfons fwelling out their bills to this large amount, and not to the demands or fees of the Speaker's office in the Houfe of Lords. He concluded by a handfome panegyric on the liberality of the country, which had fo generously come forward in relief of the poor. The different claffes were more nearly linked together; and the poor were now taught to confider thofe as their friends and benefactors, whom they regarded before with an invidious and angry eye. The cottage and palace were united in the general preffure, and the rich and poor in feeling and respect for one another. He then gave his affent to the motion.

Lord HAWKESBURY faid, he had heard with great pleafure the opinion ftated by the right honourable gentleman; and referring to the opinion of the Committee, he ftated, that they had confidered how far it would be useful to put reftrictions upon the millers as to the quality of the ground corn, and they had found that the utmost saving would only amount to one-30th of the whole grain obliged to be made ufe of. From a confideration of all points, his Lordship faid, the Committee were of opinion, that to propose to enact by law, that only a coarfer fort of bread should be ufed, would not produce a faving adequate to the inconveniences which it was likely to produce to the community. With regard to the importation, he muft obferve in anfwer to what had fallen from an honourable gentleman (Mr. Hobhouse) that all the foreign ports. from which we could expect fupplies, were merely those which had not been engaged in war; fuch were the fupplies to be drawn from fome parts of the Baltic and America, and these supplies were not to be expected to any great extent.

The SPEAKER explained. He faid his idea was, that the Committee had rather gone too far in excluding the coarfer parts of bread from the food of the common people. What he meant to recommend, was the use of that fort of bread from which not only the bran, but the coarfer part of the wheat might be extracted.

Mr. W. BIRD thought that the noble Lord (Hawkesbury) went too far in saying that any man who connected the war and the fcarcity together, was no good fubject. He, for one, must be of

opinion, that though the war was not the cause of the scarcity, yet that it occafioned the continuance of that fcarcity. Would the noble Lord fay, that the quantity of troops on the Rhine, the num bers fent to Holland, thofe of Ruffia brought over to England, the number of French prifoners in this country (lumber, as the right honourable Secretary had called them), had nothing to do with the existing scarcity? As we could not depend upon a large fupply from abroad, it behoved the country to attend to a decrease of the confumption of corn. He thought it little better than a mockery to find the noble Lord, in the name of the Committee, merely recommending the use of stale bread, and that the rich should not diftribute their charity to the poor in bread. For his part, it was not the poor whom he wished to fee deprived of the use of bread, but would rather recommend a faving in this article to the rich, whe abounded in other fuperfluitics. Let the rich but deny themselves this fupply for a month or two, and they would ferve the poor effectually, and bring down the bleffings of thousands upon them.

Mr. SYLVESTER DOUGLAS faid, that upon the queftion whether it would be adviseable to restrain the making of a better fort of bread, the Committee had thought it better not to introduce a compulfory claufe, which would oblige all the inhabitants of the metropolis to alter their habits with refpect to an effential article of their food at the fame time they had given no opinion contrary to that of the right honourable gentleman, namely, that none of the nutriment and food for man fhould be extracted from the flour of wheat. After farther vindicating the opinion of the Committee for not propofing a compulsory clause, Mr. Douglas stated his opinion, that still farther reductions might be accomplished from the favings proposed than were stated by the Committee. He thought, that if the whole meal was brought into private families, they would on various accounts be induced to fift it by fome apparatus, which would cause a greater loss than upon the prefent plan. That which was ground into the coarfe flour, having more of the bran, could not be carried to fuch a diftance; and therefore a great part of this, in the opinion of those who had given evidence before the Committee, if brought to the London market, would be loft, as it would be liable to heat and to be fpoiled. It had also been stated by bakers, that the fame quantity of coarfe flour did not produce the fame weight as the fine flour; and that upon eighty leaves, one loaf more was gained in weight upon fine than upon coarfe loaves. Upon the whole, the Committee had employed all the extent of their understanding, and defired in their report as much as pofble to meet the wishes of the country in general, and the poor in particular.

Sir W. YOUNG alfo juftified the Committee's not propofing a compulfory claufe. He' complimented the opinion quoted in the fpeech of the right honourable gentleman (the Speaker); and at the fame time noticed the opinion of the phyficians before the Committee, who stated, that they would not fay whether the white or brown bread would prove moft nutricious, till they knew the habits of the people. It would be dangerous, therefore, for the Committee to make experiments on the tempers and habits of the people, efpecially when the queftion, "What the faving would be by fuch alteration," was fo problematical. He trusted that much regard would not be had to the declamation of an honourable Member (Mr. Bird), when he faid that the Report of the Committee was but of little ufe, because it did not accomplish more. Nor was the infinuation lefs mifchievous, that the war was the caufe of the tearcity. France was undoubtedly contiguous to this country, and might in time of peace furnith fome fupply of corn; but by the beft intelligence which had lately been derived from that country, it appeared that France had fallen full one-third fhort of what was wanted for the confuruption of that country; fo that it could not be fuppofed, even if peace were made, that Fiance would take off its embargo.

Mr. WILBERFORCE faid, he was not a Member of the Committee, but from the character of thofe who conitituted it, from their means of information, and their earnest defire to promote the welfare of the community, he must be satisfied that they had done every thing which could be expected of them. He hoped that gentlemen would exercife their minds in devifing the means of obtaining farther fupplies, rather than in criticising the efforts of others. It appeared to him, that if the whole grain were used, if not univerfally, yet in part, it would ferve to lengthen out the fupply wanted He was alfo led to think, that in part the Legislature were warranted to interfere, and particularly that in all parochial relief of bread or flour, it thould confift only of that made of the whole grain. He could not believe that the prefent scarcity arofe either from the war, or from any increafe of population, but rather that it was owing to the uncommonly wet and unfavourable feafon. There were various fources whence he apprehended the country might look for fupplies. The firft of thefe arofe from importation. This, indeed, was not the fource whence we could be moft fecure, or look with any great degree of expectation. though none ought to fpeak flightly of the fupply to be derived from importation, yet he agreed with his noble friend that the means of relief he had propofed were as likely to be beneficial as that to be

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