The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-04-29 00:00:00

Irnnuil in this country. Spain, Portugal, and even Holland,
our example with respect to those restrictive laws. He
charged it upon those laws, that they had changed the
w course of trade, and had a' tendency to repress production, to
an Natalie which may ltimately involve not only this country but
Europe In distress. it was the opinion of persons the best in-
formed, of men of Intelligence, whose judgment was sharpened by
an attention to their own interests, as connected with this subject,
that production was not keeping pace with consumption. No man
who is well informed on the subject, and had made up his
mind, ought to withhold this opinion from the public. ' He
would read an extract from a letter written by a gentleman
of great intelligence and respectability, residing in Antwerp. This
gentleman was well informed on all matters of trade, but particu-
larly on every thing connected with the corn trade. He stated,
that " the Corn Laws had been productive of the most disastrous
consequences in Poland ;" that production had in consequence
diminished, and that the penury of the agricultural classes had in-
creased. He also stated, that the export of British, end British
colonial manufacture to Poland, did not now amount to one.
half of its amount before the passing of the Corn Laws..
It was also worth remarking, that Mr. Merry (the writer of
the letter) states, that wool was found much more productive
than corn, and that much land was being thrown out of cultiva-
tion, because cattle were found to yield a better return. The pea.
sentry in that country could afford to pay 355. per Winchester
quarters for wheat; but they could not he supplied from Bohemia,
the pest corn country, under 38s. the quarter. lie bad adduced
these facts to prove a position, to which no man could dissent, that'
if we determinately exclude the produce of other countries from
our market, we shall cause a great change in the amount of foreign
produce. Whenever we are brought to that situation, when we
shall require to eke out consumption by the produce of other coon.
tries, we shall find there will not be &Sufficient quantity at the foreign
pooh. He would now refer to another, and not a less important
view of the case. If we refused to allow the importation of foreign
corn, foreign states would produce something else, which would
come in competition in our markets, and affect the price of our ma.
nufactures, particularly since we had begun to act upon the liberal
principles of trade. How had the principle which he laid doss
acted upon the importation of wool ?. It had increased in an Is..
mense proportion. He did not mean to push this argument toe
far; he knew alterations had been made in the laws, but he wished
to call the attention of the House to the facts. The annual weir.
age import of wool for fire yen, ending in December, 1823, was
16,194,302 cwt.; in 1824 the import was 112,553,222 cwt., lamb*
an excess this year over the preceding years of no leas dm
6.363.720 cwt. The Corn Laws not only affect the imported. at
wool, and consequently its price, but they also affect the 1
tion and price of various other articles of production."" we
refuse refuse to admit the corn of Poland, we force Poland to produce
wool, end compete with us in the woollen markets ; and so In other
branches of trade and manufacture. The importation of tallow
had considerably increased, and also the importation of flax : upon
which there was an excess in 1824, compared with the an-
nual average produce of five preceding years, of 221,151 cwt.
Having endeavoured to show the injurious effects of the Corn
Laws upon our agriculture and manufactures, he would now
turn and see how these laws affect the price of labour. No
doubt when Corn is double the price at which it is sold
in other countries, our labourers must be paid at a much
higher rate. Some gentlemen may think that the price of labour
is of no consequence to any one but the consumer, as it is charged
on the produce. Others, however, with more reason, conclude that
the high price of labour goes to diminish the profits of capital.
Cm this high price, then, continue, without producing a fatal effect
upon capital itself? The effect must be, that we shall at length
drive that capital, upon which the greatness of England depends,
to seek for employment in other parts of the world. The House
should consider the result to which this must inevitably lead. In
extent and population, compared with the leading Powers of Eu.
rope, England is only a second-rate Power. Comparing the extent
and. population of England with France, or even with Austria.
England is only& second-rate Power ; and comparing its extent and
Clation with the extent and population of Russia, he would ask,
I'v"we could expect to compete with this colossal Empire ? The
greatness of England depends upon its capital. and if we diminish
that capital and drive it from our shores, England will become
a third-rata Power. If we turn our eyes from Europe and
I look across the Atlantic, we see a great and rising country. whose
power we may judge of by what she has already achieved,
when called upon to resist oppression. The population and ex-
tent will immeasurably exceed that of England. It is her
capital, then, that gives to Britain her weight in the scale of
nations; and if it is our object to preserve her station, it should
also be our object to preserve her capital. We hare been able to
contend not only with any single power, but with all power united,
and we may be able successful) to do so again, but it is only by
the force of our great capital. Could any man say that we ought to
trifle with the power of our country in this respect ? There was
no man possessed of so much boldness. lie would now ask, had
this system of restriction been tried in any country, in which
that country had not reaped the bitter fruits of its folly? Holland
had imposed an injurious tax, not upon the importation of Corn,
but upon the internal trade, and it had produced the most die_
estrous consequences. In no instance could a contrary effect be
proved. If it should be proved that restrictions on the produce of
corn had produced beneficial effects in any country, he (Mr. Whit-
more) was willing to give tip his theory. Until this was proved,
however, he should continue to believe, that if the Corn Laws of
England be left without modification, it will ultimately give a
mortal stab to the prosperity of England. This consequence may
be remote, and he knew how difficult it was, when the country was li
enjoying prosperity, lo induce Gentlemen us attend to remote con-
sequences, and examine whether the principle upon which they
acted, was intrinsically good. The evil which may arise
from the ignorance of the principles upon which those laws
were founded, was so SetiOlN, that It deserved the deepest attention.
