ABSTRACT
Moral outrage surfaced as food prices skyrocketed in 1756. Underneath these expressions of morality lay decades of economic transformations. ‘Grinding the face of the poor’ found print in newspapers and pamphlets, in personal letters and diary entries, a moral outcry over capitalism’s slow ascendency at the expense of older social norms. As a dearth deepened and food became scarce long-term changes to a ‘Moral Economy’ (see E. P. Thompson) exposed the fragility of newer economic patterns. Admiral John Byng and the Minorca crisis developed within these rallied cries for morality. Evidence in this chapter clearly demonstrates that Byng and food were linked.
