The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-02-22 00:00:00

THE CORN LAWS.

TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD JOHN RUSSELL, SECRETARY
OF SATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT.
My Lord,—l regret exceedingly that some person more
competent to the task has not noticed your lordship's de-
claration in reference to the present corn laws, in your letter
to your constituents of the 21st ult. Your lordship says
" that it was desirable not to maintain a system of duties
which, as experience has shown, increases the high prices of
dear years to the consumer, and depresses the low prices of
cheap years to the producer." This is a character which, I
hope to convince your lordship, the present law by no means
deserves. I watched the progress of the bill in 1827 and 1828
with some attention. The great men who were the authors
of this beautiful piece of legislation are now no more ; the
noble lord, our late colonial secretary, brought up the report
upon this great and difficult question, amidst the general ap-
probation and admiration of the country. It may be com-
pared (acting inversely) to the safety valve of a steam-engine ;
when we have corn enough of our growth, and prices low,
the valve is shut, and as prices are reduced in our markets,
the pressure of duty is still heavier, so as entirely to exclude
foreign grain ; if prices rise the weight becomes less and less,
duties of 10s. Bs., 65., and 2s. are charged on the admis-
sion of foreign wheat to our markets, till at 735. per quarter
it flies open, and corn from all parts of the world is admitted
at the nominal duty of is. During the low prices of 1833,
1834, 1835, and 1836, the duty imposed by the present law
on the importation of wheat was for some time above £2 per
quarter, and for the whole of these four years I think it was
nearer to £2 than to £l, the quantity brought into our mar-
kets was in consequence quite insignificant. This is not a
matter of opinion but a matter of fact. What more could
any law do to prevent the prices falling ? Had there been a
moderate fixed duty, as the continental prices were very low
at that time, the probabilities are—nay, it is certain, a large
quantity of foreign grain would have been added to our
already glutted markets. A duty of 30s. or more did pre-
vent an influx of foreign grain, which a moderate fixed duty
would not have prevented. It is thus, I think, clearly shown
the tendency of the present corn law is not to depress the
low prices of cheap years. It may here be observed that a
greater regularity of prices for the first 10 years of the ex-
istence of the present corn law prevailed than for any period
of the same extent for 100 years, or since a register of prices
had been kept. The last spring and summer having proved
very unfavourable we have had a deficient harvest in Septem-
ber; the average price of wheat having risen to 735., about
1,000,000 quarters of foreign wheat were brought in instantly
into the home market, the consequence was an immediate
decline in the price. Since then there has been about another
million admitted at Is. duty, and it is confidently expected
another.million of quarters may be bad if required. At this
time flour is sold generally at 2s. 10d. and 3s. per stone in
Mark-lane ; the highest price of the best Norfolk flour is 555.
for 2801b5., or less than 2s. 10d. per stone. The present law
does not, therefore, tend to increase the high prices of dear
years. Had there not been a very deficient crop of corn on
the continent much more might have been had if wanted, but
the crops there are more deficient than our own. If instead
of the present law it had been a moderate fixed duty, in lieu
of this supply coming at our need it would have been ex-
hausted in driblets long before. What would be the case
if there was a fixed duty sufficiently high to protect the far-
mer ? I apprehend so long as we 'have plenty of corn of our
own growth its operation would be similar to the present law.
How would it he in cases of need ? It would be thus, no
English merchant would store corn for our use; knowing that
before it could he admitted to the market it must pay a duty
equal perhaps to the first cost, nor would any foreigner either
grow or store up corn for us under such circumstances. The
high prices of dear years to the consumer would be most
terrific. The present sliding, self-acting scale of duties ac-
comodates itself to every emergency without either noise or
trouble. I have not spoken of a fixed duty as a source of
revenue, because I think no statesman would advocate such
a tax for such a purpose, nor have mooted the question, shall
we have corn laws, or no corn laws, it not being within my
present purpose, which is to convince your lordship that in
giving the character which you have done to the corn laws,
you have acted from erroneous information, or from conclu-
sions drawn from false premises. Nothing but the extent of
the evil, if uncontradicted, could have induced me thus to
address your lordship. I speak it not invidiously, but thou-
sands and tens of thousands have and will continue to adopt
your opinion without giving it the benefit of one doubt ; it is,
therefore, necessary that this incorrect statement should,
especially at a time when this law is likely soon to be brought
up for trial, as well for the sake of truth and justice as for
the lake of the best interests of the nation, be as fully and
as publicly contradicted as it has been asserted, and I trust
to the moral rectitude and to the honourable and honest
bearing of your lordship's character, for such a contradic-
tion, if your lordship he convinced the statement has been
erroneously made, and of this I can have no doubt, in order
that the public may, by your lordship, be disabused. Had
the corn law deserved the character you have given it, it
would not for one moment have the support of your lord
ship's most humble and obedient servant.
Leeds, Feb. 13, 1839.

