FREE , TEA E E ANE FREE ENTERPRISE. 
 
 AT THE DINNER OF 
 
 THE COBDEN CLUB, 
 
 June 2%, 1873. 
 
 The Rig^t Hon. T. MILNER GIBSON 
 
 , IN ,THE CHAIR. ' _ 
 
 SPEECH OF ' 
 
 The , Hon. DAVID A. WELLS, 
 
 Beingja Retrospect of t^ Results of Protection in the United States of America. 
 
 WITH PREFACE BY 
 
 SIR LOUTS MALLET, C.B., 
 
 AND LIST OF MEMBERS . ' 
 
 CASSELL/ PETTLR, & 'gALPIN, 
 
 LONDON, PARIS, AND IfEW YORK. 
 
N.B.—All communic'aiions for the Hon. Sec., Thomas Bay ley , 
 Potter, should he add.ressed to him at the Reform Club, Pall 
 
 Mall, London. ' 
 
 The Bankers of the Club are the London and Westminster Bank, 
 lyestminster^ Branch, i, St. fantes’s Square, London, .S. W., where 
 subscriptions should be pdid oidthe \st of January in each^yedr. , ^ 
 
 . It is-, suggested, for the convenience of. Members, that they should 
 leave with the'Secretary thei-r usual address,-and also an order on their 
 Bankers to pay their subscription on the \st of - January in each year to - 
 the Bankers of Ihe Club, to whom all cheques should be made payable. ■ 
 Bland forms may be had on application to the Secretary. - ■ 
 
 GEORPE C. WARE, 
 
 j ' Secretary. 
 
 S, M-illman Street, v 
 
 Bedford Row, W.C.' 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The dinner of the Cobden Club possessed this year 
 some features of special interest. 
 
 One of the chief objects of the Club in these 
 meetings, has been to afford occasions of bringing 
 together eminent economists and free-traders of dif-. 
 ferent countries,.with a view to the interchange of 
 opinions, as well as to the creation and maintenance 
 of the |)Crsonal relations which often pl^y an im¬ 
 portant part in the intercourse of nations. 
 
 In this respect the Club has hitherto been very 
 successful, having received as its guests in successive 
 years many of its moist distinguished foreign asso¬ 
 ciates; and ' also, from time to time, the leading 
 public men both at home-and abroad, who have 
 rendered service to the cause of Free Exchange., 
 
 This year the Club was fortunate in securing the 
 presence, among* its foreign guests, of Mr. Hpgh 
 M'Culloch and Mr. David A. Wells, from the United 
 States; M. de Laveleye a,nd M. Corf-VanderMaeren, 
 
6, 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 from Belgium; Senor Moret, from Spain, apd many i .^- 
 
 others; and ' especially in hearing from Mr. Wells,’ C 
 
 who responded to the toast of “The Foreign Guests^’ , 
 
 /\ 
 
 on the part of his countrymen, a speech which will 
 everywhere be read with interest and profit, as one ' 
 of the most important contributions which has yet ' 
 been made to the Fre'e Trade controversy. : 
 
 Mr. Wells, like Cobden, belongs to that rare class^ ' 
 of statesmen who devote themselves to public life, ; ^ 
 not for the purposes of party or for the, sake, of 
 office, but to give effect to the principles of policy ‘' f 
 which they believe to be essential to the welfare of , 
 their country and of mankind. - 
 
 Moreover, while possessing in a high degree the 
 character of a scientific economist, it is known that ^ - 
 Mr. Wells'was led to his conclusions by the practical .> 
 experience .of an official life, which placed at his 
 disposal the most complete and accurate information, 
 and by a careful and comprehensive investigation of • y 
 facts. ' ■ ■ ; t: 
 
 There is, tlierefore, no man in, the United States^ 
 who can speak with more authority than Mr. Wells 
 on the subject of his address. And what is the mes- 
 sage which he brings.? He tells us that, after full XM 
 trial for ten years on a scale of unusuaF magnitude, j .V.J 
 
.>and under circumstances in many respects, peculiarly 
 ■favourable, the result'o£-the protective policy in the 
 United States is “ nothing but failure and disaster.” 
 
 ' Nor is this a mere unsupported . assertion. Mr. 
 Wells adduces a formidable array of facts and figures, 
 exhibiting the effects of protection upon the .staple 
 manufactures .of his country (as indicated by an in- ' 
 creasing import and a decreasing export of the 
 . procjucts of “ skilled industry ”), upon the purchasing 
 . power of labour,'and upon the. savings of the nation, 
 
 -to prove his charge-against the protective-policy, as 
 a “diminution of abundance ,''a premium on , scarcity, 
 and a restriction on growth-.” And if this be; so, it 
 may be, hoped that the end is near, and that he may 
 himSelb share in' the finab success of the principles ’ 
 which he'has'so long and so ably advocated. ' 
 
 ■ The value of, this testimony to the failure of the 
 most recent and thoroughgoing experiment of the 
 protective system cannot be over-^estimated; and 
 while strengthening the hands of those who are still / 
 contending against the retreating, though unsubdued, / 
 forces of monopoly in Europe, it may not be without I 
 its effect on those younger communities of our own ^ 
 race in which the seeds of the same evil are already 
 sown; .and which, undeterred by the warnings of 
 
COB DEN CLUB: 
 
 Europe and America, seem bent on reviving the 
 exploded fallacies which have left their dark trace 
 wherever they have prevailed, in every form of social 
 disorder, in class hatreds, international jealousies, in 
 pauperism^ and in war. , ^ 
 
 No less interesting, from another point of view/ 
 was the speech from the Chair on this occasion. 
 
 Mr. Milner Gibson is one of the few Parliamentary- 
 leaders still left among us whose names are indis-. 
 solubly associated with that of Cobden in the great 
 political struggle of the Anti-Corn-Law League. The . 
 part he bore in that crisis, and the enlightened and 
 consistent services which he has. rendered since, both 
 in and out of office, to Free . Trade and international 
 progress, gave him a peculiar title to 'preside at such 
 a gathering. ' , 
 
 Mr. Gibson asked the pertinent question, “ Why 
 have a Cobden Club which he answered' by saying 
 that an “ association -to commemorate the name of 
 tobden ought to regard, itself as a band of trusty 
 sentinels, to watch over the great principles which 
 he represented, and to see that they'do not retro¬ 
 grade.” , He then called attention to certain-indica^ 
 tidns among us of a tendency to fall away fpm the 
 true faith, which require active vigilance. ,■ j 
 
PREFACE^ ' ' 9 
 
 ; It cannot be denied that there is cause for Mr. 
 Gibson’s warning.' Even as regards our foreign com¬ 
 mercial policy, the retrospect of the last few years 
 is not satisfactory. The international policy which 
 Cobden set on foot by the treaty, with France,-in 
 i860, and which' was continued with remarkable 
 success during the succeeding years, was suspended 
 just at the time when its vigorous prosecution would, 
 have completed the circle of tariff reforms in Europe, 
 arid prevented at' its outset the reactionary course 
 taken by M. Thiers in France, It is true that the 
 treaty system has withstood and siirvived the attacks 
 of all' its enemies, and that the enlightened, and 
 decisive action of the' present French Government 
 ■ has averted the dariger which threatened the cause 
 of Free Trade iri'Europe ; but it may be feared that 
 the acquiescence of England in M. Thiers’s policy, 
 together with the attitude which has been maintained 
 towards those countries which feel theiriselves 
 aggrieved by our discriminating duties on wine and 
 spirits, have \ disappointed the hopes, and somewhat 
 chilled the. sympathies, of the Continental Free 
 Traders, who looked to us for aid and , support in' 
 their domestic r^formsr Mr. Gibson, indeed, referred 
 in terms of just commendation to the successive re- 
 
ductions in the Sugar Duties/which have been made 
 by Mr. Gladstone’s Cabinet.; and if these, as it may 
 be assumed, have been intended to prepare the way, 
 at an early date, for 'their total repeal, -the; measure;, 
 will go very far to redeem all shortcomings, and prove, 
 in its direct' and indirect effects, one of the' most 
 important reforms ever made in our fiscal legislation. 
 
 But nothing except the apathy of the Free Trade 
 party can explain the fact that, after all which has; 
 been said and done about Protection in England 
 during the last thirty years,'protective and discrimi¬ 
 nating duties; upon ’ four of the- most important of 
 the very feW conimodities which are still taxed on 
 importation—s'ugar, wine, spirits, and tobacco—should ' 
 still disfigure our tariff and discredit our-professions. • 
 
 Mr. Milner Gibson’s , remarks were, however, - 
 rather directed to' another class of questions closely 
 connected with the Free Trad^ policy.' Both he and 
 all the speakers who followed him adverted to the 
 reactionary tendency which appears to be increasing 
 in This country, ^to look to ,the State for the per¬ 
 formance of functions, which have hitherto been, left 
 to private persons, and to private enterprise. Such 
 are the theoretical proposals which ha,ve been made 
 for the partial or entire appropriation by Government 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 II 
 
 of the rent of land and of minerals,-and the more 
 practical schemes for the State purchase of railways, 
 docks, packet services, and other industrial under-' 
 takings.' Projects of this' descriptioirt have long been 
 only top familiar to econonlists of other cpuntries ; 
 their only .novelty consists in their prevalence in 
 England, and especially at a time when the toO-hasty 
 critics of'the Free Trade policy are confronted with 
 the, significant fact of the gradual emancipation of 
 the classes, which it was reproached with having 
 ; failed in reaching. But it is well that such a ten¬ 
 dency should be carefully watched and resisted, by 
 • all who believd that it is da:ngerous to the national 
 'economy, and to the progress-of society. 
 
 The State has been well defined as ‘^^the great 
 fiction by means of ; which every one attempts to 
 live at the expense.of every one;” and it will be 
 found that, in the last . analysis, all these proposals 
 rest Upon :the economic fallacy that the State, in 
 substituting, itself for private or personal agencies, 
 can - evade or control the inexorable law of supply 
 and demand. 'This it dan never do, except on one 
 condition, viz,, that, in superseding- individual re¬ 
 sponsibility, it shall at the same time suppress, 
 individual liberty ; fbr, after all, the much-denounced 
 
12 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 law of competition is nothing but the law of liberty, 
 and the essential condition, as it is the only’ per¬ 
 manent safeguard, of social order and democratic 
 progress. ^ 
 
 But it is s^id that State interference is invoked 
 for the very reason that there is a ' class of cases 
 to which the rule of fred competition cannot apply, 
 and in which to allow private property is to create 
 partial monopolies. So far as this is true, and 
 the effects of international competition render it. 
 much less true than is generally assumed, it must 
 be the result of lirnited conditions'of supply, which 
 cafmot be materially improved, if, indeed, they would 
 not be still further limited, by State proprietorship. 
 Whatever, then, may be the evil of partial mono- ' 
 pokes, it will certainly not be removed by the creation 
 in their place of the, absolute and far more dangerous 
 monopoly of the State. Private monopolies caii 
 always be controlled and regulated by the power 
 which creates or permits them, but war or revolution 
 can alone control the abuse of power by the State 
 itself: This would be so, even if the State were-only 
 another name for the Government; but it must be 
 observed that, just in proportion as the representative 
 system is extended, SO will it be more and. more 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 n 
 
 ' impossibly for Parli^ament to control the acts of an 
 • executive ,entrusted with vast and complex adminis¬ 
 trations. ’ , ' 
 
 A minister of Land Revenue or of Public Works 
 may,'indeed, be nominaNy responsible to Parliament; 
 - . but it is notorious and self-evident that the real work 
 of , such departments can only be performed by 
 permanent officials, who are. not responsible to Par¬ 
 liament,. nor in any practical sense to the minister, 
 who must always be completely at their mercy. , It 
 . is a suspicious fact that this- call for State interference 
 coincides' with a Widely extended franchise and an 
 ostensible advance towards a more democratic system. 
 Can it-be an unconscious attempt to escape from the 
 V consequences of this policy, and-recover for authority 
 on the one hand, what has been conceded on the 
 . other.? If so, it is a grave political -anachronism. 
 The real remedy for the drawbacks on Parliamentary 
 Government is nqt_to extend its nominal duties and 
 powers,- while virtually vesting them in an irre¬ 
 sponsible , executive, but to contract more and more 
 ' the functions of the central! power, and entrust the 
 -internal adrriinistration of the country, more and more 
 to. the• localj^institutions, which are the life and soul 
 of a free and self-governing people. 
 
14 
 
 •C0BJ3EN CLUB. 
 
 , It is impossible on this occasion to'do more than 
 glance at -a few of the forms in'which the tendency ; "r- ; 
 
 to wljiich reference has been made has manifested 
 itself; but it will be seen that they all involve a 
 dislocation of the forces which, in a free Society, j 
 regulate and restrain each other, and thus ensure the ' 
 harmonious'working of the body politic. * : ’.v 
 
 To take the case of pro'perty in land, 'i’he '• 
 function of rent is to restrain the undue pressure of - 
 population on the soil.- Where the State, or, in other 
 words, the community at large, is the landlord, it ; 
 must either (as it ought in justice to do) exact com- , - 
 petition rents from the occupants, or create a privi-.T 
 leged class of tenants, by which a particular portion 
 of the population, would , be favoured, at the expense 
 of the rest. > , . ,/ - 
 
 On the first hypothesis, not only would no benefit , y 
 accrue to the cultivator, but the constant accretions of ' Tt 
 rent which wonld go in reductibn of taxation, and to 
 the relief of the people at large, would directly tend ! 
 to aggravate the demand for land and the pressure of 
 the population on the soil On the second, the effect 
 would be simply to create again those very private 
 rights of property in land which it was intended to 
 destroy. 
 
'^How different is the solution offered by the Free 
 Trade policy? Instead 'of the futile attempt to 
 plant an indefinite and ever-increasing population in 
 a limited area, it -vYo^ldji on. the one hand, remove all 
 the artificial. obstacles to the free acquisition and 
 natural distribution of .property in land, and on the 
 other, reassert and confirm private property in land, 
 on the logical grounds, that wherever land is limited,^ 
 so must its occupancy ^e ;■ that ' unless the State 
 undertakes to regulate the increase of population, its 
 limitation can only be enforced by the opefation of 
 private ownership.; and that, while trade is free and 
 the products of labour can be exchanged for the pro¬ 
 ducts of the soil ' of all th'e world, it is not necessary 
 to justice or to the welfare of a nation that the land 
 . 'itself should be possessed by all its inhabitants. ' 
 Free Traders say to the people, “If you desire 
 to possess land and cannpt afford to purchase it at 
 home, 'even when all. distinctions between land and 
 personal property have been effaced, there is land 
 enough and to spare in other countries for you ; but 
 :if you prefer to remain at home, you shall be able 
 to obtain the products of the soil in exchange for 
 your labour. in all the markets ^ of the world free 
 from all tax or tribute.” - 
 
i'6 ' COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 But it will be said that a system which. enables 
 a large proportion of the population to possess the" M 
 soil in partial or absolute ownership, is essential to 
 secure its most profitable use, and the social and ^ 
 
 ■ '.'r.i 
 
 political welfare of a nation. ' i 
 
 - By no one was this opinion more strongly held ’ 'j) 
 than by Cobden, who regarded the present alienation 
 from the land of the body of the agricultural c'lass 
 as one of our greatest dangers. But how did he , j 
 propose to remedy the evil i* Not, certainly, by the • 
 nationalisation df the land, or by the appropriation ; ^ 
 by the State of a fanciful unearned increment of rent, 
 but by liberating the land, as he would have'Hberated "; 
 trade, from all impediments to free exchange. - " 
 
 If it be urged, as It often is, that the conditions 
 of society in England at the present time, the 
 accumulated wealth of the', Upper classes,, and the 
 keen competition fordand, preclude the hope of any 
 effectual progress towards Cobden’s ideal, by such 
 an orthodox reform as the assimilation "of real and ' 
 
 , personal property. Free Traders may well reply 
 that they distrust this sweeping'assertion, believing, 
 on the contrary, that by prudence and co-operation 
 on the part of the labouring class, in the face of a . 
 
 V decreasing ratio of supply to the demand for agricul- 
 
preface: ' ij 
 
 tural labour, much may be accomplished ; in any 
 case, they may insist that this measure shall at 
 least be tried, before, on the plea of State necessity, 
 recourse be had to such desperate expedients as the 
 regulation by Government of the terms on which the 
 land shall be held, and of the number of those who 
 live by it. . 
 
 The policy of Freq Trade is to expand and dis¬ 
 perse ; that of State proprietorship or Commi^nism 
 is to contract and concentrate. The first is identified 
 with progress- and civilisation; the second can only 
 culminate in stagnation or anarchy. 
 
 The case of coal affords a good illustration of the 
 operation of the two conflicting principles. It is clear 
 that the real and paranrount cause of the recent rise 
 of price has been nothing but excessive demand. 
 The only possible remedy is to check this demand by 
 a stern enhancement of price. For this purpose what 
 agency can be so effectual as that of private owner¬ 
 ship } What popular Government, in the face of a 
 fierce demand for an articlq of first necessity, could 
 resist the pressure which would be brought to bear 
 upon it to exert all its influence as proprietor to keep 
 down prices, and thereby aggravate the evil until it 
 became incurable.? But even if such a Government 
 
COB DEN’ CLUB. 
 
 i8 
 
 were found, the increasing rentals derived from the 
 progressive rise in price must be devoted to tho re¬ 
 mission of taxation ; and thus, by relieving the people 
 from pressure in another direction, neutralise in pro¬ 
 portion to such relief the check upon consumption 
 caused by the rise in price. i 
 
 But it is to the question of the purchase of rail¬ 
 ways by the State that public attention has , been of 
 late especially directed. It will be found that to this 
 proposal also, the economic objection which has been 
 stated equally applies. 
 
 Why is this measure urged upon us.? It can, of 
 ; course, only be urged on the assumption, that by 
 better administration, economy of management, and 
 absence of competition, the supply of railroad ac¬ 
 commodation will be increased at the same or a 
 diminished cost to th^ public, and with a profit to 
 the State. 
 
 Admitting for the sake of the argument this most 
 doubtful proposition, one of two consequences must 
 , follow: 
 
 Either the State will act on the commercial prin¬ 
 ciple, and charge the rates which yield the largest 
 profit, or it will not. 
 
 If it does, the profits will be devoted to the re- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ,19 
 
 duction of taxation, and the' relief,thus afforded will 
 not only tend to increas'e the demand for railway 
 accommodation, and thus increase the pressure on a 
 supply which is, on the assumption, limited, but it 
 will be- directly given at the expense of that portion 
 of the community which requires railway service. If 
 it does not, ' which may be safely predicted, the 
 effect would be even more opposed to sound econoniy 
 and public policy, as it would, by artificially cheapen¬ 
 ing the .cost of transport, of which the supply is 
 limited, dangerously disturb the natural equilibrium 
 of supply and demand, and be tantamount to a 
 subsidy paid by the public at large to the trading 
 and travelling- classes. , '' 
 
 Mr. Goschen enforced Mr. Milner Gibson’s ad- , 
 monition in some observations which' merit careful 
 attention. He reminded his hearers that, although in' 
 the political struggles in which Cobden engaged, he 
 possessed the advantage of having the masses on 
 his side, against the class interests which- were 
 /Opposed to him, the time may come in England, as 
 it has often come elsewhere, when his followers must 
 be prepared to face the masses. 
 
 This is an important truth, but it is not only in 
 the misdirected action of the masses, that the danger 
 
 B 2 
 
COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 lies. The wage-receiving classes in this country re-, 
 quire less and less every year the intervention of the 
 State, to secure for them their fair share in the annual 
 profits of the nation,; and it may be hoped that their 
 practical sense, and love of justice, will in the long 
 run save them, not only from Continental socialism, 
 but also from the errors and excesses which, by 
 driving capital abroad, and stimulating foreign com¬ 
 petition, must infallibly recoil upon themselves. 
 
