long as they arrange words and propositions, the produce of their imagination, but capable of leading them into mischievous conclusions, by reason of the fact that they do not apply to present experience, they succeed in holding their own. But the positions which they now hold belong to a bygone age; the conditions which supported the proposition that you may destroy one industry in order that another may benefit, no longer obtain. It is idle to assert that when the English manufacturer has been turned out of one market, he must employ his labour and capital in more productive industries. It is ridiculous to inquire of the free-traders where those more productive industries are placed. We have elsewhere1 displayed the working of the free-trade principle by the means of considering what tendencies are in operation to counteract its influence, and by the facts or signs which justify the existence of those tendencies. But in all large and complicated operations, such as are those of free trade, you cannot expect to find regularity and uniformity in all directions in which it works, nor even in one direction during a given period of time. All those effects, therefore, which are "exceptional," the free-traders will magnify into the rank of being first-rate consequences; when, if the question were properly and rationally treated, they would not be rated at all. But against these exceptional results it is our duty to warn the reader, lest he be snared into the belief that one consequence of our partial free trade-and that a minor one,2 and purposely exaggerated

1 Free Trade: An Inquiry into the Nature of its Operation. Blackwood & Sons. Edinburgh: 1887.

2 To give an instance: excessive railway rates—but they were not

-represents, and is the mirror of all the consequences of the principle. To arrive at a true conclusion, it is essential that we consider all the consequences, in the order of their importance, and not to cut one out because it is apparently fascinating. It is then we shall reach, and only then, the main action of the principle of free trade.

Now, as the theoretical action of the principle of free trade has not been discussed, but assumed, by the freetraders,—who are so much attracted by theoretical or hypothetical pursuits, and who, curiously enough, derived all the groundwork of their "ideal" doctrines from an examination of the course of our trade under protection,-it becomes necessary to put forward an explanation of it. It is upon this explanation, we are convinced, that the case against the free-trade system will be decided. The free-traders unanimously ascribe a direct action to the principle. Sir T. H. Farrer, it is true, has written in the interest of free trade.1 He seems to have been unfortunate in hitting upon all its exceptionally favourable results and putting them prominently before the public. He should have been warned by their exceptional nature. But he does not balance these exceptionally favourable and small results with the normally unfavourable and larger results of his principle. And as he nowhere refers either to the direct or indirect operation of free trade, we infer, perhaps wrongly, that he subscribes to the unanimous conclusion concerning its operation.

excessive in 1860, when the manufacturers, out of their enormous profits, could afford to pay them—are charged with being the cause of depression.

1 Free Trade v. Fair Trade. Cassell & Co. Chaps. i. and iii.

It is to this effect: that free trade caused its proper proportion of prosperity directly. And it is this explanation that we unreservedly impugn. We meet this with its opposite. We assert that free trade induced what little prosperity it did induce1 indirectly. That while it acted indirectly, we enjoyed an addition to the prosperity we should certainly have enjoyed without it. And that we are now, and have been for some time, suffering from its direct consequences.2

Let us consider this matter rationally and as comprehensively as we can.

The free - traders will not deny that all principles must act through the effects which they bring about. Take a grievance. Many men, and some sections of the community, suppose they have grievances. The labouring men out of employment at the present day suppose they have a grievance. The grievance may or may not be based upon a just and right foundation. But so long as the grievance remains pent up, so long will it remain inactive. But if founded on a just basis, it will sooner or later become a principle in action. It will become related to all the other sections of the community; and all kinds and degrees of effects will be induced thereby. Some of the consequences thus brought about are oftentimes fraught with danger to the whole community. And thus it becomes essential, and is the effect of far-seeing statesmanship, to

1 The moral influence of free trade led to increased circulation. It was the aim of the British manufacturers to become supreme. But this increased circulation was arrested by foreign duties.

2 The indirect consequences were favourable, the direct consequences are disastrous; the indirect were temporary, the direct are permanent.

arrest the growth of a morbid enthusiasm, lest it assume too formidable dimensions.1 But such a happy consummation is only possible when the true sequence of phenomena ending in the popular expression of a grievance is well understood by those whose business it is to inquire into them. There are many influences which oppose the redressing of such grievances. Sometimes such an influence resides in the interests of a party. We doubt not but what the proposed reversal of our partial free-trade system will be bitterly opposed by the national Liberal party. But it will be for the electorate to decide what course of trade will best promote the interests of the country. Again, take any medicinal drug or poison. So long as it remains upon the shelf of the druggist, it produces no effects. But bring it into relation with the various tissues of the body organism, and what results? All kinds of local and other effects. All the effects, then, that we can think of, are brought about by certain principles acting upon those surrounding conditions which are favourable to the development of their beneficial or evil consequences. Free trade is no exception to this general rule of principles. But where the great difficulty presents in the elucidation of economic phenomena is in the multiple effects which a single principle induces. This is because the surrounding conditions of the operating principle vary in this branch of industry, as

1 It might be adduced that free trade was promulgated to counteract Chartism. Cobden's dictum that "free trade was to save us from tyranny at one end and anarchy at the other," may be brought forward as a support to this view. Still, this view does not preclude another one-viz., that out of the disaster of the times a section of the community grasped the opportunity to promote a selfish end.

It is to this effect: that free trade caused its proper proportion of prosperity directly. And it is this explanation that we unreservedly impugn. We meet this with its opposite. We assert that free trade induced what little prosperity it did induce1 indirectly. That while it acted indirectly, we enjoyed an addition to the prosperity we should certainly have enjoyed without it. And that we are now, and have been for some time, suffering from its direct consequences.2

Let us consider this matter rationally and as comprehensively as we can.

The free-traders will not deny that all principles must act through the effects which they bring about. Take a grievance. Many men, and some sections of the community, suppose they have grievances. The labouring men out of employment at the present day suppose they have a grievance. The grievance may or may not be based upon a just and right foundation. But so long as the grievance remains pent up, so long will it remain inactive. But if founded on a just basis, it will sooner or later become a principle in action. It will become related to all the other sections of the community; and all kinds and degrees of effects will be induced thereby. Some of the consequences thus brought about are oftentimes fraught with danger to the whole community. And thus it becomes essential, and is the effect of far-seeing statesmanship, to

1 The moral influence of free trade led to increased circulation. It was the aim of the British manufacturers to become supreme. But this increased circulation was arrested by foreign duties.

2 The indirect consequences were favourable, the direct consequences are disastrous; the indirect were temporary, the direct are permanent.