Mr. Howard Vincent's motion on Tuesday night, recom- mending that
measures should be taken for inviting a Con- ference between this country and its self-governing Colonies, with a view to develop the trade of the Empire, gave rise to a good many ambiguous suggestions that looked very much like swerving from Free-trade, though Sir Lyon Playfair made an excellent speech against "Fair-trade," which he called "Protectionism in disguise." The interest of the discussion, however, centred in Mr. Gosehen's speech. He ex- pressed perfect sympathy with Sir Lyon Playfair so far as the mere question of Free-trade goes, but not quite perfect. sympathy with him when he went so far as to deny our right to agree to any Customs Union with our Colonies, if it happened to interfere with the commerce between this country and other States. In a word, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, though he pointed out that the greater self- governing Colonies had made no advance at all towards a Customs Union with this country, was evidently prepared to make a considerable sacrifice for the sake of encouraging such a disposition if it ever should manifest itself in our larger Colonies and Dependencies. We greatly doubt the wisdom of any such sacrifice,—not at all because we are indifferent to a closer confederation with our Colonies, but because we have the most serious doubts whether a Customs Union with them would necessarily promote the confirmation and consolidation of the federal tie.
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