chapter vi

. on "Medieval Operative Masonry," and in his _Concise History_ (1903).

The lodge is often met with, either as the _tabulatum domicialem_ (1200, at St Alban's Abbey) or actually so named in the _Fabric Rolls_ of York Minster (1370), _ye loge_ being situated close to the fane in course of erection; it was used as a place in which the stones were prepared in private for the structure, as well as occupied at meal-time, &c. Each mason was required to "swere upon ye boke yt he sall trewly ande bysyli at his power hold and kepe holy all ye poyntes of yis forsayde ordinance" (_Ordinacio Cementanorum_).

As to the term _free_-mason, from the 14th century, it is held by some authorities that it described simply those men who worked "freestone," but there is abundant evidence to prove that, whatever may have been intended at first, _free_-mason soon had a much wider signification, the prefix _free_ being also employed by carpenters (1666), sewers (15th century, tailors at Exeter) and others, presumably to indicate they were free to follow their trades in certain localities. On this point Mr Gould well observes: "The class of persons from whom the Freemasons of Warrington (1646), Staffordshire (1686), Chester, York, London and their congeners in the 17th century derived the descriptive title, which became the inheritance of the Grand Lodge of England, were _free men_, and masons of Gilds or Companies" (_History_, vol. ii. p. 160). Dr Brentano may also be cited: "Wherever the Craft Guilds were legally acknowledged, we find foremost, that the right to exercise their craft, and sell their manufactures, depended upon the freedom of their city" (_Development of Guilds_, &c., p. 65). In like manner, the privilege of working as a mason was not conferred before candidates had been "made free." The regular free-masons would not work with men, even if they had a knowledge of their trade, "if _un_free," but styled them "Cowans," a course justified by the king's "Maister of Work," William Schaw, whose _Statutis and Ordinanceis_ (28th December 1598) required that "Na maister or fellow of craft ressaue any _cowanis_ to wirk in his societie or companye, nor send nane of his servants to wirk wt. cowanis, under the pane of twentie pounds." Gradually, however, the rule was relaxed, in time such monopoly practically ceased, and the word "cowan" is only known in connexion with speculative Freemasonry. Sir Walter Scott, as a member of Lodge St David (No. 36), was familiar with the word and used it in _Rob Roy_. In 1707 a cowan was described in the minutes of Mother Lodge Kilwinning, as a mason "without the word," thus one who was not a _free_ mason (_History of the Lodge of Edinburgh No. 1_, by D. Murray Lyon, 1900).

In the _New English Dictionary_ (Oxford, vol. iv., 1897) under "Freemason" it is noted that three views have been propounded:--(1) "The suggestion that _free-mason_ stands for free-stone-mason would appear unworthy of attention, but for the curious fact that the earliest known instances of any similar appellation are _mestre mason de franche peer_ (Act 25 Edw. III., 1350), and _sculptores lapidum liberorum_, alleged to occur in a document of 1217; the coincidence, however, seems to be merely accidental. (2) The view most generally held is that freemasons were those who were free of the masons' guild. Against this explanation many forcible objections have been brought by Mr G. W. Speth, who suggests (3) that the itinerant masons were called free because they claimed exemption from the control of the local guilds of the towns in which they temporarily settled. (4) Perhaps the best hypothesis is that the term refers to the medieval practice of emancipating skilled artisans, in order that they might be able to travel and render their services wherever any great building was in process of construction." The late secretary of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge (No. 2076, London) has thus had his view sanctioned by "the highest tribunal in the Republic of Letters so far as Philology is concerned" (Dr W. J. Chetwode Crawley in _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, 1898). Still it cannot be denied that members of lodges in the 16th and following centuries exercised the privilege of making _free_ masons and denied the freedom of working to cowans (also called _un_-freemen) who had not been so made free; "the Masownys of the luge" being the only ones recognized as _free_masons. As to the prefix being derived from the word _frere_, a sufficient answer is the fact that frequent reference is made to "Brother _free_masons," so that no ground for that supposition exists (cf. articles by Mr Gould in the _Freemason_ for September 1898 on "Free and Freemasonry").

There are numerous indications of masonic activity in the British lodges of the 17th century, especially in Scotland; the existing records, however, of the southern part of the United Kingdom, though few, are of importance, some only having been made known in recent years. These concern the Masons' Company of London, whose valuable minutes and other documents are ably described and commented upon by Edward Conder, jr., in his _Hole Crafte and Fellowship of Masons_ (1894), the author then being the Master of that ancient company. It was incorporated in 1677 by Charles II., who graciously met the wishes of the members, but as a company the information "that is to be found in the Corporation Records at Guildhall proves very clearly that in 1376 the Masons' Company existed and was represented in the court of common council." The title then favoured was "Masons," the entry of the term "Freemasons" being crossed out. Herbert erroneously overlooked the correction, and stated in his _History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies_ (vol. i.) that the Freemasons returned two, and the Masons four members, but subsequently amalgamated; whereas the revised entry was for the "Masons" only. The Company obtained a grant of arms in 1472 (12th year Hen. VIII.), one of the first of the kind, being thus described:--"A feld of Sablys A Cheveron silver grailed thre Castellis of the same garnysshed wt. dores and wyndows of the feld in the Cheveron or Cumpas of Black of Blak"; it is the authority (if any) for all later armorial bearings having a chevron and castles, assumed by other masonic organizations. This precious document was only discovered in 1871, having been missing for a long time, thus doubtless accounting for the erroneous representations met with, not having the correct blazon to follow. The oldest masonic motto known is "God is our Guide" on Kerwin's tomb in St Helen's church, Bishopgate, of 1594; that of "In the Lord is all our trust" not being traced until the next century. Supporters consisting of two doric columns are mentioned in 1688 by Randle Holme, but the Grand Lodge of England in the following century used Beavers as operative builders. Its first motto was "In the beginning was the Word" (in Greek), exchanged a few years onward for "Relief and Truth," the rival Grand Lodge (Atholl Masons) selecting "Holiness to the Lord" (in Hebrew), and the final selection at the "Union of December 1813" being _Audi Vide Tace_.

Mr Conder's discovery of a lodge of "Accepted Masons" being held under the wing of the Company was a great surprise, dating as the records do from 1620 to 1621 (the earliest of the kind yet traced in England), when seven were made masons, all of whom were free of the Company _before_, three being of the Livery; the entry commencing "Att the making masons." The meetings were entitled the "Acception," and the members of the lodge were called _Accepted_ Masons, being those so _accepted_ and initiated, the term never otherwise being met with in the Records. An additional fee had to be paid by a member of the Company to join the "Acception," and any not belonging thereto were mulct in twice the sum; though even then such "acceptance" did not qualify for membership of the superior body; the fees for the "Acception" being L1 and L2 respectively. In 1638-1639, when Nicholas Stone entered the lodge (he was Master of the Company 1632-1633) the banquet cost a considerable sum, showing that the number of brethren present must have been large.

Elias Ashmole (who according to his diary was "made a Free Mason of Warrington with Colonel Henry Mainwaring," seven brethern being named as in attendance at the lodge, 16th of October 1646) states that he "received a summons to appear at a Lodge to be held next day at Masons' Hall, London." Accordingly on the 11th of March 1682 he attended and saw six gentlemen "admitted into the Fellowship of Free Masons," of whom three only belonged to the Company; the Master, however, Mr Thomas Wise, the two wardens and six others being present on the occasion as members in their _dual_ capacity. Ashmole adds: "We all dyned at the Halfe Moone Tavern in Cheapside at a noble dinner prepaired at the charge of the new-accepted Masons."

It is almost certain that there was not an operative mason present at the Lodge held in 1646, and at the one which met in 1682 there was a strong representation of the speculative branch. Before the year 1654 the Company was known as that of the Freemasons for some time, but after then the old title of Masons was reverted to, the terms "Acception" and "Accepted" belonging to the speculative Lodge, which, however, in all probability either became independent or ceased to work soon after 1682. It is very interesting to note that subsequently (but never before) the longer designation is met with of "Free and Accepted Masons," and is thus a combination of operative and speculative usage.

Mr Conder is of opinion that in the Records "there is no evidence of any

## particular ceremony attending the position of Master Mason, possibly it

consisted of administering a different oath from the one taken by the apprentices on being entered." There is much to favour this supposition, and it may provide the key to the _vexata quaestio_ as to the plurality of degrees prior to the Grand Lodge era. The fellow-crafts were recruited from those apprentices who had served their time and had their essay (or sufficient trial of their skill) duly passed; they and the Masters, by the _Schaw Statutes_ of 1598, being only admitted in the presence of "sex Maisteris and _twa enterit prenteissis_." As a rule a master mason meant one who was master of his trade, i.e. duly qualified; but it sometimes described employers as distinct from journeymen Freemasons; being also a compliment conferred on honorary members during the 17th century in particular.

In Dr Plot's _History of Staffordshire_ (1686) is a remarkable account of the "Society of Freemasons," which, being by an unfriendly critic, is all the more valuable. He states that the custom had spread "more or less all over the nation"; persons of the most eminent quality did not disdain to enter the Fellowship; they had "a large _parchment volum_ containing the History and Rules of the Craft of Masonry"; St Amphibal, St Alban, King Athelstan and Edwin are mentioned, and these "charges and manners" were "after perusal approved by King Hen. 6 and his council, both as to Masters and Fellows of this right Worshipfull craft." It is but fair to add that notwithstanding the service he rendered the Society by his lengthy description, that credulous historian remarks of its history that there is nothing he ever "met with more false or incoherent."

