The National Register. — London, England, 1812-09-06 00:00:00

.~.r THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Cur Mug, Constitution, atm tatuo. PUBLISHED AT NO. 357, STRAND, CORNER OF EXETER 'CHANGE. No. (245. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6. 1812. a. 1. s. 1631 1647 1648 1649 ,S 16 8 11350 3 13 4 1651 3 5 0 1658 1659 1661 1661 PH t c r, 9(i. times the high price of three pounds, of four pounds eleven, ana of five pounds eighteen and six •pence, or what to us the same thing; it was considered as equivalent to a quantity of silver, of those values in our time. From that period, or at least from somewhere about the year 1330, to the year 1:350, its price does not appear to have averaged more than (me pound of our present money. After the period last me►►- tioned, it sunk so low as ten shillings, and this, thoug'•► it experienced great occasional fluctuations, may he said. to have remained its average price till neatly the close of the sixteenth century. We should greatly exceed our limits if we were to allow ourselves to comment on the object and effect of the various statutes which were enacted respecting the price of corn within that period, which we have been led in some sort to include io this inquiry. We will not, therefore, allow our selves to glance at the assize of bread and ale ref HENRY M. in 1526.2, the statute of labourers of EDWARD lit. in 1350, or the Acts of 1436, 1554, and 1558, for regul :tin } ; the exportation of wheat, and the other legislati%e enact ments on the subject, which some of our made's milt expect would come under our observation ; on these we shall be silent, and proceed, without loss of time, to resume our statement.—Towards the close of the sixteenth cen tury the price of wheat rose very considerably, • insomuch that the average price of the quarter, which h.. 4.1 previously been usually so'd at ten shillings, was advanced to somett.ing above two pounds. From. the commencement of the seventeenth century to its close, the average price of the best wheat .has been et down as fluctuating between 2!. and 21. "1 2i. the quarter of nine bushels. Within that period, however, it way be, pro Fer to remark, that wheat w:is often :old at more than 31. the quarter„as will appear from the following extract from the Returns of Windsor Market. The price of the quarter was, in 1 s. d. 1674 4 8 8 1675 1679 1693 I ,94 tt,96 1097 1698 1699 • • 3 4 From the year 1700 to the commencement of the pre sent reign, its price did not fluctuate ver) much; and'upon the whole expel ienced a declension ra+ber than an advance. It averaged very little more than 21. When the present King ascended the throne, it sold for something under that sum, as in 1760 the price was 11. 16s. 6d. Since that period it is almost unnecessary to say, that its auchistions• bay. POLITICAL HIGH PRICE OF CORN. (CONCLVDID BROM OUR LAST NUMBER). In antient times the fluctuations in the price of corn ap pear to have been so frequent and so great that it is difficult from the accounts which have reached us to draw any con clusion at all applicable to the present state of thing's. From the year 1200 to the year 1300, it has been computed that the average price- of the quarter of wheat: was somewhere about 48i. of our present money, but it is almost ridiculous to attempt to ascertain what was the average price, at a pe riod when the troubles of the times seem alternately to have raised and depressed it in a manner which the most tremen dous revolutions at the present day could hardly be expected to effect. In the year 1244, the 29th of the reign of HENRY . 111. the price of the quarter of wheat is stated to have been two shillings of the money of that time. It amounted in IQ7O, a period only twenty-six years posterior to that we have just mentioned (and in the same reign) to 41. 16s. at one part of the year, and to the sum of W. Bs. at another : that is, to no lep than 13/. 18s. of our present money in the former instance, and. to the amazing sutn of 191. 4s. in the latter. The average price of that year is stated to have been .51.124 of the money of that time, or i 6!. 16s. of the money of the present day. It is now extremely difficult, if not wlinjly impracticable, to trace out all the causes which led to what must appear .to us to be so very extraordinary an event. Such an extravagant advance could hardly have been caused by a dearth ; at least we know that in other years not very far removed from the period of which stc are speaking such was not the effect even of a famine. Great as were thc troubles of the times, in the ordinary course of human events, we know of no other'public calamity. however aggra vated and increased by the evils of the feudal. system, which could produce such a change. We cannot suppose it to have been caused by any great degradation of the value of silver at that period. Such a supposition, even if it had been countenan( ed by events recorded in the history of that day, must Lave fallen to the ground on a survey of the prices of svheat in the subsequent years, to the close of the century in which the price was frequently so low as three shillings of oar present money, which could not have been the case had such a dedreciation of the value of silver taken pla-e in that year. From this statement it will be seen, that what is called the average price of that time gives but a very imperfect idea of the rate at which wheat was. frequently sold. In the two fo'lowing centuries the average price of wheat appears to have been very consider ably lowered. A quarter of wheat between the years 1300 and 029, bore at various Via. V, No. CeXLV. Al