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

MORNING SUN.

to which the duties to be produced from it were destined, 1
namely, the subsistence of the army of the north, which,
for 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 ail' 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 yrou 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 si, particular permission.
" It is also known that not many months since, when
it was ascer cained that the crop of cotton was not suffi-
cient for 'she supply of the manufacturers, permission was
asked t) 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 ths crop. But the required permission attacked
the farm:as, and they addressed lively remonstrances to
the G.orernment of your Excellency. The permission
we'.,, therefore, not conceded ; and thus another error
.':eas committed, because the refusal was a benefit only to
one or a few localities, and was 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 one 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 of encou-
raging it, is declared free from every duty ; and, as if
that were not enough, the foreign importation is prohi-
bited altogether. This is another error, and one of the
greatest that could be committed in political economy.
A 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 who
are to consume the products. That is attained only by
measuring the two conflicting interests. lie 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 29 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 juice should be raised to twelve, in any
three markets whatever, the importation of the fo-
reign prodi'..ce should be permitted, undergoing a
fixed dutsj, double that which is imposed upon the na-
tional production, and let the foreign importations cease
0"... 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 lie 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 he
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 than 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
system which we suggest, and the absolute prohibitions
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 I
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 arc 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 oause.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 reals. •
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 isi 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 to error, a monstrous law was passed—
the law of 15 per cent. I 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-
* of
it- r s thatehe s
ilna
Total ....... .... 5,692,266
N,.)
tad :s one could deny the evidence of that calculation, nifest the ruinous effects
law.
Butla-
%Ct. the manufacturers cry out against it, or, for the bour, if to the above-mentioned proofs and demonstra-
for what end should we occupy
tend' of distracting your Excellency's imagination, pre- been made, and have been
that sake of
o__, lat so enormous a sacrifice is compensated by the entirely despised ; those who, for the
tions no solid reply hasthey
in,,u vhich it produces, you should not listen to them, td • t rests, or, through erroneous persuasion, are
fur It, is only another of their sophisms. been the partisans and
.maintainers of the law,
4, ders oo in e
or have
t The foreign cloth goes into the markets of the in-
eriorat three three
seals per yard, and it sells for not less than body reason, or that it does so
contenting themselves with affirming that the commercial
,r and a quarter ; and the shopkeeper cannot dispose
li,the national manufacture at less than 2i reels. Then
', through pure selfishness ? For what should we occupy
opposes the law without
yard,
saving to the Cuzisualei is but half a real '.
Yard, and on the whole it amounts to 1,177,589 d 1 l ale
I gus i, with which the law was impugned have acquired.ou.,
lions
serves at. this day, when already the several allegit-
;Vlich the consuming class economises in the cloth.° lieu. cap..-iacc all the forde of prophecy? Wrhybs"forel4-
'te foretell thread when it was admitted sold for front gn 6we do so above all to your Excellency, if you, far e v
hand,. foresaw those dest
t 0 6i peals. the lb.; whereas the national, at the
ra e of all the markets sells for 11 reels, there being Mel'
hcation of the law—and since it was not in our p _ .
some instances as high as 12 and more. Thus upon the ructive results—opposed the pub-
lication
prevent the publication, you have proposed its abro
/vhele gation to. the Chambers, and have made great efforts to
fti r consumptiona cof 4,250,000. lbs., making allowance procure its repeal ?
of cloth,there is
a the saving in the article '
-4 act " But your Excellency may say : ' I have done all that
was possible to me legally. I know the bad effects of
f, actual burthen of about a million dollars. Far, therefore
,es, , , .
this law. I have initiated its repeal. That has been de-
tweenenetiting the country upon the existing proNbi-
nied to me. "What more could I do?' We shall discuss
1 system, the nation and the treasury lose more than
t 2 rQillions annually to enrich ten or twelve manufac- that.
