Ts = 
THE DEMAND FOR FOOD AND HIGHER FARMING 707 Toda rr ill 
under parliamentary control, in much the same spirit apis! 
which it had been dealt with by the Commissioners of Grain 
and Victuals! and the Clerks of the Market, under Elizabeth 
and the earlier Stuarts? 
Since 17783, when additional facilities had been given for ond to 
the importation of corn? England had been becoming more the im- 
and more dependent on regular supplies from abroad; in Zo 
years when the crops at home were short, it was obviously 
wise to try and make up the deficiency by procuring grain 
from other European countries, from the United States* or 
even from India. There was some discussion in 1795 as to 
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133 
! See above, pp. 86 and 96. In March 1801, the Committee on the High 
Price of Provisions report that they “have received information respecting the 
situation of certain parts of the country, namely, about Braintree, Bocking, 
Halstead, and Coggleshall, in the county of Essex; the parish of Foleshill near 
Coventry; and the townships of Dewsbury, Ossett, Ovenden, Clayton, and 
Northowram, in the West Riding of the county of York; to which they feel it 
indispensable to cull the serious attention of the House. From the extreme dear- 
ness of Provisions, combined with the temporary and partial interruption of some 
branches of Manufacture, the pressure upon the above-mentioned places is become 
30 great as to require immediate relief, beyond what their own means are in the 
present moment capable of affording.” Reports, 1x. p. 138. 
2 Compare also the Lord Keeper's letter to the Worcestershire Justices. 
Willis Bund, Worcestershire County Records, 398. 8 See below, p. 724. 
4 The stocks in all these areas were discussed by the same Committee in 
December 1800. They say, * Setting aside, for the present, the consideration 
of the further supply of Grain which may be received from Europe, the first 
Object to which Your Committee will advert, is, the Importation from the United 
States of America. There is a peculiar advantage attending the supply from this 
quarter, that some part of it may be expected to arrive during the next month, 
and will continue during that period of the year when the importation from 
Europe is usually interrupted by the frost. The harvest in Canada is stated 
to have been abundant, and an Importation may be expected from that country, 
amounting at least to 30,000 quarters. In addition to this supply of Wheat and 
Flour, a considerable quantity of Rice may be drawn from different parts of the 
World. From the Southern States of North America, Your Committee are 
informed that a supply may be obtained of 70,000 barrels (each weighing 5 cwt.), 
of which a part will probably arrive in January, and the remainder successively 
in the ensuing months. 
“From India, a much larger quantity may ultimately be expected; but, as 
little, if any, of what may be obtained from thence by the means of ships which 
have sailed from this country; can arrive before the beginning of October 1801, 
Your Committee have confined their estimate, in this view of the subject, to that 
part which may be sent from India in country or neutral ships, in consequence of 
orders dispatched from hence in September last: This has been stated at from 
7,000 to 10,000 tons (equal from 28,000 to 40,000 barrels of 5 cwt. each). The 
latter quantity is represented as the most probable of the two; and if sufficient 
shipping should be disengaged in India, it may rise to a much greater amount. It 
sectns therefore not unreasonable to expect from that quarter, in the months of 
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