The Sun. — London, England, 1820-05-25 00:00:00

Ince in is Titrotir wotarl ire only 2!. ltft. 57 4 -J. per load, whieh, in the judgment of the Commit tee and the Trade at large, would by no means prove sufficient for the ptirpose of protecting the British front the ttealry or the Foteign Trade, CS pee:l4lly %Virif the prtinfice which exists in this Country in favour of I'Ol ig Aifood ; and the Committee hope that their Lordships %yin be Of this opinion also, no considering the much higher rates of Freight and other oisadvantages conse quent upon the greater distance of the North Antetican Colonies. the end of the year 1815, the difi,-renee of Freight was within a few of the wt,ole Anr ,, ont of the Pnty on Fo reign Timber, and at the present Freights (so rnioitiisly low to the Ship-owner) it is 11. 123. per load in tat:our ut the Foreign Trade, From Riehcc I.? 1 0 0 Is 0 LI 12 0 So that the balance of the fr , iglit diiiies in 'avow of British Titube.r would be only 11. 45 . . 51-. d. per load, even setppwiiiig that B IH4II trcigivs should not rise, but tlitieh, as the vessels are now mtvi4ating at a loss, cannot be either desired or expected. List year, npon the arrivals of Timber from the Colonies denoMinated the Loner Ports, (which include all those not in the Golph of . St. Law rence) the price was 31. 10s. per load. After the lep•e of about three Mon:lis,lt stkanCed to 31. 155.; doring the winter it reached 41. ; and is at pre sent 41. ss. ; at which it will probably remain until the sutntr►er arrivals, when it may be expected to fall again to 31. 10s. The cost in the Lower Ports is L.l 5 0 Freight to London "2 5 0 Port Charges Charges. in London about 0 3 0 L. 3 15 3 Thus their Lordships will perceive, that even enpposing freights should remain at their present low rate, there is no room for additional duty.— If it be urged that a proportionate rise of price in the English marker would follow, the Coin mittee would observe, that though this might be expected if there was no other 'Timber in the -market, it is not likely to happen xhilst such a •preference is given to Foreign Timber. Last year there was no excessive importation of either Baltic or American Wood; the market was fairly .tried h hot h kinds, antr yet a difference of price was ,stcadily.maintained between them of 21.. per load in favour of the form , r : .Memel Timber. having •produced from 01. to 61. 6s. per load, whilst the latter fluctuated between 31 l 0;. and 41. as. Under these circumstances it is, that the Com mitter hope to be excused' tor thus humbly ven turing to repeat. their confident opinion, that the British North Atnetican Timber cannot bear the additional duty proposed. • • \ it is (hey trust) obvious, that the Importers ere not making large profits •: the Ship Owilers are notoriously carrying on a losing trade ; neither, it is presumed, can it be contended that the fiist cost in the Colonies is unreasonably high. Even it the Cidonisrs could be compelled to reduce their prices a tew shillings p et load, their Lordships AV di , be sensible that in precisely the same degree would be reduced the amount of the exports to the Colonies ; lot , of whatever comparisons the claims to encouragement, urged on behalf of : Rus s ia, Prussia, Norway, i Sweded, &c. may he susceptible, it is certain that the Mother Country in her intercourse with the Colonies, realizes ali the advantages direct and collateral, which the trade in all its branches is capable of yielding, from thy cutting of the tree in the forest to the •delivery of the wood in Great Britain. That - the imposition of inch additional duty would occasion an increased importation of Fo reign Wood, the Committee find to be the uni versal sentiment of the best informed persons in the trade ; as also, that just so much British •Woott would be displaced (since not one foot more would be consumed upon the whole) ; whilst a flinch larger proportion of British ship ping would be suposeded. The Committee in conclusion desire me most particularly to press upon their Lordships, that, so far as the Bt itish Ship Owners are concerned, the measure in Contemplation could not be agi tated at - a period to occasion greater. anxiety ; .when their property, depreciated one-halt in va- Itte, is brought suddenly into competition with the shipping of the whole world, Upon . most un equal tei ins in point of expense; with 9.00 sail of ships thrown upon the mat ket wi'hin a short space of time by their discharge from the trans port service ; and a diminished employ for the remainder from various causes ; and with a con sequent reduction of heights, greater beyond ail proportion (compated with the existing expenses) than was experienced at the close of the American war : so situated, the Ship Owners cannot but feel themselves in need of every possible protection that Government can extend to them ; and the Committee therefore request me to express their most earnest hope, that upon taking the cir cumstances - into further consideration, their Lordships will see fit to remove the apprehension which your, last communication has excited amongst ; the Ship OVVIIetS at large, by are intima tion that the intention of raising the duty upon the British North American Timber is no longer entertained. 