The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-04-08 00:00:00

ME NORTNERN TIMES.-LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 18166

tination that could be selected for this heteroge-

neous mass of malcontents, and nobody knows
what else besides. Such schemes are generally
put forward in vague, but inviting forms ; but as
we have no military colonies in the Southern
hemisphere, and as we see incalculable danger in
allowing our gold fields to be given up to legions
of expert warriors, or converted into so many
Polands and Hungary s, we simply protest, in the
name of the commerce, and industry of Great
Britain, against the adoption of any such proposal.
We could never regard the Swiss soldier with any
greater favour than is due to the zeal of a mercenary,
who can always find a bullet so long as he receives
the wages of blood. The Germans, we admit,
are great under the shade of their own mulberry
trees, and docile enough to render them admirable
midwives for silkworms. The Italians would,
doubtless, carry the arts and sciences with them
to our Colonies, but where would they deposit their
frantic passions and prejudices, their stilettos and
wild frenzies of revenge, their love of brigandage,
and all the other romantic pursuits of idleness
and filth ? Commerce has its legions of mercena-
ries, who, without shedding blood, form an
inestimable police in the mercantile world. And, as
the Australian settlers are always ready to do any-
thing for a fair day's wages, what need have we
for employing Swiss where peace gives trade,
and ordinary commercial prudence the utmost
safety

Then, again, instead of the wooden shoe,
grassy face of the desert, and soundless holkland,
which suits the silkworm, and the lonely road
which so admirably answers the high ambition
of a banditti, the -people of Australia want
to hear the shrill whistle of the locomotive,
the roaring of the half choked steam pipe of the
ocean steamer, the blasting of quartz rocks, and
the ceaseless din of crushing machines. They want
no military settlers who must either give consis-
tancy to their negative mendicancy, or reproach
the unlucky stars which cast their lot in regions
where their services are not required, or their
exalted virtues would not be fully appreciated. Why,
then hint, ever so remotely, at sending regiments
of foreign soldiers to those parts of our Empire
where productive industry alone is wanted ? The
troops in quest;on were raised to serve during the
war, and now that we are to have peace let a
gratuity be paid to them, and let them be sent
home to their respective countries before any
additional cost is incurred. We shall soon be
called on to provide for a huge number
of disbanded militiamen, and if we are
to send military squatters to the antipodes
our own countrymen ought to be thought
of first. Aud we question if anything better
could be done than to send all our married militia-
men, with their wives and children, out to the
diggings. Labour is rising rapidly in value in
Australia, and with the return of another season
or two of prosperity it will reach an unprecedented
price.

The same:thing may be said of America. The
increasing production of gold is leading to an
immense:absorption of labour in the interior of the
Union, and must ere long produce a very exten-
sive demand for hands along the whole of the
coasts of the Atlantic States. A very slight
advance in wages beyond " the dollar a day," will
draw off thousands from Europe to. the American
shores, and when we have a fair chance of seeing
" two dollars a day" as the average price
of unskilled labour, we can scarcely be
at a loss to know whence to direct
the steps of our dependents or surplus population.
In the meantime it behoves us to discourage all
thoughts of sending thousands of foreign soldiers
to any portion of Australia. If we are really to be
blessed with peace, the poverty, discontent, and
recklessness of the old world will find all those vents
open which war has for the moment closed
against them. We shall have the great safcty-
valves of Europe opened wider than ever, and the
currents of population pouring forth to replenish
the earth, and adjust the balance of human
affluence as well as the power of nations. In the
return of such a season we are more deeply inter-
ested in Liverpool than any other part of the
Kingdom, but certainly not more so than every
other town,. city, and state of Europe, which hopes
to live as we do, ought to be. Emigration is as
essential to the industrial and general welfare of
the Continent as it is to an ant-hill, and to these
realms as it is to a bee-hive; and with the restora-
tion of peace there is little doubt that it will
resume its former buoyancy, and exceed in num-
bers anything ever before known, without resort-
ing to the expedient of transporting foreign troops
to regions for which they are in no way adapted.

THE great Conservative Republic of the New
World cannot bring itself to relinquish " protec-
tion," and allow commerce to go free. American
citizens dread the reign of corruption and terror
which has invariably followed extortionate
revenues, exceeding, by many millions, the annual
expenditure, or actual wants, of a State. Still they
cannot be brought to believe that the illimitable
resource of the American continent, the genius,
industry, and skill of the Republican citizen can
be developed and sustained intact, without
outraging every Constitutional principle of
taxation, and holding out the strongest
incentives to the introduction of every
species of political impurity. We have no right,
however, to rebuke others for follies which were
once our own. They must learn from time, and
we employ our opportunities in teaching by
example. As Mr. CLAYTON says that, in order to
obtain a settlement of the Central American
question, the Americans must appeal from the
British Ministry to the British people, we have
nothing for it but to appeal from the citizens of
the Union to Mr. MARcv, or some other
leading spirit on the Ministerial benches of Con_
gress, on the question of Free Trade. The people
of the States are as little prepared for a social
revolution as the subjects of Great Britain are
disposed to enter into a war with their kindred on
the other side of the Atlantic. With this assur-
ance, both nations may embark in the discussion
of mutual grievances and economic principles
with safety and advantage to others as well as
themselves.

