No one, I think, can deny that the depression of the agricultural interest is excessive. Though I can recall periods of suffering, none of them have … - Benjamin Disraeli
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No one, I think, can deny that the depression of the agricultural interest is excessive. Though I can recall periods of suffering, none of them have ever equalled the present in its instances... [N]or is it open to doubt that foreign competition has exercised a most injurious influence on the agricultural interests of the country. The country, however, was perfectly warned that if we made a great revolution in our industrial system, that was one of the consequences that would accrue. I may mention that the great result of the returns we possess is this, that the immense importations of foreign agricultural produce have been vastly in excess of what the increased demands of our population actually require, and that is why the low prices are maintained... That is to a great degree the cause of this depression.
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British politician, novelist, and essayist, serving twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The anniversary of his death on 19 April is known as Primrose Day.
Biography information from
Wikiquote·
Portrait adapted from
Wikimedia Commons, Cornelius Jabez Hughes (Public domain / CC0)
Also Known As
Birth Name:
Benjamin D'Israeli
Alternative Names:
1st Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli
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Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield Disraeli
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Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
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Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield, Viscount Hughenden of Hughenden Disraeli
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Dizzy
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Lord Beaconsfield
Sir, very few people reach posterity. Who amongst us may arrive at that destination I presume not to vaticinate. Posterity is a most limited assembly. Those gentlemen who reach posterity are not much more numerous than the planets.
That dense population in extreme distress inhabited an island where there was an established church which was not their church; and a territorial aristocracy, the richest of whom lived in distant capitals. Thus they had a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church, and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. That was the Irish question.
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You have despoiled Churches. You have threatened every corporation and endowment in the country. You have examined into everybody's affairs. You have criticized every profession and vexed every trade. No one is certain of his property, and nobody knows what duties he may have to perform tomorrow. This is the policy of confiscation as compared with that of concurrent endowment.