The Corn Laws

The pamphlets, newspaper articles and tracts in this collection provide essential source material for the study of the anti-Corn Law campaigns of the 1830s and 1840s and their role in the formation of popular economics in Britain.

The Anti-Corn Law League held a market theory of wages and prices substantially different to the Ricardian labour theory of value and the Iron Law of Wages. It believed in an heavenly-designed world which allowed unrestricted economic growth under conditions of free exchange. The repeal of the Corn Laws was widely perceived as the triumph of free trade theory in Britain. It marks the advent of the culture of free trade in British popular politics and was an important victory for the reform movement.

The material in this collection offers a new view of the range and issues of the anti-Corn Law campaign as well as its techniques and rhetoric. This edition is essential for all students and scholars with an interest in this key period of economic, political and social history.

Contents

Volume 1

James Robert George Graham, Corn and Currency (1826); [John Rooke] A Cumberland Landowner, Free Trade in Corn: The Real Interest of the Landlord, and the True Policy of the State (1828); Earl Fitzwilliam, First, Second and Third Addresses to the Landowners of England on the Corn Laws (1839); Earl Fitzwilliam, 'A letter to the Bishop of Peterborough and the Clergy of England' (1840); J.W. Childers M.P., Remarks on the Corn Laws (1840); Hewitt Davis (Land Agent), The Effects of the Importation of Wheat Upon the Profits of Farming. Addressed to Agriculturists (1839)

Volume 2

David Salomons, Esq., Reflections on the Operation of the Present Scale of Duty for regulating the importation of foreign corn, addressed to the Borders of Kent and Sussex Agricultural Association (1838); Thomas Jevons, The Prosperity of the Landholders Not Dependent on the Corn Laws (1840); Lord Brougham, 'Speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday, February 19, 1839, on moving for a Committee of the Whole House on the Corn Laws' (1839); Viscount Howick 'Speech on the Corn Laws', March 13th, 1839, (1839); C.P. Villiers M.P. 'Speech on the Corn Laws', on Wednesday, 1st of April, 1840, (1840); Daniel O'Connell, Observations on Corn Laws, on Political Pravity and Ingratitude, and on Clerical and Personal Slander, in the shape of A Meek and Modest Reply to the Second Letter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, Waterford, and Wexford, to Ambrose Lisle Phillips, Esq. (1842)

Volume 3

John O'Connell, The Commercial Injustices. Extract from appendix of A Report to the Repeal Association, on the General Case of Ireland for a Repeal of the Legislative Union (1843) James Wilson, Influences of the Corn Laws, as affecting all classes of the community, and particularly the landed interest (1840); James Wilson, Fluctuations of Currency, Comerce, and Manufactures; Referable to the Corn Laws (1840); James Wilson, The Economist: or the political, commercial, agricultural, and free trade journal. Preliminary number and prospectus (1843)

Volume 4

Conference of ministers of All Denominations on the Corn Laws. Report of the Conference... held in Manchester, August 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th, 1841 (1841); The Corn Laws Condemned on account of their Injustice and Immoral Tendency, by upwards of Five Hundred Ministers, of different denominations, Resident in Scotland (1842); William Anderson, 'The Corn and Provision Laws' (1843); Rev. Alexander Harvey, 'The Influence of the Provision Laws on Trade, Wages, and Society', delivered 21 December, 1842, (1843)

Volume 5

Edward Baines, On the Moral Influence of Free Trade, and its effects in the prosperity of nations (1830); Edward Baines Jun., Reasons in Favour of Free Trade in Corn and against a Fixed Duty. In Three Letters to the Right Honourable Lord John Russell (From the Leeds Mercury), (1843); 'A Manufacturer', Reciprocity; The Corn Laws. An Authentic report of the late important discussions in the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, on the destructive effects of the corn laws upon the trade and manufacturers of the country (1839); 'Anglus', Artisans, Farmers, and Labourers (1839); Robert Hyde Greg, 'Speech on the Corn Laws' in the House of Commons, April 3, 1840, (1840); William Rathbone Greg, Not Over Production But Deficient Consumption, the source of our sufferings (1842); Archibald Prentice, The Pitt-Peel Income Tax, and the Necessity of Complete Suffrage, (1842); 'Alarming Distress'. Speech of Richard Cobden, Esq. in the House of Commons on Friday evening, July 8, 1842, (1842); Speech of R Cobden, Esq, M P, to the Anti Corn Law League, in reference to the disturbances in the manufacturing districts, 1842; 'Q in a Corner' [Nathanie Thomas Haynes Bayly], A Little Common Sense, and a few facts... on fair prices and fair wages; or, old England's interests considered (1830)

Volume 6

Pamphlets issued by the National Anti Corn Law League. An envelope of tracts sent to every elector in the kingdom presented by J. Gadsby at the Manchester Central Reference Library (1842-3); Harriet Martineau, .Dawn Island. A Tale (1845); Richard Griffiths Welford, How Will Free Trade in Corn Affect the Farmer? Being an examination of the effect of corn laws upon British agriculture (1843); John Morton and Joshua Trimmer, An Attempt to estimate the Effects of Protecting Duties on the Profits of Agriculture (1846)

Reviews

‘The archive that Kadish has assembled shows not only the diverse motivations driving this massive political alliance, but also the economic "commonsense", or ideology, that went far toward establishing economics as we know it today.’
– Regenia Gagnier, Victorian Studies

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