 There is perhaps a still greater, because a more 
 insidious, danger, in the counsels of those shortsighted 
 politicians and impatient reformers, who have more 
 faith in the action of an irresponsible bureaucracy, 
 and in what they call “ constructive economy,” than 
 in the forces of freedom ; and who, abandoning the 
 work begun by Cobden and the League, in liberating 
 exchange from all that impedes the natural distribu¬ 
 tion' of wealth, would call upon Government to 
 undertake duties which it never can properly dis¬ 
 charge, with powers which it will assuredly abuse. 
 
 L. M. 
 
 Aug. IS, 1873. 
 
THE COBDEN, CLUB. 
 
 The eighth dinner of the Cobden Club was held at the 
 Ship Hotel, Greenwich, on the 28th of June. The com¬ 
 pany included several guests from the United States 
 and other foreign countries. The majority went to 
 Greenwich by special steame'r from the House of 
 Commons Stairs, Westminster. 
 
 The chair was taken by the Right Hon. Thomas 
 Milner Gibson. Among those by whom he was sup¬ 
 ported were the Hon. David A. Wells (United States), 
 M. Emile de Laveleye (Belgium), the Right Hon. G. J. 
 Goschen, M.P., the Right Hon." A. S. Ayrton, M.P., 
 John T. Hibbert, M.P., Sir Louis Mallet, C.B., Senor 
 Moret y Prendergast (late Spanish Minister), M. 
 Corr-VanderMceren (Belgium), Hugh M'Culloch 
 (United States), John Lambert, C.B., Lojd Arthur 
 Russell, M.P., Sir Charles W. Dilke, Bart., M.P., Isaac 
 Butts (United States), W. C. Cartwright, M.P., ProP 
 H. J. S. Smith, the Hon. George Brodrich, Richard 
 
22 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 Baxter, Hamilton A. Hill (United States), Henry 
 Ashworth, Henry Yates Thompson, Dr. G. Cohn, M. 
 Reyntiens (Brussels), T. Willerding (Consul-General 
 for Sweden and Norway), Hermann C. Wilke (Consul- 
 General for Germany). Mr. Thomas Bayley Potter, 
 M.P., occupied the vice-chair. Miss Cobden,, Miss 
 Jane Co'bden, Miss Annie Cobden (the daughters of 
 Richard Cobden), Miss Potter, Madame Bodichon, 
 and Mrs. Ashburner were present during the delivery 
 of the speeches. 
 
 The Rev. Edwin Hatch said grace and returned 
 thanks. 
 
 The Chairman, who received a cordial welcome on 
 rising, said, in proposing the first toast:- 
 
 Gentlemen,—The well-known loyalty to the Crown 
 and personal respect to the Sovereign which are felt 
 by all classes in this country give me confidence in 
 proposing to you the health of Her Majesty the 
 Queen. (Hear, hear.) The Queen has been a consti¬ 
 tutional Sovereign. (Hear, hear.) She has never lost 
 sight of the principles that placed her family upon'the 
 throne, and has always placed herself unreservedly in 
 the hands of her' responsible advisers. I propose to 
 you, therefore, to drink with cordiality and enthusiasm 
 “The health of Her Majesty the Queen.” (Cheers.) 
 
DINNER, 1873 . 
 
 23 
 
 The toast was drunk with the heartiest enthusiasm. 
 
 The Chairman then rose to propose the toast of 
 the evening, and said:— 
 
 Gentlemen,—It now devolves upon me to invite 
 you to mark our remembrance of Richard Cobden, by 
 joining in a si;icere wish for the prosperity of the 
 Cobden Club. (Hear, hear.) - 
 
 This Club was established in his honour, for the 
 purpose of promoting those principles with which his 
 name was associated. Gentlemen, permit me to say 
 that when I think of the distinguished men who have 
 presided at meetings of this society, a feeling comes 
 over me that perhaps I am fairly chargeable with 
 some presumption in having accepted the chair this 
 evening. (No.) Gentlemen, I,wish that the task that - 
 I have to perform had fallen into abler hands, that we 
 could have availed ourselves to-night of the services 
 of the attached and intimate friend of Mr. Cobden, 
 his able coadjutor and zealous colleague, Mr. John 
 Bright. (Cheers.) But that could not be. For my¬ 
 self, I was a humble worker in the great cause of free- - 
 dom of exchange, with Mr.> Bright and Mr. Cobden. 
 Well do I remember the period when the agitation in 
 favour of Free Trade began. It was then that my first 
 acquaintance with Mr. Cobden commenced, an acquain- 
 
tance that ripened into intimate friendship. (Hear, 
 hear.) It was soon after the Manchester Chamber of 
 Commerce, about the year 1838, passed the celebrated 
 resolution in favour of the total and unconditional repeal 
 of the corn laws, and the abolition of all protective duties 
 upon the import of foreign manufactures. (Cheers.) 
 There was something so broad and just in that reso¬ 
 lution, and it was "so fair to all classes,That it cbm-, 
 manded the approval generally of the thinking men of 
 this country (hear); and from that moment commenced 
 the real contest between Free Trade and Protection, 
 which ended in the triumph of the principles of 
 freedom. It was at that time also that Mr. Villiers 
 —(cheers)—brought forward his motion, and well (jo 
 I remember the impatient opposition my friend had 
 to encounter in the House of Commons—the “collec¬ 
 tive wisdom ” of’ the nation, as it is sometimes called. 
 The opposition manifested itself occasionally in inar-. 
 ticulate noises scarcely human—(laughter)—but never¬ 
 theless Mr. Villiers persevered with his advocacy 
 within the walls of Parliament, and, by the advociacy 
 of Mr. Cobden and his colleagues without the walls of 
 Parliament, the great cause triumphed. (Cheers.) 
 However, the darkness of those days has been long 
 since enlightened, and by no one so much as by 
 
DINNER, 1873, 
 
 25 
 
 Richard Cobden. There were gloomy predictions at 
 the time, and awful alarm at abundance. Great 
 statesmen trembled at the idea of our having too 
 much food in the country. (Laughter.) Land, too, 
 was to go out of cultivation ; but you will be gratifiec^ 
 to learn that from the last agricultural returns laid 
 before Parliament, it appears that increased quantities' 
 of land have beeil brought^ annually under cultivation, 
 and the collectors of agricultural statistics state that 
 an increased acreage is under cultivation in different 
 districts, owing to the reclamation of waste lands^ It 
 is satisfactory to find that these gloomy predictions 
 ■ have not been fulfilled, 
 
 ' Mr. Cobden was a very remarkable man. Some 
 people suppose that his sympathies were more with 
 foreign countries than his own. There never was 
 a greater error. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Cobden’s ruling 
 passion was the love of his own country, but he 
 possessed broad international sympathies. (Hear.) 
 His was not a narrow and selfish patriotism. ' The 
 blessings he. desired for his own country he ^Vished 
 to extend to other nations. He believed that nations 
 belong to a great family. He believed in the pacific 
 influence of commerce. He saw that it would at any 
 rate tend to break down those barriers which separated 
 
26 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 nations,, and behind which, to use his own expressive 
 language, often nestled those feelings of revenge and 
 jealousy and the love of conquest, which sometimes 
 broke their bonds and deluged whole nations with ' 
 blood. Now there is no name, I will venture to say, . 
 which is received with greater'respect throughout the - 
 civilised world than the name of Richard Cobden. 
 (Cheers.) I was put in possession this day of a letter 
 which shows the feeling in the Colonies with regard 
 to Mr. Cobden. This is a letter addressed to Mr. ' 
 Bright from a distinguished gentleman in Sydney. 
 The writer says :— 
 
 “ Dear Sir, —I send addressed to you at the House of Com¬ 
 mons a copy of a Bill which this Government has carried 
 through the Legislative Assembly to reconstruct the Legislative 
 Council (which is now nominated for life) on an elective basis. 
 
 “ By this Bill the colony is divided into twelve electoral 
 provinces, and the names of illustrious Englishmen have been 
 affixed to these provinces. 
 
 “ My present object in addressing you is to inform you that 
 the name of ‘ Cobden’ has been given to one of the new divisions 
 of the colony. The Province of Cobden (as you wiU see by 
 reference to Schedule i of the Bill) comprises the southern coast 
 district from Goulbourn to the border of Victoria. 
 
 “I thought you and other of the friends of the late Mr. Cobden 
 would be glad to learn that the Legislative Assembly of this 
 Colony have thus sought to honour the memory of that pure 
 and distinguished statesman.- Yours very truly, . k 
 
 “ Henry Parkes.” : 
 
DINNER, 1873 . 
 
 27 
 
 Now, gentlemen, I think what I have said respect¬ 
 ing Mr. Cobden will meet with your approval; but the 
 question may be asked, “Why have a Cobden Club ? 
 
 . What is an association to commemorate his name to 
 accomplish ?” Well, I answer that question- by saying 
 that an association to commemorate the name of Mr. 
 Cobden ought to regard itself as a band of trusty 
 sentinels, to watch over the great principles which 
 he advocated, and to take care that they do not 
 retrograde. (Hear, hear.) Mr.’Cobden requires no 
 club to hand his name down to posterity. History 
 will guard his memory. But we have heard that 
 there is here and there a tendency to fall off from the 
 true faith. Whether this be a fact I know not. I see 
 no sign of it myself—that is, no sign which is very- 
 clear and indisputable. Take our Government; have 
 they shown any retrograde tendency as far as tariffs 
 are conterned } (Hear, hear.) I think the Budget of 
 ■ the Chancellor of the Exchequer was in the right direc¬ 
 tion ; but though I speak in tlie presence of a Cabinet 
 Minister, and though I will express my approval of 
 the reduction of the Sugar Duties, I will tell the right 
 hon. gentleman and his colleagues that Free-traders 
 expect that sugar, as well as corn, should be free. (Loud 
 cheers.), . ^ , 
 
28 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 There are questions under consideration whi( 
 seem to connect themselves with Free Trade. Thei| 
 exists a tendency to encourage the Government 
 become purchasers of great industries, and to cai 
 them on for the country, on the principle that th^ 
 country will get better administration in this way’ 
 than it would if such industries were left to privatej 
 enterprise ; and that it is worth while to surrender^ 
 freedom of action with regard to those particular; 
 industries, for the sake of having a central and im-;!| 
 proved administration in the hands of the Govern-' 
 ment. For instance, take the telegraphs. I confess^ 
 that I am a delinquent in this case, for though I believe- ; 
 no man adopts more entirely the principles of Free',- 
 Trade, yet I voted for the purchase of the telegraph ' 
 companies, their machinery, and their wires, by the. 
 Government; but I have had some doubt .since, 
 whether I was right—I frankly avow it, (Applause.) 
 When first the Bill was introduced, it was a Bill to 
 enable the Postmaster-General to purchase the tele¬ 
 graphs which existed in the United Kingdom, and to 
 work them, and there were certain provisions as 
 to the application of the revenue derived therefrom; 
 but there was nothing in the first Bill which vested , | 
 in the Postmaster-General the exclusive right to work 
 
dinner] 1873 . 29 
 
 ■ telegraphs; A second Bill was, however, introduced, 
 
 . ■ under which no person in this land was at liberty to ' 
 work a telegraph by any mechanical agency—putting 
 aside electric agency—for profit except the Govern- 
 ; ment. (A voice, “Quite right”) Well, it may be 
 right, but it seems to me, to say the le'ast, to be 
 rather doubtful. It appears to me that it must of 
 necessity delay and postpone improvements in me- 
 chanical and other arrangements. ' Yesterday’s in- 
 vventions are susceptible of vast improvement. There 
 ■ is no finality in them. (Hear, hear). But when a 
 Government has invested £8,Soo,poa in buying up 
 ^ all the existing plant, if any one proposes a new plan, 
 the moment they have organised their staff and got 
 .. everything in working order, it is very natural that 
 ^|;.they should say, “ My dear sir, can you expect us, 
 .f.r|having just launched the country into this business, 
 to listen to your proposal, and completely change 
 all pur organisation and our system, and perhaps 
 iv inflict a great loss on the country!*” (Hear, hear.) 
 
 : . These are questions worthy of consideration, because 
 V we have in the matter of telegraphs surrendered our 
 I freedom of action. A gentleman may work a tele- 
 t 'graph for his own private use, but no independent 
 I company can now compete with the Government in 
 
30 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 carrying telegraph messages, however beneficial ;i| 
 may be to the public. I do not ask any one ti| 
 commit himself to ariy opinion on this question, bui 
 as it is proposed that we should go on in this 
 direction, and should, purchase railways and all sorts^ 
 of things, we ought to consider what we are about^i 
 and to take care that we do not surrender too much 
 of our ^freedom of action. (Cheers.) What would ; 
 people say if the Government were to propose to | 
 purchase the Press? (Laughter.) I could dembn-; 
 strate that'the Government could supply the public; 
 with newspapers containing all the news of the dayi 
 very regularly, and that money could be saved by^ 
 having only one newspaper proprietor instead of a| 
 great number. But when once we give a Government^ 
 a monopoly, and let them work anything exclusively,''^ 
 we contravene the principle of Free Trade, which is ;; 
 conipetition. (Hear, hear.) We ought not to selL 
 our freedom of action in such matters as are not final, ; 
 but susceptible of daily improvement. I hope I - 
 have not said anything wrong in this matter. I am a ' 
 delinquent myself, having voted for the purchase of ^ 
 the' telegraphs, so I do not come into court -with 
 clean handsI come be/ore you as a man who'^j 
 begins to think that the purchase of the telegraphs" ! 
 
DINNER, 1873 . 
 
 31 
 
 was rather doubtful in reference to the public interest, 
 
 , With regard to the action and the utility of the 
 Gobden Club, I wish its members would direct their 
 minds to this class of questions. 
 
 to foreign nations, though I am a strong 
 supported of the French Treaty' my opinion is that 
 the true' action of England is example. (Hear, hear.) 
 We shall do more to promote our principles by setting 
 a good example, and by showing our confidence in 
 our principles, than we shall by any system of reci¬ 
 procity, or any system of finding fault with the policy 
 of other nations, or of retaliation. We shall do most 
 by good example, by teaching and preaching, and 
 -spreading our principles wherever we can by per¬ 
 suasion and by reason ; for I think nations are more 
 likely to follow in the course of Frefe Trade by seeing 
 that England has confidence in its principles and in 
 its'own practice than by any other mode which can 
 be adopted. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 I have recently received a letter from M. Michel 
 Chevalier, who gives a very good definition of what 
 the Gobden Club really is. M. Chevalier says :— 
 
 “ M. le President,—I am sorry that pressing business prevents 
 ■me from being, present this year at the Cobden Club dinner. It 
 ■ would have been a great satisfaction for me to find myself in 
 
32 
 
 COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 thp company of gentleman whose reunion forms the reserve ' 
 battalion of Free Trade. ' • 
 
 “We may rejoice at this moment that the cause which 
 unites us has escaped lately a great danger. A powerful plan 
 had been organised to put down our principles in France^ and, 
 by the enactments of France, all over Europe, except England 
 where they rest on a foundation of rock. 
 
 “This plan seems now to have failed. After many attempts, 
 which left public opinion in suspense as to the issue, the retro¬ 
 grade movement seems to be stopped. ■ . 
 
 “ It 'is an event of great consequence for France. ■ Free 
 Trade was started by Government, and at first depended on the 
 support of authority against formidable prejudices and seducing 
 fallacies. Now, Free Trade in France stands bn its own 
 merits. Authority has been for two years arrayed with all its 
 might against the liberal treaty of 1859, in which our illustrious 
 and lamented friend, Richard Cobden, took so glorious a part. 
 
 At present this same treaty is looked upon by a large majority 
 as'the safeguard of private welfare and general prosperity. 
 
 “ It is a convincing proof that civilisation, like an immense 
 stream, carrying in its current science, power, and wealth, must 
 advance more and more in that direction, and that any effort to 
 oppose it must be defeated. In the future, if not in the present. 
 
 Free Trade will be the pass-word'of .nations. 
 
 “I beg you-rwill express my regret to the members of the 
 club in whose circle I feel proud to reckon more than one 
 friend. - ' 
 
 “ Believe me, M. le President, with profound consideration, ' 
 faithfully yours, Michel Chevalier. ■ 
 
 Paris, June 15, 1873.” /^| 
 
 (Cheers.) It is frequently said that Free Trade is. rl 
 
33 
 
 ' DhVNER, 1S73. 
 
 considered good for England, and not good for other - 
 " countries, and that the reasoning which has had such^ 
 weight with us ^vill* find very little support in foreign 
 countries. We always fancy—as every country 
 fancies—that our reasoning powers are better than 
 those of our neighbours. Now I do not believe that* 
 When I hear the statement that foreign nations will 
 not follow our example and be influenced by our 
 reasons, I am always reminded of the Chinese 
 traveller in Goldsrriith’s “ Citizen of the World,” who 
 was quite surprised that Europeans so remote from 
 China could reason with so much justice and precision. 
 The Chinese said, “ They have never read our books, 
 -they do not even know our letters; and yet they talk: 
 and reason very much as we do.” (Hear, hear.) It is' 
 . because foreigners talk and reason very much as we 
 do, that Free Trade,,by the .support of reason, and 
 of reason alone, will, if supported by societies like the 
 Cobden Club, become rooted throughout Europe. 
 I will ' go .farther, and say, throughout the great 
 country on the other side of the Atlantic. (Cheers.) 
 A great struggle is that between Protection and Free 
 Trade. It is a struggle of freedom against prejudice, 
 against interest, and against passion, but freedom will 
 conquer. (Cheers.) 
 
34 
 
 C.OBbEN CLUB. 
 
 There are sitting at this table two or three dis- 
 tinguished foreign gentlemen, from whose lips I hope 
 we shall , hear something .of the progress of Free 
 Trade principles in their respective countries. On 
 my right is Mr. David Wells—(loud cheers)—one of 
 the most vigorous and able writers in favour, of Free 
 Trade in the United States. Perhaps I am not^oing 
 too far in, saying that this gentleman seems fitly 
 designated as the leader of the P'ree Trade party in 
 . that country.' I have on my left M. de Laveleye, 
 from Belgium—(loud cheers)—a gentleman who has 
 written most ably in the public reviews, and especially 
 in the Revue des Deux Mondes., and has done much to 
 promote Fr^e Trade principles. There is also present 
 Senor Moret, a distinguished Spanish gentleman— • 
 (applause)—till recently Minister to this country, and 
 a, thorough-going advocate of the cause of commercial 
 freedom. 
 
 Gentlemen, I will not now detain you longer; but 
 I will say this to you most emphatically, let us have 
 no division amOngst us. (Hear, hear.) Let us be a 
 united party—united by the bond of the great and 
 beneficent policy of Free,Tra4e; and let us now join 
 with one voice and one heart in ■ sincerely wishing 
 success to the Cobden Club ^nd to the promotion of 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 35 
 
 the principles which are associated with the name of 
 Mr. Cobden. (Loud cheerSj amid' which the toast 
 was drunk with great enthusiasm.), 
 
 Mr. Goschen) M.P.j- who was warmly cheered, 
 saidr 
 
 ' I rise to perform what I believe will be an ea.sy ' 
 task; for I have to propose “ The health of the 
 Strangers,” who have honoured us with their presence 
 —strangers, in so far as :they corne from foreign 
 countries; but no strangers, in so far as they are 
 brother political economists, from their writings and 
 the position they have always occupied. (Cheers.) 
 Mr. Milner Gibson has le'd up'to this toast by telling 
 us who were present, and by expressing the hope that 
 we' should hear from their lips of the progress being 
 made by other countries in Free Trade; but, perhaps, 
 if we are as fond of candid criticism as Englishmen 
 are, or profess to be, we may ask them to do some¬ 
 thing more, and tell us what foreign countries are 
 thinking at this moment of the position and prospects 
 of the great doctrines of political economy in England. 
 
