HISTORY OF EUROPE. [129 



About the same time,another bill, 

 of a similar nature, was passed into 

 a law: namely, for continuing the 

 act for the better securing and pu- 

 nishing such persons as should at- 

 tempt to seduce his majesty's sub- 

 jects from their allegiance^ 



It is not possible, in all cases, to 

 secure the tranquillity of a state, by 

 the submission of the people, through 

 the operation of any laws of coer- 

 cion. There is a point of suffering 

 and distress, when men begin to 

 balance the evils they actually suffer, 

 with the dangers to which they 

 might be exposed by a violation of 

 the laws, and when they are dis- 

 posed to seek for present relief, by 

 tumult, riots, and insurrection. It 

 was, probably, under the same train 

 of ideas, which dictated the renewal 

 of the two acts just mentioned, that 

 the legislature turned its attention to 

 the enormous price of bread, and 

 all necessaries, occasioned partly, no 

 doubt, by the waste of war, but 

 chiefly by a wet, late, and scanty 

 harvest. 



A committee was appointed of 

 the house of commons, on the tenth 

 of February, to consider of the most 

 effectual means of remedying any 

 inconveniences that might arise from 

 any deficiency of the last crop of 

 grain, and empowered to report 

 their proceedings, from time to time, 

 to the house. A similar committee 

 was appointed in the house of peers. 

 The committee of the commons re- 

 ported on the thirteenth of Fe- 

 bruary, " That, although a consi- 

 derable importation of wheat, from 

 foreign countries, had already taken 

 place, and more might be expected, 

 yet they felt that they should not 

 discharge their duty, unless they 

 strongly recommended to all indi- 



VoL. XLII. 



viduals to use every means in their 

 power to reduce the consumption 

 of wheaten flour in their families, 

 and encourage the district in which 

 they live, by their example, influ- 

 ence, and authority, every possible 

 economy in this article. — The com- 

 mittee, impressed with the idea of 

 the importance of such economy at 

 the present moment, earnestly re- 

 commended the adoption of a mea- 

 sure, which, from the unanimous 

 opinion of those who had appeared 

 in evidence before them, would lead 

 to a very considerable saving of 

 wheaten-flour. The evidence of 

 the bakers, who had been examined 

 by the committee, could not fail to 

 convince the house, that, in families 

 where bread, which had been baked 

 for some hours is used, the con- 

 sumption isfarlessconsiderable than 

 in those where it is the custom to 

 eat it new. They differed in the 

 proportion of this saving. Some 

 had stated it as amounting to one- 

 third, some as amounting to one- 

 fifth, and others as only to one- 

 eighth. But, when it was consi- 

 dered, that one-half of the bread in 

 London is consumed on the day on 

 which it is baked, there could not 

 be a doubt that a great saving would 

 ensue, if the bakers were prohibit- 

 ed from selling it, until twenty- 

 four hours after it was baked.— 

 The committee were strongly in- 

 duced to recommend this measure 

 from the consideration that a very 

 respectable physician had given it 

 as his decided opinion that new 

 bread is far less wholesome than that 

 which has been baked a certain 

 number of hours; and they thought 

 it important to add, that, in the 

 opinion of the bakers in the metro- 

 polis, no material detriment or in- 



