The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-24 00:00:00

THE COBDEN CLUB DINNER.

The annual dinner of the members of the "Cobden
Club" was held on Saturday evening, at the "Ship"
Hotel, Greenwich. M. Michel Chevalier, the well-
known political economist, presided; and amongst the
very influential company who assembled to do honour
to the occasion were the Marquis of Hartington, M.P.,
Mr. W. E. Foster, M P.. M. Van de Putte, Baron
von Kiibeck •, AL Corr Vander Maren, President of
the Political Economy Society, Belgium; M. J. L. de
Brayn Kops, editor of the Political Economy Review,
Holland' M. Emile Boutmy, Director of the Ecole
Libre des Sciences Politiques, Paris, M. Auguste
Guiilemin, Paris; General M'Dowell, United States;
Mr. Nathan Appleton, United States; Sir G. Bowen
Governor of Victoria; Mr. Luke S. Leake, Speaker
of the House of Assembly, Western Australia; Mr. L.
Constantine Burke Assistant Attorney-General,
Jamaica; Mr. K. B. Murray, of the British Chamber
of Commerce, Paris ; Chevalier de Scherzer, Director
of Commercial Affairs at the Austrian Embassy;
Herr Willerding, Consul-General for Sweden; Mr.
D. E. Colnaghi, British Consul, Florence; Sir F.
Hincks, C. 8., Canada; Dr. (Ironing, Senator,
Bremen; Mr. Gower Evans, Sydney; Right Hon.
T. Milner Gibson; Right Hon. A. S. Ayrton, Right
Hon. W. P. Adam, M.P., Mr. G. Shaw Lefevre,
M.P., Mr. Arthur Otway, Mr. H. Richard, M.P.,
Mr. C. Cameron, M.P., Sir T. D. Acland, M.P.,
Mr. W. Holnis, M.P. Mr. A. M'Arthur, M.P.,
Mr. W. M'Arthur, M.P., Mr. E. Noel, M.P., Mr.
T. Burt, M.P., and many other members of Parlia-
ment ; Lord Houghton, Professor J. E. Thorald
Rogers, Mr. A. W. Mike' Mr. E. Dicey, Mr.
Serjeant Parry, Mr. A. Bonham-Carter, &c.
The Chairman rose, amid loud cheers, and proposed
the toast of "The Queen." They would permit him
to add to the toast some few words which became a
foreigner, whom they welcomed as a friend of truth
and progress. (Cheers.) Her Most Gracious Majesty
had already occupied the throne for a length of time
which exceeded the duration of most reigns. The
nearly 40 years that she had worn the crown had been
the reign of almost uninterrupted peace. (Hear.)
Future generations would regard this exemption from
the curse of war as a most remarkable and creditable
example to all Sovereigns and Governments. (Cheers.)
Never during the same number of years had the power
of England increased to the same height; and the
record cf this unparalleled progress would stand in
golden letters on the pages of history. (Hear.)

- - After the toast had been duly honoured, -
The Marquis of Hartington who was very warmly
received, on rising said the pleasant duty had been
entrusted to him by the Committee of presenting the
gold medal of the club to their chairman, and of offer-
ing him in the name of the club a hearty welcome.
Not merely by his writings on political esonomy, or in
defence of Free Trade, had M. Chevalier done good
service. He had not confined his labours to the closet.
but had descended into the arena of practical politics.
He was associated with Mr. Cobden in the work of
negotiating the Commercial Treaty of 1860, a work
which did equal credit to the originality, genius,
and courage of both these distinguished men. If Mr.
Cobden encountered difficulties in carrying on the
work in this country, what must have been the
difficulties of M. Chevalier, who in a nation where
public opinion on the subject was, to say the least of
it, totally unformed, had to combat all the opposition
which could be brought to bear by selfish interests
that had thriven or thought they had upon protection.
Although it was not for them to pronounce an.
opinion either for or against the Imperial Govern-
ment, he might be permitted to say that in this
instance at least the Emperor Napoleon rose to a
sense of his responsibility, and used the almost
absolute power he possessed for the benefit of the whole
people, and not for the supposed interest or advantage
of any class. When their chairman rose to respond
be would, the speaker hoped, be able to tell them
that a few years ago, when the treaty expired, and on
account of the necessities of France, a revival of the
principles of protection was proposed, there was
found to exist in France, in a far greater degree
than could have been expected, a feeling in.
favour of the treaty, and of the principles em-
bodied to a limited extent in it. With such an
assurance, which he was sure M. Chevalier could give
that their principles had obtained a foothold and a
base, their final triumph throughout Europe was
assured. Although when once the victory of Free
Trade principles in Parliament was obtained their sub-
sequent progress was so silent, undisturbed, and un-
accompanied by violent changes that they had almost
come in England to regard the benefits of Free Trade
conferred as though they came by nature like light and
air, it was not amiss that they should sometimes reflect
on the advantages they had derived from the great
reforms initiated by Cobden. It is not only, said his
lordship, that all classes have benefitted in their in-
come and comforts • it is not that those very classes
which ought to have been ruined by Free Trade
are now richer and more prosperous than ever,
but above all it is that the working classes, the
lowest and humblest of our fellow-citizens, have
had their means of subsistence and comfort greatly
increased; and when we consider how large a
portion of the life of those classes is occupied by
their struggle for existence, it is almost impossible
to overrate the advantages which have been con-
ferred on us by Free Trade, At this time, when
after a week of rain and storm, which has caused
serious apprehensions for the harvest, we are looking,
at the most, with apprehension to a time of financial
and commercial depression and inactivity, we might,
but for the exertions of Mr. Cobden and his friends, be
looking to scarcity, perhaps even to famine, to disease
to discontent, and perhaps to disturbance and disaffec-
tion. These are some of the benefits which have been
conferred upon his country by Cobden and those who
followed him. Such benefits as these we hope will be
conferred upon his country by the exertions of M.
Chevalier and his friends, and lam sure I am express-
ing the feelings of all here and of this club when I say
we heartily and sincerely trust our distinguished guest
this evening may live to see the fruits of Free Trade as
fully and generously reaped in France as they have
been in England. (Cheers.) The Marquis of Harting-
ton then presented the gold medal to M. Chevalier
amid loud applause.

