Lord Stanley asserted, it is perfectly clear that had he read the evidence which he consulted more carefully, he would not have hazarded without reserve the statement which he did; and that greater care would have enabled him to see that so far from asserting that unless a higher duty than 35 per cent., ad valorem, was imposed, they need not be apprehensive of smuggling, Mr. Hume expressly says, "It was hoped by the Government, in 1825, that 30 per cent. would be the minimum of smuggling." Again, that "while 30 per cent. was imposed smuggling took place, though the alterations were made to prevent it." Again, that "there be various opinions as to stopping smuggling; but he believed when the temptation was great, it was very difficult to put an end to it." And lastly, though he conceives "it may be possible" to keep the duty "rather above the cost of smuggling," he emphatically adds, "but I am not prepared to say that 25 per cent., or any other percentage, would be the proper sum. The price of smuggling is variously stated, and whatever it is now, it may become lower."

may

Sir John Bowring was examined after Mr. Deacon Hume in the year 1832. He expressed a decided opinion that a protecting duty of 20 per cent. would destroy a considerable portion of the smuggling trade; that anything beyond 20 per cent. would infallibly cause it to go on. "I consider," he added, "protection to be wholly illusory. I think the silk manufacture of this country would ultimately be increased, by the abolition of it, to an enormous degree. I apply to the

manufacture of silk that which applies to every other. So far as my experience goes, wherever ignorance and inferiority have remained unprotected, intelligence and superiority have taken their place."

Had the life of Mr. Hume been spared three years beyond its allotted term, he would have seen, in the year 1845, the duties on the importation of silk wholly repealed; and a considerable abatement effected in the rates of duty upon foreign goods, in the year after. The day when the remaining impediment to the progress of the silk manufacture, the protecting duty of 15 per cent. upon foreign productions shall be removed, cannot, assuredly, be very remote.

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CHAPTER VI.

EDUCATION-THE POLITICAL ECONOMY CLUB-AGRICULTURE— CURRENCY-POLITICS.

A FRIEND to education in every way-to schools, libraries, and mechanics' institutions, Mr. Deacon Hume was associated with the earliest advocates of popular instruction, and sympathised strongly with the establishment by Lord Brougham and others, of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Upon retiring from public life, he aided when he resided at Reigate, both by his influence and by his purse, the benevolent efforts of a gentleman,* whose zeal for the moral and intellectual improvement of his neighbours has been as untiring as it has been beneficial.

With politicians, as such, even during his residence in town, Mr. Hume associated but little. The society in which he had most interest, was that of political economists. In the year 1821, he assisted Mr. Thomas Tooke, F.R.S., who contributed largely to the formation of the Statistical Society, in establishing the Political

* Thomas Martin, Esq., Fellow of the English College of Surgeons.

*

Economy Club. Through a long series of years, we believe, he was never absent from its meetings, which were held on the first Thursdays of the months of December, February, April, May, June, and July, at the Freemasons' Tavern, until the year 1852, where the members, after the manner of Englishmen, dined together, and a lengthened discussion ensued. At these réunions he met Professors Senior and Macculloch, Mr. Jones Loyd, now Lord Overstone, Mr. Ricardo, Mr. Villiers, Sir H. Parnell, Colonel Torrens, Sir John Bowring, Mr. Macgregor, and many others. For a long period, while most of the members were contending for a fixed duty on foreign corn, Mr. Hume was strenuously advocating the absence of any duty. Mr. Cobden, never a member of this club, was present upon one occasion, or the reader would not have to thank

*This Club is still flourishing. Its meetings, since 1852, have been held at the Thatched House Tavern, St. James's. The following is a list of its members for the year 1857 :-Lord Ashburton, W. J. Blake, Esq.; Sir G. W. Bramwell, E. P. Cameron, Esq.; Edwin Chadwick, Esq.; Sir William Clay, Bart.; W. Coulson, Esq.; J. W. Cowell, Esq.; G. J. Graham, Esq.; Thomas Hankey, Esq., M.P.; Sir B. Hawes, K.C.B.; J. G. Hubbard, Esq.; Kirkman Hodgson, Esq., the Right Hon. R. Lowe, M.P.; the Right Hon. Holt Mackenzie; Herman Merivale, Esq.; John S. Mill, Esq.; W. Newmarch, Esq.; G. W. Norman, Esq.; Lord Overstone; Samson Ricardo, Esq., M.P.; J. L. Ricardo, Esq., M.P.; the Right Hon. Sir John Romilly, W. N. Senior, Esq.; Lord Belper, W. T. Thornton, Esq.; T. Tooke, Esq., F.R.S.; his Excellency M. Van de Weyer; the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers, M.P.; H. Warburton, Esq., W. W. Whitmore, Esq., M.P.; W. A. Wilkinson, Esq.; J. E. Cairnes, Esq.; Rowland Hill, Esq.; Earl Granville, the Earl of Clarendon, the Archbishop of Dublin, Earl Grey, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord Monteagle, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Neate, Esq., M.P. The last eight are honorary members.

him for the following very characteristic and graphic sketch:

"I remember hearing Mr. Deacon Hume speak at the Political Economy Club' in favour of the total repeal of the corn laws; and when his chief opponent was Mr. Macculloch, the author of the Commercial Dictionary.' There was a general opposition to his views among the company present, who seemed to delight in trying to mystify a simple matter and to puzzle one another. But I was charmed at the boldness with which that meek-looking man contended for the full measure of truth and justice. • Gentlemen landowners,' said he, you have your landed estates, they are secured to you by law, you may fence them round and exclude all intruders, why are not you content with the possession of your property, why do attempt to invade the property of the labourer by interfering with his right to exchange the produce of his own toil for the corn of other lands?""

you

The establishment of this club, which we believe approached nearly enough to Dr. Johnson's definition,† was productive of considerable service. The information which was imparted, and the collision of kindred minds, resulted in the gradual advancement of political science, and in the multiplication of its disciples. Indeed there is nothing more certain in the modern history of finance, than that it is upon the conclusions deduced by legislators from the received doctrines of some of the above-mentioned individuals, and a few

* An assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions.