266 THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS 



in the problem. Between 1689 and 1815 the increase was consider- 

 able, though, like most of the political arithmetic which relates to 

 the eighteenth century, the actual numbers are largely a matter of 

 guess-work. In 1696 Gregory King estimated the population of 

 England and Wales at 5,500,000. At the accession of George III. 

 (1760), the numbers were supposed to have risen to between six and 

 seven millions. 1 As the reign advanced, the rate of increase was 

 accelerated. The first official census was taken in 1801. In that 

 year the population of England and Wales is stated to be 8,872,980. 

 In 1811 it had grown to 10,150,615. On these figures the population 

 had doubled itself in 125 years, and, even if no allowance is made for 

 an improved standard of living, it is probable that England during 

 the same period had doubled her production of food. The increased 

 supply required to feed double the numbers was certainly not ob- 

 tained from abroad, for food imports, even at their highest, continued 

 to be infinitesimal in amount. 2 It was therefore produced at home. 

 In the case of wheat it would be difficult to prove the same rate 

 of progress. In abundant seasons the home supply would probably 

 have continued to feed the country, without risk of inadequacy or 

 panic-stricken competition, and therefore cheaply. But in ordinary 

 seasons the margin was at best a small one, and in unfavourable 

 weather a deficit was certain. It has been disputed whether six 

 bushels or eight bushels of wheat should be allowed as the average 

 quantity yearly consumed by each person. At the higher rate of 

 consumption, and assuming that wheat was the food of the whole 

 population, seven million quarters of wheat would be required in 

 1760, and ten million quarters in 1811. Arthur Young, in 1771, 

 calculated that 2,795,808 acres were then under cultivation for 

 wheat in England and Wales, and that the average produce per acre 

 was three quarters, giving a total yield of 8,387,424 quarters. In 

 1808, Comber 3 estimated the wheat area of England and Wales at 



1 Smith (Tracts on the Corn Trade) estimates the population of England and 

 Wales in 1766 at six millions, of whom 3,750,000 consumed wheat, the remain- 

 ing 2,250,000 consuming rye, barley, or oats. Finlaison, of the National Debt 

 Office (M'Culloch's Statistical Account of the British Empire, vol. i. 399), 

 calculated the numbers in 1760 at 6,479,730. Porter (Progress of the Nation, 

 p. 146) gives the population in 1760-69 as 6,850,000. Nicholls (Hist, of the 

 English Poor Law, ed. 1904, vol. ii. p. 54) estimates it in 1760 as 7,000,000. 



2 From 1801 to 1810 the average amount of wheat annually imported was 

 600,946 quarters, or about 2 pecks per head ; from 1811 to 1820 it was only 

 458,578 quarters. 



3 An Inquiry into the State of National Subsistence, Appendix xxv. 



