The Sun. — London, England, 1822-04-15 00:00:00

COLONIAL POLICY. The Board of Trade having recommended to the favourable consideration of the Legislature nearly a total subversion of our Colonial and Navigation System, we are in duced to give circulation to the following observations on Colo r ial Policy from the last number of The Quarterly Review. We hope his Majesty's Government will postpone the consi deration of the Bills brought in by Mr. ROBINSON and Mr. at LACE until another Sessioti of Parliament, and thereby :Hord an opportunity to the Colonists in British North Ame rica to be heard against them ; for not contemplating such a evolution in the policy of the Mother Country, they have pre pared for their voyages during the season to . the West Indies, which (from the assurances already sent out to the planters of being allowed an intercourse with the United States in Ameri ran shipping) will prove ruinous to the former. It is to be lamented that when the West India Interest ap plied to the Board of Trade on this subject, in July or August list, a communication was not immediately made to the Ship ping Interest, the Agents of the Provinces of British North America, and the Merchants interested in the trade to those Colonies. If that had been done, those Colonies would not have complained of being taken by surprise, nor would they have entered on their shipments for this season ; on the other hand, the American Government was early apprised of the dis position to concede this point to them, as were also the planters. We cannot forget the opposition given by the PRESENT MI. MISTERS in IBM to the American Intercourse Bill, nor the strong objection THEY THEN made to the refusal of the Ad ministration of that day to hear the British North American Celonists and the Ship-owners against it : the same reasons ~prevail in the present instance, and therefore his Majesty's Ministers, to be consistent in their conduct, should postpone these Bills until next year. We are convinced that these mea sures are pregnant with great danger to this country, and to all its Trading and Manufacturing Interests ; besides, that it is a . OBATUITOUS CONCESSION to the United States, altogether uncalled for and unnecessary ; nor will it be received in that spirit of conciliation with which it is probably offered, but will be considered as an act of weakness on our part, yielded from necessity, not from choice. In evidence of the feelings of the United States on this point, we recommend to the serious con sideration of the country the following extract from the PHI LADELPHIA Papers of the sth ultimo :—" In relation to 4 ' West India Restrictions, the plan is none of the best ; but " there will be no change of it during the present Session. ." Should there be a necessity for a change next year, it will be " done with a view to make our restrictions LESS HEAVY on " ourselves, and, probably, more COERCIVE on Great Britain; " but not with any disposition to yield in the contest." There is one point of view in which we think Mr. ROBIN BON'S Bill is particularly objectionable, independently of the policy or impolicy of the measure generally, namely, that it supersedes the power of the Legislature, and places the regu lation of the Trade and Navigation of the Empire in the Ministers of the Crown. We well remember how strongly Mr. CANNING, Mr. PERCIVAL, and other Members, objected in 1?06 to investing a much more limited authority in the Privy Council, under the American Intercourse Bill of that Session. By Mr. ROBINSON'S Bill, all the existing laws relating to our Colonial Trade are repealed, and the whole 'power of regulation confided to the Government for the time being. There was a period in the history of our country, sabot such an inroad on the Constitution would have been viewed with jealousy and distrust—when no temporary consi fieration of expediency would have induced the Legislature to • invest any Administration with such a power. The objections to it are obvious, and in our opinion insuperable. This part, therefore, of this ill-fated measure, at least, should not be -conceded, but the power of granting such further powers, as may hereafter be necessary, should be, from time to time, granted by the Legislature. The more we reflect on these measures, the more are we alarmed at the evils which will flow from them. Their object is to annihilate a system which has stood the test of the experience for centuries, and which has ac complished all the great national objects contemplated by its founders, without substituting any fixed and certain system to ,ethich we can look for the future. " In our Number for January, 1821, we entered into an exa mination of the policy of applying the principle of unlimited free intercourse to foreign trade. At that time we confined our argument to commerce as directly carried on between independ ent nations ; omitting a collateral view of the subject, which, om its importance, in particular to the British Empire, well deserves a place ; we propose now therefore to present some re liections on the relation of a country with its Colonies, and of 'Colonies with other States. In the former Article, we were led to the conclusion that, in the actual constitution of the world, domestic manufacturing industry, commerce, and navigation, -stand often in need of protective regulation as well for their maintenance as creation ; and this will be found, we believe, still more to accord with national policy in respect to colonial possessions. Before proceeding to the question of restraint, or freedom of intercourse, it may not he amiss to advert to some objections oc -easionally Ivanced against these dependencies altogether. It is sometimes insisted that Colonies are burdens • and that the wealth and strength of a country would be increased by seeking the productions of detached states and settlements of other .countries. Among these arguments, it is scarcely necessary to dwell upon the allegation that Colonies are a source of depopulation, since the principle which regulates the increase of mankind is, ,at this day, so completely established. Were the Colonies not possessed by us, we should