V'- aa -mM 5^*. M % v.Vi- -1 • ■ . -iV ' -^" »"> , V-' '<-£.^p- «■ ■ ■^-' \'fV' /■MfJ^V-i" ■•-=}" AfS?*?A r£ 'rl *. ^■^;- # V,-^ :.^ .ib- K. b I 1. ^ Mi-^% ' v^lcM, a I B RARY OF THE U N IVLRSITY or ILLI NOIS m m it * % *' Mr. grant duff ON THE TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COBDEN, December 20, 1871. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE COBDEN CLUB, BY CASSELL, FETTER, AND GALPIN, LUDGATE HILL, E.G. MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COBDEN, 1871. On Wednesday night, Dec. 20, Mr. Grant Duff, M.P., Under Secretary of State for India, met his constituents in the Corn Market Hall at Elgin, and delivered his annual address. Provost Cameron was in the chair. Mr. Grant Duff, after some remarks on the illness of the Prince of Wales, said — Since the general election of 1868, Mr. Glad- in?heksr stone's Cabinet has, as in duty bound, taken up ^^'^^y^^^^- one after another those questions upon which the Liberal party distinctly expressed its opinion on that occasion. Most of them it has had the good fortune to settle, and there can be but little doubt that early in the ensuing session it will put out of hand those with which it has tried to deal, but has not yet dealt successfully. It must be admitted by all, whether they approve or condemn what has been done, that vast changes have been made, changes the like of which have been rarely accom- MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE Fresh point of political departure. Forecasts in 1868. These were correct. plished in so short a time without violent poHtical disturbances, accompanied not seldom by the shed- ding of blood. When an Education Bill for Scotland and a Ballot Bill for the United Kingdom have been passed, we shall have arrived at the edge of a new country, and must take a fresh point of political departure. I said to you in 1868 — "During the next gene- ration I am fully persuaded that all our insti- tutions will be asked, so to speak, to re-state the reasons of their existence, and be judged according to their capacity for furthering the common weal. So averse are our countrymen to all change not manifestly necessary, that such of those institutions as have historical right upon their side will not find it difficult to conform to the exigencies of the new time ; but woe unto those which are determinedly obstructive ! Woe unto those whose friends are rash enough to say ' Let them be as they are, or let them not be at all.' Such obstinate institutions will soon hear the ominous words, 'Too late' — words now sound- ing in the ears of that Irish Establishment which so fondly imagined that its dangers were at an end with the failure of the Appropriation clause." I think the events of the last three years have proved my anticipations to have been correct. Institution after institution which used to be con- sidered almost as part of the order of nature has been asked somewhat peremptorily, from the plat- ^uiucp TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. form or through the press, to re -state the reasons Noinstitu- of its existence, but 1 am happy to say that not refused aii one of them has, as would have been the case in the old days, answered the inevitable challenge with an absolute refusal of any adaptation or change. The result of this has been, that against none Results. of the questioned institutions has any strong public feeling been excited. This is the case even with the House of Lords, No violent which has been perhaps more loudly challenged organic Cfl3.Il ETC than any other. The popular mind, if I read the signs of the times aright, is not only prepared, but anxious to have proposals submitted to it for such a change in the House of Lords as may House of make it a more working body, a better helpmate for the House of Commons in doing the tremen- dously heavy and ever-increasing business of the nation ; but the popular mind is, I think, very far from having determined that anything like revolutionary change is required in that ancient body. So again with the Established Churches of churS?^ North and South Britain. A section of the Non- conformists, under the able leadership of Mr. Miall, has not been slow to apply to them the reasoning which led it so ardently to desire the downfall of the Irish Establishment. But although I cannot doubt, as I have before said to you, that the set of the current of the time is everywhere against Church Establishments, yet in the southern part of the kingdom a thousand circumstances MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE tend to make the Church Establishment so strong that most Liberal politicians, having regard to the importance of method in politics as in all things else, and having regard also to possibilities of ' transformation, would do, as it seems to me, most wisely to turn, at least for some, perhaps for many- years to come, to other matters. I do not say all Liberal politicians. Mr. Miall, for example, could not do otherwise than he has done without being untrue to his own principles, and he fulfils a most important function. It would be against the nature of things for the feeling of hostility to Church Establishments felt by large masses of our countrymen riot to be represented, and powerfully represented, in the House of Commons ; but Mr. Miall and his friends should give to many who vote against him as much credit as we do to him. We have not all the same duties at the same time. 1871 is not 1863, when the Irish Establishment still stood like a rock (in that summer one of the closest and wisest observers of English politics whom I know told me he thought it would last twenty years), and when the attack on the unjust and vexatious tests at the English universities had only just been begun in Parliament by Mr. Dodson, Mr. Goschen, and myself Other insti- J necdnot go on to the other