The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-21 00:00:00

pared with 1853, is 53 per cent. ; and with regard to tallow
it is 62 per cent. Now, sir, under these circumstances, if the
blockade_has not been effectual, I think it is surprising un-
der the circumstances that such great results should have
been produced in so short a time. Now, sir, with respect
to cotton, the exportation of raw cotton from this country to
Russia has fallen 54 per cent. My honourable friend has
said that there are sources from which the vacuum created
in these trades may be supplied. He has told us that it is
quite futile to suppose that new manufactures will be esta-
blished in Germany. He either has not travelled in manufac-
turing districts, or does not know how rapidly manufactures
spring up, when money, corn, and labour are plentiful ; and I
hope that this country, neither in war nor peace, will be led
into a fancied security that it can trifle with the position of its
trade. Competitors spring up where they are not expected,
and you find out, when it is too late, the formidable enemy
you have created. With regard to the prices, it is notorious
that the tendency of war prices has been to raise the price of
those articles at London and to depress them at St. Petersburg.
I hold in my hands extracts from the two circulars published
by eminent merchants at St. Petersburg, which show the de-
crease in the prices of hemp, flax, tallow, and linseed at St.
Petersburg between the end of the year 1853 and the end of
the year 1854, and the corresponding rise in prices' at
London—

Mr. MITCHELL—Do they account for the increased cost
of carriage ? (Hear.)
Mr. CARDWELL—I will read what they
state. These gen-
tlemen state that the expense, risk, and delay attending the
overland trade have caused much discouragement and dissatis-
faction, and that there is little disposition to continue it. They
state in explanation that the cost of conveying hemp, flax, and
tallow from St. Petersburg to Memel or Konigsberg, has been
as high as 251. per ton, and that goods have been frequently
three or four months on the road. Prices in the interior are
said to be low, and there is an absence of the usual demand ;
but, it is added, a change from war to peace would soon alter
the present state of things. Now, that is the result of a block-
ade which, we are told, has been utterly inadequate, - and has
produced no effect whatever on the trade of Russia. But
then we have an argument based on the price of the rouble.
It is difficult and always hazardous to argue upon the ex-
changes, because there are so many disturbing circumstances,
and where other indications are accessible I think it is gene:
rally safer to rely upon them. When the honourable and
learned member for Plymouth told you that the rouble had
risen from 32 pence to par, he doubtless intended it to be in-
ferred that no pressure had been produced upon the trade of
Russia. What is the fact ? In times of peace the exchanges
are usually favourable to Russia, but ever since the declara-
tion of war they have not once indicated any movement of
bullion from this country to Russia ; on the contrary, they
have hitherto indicated the export of bullion from Russia.
It is manifest, therefore, that the blockade has already pro-
duced a considerable effect upon the trade of Russia. Her
mercantile navy has ceased to exist for commercial purposes
—her manufacturers have been prevented from obtaining
their raw material—and her producers have been put to a
much greater cost in bringing a smaller quantity of articles to
market. (Hear.) Here I must notice a fallacy that crept
into the argument of the hon. and learned member for Ply-
mouth. It necessarily followed from the system of advances
that a considerable part at last of the expenses of transport
,of Russian produce should at first fall upon the British mer-
chant, because it was his interest to get home the goods for
which he had paid ; but in future years, when the advances
are put a stop to, and contracts are made upon anew footing,
the expense of transport will always fall upon the producer,
who, coming here, will have to meet other sellers in the open
market. That being the case, the next question for considera-
tion is, was it in the power of the Government by further mea-
sures to inflict still greater injury upon Russia; and would the
effect of the measures which have been suggested this evening
have been to injure Russia in England? It is admitted that the
trade of both parties will suffer to a certain extent by a block-
ade, but the blockade which we have established has the effect
of putting the maximum amount of pressure upon Russia, and
the minimum amount of pressure upon England. Customs
regulations, on the other hand, would have had an opposite
effect, and that was the reason why the Government hesitated
before adopting a system of commercial restrictions at home.
