i 
 
UCSB 
 
 BRITISH CORN-LAWS 
 
 BY J. C. PLATT. 
 
 FROM THE FIRST LONDON EDITION, 
 
 WITH ADDITIONS BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE, 
 
 142 FULTON-STREET. 
 
 1845. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Importance of the subject The population of Great Britain Progress of 
 agricultural industry and manufactures Manufacturing counties Agri- 
 cultural sections Increase of immigration Waste lands of England 
 Divisions of the subject Periods of the importation and exportation of 
 corn in England, &c 127 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FIRST PERIOD. FROM EARLY TIMES TO 1688. 
 
 Early municipal regulations and enactments Early discouragements to 
 importations Progress of agriculture in 1436, and surplus of grain Prices 
 at which it was then allowed to be exported Complaints against its restric- 
 tions Subsequent legal enactments for the protection of the corn- 
 grower High prices of wheat in England Preamble of the first corn- 
 law Restrictive statute of 1463 Subsequent complaints resulting there- 
 from Allusions to this in Pastor's letters Motives of the state policy, 
 ficc. Subsequent acts of 1533, and regulation of prices Opposition to 
 the laws on this point Enactments respecting farms, &c. Singular regu- 
 lations respecting the supply of articles of food, <fcc. Difficulties conse- 
 quent on these The system partially inoperative Freedom of export 
 allowed in 1554 Extension of privileges Averages of exportation settled 
 annually Prices at which importations were allowed Effects of this 
 regulation After enactments, and their effects The law of 1663, and 
 its inlluence Further legislation on the subject in 1670 New limitation 
 of rates of exportation Failure of its object Allusions to this by Roger 
 Coke Defective harvests of 1673, 74, and 75 Depressed condition of 
 agriculturists The acts of 1570 and 1OTO compared. . . 130 
 
124 CONTEXTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SECOND PERIOD. FROM 1689 TO 1773. 
 
 High prices of the seven years ending 1679 Their effects, &c. Bounties 
 on exportation of corn Preamble of the act authorizing this Term of 
 its suspension New act of 170(), abolishing all existingpdulies on expor- 
 tation of corn, &c. Excess of exports from 1697 to 1773 Further sta- 
 tistics References to Smith, Ilallam, and Malthus, on this subject The 
 cycle of good seasons from 1730 to 1755 Prices of the quartern loaf in 
 London in 1766 Importation allowed in 1773 Excess of exports from 
 1742 to 1751 Suspensions of bounty on exportation Dissatisfaction of the 
 agriculturists Increase of population after the peace New mode of ascer- 
 taining the average prices of corn, &c. The movements of 1732 
 Weekly returns of prices established in 1770 The important act of 1772, 
 &c ... 142 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THIRD PERIOD. FROM 1773 TO 1791. 
 
 The corn act of 1773 Its influence on tillage, navigation, &c. Number of 
 acres then under cultivation The landed interests dependent upon foreign 
 supplies Dissatisfaction consequent on this Average prices of corn at 
 this period Regulations of the London Corn Exchange New regula- 
 tions of 1788-89, respecting the maritime districts, &c. . . 149 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FOURTH PERIOD. FROM 1791 TO 1804. 
 
 New scale of importation duties of 1791 Excess of importation, during the 
 thirteen subsequent years, in England Sacrifices induced by this Scar- 
 city of grain, and its consequences Seizure of neutral vessels laden with 
 corn Parliamentary measures for economizing the consumption of 
 wheat The hair-powder tax imposed Severe distress of the times 
 High prices Increased scarcity Further measures by the British House 
 of Commons Lord Hawkesbury's bill in 1800 New public projects (o 
 relieve the public distress Increased high prices The alloyance system 
 Riots, and great distress of the lower classes Agricultural wages at this 
 period Comparative estimates of wages and provisions Adam Smith's 
 remarks on this subject Remarks of Mr. Milne Prosperity of the land- 
 lords at this time of dearth Injurious results to trade of the act of 
 Charles II., &c. ... . ... 153 
 
CONTENTS. 125 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FIFTH PERIOD. FROM 1804 TO 1815. 
 
 Amendments to the act of 1791, in 1804 Report of the committee New 
 importation rules Increased value of wheat Its consequences Inju- 
 rious effects of the war Prohibitory enactments and decrees with respect 
 to America, Berlin, &c. Supplies from France and the Netherlands 
 High prices of the home markets Increased taxation Strike of the 
 working-classes in 1812 Renewed riots Subsequent reduction in prices 
 Reconsideration of the corn laws Act permitting free interchange of 
 corn between Ireland and England in 1806 161 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SIXTH PERIOD. FROM 1815 TO. 1822. 
 
 The new importation act of 1815 Average prices of the previous year 
 Popular commotion Appeal to military force Protest of the minor- 
 ity against the passage of the bill Restrictive character of the act 
 Regulation of prices, and their fluctuating character Fresh proposals in 
 Parliament Huskisson's resolutions, &c. New project of the Commit- 
 tee in 1821 Plans for the alleviation of the agricultural distress in 1822 
 Advance of wages Proposition for an exchequer loan of 100,000, by 
 Lord Londonderry 167 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SEVENTH PERIOD. 'FROM 1822 TO 1828. 
 
 Defects of the law of 1815 Extraordinary disparity of prices from 1804 
 to 1815 Amendments to the foregoing act Their intentions, and the 
 failure of them The importation act of 1826 The act of indemnity for 
 this order Canning's measures in 1827 for graduated scale of duties 
 Modifications by the Duke of Wellington Improvements in the corn 
 trade in North American colonies Novel scale of importation charges 
 Inefficiency of the fluctuating scale, &c. 177 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EIGHTH PERIOD. FROM 1828 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 Lord Glenelg's bill in 1828 Still in force Its character and provisions 
 Average scale of prices, contrasted with that of Canning Its inefficiency 
 11* 
 
126 CONTENTS. 
 
 in preventing fluctuating prices The. distress of 1833 and 1836 Condi- 
 tion of landlords and tenants Theory of Gregory King Prices in 1835 
 and '39 Estimated consumption of corn in Great Britain, its cost, &c. 
 Causes of stagnation of trade, &c. . *^|^ .... 181 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 NINTH PERIOD. MAY, 1841. 
 
 Lord John Russell's proposal for permanently fixed duties on imported 
 corn, &c. Review of the several measures of the British legislature on 
 the subject Productive industry and capabilities of England The plan 
 of the proposed alterations Commercial relations at the peace, and the 
 results of the erroneous policy Representations of the Committee for 
 Munich, Dresden, &c. Comparative exports of cotton-stufls to the north 
 in 1820 and 1828 Considerations on the proposed scale of duties Proba- 
 ble results Memorandum from the department of the customs in Eng- 
 land Erroneous estimates of the cost of foreign corn Extract from 
 McCulloch on this point Prices of the Prussian and English markets 
 contrasted Extract from Mr. Jacob's report on transportation of wheat 
 to Odessa, Dantzic, &c Account of the consumption of wheat and flour, 
 foreign and colonial, in the United Kingdom Evidences of the prejudi- 
 cial influence of the fluctuating scale of prices, &c. , . . 186 
 
HISTORY 
 
 BRITISH CORN-LAWS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Importance of the subject The population of Great Britain Progress of 
 agricultural industry and manufactures Manufacturing counties Agri- 
 cultural sections Increase of immigration Waste lands of England 
 Divisions of the subject Periods of the importation and exportation of 
 corn in England, &c. 
 
 OF all the great economical questions of the present day, 
 there is none so important as that which concerns an abun- 
 dant supply of corn. The population of Great Britain is 
 now twice as great as it was fifty years ago, and may be es- 
 timated at 19,000,000, while it is increasing at the rate of 
 about 285,000 every year. At the same time, there never 
 before existed a state of society in which so large a propor- 
 tion of the population obtained a share of the produce of the 
 soil by the exercise of non-agricultural industry ; only about 
 one third of the total population being directly engaged in 
 agriculture. The gigantic progress of manufactures is in- 
 dicated by the rapid increase of the population in those coun- 
 ties in which they are chiefly established. From 1700 to 
 1831 the population of Lancashire increased 800 per cent. ; 
 Warwickshire 251 per cent. ; Staffordshire 250 ; Notting- 
 hamshire 246 ; Cheshire 212 per cent. ; and in other coun- 
 
128 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ties the increase varied from 119 to 136 per cent. The total 
 population of ten manufacturing counties was 2,529,000 in 
 1800, and 4,406,000 in 1831. The principal agricultural 
 counties only increased 84 per cent, in the period from 1700 
 to 1831. There is a constant stream of immigration into 
 the large towns and manufacturing districts from the adja- 
 cent agricultural counties. From 1821 to 1831 the immi- 
 gration into Lancashire proceeded at the rate of 17,000 a 
 year. In 1837 above 2000 persons were removed to the 
 plaoes of manufacturing industry from Suffolk, at the ex- 
 pense of their respective parishes. Of this number, 1675 
 were paupers, who had received a sum of 1953, in the 
 twelve months prior to their removal. On the one hand, in 
 the rural districts, we have a population fully equal to the 
 existing demand for its labor, and requiring outlets for the 
 increase of its numbers ; and on the other, in the manufac- 
 turing districts, there is a population whose consumption con- 
 fers a much higher value upon agricultural produce, and 
 where, by extending the field of employment, room is made 
 both for the expansion of the agricultural and non-agricul- 
 tural population. 
 
 The improvements in agriculture within the present cen- 
 tury have greatly increased the supply of food, but the 
 experience of many years has shown that our population is 
 now, to a great extent, dependent upon the corn-growers of 
 other countries ; and that, when the crops in Great Britain 
 are below an average, and even when they are not abundant, 
 the rise of prices creates severe distress among large masses 
 of the population, unless the supply of corn and grain is in- 
 creased by importation. This distress could not be avoided, 
 if all the waste lands of England capable of improvement 
 were taken into cultivation. In an old country, where all 
 the best, and even the moderately fertile soils have long been 
 cultivated, the resort to those of inferior powers of produc- 
 tion, so far from alleviating the distress of the population, 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 129 
 
 will hasten its poverty and degradation. This, therefore, is 
 not one of the resources to which any country must look as 
 a means of obtaining a permanent supply of food. 
 
 In the following sketch, we shall pass in review the va- 
 rious regulations under which the trade in corn and grain 
 has been placed at different periods. We shall begin with 
 those historical details which are necessary to be known in 
 order that we may understand what the corn-laws are what 
 they are as at present established, and out of what previous 
 circumstances and enactments those now in force have 
 grown. 
 
 The subject divides itself into two periods : 1st, When 
 England exported a considerable quantity of grain annually ; 
 and, 2d, When she ceased to be an exporting, and became 
 solely an importing country. In these two periods there 
 occur epochs of a sufficiently distinct character to allow of 
 the subject being treated in smaller divisions, to each of 
 which belongs some peculiarity that distinguishes and sepa- 
 rates it from the rest. 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FIRST PERIOD. FROM EARLY TIMES TO 1688. 
 
 Early municipal regulations and enactments Early discouragements to 
 importations Progressof agriculture in 1436, and surplus of grain Prices 
 at which it was then allowed to be exported Complaints against its restric- 
 tions Subsequent legal enactments for the protection of the corn- 
 grower High prices of wheat in England Preamble of the first corn- 
 law Restrictive statute of 1463 Subsequent complaints resulting there- 
 from Allusions to this in Pastor's letters Motives of the state policy, 
 &c. Subsequent acts of 1533, and regulation of prices Opposition to 
 the laws on this point Enactments respecting farms, <fcc. Singular regu- 
 lations respecting the supply of articles of food, &c. Difficulties conse- 
 quent on these The system partially inoperative Freedom of export 
 allowed in 1554 Extension of privileges Averages of exportation settled 
 annually Prices at which importations were allowed Effects of this 
 regulation After enactments, and their efTec'ts The law of 1663, and 
 its influence Further legislation on the subject in 1670 New limitation 
 of rates of exportation Failure of its object Allusions to this by Roger 
 Coke Defective harvests of 1673, *74, and '75 Depressed condition of 
 agriculturists The acts of 1570 and 1670 compared. 
 
 LITTLE practical advantage would arise from bestowing 
 much space on the former part of this period. In a statute of 
 the thirteenth century we find the average prices of wheat 
 and other grain had become an object of attention. The 
 following directions are given to the municipal authorities of 
 towns, in the statute entitled Judicium Pillorie, supposed to 
 be of the date of 51 Henry III. (1266-7) : " First, they 
 shall inquire the price of wheat ; that is, to wit, how a quar- 
 ter of the best wheat was sold the last market-day, and how 
 the second wheat, and how the third ; and how a quarter of 
 barley and oats." In 1360 the exportation of corn was pro- 
 hibited by statute.* In 1393 corn might be exported by the 
 king's subjects " to what parts that please them," except to 
 
 * 34 Edw. III. c. 20. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 131 
 
 the king's enemies. " Nevertheless," it is added, " the king 
 wills that his council may restrain the said passage when 
 they shall think best fpr the profit of the realm."* This 
 act was confirmed in 1425.f 
 
 Thus it appears that in those early times sufficient grain 
 was raised in England to admit of exportation. It was, how- 
 ever, the policy of that age to endeavor, as much as possi- 
 ble, to retain within the kingdom all those things which were 
 indispensable to its wants, rather than by permitting freedom 
 of export and import to trust to the operation of the com- 
 mercial principle for an adequate supply. The excess of 
 grain must have been very considerable to have allowed any 
 deviation from the ordinary practice of restriction. In the 
 fourteenth century, it seems to have been no unusual prac- 
 tice for the different countries of Europe to export corn ;$ 
 and it must have been exported from England previous to the 
 statute of 1360, as that act was intended to put a stop to it. 
 Thirty-three years afterward, as already stated, the export 
 of corn was expressly encouraged. 
 
 In 1436, there is another statute indicative of the progress 
 of agriculture, and of the existence of a surplus supply of 
 corn in this country ; the exportation of wheat being allowed 
 without the king's license, when the price per quarter at the 
 place of shipment was 6*. 8d. In the preamble of the stat- 
 ute the restrictions on exportation are loudly complained of: 
 " for cause whereof, farmers and other men, which use 
 manurement of their land, may not sell their corn but of a 
 bare price, to the great damage of all the realm;" and the 
 remedy provided is a freer permission to export the surplus 
 a regulation which is intended for the profit of the whole 
 realm, but " especially for the counties adjoining to the sea." 
 
 * 17 Ric. H. c. 7. f 4 Hen. VI. c. 5. 
 
 t Account of the Spasmodic Cholera of the Fourteenth Century: App. 
 to Rickman's Summary of Population Returns of 1831, Svo. edit. 
 15 Hen. VI. c. 2. 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In 1441, this statute was continued,* and in 1444-5, it was 
 rendered perpetual. f 
 
 Nearly thirty years after the statute of 1436, occurs the 
 first symptom of a corn-law, for the protection of the home- 
 grower from the effects of a supply of foreign grain. From 
 this we may conclude that the balance of prices had turned ; 
 and that, at least for a time, prices were higher in England 
 than in the neighboring countries. This might be the result 
 of abundant seasons on the continent ; but, at all events, the 
 importation from other countries gave rise to complaints, 
 which were followed by a statute passed in 1463, in the pre- 
 amble of which it is remarked that, " Whereas the laborers 
 and occupiers of husbandry within this realm be daily griev- 
 ously endamaged by bringing of corn out of other lands and 
 parts into this realm, when corn of the growing of this realm 
 is at a low price ;"^ in remedy of which it was enacted that 
 wheat should not be imported, unless the price at the place 
 of import exceeded 6*. 8d. per quarter. Up to this time, 
 there is no reason to believe that the importation of corn from 
 abroad had been either prohibited or subjected to restriction. 
 Such a prohibition would have been opposed to the spirit of 
 our old commercial policy, which was anxiously directed to 
 the object of attracting to the country, and preserving within 
 it, as much food as possible. The agricultural interest had 
 already succeeded in carrying one modification of the old 
 principle, by which they obtained the liberty of sending corn 
 abroad, and their ascendancy was still further indicated by 
 the restriction on the importation of corn imposed by the stat- 
 ute of 1463. So long as the price of wheat was below 6s. 
 8d. per quarter, exportation was free, and importation was 
 prohibited. The price, therefore, was intended to be sus- 
 tained at that height, so far as it was possible so to sustain it 
 by legislative contrivance ; and the benefit of the corn-grower 
 
 * 20 Hen. VI. c. 6. f 23 Hen. VI. c. 5. J 3 Edw. IV. c. 2. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 133 
 
 was the sole object of the statute. In 1474, (eleven years 
 after the statute 3 Edw. IV. c. 2, was passed,) we have the 
 authority of the Paston Letters in proof of the suffering ex- 
 perienced from the want of a market for the superabundant 
 supply of grain. Margaret Paston, writing to her son on the 
 29th of Jan. 1474, after quoting the very low price of corn 
 and grain, says " There is none outload suffered to go out 
 of this country as yet ; the king hath commanded that there 
 should none go out of this land. I fear me we shall have 
 right a strange world : God amend it when his will is."* In 
 a letter written in the following year, she makes the same 
 complaints about low prices and the scarcity of money .f 
 The gentry and farmers of this period were in much the 
 same condition in regard to money matters as the land own- 
 ers of Poland and other parts of northern and eastern Europe 
 at the present time, after abundant harvests, with the ports of 
 the best markets temporarily or permanently closed against 
 the admission of their surplus produce. The protective stat- 
 ute of 1463 had possibly stimulated tillage beyond the de- 
 mand of the home market, and the abundance of the harvest 
 in other countries caused the ports to be closed against them, 
 or, as in the instance alluded to by Margaret Paston, exporta- 
 tion was prohibited from some motives of state policy. 
 
 In 1533-4, an end was put to the system of free exporta- 
 tion which had been established in 1463, and, with some few 
 occasional exceptions, had continued from that time ; and 
 thenceforth it was forbidden to export corn and provisions 
 without the king's license. The statute enacted for this pur- 
 pose:}: was intended to keep down prices, though the preamble 
 sets out with the rational observation that, " forasmuch as 
 dearth, scarcity, good cheap, [good market,] and plenty, [of 
 victual,] happeneth, riseth, and chanceth, of so many and 
 
 * Paston Letters, vol. ii. p. 91. Edit, by A. Ramsay. t Ibid p. 93. 
 i 23 lien. VIII. c. 2. 
 12 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 divers reasons, that it is very hard and difficult to put any 
 certain prices to any such things." It however ended by 
 enacting that, on complaint being made of high prices, they 
 shall be regulated by the lords of the council, and made 
 known by proclamation ; and that farmers and others shall 
 sell their commodities at the prices thus fixed. 
 
 During the greater part of the 16th century, a struggle 
 was maintained by the makers of the laws against the rise 
 of prices, which characterized nearly the whole of that pe- 
 riod. The discouragement of tillage, and the increase of 
 sheep-pastures were supposed to be the main causes of this 
 rise. In 1533, a statute was passed which enacted that no 
 man should keep more than two thousand sheep, except on 
 his own land, and that no tenant should rent more than two 
 farms.* The statute entitled " An Act for the Maintenance 
 and Increase of Tillage and Corn," attempted to force culti- 
 vation, by enacting that for the future at least as much land 
 should be tilled in every parish, as had been under the plough 
 at any time since the accession of Henry VIII., under a pen- 
 alty, to be exacted from the parish, of 5s. for every acre that 
 should be deficient. 
 
 This remarkable period in the history of agriculture, and 
 in the social condition of the people, was marked by other 
 singular regulations respecting the supply of the necessaries 
 of life, and their price. In September, 1549, a proclamation 
 was issued, directed against dealers in the principal articles 
 of food. According to it, no man was to buy and sell the 
 self-same thing again, except brokers, and they were not to 
 have more than ten quarters of grain in their possession at 
 one time. This proclamation directed " that all justices 
 should divide themselves into the hundreds, and look what su- 
 perfluous corn was in every barn, and appoint it to be sold at 
 a reasonable price ; also, that one must be in every market- 
 
 * 25 Hen. V1U. c. 13. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 135 
 
 town, to see the corn bought. Whoso brought no corn to 
 market, as he was appointed, was to forfeit 10, unless the 
 purveyors took it up, or it was sold to the neighbors."* Obe- 
 dience to these regulations was not confined to the temporary 
 provisions of a proclamation ; but in 15512, they were, with 
 some modifications, embodied in a statute. f By this enact- 
 ment, engrossers (persons buying corn to sell again) were 
 subjected to heavy penalties. For the third offence they 
 were to be set in the pillory, to forfeit their personal effects, 
 and to be imprisoned during the king's pleasure. Farmers 
 buying corn for seed were compelled to sell at the same time 
 an equal quantity of their corn in store, under penalty of 
 forfeiting double the value of what they had bought. Per- 
 sons might engross corn, not forestalling it that is, enhancing 
 the price or preventing the supply when wheat was under 
 6s. 8d. per quarter. 
 
 In 1562-3 a further attempt was made to restrict the opera- 
 tions of buying and selling in articles of food, as well as 
 many other commodities. The 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 14, al- 
 ready quoted, contained a proviso that corn-badgers, allowed 
 to that office by three justices of the peace of the county 
 where the said badger dwelt, could buy provisions in open 
 fair or market for towns and cities, and sell them, without 
 being guilty of the offence of forestalling ; but this relaxa- 
 tion of the statute was corrected by another statute passed in 
 1562-3,:]: in the preamble of which the former enactment is 
 thus alluded to : " Since the making of which act, such a 
 great number of persons, seeking only to live easily, and to 
 leave their honest labor, have, and do daily seek to be al- 
 lowed to the said office, being most unfit and unmeet for those 
 purposes, and also very hurtful to the commonwealth of this 
 realm, as well as by enhancing the price of corn and grain, 
 
 * King Edw. VI. 's Journal ; Sharon Turner's Hist. Eng. vol. i. p. 172. 
 1 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 14. t 5 Eliz. c. 12. 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 as also by the diminishing of good and necessary husband, 
 men." It was then enacted that the licenses to corn-badgers 
 should only be granted once a-year by the justices at quarter, 
 sessions, instead of at any period by three justices ; and that 
 none were to obtain a license but resident householders of 
 three years' standing, who are or have been married, and of 
 the age of thirty, and are not servants or retainers to another 
 person. Those who received a license were to have it re- 
 newed at the end of every year. Licensed persons were 
 also required to find security not to forestall or engross in 
 their dealings, and not to buy out of open fair or market, ex- 
 cept under express license. The statute did not apply to the 
 counties of Westmoreland, Cumberland, Lancaster, Chester, 
 and York. 
 
 It was scarcely possible for the legislature to do more 
 towards the discouragement of a most useful class of men, 
 whose operations are of such service to society in general, 
 and to the poor in particular. But enactments of this de- 
 scription were loudly demanded by the people, who could 
 scarcely get bread sometimes, in consequence of the high 
 price of provisions, which they attributed to the intervention 
 of the corn-dealer between the producer and consumer. 
 
 The system introduced in 1534, under which exportation 
 was interdicted, lasted about twenty years, and even during 
 that period, was most probably in a great degree inoperative. 
 
 In 1554 a new act was passed,* which restored the freedom 
 of export so long as the price of wheat should not exceed 6s. 
 8d., that of rye 4s., and that of barley 3s. per quarter. The 
 preamble complains that former acts against the exportation 
 of grain and provisions had been evaded, by reason whereof 
 they had grown untoa "wonderful dearth and extreme prices." 
 Under the present act, when prices exceeded 6s. 8d. per 
 quarter for wheat, exportation was to cease ; and when it was 
 
 *1 and 2 Phil, and Mary, c. 5. 
 
BTUTISJI CORN-LAWS. 137 
 
 under that price it could not be exported to any foreign coun- 
 try, or to Scotland, without a license, under penalty of for- 
 feiting double the value of the cargo, as well as the vessel, 
 besides imprisonment of the master and mariners of the vessel 
 for one year. The penalty for exporting a greater quantity 
 than was warranted by the license was treble the value of 
 the cargo, and imprisonment ; and a cargo could be taken 
 only to the port mentioned in the license. The object of the 
 act was in effect to prevent exportation when there was not a 
 sufficient supply in the home market, and to permit it to be 
 sent abroad so long as it was below a certain price at home. 
 
