ABSTRACT
The price of corn throughout Europe seems to have fallen at that time below the cost of production: in some parts of Germany, it was even below the cost of harvesting. The proceedings of this Committee must have been full of instruction: witness after witness gave detailed, and often pathetic, testimony to the pressure of agricultural distress. Lord Althorp was the only member representing a large agricultural constituency, whose vote was given for this celebrated paper. The Report of the Committee was disclaimed by the seceding Protectionist members. As the only mode of appeasing them the Committee was revived, with full powers to make a fresh report, that might efface the erroneous impression of which they complained. Even his influence only succeeded in promoting a compromise, of which the most important feature, besides the grant of a Loan to the distressed districts, was the prohibition of the import of corn when under 70s.
