wealth and power to any extent, it can only be by living upon the
raw produce of other countries.

It is quite evident that the same alternative is not presented to
Great Britain and Ireland, and that the united empire has ample
means of increasing in wealth, population, and power, for a very
long course of years, without being habitually dependent upon
foreign supplies for the means of supporting its inhabitants.

As we have clearly, therefore, our choice between two systems, under
either of which we may certainly look forwards to a progressive
increase of population and power; it remains for us to consider in
which way the greatest portion of wealth and happiness may be
steadily secured to the largest mass of the people.

1. And first let us look to the labouring classes of society, as the
foundation on which the whole fabric rests; and, from their numbers,
unquestionably of the greatest weight, in any estimate of national
happiness.

If I were convinced, that to open our ports, would be permanently to
improve the condition of the labouring classes of society, I should
consider the question as at once determined in favour of such a
measure. But I own it appears to me, after the most deliberate
attention to the subject, that it will be attended with effects very
different from those of improvement. We are very apt to be deceived
by names, and to be captivated with the idea of cheapness, without
reflecting that the term is merely relative, and that it is very
possible for a people to be miserably poor, and some of them
starving, in a country where the money price of corn is very low. Of