A
Corn Law was first introduced in Britain in 1804, when the landowners,
who dominated Parliament, sought to protect their profits by imposing
a duty on imported corn. During the Napoleonic
Wars it had not been possible to import corn from Europe. This
led to an expansion of British wheat farming and to high bread prices.
Farmers feared that when the war came to an end in 1815, the importation
of foreign corn would lower prices. This fear was justified and the
price of corn reached fell from 126. 6d. a quarter in 1812 to 65s.
7d. three years later. British landowners applied pressure on members
of the House of Commons to take action
to protect the profits of the farmers. Parliament responded by passing
a law permitting the import of foreign wheat free of duty only when
the domestic price reached 80 shillings per quarter (8 bushels). During
the passing of this legislation, Parliament had to be defended by
armed troops against a large angry crowd.
This legislation was hated by the people living in Britain's fast-growing
towns who had to pay these higher bread prices. The industrial classes
saw the Corn Laws as an example of how Parliament
passed legislation that favoured large landowners. The manufacturers
in particular was concerned that the Corn Laws would result in a demand
for higher wages.
In 1828 William Huskisson sought to
relieve the distress caused by the high price of bread by introducing
a sliding scale of duties according to price. A trade depression in
1839 and a series of bad harvests created a great deal of anger towards
the Corn Laws.
In October 1837, Joseph Hume, Francis
Place and John Roebuck formed the
Anti-Corn Law Association in London.
The following year Richard Cobden joined
with Archibald Prentice to establish
a branch of this organisation in Manchester.
In March 1839 Cobden was instrumental in establishing a new centralized
Anti-Corn Law League. Cobden was now
able to organize a national campaign in favour of reform.
Cobden was a friend of John Bright and
suggested he should join the League. Bright agreed and over the next
few years he toured the country giving speeches on the need to reform
the Corn Laws. Bright was an outstanding
orator and he drew large crowds wherever he appeared. In his speeches
Bright attacked the privileged position of the landed aristocracy
and argued that their selfishness was causing the working class a
great deal of suffering. Bright appealed to the working and middle
classes to join together in the fight for free trade and cheaper food.
In 1841 General Election the leader of the
Anti-Corn Law League, Richard
Cobden became the MP for Stockport. Although Cobden continued
to tour the country making speeches against the Corn
Laws, he was now in a position to constantly remind the British
government that reform was needed.
The economic depression of 1840-1842 increased membership of the Anti-Corn
Law League and Richard Cobden and John
Bright spoke to very large audiences all over the country. By
1845 the League, with support from wealthy industrialists such as
Peter Taylor and Samuel
Courtauld, was the wealthiest and best organised political group
in Britain.
The failure of the Irish potato crop in 1845 and the mass starvation
that followed, forced Sir Robert Peel and
his Conservative government to reconsider the wisdom of the Corn
Laws. Irish nationalists such as Daniel
O'Connell also became involved in the campaign. Peel was gradual
won over and in January 1846 a new Corn Law
was passed that reduced the duty on oats, barley and wheat to the
insignificant sum of one shilling per quarter became law.
(1)
The Quarterly Review reported
on a Anti-Corn Law League on 5th July, 1842.
The
Chairman, the same as at the former London conference, Mr. Peter Taylor,
said "The cry of suffering and distress would make itself heard,
and if that distress were not speedily relieved, he believed this
distress would make itself heard in a voice of thunder which woulf
frighten the government and the legislature from its propriety.
(2) Tom
Mann, Memoirs, (1923)
During the period I spent in Birmingham, John Bright
was one of the three Members of Parliament for the borough. I frequently
heard him in the Birmingham Town Hall. I have heard many prominent
speakers in the hall, and in many other places, but never one comparable
to John Bright. The plainness of his language, the unaffected simplicity
of his illustrations, his power to drive home the points of his speech,
in conjunction with the mellifluous vocalization of which he was master,
made one feel that it was a great privilege to listen to such oratory,
and to observe the orator.
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