Page:The corn law question shortly investigated.djvu/15

13 and three times as much as the capital vested in every species of manufacture. So much less must every land-holder consume of every other article of produce imported into, raised, manufactured, and consumed in this country, so much would his property be deteriorated one-fifth; and so much, in proportion, would the capital of every establishment dependant on home trade and consumption be lessened. The manufacturing labourer for export would gain nothing, for just so much must his wages be lowered to enable his employer to export without a loss; and so much must the wages of every tradesman, of every description, throughout the United Kingdom, be lowered. While these would all be lowered to a still greater extent by the number of additional labourers which will be thrown out of employment in agriculture, and forced into the manufacturing market,—when those who work solely for the home market will be found discharging a large portion of their hands, instead of employing additional at reduced wages."

It is essential to observe, that the population of this country consume to the extent of L.245,000,000 in manufactures (p. 6); and following, of course, the free-trade theory, the manufacturers admit that these can be purchased in other countries 40 or 50 per cent. lower than in this. Consequently admitting, for the sake of reasoning, the false and fallacious ad captandum vulgus argument, that the Corn Laws cost the consumer L.25,000,000 yearly, the protection to manufacturers, as above shewn, costs the people of Great Britian [sic] and Ireland L.98,000,000. (M'Queen.)—Are the manufacturers so blind as not to see this, that seven-eighths of the manufactures of this country are consumed at home—the surest of all markets—that the manufacturing interest exclusively connected with the foreign trade, both in capital and production, forms but