When the magnitude and variety of the perils which Free Trade and the cheapening system have brought upon the British empire are taken into consideration, it may appear extraordinary that the foreign powers, _who are perfectly aware of it all_, do not at once step forward and secure for themselves the rich prize which we so invitingly tender to their grasp. But the reason is not difficult to be discerned. They know what England once was, and they see whither, under the new system, she is tending. They anticipate our subjugation, or at least our abrogation of the rank and pretensions of an independent power, at no distant period, from our own acts, without their interfering in the matter at all. They are fearful, if they move too soon, of committing the same fault which the Pope has recently done, on the suggestion of Cardinal Wiseman. They are afraid of opening the eyes of the nation, by any overt act, to the dangers accumulating around them, before it is so thoroughly debilitated by the new system that any resistance would be hopeless, and therefore will never be attempted. They hope, and with reason, to see us ruined and cast down by our own acts, without their firing a shot. Their feeling is analogous to Napoleon's on the morning of the battle of Austerlitz, when the Allies were making their fatal cross-march in front of the heads of his columns, and exposing their flank to his attack. When urged by his generals to give the signal for an immediate advance, he replied--"Wait! when the enemy is making a false movement, which will prove fatal if continued, it is not our part to interrupt him in it." What, then, is the advantage which the Free-Traders have to set off against these obvious and appalling dangers, past, present, and to come, with which their policy is attended? It is this, and this only--that the manufacturing towns are prosperous, and that our exports are increasing. They point with exultation to the following statement:-- "The aggregate value of our exports, during the first ten months of the present year, has been L.55,038,206, against L.49,398,648 in the like period of 1849, showing an increase of L.5,639,558, which has occurred in the following order: Increase. Decrease. £ £ Month ending February 5, 858,285 -- March 5, 556,746 -- April 5, 418,089 -- May 5, 1,398,232 -- June 5, 1,604,623 -- July 5, 427,090 -- August 5, -- 334,858 Sept. 5, -- 279,961 Oct. 10, 807,742 -- Nov. 5, 183,570 -- --_Times_, Nov. 10."