AN ESSAY 
 
 ON THF. 
 
 EXTERNAL CORN TRADE; . 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO THE 
 
 General Principles of that Important Branch of Traffic; 
 AN EXAMINATION 
 
 OF THS 
 
 EXCEPTIONS TO WHICH THESE PRINCIPLES ARE LIABLE} 
 
 AND 
 
 at (fcompavatfoe statement 
 
 OF 
 
 THE EFFECTS 
 
 WHICH 
 
 ^RESTRICTIONS ON IMPORTATION 
 
 AND 
 
 dfree intertowtft, 
 
 ARE CALCULATED TO PRODUCE 
 
 UPON SUBSISTENCE, AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, 
 AND REVENUE. 
 
 By R. TORRENS, Esq. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " AN ESSAY ON MONEY AND PAPER CURRENCY,* 
 AND OF "THE ECONOMISTS REFUTED." 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR J. HATCHARD, 
 
 BOOKSELLER TO THE QUEEN, OPPOSITE ALBANY, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1815.
 
 I AH' RKKJ At SiVA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 x E59K3S ' *" 
 
 Hi>rt Stmt*, Upmarket, LmJm.
 
 HD 
 T3 
 
 TO 
 
 MAJOR GENERAL SIR HENRY TORRENS, 
 
 knight Commanticc 
 
 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MOST HONORABLE MILITARY ORDER OF THE BATH, 
 
 AS A TESTIMONY 
 
 op 
 THE RESPECT AND THE ATTACHMENT 
 
 CALLED FORTH BY THAT 
 
 DISTINGUISHED TALENT, & UNDEVIATING RECTITUDE, 
 
 IN THE DISCHARGE OP OFFICIAL DUTIES ; 
 WHICH 
 
 THE PUBLIC VOICE ACKNOWLEDGES ; 
 
 AND BY THAT 
 
 URBANITY OF MANNERS & BENEVOLENCE OF HEART, 
 
 WHICH, 
 
 ALL WHO APPROACH HIM, FEEL; 
 
 <3H)e following Iteotft 
 
 IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 By his Friend, 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 

 
 PREFACE. 
 
 here is no question, which can be con- 
 sidered as of higher moment to the in- 
 terests of the whole community, than that 
 which respects the Trade in Corn. The laws 
 which regulate this branch of traffic, very 
 materially affect every individual in the 
 country, from the opulent landholder to the 
 common day-labourer. An error respecting 
 them may be fatal. Their influence extends 
 through every part of the economical sys- 
 tem. They regulate the supply of food, 
 and the value of money ; agriculture, com- 
 merce, and public credit, feel their power- 
 ful operation. 
 
 While the vast importance of the Cora 
 Trade and of the Corn Laws imposes upon
 
 VI 
 
 every person, who has given attention to 
 these subjects, the obligation to contribute, 
 what he can, to a just conception of their 
 influence ; the danger of promulgating er- 
 roneous theories, or even of recommending, 
 without due qualification, the adoption of 
 correct general principles, demands a degree 
 of patient and persevering inquiry, which few 
 have leisure to bestow. In no investigations 
 are caution, diffidence, with an enlargement 
 of view, and a correct acquaintance with all 
 the actual circumstances, more necessary 
 than in those which regard political economy. 
 So various and complicated are the interests, 
 which questions of this nature involve, that 
 principles, incontestibly true, may be prac- 
 tically inadmissible ; and, conversely, what 
 is practically beneficial, may be at vari- 
 ance with a theory generally correct. As 
 lie is the most skilful physician who, in 
 complicated cases, cures one disease with 
 the least possible aggravation of another, 
 sb he is the most sagacious economist, who, 
 without deserting first principles as his ge- 
 neral guides, so far restricts and modifies 
 them, as to produce the greatest good, with
 
 Til 
 
 the least possible evil, to the community. 
 For there are few universal rules in any 
 art or science ; and, in all cases, he must 
 be considered the wisest man, who fol- 
 lows the general principle, and yet avails 
 himself of exceptions, as they occasionally 
 occur. 
 
 These are the impressions under which 
 the following work was commenced, and 
 with which it is now submitted to the 
 public. The author has laboured to render 
 his investigation of the external Corn Trade, 
 both theoretically and practically, as com- 
 prehensive and complete as possible. He 
 believes there is no branch or ramification 
 of the question, the principles of which are 
 not examined in the following pages. 
 
 The first object of the author, when he en- 
 tered upon his work, was to ascertain what, 
 in this department of economical science, 
 had already been performed. On referring 
 to the " Wealth of Nations/' he found that 
 the principles of the internal Corn Trade had 
 been placed in a light so perspicuous, and
 
 VIII 
 
 supported by arguments so irresistible, that, 
 on this branch of the subject, little re* 
 mained to be said. He closed the digres- 
 sion, which concludes Dr. Smith's chapter 
 upon bounties, impressed with a feeling of 
 regret, that our great economist should not, 
 by a more full application of his principles 
 to the external trade, and by pushing them 
 through all their important consequences, 
 have secured us against the absurd specu- 
 lation, and the pernicious practice, which, 
 notwithstanding the light diffused by his 
 admirable work, have since occurred on 
 almost every question connected with the 
 national subsistence. 
 
 From studying Dr. Smith, the author 
 was led to consult Mr. Malthus. In the 
 writings of the professor he found hints 
 for reflection, and suggestions for farther 
 thought ; but he looked in vain either for 
 a development of principles before un- 
 discovered, or for consistent deductions 
 from those already established. It is a 
 singular fact, and one which it is not impro- 
 per to impress upon the public, that, in the
 
 leading questions of economical science, 
 Mr. Malthus scarcely ever embraced a 
 principle, which he did not subsequently 
 abandon. He owes his reputation as a po- 
 litical philosopher to the successful manner, 
 in which he applied a principle of Wallace 
 to confute the obnoxious theories of God- 
 win and Condorcet. Mr. Godwin main- 
 tains the perfectibility of our nature, and 
 affirms, that as the human mind advances 
 in improvement, benevolence will become 
 the ruling passion, and a state of equality 
 be established among mankind. Mr. Mal- 
 thus answers, that if this supposed per- 
 fection (necessarily implying the operation 
 of moral restraint in the highest degree) 
 should exist, the principle of population 
 would soon subvert it ; and yet afterwards, 
 extraordinary as it may appear, he asserts, 
 that the principle of population may be 
 checked by moral restraint. Here is a pal- 
 pable contradiction He first affirms that 
 the perfection supposed, is too feeble for 
 the principle of population, and then as- 
 serts, that the moral restraint, which is only 
 a part of this perfection, may control the
 
 . 
 
 principle of population. Thus is one 
 tical cause made at once inadequate, and 
 adequate, to one and the same effect. 
 
 In his "Essay on Population,"* Mr. Mal- 
 thus argues at great length in favour of boun- 
 ties for forcing the exportation of our agri- 
 cultural produce, and yet, in his observations 
 on the Corn Laws (page 42,) he states the 
 impossibility of England's becoming an ex- 
 porting country. When the controversy 
 arose on the question whether the difference 
 between the value of our currency and of our 
 coin was occasioned by an excessive issue of 
 paper by the Bank, or by an extraordinary 
 demand for the metals upon the conti- 
 nent, he was known to be a strenuous sup- 
 porter of the former opinion ; yet, in the 
 " Grounds for an Opinion on the Policy of 
 restricting the Importation of Foreign 
 Corn," (page 9) he states his belief that 
 the paper of this country has risen in value, 
 notwithstanding the increased issues of the 
 
 - | i ' - 
 
 Book III. Chap.ix. and x.
 
 Bank.* If these fluctuating and contra- 
 dictory opinions, however, do not indicate 
 that, in the difficult science of political 
 economy, Mr. Malthus has attained any 
 very clear conceptions, or arrived at any 
 certain conclusions, they at least must 
 serve-to convince us that he possesses, in a 
 very eminent degree, a spirit of candour, 
 and the love of truth. Though his works 
 cannot, perhaps, in any instance, be safely 
 consulted for practical authorities, they 
 may always be advantageously referred to 
 as furnishing materials for speculation, and 
 
 * The very inaccurate and unphilosophical language 
 which Mr. Malthus employs when alluding to our 
 monetary system, shews that he has not yet attained 
 an} r accurate conceptions on the question of the cur- 
 rency. u Our currency is still depreciated in reference 
 to the bullion currencies of the continent. A parr, 
 however, of this depreciation may still be owing to the 
 value of bullion in Europe not having yet fallen to its 
 former level." Now, when a difference exists between 
 currency and bullion, if it has been produced by a fall in 
 currency, there is depreciation ; but when the difference 
 is occasioned by bullion having risen, there is no depre- 
 ciation. To say that currency is depreciated owing to 
 bullion not having fallen to its level, is a confounding of 
 terms.
 
 XII 
 
 suggesting bints for inquiry. The spirit, 
 too, in which his essays are written, forms 
 a pleasing contrast to that which pervades 
 the publications of certain economists, pa- 
 trician and plebeian, who, having lost them- 
 selves in the labyrinths of erroneous theory, 
 with, disdainful pertinacity reject the clue 
 of facts. 
 
 The principles of Dr. Smith, and the sug- 
 gestions of Mr. Malthus, are not the only 
 sources from which the author has derived 
 assistance. The investigation of error has 
 often a most beneficial effect in leading to 
 more clear perceptions of truth; and he, 
 therefore, hopes that he may have fallen 
 under some obligations both to the Earl of 
 Lauderdale, and to Sir Henry Parnell. 
 From private friendship, too, he has re- 
 ceived aids, which he should not obey the 
 impulse of his feelings, were he to omit to 
 acknowledge. To the acute discernment of 
 Dr. Crombie, with his distinguished talent 
 for abstract and profound inquiry, the au- 
 thor, in the revision of this work, as on other 
 occasions, has been much indebted.
 
 xiii 
 
 After this acknowledgment of the aids 
 which have been received, it will now be 
 proper to present the reader with a brief 
 account of what has been performed. 
 
 In the first place, the author has availed 
 himself of the principles of the internal Corn 
 Trade unfolded by Dr. Adam Smith, and, 
 giving them what he conceives to be a ful- 
 ler development, and a more clear ar- 
 rangement, applies them to the external 
 trade, and traces their operation with re- 
 spect both to exporting and importing 
 countries. Thus far the argument is popu- 
 lar and obvious. In the succeeding chap- 
 ter, however, which treats of the influence 
 of the price of corn on the value of cur- 
 rency, and on the productive powers of 
 industry, he is necessarily led to investi- 
 gate the more elementary principles of the 
 science. Here many of the discussions are, 
 at least with respect to the author, original. 
 The principles of the natural and market 
 price of labour, he does not remember to 
 have seen previously developed, and, he 
 conceives, they throw a new and important
 
 m 
 
 light on the manner, in which the price of 
 subsistence influences wages and produc- 
 tion. 
 
 In the division of his work, where he exa- 
 mines the limitations to which, in their ap- 
 plication to particular cases, the general 
 principles previously unfolded are liable, 
 the author conceives that several of the 
 disquisitions, particularly those relating to 
 the indirect operation of internal taxation, 
 upon the importation of foreign articles, 
 were never before presented to the public. 
 He believes, however, that one or two of 
 the arguments contained in the Second 
 Part, may have been suggested by a pam- 
 phlet of considerable merit, entitled " Ob- 
 servations on the Importation of Foreign 
 Corn/' and an excellent article which ap- 
 peared in the Eclectic Review. 
 
 
 In a work which professes to develop first 
 principles, and which even ventures to put 
 forth some pretensions to original discus- 
 sion, extending, in one or two instances, 
 perhaps, the limits of economical science,
 
 XY 
 
 the frequent allusion, in the latter chapters, 
 to the particular and temporary discussions 
 of the day, may, perhaps, by the rigid cri- 
 tic, be considered as objectionable. The 
 great importance of these topics induced 
 the author to enter largely into them ; and, 
 the hope of contributing something to the 
 right decision of a question involving, in 
 a far greater degree than any other, which 
 has come before the legislature, the vital 
 interests of the whole community, rendered 
 him uot unwilling to depart from the unity 
 of his original design, and to conjoin con- 
 troversial detail with general disquisition. 
 
 London, Feb. \1th, 1815.
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 . 
 
 

 
 . 
 
 . , , ' ' - ' ..: =::=: 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 i. 
 - 
 
 mn m gm> 
 
 ON THE GENERAL PRINCI?LS OF THE EXTERNAL 
 TRADE IN CORN. 
 
 Chap. I. I. Qn the Principles of the internal Corn 
 Trade ; II. These Principles applicable to the exter- 
 nal Trade ------ Page 1 
 
 (Uhap. II. On the Influence of the external fra^e in 
 Corn; on the Subsistence, Wealth, and Prosperity; 
 I. of the Country that permanently exports ; II. of 
 the Country that permanently importi Grain - r 37 
 
 Chap. III. Qn the Influence of the Price of Corn, 
 J. 09 tfie Productive Powers of Industry; IL on 
 the Wages of Labour, and on the Price of Commo- 
 dities ------------i-54 
 
 b 
 
 /
 
 XV111 CONTENTS. 
 
 part ti)c ^ccottfi. 
 
 ON THE EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS TO WHICH 
 THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE EXTERNAL 
 CORN TRADE ARE LIABLE. 
 
 Chap. I. On the Question, Are the Principles respect- 
 ing a free external Trade in Corn liable to any Limita- 
 tions in their Application to the particular Case of a 
 Country, which, by Restrictions on Import, and Boun- 
 ties upon Export , infringes on the Liberty of Com- 
 merce, in other Articles ?-------- 95 
 
 Chap. II. On the Question, Is the general Principle 
 of a free external Trade in Corn liable to Limitation 
 in its Application to the particular Case of a Country, 
 which is more heavily taxed than other growing Coun- 
 tries? --- no 
 
 Chap. III. On the Limitations, to which the general 
 Principles of the external Trade in Corn, arc liable, 
 in their Application to the particular Case of a Coun- 
 try, in which Restrictions upon Import hate already 
 induced an artificial Scale of Prices, and given a forced 
 
 Extension to Agriculture ,----- 173 
 

 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 itovt tije Q$frtL 
 
 THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE 
 EXTERNAL CORN TRADE, TO THE ACTUAL CIR* 
 CUMSTANCES OF THESE COUNTRIES. 
 
 Chap. I. The Effects which a System of Restraints 
 upon the Importation of foreign Corn would produce ; 
 I. on the Supply of Subsistence ; II. on Agriculture ; 
 III. on Commerce ; and IV. on Revenue - - 203 
 
 Chap. II. On the Effects which a free external Trade 
 in Corn would produce ; I. upon the Supply of Sub- 
 sistence ; II. Upon the Agriculture ; III. Upon 
 the Commerce; and IF. Upon the Finances of the 
 Country - ' - 262 
 
 Chap. III. Comparative Estimate of the Effects which 
 a restricted, and a free, external Trade in Corn, would 
 produce, upon the Subsistence, upon the Agriculture, 
 upon the Commerce, and upon the Finances of the 
 Country; II. on the Measures which, in revising the 
 Corn Laws, it would be expedient for the Legislature 
 to adopt ----- - 313

 
 
 AN ESSAY, &c. 
 
 $art tfte dftttft 
 
 ON THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE EXTERNAL 
 TRADE IN CORN. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 /. On the Principles of the internal Com Trade. 
 II. These Principles applicable to the ex- 
 ternal Trade. 
 
 I. The inequality of the seasons, with respect 
 to scarcity and plenty, is one of those obvious 
 facts which force themselves upon the attention 
 of all. Whoever looks abroad upon the face of 
 the country, perceives, that, under a precisely si- 
 milar course of culture, the same piece of ground 
 will, in one year, present an overflowing harvest, 
 
 B
 
 and, in another, scarcely repay the expense of 
 tillage. 
 
 Now, this inequality, in the productiveness of 
 the seasons, is greater in a small, than it is in a 
 large district. A single field may, in some years, 
 give a produce, double, treble, or perhaps qua- 
 druple to that, which, under the same course of 
 husbandry, it may yield in others ; but an exten- 
 sive farm, much less an agricultural parish, com- 
 posed of many farms, could scarcely, in its fer- 
 tility from year to year, exhibit so striking an ir- 
 regularity. The irregularity would be still less if 
 we took the average produce of a county; and less 
 yet, if we took the average produce of the whole 
 kingdom. Other things remaining the same, in 
 proportion as the territory, which supplies subsist- 
 ence, is extended, the inequality in the produc- 
 tiveness of the seasons, will be diminished. 
 
 This principle is so obvious, that illustration is 
 scarcely requisite. The seasons most unfavour- 
 able to the crop of corn, are those of excessive 
 drought and of excessive rain. But as corn grows 
 equally upon high and low lands, on those which 
 are disposed to be too wet, as well as upon
 
 those which are disposed to be too dry, the 
 drought or the rain, which is hurtful to one part 
 of the country, is favourable to some other ; and 
 though, both in the wet, and in the dry season, 
 the crop is a good deal less than it would be in 
 one more properly tempered, yet, in both, what 
 is lost in one part of the country, is, in some mea- 
 sure, compensated by what is gained in another; 
 and thus, the general crop of the kingdom will 
 never vary so much from year to year, as the par- 
 ticular crop of a county, a parish, or a farm. 
 
 On the principle, that the inequality in the pro- 1/ 
 ductiveness of any district, diminishes, in pro- 
 portion as that district is enlarged, it is demon- 
 strable, that, in order to correct the evils arising 
 from the uncertainty of the seasons, and to obviate 
 the alternate recurrence of superfluity and of 
 famine, an agricultural country should extend 
 perfect freedom to the internal trade in corn. In S 
 years when the general crop has been deficient, the 
 inhabitants of those particular districts, in which 
 the irregularity of the seasons has been little felt, 
 might, perhaps, complain, that their abundance 
 should be withdrawn by the speculations of the 
 
 b 2
 
 corn dealer ; and that they should be exposed to 
 an artificial scarcity when nature had lavished 
 plenty. The following considerations will shew, 
 that this complaint could be dictated, only by a 
 short-sighted selfishness, as ignorant of its own 
 true interest, as regardless of the general good. 
 
 I. Allowing a free circulation of corn, 
 throughout all the districts of the kingdom, and 
 thus, in a year of scanty harvest, compensating 
 the deficiency of one quarter, by the comparative 
 abundance of another, and equalizing the pres- 
 sure, as much as the state of the roads, and the 
 means of communication, will admit, not only mi- 
 tigates the general suffering of the country, but, 
 even to those particular districts, in which the 
 crop may have succeeded, but which the freedom 
 in the internal trade has rendered partakers in the 
 general distress, gives, in the assurance of future 
 relief, ample compensation for present pressure. 
 y Those very districts which have, this year, an 
 abundant crop, may, next year, have one that is 
 deficient, and that free circulation of corn which 
 now deprives them of part of their abundance, 
 and puts them upon thrift and saving, may, a few
 
 months hence, supply their necessities from those 
 xery quarters which they now relieve. 
 
 Thus, in a country where a free internal trade 
 in corn is permitted, each district receives, in its 
 turn, the most important benefits; and, should the 
 country be of considerable extent, and its means of 
 communication ample, though it might occasion- 
 ally be visited by dearth, yet, the pressure falling 
 equally on all, and the favoured districts in some 
 measure compensating the failure of crop in others, 
 the hardships of dearth could scarcely, even in the 
 most deficient years, be heightened into the mise- 
 ries of famine. 
 
 2. This will appear still more evident, when we 
 consider the farther effects which an unshackled 
 domestic trade in corn has, both on the distribu- 
 tion, and on the production, of this important ar- 
 ticle. The public good requires that the supply 
 of subsistence should be equalized, not only 
 through all the districts of the country, but, also^ 
 throughout all the periods of the year. When the 
 supply of grain is inadequate to subsist the people 
 abundantly, until the return of the next harvest, 
 economy in the consumption of food, is the only
 
 means by which they can escape a famine. If 
 they put themselves, in time, upon the necessary 
 degree of saving; if, for example, they consume 
 daily, an ounce or two less food than ordinary, 
 they may pass on to the next harvest, without suf- 
 fering any \try serious inconvenience ; but if, on 
 the contrary, they were to feast, with their usual 
 profuseness, for eleven months, and leave the whole 
 deficiency to fall on the few last weeks of the 
 year, multitudes must perish of famine. 
 
 Now, an unrestricted domestic trade in corn, 
 forces the people upon that timely economy in the 
 consumption of food, which, partly from an impro- 
 vident disregard of the future, and partly from ig- 
 norance of their danger, they might otherwise fail 
 to adopt ; for, when the operations of the corn 
 dealer are unimpeded, he, on the prospect of a defi- 
 cient crop, and while grain as yet continues cheap, 
 buys up corn, under the expectation that it must 
 soon bring a higher price; and thus, before it is too 
 late, advertizes the deficiency of food to the people. 
 
 Nor need the people ever apprehend, that the 
 corn dealer, when the trade is left free and open, 
 can have an interest in buying up grain too largely, 
 
 /
 
 and in putting them to unnecessary distress. When 
 there is a real scarcity, it is the interest of the great 
 body of consumers that the price of corn should 
 be raised sufficiently high, to cause such a degree 
 of economy in consumption, as may enable the 
 supply to last throughout the year. It is also the 
 interest of the corn dealer to raise the price thus 
 high ; and it never can be his interest to raise it 
 higher. If, by raising prices too high, he dis- 
 courages consumption so much, that the supply 
 of the season is likely not to be used until some 
 time after the next crop begins to come in, he runs 
 the hazard, not only of losing a considerable part 
 of his corn from natural causes, but of being 
 obliged to sell what remains, for much less than 
 he might have obtained for it several months be- 
 fore. If, by not raising the price sufficiently high, 
 he discourages consumptions little, that the sup- 
 ply of the season is likely to be exhausted before 
 the next harvest, he not only loses a part of the 
 profit which he might have made, but he exposes 
 the people to suffer, before the end of the season, 
 instead of the hardships of a dearth, the horrors of 
 a famine. It is the interest of the people, that
 
 8 
 
 the daily, weekly, and monthly consumption, 
 should be proportioned, as exactly as possible, to 
 the supply of the season. The interest of inland 
 com dealers is the same. By supplying the people, 
 as nearly as they can judge, in this proportion, 
 they are likely to sell their corn at the highest 
 price, and with the greatest profit ; and their 
 knowledge of the state of the crop, and of the 
 daily, weekly, and monthly sales, enables them to 
 judge, with more or less accuracy, how far the 
 markets are really supplied in this manner. Without 
 intending to promote the interest of the public, 
 corn dealers are necessarily led, by a regard to 
 their own interest, to act in the manner most be- 
 neficial to the great body of consumers. They 
 perform towards the population of a country, func- 
 tions precisely similar to those which are perform- 
 ed by the prudent captain of a ship, who foreseeing, 
 that provisions are likely to run short, puts his 
 crew upon short allowance. 
 
 3. But it is not only by equalizing the supply of 
 subsistence throughout all the districts of the coun. 
 try, and periods of the year, that the unrestricted 
 operations of the inland corn trade mitigate the
 
 evils arising from irregular seasons,, and obviate 
 the alternate recurrence of superfluity and famine. 
 As the growers of com always cultivate, as nearly 
 as possible, to such an extent, that, in average 
 years, the supply will equal the demand ; it ne- 
 cessarily follows, that, in deficient years, the sup- 
 ply must fall short of the demand ; and, in abun- 
 dant years, exceed it. Hence, where the internal 
 trade in corn is left free, intelligent and opulent 
 merchants will not limit their speculations to 
 equalizing, throughout the country and the year, 
 the supply of a single season, but will aim at cor- ^ 
 recting, in some measure, the irregularities which 
 take place from year to year. These irregularities 
 have limits which they rarely pass. If two or 
 three years of abundance have occurred in succes- 
 sion, there is a strong probability that the next 
 may be a deficient, or, at least, an average year. 
 This probability will enter into the calculations of 
 the skilful and wealthy corn dealer. When two 
 or three abundant years have thrown superfluous 
 corn upon the market, its price becomes extremely 
 low ; and the capital that should be employed in 
 buying it up, and preserving it in stores and gra-
 
 10 
 
 naries, until the recurrence of a deficient crop 
 again elevated prices, would obtain extraordinary 
 profits. The expectation of obtaining these, 
 would induce the dealer to keep on hand as much 
 of the old crop as possible. The more capital he 
 could employ in this way, and the more accurately 
 he observed the cycles of plenty and of dearth, 
 which the seasons generally perform, the more he 
 could enrich himself, and benefit the public. 
 
 Nor need the public be at all apprehensive, lest 
 his avarice should prompt him to keep up corn 
 beyond what the irregularity in the annual supply 
 might render expedient. In this, as in the former 
 instance, the interest of the dealer and of the con- 
 sumer exactly coincide. Should the dealer hoard his 
 corn beyond what was necessary to equalize the 
 supply of one year with another, he would not only 
 lose a considerable portion of his stock, from natural 
 causes, but, on the return of a good harvest, would 
 be obliged to dispose of what remained at a lower 
 rate than he could before have done ; and should 
 he, on the contrary, neglect to take the precau- 
 tions pointed out by the inequality in the seasons, 
 he would at once expose the country to inconvc-
 
 11 
 
 nience which might have been avoided, and miss 
 
 the wealth which he might have realized. The 
 
 . if 
 more carefully he watches the course of the seasons, 
 
 and calculates the periods which abundant and 
 deficient jears perform, the more rapidly he may 
 enrich himself, and the more effectually supply the 
 deficiency of one season with the superfluity of 
 another. 
 
 In this manner, as society advances, as ca- 
 pital accumulates, and as the principles of econo- 
 mical science become understood, new resources 
 are developed for warding off those terrible visita- 
 tions of want and famine, to which, in ruder pe- 
 riods, nations are so frequently exposed. Not ^ 
 only does the establishment of perfect freedom in 
 the internal corn trade in times of 'deficient crop, 
 compensate, in some measure, the wants of one 
 district by the comparative plenty of another, and 
 render the pressure tolerable, by laying it equally 
 on all ; but this most beneficial measure of internal 
 economy causes, whenever any deficiency occurs, 
 the markets to be fed with such regulated and ap- 
 portioned supplies, that a too rapid consumption w " 
 is interdicted, and the stock on hand made to last 
 until the returning harvest brings relief. And
 
 12 
 
 further, it carries on the lavish bounty of one year, 
 to correct the stinted kindness of another ; until, 
 in a country possessed of abundant capital, and 
 having ample means of communication, the supply 
 of subsistence may be equalized through consider- 
 able periods, and dearth rendered a rare, and fa- 
 mine an almost impossible, occurrence. 
 
 4. As corn is an article in more general use, and, 
 therefore, more abundant, than any other ; and, as 
 the carriage of a commodity so bulky, is attended 
 with considerable expense, wherever internal in- 
 tercourse is left free, capital to a great amount, 
 will invest itself in the corn trade. This capital 
 will be principally directed to the erection of store- 
 houses, to the filling; of them with grain, and to 
 the preservation of it in them, until a favourable 
 market can be obtained. Indeed, in all we have 
 said, respecting the various operations of the corn 
 trade, the existence of stores, for the accumulation 
 of corn, has been implied. To equalize the sup- 
 ply of grain throughout the several districts of a 
 country ; to feed the markets in a manner so regu- 
 lated and apportioned, as to make the quantity of 
 corn upon hand, last throughout the year ; and, 
 above all, to carry on a portion of the produce
 
 13 
 
 of an abundant harvest, to meet the probable re- 
 currence of a deficient crop, requires that a very 
 large proportion of the mercantile capital of the V 
 country, should be employed in collecting grain, 
 and in maintaining proper buildings for its pre- 
 servation. 
 
 Thus, then, by the simple expedient of leaving 
 the internal trade in corn free, all the func- 
 tions of public granaries are performed ; and not 
 only so, but are performed at infinitely less ex- 
 pense, and far more effectually, than they could 
 be by such complicated and difficult establish- 
 ments. The revenue that it would require, to 
 maintain public stores, and to lay up in them, in 
 order to meet the vicissitudes and exigencies of the 
 seasons, quantities of grain, equal to those, which, 
 for the self-same purpose, private dealers can, 
 with advantage to themselves, accumulate, such 
 revenue, no country would consent to raise. 
 
 But, suppose it otherwise ; suppose that the ne- 
 cessary revenue is raised, and the public granaries 
 erected and filled ; still, the state factors who should 
 be put in charge of them, however they might be 
 controuled, and however rewarded, would never at- 
 tain the vigilance and skill of private individuals
 
 14 
 
 watching over their own property, and perpetually 
 stimulated by self-interest, to attend to every fluc- 
 tuation of supply. The mismanagement would be 
 without a remedy, and the waste enormous. \\ hat- 
 ever expense a country might consent to incur, in 
 order to preserve, in public granaries, a surplus of 
 subsistence for deficient seasons, she could not at- 
 tain this desirable end half so effectually, as by the 
 simple wisdom of refraining from all interference, 
 and leaving individuals at perfect liberty to em- 
 bark their capital in the internal corn trade. The 
 only granaries by means of which, in an extensive 
 country, the recurrence of famine can be obviated, 
 are those which, under a system of perfect freedom, 
 the merchant and the factor find it their interest to 
 erect. 
 
 Though, under a system of free trade, the store- 
 houses of private traders perform, with infinitely 
 less expense, and far greater effect, the functions 
 of public granaries, yet they have, at all times, 
 been viewed with peculiar jealousy and alarm, by 
 the people whom they save. When the supply of 
 auy article, particularly if it be one of first neces- 
 sity, is diminished below the demand, its value 
 ries, not merely in the ratio of this diminution,
 
 15 
 
 but in a ratio considerably higher ; for example, 
 if there be, in any market, a demand for a thou- 
 sand quarters of corn, while the supply is di- 
 minished to nine hundred, then these nine hun- \ 
 dred quarters will bring a larger sum, than a ' 
 thousand would have brought. Some obscure 
 notion of this principle, which, indeed, is a funda- 
 mental one in political economy, has ever led the 
 consumers of corn to suppose, that, though the 
 internal dealer, in his various operations of 
 equalizing the supply through all the districts of 
 the country, and periods of the year, and of pre- 
 serving the superfluity of one season to meet the 
 probable deficiency of another, may, to a certain 
 extent, have an interest identical with that of the 
 people, yet that he may, after all these legitimate 
 objects are obtained, have a farther interest, 
 diametrically opposite to theirs ; and by keeping 
 up corn until it perishes upon his hands, may se- 
 cure a greater sum for the part that remains, than 
 he could have obtained by allowing the whole to 
 come to market. 
 
 The error here involved, arises from applying 
 a principle that can be thus acted upon, only
 
 16 
 
 with respect to commodities, the supplying of 
 which is vested in exclusive companies, to an 
 article of universal consumption, in an open 
 market. It would be plainly impossible to esta- 
 blish, amongst the innumerable corn dealers, scat- 
 tered over an extensive country, such an intimate 
 and confidential union, as would induce each to 
 let a given portion of his stock perish, in order to 
 make a greater profit of what remained. But we 
 will admit this absurd and impossible supposition, 
 which is the foundation of the popular reasoning 
 against the storing of corn ; we will admit that the 
 nefarious compact has taken place, and that, 
 throughout the country, all the parties act upon it 
 with good faith. The first consequence of all 
 this would be, that, in the corn trade, the profits of 
 stock would rise considerably above the customary 
 level. But, from the unalterable laws of compe- 
 tition, and from capital ever seeking the most bene- 
 ficial occupation, new adventurers would now flock 
 into the corn trade ; and the second consequence of 
 the combination would be, its own destruction. 
 
 In vain would it be to urge, that the new 
 adventurers might join the combination ; for if
 
 17 
 
 they did so, the rate of profit, in the corn trade, 
 Would still continue above the level, and the pros- 
 pect of extraordinary gains would perpetually at- 
 tract other speculators, until the whole commer- 
 cial capital of the country would be thrown into 
 the competition. Where government refrains from \ 
 all interference, and competition is left free, it is 
 impossible that, in any particular business, the pro- 
 fits upon capital can be sustained above the ordi- 
 nary rate ; nor is it in the nature of things, that a 
 combination of all the capitalists in the country, 
 or in the world, could, even supposing it to be 
 established, injure the consumer, by raising the 
 rate of profit above the level marked by the pro- 
 portion which the supply of capital bears to the de- 
 mand for it. While the effectual demand, or the 
 power of purchasing all commodities, remains the 
 same, the consumers who give a greater portion of 
 their income for any one article, will have less to 
 bestow on others. Hence, finding that as they 
 succeeded in raising the price of one commodity, 
 the demand for something else would, at the same 
 time, and in the same proportion, be reduced; 
 the combining capitalists would speedily relinquish 
 their preposterous and absurd design.
 
 18 
 
 No individual corn dealer can have an interest in 
 keeping up com to an extent injurious to the pub- 
 lic ; because the competition of all the other dealers 
 in the country, would immediately bring down to 
 the general level, any artificial elevation of price 
 which he might induce in the particular market 
 he supplied. No combination of all the corn 
 dealers throughout the country, even if its exis- 
 tence were possible, could, for any length of time, 
 keep up prices, even in years of scarcity, beyond 
 what the state of the crops rendered desirable ; 
 because, as soon as the corn dealers began, by 
 such means, to acquire exorbitant gains, the com- 
 petition of all other mercantile capitalists would 
 effectually prevent the profits of the corn trade 
 from continuing above that ordinary and level rate, 
 which, according to the circumstances of the coun- 
 try, is due to mercantile stock. Nay, no univer- 
 sal combination amongst the capitalists of the 
 world could\so raise the general rate of mer- 
 cantile profit, as to render the interest of the corn 
 dealer different from that of the people ; because 
 the means of purchasing, possessed by the con- 
 sumer, constituting the only funds from which 
 the profits of stock can be drawn, such combina-
 
 19 
 
 tion (to say nothing of the impossibility of its 
 existence) as it drew from the purchaser higher 
 prices and larger profits^ in one article, would in- 
 fallibly diminish, in an equal degree, the profits 
 before obtained upon some other j- and thus, imme- 
 diately counteract and destroy itself. 
 
 The suspicion and alarm, with which the public 
 view a large accumulation of stock, in the hands 
 of the corn merchant, are entirely without founda- 
 tion. Such accumulation is a source of safety, not 
 of danger. Extensive stores of grain, and great 
 capitals vested in the corn trade, so far from lead- 
 ing to any destruction of subsistence, in order to 
 increase the profits on what remains, have, besides 
 their operation in distributing, in the most advan- 
 tageous manner, the supply actually in existence, 
 the happiest influence upon future production, and 
 ensure greater abundance in the years to come. 
 
 5. Whenever a country is sufficiently advanced in* 
 opulence, to render the business of the corn dealer 
 distinct from that of the farmer, very considerable 
 improvements begin to be realized in agriculturej 
 Exempt from the care of retailing his produce to 
 the consumer, the cultivator, without interrupting 
 
 c2
 
 20 
 
 his time, or distracting his attention, now gives 
 himself exclusively to the concerns of his farm. 
 From this division of employment, as is ever the 
 case, he acquires increased skill and knowledge in 
 his particular calling ; and his fields become more 
 productive, from this undivided application of 
 what may be called his moral capital. The whole 
 of his stock, too, a great part of which might for- 
 merly have lain for weeks and months, nay, per- 
 haps, for the whole year, unproductive in his barns 
 and stack yards, may now be immediately directed 
 to bringing in new grounds, or to giving superior 
 cultivation to the old: Nay, he may frequently be 
 able to employ in production, not only his whole, 
 but much more than his whole stock ; for the 
 merchant has now acquired a species of property 
 in the soil ; it becomes his interest to encourage 
 the farmer, and he is willing, therefore, to ad- 
 vance to him the price of his produce, long before 
 it is brought into existence. 
 
 Thus, when no pernicious coutroul interdicts 
 the division of employment, the great capitals di- 
 rected to the corn trade, become so many aids and 
 backs to agriculture, enabling the farmer to cul-
 
 21 
 
 tivate on a more extended scale, or sustaining 
 him against accidental failures. But this is not 
 all : every operation of the corn merchant, whe- 
 ther it be to equalize the supply through the dis- 
 tricts of the country, and periods of the year, or 
 to carry on the superfluity of one season, to meet 
 the probable deficiency of another, has the effect 
 of giving steadiness to the demand for agricultu- 
 ral produce. 
 
 Now, this steadiness given to the demand for 
 his produce, affords the best possible protection 
 and encouragement to the farmer. Though, in 
 the neighbouring towns, no consumers could be 
 found, yet, the corn merchant, acquainted with 
 the wants of distant parts of the country, where 
 the crops have been less favourable, would be 
 ready to take his corn off his hands. Though, 
 at the present period, all the markets through- 
 out the country, might be abundantly supplied, 
 yet the dealer, whose business it was to calcu- 
 late how far the corn on hand was equal to the 
 annual consumption, would be willing to pur- 
 chase, in order to be prepared for renewed de- 
 mands, at later periods of the year. Nay, though 
 the stock on hand should be more than sufficient
 
 for the consumption of the season, still, the factor 
 might be ready to receive the farmers' corn, under 
 the probability that ensuing harvests would be 
 lcffl abundant. 
 
 Thus, in proportion to the extent of the capital 
 employed in the corn trade, is the farmer's cer- 
 tainty of finding, at all times, a ready sale for his 
 produce. The certainty of a market, with the 
 greater steadiness of price conferred upon his pro- 
 duce, enables lain to calculate, more accurately, 
 the amount of the rent he can afford to pay, and 
 the quantity of stock he can beneficially invest in 
 the soil. All the risks attending cultivation are 
 diminished, and improvement advances with a 
 steady, uninterrupted pace. It is in this manner 
 that great accumulations of grain, and command- 
 ing capitals vested in the eorn trade, instead of 
 leading to a destruction of subsistence, powerfully 
 conduce to its increase, t 
 
 Having now unfolded, as fully as is necessary to 
 our present purpose, the leading doctrines of the 
 internal corn trade, and obviated, as we passed, 
 some of the popular objections against this most 
 important branch of traffic, we shall dismiss the 
 present preliminary part of our subject, with a
 
 23 , 
 
 brief recapitulation of the principles contained in 
 the foregoing pages. $.j<~ 
 
 An unrestricted internal trade in corn, peir^ 
 forms five distinct operations, which, by regu- 
 lating the distribution, and by augmenting the 
 quantity of subsistence, rectify the irregularity 
 of the seasons, and obviate the alternate recur- 
 rence of superfluity and of famine. This traf- 
 fic, in the first place, equalizes, in a deficient 
 year, the supply of corn throughout the coun- 
 try, and renders the pressure tolerable, by lay- 
 ing it impartially on all : secondly, when the 
 average supply of food, through the different dis- 
 tricts, is less than the average consumption, it 
 feeds the markets so gradually, and frugally, that 
 the people, put timely upon short allowance, are, 
 towards the end of the season, saved from famine : 
 thirdly, when an overflowing harvest gives a sup- 
 ply of food beyond the consumption of the season, 
 it carries on the superfluity to meet the probable 
 deficiency of a future year : fourthly, it performs, 
 with infinitely less expense, and far more effec- 
 tually, the functions of public granaries ; and, 
 fifthly, it relieves the farmer from the distracted 
 attention, and interruption, and waste of time,
 
 24 
 
 which would impede his operations, if he person- 
 ally distributed his produce to the consumer ; en- 
 ables him to invest bis whole, and often more than 
 his whole capital, in the important business of pro- 
 duction ; imparts a steadiness to prices, which, in 
 a great measure, removes the risks attending cul- 
 tivation ; and thus, by ensuring a certain market, 
 promotes, in the most efficient manner, the growth 
 \ofcoru. 
 
 II. As the territory which supplies subsistence 
 is enlarged, the irregularity in the productiveness 
 of the seasons will be diminished. This is a ge- 
 neral principle, equally applicable to the districts of 
 a country, and to the countries of the world ; and 
 the statement of it is sufficient to suggest the close 
 analogy which exists between the various opera- 
 tions of the internal and of the foreign trade in 
 corn. 
 
 1. If, within the limits of a single state, the 
 same season is never universally unfavourable; 
 but, in the worst years, the comparative abun- 
 dance of one district may fee made, in some mea- 
 sure, to compensate the failure in others, with 
 how much greater force must the principle apply
 
 25 
 
 to all the states of Europe, and to all the quarters 
 of the globe. It has probably never yet occurred, 
 that, in the same year, the harvest has failed in all 
 countries. In seasons when England does not 
 produce an average crop, France may have an 
 abundant one; and if, both in England and in 
 France, the crops should be deficient, in Ger- 
 many and in Poland they may be in excess. Even 
 should Europe, as has been sometimes known, 
 fail of producing an average supply, in Asia, in 
 Africa, or in America, the deficiency might be 
 made good. 
 
 Hence, on the very same principle that we V 
 should give freedom to the internal trade in 
 corn, we should also give it to the external 
 trade. The merchant who equalizes the supply 
 of subsistence through all the countries of the 
 world, performs, though on a grander scale, and 
 in a more accurate manner, functions precisely 
 analogous to those performed by the dealer, who 
 equalizes it through all the districts of a country 
 in a manner more accurate, because the irregula- 
 rity of the seasons, in any territory, is in an inverse 
 
 ratio to its extent. The produce of all the com-; j 
 
 mercial countries of the world, varies from year
 
 26 
 
 to year in a much less proportion than the produce 
 of any single country ; and, consequently, the com- 
 merce which equalizes it throughout the countries 
 of the world, must render the supply more steady 
 than the trade which distributes it equally through 
 the provinces of a country. 
 
 For example; if, in England, the most unfa- 
 vourable harvest which generally occurs, reduces 
 the crop, one district with another, a tenth below 
 an average crop ; while, in the whole of Europe, 
 the most unfavourable season that usually occurs, 
 reduces the crop, one country with another, only a 
 twentieth below the average ; it is evident that, 
 with respect to giving steadiness to the supply of 
 corn, the free external trade, which equalized it 
 throughout Europe, and thus gave us our usual 
 consumption within a twentieth, would possess 
 twice the advantages of a free internal trade, 
 which, only equalizing the supply throughout 
 England, left our usual consumption deficient by 
 a tenth. A free internal trade between the dis- 
 tricts of a considerable agricultural country, ob- 
 viates famine ; but, a free external trade between 
 all growing countries, would render it next to im- 
 possible that we should be visited even by a dearth.
 
 27 
 
 2. This will appear still more evident, if we 
 trace, through its other operations, the close 
 analogy which the foreign bears to the home trade 
 in corn. It is of the greatest advantage to the 
 consumer, that subsistence should be equalized, 
 not only through all districts, but also through all 
 periods ; and that the monthly, weekly, and daily 
 consumption should be apportioned, as nearly as 
 possible, to the supply of the season. In whatever 
 degree the crops may have failed of their average, 
 this operation of the corn trade puts the people, in 
 a corresponding degree, upon short allowance ; 
 and thus saves them, at the end of the year, from 
 the miseries of want. But, in her general results, 
 Nature rectifies particular irregularities ; and the 
 crops, throughout all commercial countries, never 
 fail of their usual average, in so great a degree as 
 the crops of a single country. Therefore, when 
 the foreign trade is free, the consumers, though 
 crops should fail of their general average through- 
 out the world, which is an extremely improbable 
 occurrence, will not, by its operations, be put 
 upon so reduced an allowance as Would be neces- 
 sary to their safety, if the external trade were re-
 
 28 
 
 stricted, and, which is a very probable occurrence, 
 crops failed of their average at home. 
 
 But the foreign has an advantage over the home 
 trade, not only in having a smaller failure in the 
 average supply to equalize throughout the year, 
 but also, in allowing this operation to be performed 
 with more exactness. The merchant who, in case 
 of his miscalculating the extent to which crops 
 had failed of their average, and keeping up corn 
 beyond what the real deficiency of the seasons ren- 
 dered necessary, ran little risk of his superfluous 
 accumulations perishing on his hands, but could, 
 at his option, throw it into any more favourable 
 foreign market, would, with increased confidence, 
 buy up corn in the beginning, in order to be en- 
 abled to meet, with a profit to himself, the wants 
 of the latter end of the season. Hence he would 
 more effectually secure the country against want ; 
 though he might, if the operation of free external 
 trade rested here, sometimes put the people upon 
 unnecessary thrift in the consumption of food. 
 
 The operation however would not rest here : if, 
 from the security which they thus obtained in pur- 
 chasing up corn, merchants should be tempted to
 
 29 
 
 stint any particular market in a greater degree than 
 the failure of an average supply, throughout the 
 growing countries, rendered necessary, they would, 
 in that particular market, give prices an unnatural 
 elevation, and thus invite the competition of other 
 merchants ; and corn would flow in from other 
 quarters, and from other countries, to relieve the 
 consumer from the unnecessary and unequal pres- 
 sure. In commerce, competition is as the princi- 
 ple of gravitation, which, the instant restraint is 
 removed, draws all things to their proper level. 
 The foreign corn trade, when it operates unim- 
 peded by pernicious regulations, not merely en- 
 ables the dealer to equalize, throughout the year, 
 instead of the uncertain supply of a single country* 
 the regular and nearly uniform supply of all ; not 
 merely gives him confidence and spirit in these im- 
 portant functions, but, at the same time, fully se- 
 cures the public against the effects of his occasion- 
 ally overtrading, and stinting the market unduly. 
 
 3. But the security and confidence which free 
 external trade confers upon the dealer, would, in 
 the operation of carrying on the superfluity of one 
 season, to meet the deficiency of another, be far 
 greater, and far more beneficial to the public,
 
 30 
 
 than it could be in the operation of equalizing 
 the supply throughout the year. When the ex- 
 ternal trade is subjected to restrictions, the corn 
 dealer, who, in any particular country, performs 
 the important office of preserving the superfluity 
 of one year to meet the deficiency of another, 
 incurs very considerable risk. For, though a suc- 
 cession of abundant years, glutting the markets 
 with grain, and leaving on the farmer's hands, 
 produce, for which there can be, at present, no 
 consumption, may probably be succeeded by defi- 
 cient years, requiring, to make them good, all the 
 surplus that can now be saved ; yet, the succession 
 of such deficient years is but a probability, in specu- 
 lating on which, the merchant, however accurately 
 he may have observed the general succession of 
 events, will often find his calculations falsified by a 
 particular result. Now, when his calculations are 
 thus falsified ; when, after a course of abundant 
 crops, deficient ones do not immediately succeed, 
 the merchant who had bought up, in the years of 
 plenty, to sell, with a profit, in the years of dearth, 
 will sustain a considerable loss ; and may, perhaps, 
 be ruined. But where a free external trade ex- 
 ists, such things cannot be.
 
 31 
 
 The irregularities in the particular operations 
 of nature, rectify each other, and interfere not 
 with the uniformity of her general results. An 
 unusual succession of abundant years may often 
 occur in a single country, but probably, never 
 yet occured, at the same time, throughout all 
 countries. The merchant who might buy up 
 the superfluity occasioned by two or three over- 
 flowing crops in England, and who should find, 
 contrary to his expectations, and the usual course 
 of things, that the approaching year promised also 
 to be abundant, would, under a free external trade, 
 be certain, that somewhere else, deficiencies would 
 occur, and be secure of finding, in some other 
 country, in France, Spain, or Italy, in Europe, 
 Asia, or Africa, that vent for his stock which 
 could not be obtained at home. Thus all the 
 risks which might have deterred the timid from 
 attempting to carry on the superfluity of one year, 
 to meet the deficiency of another, would be dimi- 
 nished, and capital would flow with sufficient 
 abundance, into a channel of commerce, so effec- 
 tual in distributing to the consumer, a certain and 
 uniform supply of corn.
 