The Chambers in our opinion have resisted because; in
11rers, who maintain miserably the limited number of
familiestee whom they employ. Here, Sir, is the truth, proposing the abrogation, no expedient was presented to
epee all illusion, and resting upon that, we. might them which might be substituted for the obnoxious law
),outi Y the, proverb, " Cry ravens, and they will pick out without inconvenience'; and the opposition would have
is, eyes. "rhek only gain which the country derives been less, if a good recourse had been pointed out.
w_that about three millions less are exported which There is no doubt, Sir, that if the representatives of the
olleeat to pay for the foreign cloths and thread ; and the people defend the law of 15 per cent., it is because the
lei rocs system only benefits two or three departments, prohibition of the goods we have spoken of, by depriving
4 rahile ruin of the remainder, especially those of the the Treasury of five-and-a-half millions, placed it in an
am See then to what disastrous errors in politics incapacity to acquit itself of the most sacred obligations.
of s economy your Excellency's counsellors, and persons The widow, the soldier, the magistrate, and all who re-
aaliserrie name, have been led by a miserable spirit of lo- ceive public salaries. could not, without
.great loss to
arid aL,eloplied under thefascinating names of patriotism society, be unheeded or left to groan in misery ; and it
!mblic (rood. was the bounden duty of the Chambers to keep that in
that the onlyobserve,is,that view. What then will. your Excellency do ? Will you
three "inch is obtained he the nation in general
ef,,. e millions less of hart .dollars are exported
.it by a more moderate increase in the duty upon importa-
it'utbs_ea.reely be said that this is a good, when to obtain tattoo ? Then, Sir, the same error will subsist, al-
.4,__ a treasury and the coisuining class make an annual though in diminished proportion. That expedient would
lilyur Itroi e
t,. 0 f
61- millions, RliCh go in a very small quan- not be just, when, as the merchants of Vera Cruz allege,
ter e„_, he agriculturists, ascl the rest to the manufac- cottons pay 224 per cent. upon their cost beyond the sea;
-whore
,ta the loss of the army, the widows, and the woollens, 138 per cent. ; linens, 82 per cent.; silk, 33 per
appear' class of employed, who groan under the enormous cent.,
andother goods could be added to that scale,
q their salaries.-
" A. little time
-north
to tli on account of his urgent A•scessities, had recourse more reasonable as the increase of indirect contributions
ti the exPtdiest of seeking perroision for the importa-
-I,l_,ef prohibited goods in limited q.,,ntities, to be regu- would be aid 1; the class most competent in the coun-
tr But the i3; &mould eventually be unavailing, for
plies, s° as to bear proportion to the 'adispensable sup-
i And what happened ? That th manufacturers the consumption °:,ould be diminished, your Excellency
this Prudent
their cries to heaven. They assails and censured wew .11011exiposed to fresh reclamnal.:Ons and, worst of all
wilis, prudent measure, and misrepresented t., question,. would bel months' continuance of
effective,iavo to wait six moths Ins before the increase
and in the six
ti n the farmers crying by their side, until tis
the 15 would also be im o-
ti','s in various places and (what is most ;stranp, of aloe
\,),
to
per cent., we all perish I It.
f..
t wouldonly
one department,ticauthori,
effective in the ports upon the Gulf. In the Pacific,
"eatie,nall sides, having 0.,e .
of. the permission. On . it IA -
Put tat question ofthe truepoint of view, they hay.. nld be illusory, and the great disparity which pro
Put
e_
__ out
=,l the pl,
the' e.ased to deafen the ears of your Excellency until 1. `lch a fatal order of things would be the greater
rt. in whichthe .re-
. could procure a revocation of the contracts. These rf,sed. iri, ton
ha •
, ve been withdrawn upon conditions of indemnification ' what we pay at present, we cannvoet
ceoerpeettee ;iittr
tlingPorts of the Pacific, still less could s
;°:the contractors, of' which the manufacturers paid no-
"ling, but onl the poor exhausted notion, which had to ...nili, expedie-fishe duty being increased.
