The National Register. — London, England, 1819-04-26 00:00:00

r 111. li:2 bao.ll SATLIIibAY I►`'Gll'l"S GAZETTE. WHITEHALL , APRIL N. The Lord Chancellor has appoi trial Alfred Edward Corm, of hiarket Deeping. Lincoln, Gent., and Joseph Wilson,of White haven, Gent. to be Masters Extrat Winery in the High Court of Chancery. . BANKRUPTCY Si. 'YERSEDED. W. Watkinson, Strand, boot-ma ker. BAN EItUP TS. J. Penfold, Watling Street, ware bousentan. J. Folder, Savage Gardens. Towe r Hill, merchant. C. Laing. Garford Street, Limeho Ise Hole, chandler. J. Bradshaw, Carlisle Street. Soho, tailor. R. H. Self. Whitecross Street, gro ear. J. Moon, Acres Barn, Manchester, .cotton spinner. J. Wart, Pre.ton, Lmcashiro, man • facturer. T. Robinson, T. 11. Robinson, and E. Hancock, Manchester, cotton merchants. R. Harris, Wood Street, Spits!fields, stationer. . 1 . L'oyd, Cnmarvon. shlpkeeper. J. Palmer , Wellingboroug h, North, znpton, wine merchant. 0. Holbrook. Fleet Market, poulter w. J. Nightingale and T. Byrne, George •Street, Portman Square, tailors. J. Hunter and J. Orr, Barge Yarrti. lineklenkurl. mer. chants. I'. Tuck. Rose Street, Newgate Mat y-.et, butcher. n. Radford, Strand, tailor. W. Cooke, Birmingham, merchant. T. Taylor, Bristol, tobacco and stuff seller. IL Jordan, and J. Smith, Stratford, c.d J. Litchfield, Lead schen Street, coach proprietors. T. Ellerby, Poole, Doren, linen dray Sr. J. Atherton, Warrington. cabinet tn.. H. Harris, Bradford, Wilti, baker. DIVIDENDS. May 8, R Boyle, Upper Thames Str let. merchant-15, W. Barnard, Lloyd's Coffee House, under , liter-15. W. Parker. High Street, Whitechapel, oilman-15, S. Garrod, Padding ton Street, bookbinder—:s. R. Friday.. lan. Isleworth, barge r.^astar--15, T. Dowley and .1. Dowlev„. Willow Street. corn und coal merchants-15, T. Coburn. NL nvland, Oxford. wool suplet —l5, .1. Dubois, Brixton, Surrey. insurance broker -15. J. Dowdall, Dartmouth Street, earpen' :r r —lS, D. Wolf and Wise. Manchester. cotton dealer—is, I'. Roper, Islington. r-vemaku—t 3, W. Clancy, Adam's Cour t. Broad Street. pro •baton merchant-15, J. E. Johnson, Hyde Street, Bloomsbury. zartet• mariner-15. W. Crook, Blackburn Lancaster. farmer —:7, J. Underhill, Birmingham, uteruh ant-17, R. Gray. Norwich, household broker. CERTIFICATES to be granted May IS. C. B. Hightield and C. Ilighfield. Liverp tool, merchants—.l Mayhew, St. Os) th, Essex. miller—C. Hop per, Little Trinity Lar.e, lace dealer—.l. M.Michael Penrith, mercer—B. Davis. Salop. saddler-3. Stein, Butcher 11 '.ow, East Smith- Tectificr—C. Bishop. High Street. South' Fork, linen draper —W. Nettie. Swerting: Alley"Corabill, salve, taaiith.—S. Fon -I,sce dealer. %mate. St..ck. Per Cept. per Cent Coe,. 111 'lndia K aids 37 7, per Cent. SltP•k 4 per Cent. 901 EAchewier BIM 44. Ai. per Gem. Navy 111.11 Com. for Ac. 72 '- LMi Attn. L..ttery Tickets in 144, VritC TfiE N ATIO NAL ItEGMTEit. LOUDOIL MONDAY, APRIL !.. ) G, 1819. THE CORN LAWS. Mut of minds equally honourable, and perhaps enlightened, may vet be found to /lifter very widely in their views of the same subject. This may possibly be the case 11p011 the present occasion aniongst u: use who may do us the honour to read our pages, but we trust they will be also kind enough to reoienibt r that iosestigation is the best and only way of anteing at t-nth, and th:it our columns will be quite open to any individual who troy be disposed to controvert ow doc trines, and especially tiplit a point so intricate and iniporiatit as that to which our attention is now directed, namely, the state of the Corn Laws, and the Petitions pre sei:t.e.:l to Parliament nit that subject ; a subject which at )sat deserves a patient discussion, from its wei; t lit in the seale of our national interests and welfare, and a calm and vutaperate enquiry, from its peculiar tendency to agitate tlie public feeling. A large portion of the community, 11 , 1: are quite a ivare, are so habituated to connect every L'titing With the simple idea of a eiscap leaf, as to need annulus to iti.ltice thent to reject at once every con • s.deration of rernote consemietiera, and a still lar:;er por t:An are enahled to comprehend those circumstances whitit most, in oar apprehension, be its immediate arid iirtruataile attendants, under our present state of a do pieeiatecl eurreucy and a moit borthensonie system a Vs'e cannot, therefore, but earnestly deprecate aiY oilliecominir, warmth on a point so delicate and tender, and nil! last does it appear to he justifiable when so man , : of those n ho are most competent io decide . such a question, and whose patriothin cannot be doubted, hive maintained that this country is both able and on!lit to bt•encotiraged to supply us with the first ne cessaries of life. Of the Petitions themselves referred to, we hare neither been, nor h:ard, nor know, any THE NATIONAL REGISTERS thing more than has appeared in the public journals.