 32 
 
 4. As its more extended operations, and its 
 increased security, drew larger capitals to the corn 
 trade, the stock in the hands of the various dealers 
 concerned in it, would become more considerable, 
 and their accumulations would more effectually 
 supersede the necessity, and perform the functions 
 of public granaries. Thus again, the effects of the 
 foreign, would be strictly analogous to those of the 
 domestic trade in corn. The irregularities of the 
 seasons, with respect to the production of corn, lay 
 the foundation for so extensive and so beneficial a 
 commerce in this article, bulky and of universal 
 consumption as it is, that, were all restrictions, 
 internal and external, removed, it would, in its 
 various operations, employ capital to an incalcu- 
 lable amount. To equalize the supply, not only 
 through all the districts of countries, but through 
 all the countries of the commercial world ; and 
 effectually to carry forward the superfluity of some 
 years, to meet the deficiency of others, would re- 
 quire stores and granaries, almost immeasurable. 
 The accumulation of grain, which it would be the 
 interest of dealers, in every country, to keep up, 
 would be so immense, that not only unforeseen,
 
 S3 
 
 or unprecedented irregularity in the seasons, but 
 even temporary interruptions of that free inter- 
 course itself* from which these most important 
 benefits result, might be immediately provided for. 
 The accumulations of corn, occasioned by an un- 
 fettered commerce, would be more efficacious in 
 obviating famine than the granaries of Pharaoh. 
 
 5. But it is not only by equalizing subsistence 
 more perfectly throughout all the regions of the 
 world, and in laying up and preserving the super- 
 fluity of one year for the wants of another, that the 
 external trade in corn, when exempt from perni- 
 cious restraint, corrects the irregularity of the 
 seasons, and secures the earth from famine. Its ope- 
 rations, again analogous to those of the internal 
 trade, exert the happiest influence upon produc- 
 tion. Every increase of capital which it draws to 
 the purchase, the preservation, and the distribu- 
 tion of grain, is an additional back and support 
 to the farmer ; and every operation that gives steadi- 
 ness to prices, diminishes the risks of cultivation. 
 As Dr. Smith most justly observes, next to the trade 
 of the farmer, no trade encourages the growth 
 of corn so much as that of the corn merchant : 
 
 D
 
 31 
 
 aud, if his trade were unfettered, it would not be 
 easy to calculate the impulse which agriculture 
 would receive through all the growing countries 
 of the world. 
 
 Thus, every view which we take of this impor- 
 tant subject tends to a more clear perception of the 
 analogy between the operations of the internal, and 
 those of the external trade in corn ; and to impress 
 us with the magnitude of the benefit which un- 
 restricted commerce, in this article, is calculated 
 to confer. By equalizing subsistence throughout 
 all the countries which engage, actively or pas- 
 sively, in commerce ; by distributing the supply, 
 in regular proportion, through all the periods of 
 the year ; by carrying forward the superfluities of 
 abundant seasons, to meet the wants of deficient 
 ones ; by occasioning the establishment of stores 
 and granaries ; and by giving security to agricul- 
 ture, and consequently, a new impulse to produc- 
 tion, it seems that an unfettered foreign trade in 
 corn, might render famine impossible, and make 
 even dearth an extremely improbable occurrence. 
 The inequality in the productiveness of the seasons, 
 diminishes as territory extends. The deficiency of
 
 35 
 
 crop, in one country, is compensated by abundance 
 in other countries; and the quantity of human 
 sustenance, which, under any given state of agri- 
 cultural improvement, our earth produces, may be 
 considered as not liable to any very considerable 
 variations from year to year. Hence, were perfect 
 freedom granted to the external trade in corn, and 
 all its operations effectually carried on, the supply 
 and the price of grain, except as they might be 
 influenced by the expense of carriage, and by the 
 gradual progress of cultivation, would not only be 
 equal throughout all commercial countries, but 
 would continue steady, and almost stationary, for 
 periods of years. Neither famines nor dearths 
 would occur in the future history of the world. 
 
 These reasonings upon the external trade in 
 corn, receive the fullest sanction from experience. 
 Holland, we are told, by the simple expedient of 
 leaving this branch of commerce free, obtained, at 
 all times, a supply of corn equal to her demand. 
 Though her territory was inadequate to her subsis- 
 tence, and though her population depended, almost 
 entirely, upon foreign supply, yet she was exempt 
 from those sudden and considerable fluctuations in 
 
 d 2
 
 36 
 
 the price of bread, which often prove so calamitous 
 in countries which possess every territorial advan- 
 tage, but whose economical system has less of 
 wisdom. Nay Holland not only enjoyed ample sup- 
 ply, and steady price ; but such were the benefits 
 derived from unrestricted external trade in corn, 
 that they extended beyond herself. She possessed, 
 at all times, supplies of grain beyond her consump- 
 tion ; and, though not a corn country, became a 
 kind of granary for other countries. The grain 
 kept in store by her merchants, always exceeded 
 her own annual wants so far as to enable her to 
 supply the occasional deficiencies of the neighbour- 
 ing countries ; and the price of corn in Holland, 
 represented, pretty accurately, its average price iii 
 Europe.
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 On the Influence of the external Trade in Corn ; 
 on the Subsistence, Wealth, and Prosperity, 
 
 I. of the Country that 'permanently exports ; 
 
 II. of the Country that permanently import? 
 Grain, 
 
 In the preceding chapter we considered the fo- 
 reign trade in corn, as, by equalizing food through 
 different countries, and different periods., by esta- 
 blishing granaries, and by giving encouragement 
 to agriculture, it rectifies the irregularities of the 
 seasons, and ensures, at all times, a steady and 
 an abundant supply of human sustenance. In the 
 present chapter we will take a less general view 
 of the question, and consider the foreign trade, 
 not as it alternately removes redundancy, supplies 
 deficiency, and regulates the supply of food 
 throughout the world, but, as it affects the sub- 
 sistence, wealth, and prosperity, of those parti-
 
 38 
 
 cular countries, which permanently export, or per- 
 manently import grain. 
 
 When overflowing harvests have, in one coun- 
 try, reduced the price of corn, while, in some 
 neighbouring country, deficient harvests have 
 raised it, then corn will flow, from the one, into 
 the other. This, however, would be a merely 
 temporary adjustment of supply, and could not 
 give the former the character of an exporting, nor 
 the latter the character of an importing country. 
 But when, in average years, the price of corn is 
 lower in one country than it is, in such years, in 
 another, while this other country has lower prices, 
 in something else, then the one will permanently 
 export, and the other permanently import sub- 
 sistence. For example, while Poland can raise 
 corn cheaper than England, and England prepare 
 cloth cheaper than Poland, the latter, unless some 
 violent interference should prevent it, will be- 
 come an exporting, and the former an importing, 
 country. 
 
 I. Now the country, which permanently ex- 
 ports a part of its produce, is secured, in the most 
 effectual manner, against the visitations of want ;
 
 39 
 
 and enjoys all the benefits, which, in the last chap- 
 ter, were shewn to result from the external trade 
 in corn. Prejudice, and passion, indeed, have 
 often decided otherwise. When the inhabitants 
 of an agricultural country, see a considerable part 
 of its produce sent to supply foreign wants, they 
 are very apt to conclude, that the foreign corn 
 trade, however beneficial it may be to others, is 
 injurious to themselves, and tends to inflict an ar- 
 tificial scarcity, when Nature had blessed them 
 with abundance. But this conclusion, however 
 obvious it may appear, and however frequently it 
 may have been drawn, is entirely erroneous. The 
 foreign demand creates the surplus it removes. 
 When the exportation of corn is restricted, the 
 farmer will cultivate, to such an extent only, that, 
 in average years, the supply will equal the home 
 consumption, and the consumer will not obtain 
 corn cheaper, or more abundantly, than before. 
 On the contrary, he will be in a much more pre- 
 carious condition than if free exportation were 
 allowed. For as, in an exporting country, the 
 natural price of corn must be lower than its na- 
 tural price elsewhere, such a country, in the event
 
 40 
 
 of a deficient year, cannot be? relieved by importa* 
 tion, until prices have run up very considerably 
 above their customary and average rate. If Po- 
 land, where corn is naturally so cheap, were to 
 prohibit exportation, and, consequently, to grow 
 only her own supply, in an unfavourable harvest 
 her people might be visited by famine, before the 
 markets would be sufficiently high, to enable the 
 merchants of France, or England, where the ar- 
 ticle is naturally so much dearer, to send her corn 
 with an adequate profit. Hence, a country in 
 which natural price is very low, is, if she restrain 
 exportation, of all others the most likely to suffer 
 from the irregularity of the seasons. If, on the 
 contrary, she leaves the external trade in corn un- 
 fettered, cultivation is carried to an extent, far 
 beyond what is necessary to supply home con- 
 sumption, and a great surplus is created, from 
 which, on the recurrence of deficient years, all 
 
 the wants of her population may be made good. 
 
 The irregularities of the seasons arc almost unfclt, 
 and those sudden gluts, and critical suspensions of 
 supply, which prove at once so injurious to the 
 grower, and so calamitous to the consumer, are
 
 41 
 
 unknown. A people clamouring against the per- 
 manent exportation of corn, is, in fact, a people 
 clamouring for their own starvation. 
 
 But, though it cannot be controverted that an 
 unrestricted exportation of corn, giving occasion 
 to a more extended cultivation than is necessary 
 for home consumption, is all-powerful to correct 
 the inconvenience of unequal seasons, and to in- 
 sure to a people an ample, and steady supply of 
 subsistence, yet such commerce has frequently been 
 represented as injurious to wealth and population. 
 When a people exchange the produce of their soil, 
 for the wrought goods of some neighbouring 
 country, it has been supposed, that the raw mate- 
 rials and subsistence which they thus send abroad, 
 might, to the great increase of the national opu- 
 lence and prosperity, give employment to manu- 
 facturers at home. The slightest examination of 
 the laws, which regulate the interchange of com- 
 modities between nations, is sufficient to show, 
 that, for this supposition there is no foundation. 
 When labour and capital are employed in culti- 
 vating the earth, and exchanging its produce for 
 the manufactured goods of other countries, it i*
 
 42 
 
 because these goods, thus obtained, are better, or 
 more abundant, than those, which the same quan- 
 tities of labour and capital could have fabricated 
 at home. This interchange, therefore, of produce 
 against manufactures, effects a clear addition to 
 the wealth of the nation. If a thousand labourers, 
 and ten thousand pounds' worth of capital stock; 
 can, when employed upon the soil, raise a quan- 
 tity of produce which will exchange for a thousand 
 yards of foreign cloth, while the same labour and 
 capital, employed in manufacturing at home, could 
 furnish only nine hundred, then, it is evident, that, 
 by directing this labour and capital to cultivation, 
 and to exchanging produce against wrought goods, 
 an hundred yards of cloth are gained, and the 
 country enriched, not impoverished. 
 
 Again, a country which employs a portion of its 
 capital in raising a surplus produce for exportation, 
 cannot turn its produce to maintain manufactories 
 at home, until a further accession of capital, suffi- 
 cient for their establishment, has been previously 
 accumulated. If, in order to maintain a manu- 
 facturing population at home, capital be taken 
 from the soil, then the industry of the country will
 
 43 
 
 diminish, in proportion as that of the towns is in- 
 creased, and the only difference will be, that a 
 number of hands will be employed in fabricating 
 goods, inferior in quantity, or quality, to those 
 which the same number of hands formerly enabled 
 the people to purchase by exchange from foreign 
 countries. It is only by the acquisition of addi- 
 tional capital, that, without breaking up the old, 
 new channels of industry can be opened ; and it is 
 by an unrestricted commerce, leaving labour and 
 stock to find their most beneficial employment, 
 that production is best increased, and capital most 
 rapidly accumulated. Hence, perfect liberty to 
 export the produce of the soil, accelerates the pe- 
 riod of manufacturing prosperity in an agricultural 
 country. In such a country, when capital begins 
 to exceed what can be beneficially vested in the 
 soil, it will seek other employment, and invest 
 itself in the working up of the raw material. 
 
 Now, as a country which raises, within itself, 
 subsistence and raw materials, can procure them 
 cheaper than countries that import them, charged 
 with the expense of carriage; and as the capital 
 and labour which cannot be beneficially occupied
 
 44 
 
 in cultivation, will, rather than remain unem- 
 ployed, be satisfied with a very moderate recom- 
 pense, natural prices, in a flourishing agricultural 
 country, will become extremely low. But as the 
 component parts of price become low, as materials 
 and labour can be cheaply procured, and money 
 borrowed at an easy rate, the home manufacturers 
 gradually established, in such a country, will, par- 
 ticularly in the fabrication of coarser articles, on 
 which the charge of importation is considerable, 
 possess advantages which must more than coun- 
 terbalance their deficiency in skill, and which will 
 enable them to undersell the foreign workman, and 
 beat him out of the home-market. When the 
 coarser manufactures have thus established them- 
 selves, skill will gradually be acquired, capi- 
 tal will continue to increase, and the more refined 
 productions of industry will, by degrees, be intro- 
 duced. When this is the case, the corn that had 
 formerly been exported to feed foreign workmen, 
 will be retained at home to supply the wants of a 
 manufacturing population. Such a population 
 rises up most rapidly under a system that rejects 
 restraint. Perfect freedom in the foreign corn
 
 45 
 
 trade, not only secures the people of an exporting 
 country against the irregularity of the seasons in 
 supplying food, but, by allowing labour and stock 
 to take the direction most profitable to them, is 
 the best and most powerful means of increasing 
 wealth and accumulating capital, and, conse- 
 quently, of ultimately accelerating that manufac- 
 turing prosperity, to which ignorance has imagined 
 it to be inimical. 
 
 IL If, from the many benefits, whether relating 
 to subsistence, to wealth, or to population, which 
 are conferred by the export trade in corn, any per- 
 son should conclude that the opposite species of 
 intercourse would produce opposite effects ; and 
 that a permanent import trade in corn must be in- 
 jurious, he would find himself miserably deceived. 
 It is only by leaving the import trade perfectly 
 free, that a country can escape the irregularities of 
 the seasons in supplying food. In countries where 
 the natural, or what may be called the growing 
 price of corn, is so high as to cause, in average 
 years, a part of their consumption to be brought 
 from other countries, an unrestricted importation 
 trade is necessary to prevent a ruinous fluctuation
 
 46 
 
 in the markets. For the expense of carriage, on an 
 article' 10 bulky as corn, affords so great a protec- 
 tion to the home grower, that corn will not be 
 permanently imported, except into a country where 
 its natural price is very considerably above the 
 level of other countries ; and if, in such a country, 
 restrictions are laid upon import so as to force, in 
 average years, an independent supply, then, in 
 abundant years, superfluity will be created, but 
 will find no vent until prices have sustained an ex- 
 traordinary fall. Exportation can take place 
 only from places where articles are cheap, into 
 those where they are dear. If, in the country which, 
 by restrictions upon import, forced an independent 
 supply in average years, the average price of corn 
 should be ten per cent, above the level of other 
 countries, and if the cost of conveying the article 
 to the foreign market should be ten per cent, more ; 
 then, in such a country, corn must, in an abundant 
 year, fall twenty per cent, before the glut could 
 begin to be removed by exportation. Though, in 
 the event of deficient crops, foreign corn might be 
 admitted so as not to let prices run much above 
 those of average years ; yet, between the prices of
 
 47 
 
 such years, and the very low comparative prices at 
 which, in abundant ones, merchants could export 
 with a profit, there would be perpetual, and even 
 great fluctuations. The effect of these, upon the 
 grower, would be distressing, and upon the con- 
 sumer would be calamitous. As in, countries 
 where natural prices are so low that relief cannot 
 be obtained from abroad, until the markets have 
 acquired an extraordinary elevation, a free expor- 
 tation trade is necessary to ensure the people against 
 the irregularity of the seasons ; so, in a country 
 where natural prices are so high, that superfluity 
 cannot be carried off until the markets have sus- 
 tained an extraordinary fall, it is necessary, in order 
 to attain the same desirable end, that there should 
 be an unrestricted import trade. 
 
 But it is not only in correcting the irregularity 
 of the seasons, and in securing, at all times, a steady 
 supply of subsistence at a steady price, that, when 
 the circumstances of the country naturally lead to 
 it, the permanent importation of corn is beneficial. 
 The advantages of commerce are always recipro- 
 cal. As the country which permanently exports 
 corn, does so only because she obtains, in exchange,
 
 48 
 
 a greater quantity of other goods, than the labour 
 and capital, which raised the corn, could have 
 produced at home ; so, the country that imports 
 the corn does so, only because the labour and ca- 
 pital employed in fabricating the articles which 
 purchase it, could not, if employed upon her own 
 soil, raise so good a supply of corn as is thus ob- 
 tained. If a thousand labourers, and a thousand 
 pounds' worth of capital stock, can, in England, 
 fabricate a quantity of cottons, which, when ex- 
 changed with some other country, will bring her a 
 thousand quarters of wheat ; while the same num- 
 ber of workmen, and the same amount of capital, 
 employed in cultivating her soil, will raise only nine 
 hundred quarters of equal goodness ; then it is 
 evident that, by manufacturing the cottons, and 
 importing the corn, she adds an hundred quarters 
 to her wealth. 
 
 Nor would such an importation of corn, allow- 
 ing labour and capital to take their most beneficial 
 direction, be ultimately injurious to the interests 
 of agriculture. On the contrary, that direction 
 of national industry which is most beneficial to 
 national wealtjj, must, in the long run, be most
 
 49 
 
 friendly to agricultural improvement. As, in a 
 country which cultivates cheaper than her neigh- 
 bours, a free exportation of corn occasions an ac- 
 cumulation of capital, which, exceeding what can 
 be beneficially employed upon the soil, flows out 
 into other channels, and occasions the establish- 
 ment of manufactures; so, in a country which 
 can manufacture at a cheaper rate than her neigh- 
 bours, the free importation of corn will occasion a 
 more rapid accumulation of capital, which, ex- 
 ceeding what can be beneficially directed to work- 
 ing up the raw material, will seek other employ- 
 ment, and extend cultivation throughout the coun- 
 try. This branch of our subject is of great im- 
 portance, and, even though we should incur the 
 censure of repetition and prolixity, we will endea- 
 vour to unfold it more at large. 
 
 If, in any country, the customary rate of profit 
 upon commercial and manufacturing stock be fif- 
 teen per cent, while the rate of profit upon the stock 
 which might be turned to the extension of tillage 
 would amount only to ten per cent, it is evident that 
 tillage cannot be extended, that tracts, which would 
 afford the speculator a profit of only ten per cent.
 
 60 
 
 will remain unreclaimed, and that cultivation will 
 be confined to such fertile districts as can yield to 
 the capitalist (he customary return. Even though 
 these fertile districts should be insufficient to sus- 
 tain the population, yet, while manufacturing and 
 commercial profits continue to be higher than 
 those which could be obtained by the cultivation 
 of inferior lands, such lands will be neglected, and 
 labour and capital will be directed to the more 
 profitable occupation of fabricating commodities 
 with which to purchase the necessary supply of 
 corn from the foreign grower. Thus it is, that, 
 after her fertile soils have been brought under the 
 plough, a country which has acquired advantages 
 in manufactures, necessarily becomes, unless in- 
 dustry should be forced from its natural direction, 
 a permanent importer of corn. In the progress of 
 prosperity, however, this process is, in some mea- 
 sure, reversed ; manufactures and commerce have 
 a reaction on the soil, pour back upon it the labour 
 and capital which they at first appeared to take 
 away, and, at last, enable a territorial state to at- 
 tain a much higher degree of agricultural improve- 
 ment, than that, to which, without their powerful
 
 SI 
 
 stimulus, she would have been capable of attain- 
 ing. For the increase of wealth, the accumulation 
 of capital, and the competition amongst capitalists, 
 iower the interest of money, and reduce the rate of 
 manufacturing and commercial profit, until it no 
 longer exceeds, what can be obtained by reclaiming 
 inferior lands. Capitalists, therefore, cease to be 
 induced, by the prospect of greater gains, to leave 
 such lands neglected ; nay, if the customary rate 
 of manufacturing and commercial profit should be 
 reduced to nine per cent, the lands lately left un- 
 filled, because they could bring a return of only ten 
 per cent, would be eagerly sought after, and ca- 
 pital would flow from manufactures and commerce, 
 and vest itself in agriculture. In the progress of 
 wealth, the profits of stock, and the interest of 
 money, are gradually lowered, while land acquires a 
 higher relative value, and tracts, which can afford 
 a return of nine, of eight, or even of seven per 
 cent, are brought into tillage. At length cultivation 
 ascends the hills and scales the mountains, and the 
 country wears the aspect of a universal garden. 
 
 No artificial encouragement afforded to agricul- 
 ture can be so efficient as that, which results in this 
 e 2
 
 52 
 
 manner from the general opulence, and from the 
 reaction of manufactures and commerce upon the 
 soil. Bounties upon export, and restrictions upon 
 import, might, indeed, give an increased relative 
 value to land, and raise the price of its produce, 
 until the cultivation of very inferior lands afforded, 
 for a time, at least, a profit sufficiently high to 
 draw labour and capital from other occupations. 
 But this forced and artificial encouragement, af- 
 forded to agriculture, would be dearly, much too 
 dearly purchased. Corn is imported, because the 
 labour and capital, employed in this way, bring a 
 larger supply than they could raise at home. If 
 we restrict importation, or grant bounties, or in 
 any way turn capital from its most beneficial occu- 
 pation, we check the progress of wealth, and the 
 farther accumulation of capital ; and, conse- 
 quently, prevent the profits of stock, and the inte- 
 rest of money from becoming lower. But it is the 
 accumulation of capital, and the consequent re- 
 duction in the rate of profits and interest, which 
 enhance the wages of labour, give a spur to popu- 
 lation, and increase, in the home market, the de- 
 mand for corn. The demand regulates the sup-
 
 53 
 
 ply. The country which gives a forced and arti- 
 ficial' encouragement to agriculture, will hare less 
 wealth, less capital, less population, a less demand 
 for corn, and, consequently, a less extended and 
 perfect cultivation than the country, which, leav- 
 ing things to their natural course, and permitting 
 industry to take its most profitable direction, re- 
 ceives subsistence from whatever quarter it can be 
 obtained at the cheapest rate, until capital, accu- 
 mulating beyond what can be profitably employed 
 in preparing articles for the foreign market, over- 
 flows, like fertilizing waters, on the soil.
 
 54 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 On the Influence of the Price of Com ; I. on the 
 productive Pozoers of Industry ; and, II. on 
 the Wages of Labour, and on the Price of 
 Commodities. 
 
 -Having treated the external corn trade as it ap- 
 portions the general supply of subsistence through- 
 out the world, and as it operates upon the particu- 
 lar countries which permanently export or perma- 
 nently import grain, we might now pass to consi- 
 der the limitations to which our general principles 
 are liable, and to point out what effects, in the ac- 
 tual circumstances and relations of this country, 
 a free and a restricted intercourse would respect- 
 ively produce. 
 
 The discussion of these topics, however, neces- 
 sarily involves some of the elementary doctrines of 
 political economy, with respect to price and pro-
 
 55 
 
 duction ; and it will, therefore, considerably faci- 
 litate our enquiries, if we previously examine the 
 influence which the price of corn has upon the 
 wages of labour, and on the productive powers of 
 industry. 
 
 I. Price is that which is given for any thing. 
 Now there are two kinds of price which, if we 
 would attain to any accuracy in our reasonings 
 upon commercial subjects, we must carefully dis- 
 tinguish ; these are, market price and natural 
 price. The market price of any commodity, as 
 the term sufficiently denotes, is that which is given 
 for it in the market ; the natural price of any arti- 
 cle, is that which is given for it at the original 
 store-house of nature, or, in other words, that 
 which must be bestowed upon its production. 
 Market price is determined by the proportion 
 which exists between supply and demand ; and is 
 subject according as this proportion varies, to per- 
 petual fluctuations. Natural price is more steady ; 
 but, as it is more complex, our apprehensions of it 
 maybe rendered clearer and more definite, by ana- 
 lyzing it into its component parts, and explaining
 
 56 
 
 the circumstances by which these may be lowered 
 or elevated. 
 
 Whatever we consume is derived from labour, 
 capital, and land ; whoever would purchase from 
 nature any article of wealth, must devote a portion 
 of these to its production. Labour, capital, and 
 land, therefore, (including under the latter term 
 mines and fisheries) constitute the component parts 
 of the natural price of all things. When land is 
 fertile, and labour and capital are skilfully applied, 
 a greater quantity, of wealth is brought into ex- 
 istence ; that is, less is given for production ; in 
 other words, natural price is low. On the con- 
 trary, when land is indifferent, and labour and ca- 
 pital unskilfully applied, few articles are brought 
 into existence ; that is, more is given for the pro- 
 duction of commodities; or, natural price is high. 
 Hence, to reduce natural price is the same thing 
 as to increase the productive powers of labour, 
 capital, and land ; and to advance it is to reduce 
 them. 
 
 He who personally employs labour, capital, and 
 land, in the production of commodities, pays the 
 natural price of them directly ; he who does not
 
 57 
 
 engage personally in production, but merely gives 
 for commodities the wages of the labour, the pro- 
 fits of the capital, and the rent of the land employ- 
 ed in production, pays the natural price indirectly. 
 Hence wages, profit, and rent, may be considered 
 as constituting the indirect natural price of things. 
 As labour, stock, and land, have the most intimate 
 relation to their respective wages, profits, and rent, 
 it will not be often necessary to consider these two 
 kinds of natural price as distinct. However, when 
 so considering them would tend to the clearness of 
 our reasonings, or to the accuracy of our conclu- 
 sions, we will employ the term " indirect natural 
 price " to signify the wages of the labour, the pro- 
 fits of the stock, and the rent of the land, emr 
 ployed in production. 
 
 As the wages of labour, the profits of stock, 
 and the rent of land, form, indirectly, the com- 
 ponent parts of natural price, we will briefly con- 
 sider the variations to which they are liable. In 
 the first place, there is every where a general and 
 ordinary rate of wages, which is determined by the 
 circumstances and habits of the country, and 
 which it is found difficult permanently to alter,
 
 58 
 
 The sum of money, indeed, by which this rate it 
 expressed, may. frequently and suddenly vary ; but 
 the quantity and quality of the food, raiment, and 
 habitation, in which it really consists, cannot so 
 easily be changed. The circumstances and habits 
 of living, prevalent in England, have long deter- 
 mined that women in the labouring classes shall 
 wear their feet and legs covered, and eat wheaten 
 bread, with a portion of animal food. Now, long 
 before the rate of wages could be so reduced, as 
 to compel the women in this part of the United 
 Kingdom to go with their legs and feet uncovered, 
 and to subsist upon potatoes, with, perhaps, a lit- 
 tle milk from which the butter had been taken, 
 all the labouring classes would be upon parochial 
 aid, and the land in a great measure depopulated. 
 Thus difficult would it be, to effect such an altera- 
 tion in the rate of wages, as would assimilate the 
 real recompense of labour, between the eastern and 
 western parts of the same kingdom. 
 
 There is also in every neighbourhood, a cus- 
 tomary and ordinary rate of the profits of stock, 
 which is determined by the proportion, that exists 
 between the supply of capital and the demand for
 
 59 
 
 it, and which cannot be altered, except by altering 
 this proportion ; that is, except by altering the 
 general circumstances of the country, with respect 
 to the accumulation and distribution of its wealth. 
 In like manner there is, in every neighbourhood, a 
 general and ordinary rate of rent for land, which, 
 like the other component parts of price, is little 
 liable to sudden variations ; because, under any 
 given state of fertility in land, and skill in the ap- 
 plication of labour and capital, it is by these other 
 parts of price that it is determined. For example, 
 if the customary rate of wages be one shilling and 
 sixpence a day, and the customary rate of profit be 
 fifteen per cent. ; and if, to cultivate any piece of 
 ground, it requires, throughout the year, twenty 
 labourers a-day, and capital stock, including all 
 expenses, of two thousand pounds; then, under 
 any given state of fertility and agricultural im- 
 provement, the rent of this piece of ground will be 
 determined. The customary rate of wages, with- 
 out which the labourer will seek employment else- 
 where, amounts to .547 ; and the customary pro- 
 fits, without which the farmer will vest his capital 
 in some other business, amount to .300. There-
 
 60 
 
 fore, if this piece of ground is to be kept in culti- 
 vation, a sufficient quantity of its produce must be 
 appropriated to pay these sums, and then, whatever 
 may remain will be a net surplus, constituting the 
 natural rent of the land proprietor. 
 
 From the above analysis of natural price, it will 
 be evident that it is little liable to fluctuation. 
 The quantity, indeed, of labour, of stock, and of 
 land, necessary to the production of any article, as 
 well as the rate of wages, of profits, and of rent 
 due to them, may vary considerably in different 
 countries and in different ages ; but these varia- 
 tions, effected by a more or less skilful applica- 
 tion of labour and capital, and by the degree, in 
 which stock may be accumulated and wealth dif- 
 fused, are rare in their occurrence, and gradual in 
 their progress ; and, in ordinary circumstances, 
 and for any moderate period, natural price may be 
 considered as nearly stationary. 
 
 While natural price is stationary, or subject only 
 to gradual variations, market price, as has been 
 already hinted, is, from the changes which are 
 perpetually occurring in the proportion between 
 the supply of commodities and the demand for
 
 61 
 
 them, liable to sudden and considerable fluctua- 
 tions. But, though market price is thus irregu- 
 lar, yet its movements are governed by fixed and 
 determined laws ; and natural price constitutes, as 
 it were, a centre, towards which it has a perpetual 
 tendency to approach. Whenever it sinks below 
 this centre, production, having its expenses no 
 longer repaid, is discontinued, and the supply of 
 commodities diminished, until their value again 
 become sufficient to pay the labour, capital, and 
 land, necessary to bring them to market. On the 
 other hand, if market price should at any time be 
 elevated above the natural, labour and capital must, 
 according to the invariable laws of competition, 
 be drawn to the production of the articles which 
 had acquired this extraordinary value ; and the 
 supply would be increased, until their market fell 
 back to the level of their natural price. 
 
 These principles, in their application to corn, 
 require no farther illustration. Though overflow- 
 ing harvests may, sometimes, sink the market price 
 of this article below, and deficient years raise it 
 above the natural price, yet, on the average of 
 seasons, corn will bear a value exactly sufficient to
 
 pay, at the customary rates, the wages of tlie la- 
 bour, the profits of the stock, and the rent of the 
 land employed in its production. In their appli- 
 cation to labour, however, the principles of mar- 
 let, and natural price, may require some farther 
 explanation. 
 
 The proper way of regarding labour, is, as a 
 commodity in the market. It therefore has, as 
 well as every thing else, its market price, and its 
 natural price. The market price of labour is re- 
 gulated by the proportion which, at any time, and 
 any place, may exist between the demand and the 
 supply; its natural price is governed by other laws, 
 and consists, in such a quantity of the necessaries, 
 and comforts of life, as, from the nature of the 
 climate, and the habits of the country, are neces- 
 sary to support the labourer, and to enable him to 
 rear such a family as may preserve, in the market, 
 an undiminished supply of labour. That the la- 
 bourer must, usually, obtain for his work, a suffi- 
 cient quantity of those things, which the climate 
 may render necessary to preserve himself, and such 
 a family as may keep up the supply of labour to 
 the demand, in healthful existence, is self-evident;
 
 C3 
 
 and, when we consider that things not originally 
 necessary to healthful existence, often become so 
 from use, and that men will be deterred from mar- 
 riage, unless they have a prospect of rearing their 
 families in the mode of living to which they have 
 been accustomed, it is obvious, that the labourer 
 must obtain, for his work, not only what the cli- 
 mate may render necessary, but what the habits of 
 the country, operating as a second nature, may re- 
 quire. 
 
 From this account of the natural price of labour, 
 it is evident, that it may be liable to very con- 
 siderable variations. The shelter, and the clothing 
 which are indispensable in one country, may be 
 no ways necessary in another ; and a labourer in 
 Hindostan, may continue to work with perfect vi- 
 gour, though receiving, as his natural wages, only 
 such a supply of covering, as would be insufficient 
 to preserve a labourer in Russia from perishing. 
 Even in countries situated in the same climate, dif- 
 ferent habits of living, will often occasion varia- 
 tions in the natural price of labour, as considerable 
 as those, which are produced by natural causes. 
 The labourer in Ireland will rear a family under
 
 64 
 
 circumstances, which would not only deter an 
 English workman from marriage, but would force 
 him on the parish for personal support. Now, it 
 is certain, that a gradual introduction of capital 
 into Ireland, accompanied by such a diffusion of 
 instruction amongst the people, as might give a 
 prudential check to marriage, would raise the na- 
 tural price of labour to an equality with its na- 
 tural price in England ; and we can conceive a 
 succession of impoverishing, and calamitous causes, 
 which might reduce the reward of industry in 
 England, to a level with the scanty pittance that 
 it obtains in the sister island. Alterations, how- 
 ever, in the natural price of labour, cannot be 
 suddenly effected. That part of this price which 
 depends upon climate, is unchangeable ; and even 
 the part that is determined by the habits of living, 
 and the prudential check which may exist with re- 
 spect to marriage, can be effected, only by those 
 circumstances of prosperity or decay, and by those 
 moral causes of instruction and civilization, which 
 are ever gradual in their operation. The natural 
 price of labour, therefore, though it varies under 
 different climates, and with the different stages of
 
 national improvement, may, in any given time and 
 place, be regarded as very nearly stationary. 
 
 While the natural price of labour is thus steady, 
 its market price, as has been already observed, 
 fluctuates perpetually according to the proportion 
 between supply and demand. The price which 
 labour fetches in the market, may often be consi- 
 derably more, and often considerably less, than 
 that, which, from the climate, and habits of living, 
 is necessary to maintain the labourer and his fa- 
 mily. But, notwithstanding these occasional varia- 
 tions, the natural, and the market price of labour, 
 have a mutual influence on each other, and can- 
 not long be separated. When the market price 
 falls below the other, the labourer no longer ob- 
 taining the quantity of necessaries, which climate 
 and habit render necessary to the healthful exist- 
 ence of himself and family, deaths are increased ; 
 while, the increasing difficulty of maintaining a 
 family, increasing the prudential check on mar- 
 riage, births are diminished ; and thus, by a double 
 operation, the level between the natural, and the 
 market price of labour, is restored. On the other 
 hand, if the market price should, at any time, be 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 raised above the natural, the increased comforts 
 enjoyed by the labourer and his family, would 
 diminish deaths, and, by giving encouragement to 
 marriage, increase births, until, by a double ope- 
 ration, the supply of labour was augmented, and 
 its market price brought back to that natural level, 
 from which it can never permanently recede. 
 
 Having, in this manner, explained both the dis- 
 tinction, and the connection, between the natural, 
 and the market price of labour, we are prepared 
 to unfold, with more perspicuity, the influence 
 which the price of corn has, upon the productive 
 powers of industry, and on the price of labour and 
 of commodities. 
 
 We shall, in the first place, consider the influ- 
 ence which the natural price of corn has, on the 
 productive powers of industry ; and, for the sake 
 of illustration, we will suppose, that a man farms 
 his own estate, and, frilhi its produce, feeds, and 
 clothes his labourers. On this estate, let the na- 
 tural price of corn be increased, or, in other words, 
 let it require a greater quantity of labour and 
 capital, to raise the same quantity of grain. But 
 labour and capital, when a greater quantity of
 
 67 
 
 them is required to furnish the same quantity of 
 any commodity, are less productive than before. 
 A rise in the natural price of corn, is a fall in the 
 productive powers of agricultural industry. 
 . This requires no illustration. An increase in 
 the natural price of corn, and a diminution in the 
 productiveness of the industry which raises it, are, 
 n the strictest sense, convertible terms. The ef- 
 fect, however, of the natural price of corn, as it 
 acts, not upon the industry by which corn is pro- 
 duced, but on the industry employed upon other 
 articles, may require explanation; and, to get 
 rid of all complexity, and render this- explanation 
 as clear and intelligible as possible, we will, in 
 the first place, consider the question, without any 
 reference to the divisions-of employment ; and, for 
 the sake of illustration, suppose as before, that a 
 man farms his own estate, paying his labourers, 
 not only for cultivating it, but also for manufac- 
 turing the raw materials it produces. 
 
 By considering the question in this manner, un- 
 der the supposition that the same person carries on, 
 with the same set of labourers, the double busi- 
 ness of farmer and manufacturer, we shall simplify 
 
 f 2
 
 6S 
 
 without weakening our illustration, and, at once, 
 perceive the effect, which the natural price of corn 
 has on the productive powers of the industry em- 
 ployed in preparing other articles. In the first 
 place, it is evident, that the labourers, alternately 
 employed in cultivating the ground, and in manu- 
 facturing its produce, must receive, while at work, 
 such a portion of the food and raiment they pro- 
 duce, as climate and habit may have rendered neces- 
 sary to their healthful existence. Let, therefore, 
 the natural price of corn be increased, let it be re- 
 quisite for each person on the farm to work three, 
 instead of two hours a-day, in order to raise the 
 quantity of food which he consumes ; and the con- 
 sequence will be, that he will have an hour less 
 for working up the raw materials of the farm. As 
 the quantity of labour, necessary to raise the sub- 
 sistence consumed by the labourer, is increased, 
 the quantity remaining for the production of other 
 things, will be diminished, and the supply of ma- 
 nufactured articles reduced. Now, on the other 
 hand, let the natural price of corn be lowered ; 
 1st the labour necessary to raise the labourer's sub- 
 sistence be diminished ; and the disposable labour.
 
 69 
 
 which he can direct to work up materials, will be 
 increased, and the supply of manufactured goods 
 augmented. Thus, before the divisions of em- 
 ployment are thoroughly established, and while the 
 same hand cultivates the raw material and pre- 
 pares it, it is abundantly evident, that the ease, or 
 the difficulty with which subsistence can be raised, 
 is not only the measure of the productive powers of 
 agricultural industry, but governs, in a great .de- 
 gree, the productive powers of manufactural la- 
 bour. In this stage of society, a high natural 
 price of corn tends to diminish, while a low natu- 
 ral price in this necessary article, tends to augment 
 the supply of all wrought goods. 
 
 When the divisions of employment are esta- 
 blished in a country, and the same hand no longer 
 cultivates and prepares the raw material, the na- 
 tural price of corn has, on the productive powers 
 of the industry directed to the furnishing of other 
 articles, effects precisely similar to those above 
 described, though, in consequence of the more 
 complex structure of society, it becomes somewhat 
 more difficult to trace them. If a person, who at 
 once cultivates and makes cloth, occupy an inferior
 
 70 
 
 soil, which requires that he should bestow a greater 
 portion of his labour in raising the necessary sup- 
 ply of food, fewer hours will remain to be devoted 
 to the loom, and less cloth will be produced. The 
 effect is perfectly analogous when the divisions of 
 employment arc established. The master clothier, 
 who employs a number of workmen, must, on the 
 average, pay them the natural price of their labour ; 
 and, if the habits of the country render bread an 
 essential article of diet, must allow them a suffi- 
 cient part of his cloth, or, what is the same thing, 
 of the worth of his cloth, to enable them to pur- 
 chase corn. Now, should the natural price of 
 corn have risen, should it require three labourers 
 to produce the same quantity of this article, which 
 might formerly have been produced by two, it is 
 evident that the increased number of labourers 
 must be clothed ; and that, in producing corn, 
 three coats, or their value, will be expended where 
 two would before have sufficed. The master clo- 
 thier, therefore, who gives his workmen a portion 
 of his cloth, or of the worth of his cloth, sufficient 
 to enable them to purchase their supply of corn, 
 will have to part with three yards of cloth for every
 
 71 
 
 two which he formerly parted with. In raising 
 <he corn, and, through the corn, in preparing the 
 cloth, a greater quantity of the produce of labour 
 will be consumed by the labourer while at work ; 
 and, consequently, the net produce of manufac- 
 tural industry, remaining in the hands of the mas- 
 ter clothier, will be diminished, and, with the same 
 quantity of capital, he will furnish a less supply of 
 cloth, than before the natural price of corn, and 
 through it, of cloth, had been increased. 
 
 As a reduction in the natural price of corn 
 would have an operation directly the reverse of 
 that which has been here described, it will be un- 
 necessary to fatigue attention, by going into the 
 minute details of the process. As the person who 
 carries on the trades of the farmer and the weaver, 
 must, when he occupies an inferior soil, that re- 
 quires him to spend more hours in directly pro- 
 curing his consumption of food, have less time to 
 devote to the loom, and must produce less cloth 
 than if he obtained his corn at an easier rate ; so, 
 the person who confines himself to the particular 
 trade of the weaver, must, when the increased natu- 
 ral price of corn compels him to spend more of his
 
 72 
 
 labour in procuring food indirectly o m the far- 
 mer, supply the market less abundantly with cloth, 
 than if the farmer, occupying better soils, had not 
 sunk so great a quantity of this article in the ex- 
 penses of production. 
 
 The converse of these propositions is equally true. 
 "Whether a person both cultivates and weaves, or 
 whether he confines himself exclusively to weaving, 
 his expending, either directly or indirectly, a less 
 portion of his labour in supplying himself with 
 food, will leave him a greater disposable portion of 
 his labour, to supply him with other things, and 
 will render his industry more productive than 
 before. 
 
 The foregoing illustrations, it is hoped, have 
 sufficiently explained and established the import- 
 ant principles in political economy, that, in any 
 given circumstances of skill, machinery, and capi- 
 tal, an increase in the natural price of subsistence, 
 diminishes the productive powers of all branches 
 of industry ; and a diminution in such natural 
 price increases them. From these principles the 
 following important conclusions result : 
 
 1st, Any improvement in agricultural science.
 
 73 
 
 which enables the same quantity of labour and 
 capital, to raise a greater quantity of produce ; or 
 which, in other words, diminishes the natural price 
 of corn, not only increases the productive powers 
 of farming industry, but also adds power to all 
 the other branches of industry, carried on by the 
 consumers of corn, throughout the country. 
 
 2nd. Every improvement in the divisions of em- 
 ployment, every acquisition of skill, of machinery, 
 or of capital, which reduces the natural price of 
 any of the articles, which climate or custom may 
 have rendered necessary to the subsistence of the 
 labourer, not only increases the productive powers 
 of industry, in the particular business to which it 
 applies, but also, in every other branch of business, 
 the labourers in which consume the cheapened 
 article. 
 
 3rd. Every tax which falls upon agriculture, and 
 which has the effect of increasing the natural price 
 of subsistence, operates as a universal tax upon 
 production. 
 
 4th. Every restriction on the import trade in 
 corn, which forces into cultivation, land of inferior 
 quality, not only deprives the particular portions
 
 74. 
 
 of labour and capital thus turned upon the soil, of 
 their most beneficial employment, but, by increas- 
 ing the natural price of corn, lowers, universally, 
 the productive powers of labour and capital, and 
 gives a general check to the prosperity of the 
 country. 
 
 . 
 
 II. Hitherto we have considered, without any 
 reference to currency, the manner in which the 
 natural price of corn operates on the natural price 
 of other articles ; or, which is the same thing, on 
 the productive powers of the labour and capital 
 employed in preparing other articles : in the re- 
 maining part of this chapter we shall examine the 
 influence which the money price of corn has, in 
 regulating the money price, first of labour, and 
 then of commodities. 
 
 When the market and the natural price of labour 
 are cqnal, the labourer's money wages amount to a 
 sum, just sufficient to purchase such a quantity of 
 the necessaries and comforts of life, as, from cli- 
 mate, and the habits of living established in the 
 country, are sufficient to keep up the labouring 
 population. Now, while thingg are in this state.
 
 75 
 
 while the labourer is receiving this sum, let ua 
 suppose, that the money price of corn receives a 
 sudden fall. This, while it leaves his nominal or 
 money wages, as before, will increase the real wages 
 of the labourer, as measured in commodities. Hav- 
 ing a less sum to give for his bread, he will have 
 a greater to bestow upon other things ; and the 
 market, will be raised above the natural, price of 
 labour. But market and natural price can never, 
 for any length of time, be separated. Even sup- 
 posing that the farmers, when their corn fell, gave 
 the same amount of wages as before, still, as the 
 labourers received a greater quantity of the com- 
 forts of life, than was necessary to keep up their 
 present numbers, births would be increased in pro- 
 portion to deaths, until the supply of hands be- 
 came so abundant, that the market would be 
 brought down to the level of the natural price of 
 labour. Therefore, as the inability of the em- 
 ployer to pay more, or else the increasing popula- 
 tion, must ever prevent the labourer from receiv- 
 ing, for any length of time, a greater sum than is 
 necessary to purchase the articles which constitute 
 the natural price of his exertions, a fall in any of 
 
 y
 
 76 
 
 these articles must be followed by a fall in wages. 
 Every reduction in the money price of corn, re- 
 duces the money price of labour. 
 
 The converse of this proposition is also true, 
 namely; an increase in the money price of corn, 
 increases wages. After wages have been so ad- 
 justed, as to be exactly sufficient to purchase the 
 articles which constitute the natural price of la- 
 bour, let the value of corn, as estimated in the 
 currency, experience a sudden rise. In conse- 
 quence of this, the class of labourers, being obliged 
 to give a greater portion of their wages for bread, 
 will have less to bestow on the other necessaries 
 and comforts of life; and though the nominal, 
 or money price of labour, may remain unchanged, 
 yet its real, or commodity price, will be reduced. 
 The pressure of the times, however, urging the 
 labourer to compensate the dearness of provisions 
 by increased industry, would immediately begin 
 to overstock the labour-market, and to reduce 
 the money, as well as the real value of wages; 
 and, for a time, labour would sink, as [corn rose in 
 price. But it is abundantly evident, that such a 
 tate of things could not last. Th labouring
 
 17 
 
 classes, being, by a two-fold cause, the rise in 
 the money price of bread, and the fall in the mo- 
 ney price of labour, deprived of the species of sub- 
 sistence rendered, by climate, or habit, necessary 
 to healthful and vigorous existence, deaths would 
 begin to increase beyond the proportion of births. 
 Now, as the supply of labour diminished in this 
 manner, the competition of those who derived a 
 profit from employing it, would restore wages to 
 their natural rate; that is, to such a sum in the 
 currency, as would suffice to purchase subsistence 
 of the customary quality, and in the customary 
 quantity. Thus wages, by a gradual, but neces- 
 sary process, rise with every rise in the articles 
 which constitute subsistence ; and an increase in 
 the money price of corn, is followed by an in- 
 crease in the money price of labour. 
 
 That the market cannot, for any length of time, 
 be depressed below the natural price of labour ; 
 that wages must be sufficient to purchase the ar- 
 ticles which compose this natural price ; and that 
 they must consequently rise in their amount, as 
 these articles become equivalent to a greater sum 
 in the currency, are propositions which seem only 
 
 V
 
 78 
 
 to require to be stated, in order to obtain assent. 
 Now, of all articles which compose natural price, 
 food is the most indispensable ; and where custom 
 has introduced bread corn, as the basis of the 
 labourer's food, the money price of corn will have 
 an irresistible effect on the money price of labour. 
 This effect, too, will be much more rapid than 
 might, at first sight, be imagined. It is not only, 
 or even principally, by the slow process of check- 
 ing marriage, and of rendering births less fre- 
 quent, that a rise in the price of food, has a ten- 
 dency to diminish the supply of labour, until wages 
 are restored to their natural rate. For, when food 
 rises beyond the proportion of wages, though the 
 labourer, by retrenching in other things, might 
 still be enabled to procure a sufficient quantity of 
 wholesome diet, yet this very retrenchment de- 
 prives him of some portion of those things, which 
 constitute the natural price of his labour ; of some 
 portion, for example, of the fuel, and warm 
 covering, which climate, or custom, has rendered 
 necessary to healthful existence. Hence, when 
 food rises, without a corresponding rise in wages, 
 disease will spread through all the habitations of
 
 79 
 
 labour, and sickness and death diminish the sup- 
 ply of workmen. A single season, will, proba- 
 bly, be sufficient to reduce the population, so as 
 to force the money price of labour, up to the level 
 of the money price of corn. 
 
