Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 389, March 1848Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 389, March 1848
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
We have often deeply regretted that Tomkins did not survive to witness
the consummation of the triumphs of free-trade--a cause which he
contributed materially by his efforts and his writings to advance. The
leading feature of his character was the total absence of every kind
of prejudice or bigotry. He held it to be a fundamental principle, as
old as Magna Charta, that England was to be governed mainly through
the influence of cotton: that all other interests were immeasurably
inferior to this, and that the settlement and maintenance of our
colonies was a gross instance of reckless and frantic extravagance.
"Let us thrive," he would say, "through the arts of universal peace.
Let us set a bright example to the world by opening our ports to the
free admission of all foreign produce, without any kind of reciprocity
whatever. If our artisans and workmen cannot maintain their ground,
let them go to the comfortable Unions we have provided, and pick oakum
in return for their rations of wholesome bone-soup! Let us hear no
more nonsense about humanity or short-time! Cram the children into the
factories so soon as they can walk. Early habits are the surest means
of promoting and fostering industry. Let us look to our imports, and
the exports will look after themselves. Disband the army. Reduce the
navy. Do away with Church establishments. Contract the currency.
Flabbergast the colonies; and Great Britain must go ahead!" Such were
the expressed opinions of that great and good man, who now sleeps in a
premature sepulchre at Staley Bridge: and we need hardly add, that in
matters of revenue, he was an uncompromising advocate of the sponge.
Had his valuable existence been prolonged for a few years, he would
doubtless have been at the head of the onward movement, and might have
shared in the rewards which are gratefully accorded to the patriots of
this latter age. Andrew Marvell, sitting incorruptible in his garret
with a shoulder-blade of mutton, has ceased to be a favourite example
with the new democratic school. They affect ovations and banquets,
perform continental reforming tours, and demean themselves after the
manner of our able correspondent, Mr Dunshunner, who, we are glad to
observe, has been lately invited to a free-trade demonstration on the
banks of the Bosphorus, by several of the leading Muftis of
Constantinople. Dunshunner writes in great spirits, and has promised
us an early paper, on the advantage of our establishing free-trade
relations with the domestic Circassian market.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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