Chapter IX: Part 9

The average price of British wheat rose to L5: 19: 6 in 1801. So unusual a value must have led to a large extension of the area under wheat, and to much corn-growing on land that after great outlay was ill prepared for it. In the following years there were agricultural complaints; and in 1804, though in 1803 the average price of wheat had been as high as L2: 18: 10, an act was passed, so much more severe than any previous statute, that its object would appear to have been to keep the price of corn somewhere approaching the high range of 1801. A prohibitory duty of 24s. 3d. was imposed on the import of foreign wheat when the home price was 63s. or less; and the price at which the bounty was paid on export was lowered to 40s., while the price at which export might proceed without bounty was raised to 54s. Judging from the prices that ruled during the remaining period of the French wars, this statute would appear to have been effective for its end, though, under all the varied action of the times on a rise of prices, it would be difficult to assign its proper place in the general effect. The average price of wheat rose to L4: 9: 9 in 1805, and the bank paper price in 1812 was as high even as L6: 6: 6. The bullion prices from 1809 to 1813 ranged from 86s. 6d. to 100s. 3d. But it was foreseen that when the wars ended a serious reaction would ensue, and that the rents of land, and the general condition of agriculture, under the warlike, protective and monetary stimulation they had received, would be imperilled. In the brief peace of 1814 the average bullion price of British wheat fell to 55s. 8d. All the means of select committees of inquiry on agricultural distress, and new modifications of the corn laws, were again brought into requisition. The first idea broached in parliament was to raise the duties on foreign imports, as well as the prices at which they were to be leviable, and to abolish the bounty on export, while permitting freedom of export whatever the home price might be. The latter part of the scheme was passed into law in the session of 1814; but the irritation of the manufacturing districts against the new scale of import duties was too great to be resisted. In the subsequent session an act was passed, after much opposition, fixing 80s. (14s. more than during the wars) as the price at which import of wheat was to become free of duty.

This act of 1815 was intended to keep the price of wheat in the British markets at about 80s. per quarter; but the era of war and great expenditure of money raised by public loans had ended, the ports of the continent were again open to some measure of trade and to the equalizing effect of trade upon prices, the Bank of England and other banks of issue had to begin the uphill course of a resumption of specie payments, the nation had to begin to feel the whole naked weight of the war debt, and the idea of the protectors of a high price of corn was proved by the event to be an utter hallucination. The corn statutes of the next twenty years, though occupying an enormous amount of time and attention in the Houses of Parliament, may be briefly treated, for they are simply a record of the impotence of legislation to maintain the price of a commodity at a high point when all the natural economic causes in operation are opposed to it. In 1822 a statute was passed reducing the limit of prices at which importation could proceed to 70s. for wheat, 35s. for barley, 25s. for oats; but behind the apparent relaxation was a new scale of import duties, by which foreign grain was subjected to heavy three-month duties up to a price of 85s.,--17s. when wheat was 70s., 12s. when between 70s. and 80s., and 10s. when 85s., showing the grasping spirit of the would-be monopolizers of the home supply of corn, and their reluctance to believe in a lower range of value for corn as for all other commodities. This act never operated, for the reason that, with the exception in some few instances of barley, prices never were so high as its projectors had contemplated. The corn trade had passed rapidly beyond reach of the statutes by which it was to be so painfully controlled; and as there were occasional seasons of scarcity, particularly in oats, the king in council was authorized for several years to override the statutes, and do whatever the public interests might require.

In 1827 Canning introduced a new system of duties, under which there would have been a fixed duty of 1s. per quarter when the price of wheat was at or above 70s., and an increased duty of 2s. for every shilling the price fell below 69s.; but though Canning's resolutions were adopted by a large majority in the House of Commons, his death and the consequent change of ministers involved the failure of his scheme of corn duties. In the following year Charles Grant introduced another scale of import duties on corn, by which the duty was to be 23s. when the price was 64s., 16s. 8d. when the price was 69s., and only 1s. when the price was 73s. or above 73s. per quarter; and this became law the same year. This sliding scale was more objectionable, as a basis of foreign corn trade, than that of Canning, though not following so closely shilling by shilling the variation of prices, because of the abrupt leaps it made in the amount of duties leviable. For example, a merchant who ordered a shipment of foreign wheat when the home price was 70s. and rising to 73s., instead of having a duty of 1s. to pay, should on a backward drop of the home price to 69s. have 16s. 8d. of duty to pay. The result was to introduce wide and incalculable elements of speculation into all transactions in foreign corn. The prices during most part of this period were under the range at which import was practically prohibited. The average price of British wheat was 96s. 11d. in 1817, but from that point there was in succeeding years a rapid and progressive decline, varied only by the results of the domestic harvests, till in 1835 the average price of wheat was 39s. 4d., of barley 29s. 11d. and oats 22s. The import of foreign grain in these years consisted principally of a speculative trade, under a privilege of warehousing accorded in the statute of 1773, and extended in subsequent acts, by which the grain might be sold for home consumption on payment of the duties, or re-exported free, as suited the interest of the holders.

