the end of any future year, computed as aforesaid, after provision shall
have been made for all payments for which monies are previously to be
set apart or issued according to the directions of this act, the said
surpluses, excesses, and overplus monies, composing the sinking fund,
shall not be sufficient to make good as well all such deficiencies as
shall have arisen during such year, as the payment of the sum of two
hundred and fifty thousand pounds then due, in every such case, the
amount of such deficiency or deficiencies, whether the same shall have
arisen in any preceding quarter or quarters within such year, or in the
quarter ending on the fifth day of January on which such year shall end,
shall not be carried forward as a charge on the said sinking fund at the
end of the next succeeding quarter, but shall be made good out of any
aids or supplies which shall be or shall have been granted by parliament
for the service of the then current year; and the amount of such
deficiency or deficiencies so to be made good, shall be issued to the
governor and company of the bank of England, in the manner hereinafter
directed, within ten days after monies sufficient to answer the same
shall have been paid into his Majesty's receipt of exchequer, on account
of any such aids or supplies.

V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the monies
so set apart, at the end of any quarter of a year ending as aforesaid,
or of any year computed as aforesaid either for the payment of the sum
of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds due at the end of such quarter,
or of any part thereof, or for making good such deficiency or
deficiencies as aforesaid, shall forthwith be issued and paid to the
governor and company of the bank of England, and shall by them be placed
to an account to be raised in their books, and to be intituled, The
account of the commissioners appointed by act of parliament for applying
certain sums of money annually to the reduction at the national debt:
and that as well all such monies, as any other monies which shall be
paid to the governor and company of the bank of England by virtue of
this act, to be placed to the said account, shall be applied by the
commissioners hereinafter appointed towards the reduction of the
national debt, in the manner hereinafter directed, and to no other
intent or purpose, and in no other manner whatever.

X. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all monies
whatever, which shall be placed from time to time to the account of the
said commissioners by virtue of this act, shall be applied by them
either in payments for the redemption of such redeemable public
annuities as shall be at or above par, in such manner and at such
periods as shall be directed by any future act or acts of parliament, or
to the purchase of any public annuities below par in the manner
hereinafter directed.

11. THE SUSPENSION OF CASH PAYMENTS [_Reports of Committees on Bank of
England, 1797 and 1826, in Reports 1826 (III), pp. 142 and 255-256_],
1797.

The alarm of Invasion [in 1796-1797] which, when an immediate attack was
first apprehended in Ireland, had occasioned some extraordinary demand
for cash on the Bank of England, in the months of December and January
last, began in February to produce similar results in the north of
England. Your Committee find, that in consequence of this apprehension,
the farmers suddenly brought the produce of their lands to sale, and
carried the notes of the County Banks, which they had collected by those
and other means, into those banks for payment; that this unusual and
sudden demand for cash reduced the several banks at Newcastle to the
necessity of suspending their payments in specie, and of availing
themselves of all the means in their power of procuring a speedy supply
of cash from the metropolis; that the effects of this demand on the
Newcastle banks and their suspension of payments in cash, soon spread
over various parts of the country, from whence similar applications were
consequently made to the metropolis for cash; that the alarm thus
diffused not only occasioned an increased demand for cash in the
country, but probably a disposition in many to hoard what was thus
obtained; that this call on the metropolis, through whatever channels,
directly affected the Bank of England, as the great repository of cash,
and was in the course of still further operation upon it, when stopped
by the Minute of Council of the 26th of February.[389]

Your Committee find, that the Court of Directors of the Bank did, on the
26th October 1797, come to a Resolution, a copy of which is subjoined to
this Report.

Your Committee, having further examined the Governor and Deputy
Governor, as to what may be meant by the political circumstances
mentioned in that resolution, find, that they understand by them, the
state of hostility in which the nation is still involved, and
particularly such apprehensions as may be entertained of invasion,
either in Ireland or in this country, together with the possibility
there may be of advances being to be made from this country to Ireland;
and that from these circumstances so explained, and from the nature of
the war, and the avowed purpose of the enemy to attack this country by
means of its public credit, and to distress it in its financial
operations, they are led to think that it will be expedient to continue
the restriction now subsisting, with the reserve for partial issues of
cash, at the discretion of the Bank, of the nature of that contained in
the present Acts; and that it may be so continued, without injury to the
credit of the Bank, and to the advantage of the nation.

"_Resolved_, that it is the opinion of this Court,[390] that the
Governor and Company of the Bank of England are enabled to issue Specie,
in any manner that may be deemed necessary for the accommodation of the
public; and the Court have no hesitation to declare that the affairs of
the Bank are in such a state, that it can with safety resume its
accustomed functions, if the political circumstances of the country do
not render it inexpedient: but the Directors deeming it foreign to their
province to judge of these points, wish to submit to the wisdom of
Parliament, whether, as it has been once judged proper to lay a
restriction on the payment of the bank in cash, it may, or may not, be
prudent to continue the same?"[391]

[Footnote 389: The Minute of February 26, 1797, suspended the obligation
of the Bank of England to pay coin for its notes.]

[Footnote 390: Copy of a Resolution of the Court of Directors of the
Bank of England at a meeting on Thursday, October 26, 1797.]

[Footnote 391: The Bank of England resumed cash payments, 1819.]

12. PITT'S SPEECH ON THE INCOME TAX [_Speeches of William Pitt, edited
W.S. Hathaway, 1806, Vol. III, pp. 282-333_], 1798.

I shall begin by stating what has been voted as the amount of the supply
under the head of the services for the navy, with the exception of what
is necessary for the transport services. All these accounts have this
day been laid before us; and it appears that the total sum for the
ordinaries and extra-ordinaries of the navy and transport services
amounts to 13,642,000l., being the same sum, within a very small amount,
as was granted in the course of last session, and which I have the
satisfaction of assuring the committee is likely to prove sufficient for
the whole expenses of the navy, without leaving any necessity for
augmentation. The next head of expense is the army, in which the
estimates amount to 8,840,000l. ... Under the head of ordnance services,
including the expenses which have not been provided for, there has been
voted the sum of 1,570,000l. The next article is that of the
miscellaneous services. The plantation estimates have already been
voted, but there are other minuter parts of these services which have
not yet undergone a discussion in this house. The amount will be rather
less than it was last session. I state it [at] 600,000l. To this is to
be added the usual sum voted towards the redemption of the national
debt, above the annual million, which is 200,000l. There are other sums,
which are generally voted under the head of deficiency of grants. Among
these is a sum due for interest on treasury and exchequer bills paid
off, amounting to 565,000l.; the discount on prompt payments upon the
loan, amounting to 210,000l.; the interest on exchequer bills circulated
within the year, and charged upon the succeeding year, 300,000l.; in
addition to this, there is the deficiency of the land and malt in the
act passed two years ago, amounting to 300,000l. These sums swell the
total of the supply to 29,272,000l. This total, sir, does not differ in
any material degree from the amount of the supply of last session.

[He then estimates prospective sources of revenue:

  Land and malt taxes                  2,750,000l.
  Lottery                                200,000l.
  Produce of the consolidated fund     1,500,000l.
  Import and Export taxes              1,700,000l.
                                       -------------
                                       6,150,000l.]

The remainder of the sum is that which must be raised either by a tax
within the year, in the same manner as the assessed tax bill of last
year, or by a loan. It will be to be considered, how the committee will
divide that remaining sum between them. The sum to be provided for is
upwards of twenty-three millions. Gentlemen will recollect that, in the
debates upon the subject of the assessed taxes last session, two
fundamental principles were established as the rule by which we should
be guided in providing for the supplies for the service of the year.
These were, first, to reduce the total amount to be at present raised by
a loan; and next, as far as it was not reducible, to reduce it to such a
limit, that no more loan should be raised than a temporary tax should
defray within a limited time. In the first place, the tax acceded to by
the House last session[392] was for the purpose of providing for the
supplies of the year; and in the next place, for the purpose of
extinguishing the loan raised in that year. From the modifications,
however, which that measure underwent after its being first proposed,
the produce of it was diminished to a considerable extent. Other means
indeed were adopted to remedy the deficiency which was thus occasioned.
The voluntary and cheerful efforts which, so honourably to individuals
and to the country, came in aid of the assessed taxes, and the superior
produce of the exports and imports beyond the estimate, brought the
amount of the sums raised to that at which they had been calculated. The
different articles were estimated at seven millions and a half, and this
sum was fully covered by the actual receipts under the distinct heads.
It gives me, indeed, the most heartfelt satisfaction to state, that
notwithstanding the difficulties which the measure encountered from the
shameful evasion, or rather the scandalous frauds by which its effects
were counteracted, the total amount which was expected has yet been
realized. The meanness which shrunk from fair and equal contribution has
been compensated to the public by the voluntary exertions of patriotism.
The produce of the assessed taxes, under all the modifications, and all
the evasions, is four millions. I had taken it at four and a half after
the modifications. The deficiency is supplied by the excess on head of
voluntary contributions....

Satisfactory as it must be to review the circumstances to which we owe
those advantages, and the benefits which the mode of raising the
supplies to a considerable extent adopted last session has produced, it
is unnecessary for me to state that, however the principle may deserve
our approbation, it is still much to be desired that its effects should
be more extensive, and its application more efficient.... Every
circumstance in our situation, every event in the retrospect of our
affairs, every thing which strikes our view as we look around us,
demonstrates the advantages of the system of raising a considerable part
of the supplies within the year, and ought to induce us to enforce it
more effectually to prevent those frauds, which an imperfect criterion
and a loose facility of modification have introduced; to repress those
evasions so disgraceful to the country, so injurious to those who
honourably discharge their equal contribution, and, above all, so
detrimental to the great object of national advantage which it is
intended to promote. In these sentiments, our leading principle should
be to guard against all evasion, to endeavour by a fair and strict
application to realize that full tenth, which it was the original
purpose of the measure of the assessed taxes to obtain, and to extend
this as far as possible in every direction, till it may be necessary
clearly to mark the modification, or to renounce, in certain instances,
the application of it altogether. If then, the committee assent to this
principle, they must feel the necessity of following it up by a more
comprehensive scale and by more efficient provisions. They will perceive
the necessity of obtaining a more specific statement of income, than the
loose scale of modification, which, under the former measure, permitted
such fraud and evasion. If such a provision be requisite to correct the
abuses of a collection, to obviate the artifices of dishonesty, to
extend the utility of the whole system, it will be found that many of
the regulations of the old measure will be adapted to a more
comprehensive and efficient application of the principle. If regulations
can be devised to prevent an undue abatement, and to proportion the
burden to the real ability, means must be employed to reach those
resources which, _primâ facie_, it is impossible under the present
system of the assessed taxes to touch. While inaccuracy, fraud,
inequality, be grievances which it is desirable to remedy, it will be an
additional satisfaction, that when compelled to adopt means to prevent
the defects of which we complain, we shall be enabled likewise to
improve and to extend the benefits we have obtained. The experience
which we have had upon the subject, proves that we must correct and
remedy, in order to secure the advantages which the measure is
calculated to afford. It is in our power to make them our own. I think I
can show that whatever benefit the principle upon which we have begun to
act, is fitted to bestow, may by a liberal, fair and efficient
application, be carried to an extent far greater than has yet been
obtained, an extent equal to every object of great and magnanimous
effort, to every purpose of national safety and glory, to every
advantage of permanent credit and of increased prosperity.

Impressed then with the importance of the subject, convinced that we
ought, as far as possible, to prevent all evasion and fraud, it remains
for us to consider, by what means these defects may be redressed, by
what means a more equal scale of contributions can be applied, and a
more extensive effect obtained. For this purpose it is my intention to
propose, that the presumption founded upon the assessed taxes shall be
laid aside, and that a general tax shall be imposed upon all the leading
branches of income. No scale of income indeed which can be devised will
be perfectly free from the objection of inequality, or entirely cut off
the possibility of evasion. All that can be attempted is, to approach as
near as circumstances will permit to a fair and equal contribution....
The details of a measure which attempts an end so great and important,
must necessarily require serious and mature deliberation. At present all
that I can pretend to do is, to lay before the committee an outline of
the plan which endeavours to combine every thing at which such a measure
ought to aim. This outline I shall now proceed to develop to the
committee as clearly and distinctly as I am able.

The next point for consideration then, is the mode of contribution which
shall be adopted. On this head it is my intention to propose that no
income under 60l. a year shall be called upon to contribute, and that
the scale of modification up to 200l. a year, as in assessed taxes,
shall be introduced with restriction. The quota which will then be
called for ought to amount to a full tenth of the contributor's income.
The mode proposed of obtaining this contribution differs from that
pursued in the assessed taxes, as instead of trebling their amount, the
statement of income is to proceed from the party himself.

[A detailed estimate of income from different sources follows. One-fifth
is deducted to allow for the remission of taxation on incomes under 60l.
and graduation under 200l. from 1/120 to 1/10.]

For the sake of greater clearness I will recapitulate the heads in the
same order that I have followed:--

  The land rental, then, after deducting one-fifth,
      I estimate at                                     20,000,000l.

  The tenant's rental of land, deducting two-thirds
      of rack rent, I take at                            6,000,000l.

  The amount of tythes, deducting one-fifth              4,000,000l.

  The produce of mines, canal navigation, etc.,
      deducting one-fifth                                3,000,000l.

  The rental of houses, deducting one-fifth              5,000,000l.

  The profits of professions                             2,000,000l.

  The rental of Scotland, taking it at one-eighth
      of that of England                                 5,000,000l.

  The income of persons resident in Great Britain
      drawn from possessions beyond seas                 5,000,000l.

  The amount of annuities, from the public funds,
      after deducting one-fifth for exemptions
      and modifications                                 12,000,000l.

  The profits on the capital employed in our
      foreign commerce                                  12,000,000l.

  The profits on the capital employed in domestic
      trade, and the profits of skill and industry      28,000,000l.
                                                       ------------
                                          In all       102,000,000l.
                                                       ------------

Upon this sum a tax of 10 per cent. is likely to produce 10,000,000l. a
year, and this is the sum which is likely to result from the measure,
and at which I shall assume it.

