CHAP. XXI. 1826. xv. 334, 336. a quarter of wheat from Poland to this country is 19s., which of itself fully compensates the difference of prices in labour, and affords an ample protection to the British agriculturist. On the other hand, if they persisted in their present course for some time longer, it 1 Par, Deb. required no great penetration to see that, on the first succession of bad seasons, we shall be involved in the most frightful calamities."1 37. Sir Francis Burdett. On the other hand, it was contended, in a most able Answer by speech by Sir Francis Burdett, who took an unexpected part on this question: "I shall vote for the motion to go into inquiry, but from very different motives from those from which it is brought forward. I am convinced that the particular interests of the landholder and the general interests of the country are the same, and that they do not consist in that which the motion contemplates. The welfare of society is best promoted, not by employing a great number of hands to produce a comparatively small surplus for the use of the other classes of society, but by creating a large surplus by the skilful and well-directed labour of a few. The great and striking proof of the prosperity of the country is comprised in the fact, that, with the small number of hands employed in agriculture, not exceeding a third of the whole, they raise enough to maintain themselves and all the rest in prosperity and abundance; for such, notwithstanding partial and passing visitations, is the general condition of the people of this country. The result of the labours of the agriculturist exhibits a spectacle not equalled in any other country in the world, that a third of the inhabitants raise food for double their own numbers besides themselves a state of things quite unexampled, and which is the real cause of our acknowledged superiority in commerce and manufactures, as well as in the power of capital, over any other nation. "Look at France. Four-fifths of the entire population, which amounts in all to thirty millions, is employed XXI. 1826. 38. in agriculture, and the remainder in manufactures and CHAP. other pursuits. It may be judged from this circumstance in what a wretched state the agriculture of that country must be, and how inferior to that of this country. The Continued. infinite subdivision of landed property, and the consequent poverty of the cultivators, is the cause of this state of things in both interests; for how can the manufacturers be prosperous if their customers in the country are in a state of destitution, or the cultivators be affluent if they have not a ready market in towns for their produce? Nothing can be clearer than that there is, and ever must be, only one interest between the manufacturers and the farmers, for they mutually depend on each other for the disposal of their produce. The only reason why England has so large a body of manufacturers, the only reason why she is able to support them, is that her agriculturists produce, with so little labour, comparatively speaking, so much more than is needed for their own consumption. The more the agriculturist's labour produces, the more he has to sell to the manufacturer; the less exertion the manufacturer has to lay out upon his commodity, the more the agriculturist receives in exchange. 39. "It is said, on the other side, Give the manufacturer cheap bread, and he will give you cheap commodities; Continued. but those who reason thus do not consider that the words cheap' and dear' are relative terms, and, applied in either way, become convertible. To say that manufactures are dear, is to say that corn is cheap, and vice verså. Both trades might flourish; the greater and easier production of both was an advantage to both; but that the produce of both should be dear when they came to mutual exchange is impossible. Those who are disposed to endanger the safety of agricultural property are shortsighted in their views of their own advantage, since they stop the source from which their own chief means of existence are derived. Without the agricultural pro XXI. 1826. CHAP. duce, it would be impossible for the manufacturer to live; and the same may be said of the merchant, the lawyer, the men of literature and science, who are the ornament of society, and all other classes. It is of no consequence to the working people what is the price of corn, provided their wages keep the same level; and the only effect of the low price of corn, for which the manufacturers so strenuously contend, will be low profits to the agricultural classes, and with them diminished purchases from, and low wages to, the manufacturing. 