 Having thus traced the manner in which the 
 money price of corn influences wages ; and shewn, 
 that this influence, though not, indeed, immediate, 
 is yet much more rapid, and calamitous, than 
 might at first appear, I now proceed, first, to make 
 some estimate of the extent to which the price of 
 labour is raised by a rise in corn ; and then to shew, 
 how a rise in wages raises the price of commo- 
 dities. 
 
 Mr. Malthus, in his pamphlet on the subject of 
 an alteration in the corn laws, states, upon the au- 
 thority of Sir Frederic Morton Eden, that, in a 
 labourer's family of about an average size, the ar- 
 ticles of house-rent, fuel, soap, candles, tea, sugar, 
 and clothing, are, generally, equal to the article of 
 bread or meal. Meat, milk, butter, cheese, pota- 
 toes, and garden stuff, are, however, also consumed 
 in the labourer's family; and we shall probably 
 come sufficiently near the truth, if, as the basis of
 
 80 
 
 our illustration, we suppose, that corn., or bread, 
 forms one-third of the labourer's whole consump- 
 tion. 
 
 Labour having adjusted itself so that its market 
 is equal to its natural price, let the wages, earned 
 by the labourer's family* be three shillings a-day ; 
 and, as one-third of their expenditure consists in 
 bread, they will, of course, give one shilling a-day 
 for this article. Now let an alteration in this state 
 of things take place, let the price of the quantity 
 of bread consumed in the labourer's family be raised 
 to one shilling and sixpence ; and it is evident, 
 that, as they give sixpence a-day more for their 
 bread, they must, in order to be placed on the same 
 footing as before, receive sixpence a-day more in 
 wages. Now, the proportion which sixpence bears 
 to three shillings (the former amount of wages) is 
 equal only to one-third of the proportion which it 
 bears to one shilling, the former price of a day's 
 supply of bread. Hence, when one-third of the la- 
 bourer's expenditure is for corn, a rise of three per 
 cent, in the price of corn, will be followed by a rise 
 of one per cent, in wages. 
 
 If one-half of the labourer's consumption con-
 
 81 
 
 sisted in corn, in that case an advance of three per 
 cent, upon bread would advance wages one and a 
 half per cent. ; and thus on, according to any other 
 proportion, which the consumption of corn might 
 bear, to the whole consumption, which climate and 
 habit had rendered necessary to the maintenance of 
 labour. We assumed one-third, as a proportion 
 approximating to the truth ; but, whether it be so 
 or not, the principle we employed it to illustrate, 
 remains equally correct. Whatever proportion the 
 price of the labourer's corn bears to the price of 
 all the other things, which constitute his natural 
 wages, in that proportion, will a rise in the money 
 price of corn be followed by a rise in the money 
 price of labour. 
 
 And now we are to consider the manner, in which 
 a rise in the money price of labour raises the money 
 price of all commodities. When, in consequence 
 of a rise in corn, an advance has been effected in 
 the wages of labour, the capitalist who gives it 
 employment, and who pays the advance upon it, 
 must either suffer a diminution in the rate of his 
 profits, or else indemnity himself by charging an 
 advanced price upon his goods. Now when corn 
 
 G
 
 82 
 
 has risen, be will be enabled to advance his goods ; 
 for the farmer and land-owner,, receiving" a greater 
 sum for the produce of their ground, will have a 
 greater sum to give for other articles. The money 
 demand for commodities being thus increased, the 
 capitalist will be indemnified, by increased money 
 prices, for the increased rate of wages which the 
 rise in corn obliged him to advance. 
 
 Supposing, as before, that the price of the far- 
 mer's* corn forms a third part of his whole expen- 
 diture, then, as we have seen, a rise in corn of nine 
 per cent, would raise wages three per cent. ; and, 
 supposing the wages of labour to constitute one- 
 third part of the price of commodities, then, the 
 rise of nine per cent, on corn, producing a rise of 
 three per cent, on wages, will occasion, in the first 
 instance, a rise of one per cent, in goods. But if 
 the wages of labour formed two-thirds, instead of 
 one-third , in the natural price of commodities, then, 
 as labour rose three per cent, goods (their market 
 price always approximating to their natural) would 
 rise two per cent. As, when corn experiences a rise, 
 the rise thereby given to wages, depends upon the 
 proportion, which the price of the labourer's corn
 
 83 
 
 bears to the price of his whole subsistence ; so, when 
 wages rise, the rise thereby effected in goods, will 
 deeend, in the first instance, on the proportion 
 which the wages of labour, in each particular class 
 of commodities, bears to the other two component 
 parts of price. 
 
 When corn forms a third of the labourer's sub- 
 sistence, and the wages of labour form a third part 
 of the price of commodities, a rise in corn, of nine 
 per cent, would, in the first instance, raise goods 
 one per cent. If, therefore, the effects of the price 
 of corn upon that of goods rested here, such rise 
 would be most beneficial to the landed interest. 
 But its effects would by no means rest here, be- 
 cause, the rise of one per cent, in all articles, would 
 compel the labourer to give one per cent, more foi 
 the clothing, fuel, and other things, which, no less 
 than corn, are necessary to his support; and it 
 would become requisite that he should obtain a 
 rise of one per cent, on that part of his money 
 wages, which purchases these parts of his natural 
 wages. 
 
 Hence, every rise in the money price of corn, 
 raises the price of labour ; and, through labour, 
 
 g 2
 
 84 
 
 the price of the other necessaries of life. The ad* 
 vance upon these, again, raises wages, and the rise 
 in wages, again advances them ; and so on, un- 
 til the increased money price of goods, equals the 
 increased money demand for them, which the rise 
 in corn threw into the hands of the landed interest. 
 Here the ascending scale of prices terminates. 
 Beyond the money demand for goods, it is impossi- 
 ble that money prices should increase. The neces- 
 saries of life no longer rising, the labourer will no 
 longer require increasing wages to enable him to 
 purchase subsistence ; and the employer of labour, 
 not being under the necessity of advancing in- 
 creased sums to procure it, will no longer seek, for 
 so doing, an indemnity by charging higher prices 
 upon his goods. Thus labour, capital, and goods, 
 will adjust themselves to the proper level. 
 
 It is not only the articles which labour annually 
 produces, that experience a rise of price, in conse- 
 quence of the increased money value of corn, aod 
 of labour. All the wrought goods which may be 
 on hand; nay, houses, timber, shipping; all the 
 permanent articles of wealth, at however remote a 
 period, or cheap a rate, they may have been pro-
 
 85 
 
 duced, will be included in the general rise of no- 
 minal price. For example, if, after a rise in corn 
 has produced a corresponding rise in all the neigh- 
 bouring markets, I receive only the same sum of 
 money from the tenant who occupies my house, 
 then, though my nominal rent remains the same, 
 my real rent will be diminished. On letting this 
 house again, therefore, I shall naturally endeavour 
 to obtain such an increase in rent, as may enable 
 me to purchase the samequantity of commodities 
 as before. Now, as all persons, except, perhaps, 
 annuitants, are possessed of the same quantity of 
 commodities as formerly, the commodity demand, 
 and, consequently, the commodity price, of houses, 
 will be the same as formerly. I shall find no dif- 
 ficulty, therefore, in obtaining the same quantity 
 of commodities for my house, or (what is the same 
 thing) if these have risen in price, a rise in nominal 
 rent. 
 
 The wealth and revenue of individuals, as well 
 as that of the community, does not consist in the 
 pieces of coin, which may pass through their 
 hands ; but in the quantity of commodities that 
 they enjoy. While I continue to possess the same
 
 86 
 
 quantify, and quality, of food, clothing, furniture, 
 equipage, and the other good things of life, my 
 real wealth remains unchanged, though I, at one 
 period, should purchase these articles of consump- 
 tion with five hundred pieces of gold, and, at ano- 
 ther period, with a thousand. It is the articles of 
 convenience and necessity, not the pieces in which 
 their value is computed, that constitute wealth. 
 It is the abundance or deficiency of commodities, 
 not the medium that circulates them, which deter- 
 mines effectual demand. If, therefore, the quan- 
 tity of other commodities, or what may be called 
 the commodity demand for houses, remain un- 
 changed, I shall receive, under my new lease, such 
 an increase of nominal rent, as will leave my real, 
 or commodity rent, just as it was before the price 
 of corn, and of labour, and of other things which 
 labour immediately produces, rose. 
 
 Again, a rise in the price of corn, raises the price, 
 not only of ail domestic, but also of all imported 
 foreign articles. All commerce between nations 
 resolves itself into the trade of barter. The pur- 
 chases which we make in the foreign market, are 
 made by commodities ; and, when these become
 
 IP 
 
 dear, the articles that they exchange for, and to 
 which they are equivalent, must become dear also. 
 For example, if, for a quantity of cloth, which, 
 in the home market, cost him .100, a merchant 
 purchases, in the foreign market, a quantity of 
 wine, that, after all the expenses of bringing it 
 home are discharged, will bring him .120, he 
 realizes a net profit of twenty per cent. But 
 should a general rise of price in the home market, 
 compel him to give .120 for the cloth he ex- 
 ports, he must endeavour, in order to secure his 
 former rate of profit, to charge .144 for the wine 
 he brings back. And this change will be readily 
 paid ; for, in consequence of the increased com- 
 puted amount of their wealth, the consumers of 
 wine, will now be as able to pay the greater, as 
 they were before to pay the less price. 
 
 Thus we see that the increased current price of 
 any article, in the home market, will be commu- 
 nicated to all imported articles, against which it 
 had been employed as an equivalent in the foreign 
 market. While the same quantities of corn, and 
 of wine, continue to be produced, and the demand 
 for these articles remains unchanged, their relative
 
 83 
 
 value, with respect to all other commodities, and, 
 consequently, to each other, must also remain un- 
 changed ; or, in other words, the same quantity of 
 the one, will continue to be equivalent to the same 
 quantity of the other. Now, while their equiva- 
 lency to each other continues unchanged, if any 
 given quantity of cloth should, in the home mar- 
 ket, become worth a greater sum in the currency, 
 its corresponding quantity of wine, when brought 
 to the same market, will be worth the increased 
 sum also. The question, in fact, may be resolved 
 into the self-evident proposition, that, of two equal 
 things when the first is equal to a third, the second 
 is equal to it also. 
 
 One other important consideration belongs to 
 this branch of our subject. A rise in the price of 
 corn raises the price of labour, and the rise in la- 
 bour is communicated to all commodities, both 
 those which it immediately produces, and those to 
 which these are employed as the equivalents. But 
 bullion is a commodity. It is immediately pro- 
 duced from the mines by domestic labour ; or, if 
 not, purchased by equivalents, which are. Does 
 it then rise and fall in price with the labour that
 
 89 
 
 procures it, when it is a native commodity, and 
 with the produce of labour which purchases it, 
 when it is a foreign one ? These questions would 
 lead us far. They involve considerations on the 
 Value of bullion and of currency, upon which, 
 though they are highly important in themselves, 
 and intimately connected with the external trade in 
 corn, I must, in this place, refrain from enlarging. 
 I shall therefore conclude the chapter with notic- 
 ing some limitations, to which the principle, that 
 changes in the price of corn communicate them- 
 selves to labour and to commodities, is liable. 
 
 In the first place, it is evident, that all the fore- 
 going reasonings, respecting the influence of the 
 price of corn upon wages, turn upon the difficulty 
 of effecting a change in the natural price of labour. 
 Now this difficulty is not insuperable. Though a 
 sudden diminution in those things which custom 
 has rendered necessary, cannot take place, without 
 producing a similar diminution in the supply of 
 labour, and speedily restoring wages to their for- 
 mer level ; yet, a change of this kind, might be 
 gradually introduced, without occasioning so ca- 
 lamitous a destruction of the population. Though, 
 if the diet, the clothing, and the lodging, which
 
 90 
 
 custom has rendered compatible with health, in 
 Iceland, were suddenly introduced into the ma- 
 nufacturing towns of England, disease would fol- 
 low, and thin the people, until the survivors 
 could obtain their former, and even more than their 
 former comforts ; yet, were corn to rise so very 
 gradually, as to lead the people of England, by a 
 progress almost insensible, to substitute potatoes 
 for bread, this reduction in the natural price, would 
 not be followed by any diminution in the supply 
 of labour. On the contrary, such a change in the 
 basis of subsistence would enable the country to 
 maintain a much greater population ; and the in- 
 creasing number of hands would diminish the value 
 of labour, until the market rate of wages settled 
 down to such a sum, as would purchase the cheaper 
 articles of diet, which custom had rendered suffi- 
 cient to the healthful existence of the labourer. 
 A gradual rise in the price of corn, therefore, lead- 
 ing imperceptibly to the substitution of a cheaper 
 article of food, forms an exception to the principle 
 unfolded above ; and, instead of raising the price 
 of labour, would have a tendency to lower it. 
 
 Secondly, even a sudden rise in the price of corn, 
 though, iustead of lowering the standard of sub-
 
 91 
 
 sistence, it reduced the numbers of the people, 
 would not be instantaneous in raising the price of 
 labour. As provisions became dear, the poor 
 would, in the first instance, be driven to compen- 
 sate the badness of the times, by increased exer- 
 tion, and their competition for employment would 
 effect a reduction in their wages, until, their num- 
 bers failing for want of the comforts rendered ne- 
 cessary by habit, the counter-competition of em- 
 ployers to obtain hands, restored the market to a 
 level with the natural price of labour. Then, but 
 not before, the rise in corn would be communicated 
 to wages. 
 
 Thirdly, a very considerable rise might take place 
 in the price of corn, under circumstances which 
 would completely counteract its tendency, either 
 to lower the standard of subsistence, or to raise the 
 price of labour. For example, should the quantity 
 of corn consumed, each day, in the labourer's fa- 
 mily, receive an advance of sixpence, while, from 
 the improvements in manufactures, or the reduc- 
 tion of taxes, the clothing, fuel, and other articles 
 daily consumed in his family, received a fall of si- 
 liar amount, the increased expenditure, on the one
 
 
 92 
 
 hand, would be exactly balanced by the diminished 
 expenditure upon the other ; and the labourer would 
 be enabled to pay the advance upon his corn, with- 
 out obtaining an advance upon his wages. 
 
 Where custom has rendered corn a principal in- 
 gredient in the labourer's food, a permanent rise 
 in the price of this article must, other things re- 
 maining the same, either lower the standard of 
 subsistence, or else raise the money rate of wages, 
 to a sum, sufficient to purchase, at the advanced 
 price, subsistence of the accustomed quality. Now, 
 if the labourer should have saved something out 
 of his earnings, and if he should possess sufficient 
 intelligence and fore-thought, for the prudential 
 check on marriage to operate, it will have become 
 difficult to lower the standard of his subsistence ; 
 or, in other words, to reduce the natural price of 
 his labour. Hence, as wealth and civilization de- 
 scend amongst the lower classes of the community, 
 the labourer becomes more certain of receiving an 
 increase of wages, proportional to any increase of 
 value in the articles he consumes ; and the money 
 price of corn is more regular and steady in its 
 effect upon the money price of labour.
 
 93 
 
 Under these, aud one or two other limitations, 
 not of very frequent occurrence, nor very material 
 to our present subject, the value of corn, in what- 
 ever proportion it forms an ingredient in subsist- 
 ence, regulates the amount of wages. Now the 
 wages of labour form a component part of the natu- 
 ral price of all things ; and natural price is, as it 
 were, the centre towards which market price has a 
 constant tendency to approach. A rise in wages, 
 other things remaining as before, is, as we have 
 seen, communicated to all the articles of life. But 
 a rise in all the articles of life is the same thing as 
 a fall in the value of money. Here, then, every 
 question respecting the price of corn, ultimately 
 resolves itself into a question of currency. Into 
 the discussion of this very important branch of the 
 subject, however, I shall not, at present, enter ; 
 nor detain my readers by a repetition of disserta- 
 tions, which I have already laid before the public* 
 
 * See an Essay, by the Author, on Money and Paper Cur- 
 rency, dedicated to his friend the Rev. Dr. Crombie, and pub- 
 lished by Messrs. Johnson, in St. Paul's Church Yard.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 

 
 
 . 
 
 ^avt tfje ^etontr. 
 
 ON THE EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS TO WHICH 
 THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE EXTERNAL 
 CORN TRADE ARE LIABLE. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 On the Question,; Are the Principles respecting 
 a free external Trade in Corn liable to any 
 Limitations in their Application to the parti" 
 eular Case of a Country, which, by Restrictions 
 on Import, and Bounties upon Export, in- 
 fringes on the Liberty of Commerce, in other 
 Articles ? 
 
 That the irregularity of the seasons, in supply- 
 ing food, diminishes as territory extends: that 
 equalizing the supply of subsistence throughout 
 all the districts of the world, and periods of the 
 year ; accumulating grain in store-houses and gra-
 
 96 
 
 nanes, and earning forward the superfluity of 
 abundant harvests to compensate the wants of de- 
 ficient ones, not only obviate the alternate recur- 
 rence of superfluity and famine, but extend culti- 
 vation, and augment the numbers of mankind : 
 that, in a country where the natural price of corn 
 is so low, that relief from importation cannot be 
 obtained, until the markets arc ruinously elevated 
 above the ordinary level, a free export trade, oc- 
 casioning, in average years, a surplus produce is 
 the only means by which deficient years can be 
 provided for : that, in countries where the natural 
 price of corn is so high, that, in years of over- 
 flowing crops, superfluity cannot be removed, until 
 the markets have sustained an extraordinary fall, 
 unrestricted importation, throwing out of cultiva- 
 tion such inferior lands, as require for the produc- 
 tion of a given produce, a greater expense of labour 
 and capital than is requisite in other growing 
 countries, is the most effectual means of rendering 
 prices steady : and, that perfect freedom of inter- 
 course, uninterrupted, either directly or indirectly, 
 by legislative interference, and allowing industry 
 to take whatever direction individuals may find
 
 97 
 
 most conducive to their interest, accelerates the 
 growth of wealth and the accumulation of capital, 
 leads agricultural states, by the shortest and surest 
 road, to commercial prosperity, and holds out, in 
 countries which have acquired manufacturing ad- 
 vantages, the only permanent and legitimate en- 
 couragement that agriculture can receive. These 
 are principles, the abstract truth of which, is as 
 capable of as rigid a demonstration, as any politi- 
 cal or physical proposition can admit. 
 
 But, every general principle, however evident 
 its abstract truth may be, is, in its application to 
 particular circumstances, liable to exceptions and 
 limitations. The exceptions and limitations, there- 
 fore, to which the principles of the external corn 
 trade, unfolded in the former part of this work, 
 may be liable, are what we now have to consider. 
 In the present Chapter it is intended to enquire, 
 whether the principle of unrestricted freedom in 
 the external corn trade, be applicable to the par- 
 ticular circumstances of a country, which, by pro- 
 hibitions, protecting duties, and bounties, controls 
 other branches of commerce. 
 
 It is universally admitted by those, who have 
 
 H
 
 98 
 
 any acquaintance with the science of political 
 economy, that legislative interference, forcing in- 
 dustry from the channels into which the labourer 
 and capitalist, if left to themselves, would natu- 
 rally turn it, is injurious to the wealth of a coun- 
 try. Protecting duties, it is acknowledged, giving 
 manufactures a monopoly in the home market, and 
 bounties to extend their foreign sale, are as so many 
 fetters on the hand of industry, lowering the pro- 
 ductive powers of labour, and retarding the march 
 of prosperity. 
 
 To contend, therefore, that the existence of this 
 pernicious system, with respect to the trade in 
 manufactured articles, forms an exception to the 
 application of more enlightened principles to the 
 trade iu corn, appears, upon the face of it, singu- 
 larly preposterous. Thoso who admit the funda- 
 mental principles of political economy, respecting 
 the freedom of trade, must also admit, that the 
 protecting duties and bounties, by which, in the 
 case of manufacturers, this freedom is infringed, 
 are hurtful to the wealth of the country. When, 
 therefore, the advocates of restricted importation, 
 on the ground that regulations, avowedly injurious
 
 99 
 
 to wealth, exist in some departments of industry, 
 urge, that such regulations should be extended to 
 another, they involve themselves in the absurdity 
 of seeking to remove a disease, by increasing the 
 cause which produces it. 
 
 The position, however, that the principles of 
 political economy, respecting the external trade in 
 corn, are inapplicable to the particular case of a 
 country, granting monopolies and bounties to ma- 
 nufacturing industry, is too important to be dis- 
 missed with an examination so brief and popular. 
 We must examine it more closely, and trace it 
 through all its bearings. 
 
 It may be urged, in the first place, that mono- 
 polies and protecting duties, granted to manufac- 
 turers, compel the agricultural classes to purchase 
 wrought goods at a dearer rate than if the pro- 
 ducts of foreign industry were admitted to a free 
 competition in the home market ; and that, there- 
 fore, on the principle of fair and equal dealing, the 
 manufacturing class should, by restriction on the 
 importation of corn, be compelled to pay the for- 
 mer something more for their bread. 
 
 This principle of equal dealing, and even hand- 
 h 2
 
 100 
 
 ed justice, which has been urged against admitting/ 
 in our actual circumstances, a free importation of 
 foreign corn, is, perhaps, the strongest and most 
 unanswerable, that could have been brought for- 
 ward. Let us see how it applies ; let us enquire, 
 whether it may not prove a dangerous deserter 
 from the cause, into the service of which some in- 
 judicial leaders have preposterously pressed it. 
 
 Protecting duties and bounties, do, indeed, com- 
 pel the agricultural interest to purchase some ar- 
 ticles at a dearer rate than if the trade in them 
 were left free: but then, this injury does not fall 
 on the agricultural interest alone. On the con- 
 trary, the monied interest, the commercial interest, 
 stock holders, annuitants, all the military and civil 
 servants of the state, all professional men, all shop- 
 keepers, all bricklayers, smiths, and house-car- 
 penters, in fact, the whole community, with the 
 exception of those persons who work up the arti- 
 cles which might be obtained cheaper from abroad, 
 arc equally partakers in the injury inflicted by 
 the exclusion of foreign manufactures from our 
 markets. 
 
 How, then, can the principle of equal dealing.
 
 101 
 
 and even political justice, give the agriculturist a 
 right to claim exclusive exemption, from any evil, 
 which, with a trifling exception, falls alike on all ? 
 Naj, how can he, with any semblance or colour of 
 equity, demand, not merely an exclusive exemp- 
 tion, but one of such a nature, as would inflict a 
 double evil on all other classes ; and, upon the 
 ground, that these classes purchased some wrought 
 goods at a dearer rate than was necessary, would 
 cause them to purchase their bread dearer also ? 
 
 The case stands exactly thus : A and B sus- 
 tain an injury from some partial regulations made 
 for the benefit of C; and, in consequence, A 
 claims, not only an exclusive indemnity, but one 
 which must inflict on B a double injury. This 
 exclusive indemnity, too, and this double injury, 
 are urged upon the principle of equal dealing and 
 common justice ! ! 
 
 Thus we see, that, to indemnify the agricultu- 
 rist for the monopoly granted to the manufacturers, 
 by granting a second monopoly, in the important 
 article of corn, against all other classes of the com- 
 munity, instead of being conformable to the prin- 
 ciple of fair and impartial dealing, would be a fla-
 
 102 
 
 grant violation of it. An enlightened statesman, 
 on ascertaining that the agricultural interest, in 
 common with other orders of the state, sustained 
 an injury from the protection given to the manu- 
 facturers of those particular articles which might 
 be brought cheaper from abroad, would, with all 
 the caution which is necessary in conducting poli- 
 tical change, and with a due regard to the interest 
 and indemnification of those who might have em- 
 barked their capital, or served their time, in the 
 protected trades, seek to remove the injurious re- 
 straints upon industry ; but surely it could never 
 outer his contemplation, to correct one evil, by the 
 infliction of a second, or, while proclaiming his 
 belief in the benefits of unrestricted intercourse, 
 to establish, on the principle of equal dealing, ad- 
 ditional monopolies for indemnifying a single class, 
 at the general expense. 
 
 Those persons who are employed in the fabrica- 
 tion of such articles as we might obtain cheaper 
 from abroad, do not form a very large proportion, 
 cveu of our manufacturing population. But these 
 are the only persons, on whom the exclusion of 
 foreign manufacturers can,, possibly, confer a be-
 
 103 
 
 nefii ; and, therefore, even admitting the strange 
 doctrine, that the agriculturalist is entitled to an 
 exclusive indemnity, for purchasing some articles 
 at too dear a rate, these are the only persons by 
 whom this exclusive indemnity should be paid. 
 To make the great mass of the community give 
 more for their bread, because a system of commer- 
 cial regulations, avowedly erroneous, compels them 
 to give too much for some other things, would not 
 only be a glaring violation of natural justice, but 
 of common sense. 
 
 It has been urged, that, if the external trade in 
 corn were exempted from all legislative interference, 
 while other branches of industry continued to 
 possess monopolies in the home market, and boun- 
 ties extending their foreign sales, such exemptions 
 would, indirectly, operate as the most severe and 
 prejudicial restraint, and cause those engaged in 
 the growing of corn, to withdraw their capital from 
 that concern, for the purpose of employing it in 
 those favoured channels, to which such artificial 
 advantages were continued; 
 
 This objection to admitting, under the present 
 circumstances of this country, the principle of an
 
 104 
 
 unrestricted trade in corn, however plausible it 
 may, at the first glance, appear, can proceed, only 
 from an entire forgetfulness of the principles of 
 commercial intercourse. If France were to supply 
 us with silks, and other articles, in preparing which 
 she possesses advantages, she would not give us 
 the fruit of her labour for nothing ; she would re- 
 quire, in payment, hardware, or stuffs, or some 
 other goods, in preparing vrhich the advantage be- 
 longs to us. When, therefore, we prohibit the 
 importation of French silks, we necessarily pro- 
 hibit, at the same time, the exportation of the Bri- 
 tish goods, which would pay for them ; and when 
 we create a forced demand for home-made silks, 
 we, by the same operation, must destroy, to an un- 
 equal amount, the foreign demand for our other 
 manufactures. 
 
 Thus, then, it appears, that those legislative 
 measures of monopoly and bounty, which are sup- 
 posed to throw an undue proportion of capital into 
 the channels of manufactures and commerce, have, 
 on the contrary, the effect of depriving the manu- 
 facturing capitalist of that profitable occupation 
 of his stock, which, under a free trade, he would
 
 K)5 
 
 find, in carrying on the increased communication 
 between nations. By these effects of monopolies 
 and bounties, manufacturing, and commercial pro- 
 fits, are reduced. The manufacturing and com- 
 mercial interests are placed in a less flourishing 
 condition, by the operation of such encourage- 
 ment; and are injured, by those regulations, which 
 are generally supposed to enrich them, at the ex- 
 pense of the rest of the community, and to throw 
 into their hands, too large a proportion of the ca- 
 pital of the country. 
 
 But we have not yet fully unfolded the injury 
 which the industrious classes sustain, from the du- 
 ties laid on for their protection ; nor the extent to 
 which, monopolies and bounties, instead of draw- 
 ing capital to manufactures and commerce, repel 
 it from these occupations. When a nation confines 
 her efforts to the fabrication of those things, in 
 which her natural productions, her situation, and 
 moral habits, give her an advantage, she not only 
 renders the labour and capital thus employed, 
 more productive, than if she fabricated, at home, 
 articles which foreigners could furnish to her at a 
 cheaper rate, but increases, to an indefinite extent,
 
 106 
 
 (he quantity of labour and capital, which she may 
 beneficially invest in manufactures and commerce. 
 For, thus co-operating with nature, she cannot 
 be undersold by foreign nations ; while, from the 
 reciprocity of commerce, every increase in the pro- 
 ductive powers of her labour, which enables her to 
 consume a greater quantity of foreign articles, 
 creates new demands for her commodities in the 
 foreign market, and thus opens a perpetually ex- 
 tending field for her exertions. Thus we see, that, 
 if the current of events was not forced out of its 
 natural channel, industry would receive a still in- 
 creasing stimulus, and there would be an almost 
 interminable accumulation of manufacturing and 
 commercial capital. Let us contemplate, for a 
 moment, the diametrically opposite effects of boun- 
 ties and protecting duties. 
 
 The fabricating, at home, of those articles which 
 foreigners can furnish cheaper, not only turns, as 
 we have seen, labour and capital from their most 
 productive occupations, but diminishes the quan- 
 tity of both, which can be beneficially vested in the 
 operations of manufacture and commerce. Those 
 manufactures in which foreigners excel us, and
 
 m 
 
 which, consequently, require for their establish- 
 ment, protecting duties and monopolies, cannot be 
 carried on, to a greater extent than is necessary, to 
 supply the home market. The foreigners, to whom, 
 in preparing such articles, natural advantages be- 
 long, will effectually beat us out of foreign mar- 
 kets ; and, when we have satisfied the demand of 
 the domestic consumer, all farther increase of ma- 
 nufacturing stock will be impossible. 
 
 To whatever extent we refuse to buy from fo- 
 reigners, we, to the same extent, deprive them of 
 the power of buying from us ; and, in whatever 
 degree we turn industry from its natural course, in 
 the same degree we dry up the sources of commer- 
 cial prosperity, and, instead of forcing too great a 
 proportion of the wealth of the country from the 
 soil, deprive the capitalist of the power of bene- 
 ficially vesting his stock in manufactures and 
 trade. 
 
 Thus, then, it clearly appears, that protecting 
 duties and bounties, turning our industry from em- 
 ployments in which we are naturally qualified to 
 excel, and in which we are secure against foreign 
 competition, not only injures the general wealth
 
 108 
 
 and prosperity of the country, but, upon the manu- 
 facturer and merchant, the very persons whom they 
 are supposed to benefit at the expense of the com- 
 munity, accumulate double mischief, at once lower- 
 ing the productive powers of their capital, and 
 limiting the quantity of labour and of stock, which 
 they can beneficially employ. 
 
 The position, therefore, that bounties and pro- 
 tecting duties benefit the manufacturing and com- 
 mercial classes, and accumulate the capital of the 
 country in their hands, being entirely erroneous, 
 the doctrine it has been brought forward to support 
 falls instantly to the ground. These very boun- 
 ties and protecting duties, which, while intended 
 only to secure the home, shut us out from the 
 benefits of the foreign market, and limit the capital 
 that can be beneficially employed in manufactures 
 and commerce, must, in the most effectual manner, 
 withhold the grower of corn from transferring his 
 stock into those channels of industry, which receive 
 such pernicious favour. Commerce and manufac- 
 tures receive, from legislative encouragement, no 
 advantage, requiring, in order to restore a due equi- 
 librium between the different branches of industry,
 
 109 
 
 that artificial encouragement should be extended 
 to agriculture. On the contrary, the trading classes 
 sustain the deepest injury from every infringement 
 on commercial liberty ; and bounties, on the ex- 
 portation of domestic articles, and protecting du- 
 ties laid on the introduction of foreign ones, in- 
 stead of being a reason for granting the corn grower 
 a monopoly of the home market, constitute an ar- 
 gument for leaving the trade in corn free, and re- 
 quire that, as some compensation for the peculiar 
 injury they sustain, in having a forced and unna- 
 tural direction given to their industry, manufac- 
 turers and traders should be permitted to purchase 
 their food wherever it can be obtained at the cheap- 
 est rate. 
 
 It is hoped, that, from these illustrations, it wilt 
 appear sufficiently evident, that the bounties and 
 protecting duties, by which our manufacturers 
 have been attempted to be favoured, cannot have 
 any tendency to withdraw capital from the soil ; 
 and that, therefore, establishing, during the con- 
 tinuance of such regulations respecting other 
 branches of industry, perfect freedom in the foreign 
 trade in corn, could not possibly operate upon the
 
 110 
 
 domestic grower, as an indirect, and pernicious 
 restraint. 
 
 Bounties and protecting* duties granted to our 
 silk manufacturer, do, indeed, force capital into 
 this channel of industry ; but then, it is at the ex- 
 pense of some other manufacture, more adapted to 
 the country, with which, if intercourse were free, 
 foreign silks would have been purchased, and to 
 which, if our restrictions upon import had not in- 
 terdicted export, a much greater portion of the 
 capital of the community would have been drawn. 
 
 Such artificial regulations may increase the quan- 
 tity of capital in some particular employment, but 
 then, it is by diminishing the general mass of ca- 
 pital that might be profitably turned to manufac- 
 ture and commerce. For it is certain that, if we 
 refuse to receive the articles, in preparing which 
 foreigners excel us, we deprive them of the power 
 of purchasing the articles, which we can furnish at 
 a cheaper rate than they, and destroy those interna- 
 tional, and mutually beneficial divisions of labour, 
 that are at once the cause, and the effect of foreign 
 trade : while, if we were freely to receive the pro- 
 ductions of foreign industry, a much greater quan-
 
 Ill 
 
 tity of domestic articles would be sent abroad to 
 pay for them, and, in order to carry on tbe increased 
 intercourse with other nations, a much larger por- 
 tion of the stock of the community would be turned 
 into the channels of manufacture and commerce. 
 
 Hence in a manufacturing country, bounties and 
 protecting duties for forcing exotic branches of in- 
 dustry, have a tendency, not to enlarge, but to 
 clioak up the channels of trade ; not to draw capi- 
 tal from the growing of corn, but rather, by limit- 
 ing the quantity of stock, that can be employed 
 in international intercourse, to pour a greater pro- 
 portion of it upon the soil. 
 
 It may be urged, perhaps, that if protecting du- 
 ties, laid on to favour domestic manufactures, did 
 not force industry from its natural direction, the 
 wrought goods, which, under a general freedom of 
 intercourse, we received from abroad, might be paid 
 for, not by other wrought goods, but by the pro- 
 duce of our soil ; and that, therefore, the protect- 
 ing duties which exclude foreign manufactures, 
 may destroy the foreign demand for our corn, and 
 thus operate as a restriction on our agriculture. 
 
 This objection would be applicable to Poland.
 
 112 
 
 In that country, corn, from its low natural price, 
 forms the staple article of foreign trade, and, con- 
 sequently, prohibitory duties upon the import of 
 wrought goods, would there operate as interdictions 
 upon the exportation of agricultural produce. 
 
 But England is in a situation directly the reverse 
 of this. Here we have acquired extraordinary ad- 
 vantages in manufacturing industry, while the na- 
 tural price of our corn is higher than in any other 
 country of the world. Though we were freely to 
 receive the wrought goods of our neighbours, we 
 could not possibly pay for them in corn. It is 
 quite in vain to urge that, if foreign grain were 
 excluded, and that of home growth allowed to be 
 freely exported, capital would flow so copiously 
 upon the soil, that the supply of corn would be in- 
 creased, and, consequently, its price reduced, until 
 it could be sent abroad with a profit. Such arti- 
 ficial encouragements extended to agriculture, 
 could augment the supply of corn, only by turning 
 labour and capital to such inferior lands as have 
 been hitherto inadequate to repay the expense of 
 tillage ; that is, could increase the quantity of corn, 
 only by increasing its natural price; that is, as na-
 
 113 
 
 tural price must ever, on the average, govern the 
 prices of the market, without rendering exportation 
 absolutely impossible. 
 
 To imagine, that, in England, a free admission 
 of foreign goods could create a demand for agri- 
 cultural produce ; and that prohibitory duties on 
 the importation of manufactures, can act as an in- 
 direct restriction on the exportation of corn, im- 
 plies absurdity, and contradiction ; and betrays la- 
 mentable ignorance of the fundamental principles 
 of political economy, namely, that market cannot 
 continue below natural price, and that production 
 must cease when its expenses are no longer repaid. 
 
 England cannot raise an independent supply of 
 corn for her increasing population, without such 
 restrictions on the importation of foreign grain, as 
 shall be sufficient to keep under cultivation, lands 
 considerably inferior in quality to those cultivated 
 in the neighbouring growing countries of Europe. 
 Now, to raise any given quantity of corn on our in- 
 ferior lands, would require more capital and labour, 
 than to raise it from the land under tillage upon 
 the continent ; and, as our better soils would ac- 
 quire an increased value in proportion to their su- 
 
 i
 
 11* 
 
 periority over the inferior ones which could now be 
 profitably tilled, any given quantity of produce that 
 might be raised from them, would be charged with 
 a higher rent, than the same quantity raised in 
 France, or Germany, or Poland. 
 
 Thus, restrictions upon import, causing us to 
 produce an independent supply of subsistence, for 
 our increasing population, would raise all the com- 
 ponent parts of the price of corn, above their level 
 in the surrounding countries. Under such circum- 
 stances we could not, even in an abundant year, re- 
 move superfluity, until our markets had fallen very 
 considerably below the usual rate ; and to create a 
 permanent surplus to give in exchange for the 
 wrought goods of our neighbours, would not be 
 within the limits of possibility. 
 
 Those who wish that England should once more 
 become an exporting country, would do well to 
 consider the connection between market and natu- 
 ral price ; and to trace the backward march, which 
 roust be made before their object could be arrived 
 at. It is self-evident that, before we become an 
 exporting country, our markets must be lower than 
 the markets of other countries. Now, in order to
 
 115 
 
 reduce our market prices, it is necessary that the 
 natural price of our corn should be reduced. But 
 this reduction in the natural price of our corn can- 
 not be effected, while, for lands of the same qua- 
 lity, we pay a higher rent than is paid in other 
 countries ; and while we till inferior soils, which, 
 to raise the same produce, require more capital and 
 labour. Before, therefore, we can reduce our na- 
 tural and market prices, and become an exporting 
 country again, landlords must abate their rents to 
 a level with the rents paid in France, or Germany, 
 or Poland ; and population must be so thinned, 
 that a cultivation, contracted within the limits of 
 those fertile districts which require little expense of 
 capital and labour, shall be sufficient, not only to 
 meet the home consumption, but to yield a surplus 
 produce for the foreign market. When these events 
 shall have taken place, and England, with respect 
 to the value of land, and to the existence of a manu- 
 facturing population, shall have been assimilated to 
 Poland, she may employ her plains in raising sub- 
 sistence for her neighbours ; and the objection, that 
 prohibitory duties upon the importation of wrought 
 goods, check the exportation of the produce which 
 
 i 2
 
 116 
 
 might have paid for them, and thus operate as in- 
 direct restrictions forcing capital from the soil, may 
 become applicable to her situation. 
 
 And now, it is hoped, that we have sufficiently 
 examined the question, whether the existence of 
 legislative restrictions, imposed with a view of en- 
 couraging other branches of industry, forms an ex- 
 ception to the principles formerly unfolded, respect- 
 ing the benefits of a free external trade in corn. 
 We have seen, that bounties, and protecting duties, 
 extended to those manufactures, in which other 
 countries can work at a cheaper rate than we, do not 
 inflict an exclusive injury on the agricultural classes, 
 but fall with equal weight upon all the individuals 
 of the community, those only excepted, who work 
 at the protected and forced employments, in which 
 foreigners possess advantages ; and it has appeared, 
 that indemnifying the landed interests, by giving 
 them another monopoly against consumers, so far 
 from being called for by fair dealing, would be a 
 flagitious violation of that principle, inflicting on 
 all other classes a two-fold injury. 
 
 It has also been shewn, that, in a country where 
 the high natural price of corn already interdicts its
 
 117 
 
 exportation, the prohibition of foreign manufac- 
 tures, cannot destroy a foreign demand for agri- 
 cultural produce, or operate as an indirect restraint, 
 withdrawing capital from the soil ; but that, on the 
 contrary, in such a country, these prohibitions on 
 foreign wrought goods, destroy the demand for 
 home wrought goods which would have paid for 
 them, and, by choaking up the channels of com- 
 merce, and limiting the quantity of stock, which can 
 be profitably employed in trade and manufactures, 
 have rather a tendency to confine the capital of the 
 country to the soil. 
 
 Thus, then, it is evident, that, in a country, where 
 the natural price of corn is higher than in others, 
 bounties, and protecting duties, granted to manu- 
 facturing industry, form no exception to the prin- 
 ciples of a free external trade in corn. Such boun- 
 ties, and protecting duties, indeed, are injurious to 
 the general wealth and prosperity of the country ; 
 and, with all due provision for the indemnification 
 of the individuals, who may have embarked in the 
 forced and exotic branches of industry, ought gra- 
 dually to be abolished ; but they cannot (except in 
 a country where the low natural price of corn ren-
 
 118 
 
 ders it a staple article of commerce, the export of 
 which must diminish, as the importation of foreign 
 articles is restrained) inQict any peculiar discou- 
 ragement upon agriculture, or require, in order to 
 restore the profits of stock, in its different employ- 
 ments, to a just equilibrium, that the grower of 
 corn should obtain a monopoly of the home mar- 
 ket.- 
 
 Every view, therefore, which can be taken of the 
 question, confirms the conclusion, that, to the parti- 
 cular case of a country, which infringes the freedom 
 of commerce with respect to wrought goods, the 
 principle of uncontrolled external trade in corn, 
 applies with the fullest force. The existence of this 
 infringement will diminish the general wealth of 
 the community ; but, whether such infringement 
 exist or not, the unimpeded operations of the corn 
 merchant, rectify the irregularity of the seasons in 
 supplying food, and render dearth an improbable, 
 famine an impossible, occurrence.
 
 119 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 On the Question, Is the general Principle of a 
 
 free external Trade in Corn liable to Limitation 
 
 in its Application to the particular Case of a 
 
 Country, which is more heavily taxed than 
 
 other growing Countries ? 
 
 W e are now to enquire, whether the particular 
 case of a country, pressed more heavily than her 
 neighbours by internal taxation, forms an excep- 
 tion, to which the general principles of the external 
 trade in corn do not apply. Taxation can affect 
 trade only by influencing prices. Now it influences 
 prices in two ways ; first, directly, by falling upon 
 the article consumed ; and, secondly, indirectly, 
 by falling, not on the article consumed, but upon 
 something else, which may be necessary to its pro- 
 duction. Indirect taxation, however, has two dis- 
 tinct operations ; it either, by being laid on arti- 
 cles necessary to the subsistence of labour, increases
 
 120 
 
 wages, and occasions a general rise in the expenses 
 of production ; or else, by being laid, not upon the 
 labourer's subsistence, but upon things peculiar to 
 some branches of industry, it occasions the partial 
 rise in expenses of production. 
 
 The enquiry, therefore, how far the effects of a 
 heavy taxation upon prices may limit the principle 
 of a free external trade, naturally divides itself into 
 three heads, viz. a rise in prices occasioned by di- 
 rect imposts ; a general rise in prices occasioned 
 by indirect imposts ; and a partial rise in prices 
 occasioned by indirect imposts. 
 
 These we shall consider in their order. 
 
 I. Supposing an unrestricted commerce to exist 
 between England and France, and the two coun- 
 tries to possess equal advantages in the silk manu- 
 facture, then a tax of ten shillings a yard, laid upon 
 British, would operate as a bounty, to that amount, 
 upon the importation of foreign silks. Here, then, 
 we sec, that a direct tax upon a domestic article, 
 must turn foreign trade from its accustomed chan- 
 nels. While such an internal tax existed, a free im- 
 portation of the foreign article would act as a ruin-
 
 121 
 
 ous discouragement to the domestic manufacturer, 
 and would compel him to desist from the working of 
 silk j while, in France, it would occasion a forced 
 investment of capital in the manufacture of that 
 article., in order to supply the British market. 
 
 Now, the balance being disturbed by a weight 
 thrown into one scale, it is necessary to restore the 
 equilibrium by placing a similar weight in the 
 other ; the direct internal tax having destroyed the 
 natural level of industry, a countervailing duty is 
 requisite to restore it. Such du ty^ too, would be 
 conformable to those very principles, on which, 
 when no direct internal tax is laid upon the home- 
 made article, the benefits of unrestricted importa- 
 tion are demonstrable. In the home market, it 
 would place the home and the foreign manufac- 
 turer on their former relative footing ; and, if ac- 
 companied by a drawback, to a similar amount, 
 upon exportation, would place them upon their 
 former relative footing, with respect to the foreign 
 market also. 
 
 When a direct tax is laid upon a domestic arti- 
 cle, a countervailing duty, laid upon the similar 
 foreign article, accompanied by a drawback upon
 
 123 
 
 the exportation of the one, and re-exportation of 
 the other, though it increased the price to the con- 
 sumer, jet, instead of checking, would restore that 
 equal intercourse between nations, which incites 
 the industry, and augments the wealth of all. 
 
 But this is too obvious to require to be longer 
 dwelt upon. When direct taxes are laid upon 
 articles of home production, no one controverts 
 the principle, that countervailing duties should be 
 laid upon similar foreign articles. And, though 
 the principle were controverted, yet, as direct 
 taxes are not laid exclusively upon corn of home 
 growth, the discussion of it would be foreign to the 
 subject of the present work. We will pass to the 
 consideration of the next branch of the question 
 proposed for discussion in this chapter. 
 
 II. The reasoning formerly employed to prove 
 the influence which the price of corn has upon the 
 wages of labour, applies, with equal force, to every 
 other article, which climate, or habit, may have 
 rendered necessary to the subsistence of the la- 
 bourer. While shoes form an essential ingredient 
 in the natural price of labour, the labourer must
 
 123 
 
 receive a sum which will enable him to purchase 
 them ; and a tax upon leather will be followed by 
 arise in wages. 
 
 It is no objection to this to urge, that the high 
 price of shoes may stimulate the labourer, by the 
 spur of necessity, to increased exertion, and that 
 his competition for employment, will render wages 
 lower than before. There can, indeed, be no 
 doubt that the market price of labour, as well as 
 of any thing else, may occasionally sink below the 
 natural level. But then, it is demonstrable, that 
 this state of things cannot continue long. From 
 the climate and the habits of life prevalent in 
 England, labour cannot be performed without 
 shoes ; and though, at first, the competition of 
 workmen might reduce the value of the commodity 
 they brought to market, yet, the failing number of 
 hands, and consequent competition of employers, 
 would speedily compel the latter to advance, in 
 the form of increased wages, the amount of the 
 tax falling upon the leather consumed by the 
 labourer. 
 
 Now it is evident, that, other things remaining 
 the same, increased wages increase the expenses of
 
 124 
 
 production, and raise the price of every commo- 
 dity, which labour is an instrument in furnishing. 
 Where, therefore, shoes, and soap, and salt, and 
 whatever else habit may have introduced as con- 
 stituent parts of the natural price of labour, are 
 objects of taxation, it is, unless under some ex- 
 traordinary advantages of cheapness in the raw 
 material, or of skill in the application, and ma- 
 chinery for the abridgement, of labour, impossible 
 that commodities should be brought to market so 
 cheap as in countries, where the necessaries of life 
 are less heavily burthened. 
 
 As taxes, laid upon the necessaries of life, are 
 thus, by an indirect operation, just as efficacious 
 in raising the price of other articles, as taxes laid 
 directly upon them, it seems, at first sight, the 
 obvious conclusion from analogy, that the former, 
 equally with the latter, act as a bounty upon the 
 introduction of foreign goods, turn external trade 
 from its natural channels, and require, in order to 
 restore a just equality in the different modes of em- 
 ploying capital, that countervailing duties should 
 be imposed on imported articles. On a closer 
 examination, however, we shall find, that the
 
 125 
 
 analogy between the high price occasioned by 
 direct, and the high price occasioned by indirect, 
 taxation, is not sufficiently strict, to authorize our 
 applying, to the one, conclusions which may be 
 correct as to the other. A short analysis will 
 demonstrate this. 
 