 In 1562, only eight years after the above act had been 
 passed, the liberty of exportation was extended, and wheat 
 might be carried out of the country when the average, price 
 was 10s. per quarter, that of rye, peas, and beans 8s., and 
 that of barley or malt 6s. 8d. per quarter.* The better to 
 prevent evasion of the law, it was at the same time enacted 
 that the commodity should only be exported from such ports 
 as her Majesty might by proclamation appoint. 
 
 In 1571 a statute was passed f which contains provisions 
 for settling once a-year the average prices by which expor- 
 tation should be governed. The Lord President and Council 
 in the North, also the Lord President and Council in Wales, 
 and the Justices of Assize, within their respective jurisdic- 
 tions, " yearly shall, upon conference had with the inhabitants 
 of the country, of the cheapness and dearth of any kinds of 
 grain," determine " whether it shall be meet at any time to 
 permit any grain to be carried out of any port within the said 
 several jurisdictions or limits ; and so shall, in writing, under 
 their hands and seal, cause and make a determination either 
 for permission or prohibition, and the same cause to be, by 
 the sheriff of the counties, published and affixed in as many 
 accustomed market-towns and ports within the said shire as 
 
 * 5 Eliz. c. 5. f 13 Eliz. c. 13. 
 
 12* 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 they shall think convenient." The averages, when once 
 struck, were to continue in force until the same authorities 
 ordered otherwise ; and if their regulations should " be hurtful 
 to the country by means of dearth, or be a great hindrance 
 to tillage by means of too much cheapness," they could make 
 the necessary alterations. All proceedings under this act 
 were to be notified to the queen or privy council. The 
 statute enacted that, " for the better increase of tillage, and 
 for maintenance and increase of the navy and mariners of 
 this realm," corn might be exported at all" times to friendly 
 countries, when proclamation was not made to the contrary. 
 A poundage or customs duty of Is. per quarter was charged 
 on all wheat exported ; but if exported under a special license, 
 and not under the act, the customs duty was 25. per quarter. 
 
 The law of 1463, which prohibited importation so long as 
 the price of wheat was under 6s. Sd., that of rye under 4s., 
 and that of barley under 3s. the quarter, appears not. to have 
 been repealed, but it must have remained inoperative, from 
 the prices seldom or probably never descending below these 
 rates. The importation of corn, therefore, we may reckon 
 to have been practically free at this time, so far as the law 
 could render it so. 
 
 In 1592-3 the price at which exportation was permitted 
 was raised to 20s. per quarter, and the customs duty was 
 fixed at 2s.* In 1603-4 the importation price was raised to 
 26s. 8d. per quarter ;f and, in 1623, to 32s4 having risen, 
 in the course of sixty-five years, from 6s. 8d. By the 21 
 Jac. I. c. 28, unless wheat was under 32s. per quarter, and 
 other grain in proportion, buying corn and selling it again 
 was not permitted. The king could restrain the liberty of 
 exportation by proclamation. In 1627-8 another statute^ 
 relative to the corn-trade was passed, which, however, made 
 
 * 35 Eliz. c. 7. 1 1 Jac. I. c. 25. 
 
 j21 Jac. c. 28. 3 Car. I. c. 5. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 139 
 
 no alteration in the previous statute of James I. In 1660 a 
 new scale of duties was introduced. When the price of 
 wheat per quarter was under 44s. the export duty was 55. 
 6d. ; and when the price was above 44s., the duty rose to 6s. 
 8d. Exportation was permitted free whenever the price of 
 wheat did not exceed 405. per quarter.* 
 
 In 1663 the corn-trade again became the subject of legis- 
 lation, and an act was passed^ which favored the corn- 
 grower, or at any rate that portion of the community con- 
 nected with and dependent upon agriculture, to a greater 
 extent than any previous statute. The preamble of this act 
 commenced by asserting that " the surest and effectualest 
 means of promoting and advancing any trade, occupation, or 
 mystery, being by rendering it profitable to the users thereof," 
 and that, large quantities of land being waste, which might 
 be profitably cultivated if sufficient encouragement were given 
 for the cost and labor on the same, it should be enacted, with 
 a view of encouraging the application of capital and labor 
 to waste lands, that, after September, 1663, when wheat did 
 not exceed 48*. per quarter at the places and havens of ship- 
 ment, the export duty should be only 5s. <ld. per quarter. 
 The demand of the home market was not sufficient to take 
 off the surplus produce of the corn-growers, and the reduc- 
 tion of the duty was intended to encourage exportation. By 
 the same act when wheat did not exceed 48s. per quarter, 
 " then it shall be lawful for all and every person (not fore- 
 stalling nor selling the same in the open market within three 
 months after the buying thereof) to buy in open market, and 
 to keep in his or their granaries or houses, and to sell again, 
 such corn and grain," any statute to the contrary notwith- 
 standing. The latter part of this statute may be regarded as 
 indicating a juster view than others passed since the 5 and 6 
 Edw. VI. c. 14. 
 
 * 12 Car. II. c. 4. f 15 Car. II. c. 7. 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In 1670 a further important change was made in the same 
 direction, exportation being permitted as long as wheat should 
 be under 53s. 4<Z. the quarter, the customs duty being only 
 1*. per quarter. Corn imported from foreign countries was 
 at the same time loaded with duties so heavy as effectually to 
 exclude it, being 16s. when the price in this country was at 
 or under 53s. kd. per quarter, and 8s. when above that price 
 and under 80.?., at which latter price importation became free.* 
 The object of this act was to relieve the agricultural interests 
 from the depression under which they were laboring from the 
 low prices of produce which had existed for twenty years, 
 more particularly from 1646 to 1665, and also more or less 
 during the greater part of the century. Between 1617 and 
 1621 wheat fell from 43s. 3tZ. the quarter to 27s., in conse- 
 quence of which farmers were unable to pay their rents. 
 The low price was occasioned by abundant harvests ; " for 
 remedy whereof the Council have written letters into every 
 shire, and some say to every market-town, to provide a granary 
 or storehouse, with a stock to buy corn, and keep it for a dear 
 year."f The cheapness of wheat was attended with the good 
 effect of raising the standard of diet amongst the poorer 
 classes, who are described as " traversing the markets to find 
 out the finest wheats, for none else would now serve their use, 
 though before they were glad of the coarser rye-bread.":): The 
 act of 1670 does not appear to have answered its object. 
 Roger Coke, writing in 1671, says " The ends designed by 
 the acts against the importation of Irish cattle, of raising the 
 rents of the lands of England, are so far from being attained 
 that the contrary hath ensued ;" and he speaks of a great 
 diminution of cultivation. 
 
 The harvests of 1673-4-5 proved defective, and the same 
 result occurred in 1677-8, so that the average price of the 
 
 * 22 Car. II. c. 13. f Contemporary writers quoted by Mr. Tooke 
 
 in his ' Hist, of Prices.' J Ibid. Ibid. 
 
BRITISH CORX-LAWS. 141 
 
 seven years ending 1672, during which wheat ranged at 36*. 
 the quarter, was followed in the seven subsequent years, 
 ending 1679, by an average of 46s., being a rise of nearly 
 30 per cent. Under this encouragement there was a con- 
 siderable extension of tillage, and the years of scarcity being 
 followed by twelve abundant seasons in succession, (with the 
 exception of 1684, which was somewhat deficient,) the price 
 of corn and grain again sunk very low. In the six years 
 ending 1691 the average price of wheat was 29s. f>d. the 
 quarter, and if the four years ending 1691 be taken, the 
 average price was only 27*. Id., being lower than at any 
 period during the whole of the century. There was no com- 
 petition in the English market with the foreign grower during 
 the above-mentioned years of low prices ; exportation was 
 freely permitted on payment of a nominal duty ; but scarcely 
 ever had the agriculturists been in so depressed a state. 
 The means which they took to relieve themselves will be 
 noticed in the next period. 
 
 Before closing this section we may notice the alteration 
 which took place in 1670 in the mode of striking the average 
 prices of corn and grain. The old system established in 1570 
 (13 Eliz. c. 13) was acted upon until 1685, the Corn Act of 
 1670 having neglected the necessary directions for an altera- 
 tion. These were made by a statute which enacted that 
 justices of the peace, in counties wherein foreign corn might 
 be imported, may, at quarter-sessions, by the oaths of two 
 persons duly qualified, that is, possessed of freehold estates 
 of the annual value of 20Z., or leasehold estates of 507., and 
 not being corn-dealers, and by such other means as they shall 
 see fit, determine the market price of middling English corn, 
 which is to be certified on oath, hung up in some public place, 
 and sent to the chief officer at the custom-house in each 
 district. 
 
142 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SECOND PERIOD. FROM 1689 TO 1773. 
 
 High prices of the seven years ending 1679 Their effects, &c. Bounties 
 on exportation of corn Preamble of the act authorizing this Term of 
 its suspension New act of 1700, abolishing all existing duties on expor- 
 tation of corn, &c. Excess of exports from 1697 to 1773 Further sta- 
 tistics References to Smith, Ilallam, and Malthus, on this subject The 
 cycle of good seasons from 1730 to 1755 Prices of the quartern loaf in 
 London in 1766 Importation allowed in 1773 Excess of exports from 
 1742 to 1751 Suspensions of bounty on exportation Dissatisfaction of the 
 agriculturists Increase of population after the peace New mode of ascer- 
 taining the average prices of corn, &c. The movements of 1732 
 Weekly returns of prices established in 1770 The important act of 1772, 
 &c. 
 
 IN 1689, immediately after the Revolution, the landowners 
 succeeded in carrying a very important measure. The high 
 prices of the seven years ending 1679 had doubtless encour- 
 aged tillage, and a succession of favorable seasons had under 
 these circumstances led to a great depreciation in the value 
 of agricultural produce. Exportation of corn therefore was 
 not only to be permitted as heretofore, but actually encour- 
 aged by bounties. The statute for granting bounties is enti- 
 tled "An Act for Encouraging the Exportation of Corn."* 
 The preamble stated that it had been " found by experience 
 that the exportation of corn and grain into foreign countries, 
 when the price thereof is at a low rate in this kingdom, hath 
 been a great advantage, not only to the owners of land, but 
 to the traders of this kingdom in general;" and clauses were 
 enacted granting 5s. the quarter on the exportation of wheat, 
 so long as the home price did not exceed 48*. ; with other 
 bounties of smaller amount upon the exportation of barley, 
 malt, and rye. It was supposed that the farmers and land- 
 
 * 1 Wm. and Mary, c. 12. 
 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 143 
 
 holders would thus be relieved from the distress arising from 
 low prices. They were in possession of a market the sole 
 supply of which they had secured to themselves by the act 
 of 1670, and by the Bounty Act they endeavored to prevent 
 that market being overstocked by their own commodity. 
 
 The seven years immediately succeeding 1693 were re- 
 markable for a succession of unfavorable seasons. In the 
 four years ending 1691 the price of wheat averaged 27s. Id. 
 the quarter, but in the four years preceding and including 
 1699 it reached 56*. Gd. The bounty was inoperative during 
 this period, and was suspended by an act of Parliament from 
 the 9th of February. 1699, to the 29th of September, 1700. 
 Nevertheless, in order that no fears might be excited by this 
 temporary suspension, the preamble contained an acknow- 
 ledgment that the statute granting the bounty "was grounded 
 upon the highest wisdom and prudence, and has succeeded, 
 to the greatest benefit and advantage to the nation by the 
 greatest encouragement of tillage."* Before this temporary 
 act had expired, another act was passed,f in J.700, by which 
 the encouragement of the home corn-grower was carried still 
 further by the abolition of all the then existing duties on the 
 export of corn. " From 1697 to 1773 the total excess of 
 exports was 30,968,366 quarters, upon which export bounties, 
 amounting to 6,237,176?., were paid out of the public reve- 
 nue.":}: In 1750 the sum of 324,176/. was paid in bounties 
 on corn. The exports of 1748-9-50 (during which, more- 
 over, the price of wheat fell from 32s. Wd. to 285. lOfrf. 
 the quarter) amounted to 2,120,000 quarters of whe.at, and 
 of all kinds of corn and grain to 3,825,000 quarters. This 
 was the result of a cycle of abundant years. In the twenty- 
 three years from 1692 to 1715, says Mr. Tooke, in his elabo- 
 rate ' History of Prices,' there were eleven bad seasons, 
 during which the average price of wheat was 45s. 8d. the 
 
 * 12 Wm. III. c. 1. 1 11 and 12 Wm. III. c. 20. 
 
 4 Report of Commonb on Agric. Distress, 1821. 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 quarter; in the fifty years ending 1765 there were only five 
 deficient harvests, and the average price for the whole half- 
 century, ranged at 34s. lid. ; or, taking the ten years ending 
 1751, during which the crops were above an average, the 
 price of wheat was only 29s. 2i<Z. the quarter. 
 
 These years of plenty seem to have been a very happy 
 period to the bulk of the population. Adam Smith refers to 
 " the peculiarly happy circumstances " of the country during 
 these times of plenty ; and Mr. Hallam describes the reign 
 of George II. as " the most prosperous period that England 
 had ever experienced." The effect was similar to that which 
 took place during the plentiful seasons of the preceding cen- 
 tury, and the improved condition of the people was marked 
 by the enjoyment of greater comforts and the resort to a su- 
 perior diet which their command over the necessaries of life 
 enabled them to obtain. " Bread made of wheat is become 
 more generally the food of the laboring people, "observes the 
 author of the ' Corn Tracts,' writing in 1765. Referring to 
 the same period, Mr. Malthus remarks : " It is well known 
 that during this period the price of corn fell considerably, 
 while the wages of labor are stated to have risen. During 
 the last forty years of the seventeenth century, and the first 
 twenty of the eighteenth, the average price of corn was such 
 as, compared with the wages of labor, would enable the la- 
 borer to purchase with a day's earnings two thirds of a peck 
 of wheat. From 1720 to 1750 the price of wheat had so 
 fallen, while wages had risen, that, instead of two thirds, the 
 laborer could purchase the whole of a peck of wheat with a 
 day's labor." Mr. Malthus adds that the result of this in- 
 creased command over the necessaries of life was not attended 
 with an increase of population exclusively, "a considerable 
 portion of their increased net wages was expended in a 
 marked improvement of the quality of the food consumed, 
 and a decided elevation in the standard of their comforts and 
 conveniences." Trade was flourishing and the exports and 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 145 
 
 imports progressively increasing during this period of abun- 
 dance. 
 
 The cycle of good seasons which the country had for so 
 long a period fortunately enjoyed, (for twenty-six years, 
 from 1730 to 1755, there had been only one unfavorable 
 season,) was followed by a succession of bad years, in which 
 the harvests proved as deficient as they had before been 
 abundant. From 1765 to 1775 there was a very frequent 
 recurrence of unfavorable years, and the last five years of 
 this period were all of this character. In 1766, the quartern 
 loaf was selling in London at Is. 6d. ; addresses were sent 
 up from various parts of the country complaining of general 
 distress ; and a proclamation was issued suspending exporta- 
 tion, and for enforcing the laws against forestallers and re- 
 graters. Exportation was suspended also in the following 
 year, as was the case also in 1770 and 1771. In 1772, im- 
 portation was allowed duty-free to the 1st of May, 1773 ; and 
 in this latter year the city of London offered a bounty of 4.s. 
 per quarter for 20,000 quarters of wheat, to be imported be- 
 tween March and June. The average prices of wheat had 
 risen from 29s. 2d. in the ten years ending 1751, to 51s. 
 for the ten years ending 1774, being an advance of 75 per 
 cent. The excess of exports from 1742 to 1751 had been 
 4,700,509 quarters of wheat, and, including all kinds of 
 grain, had amounted to 8,869,190 quarters, but from 1766 
 to 1775 there was an excess of imports to the extent of 
 1,363,149 quarters of wheat, and 3,782,734 of corn and 
 grain of all kinds. The old corn-law of 1689, under which 
 a bounty on exportation had been granted, was now become 
 a dead letter, in consequence of the high range of prices in 
 the home market. The right to export had been frequently 
 suspended, though only for short periods, in the hope that 
 more plentiful harvests or the greater extension of tillage 
 would again bring back the old state of things. These sus- 
 pensions of the bounty excited the dissatisfaction of the ag- 
 
 13 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 riculturists. " From the year 1766 to the present time, 
 (1773,) we have had a perpetual shifting policy, in which 
 nothing has been permanent. * * 
 
 Every year has produced a temporary act suspending the 
 operation of those laws which had proved of such excellent 
 utility."* 
 
 The increase of population after the peace of 1763 was 
 rapidly advancing with the growth of trade and manufactures. 
 In the reign of George I. there had only been sixteen enclo- 
 sure acts passed ; in the succeeding reign there were 226 ; 
 but, stimulated by the high prices resulting from deficient 
 harvests, the number of such acts from 1760 to 1772 inclu- 
 sive, amounted to 585. The population of England and 
 Wales had increased upwards of two millions during the cen- 
 tury, being, according to the best estimates, 5,134,000 at its 
 commencement, and in 1770 about 7,227,000. In the first 
 fifty years of the century, the increase of population amount- 
 ed only to seventeen per cent., but in the twenty years ending 
 1770, the rate of acceleration was more than doubled, being 
 nineteen per cent. 
 
 Before passing to the next epoch in the history of the corn- 
 trade, we shall notice the alterations which took place in the 
 mode of ascertaining the average prices of corn and grain. 
 Several acts for this purpose were made ; in one of which, 
 passed in 1729, the preamble states that the justices of the 
 peace had " neglected to settle the price of corn at their quar- 
 ter-sessions after Michaelmas last, and to return certificates 
 thereof to the chief officer and collector of the customs re- 
 siding in the respective ports where the said corn or grain has 
 been or may be imported ; by means whereof the said officers 
 were at a loss how to charge the customs and duty due for 
 such corn ; which has been, and may be, a great loss to the 
 revenue, and a detriment to the farmers and fair traders." 
 
 * Arthur Young's " Political Arithmetic,'' 1774. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 147 
 
 To remedy the negligence of the gentry, the collectors of 
 customs were empowered to settle the averages. 
 
 In 1732, an attempt was again made " for the better as- 
 certaining the common prices of middling English corn and 
 grain, and for preventing the fraudulent importation of corn 
 and grain." After 1st June, 1732, the justices of the peace, 
 in counties which contained ports of importation, were to 
 charge the grand jury at quarter-sessions to make inquiry 
 and presentment upon oath of the common market-prices, 
 which were to be certified to the officers at the ports speci- 
 fied. The averages were, however, only to be taken four 
 times a-year. 
 
 In 1766, the authorities of the city of London were em- 
 powered to settle the price of middling English corn and 
 grain, in January and July, in addition to the former periods 
 of April and October. 
 
 It was not until 1770 that returns of prices were directed 
 to be made weekly. In that year an act was passed, on the 
 ground that a " register of the prices at which corn is sold 
 in the several counties of Great Britain will be of public and 
 general advantage." The justices of the peace were to order 
 returns to be made weekly of the prices of British corn and 
 grain, from such towns in each county as they thought 
 proper ; the number of towns selected in each county not 
 being more than six, nor less than two. The treasury was 
 to appoint a receiver of corn returns, who was to publish an 
 abstract of the weekly returns in the-'" London Gazette," and 
 four times a-year certify to the clerks of the peace the prices 
 which were respectively prevalent in each county. The 
 publication of the averages weekly was a most beneficial in- 
 novation. 
 
 In 1772, an important act* was passed relating to the in- 
 ternal corn-trade, and several ancient restrictions in old stat- 
 
 * 12 Geo. HI. c. 71. 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 utes were removed, on the ground that, " by preventing a free 
 trade in the said commodities, [corn, flour, cattle, &c.,] they 
 have a tendency to discourage the growth and enhance the 
 price of the same, which statutes, put into execution, would 
 bring great distress on the inhabitants of many parts of the 
 kingdom." 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 149 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THIRD PERIOD. FROM 1773 TO 1791. 
 
 The corn act of 1773 Its influence on tillage, navigation, &c. Number of 
 acres then under cultivation The landed interests dependent uponforeign 
 supplies Dissatisfaction consequent on this Average prices of corn at 
 this period Regulations of the London Corn Exchange New regula- 
 tions of 1788-89, respecting the maritime districts, &c. 
 
 IN the preamble of the Corn Act of 1773,* it is acknow- 
 ledged that previous laws had greatly tended to the advance- 
 ment of tillage and navigation. It added that, on account 
 of the small supplies on hand, and scanty crops, it had been 
 frequently necessary to suspend the operation of the laws ; 
 and that a permanent law on the corn-trade " would afford 
 encouragement to the farmer, be the means of increasing the 
 growth of that necessary commodity, and of affording a 
 cheaper and more constant supply to the poor." And the 
 act then fixes the following scale of duties, to come into op- 
 eration on the 1st of January, 1774 : Whenever the price 
 of middling British wheat, at ports of importation, was at or 
 above 48s. per quarter, a duty of only 6d. per quarter was 
 to be taken on all foreign wheat imported during the contin- 
 uance of that price. When the price was at or above 44*., 
 exportation and the bounty together were to cease ; and the 
 carrying of British grain coastwise ceased also. Under this 
 act, corn and grain might be shipped to Ireland when export- 
 ation was prohibited from that country. Foreign corn, ware- 
 housed under bond in twenty-five ports of Great Britain men- 
 tioned in the act, might be re-exported duty free. Adam 
 Smith's opinion of this act was, that, " though not the best 
 in itself, it is the best which the interests, prejudices, and 
 
 * 13 Geo. ffl. c. 43. 
 13* 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 temper of the times would admit of: it may perhaps, (he 
 adds,) in due time prepare the way for a better."* This ex- 
 pectation has not as yet been fulfilled. 
 
 The home market was now opened to foreign supplies of 
 corn under much more advantageous terms than before. Im- 
 portation was constant and considerable, and prices were 
 steadier on the whole, during the eighteen years from 1775 
 to 1792 notwithstanding the occurrence of five seasons in 
 which the harvests were more or less deficient than they 
 had been in the ten years preceding 1773. The balance of 
 imports of wheat was now decidedly against this country. 
 In the ten years ending 1769, the excess of exports had 
 amounted to 1,384,561 quarters; but in the next ten years, 
 ending 1779, the excess was on the side of the imports to the ex- 
 tent of 431,566 quarters ; and in the ten years ending 1789, 
 there was an excess on the same side amounting to 233,502 
 quarters. The extension of tillage which took place was 
 certainly more likely to be permanent, than when it had been 
 caused by the artificial stimulus that had previously been 
 maintained. From 1760 to 1780, the number of acres en- 
 closed under local acts was 1,912,350 ; in the ten years end- 
 ing 1789, the proportion had fallen off, the number of acres 
 enclosed being 450,180. The average price of wheat was 
 45*. the quarter in the ten years ending 1779, and 45s. 9d. 
 in the ten years ending 1789. The extension of cultivation 
 in the twenty years from 1760 to 1780, together with the 
 improvement of agriculture, sufficed for the increased de- 
 mands of the country, without breaking up so much fresh 
 land. 
 
 The landed interest, however, alleged that the act of 1773 
 had rendered England dependent upon other countries for 
 the supply of corn. The bounty by which the corn-growers 
 had formerly profited, and which they were led to anticipate 
 
 * Wealth of Nations, book iv. chap. 5. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 151 
 
 would still be secured to them, had never come into opera- 
 lion under this act ; and hence a general dissatisfaction pre- 
 vailed amongst them against the existing corn-law, which 
 they had sufficient interest in the legislature to get altered in 
 1791. 
 
 At the commencement of the present period, the average 
 prices of corn were struck four times a-year, at the quarter- 
 sessions, and they could not be altered between the interval 
 of one quarter-session and another. In 1774, however, an 
 act was passed,* and came into operation on the 1st of June, 
 by which exportation was regulated by the price on the 
 market-day preceding the shipment ; thus adopting the real 
 average price at the time, instead of acting upon the average 
 which existed three months before. 
 
 Six years afterward, in the session 1780 I,")" it was enacted 
 that the prices of English corn for the port of London, and 
 the ports of Kent and Essex, should be determined by the av- 
 erages taken at the London Corn Exchange. The weekly 
 average was to regulate the exportation ; but the importation 
 of foreign corn and grain was regulated by averages struck 
 only once a quarter. 
 
