pulation involved an additional demand for food, and the increasing wealth of the manufacturing classes made this demand still greater. These various circumstances combined to encourage British farming, and to augment the wealth of the British landowner. Vast as was the manufacturing progress of the nation during the twenty years of the great war, the progress of its agriculture was almost as marked. CHAP. V. 1816. The marked prosperity of the landed and moneyed on labour. classes during the years of war would, under ordinary circumstances, have benefited the labouring poor. There appears, however, to be very little doubt that the rate of wages rose, but slightly, in the period, and that the rise, slight as it was, was more than balanced by the increased cost of the labourer's food. It is probable that this result was partly due to the circumstance which, in its ultimate consequences, has conferred unprecedented benefits on the British workman. The demand for British manufactured goods led to the discoveries which augmented twentyfold the productive power of every labourer. Factories were built, employing large numbers of men, and enabling the country to supply a demand which, under the old system, could never have been met. But the erection of every new factory must have entailed an enormous amount of misery on the solitary weavers who, in their humble cottages, had previously imperfectly supplied the trade of the world. It is true that the weaver could always obtain work from the manufacturer. But the weaver was a solitary man: he had no union to arrange terms for him; with instant ruin before him he was compelled to accept any wages which the manufacturer chose to offer; and, if he refused the terms, the employer had only to send to the London workhouses for a cartload of apprentices. Such a state of things must have involved considerable hardships to the better classes among the poor. The chain of events, which had CHAP. V. 1816. On agriculture. been expended in the Netherlands, in Italy, in France, and in other countries; the 100l. was expended in Britain. War, too, though it decreased the purchasing capacity of populations, increased the necessities of governments. Every European nation suddenly launched into the most unprecedented expenditure. Every European nation found itself compelled, not merely to increase its existing revenues, but to mortgage the revenues of future years. The vast load of debt was accumulated for expenditure, which left Europe far poorer and feebler than it had been before. The inordinate outlay on maintaining armies and destroying armies hampered the industry of the existing generation, and seriously harassed the operations of their descendants. But even this unprofitable expenditure could not be carried on without stimulating the operations of the trader. Armies could not be fed, or clothed, or armed, or moved without appliances which trade alone could supply. The enormous operations of the war led, moreover, to a constant and deplorable waste of material. The waste had, in some way or other, to be made good; and the nation, which had become the great workshop and trading centre of the world, was indirectly benefited in consequence. Every operation of the great war tended, therefore, to concentrate the trade of the world in this country. A similar chain of circumstances had increased the demand for the produce of British agriculture. Agriculture on the Continent languished under a system where the men were driven from the fields to the camp, and the women, left alone to cultivate the ground, were in apprehension of the dissipation of their store from some hostile incursion. The British farmer, on the contrary, sowed his fields with a conscious sense of security. The vast warlike operations in which the British nation was engaged compelled its Government to become a large purchaser of agricultural produce. The increase of po V. 1816. pulation involved an additional demand for food, and CHAP. the increasing wealth of the manufacturing classes made this demand still greater. These various circumstances combined to encourage British farming, and to augment the wealth of the British landowner. Vast as was the manufacturing progress of the nation during the twenty years of the great war, the progress of its agriculture was almost as marked. The marked prosperity of the landed and moneyed On labour. classes during the years of war would, under ordinary circumstances, have benefited the labouring poor. There appears, however, to be very little doubt that the rate of wages rose, but slightly, in the period, and that the rise, slight as it was, was more than balanced by the increased cost of the labourer's food. It is probable that this result was partly due to the circumstance which, in its ultimate consequences, has conferred unprecedented benefits. on the British workman. The demand for British manufactured goods led to the discoveries which augmented twentyfold the productive power of every labourer. Factories were built, employing large numbers of men, and enabling the country to supply a demand which, under the old system, could never have been met. But the erection of every new factory must have entailed an enormous amount of misery on the solitary weavers who, in their humble cottages, had previously imperfectly supplied the trade of the world. It is true that the weaver could always obtain work from the manufacturer. But the weaver was a solitary man: he had no union to arrange terms for him; with instant ruin before him he was compelled to accept any wages which the manufacturer chose to offer; and, if he refused the terms, the employer had only to send to the London workhouses for a cartload of apprentices. Such a state of things must have involved considerable hardships to the better classes among the poor. The chain of events, which had. V. CHAP. improved the position of the landowner and the capitalist, had not alleviated the hardships to which the poor were exposed. 