The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-09 00:00:00

I to which the duties to be produced from it were destined,
' namely, the subsistence of the army of the north, which,
fur certain, was as deserving of attention as the manu-
facturers. It was beneficial, inasmuch as it would in-
dispensably have lowered the price of the articles released
from prohibition, in all the markets, and the consumer
would have enjoyed the benefit of that cheapness. Only
under. that point of view it ought to have been considered
by the counsellors of your Excellency, and by-the re-
presentatives of the nation, who should have
maintained and upheld the measure, without
listening to clamors, hypocritically cloaked with ideas
of patriotism. And where is that patriotism ? Did the
manufacturers and the farmers say to the Government of
your Excellency, " Withdraw your contract, which is
prejudicial to us, and we will give you a sum equal to
the duties which it would have produced to you ?" Oh,
Sir, their patriotism did not come up to that ! The mea-
sure, therefore, was just and beneficial, and it was an
error not to maintain it. That which is repugnant in it,
is the condition of specialty in favour of a single port,
and of a limited number of importers. The measure
ought to be general for all the ports of the Republic, and
not by way of a particular permission.
" It is also known that not many months since, when
it was ascertained that the crop of cotton was not suffi-
cient for the supply of the manufacturers, permission was
asked to import it from the foreigner, and the manufac-
turers thought it was only justice to make that solicitation.
The excessive price to which this national article had risen,
was the greatest proof of the bad quality or great defi-
ciency of the crop. But the required permission attacked
the farmers, and they addressed lively remonstrances to
the Government of your -Excellency. The permission
was, therefore, not conceded • and thus another error
was committed, because the refusal was a benefit only to
one or a few localities, and wes an injury to the majority
of the inhabitants, to the whole class of consumers, and
to the Treasury, which would have been able to derive a
large sum from the duties. .
" When it is proposed, in the Republic, to protect
any branch whatever of industry, that middle course,
which is the only ono capable of reconciling the general
and very divergent interests of the country, is not
adopted. The truth that they are so is lost sight of, and
thus trade takes, and is fixed in, a vicious extreme. The
article.which it is sought to protect, for the sake o; encou
raging it, is declared free from every duty. ; and, as itl
that were not enough, the foreign importation is prohi-'
.hited altogether. . This is another error, and one of the
greatest that could be committed in politicateconomy.
4 Government should never lose sight of this principle,
that the rights of all the citizens are equal ; and that with
the same solicitude with which he is regarded who de-
votes himself to the branch requiring to be cherished,
they also should be viewed who constitute the class whd
are to consume the products. That is attained only by
measuring the two conflicting interests. He who is fa-
voured on account of his industry, is inclined to turn it
to the most profitable account in his reach ; and he who
is to consume the production is equally inclined to obtain
it on the most equitable terms possible. To reconcile the
two objects, let there be imposed a moderate duty,—let
exact calculations be made of the cost of production, of
the cost of transportation to the place of sale, and allow-
ing latitude for a gain of 20 or 30 per cent.—(certainly a
decent profit)—let the price be estimated at that which
it can be sold to that advantage. Granted that this may
be stated at ten; let the Government fix by law, that so
long as the price should be raised to twelve, in any ]
three markets whatever, the importation of the fo-
reign produce should be permitted, undergoing a '
fixed duty, double that which is imposed upon the na-
tional
production, and let the foreign importations cease
on the very day when the price revolves to that which
has been fixed upon as level. The good which is effected
thus is palpable. For the vendor there is imposed a
check upon his unmeasured avarice, and he is kept in his ,
just limit, for fear of what may come to his prejudice
by the importation of the foreign article ; hence the se-
curity of the consumer that he will never .be required to
pay an excessive price. In seasons of bad crops the
manufacturers and the consumers have recourse to the
foreigner ; the former that he may obtain the prime ma
terial upon fair terms, the latter to obtain the benefit of
prices being kept from an excessive rise. If this princi-
ple had been in operation in the Republic, there can be
no doubt that cotton would not have made so great a rise
a few months since. The manufacturers would then
have demanded, with justice, the importation of the fo-
reign material ; at the same time, it would not be a ra-
tional condition that the article should be imported only
at one port, a condition so much the more unnecessary,
as the importers would have had recourse to Vera Cruz
as the point nearest to the manufactories, and conse-
quently the one from which the land carriage would be
least expensive.
" The system which we suggest is applicable, with
small variations, to all the prohibitions ; and, on account
of its importance, we will mark certain prejudices which
would not be experienced if it were adopted in this
country.
" As we have said the importation of threads is to-
tally prohibited, as is also that of ' ordinary' cloths.
This latter description was confused and required a
definition, by which those are declared to be ' ordinary,'
which do.not consist of thirty-one threads In the quarter
inch ; and those are ' fine' which exceed that number.
The latter are received upon payment of duty ; but not
threads so, which are prohibited, whether fine or ordi-
nary. If the fine cloth be permitted why not the fine
thread ? There is no reason for, the distinction. The
regulation in respect to cloths is in analogy with the
syeteen which-we suggest, and the absolute prohibitidn
'of thread is opposed to that system. Your Excellency
may see the effect. which those two opposite arrange-
ments 'produce.
