LAISSEZ FAIRE 
shis there was, owing to the Corn Laws, no market in England ; 
suitable return cargoes could not be readily secured, and 
:ommerce languished in consequence. The controversy would 
undoubtedly have been protracted for a longer period, if it 
had not been for the ghastly picture preseied, in Ireland, 
of the horrors which might arise from an insufficient food- 
supply. In 1845 the harvest was a failure, and prices rose 
rapidly ; Sir Robert Peel was inclined to open the ports, and 
allow, for a time at least, the admission of foreign corn, on a 
merely nominal duty. But there are some measures which, if 
adopted once, are adopted permanently. Sir James Graham® 
and other members of the Cabinet saw that the suspension 
of the Corn Laws would in itself be an admission that the 
system aggravated the evils of scarcity, and that, if this point 
was conceded, the whole system would have to go. For this 
the Cabinet were not prepared; and Sir Robert Peel placed 
his resignation in the hands of the Queen. As no other 
Fovernment could be formed, however, he returned into office 
om December 20th, 1845, with the full determination of 
rarrying through the repeal of the Corn Laws. The subject 
was debated at great length in January and IFebruary 1846, 
and the Government proposals were carried by a majority of 
ninety-seven?, There was to be a temporary protection, by a 
sliding scale, which levied four shillings when the price of 
corn was fifty shillings a quarter, and instead of this com- 
paratively light duty, a merely nominal tax of one shilling a 
quarter was to be levied after February 1st, 1849. Even 
this nominal duty has been more recently removed. 
In the hubbub of conflicting interests the fundamental 
issue, which was involved in this change of policy, was com- 
ais pletely obscured. The measures, which gave encouragement 
T{osterind to tillage, had not been originally introduced with any view 
Faun 00d: of benefiting the landlord class; the object of earlier measures, 
and of the great Corn Law of 1689, had been to render a 
larger and more regular supply of food available for the 
community. If the Corn Laws were defensible, they were 
defensible as a benefit to the nation as a whole; the under- 
lying aim of the original system had been to call forth 
sufficient sustenance for the English population. In this 
1 Dowell, 11. 329. 2 9 and 10 Vict. ¢. 22. 
49