The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-01 00:00:00

for the country ; the buiiness of a shipowner
"is, not I
necessarily a profitable one, as many shipowners can
attest from their own experience. A sea-port will in
general, it is true, be benefited by a great extension of
its shipping interests, though the individual shipowners
may be losers thereby, and it is therefore quite justifi-
able that in such ports all possible efforts should be
made to promote this extension; but when applied to
the economy of a whole country, the question assumes
a very different aspect. Unless the geographical po-
sition of a country be peculiarly favourable, the arti-
ficial promotion of the shipping interests will be bene-
ficial to a small number of individuals and a small
number of towns only. Great Britain and Ireland are
islands, the half of Holland has been redeemed
from the sea, France is bounded on three sides
by the ocean, the Peninsula is almost entirely sur-
rounded by water ; all these countries abound in ex
cellent sea-ports, and in all these ports the shipping
trade and fisheries give employment to a vast number
of individuals. All measures, therefore, which really
conduce to the benefit of the home shipping in these
ports, in reality conduces to the benefit of a large
proportion of the population of the country. Ger-
many, on the contrary, if we do not include the non-
German provinces of Austria, possesses only five or
six ports on the North. Sea, double the number on
the Baltic, and two or three on a small bay of the
Adriatic, and the rest of the country and its popula-
tion are entirely unconnected with the shipping trade
and its interests. Under such-circumstances it be-
comes doubly necessary to beware that we do not
burden the whole country for the exclusive benefit of
the shipping interests. The country must, however,
unavoidably be burdened if the home shipping alone
does not suffice to keep down freights as low as the
competition of foreign vessels would render them.
The exclusion of foreign flags, which, according to
what has been said above, is unattainable or almost
ineffective, would, if obtained and made effectual, only
serve to raise the freights of German ships ; the pro-
fits, therefore, intended for the whole country, would
flow into the pockets of the shipowners only. Should,
even under these circumstances, a greater number of
ships be built in Germany, the proportionate profit
accruing to the great mass of the population would,
nevertheless, be very insignificant, particularly as a
large proportion of the materials must be purchased
from foreign countries.
It must not, however, be supposed from these ob-
servations that the inhabitants of the sea-ports under-
rate the importance of the shipping interests, as re-
gards the maritime states.* The importance of these
interests is great, greater even than at first sight ap-
pears; but as it is the object of the present investiga-
tion to elucidate the question of differential duties,
not with reference to Hamburgh in particular, but
with reference, to Germany in general, we are bound
to point out of how little relative importance the
shipping interests are to a country like Germany,
having so little sea coast.
Thus, to sum up in a few words, it results from all
that we have said concerning the shipping interests,
that the protection to be afforded to the German flag,
by the imposition of differential duties would be of no
importance, because even as matters now stand they
suffer very little from foreign competition ; that the
beneficial effect to be produced by this trifling pro-
tection on the German shipping interests, is very
doubtful ; that experience shows that the German
flag requires no protection, and that it is superior to
other flags enjoying protection ; that to confer parti-
cular benefits on the shipping interests at the expense
of the general interests of the country, would in
Germany be anything but advisable, and that it
would be particularly ill.j edged to do so by the im-
position of differential duties, which, as we mean to
show in the following section, are calculated to injure
commerce.

In considering the subject with regard to com-
merce, we have not only to take into account the
higher charges to be imposed upon the flags of Hol-
land, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also, and in a
still greater measure, the heavier burdens that would
be imposed on indirect importations from those coun-
tries, as also from England and Belgium. In general
and especially according to the words of the project
of law of which we are treating, the term "indirect
importation" means the importation of the produce of
one country from the ports of another country; but
it will greatly simplify the mode of expression. and
also facilitate our inquiry, if we designate the impor-
tation into Germany of all non-European produce
from. European ports, as that which is to be bur-
dened with differential duties. If we were to adopt
any other distinction than that between European
produce and the so-called colonial produce and par-
ticularly a distinction as to the nationality or the
political circumstances of the producing countries,
this would, in the working out of the system, render
it absolutely necessary that all goods claiming ex-
emption from the higher duties should be accom-
panied by a certificate proving their origin. But
this is a measure which, even independent of the
impossibility of guarding agAinst fraud, would impose
such restraints upon trade, that we cannot suppose it
would be recommended by the partizans of the dif-
ferential system. Besides, as the object is only to
favour the direct trade with transatlantic countries, it
would not much matter whether Havannah sugar
was fetched from Cuba or from North America.
But this is the place to demonstrate that if the system
of favouring the direct trade from the producing
countries were to be consistently carried out, it would
shackle the transatlantic trade also.

