ABSTRACT
T he more ardent free traders believed that the adoption of their system by England, and the large portion of it extended to other countries by the treaties described in the last chapter, marked a definite step in the progress of economic policy. Protectionist ideas were thought to be obsolete and fated to disappear before the diffusion of sound ideas on the nature of commerce. The course of events during the last fifty years has given a rude shock to these sanguine anticipations. Far from winning new ground, the upholders of commercial freedom were compelled to fight for whet had been previously gained, and a survey of existing tariffs shows a general rise of duties over those of the period of liberal ascendancy.
