The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-13 00:00:00

MORNING EDITION

boles in an equitable situation with regard to art'clos of
ade and mati;J:xtures. stateu the gencr.ti ;J:ia-
ples upon which the alt ration v,as to proceed, ::n woull
ate to,th,e House the tariff its,l which he proposed to
stituteJn British North America and the West ladian
iii place of the one now in operation. There was
large class of articles of foreign production, such as
clocks, watches, leather, linen, musical instrume..t,,
wires, books; papers, &c., which paid a duty of
30 per cent, ad valorem; there was another
class whiell paid a duty of 20 per cent. ad valorem,
another consisting of goods and merchandise cf dif-
ferent kinds which paid a duty of 15 per cent. ad valorem.
There was also a considerable class of articles which paid
a duty of 7i per cent. ad valorem. By the new
proposed to substitute for the duties of 30, 20, and 15 p r
cent. a single duty of 10 per cent. ad valorem, leaving un-
touched the present duties of 71- per cent. He wanted eS
much as possible to untie the hands of the colonists, and
to leave them as much as possible to legislate for them-
selves, He wanted to make the duties as mode-
rate and as simple as possible, to settle certain financial
duties, and to leave the rest to themselves. This was what
he proposed with regard to ad valorem duties. lie now
came to a far more important class of duties--a class far
more aff cting the interests of the West lndies—tire sp,_
rifle dute; laid upon particular aiticics. As he had be-
fore stated the duties imposed at present upon beef, pork,
sli,ipler, and foreign ankles of that description amounted
to a duty varying from 20 to 4(1 per cent. ad valorem; in many
instances it was 40 per cent. When they consi,kr that

some of these articles were the food of the colony ; that
others, such as slaves, were absolutely necessary to con-
duct their only manufacture, that of sugar; they must see
that thee duties were perfectly immoderate and ops res-
sive, especially if they considered that steps were now
icing taken for placing these colonies on a footing with
the East Indies. As he had upon a former occasion urged
upon the House the propriety of doing justice to the East
Indies by doing away with duties which were injurious to
them, so now he felt bound to urge upon the House the,
propriety of putting the West Indies upon. a more liberal
footing with regard to the supply of provisions. He pre-
posed, therefore, to 'educe all these duties very much ; at
the same time, he did not deal with them in the same was
as lie would have done if he had been imposing them for
the first time; he would in such a case have proposed
them much lower, but as they had already been established,
he thought it was their duty to be cautious of the interests
now engaged. He proposed then to reduce the duty upon
all those articles to from 12 to 15 per ennr., ad valorem;
he considered that quite high enough, as a pro-
tecting duty upon articles which were almost
it:dispensable for food. The duty upon the barrel of
wheat flower now was ;he proposed to reduce it to
2s.—( Eear, hear.) On beef and pork the duty was erow
12s. per cwt. ;he proposed to reduce it to 45. Shingles-,
ahich now paid per 1,000, of 12 inches, 125., and above
12 inches, 145., lie proposed to reduce both to 3s. 6d.
Oak staves and heading which now paid, red, per 1,000,
154., and white, 12s. 6d., he proposed to reduce both to
es._( Hear, hear.) He now came to an article of the
utmost importance to the population of the West Indies—
an article which was now prohibited—he meant fish, the
produce of foreign, countries, He proposed to do away
with that prohibeion.—( Cheers. ) He was no friend to
prohibition—( Hear, hear)—he wished the word was erased
from our S'atutc-book altogether.—( Hear, hear.) Ile
was most happy that a step had been taken towards that
point, and he wished to see it pushed to its fullest extent.
—( Hear, hear.) As fish constituted the principal supply
of food for the Negro population, it was in the highest de-
gree unjust to limit that supply to one single, and fre-
quently a very narrow market. He was prepared to ad-
mit that the most important interests were connected with
the fisheries of Gnat Britain and the dependencies, which
could not be disturbed ; and that if prohibiting duties were
at all to be justified, that justification must be allowed for
the protection of the fisheries. Although lie should prc-
pose to substitute a duty fur the prohibition, he should put
that duty much higher than on any other article. He seas
satisfied that the duty he was about t r propose would be
radically equal to an ad valorem duty of 25 per cent.
