SCIENCE WITH PEACTICE, 1845 TO 1873 105 



home-grown wheat was not displaced, but only supple- 

 mented by imported corn ; the production of wheat did 

 not decline, nor was its place supplied by foreign produce ; 

 imports did not increase faster than consumption. The 

 serious question to be considered is whether English farm- 

 ing in 1888 is still in this position. 



So long as Protection lasted, landlords and farmers were 

 unable to resist the gambli^ng spirit which it fostered. An 

 upward tendency in prices raised rents and encouraged 

 reckless competition for farms. But latterly the rise of 

 prices proved only the flicker which precedes extinction. 

 Corn-law rents and free-trade prices mined farmers ; 

 Peel's sliding scale of 1842 gave them no relief; the re- 

 duction of their labour bills revived incendiarism. Finally, 

 in 1846, Protection was abolished, and England adopted 

 the principle of Free Trade. A period of great distress 

 followed, in which rents were completely revised. Adverse 

 seasons and fear of the consequences of free trade intensified 

 the crisis. Mr. (now Sir James) Caird's pamphlet on ' High 

 Farming the Best Substitute for Protection," which was pub- 

 lished in 1848, suggested the true remedy. The cessation 

 of the free-trade panic, the revival of confidence, the diffu- 

 sion of agricultural improvements, the expansion of trade, 

 the increase of the precious metals owing to the discovery of 

 gold and silver mines in Australia and California, and the 

 Crimean war, helped the landed interests out of their dif- 

 ficulties. The cost of living, as regards the working classes, 

 lessened ; the raw materials of manufacture were cheap- 

 ened ; the rate of discount was lowered ; new markets 

 opened in the East, and the increase of our merchant ship- 

 ping diminished the cost of transport. For the next fifteen 

 years England enjoyed peace while Europe and America 

 were at war, and the full effect upon prices of a free-trade 



