The

Laws, the victors have rested for a time from their labours; reasonably judging that other and minor obstacles must necessarily and speedily disappear. But, if their opponents, deceived by such appearances, should again take heart and enter the field with any show of power, it needs no gift of prophecy to foretell that the former discomfiture of the Protectionists is as nothing, compared with that to which they would now be subjected. However great the ability and determination of the men whose time and talents and money were so successfully employed in bringing about the changes which were consummated in 1846, we are satisfied that a far greater amount of energy and far greater means would be instantly brought forward, in order to maintain the ground which was gained on that occasion, as soon as any reasonable fear should be entertained that an attempt to recover it was about to be made in earnest. Anti-Corn-Law League, under a more comprehensive title and with more extensive objects, would start at once into full activity; not, as before, from small beginnings and with a gradual development of strength, but with the power and dimensions of a giant, with fully organised plans of action, and with more than half the work already done to its hand. Can it be supposed that under such circumstances it would again lay down its weapons, until not only a second victory should have been obtained, but security for the future should be guaranteed, by such other measures as must put an end to the possibility of similar disturbance for the future? In the contest which would then be carried on, the Free Trade party would probably find itself greatly strengthened, and the protectionists be as greatly weakened, by the passing over to the ranks of the former, of a large-perhaps of the largest-proportion of the tenant farmers. It is true there have of late been numerous meetings of alarmist farmers, and much violent language uttered. But, as a body, no class, we suspect, has been more enlightened by the former contest and its results. They are generally now aware, that the higher prices sought to be attained through protective duties fall in no degree to their share, except during the currency of existing leases, comparatively few in number, these in the southern part of Great Britain forming the exception and not the rule-but that they are appropriated by their landlords. It is absurd to suppose, that they are likely to be more willing than the rest of their fellow-citizens, to renounce the advantages which Free Trade measures have placed within their reach, through the cheapening of many articles of their daily consumption; and especially through the bettered condition of that large and constantly increasing class of customers, whose industry has by

those means been rendered more productive. Symptoms of this change, which cannot be mistaken, and which it will be most imprudent in the landlord-class to disregard, are continually showing themselves and have of late on various occasions found expression where they were least expected.

The following remarks are not intended so much to renew the general argument in favour of removing restrictions and abolishing protection, or to show by reasoning that the benefit of the whole community will in this manner be most promoted, as to prove that Free Trade measures have already actually conferred that benefit upon the British public.

The cry of failure is, no doubt, loudest at present on the part of those who hold themselves out as the agricultural interest, a title which it has been well said they are no more justified in adopting, than the owner of a ship would be justified in calling himself a seaman. The cry is raised chiefly by the owners of land, who conceive, upon slender and erroneous grounds, that the competition in our markets by foreign producers of food will seriously reduce the rentals of their estates. To the actual farmer of the land it is a matter of comparative indifference whether prices be permanently high or low; save, that under high prices he is always in a condition of greater insecurity, because the prices of what he has to sell will be from various causes always subject to depression, while the prices of the articles which he must buy may be kept at a high level. There is a large part too of the produce of every farm which is consumed on the farm itself, and it is obvious that, with regard to this proportion, the price in the market is immaterial. Almost every farmer, too, is a buyer as well as a seller of agricultural produce in some form or other; and has consequently a direct interest in obtaining the supply of his wants at moderate prices. It is the price of what may be denominated his surplus produce alone which can affect him. Since last year's harvest, it is true that over part of the kingdom the prices for such surplus produce have been unremunerative; with this, however, the repeal of the Corn Law is to no great degree justly chargeable, but the nature of the season. If the Corn Law of 1815 were now in force, we should, no doubt, see a very different scale of market prices from those which actually rule. The quantity of wheat harvested in 1848 having been short and below the wants of the kingdom,-in case all relief to the consumers were denied until the average price should reach 80s. per quarter, the prices for the damp and sprouted wheat of home growth must for some time have been so high, as to cause the most wide-spread misery among the whole working population of Great Britain. The

social and political consequences of such a state of things it is frightful to contemplate. With the importation of wheat virtually free, we have seen prices of sound foreign grain full 20 per cent. higher for months together than the average prices of wheat of English growth; a proof that the low prices complained of by our farmers are the consequence, as already stated, of an adverse season. In ordinary seasons English wheat is better and sells higher than wheat of foreign growth; the price of good English grain throughout the kingdom being equal to the price of the very finest Dantzig wheat imported, and higher than the price of almost every other description,-it being well known that none but the better qualities of their respective growths are shipped to us from abroad, unless after a very disastrous harvest in this country. Under the greatly modified Corn Law of 1842, the duty payable on foreign wheat would for some months past have been 20s. per quarter; and it might be supposed, that to admit of importations, subject to that rate of duty, our market price for English wheat must necessarily have been 19s. per quarter higher in price than it has been since the duty has been reduced to 1s. And, under the circumstances attending ordinary seasons, this would have been the case; but it by no means follows that it would have been so in this instance. It is the general belief that no great profits have attended the importations of foreign corn into this country since last harvest. On which supposition the additional duty would have had to be added to the price of the importations so as to render them possible. But it might well happen, that our millers having to pay so much more for dry sound grain,—without a considerable proportion of which they could not use the damp and inferior wheat, the growth of England-would not have been able to afford even the prices, low as they have been, which they have paid to the English farmers;-a result of protection which would have proved the reverse of favourable to the latter.