 If, other things remaining the tame, taxes laid 
 upon the various necessaries of life, so raise the 
 wages of labour, and the expenses of production, 
 in England, that the farmer cannot bring corn to 
 market, without charging twenty per cent, more 
 than the farmer in France can afford to sell it for, 
 the consequences to be apprehended are, that, 
 under a free importation, French produce would 
 inundate our markets, and compel the home grower 
 to turn his capital into some other channel. Let 
 us then suppose, that this consequence takes place, 
 and that the foreign grower, enabled, by the ab- 
 sence of taxation, to raise his corn twenty per 
 cent, cheaper than the domestic, undersells, and 
 fairly beats him out of the market. 
 
 Now, the necessary result of this is, that some- 
 thing must be sent abroad, to pay for the foreign 
 produce we have received. The foreign grower
 
 126 
 
 will not give it to us for nothing. We must return 
 him a full equivalent. Commerce is reciprocal. 
 In whatever degree we import corn, in the same 
 degree must we export some other article. But 
 when internal taxation has increased the wages of 
 labour, and the expenses of production, twenty 
 per cent, beyond the rate of other countries, what 
 other article can we export ? A rise in the price 
 of labour communicates itself to every species of 
 agricultural produce, as well as to corn ; the 
 exportation, consequently, of any species of agri- 
 cultural produce, is impracticable. 
 
 But again, as the wages of labour enter more 
 largely into the price of wrought goods, than into 
 the price of raw produce, internal taxation upon 
 the necessaries of life, will increase the price of 
 manufactures, as much, if not more, than it in- 
 creases the price of corn ; and will check their 
 exportation, as much, if not more, than it checks 
 the exportation of the unwrought productions of 
 the soil. Such an internal taxation as raises the 
 rate of wages, raises, universally, the value of 
 every article, in the price of which, wages form a 
 component part. But, if the price of all articles
 
 127 
 
 be equally raised, the exportation of all would be 
 equally checked. The advance in our markets, 
 which enabled the French to undersell us in the 
 article of corn, would also enable them to under- 
 sell us in every thing else. But, if they undersold 
 us in every thing, they would buy nothing from 
 us ; and it is certain, that, if they bought nothing 
 from us, they could sell nothing to us. 
 
 The supposition, therefore, that, if indirect in- 
 ternal taxation should generally raise our markets 
 twenty per cent, above those of France, grain 
 would be poured in from that country, to the 
 injury of the home grower, is erroneous. A rate 
 of prices universally high, cannot encourage ex- 
 portation, because it checks importation ; and 
 commerce being reciprocal, the one cannot exist 
 without the other. 
 
 It is no objection to this reasoning to say, that, 
 when commodities become too dear to find pur- 
 chasers in the foreign market, the cheaper articles 
 which we might receive from abroad, would be 
 paid for by a transmission of money, instead of 
 goods. For, granting the fact, the necessary con- 
 sequence still would be, that foreign commodities
 
 128 
 
 could not continue to come into our markets. 
 The instant we ceased to export home productions, 
 and paid for foreign articles in money, at that 
 instant, the supply of money would begin to di- 
 minish, and its value to increase. But a rise in 
 the value of money, is the same thing as a fall in 
 the price of commodities. With the necessaries 
 of life, the wages of labour, and the expenses of 
 production, would fall. Hence the foreign, would 
 no longer be able to undersell the home, grower. 
 Ou the contrary, as the self-same process which 
 diminished our supply of money, and reduced our 
 pi ices, would iucrease the supply of the metals, 
 and elevate prices, in the country whose produce 
 we had purchased, the home, would obtain an 
 advantage over the foreign, grower , and we 
 should now be enabled to furnish produce to those, 
 whom we were so lately obliged to pay in cash. 
 
 Neither would it be an objection to the prin- 
 ciple that commerce is an exchange of equivalents, 
 to urge, that if we could not send commodities 
 abroad, we might pay for the goods we imported 
 by bills of exchange. Our bills would speedily 
 overstock the foreign market, and become depre-
 
 129 
 
 ciated. Supposing 1 , as before, that indirect in- 
 ternal taxation raised our prices twenty per cent, 
 above those of France, and that this so checked 
 our exportation, that all we received from that 
 country we paid for in bills of exchange, then, in 
 a little time, these bills would be so depreciated, 
 that the exchange would be twenty per cent, 
 against us. Now the moment things arrived at 
 this state, (and, under this supposition, they must 
 arrive at it very speedily) the foreign grower would 
 cease to have any advantage over the home grower. 
 Though the French farmer might be able to raise 
 his produce twenty per cent, cheaper than the 
 British farmer, yet, on coming into the British 
 market, he would lose twenty per cent, on the 
 exchange. If he attempted to indemnify himself 
 for this loss upon the exchange, by raising his 
 prices, then, in whatever degree he thus indem- 
 nified himself, in the same degree he would cease 
 to undersell the home grower. If he carried back 
 gold, the consequent fall of prices, described in 
 the former paragraph, would speedily drive him 
 from the British market ; and, if, to save the ex- 
 change, he attempted to take back commodities,
 
 ISO 
 
 lhose being, by the supposition, twenty per cent, 
 dearer in England than in France, the loss he 
 would sustain upon them, independently of car- 
 riage, would exactly counterbalance what he gained 
 upon the exchange. In whatever way he endea- 
 voured to cover the transaction, his advantage, in 
 coming into the British market, could in no way 
 be increased, by that universal rise of prices, which 
 is produced by taxation falling on the necessaries 
 of life, and increasing the wages of labour, and 
 the expenses of production. 
 
 And now, it is hoped, it has been made suf- 
 ficiently evident, that, however analogous, or 
 identical, they, at a hasty glance, may seem to be, 
 there is, between the high prices occasioned by 
 direct, and the high prices occasioned by indirect, 
 taxation, a material distinction, sufficient to render 
 completely erroneous, with respect to the one, 
 conclusions incontrovertible with respect to the 
 other. A tax, laid directly upon any home com- 
 modity, does not raise the price of all other com- 
 modities to an equal extent ; and does not, by 
 discouraging the exportation of whatever articles 
 might purchase foreign goods, check importation
 
 131 
 
 on the one hand, in the same degree, in which it 
 promotes it on the other, and thus, from its own 
 reaction, prevent the producer of the taxed com- 
 modity from being undersold in the home market. 
 
 This counter-operation, however, is effectually 
 performed by those taxes, which, laid on indirectly, 
 through the medium of the labour by which they 
 afe produced, raise the price of commodities be- 
 yond their price in other countries less heavily bur- 
 thened. A rise in wages, and, through wages, in 
 the expenses of production, acts universally ; and, 
 if it checks importation with respect to one- com- 
 modity, checks it, also, with respect to all. 
 Hence, when the foreign speculator enters the 
 markets which have been raised by indirect taxa- 
 tion, the advantage he gains upon the high price 
 of the article he brings, is exactly counterbalanc- 
 ed by the high price of the article he takes away ; 
 and his profits, upon the whole of his transaction, 
 can be neither more nor less than they would have 
 been, before the country to which he trades had 
 her markets raised by taxes laid upon the necessa- 
 ries of life. 
 
 If, in order to realize high profits upon his sales,
 
 132 
 
 lie refuses to buy any thing in the taxed country,, 
 but carries back her specie, then, in that country, 
 the metals rise in value, or, in other words, prices 
 fall, and the foreign adventurer can no longer un- 
 dersell the domestic trader ; and if, with a view to 
 continue a lucrative trade, the foreigner receives 
 payment in bills of exchange, the loss sustained 
 upon the depreciation of these, will leave him ex- 
 actly as he was before. 
 
 In economical science, no principles are more 
 strictly demonstrable, than that commerce is an 
 exchange of equivalents, and that whatever checks 
 exportation, operates as a check upon importation. 
 But taxes which, by raising the wages of labour, 
 and the expenses of production, increase the price 
 of commodities, check exportation in the same de- 
 gree that they encourage importation ; and, there- 
 fore, in fact, they discourage importation just as 
 much as they encourage it. The effects they pro- 
 duce upon the one hand, they counteract upon the 
 other. They constitute, in themselves, countervail- 
 ing duties, fully adequate for the protection of the 
 home market. The particular case, therefore, of a 
 country in which they raise the price of agricultural
 
 133 
 
 produce, above its price in the neighbouring coun- 
 tries, forms no exception to the principle of a free 
 external trade in corn. Their existence does not 
 require that the domestic grower should be pro- 
 tected by legislative enactments in the home 
 market. 
 
 III. Though the taxes which, by raising the 
 amount of wages, increase the expense of produc- 
 tion, and, consequently, effect a general and si- 
 multaneous advance in the price of all commodi- 
 ties, do not, in the home market, give the foreign 
 any advantage over the home grower, yet, with 
 respect to all imposts falling exclusively, or with 
 disproportioned weight, upon agriculture, the case 
 is widely different. 
 
 A tax laid upon horses employed in husbandry, 
 would raise the price of the corn produced by the 
 home grower; but, at first, could have little com- 
 parative tendency to raise the price of other articles 
 with which foreign corn might be purchased. If 
 imposts laid exclusively on agriculture, should 
 raise the price of corn nine per cent, then, if corn 
 formed a third part of the labourer's subsistence,
 
 134 
 
 wages would be raised three per cent. ; and, if 
 wages formed a third part in the price of things, 
 other commodities would, in the first instance, be 
 raised one per cent. Hence, as a rise in corn can 
 be communicated to wages, only in the proportion 
 which the labourer's consumption of corn bears 
 to his whole consumption, and as this proportioned 
 rise in wages can, in the first state of its progress, 
 affect commodities only in the proportion which 
 wages may bear to the whole of the component 
 parts of price, it is evident that taxes, falling ex- 
 clusively, or with disproportioned weight, upon 
 the soil, must raise the price of agricultural pro- 
 duce, in a much greater degree, than they could 
 raise the price of other things. 
 
 The merchant, therefore, paying very little more 
 for the articles, with which he purchased foreign 
 corn, could, notwithstanding the existence of such 
 taxes, be able to supply the consumer at nearly the 
 former prices ; while the heavily burthened do- 
 mestic grower, unless he relinquished the custo- 
 mary rate of profit upon his stock, could not pos- 
 sibly do so. The equilibrium would be destroyed. 
 Under the former supposition, that the taxes up-
 
 135 
 
 on agriculture raised the price of corn nine per 
 cent, while, for a considerable period, they could 
 scarcely raise that of the commodities employ- 
 ed to purchase foreign corn above one; then, 
 in fact, a bounty of eight per cent, would be 
 granted on the importation of corn ; and labour 
 and capital would thus be turned from those chan- 
 nels in which, but for such unequal imposts, they 
 would naturally have flowed. The expenses heap- 
 ed exclusively on tillage would force us to import, 
 rather than to grow corn ; and would encourage 
 foreign agriculture, at the expense of our own. 
 Indirect taxes, therefore, falling exclusively on the 
 soil, and consequently raising the price of corn, not 
 only above its price in other countries, but also 
 above the proportion of the simultaneous rise in- 
 duced in other domestic articles, must, free impor- 
 tation being admitted, divert international inter- 
 course from the channels it naturally would take, 
 force capital from agriculture, and impose on the 
 trade of the farmer, a most oppressive species of 
 restriction. 
 
 All charges, that press unequally upon agricul- 
 ture, being, in this manner, so many indirect in-
 
 136 
 
 fringements on equal intercourse, and on the li- 
 berty of trade, it becomes a point of much nicety 
 and interest to ascertain, where they exist, and 
 what is the extent of their operation. 
 
 Tithes have been very generally considered as 
 forming a direct a..d very unequal impost upon 
 cultivation. When we consider their effects, 
 however, the first thing which strikes us is, that 
 they occasion a diminution in the revenue of the 
 land proprietor, rather than in the profits of the 
 farmer. Ground which is tithe-free, is more va- 
 luable than ground subject to such charge ; and 
 the capitalist, who seeks to vest his stock in cul- 
 tivation, will, to the full amount of this greater 
 value, be disposed to pay a higher rent. Now it is 
 evident that, in whatever proportion tithes fall upon 
 the revenue of the land proprietor, they must, in 
 the same proportion, cease to be a tax upon the 
 profits of the cultivator. The farmer who pays 
 JC.90 a year to his landlord, and .10 a year to 
 his rector, will sell his produce at the same rate, 
 and with exactly the same profit, as the farmer, 
 who, being exempt from tithes, pays for fields of 
 the same extent and fertility, the whole sum pf
 
 137 
 
 ,.100 in the form of rent. The proper way of 
 considering tithes, therefore, is, as a portion of 
 the rent of land, made payable by law, to persons 
 not being land proprietors. While the same sum 
 is paid, it is of small importance to the cultivator, 
 by what person it is received. Neither have the 
 proprietors of those lands, a part of the rent of 
 which is made payable to the church, any just 
 cause of complaint. At the period of the original 
 conquests, or grants, upon the right of which their 
 families either inherit or have purchased, land was 
 subject to this charge ; and, therefore, proprietors 
 can make good a title, only to nine-tenths of its 
 produce. The other tenth, a title, as ancient and 
 as valid as their own, gives to the maintenance of 
 the religion of the state. 
 
 Though, to all land proprietors, whose families, 
 by conquest, grant, or purchase, have, subsequently 
 to the establishment of tithes, become entitled to 
 estates, this mode of raising a revenue for the 
 church can afford no ground of complaint ; and, 
 though it is quite evident, that, so long as a known, 
 and determinate sum is paid for the use of land, it 
 IP, tp the cultivator, a matter nearly indifferent,
 
 138 
 
 whether the. whole be given to the landlord, or a 
 part to the rector ; yet as, in consequence of the 
 present mode of collecting them, the value of 
 tithes is unfixed, and may vary from year to year, 
 according to the quantity of capital, which is 
 employed upon the soil, they undoubtedly fall, 
 with disproportioned, and exclusive weight, on til- 
 lage. If the farmer brings in new fields, or be- 
 stows a heightened culture on the old, the clergy 
 become entitled to an increased share of the fruits 
 of his labour, and of the profits of his stock ; and 
 thus, from the mode of their collection, tithes ope- 
 rate as an interdiction upon improvement, and as a 
 direct tax on the growing of corn. 
 
 But this evil is by no means essential to the tithe 
 system ; and, by some modification in the manner 
 of collecting, might be completely obviated. If, 
 for example, they were, after a fair valuation, let 
 at a stated sum, for a given period, say ten years, 
 then their injurious influence upon industry and 
 cultivation, would be entirely done away. Under 
 such a mode of collecting their amount, they would 
 operate exactly as a rent ; they would be merely a 
 portion of the revenue of land, set apart, prior to
 
 139 
 
 the landlord's title, for the maintenance of reli- 
 gious teachers. During the period for which they 
 were leased, they would not, to whatever extent 
 tillage or improvement might be carried, entitle 
 the clergy to enter on the fruits of the farmer's 
 labour, or to share in the profits of the increased 
 stock, he might lay out on the soil. 
 
 The lease granted by the rector, as well as the 
 lease granted by the landlord, ought to be of suf- 
 ficient length, to secure to the cultivator the cus- 
 tomary profit on whatever capital he might sink in 
 improvement. This improvement, after it had re- 
 paid, with an adequate profit, the expense of re- 
 alizing it, would increase the amount, both of the 
 rent, and of the tithe ; and landlords, clergy, and 
 tenantry, would have a joint interest in the improve- 
 ment of tillage. 
 
 But, though tithes, if fixed at a given sum, for 
 a known period, could not, any more than a rent 
 fixed for the same period, by the land proprietor, 
 have an injurious effect upon agriculture, yet we 
 must not forget, that, as they are at present col- 
 lected, they operate as a discouragement to agri- 
 culture, and as a direct, and unequal tax upon the
 
 140 
 
 production of corn. Under the present mode of 
 collection, therefore, they force capital from the 
 soil, into channels where it would not naturally 
 flow, and are indirect infringements of the great 
 principles of equal intercourse and free trade. 
 
 Poor rates have been frequently represented as 
 a species of tax, falling exclusively upon agricul- 
 ture. The representation is undoubtedly errone- 
 ous. So far as the amount of the poor rates can 
 be ascertained, the capitalist who embarks his stock 
 in cultivation, will, to their full amount, give less 
 rent for a farm subject to poor rates, than for an 
 equal farm exempt from the payment of them ; 
 and hence, even supposing them to fall exclusively 
 upon the landed interest, they would, like well-re- 
 gulated tithe, be a deduction from the income of 
 the land proprietor, not a tax upon the capital of 
 the cultivator. 
 
 But poor rates do not fall exclusively upon the 
 landed interests. In England a very great propor- 
 tion of the population is collected into manufac- 
 turing towns ; and the parishes of the towns sup- 
 port their poor, as well as the parishes of the coun- 
 try. The country parishes, may probably pay a
 
 141 
 
 higher rate than those situated in towns, but then, 
 as all that part of the rate which is fixed or ascer- 
 tained, at the time of taking leases, enters into the 
 calculation of the capitalist when he undertook his 
 rent, and vested his stock in cultivation, and must 
 diminish the revenue of the landlord, rather than 
 operate as a tax upon the tenant, charges for the 
 maintenance of the poor can have little tendency 
 to divert industry from the channels, which it na- 
 turally would take. It is only when that part of 
 the rate, which being too recent, and too uncertain 
 to have entered into the calculation of the cultiva- 
 tor, when he took his farm, is more burthensomein 
 the country, than it is in the towns, that assessments 
 for the poor operate, as direct and exclusive taxes 
 upon agriculture. 
 
 What we have said respecting poor rates, applies 
 equally to all county assessments, laid on for the 
 repair of roads and bridges. When they exceed 
 the proportion of the similar assessments laid on in 
 towns, for paving and lighting ; and when this ex- 
 cess is too recent and uncertain, to have entered 
 into the calculation of the farmer, when he as- 
 sumed his rent, they heighten, beyond the due pre-
 
 portion, the expenses attending' cultivation, and 
 operate as restrictions on the trade of the farmer. 
 
 The same principle holds good with respect to 
 all taxes laid on servants, horses, and carriages em- 
 ployed in agriculture. In short, every impost, of 
 whatever kind, and every arrangement, of whatever 
 nature, which tends to increase the price of agri- 
 cultural produce, without, at the same time, and 
 in the same degree, tending to increase the price of 
 all the other articles that might be employed to 
 bring produce from abroad, gives the foreign, an 
 advantage over the home, grower, disturbs the equi- 
 librium which all occupations, if left to themselves, 
 have a perpetual inclination to preserve, diverts 
 capital from the channels, in which, but for such 
 interference, it would find its most profitable occu- 
 pation, and forms an indirect infringement on the 
 liberty of trade, and an unfair restriction upon the 
 farmer. 
 
 In the foregoing paragraphs, we have considered 
 the imposts laid exclusively, or unequally, upon the 
 soil, as they diminish the revenue of the land pro- 
 prietor, and as they reduce the profits of the stock 
 employed in cultivation. Now, though these ope-
 
 143 
 
 rations of taxes imposed on land, have frequently 
 been confounded, and treated under the common 
 character of depressing the landed interest, yet there 
 is an important distinction between them, which, 
 if we would attain to any accuracy in our reason- 
 ings, it is necessary to mark, and keep to in view. 
 
 Tithes, considered as a portion of rent set apart, 
 at a period prior to the conquest, grant, or pur- 
 cliase, under which the proprietor holds, are neither 
 unjust towards individuals, nor injurious to the 
 public; while, in trenching upon the profits of the 
 stock employed in cultivation, they are both. Poor 
 rates, and assessments of all kinds, when they press 
 more heavily in the country, than in towns, are, 
 as they affect the rent of land, unjust ; and, as they 
 affect capital vested in the soil, are both unjust to 
 individuals, and injurious to the country. 
 
 In drawing this distinction, however, between 
 the effects produced upon the landlord's rent, and 
 the cultivator's profit, I would not be considered, 
 as urging any thing in extenuation of regulations, 
 which may be found to press unequally upon the 
 former. To tax land proprietors, or any other class, 
 more heavily than the rest of the community, is, 
 evidently, injurious and unjust. Injustice, and in-
 
 141 
 
 jury, however, have their degrees. While the ert- 
 lightened legislator will be careful to avoid any 
 measures which inflict partial evil, he will be so- 
 licitous to shun the arrangements, which in addi- 
 tion to their partial evil, hurt the general good. 
 Taxes falling unequally on the cultivator, are, upon 
 the score of justice, as exceptionable as those, which 
 fall unequally upon the landlord ; and, over and 
 above this common evil inflicted on individuals, 
 tend to lower the rate of profit upon the stock vest- 
 ed in the soil, to restrict cultivation, to turn indus- 
 try aside from that most profitable direction, which, 
 if left to itself, it would seek, and, in this manner, 
 to retard the prosperity of the country. 
 
 Now, except when the landlord is also the culti- 
 vator, and employs what would otherwise be rent, 
 not as a revenue to support consumption, but as a 
 capital to increase production, it is, with respect to 
 the direction of industry, and the growth of wealth, 
 of small importance, whether the whole of the rent 
 of land goes into the pocket of the landlord, or 
 whether a" part of it, and even a disproportionate 
 part, goes to the clergy, to those who work upon 
 roads and bridges, or who supply articles to poor 
 houses and hospitals.
 
 145 
 
 When landholders can shew, that any tax draws 
 from them a disproportionate part of their revenue, 
 they are, undoubtedly, entitled to redress ; but then, 
 their case, however clearly made out, is not so 
 strong, as that, which is formed of equal individual 
 injury, conjoined with great public evil. 
 
 Whenever it can be made appear, that a tax or 
 assessment falls with unequal weight upon the rent 
 of the proprietor, or on the profit of the cultivator, 
 the landed interests, both on the principle of im- 
 partial dealing, and on the ground of public pros- 
 perity, are entitled to redress and protection. The 
 most obvious redress, the most simple and natural 
 protection, undoubtedly would be, a repeal, or 
 equalization of the impost which inflicted the un- 
 equal and injurious pressure. To such equaliza- 
 tion or repeal, there could not be, throughout the 
 country, an objection raised. But when a more 
 equivocal species of indemnification and protection 
 is demanded, when, in order to make good the 
 landlord's loss, and to restore the different branches 
 of industry to their proper level, it is proposed to 
 infringe upon the freedom of the external trade in 
 corn, which theory and experience have united to 
 
 h
 
 146 
 
 pronounce, so powerful in saving us from the irre- 
 gularities of the seasons, in augmenting subsistence, 
 and in accelerating prosperity, it is natural to 
 pause, and to ask, before we risk such a measure, 
 whether a protecting duty laid upon foreign corn, 
 could be so apportioned, as to attain, without go- 
 ing beyond its object ; and whether, if it could be 
 so apportioned, the remedy might not be found 
 more injurious than the original evil it removed ? 
 These points we shall endeavour to ascertain. 
 
 For, though, in general, the high price com- 
 municated to a commodity, by those indirect taxes, 
 which, falling partially, do not, by elevating the 
 markets universally, constitute, in themselves, a 
 countervailing duty, should be considered as pre* 
 ciaely analogous to the high price added to a com- 
 modity by a direct impost, and though it could, 
 with respect to every other branch of industry, be 
 proved conformable to the best maxims of political 
 economy, to impose, in the former, as well as in 
 the latter case, such duties on the importation of a 
 similar foreign commodity, as would deprive it of 
 any advantages over the domestic one ; yet, the 
 external corn trade is of a nature so peculiar, and
 
 147 
 
 exerts so powerful and important an effect upon 
 the supply of subsistence, and on the productive 
 powers of labour, that it becomes necessary to en- 
 quire, whether., wifh respect to it, the principle of 
 countervailing duties, for the purpose of restoring 
 equality of intercourse, and returning capital into 
 the original channels, from which it had been forced, 
 may not be found inapplicable. 
 
 We are to enquire whether, when taxes press 
 disproportionately upon the soil, duties upon fo- 
 reign corn can be so apportioned, as to restore 
 things to their original places ; and whether, could 
 they be thus apportioned, they might not inflict 
 evils, greater than those which they removed. 
 
 In the first place, when taxation, even in its most 
 simple form, and without affecting any thing else, 
 falls directly and exclusively upon the land, and 
 enables us precisely to ascertain the unequal and 
 injurious diminution occasioned in the proprietor's 
 rent, and cultivator's profit, it becomes a problem 
 of great difficulty and nicety, to determine, what 
 amount of countervailing duty would readjust the 
 balance of industry, and place the farmer in his 
 former relative situation with respect to the do- 
 
 l 2
 
 148 
 
 mestic manufacturer, and the foreign grower. But, 
 as the sum, which may be demanded for tithes is, 
 under the existing mode of collecting them, liable 
 to perpetual variation, the enquiry, to what extent 
 they force capital from the soil, and to what amount 
 protecting duties are required to turn it back into 
 its natural channels, becomes in a higher degree 
 perplexed and uncertain. 
 
 With respect to all parochial and county rates, 
 and assessments, the case is still worse. Not only 
 are these varying and uncertain in their amount, 
 but, before any conclusion can be drawn, respect- 
 ing the degree of duty which might be necessary to 
 counteract their operation, the new, and difficult 
 question arises, how far they act unequally, and 
 depress the industry of the country, below that of 
 the towns ? 
 
 But this is not all. When the expenses of cul- 
 tivation are increased, the farmer must either in- 
 crease the price of his corn, or else, ceasing to ob- 
 tain the customary rate of profit upon his stock, 
 must cease to cultivate. Now, if importation be 
 restricted, as the farmer begins to leave off grow- 
 ing corn, the failing supply will necessarily raise
 
 149 
 
 prices, sufficiently high to cover all the increased 
 costs of tillage. Hence, any thing which tends to 
 keep foreign grain out of our markets, will have an 
 irresistible effect in raising the price of corn, with 
 every increase which may be induced in the expense 
 of cultivation, and in indemnifying the landed in- 
 terest for imposts falling unequally upon the soil. 
 But, in whatever degree the foreign grower may 
 be subject to ill-regulated tithes, and burthensome 
 assessments, in the same degree must his prices be 
 raised, and his corn kept out of our markets. It 
 is therefore, only in the proportion in which the 
 unequal imposts laid upon the soil at home, exceed 
 the burthen laid upon the foreign farmer, that the 
 landed interest have any claim to indemnity, or 
 that industry is turned from the channels which, if 
 all charges upon the soil, both at home and abroad 
 were removed, it naturally would take. 
 
 Before, therefore, we can decide upon the amount 
 of a protecting duty upon importation, we have 
 previously to determine, how far the various im- 
 posts, which press unequally upon the land at 
 home, exceed the burthens which are imposed upon 
 land abroad. The difficulty of doing this is Ob-
 
 150 
 
 vious. When we consider the various facts which 
 must be ascertained, and the different balances that 
 must be struck ; when we take into account the 
 fluctuating operation of tithes, the uncertainty of 
 rates and assessments, the nicety of distinguishing 
 how far they press more heavily upon the soil, than 
 upon the towns; and, above all, the difficulty of 
 ascertaining the degree, in which this excess ex- 
 ceeds the imposts laid on foreign agriculture, we 
 may safely pronounce, that, to determine with pre- 
 cision, the amount of the protecting duty which 
 would be sufficient to indemnify the landed interest 
 for unequal taxes, and to restore tlxe equilibrium 
 they disturb, must be impossible. 
 
 The impossibility of ascertaining, \> ith any pre- 
 cision, the amount of the countervailing duties 
 which it might be necessary to lay on importation* 
 is a sufficient objection to resorting to them, as a 
 means of counteracting the operation of those im- 
 posts which fall exclusively, or with dispropor- 
 tioned weight, upon' cultivation. If the duty 
 were laid on too low, it would be an inadequate 
 measure, and could not accomplish its object; if it 
 were laid on too high, it would be a gratuitous in-
 
 m 
 
 151 
 
 diction of evil on the country, depriving the people 
 of the power of availing themselves of that admira- 
 ble provision, which, in the uniformity of her 
 general results, nature has made for repairing the 
 mischief, which might arise from her partial irre- 
 gularity ; and exposing them to that uncertainty in 
 the supply of food, which, while the seasons con- 
 tinue to vibrate between redundance and defi- 
 ciency, must increase, in proportion as they depend 
 on the resources of a single country. 
 
 But the difficulty, not to say the impossibility, 
 of ascertaining what the duty ought to be ; the 
 abortiveness of taking it too low, and the mischief 
 of taking it too high, however valid they may be 
 a,s objections against attempting to rectify, by re- 
 stricted importation, the evils of taxation falling 
 unequally on the growing of corn, become of 
 minor importance, when we consider, that, even if 
 all difficulty in determining the amount of the duty 
 were removed, and that if it were so apportioned 
 as just to reach, without going beyond its object, 
 and exactly to indemnify the proprietor and tlje 
 cultivator for the excess of taxation which they 
 paid ; such duty might, nevertheless, inflict upon
 
 152 
 
 the country, evils of greater magnitude than those 
 which it removed. This I will endeavour to explain 
 with all possible brevity and clearness. 
 
 AVhen taxation falls more heavily upon agricul- 
 ture than on other branches of industry, and raises 
 the natural, or production-price, of corn, in a 
 greater degree than it raises, at the same time, the 
 natural or production-prices of the other articles 
 with which foreign corn may be purchased, then 
 the following effects will necessarily be produced. 
 The farmer, in the first instance, when he finds t.he 
 expenses of cultivation increased on him, will raise 
 the price of his corn, so as to enable him to pay 
 his rent, and to enjoy the customary rate of profit 
 upon stock. But as all articles do not, as in the 
 case of equal taxation, experience a simultaneous 
 rise, in the same proportion with the productions 
 of the soil, and thus, in the manner before ex- 
 plained, prevent importation, the advance which 
 the farmer induces in the markets, will operate as 
 a bounty on the introduction of foreign corn. 
 
 The consequence will be, that, the foreign 
 grower, in whatever degree he may be less bur- 
 thened with taxation, will have an advantage over
 
 153 
 
 the home grower ; and the markets, which had at 
 first been raised, will be forced down below what 
 is sufficient to secure the farmer in the customary 
 rate of profit upon stock. Of this, diminished 
 cultivation is the inevitable result. Farms, which, 
 though inferior to the growing lands in the neigh- 
 bouring countries, were kept under the plough, in 
 consequence of the natural protection afforded by 
 the expense of carriage on an article so bulky as 
 corn, will be unable, at the reduced prices, to re- 
 pay the new and unequal charges, and will be 
 thrown out of tillage. Cultivation will be con- 
 fined to those districts, whose natural fertility, aided 
 by the natural protection just named, will be found 
 adequate to sustain the unequal competition ; and 
 capital will be forced from the soil to the now 
 more profitable occupation of fabricating articles, 
 with which to purchase foreign corn. The foreign 
 corn thus imported, will, indeed, create an increas- 
 ed foreign demand for our wrought goods ; and, as 
 the uninterrupted circulation of grain will keep the 
 price of provisions both low and steady, manufac- 
 tures and commerce may flourish, while the landed 
 interest is depressed and agriculture discouraged.
 
 154 
 
 This statement of the consequences which must 
 flow from taxation falling with disproportioned 
 weight upon the soil, and raising the production- 
 price of corn, in a greater degree than the pro- 
 duction-price of other articles, must instantly con- 
 vince us that such taxation is unjust and impolitic* 
 It is evidently unjust to depress the landed interest 
 by laying on them burthens not borne by the rest 
 of the community; evidently impolitic to give, 
 by unequal imposts, the national industry a direc- 
 tion different from that which it naturally would 
 take. When, under a state of free intercourse, 
 inferior soils are made to produce corn, it can only 
 be because, in consequence of the expense of 
 bringing so bulky an article from abroad, such em- 
 ployment of stock is deemed the most beneficial. 
 To prevent, by unequal imposts, or by any artificial 
 regulation whatever, stock from being invested in 
 what would be its most beneficial employment, 
 is the same thing as diminishing the productive 
 powers of industry ; is the same thing as diminish- 
 ing the wealth, and checking the prosperity, of the 
 country. On the impolicy of taxes, which press 
 partially upon the soil, and on the propriety of re-
 
 155 
 
 pealing them., there cannot, consequently, be two 
 opinions. But, before we can decide upon the 
 wisdom, not of repealing such taxes., but of coun- 
 teracting their effects by a duty on importation, we 
 must, even admitting that the duty could be so 
 apportioned as to attain the end, inquire, in the 
 second place, whether it might not induce conse- 
 quences more injurious than those, which it re- 
 moved. 
 
 When taxation falls upon the soil, and increases 
 the expenses of cultivation, it will require a greater 
 quantity of capital, to produce the same quantity 
 of corn. If duties upon servants, horses, iron, 
 leather, with rates and assessments, add fifty per 
 cent, to the out-goings of any farm, it is evident, 
 that, in order to continue it in the same state of 
 culture as before, fifty per cent, must be added to 
 the farmer's stock. 
 
 Hence, with respect to the productive powers of 
 the capital employed in cultivation, to tax the land 
 is the same thing as to lower the quality of the soil. 
 Suppose that, of two farms equal in extent, one is 
 so fertile that a thousand pounds, in capital stocky 
 will raise from it ample crops of corn, while, owing
 
 156 
 
 to the inferiority of the other, and the greater de- 
 gree of dressing which it requires, crops of similar 
 goodness cannot be raised from it, without employ- 
 ing a capital of fifteen hundred pounds. Here the 
 production is equal, and the only difference con- 
 sists in the quantity of capital employed. Now, 
 let us farther suppose, that, upon the more fertile 
 farm, various imposts are accumulated, until the 
 increased wages of labour, the increased cost of 
 keeping horses, and the increased price of every 
 article requisite to tillage, compelled the farmer, 
 in producing the same crops as formerly, to employ 
 stock to the amount of fifteen hundred pounds ; 
 that is, equal to the amount of stock employed on 
 the inferior farm. Here, then, the produce of the 
 two farms being the same, and the stock employed 
 on them being the same also, it is evident that the 
 taxes accumulated on the fertile one, would have 
 an effect identical with that, which would be pro- 
 duced by lowering the quality of its soil, and would 
 reduce the productive powers of the capital vested 
 in its cultivation. 
 
 Taxes laid upon the land, having, in this man- 
 ner, the effect of deferliUzing the soil, we perceive
 
 157 
 
 more clearly the extreme impolicy of imposing 
 them ; and are enabled to judge, more accurately, 
 how far protecting duties upon foreign corn, would 
 tend to counteract their operation, and to relieve 
 the country from the mischief they inflict. 
 
 It has appeared, in a former chapter, that when, 
 in consequence of natural sterility, a given quan- 
 tity of capital, employed upon the soil, cannot 
 raise so abundant a supply of corn, as, by prepar- 
 ing wrought goods, it could purchase from the 
 foreign grower, tiie happiest consequences are pro- 
 duced by leaving importation free. Now, the 
 same holds good with what may be called the 
 artificial sterility induced by taxation. When, in 
 consequence of various imposts, pressing unequally 
 upon the land, the expenses of growing corn are so 
 much increased, that a given quantity of capital, 
 vested in cultivation, will not raise so abundant 
 a produce as the same capital, if directed to some 
 branch of industry less heavily burthened, could 
 purchase from abroad, it is self-evident, that, in 
 such branch of industry, it receives its most bene- 
 ficial occupation, and conduces, most powerfully 
 to increase wealth and promote prosperity. It is
 
 158 
 
 also self-evident, that if, by taxing our land, we 
 increase the expense of producing corn at home, 
 beyond the expense of producing it in other coun- 
 tries, our prices will be higher than theirs, and 
 we shall be an importing, rather than an exporting 
 country. But it has already been fully shown, 
 that a country, the circumstances of which are 
 adverse to the exportation of produce, can escape 
 fluctuating supply and unsteady price, only by 
 granting perfect freedom in the import trade in 
 corn. 
 
 All (he benefits, therefore, of unrestricted inter- 
 course, whether with respect to wealth and pros- 
 perity, or to correcting the irregularity of the sea- 
 sons in supplying food, belong equally to the case 
 of a country where the production-priec of com is 
 raised by natural sterility, and to the case of a 
 country in which natural price is raised by taxes 
 lowering the productive powers of the capital 
 vested in cultivation. Such unequal taxes upon 
 land, inflicting, as it were, an artificial sterility on 
 the country, cannot be too severely censured, or 
 too speedily repealed; but, during their continu- 
 ance, a perfectly unrestricted external trade in
 
 159 
 
 corn, seems the most effectual means of mitigating, 
 whether with respect to the supply of subsistence, 
 or the progress of wealth, the evils which they 
 inflict. 
 
 Taxes, falling unequally upon the soil, inflict 
 evil in three ways. First, they reduce the pro- 
 ductive powers of the capital employed in cultiva- 
 tion ; op, as we before said, produce an effect 
 similar to that of lowering the quality of the soil ; 
 in the second place, they throw out of cultivation, 
 lands which, though inferior to those cultivated in 
 other countries, were kept in tillage by the natural 
 protection arising from the expense of carriage, 
 and, consequently, give capital a forced, and, 
 therefore, a less profitable, direction, than it natu- 
 rally would take ; and, thirdly, by occasioning an 
 increased portion of produce, to be devoted to pay 
 the profits on the increased quantity of capital 
 necessary to cultivation, as well as by throwing 
 out land which, but for their operation, might be 
 profitably tilled, they effect an unjust diminution 
 in the revenue of the land proprietor. The ques- 
 tion is, would these evils be remedied by laying a 
 protecting duty on the importation of foreign
 
 100 
 
 coin ? Let us enquire a little farther, what ten- 
 dency this measure could have to counteract such 
 injurious effects ; let us, in concluding the chap- 
 ter, briefly examine, how far a restriction on im- 
 portation could diminish the quantity of capital 
 required to produce a given quantity of corn ; 
 turn the capital, forced from the soil, into a chan- 
 nel more conducive to wealth and prosperity ; or, 
 restore, to the landlord, the income he had lost. 
 
 If, after unequal taxation had diminished til- 
 lage, and occasioned us to draw a part of our 
 consumption from the foreign grower, importation 
 were restricted, the diminution of the supply would 
 immediately elevate prices, until it again become 
 profitable to cultivate the inferior soils which had 
 been thrown out. Now, these elevated prices, and 
 this restored cultivation, could have no conceivable 
 tendency to reduce the quantity of capital neces- 
 sary to the production of corn. The unequal 
 taxes must still be paid, and their amount still 
 increase the expenses of production, and compel 
 the farmer to employ a greater stock in cultiva- 
 tion. But further, the capital necessary to cul- 
 tivate any given extent of land, would be increased,
 
 161 
 
 not diminished. For the high price of corn 
 would, after a little time, communicate itself 
 both to wages and to commodities ; and the ex- 
 penses of tillage would thus be increased upon the 
 farmer. 
 
 Restricted importation, therefore, instead of 
 reducing the quantity of stock, which taxation 
 rendered necessary to the growing of corn, would 
 have a directly opposite effect, and would lower, 
 still farther, the productive powers of the capital 
 employed in cultivation. With respect to turning 
 the capital which taxation had forced from the 
 soil, into a more beneficial channel, the case 
 would be still worse. This capital was originally 
 employed in cultivating inferior soils, because, 
 from the natural protection, afforded by the charge 
 of carriage, on an article so bulky as corn, such 
 employment was found most beneficial ; and sub- 
 sequently, when unequal taxation increased the 
 expense of growing corn, without increasing, in 
 a like proportion, the expense of producing other 
 things, it was withdrawn from the soil, because it 
 found a more profitable employment in working 
 up goods, with which to purchase grain in the 
 
 M
 
 162 
 
 foreign market. Now, to force, by restricted 
 importation, this capital back upon the soil which 
 it had left, would not be to return it to its most 
 beneficial employment. While, in consequence of 
 unequal taxation increasing the expense of pro- 
 ducing corn at home > any quantity of capital can 
 bring a more abundant supply of corn from abroad, 
 than it can raise at home; then, to bring corn 
 from abroad is the most profitable occupation, 
 which, in consequence of injudicious imposts, 
 remains. To deprive capital, therefore, of the 
 most profitable employment remaining, would be 
 adding injury to injury. 
 
 Here then, again, restricted importation would 
 increase the evil, which it was employed to coun- 
 teract. "With respect to restoring the landlord's 
 income, its effect, in the first instance, would be 
 better. As the foreign supply was cut off, and 
 the prices rose until the inferior lands were re- 
 stored to tillage, these lands would afford a rent 
 to the proprietor, and the rents already paid upon 
 the better grounds, whose fertility enabled them, 
 notwithstanding the burthens upon production, to 
 meet the competition of the grower of otjjer coun-
 
 163 
 
 tries, would receive, on leases being renewed, a 
 considerable increase. 
 
 This indemnification, however, received by the 
 landlord, would be but of short duration. The 
 restriction from which it was derived, would have 
 increased, not diminished, the quantity of capital 
 necessary to produce a given quantity of corn, 
 from the better lands ; and would not have restored, 
 but would still further have diminished, the pro- 
 ductiveness of the capital turned back to the 
 inferior soils. The powers of industry would be 
 lowered, and the value of land, necessarily suf- 
 fering from the universal check given to pros- 
 perity, would sink ; hence it would be found 
 impossible to sustain the landlord's rent so high 
 as it might have risen, if unrestricted importation, 
 leaving manufactures and commerce to attain their 
 utmost height, had suffered capital to accumulate, 
 until the reduction in the rate of profit and of 
 interest, increased, in the manner already shewn, 
 the relative value of the soil, and compensated, in 
 some measure, the artificial sterility inflicted by 
 taxation. 
 
 When such artificial sterility is inflicted, when 
 m2
 
 164 
 
 a greater quantity of stock is rendered necessary 
 to the production of the same quantity of corn, 
 capital will seek to escape from cultivation, now 
 become the least beneficial employment, and to 
 take a direction in which its productive powers 
 will be less oppressed. This process, to borrow 
 an illustration from the animal economy, is as a 
 rectifying effort of nature, forcing the circulation 
 into inferior vessels, when the main artery has 
 been stopped. The surgeon who, instead of aiding 
 nature, or, at least, leaving her unimpeded in her 
 efforts, to rectify the derangement occasioned in 
 her operations, should propose to turn the blood 
 into its former course by tying up the inferior 
 vessels into which it had been forced, would 
 evince but little knowledge of the animal eco- 
 nomy. Now, might it not be asked, whether a 
 greater share of knowledge, in political economy, 
 would belong to him who, while unequal taxes 
 upon land render cultivation the least productive 
 occupation in which capital can engage, should 
 seek to rectify the injury these taxes inflict, by 
 stopping up the other channels into which capital 
 had been forced ?
 
 165 
 
 When, in consequence of accumulated taxation, 
 capital escapes from the soil, to the more profit- 
 able occupation of working up raw material, and 
 purchasing corn from other countries, the price of 
 corn is little advanced, and, therefore, the pro- 
 ductive powers of general industry are little lowered. 
 But when, the taxes still continuing, we check 
 importation, and force into tillage, land on whieh 
 the expenses of cultivation are so great, that a 
 given quantity of capital cannot raise from them 
 so abundant a supply as it would have purchased 
 abroad, then the natural price of corn is increased. 
 The additional rent, too, which will now be paid 
 for superior lands, will increase its natural price 
 upon them, as well as upon the inferior, forced 
 into tillage. The natural price of corn, then, 
 will be increased throughout the country. An 
 increased natural price of corn, however, is not 
 only the same thing as a reduction in the produc- 
 tive powers of agricultural capital, but occasions 
 a reduction in the productiveness of every species 
 of industry, carried on by the consumers of corn. 
 As the solitary individual, who is obliged to devote 
 a greater quantity of his time to raising food,^will
 
 166 
 
 have less time to prepare clothes and furniture, so, 
 the society which is compelled to direct a greater 
 number of its hands, and quantity of its stock, to 
 raising its supply of corn, will have less of both to 
 employ in manufactures and trade. As the high 
 price of corn, gradually communicates itself to 
 wages, and, through wages, to the various expense* 
 attending the working up of materials, the capi- 
 talist, with the same quantity of stock, will be able 
 to produce only a smaller quantity of goods. 
 
 Hence, restriction upon import, again forcing 
 into cultivation land from which taxation had 
 driyen capital, would universally check production. 
 "With the failing wealth of all consumers, the home 
 demand (the only one which could exist while tax- 
 ation elevated prices) would fail. Prices would fall, 
 until the inferior lands could no longer be culti- 
 vated, nor the superior ones offer the heightened 
 rent. After having, for a short period, received an 
 indemnity for unequal taxation, the land-proprietor 
 would be thrown back into a worse condition than 
 before. 
 
 And now we may conclude, that a protecting 
 duty laid on the introduction of foreign corn, would
 
 16? 
 
 not remedy any of the evils inflicted by unequal 
 taxes upon land. On the contrary, it would ag- 
 gravate them all. Jh the first place, it would in- 
 crease the quantity of capital, necessary to raise any 
 given quantity of corn, or, in other words, add to 
 what may be called the artificially induced sterility 
 of the soil ; in the second place, in restoring the 
 lands, which had been thrown out, to cultivation, 
 it would not (and this is a most important consi- 
 deration) restore the capital forced back upon them, 
 to its former productiveness ; but, on the contrary, 
 would turn it from the channels which, in conse- 
 quence of unequal taxation, had now become the 
 most conducive to wealth and prosperity ; and, in 
 the third place, the restriction upon importation, 
 though it might, at first, restore the land proprie- 
 tor's income, and even, perhaps, give him more 
 than a just indemnity for the excess of taxes he 
 paid, would, in consequence of the powers of in- 
 dustry being universally paralyzed, involve him in 
 the general failure, and reduce him to a much worse 
 condition than before. 
 
 To all these evils, respecting wealth and pros- 
 perity, is to be added, the evil of perpetual fluctua-
 
 168 
 
 tion in the supply, and in the price, of corn. When, 
 by restricted importation, we force an independent 
 supply, from soils which, in consequence of unequal 
 taxation, could not, even under the powerful na- 
 tural protection afforded by the expense of carriage, 
 stand the competition with foreign soils ; we ne- 
 cessarily raise our prices considerably beyond those 
 of foreign countries. 
 
 The consequence is, that, in abundant years, su- 
 perfluity cannot be removed, until the markets have 
 sustained an extraordinary fall. If, by the joint 
 operation of taxes, and duties to countervail taxa- 
 tion, we raise an independent supply at the average 
 price of sixty shillings a quarter, while, in the 
 neighbouring countries, the average price is only 
 forty shillings; then, it is evident, that exportation 
 could not take place, until our markets fell so far 
 below forty shillings the quarter, that the merchant, 
 after paying the expense of carriage, could sell, in 
 the foreign market, at that price. Let ten shillings 
 a quarter be sufficient to pay the expense of car- 
 riage, and the exporting merchant's profit, and then 
 our markets must fall ten shillings below forty, be- 
 fore our com can be sent abroad ; that is, oar mar-
 
 169 
 
 kets must be in a perpetual state of fluctuation, 
 between sixty shillings, the price of average years, 
 and thirty shillings, the highest price at which, in 
 abundant years, superfluity can be removed. 
 
 From this illustration it must appear, that were 
 we, when taxation renders production more expen- 
 sive than on the continent, to force, by counter- 
 vailing duties, an independent supply, we should, 
 in addition to a calamitous loss of wealth, suffer all 
 the evils of uncertain and deeply vibrating prices. 
 The beautiful provision, which, in the uniformity 
 of her general results, Nature has made against 
 partial irregularity, would be lost to us. Duties 
 on the importation of foreign corn, even if they 
 could be so apportioned as exactly to countervai 
 unequal taxes upon land, to pour back capital into 
 the channels from which it had been forced, and 
 to place the landed interest on a footing with other 
 classes of the community, would, nevertheless, with 
 respect to wealth, subsistence, and even the reve- 
 nue of the land proprietor, induce mischief far 
 greater than that which they were intended to 
 remove. 
 
