David Hunter

“ One would really be led to believe that our mill-spinners and manufacturers imagined that they had a kind of patent right to supply the whole world with their wares, looked upon the fact of a pair of stockings being spun in Saxony, or a piece of cotton or wool wove in Belgium, as acts of a most outrageous description, which, unless immediately put an end to, betokened their immediate ruin, and that of all England! ”

“ So much less must every land-holder consume of every other article of produce imported into, raised, manufactured, and consumed in this country, so much would his property be deteriorated one-fifth; and so much, in proportion, would the capital of every establishment dependant on home trade and consumption be lessened. The manufacturing labourer for export would gain nothing, for just so much must his wages be lowered to enable his employer to export without a loss; and so much must the wages of every tradesman, of every description, throughout the United Kingdom, be lowered. ”

“ How often have we seen within our recollection, under a temporary depression of trade, the manufacturing population thrown back on the agriculturists for support? On whom are they henceforth to fall, when that support is withdrawn? It will then be discovered, when perhaps it is too late, that one of the paramount advantages which raises the agricultural interest, now so undervalued, above other interests is, that the interest of the producer never can be at variance with that of the consumer ”

“ Lord Brougham has likewise stated, "that without at all comprehending the waste lands which have been wholly added to the productive tenancy of the island,—not perhaps that two blades of grass grew where only one had grown before, but certainly that five grew where four used to be,—and that this kingdom, which foreigners used to taunt as being a mere manufacturing and trading community, inhabited by a shop-keeping nation, had in reality become, for its size, by far the greatest agricultural state in the world." ”

“ There is not a doubt, that so far from our foreign trade having decreased, it has most materially increased, which I shall show by facts and figures, which cannot be controverted or misunderstood. Before doing so, however, I do think that nothing can be more extraordinary than to assert, that because a flax-mill happens to be set agoing in Belgium, or a cotton-mill in Germany or Switzerland, or a woollen-mill in Saxony, that that is any proof of our manufacturing decline. ”

“ But I am now overstepping the limits I proposed to myself on entering this great and important question,—and I think I have satisfactorily demonstrated that the premises of the Corn Repealers, are not proven nor founded on fact,—that to do away with protection to British agriculture, besides being little better than wholesale robbery, would transfer 25 to 30 millions a year to the pockets of foreign serfs, at the expense of Britain. That such a measure should sap the foundation of all property, public and private. The security of the fundholder rests wholly on the land. ”

“ As a practical agriculturist myself, I have no hesitation in stating, that I think a modification of the present graduated scale of duties would be infinitely preferable to a fixed duty, for this simple reason, viz. that a fixed duty on foreign corn is imaginary, when corn is cheap at home, because, it is not worth while to import it; and the self same fixed duty could not be levied when corn was dear. ”

“ The question of the comparative value of a home and a foreign trade being thus disposed of, I cannot doubt its being admitted that no trade is more precarious than a foreign, and none so steady and productive as a home one ”

“ If the British Government were either so far misled or intimidated, that it should consent to sacrifice the interests of the agriculturists to the unstable interests of the manufacturers, foreign Governments most certainly will not allow their manufacturers to be ruined. ”

“ The capital which is employed in purchasing in one part of the country in order to sell in another the produce of the industry of that country, generally replaces, by every such operation, two distinct capitals, that had both been employed in the agriculture or manufactures of the country, and therefore enables them to continue that manufacture. ”

“ And we are gravely told manufactures are the true source of national wealth; some even go the length of asserting that it would be better for the country if we were not to grow a boll of corn on our own soil. ”

“ With such a diminution and destruction of real property, the taxes of the country can never be collected;—public credit once shaken, who can foretel the result? and this all caused by a few speculative theorists and mill-owners, who, not satisfied with moderate gains, strive to make fortunes at a single stride. ”

“ International commerce is beneficial when commodities are interchanged to the mutual benefit of the two countries, and to the promotion of the industry in both; it is injurious when it renders one country dependent upon another for the conveniencies, and in the last degree ruinous if it induce a dependance for the necessaries of life. ”

“ One would almost be led to believe that the demand for manufactures depended principally, if not entirely, upon the quantity of foreign corn imported and used in this country, and that the countries of northern Europe were their only customers! always taking care to tell us that the manufacturing interest, and the export of our manufactures in particular, are paramount to every other consideration. ”

“ The Economists recommend an equally destructive course in support of their favourite theory. Well might Frederick the Great say, if he wished to punish a province, he would place it under the rule of a Political Economist. ”

