“Mr. Goschen met these statements by a positive and indignant denial. He quoted a number of statistics to prove that the iron trade, the cotton trade, and other important branches of industry were reviving; he was jubilant over the fact that the number of paupers had only increased by 10,000 in a twelvemonth, and he became quite elated when recounting that the working classes were using more tea and sugar, and that their average consumption of beer and spirits was augmenting. The speech was loudly applauded, especially by the commercial members. There are many who still think that the well-doing of a country can be measured by its exports and imports.... It is not our intention to dispute the accuracy of Mr. Goschen’s statistics. There is, however, too much reason to fear that they only tell a small part of the truth; and that, if not judiciously considered, they may conceal awkward and ugly facts which it will be perilous to ignore.”[49] “Sir Edward Sullivan alluded to a statement made, he said, by a distinguished statesman, that, out of a population of thirty-four millions seven millions were _toeing the line of starvation_.”[50] And these statements would appear to be in accord with the figures I have given above. The statistics of your Right Hon’ble Ruler, which you receive with thunders of applause, are not worth the paper on which they are written. Again I ask your verdict--guilty or not guilty? Now for Crime. The statistics in this case are less defensible than in the previous case, because they involve a dishonourable _suppression of facts_. The statistics brought forward to show that a diminution of crime has been the result of Free Trade, are as follows: Convictions in 1859 13,470 ” 1881 11,353 ------ Apparent decrease of crime 2,117 Now this _apparent_ decrease is wholly due to the “Criminal Justice Act” of 1855, which enables Magistrates to pass short sentences; and these, coming under the head of “Summary Convictions,” do not appear under the head of “Convictions,” _where they would have appeared but for the “Act” of 1855_. If we take the total cases, _including summary convictions_, the figures stand as follows:-- Convictions in 1859 246,227 ” 1881 542,319 ------- Increase in crime 296,092 In other words, instead of your Right Hon’ble Ruler’s decrease of 2,000 convictions, we have actually an increase of nearly 300,000. Is it possible to conceive a more glaring case of what Mr. Gladstone himself terms “the simple but effectual plan of _pure falsification_?” Now for Intemperance. The number of persons fined for drunkenness in England: In the year 1860 88,410 In ” 1881 174,481 or roughly speaking, the convictions for drunkenness have doubled in twenty-one years.