granted; and the fall was equally great in France, where, instead of exportation being encouraged by a bounty, it was almost entirely prohibited; and in most other Continental states. (For proofs of what is now stated, see the article Corn Laws, in the new edition of the Ency. Brit.)

The Tables annexed to this article show that, with some few exceptions, there was, during the first 66 years of last century, a large export of corn from England. In 1750, the wheat exported amounted to 947,000 quarters; and the total bounties paid during the 10 years from 1740 to 1751 reached the sum of 1,515,000l. But the rapid increase of population subsequently to 1760, and particularly after the peace of Paris, in 1763, when the commerce and manufactures of the country were extended in an unprecedented degree, gradually reduced this excess of exportation, and occasionally, indeed, inclined the balance the other way. This led to several suspensions of the restrictions on importation; and at length, in 1773, a new act was framed, by which foreign wheat was allowed to be imported on paying a nominal duty of 6d. whenever the home price was at or above 488. a quarter, and the bounty and exportation were together to cease when the price was at or above 44s. This statute also permitted the importation of corn at any price, duty free, in order to be again exported, provided it were in the mean time lodged under the joint locks of the king and the importer.

The prices when exportation was to cease by this act seem to have been fixed too low; and, as Dr. Smith has observed, there appears a good deal of impropriety in prohibiting exportation altogether the moment it attained the limit when the bounty given to force it was withdrawn; yet, with all these defects, the act of 1773 was a material improvement on the former system, and ought not to have been altered unless to give greater freedom to the trade.

The idea that this law must, when enacted, have been injurious to the agriculturists, seems altogether illusory; the permission to import foreign grain, when the home price rose to a moderate height, certainly prevented their realising exorbitant profits, in dear years, at the expense of the other classes; and prevented an unnatural proportion of the capital of the country from being turned towards agriculture. But as the limit at which importation at a nominal duty was allowed was fixed a good deal above the average price of the reign of George II., it cannot be maintained that it had any tendency to reduce previous prices, which is the only thing that could have discouraged agriculture: and, in fact, no such reduction took place.

It is, indeed, true, that, but for this act, we should not have imported so much foreign grain in the interval between 1773 and 1791. This importation, however, was not a consequence of the decline of agriculture; for it is admitted that every branch of rural economy was more improved in that period than in the whole of the preceding century; but arose entirely from a still more rapid increase of the manufacturing population, and hence, of the effective demand for corn.

By referring to the Tables annexed to this article, it will be seen that, in 1772, the balance on the side of wheat imported amounted to 18,515 quarters; and in 1773, 1774, and 1775, all years of great prosperity, the balance was very much increased. But the loss of a great part of our colonial possessions, the stagnation of commerce, and difficulty of obtaining employment, occasioned by the American war, diminished the consumption; and this, combined with unusually productive harvests, rendered the balance high on the side of exportation, in 1778, 1779, and 1780. In 1783 and 1784 the crops were unusually deficient, and considerable importations took place; but in 1785, 1786, and 1787 the exports again exceeded the imports; and it was not till 1788, when the country had fully recovered from the effects of the American war, and when manufacturing improvements were carried on with extraordinary spirit, that the imports permanently overbalanced the exports.

The growing wealth and commercial prosperity of the country had thus, by increasing the population and enabling individuals to consume additional quantities of food, caused the home supply of corn to fall somewhat short of the demand; but it must not therefore be concluded that agriculture had not at the same time been very greatly meliorated. "The average annual produce of wheat," says Mr. Comber, "at the beginning of the reign of George III. (1760), was about 3,800,000 quarters, of which about 300,000 had been sent out of the kingdom, leaving about 3,500,000 for home consumption. In 1773, the produce of wheat was stated in the House of Commons to be 4,000,000 quarters, of which the whole, and above 100,000 imported, were consumed in the kingdom. In 1796, the consumption was stated by Lord Hawkesbury to be 500,000 quarters per month, or 6,000,000 quarters annually, of which about 180,000 were imported; showing an increased produce in about 20 years of 1,820,000 quarters. It is evident, therefore, not only that no defalcation of produce had taken place in consequence of the cessation of exportation, as has been too lightly assumed from the

* The bounty amounted to 5s. on every quarter of wheat; 2s. 6d. on every quarter of barley; 3s 6d. on every quarter of rye; and 2s. 6d on every quarter of oats.

occasional necessity of importation, but that it had increased with the augmentation of our commerce and manufactures."-( Comber on National Subsistence, p. 180.)