The act of 1822 admitted corn of the British possessions in North America under a favoured scale of duties, and in 1825 a temporary act was passed, allowing the import of wheat from these provinces at a fixed duty of 5s. per quarter, irrespective of the home price, which, if maintained, would have given some stability to the trade with Canada. The idea of a fixed duty on all foreign grain, however, appears to have grown in favour from about this period. It was included in the programme of import duty reforms of the Whig government in 1841, and fell with its propounders in the general election of that year. Sir Robert Peel, on succeeding to office, and commencing his remarkable career as a free-trade statesman, introduced and carried in 1842 a new sliding scale of duties somewhat better adjusted to the current values. But public opinion by this time was changing, and the prime minister, convinced, as he confessed, by the arguments of Cobden and the Anti-Corn-Law League, and stimulated into action by the failure of the potato crop in Ireland, put an effectual end to the history of the corn laws by the famous act of 1846. It was provided under this measure that the maximum duty on foreign wheat was to be immediately reduced to 10s. per quarter when the price was under 48s., to 5s. on barley when the price was under 26s., and to 4s. on oats when the price was under 18s., with lower duties as prices rose above these figures; but the conclusive part of the enactment was that in three years--on the 1st of February 1849--these duties were to cease, and all foreign corn to be admitted at a duty of 1s. per quarter, and all foreign meal and flour at a duty of 4-1/2d. per cwt.--the same nominal imposts which were conceded to grain and flour of British possessions abroad from the date of the act. In 1869 even these nominal duties were abolished by Robert Lowe in a Customs Duties Act. In 1902 a registration duty of 3d. per cwt. was imposed on imported corn, and 5d. per cwt. on imported flour, in the expectation that such a duty would broaden the basis of taxation. The duty was, however, repealed the following year. But a low duty on imported foreign corn was made an essential part of the tariff reform scheme advocated by Mr. J. Chamberlain (q.v.) from 1903 onwards.

Spain.

Portugal.

France.

Belgium.

Netherlands.

Italy.

Germany.

Austria-Hungary.

_Foreign Corn Laws._--Freedom of export of corn from customs duties has become the general rule of nearly all foreign countries. It is somewhat curious that Spain saw the advantage to her wheat-producing provinces of freedom of export of wheat as early as 1820, and three years afterwards extended this freedom to all "fruits of the soil" in Spain. The import duty on wheat, as on other grain, has varied from time to time. The tariff of 1882 fixed the duty at 2s. 3-1/4d. per cwt.; a law of February 1895 raised the duty to 4s. 3-1/4d. per cwt., at which rate it remained till 1898, when it was reduced to 2s. 5-1/4d., though in this same year, that of the war with the United States, it was for some three months suspended, owing to distress in the country. In 1899 it was raised to 3s. 3d., and by a law of March 1904 fixed at 6.00 pesetas per 100 kilos (2s. 5-1/4d. per cwt.) as long as the average price of wheat in the markets of Castile does not fall below 27.00 pesetas per 100 kilos (11s. per cwt.). The duty on rye, oats, barley and maize is 1s. 9-1/2d. per cwt. The duty on flour varied from 3s. 4-1/2d. per cwt. in 1882 to 7s. 0-1/2d. in 1895; by the law of March 1904 it was fixed at 4s. 0-3/4d. per cwt. The duty on rice is 2s. 1-3/4d. per cwt. in the husk and 4s. 3-3/4d. not in the husk. In Portugal the import duty on wheat was fixed by a law of May 1888 at 20 reis per kilo (4s. 7d. per cwt.). By a law of July 1889, as amended by laws of August 1891 and July 1899, importation is prohibited except in the event of the home-grown crop being insufficient, and even then permission is confined to millers. The duty, in the event of permission to import being accorded, is to be charged on a sliding scale intended to keep the cost of wheat to the millers, including the duty, at 60 reis (3-1/4d.) per kilo (2.2 lbs.). Maize is subject to a duty of 4s. 1-1/2d. per cwt., and rye, oats and barley to one of 3s. 8d. per cwt. By laws of July 1889 and August 1891 the importation of flour was prohibited except in the event of a strike of the mill-hands, and the duty was fixed at 6s. 2d. per cwt. Export and import of grain in France were prohibited down to the period of the repeal of the British corn laws, save when prices were below certain limits in the one case and above certain other limits in the other. But export of grain and flour from France has long been free of duty. On the other hand, import duties have varied considerably. By a law of 1881, the duty on wheat was fixed at 3d. per cwt.; this duty was raised in 1885 to 1s. 2-3/4d. per cwt. and again in 1887 to 2s. 0-1/2d. By a law of 1894 the duty was fixed at 2s. 10-1/4d. per cwt. In 1898, owing to the sudden rise in the price of corn occasioned by the war between Spain and the United States, the duty was temporarily (the 4th of May to the 30th of June) suspended. By a law of 1873 free importation of rye, barley, maize and oats was permitted, but by a law of 1885 a duty was fixed at 7-1/4d. per cwt., and this was subsequently (1887) increased to 1s. 2-3/4d. In 1881 the duty on imported flour was as low as 5-3/4d. per cwt., but this was increased successively by laws of 1885, 1887, 1891 and 1892, and in 1894 was fixed at 4s. 5-3/4d. per cwt. at the rate of extraction of 70% and over; 5s. 5-3/4d. at 70 to 60%; and 6s. 6d. at 60% and under. In Belgium both the export and import of wheat, rye, barley and maize are free of duty; so also were oats and flour. Since 1895, however, there has been a duty of 1s. 2-1/2d. on oats, and of 9-3/4d. on flour. The policy of the Netherlands was, owing to the advantages possessed by its ports, long favourable to the import and export of grain. But for some years prior to 1845 there was a moderate sliding scale of import duties, and this gave place, on the ravages of the potato disease, to a low fixed duty; since 1877, however, the importation of cereals and flour has been free. In Italy there are no duties on the export of grain. The import duties show a progressive increase. In 1878 the import duty on wheat was 6-3/4d. per cwt.; this was increased to 1s. 2-3/4d. in 1888, and in 1894 to 3s. 0-1/2d. As in Spain and France, there was a temporary reduction and suspension during 1898, on the Spanish-American war. The duty on rye, barley, oats and maize was fixed by the tariff of 1878 at 5-1/2d. per cwt. By a decree of 1894 the duty on rye was raised to 1s. 10d.; that on barley, by a decree of 1896, to 1s. 7-1/2d.; that on oats, by a decree of 1888, to 1s. 7-1/2d.; and that on maize, by a decree of 1896, to 3s. 0-1/2d. The duty on flour, fixed at 1s. 1-1/2d., by the tariff of 1878, was raised to 2s. 5-1/4d. in 1888, to 3s. 6-1/2d. in 1888, and to 5s. in 1894. In Germany, the duty on wheat and rye, as fixed by the tariff of 1879, was 6d. per cwt. In 1885 this was raised to 1s. 6-1/4d., and in 1888 to 2s. 6-1/2d. By treaty in 1892 this was decreased to 1s. 9-1/4d. On oats the duty in 1879 was 6d. per cwt., increased to 9-1/4d. in 1885, and again, in 1888, to 2s. 0-1/2d., but reduced to 1s. 5d. in 1892. On barley the duty in 1879 was 3d., in 1885 9-1/4d., in 1888 1s. 1-3/4d., and in 1892 1s. 0-1/4d. On maize, 3d. in 1879, 6d. in 1885, 1s. 0-1/4d. in 1888, and 9-3/4d. in 1892. On flour, 1s. 0-1/4d. in 1879, 3s. 9-3/4d. in 1885, 5s. 4d. in 1888, and 3s. 8-1/2d. in 1892. The new German tariff of 1906 which formed the basis for the new German commercial treaties with Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary, &c., and which was passed when the influence of the agrarian party was predominant, increased still more the import duties on cereals. Under this tariff there are two rates of duties: (1). Those of the new "general" tariff as applied to imports from all countries entitled to most favoured-nation treatment. (2). "Conventional" tariff rates, conceded to other states as the result of treaties. Under this tariff the "general" and "conventional" duties, respectively, on wheat are 3s. 9-1/2d. and 2s. 9d.; on oats and rye, 3s. 6-1/2d. and 2s. 6-1/4d.; on "common baker's produce," 8s. 3d. and 5s. 2d. In Austria-Hungary the import duty on wheat and rye is, under the tariff of 1887, 1s. 6-1/4d. per cwt.; on barley and oats, 9-1/4d.; on maize, 6d., and on flour, 3s. 9-3/4d.

