Page:The Moral and Religious Bearings of the Corn Law.djvu/8

8. It is, up to a certain point, a prohibition. It says, virtually, up to that point, not, "All the corn that enters the country shall pay so much," but, "None shall enter." The consequence of this is, that the people, whose daily bread is thus made dearer than it otherwise would be, have not the consolation of knowing that the money which it costs them over and above what it should cost them, goes to the maintenance of national order, and dignity, and peace; but the mortification of knowing that it goes into the hands of a class, and of a small class too; for it is not the agricultural labourers nor the farmers that are benefitted by it, but the landowners; not those who rent and till the land, but those who own it. These are the real parties for whom the corn law exists. It is useless to deny it. Now, suppose that, instead of being put into the shape of a Corn Law, the same thing had been put into another shape; suppose it had been enacted that certain persons in every district of the land should collect so much money annually from each of its inhabitants, and that the money thus collected should go into the hands of this section of the community. What then? Why, every individual out of this section would see at once the injustice of the matter. But now, because this is done, not directly and manifestly but indirectly and under colour of something else, although millions go yearly from the whole nation to this small class, people can be found, not only among those who receive, but among those who pay, to look on, some with indifference and some even with approbation!

But this is not all. The Corn Law is unjust, not only because it is a tax upon bread, and, as such, presses unequally, and benefits a class at the expense of the nation, but it is a violation of the rights of labour. It is the miserable operation of this law, not only to make food dear, but to diminish the means of obtaining it. It is God's curse upon man, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." That curse dooms to painful and wearying toil, but it also involves temporal