institutions which tutions, *=* have of late received warnings. There is not one of them which, by making timely, and in some instances very slight changes, may not secure for itself peace and quietness. There is not anywhere a sign of a desire on the part of the country that TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COBDEN. statesmen should for many a day do any large piece of destructive work. There is nothing worth mentioning that must go speedily, root and branch, like the Irish Establishment and the purchase system ; but observe, I do not say storms may not arise. They will arise if reforms are not set about, and the House of Lords especially has no time to lose. Proposals for a moderate and serious reform should be early made, and made from within that assembly. Well, but if orq;anic changes are not called for, if organic ' o o 7 change not what is called for.'* If, b\^ what is called for, I am called for ' •' ' what called understood to mean what I personally, speaking as for? member for Elgin, and not as connected with any Administration or set of persons whatever, think would be the best thing for the country, I should reply the taking^ up, not by the Government, not Acceptance ^ ^ & r? y y of the legacy by isolated members of the Liberal party, but of Mr. cW by the Liberal party as a whole, of the legacy which was left to the party as a whole by Mr. Cobden. By the legacy of Mr. Cobden I mean that policy whatwasit? which was inaugurated by the repeal of the Corn Laws, the policy of Free Trade or Free Exchange in its widest sense ; the policy which takes for granted that the country has made up its mind to get rid in home matters of all trammels upon industry, and to get rid in foreign matters of the old evil ways of national jealousies, huge arma- ments, artificial arrangements for securing the balance of power, and, in short, of the whole course of conduct which was based on the idea MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE^ that nations should act in the spirit of the old rhyme — " As I walked by myself, I said to myself, And the self-same self said to me, * Look out for yourself, take care of yourself, For nobody cares for thee.'"— the policy, in other words, which substitutes inter- national co-operation for international hostility. Mr. Cobden died too early to put his policy before the nation in a form so clear, so connected, and so concise as to be at once apprehended by all. I confess that I, for one, did not, during the first few years that I sat in Parliament, clearly understand the way in which his ideas hung to- Actionofthe jrether. Siuce his death the Cobden Club has Cobden ^ Club. done, amongst several good pieces of work, one pre-eminently good piece of work. It has published two volumes of Mr. Cobden's writings, two volumes of his speeches, and a most masterly essay by Sir Louis Mallet, which contains the very expressed essence of Mr. Cobden's thoughts. I cannot under- stand how any member of the Liberal party, after studying these works with an open mind, can fail to come to the conclusion — Here we have, traced most clearly, the chief lines on which should be built, for some time to eome, the policy of this nation. Other things There are other things to be done, no doubt — required to ,,... be done. this and that mstitution to be made more in harmony with modern requirements, and so forth — ve'iVurgent. but tkcse are the things requiring to be done, which TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 9 will make most difference to the prosperity of our people as a whole. Now, let us see what the acceptance of Mr, vohTedhi Cobden's policy, as the most important part of the of mKoI- Liberal programme, would involve. den's legacy. First, it would involve a further diminution of S-Srecr indirect taxation. We have had a great deal ^^-^^tion. taken off our indirect taxation of late years ; but still we are raising off our trade, in the midst of what is called a regime of Free Trade, an enormous sum of money, some forty-two millions at least. We cannot hope in our lives to get rid of anything like all the burdens on our trade, for the extravagance of the past — an extravagance, alas ! to which, let flatterers and deceivers say what they will, all classes, from the lowest to the highest, were parties — has mortgaged not only the property, but the industry of our people ; yet we may still very con- siderably diminish it, and I heartily truest we may : for whether you diminish or whether you abolisn an indirect tax, in one way or other, the doing so creates a far greater amount of prosperity than the mere remission of an equal amount of direct taxa- tion. Looking to what is passing on the other side of the Atlantic, we must be prepared to see America half a generation hence, in spite of all that unwise fiscal legislation can do to prevent her prosperity, becoming a more and more formidable competitor with us in all peaceful ways. Now, it seems to me that it is vitally essential to England that she should remain the great workshop of the world. If we are to keep that position, we must go lO MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE on year by year loosing every band that still hampers our industry. Of course there are difficulties in the way of this. It is not easy to find perfectly just substitutes for the taxes you take off, if you must find substitutes at all : but we have really no choice in the matter ; we must go on freeing our labour, and making England a better and better place for the skilled artisan to live in, or we must be content, as education improves, and the facilities for travelling increase, to see him go elsewhere. There is a class of politicians which is appre- hensive that direct taxation would be used as a means for imposing unfair burdens upon the rich, and which deprecates for that political