 We are here as representatives ,of the policy in¬ 
 augurated by Hichard Gobden ; and oiir chairman 
 has. told us of the triumphs of Free Trade, and has 
 spoken of the duties we have at present to perform 
 
 c 2 
 
36 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 as the sentinels of that policy, and has indicated his ^ 
 view of the modern questions which are connected ' 
 with that policy. I wish in a few words to'expand 
 that idea in connection with the toast I have to ; 
 propose. I wish to know whether foreign countries, 
 looking at this moment to England for an example, 
 are quite satisfied that we are sufficiently tenacious of 
 those great doctrines of political economy to which 
 most of us are so distinctly attached } Mr. Gibson 
 spoke of the purchase of the telegraphs. That was 
 an isolated measure. But it is an isolated instance of 
 a policy which is now being continually forced upon 
 public attention — (hear, hear) —and upon public 
 opinion ; and I believe there is , some danger, unless 
 political economists-come to the front, that whenever 
 the necessity arises we may find ourselves drifting 
 into a policy which all political economists must 
 condemn. (Hear, hear.) We, are not simply, I 
 hope, a club to celebrate the past; we are a club, I 
 hope, which intends to advocate the genuine doctrines 
 of political economy for the future. (Hear, hear.) 
 Foreigners may say that Cobden had one great 
 advantage on his side: he had the masses of the 
 people on his side against the class interests which . 
 were opposed to him. But the time may come, asdt 
 
DINNER, iSn- -'S? 
 
 has come in other countries, when political econoniists- 
 must face the' masses—(cheers)-—and I hope that, in 
 ah association where men who look with pride on 
 the past are gathered together, they will nerve their 
 courage to fight a fight which assuredly will come, 
 if it is not already, upon political economists in this 
 country, as it has come upon the political economists 
 oL other countries of Europe. Let us ask' the distin¬ 
 guished strangers here to-night, .who have fought 
 the battle of individual energy abroad against the 
 doctrines of centralisation and Communism, whether 
 they still find us as staunch as we used to be in the 
 principle that we should rely on individual energy, 
 rather than upon the interference of the State. I hope 
 that my friend on my right (Senor Moret), who has, in 
 Spain, so ably fought jthe doctrine that individualism 
 is stronger than the action of the State, will be able 
 to state that he is able still to claim the example of 
 vEngl'and in his favour. Our chairman has said that 
 it is by example far more than by precept that ' 
 we may hope-to influence foreign nations. Are we 
 yet an'example to ' foreign nations with regard to 
 upholding these principles.?- I trust we are, and I 
 trust that political economists will at least be firm in 
 this respect. Free Traders here have always been on 
 
38 
 
 ■COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 the popular side, but political economists must be 
 content to be unpopular in certain emergencies. We- . ' 
 must be prepared to meet doctrines where we shall by ^ 
 no means be carried along by the- current of public- ' ^ 
 opinion, which has helped us along in the great . , 
 struggle for Free Trade. In this matter each country 
 has its own difficulties. Now, in America they have 
 not got to struggle against the difficulty of those 
 tendencies to Communism which are puzzling the 
 ‘ political economists on the Continent. They have had 
 to^ fight the battle against Protectionism, and they 
 are sj;ill fighting a battle which has been fought out 
 in other countries. In Austria, in Russia, and in 
 many countries on the Continent of Europe, great 
 progress is now being made by Free Traders. In 
 Russia I have had the honour of being present at a 
 gathering of a Political Economy Club like this, and 
 it was most gratifying to see the great progress which ; 
 Free Trade principles are making there. I trust that - 
 Free Traders in other countries will find that their 
 task is becoming easier every day; and let us hope 
 that the allusion which Mr. Gibson has made to bur 
 Australian colonies is a good augury, and that they 
 will not only name provinces after Cobden, but em- ' 
 body his policy in more important performances. 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 39 ' 
 
 (Hear, hear.) Our Australian colonies have not been, 
 always fully orthodox Free Traders. (Laughter.) 
 But I trust that the letter written to Mr. Bright means 
 that they are harking back, and that they intend to 
 follow the policy of the great man after whom they 
 have named a province. (Hear, hear.) I hope, further, 
 that when they have named a second province after 
 . John Bright—^(cheers)—we may hppe ?oon to see 
 great improvements in their performance, and that we 
 shall not have much longer to lament that ,so gretit a 
 branch of the Anglo-Saxon community are not such 
 ardent disciples of our economists as we wish. That 
 our friend Mr. Wells here has fought a great b^-ttle 
 .in the United States will, I am sure, be the opinion of 
 every.one here-^(cheers)—-and all honour to him for 
 his attempts. I trust he has made great progress, 
 and that he will derive fresh courage and spirits from 
 his visit. to the home of Free Trade, and by his pre¬ 
 sence at a club founded to commemorate Richard 
 Cobden. (Cheers.) I need say nothing more with 
 reference to the individual merits and claipis upon our 
 sympathies and regard of the distinguished visitors, 
 here to-night. Let us drink their health most heartily, 
 and let us hope .they will be able not only to give us 
 a good account of the progress of Free Trade and 
 
40 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 political economy in their own countries, but that they 
 will be able to tell us that the example of England 
 still assists them in the degree that might be expected 
 from a country which has produced Richard Cobden, ■ 
 John Bright, and the other distinguished political 
 economists who have so greatly contributed to the 
 prosperity and greatness of their country. (Cheers.) 
 
 The Hon. David A. Wells, who was greeted 
 with loud cheers,, said in reply :— 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemep—In rising to return 
 thanks for the cordial greeting extended to the 
 strangers present on this occasion, I must, frankly 
 confess to a feeling pf embarrassment not a little 
 singular and in some degree painful. Not that 
 I experience any difficulty in determining what 
 I shall say; not that words ’ expressive of my 
 thoughts refuse to shape themselves upon my lijps 
 for utterance; but because I recognise that there 
 is yet so much of the old, selfish, pa'gan principle 
 accepted on the other side of the Atlantic—namely, 
 that no one nation or individual can prosper except 
 at the detriment or expense of some other—that this 
 very coming, together to celebrate the continued pro-, 
 gress of commercial and international freedom, and 
 therefore of necessity the extension of peace and 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 41 
 
 goodwill towards men, is sure to be interpreted by 
 not a.' few. of my countrymen—including some, I am 
 sorry to say, who claim the title of economists and . 
 philanthropists—as constituting in -itself sufficient 
 evidence of a conspiracy and a reward for the betrayal 
 of their industrial interests ; a sentiment and conclu¬ 
 sion that finds its almost exact counterpart in the 
 action of the Chinese> who some years ago murdered 
 the French sisters of charity on the assumption that 
 the establishment of asylums for the care of friendless 
 and orphan children could find its only explanation 
 in the practice of magic and the appetite for can¬ 
 nibalism. ' ‘ ' 
 
 But of matters personal it is not my intention to 
 speak, but rather to embrace this opportunity of our 
 gathering to report to you what, notwithstanding the 
 opposition growing Out of such sentiments, has been 
 the recent progress of the United States, in the direc¬ 
 tion of true economic theories and greater commercial 
 and industrial-freedom. 
 
 To the Americans, as a' class, there is something 
 irresistibly attractive in the word ''great!'. We know 
 we inhabit and possess a great country, whose re¬ 
 sources and capacities are almost unlimited. We 
 believe that We arfe a great people, and, as such, have 
 
great problems to solve and a great , destiny to fulfil y 
 and in order to ground out. and complete the. full 
 measure of our greatness, we have not been content 
 until we have provided ourselves with a great debt, 
 and have made our taxes, our revenues, our currency, 
 our prices, and our expenditures'great correspondingly. 
 
 But the department in which the United States 
 are at present great, in a sense m,ore interesting 
 especially to the foreign observer than almost any 
 other, is that of economic experimentation, which is 
 now being carried on on a scale of such magnitude, 
 and with such an utter disregard of either past ex¬ 
 perience or future influences, as to invest its progress 
 and issue with a degree of importance that can 
 hardly be over-estimated. , . 
 
 It will be impossible, in the brief time at my com¬ 
 mand, to notice all the 'economic subjects upon which 
 the public interest in the United States is at present 
 concentrating, and which are certain to become, in 
 greater or less degree, the elements of future political 
 organisations—namely, taxation, in its various forms, 
 banking, currency, the question of cheap transporta¬ 
 tion, the relation of Government to the railroad and' 
 the telegraph, the distnbution of Federal offices, the 
 admission of woman to the right of suffrage, the intro- 
 
DJnMr, 1873. ' 43 
 
 ductioh and treatment of Chinese labour, and the 
 like ; and therefore I shall confine my remarks to 
 those matters which are more intimately connected 
 with the principles for which Richard Cobden lived 
 and laboured,, and for the' perpetuation of which'this 
 association, called after his name, has been especially 
 organised and is devoted. - ^ 
 
 And, first and foremost, in respect to that greatest 
 attempt of. modern times to’ restrict the freedom of 
 commercial and industrial movement through what 
 is ternied protective or high tariff legislation. This 
 legislation, it is well known, had its origin in what 
 'were conceived to be the necessities of the countr}^, 
 growing out of the existence of the civil war; and 
 though not so understood at the time, it is undoubtedly 
 a fact that these very necessities were taken advantage 
 of, under the guise of patriotism, by the advocates of 
 protection, ■ fpr the furtherance , of their policy in 
 respect to certain special interests; for if -revenue, as 
 pretended, was the. main object of the increase of the 
 tariff, it is almost impossible to 'conceive a reason, 
 setting aside the hypothesis of profound Ignorance, 
 why the duties upon many articles should have been 
 fixed during the war at rates far above the point at 
 which, the maximum revenue was attainable.. But 
 
44 COBDEN CLVB. ' ’ 
 
 be this as it may, it is not to be denied that' the. 
 adjustment of the fiscal system of the United 
 States for the last ten years has been fully in 
 accord with the wishes of the most fanatical and 
 extreme of the protectionists ; that the average rate 
 of-duties on all dutiable imports during this period 
 has approximated fifty per cent.; and that as an 
 essential adjunct of protection the United States has 
 been persuaded to maintain an issue of irredeemable 
 paper money of more than three dollars for every one of 
 redeemable paper, that was considered adequate to'the 
 necessities of the country prior to i860. In short, the 
 .whole aim and object of this school of economists has 
 been to engraft upon the country a sort of Chinese 
 policy of prohibition and exclusion ; and their great 
 leader, and teacher, Henry C. Carey, of Philadelphia, 
 has not hesitated to publicly express his opinion that 
 the very best'thing which could happen to the United 
 States would be to have the ocean that rolls between 
 the two continents converted into a sea of fire so im¬ 
 passable, that if Dives whs in Europe and Lazarus in 
 Pennsylvania they could not under any circumstances 
 enter into commercial correspondence. (Laughter.) 
 And within a comparatively recent period also this, 
 same individual, who,'it will be remembered, aspires to 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 4 S 
 
 the reputation of a great teacher, has over and over 
 again expressed the opinion that the death of Richard 
 Gobden was one o'f the crownings mefcies for which the 
 United States had cause for gratitude ; for the reason 
 . that if Mr. Gobden had lived, it'was his purpose to have 
 again visited America, and that such was the universal 
 respect of the people for his name and-'his services, 
 that they would in crowds have flocked to his speaking, 
 a contingency especially to be dreaded, lest in hearing 
 with their ears, and understanding, with their hearts, 
 they should have .become converted to hi^ principles. 
 And that this same malignity, of sentiment is still per¬ 
 petuated, is evident from the circumstance that one of 
 the recent tracts advocating protection, which has 
 been printed in Philadelphia and scattered broadcast 
 throughout .the land, bears upon its title-page- as a 
 .motto the words which Goethe put into the mouth of 
 Mephistopheles, to the effeet that trade and commerce' 
 are in all respects equivalent to “war and piracy”— 
 
 “ Having the power, you have the right. 
 
 One' asks but what you’ve got, not how ? 
 
 ^ Talk not to me of navigation : ' 
 
 For war and trade and piracy— 
 
 These are a trinity inseparable.” 
 
 I know of but one 'parallel to such barbarism of 
 
46 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 .sentiment, publicly expressed among men claiming 
 tp be civilised, in this latter half of the nineteenth 
 century, and that, I am happy to say^ i^ of British, 
 hot American, origin, and runs, if I remember rightly? 
 
 . to this effect:— ' 
 
 “ Let laws and learning, arts and commerce die, 
 
 •But God preserve our old nobility.” 
 
 Under such auspices, then, and with the inspiration 
 of such sentiments on the part of its advocates, the 
 theory of protection has for the last ten years been en¬ 
 grafted upon, and made an essential feature of,^the 
 fiscal policy of the United States. The trial has been 
 full and complete—the circumstances of the country, 
 the disposition of the people and of political parties 
 have all favoufed^and the result has been nothing 
 but failure and disaster. (Hear.) In fact, I challenge 
 the advocates of protection, one and all, to name one 
 single favourable result which has not been more 
 than counterbalanced by some directly consequent 
 injurious influence; or to cite one branch of industry 
 which has prospered through protection in any other 
 sense than the tropical vine prospers at the expense 
 of the tree upon whose, trunk it clambers and twines 
 simply to paralyse and destroy. 
 
£>INN!EM,'i%t^. -47 
 
 If the , protectioijist points me to the recent 
 ^reat increase in the wages of the industrial classes 
 of the United' States, I tell him in reply that, mea¬ 
 sured by the purchasing power of money, there has 
 been a much smaller percentage increase in wages 
 during the last ten years than has taken place in 
 Europe; and that the purchasing power of the. 
 dollar which the labourer of the United States re¬ 
 ceives to-day in exchange "fot his labour is less than 
 at any former period of our history, and less compara¬ 
 tively than in any other country oUr compeers in wealth 
 and civilisation. Spme time previous to leaving New 
 York, with a view of being' able to speak definitely 
 on this subject, I requested a former assistant, Mr. J. S. 
 Moore, to ' make an investigation of the comparative 
 economic condition of the-United States iii i860 and 
 1873, selecting labour as the standard of comparison, 
 and estimating its comparative pilrchasing power at 
 the two periods indicated. The results were placed 
 in my hands on the day of my departure, and con¬ 
 stitute one of the most interesting investigations ever 
 entered upon in the United States.* This is not the 
 
 * Note.— For details of the investigation referred to, see 
 Appendix. ' ^ , 
 
48 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 time or place to enter into details, which I will pIaQe|H 
 in the hands of the Secretary of the Club for pub-^B 
 lication ; but it is sufficient to state that they prove M 
 that, in respect to the ordinary necessities of life, the^B 
 purchasing power of labour has decreased^ipl per^B 
 cent, in the United States since i860; w’hile in respec^^B 
 to what might be termed luxuries—^wines, precious « 
 stones, perfumery, articles of ornamentation, cashmere ; '5 
 shawls, etc.—the purchasing power of labour has, :' 
 actually increased, thus indicating that the general \ 
 result of all agencies during the last twelve years in '\ 
 the United States, has been to increase both the means \ 
 of enjoyment on the part of the rich, and the poverty 
 of the poor. . ; 
 
 If I am referred to the great absolute increase that 
 the late census shows to have taken place ' in produc- J 
 tion from i860 to 1870, my answer is, that the per- 
 centage increase is less than that experienced in the] "J 
 corresponding period from 1850 to i860, or 52 per'! | 
 ,cent. in the protective, against 86 per cent, in the ■ 
 decade of low tariffs ; while, if the comparison be 
 made frohi a strictly protectionist point of view, the 
 showing is infinitely worse. For the first and avowed 
 object of protection is to effect national industrial 
 independence, or emancipation from natiortal de- 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 49 
 
 pendence on foreign skilled labour; but in place of 
 ■ becoming industrially independent, there has never 
 been'a time when the people of the United States 
 were consuming so much of the products' of the 
 skilled labour of other countries, exporting so little 
 '•of' their own,'^and paying, so largely for what they do 
 import with promises .rather than products. Indeed, 
 the facts are so entirely without a parallel in commer¬ 
 cial history, that it seems to me I am warranted in 
 referring to them somewhat in detail. 
 
 Thus the total valde of the exports of the United 
 State? increased in the twelve years from i860 to 
 1872, inclusive, 1176,000,000, or from $373,000,000 to 
 $549,000,000,; but of this increase, all but about 
 $6,000,000 is referable to the following six''items— 
 bread-stuffs, coin and' bullion, provisions, leaf tobacco, 
 petroleum, and lumber—products three-fourths of the 
 value of which represent the gifts of God, and the other 
 one-fourth, labour of the mdst unskilled and poorest 
 ; paid description. And of the other six millions increase 
 of exports, which might be supposed to represent the 
 products of high wages and skilled industry, it is only 
 sufficient to say that fully one-fourth stands to the 
 credit of the single article of sewing machines. 
 During this period of protective-paper-money in- 
 
 ^ D 
 
COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 5 ° 
 
 - ^ ^ = ~ “■’-I 
 
 .fluence, moreover, the flag-of the American com- i;;: 
 mercial marine has been almost swept from the'ocean, 
 as is shown by the'fact, that while in i860, seventy- w 
 one per cent, of the total foreign trade of the United 
 States was carried in American bottoms, in 1868 the ^ 
 proportion had fallen to forty-four per cent., and for 
 1873 will not be in excess of twenty-eight per cent. 
 
 There is exhibited, I understand, at Vienna this ; 
 summer, one of the recent wonders of American in- 
 vention ; namely, a model of a Yankee shoe factory, 
 in which all'the work essential for the making of a " 
 shoe—the cutting, pegging, sewing, shaping, heeling, 
 and polishing—are performed by machinery, and in . 
 which pne man is enabled to do in greater perfection 
 the work formerly performed by two ; and yet, more 
 surprising than all, is the fact, that, notwithstanding 
 this machinery has come into general use, boots and 
 shoes in the United States now cost, fifty per cent, 
 more than they did prior to its invention, and our 
 export trade in these commodities, - which was for¬ 
 merly large, has become very inconsiderable. 
 
 Again, the large and increasing deposits in the 
 savings banks of the United States, are frequently 
 appealed to as evidence of the success of the pro¬ 
 tective policy in increasing the surplus means at the 
 
- DINNER, 1873. 
 
 .51 
 
 disposal of the labouring classes ; but the very first 
 attempt to collect and . analyse data has been suffi¬ 
 cient to show that this claim is wholly destitute of 
 foundation. The fact that the deposits in the 
 savings banks of the United States have increased in. 
 a ratio far in excess of the general increase of wealth 
 of the whole fcountry, is in itself a good . and suffi¬ 
 cient proof that the causes operatih'g have been ab¬ 
 normal, and wholly independent of the agencies 
 affecting national development; but in addition to 
 this, an examination recently instituted, under the 
 direction of the Labour Bureau of Massachusetts, 
 showed that out of the whole, number of depositors, the 
 representatives of “wage-labour^’ owned only about 
 thirty per cent, of the deposits, and that the increase 
 of deposits sO much commented upon, is derived from 
 the well-to-do classes, who resort to the savings 
 banks to such an extent, for the sake of security 
 and avoidance of taxation, that less than one-teiith 
 of the whole number of depositors in Massachusetts 
 own more than fifty per cent, of'the deposits. When 
 these' results were fifst made known, a little more 
 than a year -ago, the' advocates of protection in the 
 United States felt that they were in danger of being 
 deprived of, one qf their strongest and most, popular 
 
 D 2 
 
52 
 
 COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 arguments; and, accordingly, an attempt was mad^| 
 both on the floor of Congress, and in the Legislature | 
 of Massachusetts, to impeach their accuracy, on the | 
 ground that they were derived from the examination ^ 
 of insufficient and imperfect data. But a further,; 
 undeniable, full, and careful examination, instituted 
 during the past year, confirms in a remarkable manner 
 the correctness of the statement as originally pub¬ 
 lished, and proves that the whole influence, of a 
 thoroughly protective policy in a country like the 
 United States, is to impair the equality of the dis¬ 
 tribution of the results of production—to tax the- 
 many for the benefit of the few, or, in short, to make 
 the rich, richer, and the poor, poorer. (Cheers.). 
 
