The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-08 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

without let or hindrance of any kind, those
commodities which, from natural causes of
soil or climate, or artificial causes of skill in
cultivation and aptitude of manufacture, are
peculiar to the various countries of the world
According to this theory, the sugar of the West
Indies should be freely exchanged for our
iron, the wines of France for our coal, the
tobacco of southern America for our pottery,
and the tea of China for our hardware and
cotton manufactures. Free trade of this kind
would confer inestimable benefits upon the
world ; it would give to commerce an expansion
of which, under ourpresent system, we can form
but a faint idea; it would fulfil the scheme of
mutual intercourse and benefit which we may
humbly conceive was designed by Providence
iu endowing different climes and lands with
distinct products; and it would give to the
various populations of the globe a command
over necessaries and luxuries which must be
denied to them while high duties continue to
prevail. The heavy imports laid on those
commodities of foreign production which are
most largely consumed in this country, and
which this country itself cannot produce, is so
manifest and flagrant a violation of the first
principles,—the very ABC of free trade,—that
one wonders how the notion could have gained
credence that free trade would be established
by a repeal of the corn laws. It would seem
that a duty on the importation from abroad of
produce which can be grown in this country is
more reasonable than a duty on foreign pro-
duce which cannot be grown here. Now that
such commodities as we have mentioned
above, and especially tea and sugar, have
passed from the class of luxuries and become
necessaries, it is extremely objectionable to
load them with heavy duties. An unlimited
supply could be obtained if free trade pre-
vailed in them, and the extension of our
demand would be met by a corresponding ex-
tension of our trade and commerce It is,
however, by heavy duties on those articles of
foreign production which are most required by
the people that the customs' revenue of all
nations is mainly supported.
Of the second class are those commodities
which are levied upon foreign goods likely
to compete with particular home manufac-
tures and interests. Whatever theoretical ob
jections may be urged to such duties, there
are in our complicated state of civilisation
so many other interests interwoven with
those of production, and so many ulterior
principles come ultimately to depend on the
prosperity or depression of particular classes,
that to argue from the naked merits of the
case is just as absurd as if we should expect to
cure a luxurious invalid by plunging him
suddenly into cold water, and surcharging his
system with beef and ale. The principle of pro
tection has at all events practically influenced
nations and governments in the regulation of
their tariffs to a very considerable extent; and
in going through a work like the present we
cannot but be struck at the resolution with
which they have adhered to it.

The third principle pervading tariffs is that
in which rules of national policy are most
conspicuous. While England, for example,
burdens with enormous duties articles which
pass directly into consumption, she frees from
all duty those articles most necessary to her trade
and manufactures—as cotton, wool, flax, hemp,
&e.; and even Russia, the most restrictive of
all nations in her tariff, admits free of duty
most kinds of machinery, all agricultural im-
plements, and salt, necessary for the use of
animals. The commercial policy of England
has, however, as yet been followed to a very
small extent in other nations. A minute
examination of the tariffs here collected
would go far to explain the commercial policy
of different States, and, perhaps, to throw
light on the various degrees of commercial
prosperity they enjoy. The rapid growth of
the United States, and of our colonies, must
be mainly attributed to their comparative
freedom from those imposts which prevail in
the countries of the Old World, not excepting
our own ; and the contrast will become still
greater, as growing debts require new addi
tions to taxation. It is worth notice that in
the United States tea and coffee are among
the few articles which are entirely free from
duty.