ABSTRACT
T he victory of free trade in the United Kingdom was for the time being complete, inasmuch as both the great political parties and the overwhelming majority of the voters supported the principle. Nor was there any need to fear a change in the active policy of the country so long as the immediate prosperity which was in part produced by the working of free trade continued to increase. But it is a perfectly well-known fact, which began to be verified at the time, that any check to trade prosperity will at once bring with it a revival, even in this country, of protectionist demands. It so happened that a series of factors coincided, especially from the beginning of the 'eighties of last century, to check somewhat the expansion of English trade and industry, and the revival of the demand for protection dates from that time.
