The National Register.
London, England, 1819-04-25 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER!

thing more than has appeared in the public journals.—
But as fir as we can gather front them, their whole scope
and prospect has been simply to recommend and pray
fur" open ports and protecting ditties." It does not
ettis appear to be their object to make so, alteration in
the iiiiport4iitt prices already fixed, but that those pro-
tections and securities, which the Legislature by its late
enactments certainly- intended to afford, but which are
tinw wove(' to be ineffectual, should be realized and
coal:armed. flow it came to be overlooked in the last
Corn Bill, that the moment the ports were opened, or

likely to be so, speculation would be bu.;ily employed,
and that even a stunt interval would be sufficient to set
at nought every previous restriction, to fill the cam ntry
with foreign grain when no supply was wanted, and to
plate the English farmer upon a level with the cheapest
countries in Europe, excepting threepence only of im-
portation, it is now too late to argue. Thaa. such,
however. is the fact, arid the present condi' on :of our
Crirn Laws. is clear and undisputed, and but two poiwss
stew now to, remain worth contending about•. The
first is, whether it he adviseable to sweep.away at owe
all our legitl'atire restrictions on the foreign, supplies of
corn, as being of more disadvantage than good to the
ieneral interests of agriculture, and the other, what is
the best and 'surest :node of giving them the effect
inten.led.

With respect to the first of these, no theory could be
inure delightful than that which would present' to us
the whole world united in the bonds of eternal `peace,
henevoirce, and love, each part or region supplying to
the other in' free and unfettered commerce n hatever it
could spare, and receiving back in return whatcter the
produce of other clinics could furnish in the same way ;
banishing at once from the code and practice of nations
every obstruction to the free admission of every article of
barter among.` mankind: but, however, such uavision
may delight the philanthropist, it may perhaps be fairly
questioned whether it would, as far as respects its com-
mercial features be productive of any consideraLle‘acces.
sion to the-stock of human happiness and positiveenjoy-
ment, and certainly the vices and imperfestionsuf man-
kind, the jarring interests of nations. and the peculiar
circumstances and interests of particular • couutries must
for ever totally exclude all hope ofits being realized. So
long as any ono country in die world shall find, or think
it conducive to its interests either to confine any part of
its productions to iss own !Units, or, what is the, snore
usual line af policy, to impose such a duty upon its
exportation as may both check the freedom of its egress,
and be subservient to the purposes of revenue, other
countries will*tuturally be driven to adopt as-a mounter-
poise similar ineostues with regard to their own commo-
dities, and thus the general policy of the whole will be-
as it always has been, in civilized countries, so subject
their wade and commerce to fiscal regulations. Nor is
this genet al practice without many advantages. Articles
of import and export are always the fittest objects of tpx-
athm, because the simple fact of your being disposed to
sell for exportation pre-supposes that your demand at
home-is answered, and the fact, on the other hand, of
foreigners becoming your customers. pre-supposes that •
they both wantr and can afford to pay for the-articles so
sold ; hes:des this, as a revenue must be raised, and
taxes or imports levied, even in the very cheapest go-
vernments, ,whatever can be collected frontsuch duties
as have been just alluded to, is so much saved from the
pockets of the subject at home, arid foreign powers are
thus to a given extent made tributary to the maintenaace
of your own social and political institutions. This prin-
ciple being 01100 Clll3l.lliSllefil 4113 only question, which
can naturally come next, is, what are those pa-nimbi:-
obects of production and barter which most demand
protection and are most deseri in?, of care. We should
think it could hardly.bo deputed that the order would•
stand :has; first subsistence, second raiment, thirdly the
conveniences, and fourthly the luxuries of life:• Agricul-
ture, as the means of furni:Jiifig subsistence, has there-
fore, by every enlightened community been admitted sto
he an object of the first and highest concern. The Phi-
losopher has considered its prosperity as inseparably con-
nected with public good, the wise Statesman has looked
to it us the firmest sinew of national strength, the Patriot
has viewed it as the surest proof• of freedom and the
guardian of a coontry's indcpendance, and the Moralist
has dwelt with satisfaction upon- the universal benevo-
lence of its tendency, and the peaceful and innocent
character of its pitmans. Again, it can as little be itin.
61 " IhM:the -15?,P5t147. iPIOCIO" Ida"
•

