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It has been proved that real rent is the value of the produce of different qualities of land, and with this the landlord must be satisfied he could obtain no more and the farmer would pay no less. If the produce were ten bushels per acre on land of the first quality, and five bushels per acre on land of the second quality, more than was produced on land of the third quality; and if land of the third quality was the worst in cultivation; then five bushels on the one, and ten bushels on the other, would be the quantity the landlord might receive as rent. If, not satisfied with this, he were to demand six bushels from the one and twelve bushels from the other, his demand would not probably be complied with; but if, from the inconvenience of removal, or from any other cause, the farmer were to comply with the demand, his profit would be reduced far below the common rate of profit; and as capital, according to the general rule, leaves the less profitable occupations, and goes to those which are more profitable, so in this case, it would in time be drawn from the cultivation of land thus overburthened with rent, and would compel the landlord to take his fair equivalent, the difference of the produce of the land, above the worst in cultivation, and no more. It is unnecessary to prove that the tenant would not be allowed to hold the land for less than its value. Thus it is proved that real rent is regulated by causes not within the controul of landlords and tenants.

2. ARTIFICIAL RENT is the difference between the amount of the real rent, which would be paid, if there were no restrictive laws, and that which is paid in consequence of those laws.

1st. It increases the price of corn.

2d. It is a tax upon the consumer.

It may be safely concluded, that, so long as the community could be supplied from land of the first quality, the price of corn would be so low as altogether to exclude importation. But when, from the increase of population, the community could no longer be supplied from land of the first quality, the price of corn would rise, and it might be found profitable to resort to land of an inferior quality, to importation, or to both. If any very considerable quantity of corn could be imported, it might, by keeping down the price, retard the period when it would be necessary to resort to lands of second-rate quality; it would still further postpone the period when land of the third quality would be resorted to, and it might even prevent the rise of price beyond a certain sum for an almost indefinite periodt.

If we suppose that wheat could be produced in this country at

* It must be borne in mind that the country is supposed not to be oppressed by corn laws.

+ How this would benefit the community will be shewn when we come to speak of profit and wages.

488. the quarter (which was the monopoly price in 1773), but that a quantity fully equal to the demand could not be produced without resorting to land of worse quality, a quantity equal to the deficiency could be imported; and, as it is admitted by the petitioners for further restrictions, that it could be imported for that price, or rather below it, 48s. may be taken as the price at which the whole produce would probably be sold.

If, in this state of things, government were to pass an act prohibiting importation under 66s., importation would wholly cease, scarcity would be produced, land of worse quality would be cultivated, and the community would be again supplied from its own soil. In time the average price would rise to 668. the quarter. It is manifest, that in this case the whole difference in the price, 188. per quarter, would be caused by the law, and by it, would be extorted from the consumer. It would be a monstrous tax on the people, and would differ in no respect from a direct tax on the corn itself, except in the mode in which it was levied. If levied as a tax, it would go to the Exchequer, if raised by a corn-law, it would go into the pockets of the landlords, under the name of rent. It would not benefit the farmer*, but, in the long run, do him serious injury. He would receive no more than the common rate of profit on his capital, even if the corn laws wholly forbad importation; all beyond the common rate of profit would be taken by his landlord as rent. But as the price of corn rose, the common rate of profit would fall, and the farmer, as well as every other person not a landlord, would be a loser. Those who, like the farmer, were traders, would lose, 1. by the rise of prices on farm produce, on the amount consumed. 2. In the diminution of profit on their trade.

But another very important consequence follows from the legislature raising the import price of corn from 48s. to 668. and thus forcing land of worse and worse quality into cultivation. A considerable portion of the corn consumed must, in that case, necessarily be grown upon land, which would only afford the common rate of profit to the farmer, without paying any rent, and that only while the price continued at 66s. During the time, which would be required to bring as much land into cultivation as would fully supply the demand, the price per quarter would never be below 668. although it might be above it, and during this period the farmer would appear to flourish, and rent would rise on all but the worst quality of land, so as to take from the farmer, on superior soils, all but the common rate of profit. But, when as much land had been cultivated as fully to supply the demand, the price would immediately fall below 66s. and the farmer would no longer obtain

See this fully and clearly elucidated in "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Chap, V, on Profits," by Mr. Ricardo.

the common rate of profit. If the quantity produced should exceed the demand, even by so small a proportion as is necessary to produce the appearance of an eagerness to sell, the price would fall so low as to spread dismay and ruin among the farmers. To stay the evil, the land-owners and farmers would again demand another law, forbidding importation under 80s. the same steps would again be taken, and the same results would again follow; and, in a few years, application would be made for a law to raise the import price to 97s. as has actually been done; and, following this course, a law must at length be passed, forbidding importation altogether *; and this law, when obtained, would be the certain destruction of every farmer in the kingdom, and would, were it possible to continue such a vile system, reduce the whole community to a state of bondage, in which state the farmers would be slaves attached to the soil, as the peasants in many parts of Russia are.

