200 Britain for tue bkitok 



!ift(!r that buttle, hundreds of our merchant ships were captured ; 

 and it will be so a,<;ain." 



Although we were not at that time in the habit of importing 

 much corn or other food-stuffs, the price of wheat, nevertheless, 

 averaged riglity-four shilling^! per quarter, during the war. 



''Wheat, which in 1792 was so low as forty-seven shiUings per 

 quarter, rose in 1801 to one hundred and eighty shillings. During 

 some weeks of that year the quartern loaf sold at one shilling and 

 tenpence. Throughout the war wheat averaged eighty-four shillings 

 per quarter. . . . The grain-ships of neutral Powers were stopped on 

 the high seas, and a forcible sale of their cargoes exacted." * 



Wheat £9 pee quaeter during Peninsular War 



This brief excerpt from the history of that time is full of 

 significance. It tells, in the first place, that although we drew 

 ^-ery little of our food-stuffs from foreign countries, this fact 

 alone was not sufficient to prevent an enormous rise in the 

 price of corn. 



It further teaches us that, if under the stress of war the 

 price of wheat rose to famine prices when we were practically 

 independent of outside supplies, they would be sure to rise 

 much higher when we have to import four-fifths of our 

 wheat besides a vast quantity of all other food-stuffs, every 

 ])0und of which would be entirely at the mercy of Britain's 

 enemies. 



Another great difficulty is to get the people to understand 

 the enormous difference between our position to-day and the 

 ])eriod covered by the Napoleonic wars, and unless we take 

 the trouble to get tliis important factor fixed firmly in our 

 minds we shall surely court disaster. 



One hundred years ago we were practically independent of 

 foreign countries for our food supplies. 



To-day we are absolutely dependent upon a number of 

 foreign States for our daily bread. 



If that bread be withheld for the brief si)ace of a few weeks, 

 vast numbers of our unfortunate people would literally starve 

 and die. 



This is the crux which the masses fail to realise. The 

 ])eople must suffer, and yet they appear to be indifferent. 



The latest agricultural statistics on the subject to which we 

 have just referred show that £172,000,000 aimually are sent 

 abroad to i)ay for imported food. 



* " The Nineteenth Century, a History," p. 73 : Robert Mackenzie. 