These estimates are, no doubt, very loose and unsatisfactory; but the fact of a great increase of produce having taken place is unquestionable. In a report by a committee of the House of Commons on the state of the waste lands, drawn up in 1797, the number of acts passed for enclosing, and the number of acres enclosed, in the following reigns, are thus stated:

:--

It deserves particular notice, that from 1771 to 1791, both inclusive, the period during which the greater number of these improvements were effected, there was no rise of prices.

The landholders, however, could not but consider the liberty of importation granted by the act of 1773 as injurious to their interests, inasmuch as it prevented prices from rising with the increased demand. A clamour, therefore, was raised against that law; and in addition to this interested feeling, a dread of becoming habitually dependent on foreign supplies, operated on many, and produced a pretty general acquiescence in the act of 1791. By this act, the price when importation could take place from abroad at the low duty of 6d. was raised to 54s.; under 54s. and above 50s. a middle duty of 2s. 6d.; and under 50s. a prohibiting duty of 248. 3d. was exigible. The bounty continued as before, and exportation without bounty was allowed to 468. It was also enacted, that foreign wheat might be imported, stored under the king's lock, and again exported free of duty; but, if sold for home consumption, it became liable to a warehouse duty of 2s. 6d. in addition to the ordinary duties payable at the time of sale.

In 1797, the Bank of England obtained an exemption from paying in specie; and the consequent facility of obtaining discounts and getting a command of capital, which this measure occasioned, gave a fresh stimulus to agriculture; the efficacy of which was most powerfully assisted by the scarcity and high prices of 1800 and 1801. Inasmuch, however, as the prices of 1804 would not allow the cultivation of the poor soils, which had been broken up in the dear years, to be continued, a new corn law was loudly called for by the farmers, and passed in 1804. This law imposed a prohibitory duty of 24s. 3d. per quarter on all wheat imported when the home price was at or below 63s. ; between 638. and 66s. a middle duty of 2s. 6d. was paid, and above 66s. a nominal duty of 6d. The price at which the bounty was allowed on exportation was extended to 50s., and exportation without bounty to 54s. By the act of 1791, the maritime counties of England were divided into 12 districts, importation and exportation being regulated by the particular prices of each; but by the act of 1804 they were regulated, in England, by the aggregate average of the maritime districts; and in Scotland by the aggregate average of the 4 maritime districts into which it was divided. The averages were taken 4 times a year, so that the ports could not be open or shut for less than 3 months. This manner of ascertaining prices was, however, modified in the following session; it being then fixed that importation, both in England and Scotland, should be regulated by the average price of the 12 maritime districts of England.

In 1805, the crop was very considerably deficient, and the average price of that year was about 22s. a quarter above the price at which importation was allowed by the act of 1804. As the depreciation of paper, compared with bullion, was at that time only four per cent., the high price of that year must have been principally owing to the new law preventing importation from abroad till the home price was high, and then fettering mercantile operations; and to the formidable obstacles which the war threw in the way of importation. In 1806*, 1807, and 1808, the depreciation of paper was nearly 3 per cent.; and the price of wheat in those years being generally from 668. to 75s., the importations were but small. From autumn 1808, to spring 1814, the depreciation of the currency was unusually great; and several crops in that interval being likewise deficient, the price of corn, influenced by both causes, rose to a surprising height. At that time no vessel could be laden in any Continental port for England without purchasing a licence, and the freight and insurance were at least 5 times as high as during peace. But the destruction of Napoleon's anti-commercial system, in the autumn of 1813, having increased the facilities of importation, a large quantity of corn was poured into the kingdom; and, in 1814, its bullion price fell below the price at which importation was allowed.

Several impolitic restraints had been for a long time imposed on the free importation and exportation of corn between Great Britain and Ireland, but they were wholly abolished in 1806; and the act of that year (46 Geo. 3. c. 97.), establishing a free trade in corn between the 2 great divisions of the empire, was not only a wise and proper measure in itself, but has powerfully contributed to promote the general advantage.