The Chairman, in reply, after warmly acknowledg-
ing the compliments of the Marquis of Hartington,
and thanking the members for the honour done him,
said the Cobden Club of itself, and through its nume-
rous associates scattered all over the world, had ren-
dered important services to the cause of civilisation.
Its motto, "Free Trade, Peace, and Goodwill among
Nations," was ever to be praised. The first point
of it, Free Trade, seemed now in a fair way to be
realised; but it was not so with the other senti-
ments expressed in the device. There was still alive
and, alas, in good health and high spirits, a school
of politicians who seemed to consider peace and
goodwill among nations as wild dreams and chime-
rical notions, fit only for the amusement or literary
exeroise of rhetoricians. At that very moment an
effort to support every word of this device was far
from being superfluous. It had rather become a
necessity. Two or three months ago peace and good-
will among nations seemed for a moment a mere
delusion—a vapour ready to vanish. Had not the
Government of the United Kingdom taken a wise and
firm stand, as well as the Russian Government, a wide-
spread and devastating war might have swept over
Europe. On the important subject of Free Trade they
had now come to the testing mint. Before the end of
1877 all the Governments of Gintinental Europe must
make up their minds in regard to the renewal of their
treaties, while the Universal Exhibition at Philadel-
phia next year either had no meaning whatever or was
a sign that the day was drawing near when the Free
Trade policy would have obtained its introduction into
America. M. Chevalier went on to say :—lt would be
a dangerous illusion to suppose that, although the ad-
vantages of Free Trade are immense, the reconstruc-
tion of the treaties of commerce on a liberal basis
throughout Europe can be accomplished without a hard
struggle. The Protectionist interest is still very
strong, and they will use every effort to regain the
ground they have lost. They understand that if they
are beaten on the present occasion they are so for ever.
It would be a great point to them if, even with-
out wresting anything from the free traders, they
would succeed in stopping the Free Trade current
which went on in a masterly way on the Continent of
Europe from 1860 mainly under tie guidance of the
late Government of France, and of the deceAkred Em-
peror Napoleon 111. personally. Now, the reasons we
have on our side, and of which the free traders on the
Continent will make the best use in their power,:.are
the following ones :—Besides the marvellous success of

the experiment commenced in England thirty or forty
years ago, we have the signal success of, at any rate,
the beginning of the Free Trade policy in the Conti-
nental States, and especially in France. It may be said
without exaggeration that this wholesome policy, fol-
lowed since 1860, although restricted and timid, as it must
be in the outset, has added so much to the resources of
France that it has enabled her to bear the heavy bur-
dens arising from the tremendous war of 1870, includ-
ing the sum, amounting to more than 200 millions of
pounds sterling, exacted from her by the victor. Owing
to the wealth acquired, and acquiring every day,
under the auspices of a Free Trade system, still very
far from perfect, France has the power of supplying a
budget of above one hundred millions of pounds, be-
sides thirty-five or forty millions of local expenses.
Another beneficial effect of the system in France, ira-
perfect and incomplete as it is, is the fact that bank
notes, averaging more than one hundred millions of
pounds, nominally inconvertible, circulate freely in
the country with no discount, a financial phenomenon
which has no parallel to be met with before in the
history of any country. If, then, the tree of Free
Trade has produced such fruits, even when, as in the
case of France, some of its largest roots are wanting,
and. some of its finest branches cut off, what will
it not produce when all its roots and branches
are allowed to develope themselves freely and
.fully? In concluding, the Chairman spoke of Free
Trade as a force before which the genius of war had
to succumb, and although it would be going beyond
the mark to say that it would ever defeat warlike enter-
prise, still war might certainly be restrained in the
number of its explosions. In cases of emergency arbi-
tration offered a fair way of adjusting grievances, and
the influence of Free Trade in the same direction was
very great. Many persons on the Continent believed
that had the commercial rime established between
France and England been in operation for twenty years
instead of five or six the war between France and
Germany might have been averted. The Chairman
concluded by giving the toast of " Prosperity to
the Cobden Club," which was drunk with much en-
thuxiasm.

