12 Ira Ryner 



of proportion to the amounts devoted to other enterprises. In 

 spite of an expenditure of £70,000,000, £36,000,000 of which was 

 raised by immediate taxation, for the Crimean war of 1855-56, 

 the country had an abundance of capital and was in a state of 

 rapid general advancement.^ 



Production of all kinds was increasing rapidly. From 1852 to 

 1858 the production of coal increased from 34,000,000 to 65,- 

 000,000 tons as shown by the following table :~ 



1852 34,000,000 1856 66,645,450 



1853 54,000,000 1857 66,394,707 



1854 64,661,401 1858 65,008,649 



1855 64,453,070 



The production of pig-iron increased from 2,000,000 tons in 

 1847 to 3,586,377 in 1857 as shown by the table :^ 



1847 1,999,508 1857 3,659,447 



1852 2,701,000 1858 3,456,064 



1854 3,069,838 1859 3,712,904 



1855 3,218,154 1860 3,826,752 



1856 3,586,377 



The production of wheat was a trifle above the average on 

 account of exceptionally good harvests, but of course since the 

 abolition of the corn laws in 1846-49 we naturally expect Eng- 

 land's wheat production to decline in amount and importance. 



That England, as in the period preceding the crisis of 1836-39, 

 was still further losing her position among the agricultural na- 

 tions is shown by the following table of percentages of popula- 

 tion engaged in the different occupations:* 



Occiipatio7i 1S51 1861 



Agriculture 20.9 18.0 



Fishing 0.2 0.2 



Mining 4.0 4.5 



Building 5.5 5.8 



Manufactures 32.7 33.0 



Transportation 4.1 4.6 



^ Buxton, Finance and Politics, 155. 



^Monthly Stimmary of Commerce and Finance., April, 1900. 



^Swank, Iron in All Ages, 520. 



^ Royal Statistical Society of London, XLIX, 324. 



154 



