Page:Vindication of a fixed duty on corn.djvu/12

6 abate the duty? If you do, you must maintain a system of averages."—Sir R. Peel's Speech in the House of Commons, August 27, 1841.

"It was universally admitted by all men who had ever had a share in the conduct of public business that some protection was necessary to be given in the shape of duty to the agricultural interest of this country against the unlimited importation of foreign corn; and the difference between him and the late Administration was as to the mode and amount of this protection. The question was, whether it should be provided by a fixed duty of 8s. per quarter, or by a duty fluctuating in amount as the price of corn rose or fell, tending thereby to maintain, as he believed, comparative cheapness and steadiness of price. (Hear, hear.) If the 8s. duty had been established at the present moment, what advantage would have been gained? Under the present system a large quantity of foreign corn was annually brought into the markets of this country; and the greater the diminution in the supply of British corn, and the greater the consequent increase of its price, a larger supply of foreign corn flowed in from the continent of Europe. The supply was always found when needed, and the very increase of price which effected the reduction of duty at once gave a temptation and a facility to the importation of foreign corn, and checked the undue rising of its price at home. (Applause.) They might legislate as they pleased, but they could not legislate for the seasons. They could not make that fixed and certain in price which God and nature had declared should be unfixed and uncertain in its abundance. (Hear.) They might calculate how much a given mill or machine would produce of manufactured cotton goods, and what would be the expense of a certain quantity of manufactures. They, therefore, might fix with certainty the amount of duty which being imposed on the importation of like articles from abroad would give a fair and reasonable protection to the British manufacturer. But with respect to corn, they could not act in a similar manner. After the agriculturist's labours were over, the issue was still uncertain; he could not tell what would be the amount of the produce with which Providence would favour