 In the session of 1788-9, new regulations were framed,^: 
 applying to all parts of the kingdom, which was divided into 
 twelve districts, and in each a number of the principal market- 
 towns was selected, in which, and at the seaports, the price 
 of corn was to be ascertained for each district. Weekly re- 
 turns were to be made to the receiver in London, who, on 
 the 1st of February, May, August, and November, was to 
 compute from the returns of the six preceding weeks the av- 
 erage price of each description of British corn and grain, 
 (with the exception of oats, the averages of which were to 
 be computed on the returns of the twelve preceding weeks.) 
 The aggregate average of the six weeks (and for oats of the 
 
 * 14 Geo. III. c. 64. f 21 Geo. III. c. 50. $29 Geo. HI. c. 58. 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 twelve weeks) to be transmitted to the principal officer of the 
 customs in each district, and to regulate the importation at 
 each port of the said district. The export trade was still 
 regulated by the weekly averages. Under this act, each of 
 the twelve maritime districts was treated as distinct in itself, 
 and counties on one side of the kingdom might be exporting 
 their surplus produce to a foreign market, while those on the 
 other side were under the necessity of importing. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 153 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FOURTH PERIOD. FROM 1791 TO 1804. 
 
 New scale of importation duties of 1791 Excess of importation, during the 
 thirteen subsequent years, in England Sacrifices induced by this Scar- 
 city of grain, and its consequences Seizure of neutral vessels laden with 
 corn Parliamentary measures for economizing the consumption of 
 wheat The hair-powder tax imposed Severe distress of the times 
 High prices Increased scarcity Further measures by the British House 
 of Commons Lord Hawkesbury's bill in 1800 New public projects to 
 relieve the public distress Increased high prices The alloyance system 
 Riots, and great distress of the lower classes Agricultural wages at this 
 period Comparative estimates of wages and provisions Adam Smith's 
 remarks on this subject Remarks of Mr. Milne Prosperity of the land- 
 lords at this time of dearth Injurious results to trade of the act of 
 Charles II., &c 
 
 THE new corn-law of 1791 was founded upon stricter prin- 
 ciples than that of 1773. It enacted that after November 
 15, 1791, the bounty of 5s. per quarter should be paid when 
 wheat was under 44s., arid that, when wheat was at or above 
 46*., exportation was to cease. The new scale of import 
 duties was as follows : For wheat under 50s. per quarter, 
 the " high duty" of 24*. 3d. was payable ; at 50*., but under 
 54*., the " first low duty" of 2*. 6d. ; at or above 54*., the 
 " second low duty" of 6d. was payable. The protecting 
 price was thus raised from 48*. to 54*. the quarter ; and this 
 main feature of the act was intended to shut out supplies 
 from abroad, and of course to raise prices at home. The 
 duty of 24*. 3<Z., so long as the price of wheat was under 
 50*. the quarter, was equivalent to a prohibition. 
 
 The thirteen years from 1791 to 1804 form a very event- 
 ful period in the history of the Corn Laws. Under the com- 
 paratively free system established by the Corn Act of 1773, 
 the excess of imports had been comparatively trifling ; but 
 under an act expressly constructed to prevent importation as 
 
154 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 far as possible, the excess of imports in the thirteen years 
 from 1791 to 1803, amounted to 6,458,901 quarters of wheat 
 and wheat-flour, and enormous sacrifices were made to ob- 
 tain this quantity. The seasons in their courses fought 
 against the enactments of the Legislature ; and the depen- 
 dence on foreign supplies was never so complete as at the 
 very period when hopes had been entertained that the produce 
 of the home-grower would prove sufficiently ample for the 
 wants of the country. 
 
 The effects of the different years of scarcity, just at the 
 close of the last and the commencement of the present cen- 
 tury, cannot be passed over without a cursory notice. The 
 harvest of 1793 had been below an average, and those of 
 the two following years were decidedly deficient. The av- 
 erage price of wheat rose from 55*. Id., in January, 1795, 
 to 108s. 4d., in August. Parliament met in October, when 
 the king's speech alluded to the " very high price of grain" 
 as a subject of " the greatest anxiety." In the following 
 month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved for the ap- 
 pointment of a select committee to inquire into the circum- 
 stances of the scarcity, and the means of removing it. Mo- 
 nopoly, forestalling, and regrating, were alleged to be among 
 the causes of the dearth ; and Lord Kenyon, at the Salop 
 assizes, threatened to inflict the " full vengeance of the law," 
 upon those parties who should be found guilty of these prac- 
 tices. The deficiency in the crops was variously estimated 
 at from one fifth to one seventh ; and to provide an adequate 
 supply, an act was passed granting a bounty of from 16s. to 
 20s. the quarter, according to the quality, on wheat from the 
 south of Europe, till the quantity should amount to 400,000 
 quarters : and from America, till it should amount to 500,000 
 quarters ; and 12s. to 15s. from any other part of Europe, 
 till it should amount to the same quantity ; the bounty to be 
 8s. and 10s. after that quantity was exceeded. Neutral ves- 
 sels laden with grain were forcibly seized on the high seas, 
 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 155 
 
 and the masters compelled to sell their cargoes to the govern- 
 ment agents. The members of both houses of parliament 
 bound themselves by a written pledge to observe the utmost 
 frugality in the use of bread in their respective households ; 
 and engaged to reduce the consumption of wheat by at least 
 one third of the usual quantity consumed in ordinary times, 
 unless the average price of wheat should be reduced to 8s. 
 the bushel. The hair- powder tax was imposed at this pe- 
 riod, as a means of diminishing the consumption of wheat. 
 
 The high price of wheat produced severe distress. The 
 agricultural districts were disturbed by riots, and that fatal 
 measure the allowance system was introduced. For the 
 next two or three years the harvests were more favorable, 
 until the disastrous season of 1799. The average price of 
 wheat at the commencement of that year was 49. 6tZ. the 
 quarter, but in December it had risen to 94s. 2d. ; and soon 
 after the commencement of the following year the prospects 
 of scarcity had become so formidable that a select committee 
 of the house of commons was appointed to investigate the de- 
 ficiency in the last crop. In pursuance of the recommend- 
 ation of this committee, recourse was again had to a bounty ; 
 and an act was passed, offering to the importer the difference 
 between the average price of English wheat in the second 
 week after importation, and 90*. on wheat from the south of 
 Europe, Africa, and America ; 85s. from the Baltic and Ger- 
 many ; and 90s. from Archangel, if imported before the 1st 
 of October, 1800. Lord Hawkesbury also brought in a 
 bill, which was passed through its various stages on the fol- 
 lowing day, prohibiting the sale of bread until twenty-four 
 hours after it had been baked. Notwithstanding these pro- 
 spective remedies, the average price of wheat continued to ad- 
 vance, and in June, 1800, was 134s. 5d. the quarter. Con- 
 siderable importations brought down the price to 96s. "2d. in 
 August; but in December it again advanced to 133s., in 
 consequence of the deficiency of the harvest of 1800. 
 
156 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Parliament was assembled in November, 1800, at. an ear- 
 lier period than had been intended, for the purpose of devising 
 measures to remedy the severe distress of the times, arising 
 from the high prices of provisions. The speech from the 
 throne alluded to the supposition of combination and fraudu- 
 lent practices for the purpose of raising the price of grain, 
 which a committee of the house of lords denied. A select 
 committee of the commons was again appointed to take into 
 consideration the existing high prices, and by the end of De- 
 cember this committee had presented six reports to the house, 
 in the first of which the deficiency of the crops was stated to 
 be one fourth, and that the old supplies were exhausted before 
 harvest. The committee suggested a variety of remedies to 
 meet the emergency. Among other things, they recommend- 
 ed the encouragement of the fisheries, the stoppage of the 
 distilleries, a bounty on importation ; also a recommendation 
 from persons in authority, pointing out the necessity of the 
 general practice of economy and frugality in all articles of 
 food ; and it was proposed to call upon the other house of 
 parliament to join in an address to the throne, requesting his 
 Majesty to issue a proclamation in recommendation of this 
 suggestion. A royal proclamation was issued accordingly, 
 and was widely circulated by the clergy and magistrates 
 throughout the kingdom. An act was also passed, guaran- 
 teeing the difference between the average price of foreign 
 wheat in the third week after importation, and 100s. to the 
 importer of all wheat weighing 53lbs. per bushel, if import- 
 ed within the time limited by the act. The advance of prices 
 continued unchecked, in spite of the various plans adopted to 
 lower them ; and in March, 1801, wheat averaged 1565. 2d. 
 the quarter, or, taking the imperial measure now in use, 20s. 
 the bushel ; barley averaged 90s. Id. the quarter, and 
 oats 475. Zd. The importations of the year were, wheat 
 1,424, 766 quarters; barley 1 13,966; oats 583,043. For four 
 weeks, the quartern loaf in London was as high as is. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 157 
 
 The agricultural districts were again disturbed by riots, 
 and the allowance system, introduced as a mode of relieving 
 the distress of the poorest class, was becoming firmly estab- 
 lished. They must otherwise have actually perished ; and 
 even the classes above them would have shared the same fate, 
 but for the rise of wages and the contributions of parishes, 
 and the aids afforded by friends and by private charity. All 
 these artificial modes of adjustment were miserable expedients, 
 and necessarily fell far short of placing those whom it was 
 designed to benefit in the condition of comfort which they 
 enjoyed when the price of food was low from the effects of 
 abundance. The money wages of the agricultural laborer, 
 in order to have been equal to those which he received in the 
 rdgn of George II., should have risen to about SOs. per 
 week. Arthur Young gives a list of articles which, when 
 the laborer was paid 5s. per week, he could have purchased 
 with that 5s.. namely, a bushel of malt, a bushel of wheat, 
 a pound of butter, a pound of cheese, and a pennyworth of 
 tobacco ; and he states that in 1801 these articles would have 
 cost him 26s. 5rf. ; while wages having risen only to 9s., and 
 the allowance from the parish being estimated at 6s., his real 
 wages were still Us. 5rf. less than under the former period. 
 Thus even the parish allowance, which equalled two thirds 
 of his wages, left him in a state of distress. There is a table 
 in the Appendix to one of the Parliamentary Reports on the 
 subject of the high price of provisions, which shows thai the 
 most indispensable necessaries of life had risen 200 per cent, 
 in 1800 as compared with 1773. Both in 1795 and 1800 
 Mr. Whitbread had proposed a bill for regulating the wages 
 of labor by the price of provisions, and fixing a minimum of 
 wages, but such an expedient was wisely rejected. The rise 
 of wages, without which " ?f ual starvation would have ensued, 
 ]uate as it proved, was better than such a plan. Several 
 trades succeeded in obtaining an advance ; and from the 
 statements of the tailors and printers of London, in support 
 14 
 
158 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of their claims, we take the following particulars : -The 
 wages of the former class of workmen, from 1777 to 1795, 
 had averaged 21s. Qd. per week, and the price of the quartern 
 loaf being 7jd., they could purchase thirty-six loaves with a 
 week's wages. During the scarcity of 1795 their wages had 
 been advanced to 255., and in 1801 to 27s., in which latter 
 year a week's wages would purchase only 181 quartern 
 loaves. The wages of compositors had been advanced from 
 24s. to 27*. in 1795, and to 30*. in 1801. The advance in 
 the wages of carpenters, bricklayers, masons, and artisans of 
 a similar stamp was inconsiderable. The salaries of persons 
 holding official situations under the government were also in- 
 creased. The misery of the bulk of the people during the years 
 of scarcity is shown by the diminished -umber of marriages, 
 which, from 79,477 in 1798, were reduced to 67,288 in 1801. 
 The fallacy that wages advance with the price of food was 
 never more glaringly displayed than at this period ; and it is 
 still a prevalent notion that there is a connection between high 
 prices of provisions and high wages, though, seventy years 
 ago, Adam Smith had shown (and his doctrine on this subject 
 has never been controverted) 1. That the real wages of 
 labor rise in a year of plenty and diminish in a season of 
 scarcity. In the former, the funds in the hands of the em- 
 ployers of industry are sufficient to maintain a greater num- 
 ber of industrious people, and, as masters wanting workmen 
 bid against each other, money wages may also rise. 2. That 
 a year of scarcity and high prices diminishes the funds for 
 the employment of labor ; persons are thrown out of em- 
 ployment who bid against one another in order to get it ; and 
 wages fall. 3. That in the ordinary variations of the price 
 of provisions these two opposite causes are counterbalanced, 
 which is one reason why the wages of labor are more steady 
 and permanent than the price of provisions.* In the evidence 
 
 * "Wealth of Nations, book i. chap. viii. 
 
BRITISH CORN- LAWS. 159 
 
 before the lords Committee on the Corn Laws in 1814 there 
 is a remarkable illustration of the effect of the scarcity of 
 1812 on wages. Mr. Milne, a landowner, stated that a cer- 
 tain description of farm labor which twenty-five years before 
 had cost him 3s., and which a neighbor of his had paid 5s. 
 for two or three years before, was executed during a period 
 of scarcity and high prices for 2s. 6d., the cause of this dif- 
 ference being, as he alleged, " that a great many laborers 
 were idle from having little work, in consequence of those 
 employed doing double work." 
 
 There was one class to whom the period of this memorable 
 dearth was a season of great prosperity, that is, as Mr. Tooke 
 states, " to the landlords, who were raising, or had the pros- 
 pect of soon raising, their rents ; and to the farmers, who 
 were realizing enormous gains pending the currency of their 
 leases." Arthur Young estimated the additional sum re- 
 ceived by the corn-growers in 1795-6, as compared with the 
 average of the twelve years ending 1794, at 19,553, 849Z., 
 allowing one fifth for the deficiency of the wheat crop. This 
 large sum in the first instance found its way into the pockets 
 of the farmers, and the landlords next advanced their claims 
 to a portion of the advantage, and raised their rents. 
 
 A tolerably abundant harvest in 1801 happily put an end 
 to the great dearth. In March the average price of wheat 
 was 155. the quarter ; in June, with the prospect of a favor- 
 able harvest, it was 129s. 8d., and at the end of the year the 
 price had fallen to 75s. 6d. In the two following years the 
 harvests, though not very abundant, were favorable, and a 
 further depression of prices took place. At the close of 1802 
 the average price of wheat was 57s. Id. the quarter ; early 
 in 1803, 52s. 3d. ; and at a corresponding period in 1804 the 
 average price was as low as 49s. 6d. Meetings were now 
 held in the agricultural counties for the purpose of petitioning 
 parliament for additional protection to agriculture, the act of 
 
160 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 1790-1, which had raised the free import price* from 48s. to 
 54. having been unsuccessful. This brings us to the ter- 
 mination of the fourth period. 
 
 The act of 1790-1 consolidated, amended, and repealed a 
 number of old statutes relating to the corn-trade ; amongst 
 the latter, the 15 Charles II. c. 7, which prohibited buying 
 corn to sell again, and laying up corn in warehouses. It 
 also permitted foreign corn and grain to be bonded in the 
 king's warehouses, the duty to be payable only when taken 
 out for home consumption. The object of this beneficial 
 clause is stated as follows : " To promote and extend the 
 commerce of the merchants of this kingdom in foreign corn, 
 and to provide stores which may always be ready for the re- 
 lief of his Majesty's subjects in times of dearth." 
 
 Many of the provisions of the act, however, interfered with 
 trade to a vexatious and injurious extent. When foreign ex- 
 portation was not allowed at any particular port, not even 
 home produce could be carried thence coastwise, even to a 
 port at which exportation was at the time taking place. 
 Foreign vessels might however change their destination to 
 any port where importation was permitted, if, on their arrival 
 at that for which their cargo had been shipped, importation had 
 ceased to be allowed. The country was still divided into so 
 many independent sections, and this regulation was introduced 
 into Scotland, which was divided into four districts. For the 
 purpose of exportation, the weekly averages of each district 
 were cited, and, for importation, the average of the six weeks 
 preceding the 15th of February, May, August, and Novem- 
 ber. Thus the one varied from week to week, and the latter 
 was only changed four times a-year. 
 
 * There was a nominal duty of 6d. 
 
BRITISH CORX-LAWS. 161 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FIFTH PERIOD. FROM 1804 TO 1815. 
 
 Amendments to the act of 1791, in 1804 Report of the committee New 
 importation rules Increased value of wheat Its consequences Inju- 
 rious effects of the war Prohibitory enactments and decrees with respect 
 to America, Berlin, &c. Supplies from France and the Netherlands 
 High prices of the home markets Increased taxation Strike of the 
 working-classes in 1812 Renewed riots Subsequent reduction in prices 
 Reconsideration of the corn laws Act permitting free interchange of 
 corn between Ireland and England in 1806 
 
 ON the 13th of April, 1804, the Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer moved for the appointment of a select committee to in- 
 quire into the principle and operation of the Corn Regulation 
 Act of 1791, and to determine whether the scale which it 
 fixed for the regulation of imports and exports was now ap- 
 plicable. On the 14th of the ensuing month the committee 
 presented their report, in which they stated that the act al- 
 luded to required " very material alteration." On the 14th 
 of June the committee presented a second report, in which 
 their convictions as to the necessity of some new legislative 
 measure on the trade in corn are thus stated : " It appears 
 to your committee that the price of corn from 1791 to the 
 harvest of 1803 has been very irregular ; but, upon an 
 average, increased in a great degree by the years of scarcity, 
 has in general yielded a fair profit to the grower. The casual 
 high prices, however, have had the effect of stimulating in- 
 dustry, and bringing into culture large tracts of waste land, 
 which, combined with the two last productive seasons, has 
 occasioned such a depression in the value of grain as it is 
 feared will greatly tend to the discouragement of agriculture, 
 unless maintained by the support of parliament." The 
 committee founded their recommendations for protection on 
 " a comparative view of the price of labor, and of the una- 
 14* 
 

 162 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 voidable expenses incident to the farmer in the year 1791, 
 and to the farmer at the present time." Their views pre- 
 vailed also in the legislature, where a bill to give effect to 
 them was introduced on the 20th of June. 
 
 The scale for the admission of foreign corn established by 
 the act of 1804 was as follows : Wheat under 63s. per 
 quarter, the " high duty" of 24s. 3d. payable ; at 63s. and 
 under 66s. the " first low duty ;" and at or above 66s., the 
 " second low duty," which amounted only to 6d. The free 
 import or nominal duty price was thus raised from 54s., at 
 which it stood in the act of 1790-1, to 66s. an increase of 
 12s. The bounty of 5s. on exportation was to be paid when 
 the average price of wheat was at or under 48s. ; and when 
 the average rose to 54s. exportation to be prohibited. The 
 two latter enactments proved totally inoperative. 
 
 Immediately after the passing of this act the price of wheat 
 and other grain rose, a circumstance which was at first at- 
 tributed by many to that measure. Between March and 
 December the average price had increased from 49s. 6d. the 
 quarter to 86s. 2d. ; and in the spring of the following year 
 petitions were presented to parliament expressing dissatisfac- 
 tion with the new act on account of its alleged operation on 
 prices. The crops in 1804, however, proved very deficient, 
 and it is therefore more correct to attribute the rise to this 
 cause. In the three following seasons the harvests were not 
 abundant, arid in the five years from 1808 to 1812 they were 
 very deficient. In the month of August, in the latter year, 
 the average prices were for wheat 155s., barley 79s. Wd., 
 and oats 56s. 2rf. ; and Mr. Tooke says* that in Mark-lane 
 the finest Dantzic wheat fetched 180s., and oats in one or two 
 instances were sold at the enormous price of 84s. the quarter. 
 
 Coincident with the unfavorable seasons during this period 
 there was the effect of the great war in which we were then 
 
 * Hist, of Prices, i. 323. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 163 
 
 engaged, which in various ways increased the cost of produc- 
 tion, and by impeding commercial intercourse rendered it 
 difficult and expensive to obtain supplies from abroad at a time 
 when our own harvests were inadequate. These obstacles 
 were at one time so serious from the effect of the Berlin and 
 Milan Decrees and the American Non-intercouse Act, as to 
 threaten us with total exclusion from the continental ports. 
 But, notwithstanding the anti-commercial spirit which the war 
 had assumed, and at a period when this influence was relied 
 upon as a most powerful means of distressing this country, 
 licenses were granted by the French government, in conse- 
 quence of which about 400,000 quarters of wheat, besides 
 other grain, were imported to supply the deficiency of the 
 harvest of 1809 in this country. The harvest, both in France 
 and the Netherlands, had been very abundant, and the export 
 of a part of their surplus produce was a great relief to the 
 corn-growers of those countries. In 1810, we imported 
 1,500,000 quarters of wheat and flour, and 600,000 quarters 
 of other grain and meal. The expenses of freight, insurance, 
 and licenses, amounted to from 30s. to 50*. per quarter on 
 wheat. From 1809 to 1812 the freight and insurance on 
 wheat from the Baltic was 505. the quarter. Prices neces- 
 sarily rose to a great height in the home market before the 
 obstacles to commercial intercourse arising from the war could 
 be overcome, and an average price of 80s. the quarter for 
 wheat was at times insufficient to lead to any considerable 
 importation. The enormous charges on importation were of 
 course added to the natural price of British corn ; and thus 
 we have easily explained the cause of the " war prices" of 
 this memorable period and of the extraordinary profits of 
 farmers and landowners. 
 
 The high prices stimulated cultivation, and from 1804 to 
 1814 inclusively the number of enclosure bills which re- 
 ceived the royal assent was 1084, being considerably more 
 than for any other corresponding period. The state of the 
 
164 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 agricultural interest at this time has been, impartially de- 
 scribed by Mr. Tooke : A great amount of gain had been 
 distributed among the agricultural classes ; and as the range 
 of high prices (with an interval of depression between the 
 harvests of 1810 and 1811, so short as not to have been felt 
 at all by the landlord, and very little by the farmer) had been 
 of an unusually long continuance, it was concluded that the 
 causes of that high range were permanent. From 1809 to 
 1813 was accordingly the period in which rents experienced 
 their greatest rise, that is, upon the expiration of leases, they 
 were advanced in full proportion to the high range of the 
 prices of produce ; and in several instances they were raised 
 threefold or upwards of what they had been in 1792.* In 
 an ensuing period we shall see the disasters which the farmers 
 experienced under other circumstances in consequence of the 
 dangerous state of artificial prosperity in which they were 
 placed during the war. 
 
 The effect of another cycle of bad seasons, to which is to 
 be added increasing taxation, was not favorable to the inter- 
 ests of the working-classes. In 1812 and 1813 the poor-rates 
 amounted to about 3,300,0007. more than they had been in 
 1803, a year of low prices and agricultural distress. Still 
 further attempts had been made to adjust wages to the high 
 price of provisions, and the demand of men for the navy and 
 army offered a resource which frequently rendered the strikes 
 of workmen for advanced wages successful. The wages of 
 artisans and laborers were nearly doubled, that is, the money 
 value of their wages ; but their real value the command of 
 a week's earnings over the necessaries of life was dimin- 
 ished. The rise of money wages had reached its maximum 
 in 1812. The workmen employed in manufactures expe- 
 rienced severe distress during this period ; the advance of 
 wages was less in their case than that of any other class ; in 
 
 * Hist, of Prices, i. 323-6. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 165 
 
 some branches of manufacture there had been no change ; in 
 others it was accompanied by longer hours of work ; and the 
 stagnation of the export trade occasioned nearly a total ces- 
 sation of employment in several branches of manufacturing 
 industry. Many parts of the country were disturbed by riots 
 in consequence of the inability of the poorer classes to pur- 
 chase an adequate share of food during these seasons of agri- 
 cultural prosperity and high prices arising from defective 
 harvests and the other causes to which allusion has been made. 
 
 A year or two of low prices of agricultural produce again 
 brought to a close another period in the history of the Corn 
 Laws. Wheat, which had been sold as high as 180s. the 
 quarter (for select parcels) in 1812, fell to 73s. 6d. after the 
 abundant harvest of 1813 ; and after that of 1814, which was 
 rather favorable than otherwise, the average price was re- 
 duced to 53s. Id. the quarter. This fall in prices and the 
 cessation of hostilities led to the reconsideration of the whole 
 question of the Corn Law. 
 