not be more numerous. As emi g ration takes place, the numbers fill up so long as the means of support remains; in fact, with a new world risen, within a few generations, from our foreign settlements, the people of this , country have, at the same time, greatly multiplied. The in. stance of Spain is commonly cited ; but Uztariz, a writer of that „country entitled to every degree of credit, remarks that Canta bria, Navarre, and the other northern provinces, had furnished, •-for centuries, nearly the whole of the emigrators to America ; yet they suffered no,diminution of numbers. From this con -4.lsive appeal to experience, he proves the error of the popular .opinion, that 'Spain was drained of people by the possession of :;her Colonies. "rhose provinces,' he says, most abound with inhabitants, whence the greatest number of Spaniards have'. gone abroad. From the provinces of Toledo, La Mancha, and the neighbourhood, few go to the Indies, and yet these are the least populous parts of Spain. As mankind always presses on the extreme means of subsist. ,enne, it might rather be alleged of these foreign settlements that ,they provide an advantageous outlet to the overtiowings of states. Society adapts itself in education and character to the probable pursuits of its members, and these establishments re speiring enterprize and intelligence, their possession tends to .elevate the pursuits of life. In distant regions, the adventurers ,remain subjects of the same community, assisting its produc tion, attached to its interests, the support of their country in an important part of its foreign relations ; their beneficial industry removed, but not sacrificed. It is urged against Colonies that they occasion a drain of ,capital.; an other words, an abstraction from the mother coun -try of amain spring of its prosperity. It is this erroneous principle which pervades the arguments of Adam Smith against the colonial system. The fallacy of the reasoning has been ex - posed by Mr. Buchanan, and other commentators, by an appeal -Co facts. While our Colonies have grown into important states, with incalculable resources, this country has risen contempora neously to the highest pitch of industry and wealth. An inge ,.nious French Author, Ganilh, has entered into an estimate of the extraordinary progress of capital in America from European ..origin, the substance of which may be thus stated in British • in caley `united States, value of cultivated lands, houses, furniture ' machinery, cattle, currency . - X 456,000,000 British and French possessions in America and West Indies L.Vroductions and Mines of South America ie., 66,000,000 200,000,000 X 1,022,000,000 Ile Europeans who have peopled the new world, he reckons ,:at sae million ; and allowing each to have carried with him the value of £l2, he considers this capital of twelve millions to I have produced property exceeding in value one thousand millions *. The same twelve million* employed in Europe during the space of two centuries, according to the general rate of increase, could not be calculated to have reached above ten fold, or 120 millions. But the fallacy of the argument that Colonies are a drain of capital, might have been more conclusively derived from the nature of capital itself. All production being in a constant suc cession of consumption and renewal, that portion of the produc tion which is employed in obtaining , any subsequent renewal is the capital. It consists of the food, materials, and implements which, through the medium of the labourer, raise the next pro duction. Of the total production, a part is consumed unpro ductively, or without a return of material objects ; a part productively, or with a return; the latter is the capital : de pendent on production, capital rises and falls with it. In the New World, the production, in proportion to the means which created it, was large, and little of the excess was abstracted for unproductive consumption ; but at every process of renewal, more and more was contributed in addition to the previous capital to assist in the ensuing production : the fruitti of nature sprung up faster than the population to consume them. In Europe, the occasional withdrawing of capital to America did not impair the customary production, but it served rather to in crease the profit; and the habit of saving out of that profit re placed the capital withdrawn. It has been said of Colonies that they are a burden to a country, on account of the expense of administration and pro tection. If we knew precisely the extent of military and naval force stationed at foreign settlements, and the charge of civil admi nistration there and at home occasioned by their possession, we could ascertain the actual annual expense of these dependencies to the country. In making tip this account, something must be allowed for the naval force necessary to be kept up in those remote quarters, although we had no colonies. The planta tions themselves contribute. In the West Indies, some of the islands pay a duty of .11 per cent. ; others, and more especially Jamaica, have sustained a great part of the expenses of their own government and defence. T he British North American Colonies and East India possessions provide greatly or entirely for the expenditure, military and civil, appertaining to them. After determining thei charge in its actual extent, drawn from the taxes of this country for the maintenance of the Colonies, it will remain to compare that pecuniary amount with the ad vantages resulting to its industry from their possession : on adverting to these, the latter will be found greatly to'prepon derate. From the ties of intercourse between protecting and de pentlent states, it must . be obvious that they give rise to the formation of multifarious commodities on the part of an Eu ropean country, to pay for die exotic productions necessarily flowing into it.. If the articles produced equal the expense of the Colonies, in this view alone their possession is a source of wealth and enjoyment, and not a burden. An examination of the value of the colonial intercourse, compared with that of in dependent nations, must lead to a conviction that an amount