— But as far as we can gather from them, their whole scope and prospect has been simply to recommend and pray fur " open ports and protecting duties." It does nut ern appear to be their of to make any alteration in the importation prices already fixed, but that those pro tections and securities, which the Legislature by its late enactments certainly intended to afford, but which are now proved to be ineffectual, should be realized and confirmed. How it Caine to be overlooked iu the last Corn Bill, that die moment the ports were opened, or likely to be so, speculation would be busily employed, and that even a short interval Would he sufficient to set at tonight every previous restriction, to fill the country with foreign grain when no supply was wanted, and to place the English farmer upon a level will the cheapest countries in Europe, excepting the expence only of im portation, it is now too late to argue. That such, hoverer, is the fact, and the present conclit'uo of our Corn Laws, is clear and undisputed, and but two points seem now to remain worth contending about. The first is, whether it be adviseable to sweep away at once a,l our legislative restrictions on the foreign supplies of corn, as being of more disadvantage than good to the geoeral interests of agriculture, and the other, what is the best and surest mode of giving them the etkci intended. With respect to the first of these, no theory cook' be more delightful than that which would present to us the whole world united in the bonds of ennui peace, benevolence, and love, each part or region supplyieg to the other in free and unlettered commerce whatever it ' could spare, and receiving back in return whatever the produce of other climes could furnish in the same way ; banishing at once front the code and practice of nations every obstruction to the free admission of every article of barter amongst mankind: but, however, mall a vision may delight the philanthropist, it may perhaps he fairly questioned whether it would, as far as respects its com mercial features be productive of any considerable acces sion to the stuck of human happiness and positive enjoy ment, and certainly tile vices and imperfections of man kind, the jarring interests of nations, and the peculiar circumstances and interests of particular countries must for ever totally excluda all hope of its being realized. Su Icing as any one country in the world shall find, or thieh it conducive to its interests either to confine any part of its productions to its own limits, or, what is the more usual line of policy, to impose such a duty upon its exportation as may both check the freedom of its egress, and be subservient to the purposes of revenue, other countries will naturally be driven to adopt as a counter poise similar measures with regard to their own commo dities, and thus the general policy of the whole will he as ii always has been, in cis ilized countries, to subject their trade and commerce to fiscal regulations. Nor is this general practice without many advantages. Articles of import and export are always the fittest objects of tax ation, because the simple fact of your being disposed to sell for exportation pre-supposes that your demand at nouns is answered, and the fact, on the other hand, of foreigners becoming your customers pre-supposes that they both want, and can at bed to pay for the articles so sold ; besides thia, as a net entie must be rai.•ed, and taxes or imports levied, even in the very cheapest go vernments, whatever can be collected from such ditties as have been just alluded to, is so touch sired front the pockets of the subject at home, and foreign powers are thus to a given extent made tributary to the maintenance of your own social and poll institutions. This prin. civic beitig mice established the only qtaystiott, which can naturally come next, is, what are those particidar ofjects of production and barter which mast demand protection and are most deserting of care. We shook! think it could hardly be dilimed that the order wroil6 stand thus; first subsistence, second raiment, thirdly the conveniences, and fourthly the luxuries of life. Agricul tore, as the means of furnishing subsistence, has there fore, by curry enlightened community been admitted to be an object of the - first and hi, heat concerti. The P;ti• losoplier has considered its prosperity as inseparably con nected with public good, the wise Statesman has looked to it as the firmest sinew of national strength, the Patriot has viewed it as the surest I roof of freedom and the guardian•of • country's iutleuerulJuce, and die Moralist has dwelt with satisfaction u;,on the universal benevo lence of its tendency, and the peaceful and innocent chataoter of its pursuits. Again. it can as little be ques tioned, that