reason steps which it admits to be financially desirable. I do not share those apprehensions. If there were any dis- position on the part of the masses of our country- men to rob their more fortunate brethren by unfair legislation, what is to prevent their doing so now } They have the power. If any such apprehension is well founded, then the policy of the Liberal party for these many years has been a huge mistake ; since that policy is based on the assumption that the majority of the electorate will in all great matters act wisely, after those great matters have been subjected to the close and searching examina- tion which ail great matters receive in this country from Parliament and the press. But supposing we make up our minds gradually tutes for'aii to take off all indirect taxes except those on tobacco indirect , . r ^ taxation? and ccrtaiu liquors, is it so clear that we must nnd substitutes for all or many of them ? Must we find substi TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. ir Since England was England there never was a pSSn of moment when our position was less assailable. ^"f moment. Of course, we all sympathise very deeply with France. France, but it is idle to deny that France up to July, 1870, might, if she had pleased, have given us a great deal of trouble ; and although from i860 onwards the anti-English feeling was steadily on the decline in that country, the rivalry of the two nations had continued for so many centuries, and had been so bitter, that it would have been easy for any ruler of France to have got up quite as strong a feeling in favour of war with England as there was last year, before the reverses began, in favour of war with Germany : but the danger from France is gone and passed for many a long year. If any man tells me that France will soon be again what she was, I venture to disagree with him. There are great recuperative forces in that country, but in order to give those recuperative forces any chance you must have three things, none of which you will h^ve. First, abnegation of the policy of revenge. Secondly, extensive disarmament. Thirdly, free trade. Now if there is no danger from France, from Germany. what quarter, in the name of common sense, is there danger t The bare idea of there being danger from Germany is so ridiculous that it is hardly possible to speak of it with patience. If you heard a man from Bremen or Stettin, or any place on the German coast, talking with alarm about a possible hostile descent from England, you would think him an idiot. But it would be much easier for us to make a descent on the coast of 12 MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE Germany than it would be for the Germans to make a descent on our coast. Even if the thing were possible, I can only say that if the spirit and skill which defeated the Armada is so dead amongst us as to let a single hostile boat's crew be landed on our shore, except for the purpose of being walked off to the nearest gaol, we don't deserve to keep our independence. There was a certain amount of silly talk in Germany during the war about punishing England for her supposed de- linquencies, but that was all idle chatter. The German qindnimc is just as great a fool as the foolishest Briton, just as alarmist, just as un- accustomed, perhaps more unaccustomed, to make allowances for foreign nations. The position of a neutral is always difficult. He is exposed to abuse from both sides, and most fortunate is he when he is not dragged into war ; but, behind all this superficial irritation, there is, on the part of all really well-informed and sensible German politicians, a firm conviction that the most cordial union and close friendship between Germany and England is a matter of vital importance to Europe. Short-sighted, indeed, must he be who does not discern that days are coming when a perfectly good understanding between these two countries will make all the difference as to whether the Con- tinent is to be convulsed from end to end or is to remain at peace. Let momentary irritation be what it may, England and Germany must hold to- gether. They cannot avoid doing so if they would. The force of circumstances w ould be too strong for TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 13 them. But supposing all this were different, sup- posing that the interests of Germany and of Eng- land, the interests, in other words, of peace, were not inextricably bound up together, supposing she were your enemy, I defy any man to show how it would be necessary for us to maintain one battalion that it would not be right for us to maintain for other reasons. Well, if the country is convinced, as I hope it o/°^cddfit may be in a year or two, that there is no longer 'jjJ^e^JJg^™*' any fear from France, and that there never was nor will be any fear from Germany, we shall see a cold fit set in about armaments. I hope that fit will not p-o too far. We must Must not go ^ ^ too far. have an adequate army, and by all means let us take advantage of the present hot fit, as is, indeed, ^^ad?2Lt? being excellently done, to make a middling army ^™y- into a first-rate one. A bad army is nothing but a school of demoralisation. A middling army is a school of very little good. A first-rate army, whether you ever want it for war or not, may be made a school for producing, no doubt at enor- mous expense, but still for producing, a vast number of persons extremely available for the general purposes of the nation. But when we have once made our army as good in quality as it can be — the best army of its size in the world — I trust we shall take care that its numbers in time of peace are as small as is consistent with the only purposes for which we want an army — the garrisoning of certain fortresses like Malta and Gibraltar — the maintenance of our rule in India — matic means. 