The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-10 00:00:00

to send forth the products of their industry; but
the agriculturist himself has greatly benefited by
the change. (Cheers.) Every class which is pro-
tected puts on its night-cap and goes to sleep—
(laughter)—and it requires that which schoolboys
call the cold pig—the application of competition to
stimulate the energies of the man, and make him
bestir himself, and improve the calling to which
he has devoted his mind and capital. (Loud
cheers.) Well, that has been the case with all
other nations which shall adopt our principles of
free trade. (Cheers.) But if you come to talk
to them about it they pour forth such force of ar-
gument that you could think that trade would be
ruined, and the other branches of industry would
be impoverished, and that you cannot afford to
take the bread out of the mouth of this class and
that class. But they forget the interests of the
consumer, They look only to the small and local
interests, and they are as deaf as an adder, and you
cannot persuade them to adopt the doctrines you
preach. (Cheers and laughter.) Nothing can con-
vince other nations except the broad and patent
example of the prosperity which England has
reached from the abolition of that protective sys-
tem. (Cheers.) We are often told that we ought
to make commercial treaties with other countries,
and thereby gain in exchange for the admission
of other commodities, facilitating for the extra-
dition of ours. That system has been ren-
dered imisAsible by that which we have already
done. In the case of France it was a necessity, be-
cause the French Government, although desirous of
entering into a system of free exchange with us,was
unable to do so except as the consequence of a
treaty, and that treaty, as it has justly been said
—and every man in this town well knows—has
been of the greatest advantage to England. lam
glad to think that it has been peculiarly beneficial
to Bradford.—(Cheers.) That it has been a great
advantage to the French nation, which when it was
at first proposed, thought it was a calamity from
which they could probably with difficulty recover.
Well, that treaty was made. We bad to take off
import duties from an immense number of commo-
dities. It was impossible to limit the abolition of
duty to articles coming from France, because with
our insular position commodities with other countries
would solely have come through France, and what
was granted to France was granted to every other
country. In fact, we have acted upon what com-
mon sense prompts your negotiation with a fo•
reign country, If it is real and sincere that you will
abolish certain import duties here if they will abo-
lish certain duties there, it is very much as if two
men had shackles on their legs, and one was to say
to the other—." Now, if you will take off your
shackles I will take off mine, but not otherwise."
(Laughter and cheers.) If the duties which we
impose upon the importation of foreign commodities,
which are wanted by consumers of this country, are
a burden upon the country itself, and the remission
or abolition of these duties is a gain, whether it be
accompanied or not by any corresponding remission
or obligation on the part of other countries, we do
it for our own sakes; and so we tell these foreign
countries. They do not very much believe us.
They say, making an erroneous use of words, and
there is no greater cause of error in reasoning than the
misapplication of terms, they say, especially in Ger-
many, "If we let in English commodities upon a low
duty without difficulty, we shall be inundated by
them. They think in their own minds what
an inundation of water is, and that the same evil effec's
would arise front the admission of European commodities
that would happen from the breaking of ono of the great
dykes. (Laughter and cheers.) They totally forget that we
aro much too sensible to make them a present of what we
have been making ; that we only send our commodities
abroad as an exchange for an equal value to be received
here ; and that, therefore, they cannot be inundated with
our goods unless they themselves, by their own industry,
create an equal value to send us in return, and that conse-
quently every additional commodity which we send abroad
is the cause of additional industry, additional capital, and
additional employment to their manufacturers at home.
(Hear, hear.) Well, gentlemen, we have pursued this
course on the one hand ; we have acted on the principle of
reducing duties for our own benefit and our own advantage,
and we have held out to other countries the example of our
success as an encouragement to them to follow our course;
but I remember talking to a very distinguished political
economist of a foreign country, and explaining to him how
it had succeeded with us, Ile said, " Ab, it is very well ;
yon have got rich by protection, and now you can afford
tree trade." I tried to persuade him that protection had
slackened our course of progress, that we were less wealthy
than we should have been if protection had been got rid of
sooner. He said, " No, you haee got rich by protection ;
and now we are poor you want to keep us poor by asking us
to get rid of that shield under cover of which you have
amassed the wealth which you now possess." (Hear, hear.)
