Sir Richard Cartwright is more convincing as critic than Prophet.
We do not believe that the American Legislature would desert the protected manufacturer to help the farmer. They would be far more likely to reply to retaliation by an export-duty on cotton so heavy as to half ruin Lancashire, and to use the money thus collected to give bounties to American cotton mills. That this would be an injurious liolicy for America we admit; but considering American opinion in regard to fiscal matters, can it be said that it is an unlikely one for them to adopt ? We must never forget that the country in which opinion is practically unanimous in favour of Protection will in a battle of tariffs utterly rout a country which is strongly divided in opinion on the subject. The Americans would dare to go much further in a fiscal war than we should. Therefore the game of retaliation is not a safe one for us to play with them.
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