The position of tremendous strength thus secured by the Government
should make the Administration the most power- ful of modern times ; but we must not forget that weak and broken Oppositions make careless Ministries. We are not in the least afraid of the Government abusing the powers which they will wield, for the Cabinet is controlled by men who are essentially moderate. What we are afraid of is a certain in- clination which is to be discerned in the public mind to believe that Protection is dead and buried, and that henceforth no one need trouble their heads about the matter. Though the victory was in every sense a Free-trade victory—the men who really wanted Protection but who voted for Free-trade because of Chinese labour are a myth, or, at any rate, infinitesimal in numbers—there is always a certain danger of an astute Parliamentarian like Mr. Chamberlain being able to persuade a.section of the working classes that Protection is a half-way house to Socialism. It behoves Free-traders, therefore, not to relax their efforts, but to continue to guard the cause they have rescued, while on the Free-trade Government lies the responsibility of making Free-trade principles the inspiration of their policy as a whole.
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