I trust that it will not be necessary for me to go into any detail of
argument to convince the committee of the advantages of the beneficial
mode adopted last session, of raising a considerable part of the
supplies within the year.... It will be manifest to every gentleman on
the slightest consideration of the subject, that, in the end, the
measure of raising the supplies within the year is the cheapest and the
most salutary course that a wise people can pursue; and when it is
considered that there is a saving of at least one-twelfth upon all that
is raised, gentlemen will not suffer a superstitious fear, and jealousy
of the danger of exposing the secrecy of income, to combat with a
measure that is so pregnant with benefits to the nation. If gentlemen
will take into their consideration the probable duration of peace and
war, calculated from the experience of past times, they will be
convinced of the immeasurable importance of striving to raise the
supplies within the year, rather than accumulating a permanent debt. The
experience of the last hundred, fifty, or forty years, will show how
little confidence we can have in the duration of peace, and it ought to
convince us how important it is to establish a system that will prepare
us for every emergency, give stability to strength, and perpetual
renovations to resource. I think I could make it apparent to gentlemen
that in any war, of the duration of six years, the plan of funding all
the expenses to be incurred in carrying it on, would leave at the end of
it a greater burden permanently upon the nation than would be sustained,
than they would have to incur for the six years only of its continuance,
and one year beyond it, provided that they made the sacrifice of a tenth
of their income. In the old, unwise, and destructive way of raising the
supplies by a permanent fund, without any provision for its redemption,
a war so carried on entails the burden upon the age and upon their
posterity for ever. This has, to be sure, in a great measure, been done
away and corrected, by the salutary and valuable system which has been
adopted of the redemption fund. But that fund cannot accomplish the end
in a shorter period than forty years, and during all that time the
expenses of a war so funded must weigh down and press upon the people.
If, on the contrary, it had at an earlier period of our history been
resolved to adopt the present mode of raising the supplies within the
year; if, for instance, after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the scheme
of redemption had been adopted and persevered in to this time, we should
not now, for the seventh year of the war, have had more to raise from
the pockets of the people than what we have now to pay of permanent
taxes, together with about a fourth of what it would be necessary to lay
on in addition for this year. Fortunately, we have at last established
the redemption fund: the benefits of it are already felt; they will
every year be more and more acknowledged; and in addition to this it is
only necessary, that instead of consulting a present advantage, and
throwing the burden, as heretofore, upon posterity, we shall fairly meet
it ourselves, and lay the foundation of a system that shall make us
independent of all the future events of the world.[393]

[Footnote 392: The Triple Assessment, based on the individual's previous
payment to the various taxes on expenditure which Pitt had grouped
together as the Assessed Taxes.]

[Footnote 393: The income tax was recast in 1803, when Schedules of
different sources of income, instead of a general return, were
introduced. It was again revised in 1806. In 1816 it was repealed. Peel
reintroduced it in 1842 for three years, and it then became permanent.]

13. FOREIGN TRADE IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY [_Committee on Orders
in Council, Reports 1812 (III)_, _pp._ 38, 40, 41, 132-133, 522-523],
_c._ 1812.

[Evidence of Joseph Shaw, Chairman of Birmingham Chamber of Foreign
Commerce and exporter of hardwares.]

Have you had occasion to make any estimate, founded upon your own
inquiries, of the number of workmen employed in the Birmingham
manufactory[394]--and the neighbouring towns? I never particularly
estimated for the whole of them, but in the year 1808 I took an estimate
of the people employed in the American trade.... Those that could be
ascertained to be (as nearly as could be) exclusively employed in the
American trade were 50,000, exclusive of the nail trade, which employed
from twenty to thirty thousand [of whom two-thirds were engaged in the
American trade].

Can you state to the Committee, from your observation, what proportion
the foreign trade generally bears to the trade for home consumption?...
I should think it was considerably more than one half, including the
United States.

Do you think it would amount to two-thirds? I should think not far from
it.... Do you think the foreign trade is equal to two-thirds of the
whole manufacture?--When the foreign trade is the same as in the year
1810, not in its present state; it is now very different....

To what cause do you ascribe the diminution of your trade to the
Continent?--The risk of sending goods into many ports of the Continent
is too great....

Then it is the French, Berlin, and other decrees that have produced this
diminution of your trade to the Continent?--To my own particular trade.
I cannot say how it is as to others.

[Evidence of John Bailey, exporter and home factor of Sheffield goods.]

What are the principal articles manufactured at Sheffield?--They are
very numerous, I can present a list of them to the House; the principal
articles are cutlery, files, edged tools, saws, and a great variety of
other heavy articles.

Can you speak to the population of Sheffield, and such parts of the
neighbouring parishes as are concerned in the Sheffield
manufacture?--The population of the parish of Sheffield, as returned by
the overseers in the year 1811, was 53,000 odd; but including those
parts of parishes in which Sheffield goods are manufactured, the
population amounts to 60,000 at least.

Can you tell what proportion of hands are employed in manufacturing for
the American market?--For the American market, about 4,000 male adults,
and 2,000 women and children, making a total of 6,000.

How many do you estimate are employed in manufacturing for the home
trade?--Six thousand male adults, and one thousand women and children.

How many do you calculate are employed in the remaining parts of the
Sheffield trade, namely, manufactures for the foreign market, exclusive
of the American?--Two thousand male adults, and one thousand women and
children.

This last market includes Spain and Portugal?--Spain, Portugal, the West
Indies, South America, and Canada, with some few other parts.

What proportion does the American market bear to the home market, as
far as regards the Sheffield goods?--The American exports amount, as
nearly as I have been able to ascertain, to one-third of the whole
manufactures of Sheffield; the home trade to, I think, three-sixths.

[He adds that the American trade had been affected by the Orders in
Council and the Non-importation Act of the United States. The home trade
with towns in the American trade had been injured also. Goods to the
value of £400,000 were waiting in Sheffield and Liverpool warehouses.]

[Evidence of Robert MacKerrell, London merchant, dealing in cottons and
muslins, and manufacturer of Paisley.]

Can you inform the Committee what the state of the trade was in the
years 1808, 1809, 1810, and 1811?--In 1807 we felt the whole effect of
the Berlin decree, we were entirely excluded from the Continent; I speak
with regard to my own transactions and those of a vast number of my
friends. We had in 1807, and previous to that, trades to the South of
Europe, particularly in Portugal, which were uninterrupted, but which
were likewise put an end to by the French invasion in November of that
year. In 1808 the trade revived considerably; a great quantity of our
goods, and of English merchandise, was introduced into the Continent
through Heligoland; considerable exports were made to the Baltic; the
trade in the Mediterranean increased very considerably; a very great
trade was opened to this country in consequence of the Royal Family of
Portugal removing to the Brazils, which likewise made an opening to
Spanish South America. In 1809 the trade through Heligoland was most
extensive; Bonaparte had his hands full with the Emperor of Germany and
with the Spaniards, and had no time to attend to the coast; the trade
during that year I may say was uninterrupted. The trade to the
Mediterranean increased very much; the quantity of goods taken out that
year greatly exceeded any previous year, for reasons that at that time
we could not account for. The trade to the Brazils was equally extensive
with the year before, vast exportations took place to South America, and
in general, trade in the line in which I am engaged was reckoned a fair
trade; the markets were never heavy.

[The Orders in Council increased the English export trade to the South
of Europe, and Africa and the Levant were supplied with English
substitutes for Continental cottons and linens.]

What has been the state of your trade for the last eighteen months, and,
as far as you have been informed, of the country in general?--The state
of the trade during the last eighteen months has been depressed; for the
last twelve months it has been recovering, but for the six months
previous it was very much depressed indeed.

To what do you attribute that depression?--We attribute the depression
of trade which took place to the effect of the Berlin and Milan decrees.
[Northern Europe, the Baltic, etc., were shut against English trade, and
English ships were sequestered even in Swedish ports.]

[Footnote 394: Brassfounding, hardware, plated ware, jewellery, etc.]

14. DEBATE ON THE CORN LAW [_Parliamentary History, 1st Series, Vol.
XXIX, Cols. 798-818_], 1815.

_House of Commons. February 17, 1815._

_The State of the Corn Laws._

The _Hon. Frederick Robinson_ immediately rose.... He had never
disguised from himself, and he was not ashamed to confess it, the
extreme difficulty, as well as the extreme importance, of this question.
He could not, however, but feel that the prejudices on this subject had,
from further inquiry, been very much removed. But, above all, he was
happy to see that the misrepresentations, for so he thought they were,
with respect to the motives of those who supported this measure, and
with reference to the effects which it was likely to produce, were done
away with. There did not now exist in the public mind the feeling by
which it was before influenced. It was not now supposed that the object
sought to be accomplished by the alteration of the corn law was the mean
and base and paltry one of getting, for a particular class of society, a
certain profit at the expense of the rest. "For my part," said Mr.
Robinson, "I declare to God, if I thought this was the motive which
actuated any individual who supported the alteration; and, above all, if
I conceived that such would be the effect of the measure, no
consideration on earth could tempt me to bring it forward." ...

... The general result of his reasoning was, in the first place, that
it was quite impossible for us safely to rely on a foreign import. If
they so did, a necessary result would be a diminution of our own
produce, which would become more and more extensive every year, and
consequently call for a greater annual supply from foreign countries--a
supply which must progressively increase as the agriculture of the
kingdom became less encouraged; and that, when the fatal moment arrived,
the system of foreign supply would prove completely illusory.

The next point to be considered was the extent to which protection
should be given. That was a point on which, undoubtedly, a difference of
opinion was most likely to prevail. Some gentlemen would be for going
considerably higher than others. Many thought the prohibition ought to
be carried to a price considerably above that, without he obtained which
it was conceived the agriculturalist could not cultivate. Others would
wish that it should be placed much lower; and contend that because a
particular species and degree of burden was likely to be removed, the
protecting price ought to be much reduced. Now he would be inclined to
agree to the first of these propositions, if the necessary effect of it
would not be to bring up the price of corn to the highest possible rate,
within the limits of the sum at which importation should commence. This
certainly might be the case at the first moment, but he believed the
ultimate result would not be so. He thought the final effect of the
system would be to give such a powerful support to our own agriculture
as would greatly increase the general produce of the country. It would
excite a strong competition between the different parts of England, and
between England and Ireland; so that the growth of corn, if Providence
blessed us with favourable seasons, would be sufficiently large to
afford an ample supply for the people of this country, and would enable
them to be fed at a much cheaper rate, in the long run, than could be
effected by the adoption of any other system.

_Mr. Philips_ professed himself equally inclined either to proceed with,
or defer the discussion, as might be most agreeable to the wishes of the
House. Several members calling out "Go on," he began by stating his
entire concurrence in the opinion of the right hon. gentleman who had
moved the resolutions, that this was not a question on which the
interests of the commercial and agricultural classes were at variance,
but one in which those interests, when fairly and liberally considered,
would be found to accord; for no resolution upon it calculated to
promote the general prosperity of the country could be adopted without
materially benefiting both classes. But if this were not the case, if
the question were one in which the interests of two or more descriptions
of our fellow-subjects were opposed, he should say that it was the duty
of parliament not to legislate for the advantage of one class in
contradistinction to, or at the expense of another, but to legislate for
the benefit of the whole community. Looking at the question under the
influence of this principle, he could not help feeling and expressing
some surprise at the occasion of their present deliberations. What was
the object of their deliberations? To provide a remedy for the low price
of corn. That which all ages and countries had considered as a great
national benefit was now discovered to be a great evil, against which we
were imperiously called to legislate in self-defence. The real object of
the resolutions, however disguised and disavowed, was to raise the price
of corn. [Here Mr. Robinson expressed his dissent.] Mr. Philips
proceeded to say that this not only was their object, but if that object
were not attained, the advocates of the resolutions would regard them as
nugatory. The right hon. gentleman must at least allow that their object
was to raise the present price of grain; but he contended that
moderation and uniformity of price would be their ultimate effect. It
did seem somewhat inconsistent, on the part of the hon. gentleman, to
tell the House that the effectual way to lower price was to acquiesce in
a measure expressly intended to raise it. But how are this moderation
and uniformity of price to be produced? By contracting the market of
supply. Thus, while in all other instances moderation and uniformity of
price are found to be in proportion to the extent of the market of
supply, in the instance of corn they are to be in proportion to the
limitation of it: and in a commodity peculiarly liable to be affected by
the variation of seasons, moderation and uniformity of price, and
abundance, are to be attained by preventing importations from foreign
countries correcting the effect of varieties of climate, and of a scanty
harvest in our own. To him it appeared that no measure could be better
calculated to produce directly opposite consequences.

In considering the relation between the price of provisions and of
labour, Mr. Philips observed that it was necessary to distinguish the
countries and the trades from which examples were taken. In a new
country where the value of land is extremely low, and agriculture
rapidly progressive, in a new and thriving manufacture, the price of
labour may be so high in proportion to that of the necessaries of life
as to be little affected by their fluctuations.... But this state of
things cannot exist in old manufactures, such as those generally
established in this country, where competition has reduced profits, and
that reduction of profit has brought the wages of the labourer to a
level with his subsistence in tolerable comfort. In such manufactures if
you raise the price of provisions without proportionately raising that
of labour, to what privations and evils must you necessarily expose the
labourer! He was ready to admit with the noble lord[395] that, _ceteris
paribus_, the immediate effect of a high advance of provisions might
probably be a reduction of the price of labour; because labourers being
desirous of obtaining the same comforts that they had been used to,
might be stimulated to more diligence. They might work sixteen hours a
day instead of ten, and thus the competition for employment being
increased among the same number of workmen, without any increase of
demand, the price of labour might fall. But will any person contend that
this state of affairs can long continue? The labourer must go to the
parish, or turn to some more profitable employment, if by chance any can
be found, or he must emigrate, or work himself out by overstrained
exertion. The proportion being then altered between the demand for
labour and the supply, its price will rise. This effect sooner or later
must happen, but till it has actually taken place how dreadful must be
the situation of the labourer!

Having thus shown both by reasoning and by reference to facts, that the
price of provisions must ultimately and on the average regulate that of
labour, he proceeded to show the effect that an advance of provisions
must have on our manufacturing interests. And here Mr. Philips said that
he wished on such topics, to reduce his reasoning as much as possible to
numerical calculation. He would suppose, for the sake of argument,
without at all entering into the enquiry, that three-fifths, or 60 per
cent. of the labourer's wages were spent in provisions, and that
provisions were 80 per cent. dearer here than they were in France, or
any manufacturing country on the continent. By multiplying 60 by 80, and
dividing by 100, the committee would see that the excess of the price of
labour here above that of France would, from these datas, and according
to his reasoning, be 48 per cent. He wished the committee to consider
what must be the effect of such an excessive price of labour employed in
our manufactures, when compared with the low price of labour employed in
the manufactures of France, and what an advantage it must give to the
French manufacturers in their attempts to rival us on the continent.

[After quoting Malthus] he observed that there were two ways of
equalising subsistence and population, one by increasing food, the other
by limiting population, and warned the committee against being led into
measures whose tendency might be to produce that effect in the latter
way. Why (said Mr. Philips) should a commercial and manufacturing
country like this have such a jealousy and dread of the importation of
corn? An importation of corn cannot take place without a corresponding
export of commodities on which British industry has been employed. The
export will increase your wealth, that wealth will increase your
population, and that increased population will produce an increased
demand for your agricultural produce.... Mr. Philips observed that no
country in the world was so interested as this in establishing the
principle of free trade, because no other country could profit equally
by the general recognition of that principle. Foreign nations,
mistaking, like the advocates of the regulation before the committee,
the circumstances which have operated against our wealth for the causes
of it, are now following our example. They are prohibiting or imposing
restraints on the import of our fabrics, in order to encourage their own
manufactures, from which they will receive inferior fabrics at a higher
price. Let us convince them, by an example, of their mistake. Let us
convince them that by leaving industry and enterprise unfettered, and by
allowing capital to take its natural and voluntary direction, we are
persuaded that the true interests of this country and of every other
will be most effectually promoted.

