It is said that the Tories seriously intend to call
for a Com- mission of Inquiry into the state of trade and agriculture, and on Wednesday Mr. Chaplin delivered an address upon that subject. He wanted an inquiry, he said, because he felt sure that the true cause of the losses in agriculture was foreign competition ; of the decay in the home trade, the losses in agri- culture; and of the depression in foreign trade, the shutting-up of markets by hostile tariffs. His evident idea is to restore agriculture by taxing imported food, which is, of course, possible, if the community likes to pay a few millions into the pockets of landlords, who would raise their rents ; and to open foreign ports by a war of tariffs, which is impossible under the " most-favoured-nation " clause of our treaties, and useless if it were possible. Does Mr. Chaplin really believe that we can export goods without receiving imports in payment? The imports which he grumbles at are payments, not deductions from wealth ; and an effort to shut them out is just as sensible as it would be for Mr. Chaplin to decline to sell his corn or stock because he wanted to be paid in pillar dollars. He must take currency or go without ; and in commerce, the currency used in payment is the produce of the country paying.
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