MR. cobden's arguments. 



281 



That ''most deadly weapon furnished to the lecturers of the 

 Anti-Corn-Law League/' to which Mr. Cobden alluded, was 

 first wielded against landowners, in a paragraph published by 

 the League in the Manchester Guardian of the 9th of October 

 last, and which I successfully encountered in No. 14 of my 

 series. Mr. Cobden's arguments being couched in the same 

 terms, and implying precisely the same questions, are as easily 

 refuted, which the inquirer will perceive by the following- 

 extract : — 



''1st. How can the English grower afford to sell flax for 

 the same price at which the foreigner imports it, free of duty, 

 at less cost for labour, and unburdened by a national debt, 

 poor, highway, and county rates ? 



" 2ndiy. Why cannot the English grower afford to sell wheat 

 for the same price at which the foreigner imports it, free of 

 duty?" 



" I answer, that the quantity of flax grown in this country is 

 so much beneath the demand, that the foreign farmer or specu- 

 lator, knowing our necessities^ is able to charge so high a price 

 that the British grower can readily accept the same terms, 

 although burdened with all those disadvantages from which 

 the foreigner is exempt. 



" Formerl}^, the superiority preponderated in favour of British 

 flax; but during the war. Government removed the restrictive 

 duties. The foreigner then inundated us with flax, obtained 

 the ascendancy, exercised ever after an arbitrary control over 

 the flax-market, and compelled our manufacturers to pay for 

 the raw material, not, as the League asserted, 'about 435. 

 only,' but about 1405. per cwt. ; or, instead of 43/. per ton, 

 140Z. ; while the Belgian farmers in particular realized from 

 30/. to 50/. per acre for what they significantly term their 

 'golden crop.' A serious warning of what may be expected 

 when the duty on foreign wheat shall be a penny a quarter ! 



" It will now appear evident to the most common understand- 

 ing, that should we become as dependent upon foreign nations 

 for bread as we now are for flax, English wheat must inevitably 

 share the fate of English flax. Land would be thrown out of 

 cultivation ; the foreigner obtain the command of price ; and 



