The food-supply was often inadequate, and in 1801 the price of wheat in the London market ranged from L6 to L8 the quarter; the quartern loaf selling at times for as much as 1s.

10-1/2d.[172] The state of the sister island was even worse.

The discontent of Ireland had been crushed by the severe repression which followed the rising of 1798; and the bonds connecting the two countries were forcibly tightened by the Act of Union of 1800.

But rest and reform were urgently needed if this political welding was to acquire solid strength, and rest and reform were alike denied.

The position of the Ministry at Westminster was also precarious.