“ The increase of machinery in the cotton trade alone, during the last three years, has been upwards fifty-three per cent.; and the difference of cotton-wool imported was as in 1820, 152,829,633 lbs., opposed to 460,000,000 in 1838;— about 400 per cent. of increase; yet we are told our manufactures are declining! The wonder is, how the consumption has been able to keep pace at all with this enormous production. The increase of the linen and woollen trades will bear a similar comparison. Has agriculture made similar progress? ”

“ Like the steam engine, it adjusts itself, and is its own regulator. That British agriculture will be enabled to keep pace with the increasing population of the country, I think there does not remain a doubt, the system of tithes, which has been such a clog to improvement in Ireland and England, is yearly occupying the attention of the Legislature, and when settled on a basis, perhaps similar to the system in Scotland, the increase in the growth of corn will be very great. The waste lands will also certainly be brought into cultivation. ”

“ This passage shews the opinion of Adam Smith, that foreign, as compared with home trade, gives but one half the encouragement to the productive labour of a country; and a similar doctrine is laid down by the French economist, Monsieur Say, as follows:—"The British Government seems not to have perceived that the most profitable sales to a nation are those made by one individual to another within the nation, for these latter employ a national production of two values,—the value sold, and that given in exchange." ”

“ This is no party question; it is one of much higher and more paramount importance, involving the interest of every class of society; and therefore, from its very magnitude, calls on every individual, be his talents what they may, to come boldly forward and express his opinion, and to discuss the question fairly and openly—to meet the "Repealers" with their own weapons—agitate, agitate,—and by sending up petitions from every district in the country—then and only then, will the agriculturists have a chance of justice—and then only will they have the question settled on its substantial merits. ”

“ There can be no reason to doubt that they would gladly avail themselves of our necessities to fill their own Exchequers, both by keeping a tax on manufactures as at present, and raising or depressing an export tax on their corn, just as it suited their immediate circumstances. During the scarcity which prevailed in this country in the years 1800 and 1801, a duty of ten shillings a quarter was laid on the export of corn from the Prussian dominions ”

“ Wages, from the increased competition of that portion of the agricultural classes thrown out of employment by the abandonment of poor lands, and necessarily thrown on the manufacturing class for support, must consequently reduce wages to the lowest possible level—the sole gainer will be the capitalist or millowner ”

“ The Italian cultivation was destroyed as much as the Assyrian or Egyptian was increased, and so far from the price of grain being diminished to the Roman populace, it was fully higher, on an average, than it has been in England for the last ten years, while the small arable farms of Italy, the nursery of the Legions, were absorbed in great sweeps of pasture, the race of independent cultivators was destroyed, the strength of the vitals of the state was consumed ”

“ Does it never strike these individuals to put a value on the home trade as compared with the foreign? The following table I beg to subjoin from Mr. M'Queen's Statistics of the British Empire, from which it will be observed, that the foreign trade only forms some eighth part of the general amount. ”

“ The merest tyro in agriculture knows that poor land will not lay in grass, (which the Repealers recommend) , but would grow good crops of whin and broom, of crops certainly neither the most productive nor ornamental, either for the tiller or the proprietor. ”

“ It may be said that poor land rarely repays cultivation—this is not supported by fact. Nine-tenths of the land in Scotland is poor land, and this land not only employs a great rural population, pays a good return for cultivation, but exports a great deal of grain, and since steam has been introduced, sends the best beef and mutton to the London market ”

“ Britain, therefore, contains fifteen millions of acres of uncultivated ground at the present moment, and all of which is fit for cultivation—here then is a field for the true patriot to consider the best means of bringing under cultivation what is now lying a wild waste. A former House of Commons passed a resolution, that no greater benefit could be conferred than by bringing waste lands into cultivation ”

“ That a total repeal of the Corn Laws is absolutely necessary, from the great decrease of our manufactures and commerce, and the great increase of manufactures on the continent of Europe and other places ”

“ While these would all be lowered to a still greater extent by the number of additional labourers which will be thrown out of employment in agriculture, and forced into the manufacturing market,—when those who work solely for the home market will be found discharging a large portion of their hands, instead of employing additional at reduced wages. ”

“ M'Culloch, in his introduction to his edition of the work, says:—"In this work the science is, for the first time, treated in its fullest extent; and the fundamental principles on which the production of wealth depends, established beyond the reach of cavil and dispute." The effect on the capital of a country abandoning any given home trade, and adopting a foreign in its place, is thus stated by Dr. ”

“ In short, that our whole country must be converted into a great workshop of mills, power looms, and spinning Jennies, from one end to the other. Now, how long society would exist under such a state of things, I shall not stop to inquire ”