The Sun.
London, England, 1822-04-15 00:00:00

COLONIAL POLICY.

The Board of Trade having recommended to
the favourable consideration of the Legislature nearly a total
subversion of our Colonial and Navigation System, we are in-
duced to give circulation to the following observations on Colo-
r ial Policy from the last number of The Quarterly Review.
We hope his Majesty's Government will postpone the consi-
deration of the Bills brought in by Mr. ROBINSON and Mr.
at LACE until another Sessioti of Parliament, and thereby
:Hord an opportunity to the Colonists in British North Ame-
rica to be heard against them ; for not contemplating such a
evolution in the policy of the Mother Country, they have pre-
pared for their voyages during the season to. the West Indies,
which (from the assurances already sent out to the planters of
being allowed an intercourse with the United States in Ameri-
ran shipping) will prove ruinous to the former.
It is to be lamented that when the West India Interest ap-
plied to the Board of Trade on this subject, in July or August
list, a communication was not immediately made to the Ship-
ping Interest, the Agents of the Provinces of British North
America, and the Merchants interested in the trade to those
Colonies. If that had been done, those Colonies would not
have complained of being taken by surprise, nor would they
have entered on their shipments for this season ; on the other
hand, the American Government was early apprised of the dis-
position to concede this point to them, as were also the planters.
We cannot forget the opposition given by the PRESENT MI.
MISTERS in IBM to the American Intercourse Bill, nor the
strong objection THEY THEN made to the refusal of the Ad-
ministration of that day to hear the British North American
Celonists and the Ship-owners against it : the same reasons
~prevail
in the present instance, and therefore his Majesty's
Ministers, to be consistent in their conduct, should postpone
these Bills until next year. We are convinced that these mea-
sures are pregnant with great danger to this country, and to all
its Trading and Manufacturing Interests ; besides, that it is a
.OBATUITOUS CONCESSION to the United States, altogether
uncalled for and unnecessary ; nor will it be received in that
spirit of conciliation with which it is probably offered, but will
be considered as an act of weakness on our part, yielded from
necessity, not from choice. In evidence of the feelings of the
United States on this point, we recommend to the serious con-
sideration of the country the following extract from the PHI-
LADELPHIA Papers of the sth ultimo :—" In relation to
4' West India Restrictions, the plan is none of the best ; but
" there will be no change of it during the present Session.
." Should there be a necessity for a change next year, it will be
" done with a view to make our restrictions LESS HEAVY on
" ourselves, and, probably, more COERCIVE on Great Britain;
" but not with any disposition to yield in the contest."
There is one point of view in which we think Mr. ROBIN-
BON'S Bill is particularly objectionable, independently of the
policy or impolicy of the measure generally, namely, that it
supersedes the power of the Legislature, and places the regu-
lation of the Trade and Navigation of the Empire in the
Ministers of the Crown. We well remember how strongly
Mr. CANNING, Mr. PERCIVAL, and other Members, objected
in 1?06 to investing a much more limited authority in the
Privy Council, under the American Intercourse Bill of that
Session. By Mr. ROBINSON'S Bill, all the existing laws
relating to our Colonial Trade are repealed, and the whole
'power of regulation confided to the Government for the time
being. There was a period in the history of our country,
sabot such an inroad on the Constitution would have been
viewed with jealousy and distrust—when no temporary consi-
fieration of expediency would have induced the Legislature to
• invest any Administration with such a power. The objections
to it are obvious, and in our opinion insuperable. This part,
therefore, of this ill-fated measure, at least, should not be
-conceded, but the power of granting such further powers, as
may hereafter be necessary, should be, from time to time,
granted by the Legislature. The more we reflect on these
measures, the more are we alarmed at the evils which will flow
from them. Their object is to annihilate a system which has
stood the test of the experience for centuries, and which has ac-
complished all the great national objects contemplated by its
founders, without substituting any fixed and certain system to
,ethich we can look for the future.