of exports is made to the Colonies, exclusively originating in their demand, much exceeding the real expense. If a certain portion of the total exports be thus owing to these possessions, the labour of the producers of that excess must, without them, evidently determine and cease. Even could we without the Colonies rely on possessing the same extent of production, and consequently power to purcase of them or of other states, still the security and permanence of an intercourse under our controul is an important considera. tion. The certainty of a home trade is acquired. The whole of the produced wealth is the property of British subjects. It is not on one side that of foreigners ; nor are we exposed to in terruptions from caprice or policy, or the occurrence of hostili ties between other Powers. A foreign state may,, by regula tions, draw its supplies, even of the staples and manufactures in which this country is confessedly superior, from other sources. This acquired stability in our relations will repay even a large sacrifice. If then production be created by a colonial connexion, on that production must depend its requisite capital, which with outit must perish. This capital, though occupied on its spe cific production, will be partly applicable to the calls of the state, and strengthen the resources of Government. It is wealth diffused through every part of society, which, at the time of need, like a peaceful population in the hour of danger, may be drawn forth to meet the exigence of the occasion. In the abundant productions of Colonies, transmitted to the pa rent state, an excess arises which is re-exported, and for which portion:, and its returned value, that state becomes the medium. This gives birth to commercial capital, which, like that of agri culture and manufactures,is dependent on production, although in remoter quarters. Mercantile capital may even be possessed by a people who have neither husbandry nor manufactures, and it is peculiarly the offspring of regulation, and sometimes of accident. It is this capital which Dr. Smith has specified as " employed in transporting either rude or manufactured produce from the places where it abounds, to those where it is wanted." This capital is snore available and disposable than that immediately assisting production ; and, as we shall endea vour to show in the sequel, is especially at the command of countries possessing Colonies. The employment of seamen, attendant upon a colonial trade, is an object of primary importance. The productions of the tropics being to be procured in Europe only by means of navi. gation, ithe appropriation of a large portion of their conveyance has ever been accounted a source of strength and security.— ' Without the possession of Colonies, it is difficult to say how this can be attained, unless the sources of the produce were in dependent states, and would forego (what no state possessing shipping ever did forego) discriminating duties and favour to its own vessels. It would be impertinent in us to observe fur ther, how important a consideration a numerous mercantile marine is to this country. Colonial possessions, scattered over all parts of the world, become secure marts from which commerce can be carried on with every quarter: without them the intercourse with many places, in an imperfectly , civilized or often disturbed state, would be precarious and hazardous. They confer, wherever situated, a local influence, upholding the character and inte rests of the country. It is thus Jamaica and other West India islands are the means of an extensive intercourse with South America, secure amid the troubles to which that quarter has been, and may yet be, subject. Thus, in the Mediterranean, Gibraltar, and Malta, although not in themselves productive, become beneficial chains of communication with Barbary and other parts in their vicinity. Our various East India posses sions, besides the commerce actually held with diem, are the means of conducting an intercourse with every shore of the Indian Ocean. We might enlarge on the advantages resulting to nations from the possession of Colonies, but, considering them as suffi ciently manifest, and especially to States having maritime in terests, we shall proceed to examine the policy by which their intercourse is regulated ; and this investigation will tend more strongly to illustrate these advantages. The zealous promoters of free trade have not only held it forth to practice in the intercourse of home territories, but they would extend its operation to every colonial dependence. This principle has: not hitherto been adopted by the rulers of other countries possessing Colonies, nor by any of the great States men of our own country. Their aim has rather been to esta blish the intercourse of foreign settlements on a footing, which, while it afforded protection to their interests, served to insure the fullest advancement to the power, wealth, and resources of the parent state. Influenced, perhaps, by the opinions of the mercantile body, one view, in the minds of those who first formed these regula tions, was to oblige, as far as possible, other countries,to draw their supplies of the produce of the Colonies from the country possessing them, and by that means to attract an influx of the precious metals, giving rise to what is called a favourable ex. change, because it induces that influx, and an active circulation. Erroneous as was the object—for we cannot assent to the great doctrine of the mercantile system, that wealth consists the abundant supply of the precious metals,—yet we are dis posed to believe that the means employed to attain that end were often better adapted to arrive at real wealth,—the abun dance of objects useful to life,—than the wholly unrestricted system so eagerly pursued by the economists of the present day. Our West India possessions are the most important instance of the exercise of the national monopoly prescribed by the co lonial policy, and as this has been adhered to with steady per severance, they furnish a fair contrast with the merits of oppo-' site modes of government. If the test of facts and experience might be appealed to for the influence of these different schemes of administration upon public wealth, the instance of these Colonies might be triumphantly brought forward by the advo cates of a restricted intercourse. It is hardly necessary to inform our readers that, according to the strict colonial policy, it is laid down as the general rule, that all the produce of the Colonies, destined for the European market,•shall be brought to the Mother Country , for consump tion, or re-exportion ; on the other hand, that the Mother Francs. • The revenue of New Spain (Mexico) in 1712, was, 16,000,000 1802, 101,000,000 Increase within a century 85,000,000 In the same interval (Depons, Voyage to Terra Firma) the plains in the neighbourhood of the Caraccas have produced treble the number of animals which they formerly possessed.'