John Buchan’s dashing adventurer Sandy Arbuthnot didn’t think much of foreign policy after the Great War.

David Hume encourages politicians to put away their distrust of other countries, and allow free trade to flourish.

Victorian MP Richard Cobden pleaded for Britain to set the world an example as a nation open for business.

Samuel Sidney, a Victorian expert on Australian matters, explained how cutting tax and regulation on Britain’s global trade made everyone better off.

The blessing of trade free from political interference was one of most important insights in British, indeed world history.