Well, gentlemen, all I can say is, that the course which has
been pursued for the last five years has been conducted with
benefit to the country. We have succeeded in preserving
peace, although there were great events arising in different
parts of the world in which we might have been implicated,
and exhortations were not wanting. We might have been
tempted plausibly enough, upon good principles and good
motives, but we refrained from doing so. We have main-
tained peace, and I think in that respect we have done our
duty to the country. (Cheers.) We have lamented that
terrible war—that bloody war—which has been raging in
the northern part of the American Continent, but we have
felt that any endeavour on our part, or in conjunction with
any other European Powers to interfere in that quarrel by
our friendly offices would have done mischief instead of
good. The feelings are high when the quarrel is fierce, mad
the battle raging; the combatants will not listen to the
calm advice of friends, however good their intentions and
however wise their counsels. All that we have to do is to
pursue the course by which, in the first instance, wo aver'ed
the consequence of this calamitous war; to abstain from
meddling, and to wait for that hour which must come at
last, when the two parties, exhausted by their mutual efforts,
are at last weaned away from those revengeful feelings
which at present influence them, and be more disposed to I
come to an amicable settlement. We can only hope that
the time will shortly arrive when that blessed result will
take place. Gentlemen, I have only again to say that I feel
it a proud and grateful day on which I have met with so
cordial a reception from such industrious and manly races
as the inhabitants of Bradford, on which I have had the
good fortune to meet so distinguished and, I may say, so
imposing an assembly as that which I have the honour to
address, I can only aay that this day will be amongst the
brightest in the annals of my life, and that I shall carry
away with me feelings of gratitude and thankfulness which
will never pass front my mind as long as I live. The noble
lord sat down amidst prolonged cheers.
Mr W. E. Foßsran, M.P., proposed a vote of thanks to
the High Sheriff, the representatives and mayors of neigh-
bouring towns, and other visitors who had honoured them
with their presence, which he rejoiced to think was a proof
of the good feeling and sympathy with which they regarded
the prosperity of Bradford—good feeling and sympathy
which he was sure the people of Bradford would cordially
reciprocate. He could not help expresseag his astonishment
that the noble lord so soon after his arduous labours—and
few really knew how arduous they were as leader of the
House of Commons—should take this extraordinary mode
of relaxation. However, to it they were indebted for his
presence, which had given so much importance and interest
to the occasion. He was led however to remind the noble
lord that the people of Bradford had extreme opinions, but
the noble lord must not conclude from their conduct that
day, and from the reception which he had met with, that
the people of Bradford had abandoned those opinions. They
felt that the occasion was not a desirable or fitting one to
express those opinions, and their forbearance must not be
taken as a proof that theydid not desire their political privi-
leges, nor that they were not worthy of them. (Cheers.)
Ho would only make one more political allusion, The people
of Bradford thanked the Government with all their hearts
for keeping the country at peace. (Cheers.) But they were
not peace at any price men, and if the honour or the inte-
rests of the country really required it, they would be as ready
to make any sacrifice as any other part in the kingdom.
(Cheers.) It was not because the trade and the prosperity
of Bradford depended on peace being maintained with the
Continent, but because they felt that to have interfered in a
war which had already been rather a local war would have
set all Europe in a flame. This result, ho trusted, would bo
a lesson to the:noble lord and the world at large that we must
interfere less in foreign affairs and mind our own business
for the future. (Cheers.)

Mr M. W. Tnompsox eeccnded the motion, which was
supported by Col. Gaecoigne and carried unanimously.
Sir F. CROSSLEY responded. He observed that his hon.
friend Mr Forster had truly remarked that their friends and
fellow-countrymen in Yorkshire heartily rejoiced at the
prosperity of Bradford. He was delighted to have the op-
portunity of addressing such an important portion of his
own constituency, congratulating them on the manner in
which they had gone through the trying times of the cotton
famine. It was true that a large portion of their manufactures
was composed of the quality which Egypt and other parts of
the world had supplied in so extraordinary a manner to make
up the deficiency of the American supply, whilst the price for
cotton goods had so increased that the demand for Bradford
manufactures had been largely stimulated, and therefore he
rejoiced that the distress which had been so severely felt in
the adjoining county had not been experienced in this dis-
trict. He rejoiced at the presence of the noble lord. After a
long and arduous session he might ai his time of life have
felt justified in declining their invitation, if he had not
been one who had always been ready to consider not his