 During the present period an important change was made 
 in the mode of striking the average prices of corn and grain. 
 The twelve maritime districts of England, and the four simi- 
 lar districts of Scotland, ceased to be regarded as sixteen 
 separate sections, each of which was regulated by the prices 
 prevalent within its separate limits ; but for England, the 
 averages, taken as before, were computed for the whole of the 
 twelve districts at once, and the average price obtained from the 
 computation regulated importation and exportation at seaports 
 situate in any part of the country ; and for Scotland the same 
 plan was pursued. The six weeks' averages, struck quarterly, 
 regulated the import duty, and the weekly average the exports. 
 
 In 1806 was passed " An Act to permit the free Interchange 
 of every Species of Grain between Great Britain and Ire- 
 land."* Ireland had been previously treated as a colony, 
 
 * 46 Geo. III. c. 97. 
 
166 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 but this act placed her on an equality with other parts of the 
 kingdom, and, for oats, has rendered Ireland the granary of 
 England. In 1838 nearly two million quarters (1,948,380) 
 of oats and oatmeal were imported into Great Britain from 
 Ireland, and the supply is yearly increasing : the imports of 
 wheat from the sister kingdom have been gradually diminishing 
 since 1832, when the quantity was 552,741 quarters. 
 
BRITISH CORN- LAWS. 167 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SIXTH PERIOD. FROM 1815 TO 1822. 
 
 The new importation act of 1815 Average prices of the previous year 
 Popular commotion Appeal to military force Protest of the minor- 
 ity against the passage of the bill Restrictive character of the act 
 Regulation of prices, and their fluctuating character Fresh proposals in 
 Parliament Huskisson's resolutions, (tec New project of the Commit- 
 tee in 1821 Plans for the alleviation of the agricultural distress in 1822 
 Advance of wages Proposition for an exchequer loan of 100,000, by 
 Lord Londonderry 
 
 THE corn-law of 1815 originated in the desire to preserve, 
 during a state of peace, the high rents and prices which had 
 existed during the war. The war had been a period of 
 scarcity, arising from various causes, and the real effect of 
 this measure was to perpetuate the high prices and high rents 
 by an artificial scarcity. On the 10th of June, 1814, a 
 committee of the house of lords on the corn-trade was ap- 
 pointed, which made a brief report on the 27th, when the 
 committee was instructed to examine witnesses in support of 
 allegations contained in petitions presented to the house on 
 the subject. The principal feature of the second report was 
 the recommendation of the committee that so long as the av- 
 erage price of wheat was under 80s. the ports should be 
 completely closed against supplies from other countries. The 
 prohibitive price, suggested by the agricultural witnesses ex- 
 amined by the committee, varied from 725. to 96s. Out of 
 sixteen witnesses belonging to this class, only four were in 
 favor of the free importation price being below 80s. per quar- 
 ter. This second report was presented on the 25th of July; 
 but the attempt to give so complete a monopoly as would 
 have been established by carrying out the recommendations 
 of the lords' committee was so resolutely opposed by the 
 country, that the bill which had been brought in for the pur- 
 
168 HJSTORY OF THE 
 
 pose was abandoned. An act was however passed, repealing 
 the bounty on exportation,* which had been allowed under 
 various circumstances since 1688, though, from 1792, the 
 high prices which prevailed in the home market rendered 
 it inoperative. By the new act, exportation might take place 
 at any time without reference to prevailing prices. 
 
 The average price of wheat for the year 1814 was about 
 34s. per quarter lower than the average of the preceding 
 year, though the harvest had not been an abundant one. In 
 the month of February, 1815, the average price was under 
 60,?., and before harvest it might rise to 665., when the ports 
 would be open, and prices again be depressed, and it was 
 brought to a very low point, in consequence of the obstacles 
 to free intercourse with the continent being removed. Early 
 in the session of 1815, therefore, a bill was. brought in, giv- 
 ing effect to the recommendation of the committee of the pre- 
 vious year, and fixing 805. as the lowest point at which im- 
 portation could take place. The measure produced great 
 excitement throughout the country, particularly in the man- 
 ufacturing districts and in all the large towns. In the house 
 of commons, at an early period, a division took place in fa- 
 vor of 72*. being substituted for 80s., with the following re- 
 sult : For the motion, 35; against it, 144; majority, 119. 
 On the 3d of March, an attempt was made to throw out the 
 bill : For the motion, 56 ; against it, 218 ; majority, 162. 
 On the 6th of March, the vicinity of the house of commons 
 was thronged by an excited multitude, and several members 
 were stopped, some of them roughly handled, and they were 
 questioned by the mob as to the vote which they intended to 
 give. Ultimately the military were called out, and, with the 
 civil force, kept the streets clear. This evening the gallery 
 of the house of commons was closed. An attempt was made 
 to render the bill more favorable by substituting 74*. instead 
 
 * 54 Geo. III. c. 69, 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 169 
 
 of 80s. as tne pivot price ; and the motion was supported by 
 77 against 208, being a majority of 131. On the 8th of 
 May, on bringing up the report, an amendment was moved, 
 that the bill be read that day six months, when there voted 50 
 in its favor, and 168 against it; majority 118. A final at- 
 tempt was made to substitute a lower rate than 80.y., leaving 
 it to the house to determine the exact price at which prohi- 
 bition ceased ; but only 78 voted for the motion, and 184 in 
 favor of the measure as originally proposed. On the 10th 
 of March, on the third reading, an amendment was moved 
 that the bill be thrown out, but it was only supported by 77 
 against 245 ; majority 168. On the 20th of March, the bill 
 passed the lords by a majority of 107 : 128 contents, and 
 21 non-contents. The measure was opposed with great force 
 and acuteness by several of the most eminent statesmen of 
 the day ; and Lord Grenville drew up a protest, embodying 
 the views of the leaders of the minority. We give a copy 
 of this historical document : 
 
 " PROTEST. 
 
 " 1. Because we are adverse in principle to all new re- 
 straints on commerce. We think it certain that public pros- 
 perity is best promoted by leaving uncontrolled the free cur- 
 rent of national industry ; and we wish, rather, by well- 
 considered steps, to bring back our commercial legislation to 
 the straight and simple line of wisdom, than to increase the 
 deviation, by subjecting additional aud extensive branches of 
 the public interest to fresh systems of artificial and injurious 
 restriction. 
 
 " 2. Because we think that the great practical rule of 
 leaving our commerce unfettered applies more peculiarly, 
 and on still stronger grounds of justice, as well as of policy, 
 to the corn-trade, than to any other. Irresistible, indeed, 
 must be the necessity which could, in our judgment, autho- 
 rize the legislature to tamper with' the sustenance of the peo- 
 
 15 
 
170 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 pie. and to impede the free purchase and sale of that article 
 on which depends the existence of so large a portion of the 
 community. 
 
 " 3. Because we think that the expectations of ultimate 
 benefit from this measure are founded on a delusive theory. 
 We cannot persuade ourselves that this law will ever con- 
 tribute to produce plenty, cheapness, or steadiness of price. 
 So long as it operates at all, its effects must be the opposite 
 of these. Monopoly is the parent of scarcity, of dearness, 
 and of uncertainty. To cutoff any of the sources of supply 
 can only tend to lessen its abundance ; to close against our- 
 selves the cheapest market for any commodity, must enhance 
 the price at which we purchase it ; and to confine the con- 
 sumer of corn to the produce of his own country, is to refuse 
 to ourselves the benefit of that provision which Providence it- 
 self has mads for equallizing to man the variations of season 
 and of climate. 
 
 " 4. But, whatever may be the future consequences of this 
 law, at some distant and uncertain period, we see, with pain, 
 that those hopes must be purchased at the expense of a great 
 and present evil. To compel the consumer to purchase corn 
 dearer at home than it might be imported from abroad, is the 
 immediate practical effect of this law. In this way alone 
 can it operate. Its present protection, its promised extension 
 of agriculture, must result (if at all) from the profits which 
 it creates by keeping up the price of corn to an artificial 
 level. These future benefits are the consequences expected, 
 but, as we confidently believe, erroneously expected, from 
 giving a bounty to the grower of corn, by a tax levied on its 
 consumer. 
 
 " 5. Because we think that the adoption of any permanent 
 law for such a purpose required the fullest and most labori- 
 ous investigation. Nor would it have been sufficient for our 
 satisfaction could we have been convinced of the general pol- 
 icy of so hazardous an experiment. A still further inquiry 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 171 
 
 would have been necessary to persuade us that the present 
 moment was fit for its adoption. In such an inquiry we must 
 have had the means of satisfying ourselves what its im- 
 mediate operation will be, as connected with the various and 
 pressing circumstances of public difficulty and distress with 
 which the country is now surrounded ; with the state of cir- 
 culation and currency ; of our agriculture and manufactures ; 
 of our internal and external commerce ; and, above all, with 
 the condition and reward of the industrious laboring classes 
 of our community. On all these particulars, as they respect 
 this question, we think that parliament is almost wholly 
 uninformed ; on all, we see reason for the utmost anxiety 
 and alarm from the operation of this law. 
 
 " Lastly. Because, if we could approve of the principle 
 and purpose of this law, we think that no sufficient foundation 
 has been laid for its details. The evidence before us, unsat- 
 isfactory and imperfect as it is, seems to us rather to disprove 
 than to support the propriety of the high price adopted as the 
 standard of importation, and the fallacious mode by which that 
 price is to be ascertained. 
 
 " And on all these grounds we are anxious to record our 
 dissent from a measure so precipitate in its course, and, as 
 we fear, so injurious in its consequences. 
 
 " AUGUSTUS FREDERICK " TORRINGTON, 
 
 (Duke of Sussex,) BUTTON (Marquis of Douglas,) 
 
 WILLIAM FREDERICK CHANDOS BUCKINGHAM, 
 
 (Duke of Gloucester,) MONTFORT, 
 
 GRENVILLE, KING, 
 
 WELLESLEY, CARLISLE." 
 ESSEX, 
 
 On the 23d of March the bill received the royal assent. 
 
 Until the average price of wheat rose to 80^. the ports were 
 to be effectually closed. Colonial wheat was admitted when 
 the average prices reached 67s. per quarter. Such was the 
 
172 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 leading feature of the new act.* But the mode in which the 
 average prices were determined greatly increased its strin- 
 gency. A new average was to be struck quarterly, on the 
 15th of February, May, August, and November, from the 
 aggregate prices of the six preceding weeks; but it was pro- 
 vided that, if during the six weeks subsequent to any of these 
 dates the average prices, which might be at 80s., fell below 
 that price, no supplies should be admitted for home consump- 
 tion from any ports between the rivers Eyder and the Bidas- 
 soa, that is, from Denmark to Spain. 
 
 It was the general expectation of the farmers that the act 
 of 1815 would maintain the prices of their produce at a rate 
 somewhat under that of the scale which the legislature had 
 adopted ; and which, for wheat, was 80s. ; barley 40*. ; oats 
 275. ; and rye, beans, and peas, 53s. They entered into 
 contracts with their landlords and others with this conviction. 
 But, as in every measure passed since 1773 prices had risen 
 above the scale which had been fixed as the prohibitive rate, 
 it happened that they now sunk below it to an extent which 
 they had not anticipated. In 1816, 1817, and 1818, three 
 deficient harvests occurred, that of the former year being 
 below an average crop to a greater extent than in any year 
 since the periods of scarcity at the close of the last century. 
 Prices rose above the rate at which foreign supplies were ad- 
 mitted, and in 1817 and 1818 above 2,600,000 quarters of 
 wheat were imported. In 1821 and 1822 the agriculturists 
 endured the severest season of distress which had been ex- 
 perienced by that body in modern times, and the engagements 
 which they'had been induced to make under the fallacious 
 hopes excited by the last Corn Act and the range of high 
 prices during the war occasioned them to be swept from the 
 land by thousands. In the week ending December 21st, 
 1822, the average prices of corn and grain were as follow : 
 
 55 Geo. in. c. 26. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 173 
 
 Wheat. Barley. Oats. Rye. Beans. Peas. 
 s. d. s. d. a. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. 
 
 38 8 29 4 18 9 23 6 28 10 29 4 
 Being 41 4 10 8 8 3 29 6 24 2 23 8 
 
 lower than the scale which was framed for the farmer's pro- 
 tection. The harvest of 1820 was estimated as one fourth 
 above an average crop, and by some, who included the ex- 
 tended breadth of wheat under cultivation in consequence of 
 the high prices of 1816-17-18, the surplus was computed at 
 about one third above the average, that is, there was a sur- 
 plus of between 3 and 4 million quarters of wheat, for which 
 there was no demand. The crop of 1824 was large, but of 
 inferior quality; that of 1822 was above an average, and 
 the harvest was unusually early. The cause of the great 
 fall of prices and of its distressing effects on the farmers was 
 sufficiently obvious. They were under leases and rents 
 founded upon an extraordinary conjuncture of bad seasons 
 with a state of war, and were buoyed up by an act which 
 promised to exclude supplies of foreign grain. 
 
 The fluctuations in price under the corn-law of 1815 were 
 as extraordinary as they were unexpected by the landed in- 
 terests, and amounted to 199^ per cent. 
 
 The cry of agricultural distress was now heard from every 
 part of the country, and never ceased to ring in the ears of 
 the legislature during the years 1820-1-2. Committees of 
 the house of commons were appointed to inquire into the 
 condition of agriculture in the two latter years, and numerous 
 plans were conceived for the relief of the agricultural class. 
 In parliament Sir Thomas Lethbridge proposed a permanent 
 duty on foreign wheat of 40s. per quarter, and he claimed 
 protection for every description of produce raised from British 
 soil. Mr. Benett's plan was a permanent duty of 24s. per 
 quarter after the averages had again reached 80s., and a 
 drawback of 18s. per quarter to be allowed on the exporta- 
 tion of wheat of marketable quality. Mr. Curwen suggested 
 
 15* 
 
174 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to the House that when the average price of wheat reached 
 80,$. the ports should be opened for the admission of 400,000 
 quarters of foreign wheat, at a duty of 10s. ; and if, six weeks 
 after this quantity had been admitted, the average price should 
 still continue above 80s., then to allow of the importation of 
 an additional 403,030 quarters, at a duty of 5s. The late 
 Mr. Ricardo moved resolutions to the effect that when the 
 averages rose to 65s. per quarter all the foreign wheat then 
 in bond should be liberated at a duty of 15s. ; and that after- 
 ward, whenever the averages exceeded 70s., the trade in 
 wheat should be free, at a permanent duty of 20s. : one year 
 from that time the duty to be reduced to 19s., and a similar 
 reduction to be made each year until the duty was 10s., at 
 which it should be permanently fixed ; at the same time 
 allowing a drawback or bounty on exportation of 7s. per 
 quarter. 
 
 The resolutions moved by Mr. Huskisson, on the 29th of 
 April, during the agricultural panic of 1822, show that he 
 took a calm and rational view of the subject. They were to 
 the following effect : That in February, 1819, the average 
 price of wheat was 78s. Id. per quarter, and the total quan- 
 tity of wheat imported during the year was only 300,416 
 quarters. In 1320 the average price of wheat was 65s. 10fZ., 
 and the foreign supplies of wheat arriving in the port of Lon- 
 don were under 400,000 quarters ; and in 1821 the average 
 price was still lower, being 54s. 5d., and the foreign supplies 
 in the same port were under 500,000 quarters for the year. 
 In January, February, and March, 1822, the average price 
 was lower still, being 47s. 9d., and the ports were closed. 
 Mr. Huskisson's second resolution was to the effect that, 
 " during the whole of this period of three years, the supply 
 in all the principal markets of the United Kingdom appears 
 ^uniformly to have exceeded the demand, notwithstanding the 
 wants of an increasing population, and other circumstances 
 which have probably produced an increased consumption." 
 
BRITISH COKN-LAAVS. 17") 
 
 The third resolution showed " That the excess of the supply 
 above the demand must have arisen either from an extent of 
 corn tillage more than commensurate to the average con- 
 sumption of the country, or from a succession of abundant 
 harvests upon the same extent of tillage, or from the coinci- 
 dent effect of both these causes." To prevent the alternate 
 evils of scarcity and redundance, Mr. Huskisson proposed 
 that the trade should be permanently free at a duty of 15s. 
 per quarter, when the averages were under 80s. ; and when 
 above 80*. the duty to be 5s. ; and above 85s. a nominal 
 duty of Is. only to be imposed. 
 
 The Select Committee of the house of commons had a still 
 greater variety of projects offered for its consideration. One 
 plan proposed to the Committee of 1821 was to withdraw the 
 permission to warehouse foreign wheat or any other foreign 
 grain in England ; and the Committee felt itself under the 
 necessity of arguing this point in their report, by showing the 
 pernicious effect of such a regulation on the shipping interest, 
 and on the country generally. The Committee of 1822 had 
 under its serious consideration two plans for the alleviation 
 of agricultural distress: 1. The application of 1, 000,0007. 
 in Exchequer bills, to be employed through the agency of 
 government in buying up a certain quantity of British wheat 
 to be placed in store. 2. Advances to be made to indivi- 
 duals on produce deposited in warehouses, to prevent them 
 coining into the market simultaneously. The first plan was 
 rejected by the Committee, but they considered the second 
 was feasible, and were of opinion that "the sum of 1,000, OOO/. 
 so employed (in loans on stock,) would probably be fully 
 adequate to give a temporary check to the excess which is 
 continually poured into the overstocked market." Having 
 reaped the full advantage of high prices, it could only be as 
 a matter of expedience rather than of equity that the agricul- 
 turists should be exempt from the effects of a return of peace 
 and plenty. In the house of lords, the Marquis of London- 
 
176 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 derry, on the 29th of April, moved that 1,000,0007. be ad- 
 vanced in Exchequer bills, when the average price of wheat 
 was under 60s. 
 
 There was one class to whom the low prices of 1820-1-2 
 were advantageous. It is admitted beyond a doubt that the 
 laborer and artisan were in a much more contented and 
 prosperous state in these years than they had probably been 
 for thirty years before. Wages had risen, and they did not 
 fall in the same proportion (if in some cases they fell at all) 
 with the low prices of agricultural produce. In the dear 
 years of 1812-17-19, the country was in a disturbed state ; 
 but in 1820-1-2 the laboring classes were peaceful and con- 
 tented. After the peace, the continent being opened to our 
 manufactures, the population engaged in this branch of na- 
 tional industry, which had experienced the severest distress 
 during the war, was now placed in a position of greater com- 
 fort from the stimulus given to the pursuits in which they 
 were engaged. 
 
 The fall of prices in 1820-1-2 had fully demonstrated the 
 futility of the corn-law of 1815, and it was there fore propos- 
 ed to modify it. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 177 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SEVENTH PERIOD. FROM 1822 TO 1828. 
 
 Defects of the law of 1815 Extraordinary disparity of prices from 1804 
 to 1815 Amendments to the foregoing act Their intentions, and the 
 failure of them The importation act of 1826 The act of indemnity for 
 this order Canning's measures in 1827 for graduated scale of duties 
 Modifications by the Duke of Wellington Improvements in the corn 
 trade in North American colonies Novel scale of importation charges 
 Inefficiency of the fluctuating scale, &c. 
 
 THE framers of the corn-law of 1815 did not take into ac- 
 count the effect of the years of scarcity which occurred so 
 frequently after 1804, nor the obstruction of foreign supplies 
 caused by the war. It was founded on the supposition that, 
 high as were the average prices of those years, they were 
 only such as resulted from the cost of production, with the 
 addition of the farmer's profits and the landlord's rent, (both 
 calculated on too high a scale.) In the interval between 
 1804 and 1815, whenever a foreign supply of corn was re- 
 quired, the home market rose to an elevation sufficient to 
 command a supply subject to enormous charges, amounting 
 to from 30*. to 50s. the quarter. Freight, insurance, and 
 other charges, which had amounted to 50*. the quarter from 
 the Baltic, have been as low as 4.s. 6d. within the last few 
 years, but the difference between a free and obstructed in- 
 tercourse was taken as little into account as the influence of 
 a series of defective crops. Prices having sunk so much 
 below the amount which had been assumed to be necessary 
 to remunerate the British corn-growers, the law of 1815 was 
 suspended by a new act passed in July, 1822. It enacted 
 that, " as soon as foreign wheat shall have been admitted for 
 home consumption under the provisions of the Act of 55 Geo. 
 III. c. 26 [the corn-law of 1815,] the scale of prices at which 
 
178 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the home consumption of foreign corn, meal, or flour is per- 
 mitted by the said Act shall cease and determine." The 
 new scale was as follows : Wheat at or above 70s., duty 
 12s. ; and for the first three months of the ports being open 
 an additional duty of 5s. per quarter, being a duty 17s. 
 Above 70s. and under 80s., the "first low duty "of 5s. with the 
 addition of 5s. for the first three months ; above 80s. and 
 under 85s., the "second low duty" of Is. was alone to be 
 charged. 
 
 This act did not come into operation at all, as prices never 
 reached 80s. It is justly described as being merely a pre- 
 tended relaxation of the former act ; for, though the limit of 
 total prohibition was lowered from 80s. to 70s., yet, if the 
 act had come into operation, the duty would have rendered 
 it more severe than the measure of which it was substituted 
 as an improvement. With the exception of some barley, no 
 corn was ever brought from abroad under the provisions of 
 this act. But in 1826, in consequence of the unfavorable 
 harvest, a temporary act was passed, admitting a quantity of 
 foreign grain for home consumption. Next year the govern- 
 ment was driven to a still more decisive step. In the spring 
 of the year ministers had stated that it was not their intention 
 to liberate the corn then in bond, upon which prices imme- 
 diately rose. This was followed by some disturbances in 
 the manufacturing districts, to allay which the government, 
 on the 1st of May, proposed to parliament to release the 
 bonded corn, and, as a measure of precaution, required to be 
 invested with powers to admit during the recess of parliament 
 an additional quantity, not exceeding 500,000 quarters, in 
 case the harvest proved deficient. These powers were acted 
 upon, and on September 1 an Order in Council was issued, 
 admitting certain descriptions of grain for home consumption, 
 until forty days after the next meeting of parliament, at an 
 almost nominal rate of duty, on the ground that, " if the im- 
 portation for home consumption of oats and oatmeal, and of 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 179 
 
 rye, peas, and beans, be not immediately permitted, there is 
 great cause to fear that much distress may ensue to all class- 
 es of his Majesty's subjects." In the ensuing session of 
 parliament ministers obtained an act of indemnity for this 
 order. 
 
 In 1827, after these indications of imperfection had given 
 strength to the opinion that some other system must be devis- 
 ed, Mr. Canning introduced certain resolutions in the house 
 of commons, the leading principle of which was to permit 
 importation at all times by substituting a graduated scale of 
 duties in place of absolute prohibition under 80s. A bill was 
 brought in, founded on these resolutions, fixing a duty of 1*. 
 on foreign wheat when the average price was 70s. per quar- 
 ter ; a duty of 2s. being imposed for the reduction of each 
 shilling in the averages. In respect to colonial wheat, the 
 duty was fixed at 6d. when the averages were 65s. per quar- 
 ter, and when under that sum at 5s. per quarter. The bill 
 was not carried through the house of lords, the Duke of 
 Wellington having moved and carried a clause the effect of 
 which was to destroy the principal feature of the measure, 
 by keeping the ports entirely shut so long as the price of 
 wheat was under 66s. the quarter. An act was, however, 
 passed during this session to permit corn, meal, &c., ware- 
 housed on the 1st of July, 1827, to be entered for home con- 
 sumption upon payment of duties according to a fluctuating 
 scale. About 572,000 quarters of wheat and flour were 
 entered for consumption under this act, at a duty averaging 
 above 20s. per quarter. The harvest had not been defective, 
 and this was the very reason why the corn in bond was re- 
 leased notwithstanding the high duty, as there was no prospect 
 of prices advancing. The additional supply under such 
 circumstances caused a considerable depression in the home 
 market 
 
 In 1821 a new act was passed relative to the averages. 
 Instead of " the maritime districts," 148 towns were named, 
 
180 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 for which the magistrates were to appoint inspectors to make 
 a return of the weekly purchases. 
 
 In 1825 the trade in corn and grain to the British colonies 
 in North America was placed on a more favorable footing. 
 The regulations under which the timber-trade is carried on, 
 and which favor these colonies, have to a considerable extent 
 directed their industry into other channels than those of agri- 
 culture. During one or two seasons, recently the United 
 States, also, instead of having a surplus supply of wheat, have 
 been under the necessity of importing that grain, the industry 
 of the country having been diverted from agriculture to man- 
 ufactures. 
 