 And now, to recapitulate the conclusions which
 
 170 
 
 the reasonings of this chapter have been employed 
 to enforce. 
 
 Taxes, falling equally on all the classes of the 
 community, and thereby producing a universal 
 rise in wages, do not, (as wages form a smaller pro- 
 portion in the component parts of raw produce, 
 than in the component parts of the price of wrought 
 goods) increase the expenses of growing corn, in a 
 greater, or even in so great a degree, as they increase 
 the expenses of working up materials. Such taxes, 
 therefore, repel the foreign grower by the high 
 price of the articles he must receive in payment, 
 full as much as they attract him by the high price 
 to be obtained upon his produce, and, conse- 
 quently, do not give him any advantage over the 
 domestic cultivator. 
 
 Taxes, falling exclusively, or with dispropor- 
 tioned force, upon land, and thus increasing the 
 expenses of cultivation, in a greater degree than 
 they add to the costs of production in other bran- 
 ches of industry, and raising the price of corn 
 without raising, in a similar proportion, the price 
 of the goods with which it might be purchased in 
 other countries, give the foreign, an undue ad-
 
 171 
 
 * 
 
 vantage over the home grower ; operate as an in- 
 jurious discouragement to domestic agriculture; 
 force capital from the channels in which it found 
 its most profitable occupation; and, in relation 
 to the manufacturing and commercial classes, un- 
 unjustly depress the landed interest. 
 
 Such a state of things is at variance with the 
 fundamental principles of political economy. 
 Whether with a view to promote the prosperity of 
 the country, or to dispense impartial justice, capi- 
 tal should be allowed to take its most profitable 
 occupation, and individuals be indemnified for 
 any disproportionate pressure which they may 
 sustain. 
 
 These most desirable objects can be attained, 
 only by removing the causes, which disturbed the 
 balance between the various departments, of indus- 
 try ; that is, by regulating the collection of tithes, 
 discontinuing all duties on the farmer's servants, 
 horses, and carriages ; and equalizing rates and 
 assessments, between the country and the towns. 
 
 Countervailing and protecting duties, imposed 
 on foreign corn, cannot be so apportioned as to 
 replace things in their former relative positions ;
 
 172 
 
 and, even if their amount could be determined 
 with sufficient accuracy, to restore the original 
 balance between all the employments of capital, and 
 classes of the state, they would yet effect a univer- 
 sal reduction in the productive powers of industry, 
 induce a perpetual fluctuation in the supply of 
 food, involve the land proprietor in the general 
 declension of the country, and inflict evils much 
 greater than those, which they were adopted to 
 remove. 
 
 And, therefore, the particular case of a country, 
 more heavily taxed than her neighbours, does not 
 constitute an exception to which the general prin- 
 ciple of a free external trade in corn is inapplicable. 
 On the contrary, during the continuance of taxes, 
 even in their most objectionable operation, of un- 
 equal pressure upon the land, an unrestricted com- 
 merce in grain, mitigates the evils which they 
 inflict.
 
 173 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 On the Limitations, to which the general Princi- 
 ples of the external Trade in Corn, are liable, 
 in their Application to the particular Case of a 
 Country, in which Restrictions upon Import 
 have already induced an artificial Scale of 
 Prices, and given a forced Extension to Agri* 
 culture. 
 
 Having, in the two last chapters, shewn, that 
 neither legislative interference with respect to other 
 branches of commerce, nor the existence of a hea- 
 vier taxation than is borne in other growing coun- 
 tries, forms an exception to the principles of a free 
 external trade in corn ; we have now, with respect 
 to this part of our subject, only to enquire, whether 
 these principles are liable to any limitations in their 
 application to the particular case of a country, in 
 which restrictions on the commerce in grain have 
 already turned capital from its natural direction,
 
 m 174 
 
 and established an artificial scale of prices. This 
 question, always interesting, as involving the dif- 
 ficult problem respecting the introduction of poli- 
 tical change, derives, at present, great additional 
 importance from the circumstances that a forced 
 direction of capital, in consequence of interrupted 
 commerce, constitutes our actual state ; and that, 
 it is under an artificial scale of prices, thereby in- 
 duced, that it has become necessary to legislate. 
 The effects of the war, and of the Berlin and 
 Milan decrees, were, to lay such restrictions on 
 the importation of foreign corn, as to give the 
 British farmer almost the entire supplying of the 
 home market ; and to occasion a great additional 
 capital to be vested in cultivation. The practical 
 consideration for the statesman, therefore, is, whe- 
 ther, now that this artificial stimulus has been 
 withdrawn by the peace, the capital which was 
 thus forced into agriculture, should receive, from 
 the legislature, protection in that occupation. 
 
 Our great political economist, Dr. Smith, in 
 stating the limitations to which the general prin- 
 ciple of complete freedom in trade is liable, seems 
 to consider the actual existence of artificial encou-
 
 175 
 
 * 
 ragement as one. He urges, that when any com- 
 modity of our own production, has been encou- 
 raged for some time by high duties and protections, 
 it would be injurious suddenly to restore a free 
 importation of the same kind of article. te Hu- 
 manity, in this case," he contends, " requires that 
 freedom of trade should be restored only by slow 
 gradations, and with caution and circumspection. 
 Were these high duties and protections taken away 
 all at once, cheaper foreigu goods, of the same 
 kind, might be poured so fast into the home mar- 
 ket, as to deprive, all at once, many thousands of 
 our people of their ordinary employment, and 
 means of subsistence." 
 
 This scarcely needs illustration. England, by 
 very high duties on the importation of foreign 
 wrought goods, has, to a considerable extent, esta- 
 blished manufactures, not naturally adapted to the 
 country. In this she has undoubtedly given some 
 check to her prosperity, and rendered her labour 
 and capital less productive, than they otherwise 
 might have been. But, nevertheless, were she, all 
 at once, to attempt the introduction of theoretic 
 perfection into her commercial regulations, and
 
 176 
 
 suddenly to repeal the high duties upon the impor- 
 tation of articles not naturally adapted to the coun- 
 try, very calamitous consequences would, in the 
 first instance at least, ensue. Undersold, in their 
 own market, by the foreigner whose exertions co- 
 operated with nature, our capitalists and labourers, 
 who had been induced to vest their stock, and to 
 acquire skill, in the forced and exotic employ- 
 ments, would now be driven to seek a livelihood in 
 other occupations. The former could not do so, 
 without extensive pecuniary loss ; nor the latter, 
 without losing all that species of moral capital, 
 consisting in the skill and dexterity he had acquired 
 in his trade. Great individual distress, and a con- 
 siderable temporary reduction in the productive 
 powers of industry, would be the consequences. 
 
 Now if, even in the case of some exotic manu- 
 factures, the sudden repeal of the duties which had 
 given a forced direction to industry, would be at- 
 tended with consequences so injurious, we may 
 form some estimate of the calamitous effects which 
 would ensue, from a similar proceeding, with re- 
 spect to the universal trade of agriculture. In a 
 country, accustomed to import a part of her con-
 
 177 
 
 sumption of food, any considerable restriction on 
 the introduction of foreign corn, effects, in the first 
 instance, a great advance in the markets ; and, 
 hence, forces labour and capital, to the cultivation 
 of those inferior soils which, under the old prices, 
 could not be tilled with a profit. Now, as soon 
 as the interruption of foreign supply raised prices 
 so high, that the customary rate of profit could be 
 obtained by the cultivation of tracts which had be- 
 fore remained untilled on account of their sterility, 
 a rate of profit, higher than the customary, would 
 be obtained by the cultivation of the fertile districts 
 which had been able to stand foreign competition. 
 But, as leases expire, the competition of capitalists 
 will always prevent lands from being let at a lower 
 rate, than is necessary to ensure the farmer, the 
 customary profit on his stock. In a country, there- 
 fore, which would naturally import a part of her 
 consumption, an interruption of free intercourse, 
 occasions a universal rise in rents, and affects every 
 contract which may be entered into, between land- 
 lord and tenant. 
 
 Nor is this all. All the money transactions of 
 the land-proprietors, will be influenced by this in-
 
 178 
 
 crease of income; mortgages, marriage settlements, 
 incumbrances for younger children, will all in- 
 crease, with the increasing rent-roll ; whife, as the 
 high price of corn soon begins to communicate it- 
 self to all other things, the expenses of government 
 will be enlarged, and an influence will be extended 
 to all its transactions with the public creditor. 
 
 Thus we see, that, while restrictions on the im- 
 
 > so) it. 
 
 portation of wrought goods, not naturally adapted 
 to the country, Mould give a forced direction to 
 
 ,7)1,. 
 
 labour and capital, in a few manufacturing* towns 
 and districts; restrictions on the introduction of 
 foreign corn, would, in a coimtry, the circumstances 
 of which naturally led to the importation of grain, 
 not only give, to an incalculably greater extent, a 
 forced direction to capital and labour, but would, 
 universally, influence the money transactions of in- 
 dividuals, and the financial arrangements of the 
 government. In proportion to the magnitude of 
 the change, would be the evils inflicted by a sud- 
 den cessation of the restrictions, which had produced 
 it. The nature of these evils we will now examine. 
 In the first place, thejceaoval of those obstacles 
 to the importationof foieign grain, which, by turn-
 
 179 
 
 ing industry from its natural course, hadforced an 
 independent supply of food, would enable the' cul- 
 tivator of the fertile tracts of the adjacent growing 
 countries, to pour in a cheaper supply of corn than 
 could, from the inferior soils which had beeft &N&d 
 into cultivation by the artificial prices induced 
 by fettered commerce, be obtained tft Htfcnfe B&fiHt 
 when prices were, in this manner, brought doWh 
 to the natural level, these inferior soils could no 
 longer be tilled with advantage The capital, 
 therefore, which had been expended in bringing 
 them into a state of tillage, would cease to be pro- 
 ductive; nay, even the stock which existed in per- 
 manent implements, and buildings, would be de- 
 prived, in a great measure, of its exchangeable 
 value, and productive power, and could not be dis- 
 posed of, or converted into other articles, or turned 
 into ether employments, without considerable loss. 
 The agricultural labourers, too, who had been em- 
 ployed upon the land thus thrown out of tillage, 
 Vfould lose all the benefit of the skill and dexterity 
 they might have acquired in their accustomed call- 
 ing ; and, 1 deprived of their moral capital, would 
 n 2
 
 180 
 
 be driven to seek employments in which their pro- 
 ductive powers must be lowered. 
 
 It would be fortunate, however, if the derange- 
 ment and distress could be limited to those districts 
 which should be thrown out of tillage by the sudden 
 removal of the restrictions upon importation. 
 When a diminished supply, and heightened price 
 of corn, enable capital to obtain the ordinary rate 
 of profit from the cultivation of the inferior lands, 
 then those of a superior quality yield, upon the ca- 
 pital employed on them, an extraordinary return, 
 and, when they come to be re-let, must, from the 
 competition of farmers, obtain such an increase of 
 rent, as will reduce the profits of cultivating them 
 to the natural and level rate. Now, on the re- 
 moval of restrictions upon import, and consequent 
 fall in the markets, the occupiers of such land will 
 no longer be able to afford the advanced rents con- 
 tracted for, under artificial prices. If they con- 
 tinue to pay these rents, they will fail of obtaining 
 the customary rate of profit on their capital : nay, 
 their profit will not only fail, but even their capital 
 itself will begin to diminish. They will be obliged ,
 
 181 
 
 i 
 
 either to surrender their farms, or to become bank- 
 rupts. 
 
 The interest of the proprietor, and of the culti- 
 vator of the soil, though not identical, are yet so 
 intimately connected, that any serious injury affect- 
 ing the one, is likely to be communicated to the 
 other. While a sudden reduction of prices falls 
 thus ruinously upon the tenant, it occasions a dis- 
 tressing diminution in the income of the landlord. 
 Under such circumstances, and when it is impos- 
 sible to sustain prices, it is the wisest plan in the 
 proprietor, to acquiesce in the reduction of his for- 
 tune, to enter into some equitable compromise with 
 his tenantry, and to grant new leases, proportion- 
 ing rent to the new scale of prices. Should he 
 have incurred debts, made settlements, or entered 
 into any money transactions, under the confidence 
 of receiving an undiminished income, and should 
 the necessity of making good his engagements, or 
 the mere force of avarice, cause him still to demand 
 the stipulated amount of rent, such proceeding 
 would, ultimately, tend only to increase the em- 
 barrassment, or to defeat the cupidity, which
 
 192 
 
 prompted it, For, if the tenantry, under such cir- 
 cumstances, continued to hold their farms, they 
 would exhaust, in the payment of a rent, now ren- 
 dered exorbitant, the capital available for cultiva- 
 tion ; and, in a little time, would render themselves, 
 not -ou.lv unable to discharge the sum agreed upon, 
 but even to make up, as they might easily have 
 done, if a compromise had early taken place, a rent 
 abated in proportion to the reduced scale of prices. 
 Landlords must ultimately impoverish themselves, 
 when they enforce bargains, the fulfilment of which 
 WouJd;$rench upon the stock employed in cultiva- 
 t 10n tai r.jn^ o) t 90u) 
 
 The important classes of land proprietors and 
 cultivators, could not sustain so violent a convul- 
 sion of property, without a shock being communi- 
 cated to the whole community. The manufacturing 
 an$ commercial classes, indeed, would, at first, ex- 
 pejience some encouragement from preparing, and 
 exporting, the articles which paid for the foreigtr 
 corn, that unrestricted intercourse brought into the 
 country. But the benefit they received on the one 
 baud, would be couaterbalaAced, and much more
 
 . 
 
 183 
 
 the other; 1 r The hbftey h; K$8ntfkti l 6tti$&M)ill { > 
 more conducive to wealth and prosperity, than the 
 fd^/trafde 1 ; Ji Nd ad vantage^ at^uired in theSfe' 1 
 reign market, could compensafe the manufacturer 
 and merchant, for the diminished demand of the 
 
 domestic market: proprietors and cultivators would 
 
 initio ,kn ^.../(ilocno 10 Jio flf/qid) adbJuow Isiiqio 
 not nave sustained? a mere reduction of their money 
 
 . yijs ,. t d'jyoiiid nava, t ylJ3snibni ."io jrlipaiib 
 income, which, accompanied and occasioned by a 
 
 corresponding rise in the value of money, left their 
 
 aarfif 3Mjboiiuiol igmsljf auoiaftyjui LiiirfeBT ad* 
 real wealth, and demand Tor commodities un- 
 
 , ..(fis^jH ifiiaaoramoa.iiia oini noitsarwnpib-i 
 
 changed. Diminished cultivation woulanaveflett 
 
 them a reduced quantity of produce ; and, as the 
 
 throwing out of the interior lands, ana the redtrc- 
 
 , . - rfj i edT, , .90110^01 oddug sdt JosEjs vlduiab 
 tion of rents, will have lowered tne natural, as well 
 
 ., >?aoa ad* ni AJaianoD jipi)X>, Jiogqw* ofr 
 as the market price of this produce, the smaller 
 
 baeoqxD. gL bsligsD ted) b/us. : dJfaaw 
 quantity, now in their hands, will have lost a por- 
 
 -.. -0i?pfqfO9 adt moil nwp-irfi&iiuodal&B 
 tion of its exchangeable value, not only with respect 
 
 . rSizwon aviiDuboig sii foyT^dabri bad stu 
 
 to currency, but also with respect to commodities. 
 
 ,Mi>3b ./L>or foj?) fling gdi bn ^baiBn-) purmai Mlt 
 The real wealth, therefore, and the real power of 
 
 purchasing, possessed by the land proprietor and 
 
 farmer, will have sustained considerable diminu- 
 
 ,. iaidvijuitojintadi sdJ jtojfi/pcnai.nsijbi i sag d^umm 
 tion. The home market, which is always the near- 
 est, the rhosi J secure, a an4 ine'most extensive, and
 
 184 
 
 which, for the smith, the carpenter, the bricklayer, 
 the mason, and the entire classes of artificers and 
 manufacturers, who work upon the coarser house- 
 hold articles which admit not a profitable exporta- 
 tion, is the only market, would be narrowed, in a 
 much greater degree than the foreign market could 
 be extended. Hence manufacturing and trading 
 capital would be thrown out of employ ; and, either 
 directly, or indirectly, every branch of industry, 
 throughout the kingdom, would receive injury from 
 the rash and injudicious attempt to introduce theo- 
 retic perfection into our commercial system. 
 
 The check thus given to industry, and the de- 
 rangement occasioned in property, would consi- 
 derably affect the public revenue. That the power 
 to support taxation, consists in the possession of 
 wealth ; and that as capital is exposed to waste ; 
 as labour is thrown from the employments in which 
 use had heightened its productive powers ; and as 
 the revenue of lands, and the profits of stock, decay, 
 the sources of financial prosperity dry up, are pro- 
 positions too evident to require illustration. In- 
 asmuch as a sudden removal of the restraints which 
 had existed on the importation of corn, deranged
 
 185 
 
 the established course of industry, and checked 
 prosperity and wealth, it would, by a direct opera- 
 tion, render the taxes less productive. This ope- 
 ration, obvious, and incontrovertible, it would be 
 superfluous to dwell upon ; but precipitate adop- 
 tion of perfect liberty in the external corn trade, 
 would have also an indirect effect upon the revenue, 
 and lead to financial results, which, not lying so 
 near the surface, it may be necessary to lay open, 
 and examine. 
 
 When corn can be brought from abroad, at a 
 less expense of labour and capital, than it can be 
 raised at home, the removal of restraints upon im- 
 portation, necessarily reduces its price. Now we 
 have seen, that a reduced price of corn gradually 
 communicates itself to labour (of which, indeed, 
 bread may be considered as a tool, or implement, 
 necessary to the performance of work) ; and, 
 through labour, by the same gradual progress, to 
 every article, which labour either manufactures at 
 home, or purchases, with the fruit of its exertions, 
 from abroad. A fall in the price of all commodi- 
 ties is the same thing as a rise in the value of cur- 
 rency. But taxes are estimated and paid in cur-
 
 1#' 
 
 rency : ; and % ftftgtt, tyfaKtffli WAafuff? 3 
 dergo, cannot fiil to have an important effect upon 
 
 ther^\ Mill 'VlJ'Juboiq !<>l 89XBJ 3f{l dOi) 
 
 9 &1! duties laid on ad valorem, must diminish in 
 anftfthft as the vaWe lH of money rises. A quantity 
 o^meTchandise worth a ttiousarid pounds, will, 
 from an ad valorem duty of ten per cent, produce 
 an hundred pounds, while, if, in consequence of the 
 a the value of money, this merchandise became 
 equivalent to no more than nine hundred pounds, 
 ttfis 1 ad valorem duty Would return into the trea- 
 sury only ninety. The principle operates with 
 respect to all taxes laid upon income. Supposing 
 real wealth to remain unchanged, a rise in the 
 value of currency is the same thing as a fall in the 
 amount of all money incomes ; and, as the amourit 
 of income fails, of course the per centage laid upon 
 it fails also uonauno'hsq t>dj o) ^taanMO 
 
 The average price of wheat, by the WincrMeY 1 ' 
 rneasure, was, during the nine 1 ^ears preceding 
 m&, an hundred shillings the qu f aV#R : Now, 
 supposing a free importation to fefruce, b fci YhWS? 
 the average pric* of xvheiat to 1 ffi^V^iMl?^ ,! tS4l i, 
 quarter; and even assuming that, while the price
 
 187 
 
 ofcoW feH one-half, the price of other things 
 would 7 Idnfy Faflt a fourth ; then, the computed 
 amount of all incomes would be reduced one-fourth, 
 and a property tax which might formerly have 
 produced fourteen millions, would yield but ten 
 millions and a half. ^ fifi 
 
 In thus illustrating the manner in which a sud- 
 den opening of the ports to foreign Corn, would, in 
 a country where restrictions had induced an arti- 
 ficial scale of prices, occasion a reduction in the 
 public revenue, I have supposed that the real 
 wealth of the Community remained unchanged. 
 This, as we have already seen, could not be the 
 case. Labour thrown out of employment, capital 
 wasted, the revenue of land diminished, and the 
 profits of stock lowered these would, in the first 
 instance, be the inevitable results of receiving, 
 from the foreign grower, any considerable portion 
 of the grain, which domestic agriculture had for- 
 merly supplied. Not only computed income, but 
 real wealth, would be reduced; not only would 
 any given quantity of commodities, or of property, 
 yield, in proportion to its fall in money value, a 
 diminished sum, as ad valorem and income taxes,
 
 188 
 
 to the treasury ; but commodities and property 
 would be themselves reduced ; a part of the real 
 wealth, on which taxation fell, would have ceased 
 to exist ; and the revenue of the state would be 
 impaired from a double cause. 
 
 It may be objected, perhaps, that the revenue 
 would not receive this two-fold injury, because, 
 though the finances might fail in proportion to the 
 loss of wealth, yet the change in the currency could 
 not be attended with any loss to the state ; the in- 
 creased value of money, exactly counterbalancing 
 the nominal reduction it occasioned in the sums 
 paid into the treasury ; and, as far as the circulat- 
 ing medium was concerned, leaving the real power 
 of the revenue exactly as before. 
 
 The answer is obvious. Though the increased 
 value of money should counterbalance, with respect 
 to all new contracts and expenditure, the diminu- 
 tion it occasioned in the amount of ad valorem 
 duties, yet, in making good all old engagements, 
 the case would be widely different. The dividend 
 of the public creditor, the pay of the soldier and 
 sailor, cannot be reduced in amount, as money may 
 rise in value. When government comes into the
 
 189 
 
 market, the diminution in the computed revenue 
 (as far as it may have been occasioned by a change 
 in the currency, and not by a loss of wealth) will be 
 compensated by the increased power of what re- 
 mains ; but, when fixed salaries, and sums stipu- 
 lated and determined, are to be paid, the increased 
 value of the money which the taxes bring in,, forms 
 no counterpoise against diminutions in its amount. 
 In all such transactions, a diminution in the nomi- 
 nal amount is, whatever may be the worth of cur- 
 rency in the market, a reduction in the real power 
 of the revenue. 
 
 But while the increased value of money could 
 not, in providing for the interest of the public debt, 
 or in paying the military and civil servants of the 
 state, afford the government any compensation for 
 the diminution occasioned in the amount of re- 
 venue, it would, with respect to all taxes laid on, 
 not ad valorem, but by weight, tale, and measure- 
 ment, add to the burthens of the people. If the 
 equivalency of the currency, with respect to com- 
 modities, has risen one-fourth, and I continue to 
 pay, on the commodities I consume, the same
 
 J 90 
 
 amount of duties as before, then, in fact, five and 
 twenty per cent, has been added to my taxes. 
 
 To resume our former illustration: Supposing;, 
 that a free admission of foreign grain reduces, the 
 average price of wheat from an hundred to fifty 
 shillings a quarter ; and assuming that this fall of 
 one-half in corn, produces a.fall of one-fourth in 
 Other commodities; or, what is the same thing, a 
 rise of one-fourth in the value of money ; then, the 
 effeet of opening the ports would be, to add a 
 fourth to all taxes laid on by tale, weight, or mea- 
 surement. And while this great additional, pres- 
 sure fell upon the country, government would'de- 
 rive no aid from it, either in paying the annuities 
 of its civil and military servants, or in providing 
 for the dividends of the public creditor. 
 
 In any country, where the price of corn has been 
 forced above the level price of the neighbouring 
 growing countries, a sudden removal of restrictions 
 on importation will throw inferior lands out of 
 cultivation, and occasion a waste of capital* and a 
 reduction in the productiveness of, labour; in a 
 degree proportional to the fall, whieh may be given
 
 to the value of corn: and, proportional to the 
 effect which the price of com has, upon the value 
 of money, will be the deficiency occasioned in some 
 branches of the revenue, and the increased pres- 
 
 
 
 sure communicated to others. 
 - - These proportions must, of course, be liable to 
 perpetual variation, according as the expense of 
 carriage may prevent the price of corn from being 
 equalized throughout commercial countries ; and 
 according as bread may be necessary ,to the, sub- 
 sistence of labour. In the, foregoing reasonings, 
 we have assumed data, not with a view to their 
 
 absolute correctness, but for the sake of lllustra- 
 
 Jon . rr 
 
 tion : and, in order to unfold the .general nature, 
 rather than, under any local circumstances, the 
 particular and precise extent of the operation, of a 
 
 US 5 it. / x 
 
 sudden fall in the price of corn upon wealth and 
 revenue. Though we were perpetually to vanr 
 the data, the principle would remain unchanged. 
 Though corn might npl fall to one-half the aver- 
 
 age price of the nine years preceding the peace; 
 , i Jo 
 
 and though, in consequence, the price of commo- 
 dities should not be lowered ; or, what is the same 
 
 310-3 10 . 
 
 thing, the value of money raised one-fourth ; yet,
 
 192 
 
 in whatever proportion the unrestrained introduc- 
 tion of foreign corn might reduce prices and ele- 
 vate currency, according to that proportion, would 
 be the evil, whether with respect to labour, wealth, 
 or revenue, inflicted by suddenly applying a prin- 
 ciple of theoretic perfection to the external trade 
 in corn. 
 
 In considering the evils, which would be inflicted 
 by suddenly applying the principle of free external 
 trade, to the particular case of a country, in which 
 restrictions upon the introduction of foreign grain, 
 have produced an artificial scale of prices, and 
 given a forced extension to tillage, we must not 
 forget that these evils would be only temporary. 
 The instant the derangement was effected, the 
 rectifying process would commence. As soon as 
 lands, requiring a great expense of dressing, were 
 thrown out, and rents on the superior farms were 
 reduced, less capital would be required to raise a 
 given quantity of corn. But, when a less quantity 
 of capital raises the same quantity of corn, then 
 the natural price of corn is low. Now, as has 
 already been shewn, a low natural price of corn 
 lowers the natural price of every article which the
 
 193 
 
 consumers of corn prepare. Corn is as a tool, or 
 implement, necessary to the performance of labour ; 
 and a reduction in its price is a reduction in the 
 price of labour also. Thus, then, as soon as open- 
 ing the ports to foreign grain should have thrown 
 inferior lands out of cultivation, and reduced the 
 rent of better farms, natural prices would be univer- 
 sally lowered ; or, in other words, the productive 
 powers of industry would be universally increased. 
 This rectifying process would not be slow. As 
 reduced natural prices increased the power of capi- 
 tal, as subsistence, labour, and every article neces- 
 sary to cultivation, could be obtained at a cheaper 
 rate, land would begin to recover a higher relative 
 value, and, the diminished expenses of production 
 compensating for the fall in the markets, tracts, 
 which., antecedently to this reduction of expense 
 in cultivation, had been thrown out, could now 
 be profitably restored to tillage. Hence the re- 
 venue of the land proprietor would recover it- 
 self; and though the increased value of money 
 could not, in paying off mortgages, or in making 
 good pecuniary engagements previously entered 
 into, afford him any compensation for the dimi- 
 
 o
 
 194 
 
 wished sum received ; yet, it would tell in meeting- 
 all new expenses, and in affording to the manu- 
 facturer and merchant renewed demand. 
 
 The merchant and manufacturer, with the pro- 
 ductive powers of their capitals increased, with 
 home demand enlarging, and with foreign sale* 
 extending in proportion as natural prices had been 
 reduced, would rapidly advance in wealth. Stock 
 would now begin to accumulate beyond what 
 could be profitably employed in working up raw 
 materials, and in carrying on foreign intercourse, 
 and, consequently, by overflowing upon the soil, 
 would bestow on land a heightened relative value 
 The low rate of interest, aided by the great natural 
 protection afforded by the expense of carriage upon 
 a commodity so bulky as corn, would extend cul- 
 tivation over districts the most unpromising. 
 Commerce and agriculture have a reciprocal ac- 
 tion, and a direct injury or benefit, inflicted or 
 bestowed, on the one, is an indirect benefit or in- 
 jury, bestowed or inflicted, on the other. 
 
 \\ bile from the reciprocal action between the 
 different departments of industry, and from labour 
 aud capital receiving every where their most benefi-
 
 195 
 
 cial direction, the wealth of the country was thus in- 
 creased, all the branches of the public revenue would 
 improve. The nominal deficiency, which the rise 
 in the value of money had occasioned, in ad valo- 
 rem duties, would now be made good, in conse- 
 quence of the diminished sums arising from such 
 duties being paid upon a greater number of com- 
 modities ; and thus, in discharging fixed salaries, 
 and in providing for the dividends of stockholders, 
 the powers of the revenue would be restored. 
 
 The increasing wealth of the country, too, 
 would enable the public to bear, with less incon- 
 venience, the increased pressure, which the rise in 
 the value of money had given to all taxes laid on 
 by tale, weight, and measurement ; and, while the 
 greater number of commodities, on which such 
 taxes would then be paid, would swell the amount 
 of revenue, any given portion of it, in consequence 
 of the rise in the value of money, would, with re- 
 spect to all new expenditure, have attained a higher 
 power. The finances, from a double cause, would 
 be improved. When an artificial scale of prices 
 has been induced, a sudden opening of the ports 
 would, after a temporary infliction of suffering 
 
 o 2
 
 196 
 
 and embarrassment, place a country in a much 
 more flourishing condition than she could have 
 attained, by a continuance of restrictions upon ex- 
 ternal trade. 
 
 This infliction of suffering and embarrassment, 
 however, might be easily obviated. In a country 
 where restrictions on the importation of foreign 
 grain, have induced an artificial scale of prices, and 
 gi ven a forced extension to tillage, the temporary evils 
 inflicted by a sudden, would be completely obviated 
 by a gradual, opening of the ports. Duties upon 
 importation, progressively diminishing, from year 
 to year, until, after a given period, and when their 
 amount had become very low, perfect freedom of 
 intercourse should be introduced, would, without 
 any injury to labour, capital, or revenue, but, on 
 the contrary, with progressive benefit to them all, 
 allow industry to take its most profitable direction ; 
 and, without communicating a shock to any class 
 of individuals, would advance the state to a degree 
 of prosperity and affluence unattainable under a 
 system of restraint. 
 
 These duties, laid on at first sufficiently high to 
 prevent any immediate diminution of tillage, and
 
 197 
 
 reduced so gradually, that the demand for agri- 
 cultural labourers could not diminish faster than 
 disease and death cut off the present supply, would 
 allow the youth of the rising generation to turn 
 themselves to more advantageous employments, 
 before the land, too inferior in quality to be kept 
 in cultivation by the natural protection afforded by 
 the expense of carriage, should be thrown out by 
 the competition of the foreign grower. Thus, 
 then, a cautious and progressive introduction of 
 the principle of a free external trade in corn, 
 would, with respect to the labourers who had been 
 induced, by the forced encouragement given to 
 agriculture, to devote themselves to husbandry, 
 obviate, in the most perfect manner, the evils to 
 be apprehended from a sudden opening of the 
 ports ; and, while the rising youth betook them- 
 selves to the more profitable paths of industry, 
 opened by unfettered commerce, not an individual, 
 losing the benefit of his acquired skill and moral 
 capital, would, with reduced productive powers, 
 be driven out in quest of new employment. 
 
 With respect to the stock, too, which obstructed 
 intercourse might have forced from its natural di-
 
 198 
 
 lection, and vested in inferior lands, a gradual 
 opening of the ports would have the same saving 
 influence. A protection granted to the home 
 grower, for a period equal to the average length 
 which leases had to run, would enable him to gain 
 the ordinary return on whatever capital he might, 
 under existing leases, have expended in the exten- 
 sion of tillage ; while the foreknowledge that pro- 
 tecting duties were gradually to decline, and finally 
 to cease, would effectually prevent future invest- 
 ments of capital, upon lands so inferior as to be 
 unable, at the level prices of unrestricted inter- 
 course, to pay the expenses of cultivation. 
 
 In consequence of this temporary protection, 
 too, landlords would not be compelled to come to 
 any compromise with their tenantry, nor to make 
 abatements in the stipulated rents. On leases fall- 
 ing in, indeed, and grounds coming to be re-let, the 
 knowledge that all artificial and forced protection 
 was about to cease, would cause the farmer to 
 engage for a less heavy rent, and would effect a 
 diminution in the land proprietor's income. This 
 diminution, however, would, to a certain extent, 
 be nominal ; and the increased power of the cur-
 
 199 
 
 rency would partly indemnify him for the smaller 
 sum received. Such partial indemnity would be 
 all that he could in equity expect, or that, on the 
 principle of fair and equal dealing, could be his 
 due. To maintain the price of corn in a state of 
 artificial elevation, merely for the purpose of en- 
 hancing the income of iand proprietors, would be 
 a measure of intolerable injustice. No land pro- 
 prietor, capable of comprehending the principle*, 
 that a high natural price of corn lowers, univer- 
 sally, the productive powers of industry ; and that, 
 when the value of the produce of the land is too 
 high to admit, until the markets have sustained an 
 extraordinary fall, the superfluity of abundant years 
 to be exported to other countries, the price of 
 bread is ruinously fluctuating, no proprietor who 
 had an understanding to receive these principles, 
 could, consistently with the common feelings of 
 humanity, ask for a continuance of restrictions? 
 
 A cautious and gradual application of the 
 principle of free external trade in corn, would 
 also completely obviate the financial derangement 
 which a rash and sudden opening of the ports 
 might occasion. In the first place, a temporary
 
 200 
 
 and gradually diminishing protection, offered to the 
 home grower, would throw no labour out of em- 
 ployment, would occasion no waste of capital, and 
 no reduction in that general opulence, in which 
 the sources of public revenue are found. In the 
 next place, as the fall in the price of corn, and gra- 
 dually through corn, in that of all other things, 
 could not begin to take place, until industry had 
 begun slowly, and without loss, to revert to its 
 most productive channels, the amount of all ad 
 valorem duties would be sustained, in consequence 
 of the smaller sum being paid on a greater number 
 of commodities. But as ad valorem duties (the 
 only ones that could be diminished in amount by a 
 fall in prices) would be thus sustained ; and as the 
 revenue derived from taxes laid on by weight, tale, 
 and measurement, would be increased with the 
 increasing wealth, while, with the rising value of 
 currency, any given portion of it would acquire a 
 higher power than before ; the gradual adoption 
 of a system of freedom in the external trade, would 
 completely obviate the financial defalcation which 
 a sudden admission of foreign grain, and fall of 
 prices., might induce.
 
 201 
 
 And now to conclude the chapter. An artifi- 
 cial scale of prices, and a forced extension given 
 to tillage, are, both with respect to the progress 
 of opulence, and to the supply of subsistence, 
 highly injurious to a country ; the increased ex- 
 pense of labour and capital, which they render 
 necessary to the production of corn, at once lower- 
 ing the productive powers of industry, and, by 
 rendering it impossible to export superfluity, until 
 the markets have sustained an extraordinary fall, 
 exposing the consumer to suffer from perpetual 
 fluctuation in the price of bread. But a sudden 
 fall from the artificial scale of prices, and the 
 withdrawing of capital from such land as could 
 not, at the level price of a free external trade, 
 Tepay the expenses of cultivation, would be a 
 gueat, though only a temporary, aggravation of 
 the mischief, throwing labour out of employ, oc- 
 casioning a destruction of stock, and effecting a 
 great falling off in the revenue, while it increased 
 the pressure of the taxes. A circumspect and 
 gradual adoption of more enlightened principles 
 into our commercial system, would, however, 
 completely obviate the evils of incautious change ; 
 would not diminish the demand for agricultural
 
 202 
 
 labour, more rapidly than natural causes diminish- 
 ed the supply ; would allow the capital, which had 
 been forced upon inferior lands, time to work out 
 an adequate return ; would sustain the amount of 
 ad valorem duties, by causing the smaller sums 
 to be paid on a greater number of commodities ; 
 would at once occasion a numerical increase io 
 the revenue derived from other taxes, and add to 
 the power of the medium in which it was paid ; 
 and, without inflicting injury on any class of the 
 community, would open to the country sources of 
 prosperity, unattainable under a state of restricted 
 commerce. 
 
 The conclusion from the whole, is, that to the 
 particular case of a country, in which obstructions 
 on the importation of foreign grain, have induced 
 an artificial scale of prices, and given a forced ex- 
 tension to tillage, the general principles of a free 
 external trade in corn, are stictly applicable ; but 
 that, in order to obviate the individual suffering, 
 and temporary embarrassment, which a sudden 
 %hangc in the direction of industry could not fail 
 to occasion, their application, under such circum- 
 stances, should be gradual.
 
 THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE 
 EXTERNAL CORN TRADE, TO THE ACTUAL CIR- 
 CUMSTANCES OF THESE COUNTRIES. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The Effects which a System of Restraints upon 
 the Importation of foreign Corn would pro- 
 duce ; I. on the Supply of Subsistence ; II. on 
 Agriculture; III. on Commerce; and IV. on 
 Revenue, 
 
 Having, in the two former parts of this work, en- 
 deavoured to unfold the principles of political eco- 
 nomy, as they respect the external trade in corn, 
 and also to examine the limitations to which they 
 are liable, under the particular circumstances of re- 
 strictions imposed on other branches of commerce, 
 of taxes increasing the expense of production be- 
 yond what it is in other countries, and of the actual 
 existence of restrictions upon the importation of
 
 204 
 
 grain, occasioning an artificial scale of prices, and 
 a forced extension of agriculture; we are now to 
 consider the effects which, in the present circum- 
 stances of this country, would be produced ; first, 
 by prohibitory duties on the introduction of foreign 
 grain ; and, secondly, by adopting, with a due re- 
 gard to the indemnification of those, who may have 
 been induced to embark in agriculture, an unre- 
 stricted external trade in the produce of the soil. 
 A comparison of these effects will immediately lead 
 us to an accurate conclusion respecting the mea- 
 sures which, in revising the corn laws, it would be 
 expedient for the legislature to adopt. With, this 
 comparison and conclusion, therefore, the present 
 volume shall terminate. 
 
 In the present chapter, it is intended to examine 
 the effects which prohibitory duties on the impor- 
 tation of foreign corn would produce upon the sup- 
 ply of subsistence, upon the agriculture, upon the 
 wealth and commerce, and upon the finances, of 
 the country. Of these in their order. 
 
 I. The Select Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons, appointed to enquire into the corn trade of 
 the United Kingdom, after having examined into
 
 . 205 
 
 the means which these countries possess, of growing 
 more corn, came to the conclusion, that they are 
 able to produce as much more, in addition to what 
 they already grow, as would relieve them from the 
 necessity of continuing in any degree dependent for 
 a supply, on foreign countries. This is also stated 
 in the fullest manner, by the evidence given before 
 the Lords' Committees.' All the witnesses who 
 were examined upon the state of the agriculture of 
 the United Kingdom, concurred in rep/esenting, 
 that, by a liberal application of capital, the produce 
 of the soil might be increased to a vast extent. 
 Respecting, therefore, the capacity of the soil of 
 these countries, to raise subsistence, not only for 
 our actual, but for a greatly extended population, 
 there can exist no doubt. A farther application of 
 Capital is all that is required, to develop this capa- 
 city. For the last half century, England has not 
 grown her own supply of corn, but has been an 
 importing, and not, as formerly, an exporting coun- 
 try ; because, in manufactures and, commerce, ca- 
 pital found a more profitable occupation, than in 
 the cultivation of inferior soils. But if the im- 
 portation of foreign corn were restricted, the de- 
 mand for corn pf pur own growth would be so in-
 
 creased, and its price so raised, that capital would 
 no longer find its most beneficial occupation in 
 manufactures and commerce, but would be attract- 
 ed, by the prospect of larger returns, to the soil. 
 This is what actually has occurred. The war, 
 and the enemies' decrees against commerce, in- 
 creased, so enormously, the amount of freight, in- 
 surance, and shipping charges, that foreign corn 
 was almost prohibited. The consequences were, 
 that the price of grain rose to an unprecedented 
 height ; that capital was drawn abundantly to the 
 soil ; that, as appears by the evidence given before 
 the Lords' Committees, lands were brought into 
 cultivation, that could not otherwise have been 
 tilled ; that, as the Custom House books set forth, 
 the United Kingdom grew its owu supply ; and 
 that' the exportation exceeded the importation of 
 com. Similar causes will ever produce similar ef- 
 fects. If the legislature should replace, by high 
 protecting duties, those obstructions to the intro- 
 duction of foreign grain which the peace has re- 
 moved, the present improved and extended state of 
 tillage will not only, while the effectual demand for 
 corn remains undiminished, be sustained, but, with 
 every increase effected in demand and in capital,
 
 207 
 
 tracts will be brought in, which have hitherto been 
 inadequate to repay the expenses of cultivation, 
 and the country continue to raise an independent 
 supply of corn for her increasing population. 
 
 But it must be remembered that the growing 
 demand for corn, and the more liberal application 
 of capital, both of which are necessary to a farther 
 development of the capacities of the soil, and to 
 raising an independent supply for increasing popu- 
 lation, would, in a little time, be effectually check- 
 ed by restricted importation. As has been already 
 fully explained, restrictions for the purpose of 
 forcing inferior lands into cultivation, would dimi- 
 nish wealth, and prevent that accumulation of 
 stock, without which the improvement and exten- 
 sion of tillage cannot be effected. Hence, whatever 
 the absolute capacities of the soil may be, restricted 1 
 importation would speedily deprive us of the power 
 of raising an independent supply for increasing po- 
 pulation. Nay, as our wealth and capital decayed, 
 it would be found impracticable to retain in culti- 
 vation many of the inferior soils already under the 
 plough, and we should be unable to raise an inde- 
 pendent supply even for our present numbers. If, 
 however, the means of subsistence cannot be raised
 
 41 
 208 
 
 to the level of population, population must sink to 
 the level of subsistence ; and, under the supposi- 
 tion that the country is to be gradually depopu- 
 lated, restricted importation may occasion inde- 
 pendent supply. 
 
 While we admit, then, that under restricted im- 
 portation, an independent supply might, for some 
 time, be obtained for our existing, nay, even per- 
 haps for an increasing population, we cannot admit 
 that this supply could be kept up ; or, as is stated 
 in the Report of the Commons' Committee, that 
 we should become permanently independent of 
 foreign countries for a supply equal to our existing, 
 much less to an increasing population. We will 
 now proceed to inquire into the effect which a 
 forced independent supply would, while it lasted, 
 produce on prices. 
 
 In the Report of the Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons, on the corn trade of the United 
 Kingdom, plenty and low prices are represented as 
 connected with a system of restricted importation ; 
 and Sir Henry Parnell, the chairman of that Com- 
 mittee, states, * that the measure of very high pro- 
 
 * Sir H. Parnell's Observations on the Corn Laws, p. 43.
 
 209 
 
 tecting duties, which it recommends, would render 
 Our prices gradually lower, and lower, until we 
 should become an exporting country, and be enabled 
 to sell corn as cheap as it can be sold in the foreign 
 markets. 
 
 Representations more contrary to experience, 
 more repugnant to principle, were, perhaps, never 
 before exhibited. In the first place, more contrary 
 to experience. The persons best acquainted with the 
 state of agriculture throughout the country, have 
 given it in evidence before the Lords' Committee, 
 that, to give the farmer, while his present expenses 
 continue, a reasonable profit upon capital, wheat 
 must be at least eighty shillings the quarter ; and 
 that, if prices fall below this, inferior lands, even 
 shoulu they pay no rent, could not be profitably 
 tilled. Now, taking the facts as stated by the 
 very able and experienced Secretary of the Board 
 of Agriculture, by Mr Bennet, Mr. Wakefield, 
 Mr. Buxton, and several others, who gave evidence 
 before the Lords, the statement of the Commons* 
 Committee, as well as that of its chairman, in 
 his published pamphlet, must be completely er- 
 roneous. If we prevent importation, and raise 
 
 p
 
 210 
 
 an independent supply, our average prices will 
 be just sufficient to afford the cultivator the cus- 
 tomary rate of profit upon his stock ; and if, from 
 expenses incident on tillage, or from the inferior 
 quality of the lands employed in growing corn, our 
 remunerating price be eighty shillings the quarter, 
 it must be equally impossible either to lower the 
 home market, or to meet the competition of the 
 foreign. 
 
 The assertions respecting the influence of restrict- 
 ed importation, in reducing prices, are as repug- 
 nant to the principles of political economy, as they 
 are contrary to the facts and documents laid before 
 the Lords' Committee. The assertions involve a 
 fundamental error, arising from a total forget- 
 fulness of the connection between natural and mar- 
 ket price. While the former remains unabated, 
 permanently to reduce the latter, is impossible. 
 Unless restrictions upon importation could reduce 
 rents, and diminish the quantity of labour and ca- 
 pital necessary to the production of a given quan- 
 tity of corn, they could not possibly effect a per- 
 manent rcductiou in our markets. But, instead of 
 reducing rent and diminishing the quantity of la-
 
 211 
 
 bour and capital necessary to production, they 
 would have a diametrically opposite effect. In 
 cutting off the foreign supply, they would, in order 
 to meet the growing demand for corn, and to feed 
 our increasing population, force into cultivation, 
 lands which could not, under free competition, be 
 profitably tilled. But, as such lands afforded the 
 cultivator an adequate profit, better soils would af- 
 ford a higher rent. Hence, the quantity of labour, 
 of capital, and of rent, which ihe farmer paid for 
 production, would be increased ; or, in other words, 
 all the component parts of the natural price of corn 
 would be raised. In this rise, the average price of 
 the markets would necessarily partake. Sir Henry 
 Parnell seems to have forgotten, that England has 
 not, like the continent of America, vast tracts of 
 first-rate and unoccupied land, from which, at a 
 moderate expense, abundant crops may be pro- 
 duced ; and seems not to be aware, that the capi- 
 tal, which artificial prices might force upon the 
 soil, could be retained there, only while the conti- 
 nuance of such prices should secure to it the ordi- 
 nary rate of profit. If, tempted by the very high 
 prices at first occasioned by cutting off foreign sup- 
 
 p 2
 
 ply, the agriculturalist should be led into the error 
 of overtrading, and produce a supply beyond the 
 demand, then, indeed, the market, would sink be- 
 low the natural, price. But the slightest know- 
 ledge of political economy is sufficient to convince 
 us, that such a state of things caunot last. If there 
 be, in the whole compass of this science, a prin- 
 ciple universally admitted, and completely incon- 
 trovertible, it is, that demand regulates supply ; 
 and that no article can be permanently brought to 
 market, except at a price sufficient to replace, with 
 an adequate profit, the expenses of it3 production. 
 To increase the expenses of production, by forcing 
 inferior lands into cultivation, and, at the same 
 time, to lower the markets, is evidently impossible. 
 Forced cultivation can be induced, and continued, 
 only by excessive prices. The evidence given be- 
 fore the Lords' Committee, shews that our inferior 
 lands must be thrown out of tillage, if prices re- 
 main below eighty shillings the quarter for wheat. 
 If, therefore, restrictions on the importation of corn 
 could have the effect of lowering prices, they would 
 diminish cultivation, not extend it ; and would 
 counteract the object they were meant to attain.
 
 213 
 
 The supposition that forced cultivation leads to re- 
 duced prices, involves a palpable contradiction : 
 tbey are incompatible ; they are mutually destruc- 
 tive of each other. 
 