Before this fall of price, a committee of the House of Commons had been appointed to inquire into the state of the laws affecting the corn trade; and recommended in their Report (dated 11th of May, 1813) a very great increase of the prices at which exportation was allowable, and when importation free of duty might take place. This recommendation was not, however, adopted by the House; but the fact of its having been made when the home price was at least 112s. a quarter, displayed a surprising solicitude to exclude foreigners from all competition with the home growers.

The wish to lessen the dependence of the country on foreign supplies formed the sole ostensible motive by which the committee of 1813 had been actuated, in proposing an alteration in the act of 1804. But after the fall of price in autumn 1813, and in the early part of 1814, it became obvious, on comparing our previous prices with those of the Continent, that without an alteration of the law in question this dependence would be a good deal increased; that a considerable extent of such poor lands as had been brought into cultivation during the high prices, would be again thrown into pasturage; and that rents would be lowered. These consequences alarmed the landlords and occupiers; and in the early part of the session of 1814, a series of resolutions were voted by the House of Commons, declaring that it was expedient to repeal the bounty, to permit the free exportation of corn whatever might be the home price, and to impose a graduated scale of duties on the importation of foreign corn. Thus, foreign wheat imported when the home price was at or under 64s. was to pay a duty of 24s.; when at or under 65s. a duty of 23s.; and so on, till the home price should reach 868., when the duty was reduced to 18., at which sum it became stationary. Corn imported from Canada, or from the other British colonies in North America, was to pay half the duties on other corn. As soon as these resolutions had been agreed to, two bills founded on them—one for regulating the importation of foreign corn, and another for the repeal of the bounty, and for permitting unrestricted exportation were introduced. Very little attention was paid to the last of these bills; but the one imposing fresh duties on importation encountered a very keen opposition. The manufacturers, and every class not directly supported by agriculture, stigmatised it as an unjustifiable attempt artificially to keep up the price of food, and to secure excessive rents and large profits to the landholders and farmers at the expense of the consumers. Meetings were very generally held, and resolutions entered into strongly expressive of this sentiment, and dwelling on the fatal consequences which, it was affirmed, a continuance of the high prices would have on manufactures and commerce. This determined opposition, coupled with the indecision of ministers, and perhaps, too, with an expectation on the part of some of the landholders that prices would rise without any legislative interference, caused the miscarriage of this bill. The other bill, repealing the bounty, and allowing an unlimited freedom of exportation, was passed into a law.

Committees had been appointed in 1814, by both Houses of Parliament, to examine evidence and report on the state of the corn trade; and, in consequence, a number of the most eminent agriculturists were examined. The witnesses were unanimous in this only, that the protecting prices in the act of 1804 were insufficient to enable the farmers to make good the engagements into which they had subsequently entered, and to continue the cultivation of the inferior lands lately brought under tillage. Some of them thought that 1208. should be fixed as the lowest limit at which the importation of wheat free of duty should be allowed: others varied from 90s. to 100s. from 80s. to 90s. — and a few from 70s. to 80s. The general opinion, however, seemed to be that 80s. would suffice; and as prices continued to decline, a set of resolutions founded on this assumption were submitted to the House of Commons by Mr. Robinson, of the Board of Trade (now Lord Ripon); and having been agreed to, a bill founded on them was, after a very violent opposition, carried in both Houses by immense majorities, and finally passed into a law (55 Geo. 3. c. 26.). According to this act, all sorts of foreign corn, meal, or flour might be imported at all times free of duty into any port of the United Kingdom, in order to be warehoused; but foreign corn was not permitted to be imported for home consumption, except when the average prices of the several sorts of British corn were as follows: viz. wheat, 80s. per quarter; rye, peas, and beans, 53s.; barley, bear, or bigg, 40s.; and oats, 26s.: and all importation of corn from any of the British plantations in North America was forbidden, except when the average home prices were at or under-wheat, 678. per quarter; rye, peas, and beans, 44s.; barley, bear, or bigg, 33s.; and oats, 22s.

