The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-08-28 00:00:00

ation, and we might almost say on the express
condition, that the other powers to whom we then
opened our ports would act in the tame spirit—
that is to say; recierrucale every advantage to our

navigation 71,ilich.we thereby accorded to theirs.
Th; report also aeknavviedges that the British
shipo-krier hag suffered Urioitis ififtity• til 6orise-

qiielice offoreign powers havigg availed them-

selves of our generosity while they persist in
maintainilig a monopoly of their own colonial and
coasting trade. The British shipoWners, it is
plainly stated, who are almost prohibited frorti the
carrying trade to and from the colonies of France,
Spain, and Portugal, in consequence of the im-
mense disadvantage at Niihich thei'i arc placed in
the unequal competition they have to encotiritek,
113 Ye the mvrtitie4tion to we foreign ships resort
to our own colonies; and secure much higher

freighth than oar own snips *heri chattered to a
port in Eurdpe. As the case no \V stands, the report
shows that "we have given all and Obtained
nothing in return This is a stated thiiip whieh,
in the unanimous opinion of this well-selected
committee, requires that every effort of the

Government should be directed to get it placed
upon a more equal and satisfactory footing. This
is all that we have -ever deriimiciedi and t great

,
devil bore than the Government, of any of those
organs of the press, such as The Times, have

ever shown the least inclination to acknowledge.
This, in short, has been our great ground of com-

plaint ; and we are fully borne out by the Select

Committee, who state in their repart-::•" A sense
of justice derttatds that all iiarilbs elietild be
placed upon equal terms in the race of cornpetiz
tion ; and whatever difficulties may stand in the way
of having recourse to those retaliatory measures
which we have the power to exercise: in order to
obtain reciprocity from foreign powers, there has,
your committee regret to state, been an apparent
apathy oil the part of the Executive Government
to deal with this important question: It is ad-
mitted that nothing has been done by teinon-
strance to obtain reciprocity from foreign states,
and that no ' decided steps' of any kind have been
taken; nor does it appear that any minister at
the Foreign Office has employed that influence
which might have been exercised to secure by
diplomatic negotiation those advantages which it
was the object of the retaliatory clauses to re-
quire in the last resort. Upon a recent occasion the
advantage of arranging a treaty of navigation with
France was deemed of sufficient importance to be
the subject of an address to the Crown by the
House of Commons; but your committee is not in
a position to state that anything has since been
attempted by the executive authorities to over-
come the obstacles • which stand in the way of
concluding more satisfactory international ar-
rangements with that country. Your com-
mittee also regret to inform your honourable
house that they have not found in the archives of
the Foreign Office, nor indeed of the Board of
Trade, that specific inforination respecting
the tariffs of foreign powers, and especially
of differential dues levied in European ports
on British shipping, or upon goods carried in
British ships, upon which alone a correct idea
can be formed of the obstructions to our com-
merce which now exist, and of the best means of
removing them, and they recommend that imme-
diate steps should be taken to remedy this defi-
ciency: Though ten years have elapsed since
the Navigation Laws Were repealed, the, Govern-
mentis still officially unaware of the burdens and
restrictions to which British vessels are subjected
in foreign ports ; that knowledge, with any rules
or regulations which affect international inter-
course, your committee consider ought to have
been in the possession of the executive, and could
easily have been obtained through the me-
dium of our consular agents abroad. Had
the necessary information been collected by
the Foreign Office, and communicated to the
Board of Trade ydur committee are of opi-
nion that the diplomatic action of a powerful
and commercial country like Great Britain might
have been, under the direction of an able Minister
of Foreign Affairs/ prudently and advantageously
employed in pressing upon foreign powers the
adoption of a free-trade policy in navigatiOri, with
a view to cement by a closer bond of interest the
political relations which already happily subsist
by international treaty. Your committee are of
opinion that no country which enjoys the benefits
of an unrestricted navigation With Great Britain
and her vast territories, together With the incal-
culable benefits of our great and inexhaustible
markets in both" hemispheres, would for a
moment run the' risk of jeopardising these
advantages, rather than cede a share of that
domestic drid colonial trade and navigation,
which they still Withhold with a commercial
jealousy unworthy of enlightened nations. Your
committee' still hope that through the tepresenta-
tions of our diplomatic agents, the European
States which hesitate to reciprocate a liberal
system of navigation may be induced to yield to
our friendly demands, in order to avoid the pos-
sibility of having recourse to any measures which
may bear even the appearance of loosening the
ties of amity which DOW sutsiso
.The conduct of the Government of the United
States in maintaining a monopoly of their coast-
ing_ trade is especially reprehensible. The United
States .of America, possessing no colonies,
could not have given to any return equivalent
to the boon we conferred on their vessels by
opening up Mir Celothal trade.; and yet, not only
has she excluded our ship's- from what might
fairly be called her coasting trade, litit she has
most unjustly claimed as exclusively her own, the
important trade from the eastern coast -of the
United States to Californiann the. western Shores
.
of the continent, either .by I'ay of rinatnaor
round Cape Horn, In reference. to the proposal
to exclude the ships Of the' United States from
our' colonial carrying trade? With a view to bring
their shipoWtiers to a jusfer sense of what is. due
to our friendly relations, it is observed, " the un-
remitting attention of her Majesty's 'Government
should be directed to this important question,
with a view to remove, if possible, the last and
only obstruction to' a more free and unrestricted
comniercial and rnaritime,intercourse between the
Unites Stiktei and this coUtritry.".
While we do not ridexvalue the suggestions of,
the committee on minor grletahceetv which our
shipowners have too long been stib*ett for
which they point out certain remedies, the great
grievance is that to which we have referred. It
is gratifying to.find that already some steps have
been taken to give effect to the recommendations of
the select committee. We are informed that Mr.
LINDSAY has been authorised to proceed to Wash-
ington to place before the American Cabinet and
the Senate the views of her Majesty's Government
with reference to the existing navigation laws of
the States and itA effect upon maritime commerce,
and to enter upon negotiations for the opening of
the American coasting trade to British shipping.
It is of the greatest importance to the welfare
not only of the British shipowner, but of the
nation at large, that this and other similar mis-
sions to be authorised for the same purpose
should
meet with speedy and unequivocal success.
What were the British nation without her great
likely
commercial navy? If Britannia's greatest strength
is on the waves, she can only retain her power
there by preserving unimpaired the interests and
prosperity of her Merchant Shipping.

THE PRINCE CONSORT'S BIRTHDAY.—Sunday Was
the anniversary of the Prince Consort's birth, and the
usual honours of a royal salute were observed at the
various royal dockyards and military establishinents•
On Saturday celebrated his Royal. Righness's tradesmen
the, day by dining at the Ship, at Greenwich. Mr;
lilaftinbergen presided, ,and. Mr. Meltou.
_voo i
'gm qjialr. The Prince bent the usual liberal compli-
n the
bloat of mein