On Tuesday Lord Cromer addressed a large meeting at the
Free-Trade Hall, Manchester, presided over by Mr. Tom Garnett, on the fallacies of Tariff Reform. After a striking reference to the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Cromer quoted Mr. Cobden's saying, "I am not a Whig or a Tory, I am a Free-trader," and went on to say that if be might place the adjective " Unionist " before the words "Free-trader," that exactly described his own position. "We Free-traders," said Lord Cromer, "have one great advantage. We all know exactly what we want, and we all want the same thing. We admit that indirect taxes may, in case of need, be imposed for revenue purposes ; but we want them to be as low as possible, and to have as few of them as possible. We do not want any artificial restrictions to be placed on trade." That is an excellent summary of the Free-trade position. In the last resort, Free-traders rest their case upon the 'knowledge that it is impossible to tax a country into riches. Lord Cromer went on to point out the fallacies of Retaliation, and gave some examples of the uselessness and folly of tariff wars. In almost every case they • had been without result, and the combatants had been obliged to leave off exactly where they began.
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