2 Topic of the Month :—The Corn Laws. 
more opportune, as anticipating a sub- 
ject which can scarcely fail of occupy- 
ing a considerable portion of attention 
during the months before us: for not 
only is the subject pretty certain of 
coming in a somewhat novel and for- 
midable shape before Parliament, during 
the Session which commences on the 
third of the month; but it is well un- 
derstood that a public meeting on the 
subject will be held in the City of Lon- 
don ; and that preparations are already 
in forwardness for opening a_corre- 
spondence with all the towns and cities 
of the kingdom; upon this, perhaps, most 
important of all the subjects that ap- 
pertain to political economy. We make 
no scruple, therefore, in presenting 
the following communication on the 
CORN LAWS 
AS THE PROMINENT. 
Toric FoR THE ENsuUING MonrH. 
“In the Session of Parliament now 
about to commence, a well-conducted 
and powerful effort is expected to be 
made for the purpose of procuring the 
repeal of the Corn Laws. 
. “The repeated discussions of the po- 
licy of these laws has pretty well con- 
vincedevery one, who has not aninterest, 
or who does not suppose he has an in- 
terest in retaining them, that they ought 
to be repealed. It is generally agreed, 
that to compel the whole of the people 
to eat dear bread, for the advantage of 
two classes of persons, for whom, least 
of all, the people should be taxed in 
their food, is gross injustice. Yet this 
is precisely the operation of the Corn 
Laws. By shutting out foreign corn, 
the price at home is higher than it 
otherwise would be. The high price 
forces worse and worse land into cul- 
tivation, and this increases the rent of 
land, all over the country. Increased 
rent benefits the Landowner. As the 
Parson has the tithe of corn, and as the 
price of corn is higher than it would be 
but for the prohibition to import, this 
is an advantage to the Parson. Thus 
the whole community is taxed, heavily 
taxed in the bread they eat—not to 
support the state—not to pay the in- 
terest of the National Debt—not, in- 
deed, for any general purpose, but, solely 
and exclusively, for the richest class of 
men in the country,—the landowners, 
and the members of by far the richest 
church in the universe. If the increase 
of price were taken, by the Govern-~ 
ment, in the form of a tax, it would then 
be much less mischievous than it is at 
[Feb. 1, 
present : for then there would be a» re- 
mission. of other taxes to an equal 
amount ; but, as the case now stands, 
we are doubly taxed—first, for the state, ” 
and second, for the landowners and 
parsons, by the tax of tithes. 
“Tt was computed, that the differ- 
ence in the price of corn from 1815 
to 1822, above what it would have been 
had there been no Corn Laws, amount- 
ed annually to upwards of TWENTY- 
FIVE MILLIONS OF POUNDS STERLING ; 
and this calculation never was refuted: 
no attempt, indeed, worthy of notice 
was ever made to refute it. Of these 
TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS, not more than 
SEVEN MILLIONS came into the hands of 
the landlords and parsons, all the rest 
being a dead annual loss to the public— 
an absolute waste of labour, produce, 
and commodities, occasioned by the 
cultivation of inferior land. People 
call out, properly enough, against heavy 
taxes; they represent this tax and that 
tax as pressing heavily, and pray that 
they may be repealed. But they do 
not sufficiently advert to the bread tax, 
the heaviest by far of all the taxes. 
They do not seem to advert to this 
terrible impost, as being levied on them 
over and above the heavy taxes of 
which they complain. If the Corn 
Laws were repealed, and a tax on bread 
to raise TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS annu- 
ally to pay off the national debt were 
proposed, the nation would ring from 
one end of it to the other against the 
proposition, and yet it would not, if 
carried into effect, take from the people 
one shilling more than they are now, 
and have been for years, paying, without 
any advantage to them. Had the money, 
thus taken from them, been applied to 
the discharge of the debt, say only since 
1814, Two HUNDRED AND FIFTY MIL- 
Lions would have been paid, and taxes 
to the amount of, at least, TEN MIL~ 
Lions would have been taken off. 
Thus then the matter stands. We pay 
TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS bread tax, for 
no good whatever to the nation. We 
are incumbered with Two HUNDRED AND 
FIFTY MILLIoNs of debt, and conse- 
quently with TEN MILLIONS of taxes 
more than we need have, had the bread- 
tax been paid to the state, instead of 
being wasted or paid to Landowners and 
Parsons. é 
“In 1822, Mr. Ricardo, with his usual 
wisdom, said that the corn-laws ought 
to be repealed, and a duty put upon 
corn imported, equal to the amount the 
farmer paid in taxes and rates, beyond 
what 
