Star. — London, England, 1817-03-14 00:00:00

foetid written in es broad letters 24 Oft in Book up to this very day—(Hear, hear, after another, the staple articles of pro ither countries had been carefully excluded irkets. On this principle the Corn Bill —for, although he could not !peak of it , probation wbich was merited by the other the same principle, yet, no doubt, it cut tch of our imports. The reasons on which Ls founded, were, he ad:ratted, different principle of exclusion; they were of a ntture, to ensure the Steady supply, under all 4:rcumst4nces, of the great necessary of lite, and with ;hat view, to Lire encouragement to the grower of it in our own country—(Hear.) Another reason in fa -tt:ur of the Corn 13111 was, that at the time when it was uassed, ever/ thing in the country was Ur an unnatu -al state. nut what excuse was there for the adop t.:m of that principle in the other branches of trade t --fa the Baltic trade, for instance, that trade which ..cas of the first importance to the country, both with a view to the defence as well as to the prosperity of the country ; which was near, and therefore gave the quickest returns ; which, for the same reason, on ac. coot of its nearness, gave the Government a con e:lnt opportunity of procuiing a a apply of able sea vien—how had that trade been treated ? Of the four staples of teat male, too of them, hemp and tallow, had alone been preserved—the others, iron and tim. bei,ll.o been utterly destroyed. For the encourage. mea t of alining speculations at home, a heavy duty, amounting to total prohibition, had been laid upon iron.--For die sal.e of encouraging some speculations as to ship-building, the same thing had been done to the timber trade, and it LOO was destroyed : so that with the Bailie our trade, by the policy adopted, had been hampered to the uttermost. To Norway we used yearly to export cotton goods and other articles of oar manufacture to a great amount. The Norwe gians had nothing to give us in exchange but iron or timber ; so that now, by this policy, all that part ct our export trade had been destroyed in the ruin of the import trade. The same thing had been done as 1) the importation of copper from South America— that too had been put an end to by the operation of the same principle. As to the butter and cheese trade, he mentioned an anecdote, which be thought chewed completely the little faith that was to be placed in the principle of all export and no import. On the very day on which, last year, the House laid a small prc.ecting duty on the import of these articles—on that very day, with as true a sympathy as the pulse. tons of an artery to the beating of the heart, the price of butter and cheese rose on 'Change two or thiee per cent. One branch of the wine trade had now nearly shared the tate of the Baltic trade. On the principle that France was our natural enemy and our great commercial rival, although it produced the best wine, yet, for these reasons, the importation of Drenchtine was to be almost stopped by the amount astaluty kid upon it. Indeed he remembered that the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite (the Chan cell.ir of the Exchequer) when he laid the last duty eta shilling a be.tle on claret, actually stated that he dii so, net with the view of increasing the revenue, because he was aware that it would quite cot it up, but that he did it from motives of policy—(Hear.) It might, according to that Right Honourable Geo- , tiene.n's notions, be good policy to lose a good ens turner; but it he (Mr. B.) might be allowed torpid' as a trader, he would - say it wailtof sound ONW but looked like insanity—(l4.er, hear, hesr.) The branch or trade to which he adverted was the linen trade, which was of great importance, because it WAS one En which we came- into direct competition with foreign States. On the same principle, a duty of IS per cent. had beers laid. taa the transit of foreign linen. The woad of this dot, was, that many DA• tains preferred foreign linen; bat our Legislature said they should have British linen; and we lasso. cently thought; because an Act of Par:iament was passed on the subject, that these nations would prefer British linen, at a higher price, and of a worse gnu 111. There was absurdity, as well as bad policy, in many of the prohibiting duties—such as on coals— which; if allowed to go to France, would be sold for pose goods whith France grows cheap. He might also mention wools ; but we have said that no wools shall go abroad, though we allow twist to go. This was one evidence of great inconsistency; but the time seemed now to have arrived, when not only a new po. hey must be adopted, but also the whole system by which we had been actuated. Our self-defence, as well amour wealth, demanded the kind office of re , ceding something from our navigation bystlini. There