The Express.
London, England, 1849-03-03 00:00:00

THE NAVIGATION LAWS.
GENERAL SHIPOWNERS SOCIETY.
The annual mss 'mg of this society was held yes.
terday, at one cede*, is the large room at the London
Tavern, Bishommere-street, and was lain nueserouly at-
tended. Dune= Dauber, R q., shah' as of the society,
presided. There were deo present deptitations tram Green-
wich, North Shields. Exeter, Whiteness. and ilearborough.
sr. G. F. YOUNG reed thereport,la whisk the committee
niaMbenee by characterising the present erWe as more
eg to Beitish maritime cemmene than any that hes
elitynt snouted. They state that their continued attention
hes teen dimeleill to the considered= of various objects of
dna reirdlem blights, harbours, pilotage, &a &e., but the
Eaktigentallee to shipowners of the navigation laws,
mawNlos by a minute reforms to particular • •
tiny to
commerce, to diminish the
Inoured which tiny to concentrate on the great object
en which the athmtien of the parliament and public is fixed
etoraElism cant giveh nee es:ammibrary
warettheither of last year, ina.
.41risissi
what •Wida• g %lewd. especial burettes soefulent pro-
laelfan, at the tithe One astsztlig their flioniethimthet
IMO a,
aid just 188thelioe to all interein this the system
eatirldrittizet eminent with the real prosperity of the
renaming the recent padiantentarr commit-
ters, the report states that no evil susceptible of any re-
molly has been or can be proved as arising from the practical
operation of the navigation laws ; that the maintenance of
**protective on which them laws axe founded is
indispensable to the maintenance of an extensive
mercantile marine, and that such a marine is indis-
pensable to the existence of a powerful navy. The report
thee proceeded to .. the consideration of the pre-
mat condition of the shipping interest, and calls upon
every friend to his country, u well as every ship-
owner, to give strenuous resistance to the bill brought in by
mbristen in the present session, Its provisions are wholly
icopnriatent with the principles put forward sits basis and
with the policy it is intended to advance. The committee
also deprecate the censure passed on British commanders by
the supporters of the bill. The clause of the bill which
compela the shipowner to man his ship with British seamen
is stigmatised as the meet flagrant and disqualifying incon-
sistency in the measure, on account of its forties the ship-
owner to conduct his affairs not according to his conviction
of his own intern% but according to the dictates of an in-
consistent and then tyrannical act of parliament. Finally,
the report recommends " union among aLL classes of the
shipping interest."
Mr. ROBINSON, M.P.. and Chairman of Lloyd's, pro-
posed the first resolution. He (Mr. Robinson) had felt it his
dirty carefully to go through the evidence given before the
House of Lords upon this important question, and one of the
main grounds stated by government why such a change as the
contemplated repeal of the navigation laws should be efleeted
in this country was that, in consequence of the high rate of
!Mein which the shipowners were enabled to exact from
the shippers of merchandise, commerce was chummed, and
the mercantile interests greatly prejudiced by the freights
that prevailed. He had been a merchant ins this city fur 40
yeses, and it might fairly be supposed that he knew some-
thing about the commerce of the country. He had NOR
occupied both as a shipowner and as a shipper of merchan-
dise, and he had no hesitation in saying that, if they would
look back for 10 or 12 years past, they would find that (with
the single exception of 1847, owing to the large importation of
grain into this country) shipownencomplained that theyeould
hardly get remunerating freights. In the House of Commons,
Mr. Rimrdo and others had stated before the committee that
emesional instances had arisen where merchants had shipped
goods, tor a cheaper rate, in foreign vessels. No doubt, in-
stances did occur—that certain inconveniences must of
necessity arise' but they were very rare. What said Mr.
Huskisson upon the subject? " That it was his opinion,
that, where the interests of commerce and navigation clashed,
in consequence of the importance of keeping up a large mer-
canule marine for manorial defence, commerce must give
way." (Hear, hear.) But now, with rerphot to the
evidence given in the House of Commons upon the ques-
tion of high freight', which it was stated that ship-
owners exacted from the shippers of goods—the evidence
had been given by gentlemen connected with trade in China,
the East Indies, West Indies, and Canada, and the
whole concurrent testimony of those witnesses went
to prove the feet, that with the exception of the year he had
mentioned, they had never found any difficulty, practically
speaking, in obtaining freights at a moderate remuneration.
Now, he would ask which of the two alums of persons was
likely to be right ? But there was another thing to which
he wished to direct the attention of the meeting. The
government, being driven from one position, they take up
another, and Mr. Labouchere exclaims, , ' Look at the peti-
tions from the West Indies and from Canada, in favour of
the repeal of the navigation laws." lie (Mr. Robinson)
found that the application for repeal from those countries bad
proceeded from a very small number of persons. There was
no evidence whatever that the majority were in favour of
the measure. And why had the people of the West
Indies and Canada petitioned ? They were per-
sons who, suffering under the infliction of free
trade were endeavouring to ascertain whether they could
carry out the same principle in respect to navigation. (Hear.)
He was asked the other day to present a petition to the
House of Commutes from Montreal, and his reply was, that
he was unfavourable to that part of it which suggested a re-
peal of the navigation laws. He found that in seeking to re-
peal these laws they asked for a protective duty of be. They
stated, in feet, that the repeal would do them no good lodes
the government of this country gave them that protection.
Burthened as the country was by enormous texas and the
expenses of en extravagant government, they say " You
must go and build your ships in foreign ports.' If this
were to be the case, what would become of the thouands of
men who were employed in the building and fitting of ship.
