1920.] Agriculture during Two Great Wars. 227 



AGRICULTURE DURING TWO GREAT 

 WARS: 1793-1815 and 1914-18. 



The Right Honourable Lord Ernle, ]\I.V.0. 



On i8th June, 1815, the long war with France, which, with 

 brief intervals, had lasted since February, 1793, ended at 

 \\'aterloo. On iith November, 1918, the Armistice terminated 

 hostiUties in another war which had continued for more than 

 four years on a scale that had never been approached or even 

 remotely imagined. It is natural to compare the two great 

 struggles, and to see how far the experiences of the nation a 

 century ago have resembled, or may be expected to resemble, 

 those of to-day and to-morrow. History repeats itself ; certain 

 effects more or less invariably result from certain causes. But 

 the main incidence, so to speak, of those results may be shifted 

 by changes in social conditions. Prosperity and plenty, for 

 instance, do not immediately return with the proclamation of 

 Peace. On the contrary, history shows that a period of priva- 

 tion, which in severit}^ and duration depends on the length of 

 the struggle and the degree of financial exhaustion, always 

 follows the cessation of war. But though this law is inexorable, 

 and though some temporary and almost universal hardship is 

 inevitable, the section of the community which suffers most 

 severely is not necessarily always the same. 



The causes of the two wars need not be discussed. There 

 is between them one broad resemblance. Whatever may be 

 said of the first stage of the long French War (February, 1793 to 

 March, 1802), the second stage (May, 1803 to June, 1S15) 

 sprang from practically the same cause as led to our recent 

 struggle against the Powers of Central Europe in 1914-18. 

 With Bonaparte as first Consul, and afterwards as Emperor, 

 PYance entered on a war of aggression. Against French 

 domination in Europe the struggle became national. It was 

 the uprising of nations which at length overwhelmed Bonaparte. 

 So, in the recent ^^'ar, (ireat Britain was struggling to preserve 

 her independent national existence against the predominance 

 of German autocracy and against gigantic schemes of militaty 

 conquest and annexation. In both cases she was bound, what- 

 ever the cost of life and treasure, to persevere to her last man 

 and her last shilling. But though tlie cause of both wars was 

 practically identical, their course presents more of contrast 

 than of resemblance. Two instances are enough. In the 