were manY thboristi whe held that this system was always 'contrary To wise ptintipTes but be believed, that for mote thin half a century that 'system had Contributed to th e , restoration of our shipping and trade. This, however, was the whole amount of the advantage we had gained by it, after adhering to it for nearly a centur y. H ow f ar we proceed in its re laxation, was not a qmstion that could be ascer tained without deep and mature discussion; but he would meatier:l a fact that had come to his knowledge within the last two or three days. We had, it seemed, ordered the Governors of our West-India Colonies— , or those Governors had thought proper to issue such orders—not to grant licenses for the importation of provisions in foreign vessels. if such orders had berm tent out, he really knew not how to characterize them. Now what bad the Americans done ? They had said, If you will not allow provisions to be im pacted in any but your own vessels, we will take care wit to allow any of our provisions to go to you in any ~ ' tips but our own." To give effect to this &term ndlinni a Bill had just been passed by the American 'arns, which says, that Amerizaa ports shall not open to any vessels belongieg to nations from itch their own flag is excluded. Our Colonizes, but ly Newfoundland, it was well known; do. mainly on the provisions reteilied from the' States. We say American vessels shall not it, and America 'says our vessels shall not 1. and .e result has been the greatest distress and alarm in thole quarters, but still most in Newfoundland. ' lbis "ea nmsely a specimen of that system which did oat --iialeh/er to accommodate itself to the variations cif be* and eitteattanc" but which adhered rigorously and pertinaciously to its old prejudices, pursuing the , sans, course as if time stood still. Now we had seen that the distresses of the cowry were pressing upon our FCIOUPCOS I and seen hew our trade is cramped. • aid fettered. We had seen that it his derived no r 5. lief from our artangemcnts with frayeign Powers, in "%red in the isportation of out otooetsctons4 and itl fact *o could see :16 spat On the race or all Europe on which to fix our eyes for conlforti It was natural therefore for bs, and for all out felldw.creatures, boosted and broken 'down by a long series of wars,, and oppressed by a ruinous takation, and deprived of the monopolies that had Borne us up—it was natural', that beings so exhausted should turn their eyes to a new and untried quartet—a quatter where the open-' ing was so magnificent in prospect, so consistent with the best interests of the country, and so calculated to give effect to our exertions; and revive our drooping hearts, that he must be a cold and phlegmatic reaso ner indeed who could not feel animated at the idea. The historian had described the ancient hordes of rude conquerors who over-run the East after they had overcome dangers almost beyond the power of, hu man fortitude, as arriving, weary, hungry, and ex-1 hausted, at the summit of the mountains which over looked those vast and boundless regions which were to be the prize of their exertions, when their feelings! were those of admiration and amazement at the prospect. This was just our situation s after having overcome all the dangers that we had encountered, we were not able to extricate ourselves from the con dition in which they had left us, but by taking ad vantage of the immense region that had suddenly burst upon our view. We had now a country expo sed to us, lying under the most favourable climate in the world, fertile to excess, watered rather by in land seas than by rivers peopled by a brave ancLgea nerous race of men, and abounding in rich mines of gold and silver, which the inhabitants were ready to pour into our lap, in return for the disbursement of our capital and skill ; and yet the blind policy of our Government cut off the precious advantage. He i would say that the prospect was so rich and various, that if all Europe were hermetically sealed against our commerce, or if all the Continent of Europe were blotted - out from the map, we could derive greater advantages than ever we had derived from' Europe, in the fertile regions of South America.-- Let it not be said that such ideas were merely fanci fol. He had documents to prove, that under a policy as vicious as our own, the exportations from tbat country, even at the present time, amounted to /118,000,000 sterling a-year, some portion of which, it was true, came to this country, but which was curtailed by the unwise measures we adopted. He would give the heads of one or two articles, although he knew Gentlemen opposite would not be inclined to listen to any thing ol such a nature, which did not come from themselves..—(Hear, aid laichier).