[To TEE EDITOR OP TER " SPROUTOR.1 Sue,—You have referred
to Mr. Lyttelton's claim, in a recent speech to his constituents (see Spectator, January 30th, p. 170), that Kingsley, Ruskin, and Carlyle were "authorities against the extreme doctrine of Free-trade " ; and you added that they are "doubtful allies to quote on behalf of a policy which would benefit the great interests at the expense of he humble consumer." In the case of Ruskin you are entirely right, as the following extract from "Unto this Last" will show :—" I am, and always have been, an utterly fearless and
unscrupulous free-trader I do not admit even the idea of reciprocity. Let other nations, if they like, keep their ports shut ; every wise nation will throw its own open." Mr. Lyttelton is so good a Ruskinian (as appears from the charming little volume of Ruskin's "Letters to M. (I. and H. G.") that his forgetting of this well-known passage in the most widely distributed of Ruskin's books is curious. I may perhaps be allowed to add that in a forthcoming volume of the new Library Edition of Ruskin's works a hitherto un- published piece is included in which he states with even greater emphasis, if possible, his belief in Free-trade in general, and his objections to a " Bread-tax " in particular.
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