The money spent on foreign produce, instead of being spent in England, is so much capital taken away from this country, helping foreigners to compete with you. You have, in fact, in Free Trade, the most ingeniously devised plan of impoverishing the country. We had a good start, and other countries have been a long time in catching us up, so that we did not feel their competition at first, but they are now passing us hand over hand. English pluck, English capital, and English credit have until now stood the strain bravely, and the general advance of the wealth of the world has blinded our eyes to our real danger, but the struggle cannot last much longer. Capital is draining out to protectionist countries in all directions, but the amount at stake in our manufactories is so enormous that the struggle must be continued at any risk. Credit alone sustains the fabric, and as soon as that is thoroughly shaken, the collapse will be terrible and sudden. The working classes, so long as they receive higher wages than before, are unable to see the danger, but when the collapse comes--and come it surely will before long--the working classes will be the first to demand protection. There are symptoms of it already, for Sir Edward Sullivan has stated:-- “Already a number of operatives, far more than is necessary to turn a general election, have, through their delegates, given in their adherence to Fair Trade.”[97] FOOTNOTES: [94] Average price of corn for ten years ending 1845 = 57_s._ 10_d._