| | 1845. | 1846. | 1847. |
| +-----------+ | |
| Live animals, | 19,593 | 85,542 | 172,355 |
| Provisions, beef, pork, &c. cwts. | 109,550 | 206,455 | 403,877 |
| Butter, cwts. | 189,056 | 177,165 | 243,140 |
| Cheese, do. | 183,891 | 216,191 | 243,601 |
| Grain of all kinds, qrs. | 1,336,739 | 2,635,218 | 7,905,419 |
| Flour and Meal, cwts. | 394,908 | 2,631,341 | 7,900,880 |
These, we think, are somewhat startling figures. All this has to be
paid for by native industry, doubly taxed at present, in order to get
back that gold which Sir Robert Peel has practically declared to be
the life-blood of the community, and which cannot, under our monetary
system, be expended abroad, without depressing credit and prostrating
enterprise at home. Let us now see what kind of provision we have laid
in for future manufactures--what amount of raw material we have on
hand, which, when converted into goods, shall enable us to liquidate
this heavy balance, and provide for the future payment of a constantly
increasing supply of articles of daily consumpt. We were to be fed by
the foreigner, and to work for him, he finding us both the food and
materials. Such, we understood, were the terms of the contract, which
the free-traders wished the nations of the world to accept. It has
been acted upon in so far as regards the food for which we have paid;
not so as to the means of payment.