 If, therefore, there is a conspiracy, as alleged, on 
 the part of the Free Traders in the United States 
 and England, to undermine and destroy the manu¬ 
 facturing interests of the fqrmer country, , and make 
 her people industrially dependent on Europe, it is 
 certain from all recent . experience that the course 
 pursued thus far has been a singularly mistaken one ; 
 and'that if we are really as bad as is represented, and 
 really desire tO- effect the object charged, we ought 
 hereafter and henceforth to sustain the doctrines of 
 protection as applied to the United States, and at 
 
DINNER, 1873. 53 
 
 least do all in our^power to secure their maintenance 
 and perpetuation for at lekst ten years longer. And 
 I know of no better evidence of the purity of the 
 motives of British economists than the circumstance 
 that the most direct result of the application of their 
 principles to the United States would be to reverse 
 the course of things which has prevailed during the ^ 
 last ten years, and make the United States once/ 
 more Great • Britain's most formidable industrial 
 competitor for the mastery of the ocean, and th,e 
 , world’s markets. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 But, it may be asked, if these statements and . 
 many other similar ones which, if time sufficed, might 
 be submitted, are true, why has reform been so long 
 delayed ? Why is it that a people so intelligent aS' 
 those of the United States, who at the cost of so 
 much blood and treasure, have put down one system 
 . of slavery, have been unabfe to appreciate the fact, 
 that the highest right of property is the right to 
 exchange it, unobstructedly, for -other property; and 
 that any system which denies this, by declaring that 
 A may trade with B, but shall not trade with €, is 
 in effect but a 'reaffirmation of the old principle of^ 
 slavery, disguise it as we may, under the specious 
 plea of indirect benefit. 
 
54 
 
 COB DEN CLUE. 
 
 ,To these questions it is not easy to give a decisive .: 
 answer. But in general it may be said, that the 
 natural resources of the United. ^States are yet so . 
 great, and the facilities for earning a living so abun¬ 
 dant, that evils and grievances which in an older and ' 
 more densely-populated state would long ago have 
 created a revolution, are there borne almost without 
 remonstrance. In fact, as it was once said of 
 Hungary, the country “has been smothered In its 
 own grease;” and every man of great energy of 
 character and true ability finds sufficient scope for 
 the employment of all his faculties, in promoting his 
 own private interests, rather than occupying his time 
 with questions pertaining to the public welfare. 
 
 It is not to be overlooked, furthermore, paradoxical 
 as it may seem, that Free Trade itself is one of the 
 agencies which has thus far occasioned indifference 
 in the United States to the unrestricted application 
 of its pr-i 7 iciples; for it is not to be denied that one 
 of the prime causes of the prosperity of the United, 
 States, past and present, is referable to the fact that ' 
 Free Trade in its fullest signification has been extendecf 
 over the area of a continent, and now embraces forty- 
 seven widely-separated and industrially different 
 states and territories ; and that so ■ well satisfied. 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 55 
 
 moreover, are tlie whole people, of the truth of this, 
 that upofi no one point are they better determined 
 in their own minds, than that they will not permit the 
 creation or maintenance by any of the states through¬ 
 out the whole of this broad territory, of the slightest 
 artificial obstruction to the freest exchange of products 
 and the freest commercial intercourse ; and this, too, 
 although there is not a single argument which can 
 be advanced in favour of maintaining a protective 
 tariff in the United States against foreign nations, 
 which will ^ not apply with equal or greater force, in 
 respect to the extremes of the American Union ; the 
 difference in wages and prices, characteristics and 
 pursuits of the people, being greater between New 
 York and Texas, South Carolina and California, than 
 between New England and Great Britain, and Penn¬ 
 sylvania and Germany. And it is a very curious 
 circumstance, illustrative of the inability of a mind 
 thoroughly permeated with the doctrines of pro¬ 
 tection to rise to the sphere of large statesmanship, 
 that the late Mr. Greeley, who in his day did more 
 thin almost any other man to make ^protection 
 popular in The United States, in discussing before 
 and during the war the question of the desirability 
 of preserving the union of the several States, entirely 
 
56 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 failed to even so much as recognise, that next to jra 
 maintenance of the integrity of the nation, the greate^ 
 value of the union was to be found in the fact th; 
 its maintenance guaranteed free trade over the whol( 
 vast area possessed by the Union ; and on the other^ 
 hand, that the greatest evil consequent upon the^ 
 destruction of the Union would have been the destruc-, 
 tion of this freedom, and the establishment of a line 
 of custom-houses dividing the whole continent, and -i 
 stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But the' j 
 people of the great West instinctively reasoned 
 better, and unconsciously making Free Trade and % 
 patriotism synonymous, rose almost as one man with 
 the sentiment, that no foreign nation should ever bar 
 their access to the sea, and that the sources'of the 
 Mississippi, equally with its mouth, should know but | 
 one owner. (Hear.) > 
 
 But the mills of the gods, though grinding 7! 
 exceeding slow, nevertheless grind sure and fine, and V*; 
 
 the time now draws near when the judgment of 'M 
 the American people, long delayed, is likely to be ^ 
 so manifested in opposition to the doctrine of protec- 
 tion, as to cause it to - disappear for ever, as an 7^ 
 element, from the fiscal policy of tlie Government. 
 
 But this result, when it occurs, will not be due so ' 
 
DINNER, 1873.- 
 
 57 
 
 much to argument or individual effort as to the force of 
 circumstances, which are compelling thought and con¬ 
 viction amongst the masses, whether they will it or no. 
 
 Thus, within the past two years the United States, 
 as you all well know, have been visited by two re¬ 
 markable and terrible confiagrationa—the one in 
 Chicago and the other in' Boston. The first impulse 
 in both cases, as soon as the people recovered from 
 the shock of their disaster, was to petition for a. 
 removal of the tariff on the import of those articles 
 necessary for a reconstruction of their habitations and 
 places of business ; thus unconsciously testifying that 
 the general result of .protection was a diminution of '' 
 abundance—a premium on scarcity arid a restriction 
 on growth, that in the time of, calamity was scarcely 
 endurable. The request in the first instance was 
 acceded to o» the part of Congress, but in the second 
 refused—the protectionists becoming alarmed at the 
 inevitable logic of the transaction; but the circum¬ 
 stance, nevertheless, occasioned not a few to ask 
 themselves - why a course , of legislation that was 
 acknowledged to be beneficial to ■ those temporarily 
 made destitute was not likely to prove equally satis¬ 
 factory to those made permanently poor by reason of 
 other circumstances. 
 
58 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 Again, the main support of the protective policy ‘ 
 of the United States has hitherto been the manufac- . 
 turipg interest, but the manufacturing interest is at 
 last beginning to find out that, in the long run, the / ' 
 indirect'losses and burdens incident to protection far » , 
 more than counterbalance any direct advantages that 
 may have been supposed to accrue from it. One oY 
 the most nemarkable illustrations of this has been 
 "afforded by the experience under the high duties . 
 imposed upon the importation of wool and woollens 
 which range from 50 to 150 per cent, ad valorem. 
 
 The main argument made use' of by the protectionists 
 in defence of such legislation is, that these high rates 
 of duty were necessary to compensate the American 
 manufacturer for the advantage in wages enjoyed by 
 his foreign competitor. - 
 
 Now the results of the census for 1870 show that 
 in the woollen industry of the United States the cost 
 of labour represents on an average but from 17 to 20 
 per cent, of the value of the finished product, while 
 other 'investigations have proved that the maximum 
 advantage at present enjoyed by any European 
 woollen manufacturer over the American on the score 
 of wages is not in excess of 30 per cent. But 30 per 
 cent, of 20 per cent, is only 6 per cent., and it there- 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 59 
 
 fore follows that a tariff of this amount, supplemented 
 by freights over three thousand miles^ of ocean, com¬ 
 missions, and insurance, ought to be amply sufficient 
 to relieve the American manufacturer of anything like 
 dread of the influence of the so-called “pauper labour” 
 of Europe. But, as already stated, the existing tariff 
 on the import of woollen goods into the United States 
 ranges from 50 to 156 per cent; and that this is not 
 sufficient to protect the American manufacturer and 
 give him the monopoly of his own market, is proved 
 by the circumstance that the woollen industry of the 
 United, States was neyer in a more depressed con¬ 
 dition, and the proportion of the people who are clad 
 in woollen fabrics of foreign mariufatture was never 
 so great as it is kt-present. The explanation of this 
 singular phenomenon—for a .more singular one was 
 never brought to the attention of economists—is, that 
 the doctrine of protection in the United States has 
 •been carried to such an extreme, and has so raised the 
 prices of evefy constituent of manufacturing industry, 
 that protection ceases to protect, and the tariff, in 
 fact, in place of being protective, has become fearfully 
 destructive; SO much so, indeed, that by depriving 
 the Airierican woollen manufacturer of the free choice* 
 of raw^ material, it has made it as difficult for him to 
 
6 o 
 
 COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 make good and cheap cloth as it was for the Israelites -^ 
 to make good bricks without straw; and, as of old, 
 their cry goes up throughout the land unto the Pro- 
 tectionist Pharaohs, “ Why dealest thou thus with thy' 
 servants ?” 
 
 Another circumstance that is contributing power¬ 
 fully in the United States to expose the fallacies of 
 the protective system is the heavy burden imposed on 
 the movement of the agricultural product of the inte¬ 
 rior states through the unnatural cost of transportation, 
 which had become so great an obstacle in the way of 
 the producer and his sea-board markets, that during 
 the past winter grain in very large quantities has been 
 used for fuel. The farmers, who, if united, can control 
 the political power of the country, have, up to this 
 time, been inclined to lay the blame of the existing 
 state of affairs almost exclusively upon the railrokds ; 
 but a little consideration is beginning to make it clear 
 to minds of even the dullest , comprehension, that, 
 while much is undoubtedly to be- charged to railroad 
 mismanagement and corruption, the fiscal policy of 
 the country itself constitutes the greatest obstacle in 
 the way of cheap transportation. How striking and 
 abundant are the proofs of this, will appear evident 
 when I say to you that a recent examination has indi- 
 
L(INNER, 1873. 
 
 61 
 
 Gated that, if we compare the cost of moving a ton of 
 freight upon the Belgian and Massachusetts railroads 
 with the prices paid by each respectively for services, 
 fuel, and commodities; the American railways of to¬ 
 day do their work fifty per cent, cheaper than the 
 cheapest railroad system of Europe, while nominally 
 the cost in Massachusetts is three times greater than ^ 
 the cost in Belgium ; and that, how large a part of this 
 enhanced cost is referable to other causes than diffe¬ 
 rence in wages, is indicated by the further statement 
 (which I give on the authority of one of the leading 
 ‘ car-builders of my country), that the^cost of an ordi¬ 
 nary passenger railroad car in the United States is 
 directly augmented, by reason of the tariff taxes on its 
 equipment and material, to the extent of from $1,000 
 to $1,500 (or from ^200 to ;^3do), while in the case 
 of what are known with us as drawing-room or sleeping- 
 cars, the increase of cost is much greater. 
 
 Another even more striking illustration to the 
 same effect is the influence of the tariff on the cost of. 
 Bessemer steel. The chief merit of this great inven¬ 
 tion of Bessemer was not so much that it produced a . 
 new- article as that it produced cheap what was before 
 dear; but the American protectionist has declared,/ 
 through his legislation, that cheapness in re'spect to a 
 
62 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 commodity so indispensable to railroads is not de¬ 
 sirable, and accordingly has fixed upon its import a 
 rate of duty sufficiently high to almost completely 
 eliminate and destroy the 'greatest benefit to be 
 derived from its invention and manufacture. ' The 
 effect has been that the increased cost of re-laying a 
 single one of the great trunk railroads out of Chicago 
 with steel rails has been in excess of $2,000,000 more 
 than it would have been had the import of steel rails 
 been free, thereby entailing a tax in perpetuity— 
 reckoning interest at eight per. cent.—of $160,000 per 
 annum on the business of the line, which is mainly 
 ’ the transportation of agricultural products, and re¬ 
 quiring the total annual product of over 10,000 acres 
 of the average wheat lands of the West in order to 
 provide the means of its annual payment. It is not 
 to be wondered at, therefore, that "'‘Free'. Trade^and 
 farmers' rights ” is beginning to be the political rally¬ 
 ing cry of the Great West; and that, at a recent con¬ 
 vention in Illinois, representing an association of not 
 less than 100,000 farmers, resolutions,were adopted in 
 favour of the repeal of all protective duties on iron, 
 steel, lumber, and materials for the construction . of 
 railroads, cars, ships, and agricultural implements, and' 
 affirming, as a fundamental principle, that cheap tools 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 63 
 
 arid implements are essential not only to cheap 
 production, but also to cheap transportation. (Hear.) 
 
 I would also remind you tl^at the late treaty 
 between the llnited States and Great Britain was 
 not only a long stqp in the way of settling in¬ 
 ternational - difficulties, without the intervention of 
 arms and the useless expenditure of money, but 
 that it was also a great advance in the direction 
 of Free' Trade, for amongst the various articles 
 of that treaty there was none which gave more 
 'satisfaction to the people as a whole, or which is 
 likely to be productive of more important conse¬ 
 quences,''than the article which admitted fish, the 
 product of British colonial waters, free of duty into the 
 United States. For not only is this admission certain to 
 be a great boon to the labouring classes in the way of 
 affording a supply'of cheaper food, but it is sure tc 
 be the entering wedge for other commercial reforms ; 
 inasmuch as it will not be long before the repre¬ 
 sentatives of the great fishing interests'of the United 
 States, who have so long been deceived into sustaining 
 protection, will come to the conclusion lhat if there is 
 no longer' to be any protection on what the hook 
 catches, it is not for their interest to keep it up on the 
 hook itself, on the line attached to the hook, upon 
 
64 
 
 GOBDEN CLUB. 
 
 their boats, food, clothing, and upon all other articles 
 which enter into their production and consumption. 
 (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Under such circumstances' it must therefore be 
 evident that although there is af present much apparent 
 political apathy in the United States, the last great 
 experimental attempt to found a national fiscal policy 
 on the doctrine of protection draws near to a close, 
 having in the brief compass of ten years, with every 
 possible advantage in its favour, swept the^ commerce 
 of the United States from the ocean, destroyed the 
 export trade in respect of nearly all manufactured 
 products, harassed and vex,ed the entire mercantile 
 community, impoverished the agriculturalist, un¬ 
 equally affected the distribution of wealth, and by 
 increasing the cost of all the tools and elements of 
 production, imposed a tax on the whole nation so 
 grievous that its longer continuance has become 
 almost a matter of impossibility. 
 
 Co-equal and co-extensive with the mischievous 
 influence of the tariff had - been. also the influence of 
 the^ system of irredeemable paper-money which has 
 been the almost sole recognised national instru¬ 
 mentality for effecting exchanges in the United States 
 since 1862. This, however, is not the place for en- 
 
DINNER, 1873. 
 
 65 
 
 teri'ng into a discussion of the very curious but com¬ 
 plicated effects which the use of such a currency has 
 occasioned -upon prices and exchanges,* but there is 
 one feature contingent on its universal employment 
 so reniarkable that I cannit forbear presenting it to 
 your attention, and that is the demoralising influences 
 which the use of a fluctuating,and false standard of 
 value has exerted upon the character of the people 
 of the United States, and the nature of their business 
 transactions. To illustrate :— 
 
 If you buy a piece of ground, content to wait 
 twenty years and take the chance of a rise, for your 
 profit; or a house, and wait five years ; or goods, and 
 wait six months ; or stocks, and ,wait an hour ; or put 
 your roll on rouge et noir, and take the luck ofj a 
 moment, the principle of the operation is identical in 
 all. But the first-named operations are protected by 
 law, and the last condemned by all law, in almost all' 
 civilised nations. The first is accounted useful, but 
 the last hurtful alike to society and the individual. 
 
 Now the fiction of paper money in the United 
 •States has created the instability of values, the dis¬ 
 turbance of relative values, the sudden changes, the 
 insecurity of operations, and the uncertainty of results 
 which constitute the conditions of the.gaming-table, 
 
 * See Note, page 132. ■ 
 
 E 
 
and to-day the nation plays at rouge et mir in all 
 its industrial and commercial transactions. 
 situation is legal, but it is not the’ less penal; andV ^B 
 the demoralisation of gaming has become almost'^ 
 universal. Out of this state of things, furthermore,';^ 
 have come the characteristics of the period through 
 which the United States are now passing—specula- 
 tion, idleness, extravagance of living, discontent with ^ 
 moderate and slow gains, haste to get rich, and the v 
 spirit of trading as distinguished from the spirit of '? 
 production. Add to this the influence of laws for the '.j 
 collection- of revenues which impose burdens on one i 
 industry, for the benefit of some other; and which- 
 taxes one man for property, because he is honest, or 
 cannot conceal it, and exempts another because he is 4 
 cunning or willing to forswear himself, and you have.' 
 added to the disposition bf gaming, the consciousness h 
 of wickedness and injustice. In short, I think it ^ 
 would be difficult to find more striking illustrations .i 
 of the injurious effect of bad economic laws than is t 
 now afforded by the experience of the United States; >| 
 and the fact that we have been enabled to live under ■ i 
 them and still continue to increase in wealth, popula- i 
 tion, and development, is the most convincing testir 
 mony that can be adduced of our resources, and of 
 
DimfER, 1873. . 
 
 67 
 
 the future that awaits us when the present fiscal 
 policy of the; country shall be swept. awdy and be 
 succeeded by something better. (Cheers.) 
 
 But I feel, Mr., Chairman and Gentlemen, that I 
 have already encroached too much bn your patience 
 with what may Seem, to be a dry'detail of far-off 
 experiences, better fitted for the pages of an economic 
 journal, than for the'occasion of a social gathering, 
 and therefore I will ask your attention to but one more 
 ' illustration, to' the effect that the discussion of these 
 ' great economic problems involves an infinitely higher 
 sphere of interests than those which are generally 
 spoken of as simply “ material.’^ The motto adopted 
 by the Cobden Club is Free Trade, Peace and Good¬ 
 will among Nations ,in selecting this happy collo¬ 
 cation of words, a truth has been expressed, the value 
 and importa:nce of which, it seems to,me, the world has 
 not yet fully appreciated. The characteristic feature 
 of this age has been, the enormous and continued 
 -increase in the power of production, and the con¬ 
 sequent increase of wealth; and yet either'through 
 , the continued increase of population, or through new 
 necessities,^ the poor, as of old, continue to be always 
 with us. In fact, it seems to be a law of nature, that 
 increase^ our power and i ability to produce and ,ac- 
 
COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 cumulate as we may, mankind as a whole can hope- to 
 do little more than to secure the essentials of a mere; 
 subsistence; or, to state the case differently, and af| 
 
 ,' the same time to illustrate my meaning, it is only? 
 necessary to compare the proportion of the value of: 
 the annual product of a country so favoured as the 
 United States, which enters into consumption, with 
 the largest estimate of its national weklth, to see that 
 practically, after two hundred and fifty years toiling ■ 
 and saving, we have only managed, as a nation, to 
 get from three to four years ahead in the way of 
 subsistence. In other words, if the whole people of 
 the United States should now stop working, and', 
 saving; and repairing waste and deterioration, and 
 devote themselves to idleness and amusement, living;^ 
 upon their oy^n accumulations, or those of their s 
 fathers, three years would be amply sufficient to starve 
 three-fourths of them out of existence, and reduce the 
 other one-fourth to a condition of semi-barbarism,. ..J 
 I am also satisfied from my own investigations Ij 
 that if the entire annual product of the United States ,;.^ 
 were divided equally, the average income of each 
 individual would not be in excess of $175, or 
 per annum, out of which food, clothmg, shelter, -If 
 education^ travelling expenses, and means of enjoy- 1 
 
 
DINNER, 1&73. 
 