United States.

Russia.

India.

Australia, New Zealand, Canada.

South Africa.

The great countries, famous for a production of raw materials much beyond their own means of consumption, are favourable, of course, to the utmost freedom of export. The empire of China itself was never unwilling to sell to foreigners tea for which there was no domestic use. The United States promotes transit and export of grain, internally and externally, with all the intelligence and resources of a civilized people. Although the import duty on "breadstuffs" imposed by the United States tariff is very high, and is, possibly, a useful protection against the importation of "baker's products," yet it is to a certain extent unnecessary for a country which must dispose of its surplus by exportation. The same remark applies to Russia, whose exportation and importation are alike free, though there is an import duty on wheat flour of 2s. 11-1/2d. per cwt. In the British colonies probably the only example of an export duty is that on rice in British India; it amounts to 3 annas per maund (4d. per cwt.). The import of grain into India is free. In Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and all mainly agricultural countries, there is no export duty. In each of these countries, however, there is an import duty; in the cases of Australia and New Zealand, designed, to a certain extent, as a precaution against possible rivalry on the part of the other. The Australian import duty is 1s. 6d. per cental (100 lb av.), and the New Zealand 9d. per cental. The Canadian import duties on grain are important only in the light of being a species of retaliation against similar duties imposed by the United States with the design of restricting inter-frontier exchange. The Canadian import duty is, on barley, 30% _ad valorem_; on buckwheat, rye and oats, 4.93d. per bushel, and on wheat, 5.92d. per bushel. The South African production of cereal is still insufficient to meet the demand for home consumption, and there is a considerable grain importation. The import duty, which undoubtedly acts as an encouragement to home agriculture, is 1s. per cental. (See also GRAIN TRADE.) (R. SO.; T. A. I.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] M'Culloch found from a comparison of the prices of corn and wages
of labour in the reign of Henry VII. and the latter part of the reign
of Elizabeth, that in the former period a labourer could earn a
quarter of wheat in 20, a quarter of rye in 12, and a quarter of
barley in 9 days; whereas, in the latter period, to earn a quarter of
wheat required 48, a quarter of rye 32, and a quarter of barley 29
days' labour.

CORN-SALAD, or LAMB'S LETTUCE, _Valerianella olitoria_ (natural order Valerianaceae), a weedy annual, native of southern Europe, but naturalized in cornfields in central Europe, and not infrequent in Britain. In France it is used in salads during winter and spring as a substitute for lettuces, but it is less esteemed in England. The plant is raised from seed sown on a bed or border of light rich earth, and should be weeded and watered, as occasion requires, till winter, when it should be protected with long litter during severe frost. The largest plants should be drawn for use in succession. Sowing may be made every two or three weeks from the beginning of August till October, and again in March, if required in the latter part of the spring. The sorts principally grown are the Round-leaved and the Italian; the last is a distinct species, _Valerianella eriocarpa_.

CORNU, MARIE ALFRED (1841-1902), French physicist, was born at Orleans on the 6th of March 1841, and after being educated at the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole des Mines, became in 1867 professor of experimental physics in the former institution, where he remained throughout his life. Although he made various excursions into other branches of physical science, undertaking, for example, with J. B. A. Bailie about 1870 a repetition of Cavendish's experiment for determining the mean density of the earth, his original work was mainly concerned with optics and spectroscopy. In particular he carried out a classical redetermination of the velocity of light by A. H. L. Fizeau's method, introducing various improvements in the apparatus, which added greatly to the accuracy of the results. This achievement won for him, in 1878, the _prix Lacaze_ and membership of the Academy of Sciences in France, and the Rumford medal of the Royal Society in England. In 1899, at the jubilee commemoration of Sir George Stokes, he was Rede lecturer at Cambridge, his subject being the undulatory theory of light and its influence on modern physics; and on that occasion the honorary degree of D.Sc. was conferred on him by the university. He died at Paris on the 11th of April 1902.

