British freight,

£9,798,535

6,772,049

Insurance, 1 per cent on ditto,

1,693,012

2,539,519

Ditto at 6 per cent on ths of the exports,

2,742,899

731,440

2,377,180

"No one," says Mr Newdegate, addressing himself to the present President of the Board of Trade, Mr Henley, -"no one who has gravely and impartially considered this subject, — and no one is more likely or more competent so to consider it than yourself,-can fail to understand, how seriously and how immediately the commercial condition of this country may be affected by the legislation of foreign countries, and by the conduct of foreign Governments in this respect; or fail to reflect upon the fact, that since the total practical and avowed abandonment of the system of reciprocity by the Legislature and last two Governments of this country, foreign Governments by means of their tariffs can and do legislate, uncounteracted and uncontrolled, in matters deeply affecting, not only their own commerce, but that

also of this country.

"No one who has any, however partial, information on this subject, can doubt that foreign Governments acknowledge the obligation, which the late Governments of this country have unfortunately repudiated; namely, that it is the duty of every Government to consider first, in regulating their tariffs, the interests and industry of the nations which they respectively govern, and by which they are respectively supported; or doubt that foreign Governments are daily acting upon this principle.

"No one can fail to recognise the fact, that the question of whether our present commercial policy needs or needs not revision or modification, deeply agitates

26,654,634 £13,068,862

public opinion in this country; and that it is a subject of grave doubt whether the present policy is or is not disastrous, as I believe it to be, to the preservation and profitable employment of the national capital, to the social condition of this country, and eventually to the integrity of the empire."

We are exceedingly gratified to observe from this pamphlet that Mr Newdegate has applied himself to the task of preparing and publishing a compendium of the tariffs imposed by foreign countries. During the last two years we have repeatedly felt the inconvenience arising from the want of such statistical information, and have searched for it in vain amongst the cumbrous blue-books, which professed to give some record of our national transactions. Whether from supineness, or from a notion that the information, if granted, would not bear out the assertions of those who were worshippers of the present commercial system, certain it is that the late authorities proceeded so slowly in the matter, if they did proceed at all, that those who took an active interest in such questions could only arrive at a knowledge of details by resorting to foreign sources. Possibly the Whigs conceived that, with such an obliging authority and animated Encyclopædia at hand as the Editor of the

The perusal of this table is very suggestive, for it clearly shows that, by pursuing Free Trade, we have failed in gaining increased access for our manufactures to the markets of the civilised world. Free Trade in corn may be defended on other grounds, but not on the plea that it has induced reciprocity on the part of the nations who furnish us with large cereal supplies. Our present practice is opposed to that of every other country; a fact which, of itself, ought surely to temper the confidence of our political economists, who possibly may be right in their views, but who certainly have the misfortune to be opposed in this matter by the convictions and experience of statesmen in all other countries of the world. No people have studied Political Economy more anxiously than the Germans, who are, though it is the fashion to call them visionaries, upon such points more practical than ourselves. The Germans openly deny and impugn the soundness of our commercial doctrines. Few doubt the sagacity of Russia in all that concerns her own aggrandisement, and yet the Russian statesmen regard our policy as absolutely suicidal. France, though invited to reciprocate, has refused the offer; and the acute Americans pronounce us to be commercially insane!

We do not expect that considerations such as these will weigh much with the electors in the inland boroughs throughout the kingdom. Retail dealers are usually bad judges of political economy; and they will seldom reason or act upon anything which is beyond the scope of their own immediate observation. The balance of trade is a subject beyond the reach of municipal intellect, as now exhibited in our civic assemblies. But in the great commercial towns, such questions are well understood and eagerly canvassed. Upon their solution depends the wellbeing of the merchant-and under him, of all those in his employment; and, consequently, arguments which might be overlooked in a city like Edinburgh, where Sectarianism and Dissent are held to be the proper tests of Parliamentary ability, tell, with the utmost force, in such a place as Liverpool. We con

