267 



for the same price at which the foreigner imports it, free of 

 duty.'" 



" I answer, that the quantit}' of flax grown in this country is 

 so much beneath the demand that the foreign farmer or specu- 

 lator, knowing our necessities, is able to charge so high a price 

 that the British grower can readily accept the same terms, 

 although burdened with all those disadvantages from which 

 the foreigner is exempt, 



" Formerly, the superiority preponderated in favour of British 

 flax ; but, during the war. Government removed the restrictive 

 duties. The foreigner then inundated us with flax, obtained 

 the ascendancy, exercised ever after an arbitrary control over 

 the flax market, and compelled our manufacturers to pay for 

 the raw material, not, as the League asserted, * about 43s. 

 only,' but about 140^. per cwt. ; or, instead of 43/. per ton, 

 140/. ; while the Belgian farmers in particular realized from 

 30/. to 50/. per acre for what they significantly term their 

 ' golden crop.' A serious warning of what may be expected 

 when the duty on foreign wheat shall be a penny a quarter ! 



" It will now appear evident to the most common understand- 

 in, that, should we become as dependent upon foreign nations 

 for bread as we now are for flax, English wheat must inevitably 

 share the fate of English flax. Land would be thrown out of 

 cultivation; the foreigner obtain the command of price; and 

 the few growers of wheat, like the few growers of flax, would 

 alone reap a profit." 



A copy of this letter was forwarded to the editor of the 

 above-named paper, of which, for obvious reasons, no notice 

 was taken ; nor do I expect that the " lecturers of the Anti- 

 Corn-Law League," or even Mr. Cobden himself, will venture 

 a reply. In truth, if the English farmer needed a weapon 

 against free trade, Mr. Cobden has supplied him with one in 

 the above comparison between the importation of flax and that 

 of wheat. 



It is, undoubtedly, the especial province of the Legislature 

 diligently to enquire into the latent resources of the country, 

 to render them subservient to the wants of the people, 

 to uphold and protect the working classes, and to provide 