Su''
and satisfy th-e indemnities ! Now, most Excellent granting that our aannut be recurred to ; however,
of cloths ana yarns, le has cherished the manufacturer
11', the measure to. which recourse had been had was
Just and beneficial--it what aspect that branch of
—it was just on account of the object industry presents.

MEXICO.-FREE TRADE.

- -
We have received by.the favour of
,an eminent house
41' Liverpool in the'Mexican trade, a copy of a very able
Daulphkst, published recently at Tampico, which contains
Some points strikingly illustrative of the blessings of the
Protective system, and serves to corroborate very strongly
Observations made by Lord Palmerston in his speech at
Tiverton. It is entitled " A Representation to the most
xeeilent the President of the Republic, by the Mer-
chanti and Inhabitants of Tampico, praying for the Re-
peal of the law of 15 per Cent.,' and suggesting other
measures in its stead."
The following is a translation :
" To the most Excellent the President of the
• Republic.
" The commercial body of Vera Craz, which sees ap-
Preaching wad imminent the ruin in which that popula-
tion essentially mercantile is about to be overwhelmed,
has a;laia. raised its complaining voice in an exposition to
s Lxeellency General Don Antonio Lopez de Santa
ek
.nna, beseech-ing him, that, with the hig'i.credit and in-
eee aepertaining to his- elevated position in society,
e might intercede with your Excellency,,and so induce
iott to propose to the representatives of the Mexican
tople the repeal of the law of the 26th of Novem-
e'r, 1839, which increased the customs duty, in the
-mount of 10 per cent. above the 5 per cent., which had
previously been deemed sufficient.
" The subject is the same upon which the merehants
and inhabitants of Tampico address themselves to the
supreme Government, but in truth, without flattering
themselves of a good, result; since they have observed the
little regard paid by the Chambers to the previous publi-
cations of the press, to the representations of so many.
ee
ercantile places, and what was still more, to the repre-
's,,entations made by several Departmental Juntas, in whose
i
ritings was proved, beyond question, the ruin which muse,
"e proiluced end has been produced,
inc an impost in eass
to ,
'ens contradiction to the true pples of deal
eeee, no fa-
\Any. It was easy, however, to foresee that
'eetrable resolution would he adopted upon our solicita-
Oen, although we ask with justice, at the sari& time with
abrogation of that law, other points, advantageous
alike to this population and to the Teeasury; whereby,
;nth a greater development of our '.rade the public re-
tie would be increased. although we have been
disree
ler earded, we do not the Jess recognise in your Excel-
tru? a decided inclirea
:.ion to justice and equity, and the
anxious des;_te topromote the happiness of the coun-
, d For faat reason we should console ourselves, and
~e° e?' .sole ourselves. in acquiring a new proof that it
terift?)eity which continually interferes to render nuga-
teif ft?)
best sentiments which your upright heart enter-
-IWs, as well for the good of this port as for that of the
"le bli pu e.
1.i:11Tel-epic°, Excellent Sir, like Vera Cruz, is essen-
e„ 3', and almost exclusively, mercantile. So, at the
;1,41, e time that we adhere fully to the solid reasons, with
General, we have recourse to your Excellency, with the
e°4viction that in the extreme affliction to which we
persona
reduced, it is only the energetic will of two illustrious
'e'ers"ages, equally interested in the prosperity and great-
,tes
3 of their country, that can apply a prompt and effi-
e-4eieus remedy to evils of such inagnitude. The urgent
„-eeessity for such a remedy stimulates us to state clear
‘',,`"°°,fs, respectfully, yet apart from flattery, which a great
noble mind, such as your Excellency's, would re-
pudiate, and which, above all, would ill become our pre-
sent critical circumstances. The sufferings are extreme,
Zemletrable only to those of the sick at the point of death,
pro ean receive no relief from palliatives, without the
te"'Pt application of the most powerful medicines. And
th w could a physician apply the fit remedies unless he
e "'retied-0y understood the disease ? How could he un-
oberstand the disease, unless to the symptoms which 'ee
e serves there be added the patient's exact account, of the
tieSeS which produced his ills ? Why shoe' -not we,
liotrefore reveal those to your Excellency Z.- Why should
enlighten your mind upon the. capital errors in
matters
.of finance which have been committed of late
ye
io gr
most ; when there is not a single inhabitant
agree in
extensive country, who does not
in asclibing to your Excellency the most
re
moi
st ntentueas to establish. the *coalmen good upon the
It
the, Veandation Whence acmes it, then, that
me
snit entz.ons ,pure do .not produce 'their effect ?
