In  a  speech  at  Rochdale,  in  December,  1879,  John  Bright
said  that  "  the  American  tariff  must  be  held  to  be  very  bar-
barous." If  any  treatment  of  workingmen  and  their  families
and  of  the  helpless  poor  can  be  found  to  be  more  "  barba-
rous" than  that  which  has  been  habitually  meted  out  to
these  classes  in  Great  Britain  during  the  reign  of  Queen
Victoria  and  under  a  free  trade  policy,  and  which  has  been
only  imperfectly  described  in  the  preceding  pages,  Mr.  Bright
has  not  indicated  where  the  proofs  of  this  treatment  are  to
be  found.
CHAPTER    Y.
THE    BEITISH    POLICY   OF    FREE   TRADE.
