1842. In 1828 Mr. Charles Grant (afterwards Lord Glenelg) introduced a series of resolutions slightly differing from those which had been moved by Mr. Canning, and they were eventually embodied in a bill which was carried through both Houses, and received the Royal assent on the 15th of July. The act was entitled, 'An Act to amend the Laws relating to the Importation of Corn,' and it repealed 55 Geo. III. c. 26 (1815); 3 Geo. IV. c. 60 (1822); and 7 and 8 Geo. IV c. 58 (1827). the leading principle of which was to per- VIII.-From July 1828 to April 29, mit importation at all times by substituting a graduated scale of duties. A bill was brought in, founded on these resolutions, fixing a duty of 1s. on foreign wheat when the average price was 70s. per quarter. In respect to colonial wheat, | the duty was fixed at 6d. when the averages were 65s. per quarter, and when under that sum at 5s. per quarter. The bill was not carried, as the Duke of Wellington moved and carried a clause the effect of which would have been to keep the ports entirely shut so long as the price of wheat was under 66s. the quarter. An act was, however, passed during this session to permit corn, meal, &c., warehoused on the 1st of July, 1827, to be entered for home consumption upon payment of duties according to a fluctuating scale. About 572,000 quarters of wheat and flour were entered for consumption under this act, at a duty averaging above 20s. per quarter. The harvest had not been defective, and this was the very reason why the corn in bond was released notwithstanding the high duty, as there was no prospect of prices advancing. In 1821 a new act was passed relative to the averages. Instead of "the maritime districts," 148 towns were named, for which the magistrates were to appoint inspectors to make a return of the weekly purchases. The six weeks' averages still regulated the amount of duty on importation, but they were greatly improved by being every week subject to an alteration. Each week the receiver of corn returns struck out one week's averages, admitting those last received, and thereby affecting the aggregate average, as prices rose or fell from week to week. The introduction of a fluctuating scale of duty was an important step, and its effect will be considered in the next period. It was impossible to continue any longer a system which, for three successive years, 1825-6-7, had been compelled to bend to the force of temporary circumstances; and like previous measures it was abandoned by its supporters either as inefficient or injurious. Such a state of things brings us to another period in the history of corn-law legislation. The provisions for settling the averages under this act were as follow:-In one hundred and fifty towns in England and Wales, mentioned in the act, corn-dealers were required to make a declaration, that they would return an accurate account of their purchases. [In London, the sellers made the return.] Inspectors were appointed in each of these one hundred and fifty towns, who transmitted returns to the Receiver in the Corn Department of the Board of Trade, whose duty it was to compute the average weekly price of each description of grain, and the aggregate average price for the previous six weeks, and to transmit a certified copy to the collectors of customs at the different outports. The return on which the average prices were based was published every Friday in 'The London Gazette.' The aggregate average for six weeks regulated the duty on importation. Wheat at 50s. paid a duty of 36s. 8d.; barley at 32s. a duty of 13s. 10d.; oats at 24s. a duty of 10s. 9d.; rye, peas, and beans, at 35s., a duty of 16s. 9d. Colonial wheat was admitted at a duty of 6d. when the average of the six weeks was at or above 67s.; and when below 67s. the duty was 5s. the quarter, and for other grain in proportion. Importation was free on payment of 1s. on the quarter when wheat in the home market was 738.; barley 41s.; oats 31s.; and rye, peas, and beans 46s. the quarter. In the following Table the scale of duties proposed by Mr. Canning, and that adopted by the legislature in 1828, are placed in juxtaposition: After the experience of a few seasons the corn-law of 1828 gave no more satistion than those which had preceded it. In December, 1835, the average price of wheat was down to 35s. 4d. per quarter, and in January, 1839, it was as high as 818., being a difference of 129 per cent. In 1833 and 1836 the distressed condition of the agricultural interest was noticed in the speech from the throne on the opening of parliament, and select committees were appointed in both years to inquire into it. The law had neither prevented great fluctuation in prices nor agricultural distress. This unsteadiness of price was complained of by persons engaged in manufactures and trade; for, assuming the consumption of Great Britain to be 16,000,000 quarters of wheat, the sum paid for a year's consumption would be about 31,000,000l. in 1835, while the same quantity would cost 56,000,000l. in 1839. The difference, amounting to 25,000,000l., was withdrawn from the usual channels of circulation, and created stagnation in the different branches of non-agricultural industry. The new principle of a slidingscale of duty required time and variety of circumstances fully to develop its effect; but it was at length placed beyond a doubt that the manner in which the scale was arranged tended to give a gambling character to the corn trade, which, instead of being a steady branch of commerce, was subjected to sudden moveIn ments and speculative operations. one year (1838) the duty underwent thirty different changes from January to the end of November, and in the short period of two weeks went up from 1s. to 10s. 8d. the quarter. It was generally believed that, about the period of harvest, fraudulent returns were made of corn sold, with a view of raising the average price, and consequently lowering the duty; and it was quite certain that the scale operated in such a manner as to