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On the Bounty for Exporting Corn. ¶ Dec.

exportation of corn; and I confeſs my head is not ſufficiently clear to ſee the aptneſs of the ſtory of thiee Phrygian king, al- luded to by Agricola Northumbrienſis, for it is my opinion, that with a guinea a guinea's worth of corn may always be bought; and I have not the leaſt doubt, that whilſt we have either money or manufactures, any nation, which has more corn than it wants, will very gladly exchange with us, and the deſire of gain is ſo univerſal, that whilſt it is ſufficiently high here to pay our merchants for importing, there is little fear of their not bringing it to us. A. N. fays, it would not be contrary to my principles to maintain, that it would be better to depend entirely on foreign ſupplies. There is very little danger of this ever happening from a free trade, as, al- though corn may be lower in the North of Germany, Rufſia, c. than it is here, yet, after adding freight, inſurance, and the profit of the merchant, it will be found to be quite as high with us as in a plentiful year.

I may poffibly be wrong in my aſſertion, that corn is gene- rally higher in France than in England; I had my information from a French emigrant, who ſaid, that though the luxuries of life were cheaper, bread was dearer. Wheat was then ſelling in England from 428. to 5os. per Quarter. That bar- ley, at leaſt, is frequently higher in Holland, is an aſſertion which, I am confident, all our merchants will confirm. A.

N. inlſinuates, that I ought to reaſon from facts and expe-

fience rather than theory. That it is a fact, that the expences of farming have kept pace with the price of corn, l think few will deny, more particularly if they have read the two letters of A. N. on that fubject, and there is ſo little danger of com- werce enervating our hardy ſons of the plough, that he will hnd it to be no leſs a fact, that the moſt commercial nations have always been the moſt powerful. It is a fact alſo, that more than balf our recruits are ſupplied by the large manufac turing towns. Even allowing that a bounty on exportation would increaſe the revenue of the landlord, that of the farmer gertainly woulã not be increaſed by it, except during their pre- ſent leafes: for if it be as A. N. aſſerts, that commercial ca- pital yields a profit ſo much ſuperior to that employed in agri- culture, there muſt be ſome cauſe for it, which cauſe would gontinue to exiſt, if, by bounties corn was raiſed to double its pretent price, and, conſequently, thie ſame effect would follow; and to endeavour to increaſe theſe means, the profits of the farmer would have much the ſame effect as an act of parlia- ment, giving a bounty of 20 per cent. on all money laid out in the purchaſe of land, becauſe that pays only four, whilſt money lent on a note or bond pays five per cent. One reaſon for the ſuperior profits of commercial capital, may be the inde- pendent life of a farmer compared with that of a trader of the