WITH A DEDICATION TO THE MANCHESTER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. BY THE AUTHOR OF THE CATECHISM ON THE CORN LAWS. Second Edition. LONDON: Published by EFFINGHAM WILSON, 18, Bishopsgate-Street. Printed by T. C. HANSARD, 32, Paternoster-Row. Price Sixpence. 1839. 1222. would soon have had an outcry against population, and an Emigration Committee; and Shem, Ham, and Japhet would If Noah had shut himself up in his ark, and let his family eat nothing but what could be grown upon his decks, he It can make no difference except in the size of the experiment, whether men are confined to the corn of an ark or have been distressed manufacturers.' of an island.-Catechism on the Corn Laws. p. 26. TO THE MEMBERS OF THE MANCHESTER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. GENTLEMEN, It is now twelve years, since the "Catechism on the Corn Laws" was the commencement of a series of attacks on the twaddling tyranny of the landed interest, which have been continued with perseverance, and, for the labour of a single individual, with some success. Great advantages have been found derivable from the plan, of assailing from time to time the current fallacies of the day. The dispute had always the grace of freshness; the reader who was satisfied with the exposure of one fallacy, was naturally led to the examination of more; no demand was made upon him for beginning at a particular point, or referring to a distant argument; and the writer had an unlimited opportunity of amending and reinforcing whatever might have been feebly supported, or imperfectly expressed. It cannot be thought strange, that his latest effort in this kind, should at the present moment be dedicated to you. On some of the consequences of the Corn Laws, particularly their effects upon families of the commercial classes, the course of the adversaries' arguments does not appear to have led to any direct discussion in the present sample. The liberty has consequently been taken, of adding in an Appendix some letters from the published correspondence of the writer with the Liberals of Hull during the time he was their representative, in which these parts of the subject were more immediately under review. A great blow in favour of commercial freedom, has been struck by the proceedings in which the Chamber of Manchester has so honourably taken the lead. The grand object now, is to guard against the attempts which will be made to preserve some remnant of the wrong. False brethren will spring up in all directions, offering their services on condition of being allowed to leave a nest egg. No concession will be too small to be accepted; and none will be so small, as not to be attended with serious loss and damage to the just interests of the community, if the moment is not seized for making a clear riddance while the public feeling is alive. To this end, nothing (if long attention to the controversy can justify the expression of an opinion) will be effectual, except a demand for retribution on the landed interest, in the shape of a tax to be gradually imposed on home-grown corn, after the removal of all duty on foreign, and continued for three-and-twenty years unless commuted for a perpetual tax on rent, of equal value, regard being had to the perpetuity of the one and the limited duration of the other. Nothing but a demand of this nature, will bring into fair and full discussion the claim which any one interest can have to enrich itself through the taxation of another. This and nothing else, will throw a broad light on the desperate injustice and cruelty of the past system, by forcing the landlords to expatiate upon the reasons why they resist the perpetuation of a similar system on themselves. That the Chamber of Manchester may be the first to take this further step towards making Great Britain a commercial country, is the earnest desire of, GENTLEMEN, Your very obedient Servant, T. PERRONET THOMPSON. 13, Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park. 1 January, 1839. CORN-LAW FALLACIES, WITH THE ANSWERS. (FROM THE "SUN NEWSPAPER.") THE only effective way to meet the fallacies perseveringly put forward on the important subject of the Corn Laws, is, to collect them patiently as they appear, and publish them with the answers. In pursuance of this plan, the author of the following replies has, in the course of something more than eleven years, collected and published between seven and eight hundred; and the crop seems still to be as plentiful as ever. 1.-Would not an admission of foreign corn cause a great extent of British land to be put out of tillage, and, by consequence, a great number of agricultural labourers to be put out of employment? - Standard, Aug. 18, 1838. Answer. It would cause a certain extent to be put out of tillage, just as, if Manchester was walled up, and the people fed with corn grown in flower-pots and on the tops of houses, opening the gates would cause the flower-pots to be put out of tillage, and the labourers employed on them to be put out of employment. But for one gallon of corn so prevented from being grown in flower-pots, ten would be brought in. through the gates; and for one flower-pot cultivator thrown out of employment, ten honest men would be called into employment some other way. Ask the people of Manchester what they think of the experiment. 2.-Would not these labourers be thrown into the supply of manufacturing labourers, to look for employment ?—Id. A.-Undoubtedly. But the people of Manchester would be enormous fools if they resisted the opening of their gates, for fear of having the labourers on flower-pots thrown on them for employment. If every one of these labourers, with their descendants, were to be kept by public subscription in secula seculorum, there would be no persuading the men of Manchester to keep fast their gates for fear of such a consummation. 3. Would not the effect of a reduction in the price of grain be to cause wages to be reduced in full proportion, under the operation of a Poor Law, which has screwed down wages to the starving place," whatever that place-in other words, whatever the price of bread-may be ?—Id. A. The reduction in the price of grain would cause wages to be reduced, but not in full proportion. To make it clearer, begin with the converse case. Suppose that in a country where there were no Corn Laws, the landlords were to come to the working classes and say, "Let us cut off your supplies of foreign corn, and when there is half as much corn as there was, the price of corn will rise; and wages, you know, will rise too, and then you will be as well off as before." Would not the working classes immediately reply, "Do you mean to tell us, who are the great consumers of corn, that after you have diminished the supply of corn one-half, wages are to rise till they give us as much corn out of the half as they did of the whole? No, no; your plan is to get two days' work out of us for a gallon of corn, instead of one." And by the contrary rule, if the quantity of corn was increased, it would be impossible that the wages of the working classes should fall so as to give them the power of buying no more corn than before; for if so, how is all the corn to be sold? A Poor Law may screw down wages to the "starving place "when the employment of the working classes is cut off by the stoppage of foreign trade; but the way to put an end to the serew," is to open the sources of employment, and allow England to be a commercial country, B 66 |