LORD MILTON ON THE CORN-LAWS.

THIS pamphlet, though just published, was, as the noble author informs us, written many months ago. It has appeared at a good time, and is calculated to answer a good end. It is the present policy of the party lately excluded from power in this country, to influence the approaching elections by working upon the fears of the agricultural portion of the constituency,—by persuading them that the most able and enlightened men are their enemies. and, if allowed to get into Parliament, will ruin them by destroying their palladium, the Corn-law s. The same spirit that made the Tory ism of a former age (for the thing has always existed, however recent the name) immure GALILEO in a dungeon for exploding the time- hallowed dogmas of the old astronomy, makes the Tories of the passing hour vilify every man who uses the torch of science to dis- pel the darkness that has so long brooded over subjects on which the welfare of society mainly depends. Hence the loud and igno- rant clamour, in which the whole of that faction join, not only against the truths which political economy is daily bringing to light, but against the science itself, and its votaries. They cannot, any more than their prototypes of a darker age, confute the argu- ments of these enlightened men ; they have lost the power of putting them to silence by persecution ; but they can still wield the weapons of calumny; and if they cannot answer the reason- ings of their opponents, they can at least traduce their character, and throw suspicion upon their motives. In this labour the Tories are exceedingly active at the present moment ; but Lord MILTON has applied a broom that will sweep away some of their cobwebs.

His Lordship's pamphlet contains much valuable matter in small bulk. It is remarkably clear, concise, and logical. His ar- gument is so close, and so free from extraneous matter, that it would be impossible to abridge without weakening it. We shall, therefore, merely notice some of its remarkable features. Lord MILTON addresses himself particularly to the Landowners of England, because it is through and by them that the alterations, which he considers essential to the welfare of the country, must be effected- Aoy material change in a system of laws, deemed by a considerable branch cif the community conducive to its prosperity and security, ought rather to be can, ried into effect by the consent of that branch, than in the form of a triumph over it ; and notwithstanding the interval which seems to separate the opinion, of men concerning the corn trade, we need not despair of this result. That it must be attained, however, through appeals (perhaps frequently made) to the good sense, and, I may add, to the good feelings of men, rather than by aby overt attack upon opinions which others may consider as prejudices, but which they themselves regard as well founded, I am thoroughly persuaded.

