The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-09-18 00:00:00

MR. BRIGRT ON FREE TRADE AND
TORY PAMPHLETEERS.
The foll.wing letter has been sent to the Manchater
Examiner for publication :

ROCHDALE, Sept. 8, 1561
Dear Sir.—l thank you for the newspaper. 'there are
knaves in the world, and there are simpleton% arid the one
class preys on the tr.her. The Tory party Is always dew, nto
these tricks; they cannot otherwise spinal to the niultitude.
If they complain that too really customs' duties have been re-
pealed, th. y ciii perh3ps kindly lea the .vorking men what
duties they will put on again. It it the duty on corn. or
cattle, or do they wish a duty on imported cotton ? If a
foreigner will not Any cheaply !torn us, will it mend the mat-
ter if we refir-e to buy eleaply from him or from a me other
forMgm r? If wages have ri en Irom 20 to 50 per cent. since
1840, it this coasistent with a wrong polcy as to our forelgo
trade? 'the pamphlet to which you tetee rears the marks of
having been written iii Be Ilam, it is a mere confusion of
flgute,, and is wholly without logic or sense. The greet her.
vest will tend to restore health to the general trade of the
c..untry, and when we have a sufficient supply of cotton Lan-
cashire wri recess r from its present distressed condition. It
is more cotton we wart, and not sore Vries 011 imports I
suspect the people it L'llte ,shire until not fall to understand
this. Jan!, respectfolly yours, Joust BRIGHT.
Sir. Leonard Kaberry, jaw, 46. Fenton-street, ROUliklale.