 The six weeks' averages still regulated the amount of 
 duty on importation, but they were greatly improved by being 
 every week subject to an alteration. Each week the re- 
 ceiver of corn returns struck out one week's averages, admit- 
 ting those last received, and thereby affecting the aggregate 
 average, as prices rose or fell from week to week. The in- 
 troduction of a fluctuating scale of duty was an important 
 step, and its effect will be considered in the next period. 
 
 It was impossible to continue any longer a system which, 
 for three successive years, 1825-6-7, had been compelled to 
 bend to the force of temporary circumstances ; and like pre- 
 vious measures it was abandoned by its supporters either as 
 inefficient or injurious. Such a state of things brings us to 
 another period in the history of the corn-law legislation. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 181 
 
 .CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EIGHTH PERIOD. FROM 1828 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 Lord Glenelg's bill in 1828 Still in force Its character and provisions 
 Average scale of prices, contrasted with that of Canning Its inefficiency 
 in preventing fluctuating prices The distress of 1833 and 1S36 Condi- 
 tion of landlords and tenants Theory of Gregory King Prices in 1835 
 and '39 Estimated consumption of corn in Great Britain, its cost, &c. 
 Causes of stagnation of trade, &c. 
 
 ' IN 1828 Mr. Charles Grant (now Lord Glenelg) introdu- 
 ced a series of resolutions slightly differing from those which 
 had been moved by Mr. Canning, and they were eventually 
 embodied in a bill which was carried thi'ough both Houses, 
 and received the royal assent on the 15th of July. This 
 measure, by which the corn-trade is at present regulated, is 
 entitled " An Act to amend the Laws relating to the Impor- 
 tation of Corn," and repeals 55 Geo. III. c. 26 (1815 ;) 3 
 Geo. IV. c. 60 (1822 ;) and 7 and 8 Geo. IV., c. 58 (1827.) 
 The provisions for settling the averages under this act are as 
 follows : In one hundred and fifty towns in England and 
 Wales, mentioned in the act, corn-dealers are required to 
 make a declaration that they will return an accurate account 
 of their purchases. [In London, the sellers make the return.] 
 Inspectors are appointed in each of these one hundred and 
 fifty towns, who transmit returns to the Receiver in the Corn 
 Department of the Board of Trade, whose duty it is to com- 
 pute the average weekly price of each description of grain, 
 and the aggregate average price for the previous six weeks, 
 and to transmit a certified copy to the collectors of customs 
 at the different outports. The return on which the average 
 prices are based is published every Friday in " The London 
 Gazette." The aggregate average for six weeks regulates 
 the duty on importation. Jn 1837 the quantity of British 
 
 IQ 
 
Ib2 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 wheat sold in these towns was 3,888,957 quarters ; in 1838 
 there were 4,064,305 quarters returned as sold ; and 
 3,174,680 quarters in 1839. 
 
 Wheat at 50s. pays a duty of 36s. 3d. ; barley at 32s. a 
 duty of 13s. lOd. ; oats at 24s. a duty of 10s. 9d. ; rye, peas, 
 and beans, at 35s. a duty of 16s. 9d. In the case of wheat, 
 when the price is 66s., for every shilling that the price falls 
 the duty increases by Is., and decreases by the same sum 
 for every shilling that the price rises (see the third column 
 of the following scale ;) for all other grain the duty increases 
 by Is. 6d. for every shilling that the price rises. Colonial 
 wheat is admitted at a duty of 6d. when the average of the 
 six weeks is at or above 67s. ; and when below 67s. the duty 
 is 5s. the quarter, and for other grain in proportion. Import- 
 ation is free on payment of Is. on the quarter when wheat 
 in the home market is 73s. ; barley 41s. ; oats 31s. ; and 
 rye, peas, and beans 46s. the quarter. 
 
 In the following Table the scale of duties proposed by 
 Mr. Canning, and that adopted by the legislature in 1828, 
 and acted upon up to the present time, are placed in juxta- 
 position : 
 
 Average Prices Duty according to Duty according to 
 
 of Wheat. Mr. Canning's Bill. the present Scale. 
 
 s. s. s. d. 
 
 73 .... 1 .... 1 
 
 72 .... 1 .... 2 8 
 
 71 .... 1 .... 6 8 
 
 70 .... 1 .... 10 8 
 
 69 .... 2 .... 13 8 
 
 68 .... 4 .... 16 8 
 
 67 .... 6 .... 18 8 
 
 66 .... 8 .... 20 8 
 
 65 .... 10 .... 21 8 
 
 64 .... 12 .... 22 8 
 
 63 14 23 8 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 1S3 
 
 Average Prices Duty according to Duty according to 
 
 of Wheat. Mr. Canning's Bill. the present Scale. 
 
 . s. s. d. 
 
 62 .... 16 .... 24 8 
 
 61 .... 18 .... 25 8 
 
 60 .... 20 .... 26 8 
 
 59 .... 22 .... 27 
 
 58 .... 24 .... 28 8 
 
 57 ...-. 26 .... 29 8 
 
 56 .... 28 .... 30 8 
 
 55 .... 30 .... 31 8 
 
 54 .... 32 .... 32 8 
 
 53 .... 34 .... 33 8 
 
 The present law has not succeeded in maintaining steadi- 
 ness of price, the extremes of fluctuation being 35s. 4d. in 
 December, 1835, and 81s. in January, 1839, or a difference 
 of 129 per cent. To this derangement of prices is to be at- 
 tributed much of the depression which the agriculturists ex- 
 perienced in 1833 and 1836. In each of these years their 
 distressed condition was noticed in the speech from the throne 
 on the opening of parliament, and select committees were 
 appointed in both years to inquire into their state. Since the 
 commencement of 1836 nothing has been heard of agricul- 
 tural distress, prices having risen from 39s. 4d. per quarter 
 for wheat in 1835 to 70s. 8d. in 1839 ; but the commercial 
 and manufacturing interests have been visited with a season 
 of adversity. 
 
 When the harvests have been abundant, the laborer and 
 artisan contented, and trade and manufactures flourishing, 
 the agriculturist has suffered from the depreciation of prices. 
 If abundant crops thus plunge him into distress, there can be 
 no other reason for it than the engagements which he has 
 contracted with his landlord being adapted only for years of 
 scarcity and high prices, such as occurred during the war, 
 when the effect of unfavorable seasons was aggravated by the 
 
184 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 obstructions to commercial intercourse. The tenant now 
 seems to be dependent upon years of deficiency in order to 
 realize the average rate of profit on his capital ; and so long 
 as the price of grain is subject to such great fluctuations as 
 have been already stated, there is no permanent basis on 
 which he can contract with his landlord. His rent must be 
 determined by the rate of prices when he takes his lease, 
 which may turn out in the long-run to be favorable either to 
 himself or his landlord. 
 
 Gregory King, an economist of the seventeenth century, 
 endeavored to prove that a strict rule of proportion existed be- 
 tween a given defect of the harvest and the corresponding 
 rise of prices. The principle of his theory is undoubtedly 
 true. The average price of wheat for 1835 was under 49s. 
 the quarter, and for 1839 it was 80 per cent, higher, or 70s. 
 8d. ; yet no one will assert that the crops were nearly one 
 half below an average, or even one fourth, as in the great 
 scarcity of 1816. The deficiency of 1839 is not estimated 
 as more than one seventh, or at the utmost one fifth ; yet 
 prices rose to nearly double their amount in 1835. Assum- 
 ing the consumption of Great Britain to be 16,000,000 quar- 
 ters of wheat, the sum paid for a year's consumption would 
 be about 31,000,0007. in 1835, while the same quantity 
 would cost 56,000,0007. in 1839. The difference, amount- 
 ing to 25,000,0007., docs not go into the pockets of the farmer, 
 otherwise two or three abundant years and low prices would 
 not occasion him embarrassment, but it is abstracted in the 
 shape of rent, and neither the farmer nor the laborer has 
 any advantage from it. So large a sum withdrawn from the 
 usual channels of circulation creates stagnation in the different 
 branches of non-agricultural industry ; and thus in dear 
 years those interests are always in a languishing and embar- 
 rassed state; though if high prices were good, they would 
 be beneficial to both interests. In years of low prices the 
 scale is turned ; the manufacturers become prosperous, and 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 185 
 
 the agriculturist is distressed. Steadiness in the price of so 
 important an article as bread-corn is essential to the welfare 
 of every class. 
 
 Although, after a deficient harvest, prices rise beyond the 
 ratio of the deficiency, yet in abundant seasons they do not 
 fall in the same ratio as produce is superabundant, as the 
 wealthier corn-growers are enabled to keep back their sup- 
 plies. 
 
 What is wanted is, at least, such an importation of foreign 
 supplies as would check the excess of prices, and render 
 them no more than equivalent to the proportion in which the 
 crops are deficient. This is not effected under the present 
 scale of duties, which, in a very able pamphlet, is shown to 
 operate as a bounty to withhold sales until prices reach their 
 maximum. " The gain of speculators is calculated not only 
 on the advance in the price of corn, but also in i\\efalJ in the 
 scale of duty ; and as the duty falls in a greater ratio than 
 the price of the corn rises, the duty operates as a bounty to 
 withhold sales."* When, for example, the average price in 
 the home market is 66s., the duty is 20s. 8d., and on the 
 prices reaching 73*. the duty is only Is. ; and the difference 
 of profit to the importer is thus 7*. by the advance of prices, 
 and 19*. Sd. by the fall of duty, making a total of 26*. 8d. 
 The average duty paid on the 11,318,549 quarters of foreign 
 wheat entered for home consumption since the present corn- 
 law came into operation, to the 5th of January, 1841, was 
 5*. 8d. per quarter ; but of the above quantity, 4,532,651 
 quarters were admitted in the fifteen months ending Septem- 
 ber, 1839, at a duty of 3*. 7d. only. 
 
 *Mr. Salomons "On the Operation of the Present Scale of Duty on 
 Foreign Corn." 
 
 16* 
 
180 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 NINTH PERIOD. MAY, 1841. 
 
 Lord John Russell's proposal for permanently fixed duties on imported 
 corn, &c. Review of the several measures of the British legislature on 
 the subject Productive industry and capabilities of England The plan 
 of the proposed alterations Commercial relations at the peace, and the 
 results of the erroneous policy Representations of the Committee for 
 Munich, Dresden, &c. Comparative exports of cotton-stuffs to the north 
 in 1820 and 1828 Considerations on the proposed scale of duties Proba- 
 ble results Memorandum from the department of the customs in Eng- 
 land Erroneous estimates of the cost of foreign corn Extract from 
 McCulloch on this point Prices of the Prussian and English markets 
 contrasted Extract from Mr. Jacob's report on transportation of wheat 
 to Odessa, Dantzic, &c. Account of the consumption of wheat and flour, 
 foreign and colonial, in the United Kingdom Evidences of the prejudi- 
 cial influence of the fluctuating scale of prices, <fcc. ... 
 
 ON the 7th of May Lord John Russell, as the organ of the 
 government, announced his intention of moving, in a com- 
 mittee of the whole house, the following fixed duties on the 
 importation of foreign corn : 
 
 Wheat, - -8s. Od. per quarter. 
 
 Rye, peas, and beans, - 5s. Od. 
 
 Barley, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Oats, .... 3s. 4J. 
 A fixed permanent duty has not hitherto been adopted un- 
 der any of the numerous acts for regulating the importation 
 of foreign corn. Prior to 1436 there do not appear to have 
 been any restrictions of a fiscal nature on the import trade 
 in corn. The prosperity of the country at that period depend- 
 ed chiefly on its agriculture, and the object of the legislature 
 was to promote the exportation of agricultural produce. The 
 act of 1773 admitted wheat at a duty of 6d. the quarter when 
 the average price in the home market was something above 
 the cost of production. This is the most reasonable corn- 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS, 187 
 
 law which the country has yet had ; and prices in England 
 and the opposite parts of the continent were about the same 
 level. In the act of 1815 little regard was paid to the aver, 
 age cost of production ; supplies were excluded until the 
 average price of wheat reached 80s. the quarter ; and an 
 artificial stimulus was given to agriculture, which, in the 
 end, proved highly injurious to those whose interests it was 
 designed to favor, and who abandoned the act with as much 
 good will as they had called for its enactment. Since the 
 act of 1773 great changes have taken place in the occupa- 
 tions of the people of this country. England is. no longer 
 dependent on agriculture and the home trade alone. The 
 home market is not sufficiently extensive to give full activity 
 to the productive powers and industry of the country, and 
 the markets of the world are necessary to insure our pros- 
 perity. Even if a portion of the population engaged in man- 
 ufactures could, by any possibility, be annihilated and cut 
 down to a proportion which would be fully employed in sat- 
 isfying the domestic demand, the energies of that diminished 
 portion would soon need a wider field for their unfettered 
 exercise, and would require the removal of the artificial bar- 
 riers which limited their powers and diminished their pros- 
 perity. But it is of course foolish to entertain the idea of 
 cramping the industry of the country with the view of ren- 
 dering it more prosperous. There the non-agricultural po- 
 pulation is ; and to its skill, aided by the wondrous power of 
 machinery, are we indebted for the luxuries which nature 
 has bestowed upon other countries but denied to this, giving 
 it instead unlimited mineral wealth, a fortunate geographical 
 position, and a population whose admirable qualities have 
 never been surpassed. 
 
 The proposed alteration in the import duties on corn and 
 grain has been brought forward in connection with plans of 
 fiscal reform, which, if carried, will lead to a complete re- 
 vision of our commercial policy, with a view of placing our 
 
188 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 relations with other countries on a morj satisfactory founda- 
 tion, and of enabling our manufacturers to preserve their 
 footing in some of the principal markets of the world. The 
 effect of the present competition is to reduce profits and wages 
 to the same level, whether on the continent or in England, 
 with this disadvantage to ourselves, that the cost of food is 
 artificially raised in this country. Had our commercial pol- 
 icy been placed on a proper basis at the peace, we should 
 still have had customers where we have now rivals. But 
 duties have been placed on British manufactures in retalia- 
 tion of our attempt to exclude raw produce sent in payment 
 for them. This is the argument with which our diplomatists 
 are met at every foreign court, from Berlin to Cairo. Mr. 
 M'Gregor, Secretary of the Board of Trade, related to the 
 committee on the import duties the appeals which were made 
 to him as the commercial representative of this country at 
 Berlin, and at the two congresses held at Munich and Dres- 
 den ; " You compelled us" (they said) "to become manu- 
 facturers ; we have not mines of gold and silver, and you 
 will not take what we have to give you ; but if you had taken 
 what we have to give, we should have continued to produce 
 it ; but as you would not take it, our people were intelligent 
 enough to turn their attention extensively to manufactures." 
 Dr. Bowring's " Report to Lord Palmerston on the Prussian 
 Commercial Union" is to the same effect. " We have reject- 
 ed" (says he) " the payments they have offered, we have 
 forced them to manufacture what they were unable to buy." 
 " We should not have complained," says a distinguished 
 German writer, " that all our markets were overflowing with 
 English manufactures, that Germany received, in British 
 cotton goods alone, more than the hundred millions of British 
 subjects in the East Indies, had not England, while she 
 was inundating us with her productions, insisted on closing 
 her markets to ours. The English Corn-Law of 1815 had, 
 in fact, excluded our corn from the ports of Great Britain : 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 189 
 
 she told us we were to buy, but not to sell. We were not 
 willing to adopt reprisals ; we vainly hoped that a sense of 
 her own interest would lead to reciprocity. But we were 
 disappointed, and we were compelled to take care of our- 
 selves." With reference to the United States of America, 
 Mr. Addington, the British Minister at Washington, in a 
 despatch to Mr. Canning, said : " I have only to add, that 
 had no restrictions on the importation of foreign corn existed 
 in Great Britain, the tariff would never have passed through 
 either house of congress, since the agricultural states, and 
 especially Pennsylvania would have been opposed to its 
 enactment." 
 
 The reconsideration of our commercial system (in which 
 the corn trade forms so important a part) would, sooner or 
 later, have been forced upon us by the change which has for 
 some time been going on in our foreign trade, and by the fact 
 that the exports of our manufactured goods, in which "much 
 labor" is employed, have been replaced by those of raw and 
 partially manufactured materials, in which "little labor" is 
 required. To Northern Europe we exported cotton manu- 
 factured goods to the value of 4,651,299?. in 1820, and, in 
 1838, our exports of the same goods only amounted to 
 1,607,990?. ; but while the value of cotton twist (a half man- 
 ufactured article) exported to the same quarter, in 1820, was 
 1,961,554?., it amounted to 5,378,455?. in 1838. The same 
 kind of change has taken place in the other great branches 
 of manufacture. It is stated that " the quantity of cotton 
 twist exported, if made into goods in this country, would give 
 employment to nearly double the number of hand-loom and 
 double the number of power-loom weavers at present engaged 
 in making cotton goods for exportation."* But the necessity 
 of the proposed revision was unequivocally demonstrated by 
 the unsuccessful attempt in 1840 to increase the revenue by 
 
 * Report of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. 
 
190 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 additional taxes. On the assessed taxes, which cannot be 
 evaded, the increase was realized ; but on articles of daily 
 consumption scarcely any additional revenue was obtained. 
 The energies of the country were already too much depress- 
 ed, and they had lost that elasticity which had carried it 
 through so many difficulties. To restore its resources to 
 their former vigor is the object of the proposed change in 
 the corn-laws. 
 
 The duty proposed to be laid on wheat exceeds by 2s. 4d. 
 the duty (5*. 8d.) actually paid under the existing law, and 
 by 4s. 5d. the duty per quarter paid on the importation of 
 41 million quarters in 1838-9. At the first glance it would 
 appear that the proposed plan was therefore less favorable 
 to the consumer than the sliding scale under which -wheat 
 may be admitted at a duty of 1*. only. But it is the opera- 
 tion of the two modes of charging the duty on price which is 
 the real object for consideration. Under a fluctuating duty 
 which has in one year (1838) changed thirty times from Jan- 
 uary to the end of November, and in other years since it was 
 adopted has undergone alterations calculated to bafHe the 
 most clear-seeing speculator, there can be no steadiness of 
 foreign imports. For example, in 1838 the duty in the 
 second week of January was 34s. Sd., and it declined gra- 
 dually until September the 13th, when it reached the lowest 
 point. Of course, during this period, prices were rising in 
 the home market ; but instead of the foreign corn in bond 
 being gradually admitted for consumption, there were only 
 about 33,000 quarters entered from the beginning of the year 
 up to the end of August, though the average price for that 
 month was 74s. 8d. The speculators waited until the second 
 week of September, when, by having withheld the supply, 
 the duty became nominal, and in a single week 1,514,047 
 quarters of foreign wheat were thrown upon the markets. 
 This sudden addition to the supply occasioned a decline of 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 191 
 
 prices, and the duty again rose. The progress of the duty 
 in the short space of six weeks was as follows : 
 
 *. d. 
 
 Week ending Sept. 13th . . . 10 
 
 " " 20th ... 2 8 
 
 " " 27th . . . 10 8 
 
 " Oct. 4th . . . 16 8 
 
 " " llth . . . 20 8 
 
 " " 18th . . . 21 8 
 
 " " 25th . . . 22 8 
 
 With what confidence could the merchant purchase sup- 
 plies in the foreign markets under such a system ? A cargo 
 arriving at the end of September, instead of the middle of the 
 month, would have been subject to a duty of 10s. 8d. instead 
 of Is. per quarter, and prices would have fallen lower than 
 might have been calculated upon when the purchase was ef- 
 fected. It would then be bonded, and might remain in the 
 warehouses until actually unfit for use. In a parliamentary 
 paper (46, Session 1839) it is stated that 899 quarters of 
 foreign wheat were abandoned and destroyed that year in the 
 port of London. The circumstances under which this took 
 place are explained in the following memorandum from the 
 landing and warehousing department in the customs : 
 " This wheat had been in the custody of the Crown in the 
 bonded warehouses of the port of London since its importation 
 from Petersburg in 1831, and had become infested with weevil 
 to such a degree as to be unfit for human food, and quite 
 unsaleable. Under these circumstances, the owners, desirous 
 of being relieved from further expense for granary rent, &c., 
 upon an article which had become almost worthless, applied 
 to the board of customs for permission to destroy it ; and the 
 board, on the report of their officers confirming the represen- 
 tations of the owners as to its damaged condition, granted 
 their permission accordingly, which was carried into effect 
 
192 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 on 25th November, 1837, by the grain being thrown into the 
 river Thames." 
 
 Another defect of the fluctuating scale is to limit the radius 
 of supply, which, instead of comprising the north and south- 
 east of Europe, the Black Sea, Egypt, the United States, and 
 other distant corn-growing countries, is confined chiefly to 
 the markets of Hamburg, Dantzic, and the Baltic ports, to 
 which buyers rush, and, by their competition within a narrow 
 circle, raise the prices to an unnecessary height, relying 
 upon the profits to be obtained under the fluctuating scale 
 amply indemnifying them for the extra charges which the 
 necessity of despatch and expedition occasions. Purchases 
 are made with bills drawn on England ; as the unsteadiness 
 of the trade does not encourage that demand for our man- 
 ufactures which would spring up to the advantage of both 
 parties if it were less subject to impulsive starts. The de- 
 rangement of monetary affairs is a necessary consequence 
 of a trade conducted under these circumstances ; and 
 the value of merchandise of all kinds declines from sales 
 being forced in order to meet engagements at a time when 
 money has been rendered scarce by the drain of remittances 
 for corn. Neither does the present sliding scale work bene- 
 ficially for the farmer, since it renders prices unsteady. The 
 farmer with large capital may derive advantage from it, as 
 he can select his own time for the sale of his produce ; he 
 can act in tacit co-operation with the importer of foreign corn, 
 and, taking advantage of the highest rise of prices, get it off 
 his hands before the markets have been temporarily glutted 
 with a foreign supply. In 1838 this influx of foreign grain 
 took place just before the harvest, and the great majority of 
 farmers had to dispose of their produce when the markets had 
 been lowered from the large foreign supply admitted just 
 when the produce of our own harvest was coming to market. 
 Another disadvantage of the sliding scale is experienced in 
 those years when the crops are of inferior quality. There 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 193 
 
 is an excessive scarcity of good wheat, but the quantity sold 
 of an inferior quality depresses the average prices, and raises 
 the duty so as to exclude a supply of sound wheat from 
 abroad. In this case the holders of English wheat which 
 happens to have been favorably harvested enjoy an exclusive 
 monopoly of the market ; or, if it be disturbed, it is not until 
 the price of the best wheat has risen so high as to enable the 
 importer to pay a duty, probably exceeding 20s. per quarter, 
 in addition to all other charges. 
 