The author of the _Academie of Armory_, previously noted, knew better what he was writing about in that work of 1688 in which he declares: "I cannot but Honor the Fellowship of the Masons because of its Antiquity; and the more, _as being a member of that Society, called Free Masons_" Mr Rylands states that in _Harl. MS. 5955_ is a collection of the engraved plates for a second volume of this important work, one being devoted to the Arms of the Society, the columns, as supporters, having globes thereon, from which possibly are derived the two pillars, with such ornaments or additions seen in lodge rooms at a later period.

In the same year "A Tripos or Speech delivered at a commencement in the University of Dublin held there July 11, 1688, by John Jones, then A.B., afterwards D.D.," contained "notable evidence concerning Freemasonry in Dublin." The Tripos was included in Sir Walter Scott's edition of Dean Swift's works (1814), but as Dr Chetwode Crawley points out, though noticed by the Rev. Dr George Oliver (the voluminous Masonic author), he failed to realize its historical importance. The satirical and withal amusing speech was partly translated from the Latin by Dr Crawley for his scholarly introduction to the _Masonic Reprints_, &c., by Henry Sadler. "The point seems to be that Ridley (reputed to have been an informer against priests under the barbarous penal laws) was, or ought to have been, hanged; that his carcase, anatomized and stuffed, stood in the library; and that _frath scoundrellus_ discovered on his remains the Freemasons' Mark." The importance of the references to the craft in Ireland is simply owing to the year in which they were made, as illustrative of the influence of the Society at that time, of which records are lacking.

It is primarily to Scotland, however, that we have to look for such numerous particulars of the activity of the fraternity from 1599 to the establishment of its Grand Lodge in 1736, for an excellent account of which we are indebted to Lyon, the Scottish masonic historian. As early as 1600 (8th of June) the attendance of John Boswell, Esq., the laird of Auchinleck, is entered in the minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh; he attested the record and added his mark, as did the other members; so it was not his first appearance. Many noblemen and other gentlemen joined this ancient _atelier_, notably Lord Alexander, Sir Anthony Alexander and Sir Alexander Strachan in 1634, the king's Master of Work (Herrie Alexander) in 1638, General Alexander Hamilton in 1640, Dr Hamilton in 1647, and many other prominent and distinguished men later; "James Neilsone, Master Sklaitter to His Majestie," who was "entered and past in the Lodge of Linlithgow, being elected a joining member," 2nd March 1654. Quarter-Master General Robert Moray (or Murray) was initiated by members of the Lodge of Edinburgh, at Newcastle on the 20th of May 1641, while the Scottish army was in occupation. On due report to their Alma Mater such reception was allowed, the occurrence having been considered the first of its kind in England until the ancient Records of the Masons' Company were published.

The minute-books of a number of Scottish Lodges, which are still on the register, go back to the 17th century, and abundantly confirm the frequent admission of speculatives as members and officers, especially those of the venerable "Mother Lodge Kilwinning," of which the earl of Cassillis was the deacon in 1672, who was succeeded by Sir Alexander Cunningham, and the earl of Eglinton, who like the first of the trio was but an apprentice. There were three Head Lodges according to the Scottish Code of 1599, Edinburgh being "the first and principall," Kilwinning "the secund," and Stirling "the third ludge."

The Aberdeen Lodge (No. 1 _tris_) has records preserved from 1670, in which year what is known as the _Mark Book_ begins, containing the oldest existing roll of members, numbering 49, all of whom have their marks registered, save two, though only ten were operatives. The names of the earls of Finlater, Erroll and Dunfermline, Lord Forbes, several ministers and professional men are on the list, which was written by a glazier, all of whom had been enlightened as to the "benefit of the measson word," and inserted in order as they "were made fellow craft." The Charter (_Old Charges_) had to be read at the "entering of everie prenteise," and the officers included a master and two wardens.

The lodge at Melrose (No. 1 _bis_) with records back to 1674 did not join the Grand Lodge until 1891, and was the last of those working (possibly centuries before that body was formed) to accept the modern system of government. Of the many noteworthy lodges mention should be made of that of "Canongate Kilwinning No. 2," Edinburgh, the first of the numerous pendicles of "Mother Lodge Kilwinning, No. 0," Ayrshire, started in 1677; and of the Journeymen No 8, formed in 1707, which was a secession from the Lodge of Edinburgh; the Fellow Crafts or Journeymen not being satisfied with their treatment by the Freemen Masters of the Incorporation of Masons, &c. This action led to a trial before the Lords of Council and Session, when finally a "Decreet Arbitral" was subscribed to by both parties, and the junior organization was permitted "to give the mason word as it is called" in a separate lodge. The presbytery of Kelso[7] in 1652 sustained the action of the Rev. James Ainslie in becoming a Freemason, declaring that "there is neither sinne nor scandale in that word" (i.e. the "Mason Word"), which is often alluded to but never revealed in the old records already referred to.[8] One Scottish family may be cited in illustration of the continuous working of Freemasonry, whose membership is enshrined in the records of the ancient Lodge of "Scoon and Perth No. 3" and others. A venerable document, lovingly cared for by No. 3, bears date 1658, and recites how John Mylne came to Perth from the "North Countrie," and was the king's Master Mason and W.M. of the Lodge, his successor being his son, who entered "King James the sixt as ffreman measone and fellow craft"; his third son John was a member of Lodge No. 1 and Master Mason to Charles I., 1631-1636, and his eldest son was a deacon of No. 1 eleven times during thirty years. To him was apprenticed his nephew, who was warden in 1663-1664 and deacon several times. William Mylne was a warden in 1695, Thomas (eldest son) was Master in 1735, and took part in the formation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Others of the family continued to join the Lodge No. 1, until Robert, the last of the Mylnes as Freemasons, was initiated in 1754, died in 1811, and "was buried in St Paul's cathedral, having been Surveyor to that Edifice for fifty years," and the last of the masonic Mylnes for five generations. The "St John's Lodge," Glasgow (No. 3 _bis_), has some valuable old records and a "Charter Chest" with the words carved thereon "God save the King and Masons Craft, 1684." _Loyalty and Charity_ are the watchwords of the Society.

The Craft Gilds (_Corps d'Etat_) of France, and their progeny the _Companionage_, have been fully described by Mr Gould, and the _Steinmetzen_ of Germany would require too detailed notice if we were to

## particularize its rules, customs and general character, from about the

12th century onward. Much as there was in common between the Stonemasons of Germany and the Freemasons of Great Britain and Ireland, it must be conceded that the two societies never united and were all through this long period wholly separate and independent; a knowledge of Freemasonry and authority to hold lodges in Germany being derived from the Grand Lodge of England during the first half of the 18th century. The theory of the derivation of the Freemasons from the _Steinmetzen_ was first propounded in 1779 by the abbe Grandidier, and has been maintained by more modern writers, such as Fallou, Heideloff and Schneider, but a thorough examination of their statements has resulted in such an origin being generally discredited. Whether the _Steinmetzen_ had secret signs of recognition or not, is not quite clear, but that the Freemasons had, for centuries, cannot be doubted, though precisely what they were may be open to question, and also what portions of the existing ceremonies are reminiscent of the craft anterior to the Revival of 1717. Messrs Speth and Gould favour the notion that there were two distinct and separate degrees prior to the third decade of the 18th century (_Ars_ Q.C., 1898 and 1903), while other authorities have either supported the _One degree_ theory, or consider there is not sufficient evidence to warrant a decision. Recent discoveries, however, tend in favour of the first view noted, such as the _Trinity College MS._, Dublin ("Free Masonry, Feb. 1711"), and the invaluable[9] _Chetwode Crawley MS._ (Grand Lodge Library, Dublin); the second being read in connexion with the Haughfoot Lodge Records, beginning 1702 (_Hist, of Freemasonry_, by W. F. Vernon, 1893).

Two of the most remarkable lodges at work during the period of transition (1717-1723), out of the many then existing in England, assembled at Alnwick and at York. The origin of the first noted is not known, but there are minutes of the meetings from 1703, the Rules are of 1701, signed by quite a number of members, and a transcript of the _Old Charges_ begins the volume. In 1708-1709 a minute provided for a masonic procession, at which the brethren were to walk "with their aprons on and Comon Square." The Lodge consisted mainly of operative "free Brothers," and continued for many years, a code of by-laws being published in 1763, but it never united with the Grand Lodge, giving up the struggle for existence a few years further on.

The other lodge, the most noteworthy of all the English predecessors of the Grand Lodge of England, was long held at York, the Mecca of English Freemasons.[10] Its origin is unknown, but there are traces of its existence at an early date, and possibly it was a survival of the Minster Lodge of the 14th century. Assuming that the _York MS. No. 4_ of 1693 was the property of the lodge in that year (which Roll was presented by George Walker of Wetherby in 1777), the entry which concludes that Scroll is most suggestive, as it gives "The names of the Lodge" (members) and the "Lodge Ward(en)." Its influence most probably may be also noted at Scarborough, where "A private Lodge" was held on the 10th of July 1705, at which the president "William Thompson, Esq., and severall others brethren ffree Masons" were present, and six gentlemen (named) "were then admitted into the said ffraternity." These

## particulars are endorsed on the _Scarborough MS._ of the Old Charges,

now owned by the Grand Lodge of Canada at Toronto. "A narrow folio manuscript Book beginning 7th March 1705-1706," which was quoted from in 1778, has long been missing, which is much to be regretted, as possibly it gave particulars of the lodge which assembled at Bradford, Yorkshire, "when 18 Gentlemen of the first families in that neighbourhood were made Masons." There is, however, another roll of records from 1712 to 1730 happily preserved of this "Ancient Honble. Society and Fraternity of Free Masons," sometimes styled "Company" or "Society of Free and Accepted Masons."

