It is not true that wise, acute, and thoughtful men in Europe and America have unanimously, without a dissentient voice rejected Free Trade. I deny that any single "wise" man has done so, whatever any acute or thoughtful men—they are not necessarily wise—may have done. I deny that any but the merest sciolists are aghast at the practical results of Free Trade, for the simple reason that there is nothing in these results at which to be aghast. While, as to the prophecies which have been made as to the general acceptance of Free Trade by the nations within a certain limited time, it may be conceded that the generous forecasts of its advocates have hitherto been unfulfilled. This, however, does not arise from the falsity of their doctrines, as the Protectionists would have it, but because of the prejudices and ignorance of men— such prejudices and ignorance for instance as these writers display—because of the existence of the self-same spirit which placed Galileo in prison for maintaining that the earth went round the sun; and which consigned Giordano Bruno to the flames for asserting that the world was round.
And now I have to ask Sir Edward Sullivan for his authority for the figures given by him as to the respective annual "accumulations" of America, France, and England, in which England with £65,000,000 is placed at the bottom of the list with the remark that "many experts maintain that since 1875-1876 she was losing money instead of accumulating."
I ask: who is his authority for such a statement?
Mr. Giffen, in one of his "Essays on Finance," 1878, puts down our "accumulations" for 1865—75 as £2,400,000,000, or £240,000,000 annually, and there is no reason for supposing that they have decreased since; the figures given under "One-Sided Free Trade" proving the contrary. It there be any "expert" to set against the chief of the Statistical Department of the Board of Trade, I should like to know who he is, and on what factors he bases his calculation.
Then I have to ask him who is his authority for the statement that "Protective France imports annually, £4,000,000 more than she exports;" and that "the balance against her is £40,000,000 in ten years?"