The agriculturists confidently expected that this act would immediately raise prices, and render them steady at about 808. But, for reasons which will be afterwards stated, these expectations were entirely disappointed; and a more ruinous fluctuation of prices took place during the period it was in existence, than in any previous period of our recent history. In 1821, when prices had sunk very low, a committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the causes of the depressed state of agriculture, and to report their observations thereon. This committee, after ex

amining a number of witnesses, drew up a report, which, though not free from error, is a valuable document. It contains a forcible exposition of the pernicious influence of the law of 1815, of which it suggested several important modifications. These, however, were not adopted; and as the low prices, and consequent distress of the agriculturists, continued, the subject was brought under the consideration of parliament in the following year. After a good deal of discussion, a new act was then passed (3 Geo. 4. c. 60.), which enacted, that after prices had risen to the limit of free importation fixed by the act of 1815, that act was to cease and the new statute to come into operation. This statute lowered the prices fixed by the act of 1815, at which importation could take place for home consumption, to the following sums, viz. —

But, in order to prevent any violent oscillation of prices from a large supply of grain being suddenly thrown into the market, it was enacted, that a duty of 178. a quarter should be laid on all wheat imported from foreign countries, during the first 3 months after the opening of the ports, if the price was between 70s. and 80s. a quarter, and of 12s. afterwards; that if the price was between 80s. and 85s., the duty should be 10s. for the first 3 months, and 5s. afterwards; and that if the price should exceed 85s., the duty should be constant at 1s. ; and proportionally for other sorts of grain.

This act, by preventing importation until the home price rose to 70s., and then loading the quantities imported between that limit and the limit of 85s. with heavy duties, was certainly more favourable to the views of the agriculturists than the act of 1815. But, unluckily for them, the prices of no species of corn, except barley, were sufficiently high, while this act existed, to bring it into operation.

In 1825, the first approach was made to a better system, by permitting the importation of wheat from British North America, without reference to the price at home, on payment of a duty of 5s. a quarter. But this act was passed with difficulty, and was limited to one year's duration.

Owing to the drought that prevailed during the summer of 1826, there was every prospect that there would be a great deficiency in the crops of that year; and, in order to prevent the disastrous consequences that might have taken place, had importation been prevented until the season was too far advanced for bringing supplies from the great corn markets in the north of Europe, his Majesty was authorised to admit 500,000 quarters of foreign wheat on payment of such duties as the order in council for its importation should declare. And when it was ascertained that the crops of oats, peas, &c. were greatly below an average, ministers issued an order in council, on their own responsibility, on the 1st of September, authorising the immediate importation of oats on payment of a duty of 2s. 2d. a boll; and of rye, peas, and beans, on payment of a duty of 3s. 6d. a quarter. A considerable quantity of oats was imported under this order, the timely appearance of which had undoubtedly a very considerable effect in mitigating the pernicious consequences arising from the deficiency of that species of grain. Ministers obtained an indemnity for this order on the subsequent meeting of parliament.

Nothing could more strikingly evince the impolicy of the acts of 1815 and 1822, than the necessity, under which the legislature and government had been placed, of passing the temporary acts and issuing the orders alluded to. The more intelligent portion of the agriculturists began, at length, to perceive that the corn laws were not really calculated to produce the advantages that they had anticipated; and a conviction that increased facilities should be given to importation became general throughout the country. The same conviction made considerable progress in the House of Commons; so much so, that several members who supported the measures adopted in 1815 and 1822, expressed themselves satisfied that the principle of exclusion had been carried too far, and that a more liberal system should be adopted. Ministers having participated in these sentiments, Mr. Canning moved a series of resolutions, as the foundation of a new corn law, on the 1st of March, 1827, to the effect that foreign corn might always be imported, free of duty, in order to be warehoused; and that it should always be admissible for home consumption upon payment of certain duties. Thus, in the instance of wheat, it was resolved that, when the home price was at or above 70s. a quarter, the duty should be a fixed one of 1s.; and that for every shilling that the price fell below 70s. a duty of 28. should be imposed; so that when the price was at 698. the duty on importation was to be 28., when at 68s. the duty was to be 4s. and so on. The limit at which the constant duty of 1s. a quarter was to take place in the case of barley was originally fixed at 37s. ; but it was subsequently raised to 40s. the duty increasing by 1s. 6d. for every 1s. when the price fell below that limit.

