FREE-TRADE.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE SPECTATOR."] SIR,—If the objections to the proposed fiscal policy rest on no firmer basis than that disclosed in Mr. Phillimore's letter in the Spectator of December 19th, surely our cherished Free- trade goes by the board. For the question in debate is not whether an Engishman should be free to buy where he pleases, but whether, preserving that option, we as a nation shall continue to buy under certain conditions. There is no "fundamental principle of common honesty" involved; and to address candidates in the terms referred to seems to me (a Liberal without being radical, and a Unionist without being conservative) to draw a red herring across the scent. Fair- minded people have to think out the problem—Is Free-trade good or bad for the country ? I, for one, cannot see my way clear just yet; but more light rather than red herrings will, I hope, soon enable me to do so.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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