The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-25 00:00:00

mighi be found; the consequence of which would have
been that the cotton of America, the sugar of Cuba, or
the coffee of Java might have• been glutting the ports
along the English' Channel. They could not be im-
ported in a foreign ship' unless the goods were carried
back to the country, whence they had, been originally
shipped, unless they were first carried to Europe from some
other cdntinent. Now, why was not.this clause amended,
instead' of precipitating a total repeal, awl why could
eot goode be declared nationalized wherever they were
found? Is it to be said that the question was Made one
of party? Is the haste which characterised this mo-
mentous change to be excused on the ground that it
was tdade a Cinet measure? Is it to be said that the
existence of a Ministry was the main cause for the hasty
alieration of a system, ,a false step in effecting which
;night prove fatal to the best interests of the empire.—
(Loud'eheers.).e Whatever was the motive, the repeal of
the nitvigetiou4aws was carried, and carried with cir-
cumstances of. inexcusable precipitancy.-(Renewed
cheers.) How happens it that, during the period which
has elapsed sintte -this repeat;' wiih. exports and.imperts
enoemeetatlONCeasping, . with'-trade elpettellarriee.
with Money abundant and credit easy; that-our ebi ;bag,
instead of rising, au' it has risen beforeefrom the depres•
sidrig visited it, is so tardy in its recovery?
Because Mites; received a shock-which might have proved
fatal; because to save a Whig:Ministry a great interest
was jeopardized; because Mr. Labouchere plunged
us into free trade without stipulating os eo.ip, °city, SO
that before we.ootrld make ourselves ready for the race
to which we were exposed, foreign shipping overstocks
our ports, and freights are reduced so ruinously low, that
20s. per ton was the last return from Calcutta.—(Loud
cheering ) What lave we gained from America for
conceding to her the trade of our colonies.? Nothing.
What have we gained from Spain? Nothing. France
has not met us—(Hear, hear)—Holland has not met
us—(Hear, hear)—Russia, Germany, Sweden, and other
states have nothing to meet us svith.—(Loud cheers.)
Was it then right for a British 'Minister, I repeat, to
take a step so momentous with plans so ill.considered?
—(Loud shouts of " NO."), Had he gone to America
and 'said,—" We are a Free-trade country—we have
adopted through all our interests the principles of com-
mercial freedom; it is your highest interest ,to follow
our example.—(Hear, hear.) By so doing we shall
be mutually bent fited; we have opened to you our
colonies; we offer you now our coasting trade; we ask
you in return tp allow us to navigate our ships in
the carrying trade to California."—(Cheers.) Had he
then gone to Spain, and said, " You, Spaniards, now
trade in your vessels between England and our colonies
entirely unfettered, and yet you will not permit a Bri-
tish vessel, loading British manu'actures, to trade to
Havannah, or any of your settlements.—
(Hear.) You charge a British vessel in the port of Ha-
vannah double what you: charge a vessel of Spain; you
make Spanish goods arriving from Spain, under your
national flag, liable only to an ad valorem duty of 64 per
cent.; while, if Spanish goods are carried from Spain in
British vessels, the duty rises from 144 to lBi per cent.
This is not fair to us—this is not politic in you.

Remember , your past glories. Recollect yea once
had a marine. Forget not the times of mari-
time chivalry, when a Columbus manned his vessels
to go forth in search of a new world. You have been
torn since by revoluticns within; you have suffered
from want ot,credit, and distrust abroad. Awake to
your true interests. Take advantage of your great na,
tional resources. Cultivate the principles of commer-
cial freedom. Follow the example we have sett you in
the Free-trade brotherhood of nations."—(Tremendous
cheering.) Had he gone to Belgium and said, "We
grant to your ships the same privileges as our, own;
we admit your produce on the terms of the most favoured
nations. Why, then, is white salt from England pro-
hibited by your tariff, and rook salt, unless imported
under, your flag, and why is a duty of 15t. per ton on
British ships still retained?" Had he gone to France,
end said to .the French Government, " Contrast your
tariff with ours, and.say which of us has shown most
solicitude for the commercial intercourse of our respec-

