Chaplin was a lifelong advocate of protectionism, being in this respect the most prominent inheritor of the views of Lord George Bentinck; his daughter Edith said he was "born a Protectionist, and to the end he remained convinced that Tariff Reform was the only measure which could restore a satisfactory means of livelihood to the English farmer". He was a member of the Royal Commission on the Depressed Condition of the Agricultural Interests (1879–1882) and opposed the Radicals' campaign to replace landlords with peasant proprietorship. The Royal Commission's final report blamed the agricultural depression on excessive foreign competition and the adoption of the gold standard, which had contributed to the decline in prices. Chaplin thereafter became an advocate of bimetallism.