The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-14 00:00:00

THE CARRYING TRADE.

The certainty that a European war will interfere
with the carrying trade, not only of all the Powers
directly involved, but even of those which may be
in danger of being drawn in, has caused inquiry to
be directed to the possibility of registering Euro-
pean ships under the American flag. The statute
law of the United States is in this respect virtually
prohibitive. No foreign ship can be registered
unless a sum equal to two-thirds of her value shall
have been expended upon her in repairs or im-
provements in America. Even an American vessel
which has been lawfully condemned by a foreign
Government, or sold to a foreigner, cannot, upon
being re-purchased by an American, receive,
except upon these conditions, a new register.
It is also provided that foreign vessels which
may have acquired the American flag shall
lose tht benefit of registration if their owners,
being naturalised citizens, reside more than one
year in the country of their origin, or two
years in any other foreign country. Foreign
steamers, if their owners are resident in the
United States, may be enrolled for river service, on
security being give* that they shall not be em-
ployed on other waters; and this, apparently, is the
sole opening allowed. Any relaxation of the law
can be obtained only by a special Act of Congress.
There is, however, a solution of the difficulty that
would meet all general requicments. Although it
may be difficult to procure an American register, a
vessel can be placed under the American Consul
in England, together with a certificate that she is
owned by an American citizen. She will then get
the protection afforded by the Uni' ed States' Go-
vernment to every description of American property
remaining with regard to tonnage dues and all
similar conditions under the liabilities common to
any foreign vessel. That this plan would be ex-
tensively adopted in case of England becoming
involved in war can scarcely be doubted, and it is
probable, also, that increased latitude might be
given by special acts to facilitate the granting even
of a national registry. The impolicy of the exist-
ing restrictions is as obvious as that of all other
obstacles to the free interchange of commodities
0

n the breaking out of a war a neutral country
could, of course, purchase vessels from any of the
belligerents on highly profitable terms. But if this
is forbidden her traders are compiled to build new
vessels, and always at an extravagant cost, owing
to the general suddenness of demand. Meanwhile
the ships which would have fully answered the
purpose, and which might have been had at half
the outlay, are lying without employment. But
when the war is ended these are brought into
competition with the expensive vessels built in the
interval, and which are at once reduced to an
almost nominal value, to the ruin of all who have
invested in them. The prohibition, therefore, in•
volves to the neutral country not merely a sheer
loss of the difference between the price of the home-
built ships and that at which the foreign vessels
could have been bought, but also of the amount of
depreciation which is ultimately inflicted on both
sets of vessels, through the freight market being
glutted with a needless quantity. The Protec-
tionists will urge that there was a great advan-
tage in the employment opened for home labour
in the original construction of the new vessels, but
this is a long exploded fallacy. By employing
labour in building vessels which might have been
had more cheaply elsewhere, they have diverted it
from other branches of employment which would
have been equally profitable at the time, and which,
being independent of any artificial impulse, would
not have involved the penalty of an ultimate re-
action.—Tinges.

According to a circular of M. Arles Dufour, of
Lyons, the average 'decline in silk since the outbreak of
hostilities has been only fi om sto 7 per cent. This is to be
accounted for, first, by the reduced stocks with which the
new season will commence after r. year of great manufac-
turing activity; secondly, by the execution of orders lately
placed for American consumption ; and, thirdly, by the un-
certainty as to the result of the next European crop, which,
at all events, will bo impaired by the war in Piedmont and
Lombardy.
MINES.—A moderate amount of business has
been transacted in the Mining Share Market tuis Week,
without any material chango in prices. On the 10th cop-
per dropped about £5 per ton, and some of the heavy divi-
dend copper mines have in ccnsequence been more freely
offered, and at somewhat lower rates. Lead and tin mines
have continued in fair request, and in most cases
prices
have been fairly maintained. It is to be regretted that
this fall in copper should take place on the 10th, and that
on the 12th, the East India Company and the Government
announced that they should require metallic copper about
equal to a fortnight's produce of all the copper mines in
ered that these con-
Cornwall and Devoh. If it had a
to the 10th, we
tracts had been entered into previ"
could have understood the fall, whicrsjill now press upon
the miner, and make up the stock of the smelter.-11fin.
Journal. Iny
THE MURDER OF MR. JESSOP.—It is reported
that the murderer of the late Mr. dessop has been arrested.