Details
CHURCHILL, Sir W.L.S. Autograph letter signed ('W') to Pamela, Countess of Lytton, 'In the train' [en route to Whitby], 8 December 1903, 3 pages, 8°.
A ROBUST STATEMENT OF HIS SUPPORT FOR FREE TRADE. Pamela's letter has been 'friendly as well as fiscal'; Churchill is off hunting with Sunny [9th Duke of Marlborough] on Friday, having 'not seen my horses [...] for three weeks'. The Times has been making 'nonsense' of Liberal policy on Free Trade: 'We do not admit that we are being "raided" by Prot[ectionis]t countries but contend that we prosper in spite of & even by means of their follies', exclaiming at the absurdity of claiming that England's Free Trade policy keeps continental countries protectionist -- 'You might just as well say that the best way of making St James' Place into a thoroughfare would be to build up a wall at the open end'; looking forward to the Government receiving 'the most astonishing defeat ever recorded in Parliamentary history'. He is on his way to Whitby to speak, and regrets that Pamela cannot 'shine' at a meeting in Chelsea, ending with a promise to send some notes for Victor.
Free Trade was a critical issue in Churchill's early career: his views were at odds with his party, and led to him being refused the Conservative whip in January 1904, and to his famous transfer to the Liberal Party the following May.
A ROBUST STATEMENT OF HIS SUPPORT FOR FREE TRADE. Pamela's letter has been 'friendly as well as fiscal'; Churchill is off hunting with Sunny [9th Duke of Marlborough] on Friday, having 'not seen my horses [...] for three weeks'. The Times has been making 'nonsense' of Liberal policy on Free Trade: 'We do not admit that we are being "raided" by Prot[ectionis]t countries but contend that we prosper in spite of & even by means of their follies', exclaiming at the absurdity of claiming that England's Free Trade policy keeps continental countries protectionist -- 'You might just as well say that the best way of making St James' Place into a thoroughfare would be to build up a wall at the open end'; looking forward to the Government receiving 'the most astonishing defeat ever recorded in Parliamentary history'. He is on his way to Whitby to speak, and regrets that Pamela cannot 'shine' at a meeting in Chelsea, ending with a promise to send some notes for Victor.
Free Trade was a critical issue in Churchill's early career: his views were at odds with his party, and led to him being refused the Conservative whip in January 1904, and to his famous transfer to the Liberal Party the following May.
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