" In our Number for January, 1821, we entered into an exa-
mination of the policy of applying the principle of unlimited
free intercourse to foreign trade. At that time we confined our
argument to commerce as directly carried on between independ-
ent nations ; omitting a collateral view of the subject, which,
om its importance, in particular to the British Empire, well
deserves a place ; we propose now therefore to present some re-
liections on the relation of a country with its Colonies, and of
'Colonies with other States. In the former Article, we were led
to the conclusion that, in the actual constitution of the world,
domestic manufacturing industry, commerce, and navigation,
-stand often in need of protective regulation as well for their
maintenance as creation ; and this will be found, we believe,
still more to accord with national policy in respect to colonial
possessions.
Before proceeding to the question of restraint, or freedom of
intercourse, it may not he amiss to advert to some objections oc-
-easionally Ivanced against these dependencies altogether. It
is sometimes insisted that Colonies are burdens • and that the
wealth and strength of a country would be increased by seeking
the productions of detached states and settlements of other
.countries.
Among these arguments, it is scarcely necessary to dwell
upon the allegation that Colonies are a source of depopulation,
since the principle which regulates the increase of mankind is,
,at this day, so completely established. Were the Colonies not
possessed by us, we should not be more numerous. As emi-
g ration takes place, the numbers fill up so long as the means of
support remains; in fact, with a new world risen, within a few
generations, from our foreign settlements, the people of this
, country have, at the same time, greatly multiplied. The in.
stance of Spain is commonly cited ; but Uztariz, a writer of that
„country entitled to every degree of credit, remarks that Canta-
bria, Navarre, and the other northern provinces, had furnished,
•-for centuries, nearly the whole of the emigrators to America ;
yet they suffered no,diminution of numbers. From this con-
-4.lsive appeal to experience, he proves the error of the popular
.opinion, that 'Spain was drained of people by the possession of
:;her Colonies. "rhose provinces,' he says, most abound with
inhabitants, whence the greatest number of Spaniards have'.
gone abroad. From the provinces of Toledo, La Mancha, and
the neighbourhood, few go to the Indies, and yet these are the
least populous parts of Spain.
As mankind always presses on the extreme means of subsist.
,enne, it might rather be alleged of these foreign settlements that
,they provide an advantageous outlet to the overtiowings of
states. Society adapts itself in education and character to the
probable pursuits of its members, and these establishments re-
speiring enterprize and intelligence, their possession tends to
.elevate the pursuits of life. In distant regions, the adventurers
,remain subjects of the same community, assisting its produc-
tion, attached to its interests, the support of their country in an
important part of its foreign relations ; their beneficial industry
removed, but not sacrificed.
It is urged against Colonies that they occasion a drain of
,capital.; an other words, an abstraction from the mother coun-
-try of amain spring of its prosperity. It is this erroneous
principle which pervades the arguments of Adam Smith against
the colonial system. The fallacy of the reasoning has been ex-
- posed by Mr. Buchanan, and other commentators, by an appeal
-Co facts. While our Colonies have grown into important states,
with incalculable resources, this country has risen contempora-
neously to the highest pitch of industry and wealth. An inge-
,.nious French Author, Ganilh, has entered into an estimate of
the extraordinary progress of capital in America from European
..origin, the substance of which may be thus stated in British
• in caley
`united States, value of cultivated lands, houses,
furniture' machinery, cattle, currency. - X 456,000,000
British and French possessions in America and

West Indies
L.Vroductions and Mines of South America

ie., 66,000,000
200,000,000

X 1,022,000,000

Ile Europeans who have peopled the new world, he reckons
,:at sae million ; and allowing each to have carried with him the

