The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-18 00:00:00

were imposed at different ports of that country. The Pore
dues at the Havannah were five ryles a ton on British vessels',
12 ryles upon foreign vessels ; six rylee a day for every
0
tons of Spanish shipping, and 10 toles a day on every 1
s 0
of foreign shipping. The result of all these duties wee
it rendered it so much the more advantageous to experts gds
Spanish ships than in the ships of this country d thatl
whilst in 1833 no such thiog as a Spanish skip loaded
es w
e le!
British goods was seen in the pert of Liverpool, at the pt:
moment they were not unfrequeW. The difference of b.
duties, as he said before, on the real value of Brie' 41..
exported from this country, amounted 1.2 this,
6d. per cent. when exported in the zieipi of Great De_e
and 291. Sc. 6d, when exported in she *hips of ears.
4
that it was 4,1ca1?0,
This grievance had endured for more them t
131ear1:
America felt the grievance as well as England--(. Far,
Spain had endeavoured to run her " rigs" upais and
cans, but they were keen enough to resent the attemp‘e )
of
within two months they introduced and carried a measuCe.
restrictions equal to those placed by Spain en the ship ."7,
.2.
America. But, while Spain carried out these unfair dutie'm
upon English ships, England bad plsced no discriminative'
duties whatever upon Spanish ships visiting her ports. It was
true they paid a heavier pilotage, but upon their goods there -
was no disitinction. In 1838 the following was the de-,
Glared value of cargoes of various kinds, consisting le'
earthenware, glass, hardware, iron, coal, and bs'ee
of unmanufactured goods of all kinds, coneurising cur
plies from all the manufacturing branches of the vow-
try. In 1838 the total declared value of the
goods exported to Cuba, was 462,927/. ; of. this tre.ffie the:
was carried by the ships of Great Britain 61,487/., by As.lerjeas
ships, 92,781 e, arid by the ships of Spain, 318,534. 183
at
of the declared value of the exports to Cuba, the ships of Ceel.,
Britain took 3-0171 ; American ships, 69,903/. ; and Spam'W
ships, 265,1061. In 1841, the next return he had obtainedf
the declared value had risen to fett8,3991., of which 33,03115:
was carried by ships belonging to Greet Britain, 49,446'. lue_ •
American ships, and 428,2641. by Spanishehipe ; so that, 33'
fact, the ships of Spain carried 13 times the amount of tlt.
ships belonging to Great Britain. This was the effect of ad""
muting the ships of foreign countries on the same footing ail"
those belonging to Great Britain. He had obtained no return
since 1841, but be knew what was going on at present at Liver-
pool. He learned that there were six Spanish ships loading f°,r
the Havannah there, and hut one British ship.—( Hear, head
The British ship measured 176 tons; the six Spaniards
tons. This was the state of British commerce at Liverpootet
this moment, in consequence of the great advantages which tri
Spaniards hail over the British trader. Now, he consider'
ew
this was the appropriate time to bring the subject under thee
consideration of the Government, because they were on h:
eve of making a great alteration in the sugar duties, whie
would increase the payment of this country to Spain nearly ti
million per annum. No doubt the greater part of the money
wonld be paid in the goads of this country, and it was highl
important that Government should take this motter into theft
serious consideration.—( Hear, hear.) He woulnt recorninte
her Majesty's Ministers to follow the example of the UT',';
States. There was a new doctrine propo.ed by the Bt.
Hon. Baronet, the Member for Tamworth—that it spasdetsr
neath the dignity of this country, or rather of the free-tesleTi
to haggle in commercial policy. He said he disagreed wt
that entirely, and thought that if it was vulgar, it was eseentt:
to covenant with foreign countries for boons, before gifts live;
offered by this. It might be stated, that we ought not W
tempt to bully foreign countries into a system 1,.
concurrence with our own views, but he thoughtlr.
for one, that they ought to look to the interests e
Great Britain solely—(Hear, hear)—as long as they
were consistent with the principles of honesty and les'
tire. His Noble Friend, above all men, would have the WI
right to insist upon speedy justice, because his Noble Friend,
when in office in former times, never shrunk from insistingr
upon the rights of England, however strongly, or howe.ee
powerful the courts might be with which it had to deal.
