the Corn Laws. Statute of mitting Ex 1436, per portation. History of try thus situated, a luxuriant crop, by its causing a great fall of price, is nearly as prejudicial to them as a scarcity; which, indeed, by its lessening the quantity sown next year, it seldom fails to induce. In most countries, however, these very simple considerations have been overlooked, and the export of corn, unless in years of extreme plenty, has been forbidden under the severest penalties. In the reigns immediately succeeding the conquest, this was the case in England; but, in 1436, in the reign of Henry VI. an act was passed permitting export without licence, whenever the price of wheat did not exceed 6s. 8d. (equal in amount of pure silver to 12s. 10 d. present money) per quarter, and barley 3s. 4d. In this act it is stated, that the previous regulations had obliged farmers to sell their corn at low prices, to the great prejudice of the whole kingdom. But, in addition to the reason here assigned for this important measure, we may observe, that, for a considerable time posterior to the conquest, rents were paid in kind, and the high or low price of raw produce could not, therefore, be reckoned a matter of so much importance to landlords, as it became after money rents were generally introduced. In Henry I.'s time, the rents of the Crown lands were paid in corn and other consumable commodities, and were only converted into pecuniary payments, in consequence of the great complaints made by the tenants of the inconveniences they suffered in bringing necessaries for the king's household from distant parts of the kingdom. (Eden's Inquiry into the State of the Poor, Vol. I. p. 55.) The same causes would doubtless affect, though in a less degree, the tenants of the great barons; and, when once money rents had been introduced, it was for the advantage of the proprietors that the obstacles tending to keep the price of corn from rising should be removed. A more favourable opportunity could not have been found to break down these restraints. Henry, weak and irresolute, with a disputed title to the throne, and a powerful competitor, could not, had he been so disposed, have made any effectual opposition to the change of the system on which the corn trade had previously been conducted. At the time when this act was passed, the prices of corn were exposed to fluctuations of which we can now form a very inadequate conception; and hence it is not easy to determine whether the exportation price of 6s. 8d. was above or below the medium price. While the trade of corn merchants and corn factors was unknown, or while it laboured under degrading restrictions, very little providence was exercised "Purchasers," the Corn Laws. in the distribution of the crops, and the superfluous History of produce of one year scarcely ever compensated for a deficiency in the crop of the next. says Sir F. M. Eden," who only looked to their immediate wants, having corn cheap, were naturally wasteful and improvident in the consumption; the price, therefore, almost invariably rose as the year advanced, and was frequently at an enormous height just before harvest; and, before a fresh supply could be obtained, the stock of the preceding year was often entirely exhausted." (Inquiry into the State of the Poor, Vol. I. p. 18.) Of this Sir Frederick has collected many instances; and he conjectures, seemingly with great probability, that the enthusiastic joy with which the rustic feast of harvest-home was anciently celebrated, arose chiefly from the almost constant fall that then took place in the price of corn. That the act of 1436 contributed to the advantage of the English agriculturists cannot be doubted; and having experienced the benefit of legislative interference in one instance, they were not slow in again having recourse to it. Not satisfied with this liberty of exporting, in the following reign (1463), Statute of they procured the enactment of a law prohibiting the 1463, proimportation of corn from abroad, until the home price hibiting Imexceeded the price at which exportation ceased. If portation. the uncertain and fluctuating policy of the times had permitted the proper execution of these laws, the restrictive system would thus early have been perfected, and, with the exception of the bounty, all the refinements of modern policy would have been in full operation. In practice, however, they were almost inoperative, and a long period elapsed ere the agriculturists succeeded in obtaining a real monopoly of the home market. (Dirom's Inquiry, p. 34.) Until the reign of Elizabeth, these acts nominally regulated the prices at which the export and import of corn might take place. In that period, however, the coin had not only been greatly degraded, but in the latter part of the 15th and in the 16th centuries, the value of silver, owing to the discovery of the American mines, was rapidly falling throughout Europe. The consequent rise of prices, as it could not, in a nearly stationary state of society, and when ca pital was but slowly accumulating, be speedily followed by a corresponding rise of wages, must necessarily have been productive of much general distress. But neither the government nor the people seem to have been at all aware of this being the real cause of the rise of money prices, and of the extraordinary increase of pauperism in this interval. It was not yet known that silver may fall in value, In 1436 the pound Sterling contained as much pure silver as is