Text | Rogue
Author of Food Changes History (Volumes I and II).
I will try to comb through the stories before, during, and after the Great Irish Famine in the mid-19th century. This is the eighth article in a series, continuous update, your attention and support is my motivation.
In 1820, factory owners in London, Manchester, Yorkshire's West End, Edinburgh, Glasgow and other places submitted one petition after another to the parliament, calling for an end to protected trade and free trade. In the following decade, due to the higher production efficiency brought about by the Industrial Revolution, there were many serious overproduction in Britain, and industrial foreign trade shrank, especially the establishment of the German Customs Union in 1834, which imposed protective tariffs on cotton fabrics and wool from Britain, which aroused the vigilance of the British. John Bowling, an economist at the British Department of Trade, a radical representative of free trade, even directly described the Corn Laws as bad legislation.
John Bowling. British politician, former member of the British Parliament, British Consul in Guangzhou, Governor of Hong Kong, Minister to China, etc
In September 1838, Manchester factory owners and entrepreneurs formed the "Anti-Corn Law Society", and in March 1839, anti-corn law representatives from all over England proclaimed the "Anti-Corn Law League" in London. In 1843, the League raised £50,000 for its first time. It was also in this year that a Scottish hat manufacturer named James Wilson opposed the Corn Laws and founded what would become known around the world as The Economist. The core message of Wilson's message was: "Only the breeze of free trade can save a fallen society." ”
English Corn Law
The free traders also lobbied workers that real wages would rise as soon as the price of staple grain fell, thus luring many workers into the anti-corn law movement—in fact, factory owners thought that if bread was cheap, they could keep wages low—but to some extent, they did weaken the Chartist movement.
On May 2, 1842, the British Chartist movement broke out
In fact, by the 19th century, British politics had been infected with enthusiasm for free trade, and many people began to believe that trade was no longer a zero-sum game, but beneficial to all parties. So governments should open the door to ending the old colonial model and not interfering in the trade of goods as much as possible, so as to establish a unified world market – and this is the mission of a free trade empire.
In fact, little by little, their creeds are already influencing British politics and economics. In 1830, the free-trade Whigs returned to power. In 1813, when the charter of the East India Company was renewed, the parliament considered the call for free trade, opened up Indian trade, and gave the company a 20-year monopoly on trade with China, and in 1833, under the debate of free traders, the monopoly of the East India Company's trade with China was abolished, and trade with China was changed to free trade.
Headquarters of the British East India Company
The Qing government's Guangzhou trade system had apparently clashed with free trade. It's just that for a self-sufficient Chinese market, British machines can't make any good goods at this time, and the only thing that can earn back silver is opium. In the 1830s, the annual opium consumption of the Qing Dynasty was about 11.75 million taels of silver. On January 5, 1840, Lin Zexu announced the official closure of Hong Kong and cut off trade with Britain, which became the flashpoint of the Opium War.
Guangdong Humen Fort Naval Battle Museum
In its coverage of the war, the British newspaper The Times quoted readers' voices to glorify the aggression: "We produce less sugar, wine and all kinds of other commodities than opium, and it can occupy a foreign market... Opium was not only for medical use, but also for trade (The Opium Trade, The Times, 16 December 1842). ”
Remember, just 60 years ago, because of the consideration of granting Ireland free trade treatment, British factory owners rallied themselves in almost the same way, calling the Anglo-Irish Business Pact "tyranny"? And now, in the eyes of the adherents of free trade, the English aristocratic landlords who defended the Corn Laws, and the officials of the Qing Emperor, were arrogant and senile, and they would drive steam locomotives and launch a final charge towards the ancient castle.
The most special one among the various free traders is Robert Peale, the founder of the Conservative Party, the current British Prime Minister, and the "commander-in-chief" of Irish relief operations at this moment.
Robert Peale, British Prime Minister (1834~1835, 1841~1846), founder of the British Conservative Party
(To be continued)