—lt was calculated that there came over in the year 1802 Onhe port of Cadiz alone no less than 181 millions sterling, of which 12t millions were in bullion, and only six millions in goods. It might be said that the goods were of no value ; but this could not be said of the bullion, the main support of commerce and every thing. The qoantity of coinage at that time in Spain was 94 millions, and it was known that it bad been trebled within half a century. The exports last year amounted to 184 millions, of which Mexico gave one-third; and an experienced traveller had amerced, that Buenos Ayres alone annually furnished £BOO,OOO worth of the quantity. The population amounted to 17,000,000, of which 7,000,000 belong ed to Old Spain. Of these 7,000,000 of persons, not one in seven wore foreign goods, and of the remaindi r not one in three. He would now call on the Hou.e to consider what would be the consequence of giving 17,0(10,000 of people a Taste for British goods. It might be said that there had been a great glut of our goods at Buenos Ayres at two late periods, particularly in 1806. He contended that that glut had been of advantage, in the end, to our commerce, foe it had given the people a taste for our goods, which they had never had before; and the consequence would be, that in stead of one person in seven wearing. our goods, we could supply the whole population. In all probabi lity, therefore, we might not only draw home the whole of the 18 millions of exports, but these would amount to a sum so much greater, that he was al. Won deterred from mentioning it. How then, had it happened, that we had dune nothing for the sue cess of that people ? He would tell the House his firm opinion on the subject. It was the doctrifle of legitimacy that had deterred us; our love for Ferdi. nand VII. and the tendency of nor Government to lean towards and favour Old Spain ; and it the Co. lonies were severed from her, which he hoped to GOD they shortly would be—(Hear, hear) —no measures on earth could keep our commerce out of that coun try. But we had taken an easier course. We had given way to the prejudices of one party and the su perstitions of another; and instead of carrying our commercial flag to South America, we bad allowed ourselves to be supplanted there by those who had less scruples of conscience, and who were not encunt bered by such prejudices as we entertained. In 1809 We made a treaty with Adtniral Apodaca's fleet, which stipulated the preservation of Ferdinand'scolenies,and which contained an article stating, that the two Powers should lose no time in aming a commercial treaty. In 1814, after Ferdinand had been restored, it pleased ' the Government to renew that Treaty, and one arti cle expressed great anxiety that the restoration of the yoke of Spain should be effected over the colonies* and it even stipulated, that all obstruction and ere , harassment should be given to those who chose to [assist those colonies. The anxiety was distifictly eea pressed to see the* subjugation—(Near, hear, hear., Atter this, it was in vain to expec,. that the colonists 'would give us commercial advantages. They wished to have us as friends, not as enemies. As often as their independence was likely to be established. they. made attempts to gain our favour. Offers were made, to us in 1814. which stated as one additional emeste. that England had always shown herself the Wood of justice, humanity and freedom. They notwaly everted our friendship, but offered us a monopoly foe ft years of the whole trade of South America. and its 1816 they renewed their offers avith advantages unprecedented. But these splendid offers were The Honourable Gentleman then proceeihaill lts on the obstruction we bad given to American and other ships in the Spanish Main, which were ce eding with succours to the colonists, and adlreZ that three Gentlemed who lately came u;Amglastli from Buenos Ayres, on commercial business, wile about to return, when they were stopped by as Order, from the Under Secretaty of State, who sam e w ere not to sail ti ll they had 'derived the perm of the Spanish Arnbaasad?r. 1 . 64 was done ton er die Alien Act, and siae a isoof of what but been mid last year in that flimeeLthat that measure was re. 'ludo in order that it Might become en ceiinn for' political purposes lo the hahcfs of etreertitheilf. It bad been said that our goods would always find their way into foreign markets, but we should soon find how much we were mi s taken • for the fee - eign consu-I mer would go to buy hil go ods whereier he could get them cheapest, and we should-look in vain to him if be could get them five per cent, cheaper from any other q u ar ter. —The Honourable Gentleman nett proceeded to comment on stock and the taxes, and contended, that the tates did not go back to the consumers of articles who paid the duties on them.