u 
Land & Water 
May 9, igi8 
more than double the average pre-war prices {3.48. 6d. to 35s. 
the quarter). The average ol 1809-12 was far more than 
double that for the pre-war period (45s. the quarter). 
It appears, then, that German "fright fulness," exerted 
against conditions of food supply which are perilously arti- 
ficial, has produced far less distress than the Napoleonic 
System, which never aimed at starving us. I commend this 
fact to -the notice of Admiral Tirpitz, Count Reventlow, and 
Captain Persius. It is to be hoped, however, that we shall 
never again persist in the blind optimism and official heed- 
lessness with regard to food supply in war time whicli charac- 
terised the pre-war period. For it is ])ossibIe — even pro- 
bable — that in the future a naval combination might be 
formed against us, formidable not only in submarines and 
gun-power, but also in coast-power. As I have shown, our 
mercantile losses largely increased after Trafalgar, and 
reached their climax at the time when Napoleon controlled 
three-fourths of the continental coasts. If ever the inten- 
sive warfare of the type of the German submarine should be 
combined with the extensive methods employed by him, the 
results would certainly be fatal. 
One word more on this topic. German savagery is ranging 
all nations against her more quickly than the severities of 
Napoleon's Continental System ranged the European peoples 
against him in 1813-14. His methods for^assuring our ruin 
took him to Moscow and assured his ruin. Their methods 
have (to use Canning's famous phrase) brought in the New 
World to redress the balance of the Old. 
Industrial Conditions 
Only a short space remains for a comparison of the indus- 
trial and financial conditions of the United Kingdom in the 
years 1810-12 and 1917-18. The growth of British industry 
was probably more marked in the earlier period than it has 
been in recent years, and that growth showed few signs of 
slackening even during the Napoleonic War. The applica- 
tion of labour-saving machines to the textile industries and 
the increased use of steam engines in factories brought about 
an immense expansion in output, an improvement in quality, 
and a cheapening of the cost of production, especially of 
cotton yam, viz., from 38s. per lb. in 1786 to 6s. gd. in 1807. 
This economic gain stimulated the export of cottons, viz., 
from the value of £7,081,441 in 1803 to ;fi8,95i,994 in 1810. 
The exports of woollens are not known before 1815 ; then 
they were valued at £9,381,426. British textiles (except in 
silk) being far cheaper and better than those of the Continent, 
it was useless even for Napoleon to try to exclude them. 
His lands were a generation behind these islands in industrial 
methods. Woodward's caricature, "The Giant, Commerce, 
overwhelming the Pygmy Blockade" (January, 1807), shows 
a brawny John Bull clad in wool, with porcelain visor and 
helmet, shod with Staffordshire ^hoes, his arms covered with 
calico, his hands deep in Woodstock gloves, hurling Birming- 
ham pig-iron, blocks of steel and tin, barrels of London 
porter, and patent coffins, at a diminutive Boney behind his 
battlements, while between them the sea is covered with 
ships fl>nng the Union Jack, for all the French decrees. 
This sketch and many others of the time reveal the con- 
sciousness of strength of the British race. Its production 
or use of necessaries (e.g., bricks, tiles, tallow, sperm, hides, 
soap, starch, salt) increased by about a half in the war period, 
and the supply of beer increased by one-ninth. True, the 
sales of tea — then a rather dear luxury — fell from 25,144,171 
lbs. in 1802 to 23,058,4961b. in that year of distress, 1811 ; 
but, early in 1812, Russia again admitted British products ; 
and the rise of the sales of tea to 24,856,914 lb. in that year 
bespoke the recovery of purchasing power. Indeed, the rest 
of the world was largely dependent on Great Britain for 
textiles, hardware, and the cheaper kinds of porcelain. The 
following are the values of the total imports and exports 
to and from the United Kingdom in the two periods, so far 
as they are available (inclusive of the last years of peace 
and in each case omitting '000) : 
Imports Exports 
1802 31,442 . . 41,411 
1810 41,136 •■ 45,869 
1811 .. .. .. 28,626 .. 32,409 
i^i^ -^^.sgs • • 43.241 
1913 768,734 . . 634,820 
1914 <>96,b35 • • 526,195 
1915 851,893 .. 483,930 
191'J 949,152 .. 604,154* 
It will be Sijirn tliat at the earlier period, except in 181 1, 
exports showed an increase over the years of peace, and 
in all those years a large excess over imports. In both 
• Statesman's Year Book, 
1917- 
respects our present position is unsatisfactory ; but the 
contrast is due to the urgent calls on war industries which, 
of course, have checked or stopped ordinary trades. The 
great increase of imports is due to the same reason, as also 
to senseless extravagance, which demands restraint by all 
possible measures ; otherwise the financial situation at the 
peace will be worse than it was after Waterloo. The ratio of 
war expenditure to the total national wealth is believed to 
be no higher than in the Napoleonic War ; and the fall in 
the exchange value of the £ (especially at New York) is 
comparatively shght. Still, the future is far from bright 
so long as we buy recklessly and produce marketable goods 
sparingly. Our forefathers were in a sounder position, 
industrially and financially, than we, who are living largely 
on credit. 
