Star.
London, England, 1830-04-03 00:00:00

--.£7 9 7
1326 (Memel .... 1 0 1
to Petenburgh 310 9
11129 America .. 1 15 9

Difference.
6 6 7
__

3 0 .£lO 7 7 per
cent. diminution.
PROVISIONS AND WAGES.
Beef 4 19 4
"'" Rork 3lO 3
t° 1824 Bread
W.tges 2 17 6 Total.

12 0 W
Beef 5 15 3
to I'2" Pork 4 1 10
1329 13read
Wages 3 0 0 Difference.
_ _

13 15 11

Cl 15 1 ield 11 4 per ct.
increase
Total x 29 19 11 per ct.
against the shipowner.
Freights for the present year are expected to be at leat five per
:or. lower than 1829."

Th: hon. member concluded by stating, that the petitioners said
their property was slipping away, and, unless something was done,
their case was hopeless.
311. 31ARRYAT said-1 have listened with attention to the
statement of the hon. gentleman who presented the petition, and I
can affirm, from my own knowledge, that the distress of the ship-
ping interest is by no means exaggerated. I remember the time
when a British ship was insured at half the premium asked upon
tite foreigner. Now, from the causes I have stated, a foreign ves-
sel is often preferred to the British. Notwithstanding this, lam
afraid that it is not possible to grant effectual relief by legislative
t•teasures. In tity judgment, the distress is to be ascribed to the
natural approximation to the low prices and profits of foreign na..
nuns, whielt has at isen from the free intercourse since the puce.—
fhe surplus seek employment in foreign trades, where they must of
necessity navigate upon, terms as low as foreign ships. These low
Ireights bring duwu the freight:of British ships at home to the same
It3sci and thus cause an universal separation. I sincerely lament
:tts distress, but an, afraid the proposed remedies would in thus end
e.sly increase the etil. I see no means of alleviating the British
•;:tp-owner, except by reducing the duties upon all articles required
ta the construction and outfit of his vessels, in order lbw he =oft
y cheapness of materials, be enabled in •Oille degree to compete
.nth his foreign rhal.
Mr. ROBINSON was the more anxious to address the house on
the subject, because last year, when he spoke on the same subject,
the right hon. member for Liverpool said the shipowners could not
so distressed as had been represented, because they, still went on
building ships, and they were not likely to do so if their profits were
" small. He said at the time that the statement was not correct,
and referred to the years 1827, 1828, 1829, during which yearn
mere had been an alarming falling off in ship building. He lad
that very day received an account of the state of the shipping for
:Se present year, by which it appeared that the falling off in 1829
114 been considerable. It appeared from this return that the de-
.Trille since the year 1827 had been very considerable on the sth of
limitary ; of the respective years, the number of ships built, and the
thithitge being as Inflows :-
18-'1 ilia vessels. 207,000 tonnage.
1828 . 1279 h 183,460
1329.. ....1173 . • ....128,720
107.5 ..110,681
'4110,1b.g a decrease in 1830, as compared. with 1827, of 844 vessels
and 98.407 tonnage, a diminution of nearl one•half. In the same
mum there was given the comporative number of British aml Fo.
ieign shit* which had entered'and let the Bailie in-' 1829, and the
balaitee ;v.'s gruady against the Haitittb. The mgrs comprehended
the four prilic.pad commercial a:nutria of the Noah of Europe,
sweden, Norway, Damask, and Pnwsis ; and • daring the year
II:29, the proportion was as follows:

a EN LaTiC.
Foreign vessels 1046 . MAW tam. 14,4111 mon.
British vessels... 1,164 101,02 41110 X...... 8064 ditl9'

OUTWARD BOIDIII.
Foreig./ . .......... ..2137,t41k ..13,1000tdiesi.
............ 1,023—...1310,405•Abt0•—••• 7,6"
Maki,, in round numbers balansmageinsasite &idols of tieliabipa,
distw
tr.tl 12
"MOO 'oils. Ile could not help observing that, by the eon-
'ent'un• all 'he mats is the noised @aspire. Lad. een. throws open to
.t country ettich possaesed only the throw pasts of `Venice, Waite,
'"d raunc, ot which it slenakt be itecallsetad that Visite had laid)
0,:,K, del:lard- a free port, and that we could, have bad atom to it in common with the rest of the world, widtbut the: aid
I• this treaty. He roma, in reftrearo to the 'budidltir otahlpa,
•h;it• notwitilerahtking the • 1414. i
stag" vhkh hulk
*predicted
'ion Mile reciprocal ureatica, lona na,..........bmanthmmt Is.
"1 bad been materially dimisialtad thruttgbsttc,thessoniry. Is
tleut of thi*aasostion, he 41)0444 %Us** sttsstllllt al thatotold
id
k's which
.had beam stated in leditiatto whitall.•llo* bd":11411' (111
table borne days before. In the town of Whitby awe
774, in the ye*, eiht btrittaarflo• and lteclierdach,64l„
,• ronstrection and repairing 'dr '• epee aim
three nma
v.iven up, too had been likely abindimed. and 'the petitioners
-'td
that, tittles that houu should do something to relieve their

