42 2 History of the English Landed Interest. 



whole demand this entire and permanent sacrifice of the 

 English landlord in favour of the foreign agricnlturist. We 

 cannot tell what might not have occurred had even slight 

 duties on imported grain been in force when, for example, 

 the Trafalgar Square meetings of the unemployed were taking 

 place, or now that the excess of the labour supply over its 

 demand is prompting men to advocate the diminution by the 

 State of their working hours. Clinging to our idea that any 

 artificial restriction of the natural laws of supply and demand 

 must be a resource rotten at the core, we shall for our part 

 require further proofs before we condemn Peel for his action 

 in repealing the Corn Laws, though we cannot help regretting 

 that he did not attempt to barter the ceded privilege for some 

 compensatory reduction of the existing land taxation and poor 

 rates.^ 



^ The subject was often touched upon, especially when the Free Trade 

 Party through one of its spokesmen, Ward, moved in 1845 for a select 

 committee to inquire if there wex"e any special burdens affecting the 

 Landed Interest which justified its protection. 