14 MR. GRANT DUFF ON 7 HE the support of the civil power in Ireland always, and now and then for an hour or two at home — the very improbable contingency of having to send a small force abroad, and the more improbable contingency of having to repel some attack on our shores, if the once glorious, and, as I still believe, incomparable navy of England turns out to be worthless. But re- Before we have done re-ororanising our army, I ductionof . . - ^ .... armaments hooe the time may arrive for attempting: by dip- to be sought ,^. . -^ , . 11 for by^ipio- lomatic action to get other nations to make large reductions in their armaments. Now, as for years past, the only difficulty in doing so will be with France. Now, as any time since 185 1, the frank adoption of the policy of moderate disarmament in France would be followed all through Europe. Of that there seems no chance at present ; but in the existing state of France, events are at any time possible which might make her unwillingness to disarm less important to other nations than would be the case now. It was Mr. Cobden's wish to bring about a limitation of the excessive armaments of Europe by diplomatic negotiation, and he con- tinually pointed to our arrangements with America, as to the limitation of the number of vessels on the Canadian lakes, as a specimen of the course of pro- ceeding which he desired to see adopted. This idea has been put forward in various forms within the last few years. In 1868, negotiations between members of Parliament in most of the leading countries of Europe, with a view to simultaneous motions for partial disarmament being made in TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 15 their respect legislatures, had gone a long way. The present is, as I have said, clearly not a very happy moment, thanks to the state of feeling in France ; but, depend upon it, this scheme of Mr. Cobden's will come up again and again till it is effected, and the statesman who will get it done on a great scale will be tJie statesman of the next thirty years. To restore to the pursuits of industry if it were only a million, say one in four, of the Euro- pean hands that are now being trained to war — that is, to the destruction of the fruits of industry — to " mischief," as Bentham called it, " on the greatest scale" — would be the biggest piece of diplomatic work which has been done in our time. Further, the acceptance of Mr. Cobden's legacy g^a^ement a? would imply a desire for a more distinct statement to foreign than has been made for many a long day by any wanted. English Minister as to what are and what are not the aims of our foreign policy. Now, there are some persons who think that^it oftre^tyTn- is part of our business to have our hands every- gagements. where redressing injuries, and that we should act the part of a sort of earthly Providence. This is the view, for example, which is advocated with great ability and zeal by the Spectator , a news- paper which I assiduously read and greatly admire, but with that view I entirely disagree. It seems to me that it is no sort of business of ours to be " man's stout defence from wrong," and that, even if it were, it is a business of which, in the present state of the world, we should make very little. I am far, indeed, from saying that it would be im- i6 MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE possible to put a case in which it would be the duty of this country to interfere by force of arms in favour of this or that cause, wholly irrespective of treaty engagements, or our own interests ; but it would be quite impossible to put such a case without assuming the occurrence of events which are so violently improbable that for practical pur- poses they may be left out of calculation. Of course treaty engagements are treaty en- gagements, and we cannot leave out of calculation the fact that we have a certain number of treaty engagements which might oblige us in certain eventualities to go to war, however little we liked it ; but let any man who makes a conscientious study of contemporary events take those treaty engagements and read them quietly through, and he will, I think, agree with me that the prospects of our having to go to war under the provisions of any one of them are by no means great. Still, in thinking out a system of foreign policy, the chance cannot be disregarded. Common sense, how- ever, surely points out that no one is bound to an impossibility ; the most needy or exacting ally can only expect us to do the best we can, being what we are. He cannot expect that we should make the whole of our national life and poHcy turn upon the possibility of our one day having to assist him. For motives quite unconnected with our alli- ances, it suits us to have the finest fleet in the world. Our ally has then the right to ask that, in the event of its becoming our duty to assist him under our treaty engagements, he should have the TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 17 fullest assistance that our maritime supremacy can give. Then we are not absolutely rich, for I cannot British^ . money. think that a country in which the average mcome of all its inhabitants, men, women, and children, is below rather than above ;^30 per annum deserves to be called absolutely rich ; but compared to other nations we are unquestionably rich. I rack my brain without success to think of any probable combination of European events in which the assistance of an English force, even if that force consisted of men each worth two of any other army, would be half so useful to our allies as money. The national sentiment might require that a British flag. small British force should actually take part in •some Continental campaign ; but, under the exist- ing conditions of Europe, that force, even if it were composed of paladins, could not produce any great result. In former wars we did much more