40. Already the truth of these principles has become Concluded. apparent. From Glasgow, Manchester, Bradford, Paisley, we hear of nothing but stagnation in trade,' and 'heavy low prices;' complaints which come with a very bad grace from those who are using every endeavour to bring about a heavy low price' in corn. The price of corn, as of every other article of commerce, measured in money, depends, on an average of years, entirely on the plenty or scarcity of the currency; but the real valuethat is, the exchangeable value, as measured by other commodities depends upon an entirely different thing, viz., the quantity which the country had of surplus produce. The manufacturers complain of the high price of corn; but would the free trade in grain, for which they contend, better their condition, if their wages fell in the same proportion? If free trade in grain is to be admitted, there must be free trade in everything else; but how is this possible, when the half of our public income, and the whole funds for payment of the interest of the national debt, are derived from duties on imported articles? And if such duties must be maintained-that is, the industry employed in their production be protected-what is repealing the Corn Laws but singling out one great interest in 1 Parl. Deb. the country for destruction, while the others are preserved 368; Ann. and cherished? The Corn Laws may be, and probably are, an evil; but they arise necessarily from our social position repeal all import duties, or none."1 xv. 364, Reg. 1826, 46, 48. XXI. 1826. 41. the ques interim ad grain. Ministers resisted the motion, not on its general merits, CHAP. but on the inconvenience of going into such a general question, involving such weighty interests, at an advanced period of the session, and on the eve of a general election. Division on The motion to go into a committee at that time accord- tion, and ingly was lost by a very large majority, the numbers mission of being 215 to 81. The Government, however, pledged foreign themselves to go into the whole question early next session; and as the distress of the manufacturing classes, owing to the sudden contraction of the currency, continued without mitigation, and alarming riots had taken place in several districts, particularly Lancashire, in which power-looms to a great extent were destroyed, and which were not suppressed without loss of life, it was deemed indispensable to adopt some measures calculated to afford immediate relief. With this view a bill was introduced, and carried by 214 to 82, allowing wheat to the extent of 500,000 quarters to be introduced at a duty of 10s. a quarter, and inferior grains at lower duties; and another, empowering Government during the recess to admit foreign grain during a limited. time and at a limited duty, was also, as a temporary measure, though with great difficulty, carried through both Houses. Surprise was expressed by many members that last year, when the price of corn was 8s. a quarter higher than at present, Ministers asked for no such powers; but the reason was obvious-there were then high prices and no distress. The monetary crisis and contraction of the cur- 1826, 51, rency had since intervened, and they invariably begat the Deb. xv. cry for cheap bread, in ignorance of the fact that, if got, 988. it is the very way to prolong and extend the suffering.1 1 Ann. Reg. 54; Parl. 954, 965, Sir Francis SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, who spoke so ably on, and took 42. so unexpected a view of this question, was a very remark- Character of able man, whose character deserves to be drawn, not only Burdett. from the prominent part which, during a long parliamentary career, he took in public affairs, but from his being, as it were, the type of a class of men peculiar to England at XXI. 1826. CHAP. that period, and which since has become well-nigh extinct. Descended from an ancient family, and inheriting a noble estate, he was a favourable example of the old English country gentleman. Passionately fond of field sports, his time was divided between hunting and politics. A commanding figure, a ready flow of language, and powerful elocution, gave him that power over his auditory which such qualities seldom fail to confer; and as his principles were extreme on the popular side, he was for a quarter of a century the idol of the democratic party. His ample estates lay in Derbyshire; but he was too great a favourite with the populace to be permitted to come in quietly for a county, and " England's pride and Westminster's glory" stood forward as the champion of that great democratic constituency which he long represented in Parliament. He vehemently opposed the Castlereagh administration, and contended for Parliamentary Reform, Catholic Emancipation, a reduction of expenditure, and all the objects which the popular party at that time had at heart. But he was far from being the slave of the republicans. He inherited from his Norman ancestors all their independent spirit, and was equally inclined to resist oppression when it appeared in the encroachments of a popular assembly as in the stretches. of arbitrary power. His long lead of democratic constituencies had rendered him somewhat fond of theatrical effect; and when his house was forced open, under the Speaker's warrant, in 1810, for a libel on the House of Commons, and he was conducted to the Tower, he was found quietly seated in his library hearing his son translate Magna Charta. His powers of eloquence were of the very highest order; second to none in the House of Commons in the days of Pitt and Fox, of Brougham and Canning. The preceding skeleton of his speech proves that he was capable of mastering the most intricate questions of political economy. His extreme political principles kept him at a distance from power during his long parliamentary career, but his |