The Corn Committees of Parliament, in 1813 and 1814, collected a great deal of useful information re lative to the agriculture of the Continent, and the price at which foreign corn could be imported into England. That price is not so low as may at first be imagined. In Poland, land and labour are very cheap, but the means of bringing down the grain from the interior are very limited. The great rivers are na vigable only at particular seasons, and the labour of conveyance is considerable, when we take into ac count the bringing back the barks with men and oars against the current. It is thus profitable to ship for England only when the London market is at or above 70s.t The quantity of wheat annual. ly exported from Poland varies from 200,000 to 500,000 quarters • that from Pomerania, and the rest of Germany bordering the Baltic, from 100,000 to 150,000. Flanders seldom makes a large export; the year 1810 affording almost the only example of the kind in the present age. In Russia, the price of wheat, though considerably lower than in England, is said to have risen since 1780 in nearly the same ratio; and in France, landed property is burdened with a direct tax (the fowler) of 25 per cent. on the rent, which, of course, enhances materially the price of produce. These facts are useful in enabling us to arrive at a definite conclusion on a topic hitherto involved in vagueness and obscurity,—the relative prices of corn in England and the Continent. To consumers on the spot, prices are, on an average, about 30 per cent. below our peace currency, which corresponds to a difference of 25 per cent. when the freilit and other import charges are added to the price on the spot. In butcher-meat, the Con tinent, in general, is also about 30 per cent. below the peace prices in England. The variation of prices among the continental countries is much smaller than we generally imagine ; and the variation from season to season is also much less than in England, because butcher-meat enters comparatively but little into the food of the lower classes.
We cannot close this part of our subject without a few remarks on the connection between the state of our agriculture and the extent of our financial burdens. Those who compare the heavy pressure of our taxes with the lighter burdens of our continental neighbours, have, in general, the satisfaction of find ing some counterpoise in the superior dexterity of our people, and the productiveness of our capital. This holds true, in regard to 'our navigators, our merchants, and our manufacturers ; and it holds in agriculture in regard to grazing; because in gra zing little personal labour is requisite, while capi tal and active habits of business are of the most beneficial operation. But, in the department of tillage, much remains to be done ere England can claim any great superiority. Farms are yet too small in more than two.thirda of England ; and leases ge nerally too short. The course of husbandry is fre quently injudicious, the ploughs on a bad construc tion, and there exists a gross misapplication of ani mal strength. However light the soil, and however strong the horses, it is still customary to put three, four, and frequently five, in a plough, throughout al• most all our west and south-west counties. These are the main causes of the comparative unproduc tiveness of our finest counties, and of our being ob liged to pay so heavy a premium in the shape of corn laws to support our agriculture. Without the
corn laws, our lower classes would be supported on nearly the same terms as their continental neighbours; and there would be no occasion, with all our taxes, to dread the competition of foreigners in almost any branch of industry; but, if the manufacturers of Eng land are obliged to pay for their support 30 per cent. more than those of France and Germany, while their wages are very little higher, what other prospect have we than that of increasing emigration, and the aug mentation of the poor rates ? The quantity of land still lying uncultivated in the shape of wastes and commons, is a frequent topic of animadversion; persons unacquainted with agncul tural calculation calling loudly for their being brought into culture, while the landed interest object to pass ing a general inclosure act, or, in other words, to giving unlimited scope to speculative cultivation. We by no means participate in their apprehensions; but we would abstain from giving any artificial sti mulus to this, more than to any other branch of in dustry. Let the progress of inclosure be regulated by the gradual increase of our population, and the discovery of better methods of turning such land to account. No benefit can be derived from applying to this purpose any more capital than goes into it voluntarily; and every experienced farmer is aware, that the best prospect of profit lies not in reclaiming new soils, but in bestowing farther labour and ex pence on the land already under culture.
V.—Mines—Quarries—Iron, Copper, Tin, and Salt Works.
In regard to minerals, England does not yield to any country in Europe in natural abundance, and takes the lead of all in the extent to which these rude treasures have been converted to purposes of utility. Our great superiority lies in our coal-mines, which are not only more productive, but much more ad vantageously situated than those of the Continent. To the mines along the coast, a ready conveyance is afforded by our insular positioit, and to those in the interior by our inland navigation. The consumption of coal in England, for domestic use, has been com puted, or rather guessed, at 15,000,000 of tons an nually. Large as this quantity is, and larger as it must be, when we add to it the vast consumption of manufactories, such as iron-works, glass. houses, &c. there is no reason to apprehend the ex haustion of this precious mineral; the depth of the coal beds being very great, and the extent of ground containing them amounting to many hundred thou sand acres. The principal tracks for coal lie in Northumberland, Durham, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Glamorgansbire. The ports for shipping it in large quantities are Newcastle, Sunderland, Swan sea, and Whitehaven. The motive of the tax on coal exported to foreign countries is thus neither an apprehension of eventual scarcity, nor even a calculation of revenue, so much as a dread of giving our continental neighbours the means of rivalling our manufactures. Coal is not wanting in France and Germany, but the mines are at a distance from water-carriage, and as yet very imperfectly wrought, while for domestic fuel the inhabitants give a prefer, ence to wood.