The policy of the Corn-laws is considered in reference to its effects on the agricultural labourers, on the farmers, on the landowners, and on the commercial and manufacturing portion of the community. In regard to the agricultural labourers, Lord MILTON says, most truly, that " there is hardly a class of labourers more interested in having corn cheap, than those who are engaged in husbandry; because there is none that spends so much, comparatively, upon the necessaries, and so little upon comforts or the luxuries of life." It is alleged, however, that they are interested in keeping up the price of corn, because, if corn was cheaper, there would be less demand for their labour. But Lord MILTON shows, that the only case in which labourers, who had obtained employment, would be thrown out of it by a fall in the price of corn, is the case of a forced cultivation, caused by high prices, that happened during the war; a case of a forced and occasional demand, in the first instance, for labour, and in the next, of a sudden contraction of that demand. It is from such a case as this, that general conclusions have been drawn; though, as Lord MILTON observes, "it has no connexion whatever with that gradual and silent improvement of land already in cultivation, which will go on as long as the numbers and enjoy- ment of the people increase, however low the price of corn may be, provided the resources of the cultivator are not crippled by the exactions of the Government, or his spirit broken by the exactions of his landlord." But, notwithstanding the deinand for labour caused by the forced cultivation during the war, aided by the unceasing demaid for men to supply our military establishments, and other causes, Lord MILTON shows that the period of so-called agricultural pres- perity was by no means a period of prosperity to the labourers. The series of facts, by which this proposition is established, are very important. During the ten years that elapsed from the year 1805 to the year 1814, biiith inclusive, the lowest yearly average of wheat was 9s. 2d. a bushel (in 1807) ; the highest was I5s. 8d. (in 1812) ; the mean price is 12s. 5d. ; while the average of the whole period is l Is. 6d. Now it appears, from accounts kept: in different and remote districts, which I have had an opportunity of examining, that in one* of them, which is partly a manufactunng county, the hightst wages given to agricultural labourers, during the abovementioned period, was • The most southern part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. 15i. a week Ca 1813) ; and the lowest Ii,. a week. From 18,14 to 1824, :they were-generally 13;.. or 14s., and:oceanic/Daily 15s., never felting below las. Since 1824, they have been at 14a. and 15s. In another districts (purely agri- cultural) the wages of farming labourers, from 1809 to 1815, were 12s. a week, and those Of women 5s. ; in 1830, they were 12s., and those of women 4s. 6d. In a third,- - purely agricultural district, the highest wages given in the month of May, since the commencement of the war in 1803, were 14s. a week (in 1812, 1813, and 1814), and the lowest 9s. (in 1823). The highest average price of wheat, in the same period, was in 1812; the lowest in 1822. Let us now make some comparison between these wages and prices. The weekly consumption of wheat in a labourer's family, consisting of himself, his wife, and three children, may be stated at about two-thirds of a bushel ; the amount of their enjoyments will, therefore, depend, cieteris paribus, upon the excess of the weekly wages above the price of two-thirds of a bushel of wheat. Now, that excess was the greatest in 1814, viz. '7s. 11d. ; and the least in 1810, ls. 2d. It will, however, be safer to draw our conclusions from periods of a Moderate length, than from single years. Five years are, probably, as fair a period as can be chosen; and the year 1810 (as the point of the highest alleged agricultural prosperity) will not improperly be taken as the centre year of one of these periods. Comparing, then, the wages, as stated in the annexed Tables fin which the wages are those given in Northamptonshire, and the prices those or all England), with the price of two-thirds of a bushel of wheat, it appears, • that, in the first period of five years, ending with 1807, the average excess of the Weekly wages, above the price of two-thirds of a bushel of wheat, amounted to . 4s. Id. ; in the second period, ending. with 1812, it was 2s. 10d. ; in the third, ending with 1817, it was Bs. 8d. ; in the fourth, ending with 1822, it was 5s. 10d. ; and in the last, ending with 1827, it was 5s. 4d. It necessarily fol- Iciirs from this statement, that the period, which is uniformly cited as that of the greatest agricultural prosperity, was precisely that in which the surplus income of the labourer was the smallest, and, consequently, that iu which the comforts of the agricultural population were the most abridged. Nor is this conclu- sion derived from any peculiar mode of presenting the data from which it is drawn; for the result will be the same, whether we contemplate single years, or cycles of five years ; and whether those cycles are distinct, each from the pre- ceding one, or only varying by the addition to, and exclusion from, each cycle, of a single year. In whatever way we view the case, it follows, that, with the exception of the famine of 180], the sera of 1810 must have been the most unfa- vourable to the labourer in husbandry that has occurred since the close of the last century.

