CORN-LAWS. 



i22y 



Corn-Jaws, capital in the way most condoeiVe to profit, and with 

 '*^~Y~~' little necessity of giving an artificial direction to parti- 

 cular branches of industry, in consequence of political 

 considerations. 



Our next argument goes a good deal farther, and 

 will appear not a little extraordinary to the advocates 

 of our corn laws. It is nothing less than that the boun- 

 ty granted in King William's time, and accounted a 

 signal advantage by our landholders, was, in fact, pro- 

 ductive of very considerable injury to them and their 

 posterity. By pushing the cultivation of corn, that is, 

 by throwing into it an extra proportion of labour, ca- 

 pital, and even of land, the matter was overdone, and 

 corn rendered a drug for half a century. To what 

 other cause can we attribute the inferiority of price, al- 

 ready mentioned, in the period of seventy years after 

 the bounty, compared with the seventy years before it, 

 or compared with the course of things since the boun- 

 ty has ceased to operate ? Under such circumstances, 

 needs it be matter of wonder, that there should have 

 been " difficulty in finding a good tenant at the old 

 rent, and that a rise should have never been talked of?" 

 We are far, however, from ascribing similar effects to 

 the other part of the corn laws ; we mean the discou- 

 ragement of the import of foreign grain. Of this, the 

 effect is evidently and incontrovertibly to keep up the 

 price of our home produce. Whether this artificial en- 

 hancement is, in the long run, advantageous to the 

 farmer or landholder, is a very different question. We 

 are strongly inclined to doubt its favourable tendency 

 to them ; because, as we shall show presently, a rise in 

 the price of corn creates a correspondent rise in the ar- 

 ticles on which their income is expended, and with 

 which, in a great measure, their business is carried on. 

 Farther, as the enhancement of corn is unquestionably 

 a national loss, the farmer, and still more the landhold- 

 er, can hardly escape a portion of the general deterior- 

 ation. Experience, however, proves, that it is vain 

 to expect men to prefer a remote to a present advan- 

 tage. The landholders under King William had no 

 hesitation, we have seen, in contending for a bounty', 

 which was to bring them a certain immediate benefit, 

 at the cost of a much larger sacrifice from their sons 

 and inheritors. In like manner, the discouragement 

 of supplies from abroad, seems to absorb all other con- 

 siderations in the minds of the parliamentary leaders 

 of the country interest at the present day. As the h.w 

 now stands, it has fortunately no operation until the 

 currency of our wheat falls to 66s. ; and if a farther 

 extension be not insisted on, the public are not likely 

 to recur with discontent to that which is past, and is 

 in a manner incorporated with our habits and calcula- 

 tions. 



We are now to enter on the arguments for questioning 

 the generally diffused opinion, that a rise in the market- 

 price of corn is advantageous to the farmer and land- 

 owner. To make our reasoning on this point intelli- 

 gible, it is requisite to point out the distinction, and a 

 very important one it is, between money-rent and real 

 rent. When the price of a quarter of wheat has risen 

 from 50s. to 70s. the money rent rises in proportion, 

 but, in consequence of an accompanying rise in other 

 commodities, the larger sum of money buys no more 

 of the elegancies and comforts of life than the smaller 

 did before. An increase of real rent takes place, when 

 the 9um paid by the tenant will buy more of these ele- 

 ncies and comforts than it did before. 

 These fluctuations of rent, so different from each other 



in their effect, originate in very different causes. An Coni-iaws- 

 increase of mere money rent is caused by the deprecia- — m \l '— '' 

 tion of money ; an increase of real rent is caused by 

 the advanced prosperity of the country. 



Let it be kept in mind, that there are three stages 

 in the state of every country : the stationary — the ad- 

 vancing — the declining. The signs of an advancing 

 state, as regards agriculture, are, an increasing demand 

 for corn at home — a gradual diminution, and, finally, a 

 cessation of the export of corn. These signs of agri- 

 cultural prosperity owe their existence to the prosperi- 

 ty of trade, for the plain reason, that the various handa 

 supported by commerce and manufactures are all con- 

 sumers of the fruits of the earth. This increase of 

 consumers at home, lessens the necessity of seeking 

 for consumers abroad ; so that the diminution of the 

 export of grain, so much regretted by superficial ob- 

 servers, is always a favourable token, unless when cau- 

 sed by a decay of agriculture : a decay which never 

 takes place under a good government. In proof of 

 this, no countries at present export grain largely ex- 

 cept North America, which is thinly peopled from be- 

 ing newly settled ; and Poland, which is thinly peopled, 

 from having long had an oppressive government. 



If we inquire in what particular manner the prospe- 

 rity of trade enhances land, we shall find that it causes 

 this enhancement in two ways ; first as a source of in- 

 come, and next as a permanent property. It increases 

 the value of income or rent, by multiplying commodi- 

 ties, and also by the still more comfortable effect of 

 reducing their price. The latter consequence is seldom 

 ascribed to commerce, but it does not the less proceed 

 from it. It is the natural result of that progressive 

 augmentation of capital, division of labour, and im- 

 provement of machinery, which never fail to accom- 

 pany an advancing traffic. That rise of prices which 

 of late years has been so remarkable, and which, to 

 hasty observation, seems the consequence of commerce, 

 is in reality produced by very different causes, viz. 

 war, taxes, and the substitution, in various countries, 

 of paper money for coin. 



The increased value of land as a permanent proper- 

 ty, is denoted by the increase of the number of years' 

 purchase for which it sells. Two centuries ago we 

 had made little progress in trade ; the rate of interest 

 was 10 per cent, and the sale-price of land was only 

 ten or twelve years purchase. One century ago, our 

 progress in trade had been considerable; the rate of 

 interest was reduced to 6 per cent, and the sale price 

 of land raised to twenty years' purchase. At present, 

 in consequence of a farther progress in trade, the sale 

 price of land is nearly thirty years' purchase. 



Having thus explained the difference between mo- 

 ney rent and real rent, and having shewn how greatly 

 the latter is promoted by the prosperity of trade, our 

 next object is to prove, that our corn laws tend to raise 

 money rent only, and have no effect on real rent. 



The price of food regulates, directly or indirect!',', 

 the price of all other things. This is proved as fol- 

 lows : The component parts of all commodities arc 

 three : the raw material — the labourer's wages — tin- 

 dealer's profit. The price of food regulates that ul 

 the raw material, because the raising of such materials, 

 when less profitable than the raising of food, natuialU 

 makes room for it. It regulates the labourer's wages, 

 because the wages of the lower ranks are the price qf 

 their maintenance. And it regulates the dealer's pro- 

 fit, because that profit is relative to his stqck in trade, 