Mr. Philips proceeded to say that Great Britain was geographically a
commercial country, that commerce had stimulated her agriculture rather
than agriculture had stimulated her commerce. It had given wealth to her
people, and diffused fertility over her soil. Take care, said he, that
in attempting to change the natural character of your country, you do
not stop the progress of national prosperity....

[Footnote 395: Lord Lauderdale in evidence before a committee of the
House of Lords.]

15. THE CORN LAW OF 1815 [_Statutes, 55 Geo. III, 26_]

An Act to amend the laws now in force regulating the Importation of
Corn.

[Corn may at all times be imported and warehoused free of duty.]

III. And be it further enacted, that such foreign corn, meal or flour,
shall and may be permitted to be imported into the said United Kingdom,
for home consumption, under and subject to the provisions and
regulations now in force, without payment of any duty whatever, whenever
the average prices of the several sorts of British corn, made up and
published in the manner now by law required, shall be at or above the
prices hereafter mentioned; that is to say, whenever wheat shall be at
or above the price of eighty shillings per quarter; whenever rye, pease
and beans shall be at or above the price of fifty-three shillings per
quarter; whenever barley, beer or bigg shall be at or above the price of
forty shillings per quarter; and whenever oats shall be at or above the
price of twenty-seven shillings per quarter.

IV. And be it further enacted, that whenever the average prices of
British corn so made up and published shall respectively be below the
prices hereinbefore stated, no foreign corn, or meal, or flour made from
any of the respective sorts of foreign corn hereinbefore enumerated,
shall be allowed to be imported into the United Kingdom for the purpose
of home consumption, or taken out of warehouse for that purpose.

V. And be it further enacted, that the average price of the several
sorts of British corn, by which the importation of foreign corn, meal or
flour, into the United Kingdom shall be regulated and governed, shall
continue to be made up and published in any manner now required by law;
but that if it shall hereafter at any time after the importation of
foreign corn, meal or flour shall be permitted, under the provisions of
this Act, appear that the average prices of the different sorts of
British corn respectively in the six weeks immediately succeeding the
fifteenth day of February, the fifteenth day of May, the fifteenth day
of August and the fifteenth day of November in each year, shall have
fallen below the prices at which foreign corn, meal or flour may be,
under the provisions of this Act, allowed to be imported for home
consumption, no such foreign corn, meal or flour shall be allowed to be
imported into the United Kingdom for home consumption from any place
between the rivers Eyder and Bidassoa, both inclusive, until a new
average shall be made up and published in the London Gazette for
regulating the importation into the United Kingdom for the succeeding
quarter.

16. FREE TRADE PETITION[396] [_Commons Journals, Vol. LXXV._], 1820.

  The Petition, etc.,
  Humbly sheweth

That foreign commerce is eminently conducive to the wealth and
prosperity of a country, by enabling it to import the commodities for
the production of which the soil, climate, capital, and industry of
other countries are best calculated, and to export in payment those
articles for which its own situation is better adapted.

That freedom from restraint is calculated to give the utmost extension
to foreign trade, and the best direction to the capital and industry of
the country.

That the maxim of buying in the cheapest market and selling in the
dearest, which regulates every merchant in his individual dealings, is
strictly applicable as the best rule for the trade of the whole nation.

That a policy founded on these principles would render the commerce of
the world an interchange of mutual advantages, and diffuse an increase
of wealth and enjoyments among the inhabitants of each State.

That, unfortunately, a policy the very reverse of this has been, and is,
more or less, adopted and acted upon by the Government of this and of
every other country....

That the prevailing prejudices in favour of the protective or
restrictive system may be traced to the erroneous supposition that every
importation of foreign commodities occasions a diminution or
discouragement of our own productions to the same extent, whereas it may
be clearly shown that although the particular description of production
which could not stand against unrestrained foreign competition would be
discouraged, yet, as no importation could be continued for any length of
time without a corresponding exportation, direct or indirect, there
would be an encouragement, for the purpose of that exportation, of some
other production to which our situation might be better suited, thus
affording at least an equal, and probably a greater, and certainly a
more beneficial employment to our own capital and labour.

That, among the other evils of the restrictive or protective system, not
the least is, that the artificial protection of one branch of industry,
or source of production, against foreign competition, is set up as a
ground of claim by other branches for similar protection, so that if the
reasoning upon which these restrictive or prohibitory regulations are
founded were followed out consistently, it would not stop short of
excluding us from all foreign commerce whatsoever. And the same train of
argument, which, with corresponding prohibitions and protective duties,
should exclude us from foreign trade, might be brought forward to
justify the re-enactment of restrictions upon the interchange of
productions (unconnected with public revenue) among the kingdoms
composing the union, or among the counties of the same kingdom.

That an investigation of the effects of the restrictive system at this
time is peculiarly called for, as it may, in the opinions of your
petitioners, lead to a strong presumption that the distress which now so
generally prevails is considerably aggravated by that system, and that
some relief may be obtained by the earliest practicable removal of such
of the restraints as may be shown to be most injurious to the capital
and industry of the community, and to be attended with no compensating
benefit to the public revenue.

That a declaration against the anti-commercial principles of our
restrictive system is of the more importance at the present juncture
inasmuch as, in several instances of recent occurrence, the merchants
and manufacturers in foreign States have assailed their respective
Governments with applications for further protective or prohibitory
duties and regulations, urging the example and authority of this
country, against which they are almost exclusively directed, as a
sanction for the policy of such measures. And certainly, if the
reasoning upon which our restrictions have been defended is worth
anything, it will apply in behalf of the regulations of foreign States
against us. They insist upon our superiority in capital and machinery,
as we do upon their comparative exemption from taxation, and with equal
foundation.

That nothing would more tend to counteract the commercial hostility of
foreign States than the adoption of a more enlightened and more
conciliatory policy on the part of this country.

That, although, as a matter of mere diplomacy, it may sometimes answer
to hold out the removal of particular prohibitions, or high duties, as
depending upon corresponding concessions by other States in our favour,
it does not follow that we should maintain our restrictions in cases
where the desired concessions on their part cannot be obtained. Our
restrictions would not be the less prejudicial to our capital and
industry because other Governments persisted in preserving impolitic
regulations.

That in thus declaring, as your petitioners do, their conviction of the
impolicy and injustice of the restrictive system, and in desiring every
practicable relaxation of it, they have in view only such parts of it as
are not connected, or are only subordinately so, with the public
revenue. As long as the necessity for the present amount of revenue
subsists, your petitioners cannot expect so important a branch of it as
the Customs to be given up, nor to be materially diminished, unless
some substitute, less objectionable, be suggested. But it is against
every restrictive regulation of trade not essential to the
revenue--against all duties merely protective from foreign
competition--and against the excess of such duties as are partly for the
purpose of revenue and partly for that of protection, that the prayer of
the present petition is respectfully submitted to the wisdom of
Parliament.

[Footnote 396: Quoted in Hirst, _Free Trade and the Manchester School_,
pp. 118-121.]

17. THE FOUNDATION OF THE ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE [_History of the
Anti-Corn-Law League by Archibald Prentice, I, pp. 101-2, 1853_], 1839.

_Resolutions of meeting of delegates at Manchester, January 23, 1839._

Resolved--1. That this meeting of representatives from all the great
sections of our manufacturing and commercial population, solemnly
declare it to be their conviction that the prosperity of the great
staples upon which their capital and industry are employed, is in
imminent danger from the operation of the laws which interdict or
interfere with the exchange of their productions for the corn and other
produce of foreign nations, and thus check our trade, and artificially
enhance the price of food in this country; and believing that the facts
upon which this judgment is formed are little known, and of such
national importance as to call for their disclosure before the people's
representatives, they earnestly recommend that petitions be immediately
forwarded from all parts of the Kingdom, praying to be heard by counsel
and evidence at the bar of the House of Commons in the approaching
session of Parliament.

2. That in order to secure unity and efficiency of action this meeting
recommends that delegates be appointed by the several Anti-Corn-Law
Associations of the kingdom. Those manufacturing and commercial towns
not already possessing such societies are earnestly recommended to form
Anti-Corn-Law Associations; and in case they require information or
advice, they are invited to put themselves immediately in correspondence
with the Manchester Association, whose fundamental rule, prohibiting the
discussion of any party or political topics, is especially recommended
for the adoption of all similar bodies elsewhere.

3. That the agricultural proprietor, capitalist, and labourer are
benefited equally with the trader, by the creation and circulation of
the wealth of the country; and this meeting appeals to all those classes
to co-operate for the removal of a monopoly which, by restricting the
foreign commerce of the country, retards the increase of the population,
and restrains the growth of towns; thus depriving them of the manifold
resources to be derived from the augmenting numbers and wealth of the
country.

4. That this meeting cannot separate without expressing its deep
sympathy with the present privations of that great and valuable class of
their countrymen who earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow;
many of whom are now suffering from hunger in the midst of boundless
fields of employment, rendered unproductive solely by those unjust laws
which prevent the exchange of the products of their industry for the
food of other countries. So long as a plentiful supply of the first
necessaries of life is denied by acts of the British legislation to the
great body of the nation, so long will the government and the country be
justly exposed to all the evils resulting from the discontent of the
people. With a view to avert so great a danger by an act of universal
justice, this meeting pledges itself to a united, energetic, and
persevering effort for the total and immediate repeal of all laws
affecting the free importation of grain.[397]

[Footnote 397: The Anti-Corn-Law League was created on the
recommendation of a delegate meeting, March 20 following.]

18. THE BANK CHARTER ACT [_Statutes 7 and 8 Victoria 32_], 1844.

   An Act to regulate the Issue of Bank Notes, and for giving to the
   Governor and Company of the Bank of England certain Privileges for a
   limited Period.

Be it enacted that from and after the thirty-first day of August, one
thousand eight hundred and forty-four, the issue of Promissory Notes of
the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, payable on demand,
shall be separated and thenceforth kept wholly distinct from the general
Banking business of the said Governor and Company; and the business of
and relating to such issue shall be thenceforth conducted and carried
on by the said Governor and Company in a separate department, to be
called "The Issue Department of the Bank of England," subject to the
rules and regulations hereinafter contained; and it shall be lawful for
the Court of Directors of the said Governor and Company, if they shall
think fit, to appoint a committee or committees of directors for the
conduct and management of such Issue Department of the Bank of England,
and from time to time remove the members, and define, alter, and
regulate the constitution and powers of such committee, as they shall
think fit, subject to any bye-laws, rules or regulations which may be
made for that purpose: provided nevertheless, that the said Issue
Department shall always be kept separate and distinct from the Banking
Department of the said Governor and Company.

II. And be it enacted, that upon the thirty-first day of August, one
thousand eight hundred and forty-four, there shall be transferred,
appropriated, and set apart by the said Governor and Company to the
Issue Department of the Bank of England securities to the value of
fourteen million pounds, whereof the debt due by the public to the said
Governor and Company shall be and be deemed a part; and there shall also
at the same time be transferred, appropriated, and set apart by the said
Governor and Company to the said Issue Department so much of the gold
coin and gold and silver bullion then held by the Bank of England as
shall not be required by the Banking Department thereof; and thereupon
there shall be delivered out of the said Issue Department into the said
Banking Department of the Bank of England such an amount of Bank of
England notes as, together with the Bank of England notes then in
circulation, shall be equal to the aggregate amount of the securities,
coin and bullion so transferred to the said Issue Department of the Bank
of England; and the whole amount of Bank of England notes then in
circulation, including those delivered to the Banking Department of the
Bank of England as aforesaid, shall be deemed to be issued on the credit
of such securities, coin, and bullion so appropriated and set apart to
the said Issue Department; and from thenceforth it shall not be lawful
for the said Governor and Company to increase the amount of securities
for the time being in the said Issue Department, save as hereinafter is
mentioned, but it shall be lawful for the said Governor and Company to
diminish the amount of such securities, and again to increase the same
to any sum not exceeding in the whole the sum of fourteen million
pounds, and so from time to time as they shall see occasion; and from
and after such transfer and appropriation to the said Issue Department
as aforesaid it shall not be lawful for the said Governor and Company to
issue Bank of England notes, either into the Banking Department of the
Bank of England, or to any persons or person whatsoever, save in
exchange for other Bank of England notes, or for gold coin or for gold
or silver bullion received or purchased for the said Issue Department
under the provisions of this Act, or in exchange for securities acquired
and taken in the said Issue Department under the provisions herein
contained: provided always, that it shall be lawful for the said
Governor and Company in their Banking Department to issue all such Bank
of England notes as they shall at any time receive from the said Issue
Department or otherwise, in the same manner in all respects as such
issue would be lawful to any other person or persons.

IV. And be it enacted, that from and after the thirty-first day of
August, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, all persons shall be
entitled to demand from the Issue Department of the Bank of England,
Bank of England notes in exchange for gold bullion, at the rate of three
pounds, seventeen shillings and ninepence per ounce of standard gold.
Provided always, that the said Governor and Company shall in all cases
be entitled to require such gold bullion to be melted and assayed by
persons approved by the said Governor and Company at the expense of the
parties tendering such gold bullion.

V. Provided always, and be it enacted, that if any banker who on the
sixth day of May one thousand eight hundred and forty-four was issuing
his own bank notes, shall cease to issue his own bank notes, it shall be
lawful for Her Majesty in Council at any time after the cessation of
such issue, upon the application of the said Governor and Company, to
authorize and empower the said Governor and Company to increase the
amount of securities in the said Issue Department beyond the total sum
or value of fourteen million pounds, and thereupon to issue additional
Bank of England notes to an amount not exceeding such increased amount
of securities specified in such Order in Council, and so from time to
time: provided always that such increased amount of securities specified
in such Order in Council shall in no case exceed the proportion of two
thirds the amount of bank notes which the banker so ceasing to issue may
have been authorized to issue under the provisions of this Act; and
every such order in Council shall be published in the next succeeding
_London Gazette_.

XII. And be it enacted, that if any banker in any part of the United
Kingdom who after the passing of this act shall be entitled to issue
bank notes shall become bankrupt, or shall cease to carry on the
business of a banker, or shall discontinue the issue of bank notes,
either by agreement with the Governor and Company of the Bank of England
or otherwise, it shall not be lawful for such Banker at any time
thereafter to issue any such notes.

