Mr. Chamberlain's speech was the speech of the evening, and
was a very powerful one. Quoting an able recent paper in the Economist, he showed how mach, under Free-trade, the consump- tion of luxuries by the poor had increased in this country throughout the whole time of the alleged depression; how pauper- ism had diminished ; how emigration had diminished ; and how during the last forty years British investments abroad have increased by the value of 1,000 millions sterling, or at an average rate of 25 millions a year. These are changes which would have been impossible under the system of feeble experimental pro- tection which the Conservatives are always trying to insinuate, rather than to recommend ; and Mr. Chamberlain concluded his speech by a quotation from Sir Stafford Northcote in testimony of the value of the Free-trade policy, which, however, did not prevent Sir Stafford from voting for Mr. Ritchie's wishy- washy Protectionist motion. Mr. Ritchie's motion was defeated by a majority of 73,-153 votes against 80.
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