in the south of Europe, was greater than had been apprehended, and, consequently, prices rose throughout the Continent, the average reaching 75s. per quarter in England.[1] Suddenly, large quantities of shipping were again required to execute orders received from France and Belgium for purchases made at advanced prices. The alarm lest the scarcity should still further increase became general; and, in consequence of this, together with apprehensions for the home crops, the average price of wheat rose in May (29th), 1847, to 102s. 5d.[2] Such prices naturally led to great speculation; while the efforts made to bring corn from the most distant regions gave an enormous impulse to the carrying trade, both in Europe and elsewhere.[3]
and distress of 1847. But a frightful reaction soon followed. Corn was poured into the ports of Great Britain from all parts of the world with astonishing rapidity. The docks of Liverpool exhibited a quantity of flour that, perhaps, had never been, at any previous period or in any country, imported by merchant vessels to one market. Prices fell to 56s. per quarter for wheat, and heavy commercial disasters ensued. Money advanced in value; in August and December the pres-*
- ↑ See Tooke's 'History of Prices,' vol. v. p. 95.
- ↑ Mr. Tooke says in a note that the highest price in Mark Lane had been reached on the 17th May, when 115s. per quarter was paid for wheat; a very fine parcel was sold in the Uxbridge Market, at 125s.
- ↑ The total quantity of grain imported of all kinds into this country was 3,790,957 quarters in 1846; but the total imports in 1847 reached 9,436,677 quarters, while the imports of meal and flour in these two years amounted to 3,347,565, and 8,633,991 cwts. respectively. That year my firm alone (W. S. Lindsay and Co.) chartered, in their capacity as shipbrokers, vessels to bring from the Black Sea, Egypt, America, and elsewhere, no less than 1,250,000 quarters of grain of different sorts.
