The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-17 00:00:00

We are told exultingly, by the gentry of the Anti-
Corn-law League, of the tons upon tons of tracts and
other paper missiles, with which that body is deluging
the agricultural districts of the country, in the expecta-
tion, no doubt, of converting from the error of their
ways those very benighted people, the farmers of
Great Britain. One of the tracts in question has just
come under our observation ; and really—if this be a
fair specimen of the " tons" of argumentation spoken
of, and we presume it is—we know not that the money
of the various foolish people, whose shillings and half-
crowns have furnished the paper and printing, could
be expended much more harmlessly, although perhaps
they might have had for it a little more honesty and
truth. Ignorant and stupid, indeed, must be our agri-
cultural brethren, if they are to be duped by this
come-and-be-killed style of pamphleteering; and we
venture to predict that many a fifty-thousand-pound
fund will be expended—provided it be spent upon such
preposterous rubbish as this in our hands—before the
League will convert by them a hundred men, whose
opinions are worth a straw, upon the corn-law ques-
tion, or any other question.

The production to which we refer is entitled " Dia-
logue on the Corn-laws, between a gentleman and a
farmer ;" and we are informed on the title-page—and
of course the information is

" true, as truth has ever been of late"—

that it " took place, nearly verbatim, on board a steam-
boat, between a gentleman and a farmer." As may be
expected, the so-called dialogue is a sadly one-sided
affair, the " gentleman" monopolising—as your free-
trader is rather apt to do—nearly the whole of the talk,
whilst the " farmer" is only allowed, with honest
Dogberry, to " write himself down an ass" at each
break in his companion's wind.

The first drift of the "gentleman" is to persuade
" Farmer Stupid" that the position of the British agri-
culturist possesses a great advantage over that of the
foreigner (a home market for his produce), and two
advantages over that of the manufacturer. The ad-
vantage over the foreigner is that the latter has " lOs.
15s. or 20s. per quarter" to pay as freight, &c., before
he can sell his corn in the British market; whilst the
native grower " adds this sum to the price of his corn
at the time he sells it, although he has been at neither
cost nor trouble in the matter." The worthy and
wonderstruck son of the soil professes that this "never
struck him so before," and no wonder ! The poor
fellow must be amazed to find that the produce of his
last year's crop has made him 10s., 155., or 20s. per
quarter richer than he ought to have been ! Then,
over the manufacturer, he has the advantage of
charging him this much more than the proper value of
his commodity, whilst the latter must pay it over
again before he can get the commodity of the foreigner;
—hence the advantage of the farmer is, two fold ! If
the corn of the foreigner could be brought to him
without carriage, he would pay for it, say 365.; but as
he has 10s. to pay for carriage, he opines that English
Hodge is twenty shillings into pocket, and not ten
only, when he gets for his article 465. ! This is the
twofold advantage.

In a similarly sophistical style the " gentleman"
humbugs Farmer Stupid upon the subject of tithes,
poor-rates, land-tax, highway-rates, and taxation in
general, until at length the poor fellow, evidently quite
out-talked, is driven to confess that "he thought he
was more burthened than he appears to be"—a happy
thing if his ingenious enlightener could persuade away
the burthens from the backs of some other people ;
—but the climax of the dialogue is that in which the
Leaguer propounds his mode of benefitting the agri-
cultural community by a total and immediate repeal of
protection. We shall give a portion of this in the lan-
guage of the dialogue itself.

Gentleman.—Let us next turn our eye upon the Polish
husbandman, clad in his dress of sheep skins. He grows
corn sufficient for his wants, and would be glad to exchange
it for the cottons of the Manchester weaver ; each is ready
to supply the needs of the other to their mutual advantage ;
but again the cupidity of the Corn Law interferes with its
protecting duty, and both are brought to a stand still.
Wide prospects are sometimes seen through small openings.
Reverse the picture, and suppose these men at liberty to ex-
change the products of their respective industry, an impulse
would immediately be given to foreign agriculture, distant
markets would be opened to our manufacturers, commerce
would increase, and all would participate in the general
benefit.