 A very exaggerated notion prevails in this country respect- 
 ing the prices of foreign corn in the principal markets from 
 which we obtain a supply when our own crops are deficient. 
 The average price of wheat in Dantzic during the ten years 
 ending 1831 was 33s. 5d. per quarter, and during the twenty- 
 two years ending with 1838 it was Ms. &d. the quarter. It 
 is to no purpose to refer to the prices in Volhynia or in Po- 
 dolia, which are of course very low compared with prices in 
 this country ; but the competition is not between the growers 
 of England and those of Poland. The question is at what 
 price wheat from these districts can be introduced into the 
 English market, for the competition of the English grower is 
 with the foreigner after his produce has been charged with all 
 the costs of conveyance to the ports of shipment and with the 
 profits of intermediate dealers both foreign and English. Mr. 
 Porter, of the Board of Trade, says : " The charges, in. 
 ordinary times, of merely transporting a quarter of wheat 
 from the north of Germany and the lower ports of the Baltic 
 to England, are stated, on good authority, to be 10s. 6d. in 
 addition to all the charges of shipping ; and I am assured 
 that in order to get back in London the cost of a quarter of 
 wheat bought in the Dantzic market with the lowest rate of 
 mercantile profit, it must be sold at an advance of 18s. upon 
 the original cost."* Another eminent authority estimates 
 
 * " Effect of Restrictions on the Importation of Corn." By G. R. Porter. 
 17 
 
194 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the cost of importing wheat from Dantzic, warehousing it 
 here, and keeping it six months till sold, including insurance, 
 but without profit, at 18s. 3d. per quarter.* Mr. M-Culloch, 
 in the appendix to a pamphlet published by him in May, 
 1841, gives an account of the charges on 100 quarters of 
 wheat imported from Dantzic for sale on consignment in 
 London, in May, 1841. This includes the expenses of its 
 importation, its landing, its retention for three weeks, and its 
 delivery to the buyer, which amount in the aggregate to 45Z. 
 13s. 8d., and, with an allowance for waste, the cost would 
 be raised 507. One hundred quarters of fine high mixed 
 wheat, weighing about 61 Ibs. per bushel, '< would cost, by 
 the latest advices, 40s. per quarter, so that this parcel of 
 wheat could not be sold at less than 50s. per quarter, and to 
 this has to be added the profit of the importer, which at 10 
 per cent, would raise the price to 54s. the quarter ; and a 
 fixed duty of 8s. would further increase it to 62s. Wheat is 
 always cheaper in Dantzic, quality considered, than in any 
 of the continental ports nearer London ; and Mr. M-Culloch 
 states that, whenever there is a demand from this country 
 for 150,000 or 200,000 quarters, the price uniformly rises to 
 40s. the quarter; and in 1839, when 384,369 quarters of 
 wheat were shipped at Dantzic for England, it cost the ship- 
 pers 45s. to 55s. per quarter. If the ports of this country 
 were always open, it may be concluded that the price of good 
 wheat in Dantzic, in ordinary years, would not be under 45s. 
 the quarter. " But taking it at the lowest limit, or 35s., and 
 adding to it 10s. or 12s. for the freight and other charges at- 
 tending its conveyance to England, and its sale to the con- 
 sumer, it is obvious it could not be sold here, even if there 
 were no duty, for less than from 45s. to 47s. a quarter ;" 
 and if it were charged with a fixed duty of 8s. its price would 
 be raised to 53s. to 55s. a quarter. Now, during the ten 
 
 * Mr. James Wilson. Tract on Corn Laws. 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 195 
 
 years ending with 1840 the average price of wheat in Eng- 
 land and Wales was 56s. ll^d. a quarter. In five of these 
 years the price was above this average, and in the other five 
 years the average price was 48.?. 6%d. per quarter. Thus, 
 since the law of 1815, which assumed the average remune- 
 rating price of wheat at something under 80s. per quarter, 
 the question of" protection" has been considerably narrowed, 
 and in abundant years in this country the importation of 
 wheat could scarcely be profitable, while in years of scarci- 
 ty the demand would raise prices abroad and check them 
 here only in the degree in which they had risen beyond the 
 ratio of the deficiency.* In the ten years ending 1820 the 
 average price of wheat in England was 865. 3d. the quarter, 
 and in the ten years following the average was 56s. ll\d., 
 and yet the improvement in agriculture has been so great as 
 to provide food for one third more population. Mr. Tooke 
 says,f that during the three years (1834-5-6) when the price 
 of wheat in this country was on an average under 45s., 
 there was no apparent tendency to diminished or deteriorated 
 cultivation. 
 
 The following table, showing the average prices of wheat 
 in Prussia and in England, as stated in the Prussian Official 
 Gazette and in the London Gazette, from 1828 to 1837, is a 
 proof how fallacious are the fears of the corn-growers here 
 as to the probability of their being " inundated" with Prus- 
 sian wheat : 
 
 * From 1832 to 18S5 the average yearly import of wheat was 125,200 
 quarters, the average price in the home market being 49*. 4d. In 1839 the 
 crop was deficient to the extent of probably one fifth or one seventh ; the 
 importations of wheat amounted to 2,681,390 quarters; and the average 
 price of the period was 70s. Sd., or nearly double the price of the four 
 years ending 1835. 
 
 fHist. of Prices, iii. p. 50. 
 
196 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 
 Average Prices 
 in Prussia Proper, 
 including 
 Dantzic and 
 Konigsberg. 
 
 Average 
 Prices 
 per 
 London 
 Gazette. 
 
 Difference 
 between 
 English Prices 
 and mean of 
 Prussian Prices. 
 
 Foreign Wheat 
 and Flour 
 consumed in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Quarters. 
 
 1828 
 
 27 2 
 
 60 5 
 
 32 5 
 
 842,050 
 
 1829 
 
 32 3 
 
 66 3 
 
 32 7 
 
 1,364,220 
 
 1830 
 
 29 6 
 
 64 3 
 
 32 6 
 
 1,701,885 
 
 1831 
 
 39 6 
 
 66 4 
 
 27 1 
 
 1,491,631 
 
 1832 
 
 34 
 
 58 8 
 
 24 11 
 
 325,435 
 
 Ib33 
 
 25 
 
 52 11 
 
 28 8 
 
 82,346 
 
 1834 
 
 23 9 
 
 46 2 
 
 21 10 
 
 64,653 
 
 1835 
 
 23 
 
 39 4 
 
 15 10 
 
 28,483 
 
 1836 
 
 21 
 
 48 6 
 
 26 6 
 
 30,046 
 
 1837 
 
 22 6 
 
 56 10 
 
 32 7 
 
 244,085 
 
 With a difference between the Prussian and English prices 
 in 1829-30-31 varying from 27s. Id. to 32*. Id., the quan- 
 tities of wheat brought from all the ports of Prussia were only 
 353,906 quarters in 1829 ; 517,844 quarters in 1830 ; and 
 298,605 quarters in 1831. Prices were higher in Eng- 
 land in 1839 than in 1838, and yet the imports from Prussia 
 were above an eighth less than in the previous year. 
 
 When the corn-growers of England are told of wheat sell- 
 ing in Poland at 145. or 15s. the quarter, they would do well 
 to consider the cost of bringing it to the English market. 
 The quantity which arrives at Dantzic to supply any urgent 
 demand is brought from provinces at a distance of from 500 
 to 700 miles inland ; and Mr. M'Culloch states that in No- 
 vember, 1838, when wheat sold in Dantzic for 41s. 6rf. a 
 quarter, it was selling in Lemberg, the principal corn-market 
 of Galicia, for 15s. the difference, amounting to 26s. C>d., 
 being the measure of the cost and risk of conveyance from 
 Lemberg to Dantzic. 
 
 The following account, taken from Mr. Jacob's First Re- 
 port on the Corn Trade, succinctly describes the operations 
 attending the transport of wheat from the interior to Dantzic. 
 
 " There are," says Mr. Jacob, "two modes of conveying 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 197 
 
 wheat to Dantzic by the Vistula. That which grows near 
 the lower parts of the river, comprehending Polish Russia, 
 and part of the province of Plock, and of Masovia, in the 
 kingdom of Poland, which is generally of an inferior quality, 
 is conveyed in covered boats, with shifting boards that protect 
 the cargo from the rain, but not from pilfering. These vessels 
 are long, and draw about fifteen inches water, and bring 
 about 150 quarters of wheat. They are not, however, so 
 well calculated for the upper parts of the river. From Cra- 
 cow, where the Vistula first becomes navigable, to below the 
 junction of the Bug with that stream, the wheat is mostly 
 conveyed to Dantzic in open flats. These are constructed 
 on the banks, in seasons of leisure, on spots far from the 
 ordinary reach of the water, but which, when the rains of 
 autumn, or the melted snow of the Carpathian mountains in 
 the spring, fill and overflow the river, are easily floated. 
 Barges of this description are about 75 feet long and 20 broad, 
 with a depth of 2 feet. They are made of fir, rudely put 
 together, fastened with wooden treenails, the corners dovetail- 
 ed and secured with slight iron clamps the only iron em- 
 ployed in their construction. A large tree, the length of 
 the vessel, runs along the bottom, to which the timbers are 
 secured. This roughly-cut keelson rises nine or ten inches 
 from the floor, and hurdles are laid on it which extend to 
 the sides. They are covered with mats made of rye straw, 
 and serve the purpose of drainage, leaving below a space in 
 which the water that leaks through the sides and bottom is 
 received. The bulk is kept from the sides and ends of the 
 barge by a similar plan. The water which these ill con- 
 structed and .imperfectly-caulked vessels receive is dipped 
 out at the end and sides of the bulk of wheat. Vessels of 
 this description draw from ten to twelve inches water, and 
 yet they frequently get aground in descending the river. 
 The cargoes usually consist of from 180 to 200 quarters of 
 wheat. The wheat is thrown on the mats, piled as high aa 
 
 17* 
 
198 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the gunwale, and left uncovered, exposed to all the incle- 
 mencies of the weather and to the pilfering of the crew. 
 During the passage the barge is carried along hy the force 
 of the stream, oars being merely used at the head and stern 
 to steer clear of the sand-banks, which are numerous and 
 shifting, and to direct the vessel in passing under the several 
 bridges. These vessels are conducted by six or seven men. 
 A small boat precedes, with a man in it, who is employed 
 sounding, in order to avoid the shifting shoals. This mode 
 of navigation is necessarily very slow ; and during the pro- 
 gress of it, which lasts several weeks, and even months, the 
 rain, if any fall, soon causes the wheat to grow, and the ves- 
 sel assumes the appearance of a floating meadow. The 
 shooting of the fibres soon forms a thick mat, and prevents 
 the rain from penetrating more than an inch or two. The 
 bulk is protected by this kind of covering, and when that is 
 thrown aside is found in tolerable condition. The vessels 
 are broken up at Dantzic, and usually sell for about two 
 thirds of their original cost. The men who conduct them 
 return on foot. 
 
 " When the cargo arrives at Dantzic or Elbing, all but 
 the grown surface is thrown on the land, exposed to the sun, 
 and frequently turned over, till any slight moisture it may 
 have imbibed is dried. If a shower of rain falls, as well as 
 during the night, the heaps of wheat on shore are thrown to- 
 gether in the form of a steep roof of a house, that the rain 
 may run ofT, and are covered with a linen cloth. It is thus 
 frequently a long time after the wheat has reached Dantzic 
 before it is fit to be placed in the warehouses." 
 
 The corn-growing districts in the south-east of Europe, 
 and in the countries bordering the Black Sea, export their 
 produce by the Don, the Dniepr, the Dniestr, and the Danube, 
 or by land-carriage to Odessa for shipment to foreign coun- 
 tries, and that port stands in the same relation to the south 
 of Europe as Dantzic does to the northern part. The prin- 
 
BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 199 
 
 cipal supply is however brought to the town in carts drawn 
 by oxen, from distances varying from 100 to 400 miles. On 
 an average of the seven years ending 1840 the quantity 
 brought to Odessa amounted to only 17,760 quarters annual- 
 ly. During 1838-9-40 the average price of the best Odessa 
 wheat was 34s. 6d. The voyage to England is long, and 
 there is great risk of the grain heating ; the expenses of im- 
 portation amount to 15s. or 16s. and even 205. a quarter ; 
 and it could not be sold so low as Dantzic wheat, which is 
 far superior to the former in quality. The corn-grower of 
 Wallachia, Bulgaria, or Bessarabia, though he sells his wheat, 
 at 14s. or 15s. the quarter, cannot compete with the English 
 grower who charges upwards of 50s. Mr. Jacob's account 
 of the manner in which corn is transported to Odessa shows 
 the physical impossibility of this competition becoming a mat- 
 ter of anxiety to the most timid agriculturist. He says : " The 
 small wagons with wheat begin to arrive at Odessa in the month 
 of May, but the greater portion of them do not reach that place 
 till June or July. Some days in the two latter months present 
 the curious spectacle of five or six hundred, and occasionally 
 of even a thousand, of these vehicles entering the city. Each 
 of the wagons, drawn by two oxen, carries about four quar- 
 ters ;* so that in the year 1817, when the trade was the most 
 extensive, there must have arrived, supposing three fourths 
 of the corn to have been brought by land-carriage, about 
 160,000 of these vehicles in the six months from May to 
 October. In a country where the labor of man and of cattle, 
 and the prices of the bare necessaries of life, are very cheap, 
 this land-carriage maintains its due proportion of low rate. 
 
 * It has been recently ascertained that each of the wagons conveys 
 eight sacks of wheat, the sack containing a Polish horsec, equal to three 
 bushels and one peck, Winchester measure. The load of two oxen is 
 thus three quarters and two bushels, instead of four quarters, as here cal- 
 culated. The cost of conveyance, therefore, will amount to about one 
 fifth more than appears by the extract. 
 
200 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Two oxen cannot travel over such rugged hills and deep 
 sands as are to be found between the corn-growing districts 
 and Odessa, when drawing a ton weight, at a greater rate 
 than ten English miles per day. Each hundred miles will 
 thus require ten days' work for two oxen and one man to 
 proceed to the port, and about seven days to discharge the 
 loading and to return with the empty carriage. The rate of 
 hire for a man and two oxen is, at least in Podolia, 6d. per 
 day. Where pasture is abundant the oxen may be fed for a 
 mere trifle ; but in the journey of near 100 miles across the 
 steppes, in the months when the greater number of carriages 
 pass over it, the vegetation is wholly burnt up, which, with 
 the scarcity of water, must cause some expense in the main- 
 tenance of the cattle. If for their food and water an allow. 
 ance be made of Is. 6d. for the seventeen days, and it be added 
 to the hire of the man and the oxen, it will make the cost of 
 conveyance for the four quarters of wheat amount to 2s. 
 Gd. per quarter for each hundred miles." The labor of 
 many years, and the outlay of capital which has yet to be 
 created, will be required before these difficulties will be over- 
 come, and the cost of transport diminished by good roads and 
 other facilities. 
 
 The following table shows the countries which are ca- 
 pable of furnishing us with wheat, and the quantities which 
 they supplied us during three successive years of high prices. 
 
BRITISH CORX-LAWS. 
 
 201 
 
 AN ACCOTJNT of the Quantities of Foreign and Colonial Wheat 
 and Wheat-Flour brought into Consumption in the United 
 Kingdom ; stating the Quantities Imported from each 
 Country during each Year from 1837 to 1839. 
 
 COUNTRIES FROM WHICH IMPORTED. 
 
 1837. 
 
 1838. 
 
 1839. 
 
 
 Qrs. 
 3,903 
 
 Qrs. 
 141,656 
 
 Qrs. 
 356,164 
 
 Sweden and Norway 
 
 252 
 
 358 
 
 567 
 
 Denmark 
 
 7,444 
 
 147,728 
 
 202,927 
 
 Prussia . . . 
 
 148,077 
 
 839,513 
 
 704,992 
 
 Germany : 
 
 36,498 
 
 147,383 
 
 104,777 
 
 Hanover 
 
 125 
 
 24,359 
 
 19,185 
 
 
 
 15,201 
 
 16,698 
 
 Hanse Towns 
 
 10,637 
 
 204,563 
 
 267,183 
 
 Holland 
 
 2,222 
 
 82,737 
 
 117,677 
 
 Belgium. 
 
 153 
 
 18,284 
 
 24,516 
 
 France 
 
 202 
 
 65,012 
 
 309,897 
 
 Portugal, Madeira, and the Azores 
 Spain and the Canaries 
 
 " 2 
 
 1,279 
 
 28,800 
 9,010 
 
 Gibraltar ... . ... 
 
 
 
 4,753 
 
 Italy 
 
 1,011 
 
 55,735 
 
 333,313 
 
 Malta 
 
 
 14,956 
 
 17,211 
 
 Ionian Islands 
 
 
 5,391 
 
 13,583 
 
 Turkey and Egypt 
 
 258 
 
 5,515 
 
 45,483 
 
 Morocco 
 
 
 
 3,358 
 
 Cape of Good Hope 
 
 
 520 
 
 3 
 
 East India Company's Territories 
 N. S. Wales & Van Diemen's Land... 
 British North American Colonies 
 
 7,516 
 117 
 25,745 
 112 
 
 9,649 
 4 
 
 19,597 
 27047 
 
 5,015 
 
 7,764 
 87,528 
 
 Isles of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, ) 
 and Man (Foreign Produce) 
 All other parts 
 
 1 
 
 21,906 
 
 84 
 
 30,383 
 929 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 244,275 
 
 1,848,477 
 
 2,711,725 
 
 It will be seen from this table that the importations from 
 the United States, British North America, and other distant 
 corn-growing countries, are quite insignificant, under the 
 uncertainties of a fluctuating duty. The risks of the trade 
 are so great as to present few inducements to the merchant; 
 and when purchases of corn are made to supply our wants, 
 it is not the surplus stock raised for the English market that 
 
202 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH CORN-LAWS. 
 
 we obtain, but we enter into competition with the foreign con- 
 sumer, and our necessities compel us to out-bid him in his 
 own market. If the trade were always open, England would 
 become, as Holland was in the seventeenth century, the 
 great entrepot of the corn-producing countries throughout the 
 world : large purchases would be made in abundant years, 
 and ourselves as well as other European countries would be 
 supplied by our merchants in years of scarcity. Sir Walter 
 Raleigh remarked that " a dearth of only one year in any 
 part of Europe enriches Holland for seven years ;" and there 
 can be no doubt that a new and very important branch of 
 commerce would spring up if England attracted to its ports 
 the surplus produce of grain in the different parts of the 
 world. 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 203 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE CORN TRADE FROM 1838 TO 1841.* 
 
 THE admission of foreign corn and grain for home con- 
 sumption takes place under a scale of duties which fluctuates 
 with the aggregate prices taken in one hundred and fifty 
 market towns, situated in different parts of the country. 
 When the price of wheat in these towns is 66*. on an aver- 
 age of six weeks, the duty is 20.?. 8d. per quarter, and for 
 every shilling which the price falls, the duty advances one 
 shilling ; but when the average price is higher than 65s., a 
 different application of the sliding scale takes place, and 
 the duty moves more rapidly to a lower point. At 67s. the 
 duty falls 2s., that is, to 18s. 8d. ; at 68s. it is 16s. 3d. ; 
 at 69s. it is 13s. 3d. and at 70s. it again descends 3s., to 
 10s. 3d. ; at 71s. it is 6s. 8d. ; at 72s. another fall of 4s. 
 takes place, and the duty is 2s. 8d. ; and at 73s. it sinks to 
 the lowest point, being only Is. per quarter. Thus, while 
 prices advance from 66s. to 73s., being a rise of 7s., the duty 
 falls from 20s. 8d. to Is., being a decline of 19s. 3d. 
 
 The one hundred and fifty towns in which the average 
 prices are taken for regulating the admission of foreign corn 
 are intended as a fair medium for representing the general 
 average wants of the country, and may be divided into sev- 
 eral classes : 1 . Towns in which large transactions of a 
 
 * This chapter is derived chiefly from the Companion to the British 
 Almanac for 1842- 
 
204 TIIE CORN TRADE. 
 
 speculative nature take place, as London, Liverpool, Hull, 
 Newcastle, and other ports in which foreign corn is bond- 
 ed. 2. Seats of manufacturing industry, which draw their 
 supplies from a considerable distance, as Manchester, Leeds, 
 Sheffield, &c. 3. Towns of interchange, such as Wake- 
 field, which serve as an emporium for the agricultural and 
 manufacturing parts of the adjacent districts. 4. Market 
 towns situated in a purely agricultural district, where the 
 sales are made in eveiy instance by the producer, and not, 
 as in three other classes of towns, chiefly by factors. The 
 produce of each district sells eventually for the same price 
 in the last market which it reaches before consumption, but 
 the greater cost of bringing it there necessarily reduces the 
 price to a lower point in those markets which are distant 
 than in those which are close at hand. In the centre of Lin- 
 colnshire, for example, prices will necessarily be lower than 
 in the agricultural parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 
 which adjoin the clothing districts, for whose consumption 
 their respective produce is ultimately destined. The agri- 
 cultural market towns may therefore be subdivided into two 
 or three classes, as those which are more or less near a mass 
 of non-agricultural consumers, also into those which are 
 situated in a rich and fertile district, or one in which the 
 production of grain is limited. 
 
 It is evident that by altering the proportions of these 
 different classes of towns the stringency of the scale of 
 duties may either be increased or diminished, that is, the 
 advance of prices to the point when the lowest duty is 
 chargeable may be either accelerated or retarded. If some 
 of the largest grain markets in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, 
 and Lincolnshire were struck out of the list, the preponder- 
 ating influence of London, Liverpool, Hull, Wakefield, and 
 other markets where the supplies of grain are brought from 
 a distance and pass through several hands, would raise the 
 
THE COIIN TEADH. 205 
 
 averages and lower the duty ; and if these latter places 
 were struck out, the effect would be exactly reversed. As 
 the average prices are determined by adding together the 
 total quantities of each sort of corn sold in the one hundred 
 and fifty towns, next the total prices, and then dividing the 
 total amount of such prices by the total quantity of corn 
 sold, it follows that those markets in which the largest quan- 
 tities are sold have the greatest effect upon the general 
 averages of the kingdom. In the week ending 10t.h Sep- 
 tember, 1811, when the duty was brought down to Is., the 
 quantity sold in the London market was 12,301 quarters, 
 at an average of 76*. 9d., or more than one-sixth of the 
 whole quantity returned. Above one half (36,849 quarters) 
 of the total number of quarters sold were returned from the 
 following places : 
 
 Quarters. s. d. 
 
 London 12,301 76 9 
 
 8,662 74 2 
 
 Wakefield 
 
 Leeds 
 
 Hull 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 Newcastle 
 
 Derby 
 
 6,741 73 
 
 3,604 75 6 
 
 2,196 71 5 
 
 1,889 76 2 
 
 1,456 74 11 
 
 The average prices of the above seven places were 755. 
 OifZ. the quarter, the remaining 36,066 quarters sold at the 
 one hundred and forty-three other towns averaged 67s. 8|<Z. 
 the quarter, and the general average for the whole of Eng- 
 land and Wales was 71s. 2d. At Huntingdon, Wisbeach, 
 Boston, and Cambridge, where 3,859 quarters of wheat were 
 sold, the average prices varied from 61s. 5d. to 62s. Thus 
 the same scale of duties may be made to operate very dif- 
 ferently, by adding to the number of agricultural markets, 
 or striking out some of those in the manufacturing districts 
 or in the mining counties of Cornwall and Durham. The 
 geographical position of the one hundred and fifty towns 
 making returns has also its influence. Eighty-three of 
 18 
 
206 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 these towns are situated south of the line drawn from the 
 Severn to the Wash ; forty are between this line and one 
 drawn from the Humber to the Mersey ; and thirty-seven 
 towns are situated north of these two rivers. The earlier 
 harvest of the southern and midland counties produces an 
 effect upon the averages before any of the new supplies 
 reach the markets situated in the northern portion of the 
 kingdom. The time when the duty reached the lowest point 
 which it attained in the last four years was September 13th, 
 1838; September 5th, 1839; September 3d, 1840; and 
 September 10th, 1841 ; which is just before the arrival of 
 new wheat of English growth has become sufficiently large 
 to depress prices materially, and the corn-growers of the 
 southern and eastern counties, which have easy access to 
 the London market, obtain the advantage of the highest 
 range of prices ; but before the farmers of the northern 
 counties have threshed out any portion of their crops, the 
 foreign wheat in bond has been liberated, and the farmers' 
 supply of new wheat does not reach the markets until after 
 the depression of prices occasioned by the sudden influx of 
 foreign wheat. 
 
 Under the present arrangement the high prices of the 
 large towns are balanced by the lower prices of the agricul- 
 tural districts, and though the averages in the former may 
 bo so high as to reach beyond the point when foreign corn 
 is admissible at a duty of Is. the quarter, yet, until the 
 scarcity extends to the remotest parts of the country, and 
 the general averages are raised, this foreign supply is kept 
 out of the home market. In years of scarcity the field of 
 supply from which such a town as Leeds obtains bread-corn 
 is considerably extended, and part of the high price is oc- 
 casioned by the additional cost of transport. As prices rise, 
 the most distant markets are resorted to, and then, the aver- 
 ages of the whole kingdom being sufficiently raised by the 
 
THE COEN TRADE. 207 
 
 intenseness of the demand, the duty falls, and foreign sup- 
 plies are admitted for home consumption. At one period 
 during the present century England was divided into twelve 
 maritime districts, in any of which importation might take 
 place, while in the adjoining district it was prohibited, each 
 district being regulated by its own averages. The object 
 of this arrangement was to afford facilities for supplying the 
 wants of distinct sections of the country, and to prevent their 
 suffering unnecessarily from high prices. It was introduced 
 at a tim? when the means of inland transport were less per- 
 fect than now, and before the system of " protection" had 
 taken such deep root. 
 
