18 SEPTEMBER 1869, Page 1

It would not be so surprising if the Manchester meeting

had consisted of working-men, but of that there was no sign. The last of Mr. Coningsby's able and instructive letters on " The Working- Classes in the United States"—which we publish to-day—contains a very interesting account of the transparent fallacies by which the Yankee workman persuades himself that though free trade may be good for England, it is not good for America. A funnier list of reasons it would be im- possible to draw up. " Protection is the poor man's friend, as it prevents the labourer in Europe from competing with the better-paid workman in America." That is, it enables the Ameri- can to divert his work from occupations in which he can beat the English labourer without protection, to occupations in whick he can only beat him by protection,—and to lose all the balance of advan- tage. " The policy of protection keeps wages high ;"—yes, in other- wise unprofitable employments, but only by subtracting all that is paid to the labourer in these employments from what would be paid to him in more profitable employments, which by yielding a far greater return, would swell the total wages far beyond what they can now reach. Again, " While bread and meat are cheap, it does not so much matter to a poor man what is paid for ivory-handled knives,"— no ; and therefore more bread and meat is consumed in producing, or sent away to purchase, ivory-handled knives, than would be needed under Free Trade. The good Yankees should really ask to have some simple tract on political economy included in the Free- School lessons. It is easier than the rule of three.