The Express.
London, England, 1847-11-12 00:00:00

THE RIVER PLATE.

The following representation, signed by the lend-
ing houses in the trade of the River Plate, has been ad-
dressed to Lord Palmerston, whose reply is subjoined :

London, Oct. It, deeply Interested in
the trade of the River I'ute, we renpeetfully big leave to offer to
your lordship a few remarks upon the blockade in that river, which,
though discontinued by the Brateh naval forces, is continued by those
of France. Concerning this blockade, Mr. W. A. liana, United
states Munger at Buenos Ayres, writes In a deepatch to Lord
[Lowden, dated July 1, 1817, as follows " The blockade has sot
answered, in any one respect whatever, the end for which it was
ostensibly laid on. Its principal tendency boo been to molest sad
irritate them whom it was intended to reduce by coercion. Anther
praidical effect of it hoe been, that, whdat it de.troyol all legal and
open commerce, it made necessary a sort of spurious traffic through
the medium of the port of Monte Video, obliging piyment
of • double import and export duty, which bas been
levied for the Ruppert of the anomalous government in that city.
Nevertheleve, the principal benefit of this system has not fallen to the
governments of England and France, nor even to the Rakortain
general of these government., but openly and notoriously to the ad.
vantage of a few perm,ns in that city, and a ntill smaller number in
this." Further on, in the saver despatch, Mr. Harris otal.e., that,
from the "23n1 February, 1840, to the end of May, 1847, the number
at resell which entered and left the port of Buena Ayres, was 4,012.
I obtain this result (he say.) from an examination of the monthly
returns which have been presented to this legatioe. It In true that
Minuet all these were small vessels, many of which arrived and sailed
at night; but it in also true that • great number of them, perhaps
half, did so at mid-day, and in night of the blockading firms without
any serious attempt at detaining them. AU there smelt, however,
paid tribute at the port of Monte Video, for the pi educe or mer-
ehandise of which their carve, were cempased, as I have mid
above." Lord Bowden, also, in a devoted to Comm:dire
Sir Thomas Herbert, dated 15th July, 1547, writes
the blockade ea follows: "As consider dot, utt the Oriental.
Monte Video are not at this moment free agent., but entirely em.
trolled by • foreign garrison; and secondly, that the blockade having
entirely hot its original character of a coercive measure amino Gen
Room has become exclusively a mode of supplying with merry,
partly the government of Monte Video, and partly certain foreign it
dividuaLs there, to the continued detriment of the ertensive and ode-
able commies of England in them water( 1 hereby mimeo you, sire
to raise the blockade of both sides of the Ricer Plate, and to take the
measures necessary for ceasing all further intervention in these
enters." To further elucidate the character of thi. (so called) Week.
ade, we remark
. - . .

-1. liet-of t 1 4,012 easels menticeied by Mr. Hone% out one to
British.-2. That all of there had one end the same port of destination
or departure, viz, Monte Video, and all paid tribute there. If there
be any exceptions they are too few to merit notice.-3. That
the effect of the (so milled) blockade him thus not bees
to deprive Buenos Ayres of its trade, but merely to t♦
strict it from trading with any other place but Monte Video.-4.
That the British flag has been deprived of any portion of even this
trade.-5. That 4,012 vessels could not have left or entered Maga
Video without the authorities of that port knowing well whither they
had gone, or whence they came ; and yet —6. That it eat the in tige-
tion of those same authorities (owing to their refusal of the armistice)
that the French have cootinued the blockade.-7. That the emit:Es-
howe of Monte Video is farmed by individuals, and that its receipts
in lit 46 mounted to about 330,000 f. sterling, according to the se-
count* published in the Monte Video journals.
In stating these facto, we have aimed at brevity of expression, Oct
from dieremect, but to mare your lordship's valuable time. They will
suffice, we apprehend, to show that the no-cal:eel Woe is
in reality OS blockade, but a mere ahem, with a two-fold
object, via., to enriM the persons who have farmed the Custom-
house, and to supply the government of Monte Video (dc...ceded by
Lord Howl., in the despatch above quoted, as " without money,
without credit, and without native troops") with means for main-
taining the foreign garrhon. Nor la it at all likely to be made effective
for the future, for an effective blockade, by depriving Monti. Video of
Ma present illicit traffic, would destroy its revenue, and would be no
better to them than no blockade. Out of the foregoing, reflections
neutrally acne no to the views and attitude of France in this ques-
tion. No one doubts that if there had been on by part the fame dm
sire as on the put of this country to have it settled, it would hare
been settled. Of the " loreign garrimm," which (moo Ming to Lord
Mowden), "controls" thel native population, the bulk are French.
Though the French government may have spoken harshly of these
men, yet the French agents do not diseoursge them. For proof of
both amertions we refer to M. Guizoes despatch to Count St. Aulaire,
and Count WalemtkOs mover to an address from the French Le-
gion, of which we mines copies. The altos/on In the Litter docu-
ment to the flag deserves a thee of explanation. Some years ago.
the French government ordered the French legionsries to desist from
taking • part in the war, and lay down their arms. After making all
aorta of difficulties they bit upon the following expedient: They laid
down their arms as French subjects, were made on the blatant
Orientil CitißWl, and took them up again. The French government
mowers to have been natielled with this mode of complying with their
order It mans that the legionaries now wish to have their flog and
nationality restored to them, and it would be rash to my that their
petition, though by Count Walewaki, will not be granted.
We have stated Mcut to your lordahlp, but it la not for us to draw
conclusions, nor to expatiate upon the importance of the port of Monte
Video, both as the key of the River Plate and from its position In re-
latioo to other Mama At prevent s
undery be mid to be in tbe bands
of • French garrison, though not the French nag. It remains
foe us shortly to advert to the hardship of thla state of things upon the
merchants connected—some of them for nearly 40 years -with the
River Plate. The blockade is now of more than two years' eluding.
For so longs period has the trade between this country and the Ar-
gentine tepublic been merificed. A customer has been turned away,
who would have taken off • million and a-half poundsnteNing worth
of our manufactures. All that time produce of a perialuible adore,
the returns for exports of former years, has been lying there dete-
riorating. The cost of evading the blockede, despite its Immo., was
too great for bulky produce to bear. There was the heavy freight to
Monte Video, the heavy charge. for landing there and reahippiug, and
the bossy tnbute enacted by the Monte Video Custom-house, which
have been known to amount together, In some instances, to 40 per
cent on drat met. Again, there was the risk of era damage, in craft
not intended for such a voyage, and the uncertainty ea to the views of
the blockader., as the laxness of today might, from caprice or spite,
be turned into !severity tomorrow. Moreover merchants who all
t•.ele lives have been accustomed to an open trade mid. the Braid,
east, do not at once become reconciled to, or handy al, a Mocked*
running, halfaniuggling traffic. From those muses, therefore.
it arises that there to still • large amount of produce belongthf to
liritiah subjects remaining at Buenas Ayres, the lam upon which to
Its owners must be runicsm, if the port be not awn opened. We M.,
• proof of your lordatup's anxiety to remedy the evil in the raising of

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