setting forth, "That the petitioners feel themselves called upon, at This Interesting Crisis, to express to the house their unqualified approbation of the proposal lately made in parliament for the temporary suspension of Distillation from Grain; the present relations of these kingdoms with the other nations of the world, the large quantities of grain which it is well known this coun- 393 try has been obliged, for many years, to import beyond the extent of its own produce, and the necessity of our providing at home for the probable deficiency in these importations, evidently dictate such a prudent measure: and, although there is just now plenty of grain in the country, it would betray a great want of foresight, in times like these, not to be prepared for every event, or to run the smallest risk of a scarcity amongst the people of these happy lands; and that the petitioners are too well aware of its universal importance ever to make any request in the smallest degree inconsistent with the agricultural prosperity of the country; on the contrary, they feel it is at all times their duty, as it is their interest, to promote, as far as lies in their power, the improvement and extension of agriculture; but they must confess they are not able to perceive how the stoppage of Distillation from Grain at this time can possibly interfere with that improvement; they cannot see why any alarm should be excited in well-informed and unbiassed minds by such a proposal; they cannot allow themselves to believe that calculation has been resorted to by those who have taken such alarm; for surely it is manifest that our farmers will have to provide not only for the expected short importations into this country but also for the consumption of the West India colonies, which have now to look to Britain for the supply of a large proportion of their wants; the additional quantity of grain required for those two purposes will, beyond doubt, greatly exceed all that is at any time consumed in the distilleries; and it is a well-ascertained fact, that the prices of the different kinds of grain mutually operate on each other, so that the grower of barley need be under no apprehension; nor should it be forgotten, that the proposed suspension of distillation from grain is not to be of a permanent, but merely of a temporary nature, and that the king in council is to be empowered again to permit the use of barley in the distilleries as soon as it falls below a fair and reasonable price; farther the petitioners cannot avoid expressing their satisfaction, that this well-timed measure will also tend to the relief of a very numerous and respectable part of the community, whose interests as British subjects ought not to be overlooked, the West India planters and merchants, who, possessing a considerable quantity of sugar beyond what is required for the consumption of 394 these kingdoms, will, by the use of that article as a temporary substitute for grain in the distilleries, be enabled to find a market for the surplus produce of their lands, and the country will thus be enabled to defeat the malicious purposes of our enemy, who equally withholds from us those markets where we could sell our surplus Sugar, and supply ourselves with what grain we stand in need of; and therefore praying, that the house may adopt measures for suspending the use of grain by the distillers of Great Britain, and for restricting them to the use of sugar for a limited period".

If in that most Interesting Crisis, when after all their repeated disasters, the spirit of Spain was reviving, and her chief city bidding defiance to an immense army at her very gates, if in such a moment a British army, so marshalled and equipped, were, after a long march to the aid of their ally—if they were in the hour of trial coldly to turn their backs upon his danger, what would be thought of the sincerity of the effort of British co-operation.

In such circumstances some explanation was obviously necessary; but haying Stated thus much, he would abstain from saying more, than merely to express a wish that ministers would spontaneously come forward at This Interesting Crisis, and make such a communication as was due to that House and to the country.

The right hon. gentleman and his colleagues had, by their recent proceedings, and particularly by their correspondence with the Bank, laid themselves open to the most just censure, as being ignorant, at This Interesting Crisis, of the real situation of the country.