Not to be behind the London fratres, the York brethren formed a Grand Lodge on the 27th of December 1725 (the "Grand Lodge of _all_ England" was its modest title), and was flourishing for years, receiving into their company many county men of great influence. Some twenty years later there was a brief period of somnolence, but in 1761 a revival took place, with Francis Drake, the historian, as Grand Master, ten lodges being chartered in Yorkshire, Cheshire and Lancashire, 1762-1790, and a Grand Lodge of England, south of the Trent, in 1779, at London, which warranted two lodges. Before the century ended all these collapsed or joined the Grand Lodge of England, so there was not a single representative of "York Masonry" left on the advent of the next century.

The premier Grand Lodge of England soon began to constitute new Lodges in the metropolis, and to reconstitute old ones that applied for recognition, one of the earliest of 1720-1721 being still on the Roll as No. 6, thus having kept company ever since with the three "time immemorial Lodges," Nos. 2, 4 and 12. Applications for constitution kept coming in, the provinces being represented from 1723 to 1724, before which time it is likely the Grand Lodge of Ireland[11] had been started, about which the most valuable _Caementaria Hibernica_ by Dr Chetwode Crawley may be consulted with absolute confidence. Provincial Grand Lodges were formed to ease the authorities at headquarters, and, as the society spread, also for the Continent, and gradually throughout the civilized globe. Owing to the custom prevailing before the 18th century, a few brethren were competent to form lodges on their own initiative anywhere, and hence the registers of the British Grand Lodges are not always indicative of the first appearance of the craft abroad. In North America[12] lodges were held before what is known as the first "regular" lodge was formed at Boston, Mass., in 1733, and probably in Canada[13] likewise. The same remark applies to Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and other countries. Of the many scores of military lodges, the first warrant was granted by Ireland in 1732. To no other body of Freemasons has the craft been so indebted for its prosperity in early days as to their military brethren. There were rivals to the Grand Lodge of England during the 18th century, one of considerable magnitude being known as the Ancients or Atholl Masons, formed in 1751, but in December 1813 a junction was effected, and from that time the prosperity of the United Grand Lodge of England, with few exceptions, has been extraordinary.

Nothing but a volume to itself could possibly describe the main features of the English Craft from 1717, when Anthony Sayer was elected the first Grand Master of a brilliant galaxy of rulers. The first nobleman to undertake that office was the duke of Montagu in 1721, the natural philosopher J. T. Desaguliers being his immediate predecessor, who has been credited (and also the Rev. James Anderson) with the honour of starting the premier Grand Lodge; but like the fable of Sir Christopher Wren having been Grand Master, evidence is entirely lacking. Irish and Scottish peers share with those of England the distinction of presiding over the Grand Lodge, and from 1782 to 1813 their Royal Highnesses the duke of Cumberland, the prince of Wales, or the duke of Sussex occupied the masonic throne. From 1753 to 1813 the rival Grand Lodge had been busy, but ultimately a desire for a _united_ body prevailed, and under the "ancient" Grand Master, H.R.H. the duke of Kent, it was decided to amalgamate with the original ruling organization, H.R.H. the duke of Sussex becoming the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge. On the decease of the prince in 1843 the earl of Zetland succeeded, followed by the marquess of Ripon in 1874, on whose resignation H.R.H. the prince of Wales became the Grand Master. Soon after succeeding to the throne, King Edward VII. ceased to govern the English craft, and was succeeded by H.R.H. the duke of Connaught. From 1737 to 1907 some sixteen English princes of the royal blood joined the brotherhood.

From 1723 to 1813 the number of lodges enrolled in England amounted to 1626, and from 1814 to the end of December 1909 as many as 3352 were warranted, making a grand total of 4978, of which the last then granted was numbered 3185. There were in 1909 still 2876 on the register, notwithstanding the many vacancies created by the foundation of new Grand Lodges in the colonies and elsewhere.[14]

_Distribution and Organization._--The advantage of the cosmopolitan basis of the fraternity generally (though some Grand Lodges still preserve the original Christian foundation) has been conspicuously manifested and appreciated in India and other countries where the votaries of numerous religious systems congregate; but the unalterable basis of a belief in the Great Architect of the Universe remains, for without such a recognition there can be no Freemasonry, and it is now, as it always has been, entirely free from party politics. The charities of the Society in England, Ireland and Scotland are extensive and well organized, their united cost per day not being less than L500, and with those of other Grand Lodges throughout the world must amount to a very large sum, there being over two millions of Freemasons. The vast increase of late years, both of lodges and members, however, calls for renewed vigilance and extra care in selecting candidates, that numbers may not be a source of weakness instead of strength.

In its internal organization, the working of Freemasonry involves an elaborate system of symbolic ritual,[15] as carried out at meetings of the various lodges, uniformity as to essentials being the rule. The members are classified in numerous degrees, of which the first three are "Entered Apprentice," "Fellow Craft" and "Master Mason," each class of which, after initiation, can only be attained after passing a prescribed ordeal or examination, as a test of proficiency, corresponding to the "essays" of the operative period.

The lodges have their own by-laws for guidance, subject to the _Book of Constitutions_ of their Grand Lodge, and the regulations of the provincial or district Grand Lodge if located in counties or held abroad.

It is to be regretted that on the continent of Europe Freemasonry has sometimes developed on different lines from that of the "Mother Grand Lodge" and Anglo-Saxon Grand Lodges generally, and through its political and anti-religious tendencies has come into contact or conflict with the state authorities[16] or the Roman Catholic church. The "Grand Orient of France" (but not the Supreme Council 33^o, and its Grand Lodge) is an example of this retrograde movement, by its elimination of the paragraph referring to a belief in the "Great Architect of the Universe" from its _Statuts et reglements generaux_. This deplorable action has led to the withdrawal of all regular Grand Lodges from association with that body, and such separation must continue until a return is made to the ancient and inviolable landmark of the society, which makes it impossible for an atheist either to join or continue a member of the fraternity.

The Grand Lodge of England constituted its first lodge in Paris in the year 1732, but one was formed still earlier on the continent at Gibraltar 1728-1729. Others were also opened in Germany 1733, Portugal 1735, Holland 1735, Switzerland 1740, Denmark 1745, Italy 1763, Belgium 1765, Russia 1771, and Sweden 1773. In most of these countries Grand Lodges were subsequently created and continue to this date, save that in Austria (not Hungary) and Russia no masonic lodges have for some time been permitted to assemble. There is a union of Grand Lodges of Germany, and an annual Diet is held for the transaction of business affecting the several masonic organizations in that country, which works well. H.R.H. Prince Frederick Leopold was in 1909 Protector, or the "Wisest Master" (Vicarius Salomonis). King Gustav V. was the Grand Master [cross] of the freemasons in Sweden, and the sovereign of the "Order of Charles XIII.," the only one of the kind confined to members of the fraternity.

Lodges were constituted in India from 1730 (Calcutta), 1752 (Madras), and 1758 (Bombay); in Jamaica 1742, Antigua 1738, and St Christopher 1739; soon after which period the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland and Scotland had representatives at work throughout the civilized world.

In no part, however, outside Great Britain has the craft flourished so much as in the United States of America, where the first "regular" lodge (i.e. according to the _new_ regime) was opened in 1733 at Boston, Mass. Undoubtedly lodges had been meeting still earlier, one of which was held at Philadelphia, Penna., with records from 1731, which blossomed into a Grand Lodge, but no authority has yet been traced for its proceedings, save that which may be termed "time immemorial right," which was enjoyed by all lodges and brethren who were at work prior to the Grand Lodge era (1716-1717) or who declined to recognize the autocratic proceedings of the premier Grand Lodge of England, just as the brethren did in the city of York. A "deputation" was granted to Daniel Coxe, Esq. of New Jersey, by the duke of Norfolk, Grand Master, 5th of June 1730, as Prov. Grand Master of the "Provinces of New York, New Jersey and Pensilvania," but there is no evidence that he ever constituted any lodges or exercised any masonic authority in virtue thereof. Henry Price as Prov. Grand Master of New England, and his lodge, which was opened on the 31st of August 1733, in the city of Boston, so far as is known, began "regular" Freemasonry in the United States, and the older and independent organization was soon afterwards "regularized." Benjamin Franklin (an Initiate of the lodge of Philadelphia) printed and published the _Book of Constitutions_, 1723 (of London, England), in the "City of Brotherly Love" in 1734, being the oldest masonic work in America. English and Scottish Grand Lodges were soon after petitioned to grant warrants to hold lodges, and by the end of the 18th century several Grand Lodges were formed, the Craft becoming very popular, partly no doubt by reason of so many prominent men joining the fraternity, of whom the chief was George Washington, initiated in a Scottish lodge at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1752-1753. In 1907 there were fifty Grand Lodges assembling in the United States, with considerably over a million members.

In Canada in 1909 there were eight Grand Lodges, having about 64,000 members. Freemasonry in the Dominion is believed to date from 1740. The Grand Lodges are all of comparatively recent organization, the oldest and largest, with 40,000 members, being for Ontario; those of Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec numbering about 5000 each. There are some seven Grand Lodges in Australia; South Australia coming first as a "sovereign body," followed closely by New South Wales and Victoria (of 1884-1889 constitution), the whole of the lodges in the Commonwealth probably having fully 50,000 members on the registers.