check the supplies of foreign grain until prices reached their maximum and the duty fell to the lowest point. "The gain of speculators is calculated not only on the advance in the price of corn, but also in the fall in the scale of duty; and as the duty falls in a greater ratio than the price of the corn rises, the duty operates as a bounty to withhold sales." (Salomons, On the Operation of the Sliding Scale.) When, for example, the average price in the home market was 668., the duty was 20s. 8d., and on prices reaching 73s. the duty was only 18.; the difference of profit to the importer was thus 7s. by the advance of prices, and 19s. 8d. by the fall of duty, making a total of 26s. 8d. When the quantity of wheat in bond had been liberated at the lowest duty the object of the speculators was attained, and to some of them, doubtless, the trade became an object of indifference until another opportunity occurred for availing themselves of the gambling capabilities of the sliding scale. The transactions in the corn trade of the year 1838 exhibited several of the inherent evils of this scale: first, as causing scarcity; secondly, as glutting the market just at the period when home produce was coming in; and, thirdly, by violently disturbing prices and overthrowing all the calculations on which a steady trade must be founded. In the second week of January the duty was 34s. 8d., and it declined gradually until September 13th, when it reached 18., the lowest point. During this period prices were rising in the home market; In years when the crops were of infe sliding scale was experienced. There was not in this case a general scarcity, but there was an excessive scarcity of wheat of good quality; and the quantity sold of an inferior quality depressed the average prices, and raised the duty so as to exclude a supply of sound foreign wheat except at the most extravagant prices. but instead of the foreign corn in bond being gradually admitted for consump-rior quality another disadvantage of the tion, there were only about 33,000 quarters entered from the beginning of the year up to the end of August, though the average price for that month was 74s. 8d. The speculators waited until the second week of September, when, by having withheld the supply, the duty became nominal, and in a single week 1,514,047 quarters of foreign wheat were thrown upon the markets. This sudden addition to the supply occasioned a decline of prices, and the duty again rose. The progress of the duty in the short space of six weeks was as follows: 18th. 21 8 A cargo which arrived at the end of September, instead of the middle of the month, would have been subject to a duty of 10s. 8d. instead of 1s. per quarter. It would then be bonded, and might remain in the warehouses until actually unfit for use. In a parliamentary paper (No. 46, Sess. 1839) it is stated that 899 quarters of foreign wheat were abandoned and destroyed that year in the port of London. Another natural effect of the sliding scale was to limit the radius of supply. Buyers rushed into the markets of Hamburg, Danzig, and the Baltic ports, and, by competition within a narrow circle, raised the prices to an excessive height, in reliance upon the profits to be obtained by speculating upon the lowest duty. The unsteadiness of the trade did not encourage that demand for our manufactures which would have sprung up if it had been less subject to impulsive starts. The derangement of monetary affairs was a necessary consequence of a trade conducted under these circumstances; and the value of merchandise of all kinds declined from sales being forced in order meet engagements at a time when y had been rendered scarce by the of remittances for corn. On the 7th of May, 1841, after the injurious operation of the sliding scale had long been obvious, Lord John Russell, as the organ of the government, announced the intention of substituting a fixed duty, which had not hitherto been adopted under any of the numerous acts for regulating the importation of foreign corn. The fixed duties which Lord John Russell proposed were as follows:Wheat. 8s. Od. per quarter. Rye, peas, and beans 5 0 4 6 The proposed duty of 88. on wheat exceeded by 28. 4d. the duty (5s. 8d.) which had actually been paid on all wheat imported during the thirteen years that the sliding scale had been in operation, and by 4s. 5d. the duty per quarter paid on the importation of four and a half million quarters imported in 1838 and 1839; but a fixed duty would have rendered the trade steady; the supplies would have come into the market gradually as they were wanted, when the bonus which the sliding scale offered for withholding them was withdrawn; and they would also have been procured at a less cost than when speculators suddenly rushed into the foreign markets. But in the general election which took place in June and July, 1841, the government was defeated, and shortly after the parliament had assembled the ministry resigned office. The government which had been overthrown at the general election partly in consequence of the plan for the proposed alteration of the corn-law, was replaced by one which was raised to office in a great measure by the agricultural interest, who probably now felt confident that the corn-laws would not be thrown into the "lottery of legislation." The 1,006,832 quarters in August, 1840. The year of largest importation was 1839, when 2,711,723 quarters of wheat and wheat-flour were admitted for home consumption. In 1835 the quantity admitted was only 28,554 quarters, and in the following year only 30,107 quarters. In 1839 and 1840 the duties on foreign and colonial corn and grain yielded above a million sterling each year: in 1839 1,098,8497., and in 1840 1,156,6607. prime minister, however, knew too well quantity of wheat and wheat-flour in the that at least such a change as would miti-warehouse at the end of any month was gate the evils of the sliding scale of 1828 was at all events essential; and in the speech from the throne, 3rd February, 1842, her majesty recommended to the consideration of parliament "the state of the laws which affect the import of corn, and of other articles the produce of foreign countries." On the 9th Sir Robert Peel brought forward the government plan, in which a sliding scale of duty was still retained, but instead of the duty successively falling from 10s. to 6s. 8d., 28. 