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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 1352: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.

The commercial condition of Great Britain throughout the year was favourable. The railway speculations of previous years exercised a prejudicial influence upon the money market, and “calls” were severely felt; but the foreign commerce of the country increased rapidly, and the revenue was in a state which tended to preserve public confidence, and showed that the resources of the nation were unimpaired notwithstanding so many recent calamities. Free trade began already largely to tell upon the great interests which it affected, and justified its advocates and promoters.

The farming interest was, however, distressed; free trade in corn had deranged their habits, and rendered alterations necessary in their customary procedure as to the landowners, their farms, and the markets which they were reluctant to adopt. The landlords were unwilling to concede lower rents, and kept up those which were brought about by war prices during the great struggle with France. Hence a protectionist agitation pervaded the country, unsettling the minds of the farmers, inspiring false hopes, irritating the trading classes, producing counter agitation, and by all these means inflicting injury upon the country.