Take the tarticlo of flax, and see how that system would
have worked. What would be the comparative pressure
produced upon two countries, where one grows the raw ma-
terial and the other manufactures it ? If you keep the raw
material in-the country of its growth, or, rather, if you pre-
vent it coming to England, you take from the producer his
best customer ; but then he goes to his second-best customer
and disposes of his property, though I admit at a diminution
of profit, having, however, a constant tendency to regain
itself. What would be the effect upon the manufacturer ?
Tho hon. member for Dundee, if ho were to address you with
that ability and knowledge which he possesses, would tell
you more accurately than I can what is the exact amount of
advantage between the Scotch, Irish, or Yorkshire linen
manufacturer and his German rival. I believe in an open
market that advantage is small, and if it were to be trans-
ferred from the ono side to the other it would cause the orders
for linen manufactures to go to Germany, and not to Scotland
or Ireland. (Hoar, hear.) The English manufacturer is now
fighting an equal battle, and he can bear no load. But the
hon. member for Eridport says that there are too many flax
mills in England, and his remedy is to make the raw material
dear to the English manufacturers, by way of enabling them
to compete with their rivals in Germany. The manufacturer
is also told to go India for his raw material. What prevents
him going to India now ? The difference in price. But what
is to be done with the Russian flax which you say
must not come here I It must go to the German rivals of the
English manufacturers. In short, your proposed system
would cheapen the raw material to the foreign manufacturers,
and that, too, without inflicting any injury upon the pro-
ducer, beyond obliging him to sell his goods at a somewhat
reduced price. What does history say upon this subject ? In
1811, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who entertained the
opinions now advocated by the hon. and learned member for
Plymouth, brought in a bill for laying a duty upon the cotton
of the United States of America ; and, as if in whimsical
parallel with the argument made use of to-night, when the
late Lord Ashburton objected to the measure on the ground
f the injury it woule do to England, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer said that our own colonies and the East Indies
would yield a sufficient supply of cotton in case we might get
none from America. (A laugh.) The Board of Trade was
of tile same opinion. How were we saved from that deplora-
ble ooneequeoce i By the wisdom of shis• house. The first
Sir Robert Peel, Colonel Stanley, the member for the county
of Lancaster, and the late Lord Ashburton, did not • think
that the manufacturers of England should be obliged to go to
India for a supply of cotton, and the house agreed with
them and rejected the bill. Now the cotton trade is a very
great trade in comparison with the flax trade ; and during
the interval which has elapsed it has immensely increased;
but let me solicit you to consider what the consequences
would have been if the doctrine of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer in 1811 had prevailed. Do you think there has
seen no advantage to Manchester in the fact that Liverpool
has been the cheapest cotton market in the world ? (Hear,
hear.) What would the result have been if that market had
been removed to Hamburg or some other continental town I
-Would not the German manufacturer have gained by having
the market brought nearer to him, and would not his Man-
chester rival have suffered from being obliged to send to a
distance for his raw material ? It was with surprise that I
heard Ireland pressed into the case as an argument why we
should reinstitute Customs prohibitions. Let me appeal to
the Royal Society, who devote themselves with so much
advantage to the improvement of the cultivation of flax in
Ireland. In their last report they say that when war was de-
clared against Russia, it was at once apprehended that the
interruption of our commercial relations with that empire
must seriously affect the supply of raw material to the Bri-
tish and Irish linen manufacturers, as well as of the seed,
which had hitherto been obtained from Riga for sowing in
Ireland. When it was remembered, they continue, that of
an annual average of 80,000 tons of flax from all sources,
nearly 60,000 are brought from Russia alone, and of the yearly
importation of flax for sowing in Ireland from two-thirds to
three-fourths come from Riga, it will be seen that the cessa-
tion or diminution of the supply of this article in consequence
of the war must be productive of serious injury to the
linen manufacturers of the United Kingdom and to the
flax growers of Ireland. (Hear, hear.) But, supposing we
were resolved to prohibit the importation of Russian produce
into this country by Customs regulations, how are we to do
it ? Are we to resist, of all things in the world, the certifi-
