221 



CORN LAWS AND CORN-TRADE. 



CORN-RENT. 



222 



order that the dealers might gain by the diminished duty ; but the 

 strong motives for all holders of wheat to keep back supplies, operated 

 much in the same way, without any fraud on their part. In a single 

 week, when the lowest duty has been attained, above 1,500,000 

 quarters of wheat have been liberated from the bonding warehouses, 

 the holders of which had resolutely resisted the prevailing high prices 

 until this object had been accomplished. The following was the scale 

 of prices and rates of duty for foreign wheat and wheat-meal under the 

 Act 5 Viet. c. 14 : 



Wheat. 



Average per Qr. 



i. s. 



under 51 



51 52 



52-3-4 



55 

 56 



53 

 59 

 60 

 61 

 02 

 63 

 64 

 65 

 CO 

 69 

 70 

 71 

 72 

 73 

 73 and upwards 



55 



56 



57 



58 



59 



60 



61 



62 



63 



64 



5 



GG-7-8 



69 



70 



H 

 72 



Duty per Qr. 

 . d. 

 1 

 19 

 IS 

 17 

 16 

 15 

 14 

 13 

 12 

 11 

 10 

 090 

 080 

 070 

 6 

 050 

 040 

 030 

 020 



.010 



Wheaten Flour or Meal. 



Duty per Cwt. 



The lowest duty in the above scale is not reached by jerks, as in the 

 former one, and the "rest" between 66s. and 69s. was an important 

 modification. One hundred and thirty-eight' new towns were added in 

 the new Act to the one hundred and fifty which returned the average 

 price* under the Act of 1828. From July, 1842, to January, 1843, 

 iiieluMve, the average price of wheat in the 138 new towns was 53s. 8rf. ; 

 in the 150 old towns, 52. 6d. ; making an aggregate average of 52s. I0d. 

 The importations of wheat which took place under the Act 5 Viet. c. 14, 

 from April 29th, 1812, to 5th April, 1843, were : 



Wheat 



Wheat-flour, cwts. 



Foreign. 

 2,623,478 



524,491 



Average 

 Duty. 

 8. id. 

 3i. lid. 



Colonial. 

 37,886 



I -,-"- 



Average 



Duty. 



It. lid. 



us. Id. 



Under the Act of 1828 the duties on colonial wheat were 5s. when 

 the price here was under 67., and 6<A when at or above 67s. the 

 r. The Act 5 Viet. c. 14, fixed the duties on colonial wheat as 

 follow*: When the price here was under 55s. the quarter, the duty 



" 



55. and under 56. 

 56. 57). 



S7. 58. 



58. and upward! 



duty 4i. 



2*. 



All the efforts, however, to maintain corn at an equable price were 



vain. At length, in 1845, the potato-rot in Ireland created serious 



;m of a famine in the United Kingdom, close approaches to 



which had already been felt in Ireland On November 22, Lord 



John Russell wrote a letter from Edinburgh declaring himself in 



favour of a total repeal of the corn-laws. On December 4, the ' Times' 



announced that the ministry had resolved to assemble Parliament 



early to take the corn-laws into consideration, with a view to their 



'lit on the 10th, the ministers resigned, and Lord John 



II received the Queen's commands to form a new administration. 



u the face of a parliament elected almost for the purpose of 



protection, he was unable to effect, and on Dec. 20, Sir 



Peel re-accepted office. In the meantime the Anti-Corn-Law 



, and numerous meetings were held, 



at which ilr. ( Vlnlen and Mr. Bright attended, and large subscriptions 

 in order to effect their object of promoting freedom in the 

 com trade. Meetings were also held by large bodies of labouring agricul- 

 turists, and on Jan. 3, 1846, addroMg were presented to the Queen 

 by the corporations of London and Dublin praying her to open the 

 for the importation of corn duty free. On Jan. 22, the pm-lia- 

 nencd by the Queen, who, in her speech, after alluding to 

 'ilure of the potato crop, noticed the prosperous state of the 

 i' of the wisdom of former measures passed for the 

 id suggested whether the "principle 



not be yet nn.ro i xt- n.-ivcly applied," and further reductions 



ns made. On Jan. 27, in a committee of the whole House, 



Kir I' ! developed his plan for removing all the restrictive 



of corn, and substituting instead a fixed 



duty of one shilling per quarter on all corn imported, whatever the 



might be, and at the same time reducing and modifying the 



' >ther articles of food. A vehement opposition was raised 



against the measure in the House of Commons, which, during its 



progress, degenerated into violent attacks on the personal character 

 and motives of Sir Robert Peel; but after a series of debates and 

 several divisions, the third reading was carried on May 15, by 327 votes 

 against 229. On May 18, the bill was introduced into the House 

 of Lords by the Duke of Wellington, and after a series of animated 

 debates, and in the face of an earnest opposition, it was passed on 

 June 25, without a division, the opponents having been outvoted on 

 several amendments that had been proposed by them during the discus- 

 sion. The bill received the royal sanction on June 26. On the 25th 

 Sir Robert Peel had been defeated on the Protection to Life in Ireland 

 Bill, and on the 29th he announced his resignation, having succeeded 

 in carrying this most important measure. 



It will have been seen that for a long series of years England exported 

 grain, and efforts were made to encourage the exportation. In 1689, an 

 Act was passed allowing a bounty of 5s. per quarter when exported, if 

 the home price did not exceed 48s. per quarter; but in 1773 the homo 

 price was reduced to 44s. per quarter before the bounty was allowed. 