Tine num has the following leader on the above
letter
The Cobden ChM may soon find better employment for
themselves than dieting together at Greenwieh. If the signs
of the times are tint delusive, the battle of Free Trade niay
have to he fought over again. Associations for the restore
thin of Protection are actually at work natal-him( their
pamphlets and enrolling their converts, like the Anti-Cons
LIM League thirty years since. One of these effitaions seems
to have been sent to Mr. Bright. who very naturally lost all
patience at the folly of the appeal. But the matter is not to
he dismissed so cavalierly. We Clll believe readily enough
that the Protectionist tract was "a niece confusion
if
figur,s and wholly without t.gic or sense," hitt behleri all
tus se fallacies there is an agitation at wet k which it will re-
gains more than mere sarcasm to subdue. Mr. Might
should remind hims, le that his best friends abroad and his
tic t favourites at home are now sworn to Prot, ctinn. Th.
American tar ft is all hut prohibitive; the workilig classes as
repr:eented in their Trade Unioue are Prot, ctionists to a
m in. The essence of Free Trade Is unrestricted competiti-n,
and it is precisely agaiimt thia conipmition that Trade UlOOll5
are formed and maintained.
It will not do to epeek of these appeals to the noiltit tole as
'Tory tricks." The Tories have nothing to do with the
movement, though they may chuckle, perlmps, at the unex.
peeled omlaught uport their atichuit ailversariee. The party
stitch claire% Protection for labour lies outside and beyond
all p tams of which we hate any cognisance. Its
siegle object is an artificial mihancement of the value of
litheur in the musket, 60 that less labour may sell for more
money, and a greater numher of laboerers find purchase ea
for the labour they have to sell. Ti the doctrines of
the Manchester Sichml on cammercial questions these turn
a deaf ear. lusteati of cheapening all production, they
desire to make all produelon lear, arguing that more would
be gained by high wages than would be lost by high
prices generally. Nor indeed, is the heretical spirit custard
to winking men. Mr. Cobden'. own performance, the Freech
Treaty, was clearly denounced last year in the Manchester
Chamber of omi:tierce, and we should ni it be !unitised if a
recent debate to the French Chamber were to bring it still
more Into disrepute. One of the Emperor's Ministers an-
tiellneeli the 4Jth, r day that, whate ye r in ... by be the result of
the ci listitat hood Tutor nis, the connate c-al p .licy of the Em-
pire would not he altered. The Imperial Geverenient held
to Free Trade all the more fi,an the experief.ces of the past.
and had no design of applying for a modification of the
Treaty. This is precieely what was alleg- det 31.11.110 liter,
only with this linen-nee, that what was obviously so good
for brat co must he had for England.
Mr. In multi itivites the Protectiouists, who think too many
Customs' ditties have been repealed, to "toil the walking
men what duties they would put on again." ' lair," says
Ste, "the duty on cons or cattle, or do they wish a duty on
imported cotton." These questions were too hastily put.
Nobody desires a duty on imported cotton, for the siniple
anon that cotton is a raw material and nobody asks for
the old Curti Laws, because there WO no Trade Union/ill
among the producers of COM. The imports which our modern
Protectionists would tax are imports of maanfactured arti-
cles, suppose it to lower the value of similar articles manu-
factured at home. The, men would oppose and prevent any
legigation tending to reduce the rate of wages current in a
trade. 'They do, it is tone with a very edifying unanimity,
still declare for Free Trade in corn, and they would kid
keep ire id cheap, though they would make all other pro-
ducts dear. But lb it is simply because the producers of
corn are unrepreee Med in irate combinatioes. split the
land up Into entail It 'dingle, with Trade Unions among the
cultivators, and we shall soon hear of a demand for a duty
on corn.
-Mr. Bright is evidently dimosed to regard the whole me-
tatioe as a pa,sing ferment. tine to bad trade and incidetital
suffering. It will varnish, he thinks, under the iUlltlevce of a
goont harvest, and things will all come round agate with the
improvement of busieess. We doubt if that is a statesmain's
view of the case. 'the movement was perceptible before
trade was had, RIO it has been continued with liege or no
reference to current affairs. The Vs ineiples of some pew
system, witch, whether it he Protectionism or Sec ahem, or
' both or heitner, teat any rate, absolutely opposed to the sys-
tem which Mr. Cobden spent his life in preaching are
gravely advocated by writers danning, as all hinovators
do, to be in the van of opinion. These men are not
"knaves per ying upon simpletons," nor Tries beguiling
the multitude, but sod il philosophers in their own
opinion, and, at any rate, as sincere ill their convictions as
any Manchester oracle whoever spoke. Mr. Bright nifty find
the whole scierice of Political Economy ecouted to their wons
as a theory unfit for the ace. If lie wishes to know what the
lenders of the working classes think of the matter, let hint
Just read the programme of the International Congress at
Be le. When the crittion famine began Mr. Cobden gave a
lecture on the Lanni-hire Cotton Industry, and explained to
us as one of the chief beauties of the system that half the
manufacturers %ere successful operatives elm had raised
themselves io that post. ion. One of the clauses of the oath
or engagement taken at Basle binds the swearer never to live
above tie woe kman's level. Instead ot seeking accese
my
honest industry to the class alnove him, he is to pun sue it to
the et a'h with unrelenting enmity. This prograninte, we
are told, has been adopted by two well-known English dele-
gates speaking for the principal Trade Unions iti this cottony.
Mr. Sleight thinks the people of Lancashire will not fail to
understand that what we want is more cotton, and not more
taxes en imt.orts. Of course, since until cotton stuffs
cheaper than Manchester can spin them are uttered for sale
in Maticheater the Lancashire people can have no wish for
impert duties It iv °My when workitig 01t0 are undersold
in their work that they siah duties to be tut on, w it Lama-
shire has not yet been undersold, though it has been out-
bidden. tint it is riot merely, or, indeed, principally, in Lan-
cashire that Free Trade has been pat upon its trMI and con-
dente.), and it is precisely because of the ext ent of error that
we should wish to see it more diligeutly encountet ed. These
is no blinking the fact that the at eat prklciples of international
trade and public wealth tat eh the Manchester Scholl dal no
notch to estalilt.h are now resented hp lame classes or people
with unbelief or abomination, and if they are to be restored to
their due credit it must be by re, -re solicitous advocacy than
Mr. Bright in his indignation at the puh ic haeksliding could
persuade himself to attempt. "If a foreigner will not may
cheaply from us, will 11 mend the matter sloe refuse to buy
cheaply from html" Certsenly not, and yet even that home
question admits of sophistical argument which 'night easily
puzzle a W 011; ng man out of vo. sk, The Cubit. Club, were-
pent, might well employ it. orgatillat on anti its funds in the
diffusion of useful knowledge once more. Perhaps econn ant-
cal truth, like vacmne matter, loses its virtue by long trail'
mission, anti requires to be renevverl at Intervals from the
fountain-head. At any rate, we are sure that the represents,
taves of Free Trade had metier 10, Is to the inculcation of its
principles, instead of canteuting themselves with celehratiug
its ti humph They are but too likely before many years are
over to that enough upon their hands.