— ( De Pradt on Colonies. ) In little more than a century, the European possessions in the West Indies have risen to the immense production of the present ' day, which may be estimated annually thus : sugar 200,000 ton ; coffee 50,000 ; rum 80,000 ton ; besides cotton, cocoa, pimento, &c. many of which articles were either intro duced within that period, ur were previously wholly uncultivated. Country shall furnish all the supplies required by the Colonies; and that the conveyance of the produce shall be confined to the national shipping. Front this great principle deviations have been made ; some exacted by temporary circumstances, others of a more permanent nature. With regard to the 'West India Colonies, the chief exception has been the permission to draw ?rovisions and lumber from the United States, giving in return rum and molasses. • _ . . At times, the intercourse of nations and their colonies has bean more narrowly confined than we have here explained. It has been often limited to an exclusive company ; sometimes to one or more ports ; and, in some cases, as in the Spanish gal leons, to particular ships : it is hot, however, our object to ad vert to measures having in view solely the advantage of a por tion of the community, but such as affect the public interests in the aggregate. We desire to give the freest career to the activity of every individual in the empire, and contend for the expedience of international, and not internal distinctions. The advocates for the removal of restrictions between coun tries argue upon a principle correct in the abstract, but not applicable to the national divisions of mankind, nor always eligible when applicable. It may be thus shortly stated : the wealth of a country, consists in the productive labour of its inhabitants, and the command which the produce of that labour has over the productions of other countries. The ge neral labour of the world is variously assisted by soils and cli mate. One day's labour in Hindostan or Jamaica will give far more sugar than a day's labour applied to its extraction from any vegetable substance in' Europe. The freest access of a nation to all countries and climates must therefore yield the highest value to its labour. The quick perception of interest will direct every individual to seek the best ex changes, and to obtain • the most abundant returns for the pro duce of his industry. A man in Jamaica may thus find his day's labour command more manufactures and rude produce from France or Germany, or the United States, than from Eng land. A man in England may find his day's labour procure more colonial produce from the Havannah, Brazils, or else where, than from Jamaica ; upon this view, therefore, the most open intercourse would appear the most beneficial. These theories are, however, subject to numerous modifica tions, like all general rule; which are concerned with the vary ing passions and interests of mankind, the policy and artifices of Governments. it is amidst prohibitions, restrictions, and taxes, as existing . in all 'cOuntries„ . and which must, more or less, ever 'exist, that productions have to seek - their best exchangeable value .ehroughout . the world. The sources of tropical productions, - for instance, are either actually in the hands of European States, and the productions are forced through their niedium to the supply of the consumers; or the sources being independent, the productions are subject to heavy. export duties. The policy of states is continually varying ; and a change which may open a commercial intercourse one year, may close it the next. The British manufacturer, whose commodities must chiefly furnish the means of purchase from the sources which these chances might present, must one moment adapt his litbours to the taste of die East, another, of the West Indies ; now trust to Africa, and now to America. Of this uncer tainty he has already an ample proportion. If, on the other hand, Spain, Portugal, France, or Holland, are the channels of supply, they may not take at all, or only partially, the pro ductions of this country. In the great changes and interrup tions to which commerce becomes thus liable, industry is per plexed, labour in no certain employ, and serious or fatal loss to individuals is often occasioned. Now the manufacturer and other trading classes recur to our own plantations, with cer tainty, of a steady vent, under complete protection, and exempt from every hazard of intercourse, except such as is beyond hu. man control. Under, the free system, their markets might be forestalled from every other European state ; in discharging debts which might leave little to • support the industry of Britain. Our West India and other Colonies might seek cheaper ma nufactures elsewhere, and offer their produce to other countries; but many states have Colonies, to the produce of which they give an exclusive preference. Our Colonists might thus find no considerable market accessible to them, with advantage, but that of this country, and must recur to it; yet, under the free system here, the market might easily prove pre-occupied with rival produce. If such, then, are the probable results or a free inter course, the mutual restriction only confines the trade to its natural course, and gives stability to that which would other wise be perplexed and variable. The connection of the pa rent State and