by sulj- sidies than by the actual sending of troops, and now that the armies of the Continent have become so enormous and so well appointed, it will be surely 'much more than ever wise for us to operate upon land rather with gold than with steel. If this be true, then the keeping up of any larger force than what we require for the defence of our own shores, and the other purposes to which I have alluded, imight be represented as not only not necessary, but as a direct injury, to our allies. I say nothing •of the immense indirect importance of having Tt'he countenance of a people like ours, which has i8 MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE really now on the continent of Europe no interest whatever except that nations should remain at peace, and increase alike in material wealth and British moral jj-^ ^ \^^ hip^licr forms of well-being-. Even now support. *^ *=> our moral support counts for much ; and every foreign statesman worthy of the name knows that moral support is worth, in the long run, many bat- talions. When you see the contrary asserted, you may safely conclude that the assertor, if he does not speak in mere ignorance, is trying to pique us into a course of action favourable to his own in- terests, or is speaking under the influence of irrita- tion caused by our not exerting our moral influence in the direction in which he wishes to see it exerted. This is true even now in most cases, but it would be uniformly true if we took as much care as we should that our opinions upon the conflicting in- terests of foreign nations were always formed on thoroughly sound information. It is not so, how- ever. The duty of keeping the public mind clearly informed about these matters is not sufficiently recognised as a duty by those whose duty it is to lead the national thought in these matters. There hangs about this side of our affairs too much of the last century spirit. That spirit was perfectly in its place when the relations of nations were settled not by nations but by courts. I am quite aware that the influence of courts, or rather of the two or three persons who are centres of courts, is still far greater than is often supposed, or than they will be, perhaps, thirty years hence ; but the power of public opinion is enormously great too, and TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 19 public opinion even in this country, where it is far more powerful than in most places, is not suf- ficiently, I will not say directed, for it will direct itself — but informed, since what is wanted is in most cases simply a clear statement of the real facts ; and far, far more than has been done in this way by any Government whose proceedings I have watched might be done, I cannot help thinking, without the slightest indiscretion. From what I have said now, and often before, you will under- stand that I am as far as possible from repudiating one jot or one tittle of our national engagements. I do not deny that we may have to use force, in quarrels which do not directly concern us, in obe- dience to our solemn promises ; but I firmly believe that if our diplomatic service were considered a matter of first-class national concern — were con- sidered of at least as much importance as either the army or the navy, although it costs what in comparison to the cost of these services is a mere pittance, and if it were worked in all respects as the exigencies of 1871, as distinguished from those of 177 1, require, no question in which we are inte- rested under any treaty engagement would ever be allowed to reach the stage when war is inevitable, while the chances of any difference between Euro- pean nations coming to a war would be indefinitely diminished. It is often said that the days of diplomacy are J'^^^ jg^.'^^ past. If by diplomacy is meant the diplomacy of SS7beg1n- , endless formalities and trickery, of gold-headed "'"^• canes and snuff-boxes — the kind of diplomacy 20 MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE at which Horace Walpole sneered five quarters of a century ago — I am quite of that opinion ; but the day of real diplomacy — the art, that is, not only of preventing misunderstandings between nations, but of making them mutually helpful — the art of international co-operation, then I take leave to say that diplomacy in that sense is only beginning. I entirely agree with every word of the follow- ing passage, which I take from the evidence given before a committee of the House of Commons by one of the greatest masters of diplomacy in this higher sense : — " I am of opinion that diplomacy will become one of the most powerful engines for the promotion of peace and good relations. At the present moment we look to armies to establish peace and goodwill among Christians; but I am sure diplomacy will be a better engine when pro- perly developed and organised." Not less true Mr. odo were Mr. Odo Russell's observations about having, not points for diplomatic action, but centres of political information dotted about the world. " The more feelers," he said, "you have all over the civilised world, the better informed you are, and the more influence you can exercise ; and I think that through an organisation of that kind you are more likely to establish peace and goodwill among Christians than you are through armies, Arm- strong guns, breechloaders, Minie bullets, and so on." The real In- We hear much talk nowadays of the new SodSty."