 69 
 
 merit are to be proA^ided, all taxes paid,/ all waste, 
 
 • loss, and depreciation made good, and any surplus 
 available as new capital added to.former accumula¬ 
 tions. But, as a practical matter, we know that the 
 annual product is not divided equally, and that, as 
 long as men are endowed with different natural 
 capacities, it will never be so divided. Some will 
 receive more than their share of the annual product 
 multiplied by hundreds, and even by thousands, which, 
 of course, necessitates that multitudes of others shall 
 receive proportionably less ; and how much less is indi¬ 
 cated by the circumstance that the most recent returns 
 of the Labour Bureau of Massachusetts show that in 
 this, the wealthiest portion of the United States, ' 
 where the labour is nominally better,paid than, in 
 almost any other section, the earnings of the head of 
 an average family engaged in manufacturing industry 
 are not sufficient for its support, and that the deficiency 
 must be supplied by the industry of females or minor 
 children. , 
 
 Now, if this be the condition of affairs in a region 
 of the globe where there is, conjoined with large 
 .wealth, a greater .equality in the distribution of 
 wealth than in almost any other, is it not clear that 
 the conditions , of economic progress are either iden- 
 
70 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 tical with the conditions of intellectual and moral' 
 progress, or so closely connected asvto be mutually 
 inter-dependent ? For how can you lift a man into 
 the sphere of intellectuality, culture, and morality so 
 long as the conditions of obtaining a living condemn 
 him to a servitude of toiUthat precludes leisure? 
 and how can there be mote leisure-without greater 
 abundance ? and how can there be greater abundance 
 without increased production, more economical using, 
 and more equitable distribution ? But what, some 
 may ask, has all this to do with Free Trade ? Simply 
 this: that Free Trade, in its largest sense, deals most 
 effectively with those elements of this great problem 
 which admit of being brought most readily under 
 human influence, inasmuch as, by removing obstruc¬ 
 tions, it provides that production shall be carried on 
 under those conditions which ensure the maximum of 
 abundance, and promotes equality of distribution by 
 preventing all hnnecessary interference and waste in 
 the exchange of products. 
 
 Protection, on the other hand, has for its essence 
 obstruction, and for its object scarcity, and, by the' 
 enactment of prohibitive or restrictive imposts, vir-. 
 tually declares that there is no brotherhood in man, and 
 that the interests of nations are naturally antagonistic. • 
 
 
 
 
DINNER, 1873. / 71 - 
 
 The motto of this Society i^ therefore, some¬ 
 thing more than a mere form of -Ovords, and I propose, 
 to you, as a sentiment, “ Free Trade,” in its highest 
 sense—the essential condition of abundance, of a 
 larger and higher life, of peace, good will, and amity 
 between the nations. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 M. EmilE: DE LaVeleye, who was warmly re¬ 
 ceived, then spoke as follows, in French-:^ 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,—Having been 
 called upon to reply on this occasion for your Belgian 
 guests, I wish first to express to you our grateful 
 acknowledgment of your cordial and hospitable re¬ 
 ception. I am sure I may further say, that it is a 
 great pleasure to us to be present at a banquet where 
 there are mel together such distinguished representa¬ 
 tives of the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon 
 race, to which the world owes the preservation of 
 political liberty. Englishmen and Americans, you 
 have just realised and embodied the second of the 
 . noble ideas of Cobden. What was Cobden’s ideal ? 
 It was the establishment of "peace and harmony 
 among men. He pointed out two means towards the 
 attainment of that end—Free Trade, which creates 
 solidarity and unity of interest between nations, and, 
 in case of diifqrences between them, International 
 
72 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 Arbitration. The first of these ideas is traceable,T 
 believe, to that immortal friend of humanity, William| 
 Penn. 
 
 notably in Belgium, where the chambers of commerce 
 are demanding not only the reduction of the tariff,, 
 but the complete suppression of all the custom¬ 
 houses, which would make of our countiy .a free port 
 —a mart free to all Europe, (Hear, hear.) 
 
 In regard to the second point, the Treaty of 
 Washington cannot be estimated at present at its 
 real value ; but I am convinced that posterity will 
 bless the names of the English and American 
 Ministers who attached their names to it. (Hear, 
 hear.) That treaty is one of the most important 
 epochs! in the history of our time. I am well aware 
 that ' we are still far distant from universal peace. 
 There were never more armed men, more muskets, 
 more cannons on the Continent. One might well fear 
 that we are going to devpur one another, and that 
 mankind, having started with cannibalism, is going to 
 end with anthropophagy. Yet this is but one more 
 reason for seeking the means of preventing war in 
 certain cases, if possible. 
 
 Well, corhe what may, let us at least hope that 
 
DINNERi 1873. 
 
 73 
 
 these two great branches of the same family, America 
 and England, will have no more -differences, but that, 
 on the contrary, they, will advance hand in hand in 
 the 'paths of civilisation, like two sisters leaning on 
 one another. Here is our consolation in the midst 
 of our fears. I will conclude, then, by asking you 
 to drink to peage between nations, to International 
 Arbitration, and more especially to peace—nay, 
 better, to intimate friendship, to the closest tie of 
 brotherhood—between America and England, those 
 two representatives and saviours of liberty and self- 
 government in the world. (Cheers.) 
 
 Senor MORET Y PrendErgast, who also spoke 
 in French, replied as follows for Spain 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,—As Mr. Goschen 
 has so'kindly referred to me, I should be wanting in 
 ^courtesy were I not to respond to the call so cordially 
 made upon me.. As I' am obliged to speak in a 
 language which is not my bwn, I hope you will 
 excuse my inability to express myself without great 
 difficulty, which will compel - me to make my obser-' 
 vations few and short. 
 
 In the first place, Mr. Goschen has invited me to 
 say something to you about the progress of Free 
 Trade in Spain. I must observe that in my country ^ 
 
74 
 
 COB DEN CLUB, 
 
 the name of Richard Cobden is held in high honour;? 
 and esteem; that we have done our best to carry; 
 into execution all the doctrines which he has so, 
 zealously taught us; that we can boast of having 
 carried out a portion at least of his reforms; and 
 that we confidently hope, to arrive at good results, 
 notwithstanding the difficult crisis through which we 
 are passing. 
 
 We have not yet advanced so far as the Belgians. 
 Conviction is neither so strong nor so general among 
 us as it is among M. Laveleye’s countrymen. But 
 we have carried out the reform of our custopi tariffs, 
 relying on the soundness of the principle on which 
 that reform is based, without asking for any com¬ 
 pensation from other countries, and acting under the 
 impression that what is so beneficial to Spain cannot 
 fail to be good for other nations, and that such 
 nations, England especially, will not refuse to make 
 us such reasonable concessions (in regard to the wine, 
 tariff, for instance), as we have a right to'expect. 
 (Hear, hear.) 
 
 The reform we made in 1869 was simply a com¬ 
 promise made )vith the principle antagonistic to Free 
 Trade—that is to say. Protection ; but it implied the 
 triumph of Free Trade, for the rernaining protective 
 
DINNER, 1873 . 
 
 75 
 
 duties will be gradually reduced every tWo years till 
 they are brought down to the point at which th6y 
 will serve for revenue only. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 But my right hon. friend has also connected my 
 name with another and far more important question, 
 and one which is closely allied to that of Free Trade. 
 He has referred to an opinion expressed by me— 
 though, I must confess, with some hesitation—on 
 another occasion, regarding what I conceive to be 
 the state of public opinion in England respecting 
 Socialism. I feel bound, of , course, to say a few 
 word^ on this matter now. 
 
 On the occasion referred to, my observation was 
 that, to my great Surprise, I had found public opinion 
 in England rathet inclined towards Socialist ideas—a 
 fact which struck me very forcibly. 
 
 England has ^ always been looked on by us as 
 bearing aloft the standard of liberal and indiYidualist 
 principles ; and we have always been accustomed to 
 support our opinions by examples drawn from the 
 constitution and institutions of England, and the pro¬ 
 gress attained by her. Perhaps ! am mistaken in this 
 opinion, and I should not be sorry to find that I am 
 wrong. I am under the impression, however, that 
 some’of the Liberals of this country are losing faith 
 
76 , 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 in the power of individual action, and wish to see this 
 power transferred to the Government Gentlemen, I 
 do not mean to deal with the question at the present 
 moment, but I must remind you that I belong to a 
 country in which the omnipotence of Government and 
 practical Socialism predbminated during three cen¬ 
 turies over all the examples to the contrary supplied 
 by other countries, and that we well understand down 
 'there both the system and its consequences. We- 
 have never yet forgotten that the system of an omni¬ 
 potent Government found my country in possession 
 of the greatest dorqinions the world has ever known, 
 with religious faith deeply rooted, with a well-deve¬ 
 loped and growing trade, with a splendid band of 
 men distinguished in literature, art, and science; and 
 that experience was so complete, that, after the lapse 
 of the said three’ hundred years, Spain found herself 
 without colonies, without wealth, without trade, with¬ 
 out glory, with a population almost entirely Ignorant, 
 and with a religious spirit bordering on fanaticism. 
 So sadly decisive has been our experience, and so 
 much has it cost us, that we cannot recommend any 
 other country to follow our example. (Hear.) 
 
 I understand very well that, under certain circum¬ 
 stances, people may be inclined to trust to Govern- 
 
DINNER, 1873 ., , 77 • 
 
 ment, and to ask for its. interference to overcome 
 certain obstacles; but I think that in every such case 
 public opinion should hrst consider whether the diffi¬ 
 culties to be overcome are pf such a nature as will 
 permit the agency of , the Government to deal with 
 them successfully; ^otherwise the^ consequence will ^ 
 always be that the evils which the action of Govern¬ 
 ment is called upon, to remedy will be smaller than 
 those caused by its mistaken interference. It may be 
 objected that the. powers, society possesses are all of 
 -the same nature, and their employment, be it by 
 'Government or by individuals, will produce the same 
 result. But such an argument amounts to saying that 
 the functions performed by the head organs of the 
 human body may be equally well performed by the 
 chest organs. Nothing can be mofe absurd. I think 
 that the progress attained by England is the best 
 proof of the good consequences which , beloqg to a 
 strong Government confining itself to its own peculiar 
 functions, which are to do justice without having 
 regard to> different and often contending interests. 
 (Cheers.) If you abandon this principle, you will at 
 once find yourselves in a state of great political con¬ 
 fusion. If you lose confidence in the natural powers 
 of the individual, and call upon the State to substitute 
 
78 
 
 COB DEN . CLUB. 
 
 its power, it is all over with the individual. Any 
 question—the purchase of the railways, for instance- 
 will be permitted inadvertently to form a precedent; 
 and logic will afterwards compel you to extend the 
 same rule to all social questions, such as the land 
 question, the wages question, and the educational 
 question. If Government purchases the railways for 
 the benefit of trade and the commercial community, 
 why not purchase also lands for the labourers, houses 
 for the operatives, coal-mines for the miners, ships for 
 the SQamen, and so on ? And if you consider it right 
 to agree to the claims of Irish cattle-breeders, and the 
 purchase of Irish railways, what arguments will you 
 be able to oppose to the claims of the poor working 
 people, who only ask for the necessities of life t For 
 we must bear in mind that all such questions are of a 
 similar nature. It may be a question of railways, 
 land, property, the price of coals, etc.; but if you 
 permit the inteference of the State in any economical 
 question, and demand its assistance in the shape of 
 the' national money, or by any other public means, 
 for one or more special purposes, y^bu must allow the 
 ■same thing to be done for all other purposes that may 
 claim that assistance. In a word, by so doing, the 
 individual initiative, the individual activity, would be^ 
 
DJNNER, 1873 , 
 
 79 - 
 
 first weakened, to be at last exhausted,; and the 
 enormous power conferred on a centralised and 
 'Socialist Government would likewise fall to pieces, as 
 the Spanish power did at the end of the seventeenth 
 century, through the exhaustioil of all its vital sources 
 of power, which, starting from the individual, are the 
 heal support of .society. 
 
 You know well that a nation does not possess more 
 religion, more learning, more poetry, more industry, 
 more wealth, than the wealth, industry, science, and 
 religious faith, that are possessed by the sum of all 
 the individuals in that nation and their families. If 
 . you confer the initiative on Government alone, if you 
 confer on it the power of taking the lead and solving 
 all social questions, freedom and individual initiative 
 become useless. Government will absorb all the 
 sources of human activity, and it will, after a brief 
 interval, be the only rich, learned, commercial, and 
 administrative body; thus causing the nation to be 
 transformed into a nation of individuals, without 
 energy, idle, and ignorant, only aiming at and^strug- 
 gling for official posts and preferments. (Gheers.) 
 
 Assuredly this is not to be your future, as it has 
 not been your past. England is strong, powerful, and 
 civilised, because she is composed of free, independent. 
 
8o 
 
 COEDEN club: 
 
 and energetic citizens ; and, such being, th 
 
 must always progress. Yet principles in opposition 
 to those I have mentioned would bring you to oppo-r^ 
 site consequences. Little grains of sand only make a ' 
 
 desert, while a huge mountain is formed out of solid 
 
 and massive rocks. (Cheers.) ; ’4 
 
 - Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P., who was warmly ' ap—^^ 
 
 plauded on rising, said, in proposing the health of the 
 
 Chairman:—^ ^ 
 
 Gentlemen—permit me also to say. Ladies— i' 
 
 (cheers)—the toast which it is now my pleasurable ’3 
 duty to propose is one which I, am sure you will . 
 all receive, with acclamation, I rise to propose “ The 
 health of our President of this evening.” . (Cheers.) 
 
 I am afraid to say how many years it is since your 
 most excellent Chairman and I first met together, 
 
 I am afraid it is nearly thirty-five years. That is 
 a long time to look back upon ; and I can safely 
 say that during that time Mr. Milner Gibson’s in¬ 
 dependent character in politics has been known to . 
 the whole' country. (Cheers.) There ‘ are a good 
 many here to-night, I am happj^ to say, who know 
 
 this of their own knowledge; and the members 
 
 of the younger generation, whom I am also gla.d to 
 
 see present, need not take the fact from our asseftion, 
 
. ^ ■' / ' ' DINNER, 
 
 for jt is a matter of history. (Cheers.) It will be 
 known to-the elders-how , Mr. Milner Gibson, as a 
 young man, being elected under Tory auspices in 
 Ipswich, found that Tory principles did not agree 
 with him. He resigned his seat, and was not in 
 Parliament for some time. ' He came to Manchester 
 in 1839, I then had the honour of meeting 
 him. What folloyved Mr. Milner Gibson’s connec¬ 
 tion with Manchester I need hardly inform an 
 assembly of this description. From that time to this 
 there has been no more independent politician ; there 
 has been no more thorough-going Liberal politician; 
 no ftiore thorough Free Trader than he. (Cheers.) 
 There are many hon. gentlemen around' these tables' 
 who will agree' with me when I say that the House . 
 of Commons is not like itself without Mr. Milner 
 Gibson. (Cheers.) We want him, gentlemen, as a 
 support to the principles which we profess. I hope 
 and trust it will not be long before Mr. Milner Gibson 
 is once more returned tb rejoin his friends in the 
 House of Commons. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 .Before calling upon you to honour the toast 
 ■which it is ,my duty to propose, I rpust venture 
 to express my heartfelt thanks to the Hon. Mr. 
 Wells for the admirable speech he has addressed 
 
 - F ' '■ 
 
82 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 to us^—a speech which, he will permit me to say; 
 is addressed not only to the Cobden Club, but 
 to millions of his fellow-countrymen on the other -fl 
 side of the Atlantic. (Cheers.) On this head I will - 
 not say much ; but if ever there was a proof of 
 mistaken policy on the part of a great people, it is^ -^S^ 
 in Ijhe fact that we never now see the American flag 
 waving where it used to wave, over her'.merchant 
 shipping in this country. How often do we now see 
 the American flag waving in our docks .? Why, I be¬ 
 lieve that when the Shah went through the docks the 
 other day, there was not one specimen of the Stars 
 and Stripes for him to see. (Laughter and cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Wells : I think there was one, Mr. Potter. 
 (Renewed laughter and cheers.) 
 
 Mr. PoLter : Well, gentlemen, let us be correct, 
 but I should like to se^ that flag in its fair proportion ; 
 and I do believe the speech of Mr. Wells to-night 
 will do a great deal of good, and I beg, in the name 
 of the Cobden Club,- Mr. Wells," to thank you cor¬ 
 dially for it. (Cheers.) 
 
 Permit me now, gentlemen, to speak a few Words' 
 lespecting the Cobden Club, whose anniversary we are 
 now celebrating. If any one is interested in the Cobden 
 Club, I, gentlemen, am interested. Under the auspices 
 
 % 
 
DINNER, 1873 . 
 
 83 
 
 of Mr. Bright, the Cobden Club was established in 
 i8d6. I do not say that all my aspirations have been 
 satisfied, or that ■ all has been done which we once 
 hoped would be accomplished ; but, at the same time, 
 I believe the Club has "done an immense deal of good. 
 It has been, so'to speak, a nucleus for Free Trade all 
 over the world. There is scarcely a large town in the 
 civilised world with which we have not communication, 
 and I do trust that,v humble as our efforts may be, 
 they have been productive of some benefit for the 
 cause we all have so much at heart. (Cheers.) 
 
 I know it is the wish of many in this country that 
 there should be established a new Liberal Club, carry¬ 
 ing out, in their -fullest extent, the principles of Mr. 
 Cobden. (Loud cheers.) I do not mean to say that 
 the present Club, with its literary and political basis, 
 need cease its operations; but I believe the Cobden 
 Club may be made the nucleus of something greater 
 embodying his opinions. (Hear, hear.) I believe a 
 good site might be obtained, and I should be most 
 happy to do anything within my power to carry^ out 
 so desirable an object. (Cheers.) I should like, 
 gentlemen, to see a great Liberal Club established in 
 London, far more Liberal in its management and in 
 its views than any Club we have at present. (Cheers.) 
 
f 4 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 There are many around us, and in various civilised 
 countries in the world, who are honorary members of' 
 the Cobden Club; and what I should like is a Club 
 that would give those gentlemen a home when visiting. 
 England, and the opportunity of meeting together on 
 common ground. (Cheers.) The motto of the Club,: 
 gentlemen, should be this—and in giving it I breathe 
 the sentiments of the motto which our friend Goldwin 
 ' Smith has given to us—“ Free, Trade, Peace, and 
 Goodwill amongst Nations.” (Loud cheers.) Gen¬ 
 tlemen, I have now nothing more to say than to pro¬ 
 pose the health of our worthy President, Mr. Milner 
 Gibson. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 The President, in returning thanks, said: Gen¬ 
 tlemen, we must not, I think, go back too far, for 
 many of us hold different opinions from those which 
 we held in our youth, and he would be a bold man 
 who would say that no man should be open to argu¬ 
 ment and reason. (Cheers.) Finality of opinion is 
 impossible, and I would not say it is a thing to be 
 encouraged. However, gentlemen, passing from that, 
 let me thank you most sincerely for the cordial man- , 
 ner in which my health has been proposed and drunk. 
 As regards the cause we have all at heart, let me .say 
 that, in anything which promotes that cause, I am 
 
DINNER, 1873 . '85 
 
 • at your disposal. Above all things, I feel we must 
 remember that union is strength, and we-must do 
 nothing that will in any way lead to division. Free 
 Trade is neither democratic nor aristocratic. It is 
 not a question of party. (Cheers.) We place our 
 'cause upon reason and logic. We do not want to 
 pull down one class and put up another; we found 
 ourselves upon that principle which we believe to be 
 beneficial to all classes., , I once more say, gentlemen, 
 union is strength; and if your new Club is to be 
 formed so as to promote that, then, gentlemen, I will' 
 be the first to support you. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Guests present at the Dinner: 
 
 Dr. G. Cohn (Germany), Isaac Butts (United 
 States), Hamilton A. Hill (United States), Gen. A. 
 Pleasonton (United States), Robert E. Randall (United 
 States), John Harold (United States), John T. Adams 
 (United Slates), John B. Stebbins (United States), 
 C. C. Johnson (United States), William- Downie 
 (United States), William Holms, Captain Gossett 
 (Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms), the Hon. Morton North, 
 Charles- V. , Anson (Commander R.N.), Lionel G. 
 Robinson, E. Ralli. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 New York, May 2'jth, 1873. 
 