CORNU COPIAE, later CORNUCOPIA ("horn of plenty"), a horn; generally twisted, filled with fruit and flowers, or an ornament representing it. It was used as a symbol of prosperity and abundance, and hence in works of art it is placed in the hands of Plutus, Fortuna and similar divinities (for the mythological account see AMALTHEIA). The symbol probably originated in the practice of using the horns of oxen and goats as drinking-cups; hence the _rhyton_ (drinking-horn) is often confounded with the _cornu copiae_. For its representation in works of art, in which it is very common, especially in those belonging to the Roman period, see article in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire des Antiquites_.

CORNUS, an ancient town of Sardinia, of Phoenician origin, on the west coast, 18 m. from Tharros, and the same from Bosa. At the time of the Second Punic War it is spoken of as the principal city of the district, and its capture by the Romans was the last act in the suppression of the rebellion of 215 B.C., it having served as a place of refuge for the fugitives after the defeat of the combined forces of the rebels and the Carthaginians. The site of the ancient acropolis, covered with debris, may still be made out. Here were found three inscriptions in 1831, with dedications by the _ordo_, or town council, of Cornus to various patrons, from one of which it seems that it was a colony, though when it became so is unknown (Th. Mommsen, _Corp. Inscr. Lat._ X. 7915 sqq.). Unimportant remains of an aqueduct and (perhaps) of a church exist. Excavations in the necropolis of the Roman period are recorded by F. Nissardi, _Notizie degli Scavi_, 1887, p. 47. Phoenician rock-cut tombs may also be seen.

CORNUTUS, LUCIUS ANNAEUS, Stoic philosopher, flourished in the reign of Nero. He was a native of Leptis in Libya, but resided for the most part in Rome. He is best known as the teacher and friend of Persius, whose satires he revised for publication after the poet's death, but handed them over to Caesius Bassus to edit, at the special request of the latter. He was banished by Nero (in 66 or 68) for having indirectly disparaged the emperor's projected history of the Romans in heroic verse (Dio Cassius lxii. 29), after which time nothing more is heard of him. He was the author of various rhetorical works in both Greek and Latin ([Greek: Rhetorikai Technai], _De figuris sententiarum_). Another rhetorician, also named Cornutus, who flourished A.D. 200-250 (or in the second half of the 2nd century) was the author of a treatise [Greek: Techne tou politikou logou] (ed. J. Graeven, 1890). A philosophical treatise, _Theologiae Graecae compendium_ (of which the Greek title is uncertain; perhaps, [Greek: Hellenike theologia], or [Greek: Peri tes ton theon physeos], though the latter may be the title of an abridgment of the former) is still extant. It is a manual of "popular mythology as expounded in the etymological and symbolical interpretations of the Stoics" (Sandys), and although marred by many absurd etymologies, abounds in beautiful thoughts (ed. C. Lang, 1881). Simplicius and Porphyry refer to his commentary on the _Categories_ of Aristotle, whose philosophy he is said to have defended against an opponent Athenodorus in a treatise [Greek: Antigraphepros Athenodoron]. His Aristotelian studies were probably his most important work. A commentary on Virgil (frequently quoted by Servius) and _Scholia_ to Persius are also attributed to him; the latter, however, are of much later date, and are assigned by Jahn to the Carolingian period. Excerpts from his treatise _De enuntiatione vel orthographia_ are preserved in Cassiodorus. The so-called _Disticha Cornuti_ (ed. Liebl, Straubing, 1888) belong to the late middle ages.

See G. Martini, _De L. Annaeo Cornuto_ (1825); O. Jahn, _Prolegomena_
to his edition of Persius; H. von Arnim in Pauly-Wissowa's
_Realencyclopadie_, i. pt. ii. (1894); M. Schanz, _Geschichte der
romischen Litteratur_, i. 2 (1901), p. 285; W. Christ, _Geschichte der
griechischen Litteratur_ (1898), pp. 702, 755; Teuffel-Schwabe, _Hist.
of Roman Literature_ (Eng. trans.), S 299, 2.

CORNWALL, the capital of the united counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, 67 m. S.W. of Montreal, on the left bank of the St Lawrence river. Pop. (1901) 6704. It is an important station on the Grand Trunk and the Ottawa & New York railways, and is a port of call for all steamers between Montreal and Lake Ontario ports. The surplus from the Cornwall canal furnishes excellent water privileges for its factories, which include cotton and woollen mills and grist and saw mills. The town has long been celebrated for its lacrosse club. On the opposite bank of the river is St Regis, inhabited chiefly by Indians of the Iroquois tribe.

CORNWALL, the south-westernmost county of England, bounded N. and N.W. by the Atlantic Ocean, E. by Devonshire, and S. and S.W. by the English Channel. The area is 1356.6 sq. m. The most southerly extension is Lizard Point, and the most westerly point of the mainland Land's End, but the county also includes the Scilly Isles (q.v.), lying 25 m. W. by S. of Land's End. No county in England has a stronger individuality than Cornwall, whether in economic or social conditions, in history, nomenclature, tradition, or even in the physical characteristics of the land. Such individuality is hardly to be compassed within political boundaries, and in some respects it is shared by the neighbouring county of Devon, yet the traveller hardly feels its influence before passing west of the Tamar.