Great

fess that we look to the decision of the commercial towns, as contradistinguished from the pure seats of manufacture, with much anxiety. Their verdict, at such a time, is most valuable, and will so be received; because any error in commercial policy which may be committed by a government, necessarily exhibits its effects, in the first instance, amongst them, and is later in reaching other classes of the community. And we would implore the electors to remember how much depends upon the decided expression of their opinions just now. difficulties are in the way of Government; and those difficulties can only be obviated by the frank and hearty adhesion of all those who are convinced that the commercial experiment is not working well for the true interests of the people. Let them remember that an opportunity such as the present, for repairing the bad effects of hasty legislation, may not soon occur again; and let them deliberately consider what the consequences would be, if such losses as were experienced last year became of frequent occurrence. Without reciprocity it is plain that we are throwing away all our other advantages. We are met, and will still continue to be met, with high import duties less on account of the revenue which these bring to the states which impose them, than for the direct encouragement of their own domestic manufactures. With imports greatly exceeding the exports in value, prices have declined materially in this country; and in many most important branches of industry the wages of labour have been lowered. This is not a state of things which ought to, or can, continue; and it is so far fortunate that, at the present time, no external disturbing causes can be held out as specious reasons for the decline. To whatever extent that decline may prevail, it arises solely from our own system; and it is the imperative duty of the electors interested in commerce, to declare whether or not that system has received their approbation.

We do not feel inclined to speculate on the result of the contest, which, before another number of the Maga

zine can be issued, must be brought to an end. We know that Conservative principles have been steadily advancing; and that the Liberal party is greatly disunited and divided. Since the commencement of 1848, the scenes which have been enacted on the continent of Europe have given fearful warning against democratic change; and even those who are democratically inclined might profit by the example, since, in almost every case, military despotism has succeeded to unlicensed anarchy. What this country requires, and what all good men should pray for, and do their utmost to promote, is stability, not change. But the activity of the age develops itself in political as well as in other forms; and there are always to be found men who, rather than remain content in their native respectable obscurity, will attempt to enter the Legislature, and clamber into power, by espousing violent doctrines. In our larger cities and towns the progress of the tribune is sufficiently well known. Some aspiring dealer in the hard line, who is gifted with more brass than his neighbours, and who is proportionally conceited, fixes upon the Established churches as a grievance, and so becomes a kind of leader among the acrid champions of Dissent. By the votes of the Seceding myrmidons he is returned to the town council, where he is great upon all questions of economydocking salaries, criticising accounts, and cutting down estimates, in a manner that might do credit to the stingiest purser of an emigrant vessel. Having thus founded his character as an economist, he naturally aspires to higher things; and, being of a scheming turn of mind, he effects such a combination of divers interests among the municipal councillors, that, in due course of time, he is elevated to the civic chair. Even in that high eminence he will not remain content. Although reasonably deficient in literature, and not remarkable for his high breeding, he gradually conceives the notion that his proper arena lies within the walls of St Stephen's. He does not think that, in point of arithmetic, he is one whit inferior to Mr Joseph Hume. He has dined with Mr Cobden, and has failed to be impressed

with the superior elegance of his manners. He knows that he can speak quite as well as nine-tenths of the honourable members who make it an invariable practice to object to the estimates; and he flatters himself that he is not at all the sort of man whom anybody can succeed in putting down. In order to achieve the object of his ambition, he organises a clique or junta, composed of men who are entirely devoted to his interests; and of this mystic body, which, in every large town is regarded with superstitious terror, he becomes the leading spirit. Not the Old Man of the Mountain had more power over his fanatical followers, than has the civic ruler over the Dissenting fathers of their tribe. But, as it is not supposed that the more respectable part of the community will view his pretensions with a favourable eye, our acute functionary does not come forward at once, but adopts the Fabian policy. By himself, or through his agents, he throws obstacles in the way of every other candidate; amuses rival committees with the prospect of a common understanding, and persuades them to make proposals to men who, as he knows very well, can never become his rivals. After this has gone on for some time, and the constituency have become impatient, some faithful satellite rises in his place, and declares that he can no longer stifle in his bosom the impulse which urges him to suggest "our excellent first magistrate" as by far the fittest man to represent the borough in Parliament. At the word, up rise the clique, and the pawkie proposal is straightway raucously ratified. After a faint protest, like that of the ancient bishops, or the Speaker of the House of Commons, whom it was established etiquette to force into the chair, the excellent first magistrate accepts the trust; and, in all probability, after being proposed and seconded by a couple of subordinate Gracchi, is elected. But he had much better have remained at home. Local reputations, however bright they may appear in the eyes of a clique, fade rapidly in the House of Commons; and the aspiring senator very soon begins to find that there is some difference between Parliament, wherein he is a cipher, and the motley assemblage in which he once presided

