Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-02-25

Il - ADAG ~ 0N Il -
greater numbers embarked certainly in
an equally laudabIe enterprise at homo
THE FREE-TRADE PROPAGANDIsTs OF
| ENGLAND.
"For the last thin ty- five years England
has been making extraordinary efforts,
political, industrial, legislative, diplo
matte, social. ind literary, all combined,
to persuade mankind to follow her ex-
ample of reversing that policy of pro-
lection, supreme IN her Augustan age,
or from Queen Anne down throughout
the Georgian era. and the policy MAN
tanned by Chatham by the younger
Pitt, and by Canning with an energy
that created and sustained the most
varied and extensive workshops OF the
world"
The statement about the navy is ton
absurd to notice, but think l will sbow,
even 10 the satisfaction OF tho senator
from Vermont. that Eng lands varied
and extensive workshops came with
tree trade, after the protective system
he lauds so highly had brought ruin to
her people. Again he SAYS:
1.-The sole Conditions to tho cOntinu-
ance OF the dense population, and the
grand scale oi British manufactures in
composition with mornern nations. ap.
peared to be parsimony and privation,
or lower-priced bread aud lowest-pricsd
labor. With these partially secured
there came q season Of temporary relief,
but. unfortunately. with no increase of
wages. 1t was barely q success at the
cost OF an alliance with the discomfort
Ut underpaid w0rkmen, with strikes aud
organized expatriation. Free trade, 1t
is found, grinds labor to tho bone, and
forces it to fly, with muscle aud ma
chinery. to more inviting fields. +
British agriculture, long depressed
and chronieally exposed to bad hsrvests
is now threatened with ruin by foreign
competition, and British manufactures
| also seem almost as destitute of sun
shine as tn lr agriculture"
Ii do not convince the senator that
all bis statements relative to the wages
of English operatives under their tree.
trade system are untrue it will be be-
cause he assumes that secretary Blaine
and the American consuls. Mr.. Glad
stone, Mr., Bright, and other English
statesmen will deliberately lie in the
lace OF men whe were Obliged to know
that their statements were false. Again,
after quoting what Mr.. Disraeli,l the
observer. and other high protectionists
said about and against ires-trade, he 10
happy in being able to say:
Even the London Times. the great
":bunderer" OF public opinion IN Great
Britain, does not refrain from giving a
stunning blow to free trade when it in
dicstes that it has proved blundsr, and
reminds the world that it predicted it
would SO prove at the start. The cere-
mony OF free trade, with only one party
responding solitary and alone. tlrns out
as dull and discvnsolate as that oil q
wedding Without q bride, The honey.
moon OF buying cheap and selling dear
appears indefinitely. postponed"
In the hurried reply 1 made to some
of these staten .nts in December, read
from speech Of Mr.. Gladstone. at
Leeds made a few months ago, in which
he showed that England had lar out
stripped all other nations in the race fer
supremacy on The ocean tLat she was
in possession now OF So per cont. oi tho
worlds commerce., and of 80 per cent.
OF the American carrying trade, while
we were only picking up her leaving !;
that the wages OF her laborsrs and the
wealth OF her people had Increased be.
yond all precedent since the inaugura-
tion of the policy OF FREQ trade, and that
The English people would - soon SEQ
the bi of rights. the ha cas- corpus, tho
trial by jury, or any OF the fundamental
principles Of English lloerty abolished
az to retnrn to the miserable restrictive
protection policy OF former days. Mr..
Gladstone, l assume, knows quite as
much about the condition III EBsland
and the feelings of her people as the
senator from Vermont. have the rs.
cent test, mony of another English
statesman, who 10 we'll known to tbs
people OF America as being incapable of
stating deliberate falsehoods. A ban.
quet was given at Rochdale to Hon. Jno.
Bright on November Is, 1881. his sew
eniieth birthday. and he made speech,
in which, among other things, he said !:
Now, touching upon this question
ons ia obliged to refer to y very curious
fact, that after so many years of sxps-
rieDce there are some men who are dis.
! posed to call in question the policy of
1916. That 10, that there are mon, Of
whom you never heard bsfore-rlaugh-
| ter and if you were to look down the
record Of all their political life you
would not find single thing that they
have done, and yet they call In question
tho policy of such mon rs Sir Robert
Psol of 1846-[chsers.] aud of Mr..
Gladstone In the succeeding years
[loud chssrsl. and OF my lamcnted
friend Mr.. Cobdsn-Tchssrs1. whose
services every one acquainted with the
recent history Of this country must &C.
kno ledge. Aud yet these men-what
l should call rather feeble minded
class OF men- -Tlaugh ghtsr] call In quss.
tion all this policy, and they have tho
courage to believe, or the simplo.mlnd-
sdness to believe, that tho great body
OF the people of this country, and e..
pecIally of the working classes, are not
in any degree cognizant of the eaor-
nous advantages which the new policy
OF 1886 has given to the country.
Cheers. y D''
Observe that he was speaking to Eax-
lish laborers, who knew all about both
conditions.
The senator from Vermont seemed
delighted to be able to quote Lord
Beaconsield ~ AL enemy OF tree trade
and an advocate of the high protective
policy. The senator said:
''Sir Robert Peel was forced to listen
to the cry for cheap bread. though he
was tsassd almost to the fighting point
by the fertile, bitter, AID mstohless sar-
casns OF Disrasli, who also said: ..The
time will come when the working
classes OF England will come to you on
bended knees and pray you to undo
your present legislation"
Mr.. Bright after referring to the
original opposition Of MIR. Disrasli, and
stating the facts In regard to the increase
of wages since 1910, under the auspices
Of free trade. said:
There. according to his statement,
was an actual doubling of the wages OF
the laborers in Lord Beacon Lstield's own
county OF Buckingham. Perhaps some
OF you may rscollsct letter which was
published almost Immediately after Lord
Beaconsfield's death, which he wrote 10
gentleman who had sent him a book
about the condition OF the population in
the southwestern counties OF England,
and Lord Beaconsfield said he ;houe BIT
ho foi IL Al