There are many additional degrees which may be taken or not (being quite optional), and dependent on a favourable ballot; the difficulty, however, of obtaining admission increases as progress is made, the numbers accepted decreasing rapidly with each advancement. The chief of these are arranged in separate classes and are governed either by the "Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch," the "Mark Grand Lodge," the "Great Priory of Knights Templars" or the "Ancient and Accepted Rite," these being mutually complementary and intimately connected as respects England, and more or less so in Ireland, Scotland, North America and wherever worked on a similar basis; the countries of the continent of Europe have also their own _Hautes Grades_. (W. J. H.*).

FOOTNOTES:

[1]

If history be no ancient Fable Free Masons came from Tower of Babel.

("The Freemasons; an Hudibrastic poem," London, 1723.)

[2] _The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry and Medieval Builders_, by Mr G. F. Fort (U.S.A.), and the _Cathedral Builders: The Magestri Comacini_, by "Leader Scott" (the late Mrs Baxter), take rather a different view on this point and ably present their arguments. The Rev. C. Kingsley in _Roman and Teuton_ writes of the _Comacini_, "Perhaps the original germ of the great society of Freemasons."

[3] The service rendered by Dr W. Begemann (Germany) in his "Attempt to Classify the Old Charges of the British Masons" (vol. 1 Trans. of the _Quatuor Coronati_ Lodge, London) has been very great, and the researches of the Rev. A. F. A. Woodford and G. W. Speth have also been of the utmost consequence.

[4] Findel claims that his _Treatise_ on the society was the cause which "first impelled England to the study of masonic history and ushered in the intellectual movement which resulted in the writings of Bros. Hughan, Lyon, Gould and others." Great credit was due to the late German author for his important work, but before its advent the Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, D. Murray Lyon and others in Great Britain were diligent masonic students on similar lines.

[5] It is not considered necessary to refer at length to the _Fratres Pontis_, or other imaginary bodies of freemasons, as such questions may well be left to the curious and interested student.

[6] "No distinct trace of the general employment of large migratory bands of masons, going from place to place as a guild, or company, or brotherhood" (Prof. T. Hayter-Lewis, Brit. Arch. Assoc., 1889).

[7] The Associate Synod which met at Edinburgh, March 1755, just a century later, took quite an opposite view, deciding to depose from office any of their brethren who would not give up their masonic membership (_Scots Mag._, 1755, p. 158). Papal Bulls have also been issued against the craft, the first being in 1738; but neither interdicts nor anathemata have any influence with the fraternity, and fall quite harmless.

[8]

"We have the _Mason Word_ and second sight, Things for to come we can fortell aright."

(_The Muses Threnodie_, by H. Adamson, Edin., 1638.)

[9] The _Chetwode Crawley MS._, by W. J. Hughan (_Ars._ Q.C., 1904).

[10] The _York Grand Lodge_, by Messrs. Hughan and Whytehead (Ars Q.C., 1900), and _Masonic Sketches and Reprints_ (1871), by the former.

[11] The celebrated "Lady Freemason," the Hon. Mrs Aldworth (_nee_ Miss St Leger, daughter of Lord Doneraile), was initiated in Ireland, but at a much earlier date than popularly supposed; certainly not later than 1713, when the venturesome lady was twenty. All early accounts of the occurrence must be received with caution, as there are no contemporary records of the event.

[12] _History of Freemasonry_, by Dr A. G. Mackey (New York, 1898), and the _History_ of the Fraternity Publishing Company, Boston, Mass., give very full particulars as to the United States.

[13] See _History of Freemasonry in Canada_ (Toronto, 1899), by J. Ross Robertson.

[14] _The Masonic Records 1717-1894_, by John Lane, and the excellent _Masonic Yearbook_, published annually by the Grand Lodge of England, are the two standard works on Lodge enumeration, localization and nomenclature. For particulars of the Grand Lodges, and especially that of England, Gould's History is most useful and trustworthy; and for an original contribution to the history of the rival Grand Lodge or Atholl Masons, Sadler's _Masonic Facts and Fictions_.

[15] "A peculiar system of Morality, veiled in Allegory and illustrated by Symbols" (old definition of Freemasonry).

[16] The British House of Commons in 1799 and 1817, in acts of parliament, specifically recognized the laudable character of the society and provided for its continuance on definite lines.

FREEPORT, a city and the county-seat of Stephenson county, Illinois, in the N.W. part of the state, on the Pecatonica river, 30 m. from its mouth and about 100 m. N.W. of Chicago. Pop. (1890) 10,189; (1900) 13,258, of whom 2264 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 17,567. The city is served by the Chicago & North-Western, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, and the Illinois Central railways, and by the Rockford & Interurban electric railway. The Illinois Central connects at South Freeport, about 3 m. S. of Freeport, with the Chicago Great Western railway. Among Freeport's manufactures are foundry and machine shop products, carriages, hardware specialties, patent medicines, windmills, engines, incubators, organs, beer and shoes. The Illinois Central has large railway repair shops here. The total value of the city's factory product in 1905 was $3,109,302, an increase of 14.8% since 1900. In the surrounding country cereals are grown, and swine and poultry are raised. Dairying is an important industry also. The city has a Carnegie library (1901). In the Court House Square is a monument, 80 ft. high, in memory of the soldiers who died in the Civil War. At the corner of Douglas Avenue and Mechanic Street a granite boulder commemorates the famous debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, held in Freeport on the 27th of August 1858. In that debate Lincoln emphasized the differences between himself and the radical anti-slavery men, and in answer to one of Lincoln's questions Douglas declared that the people of a territory, through "unfriendly" laws or denial of legislative protection, could exclude slavery, and that "it matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide on the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a territory under the Constitution." This, the so-called "Freeport doctrine," greatly weakened Douglas in the presidential election of 1860. Freeport was settled in 1835, was laid out and named Winneshiek in 1836, and in 1837 under its present name was made the county-seat of Stephenson county. It was incorporated as a town in 1850 and chartered as a city in 1855.

FREE PORTS, a term, strictly speaking, given to localities where no customs duties are levied, and where no customs supervision exists. In these ports (subject to payment for specific services rendered, wharfage, storage, &c., and to the observance of local police and sanitary regulations) ships load and unload, cargoes are deposited and handled, industries are exercised, manufactures are carried on, goods are bought and sold, without any action on the part of fiscal authorities. Ports are likewise designated "free" where a space or zone exists within which commercial operations are conducted without payment of import or export duty, and without active interference on the part of customs authorities. The French and German designations for these two descriptions of ports are--for the former _La Ville franche, Freihafen_; for the latter _Le Port franc, Freibezirk_ or _Freilager_. The English phrase free port applies to both.[1] The leading conditions under which free ports in Europe derived their origin were as follows:--(1) When public order became re-established during the middle ages, trading centres were gradually formed. Marts for the exchange and purchase of goods arose in different localities. Many Italian settlements, constituting free zones, were established in the Levant. The Hanseatic towns arose in the 12th century. Great fairs became recognized--the Leipzig charter was granted in 1268. These localities were free as regards customs duties, although dues of the nature of octroi charges were often levied. (2) Until the 19th century European states were numerous, and often of small size. Accordingly uniform customs tariffs of wide application did not exist. Uniform rates of duty were fixed In England by the Subsidy Act of 1660. In France, before the Revolution (besides the free ports), Alsace and the Lorraine Bishoprics were in trade matters treated as foreign countries. The unification of the German customs tariff began in 1834 with the Steuerverein and the Zollverein. The Spanish fiscal system did not include the Basque provinces until about 1850. The uniform Italian tariff dates from 1861. Thus until very recent times on the Continent free ports were compatible with the fiscal policy and practice of different countries. (3) Along the Mediterranean coast, up to the 19th century, convenient shelter was needed from corsairs. In other continental countries the prevalent colonial and mercantile policy sought to create trans-oceanic trade. Free ports were advantageous from all these points of view.

In following the history of these harbours in Europe, it is to be observed that in Great Britain free ports have never existed. In 1552 it was contemplated to place Hull and Southampton on this footing, but the design was abandoned. Subsequently the bonding and not the free port system was adopted in the United Kingdom.

_Austria-Hungary._--Fiume and Trieste were respectively free ports during the periods 1722-1893 and 1719-1893.

_Belgium._--The emperor Joseph II. during his visit to the Austrian Netherlands in June 1781 endeavoured to create a direct trade between that country and India. Ostend was made a free port, and large bonding facilities were afforded at Bruges, Brussels, Ghent and Louvain. In 1796, however, the revolutionary government abolished the Ostend privileges.

_Denmark._--In November 1894 an area of about 150 acres at Copenhagen was opened as a free port, and great facilities are afforded for shipping and commercial operations in order that the Baltic trade may centre there.

_France._--Marseilles was a free port in the middle ages, and so was Dunkirk when it formed part of Flanders. In 1669 these privileges were confirmed, and extended to Bayonne. In 1784 there was a fresh confirmation, and Lorient and St Jean de Luz were included in the _ordonnance_. The National Assembly in 1790 maintained this policy, and created free ports in the French West Indies. In 1795, however, all such privileges were abolished, but large bonding facilities were allowed at Marseilles to favour the Levant trade. The government of Louis XVIII. in 1814 restored, and in 1871 again revoked, the free port privileges of Marseilles. There are now no free ports in France or in French possessions; the bonding system is in force.