^ org^anisation called the International Society,, TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 2i which Is to pull down all that stands upright. In so far as this International Society represents anything except anarchy, it represents a vast amount of perfectly reasonable dissatisfaction at the present unreasonable state of things in Europe, where every nation is standing with the sword in one hand and a protective tariff, like a target, in the other. The schemes of the so-called International Society, for regenerating the world, are based on absolute ignorance or disregard of the economic laws by which the world is governed. That being so, we know that the end of them must be to perish and come to naught, after no doubt causing more or less bloodshed and destruction of property in this or that place ; but if one diplomatist in ten understood the capabilities of his art as well as Mr. Russell, you would have the diplomatic body throughout the world a ready-made old Inter- national Society, whose action would gradually sweep away all those anomalies and absurdities against which the doings of the new International Society are a sort of blundering protest. I think our Foreign Office should be a vast The Foreign engine for collecting political information through- out the world ; for communicating such parts of that information as it is right to communicate, through Parliament and in other ways, to the country, in order that public opinion may be always ready intelligently to back up your Foreign Minister in promoting always and everywhere peace and goodwill, and mutual helpfulness amongst nations, and In limiting the area of dis- Office 22 MJ^. GRANT DUFF ON THE Contrast of 1 87 1 and 1851. Recapitula- tion of foreign policy. turbance where tendencies so hostile to each other are in presence that their differences can only be settled by war. To have thus acted on public opinion in this country twenty years ago would have been ex- tremely difficult, because in almost every country in Europe you had struggles going on about principles with regard to which public opinion in this country was divided. It is not so now. The party of the reaction, which was supreme in 1851, has been defeated along the whole line. The great questions which are open now are not questions of principle. There is no question of principle, about which our people care, open be- tween Germany and France. There is no question of principle, about which our people care, open in Italy. There is none open in Austria. There is none open in Turkey. All the questions that are coming up in European politics, and, I am sure, there are enough of them, with the exception of the question between France and Germany, which is a mere question of revenge, are composite questions, which require much study even to com- prehend them. They are not questions on which public opinion will ever be so strongly and suddenly moved as to make it call for wrong action, if only the true facts are set before it suf- ficiently early in the day. I say, then, take every honourable opportunity to diminish the number of those engagements which may force you to go to war. Contract no new ones if it is possible to avoid it. Let your TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. allies know distinctly what your support means, so that they may not be led into danger by imagining that your goodwill to them has no limits. Mul- tiply your points of information. Help public opinion by communicating whatever can with ad- vantage be communicated to it, and proclaim to all mankind that your Foreign Office wishes for no influence in the Councils of Europe, except what it must derive from being absolutely disinterested and supremely well informed. Had Mr. Cobden lived, his voice would doubt- ^i^- <^'^'^^''" ' and commer- less have been heard in the recent discussions about ciai treaties. the proposed modifications of his own great Treaty — the French Commercial Treaty of i860. The policy which he then inaugurated has been so suc- cessful that, as has been said, ''all the great nations of Europe — England, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and the ZoUverein — form, for trading purposes, a compact International body, from which the principle of monopoly and exclusive privileg^c has been almost entirely eliminated." I do not know how far the negotiations now going on under the unhappy initiative of M. Thiers may alter this state of things, but till the French madness of 1870 nothing could be fairer than the prospect ; and one's only wish was to see some of the countries that lagged behind, such as Spain and Portugal, in- cluded in the same commercial state system. There are few thincfs which Mr. Cobden had ^^';- Cobden '-' and the more at heart than a reform in our existing land ^^"^ ^"■^• laws. Some of you may remember the very strong language which he used on this subject in the last 24 MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE Speech which he ever deHvered, and it is strange that it has never occurred to any one to follow up the hint which he then gave, and to have a League for the reform of the land laws, like the Anti-Corn- Law League. Proposals have indeed been put forward for dealing in strange ways with the land — proposals which Sir John Lubbock, one of our best financial authorities, very clearly showed, the other day, would result in saddling the State with a deficit of some fifty millions per annum ; but I need hardly say that Mr. Cobden would have had no sympathy with foolish dreams like this — dreams which are excusable enough in persons who know nothing of the land except what they read in books, but would have been inexcusable in a man who, born and bred in Sussex, understood the agricultural phase of English life just as well as its manufacturing and commercial phases. I wish, by the way, some of our literary would-be land- reformers would set about informing themselves about the land in the same spirit in which our dis- tinguished countryman Mr. Finlay, the historian of modern Greece, set to work informing himself about Greek taxation. He farmed the taxes of a district, exposing himself to all the annoyances and all the losses which must inevitably fall upon a foreigner who attempts such a thing in such a country, solely and