The Duke of Devonshire addressed a great Free-trade meeting, organised
by the Free-Trade League, at Rawtenstall last Saturday. By the Premier's own admission, they had got into a dangerous impasse, and he could not doubt that the Government would take the earliest opportunity of summoning a new Parliament, as the situation could not be solved by other means. The question of Protection v. Free-trade had been raised, and could not be evaded. The Liberal or Radical party were unanimous in their support of Free-trade, but the convictions of the Unionist party were not equally fixed on the subject, as Mr. Chamberlain's programme revealed. But neither Mr. Chamberlain nor any other man could guarantee that if we took the first step towards Protection we would stop there. All experience proved the contrary. Mr. Chamberlain's recent speeches in every case contained an appeal to local interests. Relying on alleged facts and questionable figures, he sought to prove by demon- stration that the special local industry either had been or would be ruined by unfair competition. But none of the Tariff Reform League, certainly not Mr. Chamberlain, had yet thought it worth while to visit any of the great centres of the Lancashire cotton industry. That industry, which directly concerned from one-fifteenth to one-tenth of the entire population of Great Britain, depended chiefly on foreign exportation. That exportation could only be maintained in the face of competition by cheapness of production, and it would puzzle the most sanguine Tariff Reformer to show that anything which raised the price of food, buildings, machinery, or transport would enable the industry to produce more cheaply than it did now.
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