Farmer.—l am afraid not the farmer; his prices would
fall, and his trade would be ruined.

Gentleman,—lf so, it only proves the unsound and artifi-
cial position in which he stands, and which wants a remedy.
The natural result of the change would be this; the demand
fur foreign corn would enhance its price ; the price would
auament the value of land abroad ; an improved system of
culture would be introduced, better implements be required,
more labourers wanted, and higher wages paid ; these, an d
other concomitant circumstances, so far from tending to
lower our home prices of corn, would carry the _foreign price
up. And when to this we add the new demand for our ma-
nufactures, with the consequent stimulus that would be given
to British industry, instead of the thousands and tens of
thousands now emigrating for want of employ, and the nu-
merous manufacturing establishments formed and forming,
in self defence, in nearly all the European states, we should
be glad of our population at home at fair wages, and these
would form so many additional customers to the British far-
mer, and again INCREASE rather than diminish both the
price and consumption of his corn !
Now we rather imagine that if Farmer Stupid had
been possessed of any more intellect than a plough-
handle, he would have said to his flippant instructor,
" Sir, you prove too much, and amongst other things
you prove the existence of a feeling of self-interest,
which so high-minded a philosopher ought not to be
influenced by. You say that the first result of free
trade would be a benefit to the foreigner. It would
augment the value of land abroad ; and again, it would
carry the foreign price (of corn) up ! Very kind of
you this ; but then you hope that every shilling placed
in the pockets of the foreigner—every benefit derived
by him from your measures—is ultimately and imme-
diately to come home to you ! Here, sir, you ought to
have stopped ; for if you tell me that the price of
home-grown corn is to be INCREASED, rather than
diminished,—that an unlimited duty-free supply—an
immensely increased supply—will produce INCREASED
PRICES, you are guilty, in the first place, of a fraud
upon the people, whom you have gulled with the cry
of " Cheap Bread," and, in the next, of the most
glaring folly ever propounded by a man possessed of
reasoning powers !"
But it was not necessary for the farmer to say a
word ; for our " gentleman" proceeds to declare, as
plainly as words can declare, the fallacy of his own
promises of increased prices, and increased agricul-
tural prosperity, as the result of repeal. In reply to a
request from the farmer for, at the least, a " gradual
repeal," he says no ; for then " the landlord will put
off the adjustment of rent from year to year, and in
the end, probably, throw the whole of the loss, if there
be any, upon the tenant." But, on the contrary, if
the corn-law were immediately abolished, there would
be an instant adjustment of rents all over the kiugdom,"
with the adoption of the system of corn rents, im-
proved tillage, and we know not what besides. The

" instant adjustment," in question, would of course be
a measure perfectly practicable (!)—no less, in fact,
than the termination, by a universal scramble, or a
legislative robbery, of leases and every other engage-
ment under which the property of the kingdom is
held ; and this, whilst the very measure, which is to
call for such adjustment, is one which the league as-
sures us will INCREASE the price of wheat, and add to
the prosperity of the cultivator !
Enough of this paltry tract of the league. We crave
pardon of our readers for stooping to expose such con-
temptible trash, and can only urge, in apology, that it
is given to the world under the sanction of men who
must know the grossness of its falsehoods, and yet, so
knowing, are not ashamed to gather fools around their
cause by its utterance. This motive, too, we have for
bestowing a few words upon the document in ques-
tion. We wish to urge upon the few people amongst
the leaguers of our own town, who realty think upon
the question which they are agitating, the propriety of
reading the appeals circulated by that body, which, we
venture to say, will be found to contain perversions,
both of fact and of argument, which, as honest men,
they ought not to be seen countenancing. Will any of
our readers—will the league itself—favour us with a
complete set of their publications ? We shall make a
fair use of them.

INSCRIPTION ON AN OLD CHURCH BELL IN DURHAM.—
•".ro call the folks to Church in time,
I chime
When mirth and pleasure's on the wing,
I ring;
And when the body leaves the soul,
I toll."