 The evidence given before the Lords' Commit-* 
 tee, proves that the farmer cannot, even with some 
 abatement of his present rent and expenses, obtain 
 an adequate remuneration, unless the price of 
 wheat be eighty shillings the quarter. If, there- 
 fore, importation be restricted, and the country 
 made to grow an independent supply, eighty shil- 
 lings will, for a time, be the average price of 
 wheat; for should it fall below this, cultivation 
 would cease, and the supply diminish, until the 
 value of corn again became sufficient to afford the 
 farmer the customary profit upon his stock. How- 
 eVer^ if our population should continue at its pre- 
 sent rate of increase, the average price of wheat, 
 if we grow our supply, will perpetually rise above 
 eighty shillings. By the registers of the Popula- 
 tion Acts, it appears, that from 1803 to 1812, 
 upwards of a million was added to the popula- 
 tion. This ratio of increase will give us, each 
 year, above 100,000 additional mouths to feed ;
 
 214 
 
 and if such annual additions are to be fed from our 
 own soil, lands which had formerly been inadequate 
 to repay the expenses of cultivation, must annually 
 be brought in. But, in proportion as we extend 
 cultivation over lands of an inferior quality, the re- 
 munerating, or natural price of corn will rise. 
 The necessary consequence must be, a progressive 
 rise in the markets, until the consumer's power of 
 purchasing is exhausted, and the progress of popu- 
 lation checked. 
 
 The Report of the Commons' Committee, and 
 the pamphlet of their chairman, represent restric- 
 tion upon import, and independent supply, as the 
 means of rendering the price of corn steady, as 
 well as low. Nothing can be more contrary to 
 the principles of economical science. In what- 
 ever proportion we limit the territory from which 
 we derive subsistence, in the same proportion do 
 we expose ourselves to the uncertainty of the sea- 
 sons, and deprive ourselves of the benefit of the 
 provision which, in the uniformity of her general 
 results, Nature has made for the correction of par- 
 tial irregularity in her operations. If we restrict 
 importation, and, in order to raise an independent
 
 215 
 
 supply of food for our increasing population, 
 force into tillage lands which have not hitherto 
 been adequate to repay the charges of cultivation, 
 then, the expenses of production will be increased, 
 and the average price of wheat will rise consi- 
 derably above eighty shillings the quarter, the 
 remunerating price at present. Now, while our 
 prices, under a system of restriction, would be 
 upwards of eighty shillings, wheat, by Sir Henry 
 Parnell's own shewing, may be usually obtained 
 at Dantzic for thirty-two shillings. How, then, 
 in abundant years, could our superfluity be ex- 
 ported, so as to meet the competition of the con- 
 tinental grower ? Our markets must be completely 
 glutted, must fall, at the very least, to half their 
 average, before our produce could begin to be 
 sent abroad with a profit. A forced independent 
 supply, therefore, instead of giving steadiness to 
 prices, would cause them to fluctuate perpetually, 
 between eighty shillings the quarter, the average 
 price, and forty shillings, the highest price at 
 which, in abundant years, we could export, with 
 a chance of standing the competition of the conti- 
 nental grower. But farther, if we would grow an
 
 216 
 
 independent supply, our average prices, unless the 
 increase of population should be interdicted, will 
 soon rise beyond eighty shillings the quarter ; and 
 foreign corn must be farther excluded, until prices 
 have risen beyond this increased and increasing 
 average. Therefore, the fluctuation between the 
 high price of scarce years, when we admitted im- 
 portation, and the low price of abundant years, 
 when exportation became profitable, would be 
 much greater than that which we have stated, 
 Before superfluity could be removed, our markets 
 would probably fall two-thirds below the rate of 
 average seasons. Taking the Dantzic prices at 
 thirty-two shillings, and even allowing eight shil- 
 lings the quarter, on account of our being nearer 
 to the markets of Southern Europe, it is evident 
 that our produce could not meet the 'competition 
 of the Polish grower, until it fell to forty shillings 
 thp quarter for wheat. Between forty shillings, 
 therefore, and that price at which importation 
 might be admitted in deficient years, our markets, 
 if we raised an independent supply for average 
 years, would be perpetually fluctuating. As an 
 independent supply would not come naturally, but 

 
 217 
 
 would require prohibitory duties, in order to force 
 it from lands which, under a system of free inter- 
 course, could not be profitably cultivated, it is not 
 in the nature of things, that such supply should be 
 either cheap or steady. Nature, as if to promote 
 union and brotherhood among the nations of the 
 world, has, in the important point of a certain and 
 steady supply of food, rendered each dependent 
 upon all ; and, in proportion as we narrow our in- 
 tercourse, causes the irregularity of the seasons to 
 be more severely felt, 
 
 II. From the reasonings of the present, as well 
 as of former chapters, it must already be apparent 
 to the reader, that if, under the present circum- 
 stances of this country, the legislature were to re- 
 place, by high protecting duties, the obstacles to 
 importation which the peace has removed, the im- 
 mediate consequence would be, an improvement 
 and extension of agriculture. But this does not 
 rest on reasoning alone ; it has received the fullest 
 sanction of experience. During the ten years from 
 1803 to 1812, while the war threw increasing 
 difficulties in the way of importation, we received
 
 218 
 
 from abroad, nearly 400,000 quarters of corn less 
 than had been received during the preceding ten 
 years ; though, in the former period, the popula- 
 tion increased upwards of a million. Under the 
 obstacles to importation created by the war, the 
 agriculture of Great Britain must, therefore, in a 
 period of ten years, have received a most extraordi- 
 nary increase. The dependence on foreign supply 
 diminished, while subsistence was created for a 
 great additional population. Similar causes will 
 produce similar effects. The evidence contained 
 in the Reports of the Committees ordered to sit 
 upon the Corn Trade of the United Kingdom, 
 establishes the fact, that a liberal application of 
 capital is all that is required to effect a great im- 
 provement in the tillage of these countries. If 
 the legislature should replace, by high protecting 
 duties, the obstructions to importation, which the 
 peace has removed, then, while capital and popu- 
 lation continue to increase, cultivation will ex- 
 tend ; and tracts, which have hitherto been neg- 
 lected, because incapable, under existing prices, 
 of yielding the capitalist an adequate return, will 
 be progressively enclosed and prepared for corn.
 
 219 
 
 Duties upon the importation of foreign corn, 
 while they continued to raise prices, and to extend 
 cultivation, would, by a necessary operation, in- 
 crease the revenue of land proprietors. The great 
 rise in rents, which took place from the period 
 when the war began to create obstructions to the 
 introduction of foreign grain, proves this experi- 
 mentally. The demonstration from theory is ob- 
 vious. As corn rises in price, inferior lands, 
 which could not before repay the expense of til- 
 lage, yield the cultivator the customary rate of 
 profit upon his stock. Now, as inferior lands 
 yield the customary rate of profit, superior lands 
 will, under the original leases granted before the 
 elevation of the markets, yield more than the ordi- 
 nary profit. As soon, therefore, as such lands 
 come to be re-let, the competition of capitalists 
 will necessarily raise the rent of the proprietor, 
 until nothing remains to the cultivator, beyond the 
 customary rate of wages and of profit upon the 
 labour and capital which he employs. Competi- 
 tion perpetually tends to equalize the rate of pro- 
 fit upon stock ; and whatever enables inferior 
 lands to be cultivated, necessarily increases the
 
 220 
 
 rent due front the superior. During the term of 
 existing leases, indeed, the increased value added 
 to land will belong to the tenant, but on the re- 
 letting of farms, it will go to augment the revenue 
 of the proprietor. 
 
 Restrictions upon the importation of foreign 
 corn, increasing the profits of the farmer, during 
 the term of existing leases, and, at the period of 
 their expiration, raising the rent of tlie landlord, 
 would undoubtedly confer, in its immediate opera- 
 tions, an important benefit upon the landed inte- 
 rests. But the landed interests, even upon the 
 principle of the narrowest selfishness, should look 
 beyond the immediate effects of restricted importa- 
 tion, and should inquire, whether the benefit to be 
 derived from establishing an artificial scale of 
 prices, might not carry in itself the seeds of it sown 
 destruction ? To answer this important question, 
 it is necessary previously to shew, how far restric- 
 tions upon importation, and an artificial elevation 
 of the price of agricultural produce, might, under 
 existing circumstances, affect the wealth and com- 
 mercial prosperity of these countries, and, conser 
 quently, the demand for corn.
 
 221 
 
 III. To those who have embraced the opinions 
 of the French economists, it may, perhaps, appear 
 somewhat paradoxical to say, that a measure which 
 should extend agriculture, and increase the value 
 of iand, would be injurious to prosperity, and dimi- 
 nish wealth : yet such would certainly be the case. 
 Even upon the principles of those, who assert that 
 agriculture is the only source of wealth, it is de- 
 monstrable, that the general opulence of these 
 countries would be diminished by a restriction 
 upon importation, forcing our inferior lands into 
 tillage ; and that, by the operation of such a mea- 
 sure, the national prosperity would be checked, in 
 the exact proportion in which agriculture should 
 be extended. Though it should be conceded, that 
 agriculture is the only source of wealth, yet it 
 would still remain an incontrovertible proposition, 
 that opulence is advanced by obtaining agricultu- 
 ral produce, at the smallest possible expense of 
 labour and capital. If, in consequence of our 
 skill in manufactures, any given portion of our 
 labour and capital can, by working up cloth, 
 obtain from Poland a thousand quarters of wheat, 
 while it could raise, from our own soil, only nine
 
 222 
 
 hundred ; then, even on the agricultural theory, 
 we must increase our wealth by being, to this ex- 
 tent, a manufacturing, rather than an agricultural 
 people. Though the economist should establish 
 the fact, that our manufactures brought none of 
 this wealth into existence, but that the whole was 
 created by the cultivator of Poland, yet this would 
 not, in any way, alter the state of the case. We 
 have an hundred quarters of corn more than we 
 could have obtained by raising it from our own 
 soil. Though our manufacturers should not have 
 increased the wealth of the world, yet they have 
 increased the particular wealth of England. They 
 have given us a species of property in the soil of 
 Poland ; and, from the agriculture of that coun- 
 try, have enabled us to draw a larger supply of 
 wealth, than could have been raised at home. 
 The theory of the economists is, indeed, in a high 
 degree, incorrect ; but it is not necessary that we 
 should, in this place, enter into any formal refuta- 
 tion of their errors ; because, even admitting their 
 principles, it still rcmaius true, that restrictions 
 upon importation, compelling us to raise at home 
 a less quantity of agricultural produce than might,
 
 223 
 
 at the same expense of labour and capital, be pro- 
 cured from abroad, would be, notwithstanding the 
 extension given to tillage, injurious to the Wealth 
 of the country. 
 
 Having disposed of this preliminary objection, 
 which might suggest itself to those who still lean 
 to the doctrines of the economists ; and shewn that, 
 even on the principle, that agriculture is the only 
 source of wealth, a measure which gives extension 
 to tillage, and raises the value of our land, may, 
 notwithstanding, cause our labour and capital to 
 procure for us a less supply of agricultural pro- 
 ductions, and diminish the general opulence of the 
 country ; we may now proceed to examine more in 
 detail, the effects which, if the legislature should 
 establish a system of restriction on the importation 
 of foreign corn, would be produced on the produc- 
 tive powers of industry, and on the national pros- 
 perity. We shall examine a system of restriction ; 
 first, as it operates upon the labour and capital em- 
 ployed upon the soil ; and then, as it operates upon 
 the labour and capital employed on manufactures 
 and commerce. 
 
 Were legislative restrictions to replace those
 
 224 
 
 obstructions to importation which the peace lias 
 removed, it would, in order to feed our increasing 
 population, become necessary to bring into tillage 
 lands which, under the prices that have hitherto 
 existed, have been found inadequate to repay the 
 expense of tillage. The natural price of corn 
 would, therefore, receive a considerable, and a pro- 
 gressive, increase ; or, in other words, it would 
 gradually require greater quantities of labour and 
 capital, to procure a given quantity of grain. This 
 would hold good with respect to the best, as well 
 as with respect to the worst land ; for, as has been 
 already explained, the increasing rent of the for- 
 mer, would necessarily prevent its produce from 
 being afforded at a cheaper rate than the produce 
 of the latter. Now, as the natural price of corn 
 increased ; as it required greater quantities of la- 
 bour and capital, to procure a given quantity of 
 grain, it is self-evident, that the productive powers 
 of the industry which supplied agricultural pro- 
 duce, would be lowered, and that wealth and pros- 
 perity would decline. Every forced extension given 
 to tillage, which, in its progress, elevates the com- 
 ponent parts of natural price ; which raises the rent
 
 225 
 
 of land, or increases the quantity of labour and ca- 
 pital on which, in order to procure a given quan- 
 tity of commodities, wages and profit must be paid, 
 would, in fact, inflict an artificial sterility upon 
 the country, and take from us the advantages be- 
 stowed by nature. 
 
 Secondly, that restrictions upon importation, 
 compelling us to direct a greater portion of our la- 
 bour and capital to procuring food, would leave us 
 a less portion of labour and capital to carry on the 
 operations of manufacture and commerce, is also 
 self-evident. But this would be a very small part 
 of the injury which restricted importation, and the 
 consequent high price of corn, would inflict upon 
 the manufacturing and commercial interests. Com- 
 merce being an interchange of equivalents, as we 
 refused to import, we should find it impossible to 
 export ; and should deprive ourselves of the de- 
 mand of the foreign markets. Sir Henry Parnell 
 has said, that this loss of the foreign, would be 
 compensated by the extension of the home, market. 
 A greater error we cannot conceive. A restrict- 
 ed importation, giving forced encouragement to 
 domestic agriculture, would necessarily increase the 
 
 Q
 
 226 
 
 value of corn with respect to other things ; and it 
 is self-evident, that, as consumers gave more for 
 their corn, they would have less to give for other 
 articles. Thus, a restriction upon the importation 
 of corn, while it tended to exclude our merchants 
 from the foreign, would narrow the home, market ; 
 and, by a double operation, would check our ma- 
 nufacturing and commercial prosperity. But this 
 is not all. The rise which restricted importation 
 would occasion in the natural price of corn, would 
 be communicated to labour, and, through labour, 
 to all wrought goods. Now, the high natural 
 price, thus communicated to wrought goods, would 
 not only be the same thing as a reduction in the 
 productive powers of manufacturing industry, but 
 would enable foreigners to undersell us, and would 
 reduce our manufacturing population to the alter- 
 native of emigrating, or of starving. 
 
 This view of the question is awfully important. 
 England has become the greatest manufacturing 
 country that ever yet existed ; aud if, while tran- 
 quillity and commerce are restored to the conti- 
 nent, we keep up the price of provisions at home, 
 the foreigner, gradually acquiring capital and skill,
 
 227 
 
 , will certainly be enabled to undersell us. What, 
 then, is to become of our unemployed manufac- 
 turing population ; and how are we prepared to 
 meet the tremendous vengeance they would take 
 for the infliction of artificial famine? Yet, on 
 this most momentous view of the question, the ad- 
 vocates of an independent supply of corn, perversely 
 close their eyes. Contrary to all sound theory, 
 and in direct opposition to experience, those who 
 would make provisions dear, contend, that the price 
 of corn has no influence on wages ; and cannot, 
 therefore, increase the price of wrought goods, or 
 give the foreign any advantage over the home ma- 
 nufacturer. The error here involved has been al- 
 ready pointed out, in the chapter where we consi- 
 dered the natural and the market price of labour ; 
 but it may in this place be necessary to remark upon 
 the evidence which, with respect to the connection 
 between the price of grain and the wages of la- 
 bour, was given before the Lords' Committee. 
 
 Lord Lauderdale, after having stated to the 
 Committee his strong opinion, that the price of 
 labour, like the price of every other commodity, 
 was solely regulated by the proportion between the 
 
 q 2 .
 
 228 
 
 quantity of it, and the demand for it ; and having 
 given in a statement to shew, that, in years when 
 corn was very dear, manufacturing labour was very 
 cheap, proceeded with the following reasoning. 
 
 " In dear years, a working manufacturer, finding 
 himself deprived of his usual enjoyments, is natu- 
 rally excited to greater industry, and is desirous of 
 working extra hours, for the purpose of obtaining 
 those comforts to which he has been accustomed ; 
 and this disposition of the manufacturers must 
 necessarily increase the supply of labour in the 
 market. For example, supposing there existed, in 
 any country, a demand for a thousand manufac- 
 turing labourers, who, on an average, worked eight 
 hours a-day, it is obvious that the stock of manu- 
 facturing labour, per week, would be 48,000 hours. 
 If, in a dear year, the desire of securing their usual 
 enjoyments induced them to work ten hours a-day, 
 the stock of manufacturing labour would become 
 60,000 hours per week ; and, if the demand for it 
 remained the same, the value of it, on all general 
 principles, must fall. In cheap years, on the other 
 hand, the working manufacturer, finding his fa- 
 mily more than supplied by the wages he usually
 
 229 
 
 acquires, is apt either to relax his industry, and to 
 work fewer hours, or to spend the surplus of his 
 wages in an alehouse, which, by disqualifying him 
 for work the next day, produces the same effect ; 
 and as the stock of labour must be thereby dimi- 
 nished, an increase in the value of it must follow, 
 upon the supposition that the demand for it re- 
 mains the same." 
 
 In the above passage, Lord Lauderdale has suc- 
 ceeded in placing in a clear light, the obvious and 
 incontrovertible principle, that, with respect to la- 
 bour, as well as with respect to every thing else, 
 market will occasionally vary from natural price. 
 But this is looking merely on the surface of the 
 question. The prices of the market, however 
 fluctuating and uncertain they may seem, are al- 
 ways, upon the average, determined by the prices 
 of production. Labour, like every thing else, has 
 its production, or natural price. When the la- 
 bourer fails to obtain this, diminished births, and 
 increased deaths, will speedily cut off the surplus 
 labour which had glutted the market ; and, in this 
 manner, restore wages to their natural rate. Lord 
 Lauderdale's statement proves nothing. Indeed,
 
 230 
 
 both his statement, and the argument which ac- 
 companies it, are totally foreign to the question at 
 issue Iu 1190, when wheat was at .2 16s. the 
 quarter, it cost lad to weave an ell of muslin; 
 and in 181 ; , when wheat was at A>, the same 
 work was done for 6d. ! This shews, that, when 
 pro* isions are scarce, aud commerce at a stand, the 
 market price of corn may rise, while that of labour 
 may fall. But it shews nothing more. Now the 
 question to be decided is, whether, if such a state 
 of things were to continue, the manufacturing po- 
 pulation would remain undiminished. If the po- 
 pulation should fail, then the value of labour, in 
 consequence of the withdrawing of the supply, 
 would be increased, and the high price of corn 
 would be found, notwithstanding occasional fluc- 
 tuations, to have a powerful effect in raising wages : 
 but, on the contrary, if under the dear provisions, 
 and low wages, of 1812, our manufacturing popu- 
 lation could be kept up, then, indeed, as the sup- 
 ply of labour would not be withdrawn, its value 
 would not rise with the rising price of corn. The 
 question resolves itself into a question of popula- 
 tion. As long as abundant subsistence increases,
 
 231 
 
 and deficient subsistence diminishes, the numbers 
 of mankind, and., consequently, the supply of la- 
 bour, so long will the wages of the labourer 
 (making, of course, allowance for occasional and 
 temporary fluctuations in the market) be regulated 
 by the price of corn. 
 
 But it is not necessary to refer to the general 
 principles of political economy, for a refutation of 
 Lord Lauderdale's strong opinion, respecting the 
 influence which the price of grain has upon the 
 price of labour. The whole scope of the evidence 
 given before the Committee of which he was a 
 member, controverts his doctrine, and furnishes an 
 experimental proof, that wages rise with the rising 
 price of subsistence. Mr. Buxton states, in his 
 evidence, that, from the year 1792 to the year 
 181$, the annual sum which he paid for the labour 
 employed upon his farm, rose from .274 to 
 .816, though, in the first years of his lease, he 
 had employed more hands than in the latter ; and 
 though, in 1805, he introduced a thrashing ma- 
 chine, which abridged labour to the amount of 
 .139. During this progressive rise in wages, the 
 quarter of wheat gradually rose from .2 13s. its
 
 232 
 
 price in 1792, to .6 8s. its price in 1812. But, 
 to render the experimental proof as complete as evi- 
 dence can make it, and to shew, by a statement of 
 the fact, how powerfully the price of corn operates 
 upon the price of labour, Mr. Buxton farther 
 states, that, latterly, wages have declined with the 
 fall in corn ; and that the farmers " dropped wages, 
 on account of the price of corn coming down." 
 The evidence of Mr. Birkbeck is to the same ef- 
 fect. He states to the Committee, that, within 
 these twenty years, wages have been doubled ; and 
 that, in addition to this rise, the labourer, when 
 corn is dear, receives from the parish, a portion of 
 what ought to be paid by the employer. The evi- 
 dence of the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture 
 is the same. He gives in to the Committee a state- 
 ment, shewing, that, from 1790 to 1813, while, as 
 appears from other documents, the quarter of wheat 
 rose from .2 16s. to .6, the wages of the la- 
 bour, necessary to cultivate an hundred acres, rose 
 also, from .85 to .161. The evidence of Mr. 
 Joyce proves a similar fact, with respect to manu- 
 facturing labour ; his workmen obtaining double 
 their former earnings.
 
 233 
 
 But there is no necessity for farther authorities, 
 as the facts which Lord Lauderdale has himself 
 stated to the Committee, afford a complete refuta- 
 tion of the opinions he maintains. He says, that 
 te in Scotland, where the poor rates are compara- 
 tively trifling, the wages of a day-labourer, during 
 the last century, have, probably, risen in a greater 
 proportion than in England;" that, "atthe Union, 
 the peck of oatmeal was &|d. and a day's wages 
 5d. ;" while> " at present, oatmeal is worth Js. 3d. 
 the peck," and the labourer can earn better than 
 " 2s. a-day." 
 
 Here the rise in wages has been greater than tlie 
 rise in corn. But no one contends, that the value 
 of subsistence is the exclusive, and the only cause, 
 that can operate upon wages. Education has been 
 much more generally diffused in Scotland, than in 
 any other part-of the kingdom ; and this, giving 
 force to the prudential check on population, and 
 occasioning the labour market to be more frugally 
 supplied, would co-operate with the high price of 
 corn, in raising wages. Now, when a double cause 
 produces an effect beyond what could be produced 
 by a single one, it is not quite logical to infer, that
 
 234 
 
 the tingle one produces no effect at all. The cir- 
 cumstance, that, in Scotland, the rise in wages has 
 been greater than the rise in corn, has no con- 
 ceivable tendency to prove, that this irn reased price 
 of labour was not, in part, produced by the in- 
 creased price of subsistence; and leaves us at full 
 liberty to disprove Lord Lauderdale's theory by his 
 Lordship's facts. 
 
 Having, in this manner, obviated the objection 
 contained in Lord Lauderdale's evidence before the 
 Lords' Committee ; and shewn, that not only all 
 sound general principles, but also the testimony of 
 persons of the greatest practical knowledge, in the 
 economy of the country, establish the fact, that 
 the price of corn influences the rate of wages, we 
 may now resume the consideration of the effects 
 which, in the actual circumstances of this king- 
 dom, restriction on the importation of grain, and 
 the consequent high and increasing price of provi- 
 sions, would produce on the manufactures and com- 
 merce of the country. 
 
 In a former chapter, we shewed, that the ease or 
 the difficulty, with which subsistence can be raised, 
 it not only the measure of the productive powers
 
 235 
 
 of agricultural industry, but also governs, in a 
 great degree, the productiveness of the capital 
 vested in trade and manufactures. If the master 
 manufacturer should give to the labouring manu- 
 facturers whom he employs, a quantity of the pro- 
 duce of their labour, or, (what is the same thing) 
 of the value of this produce, sufficient to purchase 
 subsistence for their families, population must de- 
 cay, and the supply of labour diminish, until the 
 competition of employers shall restore its market 
 to a level with its natural price. Hence, when 
 coin forms a part of the subsistence of the labourer, 
 an increase in its natural price, necessarily occa- 
 sions an increase in the natural price of labour ; 
 or, in other words, when it requires a greater 
 quantity of labour to procure subsistence, a greater 
 quantity of labour, or of its produce, must remain 
 with the labourer, as his wages. But, as a greater 
 quantity of his labour, or (what is the same thing) 
 of the produce of his labour, becomes necessary to 
 the subsistence of the labouring manufacturer, and 
 is consumed by him while at work, a smaller 
 quantity of the productions of labour will remain 
 with the employer ; and any given quantity of
 
 236 
 
 manufacturing capital will bring to market a less 
 supply of wrought goods than before. Thus it is, 
 that a restriction upon the importation of corn, 
 forcing, in order to feed our increasing population, 
 the cultivation of inferior soils, while, in its first 
 operation, it increased the natural price of corn ; 
 or, in other words, rendered a greater quantity of 
 labour and capital necessary to the production of 
 the same quantity of grain, would, in the second 
 place, increase the natural price of every article 
 wrought up by the consumers of corn ; or, in other 
 words, lower the productive powers of every spe- 
 cies of manufacturing industry. 
 
 While restriction upon the importation of corn 
 would thus, in every branch of industry, lower the 
 productive powers of our labour and capital, they 
 would farther, in the present circumstances of 
 these countries, tend to exclude our commodities 
 from every foreign market. Indeed, this, to a cer- 
 tain extent, at least, would be the effect of restric- 
 tion, even if we had no commercial rivals, eager to 
 supplant us. As nothing can be produced without 
 labour, the wages of labour must form a compo- 
 nent part in the natural price of all things ; and,
 
 237 
 
 therefore, other things remaining the same, as we 
 increase the value of subsistence, and, consequent- 
 ly, the rate of wages, we must, in whatever pro- 
 portion wages may enter into natural price, in- 
 crease the price of all commodities. Now as the 
 price of our commodities increased, our customers, 
 whether at home or abroad, would be able to 
 consume only a diminished quantity of them ; and, 
 even though we possessed a monopoly of all the 
 markets of the world, our manufactures and com- 
 merce would necessarily decline. But, whatever 
 might have been the case during the late convul- 
 sions on the continent, it has now become impos- 
 sible that we should monopolize the trade of the 
 world ; and we can retain our commercial pre-emi- 
 nence, only by underselling the competitors that 
 are every where ready to start against us. At such 
 a crisis, the adoption of regulations, for the pur- 
 pose of increasing the price of subsistence, would 
 be little less than madness. If the industrious 
 classes are compelled to purchase their corn at an 
 artificially elevated price, we must speedily cease 
 to be a manufacturing and commercial people. 
 This conclusion, which seems capable of being
 
 supported by a process of reasoning, self-evident 
 in all its steps. Sir Henry Parnell, in his pamphlet 
 on the Corn Trade, has laboured to overthrow. 
 "The opposition,'* he asserts, "which has been 
 so generally made, by many in the House of Com- 
 mons, and by all the bodies of the manufacturers, 
 who have petitioned against the new regulations, 
 upon the assumption, that they will raise the price 
 of corn, and, therefore, the price of manufacturing 
 labour, and that this advance in the price of ma- 
 nufacturing labour will deprive us of our manu- 
 facturing superiority over foreign merchants, in 
 the foreign market, though the most loudly set 
 forth, and the most frequently dwelt upon, is, of 
 the whole opposition which has been given to them, 
 the most easily to be controverted." 
 
 Now, it must be confessed, that Sir Henry Par- 
 nell has adopted a very easy mode of controverting 
 the objection, that a system of restrictions on the 
 importation of grain, would advance the price of 
 subsistence and of labour, and thus tend to deprive 
 us of our advantages in the foreign market. He 
 admits, indeed, for the sake of argument, that the 
 price of corn will be advanced. But then, in pro-
 
 239 
 
 ceeding to the argument, he most conveniently 
 passes oyer, both the distinction and the connection 
 between the market and the natural price of la- 
 bour, and throws completely out of sight, the 
 fundamental principles, that there is, in every 
 neighbourhood, an ordinary rate of wages, deter- 
 mined by the climate, and by the habits of living ; 
 and that, when the labourer obtains more than this 
 rate, population, and the supply of labour, in- 
 crease ; and, when he obtains less, population, 
 and the supply of labour, diminish; until, in 
 either case, the market is brought to a level with 
 the natural price of labour. The bare statement 
 of these principles is sufficient to set aside all that 
 can be advanced by such political economists, as 
 confine their consideration to the market rate of 
 wages ; and would persuade us, that labour can 
 be procured at a cheaper rate than is sufficient to 
 maintain the labourer's family. We shall proceed 
 to the next step of the argument, and consider, for 
 a moment, the manner in which Sir Henry Parnell 
 obviates the objection, that a high rate of wages 
 would expose our manufacturers to be undersold 
 in the foreign market.
 
 240 
 
 !f If it were true," Sir Henry Parnell continues, 
 " that the price of labour did advance with the 
 price of corn, it by no means follows, that such an 
 advance in the price of labour would expose our 
 manufacturers to be undersold in the foreign mar- 
 ket ; because, it is not the cheapness of labour that 
 has given us the superiority we have so long pos- 
 sessed ; on the contrary, the price of labour has 
 always been higher in this country, than in those 
 countries in which we have established markets. 
 The cause of our superiority is to be found in the 
 greater skill, better machinery, and more extend- 
 ed capital, of this country, than exist in any other 
 country in the world. As we should continue to 
 possess these advantages, notwithstanding the 
 price of labour might still be enhanced, such an 
 enhancement of it could not be productive of that 
 injury to our manufactures, as it has been hastily 
 asserted must flow from it." 
 
 The error which this passage involves, is very- 
 obvious. A farther enhancement of wages might 
 completely counteract all the advantages of our 
 skill, machinery, and capital. Supposing that, in 
 consequence of our skill, capital, and machinery,
 
 241 
 
 a master manufacturer in England can, with ah 
 hundred workmen, bring to market a thousand 
 yards of cloth; while, to produce a thousand, 
 of equal goodness, two hundred labourers must be 
 employed in France. Here, then, we possess an 
 immense advantage over our rivals. But suppos- 
 ing, on the other hand, that manufacturing labour 
 in France, could be had for half the price which 
 it brought in England ; then, the English em- 
 ployer would be obliged to give, to his hundred 
 workmen, exactly the same sum as the French 
 employer gave to his two hundred ; and, as far as 
 the wages of labour might be a component part 
 in the price of the cloth, the article could not be 
 made cheaper in England, than in France. Here, 
 therefore, the advantages, which we gained upon 
 the one hand, we should lose upon the other. The 
 effects of our skill, capital, and machinery, in 
 abridging labour, and cheapening our commodity, 
 would be completely counteracted by the high rate 
 of subsistence and of wages. 
 
 In the above illustration, we have supposed, 
 that England is to retain her present decided su- 
 periority uv skill, capital, and machinery. But 
 
 it
 
 242 
 
 (his is manifestly impossible. As industry and 
 commerce revive upon the continent, the manufac- 
 turers of France, and of Germany, will gradually 
 acquire capital, and imitate our machinery ; and 
 these advantages will lower the price of all their 
 articles. Now, if, while this process is going on> 
 and natural prices are becoming lower, in the rest 
 of Europe, we permanently adopt an economical 
 system, which must raise the wages of our labour, 
 and, consequently, elevate our prices, we shall be 
 playing into the hands of our rivals ; and the 
 result will be, that we shall exclude ourselves from 
 every foreign market. 
 
 As, in this section, the chain of the argument 
 has been a great deal broken, by entering into an 
 examination of the erroneous doctrines contained 
 in the pamphlet of Sir Henry Parnell, or given in 
 as evidence before the Lords' Committee, it may be 
 proper to recapitulate, in a brief and connected 
 manner, our reasonings upon the effects, which a 
 system of restrictions upon the importation of 
 foreign corn, would produce on the manufactures 
 and commerce of these countries. 
 
 A restriction upon importation, compelling us
 
 243 
 
 to provide for our increasing population, by the 
 cultivation of inferior soils, would force us to em- 
 ploy a greater quantity of our labour and capital, 
 than would otherwise be necessary, in procuring 
 our supply of grain ; or, in other words, would 
 raise the natural price of corn. But market, 
 though it sometimes rises considerably above, and 
 at other times, falls considerably below, must, 
 upon the average, exactly conform to natural price; 
 or, in other words, the consumer must always, 
 upon the average, pay the expenses of production. 
 This holds good with respect to labour, as well as 
 with respect to all other commodities. As labour 
 cannot be brought permanently to market, unless 
 the expenses of its maintenance and production be 
 paid, the average price of corn must, in whatever 
 proportion meal and flour may form ingredients in 
 subsistence, determine the rate of wages. But, as 
 wages form a component part in the price of all 
 things, when corn and wages rise, a universal rise 
 in commodities will take place. Now, it is self- 
 evident that, as our commodities rise in price, 
 their exportation will be diminished. A high scale 
 of duties, therefore; on the importation of foreign 
 
 r2
 
 344 
 
 corn, while it enhanced the price of subsistence, 
 would strike directly at our manufacturing and 
 commercial prosperity. This would be the case, 
 even if we had no rivals to supplant us. Increas- 
 ing" the expenses of production, has the same effect, 
 as diminishing the demand for commodities. As 
 our articles become dear, the consumer will not be 
 able to purchase them in the same quantity as be- 
 fore ; and the amount of our foreign sales must be 
 reduced. 
 
 To the general principle, however, that a rise 
 in the value of subsistence is accompanied by a 
 rise in the price, and a diminution in the con- 
 sumption, of commodities, there are some excep- 
 tions. If improved machinery, or a more perfect 
 establishment of the divisions of employment, 
 should increase the productive powers of labour, 
 and, consequently, reduce natural prices in a 
 greater degree than the increased value of subsistr 
 ence raised them, it is evident that, notwithstanding 
 the dearness of food, manufactured articles would 
 become cheaper, and the sale of them extend. 
 And again ; if, while subsistence, and, through 
 subsistence, all other articles, experienced, in any
 
 245 
 
 particular country, an extraordinary rise, this coun- 
 try should, from political causes, obtain a mono- 
 poly of the commerce of the world, then, it is 
 evident, that, while her prices rose, her foreign 
 sales might extend. 
 
 During the last twenty years, England has 
 been experiencing the benefit of both these excep- 
 tions. Improvements in the application of labour 
 and capital have, notwithstanding the advancing 
 price of subsistence, kept down the price of many 
 of her articles ; while the loss of capital, and the 
 suspension of all active commerce upon the con- 
 tinent, secured her against competition, and en- 
 abled her to sell, at advanced monopoly prices, in 
 all the markets of the world. Hence, general prin- 
 ciples became inapplicable to the particular, and 
 the extraordinary, circumstances, in which we 
 were placed ; and, though subsistence experienced 
 an unexampled rise, our commerce extended, and 
 our wealth increased. But now these particular 
 and extraordinary circumstances have ceased to 
 exist. If, with arrogant ignorance, mistaking 
 casual results for the operation of established laws, 
 erecting exceptions into principles, and denying 
 that a high rate of wages communicates itself to
 
 246 
 
 commodities, and checks their sale, we, while 
 commerce opens to our rivals, and enables them to 
 accumulate captial, and to acquire skill, should 
 madly attempt to keep up war prices, and to sus- 
 tain, and even still farther to extend, the cultiva- 
 tion of inferior lands, we must, as far, at least, as 
 relates to the foreign market, cease to be a manufac- 
 turing and a trading people. 
 
 Having thus shewn the effect which a system of 
 restriction on the importation of corn, would pro- 
 duce up.on our commerce and wealth, we are pre- 
 pared to resume the question, with which we con- 
 cluded the last division of this chapter, and to en- 
 quire, whether agriculture could receive any per- 
 manent benefit, from legislative protection giving 
 to its produce an artificial elevation ? 
 
 We have already seen, that the direct and imme- 
 diate effects of a system of restrictions on the im- 
 portation of foreign grain, would be to sustain, 
 and, while the population continued on the in- 
 crease, to extend, our tillage. The benefit, how- 
 ever, which agriculture would receive from such 
 artificial encouragement, could be but of short 
 duration ; and would, in fact, bear within itself 
 the principle of its own destruction. Demand
 
 247 
 
 regulates supply ; and nothing can be permanently 
 brought to market, unless there are consumers, 
 able and willing to pay the expenses of production. 
 Now, as manufactures and commerce decline in 
 any country, the demand for agricultural produce 
 fails. If foreign corn were excluded, the first 
 consequence would be, an increased consumption 
 of, and higher prices for, corn of home growth ; 
 but, as these higher prices would raise wages, and 
 thereby shut out our manufacturers and merchants 
 from the foreign market, the second consequence 
 of restricted importation would be, that the im- 
 poverished domestic consumer would no longer 
 have ability to replace, to the farmer, the expenses 
 of cultivation. 
 
 This second consequence of .a system of restric- 
 tion on the importation of corn, would not, pro- 
 bably, be immediate. Corn is an article of such 
 prime necessity, that, if measures for keeping up 
 its price were adopted, the people would dispense 
 with almost all other articles, in order to procure 
 it. Thus, while the demand for all other articles 
 diminished, and their production, consequently, 
 ceased, the value of corn would be sustained, and
 
 248 
 
 agriculture would flourish, for a time, amid the 
 geueral decay of wealth. To continue such a 
 state of things, would be evidently impossible. 
 As the high price of subsistence at once closed 
 foreign markets against them, and diminished the 
 home consumption of their productions, our manu- 
 facturers, whatever other articles they might be 
 disposed to give up, would soon find themselves 
 unable to purchase the same quantity of corn, as 
 before. By emigration, or by death, their num- 
 bers would rapidly diminish. Here, then, agricul- 
 ture, after having, for a time, retained a preter- 
 natural vigour, under the influence of an artificial 
 stimulus, would begin to exhibit the symptoms of 
 decline. The deficiency in the home demand, 
 which had, at first, a flee ted manufactured articles 
 only, will now extend to the productions of the 
 soil. The market price of corn will suddenly fall, 
 and the labour and capital which had been forced 
 upon inferior lands, no longer obtaining an ade- 
 quate recompence, such lands will be thrown out 
 of cultivation. As, in consequence of diminished 
 demand, and reduced prices, inferior lands are 
 thrown out of cultivation, superior gfound will be
 
 249 
 
 reduced in value, and yield a lower rent. The land- 
 lord, the farmer, and all the persons to whom they 
 give employment, will be involved in the general 
 distress. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be objected, that this reasoning 
 is opposed to experience; and that the obstructions 
 to the importation of corn, created by the war, gave 
 to agriculture an artificial encouragement, which, 
 so far from bearing in itself the seeds of its own 
 destruction, was accompanied with a progressive 
 increase in wealth, in population, and consequently, 
 in the home demand for corn. 
 
 The answer to this objection is obvious, and is 
 short. During the war, our merchants and ma- 
 nufacturers had no competitors, and were enabled 
 to charge a monopoly price on every thing they 
 sold. The monopoly price, therefore, which they 
 obtained, enabled them to pay a monopoly price to 
 the farmer for subsistence. Our commercial rela- 
 tions are now altogether changed. Competitors 
 are ready to start against us, in all the maritime 
 countries of Europe ; and our manufacturers and 
 merchants must either lower their prices, or cease 
 to sell in the foreign market. Now, as our mer-
 
 250 
 
 chants and manufacturers cease to receive mono- 
 poly prices, they will cease to have ability to pay 
 them. It is the quantity of wrought goods, that 
 the consumers are able and willing to exchange 
 against agricultural produce, which constitutes the 
 effectual demand for it, and regulates its value. 
 When these fetch a smaller sum than formerly, the 
 corn, to which they are equivalent, must fetch a 
 smaller sum also. The attempt to sustain the price 
 of subsistence, when free competition had reduced 
 the scale of prices in other things, would be en- 
 tirely abortive, and would completely counteract 
 itself. It would exclude the manufacturer and 
 merchant from the foreign market ; it would oc- 
 casion a diminution in all those articles, which con- 
 stitute the demand for agricultural produce ; and, 
 ultimately, reduce the landed interests to a much 
 worse condition, than if they had acquiesced in the 
 changes of the times, allowed corn to come gradu- 
 ally down to a level with other things, nor sought 
 to perpetuate, in peace, the monopoly prices of the 
 war. 
 
 In a former chapter, we traced the effects which, 
 in a country where obstruction to importation had
 
 251 
 
 given a forced extension to tillage, and induced an 
 artificial scale of prices, must follow a sudden open- 
 ing of the ports to foreign corn. The derange- 
 ment and embarrassment, however, occasioned by 
 a rash and injudicious application of the principle 
 of free intercourse, would appear light and tran- 
 sient, when contrasted with the depression and ca- 
 lamity, which would ultimately overtake the land- 
 ed interests, in consequence of the diminution in the 
 home market, and the fall in the value of agricul- 
 tural produce, which, now that our merchants and 
 manufacturers can no longer obtain the war prices 
 for their goods, would be indirectly occasioned by 
 an attempt to keep up the war price of corn. In 
 the former case, the temporary evil would be gra- 
 dually, but effectually, corrected, by the operation 
 of the very causes, which had at first produced it. 
 Free trade, though circumstances may sometimes 
 render its sudden introduction inexpedient, is, in 
 its nature, highly beneficial ; and, however injudi- 
 ciously admitted, must, after the first calamitous, 
 shock and derangement, occasion more accurate 
 divisions of employment, give labour and stock a 
 more productive direction, and thus recreate trie
 
 252 
 
 wealth it had destroyed. Now, it is the neigh- 
 bourhood of wealthy markets, which affords the 
 best encouragement to agriculture ; it is the quan- 
 tity of other commodities offered in exchange for 
 it, that determines the real value of corn. As un- 
 restricted intercourse began to extend manufactures 
 and commerce, our farmers, under the natural pro- 
 tection afforded by the expense of carriage, upon 
 an article so bulky as grain, would, after the price 
 of all things had settled down to the reduced scale, 
 be enabled to carry tillage to a much greater ex- 
 tent, than could have been possible under artificial 
 encouragements, the necessary effects of which 
 must be, to narrow the home market, which the 
 farmer would monopolize. 
 
 While the direct injury inflicted on the landed 
 interest, by a hasty and injudicious application of 
 sound general principles, would, after a period of 
 calamity, be corrected by the very causes which had 
 produced it ; in the evil which would be indirectly 
 occasioned by our attempt to give permanence to 
 our artificial scale of prices, nothing of this re- 
 deeming spirit would be found. In proportion as 
 we infringe on the liberty of trade, we destroy the
 
 253 
 
 elastic power which enables it to rebound after 
 every decline; we take from industry, the vital, 
 renovating principle, by which, in a state of free- 
 dom, the national resources recover from every ac- 
 cidental decay, and the public prosperity, after each 
 apparent check, receives a new impulse. A sud- 
 den opening of the ports would, after a time, in- 
 crease the number and the wealth of consumers ; 
 and thus, by enlarging the home market, would 
 compensate the domestic grower for the injury he 
 might have sustained from foreign competition. 
 But, when a permanent system of restriction, and 
 its consequent artificial scale of prices, had de- 
 pressed the manufacturing and mercantile classes, 
 and thus deprived the agriculturist of those opu- 
 lent markets, the exclusive benefits of which, ig- 
 norance had asserted they would secure, the agri- 
 cultural interest, in grasping at the shadow, would 
 have lost the substance ; in seeking for artificial, 
 would have deprived themselves of their natural, 
 encouragement ; and no longer finding consumers 
 in the country, which their avarice had impove- 
 rished and depopulated, wculd be compelled to go 
 to foreign markets for remunerating prices.
 
 254 
 
 Thus then, it appears, that while our merchants 
 and manufacturers are again exposed to rivalship 
 and competition, a permanent system of restrictions 
 on the importation of corn, and a consequent con- 
 tinuation of the artificial prices of the war, would 
 ultimately diminish the home demand for grain, 
 and render us once more, an exporting country. 
 This change, however, would be produced by 
 causes, and would be the result of a process, very 
 different from those, which are contemplated by the 
 advocates of a restricted corn trade. These per- 
 sons contend, that the high prices, occasioned, in 
 the first instance, by the exclusion of foreign grain, 
 would lead to an extension of tillage; and that the 
 increased supply, raised from our own soil, would 
 reduce the price of corn, until it could be sent to 
 foreign markets with a profit. In arriving at this 
 conclusion, however, they totally omit the distinc- 
 tion which exists between natural and market price; 
 and seem absolutely unacquainted with the funda- 
 mental principle of political science, that it is im- 
 possible to increase the supply of any commodity, 
 so as permanently to reduce its price, below what 
 will pay the labour and capital employed in pro-
 
 255 
 
 duction. It is plainly impossible that, at one and 
 the same time, it should be profitable to export corn, 
 and profitable to extend cultivation to lands re- 
 quiring, in order to yield a given produce, a greater 
 quantity of labour and capital, than the lands cul- 
 tivated in other growing countries. To enable us 
 to do the former, corn must be cheaper in the home, 
 than in the foreign market ; to enable us to do the 
 latter, it must be dearer. While it remains im- 
 possible for the same thing to be, and not to be, it 
 will also remain impossible for England to Income 
 an exporting country, in the manner contemplated 
 by the advocates of a restricted external trade in 
 corn. The real process, by which restrictions upon 
 the importation, would lead to the exportation, of 
 corn, w r e shall briefly state. 
 
 The high price of corn, occasioned by restricted 
 importation, would, in the first instance, reduce the 
 home demand for wrought goods, and exclude our 
 manufactures from the foreign market. While 
 ruin thus fell upon the manufacturing and trading 
 population, the home demand for corn would di- 
 minish, and its value become too low to remunerate 
 the labour and capital, which the first temporary
 
 256 
 
 rise in prices, had forced upon inferior lands. 
 These, therefore, would no longer he cultivated ; 
 and, from the same cause, the value of fertile lands 
 would fall. In the progress of impoverishment 
 and depopulation, a sufficient number of opulent 
 consumers could not be fouud, to pay the expense 
 of cultivation, upon soils of third, or even of second- 
 rate quality. Cultivation would be limited to tracts 
 of first-rate quality : these requiring but a small 
 expense of dressing, the natural price of the corn 
 produced upon them, would be lower than the na- 
 tural price of the grain produced in prosperous fo- 
 reign countries, which, having a better demand, 
 could afford to cultivate second, or third-rate soils. 
 "When things arrived at this state, our corn might 
 be sent abroad with a profit ; and England, bank- 
 rupt and depopulated, sunk from her place in Eu- 
 rope, and, perhaps, deprived of her existence as an 
 independent nation, might again become an ex- 
 porting country. 
 
 IV. We have'now to consider the effects, which 
 adopting a system of restrictions on the importation 
 of foreign corn, would, in the present circumstances
 
 257 
 
 of these countries, have upon the finances, and on 
 public credit. 
 
 The first operation of restriction, upon the re- 
 venue, would be beneficial. We have seen, that, 
 as long as our wealth and population should re- 
 main undiminished, the exclusion of foreign corn 
 would induce a universal rise in prices; or, in 
 other words, lower the value of money. Now, 
 the rise in the price of all commodities, or the fall 
 in the value of money, would increase the amount of 
 all duties laid on ad valorem, and would enable 
 government nominally to increase the other taxes, 
 without adding really to the burthens of the people. 
 If, for example, we were, by excluding foreign 
 corn, to establish an artificial scale of prices, and 
 to double the money value of every article, then, 
 without increasing the real portion of wealth drawn 
 from the people, the revenue might be doubled. 
 
