New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-16
Mr. BRIGBTs ENGLISH CRITICS.

Mr. John Bright, referring III the course vi
one of his Glasgow speeches to the abolition Oh
the Corn Laws and the adoption OF Free Trade,
EXPRESSED his establishment that so plain
question sbould have caused so great contest.
1t was simply, he said, proposition that inc
industrious people of Great Britain should oe
allowed to use their wages In buying 1000 lor
their families in the cheapest markets OF the
world vet three great classes were leagued
against it; first, the landlords, who Thought
that their rents would be reduced secondly,
the farmers who feared that their losses under
free trade would be greater than any reduc-
tons of rent which they might secure and,
thirdly, those uncOnnected with land, VINO
thought that it would be dangerous to depend
upon foreign countries for supply OF toou.
Mr. Bright considered it sufficient answer to
the objections of the first two classes, the land
lords and the farmers, to affirm that twenty
years after the repeal Of the Corn Laws the
landed interests were in state OF prosperity
and glorilication. As for the fears OF the thlrd
class he thinks that as there has been no great
war with any maritime nation during the last
half century, there is no reason to be anxious
respecting the future.
English reioinders to these arguments Will be
more effective than any structures which AmeIl-
can Protection lists might offer. The Duke OF
Rutland, who at an earlier period OF economic
discussion shared the convictions OF Lord
George Beptinck and the late Lord Derby, asks
Mr.. Bright in a letter to The London Times why
he did not refer to the present condition of land
and agriculture. Twenty years after the re-
neal of the Corn Laws, the effects of the new
policy may not have been fully felt, and GER
tainly at present neither landowners nor farm
els are prosperous, for a largo proportion OF
them have been ruined Apparently the fears
entertained by these two classes during lie
period of agitation have been fulfilled. AS for
the third class, the Duke of Rutland asks,
were they far out of the way IN assuming that
the mutton would become dependent on foreign
countries for food supplies Does not Mr.
Bright himself admit that England Is already
half fell from abroad And although the risks
of great war with q maritime nation have
been avoided so far, is there no danger in the
future Mr.. Brights critic might have given
signal proof that the contingency of war with
France or Germany is not regarded by English
men as utterly unreasonable for the opposition
to the Channel project on the part of Parlia-
| ment and the public is grounded upon dread Of
| foreign invasion in time of hOstiltles.
| Lord Salisbury in this course of his Brming-
ham speeches could not refrain from reminding
| Mr. Bright that the prophecies by which free
| trade was carried have absolutely failed.
Those prophecies related to the extension of
| that economic system to the other nations OF
| the globe, and if they had not been believed in
| England at the time, Sir Robert PeePs and
MIR. Cladstone's measures could not have been
passed Lord Salisbury has no difficulty in
proving that the world has not been converted
by the sheer force of logical reasoning" and
| that Englands free-trade policy has not COM
mended itself to other nations 4; and while he
believes that the principle may be sound in it
self. he thinks it was adopted in something
alike n panic, and q sufficient caution was not
"taken by due treaty and agreement first to
| secure that other nations should tread in the
same path of freedom" Inasmuch as the
prophecies have not been fulfilled, he declines
to acknowledge the economic gospel of free
trade as @inspiration." He believes in it, CT
course; but lie does not think 1t is something so
sacred that he may not look at it and inquire
into it, especially when there are 80 many En-
| glsh manufacturers who arc complaining that
free trade" implies no trade Apparently,
therefore, even after forty years. free trade is
not 80 plain and simple question to all En-
| glshmen as it is to Mr.. Bright.