Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835; Social reformers -- Great Britain -- Biography
On the 6th of January a Meeting of "Landholders and
Occupiers of Land," was held at the Town-Hall, Warminster,
convened by public advertisement, signed by
John Benett, Esq. of Pyt-House, (the gentleman who
gave such long and strong evidence before the Committees
of both Houses of Parliament in favour of the Corn Bill),
and several other respectable land-owners and farmers of
the county of Wilts, to take into consideration the propriety
of presenting Petitions to both Houses of Parliament,
on behalf of the proprietors and occupiers of land.
Thomas Grove, Esq. of Fern, one of the gentlemen who
called the meeting, having taken the chair, Mr. Benett addressed
them at a very considerable length in favour of a
petition that he submitted for their adoption, expressive of
the serious injury already sustained by the farmer, and the
probable result likely to fall on the landholder, arising
from the reduced and low price of corn, owing particularly
to the importations from France, &c. The Petition further
stated, that as the agricultural interest was blended
with that of the tradesman and mechanic, the latter were invited
to join in its support, and add their signatures thereto.
Mr. Benett insisted that, as the evidence given before the
Corn Committees had never been contradicted, the legislature
were bound to afford the agricultural interest their
protection; and, enforcing the necessity of Parliamentary
interposition in favour of the landed interest, he said, that
unless some measure were devised to enable the farmer
to pay his present rent and taxes, the landholders would
be completely ruined; and he solemnly declared, that,
unless this desirable object was carried into immediate
execution, he for one would be under the absolute necessity,
before that day twelvemonth, of _leaving the country_
with his family, to reside where provisions and all the necessaries
of life were to be obtained at a rate within the
reach of his fortune.
[Footnote: Quere.--If this solemn asseveration of Mr. Benett's be
correct, (who, by the bye, is a Land-owner to the amount of 10,000_l_.
a year,) what will be the fate of those who are left behind, without
the means of flying from the evil?]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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