He proposed a duty of 2s. 6d. per cwt. upon fish, dry and
salted, now prohibited, and upon pickled fish a duty of
ss. per barrel. In regard to wine, which was now sub-
, jected to duties of an extremely capricious description, he
proposed a duty of 7,1 per cent., ad valorem, upon all
kinds, without distinction. In addition to those altera-
tions, there were certain peculiar points, to which he
meant to take that opportunity of bringing the attention of
the Committee. The first was, the subject of tea. Ac-
cording to the navigation laws, tea could not be imported
into the North American colonies or the West Indies, ex-
cept from Great Britain, or from countries cast of the
Cape of Good Hope. The object of that provision was
to give encouragement to the British commercial navy, in
making long voyages. But circumstances were stronger
than laws. —( Hear, hear.) From information received
from Lord Sydenham, he learned that three fourths cf the
tea consumed in Canada was smuggled from the United
States, with great loss to the revenue of the province. Now
was the loss to the revenue the worst consequence? A
system of smuggling was raised along the frontier,
which demoralised the whole country, and produced the
very worst results. It might be thought that there could
be no reason why Canada could not be supplied with tea
from England as welt as New York. But there was a
circumstance of which the Government had been informed
by Lord Sydenham, which overturned the calculations that
might naturally be made upon the subject. It appeared
that the tea used in Canada consists almost entirely of the
coarser kind of green ten, which was scarcely at all con-
sumed is this country ; so that the London market was but
eery little supplied with it, while it happened on the contrary
Chet it was much used in America, whieli caused it to be
largely importel into New York. It rotereards found its
way across the frontiers in spite of fiscal regulations. Tire
proposition he would make was that recommended by Lord
Sydenham, and which was to allow tea to be introduced
from North America by land at an additional duty of one-
tenth over that coming by sea. He would substitute such
a duty for the present prohibitory one, and Lord Sydenham
Lee asssaneettiessm that smut!,-Eling !soul by that eat put
an end to, and the revenue would be trebled. The next
article he would advert to was runt ; and his proposition
would be to reduce the duty on East India rum to the saute
duty now paid on rum from the West Indies. There were
many other subjects which he thotight might be best discussed
seriatim on a future occasion. He wished to advert to the
case of the Channel Islands, which were at present permitted
to export their productions into Great Britain, but not into
the British Islands. He could not conceive any good
reason fur this distinction. It was an old remnant of cur
colonial jealousy, which would have been long ago repealed
if it had not been forgotten. Ile proposed, therefore, to
put the Channel Islands on the same footing with regard
to the colonies that they were with regard to the mother
country, to permit them to export their own produce and
manufactures to the colonies in the same manner as they
at present did to Great Britain. Ile should not detain the
House much longer. The main principle by wither he
had been actuated in proposing these alterations was, that
he believed they were calculated extensively to benefit the
colonise.—(Cheers.) He had always maintained that
England ought to possess the exclusive right of regulating
the trade of her colonies, but that rig'st ought to be exer-
cised with the greatest liberality, justice, and impartiality.
They were sent to that House to represent their Gan col a
stituents, but they had also higher and more important
functions. The immense Colonial Empire of tins country
could never be maintained unless the authority of Legis-
lating for the commerce of those colonies were exercised
by the mother country not in a spirit of jealous-minded
exclusiveness, but in a spirit of lily rality equally bene-
ficial to all parties. He could not forget that under the
system of rigid exclusiveness, other great Colonial Eat-
, pires had fallen to pieces. A great colonial empire was a
glorious thing, hut it was also a most precarious thing, and
could only be ire Id together by acting in a spirit ofimpartiaiite,
justice, and kindne:s. They should show the colonies
that in legislating for them there ass no favouritism, and
that they considered that the greatness, prosperity, and
happiness of the mother country depended upon the great-
ness, prosperity, and happiness cf the colonies.—( Cheers.)