distress, the entire of the remainder would be abandoosd also.
The ship-builders gave employment to a variety of manufacturers—
they circulated vast sums of money, and supplied a most extensive
stimulus to industry. For these reasons—their coodition--their
proeperity—was highly worthy of the consideration of that house—
he should assort that the subject demanded inquiry.•—that the inquiry
should not be refused—that it was the duty of that haute to go into
an investigation of a system, which had wrought such consequences
and width, whether right or wrong, had falsified the predictions of
those who had been its promulgators and admirers. (Hear, bear.)
He felt it his duty to state these opinions on the subject, as his hon.
friend had said that he had no inclination to follow up this peti-
tion by any particular motion. But whether his hon. friend
should originate a motion on the subject or not, he felt it his duty
to exprashis hopes that his majesty's government would enter se-
riously into the consideration of the distresses of the shipping
interest.
Mr. BUNCOMBE had before contended that this distress was

not imaginary, but most urgent. The petition which he had pre-
sented from Whitby had proved that several ship-building establish-
ments in that lowa had been abandoned, and that others were about
to share the same fate. He hoped his Majesty's Government would
apply themselves to this subject, to ascertain if any possible relief
could be extended to this important interest. He hoped that the.
President of the Board of Trade would take the subject into his
serious consideration, in consequence of the extent of the evils to I,
which he had alluded.
Alderman WAITHMAN expressed his concurrence with what
had fallen from the hon. gentleman who had spoken to the petition.
Mr. HUME said that he had hoped that the president of the
board of trade and the master of the mint would have taken some
notice of the statements made in support of the petition before the
house. He considered that it was within the power of government
to afford relief to the petitioners. The impost upon light-houses,
which threw some 18,0001. or 20,0001. into the pockets of noble
lords or gentlemen, commissioners of the woods and forests, was a
most iniquitous burden upon the petitioners. This could be re-
moved. He considered that the tax upon pilotage, which went to
the support of Greenwich pensioners had never been intended, and
should also be removed.

Mr. BERRIES was sure it could not be expected from him,
that he should then enter on the vindication of the principles of free
u:ade--he used that term, not firom it being an especially correct
denomination, but because it had been adopted by the general sense
of the house. In those principles he had understood the honourable
gentleman to have concurred ; and, indeed, the more they were
considered the less hesitation would be felt in adopting them.
He (Mr. Berries) had bad frequent occasion to converse
with men of intelligence who had been affected by the dis-
tresses of the times—with persons closely connected with the ship-
ping interest, and they had candidly abandoned all opposition to
their principles, when the least attempt at argument had been urged
in their favour. Then he was called on to defend the reciprccity
system on this occasion--that was not his system, he was not bound
to defend it, but he bad concurred in it when advanced by others,
and when a proper occasion should arrive he should not shrink
from sharing in the responsibility of having adopted it. The
honourable member for Worcester had presented calculations to
the house, which had certainly been mistaken. (Hear, hear.)
The averages for the last four years, as compared with the
four years preceding the adoption of the principle alluded to,
ending with the year 1822, certainly exhibited an increase in
the tonnage of the country both in Its outward and inward bound
commerce. This was a fact proved by undoubted official returns. It
was true there had been an increase in foreign shipping in our ports;
but it bore no proportion to our own increase, and the additional
employment had been chiefly in favour of Britsh seamen. He did
not mean to deny that profits bad diminished, and that distress had
arisen amongst the shipowners, but he assured the house that
on the part of government there was no want of considers.
tion for this misfortune ; on the contrary, his majesty's minis-
ters had applied all their abilities to ascertain an appropriate re.
medy. They listened to all persons who had statements to make,
with the utmost readiness—they weighed the information which was
tendered to them with the greatest care—on no occasion had they
been neglectful or deficient in sympathy for the distressed, and they
should continue to pay every attention in their power to an interest
Coextensive and important as that of the shipowners.
Mr. ENFANT referred. in confirmation of the assertions of the
right hon. the President of the Board of Trade, to a declaration con-
tained in the report recently made by the committee on commerce to
the congress of the United States. That declaration was as follows :
—‘‘ When the present and past condition of our navigation are
contrasted,—when we compare the increase of British and Ameri.
can tonnage before and since the war, and show the rapid growth
of the commerce of the British North American possessions, we
shall learn to comprehend the advantages of a system of free trade "
--(loud cries of Hear,)—" and we shall, perhaps feel no small
degree of alarm, lest our fatal restrictions should have already
driven us too far in the rear of all our rivals for national power and
naval ascendancy."—(Hear,hear.)—Attsched to that report was •
comparative statement of British and American tonnage actually
employed ; and from that statement it appeared that for the last few
years the increase had regularly been on the side of British, and
the decrease on the side of American tonnage.—(Hear hear.)—The
hon. member for %Venerate bad quoted the number of foreign yes.
seta entering inwards as a proof of the mischief arising to the ship.
ping interest front the reciprocity system; but the evidence which
the honourable member had brought in support of his position did
not appear to him to be altogether sat/strawy. For his own part,
he believed that all foreign shipping was in a much worse situ-
ation than our own. The distress of the shipping interest was not
the malady of our country, but of the times. He believed that the
further we advanced in experience, the more should we be convinced
that the doctrines advanced upon this subject by his right hon.
friend, the member for Liverpool, were doctrines founded on sound
policy and the most philosophical principles of political economy.
They were the seeds which would hereafter ripen into a plentiful
harvest of national wealth; and to their prosperous results might
be applied the beautiful expression of Virgil—
Mox veniunt, seris factum nepotibus umbras."
The petition was then brought up. On the question that it be
laid upon the table,
Mr. ROBINSON said, that he must be permitted to make one
or two remarks on the observations which had fallen from the right
honourable president of the board of trade. The right honourable
gentleman had.said truly that there had been—not that there is—an
increase in the amount of British tonnage entered inwards and cleared
outwards. The right honourable gentleman had not given the re-
turns up to the latest period. He (Mr. Robinson) had seen the
official return for the last year, which had not yet been published,
by which it appeared that there had been a decrease in the
amount of tonnage for the present year. (Mr. Herries)-.." Nu,
no.") The right hon. gentleman said, that there had been an in-
orease in the amount of British tonnage employed in trade generally.
He would undertake on another opportunity to show, beyond all
possibility of contradiction, that that increase belonged entirely is
the vowels engaged in our colonial trade, which had nothing to do
with any reciprocity system, and to the vessels engaged in the Bra.
zilian and Indian trade. He would undertake to show that there
boa been, during the year ending December, 1829, a decream in
the registered tonnage of the United Kingdom of no leas desk 641
vessels.

