The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

Perhaps no enlightened nation ever made
Wanton and so costly a sacrifice to the spirit of
commercial monopoly as England did in surren-
dering to the East India Company the exclusive
trade to China. Of tea, the chief article of ea-
port from that country, the inhabitants of Great
Britain consume more than twice the quantity
required for the supply of all the rest of Europe,
Africa, and America.. It has become a neces-
sary of life with almost every class of society,—
it enters into the daily refreshment of almost,
every man and Woman in the empire, and its
price composes a considerable item in the expen-
diture of every family. From their monopoly
profits on a commodity of such general use and
extensive demand- the sovereigns of .Leadenhall
are enabled to support the dignity of their home
establishments, to pay dividends to the proprie-
tors of their capital stock, and to make up for
losses incurred by impolitic speculations in other
branches of their trade. The English public
are thus obliged to tax themselves for the glo-
rious mismanaement of an Asiatic empire, and
nearly
rly 8,000,0001. a year in monopoly
charges irag
Government taxes, for the purchase
of an article which, at continental prices, would
not cost half that sum. If such a burden
had been declared perpetual, like that entailed
to
Ys
nearly
upon us by the debt which the nation has con-
tracted, it would have been our duty to bear it and
Ire silent ; but happily this is not the case. The
ruinous contract by which we are made the
vassals of an exclusive company,—by which our
pockets are drained and our industry cramped,_
expires in four or five years ; and as its condi-
tions must then be examined by the legislature,
for the purpose of being renounced, modified, or
renewed, it becomes all those who take an inte-
rest in the public welfare, and particularly the
commercial body, to bestir themselves in spread-
ing the knowledge and conviction of its
im-
policy. With this view, a report has boen
drawn up anti printed by a Committee of the
Liverpool East India Association, which,
though it does not contain much novelty of fact.
or argument, is deserving of general attention
from its plain statements and undeniable infer-
ences. The authors of this report even contend,
that the East India Company have already for-
feited their monopoly by neglecting the condi-
tions on which it was granted. By the 18th of
George 11., which conferred their exclusive pri-
vilege to trade with China, it is provided, " that,
the Company shall, with the view to keep the
price of -tea Um this country upon an equality
with the price thereof in other neighbour-
ing countries of Europe," import such quan-
tities front any other part of Europe zs
may be necessary for this purpose, and
that " if the Company shall at any time ne.-
4ed to keep this market supplied with a sufF-
eient quantity of tea at reasonable prices, try
answer the consumption of Great Britain," it
shall be the duty of the Lords Commissioners,
0f the Treasury to grant licences to any other
persons whatsoever to import teas on the same
conditions and fbr the same purpose. Though
the charter of the Company has since been re-
peatedly renewed, and the China monopoly re
peatedly re-established, this part of the statute has
never been repealed. Starting in their investi-
gation with this enactment, the Liverpool Com-
mittee proceed to show that the East India Com-
pany has not fulfilled the conditions of their
contract—that the nrice .of tea in, this kingdom
has not been kept upon an equality with its price
in other kingdoms of Europe, and that there-
fore licences ought to have been granted to other
merchants to interfere with their monopoly. We
are afraid that this argument, which is the only
novelty in the Report, will be of little avail
against half a century of. abuse ; and we rely
much more on the efficacy of the facts now ad-
duced, to prevent the renewal of the monopoly
when it expires, than to correct its perversion:;
while it exists. These facts, we should think
must, when the time arrives, be conclusive
against the present system of management. In-
stead of having tea nearly. at the rate of our
neighbours or commercial rivals, (exclusive of
duties,)the Dutch and Americans afford to sell
this
necessary commodity at 48 per ce;.it advance on
the prime cost in China, while the Gpmpany of
Leadenhall sell at 92 per cent. over the same
original price at Canton. The consequence
that 28,300,00015. of tea of all kinds,which ate
assumed as the annual average for some year;
Fast, have been sold to the retail dealers at the
Company's sales for 3,686,6821. sterling, while
at the rate of continental profits the same quan-
tity would have been disposed of to the public at
2,950,1781., leaving an excess of 736,5041. as.
the 'surcharge of the Company's monopoly. The
advantage taken by the Company of their exclu-
sive possession of the British market to keep up
the price of tea,is not only proved by a compari-
son of their rates of sale with those of the Con-
tinent, but by the average difference of the prices
at which they themselves supply England and
Canada. As, from the neighbourhood of that;
colony to the United States, its inhabitants
would supply themselves by smuggling if unrea-
sonable demands were made upon them, the
Company condescendingly allows them to drink
tea at 27 per cent_ lower than their vassals in.the
mother country. The natural consequence of
this extravagant monopoly price, joined to high
duties in England, is, that while the wealth and
population of the country has mere
• ased in a hill
ratio within the last 28 or 30 years) the con-
sumption of tea has nearly..heen stationary.
In 1800, the whole quantity of tea on which
duty was paid,amounted to 26,358,8051b5.; and
in .1824, the whole quantity 501d.6 did not exceed
28,300,0001bs.; which, allowing
for the differ-
ence in the number of consumers in the two
periods, reduces the quantity
allotted to each
person from 271. ounces in the former to 19
ounces in the latter year ; or in other words,
shows a relative diminution of supply of 30 per
'cent. Another consequence of this state of
things is, that the Americans and the Dutch are
extending their trade with China,. and taking ad-
vantage of that market which is denied to the
free traders of Great Britain. On
of years, fromrr their declaration of independence
up to 1800, the
trade of the United States with
China I'd
not exceed 2,735,0901b5. of tea ; on
the average of the three years after 1814, they
exported 8,607,1731 b., and the average of
their exports for the two years of 1824
and 1825 was 13,314,4491b5. The whole trade •
of the North•. Americans, with the Celestial
Empire, in 1825, amounted in exports and im-
ports to the immense value of nearly 3,500,0001.
sterling. If these facts, and numberless others of
the same character which might be adduced, and
which, within the short interval intervening be-
tween the present period and the discussion of
the Company's charter in 1831, must inevitably
:)e pressed on public attention, do not open the
ayes of the Government and the Legislature to
the enormous mischiefs of the China-trade mo-
aopoly, all reasoning, argument, and statement