By BERNARD HOLLAND, C.B.,
Author of "Imperium et Libertas."
One Volume. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net.
This volume is a political-historical study of the great change which took place in British commercial and financial policy mainly between the years 1840 and 1850. The writer examines the state of things in these respects which existed before this revolution, and describes the previous protective system, navigation system, and colonial system. He then narrates the process by which those systems were overthrown, devoting special attention to the character, career, and changes in opinion of Sir Robert Peel, and to the attitude and action of the Tory, Whig, and Radical parties, and of their leading men, especially Mr. Disraeli, Lord John Russell, and Mr. Cobden. He analyses with care the arguments used on all sides in these controversies, especially with regard to the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and he shows the extent to which questions of imperial preference and the relations between the United Kingdom and the Colonies entered into the issues. One chapter is devoted to the Bank Act of 1844, and to the consideration of its causes and results. The author concludes by tracing very briefly the chain of events which connect the period in question with our own day, in respect of commercial and fiscal policy, and expresses his own views as to existing tendencies and future developments.
Mr. Bernard Holland is known as the author of the Life of the Duke of Devonshire, and of "Imperium et Libertas." In a sense the present volume is a continuation of the latter book, or rather is an attempt to deal more expansively and in detail with certain history and questions connected with the same theme, for the full treatment of which there was insufficient space in that book. Mr. Holland having acted for a number of years as Private Secretary to two successive Secretaries of State for the Colonies, has been brought into close touch in a practical way with colonial questions. This book, it is hoped, will be of some service both to students of economic history and to politicians in active life.