could not stay its course if they were aware of it, to be allowed to increase the mischiefs of its consequences, and to derange the general industry of the country? Are the evils of monopoly to be continued in an exclusive privilege, the most extensive in its operation of all monopolies, to the insecurity and uncertainty of all transactions? Are the restraints arising from a dear currency to be continued, and the benefits of a cheap currency to be withheld from the country, in ignorance of the nature of coin, bills of exchange, and bankers' notes? Are the products of industry to be limited by such restraints throughout the country? With the increasing demand of an increasing population for food, could the most important branch of industry of all have declined, and continue to decline, unless by reason of the restraints imposed upon it since 1815? Is land to be suffered to continue to be unproductive, and our agricultural labourers to be thrown out of employment, through the operation of the corn laws? Is our population to be unwholesomely increased, and the morals as well as industry of our labouring poor to continue to be destroyed, by abuses in the administration of the poor laws? And, in raising a necessary revenue for the state, are we not to raise it in the manner which shall press the least upon the general industry of the country? Amidst all our boasted love and cry for liberty, is the freedom of industry, of all kinds of freedom the most important, neither to be understood nor attended to? if Ministers, legislators old and new, men of all parties, I call upon you not to take my positions for granted, but to enquire patiently and diligently, as I have done, in order to ascertain results by the evidence of facts, and then deny, you can, the conclusions I have arrived at. If I am wrong as to the causes of our distress, find out what those causes are. Are we to have enquiries about West India distress reiterated and renewed; and are we to have no enquiry into the causes of British distress? Can the latter have proceeded without a cause, or is it less deserving of inquiry, or less capable of being ascertained, than the former ? Let an unrestrained impulse be given to general industry, by withholding from the Bank of England the renewal of its exclusive privilege, and by the issue of small notes, with our present standard; or by the rejection of a standard of gold, and the adoption of a standard of silver. Let capital be enabled to return to the cultivation of the soil, by restoring to the home grower the advantages of the increasing demand of our increasing population for food, which he enjoyed previous to 1815, but which have been trans ferred to the dealer in foreign grain since that` year. Let the natural employment in the cultivation of the soil, which the poor enjoyed previous to 1815, be also restored to them; and then the correction of the abuses of the Poor Laws, as it has been already put in practice in three different counties in England, will be as extensive as it will be certain. Finally, let industry cease to be restrained through any legislative restraints, and particularly through fiscal restraints, by a proper modification of our duties of customs; and lessening our duties of excise, as our revenue from customs increases; and then — but not till then-will the country take a rebound, and proceed in a career of prosperity, even in this country before unexampled. Every thing is ripe for it, capital, — intelligence, skill, -enterprise, industry, swelling even to overflowing, but pent up and diverted from their natural course by legislative interference. - |