tive countries? Have we not opened up a new market
for your flour, your brandies, your silks, your hats, your
shawls, your gloves, your leather.? And what have
you done in return? You have not taken off your
duties on coal, or leen bastkseer -chaise,- or' anchors,
or pig iron, or linen threads, or needles, or pottery
ware. If you will not deal liberally with U 9 as we have
dealt with you, look to your own interests. You are
ambitious to establish manufactures, then reduce the duty
of 4s. 91. per ton you exact on English coals, and in-
stead of the 600,000 tons we now export, two million
of coals will fled their way into
your country.—
(Protracted cheering.) Sir, had Mr. Labouehere thus
acted—had he calmly and dispassionalelY, mindful of
the great interests at stalte, prop,rly imbued with a
sense of the danger arising from a
-forced or ill-con-
sidered legislation, entered into negociation with foreign
powers, and, by argument, ,by entreaty, or, if neces
nary, by inspiring them with "a wholesome fear of pos-
sible and ulterior consequences, led.tbem to the adoption
of the grand principles of commercial freedom, thee
would his conduct have been more worthy of a British
statesman—then would we not have been hurried, as it
were, in a moment, from a system of limited free trade,
with co-extensive reciprocity, into a condition of abso
late free-trade. with limited repreeity.—(Prolonged
cheers, mingled with cries of " Bravo.") Sir, the deed
is done ; the die is cast—the British shipowner is
I lunched into competition with the whole world.
(Hear, hear.) There is a danger in going back to a
course which has been once abandoned.—(Hear, hear.)
In the interval, which has °leased, new relations of
commercial property and enterprise take place, and, like
a relapse in the natural Lindy, the shack of a reaction
may be attended with the most perilous consequences to
the body politic —(Cheers,) Aid yet I must not be
misunderstood. I do not mean to deny that in principle
Mr. Labouchere was right. I censure him, not far the
end at which he tsimea, but for the speed with which
he approached it.- (Hear, hear.) What, then, is to be
done? Go back? No; it is too late! Go forward?
Yes! But me, Hulce I hear some of you say, " How
can we go forwat d? We are placed at our starting post
in this ocean race, burdened and over-weighted. You
must, at least, relieve. us of every impost that presses too
heavily upon us." Sir, I feel the strength of that argu-
ment. The shipping interest of this country has deep
and many- causes of complaint—(Hear)—and I -know
rot whether more emphatically to condemn the baste
which marked the repeal, or the injustice which stopped
short of the removal of these, burdens.—(Cheers.) The
first burden which must lie removed are the duties
upon timber. I think no tax whatever ought to be im-
post(' upon the raw material of our shipping. When
Mr. Huskisson proposed to grant to the builder of ships
in this country a drawback equal to the Lull amount of
any duty that had been paid upon the materials used in
their construction and equipment, he proposed a wise and
solid measure—(clear, hear)—and ..I must say it was
little to the credit ot the shipowners who formed -the de-
putation to Mr. Huskisson of that day, that they re-
fused his offer, dreading lest the Government, by adopt-
ing Mr. Huskieson's suggestion, should give a fresh
stimulus to shipbuilding at home, and raise up new com-
petitors, who would be able to rival them in every
branch of commerce !—(Hear, hear.) The maintenance
of a timber duty on the part of Her Majesty's late
Government was a perfect absurdity--(Loud cheers.)
Their professed aim was to admit the raw
material duty free, especially that which creates labour
in its manufactured state, and to tax articles of manufac-
ture imported from other countries, but here they taxed
the foreign raw material, white they admitted the same
material, when manufactured into a ship, dal foe._
(Hear, hoar.)' Anotherrborden on shipping is the light
dues. Foremost among these are the light dues, im-
posed by the Trinity House at Deptford &rend, amount-
ing now to about 400,000/, a year.—(Hear, hear.) „ That
is a large sum, .and is felt- as a sore grievance by the
shipping interest of this country.—(Hear.) Indeed, the
-Trinity House system, in all ias details, is an enormous
anomaly—(Hear, hear)—and ill-suited to the temper
and advancing spirit of these times.—(Cheers.) Bodiesi
like these Trinity. House Corporations, really self-
elected, practically irresponsibleawith all their cumbrous
appendages, and their multitudinous parasites, are un-
suited to an industrious and economical age, and only
form relics of the legislation of an unenlightened anti-
quity.—(Renewed cheering.) To give one small instance,
out of a multitude, of the enormous injustice of this
system—The Heligoland Light cost the Government
2501. a year for maintaining it, and the Commer-
cial marine 580/, a year—(Hear, hear)—previously to
1846, when it was taken by the Trinity House, and the
nation relieved from further payment of it; but in 1845
the Commercial marine was made to pay 1,8901. for its
maintenance, while its actual cost was only 529/.
(Cheers, and cries of " Shame.") Now,
why
should the
shipowners of this country_be x_ exclusively. taxed for the
( ear.) Es
support ot these lights.— bi pecially, why are
the repeal of the navigation laws has
they so taxed,
benefitslues the
of these lights to the rest of the
thrown open the
the United Stsies of Americus
world.—(Cheers.) In
establishmentis '
the light-house
the expense of
b
y a vote of. Congress; in Holland the
provided
for
fid d to the Government; in Russia the
lighting is con e
the lighlhouses, and no charge is
Government supportt on either Russian or foreign ships
made on that account ,
lighting
of our coast he a charge:
Why should not. th
d f the country ?—(Hear and
consolidated fun o
this subject
.
upon the con
connected with this subject is the toll
cheers.) Closely
__r
which is collected in Sunder-
called primage— H
( ea
? the northern ports, for the bene-
fitland and some other o
he Newcastle. The right of
of the Trinil House
revenue of which they make no
that house to collect a
made the subject of a
return, has been very'
properly lor to be called u on the
trial at law, and it was mY
~ , - e
other day, in the Court of Qtl6oii a Bauch; to tqlies a pro-