i6o HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



the prices of wheat for the next seventy years was from 

 15 to 20 per cent, cheaper than in the previous forty. 

 Modern economists have described this system as one of 

 the worst instances of a class using their legislative power 

 to subsidize themselves at the expense of the community. 

 As a matter of fact it was the firm conviction of the statesmen 

 and economists of the time, that husbandry, being the main 

 industry and prop of England, and the foundation on which 

 the whole political power of the country was based, should 

 receive every encouragement. At all events, in many ways 

 the policy was successful. 1 It encouraged investment in land, 

 and materially assisted the agricultural improvement for 

 which the eighteenth century was noted, the export too 

 employed English shipping, and thus aided industry. Arthur 

 Young said it was the singular felicity of this country to have 

 devised a plan which accomplished the strange paradox of at 

 once lowering the price of corn and encouraging agriculture, 

 for by the system in vogue till 1773 if corn was scarce it was 

 imported, while if there was a glut at home export was 

 assisted so that great fluctuations in price were prevented. 2 ! 

 It seemed of the utmost importance to men of that time 

 that England should be self-supporting and independent of 

 possible adversaries for the necessaries of life ; the wisdom 

 of the policy was never questioned, and was accepted by 

 statesmen of every party. 3 To blame the landowners for 

 adopting what seemed the wisest course to every sensible 

 person is merely an instance of partisan spite. 



At the Peace of Paris in 1763 the question as to whether 

 England or France was to be the great colonizing country of 

 the world was finally settled, and a great development of 

 English trade ensued. It was accompanied by a great 

 increase of population, exports of corn were largely reduced, 



1 Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, ii. 371. 



2 Political Arithmetic, pp. 27-34, I93> 276. 



s Lecky, England in the Eighteenth Century, vi. 192. 