Lord MILTON then considers the case of the farmerS. After mentioning the delusive hopes presented by the Corn-law of 1 8 15, in consequence of which they entered upon farms, the rents of which were founded on the price which they apprehended was se- cured to them by that law, he gives the following account of its ac- tual operation— During the interval, from 1815 to 1822, the farmer experienced the most ex- traordinary fluctuations in the price of his merchandise,—fluctuations arising from the variations of the seasons, but aggravated by the state of the law, which either rigorously prohibited or indiscriminately admitted foreign corn. What, however, I am particularly anxious to direct your attention to, is the utter in- . efficiency of the law to accomplish either of its two purposes, of protecting the farmer from too low, and the consumer from too high a price. In the spring of 1817; wheat sold at 120s. a quarter ; in the winter of 1821—'2, it sold at less than 40s. a quarter, the average of the year 1817 being 94s., and that of 1822 being 43s. The highest price in Oxford, at Lady-day 1817, was 148s. ; at Michaelt anis 1820, 66s. ;• at Michaelmas 1822, 52s. a quarter. The consequence of this state of things cannot have escaped your recollection. Great difficulties had been felt by. the-agricultural interest in 1814, 15, and 16 ; but the difficulties of all former years were surpassed by the distress of the winter of 1821-2. The insolvency of tenants, at this period, was unparalleled in the history of the agri- cultural classes, and the inefficacy of the act of 1815 was so universally acknow- ledged, that an alteration in the law was made in the session of 1823; but the alteration being contingent upon circumstances which never occurred, no per- manent practical change took place till the year 1828, when the present system ivas adopted. During the period, therefore, from 1815 to 1828, the prohibi- tory systein of 1815 was in virtual operation. How far it secured vou from a diminution of rental, your tenants from insolvency, and your estates from injury, every landowner in England can testify.

The writer then compares this miserable state of things with What must have happened had the trade in corn been free.

Prices would, indeed, have lowered ; but no such extravagant hopes would have been excited, no such erroneous calculations would have been made; rents would have fallen to a level corresponding with the price of grain, the agricul- tural capital of the country would have been unimpaired, and the land would have remained in a better state of cultivation. Your nominal rentals might have been diminished, but your rents would have been collected with facility ; andyou would not have been driven, time after time, to the wretched expedient of re- turning a per centage to your tenants at each successive audit, in order to induce them to remain on their farms,—an expedient which proclaims to your fellow- citizens, that those who resort to it are in the habit of demanding from their tenants a larger rent than they are capable of paying. Nothing, I must confess, Is more distressing to me, than to witness these half-yearly annunciations of this miscalled liberality of certain portions of the landed interest. Has it never struck you, fellow-citizens, that this proceeding is no evidence of liberality, but . rather of extortion ; that the return of part of the rent may be proper, when called for by temporary calamity,—by the effects of flood, or storm, or by some accidental misfortune overwhelming a particular tenant, or class of tenants; but that, when resorted to habitually, it is not to be justified ; that it convicts -those who have recourse to it of continued attempts to extract from their tenan- try a rent not warranted by the value of agricultural produce ; and that, so far from proving the liberality of the landlord, it affords testimony of a very diffe- rent quality?

As to the interest of the landowners themselves, the matter is thus strongly put.

By some, however, I am told, that the charges upon the landowners are heavy; that their estates are loaded with mortgages and family settlements ; that they are called upon to maintain a certain state in the country; that, for these purposes, their rents must be kept up ; and that, to keep up rents, corn must be dear. I hope that these difficulties of the landowner are exaggerated by imprudent advocates of the Corn-laws • for, depend upon it, no impartial )udgecan ever think that such arguments justify the imposition of a heavy tax upon the community. That the Corn-laws are a heavy tax, no man can doubt, nor that you yourselves pay a large portion of it. Do not flatter yourselves that you escape from this impost. Consider what are the habits of the landed gentry, tom the smallest to the most extensive proprietors, who reside upon their estates, and derive their incomes from the rent of lands occupied by others. Let each individual among you enter seriously upon this inquiry. Examine your respective expenditures in the gross, analyse them in detail, and you will find that

• Cleveland, in the remotest part of the North Riding of Yorkshire. In Northamptonshire.

