29 OCTOBER 1881, Page 2

Dealing with the outcry of the Fair-traders against the excess

of our imports over our exports, Mr. Chamberlain remarked that he had found a better remedy than Protection. France, within a year or two, had exchanged. a balance of £40,000,000 sterling in favour of imports, for a balance of the same amount in favour of exports ; and the transformation had been effected simply by going to war, getting defeated, and then engaging to pay a big indemnity. That was a very effectual mode of effecting the Fair- traders' object ; and he recommended. it to their notice, as far more simple and immediate than a Protectionist tariff. That was not only a witty criticism of Mr. Chamberlain's, but it touched_ the very core of the economical confusion of the Fair-traders.