227
 

CHAPTER    IX.
 

On the Import of Corn.

I HE same illusion, which led to the supposition, that chapter
money was exported for the payment of our foreign ex¬
penditure during the prosecution of a war, equally led to
the supposition, that money was exported for the purchase
of grain during the pressure of a scarcity.

In the debate, which took place in the two houses of
parhament on the   renewal of the restrictions on the
Bank of England after the peace of Amiens, it was con¬
tended, on the part of government, that though a favour¬
able balance of trade w^ere, in the natural constitution of
things, a necessary result of the commercial relations of
this country, yet as the ordinary course of commerce had
received a temporary interruption from  the war and the
scarcity, not only had the influx of money been wholly
obstructed, but the efflux of money had been occasioned
to an unprecedented extent: but as no such interruption
was likely to recur, the balance of trade would in a short
time conduce to the import of many millions, which would
enable the Bank to open its doors, and resume its cash
payments with security.