New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-22

NATIONS ARE ACTINE-NOT POSSIBLE hEt
To ESTIMATE THE EFFECT OF HIS
WORDS on THE USIoNIsT CAUSE
,y1 CABLE TO THE IxIBUSEI
Copyright: 1892 By The Tribune Association"
London. Nav 21.--There is probably no pre-
..dent for the easy Indifference to politics whch
:. sbovn by the present Prime Minister of this
.;nodom Lord Salisbury is not only Prime
Minister: he is the leader Of great party or
rerbaps of tso parties, one greater Than the ouer
!, General election is at hand. Yet THIS great
nortv leader goes down to Hastings and there
delivers his soul of a Speech one section %
which is we'll adapted TO throw his party INTO
confusion What he says on fres trade ana d
r,aatory tariff is in direct hostility TO the whole
current of thought in this country for at least
a generation, and not less hostile to the system
on which its business with foreign countries Is
conducted There was nothing to provoke IL.
The immediate cause of the most pressing econom
ical troubles in England is not free trade Free
trade is the ultimate cause. The lmmeaia'e
cause is the systematic assault OF laoor
IN capital. The dogmas of Golden ana
Fright are still TO the great majority
Il Enclishmen the accepted way OF salvation You
h.sr now and than ftful splutter about Fair
Tr,ae but it has hitherto come from men who
have no hold on the public and no party behind
,hsm. IL is not question of practical politics.
Tbere is not even a respectable minority In the
Uouse Of Commons for protection in any shape
or form-or not yesterday. There Is, more
oyer one great issue before the country and
multitude of minor ones, including, on one side.
the whole Newcastle programme. On this great
sue the country is presently to be asked to give
lis Judgment, confused no doubt. by the multitude
If minor issues which were deliberately contrived
in order to confuse it yet still with this chief
QUESTION to be answered by every voter. Do YOU
or do you not wish this empire broken up by
giving Home Rule to Ireland? These arc the
circumstances in which Lord Salisbury, as if from
pure Ightness of heart, takes up the question of
free trade afresh, and presents it to the already
somewhat muddled minds Of his countrymen as
one that presses for an immediate answer.
The first effect Of Lord Salisbury's Hastings
speech is a protest from his most powerful sup
porteY in the press. The Times tells him that
il is mere dream to suppose that his ideas have
any chance of acceptance. The Standard" tells !
him that he had better have omitted that part
Of his speech Other Conservative journals do the
same. That is quite enough to show how impru-
dent the manifesto is, if you look at it from a
purely political point of view Man, however, |
does not hive by politics alone and there are
though it may be, and terrifying to the mere
politician. it is not lght-hearted, not reckless
or casual comment, but well-considered decla-
ration.
He refers at the beginning to the general cleo |
ton. He believes he shall win it, but he asks
his audience TO remember that they may have |
even larger matters TO regard. Protection is one
Of those larger matters. His tenure Of the For
egn Office has forced it upon his attention. He |
has had 70 look on at a war of commercial |
treaties in which he could not take a hand. |
What he says on that part of
the subject is the testimony of an expert and is
extremely interesting. ! will return TO it in a
moment 1t forced him to reflect, to reconsider
opinions which perhaps came to him as a tradition
or were breathed in with the air about him. He
plainly became convinced that something must be
done to wake England out Of the lethargy in
which she lies. He bethought himself that he |
could speak with more authority while he was
still Prime Minister and still Foreign Minister.
Therefore it is. imagine. that he deliberately
accepted the political risk involved in raising a
fresh issue, and this issue above all. and resolved
to speak out. There is indeed no trace Of impulse
or wantonnesS in what he says. If you once admit
that he was to speak at ALL every sentence bears
the stamp of meditation and Of slow conviction
The prosperity of this country depends. says
Lord Salisbury most truly, on its external trade
That is one of those larger issues of which he
reminded his Hastings audience. He is quite aware
that, if he says word about it, the Free Traders
will cali him a Protectionist So they do lie
knows that he will be held guilty of all the other
crimes which al ingenious Imagination can attach
to commercial heterodoxy. So he is. Neither OF
these awful consequences appals him. lie deals
with his critics in advance. They think them
@lo IF ha
They are not Their doctrine is to the true free
trade what the Talmud is to the Old Testament
The Talmud is the invention Of Rabbinical COM
mentaries The new free trade is the invention
Of doctrinaires of pedants, Of men without parl-
Gle of knowledge or clear minds. The sensible
economist Of to-day has 70 contend with the strange
and unreasonable CLOSES which the modern Tree
trade rabbis have foisted upon it, should THINK
the nickname Of rabbi might stick. We too, have
eetrade rabbis in New-York. Democratic rabbis
and Muswump rabbis. They have taken pride in
borrowing their doctrines from English Free Trad
ers and sacrificing American to English interests
They will be furious with Lord Salisbury Per
haps he did not think Of that.
I'VE live" says the Foreign Minister Of Great
Britain, amid war of tariffs. and Great Britain
has deliberately stripped herself Of tue armor and
weapons by which the battle is TO be fought
1t could not be put more pithily. Lord Sails
bury, born fighter. has to sit in Downing Street
and look on helpless. Every Nation is negotiat-
ing with every other Nation. Every Power
wants something of every other Power. and has
something TO offer in return; but no Power cares
two straws about getting the commercial favor
Of Great Britain" Why; Because Great Britain
has granted everything and got nothing in re-
turn. The weapon with which they all fight
II admission IN their own markets. That is, A
saws 10 b. if you will make your duties such
that can cell in your markets, l will make my
duties such that you can sell in my market But
we have begun by saying that we will levy no
duties upon anybody, and that we regard it as
anp.ror. and dislnval 70 the glorious and sacred