Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-09-12 00:00:00

three hundred thousands of tons of British Ship-

ping out of employment

This is a most rid'

lous fallacy

Does Mr.- LINDSAY, or any other man, suPP

that if the Reciprocity Clauses were put in ope'
ation—which they ought to. been; in °,_

opinion, long ago—that the trade of ou

would have been restricted to the Colonies,"
:that foreign nations would have prevented British
merchants sending British ships to bring
the produce of their countries ? He alleges
that, if we shut Our ports to Spain, she irc'tlld,
l
duties she puts upon our goods shipped in
close hers' to us. But her ports are alrea
virtually closed to us, from the high differen t',,_
bottoms." The fallacy, therefore, 130.tr.41
is so glaring'
that we are surprised to find it so confidently Plit
forth by one who , must be so well informed '9°'
the subject, and we can only account for it by' CO11-

eluding that he is blinded by thb bias of
own predilections. The fact is, that or
only the ports of Spain, but also those :sr,
France,-are already closed to British-Shipping'
heavy differential duties. Quite the reverse scciit e
be the case to what Mr. LINDSAY states if 'c
had reciprocity, viz,—increased emplovment o.
British Shipping, Shipbuilders, and their nnniell.s
ous Mechanics. All that the British Shiporney,
ask, is that foreigners should do to them as til;eie
do to others,—that is, to establish that Princ`P.or
which is, or ought to be, the common rule of ller
and which
.prevails, or ought to do, in all etli
businesses,—and the exclusion of ShiPPifi;f,
from which, cannot possibly be justified upon
-principle of fairplay whatever. Our uneenos%
tional repeal of the Navigation Laws wa4 into
gratuitous piece of folly, which has justly il3der,
the laughing stock of the world. Had ty
LABOUCHERE proposed the principle of recirOci
before the repeal, doubtless every nation lc° o
have fallen into it, and freely opened their P°r
00
to us as we have •to them ; but without 5°,116/
pressure being applied now, from the one-51 .0
-advantages which they enjoy, and which are.
enormous, they will not do so. Our own C 5 a,
trade, we learn from some official documents lc iisll
'have been recently pUblished, and to which Ice 5 to
on some future occasion revert, is fast passing"ict
us. We have seen it stated that, a few daYs
one of our commercial docks contained 17 shiPs'asd
not one British. We refer to the ShiPPigg re?
Mercantile Gazelle, and what do we find tbe,„o.
At least eight out of ten ships reported by 31e- flee
LINDSAY and Co. are foreigners; a cirennllo.,
which unavoidably excites suspicion thit
tlig
LINDSAY, is prejudiced in their favour. „g,
present state of the opinions of foreign n` it;
it appears most improbable we shall ebt3iiiociti
but what we require is only perfect reeiP ter
on all hands. To counteract those disaciv°
under which the Mercantile c regil
labours, it is absOlutely necessary that son
which
lations should be enacted and carried nutot the
will save it from the insignificance, if
is not
ruin, it must soon fall into, if something,
it the
done to relieve it. It is quite impossible oor
British Shipowner can bear more than:oo
three years longer the strain which is 11' I

Marine flt Pr

him, from the .unequal competition to

is so unjust

ly subjected._NOTES OFTHE DAY.

The French Emperor's difficulty with resPect t°oo7i-
mceisweidthgrtheaet
Italianffi Duchies is explained by the reasons n's"
the treaty
given through the .3fonitcur, for colic-- 035
promised
that the Grand Dukes of Tuscany and Modena vier.
be restored to their sovereignties ; and these conditL° if
abtyeeonf a\cricuepaftreadnbeay tihsetoEbneipeearrorir:(fi
otltliet
Ecalle:sosrioonsf Atuostlrriean.etira?euploanttecronhatLiteio:
~wreedeloin;_ot.

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