"I maintain that the existing corn laws are bad, because they have given a monopoly of food to the landed interest over every other class and over every other interest in the kingdom"
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Hume’s line lands like a scalpel because it refuses to treat the Corn Laws as mere policy tinkering. He frames them as a moral and constitutional distortion: the state has effectively handed “a monopoly of food” to the landed class. Food isn’t just another commodity; it’s leverage. By choosing that word, Hume signals coercion, not commerce, and recasts tariff protection as a quiet form of class rule.
The context is early-19th-century Britain, when the Corn Laws kept grain prices high to protect agricultural rents, even as industrial cities swelled and wage labor became the engine of national power. Hume, a radical reformer in Parliament, is speaking into a widening legitimacy crisis: who governs Britain - property or people? His sentence answers with an accusation. The “landed interest” isn’t simply self-interested; it has been allowed to dominate “every other class,” collapsing the idea of a balanced, representative political order.
The subtext is strategic and modern: he ties economic pain to political structure. High bread prices aren’t an unfortunate side effect; they’re the predictable outcome of a system where landowners write the rules and everyone else pays at the bakery. Even the phrase “in the kingdom” matters. It implies this is national sabotage, not sectoral debate - a policy that treats the public’s basic needs as collateral for preserving aristocratic privilege. In a country proud of its liberties, Hume makes protectionism sound like a soft tyranny.
The context is early-19th-century Britain, when the Corn Laws kept grain prices high to protect agricultural rents, even as industrial cities swelled and wage labor became the engine of national power. Hume, a radical reformer in Parliament, is speaking into a widening legitimacy crisis: who governs Britain - property or people? His sentence answers with an accusation. The “landed interest” isn’t simply self-interested; it has been allowed to dominate “every other class,” collapsing the idea of a balanced, representative political order.
The subtext is strategic and modern: he ties economic pain to political structure. High bread prices aren’t an unfortunate side effect; they’re the predictable outcome of a system where landowners write the rules and everyone else pays at the bakery. Even the phrase “in the kingdom” matters. It implies this is national sabotage, not sectoral debate - a policy that treats the public’s basic needs as collateral for preserving aristocratic privilege. In a country proud of its liberties, Hume makes protectionism sound like a soft tyranny.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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