The Sun. — London, England, 1821-06-23 00:00:00

tirr, generally, they were aware of its extent and practical operation in the present state of this country and of our cony The cause which produces this greater susceptibility in the corn market cannot be better explained by your Committee, than in the following extract from the answers of Mr. Tooke, one of the witnesses who was particularly examined to this point Why should a different principle apply to corn than " to any other general production ? Because a fall in the price " of any other commodity not of general necessity, brings the " article within the reach of the consumption of a greater nuns " ber.of individuals, whereas in the case of corn,' the average " quantity is sufficiunt for the supply of every individual ; all " beyond that is an absolute depression of the market fora great " length of time, and a succession of even two or•three abun " dant seasons, must evidently produce an enon - nofisly incon " venient accumulation."—" Is there not a greater consumption "of corn when it is cheap than when it is dean, as to quantity ? " There may be, and possibly must be a greater consumption : " but it is very evident that if the population was before tide " quately fed, the increased consumption, from abundance, can " amount to little more than waste; and this would be in a very " small proportion to the whole excessof a good harvest or two." " The whole population of this country and others do not sub_ " sist upon wheat, therefore wheat becomes cheaper, those " who were formerly fed upon other corn may take to feeding " upon wheat ? My remark was general as applying to corn. " Theie is leo doubt that if there is one description of corn al), " islieable to human fond which is abundant, and another that " iS deficient, then the principle does not apply ; my principle ," applies to corn generally applicable to human food. It may " be observed, that abundant seasons generally extend to the ," leading articles of consumption, and that it seldom happens, " that in what are called commonly good years, there is a corn " plete failure in any one great article." Inethe substance of this reasoning, your Committee entirely concur ; and it appears to them that it cannot be called in question, without denying either that corn is an article of ge •neral necessity and universal consumption among the popula tion cf this country,—or that the demand is materially varied by the amount of the supply. This latter proposition, except • within very narrow limits, altogether disproportioned to the fluctuations in production, is not warranted by experience. The general truth of the observation remains, therefore, unal tered by any small degree of waste on the one side, or of eco nomy on the other ; neither of which are sufficient to counter act the effect which opinion and speculation must have upon price, when it is felt how little demand is increased by redun dancy, or checked by-scantiness of supply. In order to apply this leading principle, as affecting the trade in corn, to the present state of this country, and of our corn laws, your Committee will assume, what they believe is not far frbm our actual situation, that the annual produce of corn, the growth of the United Kingdom, is, upon an average crop, about equal to our present annual consumption ; and that with such an average crop, the present import prices, below which foreign corn is by law altogether excluded, are f u lly su ffi c i ent , :more especially since the change in the value of our money, to - -secure to the British grower the complete monopoly of - the home market. So long as he retains that monopoly, the fluc tuation of prices in that market, will, it must be obvious, range between the maximum at which foreign corn is admitted, or (owing to the mode of 2t.scertaining the averages) . some tem porary. price not very much beyond it, and the minimum to whicle that price may be reduced, by a very abundant harvest, - or a succession of such harvests, until British corn falls below the price of some foreign market, and finds a vent in expor • ration. In mentioning a succession of abundant harvests as a contin gency, which, - by greatly reducing the price of corn, might ultimately force an exportation from this country, your Corn halittee feel it incumbent upon them to remark, that an opinion, founded apparently upon long observation, has prevailed with respect to the continuance of favourable or unfavourable see saw., for considerable but irregular periods of years, or cycles, as they have been called by Ilfr. Burke ; an extract from whose week., intitured " Thoughts and Details on Scarcity," as also from the works of Dr. Adam Smith bn this topic, will be found: in the Minutes annexed to this Report. If this doctrine, " That years of scarcity or plenty do not " coma.alternately, or at short intervals, but in pretty large' " cycles and irregularly," should be well-founded, your-Com mittee need not enter into details or calculations to point out to the House; how hazardous and embarrassing must be the - si • tuatiore of the grower of corn in a :country,- where the loarest price which is considered to afford him a remuneration, shall ha bitually and considerably exceed the prices of the remainder of the world ; ailliongh up to that price, he should be secured in the complete monopoly of that country. Upon this subject of a remunerative price, so far as relates to this country, your Committee ap . prehend that much misconcep tion prevails,. and particularly in the use and application of these words in • the minds of the Petitioners, and of several'of the witnesses, who represent it as a fixed' amount of eighty shillings-for the quarter of wheat, arid in proportion for other grain. • • In the first place, it is obvious that what was deemed a renin nerative price in 1815 under one state of things, may be more or less than a remunerative price in 1821 under a very different stele of things. The sum of 80 S. may represent a.different value now from what it did then, and assuming rent to remain the same, the expence of seed, labour, and all ottiel• outgoings, may have been materially diminished ; but, Making ample.allow ance for these grounds of variation, it would liy-no means be an impossible case, that, in the ordinary acceptation of these-words • " remunerative price," Bth S. at this time, may not be Mere; Ore ven so much " remunerative," as that sum was held to be in 1815: The - meaning usually -attached to these words, is, The price at" which corn can be raised, paying all present charges, and leas- `• ing to the grower a fair profit upon his capital. Now, - if the country should require for its annual consumption one-fifth,' for example, more corn than was sufficient in 1815, this increase ed demand would require an extended tillage. Lands which, in 1815, would hot have paid for cultivation, would be applied