Corn laws, a new song/The Corn Laws

 

NEW CORN LAWS—A Song.

Tune.—The Factor's Garland.

In the year eighteen hundred and fourteen, we hear
That a new corn bill on the stage did appear;
But so many petitions against it were sent,
That our great corn lawyers saw meet to repent.

⁠Meantime they a grand commitee did appoint,
To examine the matter, and all things disjoint,
For farmers and Landholders all should make rich,
If trademen of all kinds should die in a ditch.

⁠Next season this grand committee did report,
That no farmer could live without shutting each port,
When the quarter of grain was sold under four pounds,
Unless the landholders would lower their grounds.

⁠O then, said the Landholders, we must proceed
To get a bill pass'd with all possible speed,
For we are determin'd our rents to uphold,
As we must still ride in our chariots of gold.

⁠But petitions against it were sent in so fast,
That the table could not them contain at the last;
So they ⟨were⟩ oblig'd to pile them in the hall,
Yet still they proceeded in spite of them all.

⁠For statesmen and landholders all did agree,
To starve the poor tradesman, you ⟨plainly⟩ may see;
Yet without such people they never could stand,
And that they will find, when they're forc'd from this land.

⁠Ye statesmen and courtiers pray be not so fast,
On your constituents such insults to cast,
But feelingly ponder the case of the poor,
Whose fervent petitions are now at your door.

⁠For twenty long years we great hardships have borne,
By laws made for raising the price of the corn,
Of which it appears many thousands of bolls
Have in granaries been kept till unfit for our mouths.

⁠Ye judges and rulers, a word in your ear,
There are many old laws in our country, I hear,
For punishing those who provisions forestall,
Pray execute these, and relieve us from thrall.

⁠It is not many years since petitions were sent,
From all kinds of tradesmen, their wages to stent,
So that they might live by the sweat of their brow;
But these you rejected, and why not this too?

⁠But because ye're determin’d the poor to suppress,
And the wealth of the Landholder still to increase,
Such partial proceedings I ne'er knew before,
I pray you desist from what all does abhor.

⁠What tho' the Landholders did pay ten per cent,
If they on the farmers did lay double rent,
Their income was greater than when they paid none,
And all came upon the poor tradesman alone.

⁠For the farmers did treeble the price of their cheese,
Their eggs and their butter, their beans and their pease,
And so from their shoulders the burden did cast,
And all came upon the poor tradesmen at last.

⁠A certain great courtier a traitor became,
And ruined his country for the love of gain;
O plague come upon him and all that he has,
Because he deserted the poor tradesman's cause.

⁠And faulsely reported the minds of the place
Which he represented, to his sad disgrace,
But better I ne'er did expect from the man;
Now I the poor turn-coat no farther will scan,

⁠But leave the poor mortal to bear his disgrace,
In hopes that a better will soon fill his place;
But thanks to Lord Archibald, who always prov'd true,
And the good of his country kept still in his view.

⁠But I trust the Prince Regent will yet interfere,
When he sees the nation against it so clear,
And ne'er give consent to this much hated law,
And make its abettors of him stand in awe,

⁠And the constitution keep still on the base,
Which king William laid, while the world did gaze,
Admiring the structure as they past it by,
But never could reach to a summit so high.

⁠This beautiful fabric let no man pull down,
That wields Britain's sceptre, or wears Britain's crown,
For it was rear'd up by much labour and pain,
And for it our forefathers bled on the plain.

⁠Now may peace and plenty our country pervade,
And may we still flourish in all kinds of trade;
So that we in comfort our days yet may spend,
And our constitution see pure to the end.

⁠But what do I hear, we're completely deceiv'd,
And of our last hopes are entirely bereav'd,
For now the P——— R——— has sanctioned the bill,
And we his poor subjects must bear all that's ill.

⁠But let us take comfort, there's One above all,
Whose ears are still open to his people's call,
And their just petitions by him shall be heard,
For the more they ask of him, the more's their reward.

⁠He many a time has oppressors brought low,
For proof you may look into Judges, and know
How Sisera and Eglon and many beside,
By him were destroyed for oppression and pride.

⁠Now let us request him to grant us relief,
From all our oppressions, our sorrows and grief,
For this he has promis'd, and will not deny,
But give to his people who on him rely.

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