cates of origin ? (Hear, hear.) Not that I would not resort
to them if they were efficacious, but surely universal experience
has proved that they are useless and absurd. (Hear.) Sir
Archibald Alison, the historian, in reviewing the course of the
last war, says that the suffering experienced by England dur-
ing the continuance of the continental system was almost en-
tirely owing, not to the Berlin decrees of Napoleon, but the
operations of her own Customs regulations and Orders in
Council. (Hear, hear.) I repeat, it is impossible that we
can revert to certificates of origin ; that is to say that, Prus-
sia being a great exporting country of flax, you would ask
your Prussian consuls to say, in the case of every consignment,
whether it was raised in Prussia or in Russia. Do you be-
lieve such a system is practicable Would it not give rise to
a great amount of perjury ? Experience proves that if you
want an affidavit of origin you can easily get one for not a
very large sum ; and the consequence would be, that you
would have to pay au increased price for the Russian articles
and for the affidavit of origin besides. (A laugh.) • But what
is the law upon the subject I was astonished at the con-
struction which the hon. and learned member for Plymouth
put upon the authorities whom he quoted. It is not my in-
tention to follow him into that part of his statement. Suffice
it to say that the law of the land, as well as the law of com-
mon sense, is that partial manufactures are considered the
production of the country in which they were partially manu-
factured. (Hear.) Chancellor Kent, in his " Commentaries,"
says that it would not be just or legal for neutrals to avail them-
selves of the pressure of war to engage in any new species of
traffic not permitted in peace, and which the necessities of one
of the belligerents may oblige him to grant to the detriment
or destruction of the other. Would the hon. and learned
member for Plymouth revive the right of search ? If so, may
Ibe permitted to suggest to him that the responsibility rests
upon those who have the charge of such great undertakings
to consider what is duo to our ally, and also the operation
upon powerful neutral countries of the re-institution of the
right of search ? With regard to the right of search, I think
it would not be prudent to institute it in the harbours of
Prussia. If flax be opened in Prussia, it becomes Prussian
flax. If tallow be melted in Pruss ait becomes Prussian stea-
rine. Will you who so gravely condemn the policy by which
inevitably, from the circumstances of thcacase, the benefit of
the transit trade is conferred upon Prussia—will you contend
for a new policy which shall create manufactories in Prussia
—which shall make Prussia a comber of flax and a boiler of
tallow, knowing as you do that the Germans are your great
rivals in the linen trade, and that the countries which inter-
vene between this country and Prussia aro celebrated for
stearine. (Hear.) You may depend upon it, if we want Rus-
sian raw materials and prohibit partial manufactures, unless
the Prussian consul will certify that no portion of the manu-
factures emanated from Russia, can you prevent its coming
from Holland and other countries in the neighbourhood ?
Evasion will follow enactment. (Hear.) As fast as you stop
it in one place it will break out in another, and expense will
not be an impediment, because there will be a clear gain to
Russia. We had some experience in the last war on the sub-
ject, not exactly of certificates of origin, but of licenses, and
we know that the system tried by Bonaparte partly failed.
But in the commercial policy which we have pursued there
has been one signal and conspicuous advantage. It has been
Carried on by universal rule, openly published. There has
been no benefit conferred by licenses upon favoured traders
i(u e, the Privy
gi anted bc'ile*o ruunscnse. p.ulous traders. In the late war we had a system of
whether that would
Council, and I submit to you
have been as free from objection as our
licenses in the year
present system / 12 1 What was the case with regard to
Blicenses that they led to
Parliament, and to the strongest.epeated debates in both houses of
Lansdowne, and before t
So great was the abuse of those
liatnd most indignant denun-
ciations. The matter was in3iig before the House of Lords
House of Commons
,by
Mr. Brougham, and I will quotehave ainfeerweuSeTtdos
by Lord Lansdo
tfhrome moosnteof
those speeches :—" Licenses
un-
paralleled extent, whichh them at system of immorality,
fraud, and Perjury, pervade he whole trade of the
And then the words of Lord Stowell
,e,eTunhtery-
whole system of the commerce of the country is one of
were used
ear, hear.) If that was
simulation
licenses granted by the Privy Council
the result of the
of
of . what
and dissimulation." (
origin ? (Hear,
hear.) late and it '
war, was said
But it was said during
hear.) Bu
member for Bridport to-night, " These are not
would have been the effect certificates
by the hon.
