T 82] 
doubtlefs in the memory of moft members of the 
Society, whether the average price of wheat, for:the 
laft ten years, has not as much exceeded 3s. 9d. per 
bufhel, as. the prices of land, labour, and the necef- 
faries of life in general have advanced, notwithftand- 
ing the operation of the corn-laws, ‘Thofe laws 
feem to operate equitably on the ftandard, by pre 
venting the tithe-owner’s income from being confis 
derably lowered by years of plenty, and the farmer’s 
rent from being confiderably advanced by years of 
fcarcity; but their operation is not always fufficiently 
quick to prevent enormous prices from being given. 
In the year 1795, many {mall farmers (in common 
with others) purchafed corn for their families, when 
the current prices of wheat in feveral parts of the 
kingdom were from 13s. to 17s. per bufhel! How 
would fuch prices operate, in fixing the rents of tithes 
throughout the kingdom, by taking the flu€tuations 
of the markets for a fingle year? | 
Admitting, that in procefs of time the prefent re- 
gulations of the legiflature, as to the prices at which 
exportation: fhall ceafe. and importation,commence, 
fhould be found to difcourage’the culture of wheat; 
ftill, an a& of the Britifh Parliament is not eternal. 
The legiflature is always competent to make altera- 
tions, and further reeulations would of courfe enfue; 
for it cannot be for the intereft of this coun:ry to 
depend. on the precarious aid of a foreign fupply, in 
~ an article fo effentially neceflary to the very exi/ence 
of 
