The harvests of 1673-4-5 proved de fective, and the same result occurred in 1677-8, so that the average price of the seven years ending 1672, during which wheat ranged at 36s. the quarter, was followed in the seven subsequent years, ending 1679, by an average of 46s., being a rise of nearly 30 per cent. But these years of scarcity were followed by twelve abundant seasons in succession (with the exception of 1684, which was somewhat deficient), and the price of corn and grain again sunk very low. In the six years ending 1691 the average price of wheat was 29s. 5d the quarter, and if the four years ending 1691 be taken, the average price was only 27s. 7d., being lower than at any period during the whole of the century. There was no compe tition in the English market with the foreign grower during the above-men tioLed years of low prices ; and exporta tion was freely permitted on payment of a nominal duty. The means which the landed interest took to relieve will be noticed in the next period.
The mode of taking the average prices of corn and grain established in 1570 (13 Eliz. c. 13) was acted upon till 1685, the necessary provisions for an alteration having been neglected in the Corn Act of 1670. These were made by a statute which enacted that justices of the peace, in counties wherein foreign corn might be imported, may, at quarter-sessions, by the oaths of two persons duly qualified— that is, possessed of freehold estates of the annual value of 201., or leasehold estates of 501., and not being corn-dealers, and by such other means as they shall see fit, determine the market price of middling English corn, which is to be certified on with, hung up in some public place, and sent to the chief officer at the custom house in each district.
II.—From 1689 to 1773.
The high prices of the seven years 2tvl. ing 1679 led to an extension of tillage, and this was followed by a succession of favourable seasons which occasioned low prices. Exportation of corn therefore was not only permitted as heretofore, but encouraged by bounties. The sta tute for granting bounties (1 Wm. and Mary, c. 12) is entitled Act for En couraging the Exportation of Corn.' The preamble states that it had been " found by experience that the exporta tion of corn and grain into foreign coun tries, when the price thereof is at a low rate in this kingdom, hath been a great advantage, not only to the owners of land, but to the traders of this kingdom in gene ral ;" and it was enacted that a bounty of 5s. the quarter should be granted on the exportation of wheat, so long as the home price did not exceed 48s. , with other bounties of smaller amount upon the exportation of barley, malt, and rye. The growers of corn were in possession of a market the sole supply of which was secured to them by the act of 1670 (22 Car. II. c. 13), and by the Bounty
Act it was designed to prevent the over stocking bf that market.
The seven years immediately succeed ing 1e93 were remarkable for a succession of unfavourable seasons. In the four years ending 1691 the price of wheat averaged 27s. 7d. the quarter, but in the four years preceding and including 1699 it reached 56s. 6d. The bounty was inoperative during this period, and was suspended by statute (12 Wm III. c 1), from the 9th of February, 1699, to the 29th of September, 1700. The preamble of the act contained an acknowledgment that the statute granting the bounty " was grounded upon the highest wisdom and prudence, and has succeeded, to the great est benefit and advantage to the nation by the greatest encouragement of tillage." Before this temporary act had expired, another act was passed in 1700 (11 & 12 Wm. III. c. 20), which abolished the export duties of Is. per quarter for wheat, and a less sum on other cool. From 1697 to 1773 the total excess of exports over im ports was 30,968,366 quarters, upon which export bounties, amounting to 6,237,1761. were paid out of the public revenue." (Commons' Report on Agric. Distress, 1821.) In 1750 the sum of 324,1761. was paid in bounties on corn. The exports of 1748-49-50 (during which, moreover, the price of wheat fell from 32s. 104d. to 28s. lOid. the quarter) amounted to 2,120,000 quarters of wheat, and of all kinds of corn and grain to 3,825,000 quarters. This was the result of a cycle of abundant years and of ex tended cultivation caused by the bounty. In the twenty-three years from 1692 to 1715, says Mr. Tooke, in his elaborate `History of Prices,' there were eleven bad seasons, during which the average price of wheat was 45s. 8d. the quarter ; in the fifty years ending 1765 there were only five deficient harvests, and the ave rage price for the whole half-century ranged at 34s. 11d.; and, taking the ten years ending 1751, during which the crops were constantly above an average, the price of wheat was only 29s. 24d. the quarter.
Adam Smith refers to "the peculiarly happy circumstances" of the country dung these times of plenty ; and Mr. Hallam describes the reign of George II. as "the most prosperous period that Eng land had ever experienced." " Bread made of wheat is become more generally the food of the labouring people," ob serves the author of the 4 Corn Tracts,' writing in 1765. Referring to the same period, Mr. Malthus remarks :—" It is well known that during this period the price of corn fell considerably, while the wages of labour are stated to have risen." Trade was flourishing, and the exports and imports progressively increasing during this period of abundance.