5 MARCH 1904, Page 12

MR. GLADSTONE ON RETALIATION. LT0 rss Eorros or TIM "SrEoraror.."1

SIR,—The following is, I think, instructive in view of tho Government's policy of retaliation as an aid to "freer trade." Of the period between 1841 and 1844 Mr. Gladstone wrote :—

" We [Sir Robert Peel's Ministry] were anxiously and eagerly endeavouring to make tariff treaties with many foreign countries. Austria, I think, may have been included, but I recollect especi- ally France, Prussia, Portugal, and, I believe, Spain. And the state of our tariff, even after 1842, was then such as to supply us with plenty of material for liberal offers. Notwithstanding this, we failed in every ease. I doubt whether we advanced the cause of free trade by a single inch."

—I am, Sir, &c., EDWARD HICKS, Warwick.