"In consequence only of the fine cloth being allowed
to reach the markets of the interior, the manufacturers, in
order to exclude it from those places, curb their co-
vetousness, and contenting themselves with a more rea-
sonable profit (although at the same time it is more than
decent), give that article at a price which causes the con-
sumer to prefer it, because he saves half a real in the
yard ; and the fine cloths (foreign) do not go into the
.interior, because they are sold at a loss. From the pos-
sibility, however, of that competition a saving in the
consumption of the country is effected (as we have
proved) of more than one million of dollars. It is
not so with the thread, which is so charged as to im-
pose a burthen upon all the inhabitants, which amounts
to more than two millions. What is the cause of this ?
It is none other than that the manufacturers
can put upon it what price they please, since
they have no competition in that branch, and they have
it in their power to sacrifice with impunity the whole
class of consumers. Let the thread be placed on the
same footing with the cloth, and your Excellency will
see that the manufacturers, restraining themselves in
their • immoderate ambition, would sell it with much
greater fairness. And now, Sir, what shall we say of
the pretension that has lately been put forth, that cloth
should be excluded which contains less than 40 threads
in the quarter inch ? Let the Chambers accede to it,
and you will quickly see that the yard of cloth will cost
the consumer four reels.
Thus it is demonstrated that the protection given to
the manufactures by the total prohibition of foreign
'threads is excessive ; and your Excellency will be con-
vinced of the imperious necessity of correcting an evil,
by which the Treasury i 4 deprived of five and a half
millions annually. It were fortunate that so great a
sum had been diverted to cover claims more sacred, and
that an expedient had been devised to compensate the
deficiency in whole or in part. For that purpose an ef-
fort was made. in 1839 ; that fatality which governs
commercial laws prevailed in the most disastrous manner,
and, adding error toerror, a monstrous law was passed—
the law of 15 per cent. ! It would be difficult, in the
limits of one exposition, to sum up the innumerable proofs,
the infinite arguments, the evident and number-
less demonstrations which have been published
in the space of two years, to make ma-
nifest the ruinous effects of that law. But
for what end should we occupy ourselves in that la-
bour, if to the above-mentioned proofs and demonstra-
tions no solid reply has been made, and they have been
entirely despised ; those who, for the sake of badly un-
derstood interests, or, through erroneous persuasion, are
or have been the partisans and maintainers of the law,
contenting themselves with affirming that the commercial
body opposes the law without reason, or that it does so
through pure selfishness ? For what should we occupy
your
t• should
power
u7rleodr-
ourselves at this day; when. already the several allega-
tions with which the law was impugned have acquit
from experience all the force of prophney
we do so above all to your Excellency, if yon, far before-
hand, foresaw those destructive results—opposed the pub-
lication
prevent
ft thetle Ipanabii
eaaTilosni,nproposed'i . V
eyoue it
havel:.as
gation to the Chambers, and have made great efforts to
procure its repeal ?
"But your Excellency may say : ' I have done all that
was possible to me legally. I knoW the ba d
this law. I have initiated its repeal, That effects of
has been de-
nied to me. What more could I do?'
We shall discuss
nat.

The Chambers in our opinion have resisted because, in
s ,i
vnhgi
ot
hh emaibgrbotg
ba abrogation, o n ,
substitutedn o
expedient was presented to
if a good recourse mhPout inconvenience ; and thefor the obnoxious law
proposing
been less, had been pointed out.
There is no doubt, opposition would have
people defend the law
Sir, thatof if the representatives of the
prohibition of the goods l5 per cent, it is because the
the Treasury of five_a we have spoken of, by depriving
incapacity to acquit ' nd-a-half millions, placed it in an
itself of the most sacred obligations.
The widow, the soldier, the magistrate, and all who re-
ceive public salaries, could not, without great loss to
society, be unheeded
groan in i
or left to misery ; and it
was the bounden d
uty of the Chambers to keep that in
view
• What then will your Excellency do ? Will you
propose the abrogation of the 15 per cent, replacing it
3' a more moderate increase in the duty upon importa-
t!ition ? Then, Sir, the same error will subsist, al-
though in diminished proportion. That expedient would
not be just, when, as the merchants of Vera Cruz allege,
cottons pay 224 per cent. upon their cost beyond the sea;
woollens, 138 per cent. ; linens, 82 per cent.; silk, 33 per
cent., and other goods could be added to that scale,
which pay more than double the ad valorem duty of cot-
tons. If this .charge were put upon silks, it would be
more reasonable, as the increase of indirect contributions
would be paid by the class most competent in the coun-
try. But the impost would eventually be unavailing, for
the consumption would be diminished, your Excellency
would be exposed to fresh reclamations, and, worst of all,
we should have to wait six months before the increase
would be effective. and in the six months' continuance of
the 15 per cent., we all perish ! It would also be impo-
litic to augment the duty of importation, for it would only
be effective in the ports upon the Gulf. In the Pacific,
it would be illusory, and the great disparity which pro-
duces such a fatal order of things would be the greater
in the proportion in which the supposed addition was im-
posed. If, paying what we pay at present, we cannot
compete with the ports of the Pacific, still less could we
compete with them, the duty being increased.
.‘ That expedient cannot be recurred to ; however,
granting that our misery has cherished the manufacturer
of cloths and yarns, let us son what aspect that branch of
industry preseats.