LINES SUGGESTED IN SAINTBURY CHURCHYARD,

GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

FROM this old church, the hills among,
Is borne afar the sacred song,
Echoed by plaintive rocks along;
For Western voices, sadly sweet,
In cadence soft the chant repeat,
And voiceful choir, and woodland calm
Utter the same adoring psalm.

From fragile flower, and stately tree,
From silent vale, and mountain free,
Down-rushing stream, and dewy lea,
And from the wood in leafy pride,
Bowering the mountain's western side
To Him unceasing anthems rise,
Whose glory fills the earth and skies.

The choral notes in silence die,
As fade the sunbeams from the sky
In shade of cloud slow wandering by.
Anon, while far the shadows flee
Followed by light along the lea,
The sun bursts forth, and pours a flood
Of golden splendour through the wood.

There timid creatures haunt the shade,
And stir the tall ferns down the glade;
And flowers in azure robes arrayed
Look patient from their leafy screen,
Where singing flows the brook between
The tangled stems, and all the bank
Is rife with plants and grasses dank.

Once, years ago, this place was gay
With Spring's fresh dower; but hopes decay;
And hearts grow cold; and fade away
Youth's glorious visions; nathless still
The sacred Muses haunt the hill,
And wave the their tresses on the air,
And smile amid the flowerets fair.

Here are we far from noises rude,

How restful is the solitude!

How suited to the pensive mood!
Tranced silence holds the earth in thrall;
Her stilly reign unbroken all,
Save by the whirr of lonely wings,
Or babbling of the distant springs.

Meet spot wherein to rest from toil
And carking care; the mortal coil
To quit, nor wake with pain to moil;

To sleep where flowers and grasses grow,

Where fresh rains fall, and glad winds blow.

Fond thought! What recks the unconscious head Of pillow soft, or stony bed?

Not aye so peaceful was this scene,

For wondrous changes here have been.

Erst foaming, gleaming, blue and green,

Hence league on league, waste, wild, and wide,

Old ocean with his refluent tide,

Sounding his mighty monotone,

Rolled 'neath the all-beholding sun.

This is an ancient cemetry;

The dead 'mongst older dead do lie.
Their dirges moaned by earth, sea, sky;

Their myriad forms together tumbled,

While deep and far the earthquake rumbled ;
Here ancient worlds were buried deep
Ages ere man was born to weep.

What gradual change again shall creep,
What wild commotion swiftly sweep,
Across these hills and valleys deep;
It matters not; for we shall lie,
And slumber all unconsciously,

Though lulled by sound of rushing wave,
Or rocked by earthquake in our grave.

Is this creation's goal and doom,
Successive burial, tomb on tomb,
A dreamless sleep, unending gloom?
But who unerring can reveal
The secret which the rocks conceal?
The stony pages earthquake-tossed,
The mystic records, marred or lost.

This place of death with sorrows rife
Speaketh of comfort, and of life,

Of joy for woe, brows crowned from strife.
So leave us yet the ancient faith,

That seeth not the end in death;
The ancient faith which shall be young,
When younger creeds shall want a tongue.
"I am the Resurrection and

The life "-so yon stone-the tuneful band
Again are chanting :-"In His hand
Are all the corners of the earth."
This faith which is of heavenly birth,
All steadfast-eyed, and even-pulsed,
Beholds rent rock, and world convulsed;
And standeth firm, and bright with hope,
Though shaken all the starry cope.

COTTESWOLDE.

FREE AND FAIR TRADE.

"As an abstract theory the doctrine of free trade seems to be universally true; but as a question of practicability the protective system seems to be indispensable." GARFIELD.

THE Continued and apparently continuous depression in trade and agriculture, combined with the hostile tariffs proposed by France, has at last brought us round to a survey of our position with the other markets of the world, and has instituted not only a searching enquiry into the causes of our loss of trade, but has also made us look around for some means of recovering our position as the first market in the world. And in this search of a means to an end men of all political creeds have come to question in their minds whether our present system of free trade is one which acts beneficially or the reverse. Some estimate of the hold which the discussion of this subject as opposed to reciprocity has obtained upon the public, may be gathered not only from the action which the Cobden Club deem it advisable to take to defend the freetrade theory, in issuing pamphlets, etc., but from the fact that whereas but a year or two back a protectionist was hardly allowed to be possessed of the seven senses, debate upon the subject is now tolerated

