oduce of the country has been immensely increased, and
particularly in the valuable article of wheat, the annual production of
which is now nearly equal to its greatest annual consumption. Such is
the supply of wheat that the very lowest order of the people subsist
mostly upon it; which is not, I believe, the practice in any other
country. The practice is not known any where else; it is not known in
France; it is not known in Germany; it is not known in the Netherlands;
nor is it, in short, the case any where else. In fact, the lower orders
live upon wheaten bread in no country of the world except England. I
entreat your lordships to bear this in mind; I entreat you not to break
down a system which has carried cultivation to such a pitch, that an
amount of produce is raised in England, alone, which is found to be
nearly equal to her greatest annual consumption. I think the annual
amount of produce will increase. This is my firm belief; and I am
confident that with the increase of produce there must come, and come
naturally too, a corresponding decrease of price; and it is to that
consequence that I look as being the solution of all the difficulties
which at present attend this question. But, let your lordships
recollect, it is absolutely necessary to keep up this encouragement in
order to arrive at the desired result of the reduction of price. Very
lately, when wheat in this country was at 78s. the quarter, and the duty
on importation was a merely nominal one of 1s. a quarter, was there any
such quantity of foreign wheat introduced as was sufficient to lower the
price? Not at all. The moment the ports were opened, the merchant
importer stood on the same ground as the farmer, and he would not sell
his corn for 1s. less than the price of the day. Did we ever hear of
corn coming in from abroad, and being brought to market at a cheaper
rate than it was selling for in this country? Never. But look to the
operation of the law prevailing in the former part of the war; the
prices varied from 70s. to 150s. the quarter. Did we ever hear of
foreign corn being sold for 1s. less than what could be got for it in
the general markets of this country? It must be sold by the merchant
importer at the very same price as by the farmer. It is all very fine to
say that the price would be exceedingly low, if these laws were
abolished, and corn were allowed to be introduced without restriction.
Why, if the price of corn raised in this country wer