supply itio; Milk for the Poor. 147 



The average price of wheat for ilie last ten )'ears I have slated to have been at 

 jr3. 6s. per quarter, exclusive of bounties; had ibis been the pricj in the first five 

 years of that period, I verily believe it would have proved such an encouragement 

 to the growdi of grain as would have prevented the necessity of our prodigious 

 importations, (and in great measure) saved the nation forty millions, paid for the 

 purchase of foreign grain in that period, and seven millions of bounties to the 

 exchequer. 



Taking six years from 1793, the average will be £2. ijs. 6d. and excluding the 

 years 1795 and 1796, which were both failing crops, the average of the four re- 

 maining years will be;^2. 10^. 8</. an advance of only fourteen shillings and eight 

 pence in a space of little less than a century. But permit me to ask, is there any 

 advance? AK:cording to Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn's Tables of the Deprecia- 

 tion of Money, — in i58g, one pound had as great power over the necessaries of 

 life as £2, gs. 8|af. had in 1800. If so, one pound sixteen shillings per quarter 

 for wheat in 1700 would be equal in present money to ^4. 85. 8</. and this without 

 estimating taxes, advance of labour, or other charges of cultivation. 



What branch of commerce do we possess that is capable of producing a net gain 

 of upwards of four milUons and a half annually ? Such, however, is the trade we 

 appear to despise, notwithstanding a very considerable part of our national pros 

 perity depends upon it, 



I think Utile doubt can be entertained, by unprejudiced persons, of the advan- 

 tage which must result from restoring a due balance between agriculture and com- 

 merce. That this can be effected without considerable difficulty I would by no 

 means insinuate. We have the experience of the last half century of the benefits 

 that resulted from it; and this justifies the wish that the experiment should again 

 be made. The continuance of our national greatness and our commercial prospe- 

 rity appear absolutely to depend upon it. 



I very much question the policy of importation bounties on corn, as a general 

 principle, however necessary under particular ciicumsiances: the policy and 

 wisdom of exportation bounties are ascertained by the experience of eighty years, 

 and appear amongst the many proofs of the wisdom and sagacity of the legislature 

 of those times. 



Could the nation be fully apprised of the danger pf our situation, and our growing 



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