Free Exchange
by Bernard Mallet (9780217214339)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II. THE POLICY OF COMMERCIAL TREATIES. (AN Official Memorandum On The Commercial Treaty With Austria, 1865, Now Published For The First Time.) The policy of England under her Free Trade system with respect to Commercial Treaties has been so strangely misunderstood or misrepresented, and there appears to exist in the public mind so much confusion of thought upon the subject, that it is important upon an occasion which has already revived a controversy which ought never to have arisen, to record in a brief outline the principles upon which it has proceeded, and the results which it has achieved. The conclusion of the Treaty with Austria is a peculiarly suitable moment for such a review, as it is the first successful application of that policy in a form which leaves no room for cavil or doubt as to its entire conformity with the so-called " Free Trade principles " which have guided our commercial legislation during recent years. First, then, let us define what is commonly meant by " Free Trade principles." All that has ever been meant in this country by" Free Trade," in connection with any question of practical legislation, is the liberation of trade from all protective duties. The term may some day mean a great deal more; but it is not among the opponents of modern Commercial Treaties that we shall find the advocates of its wider application. The leading principle, then, of the recent commercial policy of England is war against protection in every form. I propose to consider in what way this principle has been infringed by the French or the Austrian Treaty; but it will first be necessary to recall the course of legislation which preceded this last development of the Free Trade movement. Until the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, the doctrine of protectio...

USD $19.99

   Dispatch: Immediate - In Stock