to the-raising of-corn, and it would be very possillle that upon • those lands paying no rent, and notwithstanding the increased -value of money and diminished expence of 'production, Corn could not be raised for 80 S. a quarter. In this suppositiori, thererore, if it should be the policy of the Slate - to :preserve the • monopoly of the home - market to the home grower, it would be necessary to raise the scale of import l'erice above 80 S. a • quarter ; but then inasmuch as the cost of raising corn on all lands, upon - which it was before produced with profit ; - would not be augmented, that profit would be proportionally increased for the benefit, first of the tenant, during the remainder of his engagement, and afterwards of the landlord, from the period of - -its termination ; and, after a new engagement, 80 S. wouldno more lie a remunerative price -upon the richest land, ;Paying: ' the highest rent, than it would upon the poOrestnpaying no rent • at all. . if therefore the population of the country anditspower consumption should continue to increase; it wenild bebeCeSsainen' in order to preserve in efficacy the principle'and system of our -Corn Law, from time to time to 'advance the import prices, even though all the charges of producing corn should remain . the same. The change in the value of our money is, virtually, such an -advance ; and the result of every such advance, supposing prices 'not to undergo a corresponding rise in other countries, must be to expose this country to greater and more grievous fluctuations in price, and the business of a farmer to greater un certainty and hazard, according to the alterationa of good or bad seasons. This is the part of .the present system of our Corn Laws, and of the principle involved, in that system, which appears 'most to require earnest and serious coosideration, with a view to the future. interests and welfare of the -country. e The .. ruinously - low prices of Agricultural produoe . at this -moment, cannot be ascribed toany deficiency In the protecting power of the law. Protection cannot, be carried ; forther elfa,n monopoly., This monopoly -the British-grower has enjoyed4be,the : paoduce . of the two last harvests ;-the ports, ,(withalie n excepticas ,of-the ill timed and unnecessary importation Ofaaata:Aneitsg silenyeeeks . -of the 14t summer) having- been uninterruptedly shut against all foreign import for nearly thirty. months., • a Now the produce of the harvest of 1819 in .the-United it g. dom,doe.s not appear to have - exceeded an average-crop; 'ant: • that of 1820 was more abundant... On the continent of Europe, the harvesti both ;of t t#l .an • e 1819 are -stated to have been very abundant. Againit-the-pro a duce Of_those harvests our ports have been closed. The rgsult is, an accumulation on tnecontinent held at prices so low, . that,_ whateyer may be the depression which abundance may produce in this - country, we can look to no relief in exportation, till that , accumulation shall he disposed of by a scarcity on the. continent,. or a failing crop here ; either of which will restore the markets to their natural level; Upon a series of years, a general scarcity is, perhaps, less :to be dreaded on the Continent, taking its whole surface to needier, than in this country ; because the United Kingdom, „ Ilws. fom its comparatively limited territory, is liable to greater fluctuations in the produce and quality of its harvests The risk of these fluctuations must increase in proportion as the produce of Ireland (the- part of the .United Kingdom of which the climate is most fickl4 may become a more extended - part of our general supply. It must,. therefore, be manifest, that the evil of a failing crop Would be aggravated as our dependence upon Irelantl increased. It may, also, be a question, whether the produce of the poorer soil; in England is not more likely to be affected by ungenial seasons ; and it is certain, that the great magnitude of our consumption, as compared with former periods, must render the pressure of any deficiency created by those circumstances more severe, and the means ,of providing against it more difficult and more costly. A harvest which should he one-third below an average in wheat, would bring upon this count r y a ver y diff ere nt degree of suffering, and would require a very different degree of exertion and sacrifice to supply the deficiency, from what would have been required un der a similar failure fifty years ago. If, on the one hand, the risk of a defective harvest is increas ed by these circumstances, so on the other, will the occasional pressure of very inadequate prices be more severely felt by the grower, whenever an abundant harvest, or, possibly, more than one in succession, shall lead to a glut of produce, without the relief of a vent from e , portation. Taking, therefore, as the basis of all wise regulations on the subject of the Corn Laws, the undeniable positions, that theland lord, the tenant, and the consumer, have one great and common interest in maintaining a permanent and adequate supply of corn, st prices as steady as possible, and that steadiness of price must depend on guarding, as much as legislative interference can guard against the effects of fluctuation of seasons;—your Com mittee have examined the practical operation o the present system of our foreign trade in corn, with a reference to these two points. _ _ TO prohibit the foreign supply altogether, so long as from the casualty of seasons, we are subject to years of deficient or da maged produce, has at all times been felt to be impossible. But, since the year 1815, we have had recourse to an absolute prohi bition up to a certain price, and an unlimited compaition be yond tb-t price. _ _ _ This systein is certainly liable to sudden alterations, of which the effect may be at one time to reduce prices, already low, lower than they would probably have been under a state of free trade; and at another, unnecessarily to enhance prices already high ;—to aggravate the evils of scarcity, . and to render more severe the depression of plias from abundance. On the one band; it deceives the grower with the false hope of a monoply, and, by its.occasional interrupaon, may lead to consequences which deprive him of the benefits of that monopoly, when most wanted;-on the other hand", it holds out to the country the prospect of an occasional free trade, but so regulated and desul, tory, as to baffle the calculations and unsettle the transactions, bah of the grower and the dealer at home ; to deprive the con sumer of , most of the benefits of such a trade, and to involve the merchant in more than the ordinary risks of mercantile speculation. It exposes the markets of the country, either to be occasionally overwhelmed with an inundation of foreign corn, altogether disproportionate to its wants ; or, in the event of any considerable deficiency in our own harvest, it