_Germany._--Bremen, Hamburg and Luebeck were reconstituted free towns and ports under the treaties of 1814-1815. Certain minor ports, and several landing-stages on the Rhine and the Neckar, were also designated free. As the Zollverein policy became accepted throughout Germany, previous privileges were gradually lessened, and since 1888 only Hamburg remains a free port. There an area of about 2500 acres is exempt from customs duties and control, and is largely used for shipping and commercial purposes. Bremerhaven has a similar area of nearly 700 acres. Brake, Bremen, Cuxhaven, Emden, Geestemuende, Neufahrwasser and Stettin possess Freibezirke areas, portions of the larger port. Heligoland is outside the Zollverein--practically a foreign country.

In _Italy_ free ports were numerous and important, and possessed privileges which varied at different dates. They were--Ancona, during the period 1696-1868; Brindisi, 1845-1862; Leghorn (in the 17th and 18th centuries a very important Mediterranean harbour), 1675-1867; Messina, 1695-1879; Senigallia, 1821-1868, during the month of the local fair. Venice possessed warehouses, equivalent to bonded stores, for German and Turkish trade during the Republic, and was a free port 1851-1873. Genoa was a free port in the time of the Republic and under the French Empire, and was continued as such by the treaties of 1814-1815. The free port was, however, changed into a "deposito franco" by a law passed in 1865, and only storing privileges now remain.

_Rumania._--Braila, Galatz and Kustenji were free ports (for a period of about forty years) up to 1883, when bonded warehouses were established by the Rumanian government. Sulina remains free.

_Russia._--Archangel was a free port, at least for English goods, from 1553 to 1648. During this period English products were admitted into Russia via Archangel without any customs payment for internal consumption, and also in transit to Persia. The tsar Alexis revoked this grant on the execution of Charles I. Free ports were opened in 1895 at Kola, in Russian Lapland. Dalny, adjoining Port Arthur, was a free port during the Russian occupation; and Japan after the war decided to renew this privilege as soon as practicable.

The number of free ports outside Europe has also lessened. The administrative policy of European countries has been gradually adopted in other parts of the world, and customs duties have become almost universal, conjoined with bonding and transhipment facilities. In British colonies and possessions, under an act of parliament passed in 1766, and repealed in 1867, two ports in Dominica and four in Jamaica were free, Malacca, Penang and Singapore have been free ports since 1824, Hong-Kong since 1842, and Weihaiwei since it was leased to Great Britain in 1898. Zanzibar was a free port during 1892-1899. Aden, Gibraltar, St Helena and St Thomas (West Indies) are sometimes designated free ports. A few duties are, however, levied, which are really octroi rather than customs charges. These places are mainly stations for coaling and awaiting orders.

Some harbours in the Netherlands East Indies were free ports between 1829 and 1899; but these privileges were withdrawn by laws passed in 1898-1899, in order to establish uniformity of customs administration. Harbours where custom houses are not maintained will be practically closed to foreign trade, though the governor-general may in special circumstances vary the application of the new regulations.

Macao has been a free port since 1845. Portugal has no other harbour of this character.

The American Republics have adopted the bonding system. In 1896 a free wharf was opened at New Orleans in imitation of the recent European plan. Livingstone (Guatemala) was a free port during the period 1882-1888.

The privileges enjoyed under the old free port system benefited the towns and districts where they existed; and their abolition has been, locally, injurious. These places were, however, "foreign" to their own country, and their inland intercourse was restricted by the duties levied on their products, and by the precautions adopted to prevent evasion of these charges. With fiscal usages involving preferential and deferential treatment of goods and places, the drawbacks thus arising did not attract serious attention. Under the limited means of communication within and beyond the country, in former times, these conveniences were not much felt. But when finance departments became more completely organized, the free port system fell out of favour with fiscal authorities: it afforded opportunities for smuggling, and impeded uniformity of action and practice. It became, in fact, out of harmony with the administrative and financial policy of later times. Bonding and entrepot facilities, on a scale commensurate with local needs, now satisfy trade requirements. In countries where high customs duties are levied, and where fiscal regulations are minute and rigid, if an extension of foreign trade is desired, and the competition which it involves is a national aim, special facilities must be granted for this purpose. In these circumstances a free zone sufficiently large to admit of commercial operations and transhipments on a scale which will fulfil these conditions (watched but not interfered with by the customs) becomes indispensable. The German government have, as we have seen, maintained a free zone of this nature at Hamburg. And when the free port at Copenhagen was opened, counter measures were adopted at Danzig and Stettin. An agitation has arisen in France to provide at certain ports free zones similar to those at Copenhagen and Hamburg, and to open free ports in French possessions. A bill to this effect was submitted to the chamber of deputies on the 12th of April 1905. Colonial free ports, such as Hong-Kong and Singapore, do not interfere with the uniformity of the home customs and excise policy. These two harbours in particular have become great shipping resorts and distributing centres. The policy which led to their establishment as free ports has certainly promoted British commercial interests.

See the Parliamentary Paper on "Continental Free Ports," 1904. (C. M. K.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] In China at the present time (1902) certain ports are designated "free and open." This phrase means that the ports in question are (1) open to foreign trade, and (2) that vessels engaged in oversea voyages may freely resort there. Exemption from payment of customs duties is not implied, which is a matter distinct from the permission granted under treaty engagements to foreign vessels to carry cargoes to and from the "treaty ports."

FREE REED VIBRATOR (Fr. _anche libre_, Ger. _durchschlagende Zunge_, Ital. _ancia_ or _lingua libera_), in musical instruments, a thin metal tongue fixed at one end and vibrating freely either in surrounding space, as in the accordion and concertina, or enclosed in a pipe or channel, as in certain reed stops of the organ or in the harmonium. The enclosed reed, in its typical and theoretical form, is fixed over an aperture of the same shape but just large enough to allow it to swing freely backwards and forwards, alternately opening and closing the aperture, when driven by a current of compressed air. We have to deal with air under three different conditions in considering the phenomenon of the sound produced by free reeds. (1) The stationary column or stratum in pipe or channel containing the reed, which is normally at rest. (2) The wind or current of air fed from the bellows with a variable velocity and pressure, which is broken up into periodic air puffs as its entrance into pipe or channel is alternately checked or allowed by the vibrator. (3) The disturbed condition of No. 1 when acted upon by the metal vibrator and by No 2, whereby the air within the pipe is forced into alternate pulses of condensation and rarefaction. The free reed is therefore not the tone-producer but only the exciting agent, that is to say, the sound is not produced by the communication of the free reed's vibrations to the surrounding air,[1] as in the case of a vibrating string, but by the series of air puffs punctuated by infinitesimal pauses, which it produces by alternately opening and almost closing the aperture.[2] A musical sound is thus produced the pitch of which depends on the length and thickness of the metal tongue; the greater the length, the slower the vibrations and the lower the pitch, while on the contrary, the thicker the reed near the shoulder at the fixed end, the higher the pitch. It must be borne in mind that the periodic vibrations of the reed determine the pitch of the sound solely by the frequency per second they impose upon the pulses of rarefaction and condensation within the pipe.

[Illustration: From J. B. Biot, _Traite de physique experimentale_.

FIG. 1.--Grenie's organ pipe fitted with free-reed vibrator.

A, Tuning wire. D, Free reed. R, Reed-box. B, C, Feed pipe with conical foot. T, Part of resonating pipe, the upper end with cap and vent hole being shown separately at the side.]

The most valuable characteristic of the free reed is its power of producing all the delicate gradations of tone between forte and piano by virtue of a law of acoustics governing the vibration of free reeds, whereby increased pressure of wind produces a proportional increase in the volume of tone. The pitch of any sound depends upon the frequency of the sound-waves, that is, the number per second which reach the ear; the fullness of sound depends upon the amplitude of the waves, or, more strictly speaking, of the swing of the transmitting particles of the medium--greater pressure in the air current (No. 2 above) which sets the vibrator in motion producing amplitude of vibration in the air within the receptacle (No. 3 above) serving as resonating medium. The sound produced by the free reed itself is weak and requires to be reinforced by means of an additional stationary column or stratum of air. Free reed instruments are therefore classified according to the nature of the resonant medium provided:--(1) Free reeds vibrating in pipes, such as the reed stops of church organs on the continent of Europe (in England the reed pipes are generally provided with beating reeds, see REED INSTRUMENTS and CLARINET). (2) Free reeds vibrating in reed compartments and reinforced by air chambers of various shapes and sizes as in the harmonium (q.v.). (3) Instruments like the accordion and concertina having the free reed set in vibration through a valve, but having no reinforcing medium.

The arrangement of the free reed in an organ pipe is simple, and does not differ greatly from that of the beating reed shown in fig. 2 for the purpose of comparison. The reed-box, a rectangular wooden pipe, is closed at the bottom and covered on one face with a thin plate of copper having a rectangular slit over which is fixed the thin metal vibrating tongue or reed as described above. The reed-box, itself open at the top, is enclosed in a feed pipe having a conical foot pierced with a small hole through which the air current is forced by the action of the bellows. The impact of the incoming compressed air against the reed tongue sets it swinging through the slit, thus causing a disturbance or series of pulsations within the reed-box. The air then finds an escape through the resonating medium of a pipe fitting over the reed-box and terminating in an inverted cone covered with a cap in the top of which is pierced a small hole or vent. The quality of tone of free reeds is due to the tendency of air set in periodic pulsations to divide into aliquot vibrations or loops, producing the phenomenon known as harmonic overtones or upper partials, which may, in the highly composite clang of free reeds, be discerned as far as the 16th or 20th of the series. The more intermittent and interrupted the air current becomes, the greater the number of the upper partials produced.[3] The power of the overtones and their relation to the fundamental note depend greatly upon the form of the tongue, its position and the amount of the clearance left as it swings through the aperture.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Organ pipe fitted with beating reed.

