The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-11 00:00:00

/111711 -.07. 7
•41s.
K E
7

JUNE 11, 1846.

to your Lordship the following observations in regard to
the matter of the address, which have been submitted by
her Majesty's advisers for her gracious approval; and to
which she ha: been pleased to give her sanction.
" Her Majesty's Government conceive that the pro-
tection principle cannot with justice be described as the
Universal basis, either of the general connexion between
the I.Tnited.King-dom aid its colonies, or even of their
commercial connexion. There is a large and important
group of the colonies of this country, having a very ex-
tended commerce, and one of a peculiarly British char-
acter, in relation to which the protective system has at
no time exercised a powerful influence, and in relation
to which at present it has little more than a nominal ex-
istence. I speak of the Australian colonies. And it
cannot fail to be remarked, that while these are the most
distant, and, therefore, according to the supposition of
many,
also made
y, th mostethe m
in needost
rapidogssofcommprercriaelr and haveeferenee, they
have thus
most effectually belied that necessity. It is true, indeed,that
a part of their material prosperity may be ascribable to
the supply of penal labour ; but this is far from affizd-
11,bl sejseus tayi
to havege,
tohfe cvai sgeo,rosince s
uperhaps d the most
r
beenainE4mm go*an
rngiknetls:bt instances explanation
inawel oiehafsinc hp ops es en
sal o lnasb of
r herh e s
ther unknown. The energy of the colonists has, with-
out doubt, under Divine Providence, been the main cause
of their singular advancement ; stimulated but not over-
borne by distance, and aided, not repressed, by the en-
joyment of commercial freedom.. The same energies,
with less disadvantage of distance to contend against,
will, it may be confidently predicted, have a similar effect
in developing the resources of British North America,
an I not with less, but rather with the more signal sue-
sess, when capital, industry, and skill shall be leftto take
their.owuspoptaneous direction, and to turn to account,
as individual prudence shssll sue:gest, thesibundent na#te.
rials and instruments of wealth which the bounty of
Heaven has bestowed.

