INTRODUCTION. 5 



food, which rested upon contingencies beyond control 

 or calculation, has been secured with a comparative 

 certainty ; and famines, which commonly recurred at 

 periods only a few years apart, are now happily un- 

 known, except in some of the very wildest districts, 

 and then only at very distant intervals. 



We propose, as far as can be accomplished within 

 narrow limits, to trace the progress of our own 

 country towards one of the chief objects and indica- 

 tions of civilization, - that of obtaining an abundance 

 and a variety of wholesome and agreeable vegetable 

 food, at the cheapest rate, and with unfailing regu- 

 larity, for increasing inhabitants. This great object 

 is principally accomplished by the natural progress 

 of a people in knowledge and industry. It is ad- 

 vanced by good commercial laws ; it is retarded by 

 bad. But if the general laws of a country have the 

 effect of rendering industry free and property secure, 

 it will go forward, without the assistance of govern- 

 ments, and in spite of that assistance, too often mis- 

 directed an embarrassment instead of a help. As 

 we trace this advance of civilization, we first find that 

 famines, once the unfailing scourges of a country, 

 occur at longer and longer intervals, till at last they 

 disappear altogether. We next perceive that sea 

 sons of scarcity, producing much severe misery, 

 though not to be compared in their desolating 

 effects to famines, become also fewer and fewer. 

 Lastly, we discover that, though the great necessary 

 of life, bread, may be dearer in one year than in 

 another, the fluctuations in price are seldom extreme 

 and never sudden. If we investigate the causes of 

 these remarkable circumstances, which always attend 

 a very advanced state of society, we shall find that 

 they are not to be ascribed to the vigilance of the 

 soundest legislation, or to the provident foresight of 

 the wisest ministers ; but to the spirit of commerce, 

 VOL. xv. 1* 