The

limit at which the constant duty of 1s. a quarter was to take place in the case of oats was originally fixed at 288.; but it was subsequently raised to 338., the duty increasing at the rate of 1s. a quarter for every shilling that the price fell below that limit. The duty on colonial wheat was fixed at 6d. the quarter when the home price was above 658.; and when the price was under that sum the duty was constant at 5s.; the duties on other descriptions of colonial grain were similar. These resolutions were agreed to by a large majority; and a bill founded on them was subsequently carried through the House of Commons. Owing, however, to the change of ministers, which took place in the interim, several peers, originally favourable to the bill, and some, even, who assisted in its preparation, saw reason to become amongst its most violent opponents; and a clause moved by the Duke of Wellington, interdicting all importation of foreign corn until the home price exceeded 668. having been carried in the Lords, ministers gave up the bill, justly considering that such a clause was entirely subversive of its principle.

A new set of resolutions with respect to the corn trade were brought forward in 1828 by Mr. Charles Grant (now Lord Glenelg). They were founded on the same principles as those which had been rejected during the previous session. But the duty was not made to vary equally, as in Mr. Canning's resolutions, with every equal variation of price; it being 238. 8d. when the home price was 64s. the Imperial quarter; 168. 8d. when it was 698.; and 1s. only when it was at or above 73s. After a good deal of debate, Mr. Grant's resolutions were carried, and embodied in the act 9 Geo. 4. c. 60.

The crops having been deficient in 1829 and 1830, there was a large importation of corn in these years, its average price being at the same time about 65s. a quarter. But the crops from 1831 to 1836 having been more than usually abundant, importation almost wholly ceased, and the price of wheat sunk in 1835 to 39s. 4d. a quarter, being less than it had been in any previous year since 1776. In consequence of this succession of good harvests and low prices, the corn laws ceased for a while to attract any considerable portion of the public attention, and an impression began to gain ground that the improvement of agriculture was so very rapid, that, despite the increase of population and the existence of the corn laws, our prices would fall to about the level of those of the Continent. But the cycle of favourable seasons having terminated in 1837, the crops of that and the succeeding 5 years were considerably deficient: so much so that prices rose in 1839 to 70s. 8d. a quarter, the importations in that and the three following years being also very large. This increase in the price of corn, combined with the depressed state of the commerce of the country, originating in the pecuniary revulsion in the U. States and other causes, again attracted a great deal of attention to the corn laws; and the oppressive magnitude and injurious operation of the duties were very strongly animadverted upon at public meetings in the manufacturing towns and elsewhere. An association, denominated the Anti-Corn Law League, originally founded in Lancashire, but which subsequently extended its ramifications to most parts of the country, was set on foot for the express purpose of keeping up an incessant agitation against the corn laws, which, in consequence of these concurring circumstances, were assailed with greater bitterness than ever. The importance of the subject at length forced it on the attention of government, and in 1841 ministers, actuated partly by a sense of the mischievous influence of the sliding scale, and partly, also, by a wish to strengthen their declining popularity, brought forward a plan for remodelling the corn laws, by repealing the sliding scale and imposing in its stead a constant duty of Ss. a quarter on wheat, and in proportion on other grain. But, having no majority in parliament, ministers were obliged to resort to a dissolution; and their proposal having, notwithstanding its moderation, excited the greatest apprehensions among the agriculturists, without being very warmly supported by the other classes, a new parliament was returned, which gave a decided majority to the opposition. It was, however, felt on all hands to be necessary to make some considerable change in the existing law, and in 1842 a measure was introduced in that view by Sir Robert Peel, which was subsequently passed into a law, 5 Victoria, 2d Sess. c. 14.

Unfortunately, however, this measure, like that by which it was preceded, was bottomed on the principle of making the duties vary with the variations in the price of corn; and though the duties were decidedly less oppressive than those imposed by the 9 Geo. 4. c. 60., still they were in no ordinary degree objectionable, as well from their too great magnitude as from their adding to the natural insecurity of the corn trade, and increasing the chances and severity of fluctuations. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that the new measure gave but little satisfaction. Instead of being abated, the agitation and clamour against the corn laws continued progressively to gain strength; and the conviction began at the same time gradually to extend itself among many of those by whom these laws had hitherto been supported, that farther modifications would have to be made in them; and that they might be made without inflicting any very serious injury upon agriculture.