230 



CORN-LAWS. 



Corn-laws, the amount of which is determined by the cost of ma- 

 — ' * '-' terials and wages, — a cost which we have just shown 

 to be dependent on the cost of food. 



The real value of rent, like the real value of every 

 thing else, depends on the quantity of commodities 

 which it will purchase. It is immaterial whether the 

 rent be expended or accumulated, for the rule is ap- 

 plicable to all times, and to all situations. If, there- 

 tore, a rise in the money rent of land causes a corre- 

 spondentrisein the price of all other commodities, the 

 situation of the landlord is the same after the rise as 

 before it. His income, although nominally larger, is 

 of no more real utility to "himself in the way of expen- 

 diture, nor to his posterity in the way of accumulation. 

 While; the supposed effect of our corn laws, therefore, 

 13 to enhance the price of one commodity only, (name- 

 ly corn,) their real effect is an enhancement of all com- 

 modities. And this brings us to our last point, name- 

 ly, the pernicious effects of this enhancement on our 

 landholders as well as on the rest of the country. 



•If we consider the effects of this enhancement of 

 commodities with reference to our foreign trade, we 

 find, that it lessens our ability to meet the competition 

 of other countries : of countries where the price of la- 

 bour is not half so high as among us. If we look in- 

 wards among ourselves, we shall find, that it contri- 

 butes to cause a revolution of property to the disad- 

 vantage frequently of those who are least able to af- 

 ford it. This revolution takes place in regard to all 

 money property, whether vested in public or private 

 securities ; whether in the funds or in mortgage. All 

 annuitants, in particular, are sufferers by this deprecia- 

 tion. But, to confine ourselves to the consideration of 

 its effects on the landed interest ; the discouragement 

 of our foreign trade, and the forced reduction of pro- 

 perty at home, are equally pernicious to agriculture. 

 Both these unfortunate circumstances tend to lessen 

 the amount of our capital ; to lessen the number of 

 hands whom that capital would employ, and, conse- 

 quently, the mouths which would consume the produce of 

 our land. 



It remains that we notice Mr Arthur Young's fa- 

 vourite argument for our present system of corn laws. 

 Without a direct interference by government for the 

 regulation of prices, particularly for preventing them 

 from being greatly lowered by importation, the farmer, 

 he says, would be exposed to frequent discouragement, 

 and would fail in raising the quantity required for our 

 ordinary consumption. In a favourable year, he adds, 

 oiir prices are low of themselves ; in an unfavourable 

 one, we should render them low if we permitted im- 



Eortation ; in consequence of which, the farmer would 

 e prevented from sowing extensively, and from car- 

 rying improvements into effect ; so that, in the long 

 run, a deficiency would take place in the growth, and 

 the country at large would suffer for it. — There are, 

 however, several important considerations in opposi- 

 tion to this opinion of Mr Young. In our climate, un- 

 der a good system of husbandry, there is little hazard 

 •of a general failure of the crop. Of our various sorts 

 of grain, several are benefited by that weather which 

 proves injurious to others. In respect to situation, too, 

 the early counties of the south may succeed in secu- 

 ring their harvest, although the autumn may become 

 so wet as to damage the corn in the north. Here we 

 perceive a balance of inequalities operating in counter- 

 action of each other, and, consequently, requiring little 

 aid from the interference of government. Next, as to 



exempting the farmer from any'great or unreasonable fall Corn- 

 of price consequent on importation, it is to be observed, ^■""V 

 that corn is a very bulky commodity ; that the freight, 

 insurance, and shipping charges, form of themselves so 

 many distinct taxes on import; and, moreover, that 

 the quality of the grain is more or less liable to dete- 

 rioration from water carriage. All these circumstances 

 are in favour of the home farmer. They have the 

 practical effect of rendering 60s. a quarter in Britain, 

 a price of no greater benefit to the foreigner than 45 s. 

 or 50 s. in his own country. Nor is there the most dis- 

 tant prospect of our home growth exceeding our con- 

 sumption, so as to deprive the British farmer of this 

 important relative advantage. We seem to be already 

 too populous for the productiveness of our soil, and, 

 to judge from the late returns, our population bids fair 

 to go on in a quicker ratio than our improvements in 

 husbandry. The result of these various observations 

 is, that the corn trade may, like any other, be safely 

 left to itself. In this, as in other products, the policy 

 of merchants will provide a remedy for the inequality 

 of the seasons. Sugar, like corn, is dependent on con- 

 tingencies of weather ; yet nobody recommends that 

 government should pass laws, with a view of keep- 

 ing the sugar market on a level. Merchants, we know, 

 will buy up the article when it falls to a low rate, and, 

 keeping it in store for a time, will bring it to market 

 when the price has become such as to afford a profit. 

 In thus prosecuting his own interest, the sugar-dealer 

 constitutes himself an effectual guardian of that of the 

 public. The case of corn is parallel, and why may it 

 not be left, with equal confidence, to the arrangements 

 of the dealers in corn ? The article admits, with due 

 precaution, of being kept from season to season, and 

 it is evidently the interest of the holder to keep back 

 his stock while it is cheap, and to bring it forward 

 when dear — that is, exactly at the time it is wanted. 

 Instead, therefore, of desiring any interference from 

 government, we should merely wish for a final abroga- 

 tion of the absurd laws against the freedom of corn 

 purchases, or, to borrow the technical terms, against 

 forestalling, regrating, and ingrossing. 



The act of 1791, professing to favour the importa- 

 tion and warehousing of foreign corn, permits the same- 

 to be landed, but imposes on it when brought forward 

 for home consumption a duty of 2s. 6d. a quarter, in 

 addition to whatever other duties may be payable at the 

 time. Here we have an example of the obstacles pla- 

 ced in the way of the free trade of the corn dealers. 

 The public is under a singular error in suspecting this 

 class of entering into combinations for enhancing grain; 

 for the fact is, that they are often buyers as well as 

 sellers; and in no part of the mercantile body does 

 there exist a greater diversity of opinion. Nor ought 

 we to desire a diminution of the capital employed in the 

 corn trade, when we are apprised that our usual stock, 

 previously to the coming in of a new crop, is equal to 

 only three months consumption, one half of which, at 

 least, is necessary for seed. 



It affords some comfort, among the errors which still 

 exist as to the corn business, that the impolicy of small 

 farms is pretty generally acknowledged. These petty 

 occupancies were accompanied by a want of economy 

 both in animal and human labour, while nothing could 

 be less favourable to the advancement of agricultural 

 skill. It is a curious fact, that a century ago, in conse- 

 quence of our cattle having little other pasture than 

 wastes and commons, the lambs, sheep, and calyee, 



