What is even more remarkable still is the fact that Mr. Williams should have dared to put such a statement before the public, knowing, as he must have known, how completely it misrepresents the truth. I wonder what he would have said of me if I had spoken of the remarkable _growth_ in our output of foreign war-ships as evidenced by an _increase_ from 14 tons in 1876 to 4,152 tons in 1895! Yet this statement would have been every bit as justifiable as his own. The whole truth of the matter of course is, that such an industry as the construction of foreign war-ships must vary enormously from year to year, and a comparison between any two single years can prove nothing, except the folly or the _mala fides_ of the person who makes it. In order that the reader may see for himself the source from which Mr. Williams drew his “remarkable” statement, I append all the figures since 1870:— WAR VESSELS BUILT FOR FOREIGNERS. ------------------+------------------+------------------ Years. Tons. | Years. Tons. | Years. Tons. ------------------+------------------+------------------ 1870 970 | 1879 716 | 1888 1,899 1871 80 | 1880 385 | 1889 726 1872 40 | 1881 5,338 | 1890 3,437 1873 280 | 1882 447 | 1891 300 1874 12,877 | 1883 270 | 1892 2,792 1875 12,280 | 1884 2,339 | 1893 2,471 1876 14 | 1885 5,462 | 1894 2,483 1877 3,435 | 1886 840 | 1895 4,152 1878 2,482 | 1887 3,966 | ------------------+------------------+------------------ MACHINERY AND STEAM ENGINES. It is becoming monotonous to follow Mr. Williams in detail through his ingenious misrepresentations. I will therefore hastily pass over the many pages which he devotes to “black-listing” sundry iron and steel manufactures. His black list, which includes “steam engines,” “other machinery,” and “tools and implements” of industry, is arrived at by giving only the figures for 1890 onwards and ignoring the preceding years. The unfairness of this procedure need not be again pointed out. The figures for a decade, or for a longer period, show that trade moves up and down, and that a depression in one year or group of years is succeeded by an elevation a few years later. Throughout his book, in instances too numerous to be especially mentioned, Mr. Williams has persistently ignored this obvious fact. Again and again he has picked out years favourable to his argument, while even a cursory glance at a series of years must have shown him that the truth was the exact opposite to his representation of the facts. Here are the figures for the last fourteen years, showing the relative progress of Great Britain and Germany in the export of all kinds of machinery, including the domestic sewing machine and the locomotive engine. EXPORTS OF MACHINERY OF ALL KINDS. (Including Steam Engines and Sewing Machines.)