No. 151.] 317 



From 1699 to 1799, the exports of wheat and wheat flour from 

 Great Britain greatly exceeded her imports. From 1800 to 1842 

 her excess of imports over her exports, was 324,331,680 bushels, 

 being an average of 7,722,182 bushels per annum. From 1837 to 

 1842 inclusive, her imports over her exports were 87,730,080 bush- 

 els, being an average of 14,62 1,680 bushels per annum. From 1828 

 to 1840 inclusive, a period of twelve years, her imports of grain 

 and meal direct from the United States, was 1,070,088 bushels, be- 

 ing an average of 89,174 bushels per annum; whilst her imports 

 from Prussia alone, during the year 1840, was 6,400,000 bushels. 

 The foregoing is from Spackman's Statistics of the British Empire 

 for 1843, and show conclusively that the quantity shipped to Eng- 

 land from the United States, during the period alluded to, was of no 

 consequence at all, in a national point of view, still the fluctuations 

 in the prices of bread stufls consequent upon an expectation of great 

 demands from England, extorted from the laboring poor of our At- 

 lantic cities millions every year, in which the producers rarely par- 

 ticipated. It was sw^allowed up by greedy speculators and monopo- 

 lists; and they, in turn, were occasionally overwhelmed by their own 

 avarice. It was during this period that the memorable flour riots »nd 

 sacking of flour stores occurred in New-York. Could the laboring 

 poor of the sea board have stipulated to make a gratuity to England^ 

 each year, of all she actually did receive from us, on condition that 

 any further supply should be prohibited, the poor would have been 

 gainers to the amount of millions ! 



The fluctuation in the price of flour for one month past, will serve 

 to illustrate what has been stated, to some extent. On the 19th 

 September last, flour was selling at $4.75 per barrel. The news 

 by the succeeding steamer, that flour was selling at $6.72 in Eng- 

 land, caused an' advance here to $5.62. Now if we add this to the 

 present duty, which is $1.52 per barrel, and fi eight 60 cents per 

 barrel, our flour in England would cost $7.72; one dollar per barrel 

 more than it was selling for at the then last advice. Up to the ar- 

 rival of the steamer of the 4th inst., which was on the 21st, flour 

 had declined a little, but the announcement by her that flour was 

 selling at $8.40, carried our flour up immediately to $6.50 for best 

 qualities; which with freight and duty added, makes it 20 cents per 

 barrel more than it was selling for when the steamer left. 



In December, 1845, when Belgium, Sweden, Turkey, and other 

 countries prohibited the exportation of grain, and the clamor about 

 a famine carried bread stuffs up in the United States enormously, 