XIV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if it shall be made to
appear to the Commissioners of stamps and taxes that any two or more
banks have, by written contract or agreement (which contract or
agreement shall be produced to the said Commissioners), become united
within the twelve weeks next preceding such twenty-seventh day of April
as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners to ascertain
the average amount of the notes of each such bank in the manner
hereinbefore directed, and to certify the average amount of the notes of
the two or more banks so united as the amount which the united Bank
shall thereafter be authorized to issue, subject to the regulations of
this Act.

19. DEBATE ON THE CORN LAWS [_Parliamentary Debates, 3rd Series, Vol.
73, Cols. 68, 69-71, 849-850, 1345-1347_], 1846.

_Address in Answer to Her Majesty's Speech, January 22nd, 1846._

  _House of Commons._
  _Sir Robert Peel._

Sir, the immediate cause which led to the dissolution of the Government
in the early part of last December, was that great and mysterious
calamity which caused a lamentable failure in an article of food on
which great numbers of the people in this part of the United Kingdom,
and still larger numbers in the sister kingdom, depended mainly for
their subsistence. That was the immediate and proximate cause, which led
to the dissolution of the Government. But it would be unfair and
uncandid on my part, if I attached undue importance to that particular
cause. It certainly appeared to me to preclude further delay, and to
require immediate decision--decision not only upon the measures which it
was necessary at the time to adopt, but also as to the course to be
ultimately taken with regard to the laws which govern the importation of
grain. I will not assign to that cause too much weight. I will not
withhold the homage which is due to the progress of reason and to truth,
by denying that my opinions on the subject of protection have undergone
a change.

Sir, those who contend for the removal of impediments upon the import of
a great article of subsistence, such as corn, start with an immense
advantage in the argument. The natural presumption is in favour of free
and unrestricted importation. It may, indeed, be possible to combat that
presumption; it may be possible to meet its advocates in the field of
argument, by showing that there are other and greater advantages arising
out of the system of prohibition than out of the system of unrestricted
intercourse; but even those who so contend will, I think, admit that the
natural feelings of mankind are strongly in favour of the absence of all
restriction, and that the presumption is so strong, that we must combat
it by an avowal of some great public danger to be avoided, or some great
public benefit to be obtained by restriction on the importation of food.
We all admit that the argument in favour of high protection or
prohibition on the ground that it is for the benefit of a particular
class, is untenable. The most strenuous advocates for protection have
abandoned that argument; they rest, and wisely rest, the defence of
protective duties upon higher principles. They have alleged, as I have
myself alleged, that there were public reasons for retaining this
protection. Sir, circumstances made it absolutely necessary for me,
occupying the public station I do, and seeing the duty that must
unavoidably devolve on me--it became absolutely necessary for me
maturely to consider whether the grounds on which an alteration of the
Corn Laws can be resisted are tenable. The arguments in favour of
protection must be based either on the principle that protection to
domestic industry is in itself sound policy, and that, therefore,
agriculture, being a branch of domestic industry, is entitled to share
in that protection; or, that in a country like ours, encumbered with an
enormous load of debt, and subject to great taxation, it is necessary
that domestic industry should be protected from competition with
foreigners; or, again--the interests of the great body of the community,
the laborious classes, being committed in this question--that the rate
of wages varies with the price of provisions, that high prices imply
high wages, and that low wages are the concomitants of low prices.
Further, it may be said, that the land is entitled to protection on
account of some peculiar burdens which it bears. But that is a question
of justice rather than of policy; I have always felt and maintained that
the land is subject to peculiar burdens; but you have the power of
weakening the force of that argument by the removal of the burden, or
making compensation. The first three objections to the removal of
protection are objections founded on considerations of public policy.
The last is a question of justice, which may be determined by giving
some counterbalancing advantage. Now, I want not to deprive those who,
arguing _a priori_, without the benefit of experience, have come to the
conclusion that protection is objectionable in principle--I want not to
deprive them of any of the credit which is fairly their due. Reason,
unaided by experience, brought conviction to their minds. My opinions
have been modified by the experience of the last three years. I have had
the means and opportunity of comparing the results of periods of
abundance and low prices with periods of scarcity and high prices. I
have carefully watched the effects of the one system, and of the
other--first, of the policy we have been steadily pursuing for some
years, viz., the removal of protection from domestic industry; and next,
of the policy which the friends of protection recommend. I have also had
an opportunity of marking from day to day the effect upon great social
interests of freedom of trade and comparative abundance. I have not
failed to note the results of preceding years, and to contrast them with
the results of the last three years; and I am led to the conclusion that
the main grounds of public policy on which protection has been defended
are not tenable; at least, I cannot maintain them. I do not believe,
after the experience of the last three years, that the rate of wages
varies with the price of food. I do not believe that with high prices,
wages will necessarily rise in the same ratio. I do not believe that a
low price of food necessarily implies a low rate of wages. Neither can I
maintain that protection to domestic industry is necessarily good.

_Adjourned Debate. February 13, 1846._

_House of Commons._

SIR DOUGLAS HOWARD said:[398]

I have often imagined--and it was for this that I moved for, and
obtained the order of this House for, the extensive returns which are
now preparing, namely, the various colonial tariffs and commercial
relations at present subsisting between all the Colonies of the Empire
and the mother country, and between the Colonies themselves--that it
might really be possible to treat Colonies like counties of the country,
not only in direct trade with the United Kingdom, but in commercial
intercourse with each other, by free trade among ourselves, under a
reasonable moderate degree of protection from without, and so resolve
the United Kingdom, and all her Colonies and possessions, into a
commercial union such as might defy all rivalry, and defeat all
combinations. Then might colonization proceed on a gigantic scale--then
might British capital animate British labour, on British soil, for
British objects, throughout the extended dominions of the British
Empire. Such an union is the United States of America--a confederation
of sovereign States, leagued together for commercial and political
purposes, with the most perfect free trade within, and a stringent
protection from without; and signally, surely, has that commercial
league succeeded and flourished. Such an union, too, is the German
Customs League; and it has succeeded to an extent that really is, in so
short a time, miraculous. But free trade--the extinction of the
protective principle--the repeal of the differential duties--would at
once convert all our Colonies, in a commercial sense, into as many
independent States. The colonial consumer of British productions would
then be released from his part of the compact--that of dealing, in
preference, with the British producer; and the British consumer of such
articles as the Colonies produce, absolved from his; each party would be
free to buy in the cheapest, and sell in the dearest market. I defy any
hon. member opposite to say that this would not be a virtual dissolution
of the colonial system.

_Adjourned Debate. February 20, 1846._

MR. B. DISRAELI:[399]

I have now nearly concluded the observations which I shall address to
the House. I have omitted a great deal which I wished to urge upon the
House; and I sincerely wish that what I have said had been urged with
more ability; but I have endeavoured not to make a mere Corn Law speech;
I have only taken corn as an illustration; but I don't like my friends
here to enter upon that Corn Law debate which I suppose is impending,
under a mistaken notion of the position in which they stand. I never did
rest my defence of the Corn Laws on the burdens to which the land is
subject. I believe that there are burdens, heavy burdens, on the land;
but the land has great honours, and he who has great honours must have
great burdens. But I wish them to bear in mind that their cause must be
sustained by great principles. I venture feebly and slightly to indicate
those principles, principles of high policy, on which their system ought
to be sustained. First, without reference to England, looking at all
countries, I say that it is the first duty of the Minister, and the
first interest of the State, to maintain a balance between the two great
branches of national industry; that is a principle which has been
recognised by all great Ministers for the last two hundred years; and
the reasons upon which it rests are so obvious, that it can hardly be
necessary to mention them. Why we should maintain that balance between
the two great branches of national industry, involves political
considerations--social considerations, affecting the happiness,
prosperity, and morality of the people, as well as the stability of the
State. But I go further; I say that in England we are bound to do
more--I repeat what I have repeated before, that in this country there
are special reasons why we should not only maintain the balance between
the two branches of our national industry, but why we should give a
preponderance--I do not say a predominance, which was the word ascribed
by the hon. member for Manchester to the noble lord the member for
London, but which he never used--why we should give a preponderance, for
that is the proper and constitutional word, to the agricultural branch;
and the reason is, because in England we have a territorial
Constitution. We have thrown upon the land the revenues of the Church,
the administration of justice, and the estate of the poor; and this has
been done, not to gratify the pride, or pamper the luxury of the
proprietors of the land, but because, in a territorial Constitution,
you, and those whom you have succeeded, have found the only security for
self-government--the only barrier against that centralising system which
has taken root in other countries. I have always maintained these
opinions; my constituents are not landlords; they are not aristocrats;
they are not great capitalists; they are the children of industry and
toil; and they believe, first, that their material interests are
involved in a system which favours native industry, by insuring at the
same time real competition; but they believe also that their social and
political interests are involved in a system by which their rights and
liberties have been guaranteed; and I agree with them--I have these
old-fashioned notions. I know that we have been told, and by one who on
this subject should be the highest authority, that we shall derive from
this great struggle, not merely the repeal of the Corn Laws, but the
transfer of power from one class to another--to one distinguished for
its intelligence and wealth, the manufacturers of England. My conscience
assures me that I have not been slow in doing justice to the
intelligence of that class; certain I am, that I am not one of those who
envy them their wide and deserved prosperity; but I must confess my deep
mortification, that in an age of political regeneration, when all social
evils are ascribed to the operation of class interests, it should be
suggested that we are to be rescued from the alleged power of one class
only to sink under the avowed dominion of another. I, for one, if this
is to be the end of all our struggles--if this is to be the great result
of this enlightened age--I, for one, protest against the ignominious
catastrophe. I believe that the monarchy of England, its sovereignty
mitigated by the acknowledged authority of the estates of the realm, has
its root in the hearts of the people, and is capable of securing the
happiness of the nation and the power of the State. But, Sir, if this be
a worn-out dream; if, indeed, there is to be a change, I, for one,
anxious as I am to maintain the present polity of this country, ready to
make as many sacrifices as any man for that object--if there is to be
this great change, I, for one, hope that the foundations of it may be
deep, the scheme comprehensive, and that instead of falling under such a
thraldom, under the thraldom of Capital--under the thraldom of those
who, while they boast of their intelligence, are more proud of their
wealth--if we must find a new force to maintain the ancient throne and
immemorial monarchy of England, I, for one, hope that we may find that
novel power in the invigorating energies of an educated and enfranchised
people.

[Footnote 398: _Ibid._ cols. 849-50.]

[Footnote 399: _Ibid._, cols. 1345-1347.]

INDEX

  Acts of Parliament (_see_ Statutes)

  Administration, central (_see_ Chancery, Commissions, Councils,
    Crown, Exchequer, House of Commons, Parliament, Statutes);
    local (_see_ Boroughs, County Courts, Hundreds, Justices,
    Parishes, Sheriffs)

  Agrarian changes, in Middle Ages, 53, 54, 83, 85-87;
    in Tudor and Stuart periods, 227, 228, 234-277;
    in 18th and 19th centuries, 523, 524, 525-542, 552

  Agriculture, advantages of large scale, 530, 531;
    capitalist, 228;
    depression of, in 16th century, 407-412;
    effect of Corn Laws on, 692-698 (_see also_ Corn Laws);
    encouragement of, by Tudor and Stuart monarchy, 229, 260-277, 428-430;
    improvements in, effected in 18th century, 523, 526, 530, 531, 532-536;
    manorial, 3-9, 16, 17, 53-110, 227-277;
      do., developments in, 53, 54, 83, 85-87;
    provision for harvest labour, 78, 173, 328, 329, 347, 648;
    reaction of commerce and industry on, 582, 697;
    state of, in 18th and 19th centuries, 523-542 (_see also_ Arable,
    Commons, Common Fields, Depopulation, Enclosures, Land, Manor,
    Pasture, Smallholders)

  Agriculture, Board of, surveys of, 524, 532-536

  Agricultural houses and buildings, decay and restoration of, 267, 268,
    272, 275, 276, 324, 392, 536, 567

  Agricultural labourers, 7, 8, 62-64, 78, 164, 165, 170, 171-174,176-178,
    324, 353, 355, 408;
    apprenticeship of, 324, 325, 330, 388;
    combinations of, 55, 105-110, 552, 553, 638-640;
    condition of, in 19th century, 695, 696;
    hiring of, 164-168, 170-174, 176-178;
    housing of, 567;
    regulation of conditions of service of, 171-178, 325-333, 352, 360, 361;
    regulation of hours of, 327;
    regulation of wages of, 173, 177, 328, 329, 342, 343, 346, 347, 351,
    353, 360, 361, 405, 546, 547, 552-554;
    restrictions of, as to apprenticeship to crafts, 174, 361

  Alehouses, taverns, 378, 473, 536;
    increase of, in 18th century, 489;
    meeting of journeymen associations in, 624;
    patent for licensing of, 442;
    payment of wages in, prohibited, 599

  Aliens, burgesses of English towns, 27, 28_n_;
    jealousy of, 153, 186, 199, 200

  Alien craftsmen, imported into Ireland, 471;
    in London, 195-197, 199

  Alien merchants, 127, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 189, 192-195, 197-199, 420;
    admitted to a London company, 309;
    arrest of goods of, 189, 190;
    customs granted by, 208-216;
    freedom of trade granted to, 127, 152, 209, 212;
    of Almain, 194;
    of Flanders, 193, 194;
    of France, 192, 193;
    of Italy, 43, 127, 199, 420-424

  Almshouses, 483

  Anti-Corn-Law League, foundation of, 701.