AL, Beating reed. R, Reed box. Ff, Tuning wire. TV, Feed pipe. VV, Conical foot. S, Hole through which compressed air is fed.]

Free reeds not associated with resonating media as in the concertina are peculiarly rich in harmonics, but as the higher harmonics lie very close together, disagreeable dissonances and a harsh tone result. The resonating pipe or chamber when suitably accommodated to the reed greatly modifies the tone by reinforcing the harmonics proper to itself, the others sinking into comparative insignificance. In order to produce a full rich tone, a resonator should be chosen whose deepest note coincides with the fundamental tone of the reed. The other upper

## partials will also be reinforced thereby, but to a less degree the

higher the harmonics.[4]

For the history of the application of the free reed to keyboard instruments see HARMONIUM. (K. S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See H. Helmholtz, _Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen_ (Brunswick, 1877), p. 166.

[2] See also Ernst Heinrich and Wilhelm Weber, _Wellenlehre_ (Leipzig, 1825), where a particularly lucid explanation of the phenomenon is given, pp. 526-530.

[3] See Helmholtz, _op. cit._ p. 167.

[4] These phenomena are clearly explained at greater length by Sedley Taylor in _Sound and Music_ (London, 1896), pp. 134-153 and pp. 74-86. See also Friedrich Zamminer, _Die Musik und die musikalischen Instrumente_, &c. (Giessen, 1855), p. 261.

FREESIA, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the Iris family (Iridaceae), and containing a single species, _F. refracta_, native at the Cape of Good Hope. The plants grow from a corm (a solid bulb, as in _Gladiolus_) which sends up a tuft of long narrow leaves and a slightly branched stem bearing a few leaves and loose one-sided spikes of fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped flowers. Several varieties are known in cultivation, differing in the colour of the flower, which is white, cream or yellow. They form pretty greenhouse plants which are readily increased from seed. They are extensively grown for the market in Guernsey, England and America. By potting successively throughout the autumn a supply of flowers is obtained through winter and spring. Some very fine large-flowered varieties, including rose-coloured ones, are now being raised by various growers in England, and are a great improvement on the older forms.

FREE SOIL PARTY, a political party in the United States, which was organized in 1847-1848 to oppose the extension of slavery into the Territories. It was a combination of the political abolitionists--many of whom had formerly been identified with the more radical Liberty party--the anti-slavery Whigs, and the faction of the Democratic party in the state of New York, called "Barnburners," who favoured the prohibition of slavery, in accordance with the "Wilmot Proviso" (see WILMOT, DAVID), in the territory acquired from Mexico. The party was prominent in the presidential campaigns of 1848 and 1852. At the national convention held in Buffalo, N.Y., on the 9th and 10th of August 1848, they secured the nomination to the presidency of ex-President Martin Van Buren, who had failed to secure nomination by the Democrats in 1844 because of his opposition to the annexation of Texas, and of Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, for the vice-presidency, taking as their "platform" a Declaration that Congress, having "no more power to make a slave than to make a king," was bound to restrict slavery to the slave states, and concluding, "we inscribe on our banner 'Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Man,' and under it we will fight on and fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions." The Liberty party had previously, in November 1847, nominated John P. Hale and Leicester King as president and vice-president respectively, but in the spring of 1848 it withdrew its candidates and joined the "free soil" movement. Representatives of eighteen states, including Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, attended the Buffalo convention. In the ensuing presidential election Van Buren and Adams received a popular vote of 291,263, of which 120,510 were cast in New York. They received no electoral votes, all these being divided between the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor, who was elected, and the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass. The "free soilers," however, succeeded in sending to the thirty-first Congress two senators and fourteen representatives, who by their ability exercised an influence out of proportion to their number.

Between 1848 and 1852 the "Barnburners" and the "Hunkers," their opponents, became partially reunited, the former returning to the Democratic ranks, and thus greatly weakening the Free Soilers. The party held its national convention at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of August 1852, delegates being present from all the free states, and from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky; and John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and George W. Julian of Indiana, were nominated for the presidency and the vice-presidency respectively, on a platform which declared slavery "a sin against God and a crime against man," denounced the Compromise Measures of 1850, the fugitive slave law in particular, and again opposed the extension of slavery in the Territories. These candidates, however, received no electoral votes and a popular vote of only 156,149, of which but 25,329 were polled in New York. By 1856 they abandoned their separate organization and joined the movement which resulted in the formation of the powerful Republican party (q.v.), of which the Free Soil party was the legitimate precursor.

FREE-STONE (a translation of the O. Fr. _franche pere_ or _pierre_, i.e. stone of good quality; the modern French equivalent is _pierre de taille_, and Ital. _pietra molle_), stone used in architecture for mouldings, tracery and other work required to be worked with the chisel. The oolitic stones are generally so called, although in some countries soft sandstones are used; in some churches an indurated chalk called "clunch" is employed for internal lining and for carving.

FREETOWN, capital of the British colony of Sierra Leone, West Africa, on the south side of the Sierra Leone estuary, about 5 m. from the cape of that name, in 8 deg. 29' N., 13 deg. 10' W. Pop. (1901) 34,463. About 500 of the inhabitants are Europeans. Freetown is picturesquely situated on a plain, closed in behind by a succession of wooded hills, the Sierra Leone, rising to a height of 1700 ft. As nearly every house is surrounded by a courtyard or garden, the town covers an unusually large area for the number of its inhabitants. It possesses few buildings of architectural merit. The principal are the governor's residence and government offices, the barracks, the cathedral, the missionary institutions, the fruit market, Wilberforce Hall, courts of justice, the railway station and the grammar school. Several of these institutions are built on the slopes of the hills, and on the highest point, Sugar Loaf Mountain, is a sanatorium. The botanic gardens form a pleasant and favourite place of resort. The roads are wide but badly kept. Horses do not live, and all wheeled traffic is done by manual labour--hammocks and sedan-chairs are the customary means of locomotion. Notwithstanding that Freetown possesses an abundant and pure water-supply, drawn from the adjacent hills, it is enervating and unhealthy, and it was particularly to the capital, often spoken of as Sierra Leone, that the designation "White Man's Grave" applied. Since the beginning of the 20th century strenuous efforts have been made to improve the sanitary condition by a new system of drainage, a better water service, the filling up of marshes wherein the malarial mosquito breeds, and in other directions. A light railway 6 m. long, opened in 1904, has been built to Hill Station (900 ft. high), where, on a healthy site, are the residences of the government officials and of other Europeans. As a consequence the public health has improved, the highest death-rate in the years 1901-1907 being 29.6 per 1000. The town is governed by a municipality (created in 1893) with a mayor and councillors, the large majority being elective. Freetown was the first place in British West Africa granted local self-government.

Both commercially and strategically Freetown is a place of importance. Its harbour affords ample accommodation for the largest fleets, it is a coaling station for the British navy, the headquarters of the British military forces in West Africa, the sea terminus of the railway to the rich oil-palm regions of Mendiland, and a port of call for all steamers serving West Africa. Its inhabitants are noted for their skill as traders; the town itself produces nothing in the way of exports.

In consequence of the character of the original settlement (see SIERRA LEONE), 75% of the inhabitants are descended from non-indigenous Negro races. As many as 150 different tribes are represented in the Sierra Leonis of to-day. Their semi-Europeanization is largely the result of missionary endeavour. The only language of the lower class is pidgin-English--quite incomprehensible to the newcomer from Great Britain,--but a large proportion of the inhabitants are highly educated men who excel as lawyers, clergymen, clerks and traders. Many members of the upper, that is, the best-educated, class have filled official positions of great responsibility. The most noted citizens are Bishop Crowther and Sir Samuel Lewis, chief justice of Sierra Leone 1882-1894. Both were full-blooded Africans. The Kru-men form a distinct section of the community, living in a separate quarter and preserving their tribal customs.

Since 1861-1862 there has been an independent Episcopal Native Church; but the Church Missionary Society, which in 1804 sent out the first missionaries to Sierra Leone, still maintains various agencies. Furah Bay College, built by the society on the site of General Charles Turner's estate (11/2 m. E. of Freetown), and opened in 1828 with six pupils, one of whom was Bishop Crowther, was affiliated in 1876 to Durham University and has a high-class curriculum. The Wesleyans have a high school, a theological college, and other educative agencies. The Moslems, who are among the most law-abiding and intelligent citizens of Freetown, have several state-aided primary schools.

FREE TRADE, an expression which has now come to be appropriated to the economic policy of encouraging the greatest possible commercial intercourse, unrestricted by "protective" duties (see PROTECTION), between any one country and its neighbours. This policy was originally advocated in France, and it has had its adherents in many countries, but Great Britain stands alone among the great commercial nations of the world in having adopted it systematically from 1846 onwards as the fundamental principle of her economic policy.