That the Corn Laws, as they at present stood, had the of of rais-
ing the rents, was, he conceived, perfectly evident. Did they imagine
that the people were not aware that those laws had this effect ?
The people must know that the rents are thus raised. He did not
wish to give offence, but he must say that they raise the rents at
the expense of the rest of the community, and this for the main-
tenance of a law which is directly opposed in its principle, its de-
tails, and its operation, to every rule by which we bad been here-
tofore regulated. Ile would put it to the House if this law had
not the effect of creating a privileged class? This was not a period
of darkness—this was not a time in which the people were sunk in
gross and grovelling ignorance. Exactly the reverse was the fact
at the present moment. The people were every day becoming more
capable of reflecting and of forming sound judgments on all that
concerned their own interests. Many were alarmed, and so should
he be alarmed, if he were convinced that the Corn Laws were to
remain unchanged. If that fatal system were to continue per-
manently, there would indeed be just ground for alarm, but he was
persuaded that there 'mild be no danger if they would only square
their legislation according to the new order of things now sprang.
ing up. They need proceed with no false or secret system—they
had nothing to conceal. Let them recur to the great principle on
which the country went previous to the year 1815. He would beg
the attention of the House to the contrast which the law now pre-
sented to the legislation of former periods. The principle of the
law of 1815 was to direct opposition to those rules by which we had
been previously guided. In 1773, there were two low duties, 2s. 6d.
and fel. These were added to the principal duty of 245. 3d. in
proportion as the price sunk below the appointed price of 50s.
From that period to 1791 the amount of the duties varied, but the
same principle was acted on, which imposed the highest of those
duties on corn when the price was 50*. 2e. 6d. was added when the
price rose to 545., and 6d. additional when it exceeded that sum.
Afterwards the price for the highest duty was 535., and 6d. addi-
tional was laid on when it amounted to 06a. During this period the
prices of corn rose, and generally during that time it was on the
Increase. This uniformly continued to be the case while trade was
free. He was justified—fully justified in saying, that whatever
might hare been the nominal prises at the time, the corn trade im-
proved during that period, lie would now broach a very im-
portant branch of the subject, namely, the alteration which was
deemed essential to be made, in order to put this great and im.
portant part of our trade upon its just and natural looting. His
strong conviction wait, that we should revert to original principles,
and make the trade, if not nominally, at least virtually free; sub.
jetting, of course, the import of corn to a fixed duty. Previously
to going further, he thought it necessary to clear the ground from
the difficulties which might be supposed to arise front the exclusive
burdens under which the agricultural classes laboured—the im-
posts which exclusively affected the land. These burdens he was
not disposed to undervalue; he was willing to make full and liberal
compensation to the agriculturists, so as that the weight of these
burden' should not injuriously operate against them. These
burdens were the poor's rates, the land tax, the tithes, and the ex-
pense of highways. The first of these amounted to 7,000,0001., the
second to about 5,000,0001. including the English and Irish tithes,
4-the third eo 1,210,127/. and 2,0.066/. peed.' for highways. Sup-
posing, however, that these rums were under the mark, 18,000,000/.
might be allowed to cover every thing. If an advantage to that
amount were given to the agriculturist, he would surely be left
without any just ground of complaint. The consumption of wheat
annually amounted to 14,000,000 quarters, barley 3,500,000, and
oats 3.1.100,000. With a duty, then, of 14. on wheat, and a pro-
portionate sum on the other grains, there would be sufficient to
answer the end in view. Fixing the duties at this rate would be
taking from the pockets of the people no less than 18,000,0001.
annually, and he doubted nut that they would be willing to make
every reasonable concession to cover the burdens under which the
land exclusively laboured, for which purpose he conceived that the
duty of 19s. would be found sufficient. The law that they had
enacted raised the prices much more than a moderate duty would
have done, and more than was consistent with justice towards the
other classes of the community. He had already said that any
system which prevented the admission of foreign corn was eaceed-
ingly injurious; that any alteration must involve the imposition of
certain duties,enough to pay the exclusive burdens under which the
agricultural interest laboured, and tar which purpose 104. he
thought would suffice. He agreed to imposing this duty, on the
principle that the agriculturists ought to receive stieli compensation
an would enable them to meet what fell more particularly on them.
Besides that, he was an enemy to any measure which would pro-
duce sudden or violent change, and if that change had no existence
in paint of tact, the mere apprehension of it might produce evil
effects. There were other reasons urging to this revision of the
law—the Stocks were low and required renovation. lie was
aware that others thought differently Nam him—that they
were alarmed at the low prices of foreign song; but Diode-
men should remember, that the admission of oats did not
produce this effect. If they were able to procure eatinuoes
of the probable amount of the surplus of corn which could
be spared to this country by the Continent, lie felt persuaded that
it would not exceed a million of quartos ; and if they looked to the
information from Spain and Portugal, they would see that there was
little short of an actual scarcity in those couetriea. lie could not

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