creates a sudden competition on the Continent, by the effect of which, the prices there are rapidly and unnecessarily raised against our-- selves. But the inconvenient operation of , the present Corn Law, which appears to be less the consequence of the quantity of forci"n grain brought into this country, upon an average of years, than of the manner in which that grain is introduced, is not confined to great fluctuations in price, and consequent em barrassment, both to the grower and the consumer; for the oc casional prohibition of import, has also a direct tendency to contract the extent of our commercial dealings with other States, and to excite in the rulers of those States, a spirit of permanent exclusion against the productions or manufactures of this coun try and its colonies. In this conflict of retaliatory exclusion, injurious to both, the two parties, however, are not upon an equal footing ;—on our part, prohibition must yield to the wants of the people ; on the other side, there is no such over- • ruling necessity. And inasmuch as reciprocity of demand is the foundation of all means of payment, a large and sudden influx of corn might, under these circumstances, create a tem porary derangement of the course of exchange, the effects of which (after the resumption of cash payments) might lead to a drain of specie from the Bank, the consequent contraction of its circulation a panic emoting the country banks,—all aggravat ing the distress of a public dearth, as has been experienced at former periods of scarcity. - That the present system •of our Corn Law has a tendency, according to the circumstances, at one time to reduce prices lower than they would probably have been under a state of free trade ; and at another time, to enhance those prices, when al ready perhaps too high, will not appear paradoxical to the House, if it be considered that the practical operation of this system, in its sudden and desultory transitions, may be, not only slightly at variance with, but in direct opposition to, the principle on which it is founded ;—that principle being to shut out foreign corn from home consumption, in seasons of suf— fithent-or abundant crops, and to gi, ve every facility to its intro duction, in years of scarcity. For example, let it be supposed that on the 15th August next, the average price of wheat, ascertained in the usual mode,should be Its. 11d. per qr., whatever may be the possible scantiness of the forth-coming harvest, (a fact not then capable of being ascertained,) the ports will remain shut till Nov. 15th; but if that average should be 80s. Id. whatever may be the abundance of the forth-corning harvest, the ports and the warehouses of foreign corn will be opened at least for six weeks ; and, in reference to the principal exporting countries, for three months. Pursuing the supposition a little further,--if the first cese should occur when there was no accumulation of foreign corn in the warehouses of this country, and very little at the shipping ports of the Continent (a state of things by no means rare) the prices at home, after a failingharvest, would rise very rapidly, and become very high, before any material supply could be, drawn from the north of Europe ; as both the passage down the rivers, and the navigation of the Baltic would be interrupted during the winter.- •In the meantime, the prices on the Conti nent would be regulated by those of this country, rising as our prices rose. In the spring, there would be a great demand for shipping to bring over the supplies purchased during the winter, by which the charge of bringing the corn to our market wo u ld be. still , further increased; and thus, in various ways, prices Would unnecessarily be enhanced in this country; first, during the most distressing period of the year, from the want of a timely and regular supply from abroad; secondly, from the eager and general cOmpetition to procure that supply upon the sudden opening of:our ports, a competition which will immediately raise the price on the Continent against ourselves, until, together with the charges of conveyance, and the probable loss upon the fall of exchange, it becomes upon a level with the scarcity price of .thiscountry ; and thirdly, by . the direct tax which may be l a id upon the export from countries to which we resort for our sup , plies. This tax, in the Prussian dominions, - was about 10 8. a , quarter :during the extreme- scarcity which prevailed in thig country, in the years - IiOO and 1801 ; and it was expressly de claret4 that the continuance:9e removal of this tax would depend altogether upon the continuance or cessation of the wants of this kingdom. • • , • • • But if the second supposed case (that of our ports being opened at a fraction above 80s.) should When there was a great stock of foreign corn in the warehouses of this country, and at the shipping ports of the Continent (which is the pFSent state of_things) in proportion to the low and ruinous price to which that corn, from long accumulation, and want of vent, would be reduced, would be the tenaptation, and consequent .eager competition, and simultaneous eflOrt, to pour it, upon -this country ; where, rig the case supposed of an abundant harreat, no part of it mould be wanted, and its rapid influx -would not fail- to lower the prices to a pitch. which they never -would have reached, had die-trade not been liable to such still-- don Alternations. „The case here aSsumed, is precisely what.occurred in the month of August last, so far as relates to oats.- Your Commit tee think they cannot better illustrate the possible operation of the present law, than by inserting a short extract of a dispatch, which will be found in the Appendix, from his Majesty's Con sul at Hamburgh, to the Marquess of Londonderry, on this oc currence ;.=-.” Jlgricultural produce has progressively declined " during two years, the demand for export unusually small, and there has been no stimulus to animate the agriculturist. " The only great change which took place during thatperiod was " in the article of (Ara, On .the opening of the'Euglish ports " in Augusflast for this grain, an immediate rise of from i 0 to " 50 per cent. occurred ; the shortness of the time allowed ":for importation, occasioned shipments to - a much greater "'extent than would . have been the case - - had the ports re " inained open. There was no anticipation here of the sud '" den fall of-this grain in England, and from the rapidity with ":Which shipments were made to arrive - in time, many persons "were : induced to send their- grain 'to England, who would "not : have done so, had theyhad time to ascertain the quantity "'shipped from various quarters, and the ruinous effects to be "'expected. from so v a st and so sudden a n i m po r t a tion. Had "the English ports been open fora year ' it is.probable that the " - importation would n o t have b ee n i nuc h greater; but it would "'have been more gradual, and consequently not so ruinous ; " moderate advance on the continent, and a niiiderate reduction "in England, .would have taken . place. The consumer in Eng " land 'has alone profited-;'•the importers from the Continent ." hatinglm , the whitelbst Much inoney by the speculation.