 It has been proposed to strike out from the list of towns 
 which make returns, such places as London, Liverpool, 
 Newcastle, Hull, &c., on the ground that in those markets 
 fictitious sales are made by parties interested in getting 
 foreign corn out of bond at the lowest rate of duty ; and 
 that the speculation which takes place in the corn trade is 
 nearly all carried on at these ports. To what extent fic- 
 titious sales are made with the object alleged it is impossible 
 to say, but the fluctuating scale offers the greatest tempta- 
 tion to such a practice. Supposing there are 800,000 
 quarters of wheat under bond in the ports of London, 
 Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle, and two or three other places, 
 and the average price is 66s., the duty is accordingly 20s. 
 8d., which on 800,000 quarters would amount to 826,0007. 
 If the average price can be raised only 7s. higher per 
 quarter, the duty would only amount to 40,0007., making a 
 difference to the holders of upwards of 1,000,0007., namely 
 786,0007. by the fall in the duty, and 280,0007. by the ad- 
 vance of prices. The construction of the present sliding 
 scale is eminently calculated to encourage fraud by the 
 large gains which it places in the hands of speculators in 
 foreign corn. Up to 66s. the duty only decreases Is. for 
 
208 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 every shilling increase in price ; but from 66s. to 68*. the 
 fall of duty is 2*. ; from 68s. to 70*. the duty declines 3-s. 
 for each shilling that the average prices advance ; from 71s. 
 to 72s. the duty falls 4s. for each shilling that the price 
 advances. Thus at this stage an advance of a single shil- 
 ling gives the holder of foreign wheat an additional profit 
 of 5s. per quarter, of which 4s. consists in the fall of the 
 duty. 
 
 A comparison of the returns made by the corn dealers in 
 the London market at corresponding periods of two different 
 years, in one of which the ports were already open at the 
 low duty, and in the other when prices were advancing 
 preparatory to that event, shows that the transactions of the 
 two periods were on a very different scale ; though it must 
 be remarked that just after a large supply had been thrown 
 on the market it was to be expected that there would not be 
 so great a demand as when prices were advancing and the 
 demand was greater than the supply. A parliamentary paper 
 (383, Sess. 1841) shows that in the six weeks ending 27th 
 Aug. 1830, only 21.630 quarters were returned as being sold 
 in the London market during the whole of this period ; but in 
 the corresponding period of 1840, whentheduty was sinkingto 
 the lowest point which it attained during the year, the returns 
 of wheat sold in the six weeks amounted to 89,448 quarters. 
 In the former period the difference between the average 
 price of the London market and that of all the other mar- 
 kets in England and Wales was never higher than 2s. Id. 
 nor lower than 9d., but in the latter period the difference 
 was never less than 6s. 3d., and was as high as 8s. 6d. 
 The following table will show the effect which the London 
 market had on the average prices by which the duty is 
 regulated : 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 209 
 
 
 LONDON MARKET. 
 
 KINGDOM. 
 
 Six Weeks 
 
 ~1 
 Actual Durywiiicn 
 
 
 
 
 of the 
 
 Weekly , would have 
 
 Weeks 
 ended. 
 
 Number 
 of 
 d Liar. 
 
 Average 
 Price. 
 
 Average 
 Price. 
 
 Kingdom, 
 exclusive 
 of" the 
 London 
 Market. 
 
 Duty 
 including 
 the 
 London 
 Market. 
 
 been paid, 
 exclusive 
 of the 
 London 
 Market. 
 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 S. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 24 July 
 
 11,235 
 
 79 4 
 
 71 4 
 
 70 1 
 
 6 8 
 
 10 8 
 
 31 . . 
 
 14,960 
 
 80 5 
 
 71 11 
 
 70 6 
 
 6 8 
 
 10 8 
 
 7 Aug. 
 
 19,500 
 
 80 2 
 
 72 10 
 
 71 2 
 
 2 8 
 
 6 8 
 
 14 . . 
 
 12,613 
 
 73 5 
 
 72 4 
 
 71 3 
 
 2 8 
 
 6 8 
 
 21 . . 
 
 15,703 
 
 78 10 
 
 72 7 
 
 71 8 
 
 2 8 
 
 6 8 
 
 28 . . 
 
 15,437 
 
 79 6 
 
 72 4 
 
 70 10 
 
 2 8 
 
 6 8 
 
 It will be seen from the above table that, if the London 
 averages had been struck out, the duty on importation would 
 have been 4*. the quarter higher. In 1841, in the week 
 when the duty was brought to the lowest point, there were 
 12,301 quarters returned as sold in the London market at 
 76.s. 9d., but in the week after this had been accomplished 
 only 4,675 quarters were returned, and the average price 
 was 65*. Wd. In the first of these weeks one half the 
 quantity returned from the whole kingdom was represented 
 to have been sold in London and six other towns, but the 
 returns for the following week showed that considerably less 
 than one third of the former quantity was sold in these seven 
 places. If fictitious sales are made with the object of 
 reaching the lowest rate of duty, the effect of such an oper- 
 ation is to diminish the stringency of the sliding scale, for, 
 while the average price is represented to be 735., and the 
 duty Is., the price would be considerably lower if the Lon- 
 don average were excluded, and the duty would of course 
 be higher. If the alleged returns of fictitious sales could 
 be effectually suppressed, the effect even of a lower scale 
 would be precisely the same as a higher scale worked by 
 dealers desirous of forcing down the duties. If the scale 
 should be left as it now stands, arid all tampering with the 
 
 18* 
 
210 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 returns could be prevented, the stringency of the law would 
 he greatly increased, as fictitious sales have, it is believed, 
 always attended its operation. 
 
 The fluctuating scale was preceded by a system under 
 which no importation was allowed to take place until prices 
 reached a certain height, which by the Act of 1815 was 
 fixed at 80s., when the ports were opened and foreign wheat 
 was admitted without payment of any duty. In the Act 
 of 1822 (which never came into operation) the price when 
 importation was allowed was reduced to 70s., but the fol- 
 lowing scale of duties accompanied this pretended relaxation 
 of the law : namely, 125. per quarter, with 5s. additional 
 for the first three months of the ports being open ; and if 
 prices rose above 70s., and were under 80s., the duty was 
 to be lowered to 5s., with the addition of 5s. for the first 
 three months after the alteration ; and above 80s. the duty 
 was fixed at Is. The present sliding scale, it was con- 
 tended, was a great improvement of the Acts of 1815 and 
 1822, as under it importation might take place at any time 
 on payment of the current rate of duty. The following 
 table shows the quantities of foreign wheat admitted at dif- 
 ferent rates of duty from the passing of the Act to the 5th 
 January, 1841. 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 211 
 
 Quantities of wheat and wheat flour entered for home con- 
 sumption from the passing of the Act 9 Geo. IV. c. GO. 
 (15th July, 1828 to 5th January, 1841) : 
 
 Rates of Duty. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Wheat Flour. 
 
 Rates of Duty. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Wheat Flour. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Qrs. 
 
 Cwts. 
 
 S. d. 
 
 Qrs. 
 
 Cwts. 
 
 1 per Qr. 
 
 3,907,981 
 
 1,276,731 
 
 40 SperQr. 
 
 3 
 
 
 28,. 
 
 2,788,277 
 
 835,406 
 
 42 8 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 68,, 
 
 1,994,102 
 
 518,897 
 
 43 8 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 10 8 . 
 
 783,280 
 
 238,592 
 
 44 8 
 
 16 
 
 13 
 
 13 8 , 
 
 548,348 
 
 466,432 
 
 45 8 
 
 62 
 
 33 
 
 16 8 
 
 298.077 
 
 213,707 
 
 46 8 
 
 10 
 
 155 
 
 18 8 , 
 
 76,200 
 
 44,788 
 
 47 8 
 
 7 
 
 17 
 
 20 8 , 
 
 377,667 
 
 96,538 
 
 48 8 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 21 8 , 
 
 107,006 
 
 5,861 
 
 49 8 
 
 2 
 
 36 
 
 22 8 i 
 
 13,664 
 
 5,940 
 
 50 8 
 
 8 
 
 56 
 
 23 8 i 
 
 138,775 
 
 56,580 
 
 Admitted at 
 
 
 
 24 8 
 
 37,329 
 
 2,070 
 
 an ad valo- 
 
 
 
 25 8 
 
 27,153 
 
 1,555 
 
 rem Duty, 
 
 
 
 26 8 ! 
 
 4,724 
 
 654 
 
 being daitid. 
 
 2,629 
 
 
 27 8 
 
 1,882 
 
 690 
 
 Duty free,do. 
 
 
 350 
 
 28 8 ! 
 
 134,275 
 
 1,377 
 
 Duty free, for 
 
 
 
 29 8 ! 
 
 61,649 
 
 101 
 
 Seed - - 
 
 71 
 
 
 30 8 
 
 13955 
 
 756 
 
 
 
 
 31 8 
 
 32 8 
 
 1,496 
 41)2 
 
 87 
 63 
 
 Total - 
 
 11,322,085 
 
 3,768,335 
 
 33 8 
 
 908 
 
 511 
 
 Colonial. 
 
 
 
 34 8 
 
 385 
 
 164 
 
 
 
 
 35 8 
 
 154 
 
 24 
 
 s. d. 
 
 
 
 3G 8 i 
 
 326 
 
 42 
 
 6 per Ur. 
 
 129,858 
 
 426,809 
 
 37 8 
 
 314 
 
 24 
 
 50,, 
 
 393,407 
 
 506,996 
 
 38 8 
 
 154 
 
 72 
 
 
 
 
 39 8 " 
 
 151 
 
 5~\ 
 
 Total - 
 
 523.2(15 
 
 1,023,805 
 
 From this table it appears that, out of 11,322,085 quar- 
 ters of wheat imported in the course of twelve years and a 
 half, nearly nine millions and a half were admitted when 
 the prices were above 705. the quarter, or above eighty 
 quarters out of every hundred, the whole quantity admitted 
 when the prices were below 70s. being 1,848,445 quarters. 
 If importation had been entirely prohibited when prices 
 in the home market were under 70s., the effect would 
 have been very little different from that which has taken 
 place under a system which at all times nominally permits 
 importation. 
 
 At the end of August, 1838, there were 919,855 quarters 
 
212 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 of wheat in bond, but, although the weekly average price 
 was 74s. 5d. the quarter, only 4,930 quarters were entered 
 for home consumption. The six weeks' averages for the 
 last week in August were 72*. lid., and consequently only 
 one penny under the rate at which the duty would be at Is. ; 
 but, instead of the holders of bonded corn liberating their 
 stock at the current duty, which was then 2s. 8d.,they with- 
 held it for another week, when it fell to Is., and 1,261,894 
 quarters were then taken out of bond. In the second week 
 in September the duty again rose to 2s. 8d., and before the 
 end of the month was 16s. Sd. In 1839 the same thing 
 took place. In August the average price for the month 
 being 71s. 8d., the entries of foreign wheat for home con- 
 sumption were only 4,268 quarters, though the stock in bond 
 at the end of the month was 384,984 quarters. In Septem- 
 ber the duty descended to 6s. 8d., being the lowest point for 
 that year, and 812,738 quarters were admitted. Again, in 
 1840, the stock of bonded wheat at the end of July \va.s 
 787,105 quarters, and although the average price for the 
 month was 69s. 9^., only 25,611 quarters were entered for 
 home consumption; but in the first week of September 
 1,217.860 quarters were entered, the duty having fallen 
 from 16s. 8d. to 2s. 8d. In 1841 supplies were in like 
 manner withheld until the duty reached the lowest point, 
 at which it remained for orle week, when the whole quantity 
 in bond was liberated. The rapid manner in which the 
 duty falls after the six weeks' averages exceed 70s. gives 
 such large profits to those who hold bonded stock, that no 
 surprise can exist as to its operation in causing supplies to 
 be withheld. 
 
 At the period when importation was entirely prohibited 
 unless prices rose above 80s., and by the Act of 1822 above 
 70s., there was less necessity than under the present system 
 lor hurrying into the foreign market with breathless haste 
 
THE COHN TRADE. 213 
 
 and buying at enormous prices in order to catch the market 
 at the proper point. Previous to 1815, the six weeks' aver- 
 ages for regulating importation were only struck four times 
 a year, and the ports, being once opened, continued so for 
 at least three months, and could not be closed, even though 
 prices declined, until the next quarterly averages were 
 struck. In 1815, this arrangement was still adopted, though 
 with some modification ; for if, within six weeks after the 
 quarterly averages had been struck which opened the ports, 
 prices should decline below 805., (the free importation price,) 
 supplies were excluded from ports situated between the 
 river Eyder in Denmark, and the Bidassoa in Spain. But 
 distant markets could be resorted to with more confidence 
 than under the present scale. 
 
 In one year (1838) the duty underwent thirty-five varia- 
 tions. On the 19th of July it was 20s. 8d., on September 
 13th Is., and on October llth again 20s. 8d. Now, under 
 the Acts of 1815 and 1822, the duty would have remained 
 fixed for three months after prices had reached the importa- 
 tion price ; but in 1838 it was only for a single week at Is., 
 rising each successive week from Is. to 2s. 8d., 10s. 8d., 
 16s. 8d., 20s. 8d., 21s. 8d., until, on October 25th, it was 
 22s. 8d. Be fore the middle of December, in the same year, it 
 again descended to Is. ; but at this season of the year, with 
 the ports of the Baltic closed, the quantity brought into con- 
 sumption was too small to effect much reduction in the 
 price, and the duty remained at Is. until March 22d, 
 1839. In 1840 the lowest duty was 2s. 8d., but it only 
 continued at that rate for one week, and five weeks after- 
 wards it was at 20s. 8d. In 1841 the duty was again Is. 
 only for a single week, namely, for the week ending Sep- 
 tember 17th ; on the following successive weeks it advanced 
 to 2s. 8cZ., 10s. 8d.. 16g. 8d., 20s. 8d., and on the 15th of 
 October was 22s. 8d. If persons engaged in the corn trade 
 
214 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 endeavor to ascertain the productiveness of foreign harvests 
 and the defects of our own, and from the superabundance of 
 the former, attempt to supply the deficiency of the latter, 
 they must be indemnified by large profits for the risks which 
 attend an uncertain market. If the competition of buyers 
 in the adjacent continental markets deter them, and foresee- 
 ing the scarcity, they give orders to their correspondents in 
 the United States of America to ship flour for England, it 
 may be found that a difference of a fortnight in point of 
 time has excluded the supply from this distant source en- 
 tirely from the English market, and it must either be bonded 
 at a considerable cost, or the importer must wait an indefinite 
 time for its release, or ship his cargo elsewhere. On the 
 1st of March, 1831, the duty was Is., and it never reached 
 the same point again until September, 1838 ; and from July, 
 1831, to 19th July, 1838, it was never below 20s. 8d. 
 During the whole of these seven years there were constantly 
 from 600,000 to 900,000 quarters of foreign wheat in the 
 bonded warehouses waiting until the market became profit- 
 able. It cannot be doubted that the country is supplied un- 
 der this arrangement at the dearest possible rate, and in such 
 a manner as almost to render it totally impracticable for that 
 interchange of commodities to take place which would ensue 
 under a steadier system. If the demand for foreign wheat 
 were only temporary, and sprung up only in seasons of 
 extraordinary scarcity, there might be some ground for leav- 
 ing the trade in its present unsatisfactory state ; but it is now 
 clear that, except in a succession of abundant years, we must 
 resort to other countries, and advantage should be taken of 
 this necessity to create a demand for our manufactures, which 
 can never grow out of the present manner in which we enter 
 foreign markets as purchasers of their agricultural produce. 
 The following abstract from a parliamentary return, shoAV- 
 ing the annual average importation of foreign sand colonial 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 215 
 
 wheat in each consecutive period of ten years, from 1760 
 to 1840, is a proof of the increasing dependence of this 
 country upon other parts of the world : 
 
 Years. 
 176170 
 177180 
 178190 
 179100 
 180110 
 181120 
 182130 
 183140 
 
 Average Annual Importation. 
 94,089 Qrs. 
 111,372 
 143,292 
 470,342 
 555,959 
 429,076 
 534,762 
 908,118 
 
 Thus, it is clear that we must enter the foreign market, 
 and the question is whether we shall do so on terms advan- 
 tageous or disadvantageous to ourselves. But whenever we 
 become extensive purchasers of foreign corn, the uncertain- 
 ties of the fluctuating scale compel us to resort chiefly to 
 the nearest poi'ts instead of the general markets of the world, 
 and competition being confined, we can only obtain sup- 
 plies at excessively high prices. The following abstract of 
 a parliamentary return shows the quantity of wheat import- 
 ed in four different years from the countries from which we 
 derive the largest supply. 
 
 In 1835 only a small supply was required, and in two 
 of the other years we bought up as large a stock as could 
 possibly be spared : 
 
 
 Quantities of Wheat Imported into 
 Great Britain from 
 
 Total import 
 from the three 
 Countries. 
 
 Average 
 Prices of 
 Wheat in 
 Great Brit- 
 ain per 
 Quarter. 
 
 Prussia. 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Holland. 
 
 1835 
 
 1838 
 1839 
 1840 
 
 Qrs. 
 13,891 
 547,325 
 729,677 
 
 769,792 
 
 Qrs. 
 13,062 
 309,458 
 403,515 
 
 35:2,959 
 
 Qrs. 
 8 
 82,011 
 115,595 
 
 44,147 
 
 Qrs. 
 
 26,961 
 938,794 
 
 1,248,787 
 1,166,898 
 
 s. d. 
 39 4 
 64 7 
 70 8 
 66 4 
 
216 
 
 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 The effect of this unsteadiness of demand in a limited 
 market is shown in the following table of the lowest and 
 highest prices in the most important corn markets of the 
 Continent, and is also abstracted from a parliamentary re- 
 turn, (No. 177, Sess. 1840 :) in 1831 we were large pur- 
 chasers, and in 1835 we did not require a foreign supply. 
 
 
 England. 
 
 Danzig. 
 
 Hamburg. 
 
 Amsterdam. 
 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 y 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 $ 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 a 
 
 n 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 V 
 
 E 
 
 3 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. </. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 . rf. 
 
 1831 
 
 59 2 
 
 75 1 
 
 40 2 
 
 49 634 9 
 
 52 2 37 8 
 
 46 8 
 
 1835 
 
 36 
 
 44 
 
 20 1 
 
 24 11 20 9 
 
 22 3;21 10 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 
 Rotterdam. 
 
 M^mel. 
 
 Odepsa. 
 
 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 !> 
 
 K 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 -C 
 Ml 
 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 9 
 
 
 *. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. s. d. 
 
 .S. (/. 
 
 
 1831 
 
 48 11 
 
 60 9 
 
 31 4 
 
 49 3 19 10 
 
 33 
 
 
 
 1835 
 
 26 
 
 31 6 
 
 19 426 016 2 
 
 23 
 
 
 In 1838, after we had for several years nearly ceased 
 resorting to the continental markets, we again became ex- 
 tensive purchasers. Before this necessity was fully apparent, 
 the price of wheat at Danzig was as low as 24s. Id. the 
 quarter, but in the course of the year prices advanced to 
 61s. 2d., being a rise of 154 per cent., occasioned by the 
 demand from England. At Amsterdam, in the same year, 
 prices rose 131 per cent., namely, from 27s. 2d. the quar- 
 ter to 63s. ; at Hamburg prices advanced 114 per cent., 
 from 27s. 3d. to 58s. 6d. the quarter. 
 
 It seems impossible to avoid the following conclusions as 
 to the effect of the present regulations on the foreign corn- 
 trade : 1. That, though nominally importation may take 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 217 
 
 place at any time, the manner in which the scale of duties 
 is arranged acts as a bonus on the withholding of foreign 
 corn until prices reach the highest rate, and the duty sinks 
 to the lowest point ; and wheat, instead of being sold at an 
 average mercantile profit, becomes an article of competition 
 and speculation, in order to realize large profits by the fall 
 of the duty. 2. That, when the duty falls to the lowest 
 point, and not until then, a large supply of bonded corn is 
 suddenly brought into the market, and unsteadiness and 
 violent fluctuations of price are the consequence. 3. That 
 the radius of supply is limited ; and competition being con- 
 fined to the nearest ports, purchases are made at extravagant 
 rates. 4. That the exchange of manufactured goods for 
 agricultural produce is not encouraged, and, extensive pay- 
 ments being made in gold, the currency is injuriously af- 
 fected. 5. That under a fixed duty most of these evils 
 would be either diminished or altogether avoided ; the whole 
 world would be opened to purchasers of foreign corn ; and 
 the present bonus on withholding supplies being withdrawn, 
 prices would not reach an excessive height, and a fixed duty 
 of several shillings might, under these circumstances, be 
 collected with less injury to the consumer than a duty of 
 one shilling under the present system. 
 
 A document was presented to both houses of parliament 
 in the first session of 1841, containing communications from 
 our Consuls residing at St. Petersburg, Riga, Liebau, Odessa, 
 Warsaw, Stockholm, Danzig, Konigsberg, Stettin, Memel, 
 Elsinore, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Palermo, re- 
 specting the production of corn and grain and the trade in 
 these articles in their respective districts. They are in re- 
 ply to queries addressed to each Consul in June, 1840, by 
 direction of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 19 
 
218 
 
 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 1. " What quantity of grain, of each kind, could be ex- 
 ported to England, from the country or district in which you 
 reside, if the trade in corn in England were made constantly 
 open, at a moderate duty ?" 
 
 The following table is a summary of the answers receiv- 
 ed, but it is necessary to remark that the Consuls at St. 
 Petersburg, Liebau, and Hamburg, state the gross amount 
 that could be exported to all countries, and not the quantity 
 which might be shipped to England. The mean quantity 
 is generally given throughout the table : 
 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Rye. * 
 
 Barley. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 
 Qrs. 
 
 Qrs. 
 
 Qrs. 
 
 Qrs. 
 
 St. Petersburg 
 
 192,500 
 
 122,500 
 
 47,000 
 
 245,000 
 
 Riga .... 
 
 Quan 
 
 tity n 
 
 ot sta 
 
 ted. 
 
 Liebau . . . 
 
 30,000 
 
 170,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 60,000 
 
 Odessa . . . 
 
 150,000 
 
 Quantity 
 
 not 
 
 stated. 
 
 Warsaw . . 
 
 300,000 
 
 230,000 
 
 17,400 
 
 17,490 
 
 Stockholm . . 
 
 1,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 12,000 
 
 Danzig . . . 
 
 315,000 
 
 105,000 
 
 42,000 
 
 10,500 
 
 Konigsberg 
 
 65,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 Stettin . . . 
 
 250,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 30,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 Memel . . . 
 
 5,964 
 
 45,759 
 
 15,466$ 
 
 20,024$ 
 
 Elsinore . . 
 
 175,000 
 
 
 275,000 
 
 225.000 
 
 Hamburg . . 
 
 538,000 
 
 97,000 
 
 195,700 
 
 158,700 
 
 Rotterdam . . 
 
 Quan 
 
 tity n 
 
 ot sta 
 
 ted. 
 
 Antwerp 
 
 Quan 
 
 tity n 
 
 ot sta 
 
 ted. 
 
 Palermo 
 
 200,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total . . . 
 
 2,222,464 
 
 912,259 
 
 852,566$ 
 
 808,714$ 
 
 We subjoin a few notes to render the table more intel- 
 ligible : 
 
 STOCKHOLM. The whole of Sweden could export 125,000 
 quarters of all sorts of grain in average years, but the 
 crops vary in quantity and quality more than in any part 
 of Europe, and there are, on an average, two abundant, 
 three ordinary, and one deficient harvest in every six years. 
 The exports are chiefly to Norway. 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 219 
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. In the five years ending 1839, the 
 quantities of corn and grain exported, averaged annsally 
 21,000 quarters of wheat, 18,000 quarters of rye, 260 quar- 
 ters of barley, and 12,100 quarters of oats. The Consul 
 states, that in years of abundance the quantity which could 
 be exported would be three times as great as is stated in the 
 table. There is an extraordinary (typographical) blunder 
 in the statement of grain produced in the government of 
 Tambojf, which is said in 1835 to have amounted to thirty- 
 eight million quarters. The population of this province is 
 about 1,600,000, so that each family raises nearly 120 quar- 
 ters, or food sufficient for twenty-four families, or in the ag- 
 gregate sufficient for the whole population of England for 
 about two years and a half! Probably about 1,800,000 
 quarters of grain may be raised in the province, which would 
 still leave some for export. 
 
