48 



change should be made to weaken the protecting 

 influence of the present Corn Laws. 



No alteration of circumstances has taken place 

 since 1828, when the present measure was devised, 

 after long and anxious consideration, to justify any 

 departure from the spirit of that policy. To tamper 

 with them would be folly and madness. It never 

 can be for the permanent prosperity and power of 

 this country to require the owner and occupier of 

 the soil to sacrifice their goods upon the altar of 

 the Idol Goddess of Trade. Yet, Lord Fitzwilliam, 

 and that part of the public press which support the 

 same opinions, assert that landlords only would 

 suffer, and they far less than they imagine. Al- 

 ready, in the course of these pages, I have endea- 

 voured to explain the effects that a nearer approxi- 

 mation to a free trade with independent nations 

 would have upon landlords and tenants. I shall 

 now attempt to prove that the labourers in hus- 

 bandry would be sufferers by it, notwithstanding 

 Lord Fitzwilliam says, that " when we look at 

 their habits and circumstances, and consider how 

 large a portion of their slender incomes is expended 

 in the purchase of bread and flour, can any of you 

 arrive at the conclusion that they are benefited by 

 enhancing the price of corn ? So far is this from 

 being the case, that, probably, there is hardly a 

 class of labourers more interested in having corn 

 cheap, than those who are engaged in husbandry ; 

 because there is none that spend so much, compa- 