— He instanced sugar, the duty on which was raised to 275. per cwt.; but* this was not given back to the people who consumed sugar, but to the fund-holder and the public servant. If the immense capital dis bursed by the war had remained in the country, it would have given rise to new productions of industry, and instead of beii.g in our present distressed situa ociu, we should have been self-subsistedi and inde pendent. He entered into a long series of compari sons, to thew, that Ministers gained nothing by in creasing the duties on articles of general cot nimp• tion, as wine, coffee, sugar, etc. and by a statement of the duties on wines and spirits, in 1787, when they were reduced, be :hewed that the revenue from them was nearly doubled, in consequence of their greater consumption. He characterised our Dock Companies AS Commercial Monopolists, MI6 injured the fair trader, by causing him vexations delay and expense, and observed, that under the present system, it was impossible for Ministers to collect i revenue of sixty or severity millions, without hanspeting and discou ragess every branch of comseetce. The last subject vitiiEh *said he should riotice, was the total aban donment of our commercial interests by our system of foreign policy. Why had we formed no commer , cial treaties with those for whom we had exhausted our treasure and spent the best blood of the country ' Why bad not those Allies given us the advantage of a single Custom-house regulation ? Russia had in deed made a trifling reduction in her tonnage duties, but it was impossible for the fair trader to struggle against the other heavy duties which existed from Memel to the utmost limits of Poland, where a contraband trade was entirely in the hands of Jews. Li Prussia there was a severe transit duty, which amounted to a prohibition against British mer chandise; sad Austria, for which we had done so much, teak nothing from us but twist—an ar ticle of scarcely any consideration in our trade.— In Spain, on whose account re 50,000,000 of our mo oe, yet remained unaudited, it was proved we had no iuduence in the Cabinet; and we saw with disgust the humility and imbecility of our Government, and the ingratitude of that of Spain. The heleved Ferdinand had requited us for twin his parasites, by depriving us of every advantage. There were the characters for who:n the Noble Lord opposite had sacrificed the honour of his country, and in whose behalf, after pot. Ong down, with the assurance of the Allies, one osur per, we had plunged into that very usurper's Foerse. In our conduct towards Ragusa and Genoa. the name of England had received a stain, which all the view ties of the Duke of Wellington were unable to wipe out, and which, if the Noble Lord was to bare the longest life of any person that ever was in power, he would never be able to retrieve. The . Hon. Gentle man then descanted on the desertion, at the Congress, of the interests of the people of Ragusa and Genoa, and drew the internee, that we had been justly mewed for our humiliating con:ession to the views of the other Powers, as they had shut out our commerce from all those places whose rights and interests we ought to hate protected. but had made over to petty tyrants. This was a most complete illustration of the maxim, that honesty is the best policy." The people would have been grateful to us, it we had protected them ; but we had succumbed to the principles of' the Courts, the Courts had treated us in return with insult and mockery, and the people whose rights webad deser ted, with contempt and execration. The'Hon. Gentle. man concluded with moving the following Resolutions: " Resolved, t. That the Trade and Mansfachires at the Colin. try are reduced to a state of such wasizainpled diaceity as de mands the most serious anetrion of this House. " S. That those difficnkies are materially increased by the eve tem of policy pursued with respect to our Foreign Commerce; and that a revision of this system ought forthwith to be under takes by the HOswe. ".$ What the continuance of those difficulties is in a great de gree owing to the severe pressure of meatiest ander which the cows. try labours, and which osght by every practicable means to be lighteued. • " 4. That the system of Font's Policy pursued by his Ma jesty's Ministers bas nut been suck as to obtain for the People of this country those commercial advantages which the just iiffisence of Great Britain in Foreign CJIIM fairly entitled them to expect." The first ltesolution having been put from thecoair. Mr. ROBINSON said he was ready to admit that distress prevailed in the country to the full extent to which the Hon. and Learned Gentleman had de. scribed it; but it was wish unfeigned egret that he had heard the last part of his speech, which was an entire abandonment of the principle on which he set out, and which had nothing to do with the subject. It Was miziog up matters which might make such an impressien no the minds of some of the Gentlemen who hosted it, that it was hardly possible they could tome to ihe question without feelings which it would Ittere, bac most desirable to avoid. He should nut litlempt fofollow the Hooourable Gentleman through Isis previous arguments. There was much in that -Part of *is speech with which be entirely concurred. Be *gored that there were many restrictive and pro 'ible's* decrees against our commerce on the Carig nan, bet he felt more strongly than the Honourable Gentleman the difficulty of getting clear of them.