is probably higher than in the rest of Europe; and this circumstance
not only increases the sacrifice that must be made for an
independent supply, but enhances the difficulty of framing a
legislative provision to secure it.

When the former very high duties upon the importation of foreign
grain were imposed, accompanied by the grant of a bounty, the
growing price of corn in this country was not higher than in the
rest of Europe; and the stimulus given to agriculture by these laws
aided by other favourable circumstances occasioned so redundant a
growth, that the average price of corn was not affected by the
prices of importation. Almost the only sacrifice made in this case
was the small rise of price occasioned by the bounty on its first
establishment, which, after it had increased operated as a stimulus
to cultivation, terminated in a period of cheapness.

If we were to attempt to pursue the same system in a very different
state of the country, by raising the importation prices and the
bounty in proportion to the fall in the value of money, the effects
of the measure might bear very little resemblance to those which
took place before. Since 1740 Great Britain has added nearly four
millions and a half to her population, and with the addition of
Ireland probably eight millions, a greater proportion I believe than
in any other country in Europe; and from the structure of our
society and the great increase of the middle classes, the demands
for the products of pasture have probably been augmented in a still
greater proportion. Under these circumstances it is scarcely
conceivable that any effects could make us again export corn to the
same comparative extent as in the middle of the last century. An
increase of the bounty in proportion to the fall in the value of