 Hon. David A. Wells. 
 
 My dear Mr. Wells, —In an.swer to your pertinent 
 inquiry, whether the purchasing power of labour, notwith¬ 
 standing its immense increase in price since i860, has 
 depreciated in 1873, I beg to hand you the enclosed tables, 
 which, I am sorry to say, exhibit the fraud, in the most 
 glaring manner, perpetrated on labour by the established 
 political ecopomy of the country. 
 
 I have applied the purchasing power of labour to the 
 most favoured trades in New York. I have, further, only 
 taken a family consisting of four in all, for my model; and 
 yet you can see the result. It would-be a distressing picture 
 indeed, if I had time to go through say fifty different 
 branches of trade, some of which have only established an 
 increase of thirty per cent, over the wages of i860. 
 
 I now wish to point out some remarkable facts connected 
 with the tabled 
 
 First. The price of labour of i860 and 1873 is authentic j ^ 
 the former from official reports, and the latter from actual 
 inquiries made by me. , 
 
 Second. The price of commodities is also authentic; that . 
 in i860 is taken from official reports, and' 1873 I ^^.ye 
 myself ascertained, and will vouch for it. ' 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 87 
 
 Third. The commodities I have chosen are such are 
 not influenced by,the, tariff; and it ia therefore the 
 
 more demonstrable, that tariff and taxation, and a'n irredeem¬ 
 able currency, have imperceptibly assorted their influence on 
 prices, and, as it were, honey-combed the whole, system of 
 an equitable economy. 
 
 Fourth. I have not calculated the purchasing power of 
 labour on'such commodities as clothing, blankets, furniture, 
 
 , boots and shoes, spirits, ale, tobacco, and many odrer 
 articles that a family requires. > 
 
 My object is fully obtained by taking those indispensable 
 articles that are well known. ' 
 
 I mention this simply that you may not think I'have 
 overlooked the subject. - 
 
 And now I beg most respectfully to say to you, and, 
 through you, to that great centre where political economy 
 has its chief 'sdat, that the simplest and most convincing 
 'demonstration to be made, not only in the United States, 
 but in Europe, is, to show the depreciatioh of the purchasing 
 power of labour. The country where the shortest time of 
 labour will purchase the largest amount of commodities. 
 is Undoubtedly the farthest advanced in sound political 
 economy. 
 
 For instance, will the same hours of labour by a London 
 labourer working in the docks, purchase the same quantity 
 of fre^h beef, mutton, coal, and rent now, that it did five or 
 six years ago ? If it does riot, then, labour is either under¬ 
 paid, or these commodifies are inflated to a degree that, 
 requires rectification. The scale is decidedly wrong, and 
 does not balance. 
 
\ 88 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 It is not my purpose to go elaborately into the un-i, 
 mistakable depreciation of the purchasing power of' money 
 as cornpared with thirty years ago. That such a result 
 was and is inevitable is easy enough to account 'for. 
 It was not the influx of say 00,000,000 sterling, in 
 gold and silver, dug out of the earth, alone that has 
 . caused' the depreciation of its purchasing power. The 
 greater cause is to be found in the utilisation of labour. 
 ■For twenty-five years we have built in Europe, Asia', and in 
 America railroads which represent a money value of at least 
 ^1,500,000,000; to this add over ;^i,000,000,000 additional 
 national debts. These enormous sums represent sheets of 
 paper; this paper is the foundation of banks, actual money 
 issues, credits, bills of exchange, and, what is still more to 
 the purpose, while the world during the twenty-five, years 
 has frittered away over ^^100,000,000 sterling, in gold and 
 silver, in building and manufacturing, and diminished the 
 .amount of production of precious metals, the railway stocks, 
 and in many instances the national loans, have increased in 
 value, and go on increasing. 
 
 Now, with this plethora of money and what represents 
 money, the purchasing power must naturally decrease, and 
 my former question once more comes to the surface—has • 
 labour all ovei' the world depreciated its purchasing power 
 with the depreciation of moriey ? 
 
 I cannot close thjs already too long letter without 
 pointing oiit one striking fact—viz., while nioney has lost a ' 
 great deal of its purchasing power during the last twenty- 
 five years in the common and most useful necessaries ,of life, 
 it has actually appreciated in its purchasing power in almost 
 
Affendix. 
 
 all kinds of luxuries. A thousand pounds, sterling will no-tv 
 purchase more Cashmere sha-vvls^ fine wines, precious stones, 
 perfumery and, I belidve, even silks, rare ornaments, such 
 as Japanese and'Chinese, than twenty-five years ago. This, 
 of course, is owing to swift communication; but the fact 
 remains the same, and it is a- most remarkable ijncident. 
 
 I remain yours faithfully, 
 
 ' J. S. Moore. 
 
 Table A. — Showing' the Annual Consumption of Twelve Commodities 
 by a Faniily consisting of .Two Adults and Two Children, and the 
 Cost of the same in i860 and 1873 respectively, in the City of New 
 York-.— 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Quantity- 
 used during 
 12 Months. 
 
 Price 
 . in i860. 
 
 ■ of 
 .Money 
 expended 
 in i860. 
 
 Price 
 in 1873. 
 
 Amount 
 
 of 
 
 Money 
 expended 
 in 1873. 
 
 Fresh Beef . 
 
 250 lb 
 
 »io|c, lb 
 
 $25 -624 
 
 20c. lb 
 
 $50 
 
 Mutton ... ... ... 
 
 ioolb 
 
 gc. Ib 
 
 90 
 
 15c. tt) 
 
 IS 
 
 Corned Beef. 
 
 100 lb 
 
 7ic. lb 
 
 - 7-50 
 
 I2C. lb 
 
 12 
 
 Butter ... . 
 
 '70 lb ' 
 
 , i8c. lb 
 
 12-60 
 
 30c. ib 
 
 21 
 
 Rice ... . 
 
 50 » 
 
 ■ 6c. lb 
 
 3-0 
 
 IOC. lb 
 
 5 
 
 Milk 
 
 200 quarts 
 
 5c. quart 
 
 IDO 
 
 IOC. Ib 
 
 20 
 
 Coffee (roasted) 
 
 20 lb 
 
 i 20c. Bb 
 
 . 4-0 
 
 3Sc-ft 
 
 7 
 
 Tda .:. ... ...' ... 
 
 sife 
 
 63c. Ib 
 
 ' 3-15 
 
 80c. lb 
 
 4 
 
 Sugar (good ydlow) 
 
 100 Ib ; 
 
 i 9 ic. Ib 
 
 9-50 
 
 13 c. lb 
 
 13 
 
 Molasses.. 
 
 20 gallons, 
 
 50c. gal. 
 
 io'o 
 
 80c. gal. 
 
 16 
 
 Coal. 
 
 5 tons 
 
 45-50 ton: 
 
 27-50 
 
 $8 ton 
 
 40 
 
 Rent for- 3 Rooms ... 
 
 12 months 
 
 $5 month 
 
 60-0 
 
 $12 month 
 
 . 144 
 
 .Total fo^r 12 Months 
 
 V ' 
 
 
 $181-871 
 
 
 $'347 
 
 Increase in'price of Commodities in 1873 over that of i860, 92%.. 
 
90 
 
 
 COB DEN CLUB: 
 
 Table 'Q.—ShowUg the Earnings of Eight different -Mechanics in tLe i 
 
 TftAr> n'l^A t5^7'2 rps'f)Er.tivelv •— ; ' V» 
 
 
 i860. 
 
 *873. 
 
 Increase of 
 
 Occupation. 
 
 Per Day. 
 Earnings. 
 
 Per Day. 
 Earnings. 
 
 Average Wages 
 in 1873. 
 
 Gabihet-maker. 
 
 |i7S 
 
 $2-75 
 
 ; -Iki 
 ■ -hi 
 
 Cooper . 
 
 1-65 
 
 275 
 
 •:fl 
 
 Carpenter . 
 
 • 175. 
 
 3-0 
 
 
 Painter . 
 
 177 
 
 3-0 
 
 s 
 
 'Shoemaker. 
 
 1-50 
 
 2-35 
 
 
 Tailor. 
 
 1-66 
 
 2-50 
 
 
 Tanner . 
 
 17s 
 
 2-65 
 
 
 Tin-smith. 
 
 175 
 
 27s 
 
 
 
 1 |i 3-58 
 
 I2175 
 
 Fraction over 
 6o%'. 
 
 Table C. —Showing the Number of Days’ Labour it required the 
 different-named Mechanics to procure the Twelve Commodities in 
 
 Occupations. 
 
 Number of 
 Days’ Labour 
 to procure, the 
 12 Commodities 
 in i860. 
 
 r Number of 
 Days’ Labour 
 to procure the 
 12 Commodities 
 in 1873. 
 
 Increase of ' 
 Days’ Labour’ 
 in 1873 
 over i860. 
 
 
 Days. 
 
 Hrs. 
 
 Days. 
 
 Hrs. 
 
 Days 
 
 . Hr.s. 
 
 Cabinet-makerls . ' ... 
 
 103 
 
 9 ^ 
 
 126 
 
 2 
 
 1 22 
 
 2f 
 
 Coopers ... ' . 
 
 no 
 
 2 
 
 126 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 Ca:rpenters . 
 
 103 
 
 9 t 
 
 HS 
 
 6f 
 
 II 
 
 7 i '■ 
 
 Painters .. ... 
 
 102 
 
 ‘ 
 
 IIS 
 
 
 12 
 
 9 i 
 
 Shoemakers . 
 
 I 2 I 
 
 2^ 
 
 147 
 
 6 | 
 
 26 
 
 4i 
 
 Tailors . 
 
 109 
 
 6 
 
 138 
 
 8 
 
 . 29 
 
 2 
 
 Tanners . 
 
 103 
 
 9 k 
 
 130 
 
 9 i 
 
 . 27 
 
 0 
 
 Tin-smiths . , ... 
 
 103 
 
 9 k 
 
 126 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 2| 
 
 Total . 
 
 859 
 
 5 
 
 1027 
 
 
 167 
 
 8i 
 
 ./■'I 
 
 Average depreciation of purchasing power of labour in 1873 
 to that of i860, 19^^%. 
 
 ' RECAPITULATION. . ' 
 
 Average increase of Cost of Twelve Articles in 1873 over that of i860, 92% 
 
 Average increase of Wages of Eight Artisans in 1873 over i860, 60%. 
 
 Average increase Days’ Labour in 1873 to earn the Twelve Necessaries, to. i860, igi^,. 
 
CoBDEN Club. 
 
 list of MEMBER'S. 
 
 CORRECTED TO. AUGUST 15TH, 1873. 
 
 The Club now consists* of 508 ordinary members, as w 
 
 memba., »ost of who» ,« fo»g.=,a of d—.. 
 
 list comprises 180 members of the Legislature. 
 
 ■ Names in Italics are time of Honorary Members. 
 
 '* present at the Annual Dinner. 
 
 The following Gentlemeh form the Committee:— 
 
 Mr. Wm. Henry Ashurst. 
 
 Right Hon. W.‘T:. Baxter, M.P._ 
 
 Mr. Richard Baxter,, Treasurer. 
 
 Sir ThQMAS Bazley, Bart., M.P. 
 
 Mr. Somerset A. Beaumont, M.P. 
 
 Mr. Jacob Bright, M.P. 
 
 ’ Mr. Alexander H. Brown, M.P. 
 
 Mr. James Caird, C.B. 
 
 Mr. H. Campbell-Bannerman, M.P. 
 
 Mr. W. C. Cartwright, M,P. ' , 
 
92 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 Sir ,C. W. Dilke, Bart., M.P. 
 
 Mr. M. E. Grant Duff, M.P. 
 
 Mr. Richard C. Fisher. 
 
 Mr. C. Wren Hoskyns, M.P. 
 
 Lord Houghton. 
 
 Mr. A. C. Humphreys. 
 
 Mr. Alfred Illingworth, M.P. 
 
 Mr. John Lambert, C.B. 
 
 Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Bart., M.P. 
 Mr. E. A. Leatham, M.P. 
 
 Mr. T. E. Cliffe Leslie. 
 
 Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P. 
 
 Sir Louis MallW, C.B. 
 
 Mr. R. B. D. Morier, C.B. 
 
 Mr. T. Bayley Potter, M.P., Hon. S 
 Mr. J. W. PkOBYN. 
 
 Professor J. E. Thorold ROGERS. - 
 Lord Arthur J. E. Russell, M.P. 
 Mr. Peter Rylands, M.P. 
 
 Mr. G. O. Trevelyan, M.P. 
 
 A. 
 
 1866 Aberdare, Lord. 
 
 1872 Acland, Sir Thomas Dyke, Bart, M.P. 
 1871 Acton, Lord. 
 
LIST QF MEMBERS. ' 
 
 93 
 
 1870 Adam, Right Hon. W. P., M.P. 
 
 1868 Adams, C. F., U.S. America. 
 
 1873 Adams, Henry, U.S'. America. 
 
 1869 Adams, y. Quincy, U.S.-America. 
 1873 Agnew,. Charles Swain. 
 
 1869 Agnew, J. Henry. 
 
 1873 *A'gnew, Thomas. 
 
 1869 *Agnew, William. 
 
 1867 Airlie, Earl of, K.T. 
 
 1870 Akroyd, Lieut.-Col. Edward, M.P. 
 1872 *Allpn, Stafford. 
 
 1866 Allen, W. Shepherd, M.P, 
 
 1871 *Allhusen, Christian. 
 
 1866 Amberley, Viscount. 
 
 1872 Anderson, M. B., U.S. America. 
 
 1867 Andrew, Charles. 
 
 1870 *Anning, James. 
 
 1873 Anstruther, Sir R., Bart., M.P. 
 1866 Argyll, Duke of, K.T. 
 
 1866 *Armitage, Benjamin. 
 
 1868 Armitage, Sir Elkanah. 
 
 1871 Armstrong, David B. 
 
 1868 Ashton, Philip James. 
 
 1868 ' Ashton, Robert. 
 
 1866' Ashton, Thomas. 
 
COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 1866 Ashurst, Wm. Henry. 
 
 1873 *Ashworth, Henry. 
 
 1869 Atkinson, Edward, U.S. America. 
 1868 Avison, Thomas. 
 
 1870 *Ayrtpn, Right Hon. A. S., M.P. 
 
 B. 
 
 1869 Backhouse, Edmund, M.P. 
 
 1871 *Baines, E. Talbot. 
 
 1873 Balfour, Sir George, K.C.B., M.P. 
 
 1872 Ball, Thomas. 
 
 1870 Bancroft, His Excellency the Hon. George, U.S 
 , America. 
 
 1873 Barclay, James W., M.P. 
 
 1873 Barlow, Samuel. 
 
 1867 ^arry, Right Hon. Charles R. 
 
 1868 Bass, M. Arthur, M.P. 
 
 1866 Bass, M. T., M,P. 
 
 1867 Bastard, Thomas Horlock. ' 
 
 1869 Batchelor, T. B. 
 
 1866 ^Baxter, Richard. 
 
 1866 Baxter, Right Hon. W. E., M.P. 
 
 1866 Bazley, Sir Thomas, Bart., M.P. 
 
 1867 Beal, James. 
 
 1866 Beales, Edmond. 
 
' ■ ' LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 Beaumont, Somerset A., M.P. 
 
 Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, U.S. America.. 
 Behr, Baron, Germany. 
 
 Behrens, Jacob. 
 
 , *Bencke, A. H. . . , 
 
 ; *Bennett, Sit John. 
 
 ) Benson, Robert. 
 
 ) Bentall, E. H., M.R 
 ) ■ Benzon, E. L. 
 
 \ Bennich, M. Axel, Sweden. 
 
 ) Besobrasof, M. W., Russia. 
 
 ) Bigelow, Hon. John, U.S. America. 
 
 1 Blakeley, William. 
 
 5 Blennerhasset, Sir R., Bart., M.P. 
 
 3 Blennerhasset, R. P., M.P. 
 
 D Blewitt, William. ' ^ 
 
 3 Bolckow, H. W. F., M.P. ' 
 
 3 Bolles, Albert S., U.S. America. 
 
 2 Bonnet, M. Victor, France. 
 
 7 Bowen, Charles., 
 
 2 Bowles, Samuel, U.S. America. 
 
 3 Brady, JDr. John, M.P. 
 
 5 Brand, Henry R., M.P. 
 
 7 Brand, Right Hon. H. B. W., M.!P. 
 
 I Brandis, Dr., Germany. ' 
 
96 
 
 COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 1869 Brassey, Henry A., M.P. ' 
 
 1866. Brassey, Thomas, M.P. 
 
 1871 Braim, Dr. Carl, Germany. 
 
 1872 Briggs, Thomas. 
 
 1867 Bright, Sir Charles T. 
 
 1866 *Bright, Jacob, M.P. 
 
 i'866 Bright, Right Hon. John, M.P. 
 
 1871 Bristowe, S. B., M.P. 
 
 1867 *Broadwater, Robert. 
 
 1870 Brocklehurst, W. C., M.P. 
 
 1872 Broch, Professor, Norway. 
 
 1866 *Brodrick, Hon. G. C. 
 
 1869 Brogden, Alexander, M.P. 
 
 1872 Broglio, Signor,-Italy. 
 
 1869 Brown, Alexander Hargreaves, M.P. 
 
 1871 Brown, George. 
 
 1872 Brown, James C. 
 
 1872 Brown, James M., U.S. America. 
 1872 Brown, John Crosby, U.S. America. 
 
 1871 Browne, Henry Doughty. 
 
 1870 Browning, Oscar. 
 
 1872 Bruce, Mr. Justice. 
 
 1871 *Bryant, Jesse. 
 
 1869 Bryant, W. C., U.S. America. 
 
 1871 Buckley, Abel. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 97 
 
 1866 *Buckley, Nathaniel, M.P. 
 
 1870 Bullock, William Henry. 
 
 1870 Bunsen, Herr George, Germany. 
 
 1873 ^ Butenval, Comte de, Framce. 
 
 1872 * Butts, Isaac, U.S. America. 
 
 1872' Buxton, Edward North. 
 
 'C. 
 
 1873 Caine, W. S. 
 
 1866 Caird, James, C.B. 
 
 1867 Caldicott, Rev. J. W. 
 
 1870 Campbell-Bannerman, Henry, M.P. 
 
 1871 Camperdown, Earl. 
 
 1873' *Campion, Frederick. 
 
 1866 Candlish,'John, M.P. > 
 
 1871 Carr, David Richardson. 
 
 1870 *Carr, Jonathan T.. . 
 
 1872 Carrao, Senor Goao dct Silva, Brazil. 
 1870 Carter, R. M., M.P. 
 
 1868 Carter, Samuel. 
 
 1869 *Cartwright, W. C., M.P. 
 
 1870 Casa-Laiglesia, Marquess de, Spain. 
 1870 Castelar, Senor Emilio, Spain. 
 
 1866 Cavendish, Lord Frederick, M.P, 
 1869 ChadAvick, David, M.P. 
 
COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 1871 Challemel-Lacour, M. Paul, France. 
 
