The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-20 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 20, 1853.

both their moral and material condition. It is a/so

the same thing as wishing that the North did its duty

in helping the South to throw off the incubus under

which it chafes, and which it would not endure for a

day if it were imposed by any arbitrary power.

Tux price of wheat rose in Mark-lane yesterday
from 35. to 41. a quarter above the prices of the
previous Monday. On Friday last there was also a
rising market, and the rise on that day was common
both to home-grown and foreign wheat, but was
rather more conspicuous in the latter than in the
former, in consequence of the very active demand
which has now existed in our market for several
consecutive market days for foreign wheat for Bel-
gium and France. "In floating cargoes in the week a
considerable business has been done," says Mr. Max-
GREDIES in his circular, " and the quantity of such
offering has lately undergor.e considerable diminu-
tion." The price of red wheat is now 695. to 765.,
and of white wheat 71s. to 635. The average.price
of the week was 71s. 11d., and of the six weeks
725. sd. With these very high and rising prices,
and with the fact continually forced on our attention
that the wants of the Continent are causing higher
prices there to attract supplies than we give—with
the certainty that our crops are very short, as well
as the crops of France, Belgium, and Prussia, and
that our prices must rule higher than theirs ere we
can obtain what we want, it is necessary again to call
the attention of our readers to the One Shilling Duty
still levied on corn, and to its effects in diminishing
our supplies, now that we meet so many competitors
in the markets of the East and the West.

One Shilling a quarter appears a mere trifle to
people accustomed to hear of duties of 20s. or 305.,
and accustomed in speaking of revenue to deal only
with millions sterling. It appears at present parti-
cularly trifling when it is only about 1 2-10ths per
cut. of the value, and it has been almost 3 per
cent. Nevertheless the effects of this Shilling Tax
on Food are very important. In many cases
to levy Is. duty on foreign corn before it can
be sold in our market suffices to tura the seals
against us, and enables the foreign merchant to
buy the cargo that has been shipped at Odessa
for Falmouth or a market. It limits oar supplies,
without limiting consumption ; for the foreigner gets
I that to consume at a price one shilling below oar
market, which, but for the duty, would have come
to us. It makes no difference to this argument that
the foreigner may impose on imported corn a similar
and equal duty ; for whatever may be the effect of
his duty, the effect of our duty is the same. Thus
at a period when foreign wheat is selling to foreigners
in our markets at 735. 6d., our people are compelled
to pay an additional shilling per quarter before they
can have bread to eat.

A rise of price, it is calculated, of ss. per quarter
enables a ship to sail 1,000 miles further in search of
food. Oar Is. duty therefore limits our market, so
far as ships can supply it, by a radius of 200 miles,
extending all over every part of the globe. A price
for wheat which would bring it from Marseilles
might not bring it front Naples. But what is true
of shipping is still more emphatically true of rail-
ways. At present a very large part of our supplies
front the United States is brought to New York by
them, and 3c. a bushel, which we could afford to pay
more for American corn, were there no duty, would
bring it from a larger surface of the far West. It is ex-
pected that a part of the supplies of corn from Podo-
lia, Velhynia, and the Ukraine will ere long be brought
—as cattle are already brought by rail from Cracow
to Berlin, and so come into the markets of Western
Europe. In that competition with the people of the
Continent we shall sutler by our duty to a consider-
able extent. A measure which thus limits the sur-
face whence we can draw our supplies in competition
with other buyers is a great public injury. In like
proportion and manner that it limits the surface
whence we can draw our supplies it limits the sale
of our manufactures, and so limits our purchasing
power, and increases the injury it does to those—
which in this case are the nation at large—who must
sell cloth to buy corn.
Of course a larger quantity of corn will come in as
our prices rise, so that the duty becomes onerous and
the State gets enriched, as our produce is scanty.
The wealth of the State increase, with the distrait of