of toutt be told—your Excellency hasliad.the misfortune .
or sou,n--etting withMinisterS and 'councillors who knew
gene---itat to maintain themselves in high views of the
marri"`, good. They circumscribed themselves within a
deal: circle, drawn according to ideas of miserable
tisou -Lin. This is a truth, evident and irrefragable, even
the gu the proposition may seem to your Excellency to
the4nrestinaptuous • , and we shall prove it by explaining
errors which have produced such mistaken policy.
We might cite as a grave error the creation of the
Ranis with part of the produce of the maritime customs,
w
e 1110, above all ought to be applied to cover the ex-
Penses of the State. To apply them to create a forced
Industry is the same as to commence building with the
l'oof. It was more advisable, more useful, more immediately
a necessary to the public good, that whenever there was
surplus it should be applied to open good roads, whereas
tnere are none in this vast territory better than broken
Paths. • Circulation would have been facilitated, and the
Zemis of transport rendered more economical. This
ukt have been a general good ; but to apply a part of
#ho maritime revenues to the creation of industry was
erroneous even if, with the remainder, all the expenses
hull be covered • since one part of the contributions of
~. people was 'destined to loans, which could only
;6,7_ advanced to responsible persons, which was the
..tectme as lending the sweat of the poor to the rich
„7, enable them to grow richer. It was above
'44_
snot only an error, but a flagrant injustice, to
mo-
ment favouring industry in that way, since the mei-
!kill the revenues became insufficient to cover sacred
easgations, incomes of the widow,lthe soldier, and every
thies Of public servants and creditors are impaired ; and
sest 991 y because of the inconceivable enterprise of
eee aining a forced industry, which has produced other
"- ore,
eoe",,o'le of those deeply disastrous, was that which was
an 'flltted in prohibiting the importation of common cloths,
4,0 f fine and common thread. With both prohibitions
4,"roverninent deprived itself of no less a sum than five
lions and a half, whilst in the meantime the charges
e f
hi'lle State were increased on the other side. A consider-
114e error was committed, operating against the very
fett4ciPles upon which the system of indirect taxation is
and which is intelligible to the narrowest corn-
e ensiee, that the fewer the number of articles legally
Permitted to be imported the less they will produce to
oe revenue. If that truth is plain to every one, how
uch may we be surprised at the prohibition of those
the articles of importation, of which the duties were
th,,i.imest productive ? Will your Excellency. believe,
°P can you be persuaded that we exaggerate in
eha;ing that the prohibition of those two manufactures
queno diminished the maritime customs in an amount
al to five millions and a half ? As your Excellency.
ter't_Y distrust this truth, or the manufacturers may in-
t ,est themselves to maintain it in disbelief, we shall
it, by the result of the calculations which they
reisTsetres have published. When they solicited per-
eferes`°n to import 50,000 quintals of cotton, they
thei'led that they wanted that quantity .to keep
r machines in work for six months. Then,
ording to their own showing, they employed
(1,14ne,e year 100,000 quintals ; and granting that
half e,a" Was converted into cloth, and the other
certa4B employed in thread ; it being on the other hand
etor in that a piece of our national cloth does not weigh
for ethan 711 es , we shall have it that the 50,000 quintals,
yard sake -4" 42,500)4 will produce 607,143 pieces of 31
of fosi or about 18,821,436 yards. If an equal quantity
to threign manufacture were imported it would produce
easu ry, Dollars.
For the cloth
For the thread 1,372,749