value of £l2, he considers this capital of twelve millions to I
have produced property exceeding in value one thousand
millions *. The same twelve million* employed in Europe
during the space of two centuries, according to the general rate
of increase, could not be calculated to have reached above ten-
fold, or 120 millions.
But the fallacy of the argument that Colonies are a drain of
capital, might have been more conclusively derived from the
nature of capital itself. All production being in a constant suc-
cession of consumption and renewal, that portion of the produc-
tion which is employed in obtaining, any subsequent renewal is the
capital. It consists of the food, materials, and implements
which, through the medium of the labourer, raise the next pro-
duction. Of the total production, a part is consumed unpro-
ductively, or without a return of material objects ; a part
productively, or with a return; the latter is the capital : de-
pendent on production, capital rises and falls with it. In the
New World, the production, in proportion to the means which
created it, was large, and little of the excess was abstracted
for unproductive consumption ; but at every process of renewal,
more and more was contributed in addition to the previous
capital to assist in the ensuing production : the fruitti of nature
sprung up faster than the population to consume them. In
Europe, the occasional withdrawing of capital to America did
not impair the customary production, but it served rather to in-
crease the profit; and the habit of saving out of that profit re-
placed the capital withdrawn.
It has been said of Colonies that they are a burden to a
country, on account of the expense of administration and pro-
tection.
If we knew precisely the extent of military and naval force
stationed at foreign settlements, and the charge of civil admi-
nistration there and at home occasioned by their possession, we
could ascertain the actual annual expense of these dependencies
to the country. In making tip this account, something must
be allowed for the naval force necessary to be kept up in those
remote quarters, although we had no colonies. The planta-
tions themselves contribute. In the West Indies, some of the
islands pay a duty of .11 per cent. ; others, and more especially
Jamaica, have sustained a great part of the expenses of their
own government and defence. The British North American
Colonies and East India possessions provide greatly or entirely
for the expenditure, military and civil, appertaining to them.
After determining thei charge in its actual extent, drawn from
the taxes of this country for the maintenance of the Colonies,
it will remain to compare that pecuniary amount with the ad-
vantages resulting to its industry from their possession : on
adverting to these, the latter will be found greatly to'prepon-
derate.
From the ties of intercourse between protecting and de-
pentlent states, it must
.be obvious that they give rise to the
formation of multifarious commodities on the part of an Eu-
ropean country, to pay for die exotic productions necessarily
flowing into it.. If the articles produced equal the expense of
the Colonies, in this view alone their possession is a source of
wealth and enjoyment, and not a burden. An examination of
the value of the colonial intercourse, compared with that of in-
dependent nations, must lead to a conviction that an amount of
exports is made to the Colonies, exclusively originating in
their demand, much exceeding the real expense. If a certain
portion of the total exports be thus owing to these possessions,
the labour of the producers of that excess must, without them,
evidently determine and cease.
Even could we without the Colonies rely on possessing the
same extent of production, and consequently power to purcase
of them or of other states, still the security and permanence of
an intercourse under our controul is an important considera.
tion. The certainty of a home trade is acquired. The whole
of the produced wealth is the property of British subjects. It
is not on one side that of foreigners ; nor are we exposed to in-
terruptions from caprice or policy, or the occurrence of hostili-
ties between other Powers. A foreign state may,, by regula-
tions, draw its supplies, even of the staples and manufactures
in which this country is confessedly superior, from other
sources. This acquired stability in our relations will repay
even a large sacrifice.
If then production be created by a colonial connexion, on
that production must depend its requisite capital, which with-
outit must perish. This capital, though occupied on its spe-
cific production, will be partly applicable to the calls of the
state, and strengthen the resources of Government. It is
wealth diffused through every part of society, which, at the
time of need, like a peaceful population in the hour of danger,
may be drawn forth to meet the exigence of the occasion. In
the abundant productions of Colonies, transmitted to the pa-
rent state, an excess arises which is re-exported, and for which
portion:, and its returned value, that state becomes the medium.
This gives birth to commercial capital, which, like that of agri-
culture and manufactures,is dependent on production, although
in remoter quarters. Mercantile capital may even be possessed
by a people who have neither husbandry nor manufactures,
and it is peculiarly the offspring of regulation, and sometimes
of accident. It is this capital which Dr. Smith has specified
as " employed in transporting either rude or manufactured
produce from the places where it abounds, to those where it is
wanted." This capital is snore available and disposable than
that immediately assisting production ; and, as we shall endea-
vour to show in the sequel, is especially at the command of
countries possessing Colonies.
The employment of seamen, attendant upon a colonial trade,
is an object of primary importance. The productions of the
tropics being to be procured in Europe only by means of navi.
gation, ithe appropriation of a large portion of their conveyance
has ever been accounted a source of strength and security.—
' Without the possession of Colonies, it is difficult to say how
this can be attained, unless the sources of the produce were in-
dependent states, and would forego (what no state possessing
shipping ever did forego) discriminating duties and favour to
its own vessels. It would be impertinent in us to observe fur-
ther, how important a consideration a numerous mercantile
marine is to this country.
Colonial possessions, scattered over all parts of the world,
become secure marts from which commerce can be carried on
with every quarter: without them the intercourse with many
places, in an imperfectly, civilized or often disturbed state,
would be precarious and hazardous. They confer, wherever
situated, a local influence, upholding the character and inte-
rests of the country. It is thus Jamaica and other West India
islands are the means of an extensive intercourse with South
America, secure amid the troubles to which that quarter has
been, and may yet be, subject. Thus, in the Mediterranean,
Gibraltar, and Malta, although not in themselves productive,
become beneficial chains of communication with Barbary and
other parts in their vicinity. Our various East India posses-
sions, besides the commerce actually held with diem, are the
means of conducting an intercourse with every shore of the
Indian Ocean.
We might enlarge on the advantages resulting to nations
from the possession of Colonies, but, considering them as suffi-
ciently manifest, and especially to States having maritime in-
terests, we shall proceed to examine the policy by which their
intercourse is regulated ; and this investigation will tend more
strongly to illustrate these advantages.
The zealous promoters of free trade have not only held it
forth to practice in the intercourse of home territories, but they
would extend its operation to every colonial dependence. This
principle has: not hitherto been adopted by the rulers of other
countries possessing Colonies, nor by any of the great States-
men of our own country. Their aim has rather been to esta-
blish the intercourse of foreign settlements on a footing, which,
while it afforded protection to their interests, served to insure
the fullest advancement to the power, wealth, and resources of
the parent state.
Influenced, perhaps, by the opinions of the mercantile body,
one view, in the minds of those who first formed these regula-
tions, was to oblige, as far as possible, other countries,to draw
their supplies of the produce of the Colonies from the country
possessing them, and by that means to attract an influx of the
precious metals, giving rise to what is called a favourable ex.
change, because it induces that influx, and an active circulation.
Erroneous as was the object—for we cannot assent to the
great doctrine of the mercantile system, that wealth consists
the abundant supply of the precious metals,—yet we are dis-
posed to believe that the means employed to attain that end
were often better adapted to arrive at real wealth,—the abun-
dance of objects useful to life,—than the wholly unrestricted
system so eagerly pursued by the economists of the present day.
Our West India possessions are the most important instance
of the exercise of the national monopoly prescribed by the co-
lonial policy, and as this has been adhered to with steady per-
severance, they furnish a fair contrast with the merits of oppo-'
site modes of government. If the test of facts and experience
might be appealed to for the influence of these different schemes
of administration upon public wealth, the instance of these
Colonies might be triumphantly brought forward by the advo-
cates of a restricted intercourse.
It is hardly necessary to inform our readers that, according
to the strict colonial policy, it is laid down as the general rule,
that all the produce of the Colonies, destined for the European
market,•shall be brought to the Mother Country, for consump-
tion, or re-exportion ; on the other hand, that the Mother

Francs.
• The revenue of New Spain (Mexico) in 1712, was, 16,000,000
1802, 101,000,000

Increase within a century 85,000,000

In the same interval (Depons, Voyage to Terra Firma) the
plains in the neighbourhood of the Caraccas have produced
treble the number of animals which they formerly possessed.'—
( De Pradt on Colonies. )
In little more than a century, the European possessions in
the West Indies have risen to the immense production of the
present ' day, which may be estimated annually thus : sugar
200,000 ton ; coffee 50,000 ; rum 80,000 ton ; besides cotton,
cocoa, pimento, &c. many of which articles were either intro-
duced within that period, ur were previously wholly uncultivated.