now contained in L. 1, 18s. 9d. In 1464 the value of the pound Sterling was reduced to L.1, 11s. present money, at which sum it remained stationary until 1527, when it was reduced to L. 1, 7s. 6d. present money. In 1543 the previous value of the coin was again reduced about one-seventh part, or to L. 1, 3s. 34d. present money. In the ten years subsequent to this era, the process of degradation advanced with unparalleled rapidity; the weight of the coin was not only diminished, but the standard purity of the metal itself was debased, so that in 1551 the pound Sterling only contained as much silver as is now contained in 4s. 73d. In 1552, the last year of the reign of Edward VI. the standard was again restored to its former purity; but the weight of the coin, and consequently the quantity of pure silver which it contained, was at the same time reduced about one-seventh below its weight in 1543, and hence the value of a pound Sterling in 1552 corresponded to L.1, Os. 6d. the Com Laws. History of and that this fall must always be attended by a proportionate rise in the money price of the commodities for which it is exchanged. Instead, therefore, of ascribing the enhancement of prices to the degradation of the coin, or to the greater plenty of gold and silver, it was universally affirmed to be owing to the decay of tillage, and to the improper practices of cornmerchants; and many now obsolete statutes for the improvement of tillage, and the laws against engrossing, forestalling, &c. owe their origin to the absurd attempts then made to lower the price of corn. Statutes a That the complaints respecting the decay of tillage were very ill-founded, appears pretty evident. The great foreign demand for English wool, the export of which was not then prohibited, had caused the consolidation of some small farms and the more general introduction of enclosures. But this fact, so far from being any proof of this decay, affords satisfactory evidence of the accumulation of capital, and shows that some improvement had already taken place in agriculture. * The increase in the size of farms is, no doubt, always disagreeable to the lower classes; and being then attended with a great rise of prices, raised the popular indignation to such a pitch, that, in the reign of Edward VI. the greater part of the inclosures were violently demolished. As might have been foreseen, the statutes directing the extension of tillage effected nothing; unfortunately, how ever, the statutes against engrossing were not quite so inefficient. By the statute 5th and 6th of Edward VI. cap. gainst Fore- 14, it was enacted, That whoever should buy any stalling and Engrossing corn or grain, with intent to sell it again, should be reputed an unlawful engrosser, and should, for the first fault, suffer two months imprisonment, and forfeit the value of the corn; for the second suffer six months imprisonment, and forfeit double the value; and for the third, be set in the pillory, suffer im prisonment during the King's pleasure, and forfeit all History of That very little opposition should have been made But, as society improved, and as the principles of commerce were better understood, the bad effects of these laws became apparent. The statute of 1548 was considerably modified in 1624, and at last, by the 15th of Charles II. cap. 7, the engrossing or buying of corn, in order to sell it again, as long as present money. Since that period the standard has undergone almost no variation, either as to weight or It therefore appears, that between 1527 and 1552, the value of the pound Sterling was reduced from * In 1553 an act was passed, restraining the number of sheep to be kept in one flock to 2000. It is mentioned in that act, that some proprietors had then flocks of 24,000 sheep. Anderson states, that in 1551 no fewer than 60 ships sailed from Southampton for the Netherlands, loaded with wool. History of Commerce, Vol. II. p. 89. the Corn Laws. History of the price of wheat did not exceed 48s. the quarter, was declared lawful to all persons, not being forestallers, that is, not selling again in the same market within three months; an act, as Dr Smith has justly observed, which, with all its imperfections, has contributed more, both to the plentiful supply of the home market, and to the increase of tillage, than any other law in the statute book. The act of Henry VI. regulating the export prices of corn was again renewed, but without any variation in the rates, in the reign of Philip and Mary. As the coin, however, had, in the interim, been greatly degraded, of course exportation could not now take place, until the price had really fallen much lower than the price of 1436. This act, like that against engrossing, was no doubt framed with a view of reducing the rising money price of corn, and of quieting the discontent then prevalent among the labouring classes; although, by shackling and discouraging cultivation, its real effects must have been extremely different. In 1562 the prices at which exportation might take place, were extended to 10s. per quarter for wheat, and 6s. 8d. for barley and malt. This scale, however, was soon after abandoned; and in 1570 it was enacted, That corn might be exported from particular districts; wheat paying a duty of 1s. and other grain of 8d. per quarter, whenever no prohibition to the contrary had been issued by government: And that the Lord Presidents, and coun cils for shires, and the Justices of Assize, at their different