Physically, Cornwall is a great promontory with a direct length of 75 m. from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and an extreme breadth, at the junction with Devonshire, of 45 m. The river Tamar here forms the greater part of the boundary, and its valley divides the high moors of Devonshire and the succession of similar broad-topped hills which form the backbone of the Cornish promontory. The scenery is full of contrast. To the west of Launceston the principal mass of high land rises to 1375 ft. in Brown Willy, the highest point in the county. This district is broken and picturesque, with rough _tors_ or hills and boulders. A remarkable pile of rocks called the Cheese-wring, somewhat resembling an inverted pyramid in form, is seen on the moor north of Liskeard. This district is for the most part a region of furze and heather; but after passing Bodmin, the true Cornish moorland asserts itself, bare, desolate and impracticable, broken and dug into hillocks, which are sometimes due to early mining works, sometimes to more modern search for metals. The seventy miles from Launceston to Mount's Bay have been called not untruly "the dreariest strip of earth traversed by any English high road." There is hardly more cultivation on the higher ground west of Mount's Bay, or in the Meneage or "rocky country," the old Cornish name for the promontory which ends in the Lizard. Long combes and valleys, however, descend from this upper moorland towards the coast on both sides. These are in general well wooded, and, in the luxuriance of their vegetation, strongly characteristic. The small rivers traversing them in several cases enter fine estuaries, which ramify deeply into the land. Such are, on the south coast, the great estuary of the Tamar, and other streams, on which the port of Plymouth is situated (but only the western shore is Cornish), the Looe and Fowey rivers, Falmouth Harbour, the most important of the purely Cornish inlets and accessible for the largest vessels, and the Helford river. On the north are the estuaries of the Camel and the Hayle, debouching into Padstow Bay and St Ives Bay respectively. The Fowey and Camel valleys almost completely break the continuation of the central high ground, and the uplands west of Mount's Bay are similarly parted from the main mass by the low tract between Hayle and Marazion. Except at the mouth of a stream or estuary the coast is almost wholly rock-bound, and the cliff scenery is unsurpassed in England. Three different types are found. On the north coast, from Tintagel Head and Boscastle northward to Hartland Point in Devonshire, the dark slate cliffs, with their narrow and distorted strata, are remarkably rugged of outline, owing to the ease with which the waves fret the loosely-bound rock. On the south, in the beautiful little bays in the neighbourhood of the Lizard Point, the serpentine rock is noted for its exquisite colouring. Between Treryn and Land's End, at the south-west, a majestic barrier of granite is presented to the sea. The beautiful Scilly Isles continue the line of the granite, and the intervening sea is said to have submerged a tract of land named Lyonesse, containing, according to tradition, 140 parish churches, and intimately connected with the Arthurian romances.

_Geology._--One of the most striking features of Cornwall is the
presence of the four great masses of granite which rise up and form as
many elevated areas out of a lower-lying region occupied by rocks
almost entirely slaty in character, generally known as "Killas." The
granite is not the oldest of the Cornish rocks; these are found in the
Lizard peninsula and are represented by serpentine, gabbro and
metamorphic schists. With the exception of a small tract about Veryan
and Gorran, of Ordovician age, all the sedimentary rocks, as far as a
line joining Boscastle and South Petherwin, were formerly classed as
Devonian; to the north of the line are the Culm measures--slates,
grits and limestones--of Carboniferous age. The extensive spread of
Killas is not, however, entirely Devonian, as it is shown on most
maps. In the northern portion, Lower, Middle and Upper Devonian can be
distinguished; the lower beds at Polperro, Looe and Watergate, the
higher beds along the line indicated above. Farther south it has been
shown that an older set of Palaeozoic rocks constitutes at least a
part of the Killas; the Veryan series, with Caradoc fossils, is
succeeded in descending order by the Portscatho series, the Falmouth
series and the Mylor series; the lowest Devonian beds represented here
by the Menaccan series, rest unconformably upon these Ordovician beds.
Upper Silurian fossils have been found near Veryan. All these rocks
have been subjected to severe thrusting from the south, consequently
they are much contorted and folded. After this thrusting and folding
had taken place, intrusions of diabase, &c., penetrated the
sedimentary Strata in numerous places, but it was not until
post-Carboniferous times that the granite masses were intruded. The
principal granite masses are those of St Just and Land's End, Penryn,
St Austell and Bodmin Moor. To the granite Cornwall owes much of its
prosperity; it has altered the Killas for some distance around each
mass, and the veins of tin and copper ore, though richest in the
Killas, are evidently genetically related to the granite. The
principal metalliferous districts, Camborne, Redruth, St Just, &c.,
all lie near the granite margins. The china clay and china stone
industry is dependent on the fact that the granite was itself altered
in patches during the later phases of eruptive activity by the agency
of boric and fluoric vapours which kaolinized the felspar of the
granite. Later eruptions produced dykes of quartz-porphyry and other
varieties, all locally called "elvans," which penetrate both the
granite and the Killas. Small patches of Pliocene strata are found at
St Erth and St Agnes Beacon. Blown sand is an important feature at St
Pirran, Lelant, Gwythian and elsewhere, and raised beaches are
frequent round the coast. A characteristic Cornish deposit is the
"Head," an old consolidated scree or talus. Many rare minerals have
been obtained from the mines and much tin ore has been taken from the
river gravels. The river gravel at Carnon has yielded native gold.