(Hear, hear.) He leant not France, end he (Lord G. Be%
tinck) thought that the Noble Lord should have no delicacyof
pressing. this matter upon the attention of the Governmente,
opain, and insist that forthwith Spain shall remove those o;sd
criminating duties which were imposed upon the ships engegio
in the carrying tradieof the people of England toehe Set`
colonies, and the practical effect of which would be to shut
the slips of England from the carry log of Sugar froneCuba to
the
land. If things remained as they now were, he feared that sof
effect would be that those ships which were throsen 'Mt
the West India bade, and also out of the trade of Maa el-tines:oe
rivalry in sugars brought from Spain and the Braxiii an ,";are
nies, would find no employment to support their trace 'hoar
ying sugar from the Havannah arid Porto Rico to this' ekete
try. He thought, therefore, that on this subject he had u 5.; el
no more than his duty, and be hoped he would be pardon; bee
the House for having trespassed upon its attention, whilst
_l7.
called that of her Majesty's Government to the great grieven._o;‘,
under which the shipping interest of Great Britain was
labouring.
Mr. eIILNER GIBSON said, the Noble Lord need have •
offered no apology to the House for calling its attention t 4
subject which he had now brought before their notice; emdde
subject of more importance to the shipping interests of of
country could scarcely be brought under the considerate:it.
_ro
the House. The Noble Lord had correctly stated that beitt
was a tariff prevailing at the present tin :16_40i
Cuba, and that it had existed there for
years ; and that by favouring the Mauritius shlPssetete
had well nigh excluded the British ships from the caroreto
tiade connected with that island, both with reference t reor
importation of manufactures with Cuba, and aLo witht. _ re•
rence to the exportation of produce front Cuba. But. flit
cent changes which had taken place in that tariff, and bed'.
had had effect since the Ist of March of the present Yeagebta is
in some respects, made its operations more sinfavednerg to eei"
British interests, whilst in other respects it had tenue„, there,
fives its effects. With reference to tonnage '1 ell prove"
had been a change, but that change experience had than'
had worked more favourably to the interests of Ems .e to thee
was anticirated, for the change was introduced prevroe',,weete
r, gulation with respect to the compensating difference
the tonnage as measured by the Spanish laws,
by the laws of Great Britain ; arid the
had the option given them whether date.
'A. 1 tonnage
pay twenty-three per cent. additional S ant"'
or submit to be measured in accordance with the P
laws. Those who had submitted to the measurement by the
anSdphortiardwe
.ora
Spanish laws, had found that the tonnage dues had worke'
favourably for British interests; and so, though norninslif
there appeared a difference, there was nothing in reality be
mitigation of duties. The statement was not true with
spect to duties on goods imported in British and other Poop
ships, but it was true with respect to the duties imposed Wee,
wuarantine laws. In both these cases the dfferential du
fin`
ith respect to England and other foreign countries, haed pee
increased ; and in the case of the quarantine laws it "..s.eataish
feeds true, as stated by the Noble Lord, that though aell
sePreee-
ships paid the same sumo-ovine fee. British and 0'1" hear.)
countries woe u reenred to pay twice as much.—( Ileare„o,outs
[his Noble Lord c told not wonder that this apparent ale
should have existed, on the part of Spain, to remove the
_e jt
rennet duties on British ships and British goods, becatr,ori
would be in the recollection of the House that, up ,very
recent occasion, when there was an endeavour, on the P_,,,tit4 •
Spain, to plsce such a construction on the commercial u.
she
between this country and Spain, as would have entitle:, the
goods of Spain to have bine brought into this country d to
goods of any other foreign country, fihigland decnenes„est
sanction such an interpretation of the duty, and, in th.l Toe
distinct and emphstic manner, entoily repudiated 51._ or
hat there existed anything to prevent reciproToryil,to •
intercourse such as usually took place between nations sy, at
amity with each other. --t. Hear. ) That he believed We eoe'
any rate, the construction placed by Parliament on en' with
nexion with Spain, on the recent question that arcs' the
respect to Spanish rates. Spain demanded that sugjaa.t!, the
growth of her colonies, should be admitted into Euglen", n-st e'r
same rate as tee sugar of other to sign c tuntries. Eng',l-Per
fused to admit this claim. Ile did not mean to say that • e pref.
land had conceded that claim, that Spain would have be s+ and
eluded from placing higher duties upon British ge°Aostin"
upon British ships, then upon her own goods ; but he -befo
safely sly, had a more liberal and larger c.onetruetiffee
tff
p'aced upon these treaties, it would have gone far to P,"o,,rare'
duced Spain to have acted in a more kindly spirit
British commerce, and reduced the differential fludeseentie..
affected British ships and British goods going into the l•-joeer;
It was not for him to state what course her MojestYt dir
merit would take, but he took upon himself to say '"?,1", Lot"'
not think that it would be the one suggested by the
namely, that of retaliation.
After a few words from Mr. M. GORE, which Were
hola
impeetectly heard in the gallery, , es..
