Lord Farrer delivered an address on the prospects of Free.
tradeat the meeting of the Cobden Club last Saturday, and a very excellent address it was on the whole, though on one or two minor points we differ from him, as we have explained sufficiently in another page. On one point he supported himself by appealing to the late Mr. Bright's great authority with excellent effect. He pointed out how easy it is on subjects of taxation to puzzle untaught constituencies by an array of figures and of complex arguments, and then quoted what Mr. Bright had said on one of the last occasions on which he had spoken with him. Lord Ferrer had then remarked on the good faith with which the people listened to what had been said; and Mr. Bright replied,—" The people are, on the whole, a very good people. They have now got the power in their own hands, and if those whose business it is to lead and advise them, speak the truth to them, all will go well. And if they do not, God help them both." Nothing could be better said. But how inadequately the advisers of the people do this great duty of speaking out plainly and gravely unpalatable truths In fact, we lay far too little emphasis on the difficulty of the duty as well as on the supreme character of the obligation, which the ordinary habits of representatives, or would-be representatives, too often induce us to ignore.
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