, 1879-07-13
THE .COBDEN CLUB.

THE C0BDEN CLUB.
Useless Ce1ebrat1ons-A Sharp Criticism.
London Pil- Hail Gazette, Juae g.
There could hardly be: an fdler proceeding tb,n
that ut the present moment the Golden C1nh
should meet at Greenwich to pronounce seris.
Of speeches about Golden, which read like =,
official panegyric On deceased Roman Emn,
Or; but there we're some OF the speake;s Who
made the. oddity Of the affair border upon IN,
deceucy. While about the only indisputaba
truth uttered during the evening was that thu
return Of this country to Protective tariff n,
an impossiblity, not = word was said to SHOW
how, this superstitious cultus Of Golden can b.
reconcied with existing facts. The manuiac-
turing. interest and the agricultural interes.
making up together almost the .hola
producing. interest Of. the country, ,r.
in the. .direst: distress. We do 10.
Say, either on the one hand that this distrea, /,
attributable to Free Trade, Or on the other hand
that it would be removed by any device Of Pso~
tectionism. But We do say that the facts falkt,
some Of the. most confident and frequently.prn
claimed predictions OF Richard Golden. It would
be ridiculous to deny that a very great part Of
the st2gpation pf manufacturing business ha,
been caused By the perseverance OF much Of the
civilized world In the stringent protection Of its
own manufactures by the Withdrawal Of other
parts Of it from the slight concessions the1 hal
made to Free Trade, and by the establishment
OF Protective tariffs in some places where Fiee
Trade would seem to have It's natural home
Passage upon passage might be quoted frua
the speeches and writings Of Coooen to show
that it was his opinion that these results would
never follow He believed and preached that
Free Trade was SO se!t-evident body of
doctrine that It would spread by Its own COZ
vincingness- Just the contrary has occurred
Market upon market is being closed to British
industry, and even communities OF working
men arc employing that ascendency over olesi-
chies which Cooden would have given them IN
Eurlaud TO establish not Free Trade, but tha
strirtest Protection, It would have been one
really instructive passage in the proceedings Of
Saturday il Prof. Pearson, of Victora
called IN to explain the view tskcr
Of Cobden bv the Australian working
man. Again, whatever be the relation OF the
existing agricultural distress to Free Trade
there can be m question Of It's relation to he
opinions Of Richard Golden. There was no
heapcd upon the prophecies OF excessive in
nortatiou Uttered b7 the late Lord Deroy and
oFhere. Yet the thing haa actually occurred
md in 4 form mort. tremendous than was eyer
for \ moment anticipated. II looks as II tic
Oldest aud greatest Of British interests we,s
ohort to he extlneuisbed almost. and tl. Quick
drstruction or sudden REVOLUTIONARY transforms
ton OF British agriculture Is exactly the prob
Ian, wh,rh thn feyotee Of Eobden has to face.
Il is cutie true that there is a real connection
between the opinions Of Richard Coodcn oa
foreign policy and his opinions on Protessiya
tariffs The QUE instance OF bis prescjence le
which he has not got credit is his appreneustoa
oF the rYnha h1e frtnre rf7fcre of Free Trade m