HOW BRITISH AGRICULTURE WAS DESTROYED 13 



and apologists in all sorts of ingenious ways, notliing can ever 

 really lessen the tremendous significance of its meaning in its 

 relation to, and effect upon, the economic conditions of the 

 country. 



The Free-trade Banner unfurled 



The " Anti-Corn Law League " proved entirely successful, 

 and when it had served its purpose it received decent burial at 

 the hands of those who at once raised the Free-trade standard, 

 and who subsequently marched under its wide sweeping folds 

 to — " Economic victory." 



As it would serve no purpose in this chapter to discuss the 

 much-controverted question of Free-trade versus Protection, 

 reference will only be made to those advantages which Free- 

 traders allege have accrued from the adoption of Free-trade 

 principles. 



Among the most prominent advantages may be cited the 



impetus which, it is said, Free-trade gives to the mechanical 



and manufacturing genius of our countrymen, and the freer 



facilities for the development of the mineral wealth of the 



country, in consequence of which there has been marvellous 



progression in the material comfort and wealth of the people. 



It is claimed that statistics reveal a remarkable change in the 



status of the working classes, it being shown that, with easier 



work and shorter hours, wages have, nevertheless, increased, and 



that the labouring man enjoys anything from 65 to 90 per 



cent, more of the necessaries of life than he did fifty years ago. 



It is further contended that practically the whole of such 



economic advantages as have accrued from the beneficent ejects 



of Free-trade during the last fifty years have gone to the 



working classes, and, while they have almost exclusively reaped 



these substantial benefits, they have also participated largely — 



more so, indeed, than other classes — in the general prosperity 



of the country. 



What Free-traders claim 



It is then held that, under the iegis of Free-trade, inven- 

 tions, scientific discovery, and the development of technical 

 and practical knowledge became possible, and that, in con- 

 sequence, the people have been enabled to enjoy a standard of 

 life hitherto unattainable in the history of tlio nation, and hitherto 

 inconceivable by the people. These Vv'onderful inventions and 

 scientific discoveries which have, it is said, peculiarly benefited 

 Great Britain, could never have been possible save under Free- 