  Anti-Slavery Society, 593

  Apprentices, 113, 136, 138, 141, 142, 143, 147, 231, 282, 283, 295, 296,
    300, 305, 307, 324-326, 330-334, 341, 344, 345, 348, 353, 356, 361,
    437, 444, 455, 499, 500;
    disciplinary rules touching, 113, 147, 345;
    in factories, 571, 572;
    fees exacted from, 284-286;
    limitation of numbers of, in textile industry, 322;
    oaths exacted from by masters, 285, 286;
    pauper, 381, 505;
    proportion of, to journeymen, regulations as to, 332, 550, 551, 573, 574;
    runaway, 148;
    unindentured, 353

  Apprenticeship, 138, 174, 314, 479, 499, 500, 588, 589;
    custom of London as to, 330;
    debates in House of Commons on, 577-588;
    effect of compulsory, on marriage, 322, 323_n_, 344;
    enactment as to age of ending, 323, 344;
    enforcement of statute as to, 386;
    evasion of, by a company, 310;
    fees on entering and leaving, 280;
    half-pay, 590;
    indentures of, 113, 147, 295;
    municipal regulation of, 295, 305-307;
    of agricultural labourers, 325, 330, 388;
    to crafts, restricted, 174, 361;
    of pauper children, 381, 388, 504, 652;
    to woollen industry, 499, 500

  Approvers, criminal, 39

  Arable land, conversion of, to pasture, 55, 260-277, 392, 407, 408, 409;
    enclosure of (_see_ Enclosure);
    on a 14th century manor, 56

  Artificers, Statute of (_see_ Statutes)

  Assarts, 89

  Assizes, 88, 89, 93, 97;
    grand, 95;
    of bread and ale, 37, 80, 117, 118, 133, 152, 155, 156, 388;
    of cloth, 152, 154, 155, 319;
    suspension of, 319, 320;
    of _mort d'ancestor_, 94;
    of novel disseisin, 88, 89, 93, 94, 96, 97_n_;
    of weights and measures, 152, 154, 377, 388;
    of wine, 152

  Ball, John, and the Peasants' Revolt, 109

  Bankers and Banking, 398, 420

  Bankrupts, 474

  Banks, 506;
    country, 681

  Bank of England, 667;
    foundation of, 668, 676;
    suspension of cash payments by, 681

  Bee-keeping, 7

  Beer, patent for export of, 442

  Beggars, 166, 174, 175, 176, 324, 388, 483;
    licensing of, 363, 364, 366
    (_see also_ Poor, Vagrants)

  Berlin Decrees, effect of, on commerce, 690, 692

  Black Death, the, 54, 55, 65_n_, 102, 103, 104, 105, 164

  Blackwell Hall, the London cloth market, 440, 460, 492-495

  Bondage land (_see_ Villeinage)

  Bondmen (_see_ Villeins)

  Bordiers, 16, 17;
    in boroughs, 12, 13

  Boroughs and towns, 10-25, 279-312;
    in Domesday Book, 4;
    affiliation of, 112, 124;
    assessment of wages by, 315;
    bakehouses in, 13;
    bondmen received in, 121, 125;
    charters to (_see_ Charters);
    charters to, confiscated 257;
    courts in, 12, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 125, 129, 131, 132;
    crimes in, fines and forfeitures for, 14, 15;
    customs in, 10-14;
    bequest of burgages, 117;
    cannemol, 133;
    gyeresyeve, 120;
    scotale, 120;
    decay of, alleged, 180, 425;
    election of officers in, 118, 120, 121, 257;
    exclusiveness of, 118;
    farmers of, 131;
    farms of, 10-14, 37, 119, 123, 292;
    fines, gersums, in, 12;
    gildhalls in, 4, 10, 129, 137, 141, 142, 144;
    hansing-silver exacted in, 128;
    hosting in, 160;
    hosting of aliens in, 197-199, 209, 212, 213;
    housecarles in, 14;
    hue and cry in, 160;
    Jewries in, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50;
    the king's, tallage assessed on, 35;
    king's demesne in, 13;
    lords of, 32;
    lords of, disputes with and complaints against, 123, 128, 131;
    mayors and bailiffs of, 32, 48, 118, 121, 122, 130, 132, 136-145, 147,
    157, 160, 165, 166, 172-175, 181, 189, 192, 195, 200-202, 206, 214, 216,
    231, 282-284, 294-297, 299, 303, 309, 327-329, 332, 333, 340, 366, 367,
    370-372;
    origin of, 111;
    reeves of, 10, 32, 155;
    rents in, 10, 13, 14, 15;
    rents in, enhancement of, 521;
    sanitary conditions in, in nineteenth century, 519, 520;
    do, recommendations for improvement of, 614-616;
    stewards of, 117, 118;
    supervision of strangers in, 160;
    watch and ward in, 160, 389
    (_see also_ Market Towns)

  Borough tolls, 10, 112, 119-123, 125-127, 131-135, 212, 282;
    disputes touching, 121, 126;
    exemption from, 119, 120, 121, 124, 126, 127;
    exemption of Jews from, 45;
    intermunicipal agreement on, 126
    (_see also_ Lastage, Murage, Passage, Pavage, Pesage, Pontage,
    Stallage)

  Bracton, quotations from, 75_n._, 97_n._, 126

  Bracton's Note Book, 88-90, 92, 93, 95-97

  Brewers, Stuart patent for licensing, 473

  Bridewells, 370, 371
    (_see also_ Houses of Correction, Workhouses)

  Brokerage, 422, 423

  Bullion, export of, 203, 216-223, 398, 416, 419, 420, 668, 671, 672;
    free coinage of, at the Mint, 674
    (_see also_ Currency, Mint).

  Burgage tenure, 117

  Cabots, the, 400-402

  Calico-printers, journeymen, grievances of, 573-576

  Capital, discussion on employment of, in factories, 606, 607

  Capitalism, Disraeli's protest against domination of, 710, 711;
    growth of, 668;
    in textile industries, 314, 315, 317, 320-322;
    in agriculture, 228

  Capitalists, 561;
    mercantile, 280

  Cartbote, 242

  Cecil, Lord, industrial programme of, 323-324

  Chancery, court of, 106, 146, 150, 236;
    appeals to, by an alleged villein, 100;
    by copyholders, 85, 234, 241;
    by a craftsman, 148, 199;
    by a woolmerchant, 186;
    touching usury, 201;
    certifications into, 328;
    equitable jurisdiction of, 87, 148_n._, 228;
    original writs of, 48;
    patents to make writs and file bills in, 441, 442;
    protection of customary tenure in, 87_n._, 228, 235, 241

  Chantries, 286-293

  Charters, 152, 153;
    of Henry II., 45, 124, 308;
    of Richard I., 125;
    of John, 44, 121, 122, 124, 126, 158;
    of Henry III., 119, 124, 126, 127, 192;
    of Edward I., 158, 164, 208, 211;
    of Edward III., 119_n._, 211;
    of Gilbert de Clare, 116;
    to alien towns and merchants, 152, 192, 194, 199, 208, 211;
    to boroughs, 116, 119, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127;
    to craft-gilds and companies, 144, 303, 308, 399, 427, 454, 461.

  Chartists, 618;
    manifestoes of, 618, 641, 642.

  Chevage, 72, 73, 74, 75

  Child-labour, 436;
    half-timers, 613;
    Oastler's campaign against, 544, 592-594;
    in coalmines, 516-9, 598, 599;
    in factories, 480, 495, 496, 502-505, 510-516, 544, 571-573, 591-595,
    600, 609, 610, 612-614;
    in woollen industry, 483

  Children's Employment Commission, 600, 603.

  Churches, free fees of, exempted from taxation, 33

  Churchwardens, administrative duties of, touching labour and poor
    relief, 324, 648

  Civil War, the, 310, 399, 475

  Cloth, assize of, 152, 154, 155, 319;
    suspension of, 319, 320;
    aulnage of, 163, 164;
    customs on (_see Customs_);
    industry (_see_ Woollen Cloth);
    retailing of, 131 (_see also_ Woollen Cloth)

  Coal Industry, commission on employment in, 480, 516-519;
    condition of, in 18th century, 479, 491-492;
    act regulating, 598;
    dispute between employers and workmen in, 625;
    hours of labour in, 517-519;
    inspectors of, 598;
    production, transport and distribution in, 491, 492;
    regulation of prices and limitation of output in, 497-499;
    woman and child labour in, 516-519, 598, 599

  Coin, clipping of, 678

  Colonial preference, 708

  Colonies, advantages of, 434-438;
    effect of Navigation Act on, 672-674;
    wages in, 315, 360

  Combinations, of masters, 590, 634;
    of journeymen, 138-141, 196, 549, 560, 583, 590, 617-643;
    of agricultural labourers, 105-110, 552, 553, 618, 638-641;
    of bricklayers, 624;
    of carpenters, 624;
    of coach-makers, curriers, farriers, smiths and sailmakers, 623;
    of coalminers, 625;
    of feltmakers, 617, 619-622;
    of joiners, 624;
    of tailors, 617, 618, 622-624;
    of woolcombers, 617, 626

  Combination Acts, 575, 618, 626, 627-631, 633, 636-638;
    repeal of, 633

  Commissions, Royal, on depopulation, 276, 277_n_;
    on enclosure, 229, 262, 262_n._;
    on child labour, 600, 603;
    on health in towns, 614-616;
    on industrial conditions, in textile industry, 316;
    in coal mines, 480, 516-519;
    on Poor Law, 661;
    petitions for, 260

  Common fields, 54;
    disadvantages of, 527;
    distribution of strips in, 22, 55, 73, 76;
    enclosure of, 73, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 540, 541;
    regulation of, 76-79;
    system, 54

  Common Law, and copyholders, 86, 87, 88, 228, 241, 255;
    and enclosure, 88, 89, 271;
    and villeinage, 89-97;
    and restraint of trade, 305-307, 315, 361, 362;
    and engrossing of corn, 393;
    and monopolies, 466;
    and combinations, 618, 634-636

  Common pasture, 57, 58, 77, 88, 89, 259, 531;
    enclosure of, 88, 89, 257;
    in boroughs, 119;
    rights of, stinted by agreement, 256

  Commons or Wastes, 54, 249;
    enclosure of, 54, 55, 63, 64, 87, 88, 244, 256, 257, 526-529, 532,
    534, 540, 541;
    encroachments on, 54, 63, 64, 542;
    objection to lords commoning on, 248;
    rights on, 54, 529, 531, 534, 535, 538, 541

  Companies, Industrial, 280 (_see also_ Craft-gilds, Mining);
    Stuart patents of incorporation of, revoked, 474

  Companies, Mercantile, monopoly of, discussed, 443-453;
    Staplers, 153, 178-186, 484, 485;
    Merchant Adventurers, 302, 398, 399, 402-404, 446, 447, 449, 450,
    452, 453, 454;
    new company of, incorporation of, 454-460;
    East India Company, interlopers and, 675;
    Eastland Company, 399;
    Muscovy Company, 399, 449, 450, 452, 453;
    Turkey Company, 431, 450

  Co-operative Societies, 618, 643

  Copyhold, 228, 234-240, 248-250, 254-259, 326, 527, 528, 538;
    conversion of, to leasehold, 538;
    eviction from, 85-87 (_see also_ Customary holdings, Villeinage)

  Copyholders, 228, 244;
    of inheritance, 258 (_see also_ Customary tenants, Villeins)

  Corn-badgers, 365, 375-377, 385, 386;
      -carriers, 326, 375, 376, 385, 487, 488;
      -factors, 487-491;
    engrossing and engrossers of, 376, 386, 389, 391-396;
    export and import of, 398, 407-411, 424, 428-430, 487;
      do., discussed, 274, 407-412;
    Laws, of 1815, 697;
      do., debates on, 692, 705;
      do., repeal of, 523;
    price of, fluctuations in, 368;
      do., means of enhancing, 407-412;
    production of, fluctuations in, 273-275;
    regulation of price and distribution of, 367, 368, 374-378, 385, 386,
    389, 391-396;
    trade, condition of, in 18th century, 479, 487-491 (_see also_
    Customs)

  Coroners, 27, 38, 39

  Cost of living, in 19th century, 521

  Costermongers, excluded from operation of Statute of Artificers, 356

  Cotters, cotmen, 5, 9, 61, 63, 65, 242

  Cotton industry, in the 18th and 19th centuries, 545, 546, 571, 572,
    576, 577;
    arbitration on disputes in, 544, 568-571;
    depression of wages in, 500, 501;
    fluctuations in, 480;
    introduction of power loom weaving in, 505-510;
    petition of journeymen in, to House of Commons, 480, 500 (_see also_
    Factories)

  Council, the King's, 48;
    Privy, 328, 455, 473, 474;
    intervention of, 229;
    for the protection of tenants, 266;
    for the regulation of wages, 316;
    for the regulation of prices, 365, 368;
    for the relief of the poor, 363, 364, 379, 382-384, 390, 649;
    of the North, 429, 430;
    of Wales, 429, 430

  Council, Orders in, effect of, on industry and commerce, 480, 691

  County courts, 34, 94

  Courts, Royal (_see_ Chancery, Requests, Star Chamber, Wards and
    Liveries)

  Craft-gilds, 111, 131, 133, 279, 315;
    adulterine, 114-116;
    censured, 296;
    charters to, protected in the Statute of Monopolies, 467;
    common box of, 136, 137;
    control of trade and industry by, 136-147, 284, 297-299, 300, 303,
    307-311, 345;
    dependence of industrial on mercantile, 302-305;
    election of officers of, 137, 138, 142, 145, 309, 310, 311;
    exclusiveness of, 142, 143, 145, 280, 282, 299, 307, 361;
    incorporation of, 113, 144, 305, 308, 474;
    litigation of, 311;
    the livery of, 310;
    monopoly of, 280, 306, 311;
    municipal control of, 137-144, 147;
    ordinances of, 136-144, 195-197, 297;
    state supervision of, 113, 279, 284, 285, 286, 306, 307;
    religious aspect of, 136, 137, 139, 140, 144, 145, 280, 289, 290;
    restraint of trading by, 469;
    (_see also_ Apprentices, Journeymen, Yeomanry)

  Craft-gilds and Companies of London, Clothworkers, 300-302;
    Feltmakers, 302;
    incorporation of, 303;
    Haberdashers, 302-304;
    incorporation of, 144-146;
    Weavers, alien, ordinances of, 195-197;
    Whitetawyers, ordinances of, 136-138

  Craftsmen, alien, ordinances of, 195;
    classification of, in Tudor period, 414;
    desire of, for cheap corn, 409;
    for protection, 426;
    excessive prices charged by, 165, 166, 168, 169;
    excluded from operation of Statute of Artificers, 356;
    licensed to exercise more than one craft, 70;
    limited to one craft, 70, 294, 295, 306, 321 (_see also_
    Apprentices, Industry, Journeymen, Labour, Labourers, Prices, Wages)

  Credit, trading on, 305, 416-418, 420-424, 493-495

  Crown, indebtedness of the, 153, 416-418

  Currency, condition of, in fourteenth century, 217-223;
    in seventeenth century, 668, 677, 678;
    debasement of, 398, 405, 406, 416-418;
    discussions on, 220, 405;
    provisions for, 180, 181;
    recoinage of Queen Elizabeth, 419, 677;
    recoinage of 1696, 668, 677, 678 (_see also_ Bullion, Mint)

  Customary holdings, 228;
    alienation of, 243, 258;
    bequest of, 233, 234;
    cotlands, 63;
    custom touching inheritance of, 233, 234;
    dayworks, 64;
    division of, among heirs, 232;
    eviction from, 254, 255, 263;
    fines for entry on, 66, 67, 68, 69, 86, 229, 233, 235, 238, 239, 240,
    249, 251, 259;
      do., enhancement of, 229, 249, 251, 253, 255, 265;
    forelands, 62;
    forfeited, 242, 243;
    lease of, 55, 76, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 91, 235, 238, 241, 242, 254,
    255, 258, 259;
    oxgangs, 258;
    sale and purchase of, 233, 234;
    yardlands, 242 (_see also_ Copyhold, Landmeasures, Leasehold, Manor)

  Customary tenants, 5-9, 23, 24, 54, 80-86, 228, 232-246, 251-255;
    eviction of, 364;
    grant of manor to, 81;
    lease of manor to, 81 (_see also_ Bordiers, Copyholders, Cotters,
    Manor, Serfs, Villeins)