 Though, when an artificial scale of prices is es- 
 tablished, the revenue can rise, only in the propor- 
 tion in which the value of money falls ; and though, 
 under our supposition, two hundred pounds could 
 not have a greater power in the market, than one 
 hundred formerly possessed ; yet, the increased
 
 258 
 
 sums, thus brought into the treasury, would afford 
 to the government, the greatest facilities in pro- 
 viding for the public expenditure. The dividends 
 of the public creditor, and the salaries of the civil 
 and military servants of the state, do not rise in 
 amount, as the value of money falls. An artificial 
 scale of prices, lowering the value of money, in the 
 degree just supposed, would, in fact, be tanta- 
 mount to taking fifty per cent, from all salaries, and 
 reducing, by one-half, the real value of our debt. 
 That, pressed as we are by taxation, and just 
 breathing from a contest, in which all the resources 
 of the country were overstrained, such a mode of 
 providing for our vast expenditure, would, if it 
 could be rendered permanent, be, in many respects, 
 desirable, few, I believe, will be disposed to con- 
 trovert. But it could not be rendered permanent. 
 After having afforded the treasury a temporary aid, 
 it would leave our financial difficulties greater, be- 
 yond all calculation, than before. The sources of 
 revenue would be dried up ; the wealth of the 
 country be gone. The artificial scale of prices, 
 which had increased the receipts of the treasury, 
 would, iu its first operation, have extended tillage.
 
 259 
 
 and increased the value of agricultural produce. 
 This increase in the value of subsistence would soon 
 exclude our commodities from the foreign market. 
 The ruin of the manufacturing and commercial 
 classes would recoil upon the landed interest ; and 
 prices, after having been, for awhile, maintained 
 at an unnatural elevation, would fall much lower 
 than the original level, from which they had been 
 forced. This fall in prices would be a rise in the 
 value of money ; and, while all ad valorem duties 
 sunk in amount, and other taxes pressed with more 
 grievous weight, the real debt, which the depre- 
 ciation of the metals had diminished, would be in- 
 creased by their recovered value. Nor would this 
 be all. Ad valorem duties would be diminished, 
 not merely by the fall in prices, but also by the 
 smaller number of commodities, on which they 
 would now be paid. The smaller number of com- 
 modities, too, would occasion defalcations in the 
 duties laid on by measurement and tale ; while the 
 impoverished country would become incapable of 
 supporting the increasing pressure which, with re- 
 spect to such taxes, the rise in the value of money 
 would occasion. The exclusion of foreign corn, 
 
 s 2
 
 now that our manufacturers can no longer obtain a 
 monopoly price for their goods, and make foreign 
 customers pay a part of the monopoly price de- 
 manded by the farmer for subsistence, would, after 
 having occasioned a temporary augmentation in the 
 revenue, lead to bankruptcy and ruin. 
 
 As this chapter has been unavoidably extended, 
 and the connection of the argument frequently in- 
 terrupted, by obviating objections, it may be proper 
 to bring together, in as few words as possible, the 
 conclusions which the discussions contained in it, 
 were intended to establish. 
 
 A system of restriction on the importation of fo- 
 reign grain, would enable us, for a time, to raise 
 an independent supply of corn, but at a high, and 
 at an unsteady price. The advanced price of corn, 
 while the consumer retained ability to pay it, would 
 give extension to tillage, and increase the value of 
 land ; but this ability would be only temporary. 
 For the high price imparted to subsistence, would 
 be communicated to wages ; would raise the price 
 of all commodities ; would ruin our manufacturers 
 and merchants; and, by reducing the home de- 
 maud for agricultural produce, would leave the
 
 261 
 
 landed interests in a much less flourishing condi- 
 tion, than that which they might have attained and 
 preserved., hy being satisfied with the natural pro- 
 tection afforded by the expense of carriage, upon 
 an article so bulky as corn. While the artificial 
 scale of prices continued, the revenue would im- 
 prove, and government would obtain considerable 
 facilities in paying fixed salaries, and in discharging 
 the interest of the public debt ; but, when these 
 prices, directly destructive to commerce, and indi- 
 rectly ruinous to agriculture, began to decline, and 
 to diminish the wealth of the country, the revenue 
 would fail, and bankruptcy ensue.
 
 262 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 On the Effects which a free external Trade in 
 Corn would produce ; /. Upon the Supply of 
 Subsistence ; II. Upon the Agriculture ; III. 
 Upon the Commerce; and IV. Upon the Fi~ 
 nanaes of the Country. 
 
 j\ e are now to consider the effects which would 
 be produced by establishing, in these countries, a 
 system of perfect liberty in the external corn trade. 
 For the sake of simplicity and perspicuity, we will 
 preserve, throughout the present discussions, the 
 order which we adopted in the preceding chapter; 
 and consider the influence of an unrestrained ex- 
 ternal trade, first, upon the supply of subsistence ; 
 secondly, upon agriculture ; thirdly, upon manu- 
 factures and commerce ; and fourthly, upon the 
 finances. 
 
 I. It is abundantly evident, that where free inter- 
 course is permitted, no country possessing any 
 articles, which can profitably be sent abroad in ex*
 
 2(53 
 
 change for corn, will cultivate lands very much 
 inferior to those under cultivation in adjacent 
 countries. When, in the progress of wealth and 
 population, tillage has been extended over all the 
 fertile districts of a country, and when the expense 
 of raising grain from soils of inferior quality, 
 would exceed the cost of bringing it from abroad, 
 then, unless some arbitrary legislative interference 
 should disturb the natural course of events, sub- 
 sistence will be imported. 
 
 Even long before the lands of superior quality 
 have been brought under the plough, a country, 
 though exempt from all legislative interference 
 with the direction of its industry, may yet be natu- 
 rally led to import a part of her consumption, 
 rather than to grow an independent supply of corn. 
 To illustrate this, let us suppose, that there are, in 
 England, unreclaimed districts, from which corn 
 might be raised at as small an expense of labour 
 and capital, as from the fertile plains of Poland. 
 This being the case, and all other things the same, 
 the person who should cultivate our unreclaimed 
 districts, could afford to sell his produce at as 
 cheap a rate, as the cultivator of Poland ; and it
 
 264 
 
 seems natural to conclude, that if industry were 
 left to take its most profitable direction, capital 
 would be employed in raising corn at home, rather 
 than in bringing it from Poland at an equal prime 
 cost, and at a much greater expense of carriage. 
 But this conclusion, however obvious and natural 
 it may, at first sight, appear, might, on a closer 
 examination, be found entirely erroneous. If Eng- 
 land should have acquired such a degree of skill in 
 manufactures, that, with any given portion of her 
 capital, she could prepare a quantity of cloth, for 
 which the Polish cultivator would give a greater 
 quantity of corn, than she could, with the same 
 portion of capital, raise from her own soil, then, 
 tracts of her territory, though they should be equal, 
 nay, even though they should be superior, to the 
 lands in Poland, will be neglected; and a part of her 
 supply of corn will be imported from that country. 
 For, though the capital employed in cultivating at 
 home, might bring an excess of profit, over the 
 capital employed in cultivating abroad, yet, under 
 the supposition, the capital which should be em- 
 ployed in manufacturing, would obtain a still 
 greater excess of profit ; and this greater excess of
 
 2G5 
 
 profit would determine the direction of our indus- 
 try. 
 
 Thus we see, that when trade is left free, and 
 governments interfere neither directly nor indirectly, 
 with the course of industry, an agricultural coun- 
 try, though possessing within herself, the means of 
 feeding her population, may be induced to import 
 a part of her supply of corn, by two distinct cir- 
 cumstances : namely, a deficiency in lands of first- 
 rate quality ; or, advantages in manufacturing in- 
 dustry. In the present situation of England, both 
 these circumstances unite. Our increased wealth, 
 by rendering animal food a part of the subsistence 
 of all classes, and, consequently, causing a great 
 proportion of the soil to be kept under pasture ; 
 and our rapidly advancing population, by creating 
 a great and increasing demand for corn, have con- 
 tributed to occasion some scarcity of land equal in 
 quality to that under cultivation in the neighbour- 
 ing countries ; while our accurate divisions of em- 
 ployment, and the wonderful perfection of our ma- 
 chinery for abridging labour, have increased, to 
 such an astonishing extent, the productive powers 
 of our manufacturing industry, that a given portion
 
 26(5 
 
 of our capital, when directed to supplying the fo- 
 reign demand for wrought goods, can obtain, in 
 return, a larger quantity of corn, than it could 
 raise by cultivating wastes of the greatest fertility. 
 In this state of things, therefore, if the obstructions 
 to importation, which the peace has removed, are 
 not replaced by high duties upon foreign grain, it 
 is obvious, that we shall become dependent upon 
 foreign growing countries, for a part of our supply 
 of food. 
 
 All the arguments which we employed in the 
 preceding chapter, to prove that restricted importa- 
 tion, forcing us to raise an independent supply of 
 corn, would render prices high, go also to prove 
 the converse proposition ; namely, that free inter- 
 course, allowing part of our supply to come from 
 abroad, would render prices low. It is, indced > 
 astonishing how any person should, for a moment, 
 imagine, that the importation of corn could, by 
 possibility, have any other effect than that of keep- 
 ing down the markets. Why is corn imported ? 
 For no assignable, no conceivable reason, except 
 that it is found cheaper to import, than to grow. 
 "Were it not that upon this subject, the most
 
 267 
 
 astonishing ignorance prevails ; and that the advo- 
 cates for restrictions which would give the home 
 grower a monopoly in the home market, perpetu*- 
 ally attempt to impress upon the public, the so- 
 phistical paradox, that obstructed importation 
 would keep down the prices, while unrestricted in- 
 tercourse would raise them, we might dismiss this 
 branch of the question, without discussion. But 
 as great stress has been laid upon it, and as Sir 
 Henry Parnell, in his pamphlet, has asserted that, 
 with respect to the merits of high duties upon im- 
 portation, the only question is, whether they would 
 have the effect of lowering, or of raising prices, 
 some farther consideration of the influence, which 
 free intercourse would have upon the value of corn, 
 seems expedient. 
 
 If to the quantity of corn which we have now 
 on hand, an additional quantity of foreign corn 
 were added, the market price would become lower 
 than it now is ; and if, from the supply of grain 
 which we shall derive from the next harvest, an 
 additional supply should be brought from abroad, 
 then, prices throughout the next year, will also be 
 depressed. These propositions, if not strictly self-
 
 26S 
 
 evident, are, however, of such a nature, that no 
 person who has ever looked at a question of eco- 
 nomical science, will for a moment controvert them. 
 Thus far then, free importation^will have the effect 
 of rendering corn cheaper. 
 
 But again ; as part of our supply is derived 
 from abroad, there will be less demand for corn of 
 our own growth ; and, consequently, some portion 
 of our capital will be withdrawn from cultivation. 
 Now, capital will never be withdrawn from anj 
 occupation, except when prices become insufficient 
 to yield it the customary profit ; that is, in the 
 case of agriculture, except the out-goings of the 
 farmer are increased, or the value of his produce is 
 diminished. But importation has no conceivable 
 tendency to increase the out-goings of the cultiva- 
 tor ; and could, therefore, deprive his stock of the 
 customary rate of profit, only by reducing the value 
 of his produce. Thus then, receiving part of our 
 supply from abroad, while it diminished the demand 
 for corn of our own growth, and caused capital to 
 be withdrawn from domestic cultivation, would 
 continue to keep down the markets. 
 
 But yet again : when capital is withdrawn from
 
 269 
 
 cultivation, it will of course be from the cultiva- 
 tion of those inferior lands which, with the greatest 
 expense of dressing, yield the least return. Now 
 as, when it became profitable to till those inferior 
 lands, lands of superior quality acquired a greater 
 value, and paid a higher rent than before; so, 
 when inferior lands cease to indemnify the cultiva- 
 tor, the superior will lose the heightened value they 
 had gained, and yield a lower rent. Hence, as 
 we import a part of our supply, and throw our 
 inferior lands out of cultivation, there will be less 
 labour, less capital, and less rent, to be paid upon 
 whatever quantity of corn we continue to grow at 
 home ; that is to say, the natural price of our com 
 will be lowered. But, to natural price the prices 
 of the market have a perpetual tendency to con- 
 form. Receiving a part of our supply from the 
 foreign grower, while it keeps inferior lands out of 
 cultivation, and keeps down the rate of rent upon 
 the superior, must also keep down the price of corn. 
 To the principle, that importation lowers the 
 markets, the following objection has been urged : 
 ' ' While we depend, in any degree, upon a foreign 
 supply of corn, the prices are constantly governed
 
 210 
 
 by the principle of scarcity, and not, as they other- 
 wise would be, by the principle of abundance. 
 The object of importing merchants being to import 
 with the greatest possible profit, they will allow 
 prices to run up very high, before they come into 
 the market ; and will feed it only in such quanti- 
 ties, as shall keep down competition against them- 
 selves, but not to that extent as will have any great 
 effect in lowering the price of corn." * 
 
 Now, even were we to admit, that when we 
 depend upon foreign countries for a part of our 
 supply of corn, this combination for stinting the 
 market and keeping up prices, could be formed 
 amongst the importing merchants, still, the objec- 
 tion would be perfectly invalid ; nay, would com- 
 pletely refute itself. Supposing that free importa- 
 tion had so reduced prices, and, consequently, so 
 discouraged agriculture, as to have rendered us 
 dependent on foreign countries for a part of our 
 supply of corn ; then, as soon as our importing 
 merchants began, as asserted in the objection, to 
 raise prices, the market, would exceed the growing, 
 
 * Sir Henry ParnclTs Observations on the Corn Laws, 
 Page 17.
 
 271 
 
 price of corn ; unusual profits would be obtained 
 by the domestic cultivator; and, consequently, 
 tillage would be again extended. If the combi- 
 nation of the importing merchants raised the price 
 of grain as high, as it was before the opening of the 
 ports, the whole of the discouragement occasioned 
 by such opening, would be removed, and agricul- 
 ture would be restored to its former state. And 
 if, as the advocates of restriction contend, the 
 combination of the importers should advance prices 
 beyond what they would be, if the whole of our 
 consumption were produced at home, then, it 
 is plain, that the stock invested in agriculture 
 would obtain a higher profit than before, and that 
 capital, ever seeking its most beneficial occupation, 
 would bring in new lands, and extend tillage be- 
 yond its former state. Thus, the two propositions, 
 that free importation would discourage domestic 
 agriculture ; and, that by leading to combinations 
 amongst the importers, it would advance prices, 
 are inconsistent and contradictory. If a system 
 of free importation discouraged agriculture, it 
 could only be by reducing prices ; and if, instead 
 of keeping prices low, such a system of freedom
 
 irZ 
 
 should either immediately, or subsequently, occa- 
 sion combinations which would raise the price of 
 corn, higher than it would be under a system of 
 restraint, then, free importation would prove much 
 more beneficial to the landed interests, than the 
 restrictive protection, for which they are con- 
 tending 1 . 
 
 But the combination contemplated in the ob- 
 jection, could not possibly have existence. We 
 reasoned on the supposition, merely to expose the 
 nature of the argument, if argument it may be 
 called, to which the advocates of permanent re- 
 strictions on the importation of corn, are compelled 
 to resort, when they would persuade the public, 
 that receiving part of our supply from the foreign 
 grower would advance our markets. A combina- 
 tion amongst all importing merchants, dispersed 
 throughout all the sea-ports of the kingdom, and 
 having all the growing countries of the world 
 open to their speculations ! A monopoly of corn 
 occasioned by rendering the trade in corn free ! 
 These are propositions, a formal refutation of 
 which, would be a satire on the understanding of 
 the reader. A free external trade could render us
 
 273 
 
 dependent on the foreign grower, for a part of our 
 supply, only by throwing out of cultivation, lands 
 which require, in order to raise a given produce, 
 a greater quantity of labour and capital, than the 
 lands under tillage in other countries : that is, by 
 enabling us to procure corn at a cheaper rate, than 
 if we raised it from our own soil. To say that 
 importing a part of our supply, would elevate our 
 markets, is tantamount to asserting a contradic- 
 tion. 
 
 A free external trade in corn, allowing us to 
 derive a part of our supply from the foreign- 
 grower, would lead, not only to low, but, what is 
 of more importance, to steady, prices. The in- 
 equality in the productiveness of the seasons di- 
 minishes as the territory of which we calculate the 
 average supply is enlarged. The only efficacious 
 means of obviating the alternate recurrence of 
 superfluity and of want, ig the removal of every 
 restriction, the refraining from every regulation, 
 which can prevent the abundance of one quarter 
 from compensating the deficiency of another. These 
 great principles, applicable alike to the internal, 
 and to the external, trade in corn, have, in the first
 
 274 
 
 part of this volume, been already fully unfolded. 
 In whatever degree we may find it practicable to 
 adopt them into our commercial system, in that 
 degree shall we give certainty to the supply, and 
 steadiness to the price, of corn. 
 
 These principles, however, so obvious and so 
 incontrovertible, the advocates of high duties on 
 the importation of foreign corn, have either over- 
 looked, or attempted to set aside. They seek to 
 terrify the public by the assertion, that an unre- 
 strained commerce in grain would lead to scarcity 
 and famine. " If we allow importation, and con- 
 sequently become dependent on foreign countries 
 for a part of our subsistence; and if, when the 
 failure of our crops rendered their aid most neces- 
 sary, these countries should themselves have defi- 
 cient harvests, and require for their own consump- 
 tion, all the corn they had raised, then should we 
 be placed in a situation infinitely more calamitous, 
 than if our agriculture had been forced, so as in 
 average years to furnish us with an independent 
 supply." 
 
 In tlie first place, this objection to a free trade 
 supposes a state of things, the occurrence of which
 
 275 
 
 is, in a high degree, improbable. In the unifor- 
 mity of her general results, Nature has made a 
 provision for correcting her partial irregularities. 
 It has probably never yet occurred, that, in the 
 same season, the crops have been deficient in all 
 countries. To a maritime people, navigating all 
 the waters of the world, the attainable supply of 
 subsistence may be considered as little liable to 
 variation, from year to year. Were we to adopt a 
 system of freedom in the external corn trade, ages 
 might roll away, without the earth being visited 
 by such a universally deficient harvest, as to pre- 
 vent our obtaining, from some country or other, 
 the supply of which we stand in need. 
 
 But, in the second place, if a universal failure 
 of crop, throughout the growing countries of the 
 world, were of probable, or even of frequent oc- 
 currence, it could neither form a solid objection to 
 a free external corn trade, nor prove, that deriv- 
 ing a part of our consumption from the foreign 
 grower, would render the supply of corn uncertain, 
 or its price unsteady. It has already appeared, 
 that a free external trade in corn, equalizing sub- 
 sistence throughout the countries of the world, and 
 t2
 
 2715 
 
 carrying forward the superfluity of one year, to 
 meet the deficiency of another, would occasion 
 capital, to a vast amount, to be vested in this im- 
 portant branch of commerce, and cause grain to 
 be accumulated to an incalculable extent. A free 
 trade, while it might render us dependent on foreign 
 supply, would establish granaries, amply sufficient 
 to secure us against want, in the event of that sup- 
 ply being cut off by a failure of crops throughout 
 the world. This conclusion, demonstrable in theory^ 
 has also received the fullest proof from experience* 
 Holland, in the days of her commercial prospe- 
 rity, had always in the stores of her merchants, 
 a supply of subsistence which exceeded her con- 
 sumption ; and, though not a corn country, be- 
 came, by leaving the trade in corn free, the gra- 
 nary of Europe. Now England, from her posi- 
 tion, from her more numerous harbours, not liable 
 to be closed by ice, but navigable throughout the 
 year ; and more than all, from her decided naval 
 preponderance, capable at all times of command- 
 ing the seas, is infinitely better calculated than 
 Holland ever could have been, for becoming the 
 great store-house of the nations. As the ports of
 
 277 
 
 the Baltic are closed, for a considerable part of the 
 year, the great growing countries of the North of 
 Europe require a place of deposit, from which 
 their produce may at all times be sent, to supply 
 the demand of the foreign market. England, 
 from her position, and from her natural and ac- 
 quired advantages, seems ordained to become the 
 entrepot for the surplus produce furnished by the 
 countries on the shores of the Baltic. Were we 
 to adopt an enlightened commercial system, and 
 to grant unlimited freedom, both of ingress and 
 of egress, to the important article of corn, our 
 merchants and dealers would, at all times, have on 
 their hands, accumulations of grain, far exceeding 
 the consumption of our population. Though 
 throughout the world, a failure in the crop should, 
 at the same time, be felt ; and though every grow- 
 ing country, in order to ward off famine at home, 
 should refuse to give us the customary supply ; 
 yet, in consequence of the liberty which had been 
 granted to commerce, and of the accumulations of 
 produce thereby occasioned, our people would 
 not be dependent for their food on the fertility of 
 a single season, and would escape all participation
 
 ' 278 
 
 in the general distress. Thus, the objection, even 
 when we admit the very improbable fact on which 
 it rests, is perfectly invalid. The granaries esta- 
 blished by a free external trade in corn, would leave 
 us nothing to fear, though the crops failing at the 
 same time throughout the world, should cause a 
 temporary suspension of the supply we had been 
 accustomed to receive from abroad. 
 
 Another objection to the principle, that a free 
 external trade would ensure us a steady supply of 
 corn, it may be proper to cousider, " If any thing 
 resembling the state of Europe under the late ruler 
 of France, should take place in future, when, in- 
 stead of growing nearly our own supply of corn, 
 we depended on foreign countries for the subsist- 
 ence of some millions of our people, the difficulty 
 and danger which we have just escaped, would be 
 nothing, in comparison with that which would 
 be inflicted upon us by this renewed continental 
 system." 
 
 On this objection it is obvious to remark, that 
 the experiment of excluding us from commerce, 
 has been tried, and has failed. Though the con- 
 tinent of Europe recefved its impulse from a single
 
 279 
 
 mind, and though America, with a consentaneous 
 movement, closed her ports, yet Napoleon found it 
 impracticable to give efficacy to his system against 
 the trade of England ; and while his decrees were 
 evaded or suspended, we received supplies of corn, 
 even from France. Now, that the continental sys- 
 tem, the most extraordinary, and the most wide- 
 wasting species of despotism, which the world ever 
 witnessed, should again be acted upon, is, in the 
 highest degree, improbable. Supposing it possible, 
 that we could import to such an extent, as to feed 
 with foreign corn, an increased population of some 
 millions ; then, this very circumstance, by rendering 
 foreign growing countries so greatly dependent 
 upon us for a market for their produce, would 
 make them more reluctant to close their ports 
 against us ; while, as we should necessarily be- 
 come, under a free external trade, a great granary 
 and emporium of corn, the nations which, oh the 
 recurrence of deficient crops, received from us a 
 portion of their food, could hardly be induced to 
 combine against a commerce, in the reciprocal be- 
 nefits of which they so largely participated. In
 
 280 
 
 proportion as we afforded to foreign countries, a 
 market for their surplus produce, the probability 
 of their shutting their ports against us, would be 
 diminished. A combination amongst the growing 
 countries of the world, to deprive England of sup- 
 plies, and themselves of a market, is, to say the 
 least of it, but a remotely possible limitation of the 
 principle, that a free external trade in corn gives 
 steadiness to the supply, and to the price, of that 
 essential article. 
 
 Neither do the laws respecting the exportation 
 of corn, which have been lately passed in France, 
 form any valid objection to the principle, that open- 
 ing the ports of the United Kingdom would render 
 our supply of subsistence steady. In the first 
 place, the corn laws in France, prohibiting expor? 
 tation after grain rises to about forty-nine shillings 
 the quarter, have, with respect to their influence 
 upon British prices, a necessary tendency to coun- 
 teract themselves. In whatever degree they may 
 check exportation, in the same degree they must 
 discourage agriculture, and prevent the French 
 grower from furnishing us with those supplies of
 
 281 
 
 corn, tbe sudden withdrawing of which might, it 
 is apprehended,* occasion fluctuations in our mar- 
 kets. In the second place, even supposing that 
 these laws should have no effect in checking culti- 
 vation in France, and in preventing her from grow- 
 ing such a surplus as could influence prices in other 
 countries, yet still the objection would be nugatory, 
 because, as the inequality in the productiveness of 
 the seasons diminishes as the territory from which 
 we draw subsistence is increased, and as the partial 
 irregularities of nature are rectified in her general 
 results, there is the strongest probability that when 
 a deficient harvest in France deprived us of our 
 customary supply of corn from that country, an 
 abundant harvest in other countries would indem- 
 nify us for the loss. Thirdly, were we to adopt a 
 system of freedom in the external corn trade, and, 
 consequently, to receive a part of our supply from 
 France, the great accumulations of grain which 
 we should have on hand would (as was the case in 
 Holland), at all times exceed our consumption ; 
 
 * This apprehension is entertained by Mr. Malthus. See 
 The Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of restricting the 
 Importation of Foreign Corn, p. 15.
 
 282 
 
 would render us independent of the growth of a 
 single season ; and would prevent temporary sus- 
 pensions of importation from France, or even from 
 all Europe, from inflicting any distressing fluctua- 
 tions in our markets. Fourthly, and lastly, were 
 it demonstrable that the corn laws, lately enacted 
 in France, could have the effect of inflicting dis- 
 tressing fluctuations in the British market, their 
 existence might constitute a legitimate ground for 
 laying restrictions on the importation of French 
 grain, but could furnish no conceivable objection 
 against opening our ports to the rest of the world. 
 
 II. In whatever degree the adoption of perfect 
 freedom in the external corn trade, might lead us 
 to derive a part of our supply from the foreign 
 grower, in the same degree, it would, in the first 
 instance, act as a discouragement to domestic agri- 
 culture. If part of our consumption continues to 
 consist of grain of foreign growth, there will be 
 less demand for grain of home growth ; and, as 
 demand ever regulates supply, lands which were 
 cultivated while the war rendered importation more 
 difficult, must be thrown out of tillage.
 
 283 
 
 That importing a part of our consumption of 
 corn would, in the first instance, occasion a dimi- 
 nution in domestic cultivation, is self-evident. The 
 degree, however, in which the diminution would 
 be inflicted, no one seems to have attempted to as- 
 certain. Exaggeration and alarm are the natural 
 associates of ignorance. Finding that, under the 
 actual scale of their expenses, they cannot afford to 
 sell wheat under eighty shillings the quarter ; and 
 seeing that foreign corn is poured into our ports, 
 at a price, lower by almost a third, than that which 
 would be adequate to remunerate its cultivation at 
 home, our farmers have become panic struck ; and 
 in their alarm, mistaking casual results for the ope- 
 ration of general laws, conclude, that without high 
 and permanent protecting duties on the importa- 
 tion of foreign grain, the agriculture of the coun- 
 try must be ruined. This conclusion of the alarm- 
 ists is entirely erroneous. The glut occasioned in 
 our markets, by the grain thrown in from France, 
 is the result of an unusually overflowing harvest in 
 that country ; and in ordinary years cannot be ex- 
 perienced. The artificial scale of prices which at
 
 284 
 
 present so greatly increases the expenses of the do- 
 mestic cultivator, would, under a system of free in- 
 tercourse, gradually decline; and enable him, un- 
 less he occupied lands considerably inferior to those 
 under tillage in other countries, to meet the com- 
 petition of the foreign grower. The most unli- 
 mited freedom of intercourse could throw out of 
 cultivation, only those very inferior soils, which, 
 though enjoying the great natural protection arising 
 from the cost of carriage, require, to raise a given 
 portion of produce, more labour and capital than 
 would suffice to bring that produce from abroad. 
 The manner in which a free external trade, and 
 the consequent reduction of our artificial scale of 
 prices, would reduce the expenses of cultivation, 
 requires only to be stated, in order to obtain as- 
 sent. As corn falls in price, the money value of 
 seed, of tithes, and, in a little time, of rents, must 
 necessarily fall also. Here, then, there would be, 
 in consequence of the reduced price of the farmer's 
 produce, a reduction in three of the principal items 
 of his expenditure. But this would not be all. 
 Changes in the value of subsistence are soon com-
 
 285 
 
 municated to the value of labour ; and , as the price 
 of produce fell, wages, another important item in 
 the expenses of cultivation, would fall also. Thus 
 the farmer, paying less for seed and labour, and 
 giving less as tithes and rent, would be enabled, 
 with an adequate profit upon his stock, to sell his 
 corn at a less price. But jet again. The fall in 
 the value of raw produce, and of labour, would 
 soon be communicated to wrought articles ; and 
 the farmer would have less to pay to the smith, to 
 the collar-maker, to the wheel-wright, and to all 
 the artificers who furnished him with implements of 
 husbandry ; and the whole scale of his expenses 
 being reduced, a smaller amount of capital would 
 be required in cultivation. A much lower price 
 of corn, therefore, would be sufficient to remune- 
 rate the farmer ; and unless he occupied lands very 
 inferior to those under tillage in foreign countries, 
 he would be enabled to meet the competition of the 
 foreign grower. 
 
 We shall briefly illustrate this, by a reference to 
 a table, shewing the comparative expenses of cul- 
 tivation, in different years, which the Secretary 
 of the Board of Agriculture laid before the Lords'
 
 286 
 
 Committee. The table is given below;* and 
 we shall deviate from it, only so far as may be 
 necessary to preserve round numbers, and to avoid 
 the prolixity of stating fractional parts . The table 
 shews how all the items which enter into the ex- 
 penditure of the farmer have increased, from the 
 year 1790, to the year 1813. We are to trace 
 the manner in which a fall in the price of corn, 
 reducing rent to its former amount, would bring 
 all these items back to nearly their former level. 
 
 Comparison of the Expenses of cultivating an Hundred Acres 
 of Arable Land in 1790, 1803, aud 1813. 
 
 1790. 
 
 1803. \ 1813. 
 
 Wear and Tear 
 Total .... 
 
 . t. d. 
 
 88 6 3i 
 20 14 l| 
 
 17 13 10 
 1j 13 51 
 85 5 4| 
 4G 4 101 
 48 3 
 67 4 10 
 22 11 111 
 
 
 . *. d. 
 
 121 2 71 
 26 8 01 
 31 7 71 
 22 11 101 
 
 118 4 
 49 2 7 
 68 6 2 
 80 8 01 
 30 3 8$ 
 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 161 12 7| 
 38 17 SI 
 38 19 2| 
 31 2 10i 
 
 161 12 111 
 98 17 10 
 37 7 01 
 
 134 19 81 
 50 5 6 
 18 1 4 
 
 411 14 111 | 547 10 111 
 
 771 16 4
 
 287 
 
 By this table it appears, that, in order to obtain 
 .50 as interest upon his capital, and to cover all 
 expenses, the farmer, in 1813, must have obtained 
 nearly .800 for the produce of ope hundred acres 
 of land. Of this .800 it also appears, that rent 
 and tithe form a fourth part ; and therefore, tithes 
 being but a portion of rent, we may take rent as 
 constituting a fourth part of the price of agricul- 
 tural produce. Now, reduce the rent of one hun- 
 dred acres, from .200, its amount in 1815, to 
 .150, its amount in 1803; and it is self-evident 
 that the farmer will be able, with the same profit 
 as before, to sell his produce for .750, where he 
 used to sell it for .800. A fall in rent, there- 
 fore, of one-fourth, would, in its first operation, 
 occasion a fall of one-sixteenth in the natural or 
 growing price of agricultural produce. 
 
 Again, it is self-evident, that, as agricultural pro- 
 duce falls a sixteenth, the price of seed must fall in 
 the same proportion. This item, therefore, in the 
 expense of cultivating one hundred acres, will, by 
 a diminution in rent of .50, be reduced from 
 .98, its amount given in the table, for 1813, to 
 .92. Farther, agricultural produce forms, at the
 
 288 
 
 very least, one-half^of the labourer's expenditure ; 
 and, consequently, a fall in this produce, of one- 
 sixteenth, will cause labour to fall half a sixteenth. 
 The item for labour, in the column for 1813, is 
 ,.160; and, therefore, as rent and produce fall in 
 the proportions stated, half a sixteenth, or .5 
 must be deducted from this branch of expense. 
 The same reasoning will apply, with still greater 
 force, to tjie labour performed by the team. And, 
 as labour and produce fall, all wrought articles 
 will fall also; consequently, the reduction of rent 
 will lead to a reduction in the item of wear and 
 tear ; and as other items are in this manner re- 
 duced, a less amount of capital will be required in 
 cultivating, and the item of interest must be re- 
 duced also. 
 
 It will be at once perceived, that we have 
 hitherto noticed only the first and most immediate 
 operations, by which a reduced rent reduces all 
 the other items which enter into the expenses of 
 cultivation. When a fall in rent, of a fourth, has 
 reduced produce a sixteenth, and labour half a 
 sixteenth, this half- sixteenth effects another reduc- 
 fltm in produce ; and this, again, another reduc-
 
 289 
 
 tion in labour. The same holds good with respect 
 to every other item of expenditure. As the fall in 
 rent lowers the price of seed, reduces the cost of 
 wear and tear, and, in consequence of the fall it 
 communicates to the raw material and to wages, 
 enables all the wrought goods which compose any 
 part of the farmer's capital, to be purchased at a 
 cheaper rate, the reduction in each, reduces all ; 
 Until, from the reciprocal operation of the several 
 items of expenditure, all things settle down to 
 their natural level. Were rents brought back 
 to what they were in 1803, the expenses of pro- 
 duction, except as they might be affected by in- 
 creased taxes falling on subsistence, and, conse- 
 quently, raising wages, would gradually, but ne- 
 cessarily, return to what they were, at that period. 
 With the same exception, the rents of 1790 would 
 bring back the out-goings of the cultivator, to 
 what they were, in that year ; or, as appears by 
 the table, to but little more than half their amount 
 at present It is demonstrable, that while the rate 
 of profit, and the natural, or commodity rate of 
 wages, remain the same, the amount of rent must, 
 under any given state of fertility and skill, deter- 
 
 u
 
 290 
 
 mine the amount of all the items which enter into 
 the expense of cultivation ; and, consequently, 
 the prices which arc necessary to remunerate the 
 farmer. 
 
 Thus, it appears, that the existing panic among 
 the friends of agriculture, is entirely without foun- 
 dation.* The level prices of unrestricted inter- 
 
 * An unanswerable and irresistible argument against tin 
 alarm which at present exists amongst the agricultural inte- 
 rests, has been furnished by a writer, who is himself an 
 alarmist. Mr. Jacob, in his "* Considerations on the Protec- 
 tion required by British Agriculture," enters into some judi- 
 cious calculations, to shew, that the quantity of grain, of all 
 kinds, consumed by Great Britain alone, amounts very nearly 
 to 50,000,000 quarters. He states that five quarters go to a 
 Ion; and that, by the accounts laid before Parliament, the 
 whole shipping of the British dominions, European and Colo- 
 nial, amounts to 2,500,000 tons. If, therefore, every other 
 branch of commerce were abandoned, and all the shipping of 
 the British dominions freighted with grain, the imporh <1 
 supply would amount to only 12,500,000 quarters : that is, 
 to about three months' consumption. Under this extreme 
 case, this case of absolutely impossible occurrence, the British 
 fanner would have the supplying of the British market, for 
 nine months of the year. But let us look at the question, 
 under circumstances of possible occurrence. Mr. Jacob in-
 
 291 
 
 course would, indeed, throw out of cultivation, 
 lands of a quality so very inferior as to require, 
 for their tillage, a greater quantity of labour and 
 capital, than is necessary both to till foreign land, 
 and to bring its produce to the home market. 
 But these level prices could effect no farther dimi- 
 nution in our tillage. On the contrary, they 
 
 forms us, that in 1800, and 1801, years of the greatest scarcity 
 and highest prices, the largest foreign supply which England 
 ever received, was 4,500,000 quarters of grain; or, less than 
 five weeks' consumption. Taking the average of these two years 
 of greatest scarcity, the importation was 2,250,000 quarters, or 
 little more than two weeks' consumption. Is it not, therefore, 
 fair to turn the statements of this alarmist against himself, and 
 to inquire, how it comes to pass, that, while shewing the diffi- 
 culty, nay, the impossibility, of importing any considerable 
 portien of our consumption, he should feel apprehensive lest 
 agriculture should be ruined by the glut of foreign corn? 
 Foreign competition would, indeed, bring down monopoly 
 rents, and reduce every item which enters into the expenses 
 of cultivation ; but it could not throw out of cultivation any 
 lands, except those of extremely inferior quality. In what 
 concerns subsistence, Providence has been our legislator. In 
 rendering corn a bulky commodity, Nature has given the 
 necessary protection to the domestic grower; and all we have 
 to do is., to refrain from disturbing her admirable laws. 
 
 u2
 
 292 
 
 would compel the proprietor to forego the mono- 
 poly rents of the war ; would, as we have just seen, 
 diminish all the expenses of production ; and, ex- 
 cept as he might be pressed by a heavier taxation, 
 replace the domestic, on his former equality with the 
 foreign, grower. Now we have seen that taxation, 
 except when it falls with disproportioned weight 
 upon the soil, does not give the foreign grower 
 any advantages in the home market. On the 
 contrary, taxes which fall on necessaries, and oc- 
 casion a rise in wages, advance the price of wrought 
 goods, more than they advance the price of raw 
 produce, and rather tend to keep foreign corn 
 out f the market, by checking the exportation of 
 the articles which might purchase it. The level 
 prices, therefore, of unrestricted intercourse, would, 
 except in regard to the imposts which may bear 
 more heavily on the industry of the country, than 
 on that of the towns, secure the domestic'cultivator 
 from being undersold in the home market. 
 
 But, possessed of the great natural protection 
 arising from his vicinity to the most opulent mar- 
 kets in the world, the British cultivator, after the 
 level prices of free intercourse have lowered mono-
 
 293 
 
 poly rents, and reduced the items of his expendi- 
 ture, cannot, unless he should occupy very inferior 
 soils, the tillage of which is injurious to the capital 
 and wealth of the country, have any thing to fear 
 from the competition of the foreign grower, though 
 the latter may be somewhat less heavily taxed. 
 The corn of Kent and Essex is conveyed to the 
 London market, at a very trifling expense, while 
 the grain furnished by the foreign grower comes 
 to that market, charged with the land carriage to 
 the shipping port, with shipping costs, and with 
 the freight and insurance on the voyage. In sup- 
 plying the markets furnished by the great manu- 
 facturing population of the interior, the advantages 
 of the home grower are still more decisive. The 
 produce of the adjacent counties can be brought 
 to Birmingham and Manchester, at a very small 
 expense of carriage; while the wheat of Franee 
 and Poland, in addition to the land carriage to the 
 shipping port, and to all the charges of lading and 
 unlading, freight and insurance, must be brought 
 to the consumers in these interior towns, loaded 
 with the cost of a second land carriage. With 
 reference to the home market, land in England,
 
 294 
 
 is, by the whole amount of the expenses incident 
 to bringing corn from abroad, more valuable than 
 foreign land, equal in fertility, and cultivated with 
 equal skill. As soon as the natural, or production- 
 price, of our corn shall have been lowered by the 
 reduction of exorbitant rents, and by throwing 
 out of tillage, lands requiring an enormous expense 
 of labour and capital, British agriculture, enjoy- 
 ing the great natural protection of vicinity to the 
 most opulent markets of the world, can have no- 
 thing to apprehend from the freest competition of 
 the foreign grower. 
 
 The degree of protection which, after rents had 
 been lowered, and very inferior lands thrown out, 
 the home grower might derive from the vicinity of 
 the home market, would necessarily be increased 
 or diminished, according as the country advanced 
 or declined in opulence. But, supposing trade to 
 flourish, and increasing population to accumulate 
 in our interior manufacturing towns, the neigh- 
 bourhood of more numerous, and more wealthy, 
 consumers, would be far from constituting the 
 only encouragement and protection thereby held 
 domestic agriculture. We have already
 
 295 
 
 seen that, in a prosperous country, the profits of 
 stock, and the interest of money, become lower, 
 and bestow a higher relative value on the soil. 
 But this is not all. Among a flourishing people, 
 more accurate divisions of employment, and more 
 skilful machinery for abridging labour, gradually 
 increase the productive powers of industry ; or, in 
 other words, lower the natural price of the necessa- 
 ries of life. But, as the natural price of the arti- 
 cles which enter into the labourer's subsistence, 
 become lower, the rate of wages is lowered also. 
 Hence, in a flourishing country, the cheaper rate 
 at which a given quantity of labour can be per- 
 formed, bestows, no less than the reduced rate of 
 the interest of money, an increased relative value 
 upon the soil, and enables the farmer to extend 
 cultivation over tracts, which could not before be 
 profitably tilled. Commercial and manufacturing 
 prosperity have an irresistible effect upon agricul- 
 tural improvement. If, as we shall proceed to 
 shew, in the following division of this chapter, a 
 free external trade would increase our commerce 
 and our wealth, it would, in a little time, bring 
 back into cultivation, the inferior soils which it
 
 296 
 
 might at first throw out ; and ultimately place the 
 landed interests in a situation infinitely more pros* 
 perous and commanding than that which, under 
 any artificial system, it would be possible for them 
 permanently to attain. 
 
 III. Commerce is an exchange of equivalents, 
 a bartering between nations, of one commodity 
 for another. It is self-evident, therefore, that if 
 we were to adopt the principle of free intercourse, 
 with respect to the important article of corn, and 
 were to import a considerable quantity of agricul- 
 tural produce, we should have to export a consi- 
 derable quantity of something else, in order to pay 
 for it. In whatever degree an unrestricted exter- 
 nal trade might lead us to receive subsistence from 
 other countries, in the same degree it would ren- 
 der those countries customers for our commodities, 
 would promote our manufactures, and would ex- 
 tend our trade. As air expands, in proportion as 
 the surrounding pressure is removed, so commerce 
 flourishes, as legislative interference is withdrawn. 
 Whatever natural facilities we may possess, for 
 carrying on the several branches of industry ; and
 
 297 
 
 whatever may be our acquired advantages of skill, 
 capital, and machinery ; free intercourse is neces- 
 sary, to give them their most efficient operation, 
 and to allow them scope for their full develope- 
 meot. When any given portion of capital can, in 
 England, fabricate a greater quantity of cloth, 
 than in Poland ; and can, in Poland, produce a 
 greater supply of corn, than in England ; then, the 
 absence of regulation is all that is necessary to 
 establishing between the two countries an active 
 and mutually beneficial commerce. 
 
 In the foregoing paragraphs we have considered 
 a free external corn trade, only in its first and most 
 direct influence on commerce; and as, in common 
 with all other branches of traffic between nations, 
 it would create a foreign demand for our goods, 
 proportional to the amount of foreign produce 
 which it enabled us to consume. But, as was shewn 
 in the first part of this work, the external corn 
 trade, in addition to its direct operation, exerts 
 upon industry, upon production, and upon all the 
 various branches of * trade, a beneficial influence 
 which is peculiar to itself, and which, if we would 
 form a just estimate of its value, must be atten-?
 
 298 
 
 tively considered. Commodities are received iuto 
 foreign countries, only because they can be fur- 
 nished at a cheaper rate than those countries could 
 prepare them at home. Hence, in order to in- 
 crease manufactures, and to extend commerce, the 
 great object is, to effect a reduction in the natural 
 price of commodities. Now, the component parts 
 of natural price are rent, profits, and wages, and 
 a free external corn trade would have a powerful 
 influence in loweriug them all. We have shewn, 
 that, in the present circumstances of these coun- 
 tries, an unrestrained trade would lower the price 
 of corn, and bring down the monopoly rents occa- 
 sioned by the war ; we have explained how a re- 
 duction in the value of corn reduces wages, and we 
 have unfolded the principles, that the low natural 
 priceof subsistence heightens the productive powers 
 of industry ; that these heightened powers accele- 
 rate the accumulation of stock ; and that this ac- 
 cumulation lowers the rate of profit. A free ex- 
 ternal trade in corn, then, would effect a reduction 
 in rents, wages, and profits : that is, would reduce 
 all the component parts of natural price, and enable 
 us to sell every article at a cheaper rate, than if re-
 
 299 
 
 strictions upon importation kept up the value of 
 agricultural produce. The great encouragement 
 which this would confer on manufactures and com- 
 merce is obvious. 
 
 In the last chapter, we saw that, as we increase 
 the natural price of commodities, we reduce the 
 demand for them. Now, the converse proposition 
 is equally true : namely, that, as we reduce na- 
 tural price, we increase demand. In proportion as 
 our goods can be brought to market at a cheaper 
 rate, consumers, both at home and abroad, will be 
 enabled to purchase them in larger quantities. 
 The reduction in our prices, effected by an unfet- 
 tered trade in corn, would enable us to meet the 
 competition of the rivals now starting against us, 
 and to maintain the markets which we have esta- 
 blished. Nay, as we supplied consumers at a 
 cheaper rate, we should not only be enabled to 
 maintain ourselves in the markets which we have 
 already established, but new foreign markets would 
 be opened, and our commerce pushed to an extent 
 which cannot easily be estimated. 
 
 The beneficial effects which the lowering of na- 
 tural price produces upon commerce, have been
 
 300 
 
 most happily exemplified in what took place upon 
 our adopting", in the cotton manufactories, im- 
 proved machinery for abridging labour. Now, 
 the reduction in natural price, occasioned by a free 
 trade in corn, would produce effects precisely ana- 
 logous to those which have been produced by im- 
 proved machinery. In every branch of business, 
 carried on throughout the country, it would aug- 
 ment the productive powers of industry. While 
 our manufacturing population increased, each ma- 
 nufactuner, being enabled to procure the produce 
 of the earth, with a smaller portion of his labour 
 than before, would have a larger portion of it, to 
 employ in working up materials. From a double 
 cause, the supply of goods brought to market would 
 be increased. Commerce being an exchange of 
 equivalents, every improvement in industry, which 
 enabled us to augment our foreign sales, would en- 
 large our demand for foreign articles. From their 
 reciprocal action, exports and imports would be 
 enlarged, and thus prosperity would receive a still 
 increasing impulse. 
 
 But it is not only in manufacturing industry, 
 and in the direct commerce of consumption, that
 
 SOI 
 
 the benefits of an unrestricted trade in corn would 
 be felt. We have already seen, that opening our 
 ports to the foreign grower would, from the great 
 natural advantages of our ports, and of our posi- 
 tion, throw into our hands an extensive carrying 
 trade in the important article of corn ; and render 
 England, what the wisdom of her commercial sys- 
 tem formerly rendered Holland, the great depdt 
 and Granary of Europe. The flourishing state of 
 our internal industry, promoted by a cheap and 
 steady supply of subsistence, would powerfully co- 
 operate with a free external trade, in enabling us 
 to avail ourselves of the advantages of our posi- 
 tion, and to become the carriers of the world. Im- 
 proved manufactures, and a more extensive com- 
 merce of consumption, increase wealth, and occa- 
 sion a more rapid accumulation of capital. Now, 
 as capital increases, it fills all the old channels of 
 employment, and overflows into new. Hence, a 
 country, more wealthy than its neighbours, can, 
 particularly if it should possess any advantages of 
 position, prosecute the carrying trade at a cheaper 
 rate, and monopolize this branch of commerce. 
 Let us suppose, by way of illustration, that, from
 
 302 
 
 the accumulation of capital, and the consequently 
 increasing difficulty of finding beneficial occupa- 
 tion for it, the profits of stock fall in England, to 
 ten per cent, while, upon the continent, they re- 
 main at fifteen per cent. Under such circum- 
 stances, it is evident that England could afford to 
 carry cheaper, by five per cent, than her neigh- 
 bours; and that it would be the interest of all coun- 
 tries in which capital was less abundant, to throw 
 their carrying trade into her hands. Now, from 
 all the principles unfolded throughout this work, 
 it follows as a necessary conclusion, that an unfet- 
 tered commerce in corn would powerfully conduce 
 to realize the state of things which we have sup- 
 posed. It would, in every employment; lower na- 
 tural price ; or, in other words, raise the produc- 
 tive powers of industry. This would increase 
 wealth and capital, and diminish the rate of inte- 
 rest and of profit. The competition of capitalists, 
 to obtain beneficial occupation for their stock, 
 would at once give incitement to the spirit of mer- 
 cantile adventure, and cause each operation of com- 
 merce to be performed at a cheaper rate. The 
 capital which overflows the channels of domestic
 
 303 
 
 industry will, with equal advantage to the British 
 merchant, and to the foreign producer and con- 
 sumer, vent itself in the carrying trade ; and En- 
 gland, seconding, by the wisdom of her economical 
 system, the great natural advantages of her posi- 
 tion, would become the warehouse of the nations, 
 and the emporium of the world. 
 