It was on th :se grounds that he vtilied to place the mea-
sure be was about to propose to the House—(Cheers)--and
he eves satisfie that no British iii erects would be mate-
rially injured by the measure.—(Cheers.) lie woulsl
lurk to one point—the provisien ter dc. That was a trade
which deeply affected the south of Ireland, and lie hard al-
ready receivedoreu severalsoeootoot
rtiyr.imNmmoc,xem,
nhosreei al;lltslits:intrneadttihoteon
callsubjectNy hi
which
e hf from
,I,,ttkliteoan:
of
fartthoef
place in the circumstances affecting that trade since these
duties had been first imposed. Not long ago the south of
Ireland was the cheapest place in the world for provisions.
They had no means of disposing of their stock. The
communication with this ceuntry was uncertain, and
unless the grazier salted in his provisions for ex-
portation, he had no means whatever of dispos-
ing of them. Let them look at the immense altderai.oo:
which had taken place in consequence of the intr,oolttioer,,rits
cf steam navigation.—( Hear, hear.) The s.Fari,l,l'os to tile
cf Ireland were now able to send thcoedr
pervoe'n London—
markets of South Wales, of Bristol,
England ; but what had been
dtbc
being
&new
erhoea3mr ia. noetgnth,B:7;
es
o°
u"u(ltdCh
He
effeoeLst's )h theou
d b e colonies of place
is instead f
south of Ireland? Idear one ; within the last
the result had been most advantageeoeuffs:hcotthprfordiflroeeldatordoatnhdo
it had become compar"o'is:e-Y
from aeOs. and 255. a cwt. to aoe.
four years pork had
risen
diserisen in the same proportion, so that
f
riaryovat',)oe(oitont and New
had
Indians to obtain their provisions
ahryidoo3wss.fo,
racnindgtbheiebemeif h
Ireland exclusively, we were in feet
a heavy tax cf a most o jeceloneb!e
somce,of thec. b.proposed. al..
c
aerations
g
that would injure colonies that
the painfulsub subject
th him
tut
eo t
o beb
e obligeddiseu od
sshteed d
wtohuoldsebde"erv.p
deserved eo
0.,11 of the country by their unisaem .
wools ty—it
gtthocuoglohn'tiehto,
fr'arooddhr
naluenc
theed With
an yr mniat
turns
wlhsehineo w effecting
that the
n o
such interest
eff effect
cot f
acbeougutard to many classes of lumber, so fart)
lie believed that they them-
sd
Setiavteess toiriet g
obliged
gaoldv a itiotaggoe
',103,,0the New B-unswiele and
,hinathtehree
eNlaosysainSweh°itCah thirnearLkl'ents.
il State:
with regard to that class, the West Indies were now
obliged to obtain its s ad" vaasn teragnel, another
supplies from the United States,
.if
not directly, in a
addi-
tional expense
of circuitoustra manner, which imposed addl.
sideration he could give He believed, upon the bsecsit,conoei
duties, and the alterationsgv t ohteh e subject,
,ot,headt the
wite they
would greatly benefit the Wesntc"lvnell'ire°sl, and relieve the
North American Colonies from a great burthen,
would not effect great or permanent injury to any class
either in the colonies or in the mother country. Believing
he felt it to be his duty to bring them before the
11"sc, and Ire hoped they would receive from the House
impartial conskeration. He bad stated the objects he Ind
in view, and he had also stated the principle upon which
the tables had been framed. A person in his situa-
tion had great difficulty in obtaining information
on subjects of this description, and he had been
obliged to obtain it in the best manner he could ; it was
therefore possible that in some instances he might have
fallen into error, and if such was the case he should not
have the slightest scruple to correct it. lie need not, in
conclusion, say that it was riot his intention to ask the
House to express any opinion on the resolutions at present,

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