Country shall furnish all the supplies required by the Colonies;
and that the conveyance of the produce shall be confined to the
national shipping. Front this great principle deviations have
been made ; some exacted by temporary circumstances, others
of a more permanent nature. With regard to the 'West India
Colonies, the chief exception has been the permission to draw
?rovisions and lumber from the United States, giving in return
rum and molasses. • _ . .

At times, the intercourse of nations and their colonies has
bean more narrowly confined than we have here explained. It
has been often limited to an exclusive company ; sometimes to
one or more ports ; and, in some cases, as in the Spanish gal-
leons, to particular ships : it is hot, however, our object to ad-
vert to measures having in view solely the advantage of a por-
tion of the community, but such as affect the public interests
in the aggregate. We desire to give the freest career to the
activity of every individual in the empire, and contend for the
expedience of international, and not internal distinctions.
The advocates for the removal of restrictions between coun-
tries argue upon a principle correct in the abstract, but not
applicable to the national divisions of mankind, nor always
eligible when applicable. It may be thus shortly stated :
the wealth of a country, consists in the productive labour of
its inhabitants, and the command which the produce of that
labour has over the productions of other countries. The ge-
neral labour of the world is variously assisted by soils and cli-
mate. One day's labour in Hindostan or Jamaica will give
far more sugar than a day's labour applied to its extraction
from any vegetable substance in' Europe. The freest access
of a nation to all countries and climates must therefore
yield the highest value to its labour. The quick perception
of interest will direct every individual to seek the best ex-
changes, and to obtain • the most abundant returns for the pro-
duce of his industry. A man in Jamaica may thus find his
day's labour command more manufactures and rude produce
from France or Germany, or the United States, than from Eng-
land. A man in England may find his day's labour procure
more colonial produce from the Havannah, Brazils, or else-
where, than from Jamaica ; upon this view, therefore, the
most open intercourse would appear the most beneficial.
These theories are, however, subject to numerous modifica-
tions, like all general rule; which are concerned with the vary-
ing passions and interests of mankind, the policy and artifices of
Governments. it is amidst prohibitions, restrictions, and
taxes, as existing. in all 'cOuntries„. and which must, more
or less, ever 'exist, that productions have to seek- their
best exchangeable value .ehroughout
.the world. The sources
of tropical productions, -for instance, are either actually in the
hands of European States, and the productions are forced
through their niedium to the supply of the consumers; or the
sources being independent, the productions are subject to heavy.
export duties.
The policy of states is continually varying ; and a change
which may open a commercial intercourse one year, may close
it the next. The British manufacturer, whose commodities
must chiefly furnish the means of purchase from the sources
which these chances might present, must one moment adapt
his litbours to the taste of die East, another, of the West Indies ;
now trust to Africa, and now to America. Of this uncer-
tainty he has already an ample proportion. If, on the other
hand, Spain, Portugal, France, or Holland, are the channels
of supply, they may not take at all, or only partially, the pro-
ductions of this country. In the great changes and interrup-
tions to which commerce becomes thus liable, industry is per-
plexed, labour in no certain employ, and serious or fatal loss
to individuals is often occasioned. Now the manufacturer and
other trading classes recur to our own plantations, with cer-
tainty, of a steady vent, under complete protection, and exempt
from every hazard of intercourse, except such as is beyond hu.
man control. Under, the free system, their markets might be
forestalled from every other European state ; in discharging
debts which might leave little to • support the industry of
Britain.
Our West India and other Colonies might seek cheaper ma-
nufactures elsewhere, and offer their produce to other countries;
but many states have Colonies, to the produce of which they
give an exclusive preference. Our Colonists might thus find no
considerable market accessible to them, with advantage, but
that of this country, and must recur to it; yet, under the free
system here, the market might easily prove pre-occupied with
rival produce.
If such, then, are the probable results or a free inter-
course, the mutual restriction only confines the trade to its
natural course, and gives stability to that which would other-
wise be perplexed and variable. The connection of the pa-
rent State and Colonies, on the open system,. would have all the
uncertainty of a foreign trade ; on the restricted one, it has all
the security of a home trade. Capital transmitted to a foreign
State for the purposes of commerce, and, more or less, re-
maining there in credits and investments, becomes exposed to
the changes and policy of that state ; if employed in settle-
ments belonging to the country, it will be removed from the
chances attendant on foreign possession, and loss by other
than our own measures.
Other countries are little likely to relax in their restrictions,
and we do but retort on them their own policy. Each lives in
a more independent situation, a further degree removed from
the chances of events, from the evil of other wars than their
own, and the disorders of revolutions, to which various parts
of the world seem _ peculiarly is exposed. A colonial inter-
course with an European state not an unnatural and forced
one, but is founded oh diversity of climate and productions,
mutual wants and dependence ; nor will regulation, therefore,
appear superfluous and unnecessary, if it defend us in our na-
tural position, and secure what would, otherwise, be exposed
to destruction or change.
The interest of the trader, the unerring guide to which we
are counselled to trust, is, compared with the principle which
regulates the general intercourse of the different states of the
world, but' short sighted. The trader has one sole object—to
obtain a larger numerical value in money for his commodity
than it cost him. He does not always consider whether the
money has the same intrinsic value, or an equal command of
the necessaries and conveniencies of life ; so long as lie is
adding to the exchangeable value of his goods in money, he
deems himself right, without regarding whether the goods
themselves are proportionately increasing in quantity. If this
be, as we believe, a just character of the trader's rule of con-
duct, we hardly think that his movements can or ought to be
the only true and infallible guide in national interests. The
experienced statesman, who takes an enlarged view, and is as
competent as a trader to judge of the great mutual wants of
societies, together with their political relations and interests,
and which always affect their economical condition, is, with
common discretion, • more likely to regulate international com-
munication on a safe, beneficial, and lasting basis. Unless in-
tercourse is directed in a given track, individuals might di-
verge into such as is less eligible on public grounds. The road
, must be formed, and then it is sure to be used.