simply that he might see how the present dreadful system works in practice, and what could be substituted for it. But to return to Mr. Cobden. All he proposed was to sweep away, as quickly as they could without injustice be swept TEACHINGS OP RICHARD COB DEN. 25 away, all those artificial fetters on the transfer of land which hinder its passing from hand to hand according to the natural laws of trade. Of course you can't make an estate as easily transferable as a diamond or an ingot of gold, but the object of our land legislation should be to approach that ideal as nearly as possible. Not until the ordinary economic forces are allowed to work with regard to land as freely as the nature of things permits, will the land do as much for our national well-being as it ought to do. But there we must stop. No attempt, as in France, to impose another set of artificial restric- tions which work quite as badly as our artificial restrictions. Free trade applied to land — nothing more, nothing less. Once let us have this, and our unwise land customs, which are even more mis- chievous than our unreformed land legislation, will gradually pass away. There is one thinc^ more which Mr. Cobden RejUgerent ^ . rights at sem, greatly desired, about which he wrote largely, and which he considered a corollary to our free trade policy, I mean the re-consideration of the whole subject of belligerent rights at sea. Mr. Cobden thought that our commerce had now grown to such an enormous size that, let us make our navy as powerful as we would, it was idle to suppose that we could give anything like effective pro- tection to that commerce in time of war. He thought that any loss we might suffer in warlike efftciency, from not being able to prey upon the commerce of an enemy, would be as nothing compared to the advantage which we should gain 26 iVR. GRAN 7 DUFF ON THE by not having our own commerce preyed upon. I spoke to you at considerable length on this subject in 1862, and I re-published in the spring of this year what I then said.* What I thought then I think now. To adopt the policy advocated by Mr. Cobden would be to take a most momentous step, a step about which responsible statesmen may well pause and think — as Mr. Gladstone said the other day about another matter — "once, twice, and even thrice " before taking it. It may be that there is some answer to Mr. Cobden, but if there be, all I can say is that I have not yet had the good fortune to meet with it. Policy of the It wiU not havc escaped you that many steps Government, taken by tlic prcscut Government have been in the direction in which I have been saying that I should like to see the Liberal party desiring to be led. I need only point to the reduction of the sugar duties by Mr. Lowe, to the diminished naval and military estimates of 1870, to the withdrawal of the troops from the colonies, where they were not wanted, by Mr. Cardwell, to Lord Clarendon's pacific policy in China, to Lord Ripon's nego- tiations in America, to Mr. Baxter's application of modern commercial practice to the purchases of the Admiralty, to Mr. Child ers' reforms, and so forth. What I am anxious to see, and do not see, is, not any particular action on the part of the Government, but a desire in the party to make the Government lead it in a particular direction. * Elgin Speeches. Edmonston & Douglas, 1871. TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 27 That, I say, is what I personally think would jj^y^p^rsonai be the best thing for the country ; and just before ^^''"^'^• the election of 1868, at the time of Mr. Bright's ''free breakfast-table" speech in Edinburgh, I was sanguine enough to think that things might take that direction. I am looking- to the nearest future, not so But not ^ ' sanguine as sanguine now. Illness soon withdrew Mr. Brio^ht, to the nearest o •=> ' future. , not only from the Government, but even from the councils of the nation. A great war, which states- men had for four years been doing their utmost to stave off, in the hope — the just and legitimate hope — that something might turn up, in the chapter of accidents, to prevent it, at last broke out. When it had broken out, it was clear enough that even- tualities connected with our treaty engagements might oblige us to take part in the contest. That necessitated some expenses being incurred, and some attention, which might have been directed more^ profitably, being transferred to military matters. But that was not all. A large section of our Unhappy . ^ excitement population went mad with excitement. The caused by whole thrice-hateful brood of panic-mongers yelled German war. through the press. Publications like ''The Battle of Dorking," and others which had not even the recommendation of being, like it, skilfully written, Avere sold by tens of thousands ; and unhappily it was just on the most vocal section of the public — on a portion of the literary class in the metropolis, and on " society" — that these publications had most effect. After the middle of November, it was 28 MR. GRANT DUFF ON THE Yet some good came out of this excitement. Fall of the purchase system. But all this threw us back. difficult for any one living in London not to believe that the country really wanted to go to war with somebody or other, with a view to showing that the British Lion was as fierce and strong as of old. The Government, of course, never shared that illu- sion, and large numbers of Members of Parliament, on both sides, never shared it ; but, at the same time, I am afraid the Government quite rightly interpreted the wish of the majority of the country in bringing in far larger estimates for the services than it was agreeable to some of its best friends to vote for. Happily, the same wave of opinion which swept it in the direction of increased expenditure was also strong enough to hurl it against the evil system