sessions, should consult with the respectable inhabitants of the counties, and determine whether any exportation could with propriety be allowed. The curious provisions of this act, whereby corn might be exported from one part of the country, at the Corn Laws. the same time that its exportation was prohibited in History of Laws. It deserves to be remarked, that the check given Origin of to cultivation by the injudicious imposition of heavy the Poor duties on the export of corn, and still more, the rapid depreciation of the value of money in the reign of Elizabeth, caused an astonishing rise in the price of commodities. A contemporary author, quoted by Mr Hume, estimates this rise in the 20 or 30 years previous to 1581, at no less than 50 per cent.; but as wages could not increase in proportion, pauperism became very general; and this circumstance, combined with the excessively high prices of 1596, 1597, and 1598, occasioned the enactment of the famous statute of 1601, which has served as a basis to the whole of the present English system for sup porting and managing the poor. * *The contemporary author quoted by Mr Hume (Hist. of England, Vol. V. p. 485), and by Sir F. M. Eden (State of the Poor, Vol. I. p. 119), says, that, in 1581, it required L. 200 to keep as good a house as might have been kept 16 years before for 200 merks, or L. 133, 6s. 8d.-" Cannot you remember," says he, "that within these 30 years I could, in this town, buy the best pig or goose I could lay my hands on for 4d., which now costeth 12d.; a good capon for 3d. or 4d.; a chicken for a 1d.; a hen for 2d., &c. Now a payre of shooes costs 12d.; yet in my time I have bought a better for 6d."-Latimer, in his Sermons, ascribes this increase of price to landlords raising their rents. "Notwithstanding," says he, "God doth send us plentifully the fruits of the earth mercifully according to our desertes, these rich men causeth such dearth, that poore men, which live of their labour, cannot with the sweat of their face have a living, all kinde of victuals is so dear."-A variety of passages to the same import may be found in other contemporary authors quoted by Sir F. M. Eden, and by Mr Smith in his Memoirs of Wool. This extraordinary advance of prices, caused partly by the degradation of the coin, but more by the fall of the exchangeable value of the precious metals themselves, as it must have very far exceeded the rate at which capital, and consequently the demand for labour, was then increasing, would, even on the supposition that wages had been left to find their own level, and to be adjusted on the principles of fair competition, have been attended with a very great deterioration in the circumstances of the labouring classes. But positive enactments were framed to prevent their increase; and while the money price of all sorts of commodities was advancing with unprecedented rapidity, wages were violently kept down to very near their former level. By the statute 11th Henry VII, c. 22, regulating the wages of labour, a common labourer was allowed 4d per diem, from Easter to Michaelmas; and taking the average prices of wheat, rye, and barley at that period at 6s. 8d. 4s. and 3s. per quarter, respectively, it will follow that a labourer who had 4d. a day, could earn a quarter of wheat by twenty days labour, a quarter of rye by twelve days labour, and a quarter of barley by nine days labour. But in the latter part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the labourer's situation was very different. The prices of corn may be supposed to have nearly corresponded with the rates at which exportation was al History of the Corn Laws. No alteration was made in the amount of the duties payable on the export of corn, during the pacific reign of James I.; but the prices at which exportation might take place, were, after some trifling alteration in 1604, fixed in 1623 at the high rate of 32s. the quarter for wheat, and 16s. the quarter for malt and barley. In this and the preceding reigns, and for a considerable time afterwards, the importation of corn continued unrestricted; and notwithstanding the improvement of agriculture, the nation was then partially dependent for supplies of food on the trade with the Baltic and other countries. During the agitations of the civil wars, the people of England, intensely occupied in endeavouring to throw off, or at least to restrict and modify the royal authority, paid no regard to the corn trade. But this inattention does not seem to have been attended with any bad effects. The high prices of that turbulent period, if they were not altogether caused by a fall in the value of the coin, which, previous to the Corn Laws, the recoinage under Cromwell, had been very much History of On the restoration of Charles II. in 1660, an act Statute of Mr Dirom's opinion that the prohibitory duties on exportation were the chief causes of the high prices of this and the two following seasons, seems lowed by statute 35th Eliz. c. 7, that is, wheat probably averaged 20s. a quarter, rye 13s. 4d. and barley This extraordinary rise in the price of provisions, attended as it was by no proportionable rise in the The following extract from Dr Burn's Justice of Peace (Vol. III. p. 608), shows, in a very distinct man- In a tract published in 1611, the author dwells with great earnestness on the extreme dearth of victuals. Statute of 1670. Bounty Act. This view of the matter appears to have been the same with that which had occurred