_Climate._--The climate of Cornwall is peculiar. Snow seldom lies for more than a few days, and the winters are less severe than in any other part of England, the average temperature for January being 34 deg. F. at Bude and 43.7 deg. at Falmouth. The sea-winds, except in a few sheltered places, prevent timber trees from attaining to any great size, but the air is mild, and the lower vegetation, especially in the Penzance district, is almost southern in its luxuriance. Geraniums, fuchsias, myrtles, hydrangeas and camellias grow to a considerable size, and flourish through the winter at Penzance and round Falmouth; and in the Scilly Isles a great variety of exotics may be seen flourishing in the open air. Stone fruit, and even apples and pears, do not attain the same full flavour as in the neighbouring county, owing to the want of dry heat. The pinaster, the _Pinus_ _austriaca_, _Pinus insignis_ and other firs succeed well in the western part of the county. All native plants display a perfection of beauty hardly to be seen elsewhere, and the furze, including the double-blossomed variety, and the heaths, among which _Erica vagans_ and _ciliaris_ are characteristic, cover the moorland and the cliff summits with a blaze of the richest colour. On the whole the climate is healthy, though the prevalent westerly and south-westerly winds, bringing with them great bodies of cloud from the Atlantic, render it damp; the mean annual rainfall, though only 32.85 in. at Bude, reaches 44.41 at Falmouth, and 50.57 at Bodmin.

_Agriculture._--About seven-tenths of the total area is under cultivation, but oats form the only important grain-crop. Turnips, swedes and mangolds make up the bulk of the green crops. The number of cattle (chiefly of the Devonshire breed) is large, and many sheep are kept; nearly 60,000 acres of hill pasture being recorded. As regards agricultural produce, however, Cornwall is chiefly famous for the market-gardening carried on in the neighbourhood of Penzance, where the climate is specially suitable for the growth of early potatoes, broccoli and asparagus. These are despatched in large quantities to the London market; the Scilly Isles sharing in the industry. Fruit and flowers are also grown for the market. In the valleys the soil is frequently rich and deep; there are good arable and pasture farms, and the natural oak-wood of these coombes has been preserved and increased by plantation.

_Mining._--The wealth of Cornwall, however, lies not so much in the soil, as underground and in the surrounding seas. Hence the favourite Cornish toast, "fish, tin and copper." The tin of Cornwall has been known and worked from a period anterior to certain history. There is no direct proof that the Phoenician traders came to Cornwall for tin; though it has been sought to identify the Cassiterides (q.v.) or Tin Islands with the county or the Scilly Isles. By ancient charters the "tinners" were exempt from all jurisdiction (save in cases affecting land, life and limb) other than that of the Stannary Courts, and peculiar laws were enacted in the Stannary parliaments (see STANNARIES). For many centuries a tax on the tin, after smelting, was paid to the earls and dukes of Cornwall. The smelted blocks were carried to certain towns to be coined, that is, stamped with the duchy seal before they could be sold. By an act of 1838 the dues payable on the coinage of tin were abolished, and a compensation was awarded to the duchy instead of them. The Cornish miners are an intelligent and independent body, and the assistance of a Cornishman has been found necessary to the successful development of mining in many parts of the world, while many miners have emigrated from Cornwall to more remunerative fields abroad. The industry has suffered from periods of depression, as before the accession of Queen Elizabeth, who introduced miners from Germany to resuscitate it; and in modern times the shallow workings, from which tin could be easily "streamed," have become practically exhausted. The deeper workings to which the miners must needs have recourse naturally render production more costly, and the competition of foreign mines has been detrimental. The result is that the industry is comparatively less prosperous than formerly, and employs far fewer of the inhabitants. However, in the district of Camborne, Carn Brea, Illogan and Redruth, and near St Just in the extreme west, the mines are still active, while there are others of less importance elsewhere, as near Callington in the south-east. And when, as in 1906, circumstances affecting the production of foreign mines cause a rise in the price of tin, the Cornish mines enjoy a period of greater prosperity; the result being the recent reopening of many of the mines which had been closed for twenty years. The largest tin-mine is that of Dolcoath near Camborne. Copper is extracted at St Just and at Carn Brea; but the output has decreased much further than that of tin. As it lies deeper in the earth, and consequently could not be "streamed" for, it was almost unnoticed in the county until the end of the 15th century, and little attention was paid to it until the last years of the 17th. No mine seems to have been worked exclusively for copper before the year 1770; and up to that time the casual produce had been bought by Bristol merchants, to their great gain, at rates from L2:10s. to L4 per ton. In 1718 John Coster gave a great impulse to the trade by draining some of the deeper mines, and instructing the men in an improved method of dressing the ore. The trade thereafter progressively increased, and in 1851 the mines of Devon and Cornwall together were estimated to furnish one-third of the copper raised throughout Europe, including the British Isles. Antimony ores and manganese are found, and some lead occurs, being worked without great result. Iron in lodes, as brown haematite, has been worked near Lostwithiel and elsewhere. In the St Austell district the place of tin and copper mining has been taken by that of the raising and preparation of china clay. Granite is largely quarried in various districts, as at Luxulian (between St Austell and Lostwithiel), and in the neighbourhood of Penryn. This is the material of London and Waterloo Bridges, the Chatham docks, and many other great works. It is for the most part coarse-grained, though differing greatly in different places in this respect. Fine slate is quarried and largely exported, as from the Delabole quarries near Tintagel. These slates were in great repute in the 16th century and earlier. Serpentine is quarried in the Lizard district, and is worked there into small ornamental objects for sale to visitors; it is in favour as a decorative stone. Pitchblende also occurs, and is mined for the extraction of radium.