  Customary tenure, 54, 55

  Customs, the, in Middle Ages, 203, 207-216;
    in London and the outports, contrasted, 445;
    in American colonies, suggested, 673;
    on imports, 211-216, 401;
    exemption of the Cabots from, 401;
    on cloth, 403, 412, 417, 440, 459, 469, 471;
    on coal, 472;
    on exported corn, 398, 407, 430;
    on wine, 208, 214;
    on wool, 207, 215, 407, 413

  Debt, the National, 676, 677;
    measures for reduction of, 679-681

  Debts, recovery of, in Middle Ages, 161-163, 192

  Defoe, Daniel, his accounts of eighteenth century industrial and trade
    conditions, 482-492;
    his criticism of Poor Laws, 649

  Demesne, ancient, 36, 89;
    tenants of, 36, 55, 90, 91

  Demesne lands, in boroughs, 132;
    in manors, 6, 9, 16, 17, 32, 33, 54, 56, 57, 64, 228, 237, 238, 240,
    245, 246, 254, 258, 259;
    farmers of, 228;
    lease of, 259;
    lying in scattered strips, 76

  Demesnes, the king's, 21, 36, 161;
    tallage assessed on, 35, 65

  Depopulation, caused by the Black Death, 65-68, 102, 164;
    in rural districts, 267, 269, 395, 531, 536;
    acts against, 229, 260, 270_n._, 315

  _Dialogus de Scaccario_, 4_n._

  Diminishing Returns, Law of, 272

  Discovery, voyages of, 400-402

  Disraeli, Benjamin, protest of, against capitalist domination, 710, 711

  Domesday Book, 3, 4, 20, 40_n_, 54;
    extracts from, 9-17

  Domestic System, 355, 483, 508

  Dorchester Agricultural Labourers Union, 618, 638-641;
    rules of, 640, 641

  Dyeing, English and foreign, 155, 432, 433

  Dyers of Bristol, ordinances of, 141-144

  Eastland Merchants, 399

  Economic theory and opinion, in eighteenth century, 488, 559, 590, 668;
    of state regulation, 365 (_see also_ Mercantile Theory)

  Education, of working classes, 611, 711 (_see also_ Schools,
    industrial)

  Edward I, charters of, 158, 164;
    enquiry of, touching royal rights and feudal liberties, 36-40

  Enclosures of land, in Middle Ages, 54, 229;
    in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 229, 247, 248_n._, 389;
    in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, 482, 483, 523-542;
    advocated, 526, 527;
    effect of, on cottagers, 532;
    expense of fencing, 535, 539;
    petition against, 531;
    speeches in House of Commons on, 270-275;
    statutes against, 247;
    by Act of Parliament, 523, 528, 532-542;
      do., expense of, 532, 535_n._;
    by agreement ratified in Chancery, 523, 525, 526, 530;
    of arable, 260-277, 408;
    of common fields, 73, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 540, 541;
    of common pasture, 88, 89, 257;
    of waste, 54, 55, 87, 88, 244, 526-529, 532, 534, 540, 541;
    Consolidating Act, 537;
    General Act, 541

  Encroachments (_see_ Purprestures)

  Escheat (_see_ Feudal Incidents)

  Escheators, 20, 23-26, 30, 31, 40, 107-110, 249, 250;
    offences of, 40;
    office of, 20, 21

  Exchange, letters of, 421-424

  Exchanges, foreign, fluctuations and manipulation of, 398, 416-424;
    tax on, 398, 420-424;
    certifications into, 35, 47;
    fines paid in, 34

  Excise, 399, 475-6, 667;
    imposition of, in lieu of feudal dues, 670;
    Walpole's proposal for, on salt, 678-9

  Factories, growth of, checked in Tudor Period, 320, 321, 344;
    cotton, 495, 496, 591 (_see also_ Cotton Industry);
    child labour in, 480, 495, 496, 502-505, 510-516, 544, 571-573,
    591-595, 600, 609, 610, 612-614;
    effect of, on health of operatives 495, 496, 503-505, 511, 514-516,
    609, 610;
    hours of labour in, 503, 510-516, 591-593, 594, 595, 599-614;
    inspection of, by magistrates and parsons, 572, 573;
      do., by state inspectors, 595, 609, 610, 612;
    wages in, 512, 513;
    woman labour in, 614

  Factory Acts, 480, 503, 504, 544, 545, 571-573, 591, 594-596, 612-614;
    alleged failure of, 608;
    debate on, in House of Commons, 599-612

  Factory system, 320_n._

  Fairs, 121, 152, 155, 157, 158, 159, 162, 163, 164, 188, 193, 209, 210,
    213, 340, 421, 484;
    courts of, proceedings in, 159, 162, 163, 188, 193;
    granted to the lord of a manor, 157, 158;
    tolls at, 119

  Fealty, 70

  Felony, concealment of, 38

  Feltmakers, journeymen, strike of, 617, 619-622

  Feodary, 21, 249

  Feudal, army, 4;
    commendation, 11, 16;
    commutation of services for rent, 21;
    courts or sokes, 12, 15, 16;
    customs and services, 5, 37;
      do., castleguard, 29;
      do., foreign, 29;
      do., commutations of, 27;
    franchises and liberties, 4, 39, 152 (_see also_ Gallows,
    Frankpledge, Infangenethef, Sac and soc);
      do., enquiry touching, 36-40;
    incidents, escheat, 33, 36, 81, 82, 83;
      do., relief, 25, 65, 70, 116, 242;
      do., wardship and marriage, 26, 27, 29-31, 34, 40, 65, 68, 69, 237,
      250, 670;
    knight's fees, 21, 33, 34, 36, 38;
      do., the king's, alienation of, 36;
    subinfeudation, 21, 28, 29;
    tenants, thegns, 14, 15;
    tenures, frankalmoin, 12, 22, 32, 90;
      do., knight service, 13, 15, 21, 23, 27, 32, 34, 69, 123, 670;
      do., payment of fines in lieu of, 34;
      do., serjeanty, 21, 27, 33, 34;
      do., grand, 24;
      do., petty, 25;
    socage, free, 26, 670

  Feudal System, the, 19-22;
    documents illustrating, 22-41

  Firebote, 242

  Fiscal policy, documents illustrating, 207-216, 416, 424, 440-476, 667,
     670, 671, 672-674, 689-702, 705-711

  Fishing, fishmongers and fishermen, 133, 166, 326, 435

  Forelanders, 62

  Forestallers, 168, 388

  Frankpledge, view of, 65, 80, 82, 84, 156

  Free trade, 468_n._;
    arguments for, 696, 698-701;
    Sir Edwin Sandys' Bill for, 399, 443-453

  Freehold, 48, 88, 89, 90, 93, 97 250, 324, 326, 332

  Freeholders, 23, 65, 87, 91, 228, 248, 255, 256, 257, 526

  Freemen, 7, 9, 16, 17, 32, 96, 101;
    marriage of, to bondwomen, 72

  French Revolution, 590

  French wars, in 18th and 19th centuries, effect of, on industry and
     commerce, 480, 501, 544, 689, 690

  Friendly Societies, 561, 566, 640

  Gallows, feudal liberty of, 37, 156

  Gatebote, 242

  Gebur, 6

  Geneat, 5

  _Gerefa_, 3

  Gigmills, 442

  Gild, at Dover, 4, 10

  Gilds, craft (_see_ Craft-gilds)

  Gilds, lands of, confiscation of, 280, 286-294;
    do., exceptions to, 291-294;
    do., distribution of, by agreement, 267

  Gilds, merchant, 111, 112, 114, 115, 119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 126, 127,
     128, 129, 130, 131;
    characteristic features of, defined, 130;
    disputes of, with lords, 123, 128;
    privileges of, 123;
    restraint of trade by, 123

  Gilds, social, 148-150

  Half-time Child Labour, 613

  Health, Public, effect of factory conditions on, 496, 503-505, 511,
     514-516, 609, 610;
    in towns, 519, 520;
    recommendations of commission on, 614-616;
    provision for, in factories (_see_ Factory Acts)

  Hedgebote, 242

  Henry II., charters of, 45, 124, 308

  Henry III., charters of, 119, 124, 126, 127

  Heriots, 65, 84, 116, 242

  Highways, enlarged for safety of merchants and travellers, 160, 161

  Homage, 59, 70, 123

  House of Commons, Bills in, on labourers and wages (1388), 176;
    on minimum rates in textile industry (1593), 336;
    on free trade (1604), 443;
    on minimum wages (1795), 554;
    on factories (1844), 599;
    debates in, on enclosures (1597, 1601), 270-275;
    on the confiscation of gild lands (1548), 292;
    on salt duties (1732), 678;
    on Whitbread's minimum wage bill (1795), 554;
    on the income tax (1798), 683;
    on apprenticeship (1813-14), 577;
    on the Corn Laws (1815, 1846), 692, 705;
    on factory legislation (1844), 599;
    petitions of journeymen to, 307-312, 573, 624

  Housebote, 242

  Houses of Correction, 364, 378, 381, 389, 627 (_see also_ Bridewells,
     Workhouses)

  Hundred aid, 80

  Hundred, the, as a geographical unit, 12, 17;
    as an administrative unit, 9, 32, 36-38, 47, 111, 172, 174, 324, 327,
     374, 379, 384;
    as a feudal liberty, 15, 37, 117; bailiffs of, 32;
    farms of, 36-37;
      do., enhancement of, 38

  Hurdle, punishment of the, 157

  Income Tax, 667;
    objections to, 688;
    Pitt's speech on, 683

  Industrial Revolution, 480, 509, 617, 618, 668

  Industrial riots, 495

  Industries (_see_ Calico printers, Coal, Cotton, Craft-gilds,
     Feltmakers, Iron, Linen, Woollen Cloth)

  Industry, changes in organisation of, in 18th century, 479, 480, 617;
    encouragement of, by patents, 467;
    migration of, to suburbs and country districts, 304, 314, 321;
    municipal regulation of, 195-197, 280, 282-284, 294-299 (_see also_
     Craft-gilds, Markets, Prices, Wages);
    protection of small masters by Stuarts, 280;
    state encouragement of, 399;
    state regulation of, 313-362;
      do., delegated to private speculators, 336_n._;
    in country districts, 14;
    in manors, 70, 111 (_see also_ Combinations, Craft-gilds,
     Craftsmen, Labour, Prices, Wages)

  Infangenethef, 125, 156, 156_n._

  Inquisitions, royal, 38

  Interlopers, and the East India Company, 675

  Irish Potato Famine, 705, 706

  Iron industry, in 18th century, 545

  Iron-works, 55;
    accounts of, 103-105;
    Elizabethan patent as to, 442

  Jews, the, charter of liberties to, 44;
    conversion of, 46;
    chirographs and chests of, 46, 49, 50;
    debts to, 44-51;
    exemption of, from tolls, 45;
    expulsion of, 51;
    function of, 43;
    grant of, 47;
    justices of, 46, 47, 48, 50;
    litigation between Christians and, 44, 47, 48;
    ordinances touching, 45, 48, 51;
    pledging of land to, 48, 49;
    prohibited from acquiring freehold, 48, 49;
    restrictions on worship of, 45;
    royal protection of, 43, 44;
    tallage assessed on, 46;
    transferred from town to town, 43, 50

  John, King, charters of, 44, 126, 158

  Joint Stock Companies, 399;
    incorporation of, 427

  Journeymen, yeomen, servants 113, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142,
     143, 280, 285, 286, 297-299, 305, 310, 311, 325-332, 334-336, 341,
     344, 345, 349, 350, 499_n._, 547-551, 588, 589;
    associations of, 138-141, 280, 297-299, 307-312;
      do., common fund of, 298, 299, 301;
    combinations of (_see_ Combinations);
    disciplinary rules as to, 113, 137, 140, 141, 345;
    disputes between masters and, 137, 138-141, 196 (_see also_ Labour
     disputes);
    petitions of, to House of Commons, 500;
    proportion of, to apprentices, fixed, 332, 550, 551, 573, 574;
    wages of, effect of fall in value of money on, 405;
      do., regulation of (_see_ Wages);
    (_see also_ Agricultural Labourers, Calico Printers, Feltmakers,
     Tailors, Weavers, Woolcombers)

  Justice, administration of royal and feudal, 19, 20, 36_n._, 39
     (_see also_ King's Bench)

  Justices, 105, 106, 109, 110, 128, 155, 170, 183, 229

  Justices of assize, 26, 55, 90, 93-96, 285, 297, 340, 343, 391, 429,
     430, 622

  Justices of the Bench, 75, 176, 285

  Justices of the Jews, 46, 47, 48, 50

  Justices of the Peace, administration of Statutes of Labourers and
     Artificers by, 172, 173, 176, 178, 231, 326, 329, 333, 352, 353, 356,
     577;
    attacked in the Peasants' Revolt, 106, 107;
    inspection of factories by, 572, 573;
    intervention in industrial disputes by, 569, 570, 576, 623, 631;
    regulation of apprenticeship by, 332, 333, 344, 352;
    regulation of cloth industry by, 318, 340, 343, 358, 359;
    regulation of export of corn by, 429, 430;
    regulation of markets and prices by, 368, 373-380, 385, 386, 388, 389,
     391-396;
    regulation of poor relief by, 364, 372, 380, 564, 646;
    regulation and assessment of wages by, 314, 315, 316, 324, 328, 329,
     341-343, 345, 351, 352, 353, 356, 359, 361, 546-551, 554, 558, 565,
     566, 577, 624_n._, 631, 632;
    returns to Privy Council made by, on enclosure, 275;
      do., on the cloth industry, 318;
      do., on scarcity of corn, 373-374 (_see also_ Quarter Sessions)

  Justiciar, 36

  Ket's Rebellion, 247

  King's Bench, 623

  Knight service (_see_ Feudal)

  Knighthood, respite from, 39

  Knights, 87

  Knight's Fees (_see_ Feudal)

  Labour, cheap, deprecated, 589;
    Child and Woman (_see_ Child labour, Women);
    disputes, arbitration in, 544, 568-571, 617, 630 (_see also_
     Combinations, Craft-gilds, Journeymen);
    hours of, 630, 637;
      do., in agriculture 327;
      do., in factories, 503, 510-516, 591-593, 594, 595, 599-614;
      do., in mines, 516-519

  Labour, movement of, 164-166, 172-177, 314;
    effect of Poor Laws on, 561;
    effect of enclosure on, 532

  Labourers, Ordinance of (1349), 164;
    Statutes of (_see_ Statutes)