the prosperty of agriculture, and, what is APRIL 26. the same thing, the quantity of its produce, will be en tirely dependent upon the sum of the labour and capital employed in it, and that these again will be not less accurately proportioned to the stability of the pursuit in which :hey arc employed, and the prospect they hold cut of a lair remuneration. A country with mil:ions of acres still waste, and millions of acres more of laud Lot miserably cultivated, and producing not more than one half or perhaps one third of what might by the employ intuit of additional labour and capital be raised front them, and yet, both complaining of %am of employmenr, and every year, having recourse to foreign markets for its food, can never be said to have yet reached that pitch of encouragement winch its Agriculture justly demands. 'Else advi,catus of free importation argue thus, '• if dm sail and climate of one country be inure favourable for rite production of any particular commodity than another, if it can ever be produced at a cheaper rate than at home, hy not avail yourselves of such adramages and torts your own industry arid capital into a better chan nel ; that is, in plainer winds, " send your hat handmen to weave bombazines and muslins, and rt:r farmers to erect cotton mills and steam engines at Man chester, or to manuNcture knives and buttons at Ba iningham and Sheffield.- To the first part of this argument it is surely ohs loos to reply, that tio country in the yew Id is better calcida ted for the growth of corn than our own, nor on it• richer and well cultivated soils, yields a inure abundant produce. Corn and Wool are as naturally the staple commodities of Great Britain, as Nine and al are of Italy, or Sugar and Coffee of our West India Islands. Upon the very principle then on which such ieasoitera advocate our dependence on foreigners for supply, ate we prepared to contend fur the encouragement and pro tection of our own growth and culture and with re spect to the price at which corn may he raised amongst us, it is true that a competidon with foreign markets is, in the present state of things, quite iniposs.ble. But then this very impossibility ought to operate in a quite contrary direction from what it now appears to do, upon the public mind and councils. Instead of inclining us to set at nought the wisdom and experience of all past ages to Ilinlai4Jll Agriculture to irs fate, and our fields to desolation, every effort should be employed to remove the weight which oppresses it, and to revere it to Its doe and natural rank. Nor shoadd there efforts cease until it has reached such a pitch of prosperity as to draw bark again' tutu its own channel some portion both of the la bour and capital which are now devoted to trade and merchandise. The plain truth is, we are become too commercial, and though a paper currency and an enor mous taxation are amongst our greatest evils, vet iteitlier the one no( the other would ever hate exis ed in then. present extent, if they had not been pushed on by MM. tuerce. Mr, Pitt and his adherents well knew thi-, and the protection of commerce, to the total disregard of the landed interest, was the guest fastness of that Nlinister's financial policy. IL was to the merchant he looked for his loans, to the merchant for the circulation of his paper, and he repaid the obligation both to commerce and to his country by a Batik Restriction, of wh.cft we have nev‘ r since been able to get rid. We may ask the boldest advocate of the claims of ceminteice whether i.e does not think that enough, and more than enough of both capital and Uinta are now employed in it ? Whe ther every market the world is not glutted with British manufactures ? Whether if some means could he de vised of lessening the quantity of goods wrought, and diminishing, time competition he has now to struggle with, stick an issue would not result both in the im provement of his •wit condition, and in the addittonal steadiness and prosperity of commerce itself ; and lastly, whether he must not admit that the fluctuations to which trade, upon its present scale and footing, is ever liable, do not render it unfit ourable to the morals, and oltimately to the liberties of the no.wtry ? Even these. questions sue are persuaded must, if fairly answered, be answered its the affirmative, and if so, then mu , ' the real friend of commerce and of his country, be the friend of agriculture likewise, which can alone l'i,rnisit the remedy desired. But another argoineot is fl;II ready, " Though you may pay a considerable sum for corn every year to foreign markets, and though it should be granted that you might grow it at ;tome, yet the money so laid out again returns in die general stream of com merce, the pressure up under national weahh, and c t e l:cre e l n t; r e e t a t a s i bl g i ug tl 7ol itroctbi on