118 



the chief article of human subsistence would not 

 be made in consequence of " the reformation that 

 draweth on the change," but in consequence of 

 " the desire of change that pretendeth the refor- 

 mation." 



The unceasing eiforts of the manufacturing and 

 commercial class to effect a change which would 

 be certain in its disadvantages to the agricultural 

 classes, demand on the part of the agricultural 

 classes firmness, energy, and unity of purpose, 

 successfully to oppose the unfair requirements of 

 the manufacturing and commercial classes. Surely 

 the landed interest, which has the power in the 

 Houses of Parliament to prevent any change in the 

 Corn Laws which would weaken their protecting 

 influence, will prevent it ; for the interests of all 

 classes connected with agriculture are involved, 

 and probably the interests of the whole community. 

 * " Politicians and philosophers may talk coldly 

 of the transfer of old family estates, of throwing 

 immense tracts of inferior land out of cultivation, 

 of burying for ever the immense capital expended 

 upon it, and the transfusion of an agricultural into 

 a manufacturing population ; but let them remem- 

 ber the ties which must be broken, the villages which 

 must be deserted, the second nature of habits 

 which must be altered, the hearts which must 

 sink, and the hands which may rebel under 

 trials such as these. Let them pause before they 

 commence the experiment let them hearken to the 



^ Sir James Graham on Corn and Currency, page, 83. 