Colonies, on the open system,. would have all the uncertainty of a foreign trade ; on the restricted one, it has all the security of a home trade. Capital transmitted to a foreign State for the purposes of commerce, and, more or less, re maining there in credits and investments, becomes exposed to the changes and policy of that state ; if employed in settle ments belonging to the country, it will be removed from the chances attendant on foreign possession, and loss by other than our own measures. Other countries are little likely to relax in their restrictions, and we do but retort on them their own policy. Each lives in a more independent situation, a further degree removed from the chances of events, from the evil of other wars than their own, and the disorders of revolutions, to which various parts of the world seem _ peculiarly is exposed. A colonial inter course with an European state not an unnatural and forced one, but is founded oh diversity of climate and productions, mutual wants and dependence ; nor will regulation, therefore, appear superfluous and unnecessary, if it defend us in our na tural position, and secure what would, otherwise, be exposed to destruction or change. The interest of the trader, the unerring guide to which we are counselled to trust, is, compared with the principle which regulates the general intercourse of the different states of the world, but' short sighted. The trader has one sole object—to obtain a larger numerical value in money for his commodity than it cost him. He does not always consider whether the money has the same intrinsic value, or an equal command of the necessaries and conveniencies of life ; so long as lie is adding to the exchangeable value of his goods in money, he deems himself right, without regarding whether the goods themselves are proportionately increasing in quantity. If this be, as we believe, a just character of the trader's rule of con duct, we hardly think that his movements can or ought to be the only true and infallible guide in national interests. The experienced statesman, who takes an enlarged view, and is as competent as a trader to judge of the great mutual wants of societies, together with their political relations and interests , and which always affect their economical condition, is, with common discretion, • more likely to regulate international com munication on a safe, beneficial, and lasting basis. Unless in tercourse is directed in a given track, individuals might di verge into such as is less eligible on public grounds. The road , must be formed, and then it is sure to be used. The question, in fine, is, whether that country is best situat ed which is secure of a given place where the products of its la bour can be exchanged, or that which has to seek throughout the world for permission to exchange them ? Whether the Colonies are best circumstanced, in seeking all the markets of the Continent, or in being sure of the certain great market of this country ? Whether it is better, on both sides, to be subject to the caprices of Nations, as well as the vicissitudes of seasons, or to be dependent only on the latter ? 'Whether to give safety to the exchanges of labour, so far as in us lies, or to commit ourselves to all the chances and windings of other States? Let those who deal with independent countries answer how far their intercourse is secure and stable, and the nature and ex tent of their vent to be foreseen. Let the traders with Russia speak to the variations, not only arising from seasons but from altered tariffs, which every year brings forth, and tell us whe ther, at any period, it is possible to take measures certain to be adapted to the custoiii-house regulations of that empire, and their effect upon consumption. Under a system of restrictive regulations many of our Colo nies have sprung up, and especially those of the West Indies.— It was under a similar system that the Vest India Colonies of France, and particularly St. Domingo, previously to the revolu tion, rose to unrivalled prosperity, and were the great source of her formidable maritime strength. In 1699, Colbert estimated the number of French vessels en gaged in foreign trade at 600. Of these not more than 100 were supposed to be employed in the commerce of the West Indies. At the Revolution, France had not more than 1000 vessels en gaged in distant voyages, or about 200,000 tons. Far the larger part of this very limited tonnage (compared with the I.;reat com merce of France) was owing to her West India Colonies ; for from various reasons, her commerce with other parts was car ried on in foreign shipping : that with her colonies was wholly her own. The tonnage of her European trade was only 152,000 tons. So entirely did the strength of the French marine appear, at that time, to depend on the Colonies, that one of the Minis ters, M. Arnould, to whom we ate indebted for the statements we present, exclaims :—' Queues ressources a done la France pour entretenir une force publique maritime ? Quels moyens lui restent pour elever, instruire, et multiplier la classe prtci euse des matelots ? Le commerce de I'Am4rique,—ne lkins pas,—le commerce de l'Arnerique.' The following table will show the rapid progress of the French West India Colonies within the last century, and their import ance to that country ; together with the value of the produce re-exported, and of that which was consumed at home. It will be seen that the general export of colonial produce in the seven years' average, ending 1783, was 50,6 3 0, 000 livrcs. In the five years endin* 1788 the average was 93,056,000 livres, being an increase of four-fifths in five years. u 1783 the annual import 0. 1 m. ; gggggg ggggggggg • "":::"•-•=" =•• • =" ." , ,.. 4 e4 . 