 This bounty was not abolished by Act till 1815, though the price at 

 home had been so high as to negative its effects, except in 1792, when 

 the yearly average was only 41s. 9d. per quarter. In fact, from 1790 

 England ceased altogether to be an exporting country. In 1800 and 

 1801, there were two bad harvests, and in the latter year wheat 

 reached the unprecedented price of 115s. llrf. per quarter, and the 

 quantity imported in the two years was 2,638,866 quarters. This 

 occasioned a greater cultivation of land, and from 1800 to 1809 there 

 were 847 inclosure bills passed. In 1810 there was another deficient 

 harvest, and 1,491,341 quarters were imported. In 1812, though the 

 price of wheat advanced to 122s. Sd. per quarter, only 244,385 quarters 

 were imported. In 1818, on the contrary, when the average price was 

 only 83s. Sd. per quarter, there were imported 1,503,518 quarters. 

 The framers of the law of 1829 intended it to prevent fluctuations in 

 the price of English grain, but in the seven years, notwithstanding the 

 provision, the price varied from 75s. Sd. in 1829 to 36s. Sd. in 1835, 

 descending regularly every year ; while in the three years, 1829, 1830, 

 and 1831, there were imported 4,5. r i7,736 quarters. In fact, the Act was 

 a total failure, as far as regarded protection to the agriculturist, wliilu 

 it acted very injuriously to the population of the kingdom by arti- 

 ficially raising the price of bread, without any corresponding advantage 

 to the revenue ; for the great bulk of the importations was always 

 brought in at a low rate of duty. The total quantity imported, how- 

 ever, kept increasing, with occasional exceptions ; but in 1 845, waiting 

 the repeal of the duty, the importation was only 1,142,700 quarters, of 

 which only 315,615 were taken for home consumption. In 1846, after 

 the repeal, there were imported 1,437,944 quarters, and 1,995,852 

 were taken for home consumption. In 1S47, there were imported 

 2,650,058 quarters ; besides 6,329,646 cwts. of wheat-meal, 3,011,637 

 quarters of Indian corn, and 1,451,020 cwts. of Indian corn-meal. In 

 1848, there were imported 2,594,013 quarters of wheat, 1,765,475 cwts. 

 of flour, and 1,586,781 quarters of Indian corn. In 1849, there were 

 imported 3,872,134 quarters of wheat, 3,371,301 cwts. of Hour, 

 2,247,424 quarters of Indian com, and 102,173 cwts. of Indian corn- 

 meal. In 1850, there were imported 3,754,593 quarters of wheat, 

 3,855,050 cwts. of flour, 1,286,264 quarters of Indian corn, and 11,401 

 cwts. of meal. In 1851, the importations were, wheat 3,833,636 

 quarters, flour 5,363,478 cwts., Indian corn 1,819,782 quarters, and 

 meal 9,562 cwts. In 1852, they were, wheat 3,068,892 quarters, flour 

 3,889,583 cwts., Indian corn 1,479,891 quarters, and meal 742 cwts. 

 In 1853, they were, wheat 4,945,314 quarters, flour 4,646,400 cwts., 

 Indian corn 1,552,934 quarters, and meal 15,581 ewts. In 1854, there 

 were imported 3,431,222 quarters of wheat, and 3,646,505 cwts. of 

 flour. In 1855, the importations were, wheat 2,667,702 quarters, and 

 I,9ii4.224 cwts. of flour. In 1856, they were, wheat 4,072,833 quarters, 

 flour 3,970,100 cwts., Indian corn 1,777,813 quarters, and meal 7,880 

 cwts. In 1857, they were, 3,417,957 quarters of wheat, 2,178,148 cwts. 

 of flour, 1,150,783 quarters of Indian corn, and 1092 cwts. of meal. 

 In 1858, they were, 4,275,435 quarters of wheat, 3,890,252 cwts. of 

 flour, 1,762,320 quarters of Indian com, and 4720 cwts. of meal. The 

 average price of wheat per quarter was 69s. in 1856, 56s. "id. in 1857, 

 and 44s. id. in 1858. 



The principal supplies of foreign corn to Great Britain are drawn 

 from Russia, Prussia, Denmark, Mecklenburg, the Hanscs Towns, 

 Spain, Turkey, Wallachia, Moldavia, Egypt, the United States, occa- 

 sionally rather large quantities, especially as flour, from France, some 

 from our own American colonies, and small quantities from various 

 other places. Russia, Prussia, and the United States are thi 1 principal 

 contributors. The total computed value of all the corn and meal 

 imported in 1858, including oats, barley, and all the other species, 

 was 19,1)92,971'. 



CORN-RENT is a money-rent varying in amount according to the 

 fluctuations of the price of corn. In some countries rent is paid in the 

 produce of the land itself; but in no part of the United Kingdom does 

 this primitive custom exist. Some landlords in Ireland, indeed, for 

 the accommodation of their tenants, were accustomed to accept corn 

 in payment of their rent, at the price of the nearest market, and .-lii" 

 it to England for sale ; but the rent is calculated in money. (See 

 Appendix F to ' First Report of Poor Laws (Ireland) Commissioners,' 

 1836, p. 221.) 



A corn-rent is founded upon the principle that a farm being assumed 