The new tariff bill, alluded to in our American
news of yesterday, differs essentially from the
outlines given of it some weeks ago by the New
York newspapers. Instead of being a Free Trade
measure, it is one of the most arbitrary of
prohibitive laws ever concocted. It adds to " the
" free list" articles which we might suppose had
been selected by a few members of a mercantile
community, who an Administration were disposed
to favour at the national expense, and at the risk

of their own reputation as statesmen. Mr. hMEs,
the reputed father of this concentrated and
sublimated essence of Buckinghamshire stupidity
and crudity, would have the American people think
that his " free list" was designed to reduce the
cost of production of those articles in which they
had the strongest competition to contend against.
But on looking over that list we scarcely find one

commodity of importance to the American manu-
facturer, unless it be some of the component parts
of dye-stuffs, boluses, soft soap, and bread-stuffs ;
while on linen, cotton, and worsted goods the
duties are advanced fifty per cent. To the con•
sumer, which means all the Union, this is a most
serious addition to the present fiscal burthens; but
what is it to the American producer—the pam-
peredl bantling of excessive taxation ? Such
forced creations disappear on the attainment of
prosperity, as the snow vanishes before the sun.

The IVetv York Herald, of the 22nd ult., shows
us very clearly the fate that awaits all producers,
whose existence is based on erroneous principles,
and excessive taxation. " The statistics of lead
" production show," says that journal, " that when
"pig was worth but 33c. to 4c. per pound in this
" city, the Western mines supplied the wants of
" the United States, and furnished some for
" export up to 1848. Now, when both the price
" and demand are nearly doubled, the production
" has fallen off nearly one-half, and the
" great bulk of this is consumed at the
"West." Our cotemporary might have said
precisely the same thing of every other
branch of American production, with the exception
of gold, corn, cotton, and shipping, where the
the spontaneous offerings of untaxed lands supply
the most costly articles employed in construction.
his impossible to force production on any country.
Labour is the heaviest item in all productive
pursuits, and how can its cost be reduced where
there are tariffs, varying from twenty to eighty per
cent. ? These are the figures which enter so
largely into production, and which the
Americans cannot, any more than our-
selves, add to the price of consumption.
The partial adoption of Free Trade
by England enabled the Transatlantic
producer to add largely to the selling price of his
bushel of corn ; but all the gold that California
has yielded has not benefitted the farmer one
cent. in price. But it would be futile to enter
further into a discussion on matters which are not
appreciated by those to whom our remarks are
addressed.

The present Tariff Bill is a mere clap-trap—a
sheer put off. It has no such thing as a commercial
or financial principle in its composition. Its promo-
ters profess a desire to reduce taxation to a legiti-
mate revenue standard, and this they propose to
do by advancing the duties on all the necessaries
of life just 50 per cent., while they reduce the taxes
on wines and spirits—the luxuries of the few-20
per cent. ! Such a measure as this will never pass
Congress, and the only object its authors can have
is to shelve the whole question. This being their
real design, and fearing that the alteration of
duties would be accepted under any circumstances,
they have embodied in their bill conditions of
which we annex a sample :
The importer, his agent, or consignee, shall produce
and file with the collecting officer of the district, on
making entry of any imported goods, wares, and merchan-
dise, a just, true, and correct invoice of the same. If the
goods, wares, and merchandise are purchases for market
use in the United States, they must be invoiced at their
actual cost in the country where purchased ; but when
they are destined by the manufacturer or producer for
market or consumption in the United States, or otherwise
obtained for that purpose, they must be invoiced at the
wholesale market value in the principal markets of the
country where manufactured, produced, or obtained, at
the time of their being destined and invoiced for the
United States. If the goods, wares, and merchandise,
are purchased in bottles, barrels, casks, sacks, packages,
or other covering necessary and proper for transportation
to the United States, so that the covering is included in
their cost, the fact must be stated on the face of the
invoice; and where the manufacturer, producer, or other
person, invoices goods destined for the United States,
the market value must be stated on the invoice, to indicate
that the bottle, barrel, cask, sack, package, or other
necessary and proper covering is included in the value
stated, or must give the cost of each separately; and where
goods, wares, and merchandise, have been purchased in
an unfinished state, and before being placed in proper
packages for transportation, the invoice must contain a
statement of the cost of bleaching, dyeing, dressing,
printing, and finishing, together with the cost of packages
or covering, putting up and packing, ',together with the
cost of :the bottle, barrel, cask, sack, package, or other
covering ; and;:all invoices must state the cost of brokerage,
in a distinct charge, and all ,export duties,
cost of placing the goods on board ship, including
drayage, labour, all cartage, lighterage, tozvn dues,
shipping charges, dock or wharf dues, :and all charges to
place the goods on board ship; also fire insurance prior
to shipment, together with the charges for commission,
and charges for forwarding, which shall not be less than
two and a half per cent. for each ; and if all those items
are not stated on the face of the invoice, they must be
endorsed on, or appended to it, so as to form a part of it.
The invoice, with all these items, must be supported by
the written affidavit of the importer with his signature
attached, stating that it is the true and correct invoice of
the goods, wares, and merchandise, and that there is no
other to his knowledge or belief. This invoice, thus sup-
ported by the oath of the importer, as his declaration of
market value, shall not be dispensed with, except in the
cases prescribed..and directed by the Secretary of the
Treasury.

These are certainly the most extraordinary con-
ditions to enforce on the merchants of America
and the world, that were ever concocted. They
will supply the American Governmenment with
most valuable statistics, if they can be complied
with. They will put the Treasury in possession of the
commercial, local, and imperial charges which
enter into the cost of production. But how are
the importing merchants of America, or ex-
porters of other countries, to comply with the
requirements of the law ? It will add immensely
to the labour and expense attending every ship
ment to the States, should it pass both branches
of the legislature. Of this, however, there is not
the remotest chance, for, in addition to the utter
impracticability of procuring the information
sought, the bill will excite the bitterest feeling of
hostility among the Free-soilors, the Maine Liquor
Law advocates, and the innumerable little trading
cliques who make "protection" their household
god ; while, amongst the great bulk of the people,
who will see it is a paltry sham, it will be treated
with the disdain it deserves.