..,yti

APRIL et,

the same thing, the quantity of its produce, will be en-
tirely dependent upon the sum of the labour and capital
eniplol;e4 in it, and that these again will be not less -
accurately proportioned to the stability of the puranit ill
which they are employed, and the prospect-they hold out
of a fair remuneration. A' country with, millions of
acres still waste, and millions dams more of land but
miseralsly cultivated, and prodeseing not more•than arse
half or rerit fps one third of what might by the employ.
mint of additional laboin and capital-4m raised from
them, and yet, both corn plaining of want of employment,
and every year, baring recourse to foreign markets for
its food,-can never be said to have yet reached that pitch
of encouragement which its Agriculture justly demands.
The-advocates of free importation argue thus, " if tl:c •
soil arrd climate of one country be more favourable fur
lie production ornery ittaticular commodity than another, ,
if it ran ever be produced at a cheaper rate than at home, •
why not availlourselves of such ativat.tages- and turn-
your own itultestry and capital into a better chan-
nel ; that •is, in plainer words, " send your bus;
bautlinen to weave bombazines and muslin', and your
farmers to erect cotton mills and steam engines at Man-
chester, or to manufacture knives and buttons at Bir-
wingham and Sheffield."
To the first pan of this argument It is surely obvious
to reply, that no country in the world is better ealcitla-
ted for the growth .of corn than our own, nor-on i:s
richer and well cultivated soils, yields a more abundant
produce. Corn and Wool are as naturally the
,rtayde
commodities of Great Brit"••,-as Witte-and pi' are of .
Italy, or Sugar and Coffee of our West [ltalia Islands;
Upon the very principle then on whieh such reasoners
advocate our dependence omforeigners for supply, are
we prepared to contend for the encouragement and pro- •
tectiou of our own growth and coital-el and with re-
spect to the prize at which corn may he raised amongst •
us, it is true that a competition with foreign markets is,
its the present state of things, quite impossible. Mit •
then this very impossibility ought to operate in a quits
contrary direction-front what it now appears to do, upon
the public mind and councils. Instead of inclining us
to set as nought the wi.dons and experience of all past
ages to abandon Agriculture to its fate, and our fields to
desolation, every effort should be employed to remove
thrvweigbt which oppresses it, and to restore it to its dog
and natural rank. Nor should these efforts cease mail
it has reached such a pitch of prosperity as to draw back
again into its own channel sonic portion both of the la-
bour and capital- which are now devoted to tride and
merchandise. The plain truth is, we are become too
commercial, and though a paper currency and an enor-
mous taxation are ainongst our greatest evils, yet neither
the one nor the other would ever have existed in their
present extent, if they hail not been. pushed on by corn-
meme. Mr. Pitt antlfhis adherents well knew this, and
the protection of commerce, to the toteedisregard of the
landed interest, was the great fastness of that Minister's
financial policy. It was to the merchant he looked for
his loans, to the merchant for the circulation of his
paper, and he repaid. the obligation both to cominerce
andia.his country by a Bank Restriction, of which we
have never since beets able to get rid. We may ask the
boldest ads Geste of the claims, of commerce whether lie
does not think that enough, and more than enough of
both capital andslabour are now employed in it t Whe-
ther every-market in the world is not glutted with British
manufactures t Whether if some means could be de-
vised of lessening the quantity of goods wrought, and
di..rinisiting the competition he has now to struggle
with, such an issue would not result both in the
im-
provement
of his oven condition, and in the additiottal
steadiness and prosperity of commerce itself and lastly,
whether he must not admit that the fluctuations to
which trade, upon its present • scale and footing, is ever
liable, do not render it unfavourable to the morals, and
ultimately to the liberties of the country ? Even these
questions we are persuaded must, if fairly answered, be
answered in the affirmative, and if so, then must the
real friend of commerce and of his country, be the
friend of agriculture likewise, which Call alone furnish
the remedy desired. But another orpiment is still ready,
"'enough you may pay a considerable stint for com
every year to foreign Markets, and though it should be
granted that you might grow it at home, yet the moor-
so laid out again returns in the general stream of c
mercy etscressing the circulation of national wt-a.
_anti t!leittl ambling :y14144,11irr up curia o''.