8d., and 1s., it was proposed to have two stationary points of price, and with these exceptions (528. to 55s., and 66s. to 69s.), the duty would only fall 1s. for each increase of 1s. in the average price. On the 7th April the new corn bill was read the third time in the Commons; on the 22nd of April it was read the third time in the Lords; and on the 29th of the same month the act (5 Vict. c. 14) came into operation. Under the act 9 Geo. IV. c. 60, which regulated the foreign trade in corn from the 15th of July, 1828, to the 29th of April, 1842, the total quantity of foreign wheat admitted was 13,562,856 quarters and 4,305,150 cwts. of foreign wheatflour, and, in addition, at a lower rate of duty, 597,700 quarters of colonial wheat and 1,744,591 cwts. of colonial flour. Nearly one-half of the foreign wheat and flour was admitted at the lowest rate of duty, and comparatively little at the higher rates, as the following statement will show : IX.-From April 29th, 1842. The following is the scale of prices and rates of duty for foreign wheat under 5 Vict. c. 14: Average per Qr. 8. 51 Duty per Qr. S. 8. d. If under 51 20 0 52 19 0 52-3-4 55 18 0 The lowest rate of duty (1s. per quarter) occurs for rye, peas, and beans, when the price is 42s. and upwards the quarter; on barley when the price is 37s.; and on oats when the price is 27s. and upwards. The lowest duty for wheat is not reached by jerks, as in the former scale, by which the duty fell at each increase of 1s. in price from 10s. 8d. to 6s. 8d., and next to 2s. 8d. and 1s., and the "rest" between 66s. and 69s. is an important modification. Still, like the preceding scale, the present one does not admit of a steady trade with every country which has corn to export; and it is in fact only a mitigated evil. | previous to this act was 259,600 quarters, One hundred and thirty-eight new towns in 1841, of which above two-thirds was were added by 5 Vict. c. 14, to the one in the shape of flour. The largest quanhundred and fifty which returned the tity in any one year from 1831 to 1840 average prices under the act of 1828. was 193,985 quarters in 1832, and the The average duty for six weeks regu- average price of wheat in this country for lates importation as under the previous that year was 58s. 8d.: the smallest quantity imported during the above nine years was 12,742 quarters in 1839, and the average price in England for the year was 70s. 8d. The importations of the last three years, and the average price of wheat in England, have been as follows: act. From April 29th, 1842, to 5th January, 1844, the quantity of foreign wheat entered for consumption was 3,464,618 quarters; foreign wheat-flour 554,559. The lowest rate of duty was 8s. per quarter, at which 2,105,484 quarters of wheat and 427,579 cwts. of wheat-flour were entered: 740,149 quarters of wheat were entered at a duty of 14s. In 1844 the quantity of wheat and wheat-flour entered was 1,026,976 quarters, and of barley 1,029,021 quarters. The duty on foreign and colonial corn and grain in 1843 was 758,295l., and in 1844 was 1,098,3334. Since the passing of 5 Vict. c. 14, another change has been made in the corn law. Under the act of 1828 the duties on colonial wheat were 5s. when the price here was under 67s., and 6d. when at or above 67s. the quarter. The act 5 Vict. c. 14, fixed the duties on colonial wheat as follows:-When the price here was under 55s. the quarter, the duty was 5s.; The above are still the rates of duty charged on wheat imported from all other colonies, except Eastern and Western Canada; but the Canadian legislature having, at the suggestion of the home government, agreed to impose a duty of 3s. on all wheat imported into Canada, an act was passed (6 & 7 Vict. c. 29) in 1843, and came into operation 10th Oct., under which wheat from Canada, or flour manufactured there, will be at all times admissible into the United Kingdom at a fixed duty of 1s. per quarter charged here. For the five years ending January, 1843, the rate of duty on Canadian wheat averaged 2s. 1d. per quarter. The largest quantity of wheat and wheat-flour imported from Canada in any one year Average price for the year. 57s. 3d. 50s. 1d. 1842 · 51s. 3d. The quantity of wheat imported from the United States into Canada, at the 3s. duty, was 31,265 quarters, from 11th Oct., 1843, to 31st July, 1844. There are now, it will be seen, three different regulations for the importation of corn-1. The foreign sliding scale; 2. The colonial sliding scale; 3. The fixed duty for corn and flour from Canada. There is not the slightest reasonable pretext for denying to other and more distant colonies the advantages which Canada enjoys. Wheat can be grown in South Australia at 2s. 6d. or 2s. 9d. per bushel, and in Van Diemen's Land at 38. 9d.; its quality in both colonies is of very superior quality, and the small quantities which have reached this country commanded a high price. It is packed in bags, while corn from Canada is stowed in bulk, and the expenses of transit from Australia to England are at least 20s. the quarter. To subject corn, the produce of countries at the antipodes, to the uncertainties of a scale of duty here, which fluctuates from 1s. to 5s., is to stifle the trade. In most of the British colonies the population are generally all too much engaged in producing the same commodities to permit of any great activity in the exchange of the products of their industry amongst themselves. This keeps them in a languishing condition, and even lowers their ge neral civilization. The agriculturist who emigrates from England to one of the colonies finds that his industry will not |