Improvements in manufacture tend to raise the value of land.[42]
Dare you, my Friend, after examination of the statistics given in the foregoing chapter, say, that the general increase of wealth is due to Free Trade; when protectionist nations have shared it in common with us? Aye! and taken the lion’s share too! You claim the temporary prosperity of the years 1871–73 as a victory for Free Trade, when in reality this prosperity is the most damning evidence against it. Are you so utterly blinded, as not to perceive that this prosperity was caused by the Franco-Prussian war, which, by preventing the unlimited importation of French and German commodities into England, caused, in fact, partial suspension of Free Trade? Don’t you know that, in those years of prosperity, the price of wheat rose to 58s. 8d. per quarter, and that, in the present depressed condition of England, it is down to 41s. 5d. per quarter? Don’t you know that, during that time of prosperity, the excess of imports beyond our exports was £60,000,000 less than in the present depressed time? In other words, we were depressing our industries by 60,000,000 sterling per annum less than at present. Now, my Friend, give your verdict; is your Right Hon’ble Free Trader guilty or not guilty, either of hopeless incompetence or gross dishonesty in attributing the general increase of wealth in the world to the agency of Free Trade?—Your friend, Bright,[43] naively admits that “to return to protection under the name of reciprocity, is to confess to the protectionists abroad, that we have been wrong, and they have been right.” Verily! Friend Bright, whether you confess it or not, the truth will out. Friend Bright! you are like the ostrich, burying its head in the sand and thinking no one can see you. The protectionist nations of Europe can see you distinctly, and they are all laughing at your folly.
FOOTNOTES:
[40] Applied to the Conservative Party by Mr. Gladstone, in 1879.
[41] Mill’s Political Economy, Bk. I. Chap. XII.
[42] Wealth of Nations, Bk. I. Chap. XI.
[43] Mr. Bright, when brought to bay by unanswerable arguments, is in the habit of pleading that he has “neither time nor inclination” to enter into discussion, and takes refuge in discourtesy. A choice specimen is given in [Appendix No. I.]—correspondence with Mr. Lord.
[CHAPTER XII.]
THE WAGES OF JUGERNATH.
I have not yet done with your Right Hon’ble advocate for Free Trade.