The ocean steamers have made short work of the cost of carriage; the soil could yield no more than it was bearing already. Cobden's more daring followers said that if the country districts returned to waste and forest the nation itself would be no poorer. In the defence of protection and in the denunciation of it there was alike a base element. The landlords were alarmed for their private interests. The manufacturer did expect that if the loaf was cheaper labour would be cheaper, for by orthodox doctrine labour adjusted itself to the cost of living. But to statesmen, whose business it was to look beyond the day that was passing over them, there was reason to pause before rushing into a course from which there could be no return, and which in another century might prove to have been a wild experiment. The price of food might be gradually reduced without immediate revolution, and the opportunity might be used to attach the colonies more closely to the mother country. The colonies and India, with the encouragement of an advantage in the home market, could supply corn without limit, and their connection with us would be cemented by interest; while if they were placed on the same level as foreigners they would perhaps take us at our word and become foreigners. The traders insisted that if we opened our ports all the world would follow our example. But prophecies did not always prove correct, and, if the world did not follow our example, to fight prohibitive duties with free imports might prove a losing bargain. CHAPTER VI Disraeli's belief, political and religious--Sympathy with the people--Defends the Chartists--The people, the middle classes, and the aristocracy--Chartist riots--Smart passage at arms in the House of Commons--Marriage--Mrs. Wyndham Lewis--Disraeli as a husband. [Sidenote: CREED, POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS]