APPENDIX II 349 



The above figures are taken from M'^CuUoch's Commercial Dictionary, 

 1847, p. 438, and agree roughly with those given by M'^Pherson, 

 Aftnals of Commerce, iii. 674, and iv. 216 and 532. 



After 1842, exports played a very small part, and imports continued to 

 increase; in 1847, 4,612,110 quarters of wheat and flour came in; and 

 the following figures show their growth in recent times : — 



Average of Annual Imports of Wheat and Flour in cwts. 



With regard to the exports and imports of all kinds of corn, large 

 quantities were exported in the first half of the eighteenth century. 

 Ill 1733, 800,000 quarters were sent to France, Portugal, Spain, and 

 Italy,* and exports reached their maximum in 1750 with 1,667,778 

 quarters, but by 1760 had decreased to 600,000, and after that fell con- 

 siderably; in 1 77 1, for instance, the first year of the corn register, they 

 only amounted to 81,665 quarters, whereas imports were 203,122. The 

 figures of the imports were swollen by the large quantities of oats which 

 came into England at this time. The following years are typical of 

 the fluctuations in the trade :— 



Exports. Imports. 



1774 47,961 803,844 



1776 376,249 444,121 



1780 400,408 219,093 



1782 278,955 133,663 



1783 104,274 852,389 

 1784-8 large excess of imports, mainly oats 

 1789 652,764 478,426 



the last year when exports of all kinds of corn exceeded imports.* 



To sum up, according to these figures, England's exports of wheat 

 regularly exceeded her imports from 1697 until 1757, with the exception 

 of the years 1728-9; then they fluctuated till 1789, the last year in 

 which exports of wheat exceeded imports, and as the same year is the 

 last time when our exports of all kinds of com exceeded our imports, 

 England at that date ceased to be an exporting country.' 



^ M^'Pherson, Annals of Commerce, iii. 198. 

 ^ Ibid. iii. 674; iv. 216, 532. 



' The excess of exports of wheat in 1808 was accidentally due to the 

 requirements of the army in Spain. 



