ABSTRACT
SINCE THE RULERS of Russia had been instructed in the doctrine of free trade by (their tutor) Heinrich Storch I it is not surprising that as'soon as the Continental System was abolished and general peace was restored, the Russian Empire should have lost no time in enjoying the blessings of free trade. The Russian tariff of 18192 was, as far as possible, true to the principles of free trade and the results were soon evident. Russia was flooded with foreign goods, the home market was ruined, and most of the country's bullion was drained away to foreign countries. If anything was needed to render the doctrinaire theory of free trade even more ridiculous it was the fact that all this happened at the very time when Great Britain was imposing restrictions on the import of Russia's wheat and of most of her raw materials. Even when the depression in Russia reached its climax the government persisted in the policy of free trade for some time because the doctrinaire economists assured the Czar that the disastrous consequences of free trade would be only temporary in duration and would undoubtedly be followed by better times. The Czar waited for four years for the fulfilment of the prophecy of the free traders.
