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clover feed, and about fix bufhels of plafter of Paris to the acre; and by harvest time I had clover all over the piece, about twelve inches high, and which I mowed in about two or three weeks after my wheat was cut ; I believe I might have cut a full ton of hay off from each acre; and I am well fatisfied, that if I had not put any plafter of Paris on it, I should not have had any grafs that I could have cut. I have likewife fold this manure to many people in this State, as well as in New-Jerfey, Maryland, Delaware, &c.; and after trial, their applications to me have been very great, which induces me to believe they have found the like benefits from the ufe of it as I have myfelf.

With refpect, I am thy friend,

ROBERT MORRIS."

Philadelphia, Feb. 15, 1789.

"I, Clement Biddle, Efq. Notary Public for the Commonwealth of Pennfylvania, duly commiffioned and qualified, do certify, that Robert Morris miller and farmer of the county of Philadelphia, by whom the foregoing writing, certified by him in his hand-writing, to me well known, is a perfon of good character and reputation, and that I have been on his farm, and have feen great appearance of improvement in the produce thereof, from the ufe of plafter of Paris; and am of opinion, that credit is due to his certificate before written, relative thereto. The faid plaster of Paris came from Nova Scotia, and is of great repute.

"In teftimony whereof, I have hereunto fet my hand, and fixed my notorial feal, at Philadelphia, this 18th day of February, 1789. CLEMENT BIDDLE, N. P."

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AT the prefent time, when the attention of the country is called to consider the nature of the corn-laws, a few obfervations on that fubject will not be deemed unfeafonable.

For a good many years paft, our corn-laws have been only temporary enactments, with a view, as it would feem, to give time for difcovering what was the beft fyftem to be adopted in this important department. It is now proposed to make a permanent law, with the avowed intention of continuing unaltered for a great many years; it is therefore of much importance that the fubject should now be coolly difcuffed, fo that fuch errors as may permanently affect the welfare of the country may be avoided.

The fubject is avowedly of great importance; and the investigation of it is attended with intricacy. A difference of opinion therefore, in many particulars,may take place even among thofe men who have made polítical economy a principal object of their attention: But among the great body of the people, who have never been accustomed to judge with precifion on fuch intricate fubjects, a ftill greater variety of fentiments must prevail. Truth, however, which is all that either party can in this cafe fearth for, can only be discovered by a calm unprejudiced investigation; and it will be well if every perfon when he begins it will try to d?veft himself of prejudices which tend to confound, but never can enlighten mankind.

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In confidering the corn-laws, there are two leading queftions that require to be feparately examined, viz.

ift. Is a bounty on the exportation of corn, under the best regulations that can be adopted, capable of pro

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moting the good of the community at large, or the reverfe?

If this question fhould be refolved in the affirmative, it will next be neceffary to confider, what regulations the trade in this article ought to be put under, so as to produce the greatest good, and avoid inconveniences as much as poffible.

With regard to the first of these questions, which fhall furnish the fubject of our present difcuffion, men of great eminence have ranged themselves on oppofite fides. From the time a bounty on the exportation of corn was granted in Britain, about a hundred years ago, till a few years paft, it was the fashion to confider a bounty as highly beneficial. But of late, a man of great eminence, whofe name will long be held in respect by political enquirers †, has ventured to reprobate this fyftem as abfurd, and has of course got many followers. He contends that fuch a bounty on exportation of corn gives birth to many frauds and inconveniences, which he thinks might be totally removed by granting an unlimited freedom to this kind of traffic, as well as to trade of every other kind.

There is fomething so apparently liberal in this idea, that it is apt to captivate the mind, and to difpofe ingenious perfons to with this fyftem may be founded on truth; and the refpect that is juftly due to every opinion of a man of such eminence forbids that it should be flightly paffed over: but in a cafe of so much importance, it is neceffary to proceed with great caution. Since the time that the bounty was granted, this country is well known to have profpered abundantly; and though this circumstance does not furnifh an argument that alone thould be deemed conclufive, it affords fufficient grounds for proceeding with the utmost caution before this fyftem be departed from.

The great objects to be aimed at in a corn-law, are, to encourage the growth of grain in this country, to keep the

Doctor Adam Smith, Author of the Wealth of Nations.
VOL. I.

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average price of that commodity, as nearly the fame as poffible, and as low as circumstances can permit. The regulations which tend in the most effectual manner to do these things, are without doubt the beft; and it is fuch a fyftem alone that fhould obtain the fupport of every patriotic member of the community. As to the plan calculated to keep the prices of grain permanently higher than they might otherwife be, if ever such a plan was devifed, it ought to be reprobated with horror by every honeft man; or if it could be carried into practice, it should be guarded againit with the moft anxious folicitude. The attempt, however, I think, would be equally vain, as impolitic and villanous.

Agriculture is a manufacture, and muft, like other manufactures, be carried on at a certain expence of ftock and labour; which expence must be repaid by the. price of the produce, otherwife the bufinefs cannot be carried on. The fame reafoning, therefore, that will apply to manufactures in general, will also apply to agriculture in this refpect.

There is perhaps no pofition lefs generally liable to exception than this: "That the furelt way of bringing any branch of manufacture to the very lowest price that it can poffibly be afforded for, is to provide such a market for that article as can never be overstocked; fo that manufacturers, however numerous, fhall be always certain of getting money at the time they find it neceffary, without being obliged to let the goods lie long on hand, or to fell them greatly below prime coft. The reafon for this is plain. When a manufacturer finds a conftant ready market for his goods, he is at liberty to extend his bufinefs as far as he finds it convenient, and to adopt every contrivance for diminishing the expence, that ingenuity, aided by a fuitable capital, can devife;' and as the risk in this cafe is inconfiderable, he is contented with a much smaller share of profit, than would be neceffary to induce him to engage in any branch of

bufinefs that was more precarious. Hence it ever must happen, that in manufactures thus circumftanced, larger capitals will be employed, greater ingenuity will be exerted, more permanent eftablishments will be adopted than in those that are lefs fteady. In this manner, the actual prime coft to the manufacturer will be confiderably diminished; and as the owner will be at the fame time induced to be content with a fmaller rate of profit than he otherwife would have required, it must happen that from a concurrence of both caufes the price of the commodity at market, by a general competition of many individuals, will be reduced to the very lowest rate for which it can be afforded.

Apply this doctrine to agriculture, and it will appear that a bounty on exportation, in a country fituated like Britain, ought to tend in a powerful manner to moderate, upon the whole, the price of grain.-By means of that bounty, a more fteady market, in years of plenty, is provided for corn on the fea-coafts, than could otherwife be obtained for it; and, of course, farmers are never afraid of overstocking the market, or of ever fpending a thought, how they may diminish their produce, fo as not to over-fupply the demand.-Their whole attention and care, therefore, will be applied towards the augmenting the quantity of their produce, and diminishing the expence of obtaining it.

From this confideration alone, the beneficial effects of a bounty must be apparent to any confiderate mind, even from reafoning only. But the truth of this reafoning is still more abundantly confirmed by well-known facts, the only fure criterion of truth in matters of this fort.

Norfolk and Suffolk are the principal places from whence grain has been exported from Britain under the influence of the bounty.-If that bounty tended to raise the price of grain upon the whole, as thofe who difapprove of it contend, it ought neceffarily to happen that the average prices in thefe countries ought to be higher

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