and even freely indulged in (and that by no means to the detriment always of the advocates of reciprocity) by all classes of society. And one cannot disregard these discussions, because it must be admitted that they show the temper of the public, and must have an effect in our polling booths. We had, say they, some four years of bad trade and bad harvests under Conservative rule; we changed our masters and seem only to have gone from bad to worse; and although with the characteristic fairness of Englishmen we are willing to give time and fair play, the prospect is gloomy, and we do not see where improvement is to come from in the future. Bradford mills are closing, farmers are taking to the Bankruptcy Courts, and France is actually in our sorest need putting fresh barriers in our way, while at the same time she appears to be flourishing by reason of these barriers. Unlike France, our natural position makes our country not easy of invasion by a hostile foe, and consequently not subject to the devastation such as came to France during the Franco-German war; yet France under protection has not only risen phoenix-like from her ashes but has paid a war fine of no less than two hundred millions. Other Continental countries are of the same opinion with regard to free trade as France; and America, as the quotation from a speech of President Garfield at the head of this paper shews, is firm in its adhesion to protection. A quotation from the letter of the Birmingham Daily Post's American correspondent in a recent issue may not be out of place here :—

"If the Cobden Club are in want of a few cheap tract-writers to illustrate the folly of reverting to a protective policy, they could not perhaps do better than engage such assistants from the Protectionist press in America. These gentlemen may be a little paradoxical and sophistical in their views of commercial freedom, but they would serve as eloquent exhorters of English resignation in adversity, to show that in national economics what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander,' that protection is the highest wisdom for the United States, whose interest of course is paramount on this planet, and that utter free trade in England is necessary to the perfect development of the protective policy of this far more important country. In their own minds, I suspect, they are apt to compare England to the fox in the fable, who, having lost his tail, sought to persuade his companion foxes to divest themselves of that appendage. England has lost her tail, they will tell you, in the free-trade trap, and would now lure others into an equal deprivation. They decline with thanks, willing that she shall remain conspicuously alone, grand, gloomy, and peculiar,' the isolated bob-tailed fox in the menagerie of nations!"

Mr. Bright once said "Never prophecy unless you know;" and it is somewhat amusing to find Mr. Sullivan, in his paper on this subject in the Nineteenth Century, reminding us of a prophecy of Mr. Cobden's (who, bye-the-bye, is the infallible Pope of Mr. Bright), that "as surely as the sun would rise to-morrow, so surely in less than ten years' time would every civilised community be free traders." Well, three times ten have passed and where is the fulfilment? Rather, it is the other way about; for other countries, looking at the decadence of our own, are for strengthening their barricades. We are thus constrained to ask ourselves are we the only wise people? Are all our theories of political

economy true? That even Mr. Gladstone has his doubts on this score was evidenced by the recent Irish Land Bill debate.

The international conference on the monetary systems of the world also goes to prove that political economists are not agreed amongst themselves. And while some argue that the excess of imports over exports may be considered as an indication of prosperity rather than an indication of declension, others argue the reverse. In 1879 England imported 114 millions more than she exported, while the United States exported fifty-six millions more than she imported. If then this denotes that the excess of imports over exports in the case of England is the capital of the country coming to it in the shape of produce; so in the case of America does it denote that the excess of exports is the capital of the country coming to it in the shape of money, for exports must of course be paid for in some kind. The question then arises which is the best return. Of course so long as the produce returned is not in excess of the needs of a nation, or does not cripple its own development, so long is a return in produce a good return; but when it begins to accumulate so as to cause our mills to stop and our workmen to emigrate, a return of capital in the shape of money seems to be preferable. For fresh fields may continually be opened by its aid, but where produce is accumulating in excess of the demand it will not only cause a stagnation in trade, but will lie in our warehouses until it ceases to be capital, because it has ceased to be productive.

It is a question, too, whether in raising prices upon ourselves by a return to protection we are not in a better position to pay those prices, seeing that we are employing our population instead of sending them out of the country; by compelling them to purchase home-grown and homemade produce, and thereby, if not increasing our wealth in any great degree, at least keeping ourselves going with the world. It is an open question, too, whether we should not be increasing our wealth, for there are certain needful and staple articles of our produce which other countries cannot do without, while we, aided by our colonies, are in the position of being able to supply ourselves with almost every article we require, except luxuries, such as wine and silk.

Even corn, about which so much stir is made by the Cobden School, might be grown in such quantities here (the waste moor and park land being reclaimed) as to need little help from outsiders; and when we bear in mind the capacity for development and the growing powers of our Colonies (the value of which to England it is a fashion for some politicians to underrate), we need fear little on that score. And because these thoughts have forced themselves upon our minds of late, it does not follow that we are therefore committed to reciprocity or protection, but are rather scanning the horizon, and looking for the little cloud, even if it be no bigger than a man's hand, which shall bring with it the shower of prosperity for which parched England is thirsting. Naturally, the more hopeful our spirits the more easily shall we be subject to delusions (we are so eager to catch at the first glimmer of hope); and if free traders can only succeed in fully convincing us that our vision