76 Protection for Agricultural Products. 



shall be carrying out the principles of political economy, 

 and all those trading laws which are so constantly 

 pressed on our attention. We shall produce, what we 

 can produce, most cheaply, grass, and the inhabitants 

 of other climates — warmer ones with cheaper labour — 

 will produce for us all the grain we require. 



From a national point of view, I need hardly say 

 that I have written the three preceding sentences with 

 a feeling of pain ; but if the hidebound politicians of 

 the day persevere with their principles of political 

 economy in the face of a steadily-decreasing rural 

 population it is impossible to write otherwise. I am, 

 of course, perfectly aware that what made an Empire, 

 and what alone can maintain it, is a strong, healthy, 

 and numerous rural population; and were Great Britain 

 ruled by a wise Emperor the first thing he would do 

 would be to levy such an amount of Protection on 

 agricultural products as would fill again the cottages 

 which have been so steadily emptied in recent years. 

 Mj' system of farming will indeed check the decline 

 of the rural population, and even cause a moderate 

 increase of it; but it must be aided by Protection if we 

 desire to raise the numbers of our rural population to 

 what they once were. 