 RIGA. The largest quantities shipped from this port since 
 1783 have been as follows : Wheat, 166,000 quarters in 
 1829 ; barley, 108,700 quarters in 1818 ; oats, 316,400 
 quarters in 1827; rye, 704,800 quarters in 1807. The 
 supplies for Riga are principally from Courland, Lithuania, 
 and White Russia. The soil of Livonio, of which Riga is 
 the capital, is not well adapted for the growth of wheat, and 
 rye is the chief production. When the foreign demand is 
 very urgent, the distant provinces of Smolensk, Kaluga, and 
 Orel send supplies to Riga. 
 
 LIEBATJ. The quantities in the table are those which 
 could be exported in a favorable year. The Consul states, 
 that " the greater part of our former supplies was shipped 
 off to Holland and the interior of Russia." The farmers 
 bring their produce to Liebau as well as to Windau in 
 sledges in the winter season only, consequently exports can- " 
 not be made until the opening of the navigation. 
 
 MEMEL. We now come to the ports of Prussia. The 
 
220 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 quantity stated in the table is the actual export of 1839, 
 when the demand was general in many parts of Europe, 
 and shipments were made even to Russia. 
 
 KONIGSBERG. The returns include shipments from the 
 port of Pillau, as well as from Kb'nigsberg. From 1825 to 
 1839, the exports of all kinds of grain averaged 221,476 
 quarters per annum, and if the trade were constantly open, 
 the Consul is of opinion that from 250,000 to 260,000 quar- 
 ters could be shipped, the proportion of each kind being as 
 stated in the table. 
 
 DANZIG. As the demand from Great Britain had been 
 considerable during the three preceding years, the shipments 
 for that period afford a fair average of the exports of Dan- 
 zig if the trade were constantly open at a moderate duty ; 
 but from circumstances occasioned by the fluctuation of the 
 duty in England, " there is a greater chance of less than of 
 a larger quantity being shipped." The quantities in the 
 table are the average of the years 1837-8-9. 
 
 WARSAW. We introduce Warsaw in this place, as the 
 exports from Poland are shipped at Danzig. The state- 
 ments of the Consul, given in the table, as to the quantity 
 exported, are not accompanied by any remarks. 
 
 STETTIN. The crops in this part of Prussia and in Silesia 
 were very favorable in quantity and quality when the return 
 was made, and under these circumstances the export would 
 be as stated in the table, that is, under the prospect of a low 
 duty. 
 
 ELSINORE. Taking an annual average of the twenty years 
 from 1820 to 1839 inclusive, the exports of Denmark and 
 Sleswick-Holstein were wheat, 106,736 quarters ; rye, 
 135,851 quarters ; barley, 302,752 quarters ; and oats, 
 172,170 quarters. There is a permanent demand for bar- 
 ley from Norway, and this grain is particularly adapted to 
 the soil and climate of Denmark and the Duchy. The 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 221 
 
 quantities in the table are such as might be expected to be 
 exported to England in the event of the trade being constant- 
 ly open at a moderate duty. 
 
 HAMBURG. The return from this Consulate includes Lii- 
 beck, Bremen, Rostock, Wismar, Kiel, and Oldenburg. The 
 quantities are taken on the average of years in which the 
 largest export has taken place under the most favorable 
 circumstances. In 1839, 496,000 quarters of grain of all 
 kinds were shipped at Hamburg, being the largest quantity 
 ever exported. From 1820 to 1839 about 240,000 quar- 
 ters were exported annually. In 1821 only 85,000 quarters 
 were exported, and in 1835 about 100,000 quarters. 
 
 ROTTERDAM AND ANTWERP. The reasons why the Con- 
 suls at these places were unable to render their returns 
 complete by filling up the parts left vacant in the table will 
 be stated in- noticing the fifth queiy. 
 
 ODESSA. The annual exportation of wheat from Odessa, 
 from 1830 to 1839 inclusive, averaged 581,340 quarters. 
 From the Azoph the exportation averages about 450,000 
 quarters annually. Neither rye, barley, nor oats have ever 
 been exported from these quarters. The Consul states, that 
 " more than 100,000 quarters could not be diverted to a new 
 source of demand without materially disturbing the market 
 of Odessa, and more positively so if that quantity is to be 
 subtracted from the supply of the finer qualities." The ex- 
 tra supply from the Azoph, " where the demand from old 
 customers is more special and peremptory on account of 
 quality, would, on the same conditions, probably not exceed 
 50,000 quarters." These are the quantities given in the 
 summary. 
 
 PALERMO. About 200,000 quarters could be exported 
 
 when the harvest has proved abundant. Sicily, once the 
 
 granary of Rome, ceased to be a corn-exporting country in 
 
 1826, in consequence of the heavy land tax, which amounts 
 
 19* 
 
222 
 
 THE COIIN TRADE. 
 
 to 25 per cent, on the rental. The wheat chiefly cultivated 
 is of the hard kind, and could not be ground by English 
 millstones. The soft wheat is liable to spoil if kept more 
 than a twelvemonth in granary. 
 
 2. " Average prices per imperial quarter free on board ;" 
 and 3. " Probable freight per quarter to England." The 
 following table gives a summary of the answers received to 
 these two queries : 
 
 Average prices per quarter free on "board ; and probable freight per 
 quarter to England. 
 
 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Rye. 
 
 Barley. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Freight 
 per Uuar. 
 
 St. Petersburg 
 
 Rjcra 
 
 s. d. s. d. 
 39 1 
 49 7 
 43 7 
 26 6 
 36 
 30 Oto35 
 40 
 40 45 
 40 
 35 
 30 36 
 35 46 
 55 
 56 5 
 38 
 
 s. d. s. d. 
 19 4 
 26 4 
 25 9 
 
 22 Oto24 
 20 
 18 20 
 22 
 Z~ 
 22 25 
 23 30 
 
 32 1 
 
 >. d. s. d. 
 17 11 
 21 10 
 18 7 
 
 15 to*18 
 18 
 14 018 
 20 
 15 
 16 24 
 20 025 
 
 28 9*' 
 
 s. d. s. d - 
 12 5 
 18 
 11 4 
 
 n o to 12 o 
 
 12 
 10 14 
 14 
 
 10 012 
 12 0i:> 
 11 016 
 15 22 
 22 1 
 
 s. d. s. d. 
 4 5 to 5 
 4 9 
 46 50 
 10 
 
 36 60 
 36 40 
 40 60 
 40 50 
 40 50 
 3 f) 5 
 2 6 5 
 20 26 
 20 26 
 8 3 
 
 Licbau .. . 
 Odessa . . . 
 Warsaw 
 Stockholm 
 Danzig . . 
 Konigsberg 
 Stettin.... 
 
 Memel . . 
 Elsinore .. 
 Hamburg 
 Rotterdam 
 Antwerp 
 Palermo . . 
 
 A verage 
 
 40.9. 6rf. 
 
 24s. OJd. 
 
 19*. Mil. 
 
 14.9. IJrf. 
 
 4.*. 9:V. 
 
 STOCKHOLM. There is no duty on exportation. 
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. Under ordinary circumstances the pri- 
 ces would be for hard wheat 395. Id. per quarter, and for 
 soft 335. 6d. The prices for other grain in average years 
 would be those inserted in the table. The prices of differ- 
 ent sorts of grain in 1835 in the government of Tamboff 
 were wheat, 13s. 6d. to 14s. Id. ; rye, Is. Id. to 7s. 7d. ; 
 oats, 4s. 9d. to 5s. 5d. per quarter. The expenses to St. 
 Petersburg were about 50 per cent, on wheat, and above 100 
 per cent, on rye and oats. 
 
 RIGA. No statements are given beyond those which the 
 table supplies, excepting that it is said freights would have 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 223 
 
 been higher had there been more corn for exportation to 
 England this year. 
 
 LIEBAXJ. The prices apply to corn and grain of first-rate 
 qualities. There would besides be charges for lighterage, 
 as vessels cannot take in their whole cargo in the harbors 
 of Liebau and Windau. These amount to 3d. or 4d. per 
 quarter, and there is also to be added the cost of warehouse 
 rent, mats for dunnage, fire insurance, sound dues, and ma- 
 rine insurance. The freight of oats to England is from 3s. 
 Qd. to 4s. per quarter. 
 
 MEMEL. The freights are chiefly regulated by timber 
 freights. 
 
 KONIGSBERG. The freights to the east coast of England are 
 from 4s. to 5s. the quarter for wheat, and to the west coast 
 from 5s. to 6s. 
 
 DANZIG. The treaty of Vienna stipulates that the duties 
 levied by the governments of Austria, Russia, and Prussia 
 conjointly, on the produce of the soil of the ancient Polish 
 provinces, shall not exceed 10 per cent, on the prime cost, 
 so that a heavy export duty could not be charged without the 
 infraction of this treaty. The transit dues are included in 
 the prices in the table. 
 
 WARSAW. The remunerating price of wheat at War- 
 saw is 24s. per quarter. The expenses of water carriage 
 from thence to Danzig may be taken at 12s. the quarter. 
 
 STETTIN. The expenses of screening, loading, and com- 
 mission are included in the prices free on board. 
 
 ELSINORE. The freight of wheat from Danish ports varies 
 from 3s. to 3s. 6d. per quarter in summer, and from 4s. 6d. 
 to 5s. in winter. To the western coasts of England it is 
 usually from 3d. to 6d. higher. The exportation is duty 
 free, but the expenses of insurance and commission are to 
 be added to the prices in the table. 
 
 HAMBURG. " It is not to be expected," says the Consul, 
 
224 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 " that prices would be lower than the average, unless an 
 over-abundant production in Great Britain should cause a 
 cessation in the demand from that quarter ; and on the other 
 hand, they would be higher if the demand became greater." 
 He states that in extraordinary cases the freight to England 
 might be from 8s. to 10s. per quarter ; but the usual freights 
 are those given in the table : there is no export duty. 
 
 ROTTERDAM. Add 10 per cent, primage to the freights : 
 the rates of insurance vary from three-quarters to one and 
 a half per cent., according to the season. 
 
 ANTWERP. The freights in the table are to London and 
 Hull ; to Liverpool the freight is 3s. to 3s. 6d. The freight 
 for barley is 20 per cent., and for oats 30 per cent, less than 
 for wheat. 
 
 ODESSA. The average price of wheat of fine quality, 
 free on board, was 26s. 6d. per quarter from 1830 to 1839. 
 " At present (September, 1840) the price of good wheat on 
 board is 325. 6d., though without a visible demand from 
 abroad." Freights vary excessively, having fluctuated from 
 6s. 2d. to 21s. 6d. per quarter in the two preceding years. 
 A good freight is supposed to be 10*. per quarter. 
 
 PALERMO. In abundant harvests the price of wheat is 
 32s., and an average harvest 38s. per quarter. 
 
 The fourth query was for the purpose of ascertaining 
 what "other" charges would be incurred besides freight ; if, 
 for example, export duties were imposed. Where any such 
 additional charges are made, the fact has been mentioned in 
 the above notes. 
 
 5. " Whether, if there were a regular and steady demand 
 in England for foreign corn, the quantity of corn produced 
 in the said country or district would, without much difficulty 
 and in a short space of time, be materially increased ?" 
 
 STOCKHOLM. Foreign capital would be requisite to ensure 
 an increased production. 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 225 
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. " There are extensive tracts of land in 
 the provinces that now supply St. Petersburg, which would, 
 no doubt, be brought into cultivation, were a steady and cer- 
 tain market for corn opened at this place." 
 
 RIGA. Rye is cultivated in preference to wheat, as it is 
 the bread-corn of the country, is used in the distilleries, and 
 shipped extensively to Holland. The principal corn districts 
 are too remote from the ports to enable the farmers to get 
 their crops to market sufficiently early for exportation in the 
 same year, and therefore they cannot profit so decidedly by 
 the occurrence of a bad harvest in England as those in the 
 neighborhood of some other of the Baltic ports. The rapid in- 
 crease of manufactures has withdrawn many hands from the 
 cultivation of the soil in this part of Russia. The cultivation 
 of beet- root for the sugar refineries, and the constant demand 
 for flax, which always obtains remunerating prices in the Ri- 
 ga market, also tend to counteract any great increase in the 
 production of corn. 
 
 LIEBAU. The query is answered in the negative. 
 
 MEMEL. " In four or five years about a fourth more grain 
 would be cultivated. This depends however entirely upon 
 how high the fixed duty is. Ten shillings per quarter for 
 wheat would be worse for the landholders here than the 
 
 present system : for instance 
 
 s. 
 
 Prime cost 35 per quarter. 
 
 Freight, insurance, landing charges, &c. 10 " 
 
 Duty 10 
 
 Total .... 55 
 
 whereby many years would come wherein the merchants 
 here could not export at all." 
 
 KONIGSBERG. The farmers find it more profitable to de- 
 vote their attention to the breeding of sheep, horses, and cat- 
 tle, which, particularly wool, answer better than growing corn. 
 
226 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 DANZIG . The chief quantity of grain shipped here is the 
 produce of Poland ; but the districts of Prussia adjoining 
 Danzig are in such a state of advanced cultivation, that " a 
 larger supply for shipment could not be expected (at least 
 not to any extent) than the last three years have supplied." 
 
 WARSAW." The quantity of wheat grown in Poland 
 has considerably increased in the last six years, and the pro- 
 duction might no doubt be further gradually increased if 
 there were a steady demand for foreign corn in England ; 
 but the deficiency of manure, the scarcity of hands, and the 
 want of skill in the cultivation of the land, would operate 
 against any large immediate increase." The Consul at Stet- 
 tin reports that " the production of all kinds of grain has 
 these two or three years been extended to a considerable de- 
 gree ; it is therefore not expected the landowners can much 
 augment the same, the cultivating of additional soil not be- 
 ing in their system of agriculture, particularly as the pro- 
 duction of oil-seed, of potatoes for spirit, and pasture and 
 food for sheep and cattle, has been too advantageous for them 
 to curtail the same to any considerable degree." 
 
 ELSINORE. In case of a regular and steady demand in 
 England for foreign corn, the quantity produced in Denmark 
 and Sleswick-Holstein " would, without difficulty, and in a 
 short space of time, be materially increased, as has already 
 been the case of late years, in consequence of the improve- 
 ments made in husbandry, and of large tracts of waste lands 
 having been brought under cultivation by an increasing pop- 
 ulation, chiefly agricultural." The quantities likely to be 
 produced under this encouragement are stated in the table 
 under the first query. 
 
 HAMBURG. The answer to the query respecting the like- 
 lihood of an increased quantity of grain being produced is 
 " Probably not." Mr. Consul-General Canning gives the 
 following reasons for this opinion : " because as much land 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 227 
 
 is already appropriated in this district to the growth of corn 
 as the system of husbandry established in these duchies will 
 admit of. Wool, butter, and potatoes for distillation having 
 for many years been profitable produce to the farmer, he 
 will not easily be induced to give up the cultivation of the 
 latter, or to sell offhis sheep and cattle, which, moreover, af- 
 ford manure positively necessary for the cultivation of grain. 
 But although the quantity of grain may not be increased in 
 a short space of time, the kind of corn may be changed, and 
 more wheat, but less of other grain, under such a change 
 of circumstances, may' be grown than at present. Still, 
 however, this will occur only to a limited extent, and at 
 times when high prices in other countries may encourage 
 the export of wheat, for the habits of the people in this dis- 
 trict causing a demand for rye for home use, the demand for 
 it in other countries, and the nature of the soil being gener- 
 ally fitter for the cultivation of rye, will always have a ten- 
 dency to prevent any great extension of the growth of wheat 
 in these countries." 
 
 ROTTERDAM. Large quantities of the produce of northern 
 Europe and the countries on the Rhine are warehoused in 
 Holland and re-exported to other parts. Confining the ques- 
 tion to Holland, the Consul states that more wheat is grown 
 in that country than is required for its consumption, but it 
 "is not of a quality adapted to the English market." The 
 effect of opening the corn trade in England would not 
 " materially" increase the production of wheat in Holland. 
 Rye grown in Holland is seldom or never exported ; and the 
 barley is "quite unsuitable" to the English market. Dutch 
 oats are much esteemed in England, but the quantity grown 
 (about 800.000 quarters) is not at present more than adequate 
 to the home demand. Still, if the demand from England 
 were regular and constant at remunerating prices, " it may 
 safely be assumed that an increased cultivation (of oats) 
 
228 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 would speedily ensue." It is added that " beans and peas 
 are both likely to be grown in greater quantity," but to what 
 extent it is impossible to state. 
 
 ANTWERP. Belgium produces neither corn nor grain for 
 export ; and the Consul states that it is not probable, " under 
 any circumstances," that the production could be influenced 
 by the demand for England. Writing in August, 1841, he 
 says : " The exportation of wheat and rye is at present 
 prohibited, and with an augmented population, the quantity 
 of land cultivated for flax, beet-root, and chicory, which is 
 increasing throughout Brabant, Limburg, and Liege, has so 
 diminished the growth of corn, that there is a deficiency of 
 produce." 
 
 ODESSA. The quantity which could be spared for England 
 from the districts adjacent to Odessa and the countries border- 
 ing the sea of Azoph is at present not more than 150,000 
 quarters of wheat, as already stated. In reply to the present 
 query, the Consul states that " there would be no material 
 increase, and certainly not in a short space of time." The 
 grounds for this opinion are very succinctly detailed, and 
 several of them apply to a large portion of northern, cen- 
 tral, and eastern Europe, as well as the countries bordering 
 on the Black Sea. They are as follows : " 1. Because in 
 Podolia and Kievy, whence Odessa derives its principal 
 supplies, the greatest quantity possible of grain is at all times 
 produced without regard to price and demand, in consequence 
 of capital being vested in slave-labor, which is not otherwise 
 to be employed. 2. Because the plains, called steppes, ad- 
 jacent to the Black Sea and Azoph, are thinly peopled, so 
 that in years when crops are abundant they remain neglect- 
 ed on the ground for want of reapers. 3. Because on these 
 steppes crops are exceedingly precarious, by reason of 
 drought, the common calamity of this climate; of the high 
 winds, which carry off" the seed from the dusty soil ; of the 
 
THE CORN TRADE. 229 
 
 early thaws and subsequent frosts without snow. 4. Because 
 tillage is defective, and improvement difficult under the 
 present circumstances of the country. 5. Because distances 
 are great and communications unaided by art, there being 
 no roads, and the rivers being unnavigable. 6. Because the 
 landlords are impoverished, and most of them indebted to 
 the crown, and the working classes are degraded by their 
 condition of slavery. 7. Because no progressive improve- 
 ments are to be expected in Russia until great organic 
 changes are brought about, or so long as the real interests 
 are sacrificed to an anti-commercial policy. Very high prices 
 may indeed cause at times a greater exportation, not by in- 
 crease of production, but by extending the circle of supply." 
 PALERMO. If the farmer could continually obtain 35s. 
 per quarter free on board, the production of hard wheat 
 could be increased in three or four years. 
 
 20 
 
230 
 
 THE CORN TRADE. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 THE SLIDING SCALE. 
 
 t" .: o '-" P M? P \-> o >~ ~ K- ~ "? o rt p >n o "-0 p i 
 
 W 
 
 _ i> '^r 
 
 =C a ^ 
 
 * fj S ,-T ^*< "2 o b o o c o o b o 6 6 b b is o b b o o b 
 
 ~A .g-^^orot-- -^r- i-i ci 
 O 
 - - -, 
 
 t- t>-o> oo oo OD oo Q>~o> 0> ei e> 0) o> o o o <s o 
 
 ooooooooccooocooooo 
 
 Ho H^ HH H^ Hn HW 
 
 ^^T v sC ^T t^- CO ^C r-^ C^ "^ i"- CO t 1 
 
 5! 
 
 - 1 <M -t Jft k^ J3 I t-;QOXC3C : O i-l 
 
 ^ S ^J 
 
 Q fc - 
 
 "H ^ S; . V? P V~ *-5 o o o i^s c "- o o o 10 c 10 o 
 "e 3 
 
 S - O 
 
 h 5 *s ^ 7^ coboooooooobbboooob 
 
 O Ss'S oco-* i^coc^rtCi^T t-r^ 
 
 -"? "? i *f - - i-< c? -r m o to t^ oc x c; o o i 
 t- TS i ja TS ^> ;" ^ o> * Q ?"<? op -r o --r> CT og rji o 
 
 5 * "" 
 
 S -g g -g^ c ?_; '3&'*J I -^<-} < MCOCO(M(MC'!C<! 
 
 boobobbobbbbcbcbbbbb 
 
 ^ , O tt X t^ ^^ ^ "^ C'i OJ -H O wi X 
 
 g 
 
 s 
 Q92, Boooooooooooooooooo 
 
 - 5 | 4 fe X 
 
 . .^ //^ (7 
 
 -; w OH f- 7; ^^ f 
 ^. a t - 
 
 *^^^S ? s ooboooooSocoboooooo 
 
 **"" ^ 
 
 * ^ -< "* Q K * iO lO ^O *-O *O ^ *^3 ^O ^C ^C CO ^D CC CO ^D t"* t"- -- l^- 
 W 
 
THE CORX TRADE. 
 
 231 
 
 ON WHEAT AED FLOUR IMPORTED IX ENGLAND FROM CANADA 
 
 Whenever wheat per quarter 
 
 ! 11' hencvrr flour per barrel 
 
 is worth. 
 
 is icort/i 
 
 The duty is 
 
 The duty i? 
 
 s. $ c. >- s. S c .\.-i. $ c. 
 
 ''#. d. $ c. *" .. rl. $ r. 
 
 .*. d. c. 
 
 3 55or 1320:5 or 1 20 
 
 "= !!4 4', or 8 25 
 
 :i I.', or 75 
 
 55 or 13 20 56orl344J4or SIR 
 
 '34 4i or 8 25 = 35 " or 8 40 
 
 2 6" or 60 
 
 56 or 13 44 -c 57 or J3 68 3 or 72 
 
 35 "or 8 41^ 357.! or 8 55 
 
 1 10'.. or 45 
 
 57 or 13 68 g 58 or 13 92 2 or <8 
 
 '357i. or 8 55 5 363" or 8 70 
 
 1 3" or 31! 
 
 58 or 13 92 and over 1 or 24 
 
 36 3 or 8 70 and over 
 
 7 ! or lf> 
 
 In these tables the pound sterling is computed at 
 the legal value. 
 
 80, which is 
 
 CORN LAWS OF GREAT 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 Wheat If imported from 
 any foreign country ; 
 Whenever the average 
 price of wheat, made up 
 and published in a man- 
 ner required by law, 
 shall be for every quar- 
 ter : 
 per 
 Under quar. 
 
 8. S. 
 
 51 the duty shall be 1 00 
 51 and under 52s. 19 
 
 BARLEY. 
 per 
 Under quar. 
 s. . 
 26 the duty shall be 11 
 26 and under 27s. 19 
 27 " 30s. 9 
 30 -' 31s. 8 
 31 ' 32s. 7 
 32 ' 33s. 6 
 33 ' 34s. 5 
 34 < 35s. 4 
 35 ' 36s. 3 
 36 ' 37s. 2 
 37 and upwards 1 
 
 52 55s. 18 
 55 56s. 17 
 56 57s. 16 
 57 58s. 15 
 58 59s. 14 
 59 60s. 13 
 
 The duty on MAIZE, or 
 INDIAN CORN, BUCKWHEAT 
 and BEAR or BIGG, shall be 
 for every quarter, a duty 
 equal to the duty payable 
 on a quarter of Barley. 
 
 60 61s. 12 
 61 62s. 11 
 62 63s. 10 
 63 64s. 9 
 64 65s. 8 
 65 66s. 7 
 66 69s. 6 
 69 70s. 5 
 70 71s. 4 
 71 72s. 3 
 72 73s. 2 
 73 and upward 1 
 
 WHEAT. 
 If imported from Canada 
 or other British posses- 
 sions : 
 per 
 Under quar. 
 s. s. 
 55 the duty shall be 5 
 55 and under 56s. 4 
 56 and under 57s. 3 
 57 " 58s. 2 
 58 and upwards 1 
 
UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 X' 36\ ST-