Sir Michael Hicks-Beach made a speech to very much the
same effect as this speech of Mr. Goschen's, at the London Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. He too protested against the notion that he is in any sense indifferent to the principle of Free-trade, and yet he too encouraged the idea that, without giving up our Free-trade policy, we might be able to do something in the region of finance towards cementing the tie between this country and our Colonial Empire. But what this " something " might be, Sir Michael did not, even in the faintest way, venture to hint. For our own parts, we are extremely sceptical as to these artificial schemes for making Colonial loyalty to the Empire its own reward. These spurious amalgams of sentiment and self-interest are very untrust- worthy. We sincerely hold that sentiment will do more without calling in the aid of self-interest to promote a common policy, than it will ever do by the help of tariff-bribes and elaborate negotiations for mutual economical concessions.
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