 1871 Charlemont, Earl, ' 
 
 1871 Charles, Robert. 
 
 1866 Chevalier, M. Michel, France. 
 
 1866 Cheetham, John, 
 
 1866 Cheetham, J. F. 
 
 1866 Childers, Right Hon. Hugh C. E., M.P. 
 1871 Clarendon, Earl. 
 
 1870 Clayden, P. W. 
 
 1870 Coats, Sir Peter. 
 
 1870 Cobb, Rhodes. 
 
 1871 Cobb, T. R. 
 
 1866 Coleridge, Sir J. D., Q.C., M.P. 
 
 1866 Collier, Right Hon. Sir R. P. 
 
 1867 Colman, J. J., M.P. 
 
 1871 Colman, Jeremiah. 
 
 1867 *Colvile, Charles Robert. 
 
 1869 ■ Coote, Thomas. 
 
 1871 Corrie, William. 
 
 1870 ^Corr-VanderMceren, M. 
 
 1870 Corsi, Signor Tommaso, Italy. 
 
 1869 Couvreur, M. Auguste, Belgium. 
 
 1866 Cowen. Sir Joseph, M.P. 
 
 1872 Cowper, Sir Charles. 
 
 1872 Cox, Jacob D., U.S. America. 
 
I'-':;" 
 
 LIST OF MEMBERS.. 
 
 Cox, Hon. Saimt,el S^, U.S. America. 
 
 1869. Cracroftj Bernard. 
 1867 *Crdmpton, Charles. , 
 1867. *Crooke, John. 
 
 1873, Cross,, Edward. 
 
 1873 , Cross, J. Kynaston. 
 1873 Grpssley, John. . 
 1873 *Curtis, R. H. 
 
 D. 
 
 1871 Dale, David. ' ' ^ 
 
 1870 Dalhousie, Earl, G.C.B., K.T. 
 
 1871 Dalrymple','Donald, M.P. 
 
 1869 *l 3 ashwood, Captain Fred. L. . 
 
 1871, *Davies, Richard, M.P. 
 
 1870 Day, Edward. 
 
 1872 Decazes, Due de, France. 
 
 1872 DDichthal, M. Gustave, France. . 
 
 1870 Deheselle, M. Victory Belgium. • . 
 
 1872 Delbruck, Staats Minister, Germany. 
 
 1870 Delahunty, Janies,. M.P. 
 
 1870 De Molinari, M. G., France. : 
 
 1^73 Denny, E, Maynard. 
 
 1872 Desewffy, Cmnt Aurele, Austro-Hungarian 
 Erdpire. , 
 
 S.’ 
 
 f 
 
 G 2 ’ 
 
100 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 I 8 y 2 Deslandes, Sefior Veiianzio, Portugal. 
 
 1870 Devonshire, Duke of, K.G. 
 
 1870 Dickson, James, Sweden. 
 
 1873 Digby, Kenelm T., M.P. 
 
 1867 *Dilke, Sir C. W., Bart., M.P. H 
 
 1868 Dixon, George, M.P. 
 
 1869 Dodds, Joseph, M.P. 
 
 1866 Dodson, Right Hon. J. G., M.P. ^ 
 
 1867 Dolfus, M. Jea 7 i, France. f 
 
 1873 *Downie, William, Boston, Mass. 
 
 1870 Dowse, Right Hon. Richard. 
 
 1870 ^Draper, John. 
 
 1870 Ducie, Earl. < 
 
 1866 Duff; M. E. Grant, M.P. -v 
 
 1870 Dufferin, His Excellency Earl, K.P., K.C.B. 
 
 1869 Durckheim, Count, Austro-Hujigarian Empire. ' 
 
 1872 Duncan, James. 
 
 1870 Dymes, D. D. 
 
 E. 
 
 1867 Eastwick, Captain W. J. 
 
 1872 Echegaray, Sefior, Spain. } 
 
 1868 Edwards, Charles. 
 
 1873 Ellis, W.V. - /''• 
 
 1869 Emerson, R. W., U.S. Ametdca. 
 
. lOI 
 
 1866 
 
 ' Z/ST' OF MEMBERS. 
 
 Evans", Francis Henry. 
 
 1866 Evans, William. 
 
 1866' Ewing, H. E. Crum, M.P. 
 1868 Eykyn, Roger, M.P. 
 
 F., 
 
 1869 Faucher, Dr. Julius, Germany. 
 
 1872 Ferrara,, Signor, Italy. 
 
 1870 Fenwick, E. M. 
 
 1868 Field, Cyrus, U.S. America. 
 
 1869 Field, David D., U.S. America. 
 
 1870 Figanikre, Vicomte de, Portugal. 
 1869 Figuerola, Senor, Spain. 
 
 1866 *Fildes, John. 
 
 1869 Finnic, William, M.P. 
 
 1873 Firth, Thomas. 
 
 1872 Fisco, M. Emile, Belgium. 
 
 1867 ' Fisher,‘Richard C. 
 
 1870 Fletcher, Isaac, M.P. 
 
 1868 Flower, E. F. 
 
 1873 ^Foord, C. S. 
 
 1867 Forbade de la Roquette, Mr, France. 
 1870 Fordyce, W. Dingwall, M.P. 
 
 1866 Forster, Right Hon. W. E., M.P. 
 1872 Fortemps, M., Belgium. 
 
102 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 
 1866, Fortescue, Right Hon. C. 5 ., M.P. 
 
 1871 Foster, J.P. 
 
 1872 Foster, Hon. L. F., U.S. Amefica. 
 
 1869 Fothergill, Richard, M.P. 
 
 1866 *Fowler, Robert. 
 
 1869 *Fowler, William, M.P. 
 
 1872 Fra 7 iqiieville, Comte de, France. 
 
 I By 2 Frederiksen, Professor, Denmark. 
 
 1869 Freeman, Henry W. 
 
 1872 Frere, M. Orhan, Belgunn. 
 
 G- 
 
 1869 Garfield, Ge 7 ieral J. A., U.S. America. 
 
 1868 Garibaldi, Ge 7 ieral, Italy. 
 
 1872 Gar 7 iier, M. Joseph, France. 
 
 1869 Garrison, W. Lloyd, U.S. America. 
 1872 Ge 7 ' 77 iai 7 i, M., Fra7ice. 
 
 1869 Gibbs, Frederick W., C.B. 
 
 1866 ^Gibso 7 t, Right Ho 7 i. T. Mihier. 
 
 1870 *Gillibrand, Philip. 
 i8$6 Gilpin, Charles, M.P. 
 
 1866 Gladst 07 ie, Right Hon. W. E., M.P. 
 1866 Gladstone, Robertson. 
 
 1866 Goldsmid, Sir Francis H., Bart., M.P. 
 1866 Goldsmid, Julian, M.P. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 1872 Gomez, Senor Ruiz, Spain. 
 
 1866 *Goschen, Right Hon. G. J., M.P. 
 
 1872 *Gosnell, Charles. 
 
 1872 *Gould, Frederick. 
 
 1869 ' Gourley, E. T., M.P. . 
 
 1868 *Gow, Daniel. 
 
 1867 *Graham, John. 
 
 1867 Graham, Peter. , 
 
 1866 • Graham, William, M.P. 
 
 1866 Granville, Earl, K.G. 
 
 1867 Gray, Sir John, M.P. 
 
 1870 'Greig, Lieut.-General S., Russia. 
 
 . 1869 Gr^ville, Lord. 
 
 1871 Greville-Nugent, Hon. G. F. N., M.P. 
 
 1872 Gripenstedl, Baron J. A., Sweden. 
 1872 Grosvenor, Wm. H., U.S. America. 
 
 1870 Guest, Montague J., M.P. 
 
 1872 Guillemin, M. Auguste, France. 
 
 1871 *Gurney, Samuel. 
 
 1873 *Gwinner, Hermann-. 
 
 H.- 
 
 1866 Hadfield, George,. M'p. ' 
 
 1871 *Hall, Walter. ' ' ' 
 
104 . COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 1867 Hammond, J. Lempri^re. 
 
 1871 Hanmer, Lord. 
 
 1869 Harcourt, W. Vernon, Q.C, M.P, 
 
 1866 *Hardcastle, Henry. 
 
 1866 Hardcastle, J. A., M.P. 
 
 1870 Hargreaves, William. 
 
 1867 Harris, John Dove, M.P. 
 
 1871 Harris-Gastrell, James P. 
 
 1870 Hartington, Right Hon. Marquess of, M 
 
 1869 Harwood, Samuel. 
 
 1871 JHfassan, His Highness Princey Egypt. 
 
 1870 *Hatch, Rev. Edwin. 
 
 1867 Hatchard, Rev. J. Alton. 
 
 1870 Hatherley, Lord. 
 
 1869 Haviland-Burke, E., M.P. 
 
 1871 Hayter, William Goodenough. 
 
 1867 Heape, Benjamin. 
 
 1867 Heape, Robert Taylor. 
 
 1866 ^Henderson, J., M.P. 
 
 1871 *Henry, Mitchell, M.P. 
 
 1866 *Heywood, James. 
 
 1866 *Hibbert, J. T., M.P. 
 
 1871 Hill, Frank Harrison. 
 
 1870 Hobart, His Excellency Lord. 
 
 1866 Hodgkinson, G;, M.P. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS., 
 
 lo'S 
 
 ■ 1872 Hodgkinsbn, W. E. 
 
 1871 Hodgson, Kirknian D., M.P. 
 
 1873 Hoffman, John T., U.S. America. 
 1870 Holden, Angus. 
 
 1866 Holden, Isaac, 
 
 1873 Hollins, M. D. 
 
 1869 *Holms, John, M.P. 
 
 1873 *Holms, William. 
 
 i87d Hopwood, Charles Henry. 
 
 1*869 Hoskyns, Chandos Wren, M.P. 
 
 1866 Houghton, Lord. 
 
 1869 Hovell-Thurlow, Hon. T. J. 
 
 1869 * Howard, James, M.P. 
 
 1870 Hoyle, William. 
 
 1872 *Hubbuck, Thomas. 
 
 1869 Hudson, Sir James, X^.C.B. 
 
 1873 *Hughes, James. 
 
 1867 Humphreys, A. C. 
 
 1870 * Hunting, Richard. 
 
 1873 ■ Huntly, Marquess of. 
 
 '1872 *Hutton, Charles W. C. 
 
 ' ■ .■ I. 
 
 ■ 1869 *Illi'ngworth, Alfred, M.P. 
 
io6 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 y ■< 
 
 1866 Jackson, Henry Mather. 
 
 ^873 Jackson, Stan way. 
 
 1866 Jackson^ Sir William, Bart. 
 
 1872 James, Christopher. 
 
 1870 James, Henry, Q.C., M.P. 
 
 1872 Jaiiseii, P^rofessor Julius, Russia. 
 
 1868 Jenkins, Edward. 
 
 1871 jenour, Charles, Victoria. 
 
 1870 Jerrold, Blanchard. 
 
 1 869 Jessel, Right Hon. Sir George, M.R. 
 
 1870 Johns, Captain J. W. 
 
 1^73 Johnson, Edward. 
 
 1869 Johnson, Reverdy, U.S. America. 
 1869 *Johnston, Andrew, M.P. 
 
 1872 Johnston, M. N., France. 
 
 1871 Johnstone, Sir Harcourt, Bart., M.P. 
 
 1871 Jones, C. H. 
 
 K. 
 
 1873 Kaulla, William. 
 
 1868 Kay-Shuttleworth, U. J., M.P. 
 
 1873 Kemp, Dudley F. 
 i' 873 Kensington, Lord, M.P. 
 
 1873 *Kerr, R. K. Holms. 
 
LIS-1 OF MEMBFRS. 
 
 107 
 
 1873 Kiell, G. M. , 
 
 1870 Kimberley, Earl.' 
 
 1866 King, Hon. P. J. Locke, M.P. ' 
 
 1869 /Kznsky, Count Eugene, Austro-Hungarian 
 , Empire. ^ ' . 
 
 1873 KnowleSj R. M. 
 
 1872 Kops, M. J. L. de Brttyn, Holland. 
 
 1869 Kubeck, Baron Max von, Austro-pfungarian. 
 ■ Empire. 
 
 L- 
 
 1868 Labouchere, Henry. 
 
 1869 Ldcaita, Sir James. 
 
 1869 *La'ck, Henry Reader. 
 
 1872 Lalande, M. A., France. 
 
 1872 Lamansky, M. E., Russia. ' . 
 
 1867 *Lambert, John, C.B. . < 
 
 1872 , Latnplough, Charles E. 
 
 1870 Lamport,'Charles. 
 
 1873 Lamport, W. J. , , 
 
 1867 Lancaster, John, M.P. ' 
 
 1871 Langley,'J. Baxter. . ' 
 
 1871 Lansdowne, Marquess‘of. 
 
 1868 Lanyon, C. Mortimer. 
 
 1873 Lanyon, J. C.' * ' 
 
COB DEM CLUB. 
 
 io8 
 
 1871 Lascelles, Francis H. » ■ 
 
 1871 *Latham, George W. - 
 
 ,1869 *Laveleye, M. ^.mile de, Belgium. 
 
 1869 Lavergne, M. de, France. ' 
 
 1867 Lawson, Right Hon. J. A. 
 
 1866 Lawson, Sir Wilfrid, Bart., M.P. 
 
 1871 Lea, Thomas, M.P. 
 
 1871 *Leaf, William. 
 
 1869 Leake, Robert. 
 
 1867 *Lean, Vincent Stuckey. 
 
 1866' *Leatham, E. A., M.P. 
 
 1873 *Lees, Eli. • 
 
 1871 *Leech, Robert. 
 
 ,1866 Leeman, George, M.P. 
 
 1866 Lefevre, Geo. Shaw,'M.P. . 
 
 1870 Lehardy de Beaidieu, M. Adolphe, Belgium. 
 1870 Lehmann, F. 
 
 1873 Leroy-Beaidieu, M. Paid, France. 
 
 1867 Leslie, T. E. Cliffe. 
 
 1870 ' Lesseps, Vicomte de, France. 
 
 1869 Levy, Edward. 
 
 1872 Lewis, Charltojt T., U.S. America. ■ 
 
 1871 Lewis, Harvey, M.P. 
 
 1870 Lewis, J. Delaware, M.P. 
 
 1873 *Livesy, John, 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 109 
 
 1869 Loch, George. 
 
 1870 Longfellow, H. W., U.S. America. 
 1870 Lubbock, Sir John, Bart., M.P. 
 1870 *Lycett, Sir Francis. 
 
 M. 
 
 1869 McArthur, Alexander. 
 
 1869 McArthur, William, M.P. 
 
 1870 ^McCarthy, Justin. 
 
 1866 *McClelland, James. 
 
 1869 *McClure, Thomas, M.P.. 
 
 1871 McConnell, J. E. 
 
 1871 "^McCulloch, Htigji, U.S. America. ' 
 
 1871 *Macdonell, James. 
 
 1869 *Macfie, Robert Andrew, M.P. 
 
 1873 McGeorge, M. 
 
 1870 Macintosh, Alexander. 
 
 1869 Mackay, Baron, Holland. 
 
 1872 Macknight, Thomas. 
 
 1873 McKerrow, John Begg. 
 
 1872 McMicking, Gilbert. 
 
 1869 Macmillan, Alexander! 
 
 1872 *McMinnies, John Gordon. 
 
 1872 Madrazo, Senor, Spain. 
 
 1871 'Mahony, W. Short. 
 
COBDEN' CLUB. 
 
 no 
 
 1866, Mallet, Sir Louis, C.B. 
 
 1872 Marble, Manton,-U.S. America. 
 
 1870 ."^Marcoartu, Senor Arturo de. 
 
 1870 Marling, Samuel S., M.P. 
 
 1867 Marriott, Wm. Thackeray. 
 
 1867 *Marsden, Mark Eagles. . 
 
 1871 Marshall, t. H., U.S. America. 
 
 1866 Mason, Hugh. 
 
 1873 Mason, Stephen. 
 
 1872 Mason, William. 
 
 1870 Mather, William. 
 
 1871 Mellor, Wright. 
 
 1867 Melly, George, M.P. 
 
 1866 Menzies, Graham. 
 
 1870 Meredith, George F. 
 
 1867 Merry, James, M.P. 
 
 1872 Mees, M. W. C., Holland. 
 
 1871 Michaelis, Herr Otto, Germany. 
 
 1872 Michell, T., Russia. 
 
 1873 *Miller, Henry. 
 
 1872 Millington, Charles. 
 
 1872 *Millossovich, N. 
 
 1870 Minghetti, Signor Marco, Italy. 
 1867 Milton, Viscount. 
 
 1871 Minturn, Robert B., U.S. America, 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. in 
 
 ■ 1866 Moffat, George. 
 
 , 187-2 *Mongredien, A. 
 
 1866 Monk, C. J., M.P. 
 
 1868 Moore, George. 
 
 : 1873 Moore, y. S., U.S. America. 
 
 1871 Moorhead, W. C. 
 
 1868 Moraii, Benjamin, tJ.S. America. 
 
 1871 More, R. jasper. 
 
 1872 ^Moret y Prendergast, SeTior Don Sigismundo, 
 
 Spain. 
 
 [ 1870 *Morgan, G. Osborne, Q.C., M.P. _ 
 
 1866 Morier, R. B. D., C.B. 
 
 1866 *Morley, Samuel, M.P.' 
 
 1872 Moser, Senor Eduardo, Portugal. 
 
 1871 Muller, Herr Gustav, Germany. 
 
 : 1869 Mundella, A. J., M.P. 
 
 ; 1871 Mtir^, Peter, Sweden. 
 
 : 1867 Murphy, Nicholas D., M.P. . 
 
 , 1869 Muspratt, E. K. 
 
 I - N. ' 
 
 ; 1^69 Napoleon, H.I.H. Prince Jerome, France. 
 
 1871 Nasse, Herr Erwin, Germany. 
 
 1871 *Neal, John Dodd, 
 
 § 1868 Neill, Robert. . 
 
II2 
 
 COBDEN. CLUB. 
 
 1871 Neumann, Dr. Francis, Austro - Hungarian 
 
 Empire. 
 
 1873 Noel, Ernest. 
 
 1872 Nordhojf, Charles, U.S. America. 
 
 1870 Northbrook, His Excellency Lord. 
 
 1868 Novelli, A. H. 
 
 O. ' 
 
 1873 Olcott, Thomas L., U.S. America. 
 
 1869 Ollivier, M. Amile, France. 
 
 1866 O’Loghlen, Rt. Hon. Sir Colman, Bart, M.P. 
 1866 Onslow, Guildford, M.P. 
 
 1872 *Oppenheim, Ernest. 
 
 1871 Oppenheimer, Charles. 
 
 1872 *Oppert, Emil Danjel. 
 
 1872 Oppert, Dr. Gustavus. 
 
 1869 O’Reilly-Dease, Matthew, M.P. 
 
 1872 Orts, M., Belgium. 
 
 1868 Osborn, Captain Sherard, R.N., C.B. 
 
 1869 Osborn, Wm. H., U.S. America. 
 
 18^6 Otway, Arthur J., M.P. 
 
 1871 Ouvry, Colonel Henry Aim6, C.B. 
 
 1870 Overheck, M. Gustavus von, Austro-Hungarian 
 
 Empire. 
 
 1873 Oxley^ T. Louis. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 113 
 
 . P- 
 
 1867 *Pagan, John Thomson. 
 
 1872 Page, Henry. 
 
 1872 Pagezy, M. Jules,'France. 
 
 1872 Palacio, Senor Francesco Gomez, Mexico. 
 
 1873 Pankhursjf, Dr. Rin, 
 
 1870 Paris, H.R.H. Comte de, Franck. 
 
 1873 Parry, Serjeant John Humfifreys. 
 
 1872 Passy, M. Frederic, France. 
 
 1872 Passy, M. Hippolyte, France. 
 
 1872 Pastor, Senor, Spain. 
 
 1870 *Paterson, John. 
 
