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¬" How," I asked, " after the return of peace, should there have been no markets for the far- mer's produce ? — Surely, in peace, as in war, your people must be fed ?" ¬t{{c|( The demands of government during war," he answered, " were enormous, and supplied by contracts at very high prices, to be sent beyond seas for the support of fleets and armies, and the inhabitants of countries which were the seats of war, besides the sustenance of immense numbers of prisoners at home. — On the cessation of hostilities this vast consumption not only suddenly stopped, but the tide turned against us, and great quantities of foreign corn were poured in from those very countries whose battles we had been fighting, not only with our blood but our treasure ; so that remaining comparatively unburthened, they could raise every kind of grain at one-third of the expense which falls upon the Armatian farmer. — With this foreign grain of every description our markets now became glutted, whilst our own ¬pro- ¬