" Her Majesty's Government have been glad to find
that the Assembly has viewed with an unmingled satis-
faction ithe prosperity of Canada under the moderate
system of protection which has hitherto prevailed ; but
the Assembly cannot fail to recollect that all the pro-
gressive relaxations of that system, which fora series
of years past have been introduced into the law, have
been met and resisted by predictions of the ruin that
was honestly but erroneously conceived would follow
them, and that those predictions have nith a remark-
able uniformity been disappointed. Expelience cannot
but suggest that a similar insecurity attaches to the re-
newal of the same expectations founded on the same
arguments.
"It is not for the sake of controversial or purely ar-
gumentative advantage that her Majesty's Government
refer to former apprehensions, and to the manner
in which they have been dissipate) by the
event. A retrospect of this kind is calculated to throw
clear and abundant light upon the real merits of the
question. The fears which are now entertained have
reference to the circumstance that it is proposed to re-
move all differential duty between Canadian and foreign
corn. Is it, then, to be shown that Canadian corn trade
has prospered heretofore in proportion to the amount of
such differential duty ? Far otherwise. The law of 1828
diminished the difference in favour of Canada ; the law
of 1842 further and greatly diminished the difference in
favour of Canada ; the law of 1843, which reduced the
duty on Canadian wheat to ls. per quarter, still left a
much smaller difference in its favour, as against foreign
wheat, than existed under either of the former corn-
laws ; and yet the corn trade of Canada has grown and
prospered ; and its extension has, doubtless, contributed
in no small degree to the happiness and prosperity of the
people of the colony,--whichsthe Assembly, slating in
the uamingled satisfaction of her Majesty and the
British Parliament, has seen advancing in steady and
successful progression. But this extension has taken
place, not under protection secured from change, nor
under protection fortified by successive increments, but
contemporaneously with a series of changes involving its
great diminution.
" It appears to be the impression of the Assembly that
some great revolution of prices is likely to occur, as the
consequence of the pending changes in the law, which
will deprive the Canadian farmer of all hope of remune-
ration for his surplus produce. But the Canadian
farmer is advancing from year to year in capital and in
science ; and, to say nothing of the great advantages
he cannot fail to derive from improved communications,
it would surely be rash to assert, nor probably do the
Assembly in their address intend to imply, that his in-
dustry must be paralysed unless he shall continue to re-
ceive the precise amount of average payment for his
grain that he has hitherto received for it. Doubtless
the alarm which hayt been excited has refer-
ence to the idea o;:e some sudden, great, and
permanent reduction orlance, to follow the repeal of
the British corn-law. Without pretending to estimate too
nicely the momentary or the occasional effects of that
measure, her Majesty's Government cannot but admit
that they could better appreciate at least certain pre-
sumptive, though far from demonstrative, grounds for
the alarm of the Canadian agriculturist in regard to the
future fortunes of the colony if they shared in such an
anticipation. To some reelection of average and usual
price, from the removal of artificial restraints, they are
disposed to look forward, but when they consider the
steady and rapid growth of population in the corn pro-
ducing countries of the globe, they cannot but be per-
suaded that it would be unwise, whether in the friends
or the opponents of commercial relaxation, to recom-
mend or dissuade it on the ground of any great revolu-
tion in permanent prices to be operated by it; and their
expectations of advantage, sanguine as these anticipa-
tions are, have reference in a greater degree to the in-
creased steadiness of the market, and to the vigour
which general trade will derive from the removal of
restraints upon the exchange of commodities, and
agriculture, from the cessation of all artificial influence
disturbing the balance of its several pursuits, and from
the wholesome stimulus that competition, which in
farming pursuits can scarcely become overwrought,
rarely fails to impart to industry.
" I am unwilling to repeat at length the arguments
which I have addressed to your Lordship in my dis-
patch, No. 66, of the 18th of May, with respect to the
other great subject of the alarm of the Assembly—
namely, the trade in timber. When, however, we revert
to the year 1842, it cannot but be acknowledged that
this was the case of a trade peculiarly artificial as it
stood under the former law. The reduction, though
graduated, was decisive ; perhaps in no case has it been
more so ; and certainly in no case have more uniform,
confident, or sincere prophecies of ruin been hazarded
by the opponents of the change. The result is, that
the export of timber from British North America
to this country attained during the last year to a
height which it had never reached under the more
protective law. I do not mean that the with-
drawal of protection was either the exclusive, or
even the principal direct cause of this prosperity ;
although there cannot be a doubt that many trades
have to refer their vigour to the fact, that the absence of
artificial support has in their case given free operation to
the stimulus necessary for the development of natural and
permanent resources. Increased demand in the United
Kingdom has, without doubt, been the main and the imme-
diate cause of the increased export of wood from British
North America ; but it is the conviction of her Majesty's
Government that such increased demand was itself refer-
able in no small degree to the relaxations of our commer-
cial law; and therefore, in its due proportion, the growth
of the timber trade is truly and justly, even if circuit-
ously, to be ascribed to that very diminution of protec-
tion from which its ruin had been anticipated. We are
now to look forward with hope to a further increase of
the consuming power of this country ; a further en-
couragement to the use of timber as compared with com-
peting articles capable of being applied to the same pur-
poses ; a further encouragement to the use of Canadian
timber, in combination with the wood of the Baltic, for
those objects in regard to which the consumption of the
one directly stimulates the consumption of the other. Is
it too much to hope that causes so similar may produce
like effects ; and that the caution with which Parlia-
ment has proceeded in the gradual reduction of the
timber duties to a moderate standard may be again re-
warded by the satisfaction with which it will witness a
further growth in the wood trade of Canada ?
Her Majesty's Government, therefore, cannot, on the
part of the Imperial exchequer, share in the fear that
increased freedom of trade will have the effect of crip-
pling the revenues of those important works, which are
designed to facilitate the transit of the produce of
Canada by the St. Lawrence to the sea. They can by
no means subscribe to the opinion, that the comparative
dearness of this route is an established fact. And they
likewise feel that if they did subscribe to that opinion,
although it might corroborate the propriety of
the course they have pursued in suggesting to
Parliament the interposition of an interval before
entire freedom shall be given to the corn trade, it
could do no more ; it could not induce them to ask,
nor Parliament to grant, nor, they are certain, could it
induce the people of Canada to desire, that the market
of their farm produce should be maintained b
of a perpetual tax upon the people of England. mansln
referring to the unchecked competition
'IN hieh, so far
as British law is concerned, will be established be-
tween colonial and foreign corn by the repeal of the
corn-law, it perhaps may not have occurred to the As-
sembly that British law alone cannot suffice to establish
this competition. The price which the colonial and
foreign exporters of corn will respectively obtain for
their grain in Great Britain must always be materially
effected by the comparative degrees Of facility which
may be atfordPd in the country of the one and ofs the
other for the introduction of those British goods ,t)Y.
which payment for the Can must substantiallyl:w, Inao
British goods are admitted into (.;:ar.'.sda at.v,7,Ytio. The
the American Union at very high, import
':1.11 exporter
effect of this is not merely to give to the ~,t of
a better position in the Canadisa market than in tee .
the United States, but to enable him to gire a better
price for the commodity he purchases in return, and
therefore to give to the corn trade of Canada a corres-
ponding advantage, sn long as the present tariffs con-
tinue, over that of the United States.
With respect to that portion of the address which
prays her Majesty to invite the Government of the
United States to establish an equality of trade between
the dominions of the Republic and the British North
American colonies, I am commanded to instruct your
Lordship to assure the Assembly that her Majesty will
readily cause directious to be given to her Minister at
Washington to avail himself of the earliest suitable r;p-

