THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



483 



he made them freeholders, he stripped the cultivators of 

 an inheritance which they had derived from time imme- 

 morial, and which had been respected by every con- 

 queror who founded a new dynasty. When the zemin- 

 dars were simple collectors of revenue, they had 

 power to enforce the payment of the land tax ; but 

 when they became proprietors, they could only obtain 

 their rents by a dilatory process of law. Lord Cornwallis 

 fearing lest they might oppress the ryots. But if the 

 zemindar failed to pay the tax imposed on him by the 

 perpetual settlement, month by month, he was sum- 



marily dispossessed of his estate. In a short time rajahs 

 and zemindars were ruined ; all the ancient families were 

 reduced to bankruptcy and evicted. Most of the estates 

 passed into the hands of rich absentees who lived in Cal- 

 cutta, receiving their rents through agents who had no 

 sympathy with the deserted tenantry. There was no 

 one to lend them a helping hand when the crop failed 

 or their bullocks died, and it may be said without exag- 

 geration that the Red Indian in his wigwam or the Be- 

 douin in his tent is in a state of opulence compared 

 with the squalid destitution of the Bengal ryot. 



THE MONEY MARKET AND THE PRESENT PRICE OF CORN. 



Any one who has observed the transition in the piices 

 of farming stock and produce during the last forty years 

 can bear testimony to the fluctuations that have been 

 almost as great during a period of profound peace as 

 they had been during that of protracted war. Upon 

 tracing tlie causes, we shall find that something has 

 operated independently of mere supply and demand. 

 This, doubtless, has been occasioned by the variations 

 in the value of money on the one hand, aided by the 

 operations of middle men and speculators on the other. 

 And as such proceedings, in this year especially, ap- 

 pear to have increased, wc hope we may be pardoned 

 adverting to the subject. 



In the first place, we believe that the fluctuation in 

 the value of money that has from time to time taken 

 place may be in a very great degree traced to such pro- 

 ceedings. From the year 1800, and up to the year 

 1819 (during the ono-pound note circulation), the 

 large issue of paper is admitted to have depreciated 

 the currency 33^ per cent. Three one-pound notes 

 were only equivalent to two guineas ; the latter coin 

 were bought up at 29s. each, for exportation, un- 

 til almo.it every guinea, and also every gold coin, had 

 disappeared. Then came the peace, and the bill of Sir 

 Robert Peel also, abolishing the one-pound notes, and 

 adopting a metallic currency, whereby every borrower 

 was obliged to pay one pound in full for every pound 

 he had borrowed, and for which he had actually received 

 only thirteen shillings and eightpence. And although 

 the noted Mr. Cobbett had predicted that no such occur- 

 rence could ever happen, this was stiil carried out ; not, 

 however, without bringing ruin upon a very large pro- 

 portion of the agricultural, manufacturing, and trading 

 community. Tlie shock, though great, was not greater 

 than the panic by which it was attended. Farming- 

 stock and produce fell suddenly from 30 to 40 percent., 

 and manufactured articles even to a greater extent. In 

 fact, trade was paralyzed, and our monetary system 

 apparently overturned. Nor are we even now exempt 

 from similar trials at stated periods, as every one 

 engaged in business well knows. An alteration in the 

 value of money from time to time, though not so ap- 

 parent, is equal to an alteration in the weights and 

 measures by which values are computed. It will, 



therefore, only be necessary to draw attention to 

 what is now going on in America, and which within 

 a few years has before taken place in this country — 

 when money became so scarce, that almost every de- 

 scription of paper-money became worthless, and ad- 

 vances could scarcely be obtained upon an article so 

 usually convertible as silver plate. 



We have entered thus far into the subject for the 

 purpose only of showing that the prices of commodi- 

 ties and productions do not alone depend upon the 

 quantity at any time on hand. We might have 

 a deficient crop with money abundant, or, what is equi- 

 valent as to the i-esult, obtainable at a low rate of in- 

 terest. At another period we might have a deficient 

 crop with money (in commercial phrase) tight and the 

 rate of interest high. Very different results would how- 

 ever, most likely follow. In the first instance, specu- 

 lation would be largely entered into, and importation 

 become extensive. In the latter, neither speculation 

 nor importation would follow beyond the actual demand 

 for the time present. The like result would attend the 

 value of produce in years of plenty, though undoubt- 

 edly not to the same extent; but still sufficient to influ- 

 ence the prospects of all producers, as sometimes has 

 been the case, to a ruinous extent. 



In the present year, it is now quite certain that we 

 have been blessed with a good harvest. An importa- 

 tion will, nevertheless, be required, more especially as tho 

 stock of grain on hand had, up to last harvest, become 

 exhausted ; which it will be necessary to replace as 

 soon as possible. But tho increase in the value of 

 money will greatly operate against this for some time 

 to come, and therefore no immediate importation of 

 gi-ain need be expected. Still the present prices can- 

 not be long maintained. But let not our readers sup- 

 pose that these fluctuations are dependent ujion a 

 greater or less amount of specie in circulation through- 

 out Europe, but rather that they arc governed by the 

 amount of capital unemployed being greater at oue 

 period than at another ; and when consequently a corres- 

 ponding advance or decline in the amount of interest 

 takes place. Whenever money is plentiful, speculators 

 and producers can afford to give 5 per cent, for its use ; 

 but when the scarcity of it in the market causes the rate 