which had so long diminished the efficiency of our army, and made far-reaching reforms im- possible. After a resistance to which the future historian wall point as showing how deeply the mercenary taint had dyed the very souls of a certain portion of our society, down went the purchase system with its attendant abominations. It, I fear, could not have been got rid of except at the price we paid — six months of panic-mongering, and several months more of military, or rather of a much worse thing, half-military chatter. But all this threw us back — a long way back — and it was clearly shown when the budget of this year was brought forward, that large divisions of the Liberal party, so far from being willing to take for their programme anything like what Mr. TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 29 Cobden would have approved, were entirely opposed to it — were all, for example, even for indirect as against direct taxation. I am sorry for it, but the business of a poli- JJ^n^^ckn tician in a popular Government is to use as best he ""extent dr- may the existing gales and currents of public cumstances. thought to carry him in the direction in which he would go. As Bolingbroke said long ago, " The ocean which environs us is an emblem of our Government, and the pilot and the minister are in similar circumstances. It seldom happens that either of them can steer a direct course, and they both arrive at their port by means which frequently seem to carry them from it." People are often unjustly called doctrinaires, J^etrue*^ because they have distinct ideas about politics, and doctrinaires? have systems of policy in their heads to which from time to time they give expression ; but those are only justly called doctrinaires who insist on acting in sea.son and out of season upon the doctrine^ which they profess. If the nation wishes for the present rather to ^^ui reform make itself, so to say, more comfortable where it is than go through the exertion of driving a stage for- ward even on the road of prosperity, the servants of the nation have nothing to do but to obey its be- hests. By all means let us have one or more ses- sions given to diminishing drunkenness, to preventing accidents in, and otherwise regulating mines, to passing an improved Merchant Shipping Code, to enabling the authorities to deal better with disease or the causes of disease, and so forth. These ques- 30 MR. GRANT DUFI^ ON THE tions, taken each by itself, are of immense import- ance, but they can hardly be grouped into a connected whole in a way to seize the imagi- nation, or form the basis of action for a party. They might, of course, be rhetorically repre- sented as measures of which the common object was to turn the new force acquired by the vast addition lately made to the constituencies to the improvement of the general condition of the people. In fact, such a presentment of them by a practised orator might, if that orator were a leading Cabinet Minister, be an immense political service, for he might doubtless, so dispose and colour his materials as to give to perfectly sane views and reasonable aims something of that at- tractive appearance which seems to attach to the fantastic schemes of world -bettering about which we heard so much this autumn. To do that, how- ever, would, as I have said, require the power of a great orator full of the enthusiasm of humanity. One is looking, perhaps, only at the other side of the shield ; but for my part, I cannot help thinking that the first condition of world-bettering, even in this country, which is comparatively rich, is to increase material prosperity, while the second con- dition must be to diffuse sound instruction. Let us do all the other things that various sections of philanthropists propose. Above all, let us regulate the Liquor Traffic, supply efficient direction, and give adequate powers to the various sanitary agencies through the country, and improve, as far as we can, the dwellings of the town popu- TEACHINGS OF RICHARD COB DEN. 31 lation. But the first and great political com- mandment of the hour is — Make the people rich ; raHntfm"^" and the second, make them intelligent. There are fenerar periods in all our lives when we think rather of '''^'^^*^- setting our houses in order than of entering upon any decided course of action ; but these periods do not last so very long with individuals, and the period on which w^e are now entering won't last so very long with the British people. Well, fo^e^after^ what next t I really do not see any choice be- PJ"i^ be- tween the programme I have been sketching and a *"°™' programme of organic change. I do not think we shall have organic changes, because I believe that the various institutions, in which some change is required, will pretty readily agree to as much change as the nation -will care to have for some time to come. As at present advised, then, I am Je^nic^poiky, inclined to think that the policy I have been trying 5he ^^lylSlx to sketch is the policy, not, indeed, of to-morrow, ^o-"^o'''^o^- but of the day after. A friend said to me the other day, " But why is it necessary to be doing anything t Why cannot the Liberal party be satisfied with merely admin- istering the country.?" To such a question, the reply that our parliamentary system of Govern- ment practically necessitates changes is not a sufficient answer ; but this, I think, is a sufficient answer. Our present position is an illogical one ; ^0"-^?}"^^' we have broken with an old set of ideas, and we ii'ogicai one. have not yet fully accommodated our policy to the new ideas which we hold. 32 MR. GRANT DUFF AT ELGIN. After some questions had been asked and an- swered, Bailie TAYLOR proposed, and Mr. JOHN Allan, corn merchant, seconded, a vote of thanks and confidence ; which being put by the Chairman, was declared d*ily carried. Np :::^'^->^' '.^