The question, in fine, is, whether that country is best situat-
ed which is secure of a given place where the products of its la-
bour can be exchanged, or that which has to seek throughout
the world for permission to exchange them ? Whether the
Colonies are best circumstanced, in seeking all the markets of
the Continent, or in being sure of the certain great market of
this country ? Whether it is better, on both sides, to be
subject to the caprices of Nations, as well as the vicissitudes of
seasons, or to be dependent only on the latter ? 'Whether to
give safety to the exchanges of labour, so far as in us lies, or to
commit ourselves to all the chances and windings of other States?
Let those who deal with independent countries answer how far
their intercourse is secure and stable, and the nature and ex-
tent of their vent to be foreseen. Let the traders with Russia
speak to the variations, not only arising from seasons but from
altered tariffs, which every year brings forth, and tell us whe-
ther, at any period, it is possible to take measures certain to be
adapted to the custoiii-house regulations of that empire, and
their effect upon consumption.

Under a system of restrictive regulations many of our Colo-
nies have sprung up, and especially those of the West Indies.—
It was under a similar system that the Vest India Colonies of
France, and particularly St. Domingo, previously to the revolu-
tion, rose to unrivalled prosperity, and were the great source of
her formidable maritime strength.
In 1699, Colbert estimated the number of French vessels en-
gaged in foreign trade at 600. Of these not more than 100 were
supposed to be employed in the commerce of the West Indies.
At the Revolution, France had not more than 1000 vessels en-
gaged in distant voyages, or about 200,000 tons. Far the larger
part of this very limited tonnage (compared with the I.;reat com-
merce of France) was owing to her West India Colonies ; for
from various reasons, her commerce with other parts was car-
ried on in foreign shipping : that with her colonies was wholly
her own. The tonnage of her European trade was only 152,000
tons. So entirely did the strength of the French marine appear,
at that time, to depend on the Colonies, that one of the Minis-
ters, M. Arnould, to whom we ate indebted for the statements
we present, exclaims :—' Queues ressources a done la France
pour entretenir une force publique maritime ? Quels moyens
lui restent pour elever, instruire, et multiplier la classe prtci-
euse des matelots ? Le commerce de I'Am4rique,—ne
lkins pas,—le commerce de l'Arnerique.'
The following table will show the rapid progress of the French
West India Colonies within the last century, and their import-
ance to that country ; together with the value of the produce
re-exported, and of that which was consumed at home. It will
be seen that the general export of colonial produce in the seven
years' average, ending 1783, was 50,630,000 livrcs. In the five
years endin* 1788 the average was 93,056,000 livres, being an
increase of four-fifths in five years. u 1783 the annual import

0.1
m. ;
gggggg ggggggggg
•
"":::"•-•=" =•• • ="
.",,..4e4.22.1t9."CD"CD7:10.4054CD
9 9 9
P

France, on the late peace, was no sooner re-possessed of Co.
lonics than her Legislative Body proceeded to establish her ma-
ritime commerce on a footing, the first feature of which is fa-
vour.to them ; in a similar spirit she has granted the highest
encouragement to her fisheries : thus a few yearS have sufficed
to re-animate a marine which . was nearly extinct, and which
might have remained in that listless state, hpd she permitted
those Nations already in possession of the navigation of the seas
to become her carriers. .. _ _ _

In referring to experience it will be found that such colonial
dependencies as have not been confined to the metropolitan state,
have rendered much less benefit than those where the colonial
system has been established. The British West and East India
possessions will present some points of comparison in this re-
spect. _

Our territorial acquisitions in the East Indies have not been
subjected to the colonial regulations of commerce, and the opi-
nion appears to have always prevailed that they are not fitted
for those restrictions. The late Lord Melville, in a letter to the
Chairman of the East India Company, dated the 15th of April,
1793, says, It is not disputed that foreign nations are entitled
to carry on trade with our Indian possessions ; those countries
never have been, nor ever can be, held upon the footing of co-
lonial possessions.' The ports of British India are accordingly
accessible to the flags of all nations. They import foreign pro-
duce and manufactures, and export those of the East Indies un-
der duties very little higher than are paid on goods by British
vessels.