  Land, alienation of, without licence, 30;
      do., fines for, 670;
    disseisins of, 38, 88, 89, 93, 96, 97;
    extents of, 40;
    limitation of purchase of, by merchants, husbandmen and artificers, 324;
    low rents of, in eighteenth century, 509;
    measures of:--
      acres, _passim_;
      bovates, 66, 67, 68, 69, 92;
      carucates, 16, 32, 33;
      fardels, 24;
      hides, 9, 15, 16, 17, 28, 29, 32, 54;
      league, 16, 17;
      ploughlands, 32;
      roods, _passim_;
      selions, 61;
      virgates, 13, 23, 27, 28, 29, 54, 59, 60, 61, 62, 84, 95, 246, 247;
    ownership of, as qualification for apprenticeship, 330;
    pledged to Jews, 48, 49;
    speculation in, 229, 251, 259;
    waste committed in, by escheators, 40;
    (_see also_ Agriculture, Enclosures, Feudal, Manor)

  Landowners, competition of manufacturing interest with, 600, 668, 694, 710

  Lastage, 24, 119, 122, 124, 127

  Laud, agrarian policy of, 276, 277

  Law Merchant, 130, 210, 213, 214

  Leasehold, 55, 87, 228, 530, 539;
    (_see also_ Copyhold, Customary holdings, Manor)

  Leyrwite, 71, 84

  Linen manufacture, in Ireland, establishment of, 471

  Local Government Board, 646

  London, craft-gilds and companies of (_see_ Craft-gilds);
    mercantile interest concentrated in, 443;
    merchant gild of, 127;
    regulation of entry into companies in, 309;
    regulation of usury in, 200

  Lords, mesne, 36

  Machinery, accidents to children, in cleaning, 512, 609;
    Arkwright's and Watt's inventions, 582;
    discouraged by Tudors, 321, 442, 544;
    effect of, on industry, 480;
    introduction and development of, 505-510;
    regulations for cleaning, 612

  _Magna Carta_, 20, 22, 31_n._, 36_n._, 152

  Manor, the Saxon, 3, 4, 5-9;
    in Domesday Book, 9, 16, 17;
    documents illustrating, 3-9, 16, 17, 53-102, 155, 158, 232-255, 258;
    the king's, alienation of, 36;
    common fields in (_see_ Common Fields);
    courts, 20, 22, 36_n._, 54, 89;
      do., proceedings before, 65-75, 95, 232;
      do., pleas and perquisites of, 65, 80, 81;
    court rolls, 54, 55, 85, 234-236, 238-240, 259, 527;
      do., extracts from, 65-75;
    custom and customs of, 54, 66-75, 228, 229, 232-235, 238-244, 254-259
     (_see also_ Cartbote, Firebote, Gatebote, Hedgebote, Housebote,
     Pannage, Ploughbote);
      do., breach of, by lords, 241, 248, 249, 251, 252, 254, 258, 259;
      do., repudiated by tenants, 108;
      do., touching inheritance, 243;
      do., touching widows, 234;
      do., grass-swine, 5 (_see also_ Pannage);
      do., leph, 58;
    customaries, 56, 232, 314;
    customary services in, 24, 54, 57-61, 64, 80-82, 84, 85, 90-93, 96,
      241, 246;
      do., commutation of, for rent, 21, 27, 28, 55, 60-62, 85;
      do., boon-works, 6, 7, 85, 92;
      do., castle-guard, 248;
      do., heriots (_see_ Heriots);
      do., of being crier in the lord's court, 244;
      do., of serving with horses against the Scots, 254;
      do., reliefs (_see_ Reliefs);
      do., suit of court, 70, 242;
    demesne lands of (_see_ Demesne);
    extent of, 56;
    fines, gersoms, and forfeitures in, 17, 232;
      do., for entry, 80, 242, 247;
      do., enhancement of, 254;
      do., for offences, 66-75;
      do., for marriage, 80, 90, 92, 93, 96, 241, 243 (_see also_
     Merchet);
      do., for waste committed, 242, 243;
    grant of, to customary tenants, at fee farm, 81;
    leases of, to farmers, 55, 85, 91, 245, 246;
      do., to tenants, 55, 79, 91;
    lords of, 5-9, 21, 37, 66-76, 90-100, 161, 228, 232, 235-246, 248-255,
     259, 541;
      do., grant of liberties to, 156;
    officers of, 3, 5-8;
      bailiffs, 36, 57, 58, 65, 72, 80, 81, 82, 95, 233, 250;
      hayward, 8, 79;
      radman, 17;
      reeves, 5, 9, 17, 32, 80;
        do., complaints against, 84;
      serjeant, 81;
      stewards, 32, 37, 70, 74, 172, 173, 232, 233, 243, 259, 340, 526;
      woodward, 8;
    rents, 5-9, 23, 56, 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 79, 86, 92;
      do., decay of, 83;
      do., enhanced, 252, 253;
    rents of assize, 60, 63;
    social and economic development of, 53, 54, 227-230;
    stock, 6-8, 16, 17, 57, 58, 61, 77-81;
    strips, 8, 9, 22;
    tenants, 3, 21, 54, 55, 57 (_see also_ Bordiers, Copyholders,
     Cotters, Customary tenants, Forelanders, Freeholders, Freemen, Gebur,
     Geneat, Serfs, Sokemen, Villeins);
      do., marriage of, 65;
    sub-tenants, 64;
    waste (_see_ Commons)

  Markets, 14, 58, 69, 111, 257, 340;
    customs in, 129;
    for corn, 488-491;
    for woollen goods, 484, 485, 493;
    granted to the lord of a manor, 157, 158;
    organisation of, in eighteenth century, 479, 487-491;
    regulation of, by justices of the peace, 364, 365, 367, 374-378, 385,
     386, 388, 389, 391-396;
      do., by towns, 280, 283, 296;
    sale and purchase by samples in, 490, 491

  Market towns, 34, 166, 209, 210, 213, 260, 321, 322, 331 (_see also_
     Boroughs)

  Marque and Reprisals, letters of, 190

  Mercantile System, 397, 398, 399

  Mercantile Companies (_see_ Companies)

  Mercantile Theory, 220-222, 420;
    expounded, 407-416

  Merchants (_see_ Aliens, Companies, Corn, Gilds, Middlemen, Staple,
     Wool)

  Merchet, 71, 93 (_see also_ Manor, fines for marriage)

  Middlemen, 479;
    corn badgers, 365, 375-7, 385, 386;
    corn factors, 487-491;
    mealmen, 487, 488, 491;
    wool-merchants, 354, 355 (_see also_ Staple);
    in woollen industry, 492-495;
    yarn-jobbers 336, 340, 341

  Milan Decrees, 692

  Mills, 9, 11, 16, 79;
    fulling, 483;
    tucking, 321 (_see also_ Factories, Gigmills)

  Miners, 326, 389 (_see also_ Coal Industry)

  Mining Company, incorporation of, 427

  Mint, 220, 417;
    coinage of money at, before 1696, 677, 678;
    free coinage of bullion at, 674;
    profits of, 221, 222, 406 (_see also_ Moneyers)

  Monasteries, effect of dissolution of, 229, 251

  Money, fall in value of, 314, 398, 405, 406;
    regulation of export and import of, 216-223

  Moneyers, 12, 13, 119

  Monopoly and monopolies, 480, 497, 584, 587, 611 (_see also_
     Patents);
    of craft and merchant gilds, 112;
    of mercantile companies, 443-453

  Murage, 126, 127, 212, 282

  Muscovy or Russia Merchants, 399, 449, 450, 452, 453

  Navigation Act (1660), 670;
    attack on, 672-674

  Newcastle Coal Vend, 497

  Norman Conquest, the, 3, 4, 53, 54, 55, 90;
    effects of, on boroughs, 10-14;
      do., on rural population, 54, 55

  North-West Passage, 436

  Oastler, Richard, campaign of, against child labour, 544, 592-594

  Orders in Council, effect of, on British industry and trade, 480,
     501, 691

  Outdoor relief, condemned by Poor Law Commission (1834), 662;
    prohibitory order as to, 665

  Pannage, 58, 61, 243, 259

  Parish, as a unit for poor relief, 372, 379, 380, 647;
    overseers (_see_ Poor)

  Parliament, 20, 103, 180, 206, 217, 229, 261, 537;
    and minimum wages, 316;
    petitions to, 553;
    regulation of trade and industry by, 153, 160-163, 171-178 (_see
     also_ House of Commons)

  Passage, 122, 124

  Pasture, reconversion of, to arable, 271-273, 275, 276 (_see also_
    Arable, Common, Enclosures)

  Patents and Monopolies, 399, 443-453, 461, 465-468, 472-474;
    list of, 440-443;
    revoked, 472-475

  Paupers (_see_ Poor)

  Pavage, 126, 127, 133-135, 212;
    collectors of, 135

  Peasants' revolt, the, 55, 105-110;
    burning of muniments in, 108

  Perceval, Dr., report of, on child labour, in factories, 480, 495

  Pesage, 122

  Picketing, 549, 627, 637

  Pilgrimage of Grace, agrarian programme of, 247

  Pillory, punishment of the, 156, 157, 393, 394

  Piracy, 188-192

  Place, Francis, 618

  Pleas, of _quo warranto_, 40_n._;
    of replevin, 37

  Ploughbote, 242

  Pontage, 119, 122, 124, 126, 127, 212

  Poor, analysis of classes of, in 19th century, 663;
    children, apprenticing of, 381, 388, 504, 652;
      do., boarding out of, 653, 654;
      do., education of, 663;
    farmed to contractors, 646, 657;
    fines for enhancing price of corn, reserved to, 392, 393;
    guardians of, 652, 653, 654, 655, 663, 664;
    impotent, 174, 175, 364, 378, 388;
    impotent and idle, distinguished, 174, 175, 364;
    licensed to beg, 174, 175;
    overseers of, 372, 380, 381, 384, 648, 660, 661;
      do., misconduct of, 652;
    proportionate taxation of, 35;
    provision made by gilds for, 136, 150;
    provision made by enclosure acts for, 534, 535;
    provision of food for, 377;
    provision of work for, 364, 367, 369-371, 373, 378, 380, 383, 384,
     389, 391, 648 (_see also_ Houses of Correction, Workhouses);
    rates, 468, 533, 536, 537, 552, 555, 561, 562, 651,662;
      do., made compulsory, 364, 372, 380;
      do., increase of, in 18th century, 557;
    relief of, in Middle Ages, 113, 150, 174, 175;
      do., in 16th and 17th centuries, 272, 287_n._, 363-391, 647;
      do., in 18th and 19th centuries, 544, 649-665;
      do., by craft and other gilds, 113, 150, 311, 345;
      do., by parishes, 270;
      do., by towns, 363, 366, 369, 649;
      do., by journeymen associations, 299;
      do., by private charity, 364, 366;
      do., Pitt's suggested changes in, 563-565, 647;
      do., unions of parishes for, 651, 664, 665;
    settlement of, 364, 372, 381, 382, 386, 387, 561, 647, 651, 655

  Poor Laws, 275, 366, 372, 373, 380, 567, 646, 648, 652;
    administration of, by justices of the peace (_see_ Justices
     of the Peace);
    18th century abuses in, 560-562;
    inspectors advocated for, 564;
    Amendment Act (1834), 545, 646, 663;
    Settlement Act (1662), 645, 647;
    Workhouse Test Act (1722), 650;
    Gilbert's Act (1782), 645, 652;
    Speenhamland "Act of Parliament" (1795), 646, 655;
    Board, 646;
    Commission (1834), 646;
      do., recommendations of, 661-663

  Poverty, alleged causes of, in 18th century, 649

  _Precipe_, writs of, 21, 36, 36_n._

  Prerogative, the royal, 153

  Prerogative Courts, 229, 230
    (_see also_ Requests and Star Chamber, Courts of)

  Prices, enhancement of, 265, 368, 391-396, 404, 405, 407-411;
    regulation of, by Privy Council and Justices of the Peace, 341, 364;
    rise in, after the Black Death, 166, 168, 169;
      do., in Tudor period, 314;
      do., in 18th and 19th centuries, 555-559, 565-567, 576, 692-696, 707;
    of coal, regulation of, 497-499;
    of grain, 283;
    and wages, lack of correspondence between, 553, 555-559, 565-567,
     576, 695, 696

  Price of wines, 45, 206, 209, 214

  Privy Council (_see_ Council, Privy)

  Profit, a just, views on, 294, 295, 296, 367, 368

  Protection, for native manufactures, 425

  Protective tariffs, arguments for and against, 696, 698-701, 706-711;
    for revenue, 700

  Purprestures or Encroachments, 38, 54, 63, 64, 542

  Quarter Sessions, 173, 176, 316, 324, 343, 345, 351, 352, 356, 392, 429,
     543, 546, 548,
    549, 551, 576, 577, 623, 648, 656 (_see also_ Justices of the
     Peace)

  Rackrenting, 251_n._, 252, 253, 265

  Regrators, 156, 336, 386, 388

  Reliefs, 25, 65, 70, 116, 242

  Revenue, the national, 153, 667;
    effect of debasement of coin on, 405, 406
    (_see also_ Customs, Excise, Taxation)

  Report of Committee on Ribbon weavers, 590, 591

  Richard I., charter of, 125

  Riots, agrarian (_see_ Ket, Peasants' Revolt, Pilgrimage of Grace);
    industrial, 495

  Rochdale Pioneers, 618

  Roundsmen, 646, 660, 661

  Sac and Soc, 10, 11, 125

  Saltpans mentioned in Domesday Book, 17

  Schools, 249, 287;
    fine for attending, 84;
    industrial, in 18th century, 563;
    provision for, in 16th century, 287, 290

  Scotch weavers, strike of, 618, 631-633

  Scutage, 21, 29, 33, 34_n._, 80

  Seisin, 122;
    feudal conception of, 63_n._

  Serfs, 7, 9, 16, 17, 75_n._, 323

  Sheep, restriction of numbers of, to be owned by individuals, 264-266

  Sheep-graziers and sheep-grazing, 250, 264-266, 269, 274, 407, 408, 530,
     531;
    in 18th century, 484-487

  Sheriffs, 6, 9, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 27, 32, 34, 35, 40, 46-48, 50, 90,
     94, 109, 114, 115, 120, 121, 136, 155-157, 160, 161, 164, 165, 174,
     175, 189, 192, 200-202, 214, 250, 264, 324, 329, 372, 374, 379, 429,
     473;
    offences of, 38, 39

  Sheriff's aid, 80

  Sheriffs' tourns, 38, 340

  Shipping and Ships, 10, 188, 190, 191, 192, 197, 206, 210, 401, 402,
     431, 675;
    encouragement and protection of, 153, 190, 206, 428, 437, 670, 671
    (_see also_ Navigation Act)

  Silkweavers (_see_ Spitalfields)

  Sinking Fund, 667, 689;
    Act, 679

  Small holders, enclosure disadvantageous to, 531, 532, 534, 535, 537

  Small holdings, consolidation of, 523, 530, 541

  Soap manufacture, 461-465

  Social Contract, theory of, 281, 308

  Sokemen, socmen, 9;
    bond, 36;
    free, 36

  Somerset, Lord, Protector, 292, 293;
    agrarian policy of, 266

  Speenhamland "Act of Parliament," 646

  Spitalfields, silk weavers of, 484

  Spitalfields Act, authorising the regulation of wages of London
     silk-weavers, 544, 547-551, 558, 575, 577, 591, 596

