Page:The corn law question shortly investigated.djvu/19

17 Or where would be the protection to agriculture, with wheat at 36s. per quarter, as it was in 1834, and the price on the Continent at 20s. to 25s. per quarter, and oats at 5s. to 7s. Mr. Gladstone, in his pamphlet on this same question, says:—"It is within my recollection, that at certain periods when our ports were shut, within the last twenty years, wheat was shipped, equal to the growth of Norfolk, free on board, at Rostock, and other Baltic ports, as low as 15s. per quarter." He then asks what rate of fixed duty would protect the British farmer against such competition?

I consider the present self-acting sliding scale of duties, accommodating itself to every emergency, as infinitely preferable, and worthy of the great statesman, now no more, (Mr. Huskisson), who introduced it. Like the steam engine, it adjusts itself, and is its own regulator. That British agriculture will be enabled to keep pace with the increasing population of the country, I think there does not remain a doubt, the system of tithes, which has been such a clog to improvement in Ireland and England, is yearly occupying the attention of the Legislature, and when settled on a basis, perhaps similar to the system in Scotland, the increase in the growth of corn will be very great. The waste lands will also certainly be brought into cultivation. As regards them, the following table may be of use:—