 1866 Paulton, A. W. 
 
 i_ 867 Pease, Joseph W., M.P. 
 
 ■ 1869 Peel, Arthur W., M.P. 
 
 1871 Pell, Alfred, Jun., U.S. America. 
 
 1871 Pender, John, M.P. 
 
 1866 Pennington, F. 
 
 1873 Pereira de Andrada, J. 
 
 1870 Perry, Professor Arthur Latham, U.S. America. 
 1866 Peto, Sir S. Morton, Bart. 
 
 i866'*Philips, R. N., M.P. 
 
 1^68 *Phillips, Charles. ^ 
 
 1871 Pierson, M. N. G., Holland... 
 i866t Pilkington, James. 
 
 . ' - H 
 
• COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 114 
 
 1873 Platt, Samuel. 
 
 1869 Plimsoll, Samuel, M.P. 
 
 1869 Pochin, Henry t)avis. 
 
 1870 *Pocock, William. 
 
 1866 Pope, Samuel. 
 
 1871 Potter, Arthur Bayley,’ 
 
 1866 Potter, Edmund, M.P. 
 
 1868 Potter, Edmund Crompton. 
 
 1872 Potter, Howard, U.S. America. 
 1866 Potter, J. Gerald. 
 
 1870 Potter, John Henry. 
 
 1871 Potter, Rupert. 
 
 1866 *Potter, Thomas Bayley, M.P. 
 1866 Potter, Thomas Ashton. 
 
 1869 Price, William Edwin, M.P. 
 1866 Price, W. P. 
 
 1872 Princeteau, M., France. , 
 
 1866 Probyn, J. W. * 
 
 1871 Pulley, Joseph. 
 
 1871 Purdy, William. 
 
 R. 
 
 1870 Rae, W. Fraser. 
 
 1873 Ramsden, Sir James. 
 
 1871 Ransorne, R. C. 
 
list of members. 
 
 1867 Rathbone, Samuel Greg. 
 
 186'; Rathbone, William, M.P. 
 
 1872 Rawlings, Edward. 
 
 1866 *Rawson, Henry. 
 
 1869 Redpath, James, U.S. A merica. 
 
 1872 *Reid, Robert. 
 
 1872 Renouard, M. Charles, France. 
 1872 *Renshaw, A. G. 
 
 1871 Renton, James Hall. 
 
 1872 Reyhaud, M. Louis, France. 
 
 1867 Reynolds,-James. 
 
 1870 *Reyntiens, M., Belgium. 
 
 1873 Rhodes, Thomas. 
 
 1866 Rich, Anthony. 
 
 1869 *Richard, Henry, M.P. 
 
 1869 Richards, E. M., M.P. 
 
 1869 Richter, 0 ., Norway. 
 
 1871 Ridgway, W. H. 
 
 1867 Ripon, Marquess of, K.G. 
 
 1870 *Robarts, C. H. 
 
 1867 Robinson, John. 
 
 1869 Roden, W. S., , M.P. 
 
 1872 Rodriguez, Senor Gabriel, Spain. 
 1866 *.Rogers, Professor J. E. Thorold. 
 1,870 Rollo, Lord. 
 
COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 Ii 6 
 
 1871 Rose, Sir John, Bart. 
 
 1871 Rosebery, Earl. 
 
 1873 Roth, Camillo. 
 
 1871 Rothschild, Baron Lionel N. de, M.P. 
 1871 Rothschild, Nathaniel M. de, M.P. ’ 
 1867 Rouher, M., Fraftce. 
 
 1867 Roundell, Charles Savile. 
 
 1870 RuggleSj Samuel B., U.S. Atnerica. 
 
 1871 *Rusden, R. D. 
 
 1866 Rtcssell,Earl,K.G. 
 
 1873 *Russell, Lord Arthur J. E., M.P. 
 
 1871 Russell, His Excellency Lord Odo. 
 
 1866 Rutson, Albert. 
 
 1873 Rylands, John. 
 
 1869 *Rylands, Peter, M.P. 
 
 1867 Ryley, Thomas C. 
 
 S. 
 
 1870 St. Albans, Duke of. 
 
 1873 Salomon, Peter. 
 
 1873 Salt, Sir Titus, Bart. 
 
 1866 Salwey, Colonel Henry. 
 
 1868 Samuda, J. D’Aguilar, M.P. 
 
 1870 Samuelson, Henry B., M.P. 
 
 1870 Sands, Mahton, U.S. America. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 117 
 
 1866 ^Sandwith, Humphrey, C.B. 
 
 1869 Sapieha, Prince, Austro-Hungarian Empire. 
 
 1871 Sar^eaunt, J. P. 
 
 1870 Sargeaunt, William C, 
 
 1870 * Saxton, N. 
 
 1872 Say^ M. Leo7i, France. 
 
 1869- Schaeffer, Chevalier de, Austro-Hungarian 
 Empire. 
 
 1873 *Schiff, Alfred G. 
 
 1873 Schiff, Ernest. . ' 
 
 1872 Schimmelpenninck, Van der Oye, Baron W. A., 
 ' Holland. 
 
 1869 Schulze-Delitzschi Herr, Ger^nany. 
 
 1872 Schurz, Carl, U.S. America. 
 
 1870 Schuster, Frantis J. 
 
 1872 -Scialoja, Signor, Italy. 
 
 1869 Seely, Charles, Jun., M.P. 
 
 1870 Seisal, Vicomte de, Portugal. 
 
 1868 S6ligman, Isaac. 
 
 1870 Sellar, A. C. 
 
 1872 Semensa, Gustave. ' 
 
 1873 Serena, L. 
 
 1872 Seneuil, M. Gourceles, France. 
 i876'*Seyihour, Alfred, M.P. . 
 
 1871 *Seymour, Henry. 
 
Il8 COBDEN CLUB. 
 
 1867 Shaen, William. 
 
 1868 * Sharpe, Charles. 
 
 1873 * Shepherd, J. . 
 
 1868 Sherifif, Alexander Clunes, M.P. ‘ 
 
 1872 Sherman, Isaac, U.S. America. ..’j 
 
 1872 Sieber, M. Henri, France. ' 
 
 1867 Sidgwick, W. C. ' 
 
 1869 Simon, Serjeant, M.P. 'j 
 
 1870 Simon, M. Jules, France. 
 
 1866 Smith, B. L. - 
 
 1871 Smith, George. 
 
 1866 Smith, Professor Goldwin. 
 
 1867 *Smith,- Professor Henry J. Stephen. 
 
 1866 Smith, Thomas Eustace, M.P. 
 
 1869 Smith, Herr John Prhice, Germany. 
 
 1872 Soares, D. G. Noqucira, Portugal. 
 
 1870 Spencer, His Excellency Earl, K.G. > 
 
 1872 Sponneck, Count, Detnnark. • 
 
 1866 Stansfeld, Right Hon. J., M.P. 'V.; 
 
 1871 Statiffenberg, Baron von, Germany. ^ 
 
 1871 Steinthal, H. M. ■■ 
 
 1868 Steinthal, Rev. Samuel Alfred. i 
 
 1868 Stepney, W. F. Cowell. 
 
 1868 Stern, Sigismund J. 
 
 1869 Stevenson, J. C., M.P. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 119 
 
 1872 Stewart, A.T., U.S. America. 
 
 1873 Stoehr, Emil Moritz. 
 
 1871 Stone, William Henry, M.P. 
 
 1876 Stral^an, Alexander. 
 
 1871 Strutt, Hon. Henry, M.P. 
 
 1867 Sullivan, Right Hon. E. 
 
 1868 Sumner; Charles, U.S. America. 
 
 1873 Sumner, Win. G., U.S. America. 
 
 1869 Szechenyi, Count Bela, Austro-Hungarian Em- 
 
 . ’ pire. 
 
 T. 
 
 1870 Talabot, M. Paulin, France. 
 
 1866 Ta^ldr, P. A., M.P. 
 
 1871 * Taylor, Thomas. 
 
 1871 Th<zrner, M. Theodore de, Russia. 
 
 1870 * Thomas, Christopher J. 
 
 i'866 Thomasson, Thomas. 
 
 1867 Thompson, George. 
 
 1866 ^Thompson, H. Yates. 
 
 1872 Thompson, Dr. Joseph P., LL.D., U.S] America. 
 
 1873 Townend, Thomas. 
 
 j866', Trelawney, Sir J. S., Bart., M.P. 
 
 1866 Trevelyan, G. O., M.P.. 
 
 1867 Trimble, Robert. 
 
120 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 1868 Turner, J. Fox. 
 1868 *Turner, Wright. 
 1868 Tweedale, John. 
 
 V. 
 
 1870 *Valpy, Richard. 1 
 
 1872 Van de Putte, M. Pransen, Holland. 
 
 1871 Vasconcellos, His Excellency Zacharias de Goes, 
 
 Brazil. 1 
 
 1872 Vernadsky, Professor J., Russia. | 
 
 1870 Vickers, James. 
 
 1871 Vigor, A. H. S. Stonehouse. ■'« 
 
 1866 Villiers, Right Hon. C. P., M,P. 
 
 1871 Visschers, M. Auguste, Belgium. 
 
 1872 Vissering, Professor S., Holland. 
 
 1873 * Vivian, J. Brookes. 
 
 1871 Vivian, Captain Hon. John C. W. 
 
 1870 *Vivian, William. 
 
 1870 Vivian, William, Jun. 
 
 1873 '“Vivian, W. Hussey. 
 
 w. 
 
 1870 Walker, Hon. Amasa, LL.D., U.S. America. 
 1872 ' Walker, General Francis A., U.S.. America. 
 1869 Walker, George, U.S. America. 
 
LIST OF J^EMBERS. 
 
 I2I 
 
 1870 Warren, Edward. 
 
 1871 Warren, T. P. 
 
 1871 Watkin, Sir E. W. 
 
 1873 Watterson, Henry, U.S. America. 
 
 1867 Watts, Sir James. 
 
 1867 Watts, Samuel. 
 
 1870 *Watson, T. Clemens. 
 
 1870 * Wells, Hon. David A., U.S. America. 
 1866 Westhead, J. P. Brown. 
 
 1873 Westminster, Marquess of, K.G. 
 
 1869' Whipple, E. P., U.S. America. 
 
 1870 Whitbread, Samuel, M.P. 
 
 1872 White, Horace, U.S. America. 
 
 1866 *Whi^e,'J., M.P. 
 
 1873 White, William Arthur. 
 
 1870 White, Wpi. Thompson. 
 
 1869 Whitwell, John, M.P. 
 
 1866 Whitworth, Benjamin. 
 
 1867 , Whitworth, Sir Joseph, Bart. 
 
 1870. *Whitworth, Robert. 
 
 1870 * Wilke, Hermann C., Germany. 
 
 1869 Willans, Thomas Benjamin. 
 
 ^'1869 Willans, W; H. 
 
 1870 * Wilterding, Theodor, Sweden. 
 
 .1867 Willett, Henry. 
 
122 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 1869 Willmott, Henry. 
 
 1870 Wills, George. 
 
 1871 Wingfield, Sir Charles J., K.C.S.I., C.B., M.P. 
 
 1869 Wolowskiy M., France. 
 
 ,1870. Wolverton, Lord. 
 
 1870 Woods, Henry, M.P. 
 
 1872 Woalsey, Dr. Theodore, LL.D., U.S. America. 
 1868 Worthington, James. 
 
 1872 Wreden, Professor Edmund, Russia. 
 
 1873 *Wren, Walter. 
 
 1873 *Wybergh, J. 
 
 Y 
 
 1870 Young, Right Hon. George, M.P. 
 
CoBDEN Club. 
 
 LIST OF FOREIGN HONORARY 
 MEMBERS, 
 
 ARRANGED UNDER THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES. 
 
 U.S. AMERICA. 
 
 1868 Adams, C. F., Boston, Mass: 
 
 1873 Adams, Henry, Harvard University, Cam¬ 
 bridge, Mass. 
 
 1869 Adams, J. Quincy, Boston, Mass. 
 
 1872 Anderson, M-. B., Rochester, New York. 
 
 1869 Atkinson, Edward, Bpsion, Mass. 
 
 1870 Bancroft, His Excellency the Hon. George, 
 
 Berlin. 
 
 1869 Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, New York. 
 
 1866 Bigelow, Hon. John, Berlin'. 
 
 1873 Bolles, Albert S., Not wick. Conn. 
 
 1872 Bowles, Samuel, Springfield, Mass. 
 
 1872 Br.own, James M., New York. 
 
124 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 • ■■ 
 
 1872 
 
 Brow7i^ John Crosby, New York. 
 
 7 Fh 
 
 1869 
 
 Bryant, W. C., New York. 
 
 . : -f: 
 
 ' '1 
 
 1872 
 
 Butts, Isaac, Rochester, New York. 
 
 
 1872 
 
 Cox, Jacob D., Cincinnati. 
 
 
 1873 
 
 Cox, Hon. Samuel S., New York. 
 
 
 1873 
 
 Downie, William, Boston, Mass. 
 
 
 1869 
 
 Emerson, R. W., Boston, Mass. 
 
 
 1868 
 
 Field, Cyrus, New YorE 
 
 - .’-Il 
 
 1869 
 
 Field, David D., New York. 
 
 
 1872 
 
 Foster, Hon. L. F., Norwich, Conn. 
 
 
 1869 
 
 Garjield, General J. A., Washin^on. 
 
 .■g 
 
 1869 
 
 Garrison, W. Lloyd, Boston, Mass. 
 
 
 1872' 
 
 Grosvenor, Wm. H., St. Louis. 
 
 
 1873 
 
 Hoffman, John T., New York. 
 
 ' > ^ 
 
 1869 
 
 Johnson, Reverdy, Baltimore. 
 
 
 1872 
 
 Lewis, Charlton T., New York. 
 
 
 0 
 
 00 
 
 Longfellow, H. W., Boston, Mass. 
 
 
 1871 
 
 McCulloch, Hugh, 23, Queens Gate 
 Lo7idon, S. W. 
 
 Gardefis,‘M 
 
 1872 
 
 Marble, Manto?i; New York. 
 
 . \ 
 
 1871 
 
 Marshall, C. H., New York. 
 
 
 1871 
 
 Minturn, Robt. B., New York. 
 
 
 1873 
 
 Moore, J. S., New York. 
 
 
 1868 
 
 Moran, B., 26, Norfolk Terrace, Bayswater, 
 
 London. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 *25 
 
 ; ^ 1872 Nordhoff, Charles, New York. 
 
 ; 1873 Olcott, Thomas L., Albany. 
 
 1869 Osborn, Wm. H., New York. 
 
 1871 Pell, Alfred, fun.. New York. 
 
 - 1872 Perry, Professor Arthur Latham, Cambridge 
 Mass. 
 
 . 1872 Potter, Howard, New, York. 
 
 1869 Redpath, James, Boston, Mass. 
 
 1870 Ruggles, Samuel B., New York. 
 
 ; 1870 Sands, Mahlo 7 t, New York. 
 
 1872 Schurz, Carl, Washington. 
 
 1872 Sherman, Isaac, New York. 
 
 1872 Stewart, A. T., New York. 
 
 1868 Sumner, Charles, Washingtojt. 
 
 , 1873 Sumner, Prcfessor William G., New Haven. 
 
 1872 Thompson, Dr. Joseph P., LL.D., Berlin. 
 
 1870 Walker, Hon. Amasa, LL.D., Boston, Mass. 
 
 1 ^ 72 ^ Walker, General Francis A., Washington. 
 
 1869 Walker, George, New York. 
 
 1873 Watterson, He^try, Louisville, Kentucky. 
 
 ' 1870 Wells, Hon. David A., Norwieh, Cotm. 
 
 1869 Wkipple, E. P., Boston, Mah. 
 
 1872 White, Hdr ace, Chicago. 
 
 1872 Woolsey. Dr. Theodore, LL.D., Newhaven, Conn. • 
 
126 
 
 COB DEN CLUB. 
 
 AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Desewffy, Count Aurele, prh Debreczin. 
 Durckheim, Count, Vienna. 
 
 Kinsky, Count Euglne, Vienna. 
 
 KUbeck, Baron Max von, Vienna. 
 Neumann, Dr. Francis, Vienna. 
 
 Overbeck, M. Gustavus von, Hong Kong. 
 
 ; Scypieha, Prince, Lemberg. 
 
 1872 
 1869 
 1869 
 
 1869 
 1871 
 
 1870 
 1869 
 
 1869 Schaeffer, Chevalier de, 29, St. Swithin'i 
 London. 
 
 1869 Szechenyi, Count Bela, Zinkindorf. 
 
 Lane\ 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 1870 Corr-VanderMceren, M. 
 
 1869 Couvreur, M. Auguste, Brussels. 
 
 1870 Deheselle, M. Victor, Thimister. 
 1872 Fisco, M. J^mtle, Brussels. 
 
 1872 Fortemps, M., Brussels. 
 
 1872 Frlre, M. Orban, Brussels. * 
 
 1869 Laveleye, M. Emile de, Lilge. ' 
 
 1870 Lehardy de Beaulieu, M. Adolphe, Brussels. 
 1872 Orts, M., Brtissels. 
 
 1870 Reyntiens, M., Brussels. 
 
 1871 Visschers, M. Auguste, Brussels. 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 127 
 
 E BRAZIL. 
 
 Carrao, Setior GolLo da Silva, San Paulo. 
 irS/i Vasconcellos, His Excellency Zacharias de Goes. 
 
 \ DENMARK. 
 
 .1872 Frederiksen, Professor, Copenhagen. 
 
 1872 Sponneck, Count, Copenfmgen. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 1871 Horssan, His Highness Prince. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 1872 Bonnet, M. Victor, Paris. 
 
 1873 Butenval, Comte de, Paris. 
 
 1871 Challemel-Lacour, M. Paul, Paris. 
 
 1866 Chevalier, M. Michel, Paris. . 
 
 1872 Decazes, Due de, Paris. 
 
 1872 DEichthal, M. Gustave, Paris. 
 
 1870 De Molinari, M. G., Paris. 
 
 1867 Dolfus, M. Jean. 
 
 1867 Forgade de la Roquette, M., Paris. 
 
 1872 Franqueville', ' Comte de, Passy. 
 
COBDEN CLUB. . ■ 
 
 128 
 
 1872 Gamier, M. Joseph, Paris. ' J 
 
 1872 Germain, M., Paris. . • 
 
 1872 Guillemin, M. Auguste, Paris. 
 
 1872 Johnston, M. N., Bordeaux. 
 
 1872 Lalande, M. A., Bordeaux. 
 
 1869 Lavergne, M. de, Paris. 
 
 1873 Leroy-Beatdieu, M. Paul, Paris. 
 
 1870 Lesseps, Vicomte de. 
 
 1869 Napoleon, H.I.H. Prince Jerome. 
 
 1869 Ollivier, M. Emile. 
 
 1872 Pagezy, M. Jules, Montpelier. 
 
 1870 Paris, H.R.H. Comte'de, Paris. . 
 
 1872 Passy, M. FrMeric, Paris. 
 
 1872 Passy, M. Hippolyte, Paris. 
 
 1872 Princeteau, M., Paris. ' 
 
 1872 Renouard, M. Charles, Paris. 
 
 1872 Reybaitd, M. Louis, Paris. 
 
 1867 Rouher, M., Paris. ^ 
 
 1872 Say, M. Lion, Paris. 
 
 1872 Seneuil, M. Courceles, Paris. 
 
 1872 Sieber, M. Henri, Paris. 
 
 1870 Simon, M. Jules, Paris. 
 
 1870 Talahot, M. Patdin, Paris. 
 
 1869 Wolowski, M., Paris.