ABSTRACT
At th is very time, indeed, as during all such periods, the actual impoverishment, except for the working classes, was far more apparent than real. Even the Corn Laws, which were introduced in 1815 to keep up the price of grain, though the enactment occasioned a serious revolt in London, did not permanently check the growth of wealth ; and, notwithstanding that exports fell from £51,000,000 in 1815 to £35,000,000 in 1817, the imports of cotton grew from 53,000,000 pounds in 1814< to 92,000,000 pounds in 1815, 86,000,000 pounds in 1816, and 116,000,000 pounds and 162,000,000 pounds in 1817 and 1818 respectively, while the population increased rapidly. The check. that is to say, on the growth of national wealth bore no proportion to the mischief inflicted on large portions of the population.