1816. Effects of peace. Such was the position of affairs at the conclusion of the great war. The conclusion of the war did not increase the means or the number of foreign purchasers; it withdrew from the markets of the world the vast demands which the war itself had occasioned. The people, burdened with taxation, found themselves no richer from the termination of the contest. The governments suddenly reduced their expenditure by one-half. Trade had been stimulated by the extravagant outlay of the belligerent nations. The first results of peace and retrenchment were to withdraw the demand by which industry had been sustained. Prices rapidly fell, and the general fall in prices diminished the demand for labour, and reduced the wages of the labouring classes who could still find work. Capital, to put the same thing in another way, failed to obtain the same amount of employment; the capitalists were unable to employ the same amount of labour. Thousands of labourers thrown out of employment, were forced upon the rates. The remainder were compelled to accept lower wages.2 The British expenditure fell from 106,800,000l., in 1815, to 53,300,000. in1818. Progress of the Nation, p. 483. It is necessary to substantiate a statement of this character with a few figures; but a very few figures will show more clearly than a long array of numbers the change which had taken place. The official value of the imports rose, during the war, from 19,659,358., in 1792, to 32,620,7717. in 1814. It fell to 31,822,0537. in 1815, and to 26.374,9217. in 1816. During the same period the official value of the exports of British produce rose from 18,336,8517., in 1792, to 41,712,0027. in 1815. It fell to 34,774,5217. in 1816. The foreign and colonial produce exported increased from 6,568,3491., in 1792, to 19,157,818. in 1814. It fell to 15,708,4357., in 1815, to 13,441,6657. in 1816, and to 10,269,271. in 1817. (McCulloch, ad verb. Imports and Exports.) The changes in the official values of our exports and imports indicate, it must be remembered, equal variations in quantities. The official values were not allowed to vary with every change in the market, but were as rigid and invariable as the rules with which red tape is associated. It is clear, therefore, that the first consequence of peace was to reduce our import trade by nearly 20 per cent., our export trade by 16 per cent., and to deprive Great Britain of the advantage which the war had given her-of being the great entrepôt for V. The rapid fall of prices necessarily spread consternation CHAP. among the manufacturing classes; and the manufacturers had another reason for serious apprehension. By the 1816. terms of the Bank Restriction Act of 1797 cash payments Cash payhad been suspended during the continuance of the war ments. and for six months afterwards. The conclusion of peace suggested the probability of their resumption; and the bare possibility of such a result was sufficient to alarm the most sober mind. During the earlier years of the war the price of gold had not been materially affected by the issue of inconvertible paper; but its price was seriously raised during the later years of the struggle. In 1810 gold was quoted at 8l. 7s. 8d. per cent. premium; in 1811 at 201. 28. 7d. per cent.; in 1812 at 25l. 16s. 8d. per cent.; in 1813 at 291. 4s. 1d. per cent. The premium fell in 1814, with the first return of peace, to 147. 78. 7d. It fell in 1815 to 137. 98. 6d. Every commercial operation was necessarily disturbed by these sudden variations. Every commercial operation had been calculated on the hypothesis that gold, which was continually rising in value, would go on rising. It suddenly fell. The price of every article had been increased with the rise in the value of gold. The price of every article fell with the fall in its value. A merchant had imported large quantities of goods, and had contemplated disposing of them at 10 per cent. profit. The mere change in the value of the currency caused prices to drop 15 per cent. Instead of a gain of 10 per cent. he had incurred a loss of 5 per cent. As a matter of fact the drop was in most cases very much greater. The rise in prices generally exceeded the rise in the price of gold. The fall in the value of gold was less than the fall in the value of other commodities. the world. The price of copper fell, at the conclusion of the war, from 180l. to 80l. per ton; that of iron from 20. to 8., that of hemp from 1187. to 347.; and other commodities were affected, not to the same but to a |