saving the very existence of Britain and of Europe to pay attention to this question. But now followed a period of peace, in which both the bill for the war had to be paid, and this terrible food question faced in earnest.
The National Debt from 1815.The bill for the war was an enormous one; in 1793 the National Debt was not much over 200 millions; in 1815 it was over 900 millions; the interest to be paid on it annually had gone up from 8 to 33 millions. Taxation had been enormously heavy, and every one cried out for its reduction. To this cry for a reduction of taxes the Government was perhaps right to turn a deaf ear as long as that frightful bill remained unpaid; and, alas, during these ninety-six years, very little of that bill has really been paid off; the Debt is still over 700 millions, though the interest annually paid on each £100 of it has been reduced to £2 10s. 0d.
The Corn Laws, 1815–46.But there can be no excuse for the deaf ear which the Government turned to the question of food. The price of corn still varied with each harvest, and varied enormously. But now it was beginning to be possible to import corn from America, from Russia and from several other places. And the proper thing to do would have been to put a moderate Customs’ duty on the importation of corn, a duty which should vary with the price of corn in the London market. Instead of doing this, Parliament in 1815 passed a law saying that no corn should be imported at all until the price in London was at 80s. a quarter, which meant that a loaf of bread would cost about 9d. This was called ‘protecting’ the British farmers and the British landowners, who of course could get high prices and high rents when the price of corn was high; but it came very near to mean