The working classes now are in a far better position than 
in the earlier war. Taxation is now fairlj' adjusted so as to 
spare the necessaries of life as much as possible, and fall on 
wealth and luxuries. Then thfe reverse was the case, the 
income-tax being at only 2s. in the / from 1806 to 181 5, 
while necessaries and small comforts bore heavy imposts. 
Now the taxes on wealth furnish 348 millions out of the 
total of 573 millions of the revenue for 1916-7. Then Excise 
and Customs sent up the prices of all articles in common use, 
with the result that all trades were hampered and every 
larder was pinched. Unfortunately, the new labour-saving 
machinery threw many men out of work or for the time 
reduced earnings, when war-taxes were raising prices. Distress 
was especially acute in 1811 and the first part of 1812, a fact 
which explains the fierce Luddite riots in the Midlands and 
North. The coUapse of our speculative exports to South 
.America in 1810 caused wholesale bankruptcies (1,200 in the 
first half of 1811), especially in the textile districts, whose 
condition Cobbett thus describes : " How many of these 
towns does the traveller pass through wtithout being way- 
laid at the entrance and the exit by a swarm of children 
more than half-naked, running and tumbling, and bowing 
and praying and crying, in the hope, often disappointed, of 
obtaining the means of buying an ounce of bread ? Enter 
their dwelling-places. See misery in all her horrors, filth, 
disease, the blood poisoned, and the heart hardened to a 
flint."* 
It is needless to point the contrast with present conditions. 
Of late the rise of prices has been accompanied, in nearly all 
manual callings, by an equal or greater increase in wages, so 
that the chief danger is the rapid growth of extravagant 
habits which must perforce cease abruptly with the cessation 
of the profuse war expenditure that alone renders them 
possible. 
That the United Kingdom is now subsisting more on 
credit than at the earher period will appear from a comparison 
of the revenue raised by taxation and the expendituref 
(omitting '000) : 
1802 1810 1811 1812 1813 
i i £ £ £ 
Revenue 36,368 67,144 65,173 65,037 68,748 
Expenditure 49,549 76,865 83,735 88,757, 105,943 
1912-3 1913-4 i9t4-5 1915-6 1916-7 
Revenue 188,801 198,242 226,694 336,766 573,428 
Expenditure 188,621 197,492 .560,473 1,159,158 2,198,112 
In the years 1810-2 only £9,385,000 was lent to our Spanish, 
Portuguese, and Sicilian Allies ; and the recent disproportion 
between revenue and expenditure is due largely to very 
heavy loans to our numerous Allies. Nevertheless, the 
figures suggest the urgent need of economy both by Govern- 
mental Departments and the nation at large. Unless the 
nation resolutely endeavours to meet the present enormous 
financial demands out of its own resources, our indebtedness 
to other peoples (especially the United States) will be very 
far heavier than at any time in British history. At St. 
Helena, Napoleon cpngratulated himself that he had for ever 
crippled England with a National Debt which would make 
her tributary to America. He was wrong ; for the British 
people then lived frugally and met their indebtedness out of 
their own resources. Their credit was never seriously 
impaired. Even in 1811 Government could borrow at 4^ 
per cent., and not until the needs of our Allies became exigent 
in 1813 did the rate rise above 5 per cent. J That rate has 
long bfeen exceeded in this war, and for reasons stated above. 
There is no need for alarm ; but there is a more pressing 
need than ever for resolute economy. Caveat emptor ! 
• Cobbett, Political Register, March 9th, i8ii. 
t Porter, op. cit., p. 483, gives the figures of the annual loans 
then raised so as to appear to balance expenditure, 
} R. Hamilton, Inquiry into . . . the National Debt (1818), app. 
viii. ; Miss A. Cunningham, British Credit in the Napoleonic War 
(rgio), ch. 7. 