JOHN BAKER.

." JUSTICE TO IRELAND"-THE CORN LAWS,

(From the Dublin Evening Mail.)
We have already adverted to the policy of the abolition of
the corn laws as regards Ireland in particular. We have
shown that this country, being essentially agricultural, having
in point of fact no considerable manufacture of any kind—
nearly two-thirds of her population are vitally interested in
the maintenance of those laws, regarding the question merely
as an agricultural one ; whereas in Great Britain little more
than one-fourth are immediately concerned in it. We have
shown that the misery and wretchedness, and, perhaps, to a
great extent, even the disturbances, of this unhappy country,
being mainly attributable to the disproportion which exists
between the demand for and the supply of labour, it would
be the policy of Mr. O'Connell and the abolitionists to
multiply this redundancy, by throwing into the scale the
trifling addition of some 700,000 or 800,000 families ; thereby
obviously increasing the misery and disorganisation of this
country to an extent which it is absolutely frightful even for
a moment to contemplate. Let us now add a few words on
the justice of the abolition.
It is commonly said, yo' dii err taxation in Ire
land; you stand, therefore, pro tanto in a better position
than your brethren in England. It is true, certainly, there
is no direct taxation in this country of a general nature—that
Is io say—the merchant, the professional gentleman, the
landholder, the landed proprietor, do not, as in England, pay
a tax for their carriages, their. servants, their armorial bear-
ings, &c.; but there is a taxation, a heavy and direct taxation
in this country ; and it is imposed, not as in England, upon
all classes, but exclusively upon the landed interest. The
proprietor and the occupier are both sensitively aware of
this—they know full well that in almost every session of
parliament some new and burdensome tax is imposed upon
them exclusively. There are the compulsory presentments
continually increasing—assizes after assizes, grand juries
obliged to register fresh edicts of taxation upon land. There
are the presentments for the constabulary : a host of inspec-
tors, subbs, chief constables, head constables, constables,
gab-constables, and, we believe, two or three grades of each
sf the classes we have enumerated. We quarrel not with the
force, nor with the assessment in aid of them • we only state
it a a direct tax upon the landed interest. Then there are
the "prcemia merentium," those most convenient appoint-
ments, the stipendiary magistrates. Our orange friend, Sir
Lynar, is quartered upon the landowners of the
county of Dublin; the equally notorious John Gore Jones is
thriving upon the hard earnings of the cess-payers of Cork ;
and Arthur French and Laurence Cruise Smyth are receiving
the reward of their services from the Protestant counties of
Fermanagh and Sligo. But these are trifles compared with
the impositions of the last session. Tithes are now (we
should be the last to complain of it) fixed, as a permanent
charge upon land. Formerly they were but a deduction
from the produce of land; now they form a rent charge-(and
we rejoice that it is so,) not upon the produce, but upon the
land itself- payable to the clergy, irrespective of the quan-
tity or value, or circumstances of the produce. The landed
proprietors and occupiers have now, likewise, suspended over
their heads the fearful experiments of poor rates. The good
feeling, moderation, and generosity of the landed interest
prevented them from even remonstrating against a measure
which, by many, is supposed likely to involve an overwhelm-
ing weight of taxation upon land; and anew charge, greater,
nrobably, than any we have adverted to, has consequently
b -en imposed upon them. Under such circumstances we do
not hesitate to state that the parliament which so recently
sanctioned a measure, of necessity so onerous to the landed
interest of Ireland, is hound on every principle of honour,
consistency, and justice—if indeed; there is still a place for
any of these qualities in the majority of our imperial legis-
lature—to protect the interests of those upon whom the
pressure of that measure will fall. Let the landed interest,
then, while it is time, bestir themselves—let the proprietors
and occupiers of the soil—the landlord and the tenant, the
gentleman and the farmer, for once join together and demand
justice for Ireland." We tell them they will receive it, not
from Mr. O'Connell or Lord Normanby, but from Sir
Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington. The approaching
assives will afford a favourable opportunity for procuring sig-
natures and making known to Irish members the sentiments
and etwocta&mA of their coust