Immediately after the passing of this act prices rose between March and De cember from 49s. ed. the quarter to 8Cs. 2d. The crop of 1804 proved deficient ; in the three following seasons the harvests were not abundant ; and in the five years from 1808 to 1812 they were very deficient. In August, 1812, the average prices were —for wheat 155s., barley 79s. 10d., and oats 568. 2d. ; and Mr. Tooke says (Hist. of Prices, i. 323) that in Mark-lane the finest Dantzic wheat fetched 1808., and oats in one or two instances were sold at the enormous price of 848. the quarter.
The war in which we were engaged during the above-mentioned years when the harvests were deficient, added to the expense and difficulty of procuring sup plies of grain from abroad ; but notwith standing the anti-commercial spirit which the war had assumed, the French govern ment granted licences under which about 400,000 quarters of wheat, besides other grain, were imported to supply the defi ciency of the harvest of 1809. In 1810 we imported 1,500,000 quarters of wheat and flour, and 600,000 quarters of other Frain and meal. The expenses of freight, insurance, and licenses amounted to from 30s. to 50s. per quarter on wheat. The enormous charges on importation were added to the natural price of British corn; and this was one of the causes of what were called the " war prices" of this memorable period, and of the extraor dinary profits of farmers and landowners The high prices stimulated cultivation, and from 1804 to 1814 inclusively the number of inclosure bills which received the royal assent was 1084, being con siderably more than for any other corre sponding period. The state of the agri cultural interest at this time has been impartially described by Mr. Tooke :—A great amount of gain had been distributed among the agricultural classes; and as she range of high prices (with an interval of depression between the harvests of 1810 and 1811, so short as not to have been felt at all by the landlord, and very Ittle by the farmer) had been of an un usually long continuance, it was concluded that the causes of that high range were permanent. From 1809 to 1813 was accordingly the period in which rents experienced their greatest rise,—that is, upon the expiration of leases, they were advanced in full proportion to the high range of the prices of produce ; and in several instances they were raised three fold or upwards of what they had been in 1792. (Hist. of Prices, i. A year or two of low prices of agricul tural produce again brought to a close another period in the history of the Corn Laws. Wheat, which had been sold as
high as 180s. the quarter (for select par cel;) in 1812, fell to 73s. Gd. after the abundant harvest of 1813; and after that of 1814, which was rather favourable than otherwise, the average price was reduced to 53s. 7d. the quarter. This fall in prices and the cessation of hostili ties led to the reconsideration of the whole question of the Corn Law.
During the present period an important change was made in the mode of striking the average prices of corn and grain. The twelve maritime districts of England, and the four similar districts of Scotland, ceased to be regarded as sixteen separate sections, each of which was regulated by the prices prevalent within its separate limits ; but for England, the averages, taken as before, were computed for the whole of the twelve districts at once, and the average price obtained from the com putation regulated importation and ex portation at sea-ports situate in any part of the country ; and for Scotland the same plan was pursued. The six weeks' averages, struck quarterly, regulated the import-duty, and the weekly average the exports.
In 1806 was passed ' An Act to permit the free Interchange of every Species of Grain between Great Britain and Ire land' (46 Geo. III. c. 97). Ireland had been previously treated as a colony, but this act placed her on an equality with other parts of the kingdom.
1815 to 1822.
The real object of the Corn Act of 1815 was to perpetuate high prices and high rents by artificial scarcity. In June, 1814, a committee of the House of Lords on the corn trade was appointed, and in their second report the committee recom mended that so long as the average price of wheat was under 80s. the ports should be completely closed against supplies from other countries. The prohibitive price suggested by the agricultural witnesses examined by the committee varied from 72s. to 96s. Out of sixteen witnesses belonging to this class, on17 four were in favour of the free importation price being below 80s. per quarter. This second report was presented ou the 25th of July; but a bill which had been brought in, founded on its recommendations, was strongly opposed, and eventually aban doned. An act was however passed, which repealed the bounty on exportation (54 Geo. III. c. 69). From 1792, the high prices which prevailed in the home mar ket rendered the bounty inoperative. By the new act exportation might take place at anytime without reference to prevail ing prices.