account of the pressure of the
adopted on
trines, necessarily
I it accurate or inaccurate ?
the doctrines of sound political economy, but exceptional doe-
war." But the true test is this-- s_

Does it lead to a right conclusion or a false conclusion ? If
these doctrines be true, then the more important the crisis,
the more serious the consequence of departing from them, the
more you are bound in reason and prudence to adhere to
them. What might you expect to be the consequence on the
mind of the Emperor of Russia or of neutral Powers of adopt-
ing a course calculated to injure us more than Russia? Do
you think it would produce a discouraging effect on the mind
of the Emperor of Russia, and hasten his disposition to con-
clude a peace ? It seems to me it must lead to the opposite
result. (Hear.) It is said that Prussia is encouraged in her
neutrality because she derives a benefit from the transit
trade. Would she be less encouraged if she derived, besides,
the profit of having your manufactures transferred to her ?
What would be the consequence upon the population at
home ? I believe the capitalists and the working men of
this country are prepared to make any sacrifice for the sake
of a vigorous prosecution of the war, but they must be satis-
fied that it is reasonably and thoughtfully done ; and when
the hon. member for Plymouth talks of our losing two sove-
reigns where the Emperor of Russia loses one, I think they
will require some proof that that is the case. (Hear, hear.)
I think our trade has kept up most remarkably, considering
that we are subject to the disasters of a war. It is astonish-
ing to think that as 1853 was beyond all precedent the
greatest year ever known in the British export trade, when
there came upon us, in 1854, a European war, a crisis in Ame-
rica, and a crisis in Australia, the falling off of our trade in

1854 was so small that, although it was two per cent. below
the year 1853, it was far beyond any comparison with pre-
ceding years. (Hear.) You are aware of the temporary check
which has been given to our trade in the manufacturing dis-
tricts on account of the pressure of the war ; but do you
think that in furnishing the ways and means for a vigorous
prosecution of the war it will be any satisfaction to you to
find that you have (hied up some sources of revenue without
inflicting injury on the Emperor of Russia (Hear.) Do you
think, if we were to approach the state of things which ex-
isted in this country in 1812, when great distress pervaded
the manufacturing districts, and the price of food was high,
we should find that any advantage in the way of a vigorous
prosecution of the war ? It appears to me a most remarkable
circumstance that at the end of the first twelve months of the
war you should have been able to inflict this serious injury
upon the trade of the Emperor of Russia, with every pros-
pect of inflicting a severe blow in the coming year, and that
you should have sustained so small and disproportionate an
injury yourselves. (Hear.) I submit to the house that it jus-
tifies the course which we have pursued in adopting that
mode of repression which was calculated to inflict the maxi-
mum injury on the enemy and the minimum injury on our-
selves, and in refraining from those overt acts of aggression
which would have inflicted slight and temporary injury on the
enemy and permanent injury on ourselves. I have dealt with
the course of events during the past year, and the results
which that course of events has produced. I think I have
shown you that a vigorous prosecution of the war has been the
desire of the Government, and that if they have refrained from
adopting the measures which the hon. members for Plymouth
and Bridport have suggested, it has not been from any other
belief than the belief that these measures would have been
injurious, not to the great Emperor against whom we are
contending, but to the manufacturing population of this
country—to the agriculture of Ireland—to the revenue of
this country—and, speaking generally, to the domestic pro-
sperity of this kingdom. (Cheers.)
Mr. RICARDO said he could see no difference between
the propositions which the right hon. gentleman had done
him the honour to consider and those which he had just laid
before the house. (Hear.) He did not think there could
be any policy in letting in a little of the Russian trade and
not decidinc, to stop it altogether, or in admitting that the
raw material is what we want, and giving every encourage-
ment to thole who will furnish it for the purpose which had
been so well described by the right honourable gentlemen.