_Fisheries._--The fisheries of Cornwall and Devon are the most important on the south-west coasts. The pilchard is in great measure confined to Cornwall, living habitually in deep water not far west of the Scilly Isles, and visiting the coast in great shoals,--one of which is described as having extended from Mevagissey to the Land's End, a distance, including the windings of the coast, of nearly 100 m. In summer and autumn pilchards are caught by drift nets; later in the year they are taken off the northern coast by seine nets. Forty thousand hogsheads, or 120 million fish, have been taken in the course of a single season, requiring 20,000 tons of salt to cure them. Twelve millions have been taken in a single day; and the sight of this great army of fish passing the Land's End, and pursued by hordes of dog-fish, hake, and cod, besides vast flocks of sea-birds, is most striking. The principal fishing stations are on Mount's Bay and at St Ives, but boats are employed all along the coast. When brought to shore the pilchards are carried to the cellars to be cured. They are then packed in hogsheads, each containing about 2400 fish. These casks are largely exported to Naples and other Italian ports--whence the fisherman's toast, "Long life to the pope, and death to thousands." Besides pilchards, mackerel and herring are taken in great numbers, and conger eels of great size; mullet and John Dory may be mentioned. There is also a trade in "sardines," young pilchards taking the place of the real Mediterranean fish.

_Communications._--The principal ports are Falmouth and Penzance, but that of Hayle is of some importance, and there are large engineering works here. It lies on the estuary of the Hayle river, which opens into St Ives Bay, the township of Phillack adjoining on the north-east. A brisk coasting trade is maintained at many small ports along the coast. Communications are provided chiefly by the Great Western railway, the main line of which passes through the county and terminates at Penzance. Fowey, Penryn and Falmouth, and Helston on the south, and Bodmin and Wadebridge, Newquay and St Ives, are served by branch lines. A light railway runs from Liskeard to Looe. The north-eastern parts of the county (Launceston, Bude, Wadebridge) are served by the London & South-Western railway. Coaches are run in several districts during the summer, and in some parts, as in the neighbourhood of Penzance, and between Helston and the Lizard, the Great Western company provides a motor-car service to places beyond the reach of the railway. Many of the small seaside towns have become favourite holiday resorts, such as Bude, Newquay and St Ives, and the south-coast ports.

_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is 868,220 acres, with a population in 1891 of 322,571, and in 1901 of 322,334. In 1861 the population was 369,390, and had shown an increase up to that census. The area of the administrative county is 886,384 acres. The county contains 9 hundreds. The municipal boroughs are Bodmin (pop. 5353), the county town; Falmouth (11,789), Helston (3088), Launceston (4053), Liskeard (4010), Lostwithiel (1331), Penryn (3190), Penzance (13,136), St Ives (6699), Saltash (3357), Truro (11,562), an episcopal city. The other urban districts are Callington (1714), Camborne (14,726), Hayle (1084), Looe (2548), Ludgvan (2274), Madron (3486), Newquay (3115), Padstow (1566), Paul (6332), Phillack (3881), Redruth (10,451), St Austell (3340), St Just (5646), Stratton and Bude (2308), Torpoint (4200), Wadebridge (2186). Small market and other towns, beyond those in the above lists, are numerous. Such are Calstock in the east, St Germans in the south-east near Saltash, St Blazey near St Austell, Camelford, St Columb Major, and Perranzabuloe in the north, with the mining towns of Gwennap and Illogan in the Redruth district and Wendron near Helston, all inland towns; while on the south coast may be mentioned Fowey and Mevagissey, on either side of St Austell Bay, and Marazion on Mount's Bay, close by St Michael's Mount. Cornwall is in the western circuit, and assizes are held at Bodmin. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into 17 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Bodmin, Falmouth, Helston, Launceston, Liskeard, Penryn, Penzance, St Ives and Truro have separate commissions of the peace, and Penzance has a separate court of quarter sessions. The Scilly Isles are administered by a separate council, and form one of the petty sessional divisions. There are 239 civil parishes, of which 5 are in the Scilly Isles. Cornwall is in the diocese of Truro, and there are 227 ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part within the county. The parliamentary divisions are the North-Eastern or Launceston, South-Eastern or Bodmin, Mid or St Austell, Truro, North-Western or Camborne, and Western or St Ives, each returning one member; while the parliamentary borough of Penryn and Falmouth returns one member.

_Language._--The old Cornish language survives in a few words still in use in the fishing and mining communities, as well as in the names of persons and places, but the last persons who spoke it died towards the end of the 18th century. It belonged to the Cymric division of Celtic, in which Welsh and Armorican are also included. The most important relics of the language known to exist are three dramas or miracle plays, edited and translated by Edwin Norris, Oxford, 1859. A sketch of Cornish grammar is added, and a Cornish vocabulary from a MS. of the 13th century (Cotton MSS. Vespasian A. 14, p. 7a). (See CELT: Language and Literature.) It may be mentioned that the great numbers of saints whose names survive in the topography of the county are largely accounted for by the fact that here, as in Wales, it was the practice to canonize the founder of a church. The natives have many traits in common with the Welsh, such as their love of oratory and their strong tribal attachment to the county.

_History._--Cornwall was the last portion of British territory in the south to submit to the Saxon invader. Viewed from its eastern boundary it doubtless appeared less attractive than the rich, well-wooded lands of Wessex, while it unquestionably afforded greater obstacles in the way of conquest. In 815 Ecgbert directed his efforts towards the subjugation of the West-Welsh of Cornwall, and after eight years' fighting compelled the whole of Dyvnaint to acknowledge his supremacy. Assisted by the Danes the Cornish revolted but were again defeated, probably in 836, at the battle of Hengestesdun, Hingston Down in Stoke-Climsland. Ninety years later Aethelstan banished the West-Welsh from Exeter and made the Tamar the boundary of their territory. The thoroughness of the Saxon conquest is evident from the fact that in the days of the Confessor nearly the whole of the land in Cornwall was held by men bearing English names. As the result of the Norman conquest less than one-twelfth of the land (exclusive of that held by the Church) remained in English hands. Six-sevenths of the manors were assigned to Robert, count of Mortain, and became the foundation of the territorial possessions and revenues of the earldom which was held until 1337, usually by special grant, by the sons or near relatives of the kings of England. On the death of John of Eltham the last earl, in 1337, Edward the Black Prince was created duke of Cornwall. By the terms of the statute under which the dukedom was created the succession was restricted to the eldest son of the king, but in 1613, on the death of Prince Henry, an extended interpretation, given by the king's advisers, enabled his brother Charles (afterwards Charles I.) to succeed as son of the king and next heir to the realm of England.

