318 [Assembly 



very little of ours went forth; nevertheless, Lord Stanley tells us 

 that there was then in bond in England, 1,106,000 quarters, being 

 207,000 quarters more than was ever known to be in bond at that 

 season of the year before. It was held, then, as has been remarked, 

 awaiting a contingency that did not happen. It was also held in 

 our own country, awaiting the same contingency, until the bubble 

 burst, and overwhelmed many in ruin. 



Lord Stanley, in an able speech delivere3 in the House of Lords, 

 May 25, 1846, asserted that in the event of the repeal of the corn 

 laws, 405. per quarter was the maximum price which could ever be 

 expected to be realized, which is $1.20 per bushel, being 28 cents 

 per bushel less than the average cost of American wheat in Eng- 

 land, exclusive of the duty, for many years. He read a letter from 

 a gentleman, described as being at the head of one of the oldest 

 firms in Liverpool engaged in the corn trade. The writer asserted 

 that he then held in bond two cargoes of fair red wheat, imported 

 last year from a port on the Danube. It cost him 14s. per quarter 

 free on board, the freight to Liverpool being 9^. 6d. per quarter. 

 This would be 70| cents per bushel in England. 



Lord Ashburton, in a speech delivered January 12, 1846, alluding 

 to grain, says: "but the supply must not be expected from America; 

 and we could have no better proof of this than the fact, that, at this 

 moment American grain could come through Canada, at a duty of 

 four shillings; and yet, if the returns were examined, it would be 

 found that nine-tenths of the foreign grain in England was from 

 the Baltic, though the duty on grain from its shores was fifteen 

 SHILLINGS a quarter. This was entirely owing to the low price of 

 labor in the north of Europe." 



Mr. McGregor, the celebrated statist, and Secretary of the British 

 Board of Trade, tells us that the surplus bread stuffs in the Russian 

 empire in one year, amounted to 224 millions of bushels. We know 

 that the greater part of the whole crop of Russia is produced by her 

 serfs, under the most slovenly culture imaginable. The capacity of 

 continental Europe for production is unknown; labor in abundance 

 to be had for a bare and miserable subsistence; and when the product 

 is stimulated by an open market in England, wilh cost and charges 

 for transportation trifling, compared with those from these shores, 

 will ciny sane man for a moment suppose that we can compete for 

 that market with any prospect of success? 