-_ '" The - net' price:produced from England, lias been fOund in ",suflicieg to pay the moderate .ptice of the continental "'farmer," . • " The result, therefore, of this transaction, has beery a ruin " ous depression In the Markets here, - ana a very.hea.vr loss to " all engaged In 'thilmliortation.r Your Committee cannot but remark that this importation, large as it was, amounted to no more than 726,873 quarters; and that our annual consumption of oats has been estimated, for Gnat Britain only, at near 30 millions of quarters ; thus . . forcibly illustrating the effect of a comparatiVely trifling excess in a market of grain already abundantly supplied. If such be the consequences of the present system, they suf ficiently point out the nature of those inconveniences to which it may expose the grower, ,the dealer at home, and the foreign importer in his speculations abroad. When your Committee find, for instance, in the seventeen months which passed be tween January 1316 and .June 1317, the price of wheat varying. from 535. 10. to 112 s. 70. ; and main - ,ln the three month which ensued from June to S::ptember 1817, from 112 s. 7d. to' 745. they cannot but ask, whether fluet-aatians so rapid and-extensive have existed in any other commodity of universal sup , ply and demand, or in any other country ? and Whether these fluctuations may not have been aggravated by some of the effects of the present law ?. With respect to the effects which may be produced in . this country, all the i n t erna l an d commercial transactions of which so mainly depend on circulating credit, by a sudden revulsion in the foreign exchanges, the experience of the last thirty years is a sufficient warning. Your Committee therefore feel a con fident assurance, that when the attention of the House is called to the subject, it wines:Ai - nine, with a jealous care for the public interest, how far the present system of the corn trade has a tendency to bring upon the country the renewal of this calamity. They are the mor e anx i o ustopr'ess upon the attend v 3 consider ation of the Ilouse, the possible tendency of this system of alter nation between absolute prohibition and unlimited competition, from feeling that it is not founded upon a principle which has the sanction of long usage in its favour. Both the alternatives of the present system, in their present full extent, may be said to have been introduced,_ for the first time, by the Act of 1815. Until that period positive prohibi tion was unknown to our corn laws, and importation was never pennitted Without the payment of some duty. The amount of that duty, it is true, when grain was above certain prices, which were rec k one d t h e incipient indications of an in adequate supply from our own - growth, was very little more than nominal • at prices so mew h a t l ower , it was very moderate ; and it was only when th e p r i ces h a d fallen, , and remained for sonic time beioW that second stage in the scale, that any duty suffici ently high lo cheek the importation attached, but subject to that duty the trade still contiraved to be free. The scale, for instance, by which importation was' regulated in the article of wheat, up to the yearitilii, was as follows :—Where the average price was at or above 685.. duty on importation 6d. a quarter ; between 665. and 635. duty on importation 2s.tid. • below 635. duty 245.311. - The latteraiutyeyour Committee think it fit to observe, operated generally as a prohibition during the short periods that it was payable. • This was the principle-of our Corn Law, as far as relates to importation,-ever-since the year 1773, although the scale at which the different rates of duty commenced had more than onc.eheen raised. Its practical operation appears to have been as follows :—That from the year 1773 to the year 1814, during which period the total imports of corn have greatly ex ceeded the total exports, the former amounting to 30,430,189 quarters, and the latter to 5,801,440 quarters, the ports have been constantly open, and the trade free, upon the pay ment of . a duty merely nominal, with the exception of a few short intervals when the high duty was demandable.: —that from the year 1773 to the year 1792, (with the exception of the years of the American war, in which freights and insurance might be somewhat increased) the only advantage of protection which the British grower had over the foreigner, was in the amount of this nominal duty, together viith the ordinary . expense of peace freight, and other charges of conveyance in bringing the foreign grain to•market ;--and - that from the year 1792 to 1811, that protection continued the same sa-far as related to the duty, but was, in fact, considerably en hanced by the highs rates of charge incident to the late war, and particularly by the peculiar circumstances of the continent, dur ing the last ten years of that war. It is also, to be remarked, that, up to the year 1806, the trade in corn with Ireland was under restriction; and that, since.the Operat7":an of the wise law passed in that year, th e i m p or t a ti on o f grain from that part of the United Kingdom, free from any charge or duty, has amount ed, up to the sth of January last, to 12,304,730 quarters, whereas the Whole import from Ireland in thirty-two years, be tween 1773 and 1806, was only 7,534,202 quarters. The necessary co nsequence o f t h e tra d e in corn having been virtually open with the Continent, and the importation allowed at duties merely nominal, during this. period of forty years, has been, that the general price, at the shipping ports on the Con tinent, has not, upon an average, been materially lower than the price in England, except to the amount of the charges to be incurred in bringing the foreign corn to the markets of this country. The' price, at a distance from those shipping ports, and in the district s hich have not the benefit of good roads or internal navigation, it is true, has been much lower, but this difference was absorbed in the expence aril risk of transporting it from those districts. The quantity that can be supplied, without incurring that expence, is limited ; and in proportion as the prices in England have been high, has the interior circle on the Cominent, from which the supplies have been drawn, , been extended.