as supreme. His manners, dialect, and style of oratory are all strange to the gentlemen of England. His minuteness wearies, his pertinacity disgusts them; and he is speedily set down as that most insufferable of all characters, a bore, and is universally avoided. Of course, this is gall and wormwood to his naturally jaundiced disposition. Always Radically inclined, he becomes ten times more democratic than before, and continually transgresses the scriptural precept, by speaking evil of dignities. At every general election there is a fresh crop of these representatives, neither doing credit to themselves, nor conferring any honour on the places which send them to Parliament; and it is very remarkable that most of these men are returned by the larger constituencies. We remember to have been, a good while ago, very much struck by the leading article in the Times, which incontestably proved that the very worst members of the House of Commons represented the largest number of electors. The reason of it we take to be this: Few men of education and delicacy of feeling can bring themselves to submit to the ordeal, which is now passing into a custom-at least it is so in Scotland -of being catechised and questioned by every elector and non-elector who has grammar enough to make himself intelligible. A very amusing and also instructive catalogue of such questions might be preserved. "What div ye think o' preemygeniture and the Irish bishops ?" was a query put not long ago to one candidate. "Wha pit oot Lord John Russell?" was an intended poser put to a Conservative; but the prompt reply-"Lord Palmerston," made the Liberal inquirer resume his seat in a greater hurry than he rose. "Wull ye vote for the aboleetion o' Church and State?" was the inquiry of one Seceding cobbler, who considered the State to be an institution at least as objectionable as the Church. Sometimes the audience are facetious, and in a playful mood. “Ma freends," said a western asthmatical bailie, rising with the evident intention of heckling a candidate-" ma freends, ye a' ken I've got a weak voice." "We a' ken ye are a weak body a'thegither!" was the candid response of the electors. Where there is a VOL. LXXII.-NO. CCCCXLI.

district of united burghs, as in Scotland, it is not uncommon to see a notorious Radical acting in the capacity of a sleuth-hound. His business is to follow the candidate from place to place, and insult him by a repetition of precisely the same questions. No matter how absurd the question may be, the candidate is expected to answer it; and let him answer it as fairly and clearly as language will allow, the odds are that the querist sits down with an intimation that he is not satisfied, and accuses the candidate of quibbling. Really this is a practice which ought to be ended at once. In every town there are men, known by head-mark, who attend to put questions, not for the purpose of eliciting information as to the principles of the candidate-which is quite legitimate, provided these are not distinctly set forth in his addressbut for that of indulging their own vulgar appetite for insolence; and such fellows ought at once to be ejected from the meeting by the common concurrence of every respectable elector. But, independently of this, which is, after all, but a temporary nuisance, a large urban constituency is invariably fickle, and not much more to be relied upon, in the matter of impulse, than a mob. Let a man slave as he may, his seat is never secure. Whilst he is doing his duty to the utmost of his ability in Parliament, some wily competitor is engaged in undermining him at home. Therefore it is that the best qualified men rather shrink from than court the honour of representing large constituencies in Parliament; and therefore it is that so many of these seats are virtually ceded to the democracy. A mayor or provost, if he has his wits about him, may contrive, through his municipal connection and influence, to unseat and supplant the wisest man that ever sat in the House of Com

mons.

We wish it were possible to impress the electors generally with the conviction that a man may make an excellent civic ruler, without possessing that judgment, intelligence, or sagacity which ought to be considered the indispensable requisites for a member of the British Parliament. There are many scales of vision. A man may

I