" THE KNELL OF FREE TRADE." 441 



' Memoirs of Charles Gordon Lennox, Fifth Duke 

 of Richmond/ " at a heavy sacrifice. For years 

 his ambition had been to win the Derby ; but in 

 order to devote the whole of his energies to the 

 political career which he embraced so suddenly, he 

 had parted with his racing stud, and a few months 

 later his home-bred horse Surplice won the Derby. 

 He recovered, however, from his disappointment 

 next day, when his casting vote carried Sir Thomas 

 Birch's resolution for a ten - shilling differential 

 duty, and he exclaimed enthusiastically, "We 

 have saved the colonies ; it is the knell of free 

 trade ! " 



We all know now that, instead of repealing free 

 trade, the parliamentary session of 1848 (which, 

 thanks chiefly to the extraordinary energy and 

 zeal brought to bear upon it by Lord George, 

 lasted for ten months, and was not prorogued until 

 the 5th of September) confirmed and established 

 free trade on so firm a basis, that to-day, nearly 

 half a century later, it seems altogether unassail- 

 able. Meanwhile, there still remain some few 

 admirers of Lord George Bentinck who remember 

 the earnestness with which he exclaimed, " Wait 

 until North and South America are cultivated, and 

 see what free trade without reciprocity will make 

 of this country ! " and who are sometimes tempted 

 to ask themselves whether, after all, he was not 

 right. When I read that, according to the late 

 Sir James Caird, the landed interest in the United 



