'y and meftic 1, like ftate, le ta- U per- when calury, rds be (o him, ommit- “in the ed but in the| o have| orward Ot pet- fenfible ruftrate hance dower tod, if fary de- ecifi0n, ons to vas the

, e Ing th

GON THE CORN. LAWS.” 519

practical bufinefs of a great nation, in a matter of fuch ferious and univerfal concern as the price of bread corn, fo clearly afcertained; nor could the means that produced this wonderful effe€t be developed with fo much facility and precifion. Other inftances indeed have occurred, in the pre- fent day, of the irrefiftible power of the imagina- tion of men over practical affairs of the firft im- portance; but it will long remain a matter of much greater difficulty, to trace with precifion the caufes that led to thefe aftonifhing effe€ts. On the whole, there can be no doubt that this nation poffeffes the means of abundantly fup- plying itfelf with provifions of all forts, were it’s po- pulation augmented even to a degree far beyond what is in the contemplation of any perfon at the prefent moment, if fuch meafures were not adopted by the legiflature, and leading men in the coun- try, as tend to deprefs that bufinefs below the level of other profeffions that are open to every man in this ifland; and of courfe to abftraét from agri- culture that capital, genius, and induftry, which ought to have been appropriated to rural enter- prifes, Among the meafures that would lead to

‘this falutary end, no one could prove of fuch ex-

tenfive influence as a fyflem of corn laws ground- ed on principles that fhould tend to enfure a VOL. TIT eee|