A BIOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE PIONEERS OF FREEDOM OF OPINION, COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE, & CIVILISATION, IN BRITAIN, FROM THE TIMES OF SERFDOM ΤΟ THE AGE OF FREE TRADE IN MANUFACTURES, BY ALEXANDER SOMERVILLE. ("ONE WHO HAS WHISTLED AT THE PLOUGH.") VOL. I. MANCHESTER: JAMES AINSWORTH, 93 PICCADILLY. 1853. 157 INTRODUCTION. 1.94 In beginning this biographical history of FREE TRADE AND THE LEAGUE, we may glance briefly at the subjects and plan of arrangement. FIRST DIVISION.-The writers who have left records of the dawning of free trade, and who wrote before the time of Adam Smith, come first in order, with examples of their opinions, and notices of themselves and of the commercial circumstances of the country when they wrote. SECOND DIVISION-From the advent of Adam Smith to the passing of the corn-law of 1815. This division brings under notice all previous corn-laws, from the earliest records, and gives biographical notices and specimens of the free-trade writers and public speakers of its period. THIRD DIVISION-From 1815 to the formation of the National Anti-Corn-Law League. This includes other anticorn-law associations, and biographical notices of the principal reformers of commerce within that time. FOURTH DIVISION-From the formation of the National Anti-Corn-Law League to the return of Mr Cobden to parliament in 1841, with biographies of the early members. FIFTH DIVISION-From 1841 to the commencement of the registration movement at the close of the South Lancashire election in 1844, with biographies. SIXTH DIVISION-From the beginning of the registration movement to the introduction into parliament of Sir Robert Peel's bill for the abolition of the corn-law in 1846, with biographies. (RECAP) HF 2043 644223 |