Lord PALMERSTON said that his Noble friend
cioglo
bear in mind that the groutel which any Governmentdopeosi
take, in remonstrating against a fact of this kind, must atentrig
on the terms on which they were with respect to the sissies
There was no reciprocal treaty between England and._:seele
which would entitle the English to demand that thewfotiej
in Spanish ports should be placed upon an equal ‘je,
with Spanish ones ; but her Majesty's Government yesue-ppef:
course, feel it their duty to take advani age of the oarfiess s rob'
tuuity of endeavouring to place English vessels on as faveena
a footing as possible in Spanish ports. Ile obj scteol L-etlfrie
principle of retaliation laid dohwliynnktbo lead
ythtahtethtNoeocbol any g
Noble
nLtorooyrd e:
nthoetrtehwi nekret hgaotoidt
grounds
ddbs
to e like
t
the retaliation was to take place would yield to it and g 0 in.
71;
then the prospect of ultimate good might induce them ,
mit to a temporary evil. He was, however, very serlea Witt
that experience showed that such measures were atterw
_pouch
no good result, and he thought that the object would leg
better effected by peaceable measures.
Mr. DISRAELI thought that the principle of ,;e0
had not been well laid down by the Noble Lor • _
ation must depend on circumstances for its success..
Noble Lord had confounded—perhaps not unintent.lo9oo
—retaliation, or a retaliatory duty on an articleT hner_frierits:ll:or ,
niercial exchange, with a retaliatory duty on an arricle.luogy
merce with another country. There was no alstres the
similarity between the two instances. In order to 0.-..n0 th
success of the principle, he would refer to a return int er
port of Havannah, dated July 18, 1846, from which e" Wees
peared that the number of American ships in that 1-'3„ 10,0
nearly five times that of the British
ships. During s_,'"seetoef
twelve years the United States had been Pur.sti. a a res."; the
Spanishpolicyw
er were
now
withw ships
the
edy
same teoxcSpain;advantages
froma n d
ae,
ti
,would in the end whobe infinitely convinced, that if the principle of the UnriteldngSttates *car- ' the
sued in England, it r fa't
sihnl fiy. had
nsa
idt
eolbinfyfaebtiihn:i.t.gstieveist.ovp
:. flay'
commerce of this country. ass
Mr. HUME thought that theprinciple ref
one which ought, if at all applied, ben applied very can:d,_..it
This country did not take the sugars of the Ilavannah2LeisOr'
was not to be wondered that there should be more r•-
vessels in that port than of English.
IN THE . bet
Mr. WILLIAMSFLOGGING moved for a returnNAVY of the ntutsch°
°
in
corporal punishments inflicted on the crews serving ear?
her Majesty's ships of war in commission, in each of t" wbje?
1834 to 1845, both inclusive; also the number of Ineltoted 0
to corporal punishment, and the number of lashes in
Who dr
each ship in each year; also, the number of seansett'. of Weer
served from her Majesty's ships in commission in each
ants
years; also, the amount of prize,money, or from ks_•_.chiett
public money, received by each of the commando denary
sesol
captains, commanders, lieutenants, and able and ordl. aos
men, who served in her Majesty's ships at Navarino, Aoutil id Dot
in China. In the present state of the House, be wt with 11
press his motio nt a diision. He wou be contenet in the
similar return too thatv granted upon the same labie
army.
Admiral DUNDAS then la upon the table of the ose 110
some returns relative to the subject.
TREATY OF CRACOW.
Mr. HUME moved fir copies of any correspondence
tween the Government of her Majesty and the Geyeerappoinfr
Cracow, Russia, Prussia, or Austria, relative to ththe 1
merit of a British consular .agent at Cracow
ration made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in tw Wen'
sines
.Le plciesg;
of Commons, in the year 1836, a his Cracnvi.
tion of sending a consul to reside at
_ued with
He regretted the course which this country had pu" to to
reference to Cracow. He thought it discreditable_ for the
Government of this country ; they were guarranteesheto
liberties of the people of Cracow, and those pledges t'ep tak,e,,
faithfully kept. He should be sorry to see abet a real
but , ord a
which might endanger the peace of Europe,
he cows seitb
thought the subject should be explained by the Noble
the head of the Govetnment. He thougat t
__A,
ness of this country had allowed those treaties while thew
other countries to be broken; they bad stood by w
wrongs were enacted, and instead of standitong.,(!iruserhdelles
prevent these violations they. had shrunk_.ien Ajoberes
seemingly half frightened to interfere. Then
then went of eerne length into the treetie. unterectinW WI"
hmeartd.•