The Voluntaryist Creed. By Auberon Herbert. (Henry Frowde. 2s. net.)—In
June, 1906, Mr. Auberon Herbert delivered the Herbert Spencer Lecture at Oxford. This is given in the volume before us. And with it is associated "A Plea for Voluntaryism," which Mr. Herbert completed a few.days before his death. The author entered Parliament, as he tells us in an interesting passage, with the belief that everything was to be set right by political activities. His own experience, which seemed to show that the political machine, worked as it was by party spirit, was powerless to do good, and a momentous conversation with Mr. Herbert Spencer, profoundly changed his convictions. From something like Socialism he passed over to a very strongly pro- nounced Individualism, a faith of which one of the most important tenets is voluntary taxation. This as a practical course is simply unthinkable. Who would be Chancellor of the Exchequer under this system? When we reflect how feeble is the response to the appeal of charity, reinforced as it is by the most potent of motives, what can we think of national needs supported by an unconstrained liberality? There is much that seems to us absolutely unpractical in Mr. Herbert's utterances, but we find much to agree with in them. He did not despair of the con- version of the world to Free-trade. This is what he says :— " The high prices and dear living, the harassing interferences with trade, the rings and corners, the trickeries and corruption, that all tread so close on the heels of protection, the wild extrava- gance, the domineering insolent attitude of the State-made monopolists, the ever-growing power of the governments to go their own way, where they can gather vast sums of money so easily through their unseen tax collectors, the ever-spreading Socialism, that is only protection made universal—all these things are preaching their eloquent lesson, and slowly preparing the way in other countries for free trade. Sooner or later the world after years of bitter experience learns to unmask all the impostor systems that have traded on its hopes and passions and fears. The thin coating wears off, and the baser metal betrays itself underneath. So it will fare with the Protection, that asks you to be credulous enough to tie up your left hand in order that your right hand may work more profitably."
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