1*72 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



Other reasons called the attention of provident minds 

 to the price of food. The whole framework of British 

 wealth and power rests upon the exportation of its manu- 

 factures. Until lately, English industry had few rivals, 

 but other nations have gradually been making progress 

 in manufactures, and English productions are not the 

 only ones which now appear in the European and Ameri- 

 can markets. English merchants cannot, then, sustain 

 a universal competition, except by cheapness ; and this 

 cheapness is not possible, excepting when wages are mo- 

 derate. Now, the English workmen, although the best 

 paid in the world, are not, or at least were not, in 1848, 

 satisfied with their wages. The storm which raged on 

 the Continent in 1848-9 began to be felt in England, 

 and was exhibited in expressions of discontent. 



This, then, was the manner in which the problem to 

 be solved presented itself; a terrible problem, carrying 

 with it the life and death of a large number of people, 

 and perhaps also the life and death of a great nation. 

 On the one hand, scarcity already devastating one portion 

 of the British territory, and threatening to extend itself 

 over the rest the price of food consequently threaten- 

 ing to rise to an unlimited height ; on the other, the neces- 

 sity, notwithstanding the probable rise in the price of food, 

 for keeping wages at such a rate as to allow and facilitate 

 the exportation of manufactured goods ; and, to complete 

 the difficulty, a strong desire among the labouring classes 

 for an increase of comforts, at the very time perhaps when 

 food was to fail them, and when death from famine had 

 begun in Ireland. It was then that the eminent indivi- 

 dual intrusted with the helm during that difficult period, 

 at once decided upon the bold and liberal measure which 

 saved all. 



For a long time previously, English legislation upon 