Had the legislature refrained from interfering, the average price of wheat would probably have been about 488. the quarter, and rents would have been proportioned to that price. In years of scarcity wheat would have been imported, and in years of abundance wheat would have been exported, and the price would have remained as steady as the price of a commodity, the quantity of which, in some measure, depends upon the seasons, could possibly be. It was, we were told in 1815, to keep prices steady, that the law was passed forbidding importation under 80s. price had been made unsteady by previous laws; so another was added to the evil to remedy the former, and this was called wise legislation +.

The

Instead of the average price being 48s. it appears by the returns laid before parliament in the last session, that, since the passing of the last corn law in 1815, the average price has been 78-5, thus shewing that there has been paid, on every quarter of wheat consumed, a tax of upwards of 60 per cent. and that, too, not only on wheat but on every sort of farm produce, and to this amount has the community been injured for the sole advantage of the land

owner.

That laws forbidding the importation of corn must rapidly follow each other so long as the present system is continued, is proved by what has taken place during the last half century.

By stat. 13 G. III. 1773, the import price was fixed at 48s.

31 G. III. 1791,

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a rise of 6s. in 18 years.

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Being a total rise of

44 G. III. 1804,

55 G. III. 1815,

A further demand is now made to fix the price at 97s. a rise of

32s. in 42 years. 17s. in 5 years.

More than 100 per cent. or double the monopoly price in 1773.

+ The price is now about 55s.

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ARTIFICIAL RENT is the difference between the amount of the real rent, which would be paid if there were no restrictive laws, and that which is paid in consequence of those laws.

1. It increases the price of corn.

2. It is a tax upon the consumer :—which were the points to be proved.

[Section II, "Profit and Wages," is unavoidably postponed till our next.]

DANAE.

FROM A FRAGMENT OF SIMONIDES.

WHEN the lone ark, in darkness lost,
Reel'd on the ocean tempest-tost;
When down her cheeks began to flow
Tears that betray'd a mother's woe;
Pale Danae close and closer press'd
Her babe in anguish to her breast,
And o'er him said, " Deep woes are mine:
But peace, my child, and slumber thine.

"Thou sleepest in a joyless home,

Thy cradle the sea-billow;

Thou sleepest where the wild waves foam,
My troubled breast thy pillow;
While, darkly arching o'er thy brow,
The swoln surge casts its shade below.

"Thou slumber'st, heedless of the flash,

While lightnings round thee sweep;
Thou slumber'st, reckless of the crash,
While thunders rouse the deep;
Nor, while soft flows in sleep thy breath,
Hear'st in each wind a voice of death.

"The dew of sleep thy eye-lid closes,
But tears from mine o'erflow;
A glowing on thy cheek reposes,
But mine is pale with woe.
Fair child! beneath thy purple vest,
How beautiful, how sweet thy rest!

"Ah! if my terror moved thy fear,
If heard a mother's sigh,

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My kiss should steal away thy tear,
My soothing lullaby
Should softly breathe, Sleep on, my child!
And with thee sleep the sea-storm wild!
Sleep on, my child! and with thee sleep
The woe that bids me wake and weep!""

THE COMPLAINT OF "LE CAVALIER SEUL."

SIR, One of the most pitiable objects in civilized life is a bashful man; mortification is ever at his right hand, and ridicule tracks his steps. A woman, however overcome by timidity, looks neither silly nor awkward; her fears and tremblings excite interest, her blushes admiration. Oh! that I had been born of that privileged sex, or that Nature, when she gave me a beard, had given me a proper stock of ease and assurance, by which I might support its dignity! I am fond of society; I love conversation; I enjoy dancing: but wherever I go, my confounded sheepishness goes with me, keeps me in a constant nervous flurry, and turns my very pleasures into pains. The height of a bashful man's ambition, when he enters a room full of company, is to hurry over his salutations as quickly as possible, to creep into some obscure corner, and to stay there, very quietly, as long as he is permitted. How I have hated the officious kindness, which makes tiresome old ladies, and pert young ones, notice me in my retirement, and fix the eyes of every soul in the room upon me, by fearing I am very dull, and asking if I have been to the Play lately, or seen the new Panorama. I believe they call this "drawing me out," and I dare say think I ought to be obliged to them for their notice. I wish I could teach them that notice is the very thing I most earnestly desire to avoid.

One unavoidable consequence of my dislike to putting myself forward is, that I am accused of being very rude and bearish in my manners. I am never sufficiently alert in handing old ladies down to dinner, or asking their daughters to drink wine. I never ring a bell, snuff a candle, or carve a chicken, till the office is forced upon me, and all the merit of the performance destroyed by my previous incivility. Then, I have a tormenting habit of fancying myself the object of general notice, "the observed of all observers." If a girl giggles, she is laughing at me; if another whispers, she is animadverting upon my words, dress, or behaviour; and when two grave old ladies are discussing family matters, or a few steady old men shaking their heads over the state of the nation, I often imagine that my faults and follies are the occasion of so many serious looks, so many uplifted eyes and hands.

Boileau has said that

"Jamais, quoiqu'il fasse, un Mortel ici-bas

Ne peut aux yeux du monde être ce qu'il n'est pas."

But Boileau is wrong; for I know I am supposed proud by some, cross by others, and silly by all; and yet I think I'may with truth affirm, that each of these charges is false.

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