Cylchgronau Cymru

22 J. E. Tyler, The Struggle for Imperial Unity (London, 1938), p.31; Past Times, vol 2, p. 131. 23 The Times, 28 January 1885. 24 The Times, 13, 14, 17, 20, 24, 27 November, 5, 22, 29 December 1884. The Times even weighed in itself with a leading article against Dunraven on 14 November. Pall Mall Gazette, 28 January 1885; Past Times, vol. 2, pp. 131-2. 25 The Times, 29 September 1885. The Cambrian, which rarely reported Dunraven's speeches, covered it at length and endorsed it in a leading article commenting, 'the prosperity of these islands rests upon an artificial basis'; if Britain abandoned 'the colonies, India and the East' to 'French and German and Russian monopolists', it would be the working classes who would suffer most. (2 October 1885). 26 Western Mail, 26, 29, 30 October 1885. The Swansea conservatives were surprised that any Tory had got a hearing in the town (see vote of thanks by W. H. Meredyth as reported in Western Mail, 29 October 1885). Despite this, Dunraven was gloomy about his party's prospects in South Wales, Dunraven to Salisbury, 30 November 1885, Salisbury Papers, Series E. Quin. 27 Western Mail, 29 October 1885. 28 Hansard, 6 November 1884, vol. 293, c.1044-601, 1082. Dunraven had then expressed fears that 10,000 would soon be out of work in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. 29 Pari. Papers, XXI-XXIII (1886). 30 Dunraven's old antagonist, Sir Robert Giffen, was the first witness. Dunraven was absent when he gave his evidence, P.P. XXI (1886) p. 7. 31 P.P. XXIII (1886) p. 549. Lubbock was a Director of the Colonial Bank and a Vice-President of the Royal Colonial Institute. Farrer Ecroyd was Conservative M.P. for the textile town of Preston. Philip Muntz was M.P. for Tamworth. Like Dunraven, he had crossed from the Liberal to the Conservative benches (in 1883). 32 Minority Report, para. 27-48. Textiles were by far Britain's most important export industry. Exports of woollens, linens and silks had decreased by 30%, 14% and 5% respectively, if the 5 years 1880-84 were compared with 1870-74. Cotton exports, the most important of all, had barely held their own, showing a I increase. Even this had been due only to the Indian market. Cotton exports to India had risen by £ 30 millions, to other places they had decreased by £ 26 million p.a. By contrast, there had been a great growth in the textile industries of France, Germany and the United States (para. 51.) 33 Minority Report, para. 89-94, 139; Majority Report, para. 95. 34 Minority Report, para 134-40. Dunraven had clearly made up his mind about many issues in advance. He had foreshadowed many of these detailed recommendations in his Swansea speech on 28 October 1885, Western Mail, 29 October 1885. 35 P.P. XXIII (1886) 575. 36 Past Times, vol. 2, p. 102. Dunraven himself had asked for an Under- Secretaryship at the Foreign Office, Dunraven to Salisbury, 27 July 1886, Salisbury Papers, Series E, Quin.