In the economic literature of earlier periods, it may be noted that the term "free trade" is employed in senses which have no relation to modern usage. The term conveyed no suggestion of unrestricted trade or national liberty when it first appeared in controversial pamphlets;[1] it stood for a freedom conferred and maintained by authority--like that of a free town. The merchants desired to have good regulations for trade so that they might be free from the disabilities imposed upon them by foreign princes or unscrupulous fellow-subjects. After 1640 the term seems to have been commonly current in a different sense. When the practice which had been handed down from the middle ages--of organizing the trade with

## particular countries by means of privileged companies, which professed

to regulate the trade according to the state of the market so as to secure its steady development in the interest of producers and traders--was seriously called in question under the Stuarts and at the Revolution, the interlopers and opponents of the companies insisted on the advantages of a "Free Trade"; they meant by this that the various branches of commerce should not be confined to particular persons or limited in amount, but should be thrown open to be pursued by any Englishman in the way he thought most profitable himself.[2] Again, in the latter half of the 18th century, till Pitt's financial reforms[3] were brought into operation, the English customs duties on wine and brandy were excessive; and those who carried on a remunerative business by evading these duties were known as Fair Traders or Free Traders.[4] Since 1846 the term free trade has been popularly used, in England, to designate the policy of Cobden (q.v.) and others who advocated the abolition of the tax on imported corn (see CORN LAWS); this is the only one of the specialized senses of the term which is at all likely to be confused with the economic doctrine. The Anti-Corn Law movement was, as a matter of fact, a special application of the economic principle; but serious mistakes have arisen from the blunder of confusing the part with the whole, and treating the remission of one particular duty as if it were the essential element of a policy in which it was only an incident. W. E. Gladstone, in discussing the effect of improvements in locomotion on British trade, showed what a large proportion of the stimulus to commerce during the 19th century was to be credited to what he called the "liberalizing legislation" of the free-trade movement in the wide sense in which he used the term. "I rank the introduction of cheap postage for letters, documents, patterns and printed matter, and the abolition of all taxes on printed matter, in the category of Free Trade Legislation. Not only thought in general, but every communication, and every publication, relating to matters of business, was thus set free. These great measures, then, may well take their place beside the abolition of prohibitions and protective duties, the simplifying of revenue laws, and the repeal of the Navigation Act, as forming together the great code of industrial emancipation. Under this code, our race, restored to freedom in mind and hand, and braced by the powerful stimulus of open competition with the world, has upon the whole surpassed itself and every other, and has won for itself a commercial primacy more evident, more comprehensive, and more solid than it had at any previous time possessed."[5] In this large sense free trade may be almost interpreted as the combination of the doctrines of the division of labour and of _laissez-faire_ in regard to the world as a whole. The division of labour between different countries of the world--so that each concentrates its energies in supplying that for the production of which it is best fitted--appears to offer the greatest possibility of production; but this result cannot be secured unless trade and industry are treated as the primary elements in the welfare of each community, and political considerations are not allowed to hamper them.

Stated in its simplest form, the principle which underlies the doctrine of free trade is almost a truism; it is directly deducible from the very notion of exchange (q.v.). Adam Smith and his successors have demonstrated that in every case of voluntary exchange each party gains something that is of greater value-in-use to him than that with which he parts, and that consequently in every exchange, either between individuals or between nations, both parties are the gainers. Hence it necessarily follows that, since both parties gain through exchanging, the more facilities there are for exchange the greater will be the advantage to every individual all round.[6] There is no difficulty in translating this principle into the terms of actual life, and stating the conditions in which it holds good absolutely. If, at any given moment, the mass of goods in the world were distributed among the consumers with the minimum of restriction on interchange, each competitor would obtain the largest possible share of the things he procures in the world's market. But the argument is less conclusive when the element of time is taken into account; what is true of each moment separately is not necessarily true of any period in which the conditions of production, or the requirements of communities, may possibly change. Each individual is likely to act with reference to his own future, but it may often be wise for the statesman to look far ahead, beyond the existing generation.[7] Owing to the neglect of this element of time, and the allowance which must be made for it, the reasoning as to the advantages of free trade, which is perfectly sound in regard to the distribution of goods already in existence, may become sophistical,[8] if it is put forward as affording a complete demonstration of the benefits of free trade as a regular policy. After all, human society is very complex, and any attempt to deal with its problems off-hand by appealing to a simple principle raises the suspicion that some important factor may have been left out of account. When there is such mistaken simplification, the reasoning may seem to have complete certainty, and yet it fails to produce conviction, because it does not profess to deal with the problem in all its aspects. When we concentrate attention on the phenomena of exchange, we are viewing society as a mechanism in which each acts under known laws and is impelled by one particular force--that of self-interest; now, society is, no doubt, in this sense a mechanism, but it is also an organism,[9] and it is only for very short periods, and in a very limited way, that we can venture to neglect its organic character without running the risk of falling into serious mistakes.

The doctrine of free trade maintains that in order to secure the greatest possible mass of goods in the world as a whole, and the greatest possibility of immediate comfort for the consumer, it is expedient that there should be no restriction on the exchange of goods and services either between individuals or communities. The controversies in regard to this doctrine have not turned on its certainty as a hypothetical principle, but on the legitimacy of the arguments based upon it. It certainly supplies a principle in the light of which all proposed trade regulations should be criticized. It gives us a basis for examining and estimating the expense at which any

## particular piece of trade restriction is carried out; but thus used, the

principle does not necessarily condemn the expenditure; the game may be worth the candle or it may not, but at least it is well that we should know how fast the candle is being burnt. It was in this critical spirit that Adam Smith examined the various restrictions and encouragements to trade which were in vogue in his day; he proved of each in turn that it was expensive, but he showed that he was conscious that the final decision could not be taken from this standpoint, since he recognized in regard to the Navigation Acts that "defence is more than opulence."[10] In more recent times, the same sort of attitude was taken by Henry Sidgwick,[11] who criticizes various protective expedients in turn, in the light of free trade, but does not treat it as conveying an authoritative decision on their merits.

But other exponents of the doctrine have not been content to employ it in this fashion. They urge it in a more positive manner, and insist that free trade pure and simple is _the_ foundation on which the economic life of the community ought to be based. By men who advocate it in this way, free trade is set forward as an ideal which it is a duty to realize, and those who hold aloof from it or oppose it have been held up to scorn as if they were almost guilty of a crime.[12] The development of the material resources of the world is undoubtedly an important element in the welfare of mankind; it is an aim which is common to the whole race, and may be looked upon as contributing to the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Competition in the open market seems to secure that each consumer shall obtain the best possible terms; and again, since all men are consumers whether they produce or not, or whatever they produce, the greatest measure of comforts for each seems likely to be attainable on these lines. For those who are frankly cosmopolitan, and who regard material prosperity as at all events the prime object at which public policy should aim, the free-trade doctrine is readily transformed, from a mere principle of criticism, till it comes to be regarded as the harbinger of a possible Utopia. It was in this fashion that it was put forward by French economists and proved attractive to some leading American statesmen in the 18th century. Turgot regarded the colonial systems of the European countries as at once unfair to their dependencies and dangerous to the peace of the world. "It will be a wise and happy thing for the nation which shall be the first to modify its policy according to the new conditions, and be content to regard its colonies as if they were allied provinces and not subjects of the mother country." It will be a wise and happy thing for the nation which is the first to be convinced that the secret of "success, so far as commercial policy is concerned, consists in employing all its land in the manner most profitable for the proprietary, all the hands in the manner most advantageous to the workman personally, that is to say, in the manner in which each would employ them, if we could let him be simply directed by his own interest, and that all the rest of the mercantile policy is vanity and vexation of spirit. When the entire separation of America shall have forced the whole world to recognize this truth and purged the European nations of commercial jealousy there will be one great cause of war less in the world."[13] Pitt, under the influence of Adam Smith, was prepared to admit the United States to the benefit of trade with the West Indian Colonies; and Jefferson, accepting the principles of his French teachers, would (in contradistinction to Alexander Hamilton) have been willing to see his country renounce the attempt to develop manufactures of her own.[14] It seemed as if a long step might be taken towards realizing the free-trade ideal for the Anglo-Saxon race; but British shipowners insisted on the retention of their privileges, and the propitious moment passed away with the failure of the negotiations of 1783.[15] Free trade ceased to be regarded as a gospel, even in France, till the ideal was revived in the writings of Bastiat, and helped to mould the enthusiasm of Richard Cobden.[16] Through his zealous advocacy, the doctrine secured converts in almost every part of the world; though it was only in Great Britain that a great majority of the citizens became so far satisfied with it that they adopted it as the foundation of the economic policy of the country.

It is not difficult to account for the conversion of Great Britain to this doctrine; in the special circumstances of the first half of the 19th century it was to the interest of the most vigorous factors in the economic life of the country to secure the greatest possible freedom for commercial intercourse. Great Britain had, through her shipping, access to all the markets of the world; she had obtained such a lead in the application of machinery to manufactures that she had a practical monopoly in textile manufactures and in the hardware trades; by removing every restriction, she could push her advantage to its farthest extent, and not only undersell native manufactures in other lands, but secure food, and the raw materials for her manufactures, on the cheapest possible terms. Free trade thus seemed to offer the means of placing an increasing distance between Britain and her rivals, and of rendering the industrial monopoly which she had attained impregnable. The capitalist employer had superseded the landowner as the mainstay of the resources and revenue of the realm, and insisted that the prosperity of manufactures was the primary interest of the community as a whole. The expectation, that a thoroughgoing policy of free trade would not only favour an increase of employment, but also the cheapening of food, could only have been roused in a country which was obliged to import a considerable amount of corn. The exceptional weakness, as well as the exceptional strength, of Great Britain, among European countries, made it seem desirable to adopt the principle of unrestricted commercial intercourse, not merely in the tentative fashion in which it had been put in operation by Huskisson, but in the thoroughgoing fashion in which it at last commended itself to the minds of Peel and Gladstone. The "Manchester men" saw clearly where their interest lay; and the fashionable political economy was ready to demonstrate that in pursuing their own interest they were conferring the benefit of cheap clothing on all the most poverty-stricken races of mankind. It seemed probable, in the 'forties and early 'fifties, that other countries would take a similar view of their own interests and would follow the example which Great Britain had set.[17] That they have not done so, is partly due to the fact that none of them had such a direct, or such a widely diffused, interest in increased commercial intercourse as existed in Great Britain; but their reluctance has been partly the result of the criticism to which the free-trade doctrine has been subjected. The principles expressed in the writings of Friedrich List have taken such firm hold, both in America and in Germany, that these countries have preferred to follow on the lines by which Great Britain successfully built up her industrial prosperity in the 17th and 18th century, rather than on those by which they have seen her striving to maintain it since 1846.

