The Free Trade Struggle In England

Author : M. M. Trumbull
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330536124
Total Pages : 52 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (361 download)

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Download or read book A History of the Free Trade Struggle in England (Classic Reprint) written by M. M. Trumbull and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from A History of the Free Trade Struggle in England By the Free Trade struggle in England, wo mean the campaign from 1839 to 1846. Of course there were enlightened people before that time, who doubted the wisdom of the Protective system, but they were comparatively few; they were easily brushed aside by those who believed in the blessings of scarcity, and who looked upon abundance as one of the calamities of mankind. The believers in commercial freedom were told that their doctrines were very well in theory, but would never do in practice; and with this convenient argument, they had to he content. No doubt that in the very darkest ages of political economy, when Protection" nourished in direct proportion to the popular ignorance, there were men in England who saw clear over the fogs in the valley, the humanizing influence of Free Trade, shining on the heights beyond, even as Galileo and Columbus saw farther and clearer than the men around them; who thought the physical sciences were all very well in theory, but quite unavailable in practice. Indeed, more than a hundred years ago, Adam Smith bad refuted the arguments on which the Protective theory was based, and which up to his time had been known by a sort of paradox as the "Commercial System." Carried to its logical results its effect was to cripple commerce by closing ports to international trade. In the time of Henry Clay it was known in this country as "The American System," and in our own day it is called by the captivating title of "Protection to Native Industry." Mr. Huskisson. one of the most enlightened member of Lord Liverpool's cabinet, made some advances toward Free Trade, as early as 1825, and even before that time the merchants of London had petitioned Parliament in behalf of commercial freedom. Their argument was remarkably eloquent and clear. Nevertheless, it was not until about the year 1836 that the Free Traders made any organized effort against the insular and bigoted system of Protection which had burdened the industries of England for hundreds of years. Up to that time the liberal and scientific principles of Free Trade were regarded as political abstractions, beautifully adapted to some undiscovered Utopia, which might be expected to appear about the time of the millenium. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.