- The severe scarcities which we have experienced, have fur nished us, therefore, with something like a measure of the degree in which they-could be relieved from the surplus produce of the Continent, within the prices which thoge scarcities respectively occasioned : whilst the mode in which every rise in the price at home adds to the power and inducement of increasing the fo reign importation, shows that any increase of the rates, at which the import commences under the present system, would only tend, whenever the ports should open, to. aggravate the fluctua tion, and the other inconveniences which appear to your Com mittee to appertain to the principle of alternate monopoly and free importation. Your Committee are the more anxious to impress upon the attention of the House the real state of our trade ,in foreign corn, between the years 1773 and 'lBl4, as it appears to them, taken in .connection with the progress of general pros perity in the country, and more especially with the great im provements in agriculture, and its highly flourishing condition during . that period, to suggest to Parliament, as a matter highly deserving of their future -consideration, whether a trade in corn, constantly open to all nations of the world, and subject only to such a fixed duty as might compensate to the grower the loss of that encouragement which he received during the late war from the obstacles thrown in the way of free importation, and thereby protect the capitals now vested in agriculture from an unequal competition in the home market,—is not, as a permanent system, preferableto that state of law by which the corn trade is now regulated. It would be indispensable, for the just execution of this principle, that such duty should be calculated fairly to countervail the difference of expence, including the ordinary rate of profit, at which corn, in the present state of this coun try, can be grown and brought to market within the United Kingdom, compared with the expense, including also the ordi nary rate of profit, of producing it in any of those Countries from whence our principal supplies of foreign corn have usually been drawn, joined to the ordinary charges of conveying it from thence to our markets. • • In suggesting this changed system, for further consideration, as a possible improvement of the Corn Laws• at some future time, the Committee are fully aware of the unfitness of the pre sent moment for attempting such a change, when, owing to the general abundance of the late harvest.k in - .2turOpe; and to the -markets in this country having been: shut againat foreign corn for near thirty months, a great accumul a tion has' taken ace in' the shipping ports on the• Continent, and in the warehouse's of foreign corn in tins country ;.and -when that accuinulation;ifroth want of any vent, is held at:very low 'prices, and might tendstill further to depress-the already overstocked markets of this coun try, if allowed to be introducectat this-period, -except at - such a, high rate of duty as -it would: be. inexpedientto attempt, ..and moreover very difficult to determine. The present - market price of the corn • thns accumulated, is..not the measure of the cost at which it has been produced; or of the rate at-which it can' be affcirded by the foreign grower, but theresith•of a.general glut of the article, of a long want of ttemand, and of extreme distress and heavy loss -on the- part of those' by WlTorri it has been raised, and-of those by whom it is now held, ,either in- the warehouses of the Continent or of this Country. - Assuming, therefore, that under the present circumstances of the case,Tarhament would not now deem it expedient to aban don entirely the principle of the existing law, your Committee have anxiously directed their attention to the possibility of, in • some degree, modifying its operation, so as to remedy that in convenience to which they have more ! ,particularly referred in the earlier part of their Report; which consists in the sudden and irregular manner in which in many cases foreign corn may be introduced upon the opening of the ports, under circum stances 7 inconsistent with the spirit add- intention of the law. They conceive that this object might be attained by the' impo-. sition of. a fixed duty upon corn, whenever, upon the opening of the ports, it shonld become admissible for hothe consumy don. It would, however, be nedessary, in case this suggestion should be earned into effect, that the present import prioe should be fixed at a loWer rate, because it is obvious that the duty would otherwise not only check the sudden and civerwhehning amount of import, but also enhance the price beyond what it might reach under the present law ; an effect which your Committee are so far from desirous of produeing, - that they think it would probably be expedient additionally to guard against it, by providing, that, after corn should have reached some given high price, the duty should cease alto gether. • . . If such., a , change in the. operation of the corn lawS shciuld have the effect of checking extravagant speculation and exten sive import, it- would be equally beneficial to the grower and the cozisunier.,lt would apply some remedy. to the evil of which almost 41 the Petitions. referred fo-youi. Committee . so loudly ebinplain; - :anci - it has no tendency, either hastily or prematurely, affect the principle upon which is rested that protection which the law now gives to the Agricultural interest of the country. It is not the province of your Committee to specify any pre cise permanent duty for the protection of the British grower ; nor thould.theyperhapi, be adequately prepares so to do with out further inquiry ; nor until the obstacle to that inquiry, created by the present accumulation and glut, shall be removed. At the same time,_ they incline to the oyinion, that leaving to every part of the United Kingdom the inestimable public benefit of the most full and free competition in the home market, without regard to the difference of fertility in the soil, or of expence in its cultivation, either from a difference in the price of labour, or in the amount of local and public burthens diattly .affecting the tand ; it may, perhaps, be difficult, if not impos— Sible, mit of the question s for the occupiers of some of the poorest and most expensive soils now under tillage, in Great Britain, to bring their produce to market in competition • with the more fertile landi of this country, and especially of Ireland. Your Committee would be anxious to suggest, for the consideration of Parliament, as the principle and basis of the trade in foreign corn, such a protecting duty upon the pro duce of other countries, as would not aggravate to the occupiers of such soils the present difficulty of that competition. The ge neral question, how far the forced cultivation of sortie of those inferior lands may have been expedient or advantageous for the public interest, is one upon which it is unnecessary to offer a positive opinion. • They can, however, have no difficulty in stating that, within the limits of the existing competition at home, the exertions of industry and the investment of capital