The subject of the following chapter can be summed up in a sentence. Free Trade is the only secure foundation for the British Empire. My object is to show not only that Free Trade is a better foundation for Empire than Protection, but that no lasting Empire can be built upon a policy of commercial exclusiveness—that is, I meet Mr. Chamberlain's declaration 'No Preference no Empire' with the contra declaration 'No Free Trade no Empire.'
The maxim 'No Free Trade no Empire' is no mere assertion of a personal opinion, but a statement which can be made good by an appeal to the teachings of history. It is a fact, not a theory. While we possessed a system of preference the Empire flourished neither commercially nor politically. Trade was not helped, but hindered, and at the same time the political relations between the Colonies and the United Kingdom were far from satisfactory. When, however, we abandoned the attempt to establish special trade privileges within the Empire, and instead allowed trade to follow its own
- ↑ Though portions have been rewritten and some omissions made, the bulk of this article appeared in the Monthly Review in 1904. I have also made use of a letter on Colonial Preference contributed to the Spectator in February, 1904, and have resumed portions of an article by me in the Spectator of January 28, 1899.— J. St. L. S.
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