ion being abolished, the
quantity of grain raised in the country is but equal to half the
demand of the population; foreign corn, of course, must come in to
supply the deficiency. We shall not enlarge upon the first argument
which must occur to every thinking person--the argument being, that in
such a state of things, the foreigner, whoever he may be, with whom we
are dealing, has it in his power to demand and exact any price he
pleases for his corn. What say the Cobdenites in answer to this? "Oh,
then, we shall charge the foreigner a corresponding price for our
cottons and our calicoes!" No, gentlemen--that will not do. We have no
doubt this idea _has_ entered into your calculations, and that you
hope, through a scarcity of home-grown corn, to realize an augmented
profit on your produce--in short, to be the only gainers in a time of
general distress. But there is a flaw in your reasoning, too palpable
to be overlooked. The foreigner _can do without calico_, but the
British nation CANNOT _do without bread_. The wants of the stomach are
paramount--nothing can enter into competition with them. The German,
Pole, or Frenchman, may, for a season, wear a ragged coat, or an
inferior shirt, or even dispense with the latter garment, if it so
pleases him; and yet suffer comparatively nothing. But what are our
population to do, if bread is not procurable except at the enormous
prices which, when you abolish protection, you entitle the foreigner
to charge? Have you the heart to respond, in the only imaginable
answer--it is a mere monosyllable--STARVE?

But suppose that, for the first two years or so, we went on
swimmingly--that there were good and plentiful seasons abroad, and
that corn flowed into our market abundantly from all quarters of the
world. Suppose that bread became cheaper than we ever knew it before,
that our manufactures were readily and greedily taken, and that we had
realised the manufacturing Eden, which the disciples of Devil's-dust
have predicted, as the immediate consequence of our abandoning all
manner of restrictions. How will this state of unbounded prosperity
affect the land? For every five shillings of fall in the price of the
quarter of wheat, fresh districts will be abandoned by the plough. The
farmer will be unable to work them at a profit, and so he will cease
to grow grain. He may put steers upon them; or they may be covered
with little fancy villas, or Owenite parallelograms, to suit the taste
of the