in - Apiculture, ought to be protected against any revulsion, but that the protection ought not to go further ;—and that, if protected to that extent, the growth of our population, the accumulation of our internal wealth, affording increased em ployment to that population, and consequently . increased means of purchasing all those articles of consumption and en joyment, which must be derived from the soil of this .Country, will continue to give, as they have given during the last 60 years, the most effectual stimulus and encouragement to the pro . gressive improvement of our agriculture, and to the con sequent value of the landed property of the kingdom;— that, under such a system, there can be no apprehension that either will permanently retrograde, (except in so far as rents may be nominally affected by the resumption of cash pay ments) or even be for any time stationary,—so long as our institutions continue to aflbrd, to capital and industry, that su perior 'degree of security and protection which they have hi therto found in this country,--so long as public credit and good faith keep pace with that security and protection, and as. we avoid any course which, in a time of . peace, and pOs sibly of improving confidence in the stability of the insti tutions of other countnes, might drive capital to seek a more profitable employment in forei,gn states. It is under the im pression that the present Corn Lraw, together With the amount of our taxation, by diminishing the profits of capital, have such a tendency, that your Committee suggest the modifications which have been pointed out, as fit for further inquiry and in vestigation ; and that they feel it their duty, also, to accompany that suggestion with a most earnest recommendation, that every opportunity should be watched, and every practical mea sure adopted, for reducing the amount of the Public Expendi ture ; as the only means aapproximating to a state of Finance, which, without impairing the credit o&the country, may lead to a diminution of the existing burthens of the People. Your committee have abstained from u ging, in favour of an op •n intercourse in foreign corn, those general principles of fieedom of trade which are now universally acknowledged to be sound and true, in reference to the commerce of nations. If it be for the wisdom of the House, on the tine hand, to en deavour to revert to those principles, as fit as practicable, in this, and in all other cases ; out the other, it is also for its prudence and its justice to take care, in that application, to spare vested interesli, to deal tenderly with those,obstacles to improvement which the long existence of a vicious and artifi cial system too often creates, and sometimes even to modify and limit that principle, in reference to considerations of ge neral policyconnected with the institutions,' or the safety of the state. Lookin , to the possible contingencies of war, your Committee are nut insensible to the importance of securing the country from a state of dependance uppu other, and pos sibly 'hostile countries, for the subsistence of its population. Looking to the institutions of the country, in their several beatings and influence in the practice of our Constitution, they iic still more anxious to preserve to the landed interest, the %%eight, station, and ascendancy, which it, has enjoyed so long, and used so beneficially. Their first wish, therefore, is, that, whatever general suggestions they may offer, should be sertiptslonsly examined with a due regard to these two considerations. As they have adverted t-0 the state of the country between 1773 and 1814, as connected with the important subject of their inquiry, it may perhaps assist others in their researches and reflections, to state, that your Committee selected that period, because the year 1773 was, in fact, the commencement of L...great change in the practical operation, if not in the avowed policy, of our Corn Laws. From that date, the ag gregate balance of our imports of grain, taken upon'a series of years, began to exceed the balance of our exports. But upon toukitig back from that year to the period of the Revo lution in teas (a space of mss years), our exports taken for any number of years, on the contrary, exceeded our imports. From the year 1697 (the ear iiest date from which accurate returns have been made) -to the year 1773, the total ex cess of exports was 30,968,366 quarters; upon which ex ports bounties amommting• to 6,237,1761. were paid out of the public revenue. A course, somewhat similar in principle, of exciting an export by a bounty, but more de sultory in its application, and more frequently interrupted by arbitrary interference, prevailed under the Princes of the House of Stuart ;.and if we look to a still earlier period, we find that the same policy of forcing the growth of corn was attempted, by harsher expedients, during the reigns of the Tudors. Between the re.gn of Henry VII. and the 39th of Elizabeth, numerous Acts* of Parliament were passed, for' the express purpose of encouraging tillage. Those laws pro ceeded upon the principle of compulsion, limiting, for in stance, the number of sheep and lire stock, prohibiting the. conversion of arable into pasture, and enjoining the break ing up of pastures, which had at any previous period been arable, either under a pecuniary penalty, or a forfeiture of half the land, " until the offence be reformed." . These compulsory laws (all of which, it may be observed, preceded the introduction of that Act whisk laid the founda tion of the system of m.ur Poor Laws) appear to have been principally suggested by a wish to find employment for the popu:ation, and to relieve their misery, by enforcing an extension of ctiltivation beyond the wants of the country. But, neither under those laws, nor under the subsequent at tempt to augment the produce of our agriculture, by the creation of a fictitious foreign demand, excited by a large bounty on exportation, slid the agriculture of this country make any advance, at all to be compared to that unparal leled prosperity, which began with the decline of that system ahomit the. beginning of the last reign, and which, with some few temporary interruptions, has marked its progress up to - the pt esent time. In comparing the two periods, each of nearly equal duration, between the peace of Utreeht and the commencement of the seven years' war—and between the years 1773 and 1814—amid recollecting that the first period was one of almost uninterrupted peace, and that nearly thirty years of the latter have paSsed away in the exertions of two tinct expensive wars—that during the former period the market interest of money was generally much below, and during the latter frequently as much above the rate fixed by law—thiat during .the former the aim of the - Legislature was, by artificial means, to divert the application of capital from other