So far as our Eastern possessions raise within themselves their
revenues, and arc open to general commerce, they stand in the
same situation as if they were independent. The administra-
tion being named by this country, and under its controul, they
are merely an extent of dominion, with the usual appendage of
a public debt and annual exyence ; and without many of the
peculiar advantages to be derived from colonial possessions._
Local residence, indeed, and occupation afford opportunities for
knowledge of the resources of the country; from which enter-
prize and intelligence may create commerce. Interchanges of
productions will hence arise ; and the supply of other countries
with eastern produce (as, in some degree, it actually is) by dif-
ference of duty, and possession, be poured through the channel
of this country.
But such share of commerce is, 'at present, almost wholly
committed to the result of chance ; whereas, iunder the more
strict colonial system, as prevailing in our West India posses-
sions, the produce must pass through this country, must employ
its shipping and seamen, and must give a livelihood to nume-
rous British residents. Thus the whole stream of wealth and
commerce flows this way ; and the abundance of the produc-
tions, if exceeding the consumption of this country, passes
through its medium to other countries, which repay the value
in their products again pouring through our channel in their
course to the original spot. Hence ship-owners, seamen, fac-
tors, and many other industrious classes, are employed and en-
riched. Hence, too, arises mercantile capital, which is capable
of being directed and determined to a certain course, and de-
pends, consequently, much upon legislative regulations.—
Without the intervention of this capital, concentrated in a third
hand, the produce of one country would go directly and more
cheaply to exchange against the produce of another country.
Greater abundance might exist on both sides ; but the in-
termediate capital would cease where it was heretofore pos-

sessed.
This intervention with possession of capital is often seen to
arise from casual circumstances, and to its continuance or ces-
sation may be traced the rise and fall of most of those coun-
tries which, in time past, flourished by commerce. Thus, in
the middle ages, the Italian States were, by position, the me-
dium of the supply of Europe with eastern productions. The
passage of the Cape of Good Hope shifted the route, and with
it the trade and consequent wealth of Italy gradually expired.
This circumstance was one cause of the prosperous commerce
of this country in the late war; during the course of which
Great Britain became the medium of all the products from be-
yond sea, destined for the consumption of Europe. The effect
of the change may be judged from the total imports and ex-
ports of the last three years of the war, compared with the
three years just passed :

1811. 1819.
£80,232,767-40,135,952
77,392,056-56,851,319
1812. 1820.
£60,013,241—.33,625,740
58,582,012-46,912,492
1813. 1821.
Imports - £60,424,876 —36,517,262
Exports - 73,725,602-51,730,616
Such has been the extraordinary declension of our commerce,
since this country has ceased to be necessarily the route for the
conveyance of foreign productions to continental Europe.* It
was impossible to perpetuate such a route, (incident to the per-
turbed state of file world,) but it was possible to direct in this
course the products of our own colonies.
The following statement of shipping will exhibit the ton-
nage clearing outwards to the principal colonial possessions,
during the year ending the sth of .January, 1821 ; and will
likewise furnish a contrast with the shipping engaged in the
intercourse with the more important independent States. It
will show too how large a portion of our foreign intercourse is
carried on by the shipping. of other countries ; and how consi-
derable a share of our navigation owes its existence to the strict
colonial system : British Foreign
Tonnage. Tonnage.
British North American Colonies - 300,695
British West India Colonies - 217,744
East Indies - - - 76,833
France - 80,361 50,954
United States • - - - 44,589 133,516
Holland - • . - - - 53,828 37,222
Germany . 107,601 19,680
Russia . - 111,290 —• 14,995
Sweden and Norway - 15,641 51,102
The official value of exports to the colonies will show that
they take as much British produce as the greater part of
Eu-
rope; while again the colonial produce'lmported for re-expor-
tation forms a large portion of the eiports .to Europe.
British Foreign and
British North American Co- Produce. Colonial. Total.
I lonics - £1,548,181 £452,852 £2,001,033
I British West India Colonies 4,197,975 292,033 4,490,003
East Indies - - 2,039,507 382,256 2,421,763
France - 246,144 734,677 980,821
Rolland . ' 1,158,120 '1,129,555 2,287,675
Germany 5,581,856 2,827,114 8,408,970
Russia - 1,630,047 406,016 2,036,063
United States - - 4,229,767 71,928 4,301,695
It may not he unuseful to trace some of the consequences
likely to ensue from removing all restrictions regarding foreign
settlements, and loosening the ties which now unite Great Bri-
tain and her colonial establishments. This country will draw
her supplies of sugar, rum, coffee, cocoa, from the Brazils, Ha-
vannah, St. Domingo, and St. Thomas, Java, and China, or
any other place, friendly or hostile, as accident or design may
effect.
The Colonies will furnish themselves with manufactures from
France, Germany, and ere long, perhaps, from the United
States. The Colonies in the West Indies will thence derive, at
once, rude produce, and provisions from South America.
Under these circumstances of relaxation, what advantages
may result from their possession adequate to the attendant
charge, may be doubtful ; and the ulterior step expedient to

