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[[End Page]] [[Start Page]] AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY ALMANAC. American Wheat and English Corn Laws. Within a few months, the attention of philanthropists, on both sides of the Atlantic, has been drawn to the consideration of the English Corn Laws, as connected with the abolition of slavery in the United States. The only article of American production which Great Britain receives free from burdensome duties, is cotton, the growth of the Slave States, while grain, the growth of the free States, is burdened with heavy duties. Would she allow an open trade in grain, it would help the growth of the new states of the North West, and throw the whole influence of trade and politics, in this country, and the hands of freemen, and in favor of free labor. The British corn law, as settled in 1828, by the act of 9 Geo. IV., c. 60, is one of the most ingeniously contrived schemes that can well be imaged, calculated to injure the grain-growing interests of other countries, and the grain-consuming portions of her people, without, it is believed, a corresponding advantage to the agricultural interests, for whose benefit it was intended. The variable scale of duties, rising as the price of grain falls, and falling as the price rises, is but little understood in this country. The "general average," as it is called, is declared every Thursday, at the exchequer; and is obtained by first finding the average of all the grains sold during the week ending on the preceding Saturday, at 150 of the principal towns and markets, and then taking an average of this with the five last preceding general averages; and this is the declared or general average for that week. When the declared average of wheat is 73s. or upwards per quarter of 8 bushels, the duty is 12.; and when the price is 52s. or under, the duty is 34s. 8d.; the intermediate duties being graduated by a scale, or tariff, as follows: TABLE, Showing of the duty on foreign wheat, by the variable scale established by the English corn-law of 9.Geo.IV.C.60, passed July 25th, 1828, with the corresponding duty on the flour-per barrel of 196 lbs. in sterling money, and its equivalent in Federal currency, and the rate per-cent. of the duty. [[5 Columned Table]] |Average price per quarter| Duty per quarter. | Duty per barrel. | Duty in Federal currency. | Rate per-cent. of duty.| |...|...|...|...|...| |...|s. d.|s. d. |...|...| |If 52s. and under 53s.| 34 8| 20 10(1/4)| $5 05| 66.6| |53 54| 33 8 | 20 3 | 4 90 | 65.| |54 55| 32 8 | 19 8 | 4 76 | 61.1| |55 56| 31 8 | 19 0(1/2) | 4 61 | 57.5| |56 57| 30 8 | 18 5(1/2) | 4 47 | 54.7| |57 58| 29 8 | 17 10(1/2) | 4 32 | 52.| |58 59| 28 8 | 17 3 | 4 17 | 49.4 | |59 60| 27 8 | 16 7(3/4) | 4 02 | 46.9 | |60 61| 26 8 | 16 0(1/2) | 3 87 | 44.4 | |61 62| 25 8 | 15 5(1/4) | 3 73 | 42. | |62 63| 24 8 | 14 10(1/4) | 3 59 | 40.4 | |63 64| 23 8 | 14 3 | 3 45 | 37.7 | |64 65| 22 8 | 13 7(1/2) | 3 29 | 35.4 | |65 66| 21 8 | 13 0(1/2) | 3 15 | 33.3 | |66 67| 20 8 | 12 5(1/2) | 3 01 | 31.3 | |67 68| 18 8 | 11 2(3/4) | 2 71 | 27.8 | |68 69| 16 8 | 10 0(1/4) | 2 42 | 24.4 | |69 70| 13 8 | 8 2(3/4) | 2 08 | 19.9 | |70 71| 10 8 | 6 5 | 1 55 | 15.2 | |71 72| 6 8 | 4 0(1/4) | 97 | 9.2 | |72 73| 2 8 | 1 7(1/4) | 38 | 3.7 | |73 and upwards| 1 0 | 7(1/4) | 14 | 1.3 | [[End of Column]] The attempt to overrule the great and irreversible laws of trade, which strike the balance between demand and supply-- or, in other words, to prevent fluctuations in [[End Page]]
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