empluyinents to that of agriculture, as well.by positive bounties, which forced an export of grain to other countries, -as by duties which generally altogether precluded its import either from the Continent or from Ireland—that during the latter agriculture has, in point of fact, beets without 'either of those:stituulatits—your Committee cannot look at these'con trasted-circumstaeces, coincident during the first period, with •a comparative stagnation of our agriculture, and during the second', with its most rapid growth and improvement, without acknowledging that there was nothing in the system pursued .up. to 1773; which necessarily prompted this ,most essential branch of public industry and national wealth ; and also, that there is nothing incompatible with the success of both these objects, in the system which has practically prevailed since that date. If the quantity of wheat, the growth of Great Bri tain, was truly estimated, as it was estimated in 1773. at four minimills of quarters, and if it cannot now be stated so low as at double that amount, it is evident that the change of system has been attended with no defalcation of produce; if, since that year, the futinher of cattle and sheep has been vastly aug mented, their breeds improved, and, by those improvements, their size and aptness to fatten, and in sheen their fleeces greatly increased; if, by' this augmentation of live stock, a greater quantity of manure has been produced ; if allure most important but expensive meliorations of modern husbandry have been introduced; if scieutitic drainages have been under taken, end extensive wastes enclosed, to augment the produce of the land canni't be said that there has been a want of encouragement to invest large and adequate capitals in this branch of national industry. If, from agricelture, 'your Committee look to the perma nent improvements which have been made in the country itself within time same period, the bridges which have been built, the roads which hare been formed, the rivers which have been rendered navigable, the canals which have been completed, the harbours which have been made and improved, the docks which have been created, not by the public reve. true, bet by the capitals and enterprise of individuals ,• _if they look, at the same time, to the unexampled growth of Mallll - ores and commerce, in the contemplation of this augmen taiiutr internal wealth, which defies all illustration front .comparison with any former portion of our histou,, or of the history of any other State—your Committee may entertain a doubt, (a doubt, however, which they wish to state with that a ' 4 Holt. 7, c. 19. ; 7 Hen. 8, c. 1.; 25 ditto, c. 13.; 27 ditto, F,;]3.; 5 and 6 ,dw. ti t c. 5.; 5 gliz. C. 2.; 39 ditto, C. diffidence which a subject so extensive naturally imposts tiptiti their judgment), whether the only solid foundation of the flourishing state of agriculture is nut laid in abstaining, as much as possible, from interference, either by protection or prohibition, with the application of capital, to any branch of industry ?-whether all fears for the decline of apiculture, either from temporary vicissitudes to whist all speculations are lia rle , or front the extension of other p.tirsuits of general tindus'ir. are not, in a treat degree, imaginary ?—`kliether , a3inerc can eapand, manufactures thrive, and great public works be undeAken, Without furnishing to the skill and labour which the caAals thus employed put in motion, in creased means of paying for the productions of the land ? whether the principal part of those productions, which can iribute to the gratification of the wants and desires of the different classes of the community, must nut necessarily be drawn from our own soil, the demand increasing with the population, as the population must incfeitse with the rkite4 of the country?—.whether a great pact of the sable capital which is employed in supporting the industry connected with manufactures, commerce, and public works, does not, pass ing by a very rapid course into the hands of the occupier of the soil, serve also as a capital for the encunragcnieut of agriculture ?—whetker, in our own country in former times, and in other naturally fertile countries up to the present tirue, agriculture has not languished from the want of such a stimulus ?—and whether, in those countries, the proprietors of the land are not themselves poor, and the people wretched, in proportion, as from _want of capital, their labour is more exclusively confined to raising, from their own soil, the means of their min scanty subsistence ? If these questions should be answered in the affirmative, it follows, that the present solidity and future improvement of our national wealth depend on the continuance of that union by which our agricultural prosperity is so closely conn e ct e d with the preservation of our manufacturing and commercial greatness. _ It will be for the House to appreciate this view of the sub ject, to . watch the progress of events affecting any ortlie great branches of our industry, and, in its wiolom, to determine, according to circumstances, how far, and by what arrange merits, it can best reconcile thoseconsiderations of state policy make it desirable that this country should not become too habitually or extensively dependant for the subsistence of its people on foreign supply, with the necessity of guarding as much as possible against creating, by artificial means, too great a difference between the cost of that subsistence here and in other countries; not only in regard to the pe iple them selves, but also from the risk which must be in proportion to that difference, of driving much of the capital, by which their Wow). and labour are supported, to seek employment in other countries. Fur there cannot be a doubt that this dif ference operates, in the satire mauner as taxation, to diminish the profits of capital in this country ; and there can be as little doubt, that though capital may migrate, the unoccupied population will remain; - and remain to be maintained by the landed interest, upon whose iesoutces, diminished in propor tion to diminished demand, this additional burden Would principally fall.. In some of the Petitions referred to. your Committee, tha depression and distress of all those concerned in agriculture, are mainly ascribed to the extent of our public burdens, coo pied with their diminished means of bracing them. The general influence, of taxation upon the slate of the country is a subject too extensive to be entered upon by your Committee, without exceeding the bouoils prescribed to them by the nature of the reference made to them by the House. They lamina its weight, because, however imposed, taxes must necessarily abridge the resources and comforts of those by whom they are ultimately paid. lint. the questioa for more immethate consideration is, whether, in the distri bution of this