The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-09-04 00:00:00

NAVIGATION LAWS.

The annexed Circular has been forwarded to the diffe•
rent Members of Parliament for the counties, &c. of Cum-
berland and Westm,xland, with the signatures of the
principal ship-owners.
3IttYPOnT, Aro. 29.
Sir,—You are too well aware of the great amount of capital
vested in the merchant shipping of the l'nited Kingdom,—of the
number of men employed in it. and of trades dependent upon it,
as well as of its immediate subordination to the maintenance of the
navy—to need to be 'emit:tied of its supreme importenee to the
British Empire; you' are also ton well acquainted with the pre-
sent state of the country, to be ignorant of the exceeding embar-
rassment and depreciation under which the shipping interest now
labours. And we, the undersigned, ship-owners of this port, in
now taking the liberty to address you, trust that we need no aro.
logy fur calling your atteation to what we conceive to be t:le eltiA
cause of that embarrassment and depreciation.
A great part of the merchant shopping being employed tie car-
riers, to and from the manufacturers of the c itintry, could rot rail
to be seriously injured by the distress which has, as extensively as
suddenly, come noon them : and we are ready to allow that the
embarrassment with which the shipping interest is eflacied may in
part be attributed to this cause : yet, at the same time, we would
beg leave to express to you our deliberate conviction, that another
cause has extensively contributed to diminish the employment far
British shipping, and to impair its value; and that is, the repeal
of tile old navigation laws, under which our mercantile marine has
been fostered and promoted to its recent gigantic greatness,—and
the introduction of a new system, erroneously named " free trade."
In consequence of this innovation, foreign shipping is admitted to
a competition with British shipping: and you will easily perceive
how unfair this competition is, and how utterly inconsistent the
system is with an equal reciprocity of interest to the British and the
Foreign shipowner, when you consider, that a British ship, in
building and outfit, as well as sailing, costs at least 601. per tent.
more than the most of foreign ships do; aiid thus when the British
shipowner would realize a profit of 20 per cent. on his destructible
c wool, the foreigner must actually be realizing the enormous profit
of tto per cent.; and, vire versa, when the farei,ln shipowner is
pocketing 20 or 30 per cent., the British shipo Iler most be losing
30 or 40. It is another part of the s; .tar." that the foreigner ex.
empted from those extra dues on light- s, pilotage. docks, as well LA
outer local charges ; and all this while he can bring with him front
his own country such a supply of provisions and stores, at a cheap
rate, as to render him in pendent of the tradesmen in our sea-
ports, who are usually supported by the wants et' the shipping.
Phis system of trade seems to be " free" only to foreigners ; acct
the effect of it has been, that all the harbours of the kingdom in
which trade is carried on with the Continent of Europe, or the
United States of America, are crowded with ships from these coml.
tries, to an extent that eventually threatens the entire exclusion of
our own shipping. Between the years 1816 and 18425, a period, in
the latter part of it, of great commercial activity, the arrival of Bri-
tish shippiag in British ports had increased 40 per cent., while the
arrivals of foreign shipping in the same period had increased 160
per cent. And under the present system foreigners must go on en.
grossing more sad more of our carrying trade, just so surely as the
merchant will always seek out that conveyance for his exports and
impons which is the cheapest, other things being equal.
The shioping interest would undoubtedly receive some relief
from the remission of those taxes which directly affect the building
and equipment of slips ; yet even this relief would he chiefly pros-
peetive, and would be attended with rile evil, viz. the diminution
of the value of capital already vested in shipping; as it is plain
that any change of system which would redeye the price of new
Odes. must, even in a greater ratio, diminish the value of old ones;
and thus, according to the ordinary practice of British leeislation,
in similar cases, any extensive reduction of duties that effects the
building and equipment of vessels, would give to the actual
holders of property in shipping a title claim on the public to some
compensation ter the deterioration which their property m:ght
thereby havesustained. But it would be unreasonable to expect
that his Majesty's Ministers, in the percent burdened state of the
financrs of the country, could remit taxation to an amount that
would greatly benefit the shipping interest. It seems clear, there-
fore, that the shipowner must look far relief to measures similar to
those, the expediency of which is allowed in behalf of our agrieet.
turists, silk-weavers, and other classes of priglactive labourers,—
vie. protecting duties. As the British shipowner cannot be re.
lieved of taxes, so as to raise him to the same 'vantage ground with
the foreign shipowner, the latter must he taxed when his ships are
employed in carrying British merchandise, so as to bring him acwo
to an equality with our British shipowners.
And unless this system is adopted, allow us to assure You. Sir,
that ottr own interests, and those of all the shipowners of the king-
dom, must receive a deep and lasting injury; anti the naval supe-
riority of Britain, with which under Providence our national in.
dependence and glory hare been long identified, will be brought into
the most imminent danger. May we therefore beg that you will
exert all your influence, both with his Mitjesty's Government art
in the Legislature, in procuring a repeal of the recent measures to
which we have alluded ; and the enactment of such measures as
would divest foreigners of the advantages which they at preset-it
possess over our own countrynten, in carrying Colonial as well at:
British merchandise ?
We remain, with

sontiment or

FIRE IN SPITALEIELDS.—About one la clock oil Suer-
day morning a fire broke out in the lareinises, in Booth-
street, Spitalfields, occupied by *Mr. Milner, the packer
and presser in the Ohl 'Change. Mr. Milner occupied the
prentist s in Booth-street in the business of calico-glazing
and hot-pressing, and the fire was first discovered issuing
from the top of the warehouse used as a drying-room,
containing R large quantity of valuable property, which is
now completely destroyed, and the premises considerably
damaged. Nothing but the speedy arrival of engines, and
the great exertions of the firemen, could have preserved,
any part of the buildings from total destruction. Mr.
Milner has a steam-engine on the premises, for the pur.
pose of carrying on his business, and it is supposed that the
due from the engine-house, which immediately joins the
drying-room, ignited the latter. The property was in.
/lured.

On Sour(lav afternoon, as a barber in the Kirkgate,
Leith, was sharing one of his customers. anti eating aw
apple at the time, by some means it atttck in hie throxt awl
choked him, so that he died almost itni.tantly, Itstviv.: At
wife and large family.