It is generally overlooked, though it ought not to'
be, that we receive from North America, for instance,
besides the productions of the country itself, large
quantities of Havannah and 13razil sugars, and Brazil
and West India coffees, which the North Americans
have partly purchased from the producing countries,
partly exchanged for salted provisions and flour; we
also obtain from them hides from Buenos Ayres, tea
from China, pepper from Sumatra and the East
Indies, spices from the Indian Archipelago, indigo
and camphor from India and South America, cochi-
neal from Mexico, and dyewoods from the islands of
the West Indies and the Pacific ; all of which they
have brought from the producing countries, and which
reach us by this circuitous route. Should this cir-
cuitous route likewise be obstructed by the proposed
differential duties, then would all that is said below,
as to their injurious effect upon trade, be applicable
in a still greater degree.
The uncertainty occasioned by the former plan re-
commended by Bremen, as to whether the differential
duties are to affect certain principal articles only, and
as to what these are to be, can, according to the
spirit of the present more liberal project, hardly be
settled otherwise than that, with the exception of those
that are entirely exempt from duty, all goods the pro-
duce of countries out of Europe, should be taxed in
this manner. It will be necessary, however, while
examining the plan, to fix upon some particular exam-
ples, and these may, with the greatest propriety, be
borrowed from the principal articles just referred to.
The immediate effects of the differential import
duties must, in the first place, affect the import trade ;
and here we must again distinguish between the dis-
advantages imposed upon foreign flags, and the diffi-
culties placed in the way in indirect importation.
As regards the former, not even the warmest advo-
cates of the differential system can deny that their in-
fluence on the import trade cannot be otherwise than
prejudicial; the impediments to competition placed
in the way of certain foreign flags, must, of course,
raise the freights of the favoured ships; their total
exclusion would reduce the number of shipa at the
disposal of the merchants ; both these circumstances
would render the importation of goods difficult, and
consequently either reduce them in quantity or raise
them in price, and the mass of consumers would thus
suffer even more than the importing merchant. This
will require no further elucidation.
The effects of the other measure, as to obstruct-
ing indirect importation in the sense above detailed,
seem more doubtful. The first object aimed at by
such a measure must of course be the increase of di-
rect importation (i. e., the direct importation of non-
European productions from transatlantic countries).
and here the following questions arise :—Are such
me ms required for the attainment of this? and, Will
these means led to this end ? Will the means not
prove in themselves, more injurious than the end will
prove beneficial ?
In order to answer the first question we must take
a survey of the present state of the German import
trade in non• European goods.
To Hambugh, to begin again with that which is nearest
to us, there came in the year 1845, according to the
returns of the statistical section of the Custom.
house :

From Trans- Atlantic From European.
Ports. Ports. -
Raw sugar 53,861,300 lbs.
Coffee 46,972,600 „
Cotton 11,653,000 „
Hides
Rice
Tobacco
Dye-woods 11,605,600 „ 3,297,600 „
These tables show, it is true, a great preponde-
rance of direct importations over indirect, but in
reality the proportion in favour of the direct impor-
tations is still greater, for we have here placed among
the imports from European places, those imports also
which are marked in the statistical office as coming
" from Altona, and by land." Now, it is evident that
whatever goods of that description come to Hamburgh
by land can hardly come from any other place than Al-
tona, and that they must have been imported into Al-
tona direct from transatlantic countries. According to

* As regards Hamburgh, we"may perhaps here be
permitted to allude to the great exertions and money
sacrifices by which her merchants were enabled to esta-
blish the first German sea steam-ships in opposition to
the. English companies. Hamburgh at present possesses
six such ships of the largest kind, which navigate the
Elbe (see Table VII.) and three new ones in course of
building, two of which are destined to trade with Lon-
don. As is well known, there is already one line-of-
packet ships established between Hamburgh and North
America, and another is about to be introduced.