22.1t9 . "CD"CD7:10 .4 0 54 CD 9 9 9 P France, on the late peace, was no sooner re-possessed of Co. lonics than her Legislative Body proceeded to establish her ma ritime commerce on a footing, the first feature of which is fa vour.to them ; in a similar spirit she has granted the highest encouragement to her fisheries : thus a few yearS have sufficed to re-animate a marine which . was nearly extinct, and which might have remained in that listless state, hpd she permitted those Nations already in possession of the navigation of the seas to become her carriers. .. _ _ _ In referring to experience it will be found that such colonial dependencies as have not been confined to the metropolitan state, have rendered much less benefit than those where the colonial system has been established. The British West and East India possessions will present some points of comparison in this re spect. _ Our territorial acquisitions in the East Indies have not been subjected to the colonial regulations of commerce, and the opi nion appears to have always prevailed that they are not fitted for those restrictions. The late Lord Melville, in a letter to the Chairman of the East India Company, dated the 15th of April, 1793, says, It is not disputed that foreign nations are entitled to carry on trade with our Indian possessions ; those countries never have been, nor ever can be, held upon the footing of co lonial possessions.' The ports of British India are accordingly accessible to the flags of all nations. They import foreign pro duce and manufactures, and export those of the East Indies un der duties very little higher than are paid on goods by British vessels. So far as our Eastern possessions raise within themselves their revenues, and arc open to general commerce, they stand in the same situation as if they were independent. The administra tion being named by this country, and under its controul, they are merely an extent of dominion, with the usual appendage of a public debt and annual exyence ; and without many of the peculiar advantages to be derived from colonial possessions._ Local residence, indeed, and occupation afford opportunities for knowledge of the resources of the country; from which enter prize and intelligence may create commerce. Interchanges of productions will hence arise ; and the supply of other countries with eastern produce (as, in some degree, it actually is) by dif ference of duty, and possession, be poured through the channel of this country. But such share of commerce is, 'at present, almost wholly committed to the result of chance ; whereas, iunder the more strict colonial system, as prevailing in our West India posses sions, the produce must pass through this country, must employ its shipping and seamen, and must give a livelihood to nume rous British residents. Thus the whole stream of wealth and commerce flows this way ; and the abundance of the produc tions, if exceeding the consumption of this country, passes through its medium to other countries, which repay the value in their products again pouring through our channel in their course to the original spot. Hence ship-owners, seamen, fac tors, and many other industrious classes, are employed and en riched. Hence, too, arises mercantile capital, which is capable of being directed and determined to a certain course, and de pends, consequently, much upon legislative regulations.— Without the intervention of this capital, concentrated in a third hand, the produce of one country would go directly and more cheaply to exchange against the produce of another country. Greater abundance might exist on both sides ; but the in termediate capital would cease where it was heretofore pos- sessed. This intervention with possession of capital is often seen to arise from casual circumstances, and to its continuance or ces sation may be traced the rise and fall of most of those coun tries which, in time past, flourished by commerce. Thus, in the middle ages, the Italian States were, by position, the me dium of the supply of Europe with eastern productions. The passage of the Cape of Good Hope shifted the route, and with it the trade and consequent wealth of Italy gradually expired. This circumstance was one cause of the prosperous commerce of this country in the late war; during the course of which Great Britain became the medium of all the products from be yond sea, destined for the consumption of Europe. The effect of the change may be judged from the total imports and ex ports of the last three years of the war, compared with the three years just passed : 1811. 1819. £80,232,767-40,135,952 77,392,056-56,851,319 1812. 1820. £60,013,241—.33,625,740 58,582,012-46,912,492 1813. 1821. Imports - £60,424,876 —36,517,262 Exports - 73,725,602-51,730,616 Such has been the extraordinary declension of our commerce, since this country has ceased to be necessarily the route for the conveyance of foreign productions to continental Europe.* It was impossible to perpetuate such a route, (incident to the per turbed state of file world,) but it was possible to direct in this course the products of our own colonies. The following statement of shipping will exhibit the ton nage clearing outwards to the principal colonial possessions, during the year ending the sth of .January, 1821 ; and will likewise furnish a contrast with the shipping engaged in the intercourse with the more important independent States. It will show too how large a portion of our foreign intercourse is carried on by the shipping . of other countries ; and how consi derable a share of our navigation owes its existence to the strict colonial system : British Foreign Tonnage. Tonnage. British North American Colonies - 300,695 British West India Colonies - 217,744 East Indies - - - 76,833 France - 80,361 50,954 United States • - - - 44,589 133,516 Holland - • . - - - 53,828 37,222 Germany . 