On tht Corn Laws. 151 



adequate price, that the home trade of the country did not conse- 

 quently flourish *. 



9. That successful agriculture is highly advantageous to commerce, 

 because a large proportion of the goods imported, is for the consump- 

 tion of the agriculturists ; and that it is much more for the interest 

 of commerce, to have rich customers at home, than persons so impo- 

 verished, that, they cannot afford, either to consume great quantities 

 of goods, or to give an adequate price for the few they can purchase. 



}0. That the importation of foreign corn, in foreign ships, must be 

 highly unfavourable to British commerce and navigation : That corn 

 is in general imported from poor and thinly inhabited countries, which 

 do not require British commodities in return : That poor countries 

 require the precious metals, either to purchase foreign commodities, 

 (as wine from France), or to provide a capital, with which they may 

 erect domestic manufactures for their own supply. Those British 

 manufacturers therefore, who wish to promote the importation of fo- 

 reign grain, lay a foundation of future rivalship against themselves. 



11. That successful agriculture is always favourable to the increase 

 of the revenue, and that the revenue is never so productive, as when 

 agriculture is in a prosperous state. 



12. That the real strength arid stamina of a country are to be found 

 in the cultivators of the soil. In the words of the celebrated Chatham, 

 " these genuine sons of the earth are invincible." They are the 

 best calculated for acquiring military glory abroad, or securing the 

 safety of the nation at home. That every wise government must be 

 anxious to increase, and not to diminish the numbers, of so valuable 

 a class of the community ; and with that view, not only to preserve 

 in a productive state, its lands already in cultivation, but to add to 

 their fertility and extent. 



13. That the most erroneous accounts have been given, of the num- 

 ber of persons who, directly or indirectly, depend on agriculture for 

 their subsistence : That if a careful inquiry were made, it would ap- 

 pear, that two-thirds of the population in the united kingdom, inclu- 

 ding those manufacturers who raise goods for the home market, de- 

 rive the means of their subsistence from agriculture. 



14>. That the class of persons who are principally interested in the 

 corn trade, are commission merchants, to whom foreign corn is con- 

 signed for sale in the British market ; and it is to promote their in- 

 terests, that the nation has been so long kept in a perpetual state of 

 agitation, on the subject of the corn laws. 



15. That if the importation of foreign corn be encouraged, not 

 only is the extension of agricultural improvement checked, but a large 

 proportion of the territory of the country will be driven out of culti- 

 vation, and perhaps a million of persons deprived of their usual means 

 of subsistence. The poor rates will then absorb a still greater pro- 

 portion of the rents of the country, and the owners and occupiers of 



* See Alderman Roth well's evidence before the Agricultural Committee, 

 Report, p. 87. He well observed, " That agriculture ought to be considered 

 " the very staple of the country ; and that protecting duties of agriculture, were 

 " for the benefit of trade." 