— Such a system, be would admit, operated to a certain degree to continue the present distress of the country; out, -it we had acted tbe part that the Honourable' Gentlemas wished, and enforced a Commercial per. fereuce for our goods, be would say, that it would have been imputable for it to last. on account of the jeeleueies it would have created—(fkos, hear.) It would have iad to nothing but disputes, hearse buntings. quarrels, and perhaps to war. We should have degraded our character it we bad told our allies that we would oaly fight, in conjunction with them, not to re-establish them in their rights, but to obtain some paltry selfish interest of oar own. We had fought to deprive France of her inordinate copquests and Pewees and we bad succeeded but if we had is dieted such a blew on bet ossauserce, was it likely that the people of tram* would have borne it?-- ho Honourable Gentleman then proceeded to answer the various .eegnmenta of Mr, *mewls respectine South America, and observed, that it we bad inter fered in the way he suggested, we might have risked a war, 'illicit when once commenced, it was inspossi hie to &test* the end of. Ilesidet, we should by such conduct have incurred the same stigma which France was deservedly subjected to, by her interference us the war between us and our American Colonies, and whose conduct had been sevetely reprobated by Messrs. Burke, Fox, and the greatest orators of that day. He then went on to sh w that a peat came of our present distress was the unnatural and nneirc. cedented degree to which all trades had been raised by the war; and lie feared that this distress was less temporary than the Honourable and Learned Ger. - demon seemed to think. Nothing, for instahce, was likely to re-establish the employment of the gun smiths, whose business depended solely on the V4r. The iron trade niust suffer to a certain degree from the same cause. It wis not pr:ssihle to cause A revi val of the watch trade, because Ladies tisid Gentle men who went to France turned smugglers, *lid brought over watches of French manufacture, twee injury of our own. As to the 18,000 tailors cot of employ, the cessation of demands for the army was one cause of it, and the general want of money another. The duties on timber Were not ad act df the Government, but of those persons interested in the measure, who had convinced Government of its necessity, As to foreign linen, he bad recommended the very measure suggested by the Honourable and Learned Gentleman, And the Irish Linen Board bad argued that its adoption would be their total ruin.— Eves the Honourable Member for Glasgow had moved for a Committee last year, to inquire into this very subject, and the House had refused to grant i:. With respect to coals, if the export duty were taken `off, be would venture to say we should have all the manufacturers in arms. Last year , ; tae duty had been taken o ff from an inferior kin tot small coal, and the smelters and naedufaetuteri of glass, &c. complained that they were 'mined by it. There was a very strong import duty upon creeds, both in Hal. land and in France, for those countries did not wish to encourage their importation. The restriction sys. tem was one which it might be desirable had never been adopted ; but did any one thick that any thing which the Government could do could replace! our commerce abroad on the fooling on which it had beent We the had all the colonies of the world in our power, ond we supplied the whole of Europe with those articles which were considered as necessaries of life. From the accounts on the table it apeeared, that a great portion of the diminution in our exports arose from the reduction in the quantity of colonial produce at our disposal. As soon as we had restored the colonies of other powers, and particularly the im. incase one of Java, they shared with us the supplying of the Continent. Neither capital nor Ingenuity wets wanting on the Continent, and if peace lasted for any length ofatime, nothing_ could prevent ti.e Euro pean Powers from establishing manufactures capable of rivalling ours. The cotton mmu tact ures were al. ready aiarrourite object in France. They also ma nufactured beautiful cloths. and silks ; why could they not succeed in other article. ? It might be the