107,601 19,680 Russia . - 111,290 —• 14,995 Sweden and Norway - 15,641 51,102 The official value of exports to the colonies will show that they take as much British produce as the greater part of Eu rope; while again the colonial produce'lmported for re-expor tation forms a large portion of the eiports .to Europe. British Foreign and British North American Co- Produce. Colonial. Total. I lonics - £1,548,181 £452,852 £2,001,033 I British West India Colonies 4,197,975 292,033 4,490,003 East Indies - - 2,039,507 382,256 2,421,763 France - 246,144 734,677 980,821 Rolland . ' 1,158,120 '1,129,555 2,287,675 Germany 5,581,856 2,827,114 8,408,970 Russia - 1,630,047 406,016 2,036,063 United States - - 4,229,767 71,928 4,301,695 It may not he unuseful to trace some of the consequences likely to ensue from removing all restrictions regarding foreign settlements, and loosening the ties which now unite Great Bri tain and her colonial establishments. This country will draw her supplies of sugar, rum, coffee, cocoa, from the Brazils, Ha vannah, St. Domingo, and St. Thomas, Java, and China, or any other place, friendly or hostile, as accident or design may effect. The Colonies will furnish themselves with manufactures from France, Germany, and ere long, perhaps, from the United States. The Colonies in the West Indies will thence derive, at once, rude produce, and provisions from South America. Under these circumstances of relaxation, what advantages may result from their possession adequate to the attendant charge, may be doubtful ; and the ulterior step expedient to Imports Exports Imports Exports •The effects of the restraints during the war were almost universally miscalculated... " The British shipping" says Colquhoun, " which =Counted in 1801 to 1,725,949 tons, had increased to 2,163,094 tons in 1812. Had the (continental) trade been open, this increase would probably have now been double the present amount." take, may be to release them wholly from a connexion held to gether by the most slender interests. In this wide search after precarious benefits, what is to be-- come of the certain employment now possessed by our shipping? . In what navigation, with what freights are 220,000 tons and. 16,000 seamen, now secure in the West India trade, to be main tained ? In what the 300,000 tons and 22,000 seamen in the trade with the North American colonies ? If other countries , establish, as France, discriminating duties or positive prohibi-- tion.s, where is to be found the opportunity to replace what is ceded to foreign navigation ? Ireland must cease to supply the Nest Indies with her salt: provisions, beef, pork, butter, various kinds of grain, and her linens. Scotland, with her manufactures, linen, and, possibly,. cotton; and may fear even for her herring fishery. The agri culture, the manufactures, the fisheries, and the mines of the United Kingdom, must undergo great and important changes upon such entire innovation in this leading branch of the na tional commerce. Could the Colonies explore the world for a market, the pro prietor and merchant would be full as likely to take up their residence in France, Germany, 'or America, as here: were the latter, who has invested his property in plantations, to remain in England, while the produce was forwarded in direct voyages' to the Continent, his interest would become wound up in those of every other country but his own. It has been often observed that the merchant is, from the nature of his calling, less in terested in his local residence than any other class of the community. It may be said that these arguments would tend to keep up an exclusive intercourse between this country and her Colonies, though their sugars or other produce should cost fifty per cent. dearer than foreign ; and though the productions of this coun try should come fity per cent. higher to the Colonies than could he procured elsewhere ; and to the great pressure of both sides. But, it is to recollected., the advantages have their measure ; they consist in securing a steadiness of market, security of ca pital, and policy of intimate connexion ; and these may be ex ceeded by the evils of extreme constraint. The commerce must be placed upon a natural as well as regulated footing. It is not any extreme forced system of which we are the advocate - Mr. Malthus has justly stated* that it is by proportions we must estimate the propriety of proceeding, and act in national measures. The art or a practical political economy is to ascer tain and judge of these proportions. If the produce raised in the colonies should be unequal to the consumption of the country, then the price might rice exorb!.. tantly under the exclusion of foreign.—This effect is remediable by a discriminating duty. The degree of advance which the country can be brought to pay would be thus limited by her own act ; and the price once rising above the ratio of preference, the supplies will be sought from a neighbouring market or foreign source. If, however, the produce of the colonies exceed the consumption of the country, as is our case in tropical pro ductions, they must become lower than elsewhere, until the price cause the export to foreign markets to meet on a footing with similar produce from other settlements. The extent and variety of our West India colonies always furnish this excess. It is but due to the planter, who is obliged to come first to this country, to give every facility to the re-- exportation of the excessive supply, by exemption from transit duties, port charges, and the like burthens to the utmost degree possible. If the colonies now get a higher value than other sources of like produce, under a system of freedom, the price must fall to them • but if the colonies get a lower. which it is probable is the general case, then the country can not change for the better, but would loose by admitting other, states to an intercourse with the colonies, and participation of the advantages. It is unjust to oblige the colonies to receive their supplies from this country, and yet refuse to them the admission or their produce here, at the same time restraining them frorn sending it elsewhere. Yet this is, in some respects, our system with respect to the British North American settle ments. This is the only country in Europe,' said Mr. Fox , in which the colonies are permitted to sell their crops ; surely them, by every principle of reason and natural justice, the,' should also have an exclusive access to our markets ; a m ono- . poly, subsisting on one side, necessarily implying a monopoly also on the other." Whatever restrictions fall upon the consumption of the la' r bourers or slaves of the colonies, or directly on the formation 0, the produce, tend to raise its price ; but whatever fall upon the articles used by the planter and the easier orders of the coin.' munity, may operate as a tax allowable in favour of the pro' tecting country. In