268 THE ENGLISH CORN LAWS 



exceeded in the eighteenth century. Writing in August, 1786, 

 Arthur Young says : " Last winter, hay, straw, and fodder of all 

 kinds were scarcer and dearer than ever known in this Kingdom. 

 Severe frosts destroyed the turnips, and cattle of all kinds, and sheep 

 suffered dreadfully ; many died, and the rest were in ill plight to 

 fatten early in this summer." The crops of 1789 again were 

 deficient. Exports were prohibited, and free imports permitted. 

 But in France the scarcity almost amounted to famine. The 

 Government spent large sums in the purchase of wheat, and Con- 

 tinental prices ruled considerably above those of England. Against 

 the deficient harvests of 1790 and 1792 may be set the season of 

 1791, which was so favourable that, for the last time in the history of 

 the corn-trade, 1 the exports of the following year exceeded the 

 imports. 



It will be seen that the yield of fourteen of the harvests during 

 the twenty-eight years 1765-92 fell so far below the average as to 

 create a scarcity ; that several others were defective ; and that 

 only two (1779 and 1791) were really abundant. Yet, during the 

 whole period, the total excess of imports of foreign wheat over the 

 exports of home-grown produce only amounted to 1,661,000 quarters, 

 or an average of little more than 59,000 quarters a year. It may, 

 therefore, be reasonably assumed that, if England had enjoyed 

 seasons as uniformly favourable as those of 1715-64, she would have 

 been able to feed her growing population at low prices and yet to 

 remain a grain-exporting country. The fact is a striking proof of 

 her agricultural progress. It is more than doubtful whether such 

 an expansion of her powers of production would have been possible 

 if the open-field system of farming had been maintained. 



In February, 1793, war was proclaimed with France. It continued 

 with two brief intervals till 1815. As the struggle progressed the 

 area of conflict was widened until it embraced America as well as 

 Europe, and not only became a naval and military war in which all 

 the Powers were engaged, but developed into a commercial blockade 

 directed against this country. During the whole period the Corn 

 Laws were practically inoperative. The progress of the war 

 created conditions of supply which alone would suffice to explain 

 an unprecedented rise of prices. But the situation was through- 



1 1792, exports, 300,278 quarters ; imports, 22,417. The statement in the 

 text is not literally true. In 1808 the exports exceeded the imports by 13,116 

 quarters (98,005 to 84,889). But the exportation was to the Peninsula for 

 military purposes and for the supply of our own troops. 



