SMALL EFFECT OF THE CORN LAWS 253 



CHAPTER XII. 

 THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS. 1 



Difficulty in deciding on the good or bad influence of the Corn Laws ; restric- 

 tions on home as well as on foreign trade in corn ; gradual abandonment of 

 the attempt to secure just prices by legislation ; means adopted to steady 

 prices ; prohibition both of exports and of imports : the bounty on home- 

 grown corn ; the system established in 1670 and 1689 lasts till 1815 ; its 

 general effect ; influence of seasons from 1689 to 1764, and from 1765 to 

 1815 ; difficulty of obtaining foreign supplies during the Napoleonic wars; 

 practical monopoly in the home market : small margin of home supply 

 owing to growth of population ; exaggerated effect on prices of good or 

 bad harvests ; protection after 1816 ; demand by agriculturists for fair 

 profits ; changed conditions of supply ; repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846. 



MEN are apt to pass a hasty judgment on the Corn Laws in accord- 

 ance with their political prejudices. One party condemns them as 

 mischievous ; another party approves them as salutary. Neither 

 troubles to consider their practical effect. Yet, from 1689 to 1815, 

 it is probable that the marked deficiency or abundance of the 

 harvest in any single year produced a greater effect on prices than 

 was produced by the Corn Laws in the 125 years of their existence as 

 a complete system. 



It is almost impossible to decide whether the total effect of the 

 Corn Laws has been to promote or to retard agricultural progress. 

 Probably the balance of their influence in either direction would 

 be found to be inconsiderable. The utmost nicety of calculation 

 would be required in order to measure with any degree of accuracy 

 the extent to which, before 1815, they affected prices of corn. 

 Before the balance can be correctly struck, the advance in price, 

 which was due to the increased demand consequent on the growth 

 of population and to the gradual depreciation of gold and silver, 

 must be discounted ; the fall in price, which resulted from economy 

 in the cost and increase in the yield of production, must be 

 1 See Appendix III. 