Mr. W. E. Forster said he thought of all the
meetings of that Club none would have given Mr.
Cobden greater pleasure to have attended than this
one, where were gathered not only his own country-
men, but men from over the seas, oelebrating his
principles and trying to promote them. There was no
doubt that a crisis was coming and that Protectionists
were making what they all hoped would be their last
struggle. He was glad to annouce in reference to that
struggle that the Free Traders of Germany were
about to hold a conference at Berlin, at which several
members of the Club—Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Behrens
of Bradford, and Mr. Lefevre—would be present.
They would probably be told on Monday morning
by those who hardly ever acknowledged a
hope of success until it was accomplished
that had Mr. Cobden now been living he
would have been down-hearted and depressed,
doubting the truth of his own principles; but they
who knew the man, who read his writings and under-
stood his spirit, would also know that temporary
checks never depressed him. Nor did he (Mr. Forster)
see any ground for discouragement. Free Trade had
survived great difficulties and dangers. The French
Treaty was greatly due to the Emperor Napoleon,
whose name could not be mentioned at a dinner of
the Cobden Club without respect and even reverence.
He fell in a manner which made his fall likely to in-
crease the unpopularity of any cause which he had
espoused, and he was followed by a statesman to
whom France owed much, who helped her in the time
of need, but who was as well known for his zeal against
Free Trade as the Emperor was for his zeal for it.
Yet, in spite of M. Thiers' France had not gone back.
But Cobden was not only the advocate of Free Trade,
but of Peace. What could they say about that? Well,
he thought there had been so much fighting lately
in Europe and America that there was not likely to be
much more at. present. In America he knew that the
apostles of peace were the soldiers of the late war.
However that might be, all they could do was not to
boast over their comparative exemption, but to sym-
pathise and feel for these other nations and peoples,
remembeying that centuries ago England had to pass
through the same difficulties which were now troubling
France and Germany. If they look at the great
struggle now going on in Germany between the Civil
and the Ecclesiastical Power they must not compare
them with the England of the present age but with
the England of the time of Elizabeth, or of the
time of the Popish plot. They must not boast over
their position, for in England they had their rocks
ahead, and their Cassandras to tell them of them,
often in such eloquent terms as to fill them, no
doubt, with alarm. (" No," and laughter.) Well, he
said no too. They were often told that they had a
war within their borders between labour and capital,
but as an employer of labour ever since he came to
manhood he would only say that he never knew a
time in which employers and employed were on better
terms. (Applause.) Mr. Forster concluded by saying—
There is one opportunity which we English-speaking
nations could seize if we would, that would do good
to ourselves, to Europe, to the world. If we could
in any way establish Free Trade amongst the
English-speaking nations; if there were no custom-
houses to bar intercourse between English-speaking
nations, we should give such a lesson of peace and
prosperity to the countries of Europe that I believe
they would disband their standing armies and follow
our example. I know this is a dream such as could
only be dreamed after dinner. (Laughter.) But, re-
member, these dreams are not impossible in these days,
nor in a;free country. Directly the sentiments of a
country become convinced, what had appeared to be
wrong and foolish becomes right immediately; and,
however unreasonable ,it may be to have such expecta-
tions as these. I expect and feel that they will be ful-
filled, and will be the forerunners of a close alliance
amongst all English-speaking nations. I believe it is
one of these dreams of the present which is a shadow
of the future. (Cheers.) I beg to give the toast of
"Our guests from over the sea." The toast was very
cordially received.

M. Van de Putte, ex-Minister of the Colonies for
Holland, said although his little nation could not now
pretend to have any influence in European politics,
three hundred years ago she led the van in regard to
sound principles of government, liberal institutions,
religious tolerance, and Free Trade. He was delighted
to be present at the dinner of the club, for he cordially
endorsed its principles.

Baron Von Kubeck, Deputy of the Council, Austria,
while admitting that Free Trade principles had made
little progress in his country, hoped that the new
treaty would be more satisfactory to free traders.

General M`Dowell, of the United States, said he
could give no opinion about the progress of Free Trade
in America, for soldiers were allowed to take no part
in politics in that country, and this was the first time
he had ever attended a political meeting. He advo-
cated extension of commerce in the interests of peace,
and declared that it was not the soldiers but the politi-
cians who made war.

Mr. Nathan Appleton, another gentleman from
America, said although he did not know what was the
condition of other countries in respect to Free Trade
he was quite convinced that America was ripe for it.
Mr. L. S. Leaks, Speaker of the Assembly of
Western Australia, and Dr. Julius Faucher, also re-
sponded.
Mr. Richard, M.P., gave "The health of the Chair-
man," who, in responding, proposed "The health of
Mr. T. B. Potter," the secretary, whom he spoke of
as the good genius of the Cobden Club. Mr. Potter
having replied, the proceedings terminated, and the
guests returned to London by the Citizen steamer, in
which they had been conveyed to Greenwich from the
House of Commons stairs.