That agricultural distress exists in the southern portion of the kingdom cannot indeed be denied; neither would it be correct to assert that this distress is altogether owing to an unfavourable season. We grant that it is in some degree attributable to the measure which has set free our trade in corn-and which came into full operation on the 1st of February in the present year. But all changes of importance, which affect great bodies of men, occasion for a time uneasiness and difficulty in many ways. What then? Are we bound therefore to persist in an injurious course of policy, because persons, whose arrangements have been made in accordance with it, may be subjected to incon

venience and loss by the change? The copyists, whose most important and useful branch of industry was annihilated in the thirteenth century by the invention of printing, were for a time most deeply injured by that great invention; but nobody pretends, that the printing press should have been abandoned out of tenderness for their condition. It is the same with the whole history of machinery-and of almost every form of progress. The case of copyists, and of all other labourers whom machinery has displaced, was, in fact, far more distressing, and their claim for consideration far more legitimate than any which can be set up on the part of our farmers, by the wildest advocate for protection. The profession of the copyist, thus irremediably ruined, was not one which had grown up and flourished under laws artificially framed for its protection; and which was therefore obviously liable to be deprived of its particular advantages, as soon as the legislature should have learned that any such protection was injustice to others—a condition inseparably connected with all protected interests. The present distress among the farmers, however, is far from being universal. In districts, where the harvest of 1848 was got in in good order, the prices obtained, although not high, have been fairly remunerative; and this has been the case through the greater part of the northern counties of England and generally in Scotland,-where the cry of agricultural distress is not now heard, and where farms, the leases of which have just expired, have been in several instances renewed at advanced rents. That the partial distress, however arising, which now exists will be lasting, we do not for a moment believe. While, among its consequences, we anticipate an earlier system of arrangements between landlords and tenants; by which more liberty of action will be left to the latter in the cultivation of their holdings, and more security be given them by means of leases, so that they may enjoy the full advantage of the employment of their capital in permanent improvements. When these points are once accomplished, it is not unreasonable to expect that the recurring complaints on the part of farmers, which have continually troubled the country from the passing of the highly restrictive Corn Law of 1815 down to the present time, may become less frequent and less intense. That, in a rich, populous, and rapidly progressive country like England, the condition of its agriculturists should be one of continued loss and disappointment, is a fear in which we can never share. The difficulty, in which the farmers are now partially placed, is in no case greater than they have again and again experienced under protection; and when no cause so explanatory of the mischief as the unfavourable season of 1848 could be adduced.

We feel justified, therefore, in expressing our belief, that, if Free Trade be in some degree answerable for the present distress, it is chiefly so on account of the disturbance in men's minds through the change of system; and that, consequently, it must speedily pass away.

That the producers of food in this country will in future obtain the high prices they have been accustomed to receive for their produce, is not indeed to be expected; but neither is it to be desired. The outlay of capital in permanent improvements-which would not deserve the name of improvements, if they did not result in augmented and cheapened produce-must of course be attended by a lower scale of remuneration; much lower, in fact, than the proportion which the increase bears to the gross produce-since that increase goes altogether to add to the amount of the farmer's disposable or surplus produce. There has of late arisen a great outcry from our graziers, who complain that they are forced to sell their fat cattle and sheep for the same prices as, or lower than, those they gave for them when lean; and Free Trade is made to bear the blame of their losses! With how little justice may be seen from the fact, that the entire number of oxen, cows, and calves, imported during the first four months of this year, was, according to the published official accounts, no more than 11,265 head over the whole kingdom,— while the number sold during that time in Smithfield market alone has exceeded 70,000; and of sheep, the whole importation within the same period amounted only to 14,525,-while the sales in Smithfield alone were 420,000. During part of last year a very high price was obtained for meat; and there having. been a good crop of turnips, the farmers were tempted to fatten an undue number of animals, with which the markets are for the present overstocked. But this is a cause of cheapness which must soon pass away; and it will be well if it be not followed by a scarcity, and the high prices by which scarcity is accompanied. At this time it is matter of complaint, that there is little or no difference between the prices of fat cattle and of lean.

The system of protective duties, from which we are now emancipating the industry of the country, had the effect, whatever may have been the motive under which it was established and supported, of securing an advantage-often, indeed, only a fancied advantage to producers at the cost of the consumers. This system was not confined to the producers of the mother country; but was long extended to certain colonial interests, and to none in a greater degree than to our tropical sugar planters. It is true that until a comparatively recent period, the