In Whig Society, 1775-1818

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II LADY MELBOURNE AND GEORGIANA DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE When we read the history of England in 1801, we might be reading the history of England to-day. She was then, as now, victorious, but she was paying then, as now, the price of victory. The victory of Alexandria and our successes at Copenhagen...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II LADY MELBOURNE AND GEORGIANA DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE When we read the history of England in 1801, we might be reading the history of England to-day. She was then, as now, victorious, but she was paying then, as now, the price of victory. The victory of Alexandria and our successes at Copenhagen and in Egypt were followed by the complete conquest of the latter country in September; but the condition of the country when Parliament opened in February 1801 was very serious. The King's Speech drew attention to the high prices and the scarcity of provisions, and urged remedial measures. During the ensuing debate in the House of Lords, expedients the names of which sound to us at this date like old friends, were freely put forward, and we read of such well-known phrases as increase of production and the abandonment of brewing so that the barley might be used as food, though the ingenuous suggestion of Lord Suffolk is, happily, new to us. He deplored the necessity of keeping large numbers of Dragoons all over the country for the suppression of therioting caused by starvation and high prices. He urged that 10,000 Dragoons should be kept in one vast camp in the centre of England. From there they could proceed expeditiously to any centre of disaffection and tumult. But in the intervals between outbreaks of this sort, they could be employed in bringing fish from the coast to augment the food supply of a starving population. Lord Warwick enunciated the doctrine that it was the duty of the Government to find employment for the workman, and proposed works of public utility. In the House of Commons Sir Francis Burdett attributed the scarcity to underconsumption, because the taxation was so high that, before a man could purchase commodities, he must have his salary ...