The Sun.
London, England, 1822-04-06 00:00:00

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE
AND THE BRITISH SHIP-OWNERS.

[rßosi THE NEW TIMES.]
Sin—The liberality with which you open the columns of I
your Paper to subjects connected with the commerce and ship-
ping of Great Britain, entitles you to the thanks of all classes
engaged in these pursuits ; nor are the)a Sir, less indebted to
you, when you occupy a portion of your columns with com-
ments ()flour own ; which I have always hitherto found no
less solid and judicious than fair and liberal, as respected the
emancipation of commerce from unnecessary thraldom and re-
straint. It is under these circumstances that I presume to trouble
you with some remarks on the two Bills introduced into Par-
liament by the very able President of the Board of Trade; one
of which is to throw open the trade between the West India
Colonies and Europe generally'; the other, to admit the United
States of America to trade with our Colonies upon the same
terms (with very few exceptions) on which this country herself
carries on her commerce with them. In other words, Sir, the
Colonies are to become like the Isles of Man, Guernsey, or
Jersey—open to every vessel, to import all licensed articles, and
to export every species of their produce. That this is conced,
ing to the liberal spirit of the day there can be no doubt. It
outruns all that the economical writers, with Mi. Ricardo at
the head of them, have hitherto suggested; for that Gentleman
admits, in his Chapter on Colonial Trade, that a monopoly be-
tween the Colonies and the Parent State may, under certain.
circumstances, be • beneficial. But it does more, Sir ; it lays
the axe to the root of the colonial system, and, without the de-
cency and delay of gradually sapping and undermining it;
throws downs by undisguised assault that proud buttress of our
naval strength—the Navigation Laws. For I think I may
venture to say, that these laws had for their first object, the
double monopoly, of the Colonial Trade for exports and im-
ports. It was to this trade that every Statesman has looked for
the formation of a navy, and the.discipline of seamen in long
and dangerous voyages. It has been jealously maintained for
more than a century and a half by the Parliament of Great
Britain ; and if relaxations of any kind have been admitted,
they have always corresponded with the principle of these laws,
and in no way been opposed to it general spirit and policy..
The free port trade, upon which the President dwelt, was• a
relaxation no further than by admitting the ships olforeign
ColonieS to import articles of use into our 'West India Islands,
and to export Rum, and Such British manufactures, as had
been previously imported, and for which the colonial dealers
could find no market. This was the extent of the relaxation
of the free port system, which jealousy kept. back, and confined
to our own vessels the great colonial staples of sugar, tobacco,
coffee, molasses, &c. The next relaxation dwelt upon as an
authority for the present total departure, is the trade with
Malta and Gibraltar. But surely the Right lion. Gentleman
must have seen aware that tht export and import trade with
these ports," as well as the commerce permitted with all the
ports south of Cape Finisterre, must be carried on in British
ships. No foreign vessels of any description, can engage in
this trade. With-respect to the relaxation of the colonial sys-
tem by the institution of the especial free port of Bermuda, the
British ship-owners have no complaint to make. They were
always willing to enlarge it : but there is a wide distinction be-
tween opening the Bermudas and Jamaica ; between establish-
ing a colonial entrepst, in a small convenient port, and opening
every colony' to the vessels of every State, and abandoning all
preference in imports and exports.
Now, Sir, the first and obvious mischief of this system will
be that, in addition to its departure from the fundamental law of
the State, the Magna (Marta of our maritime rights, it will de-
stroy the British ship-owner ; most seriously affect the ports of
London, Liverpool, Bristol, and Greenock ; and, withotit any
material relief to the planter, it will throw the greater part of
the carrying trade, to Europe, into the hands of the United
States. _Sir, I wish,to argue a question of this vital importance
to our shipping and commerce with the temper which is suitable
to it. I shall therefore abstain from all exaggeration ; and
beg leave simply to state, that if these laws should be enact-
ed, the ship-owners of Great Britain will be ruined, and the
' ports of London and Liverpool most materially injured. The
experiment of throwing open the trade between our colonies
and Europe has been tried by the Statutes of 12 Geo. 11. c. 30,
and 15 Geo. H. c.' 33. By these 'Statutes British ships were
permitted to load sugar in the colonies, and to carry it thence
direct to any foreign port of Europe. When the Boaid. of
Trade was tinder the direction of the late Lord Liverpool, these
Acts were repealed by the 34 Geo. 111. The experiment there-
fore has been made aad failed. The ship-owners, perhaps,
would not object to this measure being renewed, but they de-
precate the renewal in conjunction with the concession con-
tained in the second Bill of the Right Honourable. President,
namely, the free trade between the West Indies and the
United States. It is this second Bill which destroys, or rather
qualifies with unmixed evil, any advantage which the planter
might derive from the first measure. It may lie expedient to
permit a direct trade between the Colonies; and foreign Europe,
and to enable us to enter the ports of the Baltic with colonial
produce, without a voyage'to Great Britain in the first instance,
and all the expences attendant upon unloading, warehousing,
and reloading.. It maybe beneficial to bring our own vessels
and our colonial produce into- immediate competition in those
parts, with the sugars of Cuba, the Caraccas, the Brazils, and
the shipS of the United States. By such a provision, I am ready
to allow that the planter would gain much, and the British
ship-owner lose little or nothink. But take this relaxation in
conjunction with the second measure, the free trade with the
West India Colonies and the United States, and it is fraught
with absolute ruin to our shiPping interest. The United States
are, it seems, to be admitted to bring provisions and lumber to
Ja'maica and the other islands, under regulations, reserving a
preference, in the shape of a sitiall protecting duty, to our North
American colonies. In return, they are to be allowed to ex-
port, itn&rnited/y, colonial produce. 'What then is to prevent
their carrying such produce DIRECTLY to Europe ? Will they
not immediately engage in this traffic, and attleast divide it with
the English shipowners, if they. should not be able, under their
peculiar adiantageS of navigation, almost to env-Joss it. The
vessels of the United States, under the proposed system, must
necessarily become the primipal carriers of the colonial produce
of the whole world. They have already dispossessed us, in the
proportion of three tons to one, of the carrying trade of Cuba
and South America ; and will they not have the same facilities
aflbrded them in the carrying trade of the colonial produce of
the British West Indies ? I wish to know, Sir, what is to him der
them. They may take whatever colonial produce they please
from these islands, under the proposed system of the Board of
Trade. The President hinted at no restriction, and lam told
'none is meant. Will they not find it to be 'the most beneficial
commerce in which they can engage, to carry such produce (after
supplying themselves) to the European ports, as they already
carry thither the produce of Cuba and the Carraccas ? Now,
Sir, what must be the result to the shipowner and to the ports of
Great Britair. ? What must be the injury to our general com-
merce, putting aside the interests of the \Vest India planters and
proprietors? If we look 'at the returns of the last year, of our
colonial trade, we shall find that the exports of colonial produce,
_that is to sal-, of the produce of our colonies actually landed and