A.D. 1776 
1850 
well as 
the 
repeal of 
the Com- 
wnation 
Aeta. 
156 
LAISSEZ FAIRE 
caused by these measures was generally admitted; and a 
Parliamentary Committee of 1819, on the Relief of the Poor? 
2xpressed a decided opinion that “all obstacles to.seeking 
smployment wherever it can be found, even out of the realm, 
should be removed and every facility that is reasonable 
afforded to those who may wish to resort to our own colonies, 
for it seems not unnatural that this country should at such a 
jime recur to an expedient which has been adopted success- 
fully in other times, especially as it has facilities for this 
purpose which no other state has ever enjoyed to the same 
extent, by the possession of Colonies affording an extent of 
occupied territory.” 
In 1824 a Select Committee of the House of Commons 
was appointed to make enquiries and take steps for the 
removal of these disabilities. Huskisson and other statesmen, 
who were adherents of the school of Adam Smith, were quite 
ready to recognise the injustice of imposing any obstacles on 
freedom of individual movement and were prepared for the 
repeal of the Acts against emigration? but they were by no 
means clear that it was wise to remove the Combination 
Laws. Baneful as the Acts were, in creating an atmosphere 
of suspicion and distrust and forcing the artisan into criminal 
surroundings, there was some doubt as to the probable 
effects on the industry of the country, if the measures were 
repealed, and liberty of association extended to the artisan as 
well as to other Englishmen. The question of including 
these Acts in the measure, which was being framed for the 
removal of other restrictions, long hung in the balance; but 
some of the most eminent laissez faire economists had the 
zourage of their principles. McCulloch, who was then editor 
of the Scotsman newspaper, was fully convinced on this point, 
and in a trenchant article in the Edinburgh Review® he 
demonstrated the injustice of the Combination Laws, and 
argued that no serious mischief could result from their repeal. 
It is scarcely likely, however, that the experiment would 
have been tried. if it had not been for the vigour with which 
+ Reports, 1819, 11. 257. 
} This was effected by 5 Geo. IV. ¢. 97. An det to repeal the Laws relative ta 
{rtificers going into foreign parts. 
+ Tan. 18924. Vol. xxxIx. 315.