Introduction
The Victorian era saw Britain abandon its colonial ‘single market’ in favour of much greater free trade, but Richard Cobden was not yet satisfied. He urged Parliament to stop using the navy to blockade the ports of its commercial and political rivals – in modern terms, to stop imposing sanctions and punitive tariffs.
I DO not comprehend how any British statesman who consults the interests of his country and understands the revolution which Free Trade is effecting in the relations of the world, can advocate the maintenance of commercial blockades. For a nation that has no access to the rest of the world but by sea, and a large part of whose population is dependent for food on foreign countries, the chief use of a navy should be to keep open its communications, not to close them!
We have thrown away the sceptre of force, to confide in the principle of freedom – uncovenanted, unconditional freedom. During the last fourteen years the increase in our commerce has exceeded its entire growth during the previous thousand years of reliance on force, cunning, and monopoly. This should encourage us to go forward, in the full faith that every fresh impediment removed from the path of commerce,* whether by sea or land, and whether in peace or war, will augment our prosperity, at the same time that it will promote the general interests of humanity.
Abridged
By free trade treaties, Cobden meant both sides removing all tariffs and taxes on their merchants’ trade. He did not mean the kind of ‘free trade deal’ which was, and still is, a tangle of conditions and clauses and tit-for-tat taxes. His friend Sir Louis Mallett wrote that “the system of reciprocity treaties and tariff bargains was one of the natural but most pernicious developments of the doctrine of protection”.
About the Author
Richard Cobden (1804-1865) was the son of a bankrupt Sussex farmer. By a mixture of talent and audacity, Richard rose from sweeping his uncle’s warehouse floor to become a Manchester mill-owner and then Liberal Party MP for Rochdale in Lancashire. He came to prominence in the late 1830s as a vocal critic of London’s panicky and greedy policies towards Russia and later China. Soon afterwards, he emerged as the leader of the Parliamentary rebellion against economic protectionism, i.e. the policy of using sanctions and trade tariffs to ring-fence the profits of domestic corporations and cripple the economies of foreign countries. The Corn Laws, the flagship protectionist policy that had brought thousands close to starvation, were repealed in 1846. The campaign almost ruined him financially, but he recovered and his final triumph was the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860, a landmark free-trade agreement between Britain and France which put centuries of mistrust behind us. Richard married Catherine Anne Williams, from Wales, in 1840 and they brought up five daughters together.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 I. Comprehend. Revolution.
2 Advocate. Can. Rest.
3 Its. Nation. War.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Verb and Noun Find in Think and Speak
Many words can serve as noun or verb depending on context: see if you can prove this with the examples below. Nouns go well with words such as the/a, or his/her; verbs go well after I/you/he etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Increase. 2 Interest. 3 War. 4 Use. 5 Access. 6 Time. 7 Keep. 8 Effect. 9 Land.
Variations: 1.if possible, use your noun in the plural, e.g. cat → cats. 2.use your verb in a past form, e.g. go → went. 3.use your noun in a sentence with one of these words: any, enough, fewer, less, no, some.
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding -less.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
prmrs (5+1)
premieres. premiers. primaries. primers. primrose.
paramours.
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