12 THE HERRING FISHERIES. 



interference the better it will be for us. There are, of 

 course, a few matters, such as the regulation of cab-fares, 

 that are, for simple convenience, best done by the Govern- 

 ment. But it is a dangerous principle. It has led to 

 tyranny in the past, and it may lead to tyranny in the 

 future. The times have passed we trust for ever when 

 justice was openly bought and sold, and when monopolies 

 were bartered for political objects. We cannot forget 

 those days, never to be recalled without a feeling of shame, 

 when one class was raised by the degradation of another. 

 It is a dark page in our history ; but it is, nevertheless, one 

 that must be guarded against for the future. If ever the 

 time should come when Englishmen will submit to all 

 trade being arrested by imposts and fetters, we confess 

 that we should have little hope for the future of England. 

 Are we to be treated as children as persons who are 

 incapable of judging for themselves ? No ; the noblest 

 aim of man should be to think and act for himself, to 

 exercise the intellect with which God has endowed him 

 above every other creature, and to contribute as far as in 

 him lays to the sum of human happiness. 



LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 

 STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 