Isame with Prussia and all the other Continental States, if the continuance of peace allowed a free range to national industry. Had the Hon. and Learned Gen tleman concluded his speech as he had begun, it would have been difficult to meet it with so decided an opinion as he was now compelled to form on the subject. As that Hon. and Learned Gentleman had depassed„frons his own course, sod-given the . questio'n a totally different character, he could not agree with the Resolutions, and concluded by moving the Order of the Day, • Mr. B60(101101 and Mr. Rostrum explained. '- Mr. BARING complained. that the Right Ho. nourable Gentleman should Move tile Order of the Day on so important'a question, because his 11001int able and Learned Friend had not-treated the whole of the question with. the same temper as he begiiinive: 'He had admitted that distresses in dWi cowry, slid imperfections in the spier esistetWand jet Lidded of proposing a Committee or some other mode of ha. quirt!, if he did not approve of the motion, be wished to reject it altogether. He contended that nose of his Learned Friend's assertions had been refuted or answered; but that, on the contrary, they had been admitted to their fullest extent. The Right Honour. able Gentleman, holding the situation which he did at the Board of Trade, had stated that the present system, a system of which he disapproied, was suf fered to go on, because certain interests 'besieged Government which it was impossible to resist.. Ott that very ground he should apply to Parliament to be armed a ith effective means of resistance: ' He then stated, that he differed from his • Hotourabie And Learned Friend with respect to maihinery. He should certainly wish that much Of It had never existed; but it it oar checked in this country, it would be immediztely set up on• the apposite coast, and England would lose the superiority which it now enjoyed over other countries—(Hcor, hear). — As to the present distress, similar dither:titles had fol lowed, more or less, every war in whith the country had been engaged. In the present idttanci. it hid been aggravated by the protracted dilation of the war, its immense expense, the revulsion of its capital, occasioned by the sudden termitiatio4f liostilitici, and the change in its currency. All the k kluuse could do was to remove impediments- where they existed ; but the Right Hon. Gentleman aeknosiledged their existence, and yet refused to do any thing to remove them. As to the interest of money, unJoubtedly the price of stocks depended on the want of employment for the capital of the country; but his learned Friend said, that capital had not reached the Pockets of the borrower on mortgages ; that arose from the laws il existence to regulate the interest of money, He hoped, that alter duly causidering the importance cl the subject, the Right Hon. Cr:mimeo would teio,- thaw his motion. Mr. ROSE objected to the Resolutions, because, instead of tending to relieve the distresses of the co untry, they laid them to the charge of his Majesty's Government. He contended that the Learned Geo deoran had not supported his motion by any fans, and that the papers which he had called for were very little applicable to the subject. He Stated, that the exports in certain articles had exceeded last year the average of the two preceding years. As to the diminution of luxuries, it was chiefly occasioned by' the emigration at an immense number of Englisa families to other countries. Oise of the calm sor the 'existing distress was the reduction of the circalating medium. When the Bank had ceased cash payments, theme were 41. millions of gold in circulation. But now the paper cuir,:ncy did ;lot exceed 35 millions. wa~tO our Statute guar.) One doer of other tram OUT MAI v.as framed- -.7i:4 th tt rrp measures on Qff one branc :!Lit Bdl WAS from that En best wine, ye Drench rise' . ci'doty laid t Cie Right Ho tell.c of the of a shilling i did so, not, w because he w but that he d It might, aet tiemi,n's noti, turner; but if as a trader, but looked I branch or tr, trade, which one in which 1 foreign State per cent. ha linen. l'he teens preferri said they situ eently thong passed on thi British linen, 14. There many of the which, if alb 3bose goods also mention shall go abr, Was one evil seemed now licy must be 1 whi:h we he well amour ceding some were manY always 'cowl that for tat contributed trade. Thi advantage s for nearly a 'oration, w tained withi would meat within the 1 ordered the or nose Gc orders—not provisions ii 1 tent out, t them. No had said, " parted In al h?t to alloy „bps but of nation, a I CCTlgreas, .1 he open to which their particularl, .Paaded ma United Sta I carry it, an Vie result 13 %twee quart "as aissei) gloom bOw . bee and ei and pal m , same COW'S that the dii OUt mown , asd lettere lief from e .., . regrsd to t