The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-10-01 00:00:00

ON THE IMPORTATION OF: FOREIGN CORN.
By JOHN ROOK%
AUTHOR Or " TAR MAW) IN CORN", ' AND " GEOLOGY
AS A SCISCNCS, APPLIED TO ENGINEERING."

The present crop of wheat in the southern counties of
England, and beyond the great coal line, now properly secured,
and making a dim allowance for a full breadth of that grain,
may be confidently estimated at a bare average return. In
the yield thereof, more inferior corn than ordinary is found,
and no very abundant crop can be attended by such a defect.
In most of the northern counties and midland districts of
the kingdom, the elevation of which exceed 350 feet above
the level of the sea, the present crop of wheat may with
equal confidence be stated as deficient in yield, yet unsecured,
and as having sustained considerable injury from recently
wet weather.
The sum of these incidents combined, together with the
exhausted stores of grain in reference to the crop of the year
gone by, make it now certain that the importation of foreign
wheat must for the next twelve months continue unchecked
by any rate of duty imposed thereon by the Corn Laws.
Barley and oats may be estimated at a full average return
for the present year.
A comparatively high price for wheat in England during
the ensuing twelve months being a settled matter, and thus
much of the terms of currency decided, according to which
a high price paid for the produce of the soil necessarily ab-
sorbs more circulating medium in its commercial distribu-
tion, the entire trading world now seems to ask, in doubtful
anxiety, under these several contingencies combined, what
shall the effect be on the foreign exchanges ? All decide that
a pressure for money must consequently ensue.
In whatever light the theory of money be taken, whether
as an importation of foreign corn, producing an adverse ba-
lance of trade and corresponding effects on the foreign
exchanges of money, or as a high price for corn, merely ab-
sorbing an augmented portion of the circulating medium, the
anticipated effect is the same in its results. Every one looks,
therefore, with intense anxiety to the steps which the direc-
tors of the Bank of England shall take.
What ! do a clique of men work secretly, who have drawn
the eye of the entire world of trade upon themselves, as well
as the whole body of monied and banking interests, just as if
those vital and widely-spread operations in commerce and
currency depended upon the nod of a little band of men who
act and conspire in secret ? So it is, however ; and on a re.
view and summing of these highly subtile elements and com-
plicated materials, a very apt question lies on the surface
thereof. Shall a balance of trade adverse to England occasion
a corresponding adverse rate in the foreign exchanges of
money absolutely ; or will the level of those exchanges wholly
depend upon the steps taken by the directors of the Bank of
England ? If there be any truth in ! principles of currency,
as settled by Sir Robert Peel's bill, the directors of the Bank
of England are not only bound to preserve the equilibrium
of those exchanges—BUT—whencver they possess almost no
treasure in their coffers? and at such times only—they are
bound to correct an adverse foreign exchange by the most
strict of all laws whatever—self-inteiest, unto their very
existence as a banking establishment. This is now their case.
And however deficient the crop of wheat may be—however
adverse the balance of trade—however much foreign wheat
may be bought by gold, and however few articles of merchan-
dise may be exported in return, the directors of the Bank of
England are bound by law, and by the power of law, to pre-
serve the equilibrium of the foreign exchanges inviolably and
absolutely. Even close the ports against the importation of
foreign corn, which cannot be otherwise than assumed, and
would not the absorption of the circulating medium by
a high price of corn in the home market nevertheless enforce
the bank of England the necessity of preserving an equal level
in the rate of the foreign exchanges inviolably and absolutely.
Even close the ports against the importation of foreign corn,
which cannot be otherwise than assumed, and would not the
absorption of the circulating medium by a high price of corn
in the home market nevertheless enforce on the Bank of Eng-
land the necessity of preserving an equal level in the rate of
foreign exchanges? An adverse balance of trade does not,
therefore, enforce an absolutely adverse rate in the level of
the foreign exchanges necessarily ; and this is the very
principle on which Sir Robert Peel's Currency Bill is based.
The eye of the whole trading world is now intensely fixed
on those vital operations in commerce and currency which
this principle in- that bill embraces. Yet here lam con-
strained to close for the present. However much the peace
or the happiness of mankind may have been disturbed by the
influence of currency, as the grand instrument by which in-
dustrial products are distributed by indirect barter, or how-
ever much they may suffer in future from the false applica-
tion of that influence, I am sure that the involutions and sub-
tile complications of commerce and currency are still most
imperfectly understood by those who occupy high places, and
settle the happy or the evil destinies of our fellow-men. For
this my sorrow is deep and abiding. In saying thus much, I
am driven to an opinion—because I have investigated this
influential question honestly and without prejudice, as a dis
tinguished and right honourable, baronet can bear! witness,
and I have. I think, said enough, to show that the necessary
and calm discussion of these vital topics is far from being ex-
hausted.