Imports
Exports

Imports
Exports

•The effects of the restraints during the war were almost
universally miscalculated... " The British shipping" says
Colquhoun, " which =Counted in 1801 to 1,725,949 tons, had
increased to 2,163,094 tons in 1812. Had the (continental) trade
been open, this increase would probably have now been double
the present amount."

take, may be to release them wholly from a connexion held to-
gether by the most slender interests.
In this wide search after precarious benefits, what is to be--
come of the certain employment now possessed by our shipping?.
In what navigation, with what freights are 220,000 tons and.
16,000 seamen, now secure in the West India trade, to be main-
tained ? In what the 300,000 tons and 22,000 seamen in the-
trade with the North American colonies ? If other countries,
establish, as France, discriminating duties or positive prohibi--
tion.s, where is to be found the opportunity to replace what is-
ceded to foreign navigation ?
Ireland must cease to supply the Nest Indies with her salt:
provisions, beef, pork, butter, various kinds of grain, and her
linens. Scotland, with her manufactures, linen, and, possibly,.
cotton; and may fear even for her herring fishery. The agri-
culture, the manufactures, the fisheries, and the mines of the
United Kingdom, must undergo great and important changes-
upon such entire innovation in this leading branch of the na-
tional commerce.
Could the Colonies explore the world for a market, the pro-
prietor and merchant would be full as likely to take up their
residence in France, Germany, 'or America, as here: were the
latter, who has invested his property in plantations, to remain
in England, while the produce was forwarded in direct voyages'
to the Continent, his interest would become wound up in those
of every other country but his own. It has been often observed
that the merchant is, from the nature of his calling, less in-
terested in his local residence than any other class of the
community.
It may be said that these arguments would tend to keep up
an exclusive intercourse between this country and her Colonies,
though their sugars or other produce should cost fifty per cent.
dearer than foreign ; and though the productions of this coun-
try should come fity per cent. higher to the Colonies than could
he procured elsewhere ; and to the great pressure of both sides.
But, it is to recollected., the advantages have their measure ;
they consist in securing a steadiness of market, security of ca-
pital, and policy of intimate connexion ; and these may be ex-
ceeded by the evils of extreme constraint. The commerce must
be placed upon a natural as well as regulated footing. It is
not any extreme forced system of which we are the advocate -
Mr. Malthus has justly stated* that it is by proportions we
must estimate the propriety of proceeding, and act in national
measures. The art or a practical political economy is to ascer-
tain and judge of these proportions.
If the produce raised in the colonies should be unequal to the
consumption of the country, then the price might rice exorb!..
tantly under the exclusion of foreign.—This effect is remediable
by a discriminating duty. The degree of advance which the
country can be brought to pay would be thus limited by her
own act ; and the price once rising above the ratio of preference,
the supplies will be sought from a neighbouring market or
foreign source. If, however, the produce of the colonies exceed
the consumption of the country, as is our case in tropical pro-
ductions, they must become lower than elsewhere, until the-
price cause the export to foreign markets to meet on a footing
with similar produce from other settlements. The extent
and variety of our West India colonies always furnish this
excess. It is but due to the planter, who is obliged to
come first to this country, to give every facility to the re--
exportation of the excessive supply, by exemption from
transit duties, port charges, and the like burthens to the utmost
degree possible. If the colonies now get a higher value than
other sources of like produce, under a system of freedom, the
price must fall to them • but if the colonies get a lower.
which it is probable is the general case, then the country can-
not change for the better, but would loose by admitting other,
states to an intercourse with the colonies, and participation of
the advantages.
It is unjust to oblige the colonies to receive their supplies
from this country, and yet refuse to them the admission or
their produce here, at the same time restraining them frorn
sending it elsewhere. Yet this is, in some respects, our
system with respect to the British North American settle
ments. This is the only country in Europe,' said Mr. Fox,
in which the colonies are permitted to sell their crops ; surely
them, by every principle of reason and natural justice, the,'
should also have an exclusive access to our markets ; a mono-.
poly, subsisting on one side, necessarily implying a monopoly
also on the other."
Whatever restrictions fall upon the consumption of the la'r
bourers or slaves of the colonies, or directly on the formation 0,
the produce, tend to raise its price ; but whatever fall upon
the articles used by the planter and the easier orders of the coin.'
munity, may operate as a tax allowable in favour of the pro'

tecting country.
In conformity with these views of the relation of the metro-
politan state and the colonies, that is to place them in such,'
situation as to raise their produce with the same advantage 34
independent states, or, if possible, with greater, but always' ni
preserve their.connexion with the mother-country and its depen-
dencies in preference to one with foreign nations ; it is often
matter of difficulty to regulate the intercourse of settlements'
with other countries, in the way that circumstances will often
render in part indispensable, in part advisable. Our West Zndt
colonies stand in this peculiar situation with regard to P'C