the price of corn affects their amount meets mattnitslissi- The wages offyoul.dir labourers, whether employed won the farm or blithe-garden—the wages of.your menialsenvants—the feeding or your dogs—of yowr horessi—your travelling penses—the repairs of your buillings, whetherfor use or reureation—the amount- of all these, and- other sources of expense, which form the great bulk of your annual outlay, whether upon a large or upon- a small scale, is roateriallyaffeeted, by the price- of provisions. As fay, therefore; as -you, and those in-your employ, are, either directly or indirectly, consumers of agricultural produce; you suffer together with the rest of the community—you partake of the injury-you Witt upon your fellow-citizens—you are fellow-sufferers with them. I am far, lieu, ever, from contending, that you derive no advantage from extra prices, and their consequence, extra rents—you do derive an advantam, and an unjust advantage,- from them. Its value, however, is not ta be measured, by the extra rent which you receive ; it is only a portion of the extra rent that goes into your pockets, for, while the extra rent is augmenting your receipts, the extra prices are aug- menting your expenditure. The other classes of the- community have no set-off: against the injury inflicted upon them by high prices ; to them the loss is unac- companied by the slightest compensation: so that the result of the modern Corn. laws is to confer only the fraction of a benefit upon, one, and that the wesIthisk class of the nation, and to do unmixed evil to every other class.

In the last branch of his subject, Lord Minrox begins by showing, in opposition to an opinion often maintained, that the employment of machinery, though it has much increased the quantity and reduced the price of manufactured goods, has by no means rendered the price of manual labour a matter of trifling consequence in our competition with foreign manufacturers. The wages of the workman still form the largest component part of the price of most commodities. In the manufacture of woollen cloth, wages amount to 60 per cent. of the whole expenditure, from the purchase of the wool till the cloth is ready for sale.. In pig and bar iron, wages amount to between 80 and 90 per cent. In steel goods, almost the entire value consists of the wages of labour; and so of other articles.

From these facts, the author argues as follows ; his argument forming a remarkably fine specimen of that figure of logic called the Sorites-

With these examples before our eyes, surely it is impossible to imagine that the employment of machinery renders it a matter of indifference to our manufac- turing capitalists, whether the food of the operative classes. is dear or cheap. Even where machinery has been carried to the greatest extent, the wages of la- bour constitute a most important element in the price of manufactured goods; and high wages, when they are the result of dear provisions, not of a growing demand for labour, must ultimately tell upon commercial prosperity. Dearpro- visions must, indeed, produce one of the following effects—they must either lower the condition of the labourer, or raise the rate of wages. Nobody can wish the former result ; you must, therefore, wish high wages to be the result of dear corn—but if wages are high, the price of goods must he high—hut if the price of goods be high, our manufacturers cannot compete with foreigners—but if they cannot compete with foreigners, our export trade is diminished—if our export trade is diminished, the prosperity of our manufacturing population is undermined—if their prosperity is undermined,' they will consume fewer provi- sions ; the demand for agricultural produce, in the manufacturing counties, will he restricted ; the surplus produce will remain in the hands of the farmer ; and the ultimate result will be a Eill of rents,.. occasioned, be it remembered, by as attempt to raise them. Let this sink' dealt into your minds.

The importance of the demand for corn in the manufacturing districts, and the effect which it produces upon the welfare of the agriculturists, are placed in a very strong light.

The clothing districts of the West Riding of Yorkshire export their manufac- tures by the rivers Aire and Calder ; and, while that navigation transmits the produce of their industry to other parts of Great Britain, and to foreign coun- tries, it furnishes their inhabitants with corn imported from the East Riding and the Northern parts of Lincolnshire. The annual average quantity of corn which thus ascends the Aire and Calder, for the supply of the clothing districts, amounts to 842,000 quarters, whilst 100,000 quarters are sent up the river Rua for the consumption of Sheffield and its populous neighbourhood. These 942,000 quarters, about half of which is estimated to consist of wheat, cannot-be produced by the cultivation of much less than the same number of acres, a sur- face i ace equal in extent to the county of Sussex.

Such a pamphlet as this, so ably written, so opportunely pub- lished, and proceeding from a man whose complete conviction of the soundness of his views may be inferred from the deep interest he has in the question, cannot fail to prove an antidote to the poi- son so industriously administered to the class of which he is one of the most distinguished members.