1 have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) J. Iy..BUCKLE, Chairman. , - No • answer being received to this representa tion, a futther Letter was on the 20th December 1817, written by the Chaitman to the Secretary of the Boatel of Trade, requesting to be informed of their Lordships' sentiments on the question, and proposing .if any doubt still remained in their Lordships' minds upon it, to be allowed the bc)• from . of a personal interview. To this Letter the following Reply was re ceived. _ _ _ Office of Committee of Privy Council for Trade, Whiteboll, Feb. iu, am directed by the Lords of the.Com rnivee of Privy Council for' trade, to acquaint Non tor the intotmation of the Committee of. the &hi'p Owners Society, no whose behalf you have a ddressed a Memo' ial to their Lordships, re4ect ing the duties on Timber, that upon a lull consi deration of the circumstances of the case. and mole particularly with reference to the Act 55 Geo. M. c. 86, (by which Timber from the British North American Colonies is exempted from duty' till the 25th March. 1820), it is not at present the intention of his Me sty's Government to sub mit to Parliament any alteration of the law as it now stands with respect to rite importation of Timher,whether, from our own Colonies, or from foreign States. I am to add that, wider these eircomstances, the Lords of the Committee do not think it ne cessary to give any of the rkiembers of the Ship Owntr's Society the trouble of attending their LorOthips, as proposed by your letter of the 20th Dectrnber last, on this sohject. (Signed) THOMAS LACK. J. W. Buckle, Esq. From this period down to the present, the Ship Owners have entertained the confident expectation, that some:lting more than a mere tem;mrary con viction had resulted from that " consideration of the circumstances of the c .se," which their Lordships had kindly given in conseq.:ence of the Committee's representation; anti 'hat the impolicy of in iking any alteration its the present scale of Wood ll i lea, favourable to the import of Foreign Wood, would not r;eqn:re so soon again to he urged on the attention of his 'Majesty's Govern ment. Very recent . occurtences, however, have shewn that this expectation has been unfounded. As all the arguments made use of in the Chair man's Letter of May, 1817, remain in their full force, it will he chiefly necessary to strew that in tervening events ha e but added to their strength and consistency. By reference to that Letter it will he seen, that the number of ships emoloyed in the trade with the Notth American ColonieS in time I preceding season (1816) was 783 composing 181,383 tons, and navigated by 8788. men. The following is a statement of the niiinber of ships cleared out from (great Britain for the North American Colonies in the three subsequent years, Ships. Tons. Men. 1 00 9, 194,99,6 10,370. 13-27, 258,501 15008. 340,:")37 17,634., (See Note.) In 1817, 1814, 1819, Every consideratiOn therefore, which, in re ference- to the importance of this Trade, had weight in . 1817, is now increased in a t wo-fold degree ; and to them may he added a claim of no unintetesting character, either as respects the in terests of humanity or of good government : that of numerous individuals, who, being under the nrcessity.of emigi atiug from G rea t B r it a in, have prefeered to confine themselves to the Co. lorries, and to the Government of their native country Within the three last years no less than 30,000 British subjects emigrating frosts this country have availed themselves of the encourage went which the British American Colonies - have afforded them ;• the fotu're welfare of whom may be said to he wholly dependent on the result of the preSeot discussion. As this.question is, of all others, susceptible of the strictest exitnination, it may not be incon venient to present the following abstract cif those considerations which seem to be connected with it. And first let it be asked, is the Timber capable of hearing a - Doty upon it or can it practically maintain a comoeftion with the Baltic Timber, if the Duties - on that be reduced,—which is the sante thing as laying a duty on American Tim ' ber ? Quebec Timber is now sellipg. at about 31. 10s. per load, of which 21. lOs. per load is paid for freight ; there remains consequently (atter de ducting for Rafting and Dockage, &c. 35.) only l 78. per load for the first cost ; and it cannot be purchased for that sum at Quebec. The freight, it is well known, cannot be reduced. While yellow Timber,. (of which description ilte great bulk of the importation from North .America consists), is selling at 31. 10s. per load.; Memel Timber fetches 61. per load ; no p er i o d can be quoted in which there has not been a difference b etw e e n th e two. sot ts in the prices they respec tively bring, of 21. to 21. 