  Stallage, 119, 122, 124

  Staple, the, 153, 178-185, 407;
    custom of partition in, 185;
    mayor, council and merchants of, 179, 180, 182, 183, 184, 185

  Staplers, 484, 485. (_See also_ Wool merchants)

  Star Chamber, Court of, 302, 365, 460;
    case in, 391

  Statutes, 153;
    touching alienation of land, 69;
    touching depopulation, 315 (_see also below_);
    touching enclosure, 247 (_see also below_);
    of Merton (1234), 87;
    of Marlborough (1267), 37;
    of Acton Burnel (1283), 162;
    of Merchants (1285), 161-163;
    of Winchester (1285), 160;
    of Mortmain, 146, 150;
    of Quia Emptores (1290), 29_n._;
    of Labourers, 153, 168, 171-178, 231, 314, 323, 325, 367, 388
     (_see also below_);
    of Monopolies, 399, 465-468 (_see also below_);
    of Inmates, 275;
    Poor Law, 275, 366 (_see also below_);
    3 Edward I., touching freedom of elections, 309, 310;
    12 Richard II., touching labourers, 171, 314, 323;
    13 Richard II., touching wages, 324;
    8 Henry VI., touching regrators of yarn, 340;
    15 Henry VI., touching gild ordinances, 279;
    18 Henry VI., touching hosting of aliens, 153, 198, 199;
    4 Edward IV., touching truck, 318;
    4 Henry VII., touching depopulation, 229, 271_n._, 324;
    12 Henry VII., touching merchant companies, 444, 445, 453;
    19 Henry VII., touching gild ordinances, 279, 284, 307;
    6 Henry VIII., touching depopulation, 229;
    7 Henry VIII. ditto, 229, 260;
    22 Henry VIII., touching gilds, 280, 285, 310;
    25 Henry VIII., touching depopulation, 229, 264;
    27 Henry VIII., ditto, 229, 269;
    28 Henry VIII., touching gilds, 280, 284;
    31 Henry VIII., touching cornmarkets, 368;
    33 Henry VIII., touching gaming houses, 442;
    35 Henry VIII., touching depopulation, 269;
    37 Henry VIII., touching gilds and chantries, 280, 287_n._;
    1 Edward VI., ditto, 280, 286, 291;
      do., touching vagrants, 323;
    5 Edward VI., touching depopulation, 324;
    5 and 6 Edward VI., ditto, 229;
      do., touching gig-mills, 442;
    3 Philip and Mary, touching depopulation, 229;
    5 Elizabeth, touching depopulation, 229;
      do., touching weavers, 344;
    5 Elizabeth, Statute of Artificers, 306, 307, 315, 325-336, 361,
     424, 442, 544, 557, 576, 591, 624, 656;
    apprenticeship clauses of, 544, 579-589, 590;
      do., administration of, 353, 361;
      do., repeal of, 588;
    wages clauses of, 544, 576, 577;
      do., administration of, 341, 352;
      do., repeal of, petition against, 576;
    breaches of, 334, 342, 352, 353, 361;
    proceedings before Privy Council on, 361, 362;
    19th century opinion on, 576-589;
    8 Elizabeth, touching export of cloth, 426;
    establishing Muscovy Company, 453;
    13 Elizabeth, touching export of corn, 428;
    14 Elizabeth, touching compulsory poor rate, 372;
    31 Elizabeth, touching depopulation, 229;
    39 Elizabeth, ditto, 229, 268, 270_n._;
    43 Elizabeth, touching poor relief, 364, 380, 662;
    1 James I., ditto, 343, 557, 656;
    21 James I., touching depopulation, 229;
    21 James I., touching monopolies, 465;
    12 Charles II., Navigation Act, 670;
    14 Charles II., Settlement Act, 647;
    7 George I., touching combinations, 624;
    9 George I., touching workhouses, 650;
    12 George I., touching truck, 546;
    7 George III., touching poor relief, 663;
    13 George III., Spitalfields Act, 547;
    39 George III., touching combinations, 626;
    26 George III., touching Sinking Fund, 679;
    39 and 40 George III., touching industrial arbitration, 568, 570, 576;
    39 and 40 George III., touching combinations, 618, 627, 633;
    41 George III., touching enclosures, 537;
    42 George III., touching factories, 504;
    44 George III., touching industrial arbitration, 570, 576;
    54 George I I., touching apprenticeship, 588;
    55 George III., Corn Law, 697;
    59 George III., Factory Act, 591;
    3 and 4 William IV., ditto, 594;
    4 and 5 William IV., Poor Law Amendment Act, 663;
    7 and 8 Victoria, Factory Act, 612;
      do., Bank Charter Act, 702;
    8 and 9 Victoria, General Enclosure Act, 541

  Statute Law Revision Act (1863), 229

  Steam power, use of, 544

  Steelyard, the, 416, 417, 418, 440

  Stock and land leases, 79, 81_n._, 245, 246

  Stocks, punishment of, 172, 329, 366

  Stafford, policy of, in Ireland, 399, 470-472

  Strikers, prosecuted under law of conspiracy, 635

  Strikes, 196, 617, 618, 619-622, 631-633, 635
    (_see also_ Combinations, Labour disputes)

  Stuarts, the, fiscal methods of, 399
    (_see also_ Patents)

  Tailors, journeymen, combination of, 617, 622-624

  Tariff war, with Netherlands, 399

  Taxation, 203-216, 667; aids, 29;
    carucage, 21, 32;
      do., fines for evasion of, 32, 33;
    geld, 12, 15, 16;
    Parliamentary subsidies, 406, 468;
    tonnage and poundage, 206;
    Parliamentary tenths and fifteenths, 170, 171;
      do., assessment of, 204, 205;
    scutage (_see_ Scutage);
    tallage, 27, 65, 80, 82, 93, 117, 127;
      do., assessment of, in London, 35;
      do., assessed on Jews, 46;
    Pitt on incidence of, 686 (_see also_ Income Tax);
    Walpole on incidence of, 679

  Taxes, the Assessed, 684

  Tenures of land (_see_ Burgage, Copyhold, Customary tenure, Feudal,
     Freehold, Leasehold, Villeinage)

  Testimonials or certificates of service, 172, 174, 175, 324, 327,
     334-336, 353

  Theam, 125

  Tin, internal trade in, patent for, 442

  Tithes, 249, 288, 289, 380, 528

  Tolls (_see_ Boroughs, Fairs, Lastage, Markets, Murage, Passage,
     Pavage, Pesage, Stallage)

  Towns (_see_ Boroughs)

  Trade, Internal, combinations in restraint of, 108, 128-130
     (_see also_ Craft-gilds, Gilds Merchant, Trade Unions);
    intermunicipal, 112, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 133, 134,
     152, 280, 282;
    municipal regulation of, 280, 282, 283, 294-299;
    state regulation of, 152, 153, 160-178;
    restrictions on, by a lord, 133;
    of aliens in England, 127

  Trade, Colonial, effect of Navigation Act on, 672-674

  Trade, Foreign, 152, 698-701;
    condition of, in 1587, 438-440;
      do., in 19th century, 689-692;
    depression of, 364, 383;
    encouragement of export and checking of import, 398, 399, 407-416,
     424, 425, 426, 431-434, 439, 440, 454-461;
    export of dressed cloth, 398, 399, 402-404, 426, 454-461, 469;
    export of undressed cloth, 398, 399, 402-404, 424, 426, 454, 459;
    fluctuations of, 610;
    fostering of, 397, 398;
    instructions to a factor in Turkey, 431-434;
    perils of, 181, 188-192;
    protection of, 153, 187;
    relative merits of exports and imports discussed, 413, 421-425;
    with Africa, 691;
    with the Baltic, 691;
    with Canada, 690;
    with Continent, 502, 690;
    with East Indies, 452;
    with Flanders, 413;
    with France, 413;
    with Italy, 413;
    with Levant, 452, 691;
    with Low Countries, 179;
    with Portugal, 690, 691;
    with Russia, 449, 450, 452;
    with South America, 690, 691;
    with Spain, 413, 690;
    with United States, 502, 689, 690, 691;
    with West Indies, 690

  Trade, Board of, 597

  Trade boards, local, advocated, 596, 597

  Trade Unions, 281, 617, 618;
    benefit clubs of, 618, 626;
    funds of, 629, 637
    (_see also_ Combinations, Journeymen, Labour disputes)

  Trial by battle, 119, 123

  Trial by jury, 123

  Truck, 284, 318, 513;
    acts against, 318, 544, 545

  Tumbrel, 156

  Turkey Company, 431, 450

  Unemployment, 364, 366, 369-373, 383, 390, 398, 573, 611

  Unions of parishes for relief of poor, 651, 664, 665

  Universities, 287, 287_n._

  Usury, 44, 45, 49, 51, 154;
    London ordinance touching, 200;
    petition in Chancery touching, 201;
    petition in Parliament touching, 200

  Utopia, Sir Thomas More's, 275

  Vagrants, 323, 335, 366, 369, 378, 379, 384, 388, 647, 648, 654
    (_see also_ Beggars, Bridewells, Houses of Correction, Labourers,
     Ordinance of, Poor, Workhouses)

  Village greens, excluded from enclosure act, 541

  Villeins, bondmen, 9, 16, 17, 32, 36, 54, 55, 69, 71-75, 90-102, 165,
     231, 249;
    actions brought by, 55;
    flight of, 55;
    grant of, 55, 98;
    imprisonment of, 99, 100, 101;
    licensed to leave a manor, 72, 75;
    manumission of, 55, 97;
    received in boroughs, 121, 125;
    regardant, 101;
    runaway, 69, 73, 74, 75, 125

  Villeinage (status), 75, 228;
    acknowledgment of, 93, 94;
    cases before the Courts touching, 88-90, 92-97;
    survival of, in sixteenth century, 228, 231

  Villeinage (tenure), bondage land, 24, 32, 54, 55, 66, 67, 68, 69, 84,
     86, 235, 239, 248;
    grant of, by charter, 97

  Wages, allowances in aid of, 646, 656;
    assessment of, under Statutes of Artificers, 314, 316, 325, 328, 329,
     341-343, 345-353, 356-7, 359, 543, 546-7, 554, 576, 577, 631-2;
      do., abandoned, 576-7, 656;
      do., draft bill in House of Commons for, 336-341;
      do., petitions and requests for, 356-7, 361;
      do., under Spitalfields Act, 544, 547-551, 558;
    conspiracies to raise, 139, 140, 196;
    demand of excessive, 139, 140, 164-174, 176, 314, 324, 360, 361;
    depression of, 188, 314, 357, 358, 359, 507, 521, 590, 605;
      do., in cotton industry, 500, 501;
    in colonies, 315, 360;
    maximum, 315, 554;
    maximum, fixed by Statute, 153, 173, 174, 176, 177, 178, 624_n._;
    minimum, 315, 316, 342, 544;
      do., bill in House of Commons for, 554-568;
    proclamation of, by justices, under Stat. 13 Richard II, 323_n._,
     324;
    proposals for a sliding scale of, for agricultural labourers, 552-53;
    rates of, fixed by journeymen combinations, 620-622, 623, 624, 630,
     637, 638;
    regulation of, by towns, 280, 282, 284, 296, 316;
      do., by wages boards, 544

  Wages boards, advocated, 596, 597;
    in Scotland, 597

  Wales, Council of, 429, 430

  Wardpenny, 80

  Wardship and marriage (_see_ Feudal)

  Wards and Liveries, Court of, 21, 670

  Waste (_see_ Commons)

  Watchmakers, resolutions of, on apprenticeship, 588

  Water power, 592;
    in woollen industry, 482

  Weavers Act (1555), 320

  Weavers, Cotton, journeymen, petition of, to House of Commons, 500;
    hand-loom, proposals for wages boards by, 596, 597

  Weights and measures, 132, 154, 155, 214, 248, 388;
    assize of (_see_ Assizes)

  Women, employment of, in agriculture, 7, 8, 173, 177, 178, 329, 346,
     347, 547;
    in coal mines, 598, 599;
    in woollen industry, 350, 483;
    suggestions for employment of, in colonies, 436

  Wool, 55, 265, 282, 284, 303;
    export of, 179-185, 187, 193, 407;
    growers, 355, 483;
    merchants, 132, 355, 484, 487 (_see also_ Staple and Staplers);
    price of, 407;
    Spanish, 431;
      do., import of, 494;
      do., patent to import, 441;
      do., worked in England, 492

  Woolcombers, benefit clubs of, 626

  Woollen Cloth Industry, 154, 183, 184, 187, 188, 265, 282, 284, 357-360,
     383, 399, 432, 503;
    apprenticeship in, 499, 500;
      do., abolished, 587, 587_n_;
    condition of, in eighteenth century, 479, 482-487, 492-495, 545, 546;
    credit trading in, 493-95;
    dyeing in, 141-144;
    fraudulent workmanship in, 432;
    geographical distribution of, 484;
    hiring of looms in, 320, 321;
    limitation of number of looms, to clothiers, 318, 321, 344;
    organisation of, in seventeenth century, 354;
    state regulation of, 317-322, 330, 331, 336-341, 343, 344, 345, 350,
     351, 352, 357-360, 382, 383, 398, 399, 402-404, 426, 454-461;
    in Ireland, discouraged by Strafford, 471

  Woollen Cloth Trade, internal trade in, 399, 404, 468-470;
    export trade in, 198, 301, 398, 399, 402-404, 421, 426, 427, 431-434,
     438, 440, 441, 446, 447, 450, 453-461, 469;
      do., patent for, 443;
    foreign criticism of English cloth, 319, 587

  Workhouses, 369-372, 380, 586, 646, 648, 649;
    character of work provided in, 369, 370, 657-659;
    mortality in, 659, 660

  Workhouse Test Act (1722), 650

  Working Men's Association, address of, to Queen Victoria, 641

  Wreck of sea, 37, 40, 122

  Writs, 39, 101;
    return of, 37;
    service of carrying, 28, 63;
    of Chancery, 48;
    of Jewry, 44, 48;
    of _certiorari_, 202;
    of _corpus cum causa_, 200;
    of _precipe_, 36;
    of _quo warranto_, 474;
    of _recordari facias_, 236;
    of _replevin_, 236;
    of right, the little, 55, 91;
    _of scire facias_, 474;
    of _subpoena_, 186, 244, 277

  Yarn, imported from Ireland, 485, 486

  Yeomanry organisations, 280, 300, 302
    (_see also_ Craft-gilds, Journeymen)

  Young, Arthur, his account of farming in Norfolk, 523, 530, 534;
    his advocacy of enclosures, 524;
    his criticism of commissioners' methods, 536, 537