588 LAISSEZ FAIRE 
AD.1776 causes and remedies of these evils, and petitions for redress 
—18%0- of grievances, for economy and for parliamentary reform, 
poured in on all sides.” There was a bitter irony in the fact 
that the success of England, in foiling the attack on her 
commercial prosperity, should be marked by “urgent symptoms 
of suffering which broke out over the whole face the 
sountry and in almost all classes of the community.” 
though The various international struggles had far-reaching results 
ruccessful . . , usin 
speculators on the business habits and economic condition of the country. 
bad gained. Phe laissez faire policy had led to a practical abandonment of 
industrial regulations of every kind, and manufacturers were 
much more free to expand their business, and take advantage 
of fresh openings, than would have been possible in the old 
days. The man of enterprise had his reward, and the in- 
dustrial and agricultural revolutions were doubtless accelerated 
by the political events of the time. The ultimate result was 
the triumph of England; and the gain to the country, as 
measured by the volume of trade and the increase of shipping, 
was immense. But if we take the welfare of the community 
as a criterion, the subject assumes a very different aspect; 
pauperism abounded and the burden of poor rates was a 
heavy charges. The increased rapidity of the transition was 
in itself an aggravation of the misery it entailed; the specu- 
lative character which business assumed was inconsistent 
with the steady maintenance of a standard of comfort, and 
the occasional interruptions from which the various textile 
trades suffered in turn were most disastrous. To con- 
iemporary observers much of the suffering of the time, and 
specially the distress after the peace, was inexplicable; though 
the teaching of Adam Smith might have given them a clue 
to explain the main features of the situation’ England had 
become a great commercial nation; her prosperity had ceased 
to depend primarily, as it did in the sixteenth, and even in 
the seventeenth century, on the prosperity of the landed 
interest’. It rested on the fluctuating basis of trade. This 
the com- 
munity as 
3 pf A 
wifered 
Annual Register, 1816, Preface iv. 
' The Government was thus enabled to obtain an enormously increased revenue 
from customs; these increased from £3,948,000 in 1794 to £10.321.000 in 1810. 
Reports, 1828, v. 610, 625. 
3 Revorts. 1x. 139. 4 See above, p. 596. § See above, pp. 112. 386.