THE MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY CRISIS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

This article discusses the mid-nineteenth-century crisis in France and England. The principal distinguishing characteristic of the old-style crisis in France was that it originated in the agricultural sector. In 1845, the arrival in France of the potato blight reduced the yield to a level that had not been seen since 1832. Whereas the France as a whole was far less dependent on this staple than Ireland, the shortfall caused real distress in the northern provinces. Coupled with high prices of wheat, France reeled in the face of this agricultural crisis. Among its immediate consequences were food riots, an increase in begging, and an acceleration in the existing pattern of urban in-migration among the poor. Comparably, the origins of the economic crisis in England also originated in the agricultural sector. In England, commercial crisis followed agricultural crisis mush as it did in France. Wheat's prices nearly doubled in the year following June 1846; fluctuations in prices and supply led to a financial crisis. Grain purchases abroad, primarily in the U.S., threatened to deplete the gold reserves of the Bank of England. The combined effects of agricultural and financial crises were naturally felt in the industrial sector.