 It is self-evident, that that accumulation of 
 stock, and reduction in the rate of interest and of 
 profit,, which caused capital to flow out into the 
 distant channels of the carrying trade, would, as 
 stated in the preceding section of this chapter, 
 cause it to be poured upon the soil. The cheaper 
 rate at which cultivation could be conducted, and 
 the increasing number of opulent consumers, would 
 speedily restore to tillage, the lands which the free 
 importation of foreign produce had at first thrown 
 out. The proprietors and occupiers of land, 
 though now panic-struck at the approach of that 
 state of things which alone can afford them legiti- 
 mate and permanent encouragement, would, as we 
 have already stated and explained, be placed in a 
 more flourishing and commanding position in the 
 community, than they could possibly hold, under
 
 ,504 
 
 any system of restriction on the external trade in 
 corn. The real and permanent interests of the 
 agricultural and the mercantile classes, are iden- 
 tical. A benefit or an injury, bestowed or in- 
 flicted on the one, is a benefit or injury, bestowed 
 or inflicted on the other. But it is unnecessary to re- 
 capitulate arguments upon a point which is almost 
 self-evident. We proceed to consider the effects, 
 which an unrestrained external corn trade would 
 produce upon the finances of the country. 
 
 IV. Whatever affects the value of money, is, 
 under any circumstances, a matter of considerable 
 importance ; and must, at the present time, acquire 
 a peculiar, and most serious interest, in consequence 
 of the immense money debt due to the public cre- 
 ditor. In whatever degree an unrestrained intro- 
 duction of foreign corn might keep ddwn prices, 
 and raise the value of money ; in the same degree 
 it would increase the real quantity of debt, dimi- 
 nish the amount of advalorcm duties, and increase 
 the pressure of all taxes laid on by tale and mea- 
 surement. These arc serious evils. In the present 
 mortgaged state of the revenue, they would pro-
 
 305 
 
 bably prdve imperative against the introduction of 
 a free trade in corn, were it not for the circum- 
 stances, that they would be only of temporary 
 duration ; and that, if we should attempt to ward 
 them off, by a system of restriction, and an arti- 
 ficial scale of prices, the remedy would speedily 
 induce consequences much more injurious ; and, 
 as we have already seen, would plunge the finances 
 into total and irremediable embarrassment. 
 
 The defalcation occasioned in the revenue, by a 
 free trade in corn, and the consequent rise in the 
 value of money, could be but of short duration ; 
 because, this free trade, this rise in money, or, in 
 other words, fall in prices, would as has been 
 already amply explained, powerfully conduce to 
 that national opujence, from which the income 
 of the state is derived ; and with the increase 
 of which, taxation, in all its branches, must be- 
 come more productive. Though, in consequence 
 of the rise in the value of money, each particular 
 commodity, on which the duty was laid ad valorem, 
 would pay into the treasury a smaller sum than 
 before ; yet, in proportion as wealth increased, 
 this smaller sum would be yielded upon a greater
 
 306 
 
 number of articles; and, with respect to the 
 branches of the revenue growing out of such du- 
 ties, a free external trade would soon make good 
 the deficiency it at first occasioned. 
 
 As a free external trade in corn, if gradually 
 and cautiously introduced, could not, in any period 
 of its progress, effect a diminution in wealth, or, 
 what is the same thing, in the quantity of com- 
 modities, it could not, in any period of its progress, 
 occasion a diminution in the amount of taxes laid 
 upon commodities by weight, tale, or measure- 
 ment; though, in proportion as it increased the 
 value of money, it would increase the real weight 
 of such taxes upon the people. Now it is self- 
 evident, that, as free trade increases the productive- 
 ness of industry, and augments the wealth of the 
 community, it will give the people power to sup- 
 port the heavier pressure which it inflicts ; while 
 every addition effected in the number of commo- 
 dities subject to taxes laid on by tale or measure- 
 ment, will occasion a clear addition to the amount 
 of the revenue. While the amount of the revenue 
 thus augments, any given portion of it will possess, 
 in consequence of the rise in the value of money, a
 
 307 
 
 higher power than before. Now, though the in- 
 creased power of the revenue will afford no aid to 
 government, in providing for the interest of the 
 debt, or in paying the fixed salaries of civil and 
 military servants ; yet in all new items of expendi- 
 ture, and with respect to the immense purchases 
 which the agents of government annually make for 
 the public service, it will tell ; and it must, there- 
 fore, as well as the numerical increase in the pro- 
 ductiveness of the taxes, be regarded as an im- 
 provement in the finances. 
 
 Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that 
 the free external trade is introduced so cautiously 
 and gradually, that wealth increases, in exact pro- 
 portion as money rises; or, in other words, that 
 commodities multiply in the ratio in which their 
 prices fall. In this case, the free trade would not, 
 at any period of its progress, induce financial em- 
 barrassment. Though, in whatever degree money 
 rose in value, the real debt, the real salaries of civil 
 and military servants, the real expenditure of the 
 country, would be increased, yet the revenue, in- 
 stead of falling short, would be found to increase 
 beyond the disbursements. 
 
 x2
 
 308 
 
 For example : If, in any particular market, four 
 hundred pounds of tea are consumed ; and if these, 
 exclusive of duty, are worth .100, then, it is self- 
 evident that, from an ad valorem tax of an hundred 
 percent, they will yield .10<> to the treasury Now, 
 if a free external trade should so raise the value of 
 money, that the four hundred pounds become 
 worth only .90, the:i, it is also self-evident, that 
 the ad valorem tax of an hundred per cent could 
 produce only .90. But if the free trade which 
 raised the value of money, and thus reduced the 
 amount of the tax upon tea, should, at the same 
 time, so increase the wealth, and consequently, the 
 demand, of the market, as to cause an additional 
 quantity of tea, to the value of .10 to be con- 
 sumed, then this additional quantity, at the ad 
 valorem duty of an hundred per cent, would add 
 . 10 to the receipts of the treasury ; and, so far, 
 the defalcation in the revenue, occasioned by the 
 rise in the value of money, would be exactly made 
 good, by the increased consumption of commo- 
 dities, by which this rise was accompanied. And 
 again : Supposing that, in any market, there is a con- 
 sumption of four hundred gallons tif wine, which,
 
 S09 
 
 independently of duty, are worth ,.100, then, a 
 tax upon this wine, of five shillings a gallon, will 
 yield the treasury .100. Should the adoption of 
 a free external trade raise the value of money, until 
 the wine, independently of duty, became worth 
 only .90, still, the tax laid on by measure, not 
 by value, would return to the treasury the same 
 sum as before. And should the free trade which 
 lowered the price of the wine, increase the wealth of 
 the market, so as to cause forty additional gallons 
 to be consumed, then the tax of five shillings a 
 gallon upon these would produce .10, and in- 
 crease the receipts of the treasury, by that sum. 
 Hence it is demonstrable, that a free trade which 
 should raise the value of money ten per cent, and 
 at the same time, add ten per cent, to the produc- 
 tive powers of industry, and to the demand for 
 articles of consumption, would sustain the amount 
 of ad valorem duties, while it increased, by ten per 
 cent, the productiveness of the taxes laid on by 
 tale or measure. 
 
 And now, as in the former chapter, we will re- 
 capitulate the conclusions, which our reasonings 
 and illustrations have been brought forward to 
 establish.
 
 310 
 
 1st. A free external trade in corn would, under 
 our present circumstances, render us dependent on 
 foreign countries for a part of our consumption; 
 but would render our supply of subsistence at once 
 cheap and steady. 
 
 2nd. Importing a part of our supply would, in 
 its first operation, necessarily give some check to 
 tillage, and inflict some depression on the landed 
 interest ; but in whatever degree it might be 
 found to increase the interior demand for corn, and 
 to diminish the expenses of production, in that de- 
 gree it would ultimately bestow a higher relative 
 value upon land, and place the agriculture of the 
 country in a more flourishing state than it could 
 maintain, under any system of artificial encourage- 
 ment, and restricted importation. 
 
 3rd. But a free external trade in corn would be 
 found to increase the home demand for corn, and 
 to diminish the expenses of production, in a degree 
 not easily to be calculated ; would, in every branch 
 of business carried on throughout the country, in- 
 crease the productive powers of labour and capital ; 
 reduce our natural prices ; augment the demand, 
 both of the home and of the foreign market ; in-
 
 311 
 
 crease our manufactures ; extend our commerce ; 
 and cause a rapid accumulation of capital, which, 
 overflowing upon the soil, would, under the natural 
 protection arising from the expense of carriage on 
 an article so bulky as corn, and, in order to sup- 
 ply subsistence to the increasing number of wealthy 
 consumers, be perpetually employed in bringing in 
 new lands, and in heightening the culture of the 
 old. 
 
 4th. As free external trade in corn would raise 
 the value of the currency, it would, on the one 
 hand, increase the real magnitude of the public 
 debt, while it would have a tendency to diminish 
 the amount of ad valorem duties, and augment the 
 pressure of the taxes laid on by tale or measure ; 
 but then, as this free trade must necessarily in- 
 crease the wealth of the country, it would, on the 
 other hand, relatively diminish the public debt, 
 when compared with the public resources ; would 
 sustain ad valorem duties, by causing the reduced 
 sum to be paid on a greater number of articles ; 
 would increase the productiveness of taxes laid on 
 by measure, weight, or tale ; and, while it at once
 
 312 
 
 added to the numerical amount, and, with respect 
 to all new expenditure, heightened the power of any 
 given portion of the revenue, would place the 
 finances in a much more flourishing condition than 
 before.
 
 313 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 I. Comparative Estimate of the Effects which a 
 restricted, and a free, external Trade in Corn, 
 would produce, upon the Subsistence, upon the 
 Agriculture, upon the Commerce, and upon tht 
 Finances, of the Country ; II. on the Measures 
 which, in revising the Corn Laws, it would be 
 expedient for the Legislature to adopt. 
 
 .Having, in the two preceding chapters, un- 
 folded the effects which would be produced by 
 imposing permanent restriction on the external 
 corn trade, and which would arise from giving 
 perfect freedom to this important branch of com- 
 merce ; nothing now remains, except to compare 
 the consequences resulting from these two oppo- 
 site measures ; and to ascertain the safest and most 
 efficacious means of introducing that system which 
 shall be found most conducive to the prosperity of 
 the country.
 
 314 
 
 I. In tracing the operations of restricted, and of 
 free, intercourse, we have occasionally been led to 
 contrast the effects of the two opposite systems, 
 and to draw conclusions in favour of the latter. 
 But to render this contrast complete, and to give 
 those conclusions the irresistible evidence which 
 belongs to them, it is necessary to place in juxta- 
 position, the results of restriction and of freedom, 
 and to bring forward some considerations which, 
 without breaking the connection of our discus- 
 sions, could not, in the preceding chapters, have 
 found a place. 
 
 1. It has appeared, that, in the present circum- 
 stances of these countries, and of the neighbouring 
 states, restrictions on the importation of foreign 
 corn would, for a short time, enable us to raise an 
 independent supply, at a very high, and a very un- 
 steady price ; while the contrary system of free in- 
 tercourse, by enabling us to obtain our consump- 
 tion of corn, without keeping inferior lands under 
 cultivation, and by enlarging the territory from 
 which subsistence was drawn, would at once keep 
 down our markets, and correct the evils arising 
 from unequal seasons. As far, therefore, as the
 
 315 
 
 supply of subsistence is concerned, a system of free 
 intercourse would be decidedly more beneficial 
 than a system of restriction. To say one word 
 upon the advantages of furnishing our numerous 
 population with a cheap supply of food, would be 
 superfluous. Steadiness in the supply of subsist- 
 ence is, perhaps, still more important, though its 
 benefits may be less obvious. When the price of 
 corn is liable to considerable and sudden fluctua- 
 tions, the market price of labour has not time to 
 accommodate itself to the natural price ; and the 
 lower classes of the community, unable, by any 
 exertion of prudence, or of industry, to obtain an 
 adequate support, will be driven to the parishes, 
 or to the compassionate, for relief. Hence, the 
 respectable pride of independence, and the love of 
 labour which it inspires, will gradually be lost ; 
 and the peasant, and the manufacturer, will ac- 
 quire those habits of idleness, improvidence, and 
 dissipation, which are ever the characteristics of 
 those who, having no regular means of obtaining 
 a livelihood, trust to chance for their support. 
 
 2. Restrictions upon importation, in their first 
 and direct operation, would extend tillage, and
 
 316 
 
 raise the value of laud ; but, in their second and 
 indirect operation, would, in whatever degree they 
 might prove prejudicial to commerce and wealth, 
 again contract cultivation, and involve the landed 
 interest in the general decline ; while, on the con- 
 trary, unrestrained intercourse would, at first, throw 
 out some inferior soils, and lower rents ; but sub- 
 sequently, in whatever degree it might be found to 
 encourage commerce, and to promote prosperity, 
 would pour the accumulating capital back upon 
 the soil, and bestow a higher relative value upon 
 land. With respect, therefore, to the agriculture 
 of the country, a free external trade in corn would 
 be, beyond all comparison, more beneficial than the 
 opposite system of restraint. A forced state of 
 tillage, and an artificial elevation in the value of 
 land, even if it were possible to sustain them, and 
 if they did not bear within themselves the seeds of 
 their own destruction, would be evils. A forced 
 state of agriculture is the same thing as capital de- 
 prived of its natural and most beneficial occupa- 
 tion ; is the same thing as a diminution in the pro- 
 ductive powers of industry. An artificial elevation 
 given to land, and, consequently, to its produce,
 
 317 
 
 would be worse. To increase the rent-roll of pro- 
 prietors, by compelling all other members of the 
 community to pay more for their corn than they 
 otherwise need to do, would be as gross a viola- 
 tion of* natural justice, as it is possible for the mind 
 to conceive. It would be tantamount to laying a 
 tax upon bread, for the purpose of pensioning off 
 the landed aristocracy. It would be nothing better 
 than legalized robbery, taking the money out of 
 the pockets of the poor and of the industrious, in 
 order to lavish it on the idle and the rich. A 
 forced state of agriculture, with its high scale of 
 rents and prices, even if some extraordinary com- 
 bination of circumstances should give it perma- 
 nence, would inflict positive evil on the country. 
 
 But now, when, in consequence of the peace, the 
 consumers of corn in this country no longer pos- 
 sess a monopoly of the commerce of the world, 
 they have no longer the ability to pay, for their 
 subsistence, the monopoly prices of the war ; and 
 it has become impossible to give permanence to our 
 forced state of cultivation. Artificial regulations, 
 for the purpose of keeping the value of land above 
 its natural level, would, as has been already un-
 
 318 
 
 folded, retard the period when the general pros- 
 perity of the country, by increasing the demand for 
 corn, and reducing the expense of its production, 
 should allow tillage to be extended over inferior 
 soils. Such regulations ultimately deprive the 
 home grower of his only legitimate and permanent 
 encouragement ; and tend to depress that very 
 agriculture which they were intended to promote. 
 The natural order of events we cannot with impu- 
 nity invect. In any country, to extend tillage 
 beyond its actual state, two things are necessary, 
 viz. lands susceptible of improvement, and con- 
 sumers able to pay, with an adequate profit, the 
 expenses of realizing it. A high price of corn can 
 promote cultivation, only when there are consumers 
 capable of paying it. Now, artificial regulations, 
 prematurely forcing inferior lands into cultivation, 
 would diminish both the number and the wealth of 
 consumers; and, in the second step of their pro- 
 gress, would visit proprietors and cultivators with 
 all the evils which, at the first step of their pro- 
 gress, they brought on the other classes of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The opposite system would produce diametri-
 
 #319 
 
 calljy opposite effects. As soon as the first em- 
 barrassment of withdrawing the very inferior soils 
 from tillage, and of re-adjusting rents to their 
 natural level, should have subsided, an unfettered 
 commerce would exert the most friendly influence 
 upon agriculture. Industry being permitted to 
 take its most beneficial direction, the number and 
 wealth of consumers would gradually increase; 
 while the interest of money, and the profits of 
 stock, becoming lower with each advance in opu- 
 lence, the expense of cultivation would diminish. 
 These constitute the only legitimate, the only per- 
 manent encouragement which agriculture can re- 
 ceive. It cannot be too often repeated, that the 
 interests of the landed, and of the trading, classes 
 of the community, are identical. The rent of pro- 
 prietors, and the profits of cultivators, must ever 
 be determined by the quantity of other commodi- 
 ties which the manufacturer and merchant are 
 able and willing to give in exchange for agricultu- 
 ral produce. Though it were possible (and, I 
 firmly believe, it is not) that the land-owners and 
 cultivators should be uninfluenced by a regard for 
 the good of the public, and for their country's pros-
 
 320 
 
 perity and power, yet a sensibility to their own 
 true interests should render them solicitous for the 
 adoption of an economical system, which would 
 give ncrease to the productive powers of industry, 
 and extension to manufactures a d commerce. 
 With the flourishing or declining state of these, 
 the value of their produce must ultimately rise or 
 fall. The superiority of a free external trade in 
 corn, with respect to its influence in promoting 
 agricultural improvement, must, in the last ana- 
 lysis, be estimated by its superiority in promoting 
 wealth and commerce 
 
 3. Permanent prohibitory duties on the impor- 
 tation of foreign corn would almost annihilate our 
 manufactures and commerce ; while a free trade 
 in this important article, would afford them all the 
 encouragement of which they are susceptible. 
 These propositions, which were fully unfolded and 
 established in the two preceding chapters, are, 
 even if we confine our attention to the indirect in- 
 fluence which commerce exerts upon agricultural 
 improvement, sufficient to impress us with the vast 
 superiority which the free external trade possesses 
 over a system of restriction. But if, in estimating
 
 m 
 
 321 
 
 the benefits conferred by commerce, we were to 
 confine our attention to the indirect influence 
 which it extends to agriculture, our views of the 
 subject would be extremely narrow and inadequate. 
 As such narrow and inadequate views, however, 
 are sometimes taken; and as there is an inclination 
 occasionally discovered, to revive the exploded 
 paradoxes of the economists, it will be proper to 
 present a comparative display of the degrees of 
 wealth, prosperity, and power, which a country may 
 obtain when her industry is limited to the supply- 
 ing of the home market, and when her productions 
 are exchanged against those of foreign countries. 
 This will place in a full and perfect light, the ad- 
 vantages that a free external trade in corn, which 
 would promote all other branches of commerce, 
 possesses over a system of restriction, which would 
 depress them. 
 
 It is self-evident, that a state which refuses to 
 receive agricultural produce from other countries, 
 can never possess a population beyond that which 
 its own territory is able to subsist. It is demon- 
 strable, that a people who, by the nature of their 
 situation, or by the errors of their economical 
 
 Y
 
 322 
 
 system, are shut out from foreign trade, can never 
 make any very considerable advances in wealth and 
 power. The first principle of political economy 
 informs us, that the divisions of employment, whe- 
 ther established between the individuals of the 
 same country, or between the individuals of dif- 
 ferent countries, are the sources from which every 
 considerable improvement in the productive powers 
 of industry is derived. Now the people who deprive 
 themselves of foreign trade, deprive themselves of 
 the benefits of the foreign divisions of employment ; 
 and can neither cultivate exclusively, the produc- 
 tions for which Nature has adapted their soil, nor 
 devote themselves to those manufactures, in which 
 they may have acquired advantages. Hence, they 
 will neither be so abundantly supplied with the 
 comforts of life, nor be able to contribute so largely 
 to the exigencies of the state, as if their situation, 
 or their institutions, had been favourable to com- 
 merce. 
 
 But this is a very small part of the disadvantage 
 to which a country, shut out from foreign trade, 
 and relying on her internal resources, is necessarily 
 exposed. Such a country has limits set to her
 
 323 
 
 population and wealth, which it is not only impos- 
 sible to pass, but which it becomes every day 
 more difficult to approach. Every step in the 
 progress of prosperity is, to a merely agricultural 
 state, more tardy and operose than that which pre- 
 ceded it. 
 
 Let us suppose, for example, that such a state 
 has so far surmounted the obstacles thrown in the 
 way of improvement by uofavourable situation, or 
 erroneous legislation, as to bring into cultivation 
 all the good and middling lands which require 
 little, or but a moderate quantity of capital. Now, 
 as all those tracts of territory, which, though of 
 somewhat inferior quality, might, under adequate 
 encouragement, and with a liberal application of 
 capital, furnish large additional supplies of subsist- 
 ence, remain by the supposition unreclaimed, it is 
 evident, that this state cannot, as yet, have even ap- 
 proached the limits of its possible population and 
 power. Let us, therefore, suppose farther, that 
 such an increased encouragement to agriculture 
 has arisen, that it becomes profitable to apply 
 capital to land one degree inferior to the first-rate 
 and middling soils already under tillage. Now,
 
 324 
 
 the necessary consequences are, that these soils, as 
 soon as it becomes profitable to apply capital to 
 inferior land, will afford a higher rent ; and that 
 the natural price of corn throughout the country 
 will be increased ; the produce of the inferior soils 
 coming to market, charged with wages and pro- 
 fits upon a greater quantity of labour and capital, 
 and the produce of the superior charged with a 
 higher rent. Now, a rise in the natural price of 
 corn, is not only the same thing as a reduction in 
 the productive powers of the labour and capital 
 employed in cultivation ; but is the same thing 
 as a reduction in the productive powers of indus- 
 try, in every branch of business carried on by the 
 consumers of corn. 
 
 It is self-evident, that, as the powers of produc- 
 tion are lowered, the march of prosperity must be 
 retarded. Such a further increase, therefore, in 
 the demand for corn, and in the capital applicable 
 to cultivation, as would allow lands in the next de- 
 gree of inferiority to be brought under tillage, could 
 not be effected without great and growing diffi- 
 culty. But we will suppose that this difficulty is 
 surmounted ; we will suppose that, in consequence
 
 325 
 
 of some circumstances favourable to the growth of 
 wealth, the revenue of consumers, and the capital 
 of growers, have been so increased, that lands in the 
 next degree of inferiority may be cultivated with a 
 profit. Now, as soon as the cultivation of these 
 is effected, the process just detailed will be re- 
 peated. Lands of third-rate quality will require, 
 in order to raise a given produce, a greater quan- 
 tity of labour and capital than the first and second- 
 rate sorts which were before under tillage. The 
 latter will, consequently, acquire a higher value, 
 and afford a greater rent. All the component parts 
 in the natural price of corn will, therefore, be again 
 increased ; that is to say, the productive powers of 
 industry will be again diminished, and any fur- 
 ther advance in opulence and power rendered still 
 more difficult than before. If, in the course of 
 years, tracts in the fourth degree of inferiority 
 should be reclaimed, then, the next step towards 
 improvement would be made by a movement so 
 slow as to be scarcely perceptible; and i in the 
 march of ages, soils in the fifth degree could be 
 redeemed, the country which relied exclusively on 
 internal resources might, with respect to any period
 
 326 
 
 of time which can form the basis of political cal- 
 culation, be regarded as stationary. 
 
 Thus it is, that countries, merely agricultural, 
 begin, after cultivation has been extended over 
 their most fertile districts, to lose the active prin- 
 ciple of improvement, and scarcely ever attain 
 even to that limited degree of opulence and power, 
 which their own soil, if its capacities were deve- 
 loped, could supply. But this is not the worst. 
 As the gradual diminution in the productive powers 
 of industry, retarded their advance, it would also, 
 render them slow in recovering from the effects of 
 deficient seasons, or from the waste of war. Un- 
 less Nature should prove ever favourable, and the 
 neighbouring states ever just, a country, merely 
 agricultural, would not only cease, in a short pe- 
 riod, to advance, but would, probably, become re- 
 trograde. 
 
 The country whose position and whose policy 
 permitted her to participate freely in foreign trade, 
 would experience every thing the reverse of that, 
 which has been described in the preceding para- 
 graphs. To the possible increase of her resources, 
 no limit could be assigned ; and her prosperity, in-
 
 327 
 
 stead of becoming every day more tardy, would ad- 
 vance with an accelerated pace. The divisions of 
 employment established with other countries, would 
 enable her to avail herself to the utmost of every 
 natural advantage ; and the rapid increase of opu- 
 lent consumers would speedily bring into cultiva- 
 tion, all her lands of first-rate, and of middling 
 quality. When she had arrived at this point, she 
 would not, at a great waste of labour and capital, 
 force cold and sterile tracts into tillage ; but, adopt- 
 ing a more enlightened policy, would receive a 
 part of her subsistence from the foreign grower. 
 Hence, there would be no increase in the natural 
 price of corn, and hence no diminution in the pro- 
 ductive powers of industry. The number of opu- 
 lent consumers would go on increasing, and capital 
 would continue to accumulate as rapidly as be- 
 fore. 
 
 As capital accumulated, the rate of interest and 
 of profit would fall; as commerce extended, more 
 accurate divisions of employment would multiply 
 and cheapen all wrought goods. Hence, while the 
 increasing number of wealthy consumers increased 
 the demand for corn, the expenses of cultivation
 
 328 
 
 would diminish. Agriculture would flourish be- 
 neath the reaction of an enlightened commercial 
 system ; the soil would acquire a higher relative 
 value, from the abundance of commodities ready 
 to be exchanged for its produce ; and, while tracts 
 of third, fourth, and fifth-rate quality could be 
 profitably tilled, rents would experience a progres- 
 sive rise. 
 
 Now it must be obvious, that, in a flourishing 
 commercial country, which freely imports the pro- 
 duce of her neighbours, the progressive reclaiming 
 of inferior soils, and the consequent rise in rents, 
 would proceed from causes, and would lead to ef- 
 fects, very dissimilar to those which an extension 
 of tillage, and a rise in rents, could proceed from, 
 or could lead to, in a country merely agricultural. 
 In the agricultural country, the rise in rents, and 
 the extension of tillage over inferior soils, would, 
 as has been shewn above, have the effect of raising 
 the natural price of corn; but, in the commercial 
 couutry, this effect would be counteracted, because 
 the more perfect divisions of employment would re- 
 quire less wages, and the fall in the interest of 
 money, less profits, to be paid for producing any
 
 329 
 
 quantity of grain. These causes, co-operating with 
 the competition of an open trade, would necessarily 
 keep subsistence cheap. The natural price of corn 
 would receive no increase, and, consequently, the 
 productive powers of industry sustain no diminu- 
 tion. Prosperity would encounter no check. On 
 the contrary, manufactures, commerce, and po- 
 pulation, would acquire an heightened ratio of 
 increase : for every addition made to the quan- 
 tity of agricultural produce imported, would, 
 while it gave employment to a greater number of 
 workmen, create, in the foreign market, an addi- 
 tional demand for the equivalents which purchased 
 it. The limits of commercial prosperity cannot be 
 assigned. 
 
 These conclusions from general principles, have 
 received the fullest sanction of experience ; and the 
 superiority which, in point of opulence, popula- 
 tion, and power, a commercial country possesses 
 over one that is merely agricultural, has been con- 
 firmed by the history of all ages. In ancient times, 
 Sidon, Tyre, Corinth, Athens, Syracuse, and Car- 
 thage; and, iu modern times, Venice, Genoa, Pisa,
 
 330 
 
 Florence, the Ilanseatic Towns, and Holland, not 
 only acquired by their industry and commerce, an 
 opulence, of which there is no example amongst 
 nations, whose position or whose institutions have 
 been unfriendly to foreign trade, but attained a de- 
 gree of political power and consideration, to which, 
 had they been limited to the resources of their own 
 territories, they could never have ventured to as- 
 pire. Venice, Hamburgh, and Holland, if they 
 had refused to cultivate commerce, must always 
 have remained perfectly insignificant states ; yet, 
 by adopting an enlightened system of external in- 
 tercourse, what fleets and armies they put forth ; 
 what kingdoms, what confederations they resisted ; 
 and what a leading, what a preponderating 
 part they acted in the affairs of Europe ! 
 
 To this it may be objected, that security and in- 
 dependence are of still higher importance than 
 great wealth and population ; that as foreign trade 
 is liable to perpetual fluctuations, the power and 
 preponderance which it confers, must be unstable ; 
 and that the commercial states, once so formidable 
 in Europe, have been swallowed up in the great
 
 331 
 
 territorial monarchies; and, deprived even of their 
 political existence, retain nothing of their former 
 splendour but their name. 
 
 The objection proves too much ; it applies 
 equally to every institution, the origin of which is 
 human. Empires rise and fall, flourish and decay. 
 The power which is derived from extended com- 
 merce is, perhaps, less unstable than that which is 
 derived from extended territory. Ancient Egypt, 
 though possessing the most fertile territory in the 
 world, was subjugated in succession, by every pre- 
 ponderating state which arose within her neigh- 
 bourhood. China, of whose agriculture such won- 
 ders are related, has been unable to defend herself 
 against the hordes of Tartary. Poland ceased to 
 be a kingdom, before Venice lost her indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 The question, however, is not, whether extend- 
 ed commerce, or extended territory, be the most 
 stable foundation upon which national greatness 
 can rest ; but, whether a country possessing a given 
 territory, should, by the prosecution of external 
 trade, establish a species of property in the terri- 
 tory of her neighbours, and acquire accessions of
 
 332 
 
 population, wealth, and power, which would be 
 unattainable if she confined herself to her internal 
 lesourccs. The question, as it respected Venice, 
 was, whether the inhabitants of a few rocks in the 
 Adriatic, should remain in helpless insignificance, 
 exposed to the depredations of every horde of pi- 
 rates ; or whether they should place themselves in 
 a condition to contend successfully against the Ot- 
 toman Empire, when its power was at its height, 
 and when it seemed ready to subjugate the migh- 
 tiest monarchies of Europe ? The question, as it 
 respects England, is not, whether her power would 
 be more independent and stable, if she possessed 
 the extended territory and numerous population of 
 France, or Austria, or Russia ; but, whether, being 
 inferior to these great continental states in natural 
 resources, she should avail herself of the artificial, 
 and even, perhaps, less permanent, advantages, 
 placed within her reach, and by the wonders of her 
 commerce, create the means for taking au ascen- 
 dancy in Europe. 
 
 If the persons who, in their admiration of the 
 independent and permanent resources which are 
 derived from domestic agriculture, would adopt
 
 333 
 
 measures dangerous to that species of power which 
 our industry has established, and which has so long 
 rendered us the wonder and the envy of our neigh- 
 bours ; if these persons possessed an enchanted 
 wand, by the touch of which, they could change 
 the waters between the British Islands into fertile 
 plains, and thus give us territorial resources, equi- 
 valent to the commercial ones they seem solicitous to 
 under-rate, and to destroy; then, indeed, their doc- 
 ix ine might patiently be heard. But as long as the 
 abandonment of commerce cannot create additional 
 Jands, so long must we cherish that compensa- 
 tion, that substitute for extended territory, which a 
 flourishing external trade confers. When the advo- 
 cate of independent and self-derived power urges 
 the instability of commerce, instead of advancing a 
 reason for neglecting the advantages it bestows, 
 he furnishes an irresistible argument against the 
 adoption of any measure which might in any way 
 endanger the resources, by which our position in 
 Europe, if not our national independence, is main- 
 tained. 
 
 The argument respecting the expediency of 
 compensating, by the resources growing out of
 
 334 
 
 commerce, the deficiency of territorial power, ap- 
 plies, with peculiar cogency, to insular states. 
 Without extended commerce, there can be no naval 
 preponderance ; and without naval preponderance, 
 an insular state must, in all her foreign relations, 
 be perfectly insignificant. To a continental power, 
 commerce, and naval affairs, are objects only of 
 secondary, but, to an island, they are objects of 
 primary, importance. France may invade her 
 neighbours, and dictate to Europe, without a 
 fleet ; and, though she rode unrivalled on the 
 waters, might be invaded on the land side and sub- 
 dued. To England, on the contrary, superiority 
 at sea is the best means of defence, and the only 
 means of offence. Without our Navy, we should 
 be excluded from all participation in the affairs of 
 Europe ; and our Army, however numerous, and 
 however brave, could never be brought into con- 
 tact with an enemy, unless to repel the descents, to 
 which we should be perpetually exposed. 
 
 Popular sentiment, though occasionally liable to 
 unsteadiness and excess, has, in general, a better 
 foundation in reason, than the pride of philosophy 
 is willing to allow. The public voice in favour of
 
 335 
 
 our naval ascendency, and of our maritime rights, 
 is the expression of consummate political wisdom. 
 Our naval greatness is the only foundation, on 
 which our military glory can be made to rest. 
 Our squadrons are not only floating fortifications 
 drawn around our coasts, but constitute the mili- 
 tary road, over which our armies must move. 
 Now, we should never cease to remember, that 
 manufactures and commerce are necessary, not 
 only to compensate for our deficiency in extent and 
 population, but also as the sources of that justly 
 cherished naval preponderance, without which an 
 insular empire can take up no position among the 
 nations of the world. 
 
 Having now explained, from general principles, 
 and from a reference to historical facts, the nature 
 of the superiority, which a commercial state has 
 over a country which confines herself to her inter- 
 nal resources ; and also shewn that, to the parti- 
 cular case of a country which is inferior to its 
 neighbours, in extent and population, and which, 
 in consequence of an insular situation, is dependent 
 on naval preponderance for its place in Europe, 
 these principles, and these facts, apply with pecu-
 
 336 
 
 liar cogency ; it is now only necessary, in order to 
 establish the vast, the incalculable advantage, 
 which a free, would possess over a restricted, trade 
 in corn, that we should repeat the principles, al- 
 ready fully established, that the former system 
 would be friendly, and that the latter would be 
 destructive, to our commerce. 
 
 4. Though enough may already have been 
 urged, to establish the great and extraordinary 
 superiority which, to countries in general, and to 
 England in particular, a free, would possess over 
 a restricted, corn trade ; yet, we should be depriv- 
 ing our argument of much of the evidence of which 
 it is susceptible, did we omit to re-state, and to 
 place in contrast, the influence of these opposite 
 systems upon finance. 
 
 A system of restrictions on the importation of 
 foreign grain would, in its first operation, lower 
 the value of money, and, consequently, increase 
 the amount of ad valorem duties, and lighten the 
 pressure of all other taxes, while it would be tanta- 
 mount to reducing the salaries of all the servants 
 of the state, and to diminishing the real quantity 
 of our debt. These financial facilities, however,
 
 337 
 
 would be of very short duration. The second opera- 
 tion of restricted importation would be the loss of 
 wealth, the destruction of manufactures and com- 
 merce, and the drying up of all the sources from 
 which revenue is supplied. All taxes, whether laid 
 on ad valorem, or by measurement and tale, would 
 become less productive by being paid on a smaller 
 number of commodities ; while, as wealth decayed, 
 as the manufacturing and commercial classes emi- 
 grated or perished, the demand for agricultural 
 produce would cease, the artificial scale of prices 
 would sink in the general ruin it had occasioned, 
 and, consequently, the value of money be elevated 
 once more. Here, then, the amount of ad valorem 
 duties, already reduced by being paid upon a 
 smaller number of commodities, would sustain a 
 still farther diminution ; while all other taxes fell 
 with redoubled weight upon the wasted country. 
 At the same time, all the salaries paid by govern- 
 ment would be, in fact, increased, and the real 
 quantity of our debt augmented. The restriction 
 on the importation of corn, and the artificial scale 
 of prices it had induced, after having afforded a tern-
 
 538 
 
 porary relief to the finances, would then plunge the 
 country into bankruptcy and ruin. 
 
 A free external trade in corn would effect a 
 process the reverse of this. Its first effect would be 
 to raise the value of money, and, consequently, to 
 diminish the amount of ad valorem duties, and to 
 increase upon the public the pressure of other taxes. 
 But, by a nearly contemporaneous operation, it would 
 augment wealth, extend commerce, and improve 
 the sources from which revenue is supplied. The 
 former amount of ad valorem duties would now be 
 restored in consequence of the smaller sum being 
 paid upon a greater number of commodities ; 
 the growing wealth of the country would enable 
 it to sustain, with as little inconvenience as be- 
 fore, the increased pressure of other taxes, while 
 these, by being paid upon a greater number of 
 commodities, would be rendered considerably more 
 productive. The finances would become more 
 flourishing from a double cause. While the re- 
 ceipts of the treasury increased in amount, any 
 given portion of the revenue would, in all the 
 branches of expenditure, except those of disbursing
 
 339 
 
 fixed salaries, and of discharging the interest of the 
 debt, acquire a heightened power. 
 
 Thus, in contrasting the effects of the two sys- 
 tems upon the financial resources of the country, 
 we again find that a free, possesses important, nay, 
 incalculable advantages over a restricted, corn trade. 
 Just escaped from a contest, to which the history 
 of man affords no parallel, and which has entailed 
 upon us a weight of taxation never before sustained 
 by any people, the difficulties of the country are 
 seriously great ; and, unless our economical system 
 be revised with a happy union of sagacity and 
 science, the pacification and deliverance of Europe 
 may, for us, have arrived too late. If, at such a 
 crisis, the legislature should be unhappily induced 
 to sanction regulations, the necessary operations 
 of which would be to lower the productive powers 
 of our industry, to raise the natural price of all 
 our commodities, and to strike at the roots of our 
 commercial prosperity, then national bankruptcy 
 will be the inevitable result. On the other hand, 
 if, by the adoption of an enlightened economical 
 system, our wonderfully accumulated capital (aided 
 by more perfect divisions of employment, and by 
 
 z2
 
 340 
 
 that improved machinery for abridging labour, 
 which are ever its concomitants) should be per- 
 mitted to take its mo3t profitable direction, and our 
 manufacturers be allowed to purchase subsistence 
 and materials wherever they can be procured at 
 the cheapest rate, then the natural price of our 
 productions will be reduced ; then our commerce 
 will extend; then wealth will flow in, and the 
 country will acquire an elastic power, enabling 
 her to bear, and to flourish under, all her burthens. 
 The comparison between the financial results of a 
 restricted, and of a free trade, in corn, is, in fact, 
 a comparison between flourishing revenue and 
 bankruptcy. 
 
 II. And now, if we have been at all successful 
 in unfolding the principles of the external corn 
 trade, in examining the exceptions to which these 
 principles are liable, and in tracing and comparing 
 the effects, which freedom and restriction would 
 respectively produce, the irresistible conclusion 
 must be, that, in revising the corn laws, the in- 
 troduction of a free trade, is the object which the 
 legislature should steadily keep in view. In effect- 
 ing this improvement in our economical system,
 
 341 
 
 however, difficulty and embarrassment may occur, 
 and considerable caution will be required. We 
 may lay it down as a universal maxim in political 
 science, that sudden change is evil. The truth of this 
 principle, as it applies to the case of a precipitate fall 
 from an artificial scale of prices, was fully unfolded 
 in the first part and third chapter of this volume. 
 What we there proved from general principles, the 
 farmer has, during the last year, fatally experienced. 
 Now, in order to guard from impending calamity 
 a very numerous and a most important class of the 
 community, as well as to arrest that waste of the 
 national resources which must ever accompany a 
 sudden breaking up of the accustomed channels of 
 industry, it becomes highly necessary that the legis- 
 lature, without ever losing sight of the great ulti- 
 mate object of introducing a free trade in corn, 
 should afford the domestic grower the protection 
 of a moderate and temporary duty on the importa- 
 tion of foreign grain. 
 
 It is evident that, in order to determine the 
 degree of protection necessary to check the waste 
 of agricultural capital, we must previously ascer- 
 tain the price, which is necessary to secure to the
 
 342 
 
 farmer the customary rate of profit on the stock he 
 has vested in the soil. Now, in endeavouring to 
 ascertain the remunerating price, our economists 
 seem, in a great measure, to have overlooked the 
 important influence which the price of corn has 
 upon the expenses of its own production ; or, in 
 other words, upon the cost of cultivation. The 
 secretary of the Board of Agriculture, indeed, to 
 whose talents and unwearied exertions the public 
 has so frequently been indebted for valuable infor- 
 mation, gave in to the Lords' Committee a table, 
 which we have already exhibited, and which, from 
 the year 1790, to the year 1813, shews, on the as- 
 cending scale, the extent to which the value of 
 produce regulates most of the items of the culti- 
 vator's expenditure. Taking this table as the basis 
 of our illustration, we endeavoured, in the pre- 
 ceding chapter, to trace, on the descending scale, 
 the gradations by which the price of corn affects 
 the out-goings of the farm. The reasoning on 
 this subject is obvious, and is self-evident, in all 
 its steps. When the price of produce falls, the 
 value of tithes, and of seed, will immediately, and 
 in the same proportion, be reduced ; and, though
 
 343 
 
 neither immediately, nor in the same degree, 
 labour, and all the instruments of production, will 
 come down also. Now, as, since the period when, 
 according to Mr. Young's calculations, the remu- 
 nerating price for wheat was eighty*seven shillings 
 the quarter, the price of produce, and, conse- 
 quently, many items of the cultivator's expendi- 
 ture, have been considerably reduced, we may 
 (particularly as the farther disbanding of our 
 sailors and soldiers will, for a time, lower yet 
 more the important article of labour), take the pre- 
 sent remunerating price at about seventy shillings 
 the quarter, for wheat of a middling quality. 
 
 If this estimate of the present remunerating price 
 should come near the truth, it will be expedient* 
 that, in revising the corn laws, the legislature 
 should in the first instance, lay such duties upon 
 importation as may keep the foreign grower out 
 of our markets, until wheat has risen above 
 seventy shillings the quarter. And, even should 
 seventy shillings be something below the full re- 
 munerating price, giving to the former, accord* 
 ing to Mr. Young's calculation, ten per cent, 
 upon his stock, it does not seem adviseable that 
 a higher scale of duties should be imposed. For
 
 344 
 
 we never should forget, that every artificial ele- 
 vation of price secured to the farmer, is not only 
 a direct tax imposed upon the community at 
 large, but a positive discouragement to manu- 
 factures and commerce. Now the interests of 
 agriculture, as has repeatedly appeared, through- 
 out this work, are inseparably connected with the 
 flourishing state of trade. If the duty upon the 
 introduction of foreign grain should be laid on so 
 high as to cause our commodities to be excluded 
 from the foreign market, our unemployed manufac- 
 turers would no longer have an effectual demand for 
 corn, and prices would ultimately sustain a ruinous 
 fall from the unwise attempt to sustain them 
 at an artificial and unnatural elevation. Of all 
 classes of the community, proprietors and culti- 
 vators would, ultimately, receive the deepest in- 
 jury from the duty upon importation being laid 
 on too high. Should the necessaries of life be 
 ruinously advanced, the merchant might with- 
 draw his capital, the manufacturer transport his 
 skill to some better regulated country ; but the 
 land must remain, and its proprietor be left alone 
 to survey the desolation he bad wrought; Should 
 the duty on importation be laid on somewhat too
 
 315 
 
 low, seed and tithe, and, in a little time, labour 
 and rent, would sustain a fall, and so reduce the 
 expenses of cultivation, that the farmer would 
 nearly regain his general rate of profit on his 
 stock ; but should the duty be laid on too high, the 
 home demand for corn would be reduced, and the 
 possibility of a rectifying process be destroyed. 
 
 It being demonstrable, therefore, that the interest 
 of all classes requires that the duty laid on impor- 
 tation should rather be below than above what may 
 be necessary to secure the remunerating price, ac- 
 cording to the present expenses of cultivation, we 
 will take seventy shillings the quarter, as the 
 lowest price at which wheat of a middling quality 
 should, in the first instance, be permitted to come 
 into our markets. 
 
 When the legislature shall have adjusted, as a 
 temporary measure, the duty for protecting the 
 home grower, and for checking any farther loss of 
 agricultural capital, leisure will be afforded for a 
 gradual and cautious introduction of more enlight- 
 ened principles into our commercial system. The 
 only exception, as was shewn in the first part of 
 this work, to the principle of a free external trade 
 in corn, is formed by the existence of a forced state
 
 S46 
 
 of tillage, and an artificial scale of prices; and 
 even this exception is founded entirely on the evils 
 arising out of precipitate change. Precipitate 
 change, therefore is the only thing against which, 
 in conferring upon the country the incalculable 
 advantage of an unrestricted trade in corn, the 
 legislature has to guard. In doing this, no diffi- 
 culty could arise. Supposing the temporary mea- 
 sure of protection to consist of duties checking 
 importation, whenever the quarter of middling 
 wheat was below seventy shillings, and increasing 
 in proportion as our markets fell, so as to render 
 seventy shillings the lowest price at which, in the 
 first year, the foreign, could enter into com- 
 petition with the domestic, cultivator ; then, by 
 providing that, in the second year, the duties should 
 not be laid on until middling wheat fell to sixty- 
 eight shillings, and that, in the third, and each suc- 
 cessive year, the duties should not commence until 
 prices came down two shillings below the ave- 
 rage of the former season, the legislature might 
 gradually give freedom to the corn trade, without 
 imparting to industry, and to property, that sud- 
 den shock, the calamitous effects of which we 
 formerly described.
 
 347 
 
 Some will, probably, consider this as a too hasty, 
 and others may regard it as a too tardy, adoption 
 of the principle of free trade. In solving the dif- 
 ficult problem, however, respecting the grada- 
 tions, by which we could arrive at the important 
 object of unrestricted intercourse, the productive- 
 ness of the several branches of revenue would fur- 
 nish us with an unerring guide. If, for example, 
 the amount of ad valorem duties should, other 
 things remaining the same, sustain a diminution, 
 we should be warned that the value of money 
 was raised faster than the quantity of commodities 
 paying such duties, was augmented ; and, conse- 
 quently, that the approach to a free trade was 
 conducted with too much haste. But if, on the 
 other hand, the amount of duties should, not- 
 withstanding the rise in the value of money, con- 
 tinue to increase, we might confidently conclude, 
 that an increased number of taxable commodities 
 was consumed ; and that the progress to unre- 
 stricted intercourse was accompanied with a rapid 
 increase in the wealth and resources of the country. 
 
 When, in order to give time for a reduction of 
 rents, for a withdrawing of capital from very in- 
 ferior soils, and for the increased quantity of com .
 
 348 
 
 modities to make good the financial deficit occa- 
 sioned by a rise in the value of money, a temporary 
 protection shall have been afforded to agriculture, 
 the legislature may proceed to regulate tithes, to 
 repeal whatever taxes may fall with dispropor- 
 tioned weight upon tillage, and to provide for an 
 equalization of all rates and assessments. Should 
 these desirable measures be effected before the pe- 
 riod when the foreign shall be permitted to com- 
 pete with the home grower, then capital would 
 everywhere flow into its natural and most pro- 
 ductive channels, and the free external trade in 
 corn, without inflicting depression or embarrass- 
 ment on any class of individuals, would, with 
 respect to subsistence, to agriculture, to commerce, 
 and to revenue, produce those generally, and 
 greatly beneficial consequences, the nature and 
 extent of which we have, throughout this work, 
 endeavoured to unfold, and to determine. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 J. Er.-Hell, Printer, 
 Rupert Street, Hayinaiku, London.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 - ill II III I 
 
 liniiiiiiii inn inn roil ii" 
 A A 000113 922 9 
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 
 
 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. 
 
 APR 17 2006 
 
 UCLA COL LIB MA R ? 
 RECEIVED Wfl * L 
 
 2 2006 

 
 
 
 3 1158 00816 
 
 I llll I 
 
 2462