10s. per load in favour of Memel Timber ;—there can consequently be no better criterion of the prices at which they can maintain themselves in the market in relation to each other ; now, if 10s. per load be taken off the duty on Baltic Timber, the [nice necessarily falls to 51. 10s. and the cousnmption must ;hen run wholly on that Timber, or the Canada importer must lower his price to 31. ; either consequence is ruinous to him. If he loses•the demand, his trade is destroyed. - If lie sells his Timber for 31. be has only 7s. per load left for its cost in Canada, where it will seldom stand him in less than 225.6 d. to 255. per load.—lf instead of reducing the duty on Baltic Timber, 103. be laid on that from Ca• nada, the consequence will be the same the importer from America will not get a farthing more. for his Timber in the market.—lf he de mands IN. - per load more front the buyer, to en able him to pay the duty, he loses his customers, because they can supply themselves with Baltic Timber at a price relatively 10s. per load less. This position, it is prcsume'd, will not be dis puted ; the avowed object of the advocates of the Measure being, to displace-American Wood by the imporiatiOn of foreign Wood. In whatever degree this effect may be produced, in the same proportion British, shipping will be thrown out of employment ;—British manufac tures will remain un.bought ;—the interests of the Colonies will be sacrificed ;—The English emi grants settled there will be deprived of their em ployment, (which is chiefly dependent on the Wood trade) ;—and the properiy which has been expended in erecting saw Mills, steam boats for navigation, new roads for the transport of floods, and other establishmen:s throughout the Colonies for the prosecution of the Wood trade, will be wholly lost. What are the advantages to be derived in return for all this ? Two or Once only have been urged ---..namely, the encouraging the Northern Powers to - take more of our manufactures ; the cultivating a more kind and friendly feeling with those Powers by removing part of a duty which they consider (Note) In the year 1819, the•number of Ships cleared out fur the British West india Colonies was 801, of the hurthen of e 26,218 tons, navigated by 12,519 mess ; so that the North American Colonies employ about one half more tonnage and svaroen, than the whole of the West India trade. oppressive ; and lastly, the improvement of the revenue. It w'ey be, that part of the money which we should in this case pay for Foreign Timber would be paid in British Manufactures ; the extent of that benefit is, however uncertain, and its con tinuance precarious. The Foreign Merchant after he has sold us his Timber, will buy his Manufac tures wherever he can get them the cheapest ; nd if France, olland, or Germany, can furnish them cheaper than we can, he will be no customer of ours. The Continent now imports its Colonial produce direct from the East and West Indies ; and consequently, for those articles which formed the chief part of their imports from this Country they are no longer our cnstomers *. - - • Now in the case of Timber from the American Colonies, the whole is paid for in British produc tions ; for we do not permit them to buy of any hudy else. - - • As to the Freight, it is clear that one third part of the quantity of shipping at present employed in the American Trade, could carry on the same extent of Foreign Wood Trade; and that of that one-third, English Ship Owners could not expect to share more than in the proportion of one-third esee note in first column) So that 8-9ths of the freight Would be lost to this country. As to Revenue e. a direct sum !you'd be brought into the Estchequer undoubtedly, by the increased import of Foreign Wood ; but it the American Wood Trade is- now emploYing shipping or the value.of upwards of three millioas sterling;— if the. sum paid yearly for freight of this article alone, considerably exceeds one million sterling, all circulated throughout this -country, in the equipment of the ships, (every article employed in which pays duty), the employment -of seamen, &c. how fallacious the argument which would make it appear, that a trade like this can be di minished without - injuring the reveorte, in a de gree infinitely greater than any advantage to be derived from the direct tax on Foreign Wood. . As to propitiating the kindness (*the Northern Powers by this concession; highly desirable as it is to cultivate the friendship of other nations by every practicable means, can we forget that the exclusive system acted upon by those same Powers, not very many years since, first. taught us the value of the resources which till then lay Bidden in oor Colonies ? is he not an unnatural parent who for the ,claims of friends or acquain tances deserts his- own children? and is not this the character of the conduct we are urged to adopt ?