The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-04 00:00:00

"has been taken largely for the Continent at
prices gradually advancin,r from 265. Gd. to 289., at
which latter price the few cargoes offering are firmly
held." Our corn merchants are now forced to attend
to the duty which interferes with their trade to the
Continent. What they sell and what tho hungry
people of the Continent send here for—and it the
accounts which reached London on Tuesday from
Vienna be confirmed, they will come for larger quan-
tities—is not the produce of England, but the cargoes
of corn which our merchants have bought or ordered
from places to which our commerce largely extends,
and with which Germany cannot, or does not,
carry on any trade. The fact shows how
much England has already become an entrep:l for
corn, and that if England were not such an entrepat,
and bad our corn merchants not ordered or brought
this rye from Odessa, or some other distant port with
which we have a contineal trade, while the Ger-
mans have none, they could only have got it at a
much greater cost by especially sending for it—if
they could have got it at all. Thus, what is
eminently for the advantage of our merchants, saves
the people on the Continent from the calamities of
dearth or starvation.
But now look at the effect of this nominal, or un-
real duty on this (may we not call it ?)—humane
trade. If the cargoes of corn be sold afloat for the
Continent, not a grain of the rye will first come hero
to pay the one shilling duty, and a host of attendant
charges. The rye already imported, and on which
the duty has been paid (for corn imported is not
allowed to be placed in bond, because the duty is
nominal), will not be able to compete with the rye
afloat, and the merchant, who has already landed
his cargo, is at a disadvantage in comparison to the
merchant whose cargoes are yet on the sea. Hence
arise strong motives not to import corn which may
have to be re-exported.
The nominal duty is obviously therefore a great
impediment to trade. It prevents corn being im-
ported which otherwise would be, because it cannot
be exported till the price abroad rises sufficiently to
pay the duty and all attendant charges. It is uni-
versally found that any useful commodity which can
be divided into small portions is more easily disposed
of than one which cannot. The principle is in fact
the natural foundation of all retail trade. Many
persons might very often come hither for a few
hundred quarters of rye or wheat, or other
corn, who do not want a whole cargo. If there
were no nominal duty, therefore, most of the cargoes
that are sold afloat would be brought into our ports
at the time most convenient for bringing them,would
be landed here, and could be more conveniently
divided for the foreign market. Our merchants would
buy more, and they would sell more, and they would
import and trans-ship a great deal more. Import-
ing and trans-shipping, and buying and selling more,
they would give more employment to shipping, and
to all the porters and trades connected with load-
ing and unloading ships. The nominal duty not only
yields unexpectedly large real sums to the revenue,
but it also stops a large real trade, and is
a real impediment to much national pros-
perity. All these aro effects, which the statisti-
cians who recommended, and the politicians who im-
posed, the nominal duty never dreamed of, and which
instead of being a defence of small customs duties
are their utter condemnation. The statesmen who
-defend

them are ignorant of the mischief they cause.
Instead of casting his net wide—u Mr. T. RUUNG,
the merchant, very much to his discredit, recom-
mended the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—the

right hon. gentleman ought, simply because he
knows not the extent of the injuries custom, duties
inflict, to make his net as narrow as possible, and
at once to allow the nominal duty on oorn to escape
from it.

RESIGNATIONS.

Mr. Keogh, Solicitor-General for Ireland, Mr.
Sadleir, and Mr. Mousell, have, it is positively
stated, resigned the offices to which they. were ap-
pointed on the accession of the present ministry to
power. It is almost needless to add, all these gentle-
men are Irish Roman catholic*. Supposing their
resignations to be accepted, their secession from
office leaves three places at the disposal of the Aber-
deen Cabinet.

FLEET.

It will be seen by our Money Market Report that
the current statement of the Mediterranean. fleet
having sailed from Malta, had a specific influence on
tp:olorr of various funds and securities yesterday in

DEATH OF EARL OULU.

The ranks of the free traders, of the agricultural
reformers, and of the English peerage, have alike
sustained a deep loss by the decease of Earl Dude,
which took pi on 'Thursday last, at Tortworth:
His lordship was one of the few peers who, in the
earlier days of free trade, acknowledged its wisdom,
justice, and expediency, and lent the Fitt of his
position, talents, and Influence to the cruse he
so wisely espoused. The deceased ear was in the
52nd year of his age, and is succeeded in his title and
estates by his son, Lord Moreton, whose elevation to
the peerage creates a vacancy in the representation
of Stroud.