No one could attribute motives of self-interest to either the
mover or seconder of the proposition now under considera-
tion, but he thought they had done well to disclaim such
motives, and to show that they had no self-interest mixed up
with the cry for a stringent blockade. He viewed with great
suspicion the source from which that cry had come. He
could not believe that the Russian merchants were anxious to
stop the Russian trade, and when he heard it said that Prussia
was infringing her neutrality by allowing goods to pass
through that country and come to England, he must be allowed
to observe, that if Russia wanted to sell, and Prussia found it
to her interest to let goods pass, Englishmen would buy,
whether this country was at war with Russia or not. That
alWays would be the case, and such decrees as the Berlin de-
crees would not prevent such transactions. The great evil
inflicted on us by France was not inflicted by the decrees by
which she endeavoured to deprive this country of bread, but
by the country itself in meeting them half way, and by the
Orders in Council in 1807. The arguments which had been
used to-night were rot the most conflicting nature. (hie
honourable gentleman had taunted the right honourable
baronet at the head of the Admiralty with not effecting a
stringent blockade, and stated that the only place where
there was such blockade was at the Danube, and that no corn
had been imported into this country in consequence of that
blockade. This was a matter worthy the consideration of
the house. Tho hon. gentleman said we ought not to allow
Russian produce to come here, and the Emperor of Russia
said the same thing, for he was not anxious to feed the people
who were fighting against him. Thepion. member for Brid-
port said that no tallow came from Memel or the Prussian
ports, and, therefore, the consul must know that when it was
shipped at a Prussian port it must be Russian tallow. Now,
if the Russian ports were stopped to prevent Russian tallow
coming out of those ports, or out of Prussian ports, it was
natural to suppose that Prussia would keep the Russian tal-
low and send its own. Besides, it was only necessary to
mingle a ladleful of Prussian tallow with a ton of Russian tal-
low and it became Prussian tallow immediately. He would
not mind taking the oath himself; and if he had a ladle in
one hand and a pot of Russian tallow in the other, he would
make it into Prussian tallow in five minutes. (Laughter.)
When an article was in the slightest degree manufactured or
mixed with other articles it was no longer the produce of the
country from which it came, and no certificate of origin
would prevent such things being done. The hon gentleman
said it was perfectly idle to suppose that we should have any
competition for the linen trade even if we excluded all the flax
which comes to this country, and that no person would
choose to build a manufactory when the war might be over in
six months. But it was a very dangerous thing to teach
people to have another market, and it was well known that
when a market was once lost it was not easy to recover it.

(Hear, hear.) The great argument which had been ad.

vanced on the present occasion was this, that we could, by
shutting up the produce of Russia, so coerce, and intimidate,
and impoverish the Emperor as to compel him to make peace
upon such terms as we might think fit. Now what did the ex-
port trade from Russia to this country amount to? Why, only
to seven millions, and supposing the profit to be 10 per cent. the
actualprofit on the whole trade could not be more than 700,0001.,
or he would say at the utmost 900,0001. Now, was it likely
that the people of Russia would turn upon the Emperor
merely for being deprived of that amount of profit ? The
argument was perfectly contemptible, when it was recollected
that by one stroke of the pen the Emperor had shut out the
export of six millions in corn. Of this he was quite sure,
that if we returned to the Orders of Council of the year 1816
and 1817, and to the economical and fiscal doctrines which we
held then, we should also return to the same poverty, the
same pauperism, the same misfortunes, and the same ina-
bility to meet the exigencies of, and to raise the supplies for,
the war by which the country was then embarrassed. (Hear,
hear.)
Lord DUNCAN said the honourable and learned member
for Plymouth had thrown out some most unworthy taunts
against the manufacturers of linen, and be must therefore ask
the house to recollect the conduct of those capitalists, who
were so ably represented by the hon. member who bad se-
conded the motion. From the time of the declaration of war in
March to the end of autumn, nothing was heard of a blockade;
everything went on smoothly, and a very large amount of flax
was brought into this country. Then certain gentlemen were
seized with a sudden fit of activity ; they found out that the
blockade was not enforced, and deputations, not of manufac-
turers, but of merchants, waited on the Government to
induce them to enforce it. He (Lord Duncan) subsequently
waited on the noble lord the Sec etary of State for Foreign
Affairs with a deputation of millowntrs, and he stated to them
that whatever might be his desire to give all possible facilities
to the commerce of the country, he felt it to be his duty to
use every means in his power to vex and annoy the enemy
with whom we were at war. And he must say that, consi-
dering the difficulties which attended this question, he
thought the course which had been pursued by the noble
earl and the Government reflected the highest credit upon
thorn. They had heard a great deal of the state of matters
in this country, but he had received a letter from a gentleman
largely connected with the linen trade, than whom no one
knew better what was the state of Russia at this moment.