- It our Colonies have proved to us, in the boor of need, valuable and productive depen dencies, and enabled - use..to•set at defiance those efforts which sought to sap our naval strength ei by depriving us of our naval supplies;--if they have since provided employment for our commer cial marine, at a time when. no other resource could have been found;--and in addition to this, have afforded a receptacle for a wholesome and seasonable emigration ;—shall .we put their efainis in 'competition with those of any Foreign Powers in the Universe ? Anti above all, shall we endanger our naval In terest, that great arm of our strength, for any such object ? For if our commercial navy he not maintained during peace, where shall our na tional marine find seamen in time of war ? What is to become of the greatest proportion of the 17,000 seamen who would, by this measure, be thrown out of employment ? • The. Foreign Timber Merchants who had for a long period been accustomed to furnish the whole supply of Wood to Great Britain, complain because they havelost a part of this Trade ; but be it remembered, they still retain a very con siderable share of it ; and the followingsfatement will spew that they rojoy advantages quite ceptal to the duty which is .represented as so grievous. Baltic 'Timber as before stated, always brings in the market, from 21. to 21. 10s. per load more than American Timber ; and it may always be im ported at a less freight by 11. 10s. per load, (and from Norway much lower) ; being a permanent advantage of 31. 158. per load in favour of Baltic over American Timber; which is considerably more than the whole • amount of duty upon it. Upon what principle then can' it be urged, that Baltic Timber is oppressed by the existing system ? With.equal consistency might it be proposed to our Government to lay a Tax upon.Scoteh Fir, which has of late years come into very general use. Suppose thaothe Scotch Forests , had been found to have producedas good .and as. large Tim ber aw Canada, and in sufficient quantities to. sup ply half our consumption of that article, what „would have been thought of an application Co l i arliament, either to lay a duty on the Scotch Tim ber, or to take off part of tire duty on the Fo reign, in order that the, latter might be better able to maintain itself against the Scotch ? And can any reason be strewn why we should tax our Colonial Timber, which would not equally apply to our Scotch Timber If the complaint were, that we were giving a preference to one foreign country over another, the argument' would he intelligible; but it is, that we give a preference to our own. Timber! Now, admhting that we did so, would not every principle of good and wise government justify the propriety of our conduct ? The present is not the moment for experiments on large and wide spreading interests which find .quite sufficient to contend with,, amid the .ge 'feral difficulties of Trade, without having their condition in any respect made worse.. We said to the Colonies in the moment of our own danger, " Exert yourselves ;—draw forth your resources ;—give us the supplies we need ; —make, us independent of roreign Powers for those supplies, anti rely on our constant protec tion." The call was answered; industi y and enterprize pervaded the whole country ; they * Real .Value of ,Exports to the .North of Europe (in chiding France), and to British Ninth America, in the fol lowing years, taken from an account printed by ord4r of the House of Commons, Ivth June,'l I-2. British produce and Manufactures exported. To the North of Europe. To British America.. LA 6,361,085 6,971,484 1 6,468,614" 4;595,7=27 9.062, 1 434 5;707,537 7,70‘4090- I,oS,tirsd 17,068,049 24,394,910 IFOB 9 10 11 seat us all we required :—our tlanger passes over and is forgotten ; and in a few short years we say to our Colonies, " You have served our turn, but we want you no longer : the enemies w'f►° drove us to „Is more perfect knowledge of your va• lue in the time of our need, have since become our friends. They are jealous of you, and we must yield to them : The measures of protection which we afforded you, are offensive to those friends, and we must withdraw them: You must return to your former condition." Such ik the line of conduct proposed to the Go vernment of this Country for the protectiou of its Ships, its Colonies, and its Commerce. London, May 19, 1820. LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, MAY 24. CLAYTON V. POPE .AND OTHERS. This action was brought by a Professiona l Gentleman, the occupier of No. 3,' New Square , Lincoln's Inn, against the Overseers of the Li' belly of the Rolls, in the parish of St. Ditnstan %Vest, to try the question; whether Mr. Clayton. in respect to his Chambers, was liable to pay fa the relief of the poor of the Liberty of the Rolls, The defendants being required to prove tlia liability, were first called on by the issue to pro' dace witnesses. They accordingly put in a Par' liameatary survey made under the Protectorate of Cromwell, by which the parish of St. Dunstan West appeared to he pert in London and part ill Middlesex. That part called the Rolls was it . ' ;Middlesex. in order to show that the