Free trade was attractive as an ideal, because it appeared to offer the greatest production of goods to the world as a whole, and the largest share of material goods to each consumer; it is cosmopolitan, and it treats consumption, and the interest of the consumer, as such, as the end to be considered. Hence it lies open to objections which are partly political and partly economic.

As cosmopolitan, free-trade doctrine is apt to be indifferent to national tradition and aspiration. In so far indeed as patriotism is a mere aesthetic sentiment, it may be tolerated, but in so far as it implies a genuine wish and intention to preserve and defend the national habits and character to the exclusion of alien elements, the cosmopolitan mind will condemn it as narrow and mischievous. In the first half of the 19th century there were many men who believed that national ambitions and jealousies of every kind were essentially dynastic, and that if monarchies were abolished there would be fewer occasions of war, so that the expenses of the business of government would be enormously curtailed. For Cobden and his contemporaries it was natural to regard the national administrative institutions as maintained for the benefit of the "classes" and without much advantage to the "masses." But in point of fact, modern times have shown the existence in democracies of a patriotic sentiment which is both exclusive and aggressive; and the burden of armaments has steadily increased. It was by means of a civil war that the United States attained to a consciousness of national life; while such later symptoms as the recent interpretations of the Monroe doctrine, or the war with Spain, have proved that the citizens of that democratic country cannot be regarded as destitute of self-aggrandizing national ambition.

In Germany the growth of militarism and nationalism have gone on side by side under constitutional government, and certainly in harmony with predominant public opinion. Neither of these communities is willing to sink its individual conception of progress in those of the world at large; each is jealous of the intrusion of alien elements which cannot be reconciled with its own political and social system. And a similar recrudescence of patriotic feeling has been observable in other countries, such as Norway and Hungary: the growth of national sentiment is shown, not only in the attempts to revive and popularize the use of a national language, but still more decidedly in the determination to have a real control over the economic life of the country. It is here that the new patriotism comes into direct conflict with the political principles of free trade as advocated by Bastiat and Cobden; for them the important point was that countries, by becoming dependent on one another, would be prevented from engaging in hostilities. The new nations are determined that they will not allow other countries to have such control over their economic condition, as to be able to exercise a powerful influence on their political life. Each is determined to be the master in his own house, and each has rejected free trade because of the cosmopolitanism which it involves.

Economically, free trade lays stress on consumption as the chief criterion of prosperity. It is, of course, true that goods are produced with the object of being consumed, and it is plausible to insist on taking this test; but it is also true that consumption and production are mutually interdependent, and that in some ways production is the more important of the two. Consumption looks to the present, and the disposal of actual goods; production looks to the future, and the conditions under which goods can continue to be regularly provided and thus become available for consumption in the long run. As regards the prosperity of the community in the future it is important that goods should be consumed in such a fashion as to secure that they shall be replaced or increased before they are used up; it is the amount of production rather than the amount of consumption that demands consideration, and gives indication of growth or of decadence. In these circumstances there is much to be said for looking at the economic life of a country from the point of view which free-traders have abandoned or ignore. It is not on the possibilities of consumption in the present, but on the prospects of production _in the future_, that the continued wealth of the community depends; and this principle is the only one which conforms to the modern conception of the essential requirements of sociological science in its wider aspect (see SOCIOLOGY). This is most obviously true in regard to countries of which the resources are very imperfectly developed. If their policy is directed to securing the greatest possible comfort for each consumer in the present, it is certain that progress will be slow; the planting of industries for which the country has an advantage may be a tedious process; and in order to stimulate national efficiency temporary protection--involving what is otherwise unnecessary immediate cost to the consumer--may seem to be abundantly justified. Such a free trader as John Stuart Mill himself admits that a case may be made out for treating "infant industries" as exceptions;[18] and if this exception be admitted it is likely to establish a precedent. After all, the various countries of the world are all in different stages of development; some are old and some are new; and even the old countries differ greatly in the progress they have made in distinct arts. The introduction of machinery has everywhere changed the conditions of production, so that some countries have lost and others have gained a special advantage. Most of the countries of the world are convinced that the wisest economy is to attend to the husbanding of their resources of every kind, and to direct their policy not merely with a view to consumption in the present, but rather with regard to the possibilities of increased production in the future.

This deliberate rejection of the doctrine of free trade between nations, both in its political and economic aspects, has not interfered, however, with the steady progress of free commercial intercourse within the boundaries of a single though composite political community. "Internal free trade," though the name was not then current in this sense, was one of the burning questions in England in the 17th century; it was perhaps as important a factor as puritanism in the fall of Charles I. Internal free trade was secured in France in the 18th century; thanks to Hamilton,[19] it was embodied in the constitution of the United States; it was introduced into Germany by Bismarck; and was firmly established in the Dominion of Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia. It became in consequence, where practicable, a part of the modern federal idea as usually interpreted. There are thus great areas, externally self-protecting, where free trade, as between internal divisions, has been introduced with little, if any, political difficulty, and with considerable economic advantage. These cases are sometimes quoted as justifying the expectation that the same principle is likely to be adopted sooner or later in regard to external trading relations. There is some reason, however, for raising the question whether free trade has been equally successful, not only in its economic, but in its social results, in all the large political communities where it has been introduced. In a region like the United States of America, it is probably seen at its best; there is an immense variety of different products throughout that great zone of the continent, so that the mutual co-operation of the various parts is most beneficial, while the standard of habit and comfort is so far uniform[20] throughout the whole region, and the facilities for the change of employment are so many, that there is little injurious competition between different districts. In the British empire the conditions are reversed; but though the great self-governing colonies have withdrawn from the circle, in the hope of building up their own economic life in their own way, free trade is still maintained over a very large part of the British empire. Throughout this area, there are very varied physical conditions; there is also an extraordinary variety of races, each with its own habits, and own standard of comfort; and in these circumstances it may be doubted whether the free competition, involved in free trade, is really altogether wholesome. Within this sphere the ideal of Bastiat and his followers is being realized. England, as a great manufacturing country, has more than held her own; India and Ireland are supplied with manufactured goods by England, and in each case the population is forced to look to the soil for its means of support, and for purchasing power. In each case the preference for tillage, as an occupation, has rendered it comparatively easy to keep the people on the land; but there is some reason to believe that the law of diminishing returns is already making itself felt, at all events in India, and is forcing the people into deeper poverty.[21] It may be doubtful in the case of Ireland how far the superiority of England in industrial pursuits has prevented the development of manufactures; the progress in the last decades of the 18th century was too short-lived to be conclusive; but there is at least a strong impression in many quarters that the industries of Ireland might have flourished if they had had better opportunities allowed them.[22] In the case of India we know that the hereditary artistic skill, which had been built up in bygone generations, has been stamped out. It seems possible that the modern unrest in India, and the discontent in Ireland, may be connected with the economic conditions in these countries, on which free trade has been imposed without their consent. So far the population which subsists on the cheaper food, and has the lower standard of life, has been the sufferer; but the mischief might operate in another fashion. The self-governing colonies at all events feel that competition in the same market between races with different standards of comfort has infinite possibilities of mischief. It is easy to conjure up conditions under which the standard of comfort of wage-earners in England would be seriously threatened.

Since the 9th edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ was published it has become clear that the free-trade doctrines of Bastiat and Cobden have not been gaining ground in the world at large, and at the opening of the 20th century it could hardly be said with confidence that the question was "finally settled" so far as England was concerned. As to whether the interests of Great Britain still demanded that she should continue on the line she adopted in the exceptional conditions of the middle of the 19th century, expert opinion was conspicuously divided;[23] but there remained no longer the old enthusiasm for free trade as the harbinger of an Utopia. The old principles of the bourgeois manufacturers had been taken up by the proletariat and shaped to suit themselves. Socialism, like free trade, is cosmopolitan in its aims, and is indifferent to patriotism and hostile to militarism. Socialism, like free trade, insists on material welfare as the primary object to be aimed at in any policy, and, like free trade, socialism tests welfare by reference to possibilities of consumption. In one respect there is a difference; throughout Cobden's attack on the governing classes there are signs of his jealousy of the superior status of the landed gentry, but socialism has a somewhat wider range of view and demands "equality of opportunity" with the capitalist as well.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Reference has already been made to the principal works which deal critically with the free-trade policy. Professor Fawcett's _Free Trade_ is a good exposition of free-trade principles; so also is Professor Bastable's _Commerce of Nations_. Among authors who have restated the principles with special reference to the revived controversy on the subject may be mentioned Professor W. Smart, _The Return to Protection, being a Restatement of the Case for Free Trade_ (2nd ed., 1906), and A. C. Pigou, _Protective and Preferential Import Duties_ (1906). (W. Cu.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] E. Misselden, _Free Trade or the Meanes to make Trade Flourish_ (1622), p. 68; G. Malynes, _The Maintenance of Free Trade_ (1622), p. 105.

[2] H. Parker, _Of a Free Trade_ (1648), p. 8.

[3] (1787), 27 Geo. III. c. 13.

[4] Sir Walter Scott, _Guy Mannering_,