145 



Appendix, Xo. 9- 



TRANSLATION of -parts of a MEMOIR circulated among the 

 Landowners in BRANDENBURG, POMERANIA, and WEST PRUSSIA. 



OUR ardent hopes for a rise in the prices of Corn, founded on 

 the expectation that England may open its Ports, have unhappily 

 again vanished. The new liberal policy adopted by England, 

 with regard to commerce, has not been extended to the Corn 

 Trade ; and the motions of Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Whitmore, 

 as well as the numerous petitions that were laid before Parlia- 

 ment, did not meet with any success. It is doubtful whether 

 they will have a better fate in the next Sessions, should even a 

 new Parliament assemble. The influence of the Members of 

 the House of Lords, whose interests (in this instance) are at 

 variance with those of the community at large, being too pre- 

 vailing ; and besides, the present prices of Corn are not felt to be 

 so oppressive, while trade and commerce extend themselves so 

 largely. The opinion, too, is common in England, that there 

 are immense quantities of Grain accumulated in every corner of 

 the Continent, and with which England might become over- 

 stocked, should a repeal of the Corn Laws take place. 



But even in case of a repeal of the Corn Bill, the advantages 

 accruing from it will never be so paramount as we flatter our- 

 selves they will be. They will be lessened by a new duty of 10 

 or 15 shillings per quarter, levied upon the importation of Grain. 

 There are, besides, similar prohibitory laws existing in Portugal, 

 Spain, France, and the Netherlands ; and the Corn trade, actually 

 destroyed, cannot be restored by a repeal of the Corn Bill 

 alone. In order to restore it to its full course, all the fetters with 

 which it has been oppressed must be taken from it. But an 

 emancipation of this extent cannot be expected until a year of 

 scarcity, with famine, disturbances, and even insurrection in its 

 train, shall dictate it. Such a catastrophe may perhaps approach 

 sooner than is expected. The extremes are not so distant from 

 each other as people generally believe. The prevailing opinion, 

 that the production of Corn in all countries greatly exceeds the 

 consumption, and that immense quantities are actually every where 

 hoarded up, is quite erroneous. This idea of a vast abundance 

 is but imaginary, and for the following reasons : 



1. Because those countries which formerly drew the deficiency 

 required for their subsistence from the North, have themselves 

 had several good and rich harvests. 



'2. Because the Corn traders (speculanten) in the Corn coun- 

 tries, have almost ceased to exist as such ; and the few of them 



