. These are partial and slight misfortunes,
which leave us still in the possession of our chief comforts. They may
lop some of our superfluous pleasures, and repress some of our
exorbitant hopes; but we may still retain the essential part of civil
and of private happiness--the security of law, and the tranquillity of
content. They are small obstructions of the stream, which raise a foam
and noise, where they happen to be found, but, at a little distance, are
neither seen nor felt, and suffer the main current to pass forward in
its natural course.

But scarcity is an evil that extends at once to the whole community:
that neither leaves quiet to the poor, nor safety to the rich; that, in
its approaches, distresses all the subordinate ranks of mankind; and, in
its extremity, must subvert government, drive the populace upon their
rulers, and end in bloodshed and massacre. Those who want the supports
of life will seize them wherever they can be found. If in any place
there are more than can be fed, some must be expelled, or some must be
destroyed.

Of this dreadful scene there is no immediate danger; but there is
already evil sufficient to deserve and require all our diligence and all
our wisdom. The miseries of the poor are such as cannot easily be borne;
such as have already incited them, in many parts of the kingdom, to an
open defiance of government, and produced one of the greatest of
political evils--the necessity of ruling by immediate force.

Caesar declared, after the battle of Munda, that he had often fought for
victory, but that he had, that day, fought for life. We have often
deliberated, how we should prosper; we are now to inquire, how we shall
subsist.

The present scarcity is imputed, by some, to the bounty for exporting
corn, which is considered as having a necessary and perpetual tendency
to pour the grain of this country into other nations.

This position involves two questions: whether the present scarcity has
been caused by the bounty? and whether the bounty is likely to produce
scarcity in future times?

It is an uncontroverted principle, that "sublata causa tollitur
effectus;" if, therefore, the effect continues when the supposed cause
has ceased, that effect must be imputed to some other agency.

The bounty has ceased, and the exportation would still continue, if
exportation were permitted. The true reason of the scarcity is the
failure of the harvest; and the cause of exportation is the like