Week ending Sept. 13th . . . 1 0 „ 20th . . . 2 8 „ 27th . . . 10 8 Oct. 4th . . . 16 8 f „ 11th . . . 20 8 „ 18th . . . 21 8 f f „ 25th . . . 22 8 A cargo which arrived at the end of September, instead of the middle of the mouth, would have been subject to a duty of 10s. 8d. instead of ls. per quarter. It would then be bonded, and might re main 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 Ham burg, 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 encou rage 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 con ducted under these circumstances ; and the value of merchandise of all kinds de clined from sales being forced in order to meet engagements at a time when money had been rendered scarce by the drain of remittances for corn.
In years when the crops were of infe rior quality another disadvantage of the 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.
On the 7th of May, 1841, after the in jurious 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 un der any of the numerous acts for regu lating the importation of foreign corn. The fixed duties which Lord John Rus sell proposed were as follows : Wheat . . . . . 8s. Od. per quarter. Rye, peas, and beans 5 0 f f Barley 4 6 Oats 3 4 The proposed duty of 8s. on wheat ex ceeded by 2s. 4d. the duty (5s. 8d.) which had actually been paid on all wheat im ported 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 as sembled the ministry resigned office.
The government which had been over thrown at the general election partly hi 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 in, terest, who probably now felt confident that the corn-laws would not be thrown into the " lottery of legislation." The prime minister, however, knew too well that at least such a change as would miti 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 fo reign countries:' On the 9th Sir Robert Feel brought forward the government plan, in which a sliding scale of duty was still retained, but instead of the duty succes sively falling from 10s. to 6s. 8d., 2s. 8d., and Is., it was proposed to have two sta tionary points of price, and with these exceptions (528. to 55s., and 668. to 698.), the duty would only fall Is. for each in crease of Is. 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 Viet. 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 wheat flour, 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 :— The average rate of duty for the period was under 6s. the quarter. For the whole period during which the act was in ope ration the average price of wheat iu Eng. land and Wales was 598. 4d., and the ex• treme points of fluctuation in the weekl) averages were from 36s. 8d. to 81s. 6d. or 122 per cent. The highest pearl) average was 70s. 8d., in 1839 ; and du lowest 39s. 4d., in 1835. The larger quantity of wheat and wheat-flour in the warehouse at the end of any month was 1,006,832 quarters in August/P1:440. The year of largest importation was 1839, when 2,711,723 quarters of wheat and wheat-flour were admitted for home con sumption. In 1835 the quantity admitted was only 28,554 quarters, and in the fol lowing 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 1,098,8491., and in 1840 1,156,660/.