J. S. Loe Strachey

“ We will neither tax our Colonies for our benefit nor tax ourselves in the vain hope of benefiting them thereby. What we will do is to insist that the tie which unites us in one mighty State shall be the tie of freedom—freedom political and commercial. That is the motto which we must blazon on the banner of Empire. ”

“ But, bad as were the results of attempting to make the Empire self-sufficing in the matter of timber and sugar by preferring colonial products, they pale before those achieved in the case of coffee. The argument for preference looked at first sight as good, and proved in the long-run even more fallacious. We consume a great deal of coffee. Coffee can be grown in the Empire, and coffee is a very profitable crop. Therefore, let us encourage coffee-growing in the Empire by giving it a preference in our markets. In this way we can secure the profits of a very lucrative trade for ourselves. ”

“ Their colonies were the tied houses of those Empires. How different is the case with the British Empire! The foreigner may hate us in the abstract, but when it comes to business he cannot feel very angry with a nation which not only allows him to come freely and sell what he has got to sell here, but does not claim extra privileges over him in any of the colonial markets that are controlled directly by the Imperial Government. Thus our Free Trade policy has given us a world-wide Empire that excites the minimum of popular hatred and jealousy. ”

“ The policy of unrestricted Free Trade has helped us even more inside our Colonies and dependencies. Turgot's saying that colonies always dropped off the parent tree like fruit when it was ripe was true under a system of extorting special privileges for the Mother Country. By allowing the Colonies to manage their own fiscal affairs without restriction, and by giving them just as good treatment in the home market when they tax our products as when they do not, we have given the colonists a confidence in the Mother Country that no other scheme of action would have been able to give. ”

“ Next, is it possible that a protective policy applied to the Colonies, even though intended to do them no harm, would not have ended in constant squabbles and disputes? Some Colonies would have wanted more Protection and some less, and none would have been really satisfied. Lastly, our own trade, debilitated by close markets, would never have taken the place it now has. As it is, our vast, free, and expanding trade helps to maintain the Empire, for all people like to be connected with a flourishing firm. ”

“ Another very important point in regard to the influence of the policy of Free Trade on Empire deserves to be noticed. That is the attitude of the rest of the world towards the British Empire. No doubt continental statesmen are jealous of our success, but the British Empire as a whole does not anywhere excite that sense of widespread jealousy and hatred which is so dangerous to the State which inspires it. ”

“ It is a fact, not a theory. While we possessed a system of preference the Empire flourished neither commercially nor politically. Trade was not helped, but hindered, and at the same time the political relations between the Colonies and the United Kingdom were far from satisfactory. When, however, we abandoned the attempt to establish special trade privileges within the Empire, and instead allowed trade to follow its own interests, the Colonies became a source of pride and strength to the Mother Country. ”

“ They were a stumbling-block in his path, and people never love stumbling-blocks. The Colonies were unpopular, and with those persons who declared that they would soon be independent, the wish was father to the thought. They longed to get rid of the burden of preferential trade, and believed that it would only disappear with independence. Hence the men who belonged to, or who were brought up in, the preferential period tended to become Little Englanders. ”

“ We can hardly wonder, however, that the nation chose to forget its original Imperial fiscal policy. An incident so eminently unsatisfactory, and so full of friction and confusion, was naturally ignored. In endeavouring to trace the evil effects of the preferential system which once ruled the trade relations of the Empire, I shall not go so far back as the period when that system was in full force, and when we enjoyed 'the monopoly of colonial buying and selling,' and maintained the principle of 'the prohibition and discouragement of colonial manufactures.' Mr. ”

“ That system led not only to bad trading, but to political relations which were full of friction and of danger. As a nation we are apt to forget our failures, whether in battle, in diplomacy, or in business. Hence it happened that very few people were aware till the fiscal controversy overtook us that only sixty years ago we had a complete system of Colonial Preference. We greatly favoured colonial products in our markets, while they gave us a position of privilege in theirs. ”

“ Also, strange as it may seem, though they apparently benefited by having Britain as a kind of tied house, the Colonies were not nearly so loyal under Preference as they are to-day. The best men did not, as now, look forward to an Imperial union in which the British communities oversea would some day claim an equal share with the Mother Country, but to complete independence like that of the United States. ”

“ The expense of sending coffee to the Cape of Good Hope is about 1d., and consequently it arrives in this country at about 5d. less duty than if it came direct from the countries of its growth; but if the duties were reduced to an equitable fiscal principle, the article would be cheaper and the consumption of coffee in this country would no doubt increase enormously.'
Another striking example of the absurdity of preference is to be found in the preferential treatment accorded to Cape wines. ”

“ But, though the timber merchants suffered, the small farmers rejoiced, for they had resented the preference. Agriculture had been neglected in the Colony for the benefit of a few great capitalists. Canadian millers also suffered when we ceased to give a preference to Canadian flour. The discriminating duty on colonial flour had allowed Americans to import their wheat into Canada, where it was ground up, and then exported to England as Canadian flour. ”

“ Think for a moment what would almost certainly have been the result if we had tried to develop our Empire on Protectionist lines—had tried, that is, to make every colony and dependency give us a 'privileged position.' In that case every fresh acquisition of territory would have been met with a cry of alarm from the rest of the world. ”

“ Each Power might like to get our Indian or our African possessions for itself, but if that is not possible it would prefer the status quo. No other Power would be so good to trade with as England. It was very different in the case of Spain and Holland. ”

“ Chamberlain no doubt hinted to the Colonies that it would be a friendly act if they would be content with such manufactures as they have already created, and would leave what remains to the Mother Country in exchange for a preference from her. Still, I do not suppose that anyone now seriously desires to go back to the old plan—the plan under which the Colonies were veritable 'tied houses' in all particulars. Our Tariff Reformers only wish to make them 'tied houses' in certain trades. ”

“ Cobden would have rejoiced in an Empire such as we have to-day, but, if not, and if it could be proved that he would have been annoyed at its persistence, it troubles me very little. Free Trade is far too great and vital a matter to be pinned to any one man's coat-tails. We should always refuse to allow the policy of Free Trade to be tested by what Mr. ”