unavoidable evil, the profits of farming capital have been heretofore, or can permanently he more affected, than the profits of capital engaged in other branches of in dustry. They cannot discover any grounds for believing that during the war, when taxation was carried to its greatest amount, the profit of farming capital was lowered in its rela tive proportion to the profit of other active capitals; arni, whatever may be the temporary effect of a casual derange ment, it is obvious that this proportion must permanently be maintained, because the application of capital would other-- wise be changed from one mode of employment to another, until the proper level was restored. . . So far, therefore, as taxes fall upon the profits of the'ac tire eapaals of the country, whatever may be the objects upon which they immediately attach, or the parties by whoop they are, in the first instance, paid, they operate, in their ultimate effect, as an abatement of those profits, equally affecting the trading, the manufacturing, and the farrain4 interests, by diminishing their means either of enjoyment , or of accumulating limber capital by savings from thei r annual incomes. - The manner and extent in which other classes of the com munity, and other sources of income may be affected br taxation, do not come directly within the scope of the present inquiry; but your Committee think it uecessary to notICC doctrine- which has prevailed in some quarters—that the price of corn in this country, in order to reninnerato the grower, must increase in the same ratio as the amount of our, public revenue, so that if the latter be doubled, the ,price corn must be doubled also. If this assumption were well founded, it.would follow, that, exclusively of any change the value of money, the remunerating price in 1821 wou:a be ityarly one-third lower than it was in. 1814, taxes not mi;c ll short of that proportion to the whole of our. revenue having been taken off in' Great Britain since that year. But with' cut denying that the price of corn may be, in some degree' affected by adding to our general taxation, and that ao) c i charges particularly paid by the farmer, such as tithes 3 " : poor rates, must tend more directly to raise that price, it is • obvious, from what has been already stated, that the cost ° growing corn in any country is regulated by th e a m ount o' , capital necessary to produce it upon lands paying no rent' and that it is the price of the portion of corn which is raised that determines the price of all other corn: and tb 3 an increase of general taxes, affecting alike, th e profits 0, capital in all the different branches of industry, would no' necessarily raise the [nice of the particular produce of " 01 one. The price of corn, therefore, might fall in a countrit notwithstanding additional taxation, if the quantity re quired for the consumption of that country could be raise./ either by the cultivation of more fertile and productive. seil.7' or by the application of a diminished capital to the same 5 01 . 4 in consequence of increased skill or improvements in 11 05. bandry. In fact, no rise in the price of corn appears to hive ra-' place during three of the wars in which this country was gaged during the last century, compared with the priers °f l ° the years preceding and succ ee di ng th ose wa r s ; a nd dnr . r l the last of them, the American war, prices were ower tht dining the peace. This circumstance is the more to he re marked, as there never was perhaps a period at which rite burden of taxation 'appeared to press more heavily upon t resources of the country, and in which an annual increas e taxes, accompanied with an annual diminution of r event' e ; and a general stagnation of improv e ments, i n dicated to °r strongly that apart of those taxes must have been paid out ° the 'capital, and not out of the income of the nation. o f On the other hand, however immense the ex the last-war, it is impossible to review the vast private 1-1 1 ° t r y . takings begun and completed during that war, in c inanclk of industry, without feeling that those funds by rill alone the productive powers of the country can be 11 0t 4 , motion, must have been greatly increased, and that the 1 0 - . ' o . millet ion of national capital, however impaired by loans , . 0 , retarded by taxes, has, upon the whole, been -large and Yt gressive If during that periOd. • - in the same space of time the national capital of other country has not increased, or has increased onlY much smaller proportion, the mere comparison of the elm minal amount of the public revenue of that country will' public revenue of this. country, as they stood at the c g ilt mencement of the period, and- as they now stand, " 1 1 1 ,,e 11 lead to an unfair inference in respect to the degree in ° i f ,1 , ! each country has been affected by increased taxation. Jdi", weight of the public burdens of a country be conside';' ) 0 1 reference to its population only, then (with the excepl r ''f,tY, Holland perhaps) England is the most taxed porti o n rope; but if it be measured by the aggregate of to l t or'' 'capital, or income arising from capital, divided by the oie number of people among whom that capital or iac` l . ti distributed, it may then be doubted whether, upon o .' o l 0 1 average, the proportion of tax to the income or car t srate s each individual, be nut less In England than in several t t) of the Continent, or even in Ireland ; and whrther 1 10 0 materially greater now than at former periods, whei; f,r4: the capital, the population, and the public revenue ° l ,tere` land were far below what. they now are. But tvfij the might be the consolatory result of such a comparison , 1 _ awl means of making it could be accurately ascertain e ", e 'rroia however sanguine a hope your Committee maY o e geniclit that peace will afford increased facility and eoc':,f Govern" to further accumulation, it is not less the dotl in i s hing went directly to aid that accumulation, by dUl'it'iforts and expenditure, and thus both to improve the `ones, by whos e stimulate the skill and enterprize of those cl ioie ki ng d o in industry and savings the capital of the appears to augmented. This duty, important at all e oresew circote" your Committee to be still mm e so, under - . . . ea' stances of the country; for, whilst tlol rn under wi.te" ecting the mistaken opinion, that the dC 3 or prinei our agriculture now labours, is either excl,rrost disguise fo-' ° ' pally to be attributed ter taxation, they e u e,!_l i i ie hurdens of the themselves, that ' the weight of the .. o ,,g " the same, must b. e country, their nominal amount rem:: _ he money incomes de „. most severely felt, in proportion theturin. , capital an d rived from trulin , farming, and ma" , „ „, No exertion, therefore, are desirous o f , itolostry, are diminished• , omitted to endeavour to re d uce those but dens, as mat / r I~ !It