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CHAPTER XII. 



THE CUSTOMS EEFOKM. 



WE have now reviewed the principal causes of the origin 

 of English agricultural wealth. Its principle lies in the 

 predilection of the rich for a country life. Besides the 

 direct advantages arising from this to the land itself, 

 these inclinations have produced political liberty, and 

 preserved it from the impure contact of revolutions. 

 Liberty without revolutions has produced an immense 

 industrial and commercial development, and these again 

 have produced great agricultural prosperity : the fruitful 

 impulse reverts to its starting-point. It remains now to 

 give an account of a recent event, which appears con- 

 trary to these premises, but which nevertheless is only 

 a consequence of it : I mean the customs reform of Sir 

 Eobert Peel, and the crisis which followed it. 



In the midst of its grandeur and wealth, England is 

 constantly exposed to a great peril the consequence 

 even of its wealth and that is excess of population. It 

 is now half a century since Malthus, one of its illustrious 

 sons, raised the cry of alarm for the future. Since then, 

 the country has had several sad warnings in the riot- 

 ings caused by scarcity. However rapid may be the 

 development of agriculture, it has difficulty in keeping 

 up with the still more rapid advance of population. A 

 rise in the price of food is the certain effect of this accu- 



