In the run up to Waterloo there were food riots on the streets of London, while a ring of steel was put up around Parliament to protect MPs and peers from a mob protesting against the passage of the
Corn Law legislation.
Notably, not all members of the working class even looked to their own class's leaders, since
Corn Law agitators were among the contenders.
For example the
Corn Law in England that barred import of much lower priced corn in the interest of the rich agricultural lobby.
In From the
Corn Laws to Free Trade, Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey takes a fresh and rigorous look at the determinants of
Corn Law repeal in mid-nineteenth-century Great Britain and tries to integrate the role of broader economic interests with the role of ideas and politics to find out why the British adopted free trade.
The Anti-
Corn Law League Bazaar has raised thoughts in the national mind which will not soon die.
For example, Bigelow does not mention that when the Peel government dismantled the relief program in 1846 they also repealed the
Corn Law.
A political liberal, he advocated repeal of the
Corn Law, Catholic Emancipation, and rights for Dissenters.
This wedge is substantially greater than the
Corn Law tariffs, which over that period averaged 7s.
At the same time that Elliott was coming into prominence as the
Corn Law Rhymer, gender relationships among the working classes were undergoing decisive change.
The political articles include some early anti-Tory satire, and an attack on opponents of
Corn Law repeal.
He's taken by Rotherham's
Corn Law roundabout, an unlikely tribute to Ebenezer Elliott.
McCulloch's Statements Illustrative of the Policy and Probable Consequence of the Proposed Repeal of the Existing
Corn Law (1841).