to Parliament; and in 1663 the high duties on importation were again taken off, and an ad valorem duty of 9 per cent. imposed in their stead. At the same time, the exportation price of wheat was extended to 48s. per quarter, chargeable with a duty of 5s. 4d. and other grain in proportion. This act, however, by permitting the import of foreign grain on paying a moderate duty, not being reckoned sufficiently advantageous to the landholders, a more decided step was subsequently taken, and in 1670 exportation prices were extended to 53s. 4d. per quarter for wheat, and other grain in proportion, while import duties, amounting to a complete prohibition, were imposed on foreign wheat till the home price reached 53s. 4d. and between that price and 80s. a duty of 8s. was exigible. But this law, though extremely favourable to the agriculturists, by whom indeed it had been framed, did not perfectly correspond with their wishes. The neces sities of the Crown had still caused the continuance of the impolitic duties on exportation, and the prohibition of importation was rendered to a certain extent nugatory, by the want of any proper and settled method for ascertaining prices. Groundless complaints of the decay of agriculture, and of the evils of foreign competition, were therefore continued, and gave occasion to the act of 1685, designed more effectually to check the import of corn from abroad, by securing correct returns of the prices. We have now reached a period no less memorable in the economical, than in the political history of Great Britain. The era of the granting of a BOUNTY on the export of corn, and of the establishment of our civil liberties, is the same. The Prince of Orange could not, had he been so inclined, have opposed any obstacles to the wishes of the landed interest, who then constituted the immense majority of Parliament, on this particular subject. Whether or not the court really approved of this measure, cannot now be ascertained; but whatever might have been William's private sentiments, it was necessary for him to give way to the inclinations of the men who had so lately raised him to a throne, and on whose assistance he was chiefly to depend, in prosecuting his war against France. The bounty payable under the act 1st William and Mary, c. 12, amounted to 5s. for every quarter of wheat exported, while the price continued at or below 48s.; 2s. 6d. for every quarter of barley or malt, while their price did not exceed 24s.; and Ss. 6d. for every quarter of rye, when the price did not exceed 32s. A still more essential advantage was shortly after conferred on agriculture, by the act 11th and 12th William III. cap. 20, which repealed all the previous duties on corn exported, and prevented the operation of the bounty from being in the slightest degree counteracted. No alteration having been made in the prices and duties regulating the importation of foreign corn, as fixed by the act of 1670; and the duties being rigorously exacted, the act repealing the duties on exportation completed the restrictive system. Every part of this complex machine was now in operation; and while no foreigner was allowed to contend with our own home growers, the liberality of the state enabled them to contend with foreigners, even when the price of corn in Great Britain was considerably higher than its price abroad! History of the Corn Laws. The policy adopted in Scotland, respecting the Scottish trade in corn, had been nearly the same with that of Corn Laws. England. Previous to 1663, the importation of corn into this kingdom was permitted without limitation or duties (Dirom, p. 61); but in that year it was loaded with an ad valorem duty of about 40 per cent. ; while its free export was allowed, on payment of a trifling duty, until the prices exceeded those mentioned below. This duty was afterwards relinquished, and a bounty granted by the statute William, Par. 1. c. 32. At length, by the Treaty of Union, the corn laws of both kingdoms were incorporated, and it was settled, that "the allowances, encouragements, and drawbacks, prohibitions, restrictions, and regulations of trade, and the customs and duties on import and export, settled in England when the union commences, shall, from and after the union, take place throughout the whole United Kingdom." Oats not having been mentioned in the English statute granting the bounty, it was here declared, that whenever oats did not exceed the price of 15s. sterling per quarter, there should be paid a bounty of 2s. 6d. for every quarter of oatmeal imported. Whatever may have been the ultimate consequen- Effects of ces of the bounty act, there can be no doubt it was the Bounty framed with a view to enhance the value of corn. Act. In the preamble to this celebrated statute, it is stated, "that the exportation of corn and grain into foreign parts, when the price thereof is at a Low rate in this kingdom, hath been a great advantage, not only to the owners of land, but to the trade of this kingdom in general." It would, indeed, be extremely absurd to suppose that the landed interest should have unanimously and earnestly urged the enactment of a law, if it had been imagined to have any tendency to lower the exchangeable value of agricultural produce.. That the bounty had in fact no such tendency, we shall afterwards endeavour to show, but at present we shall only offer a few observations, explana * Wheat L. 12 Scots per boll; bear and barley L. 8 do.; oats and pease 8 merks. |