plaintiff was not liable, a person from the Tower of Lonrho produced the copy of a grant made in the Sixth of Ede and the Secone, of the new Temple, or Piqeets Croft (the si aof Lincoln's Jun bore that name in the above reign), late belonging to the Knights Templdrs, and used by them tor religious purposes, to De Valence, EA of Pear* broke. The plaintiff also produced an agree' tent between the BCOChers and Searle, a tree" holder, made in the reign of Charles the Second , by which Seatle was to build the Chamber s forming the New Square on Piquets Croft. Prom the above grant and agreement an inference vva s drawn that the laud originally belonged to a fell' gions Society, and in that respect it was extra;-l o ' rochial. In 1777 an action was brought by Gentleman, named Newnan, to try whether th e plaintiff, in respect of his Chambers, was liable t° pay the rate assessed for the pour in the Liberty of the Rolls. In that case it did not appear tli 4g the verdict went for the parish, and it wae mei ° a strong point of support for the present plaintiff. There was no proof of tittles having been paid by the Bencbers, nor had they been called upon discharge the duty of parish officers. With re' spect to paupers found in Lincoln's Inn, the So" ciety tent two poor persons to the Rolls wol l ' house; and paid a compensation to the overseers for their support.. This was the substance of the evidence; ° 11) which Mr. MARaYATT, for the plaintiff, contendel A that the part of the iota occ:t:pied by the plaiosi was in no perish, and, consequently, that Ai r ; Clayton was taut Ramie to support the 000 r of th - HundVed, Mr. SCARLETT, for the parish, relied upon O le boundary stone, which clearly placed the cbal ll t : bets withinehe• parish of Saint Dunstan. O i l respect to the Fee fl having belonged to the I.:nig h :, Tempters, he did not deny that'l•act, but it evil not extra-parochial on that eccouet. The Kiligh a , Tensplars might have purchased the land tran s , ing on the precincts of Saint Dunstan's pa ri c s ; and if they did, was not extra-parochial. ; action so much relied on, appeared to him to "0 been a compromiie with the rich and powe r ' society of Lincoln's lon. • The parish officers had no doubt been as tu d , alarmed at the appearance of the great lave ratters among the ilenchers, as a young ° l f . Was at the frOwn' of Lord Thurlow. The P e co son to whoni he alluded, on quitting the i reSei l . , of that learned Judge,' exclaimed : "1 saw the Norman conquest in his eye--r o bis and the feudal system in every feature of . face." , The Learned Counsel observed, that the Bes chers and Atterniei were never called or il oo t discharge parochial duties, because they Wer e te se liable to those duties on tic - Coma tit - their l e rf t) .. sion. . The Jury, under all the circumstances, fo p in s verdict tor the Parish Officers, therefore Ena ls the Plaintiff liable to pay rates. THB DUKE OF BEDFORD V. PAGE. This was an action brought, in fact, n e e lessees of the Noble Plaintiff, against the de ,d dant, who is a market-gardener, in order W ie of the right to certain tolls claimed upon thersw /c o potatoes in a particular part of Covent-thlr,.!e'd' called the potatoe-market. The present ing Was the foryth of .the same nature ;• a° 1 0 details have already been laid fully before public. The Jury, after differing for some time, fflr(l al' a verdict tor the plaintiff, establishing the tv, t bilt two-pence per sack upon all potatoes so ld l; th e that particular part of the market upon wllsc question was raised. . ........................................----...............--...-----......—_ ___ BIRTHS.. On Tuesday morning, at his house in Guildford-stre: t ; W I Lady of G.T. Nicholson, Esq., of a son, Hilo only li ce ' t, hours., „, ;tr ee ' On IL'uesday morning, the 23d inst in Great CO / .) Mrs. Wallier, of a son. . . /' . f $ • MARRIED. O P O'' On Tuesday, at . St. Andrew's church, 1-Tolborny,, of Kemp, Esq., of Grower-street, to Ann, eldest daugli t° , e • J. Reeves, Esq., of Wohurn:phice, R usse ll-Squat e• . e yo r i , • Yesterday, Dr. 'l'. Hart, of Red Lion-square, t01t,%,101 deberg, second daughter of J. S. Friedeherg , °I . ',..:,./ hill. ....-,:.----------<-. of -- lE. e l, o f ~ _ • r On the 6th inst. in Russell-square, Katlierin_t ~, i ) t e p Francis Robertson, Esq. of Falmouth Trelawiiey, d u l i: of the Rol). John Cunningham, deceased, late Gu sto , l ot , James's, Jamaica. . r the ) 1 ;1 On Saturday, last, at Haberton, in his 69th Y ea 1 tll 4 Ralph Barnes, At-clideacon of Totnes, Chancellor u ~ 0 aged II " cese, and Canon Resident iary of 10;.sese.0.- On the 9th instant, Mr. George Lockingtun, his house, No. 63, South Audley-street. w` :real Ali "--------'''''—"---'' _._._rte--. - —7-- - - ' r• i i 0; 16, Afi' 4 '• tA)NDON: Printed by J. B. CARSI'AIRS, Of , t r f• • sri Ormond-street, Queeirssquare; 'and SCRIPPS, of No. 7, South Molton-street, t.._ 0 02 pbblishe: T O . e fo Office, No. 119, Strand; where Adveitiseinent7, Lctisirs, &c, (post-paid) must be addressed.