PRICE SD.

portunity to press this important subject on the notice
of that Government, and that it will afford her Majesty
the most sincere satisfaction if any communication
which may hereafter be held for this purpose shall have
the effect which is desired by her faithfnl Commons of
Canada.
Iler Majesty's Government have, as may be known to
the Assembly, on several occasions endeavoured to make
arrangements with foreign powers for the mutual relax-
ation of tariffs ; and similar attempts have taken place
among foreign powers, one with the other, but almost
uniformly with ill success, Whatever arguments may be
used to show the great increase of benefit that would
accrue on both sides if states could have been induced
to act simultaneously for this purpose, experience
has
arein g
properly t hs ue
sffi c sufficiently ybinsehdow
domestictt operationscttil ecernd difficulty t
matters
ot
eas sfiu. effect-
the wisdom of securing the concern,
advantagesggwehstieehd
which depends upon oiunr
tohwenvafrineejneangteincy alone, rather
benefits,than of floarrtggeori tga
indeed,
but Rot within
eenarvoreuarehto
Should
the Government of the United States continue io main-
tain the scale of import duties now in for
frontier, her Majesty's Government will view with reongsitst
a policy injurious to Canada: but they will reflect with
satisfaction on the prevalent of laws more favourable to
commerce on the Canadian side, and will anticipate
from those laws both a direct benefit to the people and
trade of the province, and the further advantage which a
consistent example given by this country and by its
colonies will, as they believe, not fail to realise in dis-
posing foreign states towards the removal of restrictions
on trade.

