d, supposing that corn is
imported from abroad at no very great rise of price, then the evil will
come upon us in all its naked deformity. It is very well for certain
politicians to say, that it is an utter absurdity to maintain that cheap
bread can affect the interests of the country; but the men who can argue
thus, have not advanced a step beyond the threshold of social economy.
Let them take the converse of the proposition. If there existed abroad a
manufacturing state which could supply the people of this country with
clothing and every article of manufactured luxury, at a ratio thirty per
cent cheaper than these could be produced in this country, would it be a
measure of wise policy to abandon a system of protective duties? Would
it be wise in the agriculturist to insist upon such an abandonment, in
order that he might wear a cheaper dress, whilst the practical effect of
the measure must be to annihilate the capital now invested in
manufactures, to starve the workman, and of course to narrow within the
lowest limits his capability of purchasing food? In like manner we say,
that it is not wise in the manufacturer to co-operate in this scheme;
for sooner or later the evil effects of it must fall upon his own head.
Cheap bread may be an evil, and a great one. Mr Hudson, no mean
authority in the absence of all official information upon the point, but
a man who has personally dealt in grain, informs us that the probable
price of wheat will be from 35s. to 40s. a quarter. We shall adopt his
calculation, and the more readily because we firmly believe that foreign
grain will at first be imported at some such price, although the spirit
of avarice may combine with the necessity of expending capital in
improvement, to raise it considerably afterwards. But let us assume that
as the probable starting price. No man who knows any thing at all upon
the subject, will venture to say that, at such a price, the agriculture
of the country can be maintained. It _must_ go back. The immediate
consequence is not a prophecy, but a statement of natural effect. Much
land will go out of cultivation. Pauperism will increase in the country
on account of agricultural distress, and the home market for
manufactures will suffer accordingly.

Is cheap bread a blessing to the labourer, let his labour be what it
may? Let us consider that point a little. And, first, what is meant by
cheap bread? Cheapness is a relative term, and we cannot disconnect it