United States of America.
The vicinity of these states renders them the readiest resort
for the supply of provisions and lumber, while, on the other
hand, diem population offers a considerable vent for the pro-
duce of the colonies. Previously to the separation of the Unit'
ed States from Great Britain, the most free intercourse was al'
lowed between them and the West India possessions in all arti-
cles, whether those called enumerated (or otherwise confined to
the mother-country) or non-enumerated. This intercourse
ceased under the operation of the navigation laws, when the
North American provinces became an independent state. Ilte
provisions and lumber of America were, however, found indi:
pensable to our colonies, and the governors in the West Indies
gave, from time to time, permission for their importation, trio!'
ing to Parliament for an indemnity. A law was passed 1°
in 1806 to render this intercourse legal. This, with slight vird
riati,ns, was the policy pursued for many years, subject 01r/
to interruption from the occurrence of war. But by a legiali
tire act of the 3d of March, 1815, the American states resolv
no longer to permit the importation of our rum and molasses'
or to furnish provisions and lumber, unless a system of unre"
stricted intercourse were conceded without distinction or excla"
sion of American vessels.
Besides this declared necessity of the provisions and lumber'
it is stated that the American market offers a great and readl
vent for rum, a part of the produce of the West India estate„
the quantity of which cannot be reduced consistently with ney
diminished cultivation, and which, without this vent, is accom-
panied with serious loss; and it is now accumulated in th)l
country to an enormous extent and under great depreciation,'"
Provisions can now be obtained in considerable abundance
from the countries in South America recently become inde-
pendent. Lumber is also procured from Canada.
It is a question of much difficulty ; and among other cO5"
siderations is the loss of employment for our shipping.
supplies from the neighbouring continent would necessarily Uel
carried on by American shipping, notwithstanding the WI
admission of our vessels in the trade. At present the whop''
navigation between the British North American and West Itr,
dia settlements is carried on by British shipping. In 1809,1
was a consideration whether a limited export of sugar and cooc
should be allowed, but this degree of concession would not no°
satisfy the American Legislature ; their declared aim is a free
intercourse without any reserve.
The articles lumber and provisions are component par°,
of the cost of sugar, and any burthensome mode of procurlr'll
them must raise the price of sugar beyond the level prevailing
in those countries which have access to cheaper supplies,"
Holding, as we do, that colonies should be placed as nearly oe
possible upon a footing of free trade, and especially that what;
ever enters immediately into the cost of their produce shoul'
be within their reach on the best terms, it is on such grounie
alone that this intercourse appears to us justifiable; end undo
this view, it seems incumbent oa the colonists to make out '1
real case of necessity.
• The abolition of the slave-trade in our possessions places
in a condition which ought to conciliate every State professinl
freeclinn, and be a motive to facilitate our intercourse with by
the new and the older American Governments. This traffic 0
still pursued without restraint by the other European nation'
holding .transatlantic possessions, while our Colonies'rest upa
their existing population. Whatever opposition might once be
given by the West India interest to the measure ot abolitiort,
since the legislature has adopted it, those interests have faith;
fully carried it into effect, and have become the firm allies an°
supporters of the abolitionists.
To repeat the sum of our argument. We cannot approve the
system which imposes forced and unnatural limitations on the,
intercourse of Colonies with the parent State ; neither can we,
go into the opposite extreme of removing all regulations, coin'
mit ourselves to the accidents of life, or be insensibly led inte/t
the channels of production and intercourse the most dependae
and least accordant with our permanent interests. The legislatnrf
will never forget the paramount necessity of binding all parts t,
the empire in ties of communication and dependence, and °
keeping a general view on the course of production and CO:,
merce, order to apply a direction gentle, but sufficient to turf
them into the channel of this country. We have deemed
useful draw attention to some effects of these changes; the wto
especially now that every Session of Parliament gives birth
some important regulation of foreign and domestic commerce
Alterations in our system of policy succeed each other with imp
perceptible rapidity ; imperceptible, because though under t"

It will be found, I believe, true, that all the great result!
in political economy,respecting wealth, depend upon proportion
and it is from overlooking this most important truth that r:
many errors have prevailed in the prediction of consequeno,‘",
that nations have sometimes been enriched when it was e,,fris
peeled that they would be impoverished, and impoverished , ,
it was expected that they would be enriched.'—(Afatthues c
litical Economy, chap. vii. sec. 7.)

c
1
i

II-

aiccr,-

upplies
itsion or
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ts, our
settle•
r. Fox,
surely
e, thcl
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the la'
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he cony
the pro'

metro-
such P
Itage 34
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often
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ill often
st
to India
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St resort
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ight
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lumber,
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with n'
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Amigo°
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wh°'"
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should
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places
rofessn%,
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it once be
abolition,
sve
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)prove the
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ms, cony
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lepenu-
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It parts c'r
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and
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deemed
e
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