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Rh made an increased demand for British manufactures. So the British people grew in number at home as well as in the Colonies and the United States. Cobden and Bright had foreseen this; they meant to have cheap food and cheap raw materials wherewith to make cheap exports. But the rest of the world looked upon our Free Trade as a method of Empire rather than of Freedom; the reverse of the medal was presented to them; they were to be hewers and drawers for Great Britain. The British Islanders unfortunately made the mistake of attributing their prosperity mainly to their free imports, whereas it was chiefly due to their great 'Going Concern,' and the fact that it had been set going before it had competitors. It was because they were 'the strong' in 1846, that they could adopt Free Trade with immediate advantage and without serious immediate disadvantage.

From 1878 Germany began to build up her man-power by stimulating employment at home. One of her methods was the scientific tariff, a sieve through which imports were 'screened,' so that they should contain a minimum of labour and especially of skilled labour. But every other means was resorted to for the purpose of raising a Going Concern