1 92 Of Corn-Laws. Bk . iii . 



in the number of the nations connected with it by 

 the commerce of grain ; yet it by no means follows 

 that the same conclusion will hold good when the 

 premises are essentially different ; that is, when 

 some of the countries taken into the circle of trade 

 are subject to very great comparative variations 

 in their supplies of grain, and when this defect is 

 aggravated by the acknowledged want of real 

 freedom in the foreign trade of corn. 



Suppose, for instance, that the extreme varia- 

 tions above and below the average quantity of corn 

 grown, were in England \ and in France \, a free 

 intercourse between the two countries would 

 probably increase the variableness of the English 

 markets. And if, in addition to England and 

 France, such a country as Bengal could be brought 

 near, and admitted into the circle — a country in 

 which, according to Sir George Colebrook, rice is 

 sometimes sold four times as cheap in one year as 

 in the succeeding without famine or scarcity;* 

 and where, notwithstanding the frequency of 

 abundant harvests, deficiencies sometimes occur 

 of such extent as necessarily to destroy a consi- 

 derable portion of the population ; it is quite cer- 

 tain that the supplies both of England and France 

 would become very much more variable than be- 

 fore the accession. 



In point of fact, there is reason to believe that 



• Husbandry of Bengal, p. 108. Note. He observes in the 

 text of the same page that the price of corn fluctuates nuich more 

 than in Europe. 



