548 The Condition and Prospects of the Country, Nov. 



in the advantages so prodigally offered ; but to the " march of liberality" 

 and reciprocity she was impregnable. 



Now we do not by any means blame the world, but we do most 

 strongly- blame our own legislature. We accuse them of rashness 

 unequalled, except in the annals of lunacy. The wisdom of their 

 measure is on a par with its practicability ; and both are nonentities. We 

 have opened our ports to the silks, the lace, and the gloves of France. 

 Has France given us any thing in return for this immense advantage ? 

 No she has not. Can we compete with France in these articles ? No 

 experience has proved that we cannot. Our silk, lace, and glove 

 manufacturers have been suffering and in poverty, whilst France is 

 enjoying the most profitable part of the business in all the three branches, 

 to the grievous loss of our manufacturing population. We have opened 

 our ports to the corn of America. Has America given us any thing in 

 return ? No she has laid an additional duty upon every article of our 

 produce except models of our machinery, by which she hopes to profit. 

 She has diminished and almost shut out our commerce ; and the few 

 articles which we still send her, are in most instances sold at a sacrifice. 



Any prudent and wise government would have been anxious before 

 divesting itself of so many advantages as this country enjoyed to secure 

 at least equal concessions in return. It would not have left the granting 

 of such concessions o the mere generosity, or as that virtue has been 

 called " the liberal policy" of other states. It would not have trusted 

 even to promises j or, at all events, if such promises had been made, it 

 would have looked with the most jealous exactness to their complete 

 fulfilment. On the part of our government this has not been done ; and 

 we do not see now how it ever can be done. It is too late now to make 

 a bargain ; for the very articles we would try to sell have been already 

 given away ; and, even if this were not the case, we have no hope that 

 other nations will act so absurdly as to grant concessions, the declared 

 object of which is to inundate their provinces with British capital and 

 British industry, to the detriment, and even the annihilation of their own 

 commerce. The boasted liberality of the new system is too much 

 tinged with selfishness, and the expectations of advantage to ourselves, 

 are too vast and magnificent to excite any nobler feeling than jealousy 

 on the part of other states. They have been so viewed ; and the tendency 

 of all continental legislation has been to throw every obstacle in the way 

 of their success. We appeal to all unprejudiced observers for the con- 

 firmation of this fact ; and we appeal to all men of reason if this was not 

 the only natural policy to be expected from the prudence of foreign 

 powers. 



But we will not attribute the failure of the reciprocity system solely 

 to the passive folly. of government. We will affirm that not only have 

 measures of caution been neglected, but wilfully and madly thrown aside, 

 for no other end than to consummate the ideal perfection of a theory. 

 The interests of individuals in this insane pursuit of ideal perfection, 

 have been not only disregarded but wantonly sacrificed ; and the future 

 welfare, and even the position of Great Britain in the scale of nations 

 endangered, and already considerably lowered. 



We must here beg the attention of our readers to a few plain, glaring 

 statements, which will tend to shew the almost superhuman folly of 

 government in its true light. When the measures of free trade were 