conformity with these views of the relation of the metro politan state and the colonies, that is to place them in such , ' situation as to raise their pro duce with the same advantage 34 independent states, or, if possible, with greater, but always' ni preserve their.connexion with the mother-country and its depen dencies in preference to one with foreign nations ; it is often matter of difficulty to regulate the intercourse of settlemen ts ' with other countries, in the way that circumstances will often render in part indispensable, in part advisable. Our West Zndt colonies stand in this peculiar situation with regard to P'C United States of America. The vicinity of these states renders them the readiest resor t for the supply of provisions and lumber, while, on the other hand, diem population offers a considerable vent for the pro duce of the colonies. Previously to the separation of the Unit' ed States from Great Britain, the most free intercourse was al' lowed between them and the West India possessions in all arti cles, whether those called enumerated (or otherwise confined to the mother-country) or non-enumerated. This intercours e ceased under the operation of the navigation laws, when the North American provinces became an independent state. Ilte provisions and lumber of America were, however, found indi: pensable to our colonies, and the governors in the West In dies gave, from time to time, permission for their importation, trio!' ing to Parliament for an indemnity. A law was passed 1° in 1806 to render this intercourse legal. This, with slight vir d riati,ns, was the policy pursued for many years, subject 0 1 r/ to interruption from the occurrence of war. But by a legiali tire act of the 3d of March, 1815, the American states resolv no longer to permit the importation of our rum and molasse s ' or to furnish provisions and lumber, unless a system of unre" stricted intercourse were conceded without distinction or e xcla" sion of American vessels. Besides this declared necessity of the provisions and lumber' it is stated that the American market offers a great and readl vent for rum, a part of the produce of the West India estate „ the quantity of which cannot be reduced consistently with ney diminished cultivation, and which, without this vent, is accom panied with serious loss; and it is now accumulated in th) l country to an enormous extent and under great depreciation , '" Provisions can now be obtained in considerable abundanc e from the countries in South America recently become inde pendent. Lumber is also procured from Canada. It is a question of much difficulty ; and among other cO 5 " siderations is the loss of employment for our shipping. supplies from the neighbouring continent would necessarily U e l carried on by American shipping, notwithstanding the WI admission of our vessels in the trade. At present the wh op '' navigation between the British North American and West Itr, dia settlements is carried on by British shipping. In 1809,1 was a consideration whether a limited export of sugar and cooc should be allowed, but this degree of concession would not no° satisfy the American Legislature ; their declared aim is a fre e intercourse without any reserve. The articles lumber and provisions are component par°, of the cost of sugar, and any burthensome mode of procurlr' ll them must raise the price of sugar beyond the level prevailing in those countries which have access to cheaper supplies , " Holding, as we do, that colonies should be placed as nearly o e possible upon a footing of free trade, and especially that what; ever enters immediately into the cost of their produce shou l ' be within their reach on the best terms, it is on such grouni e alone that this intercourse appears to us justifiable; end undo this view, it seems incumbent oa the colonists to make o ut ' 1 real case of necessity. • The abolition of the slave-trade in our possessions places in a condition which ought to conciliate every State professinl freeclinn, and be a motive to facilitate our intercourse with by the new and the older American Governments. This traffic 0 still pursued without restraint by the other European nation' holding . transatlantic possessions, while our Colonies'rest upa their existing population. Whatever opposition might once b e given by the West India interest to the measure ot abolitiort , since the legislature has adopted it, those interests have faith; fully carried it into effect, and have become the firm allies an ° supporters of the abolitionists. To repeat the sum of our argument. We cannot approve th e system which imposes forced and unnatural limitations on the , intercourse of Colonies with the parent State ; neither can we, go into the opposite extreme of removing all regulations, coin' mit ourselves to the accidents of life, or be insensibly led int e/ t the channels of production and intercourse the most depen da e and least accordant with our permanent interests. The legislatn r f will never forget the paramount necessity of binding all parts t , the empire in ties of communication and dependence, and ° keeping a general view on the course of production and CO:, merce, order to apply a direction gentle, but sufficient to turf them into the channel of this country. We have deeme d useful draw attention to some effects of these changes; the w to especially now that every Session of Parliament gives birth some important regulation of foreign and domestic commer ce Alterations in our system of policy succeed each other with imp perceptible rapidity ; imperceptible, because though under t" It will be found, I believe, true, that all the great resul t ! in political economy,respecting wealth, depend upon proportio n and it is from overlooking this most important truth that r: many errors have prevailed in the prediction of consequeno, ‘ ", that nations have sometimes been enriched when it was e,,fr is peeled that they would be impoverished, and impoverished , , it was expected that they would be enriched.'—(Afatthues c litical Economy, chap. vii. sec. 7.) c 1 i I I - of sugar into France was about 2,600,000 cwt. 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