That gentleman, on the authority of correspondents in that
country, stated that the war had already produced great dis-
tress there, that business was at a standstill, that numerous
failures had taken place, and ihat if the war continued the
merchants there would all be ruined. Of course there could
be no doubt, on the other hand, that the population of Forfar-
shire, of the West Riding, and of the north of Ireland, em-
ployed in the linen trade, had also suffered considerably by
the rise in the price of flax. It had been said that they should
stop the Russian trade. But how could they stop Russian
flax coming through Prussia ? or even if they did, could they
prevent it going down the Elbe and coming by way of Dussel-
dorf ? They might depend upon it that if flax was wanted it
would come through some channel or other. No doubt, in-
deed, if the war continued other sources for the supply of
flax would be found, and the importation from Russia would
be gradually diminished. But seeing the suffering which had
already resulted from the war, he must ask the house what
would be the effect of at once cutting off the supply of flax
from the linen manufacturers of this country ? His consti-
tuents in Forfarshire were as willing as any men could be to
share in the sufferings necessarily resulting from the vigorous
prosecution of the war, but they did ask that the Government
should not capriciously aggravate the difficulties of their posi-
tion by embarking in a goose-chase, and attempting to shut
out all trade with Russia. He was glad to find that the Go-
vernment had no intention c$ doing so.
Mr. WATSON said that he did not distinctly understand the
policy of the Government; for while they avowed au intention
of carrying on the strict system of blockades which had been
pursued in all former wars, the argument of the President of
the Board of Trade, if good for anything, went to show that
blockades should be done away with, and that free trade
should be allowed in time of war as in time of peace. Now he
could not assent to this, for he believed that blockades, bycrip-
pling the trade of Russia, were the most effectual means of de-
priving her of resources for carrying on this war. What he
complained of was, that the Government proclaimed their
intention in that house to adopt a system of blockade, but
did not in fact carry it out. The linseed trade with the ports
in the Baltic and Black Sea was the principal one of the town
which he represented—Hull. Now it was stated last year in
that house that orders had been sent out to the Black Sea to
enforce a strict blockade of the Russianports there. The re-
sult of this was, that our merchants were prevented from en-
deavouring to import Black Sea seed into this country, but
embarked their capital in the attempt to procure supplies
from other sources—the East Indies, Africa, and he believed
Austraria. In consequence of the blockade not having been
enforced, and linseed having been imported from the ports of
the Black Sea, their enterprises bad failed, their capital had
been locked up, and they had suffered enormous losses ; while
certain Greek merchants, who were more knowing than they,
and who, disregarding the announcement of the intended
blockade, had imported Black Sea seed, had made large gains.
He could not understand why the blockade of the Black Sea
and the Sea of Azof, which was announced in July or Angust
last, was not enforced. Surely, from our large fleet iu the
Black Sea two or three steamers might have been despatched
to the Straits of Kertch, when they might easily have pre-
vented any ships leaving the Sea of Azof. (Hear.) The
hon. member for Plymouth bad read a statement put forth
in December last by the Hull Chamber of Commerce. In a
subsequent document, dated the Bth inst., it was stated that
ships had since continued to arrive at Constantinople, in con-
siderable numbers from the Russian ports in the Black Sea
and Sea of Azof ; that from May to December last 452 ships
and 770,000 qrs. of linseed had thus arrived, being in fact a
larger export than had taken place in a previous year—and
this to the prejudice of the English merchants, who, relying
on the professions of the Government, had turned their at-
tention to other sources of supply. In fact, the last year's
crop of the linseed grown on the shores of the Sea of Azof,
and which whiaidichewnmasoutanuatlillyisexcepunorttryed inte
Sept.,Sep
had
t e exported
compete been h
with
lin-
seed\vy!lich our own merchants had brought from other places.
lic heti also to call the attention of the house to another
point.r The mouths ot.the Danube,
from
which a large supply
of corn might, have been drawn for our own army, ,bad boon