- With respect to that part of the address which relates
to the duty of Is. per quarter, which it is proposed to
charge on all wheat imported into England after the re-
peal of the corn-law, I am to refer your Lordship to my
dispatch, No. 56, of the 181 h April, on the same sub-
ject. From the purport of that dispatch it would of
course be even more difficult to recede at a period
when the Bill introduced into the House of Commons
by the adrisers of the Crown hag passed through all its
stages in that House, and has been affirmed, as to its
principle, on the s. eond reading of the House of Lords
It is necessary for me here to offer an explanation with
regard to an expression of mine, which appears to have
give rise to misappr. bension. I have stated to your
Lordship, in a previous dispatch, that her Majesty's Go-
vernment desire that the trade of Canada should, in all
respects, approach as near to perfect freedom as the dis-
positions of its inhabitants and the exigencies of the
public revenue there may permit ; and from this it is
inferred, that the amount of ls. per quarter, which has
been adopted for a long period in this country as the
standard of a nominal duty upon corn, ought to he re-
moved. But the language which 'employed had reference
to the trade of Canada as affected by laws applicable in
her own markets and on her own waters. Indeed, if
the allusion had been to a rigid and perfect equality' of
trade in the ports and markets of this country- its 'first
and most important bearing would, I apprehend, have
been, not upon the nominal duty of is., which it is pro-
posed to retain upon colonial in common with foreign
corn, but rather upon the very considerable duties of
15s. and 18s. respectively, which, as against nominal
duties of Is. and 2s. on Canadian timber and deals, it is
proposed to continue to charge on the corresponding
foreign articles.
Her Majesty's Governmeat, in the discharge of their
duty to the Crown and to the people of this country,
and likewise to the empire at large, have not felt them-
selves to be at liberty to advise her Majesty to pass by
the address of her Canadian Assembly with a brief or
merely formal answer, although the advanced state at
which the deliberations of Parliament have now arrived
might have afforded at least a technical justification for
such a course. They have thought a more frank and
full exposition of their views of this great question
in its bearings upon Canada was due to the impor-
tant body from which the address proceeds, and from
which they are well assured may be anticipated the
most candid consideration even of arguments opposed to
their own. It is due especially on account of the im-
portance of that body and of the province of Canada
but, even in the case of the smallest portion of her sub-
jects, I have it in command to say that it would equally
have been the desire of her Majesty that such a frank
exposition of the policy of her Government should be
made. Her Majesty does not recognise the distinction
between her nearer and her more remote subjects with
reference to a matter so nearly touching her relation to•
wards them, and the duties and the sentiments of con-
sideration and affecticn which it involves. Nor can she
recognise in this view any distinction between the more
and the less powerful, particularly at a time when her
Parliament is engaged in the discussion of measures
which are recommended to its notice, especially upon the
ground that they tend to improve the condition of the
most numerous and the least opulent classes of her
people.
It would indeed be a source of the greatest pain to her
Majesty's Government, if they ceuld share in the impres-
sion that the connexion between this country and Canada
derived its vitality from no other source than from the
exchange of commercial preferences. If it were so, it
might appear to be a relation consisting in the ex-
change, not of benefits but of burdens ; if it were
so, it would suggest the idea that the connexion it-
self had reached, or was about to reach, the legitimate
term of its existence. But her Majesty's Govern-
ment still augur for it a longer duration, founded
upon a larger and firmer basis—upon protection ren-
dered from the one side, and allegiance freely and
loyally returned from the other—upon common tra-
ditions of the past, and hopes of the future,—upon re-
semblances in origin, in laws and manners,—in what
inwardly bind men and communities of men together, as
well as in the close association of those material in-
terests which, as her Majesty's Government are con-
vinced, are destined not to recede but to advance, not to be
severed, but to be more closely and healthfully combined
under the quickening influence of increased commercial
freedom.

I have, &c.

W. E. GLADSTONE.

The following is a report of the discussion on the sub-
ject of the address in the Provincial Parliament of
Canada :
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, MONDAY, MAY 11.
_ _ _ _

Mr. Robinson moved that an humble address be pre-
sented to her Majesty, praying that in case any change
is made in the law regulating the admission of foreign
grain into England, due regard may be had to the inte-
rests of her subjects in Canada. He stated his intention
was to obtain an address to go home by the next mail.
His desire was not to impede the action of her Majesty's
Government, but to obtain such a protection for Canada
as would equalise the freight between Montreal and New
York, without which he was afraid that for the next few
years Canada would not be able to compete with her At-
lantic rival. He was aware that resolutions on the sub-
ject were before the House, from the Hon. Member for
Lincoln and the Hon. Member fcr Durham, but their
discussion was put off till Thursday, and, consequently,
any action on them would be too late for the mail which
went on Wednesday. He felt that the House should
have moved sooner in this matter ; but, for his part, he
was of opinion the question would have been finally set-
tled long before this. This, it now appeared, was not
the case, from its being retarded by other important bu-
siness before the Imperial Legislature. He thought,
from the general terms of his motion, the sentiments of
both sets of resolutions now before the House might be
embodied in an address, and passed to-morrow in time
for the mail on Wednesday, and trusted no objection
would be made to the course he was pursuing, as he
could not by any motion now bring the other resolutions
before the House before the day named.
The motion was carried and referred to a select com-
mittee, consisting of Messrs. Williams, Baldwin,
M'Donald, Kingston, Roblin, and the mover, to report
an address. _ _