Xii.—: Position of London.

External trade does not consist solely of goods recorded in the Customs statistics. Mr. Felix Schuster, President of the Union Bank and Vice-President of the Institute of Bankers, has shown with great clearness that Mr. Chamberlain and his friends, in their passion for the unity of the British Empire, forget London, the centre. London is not only the financial centre of the Empire, but of the world. The Chinese merchant who sells tea to Russia or Germany, silk to America or France, sells bills on London to his local bank; and the German merchant who sells his camlet to China does the same. The coffee sent from Brazil to France and Italy, the cotton sent from New Orleans to Poland, the sulphur sent from Sicily to the United States, the agricultural implements sent from the United States to La Plata, are all paid through the City.

Bills on London are the recognised medium of international exchange. The Bank follows trade. Do Mr. Chamberlain and his friends imagine that the means by which they propose to restrict trade will not affect the Bank? If they imagine it, Lombard Street is under no such illusion. Not a single great City banker ranged himself on Mr. Chamberlain’s side at the Guidhall, whereas a few days afterwards Lord Avebury and Lord Hillingdon proposed a vote of thanks to the Duke of Devonshire.