In this country ? (Hear.) If they were obliged to build
their shim abroad, the owners themselves might possibly he
indemnified in some way ; but who was to indemnify the
carpenters end all those workmen who were dependent for
their livelihood upon their own industry and exertions?
(Hear, hear.) Velem he was greatly mistaken, the
great want of the country at preempt was that of
employment. Yet government recklessly persisted is lorcing
a measure upon the country whose effect must inevitably be
the extension of this grievous evil. (Hear.) He regarded
the interests of capitalists as of inferior importance to the
advancement or demoralisation of what were called the
lower slums. When the question was under the considera-
lion of the House of Commons the other day,Col.Thozapeon,by
way of throwing derision on the protectionist*, said that their
object was like that of the man who picked another mares
pocket for the benefit of somebody else. Now his object was
to protect the pockets of the people of this country, and he
would go over to the ranks of the fres trades
at once if he thought that free trade would be of the slight-
est benefit to the working domes; but he believed, on the
contrary, that the further the government went with this
inessum, the nearer they would bring the country to a state
of financial embarrassment and social demoralisation. Mr.
Robinson then analysed and commented on the evidene•
given by Captain Stirling before the House of Commons.
Main' Sir Thomas Cochnne: Bir H. Nicolas, Captain
Berkeley, and many other naval officers of the highest cha-
racter, bad all stated, in opposition to Captain Stirling, that
the merchant service, as at present constituted was Indio-
pensible to the efficient manning of the navy. (Hear, hear.)
Among the whatnots slammed before the Lords' committee
was a man of the name of Whitwell, who had been im-
printed in the navy, but hag never risen to
the rank of an officer, ending ' his terser idlest
as a foretopman, sad subsequently becoming a reedbant In
Bristol, and that man, who could have had no undue pre-
possession for the merchant service, stated that all the best
men in the ships in which he heel served had been educated
in that service. (Hear.) They were told that if this coun-
try consented to repeal the navigation laws other weenie,
would reciprocate, sad if, on the contrary, their repeal was
refired, Waistline might be anticipated. It bed beezi said
that America had made *iterations in her tariff, but they
had been dictated solely by the state of her den finance,,
and not from any desire to remove commend restrictions,
for whale England received such immense quantities of
Amerind pro's°, as were now poured into the country free
of duty, no English produce was received in America without
the imposition of duty. Nay, eventheir neighbours the Freed',
from whom a free trade policy might reasonably be looked
for after late events, were as decidedly opposed to it as ever.
A.• lo the retaliation of other countries which had been
spasm of elsewhere, it could not be by any means so preju-
Mad to the pond interests of the country as the one-sided
=frof free trade. Other countries' were far more in-
o Great Britain for the advantages afforded them by
bee madatethaa Bogiend was to theca for carrying their cue- a
tea Mt hahmail beenetainly addict understand the policy of
Ziajawaftillia prelims flee Giddy into this country while
were still levied in ether countries. If this mca-
imeeterenrearried, the laiminne indent of capital embarked
in Weld
00 er,
would and in eldpbeibliog, anwasting to more than
60,0,0 a, be pissed ka iumftr, ad the polic7 of
America, which was to drive trade front that conti-
nent end the adjoining blends, would be ably seconded.
(Hear, hear.) He then read an extract from the leading ar-
ticle of a paper publicised in Washington, in support of this
view. President Polk led heedfully referred to the rapid
Increase of the American navy in hie last address to Congress,
and stated his belief that America would soon have a greater
number of merchant shipl than Engleod. Bina that address
they had acquired large pessesEons la-Mexico and California,
and opened up new avenues for trade, yet the Engle& go-
vernment proposed by the present measure to force them
further to increase their whims tenurese by throwing the
carrying trade of this country into their hand,. He denied
that the shipping interest was liable to any reproach in
reference to the impreenneat ',stem. Shipowners never
countenanced impressment, but they had often te lament
that the best wen in their ships were taken from them for
the naval service. la conclusion, he stated that he looked
on
a measure
bp of amid-
he received and adopted.
Sin I. H. rztvi (deputy master of the Trinity-home)
theted retypne,al had of
ra the
vneadvireticet laws
rom se
huoh_thet
the
report
wooded the resolution, and stated that being bred a seaman
Mosul( it afforded him plenum to have an opportunity, as
ha thought he then had, of standing forward in rapport and
defence of the British wanes, and the shipping Interest
which he believed to be the sheet other of the country.
(Hear, hear.)
The resolution was then serried unaaimendy.
Mr. J. D. FOWLES propelled the mend resolution :
That ads seelany. entimar enellentnaft lbe emelmEM easldned
y,,,hengfeueigeruthemissarewerMseeperlisamktertheebroml •
mid of me seugesisa lawn se keetthime l
ases
dne-
the le the atinsteg Wand, sad Magary_ Mb earars slid
mune af the serseby; nil MY en_ *beetled le alba
la Oa meet crtnnuens earls to Mot the isghistere to rejoin
tha till.
Mr. Alderman SIDNEY seconded the resolution, which
was carried unanimously. . .
Mr. R. A. GRAY proposed the third resolutions.
That this meeting desires to record up WON althaell, 34- iss
service rendered by the committee to IBM IllOgide 'lg iii", L-d
continued dielcutes with will* it 1114 MA SIP eallalell Oa 1.... --....•iji ..)4
• • • ..• 1,:t7, A r-ci

;t7 :11'7 Ca
1
44-.Z.-,(4V•lb*/Vb