Traces of jurisdictional differentiation anterior to Domesday survive in the names of at least five of the hundreds, although these names do not appear in the Survey itself. The hundreds into which the county was divided at the time of the _Inquisitio Geldi_ were as follows:--Straton, which embraced the present hundreds of Stratton, Lesnewth and Trigg; Fawiton, approximately conterminous with West; Panton, now included in Pydasr, Tibeste, Wineton, Conarditon and Rileston, very nearly identical with Powder, Kerrier, Penwith and East. The shire court was held at Launceston except from about 1260 to 1386, when it was held at Lostwithiel. In 1716 the summer assize was transferred to Bodmin. Since 1836 both assizes have been held at Bodmin. The jurisdiction of the hundred courts became early attached to various manors, and their bailiwicks and bedellaries descended with the real estate of their owners. There is much obscurity concerning the early ecclesiastical organization. It is certain, however, that Cornwall had its own bishops from the middle of the 9th century until the year 1018, when the see was removed to Crediton. During the interval the see had been placed sometimes at Bodmin and sometimes at St Germans. In 1049 the see of the united dioceses of Devon and Cornwall was fixed at Exeter. Cornwall was formed into an archdeaconry soon after, and, as such, continued until 1876, when it was reconstituted a diocese with its see at Truro. The parishes of St Giles-on-the-Heath, North Petherwin and Wellington, wholly in Devon, and Boyton, partly in Devon and partly in Cornwall, which were portions of the ancient archdeaconry, and also the parishes of Broadwoodwidger and Virginstowe, both in Devon, which had been added to it in 1875, thus came to be included in the Truro diocese. The present archdeaconries of Bodmin embracing the eastern, and of Cornwall embracing the western portion of the newly constituted diocese were formed, by order in council, in 1878. Aethelstan's enactment had doubtless roughly determined the civil boundary of the Celtic-speaking county. In 1386 disputes having arisen, a commission was appointed to determine the Cornish border between North Tamerton and Hornacot.

For the first four centuries after the Norman conquest the part played by Cornwall in England's political history was comparatively unimportant. In her final attempt in 1471 to restore the fortunes of the house of Lancaster, Queen Margaret received the active support of the Cornish, who, under Sir Hugh Courtenay and Sir John Arundell, accompanied her to the fatal field of Tewkesbury, and in 1473 John de Vere, earl of Oxford, held St Michael's Mount in her behalf until the following February, when he surrendered to John Fortescue. A rising of considerable magnitude in 1497 at the instigation of Thomas Flamank, occasioned by the levy of a tax for the Scottish war, was only repelled after the arrival of the insurgents at Blackheath in Kent. Perkin Warbeck, who landed at Whitsand Bay in the parish of Sennen, obtained general support in the same year. The imposition of the Book of Common Prayer and the abrogation of various religious ceremonies led to a rebellion in 1549 under Sir Humphry Arundell of Lanherne, the rebels, who knew little English, demanding the restoration of the Latin service, but a fatal delay under the walls of Exeter led to their early defeat and the execution of their leaders. During the Civil War of the 17th century Cornwall won much glory in the royal cause. In 1643 Sir Ralph Hopton, who commanded the king's Cornish troops, defeated General Ruthen on Bradoc Down, while General Chudleigh, another parliamentary general, was repulsed near Launceston, and the earl of Stamford at Stratton. The whole county was thereby secured to the king. Led by Sir Beville Grenville of Stow the Cornish troops now marched into Somersetshire, where in the indecisive battle of Lansdowne they greatly distinguished themselves, but lost their brave leader. In July 1644 the earl of Essex marched into Cornwall and was followed soon afterwards by the king's troops in pursuit. Numerous engagements were fought, in which the latter were uniformly successful. The troops of Essex were surrounded and their leader escaped in a boat from Fowey to Plymouth. In 1646, owing to dissensions amongst the king's officers, and in particular to the refusal of Sir Richard Grenville to serve under Lord Hopton, and to the defection of Colonel Edgcumbe, the royal cause declined and became desperate. On the 16th of August 1646 articles of capitulation were signed by the defenders of Pendennis Castle.

Two members for the county were summoned by Edward I. to the parliament of 1295, and two continued to be the number of county members until 1832. Six boroughs--Launceston, Liskeard, Lostwithiel, Bodmin, Truro and Helston--were granted the like privilege by the same sovereign. To strengthen and augment the power of the crown as against the House of Commons, between 1547 and 1584, fifteen additional towns and villages received the franchise, with the result that, between the latter date and 1821, Cornwall sent no less than forty-four members to parliament. In 1821 Grampound lost both its members, and by the Reform Act in 1832 fourteen other Cornish boroughs shared the same fate. Cornwall was, in fact, notorious for the number of its rotten boroughs. In the vicinity of Liskeard "within an area, which since 1885 ... is represented by only one member, there were until 1832 nine parliamentary boroughs returning eighteen members. In this area, on the eve of the Reform Act, there was a population of only 14,224" (Porrit, _Unreformed House of Commons_, vol. i. p. 92). Bossiney, a village near Camelford, Camelford itself, Lostwithiel, East Looe, West Looe, Fowey and several others were disfranchised in 1832, but even until the act of 1885 Bodmin, Helston, Launceston, Liskeard and St Ives were separately represented, whereas Penzance was not. Until this act was passed Truro, and Penryn with Falmouth, returned two members each.