Mr. BERRIES said that be had alluded in his former statement
to British tonnage alone. He had said, and documents which would
soon be in the poaseasimi of the house, weld bear him out in his
details, that the tomato of the fonolest years had exceeded that of
the four yeasts pw•Wiee the adoption of the system alluded to, and
that of the year 1890 had been gasatcr than in say of its
sots. The hon. gent here some calculations, whichleft an
amount of tonnage, equal • ta.388,000, in favour of the four last
years, as compared to the four preceding la=
Mr. ROBINSON asked if this did not include foreign tossup
in our ports ?
Mr. BIERRIRS replied in the negative, as also to an inquiiry of
Mr. TaiNT, whether stesar-boats had been instead. in the •eu-
After a few words from Mr. Stress, the petition was read std
laid on the table.

Ma. SYKES presented & petitions from die disorieeef.Ripplogs in.
Yorkshire, for the opening of the trade teas Hem Indian Mime
'Deferred r the committeeoo.East Indian. Wales.
Ms. N. CALCRAFT pawned a petition des the mitigation or,
is severity of the criminal lac
• The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER Moved that tie''
house, on its rising, should. odyesten Oil Monday.
YORZLIM roLiera—olierics.
Lord J. RUSSELL put a question to the right hon. gentleman
:Zeltwith respect to our foreigrarelatione. On aoferineipsinlio
wieiti a motion had been made for the produrdion•of papa; ,Li
Wows to Inc mg/datione respecting the settlement. sf -41 non,
lan pion had been withheld on the ground that the 50005t...1---
erere atlkl la progres& Since then 1' had es.--
the spews' of the Film/ of France
his eity informs than that the
bad been brought to a close, and dn
preside over its destinies. Although
reign had 'not been sliuded to, yet i
Leopold, .and be (Lord J. RaWkii),.
better selection multi not have besot
of Gime be confided to one baiter
and, maintenance. He now
„wished
sot arrived when his Ahijesty'-
bay the paper* continued !NM
1142 true the country was in b.
;ire .oboabed.:lo our domestic
abobill not fowl tbia one P-
OD At Ills 'More tti
moored 1n the course of foreign
Mend to hare been erroneous,
left us in a state of exhaustion from

with our utmost' effects, we should ever recover. He therefore
thought that it was the duty of parliament and of the country to
watch narrowly our foreign relations. He confesst.d that for his part,.
he felt great distrtist for the policy pursued by our Ministers with
foreign states. With respect to Portugal,he had felt this opinion during
the whole course of the conduct of Ministers in regard to it;
and when the case of the Terceira transaction should be brought
before the house, he should manifest that opinion by his vote.—
With respect to the questions of currency and trade, he was
inclined to support the line of conduct pursued by the government,
and, generally speaking, he thought their domestic policy afforded
no grounds of opposition. llut, with regard to their foreign policy,
he had not the same confidence, and he was sure that many in that
house felt a similar distrust, and he therefore hoped that the right
hon. gentleman would soon lay the papers on this subject before the
house, in order to enable them to form an opinion. If he heard the
negotiations were not at an end he would not require than imme.
diately, but if a conclusion was come to, he hoped the papers would
be at once laid on the table.

Mr. Secretary PEEL begged to nuure the noble lord that his ma-
jesty's government were most anxious to lay the papers which the
noble lord asked for, as connected with the late negotiations respect-
ing the future state of Greece, at as early a period as was consistent'
with the interests of this country, and of the condition of that state
to which the noble lord referred. It might be satisfactory to state,
that the parties to the treaty of the 6th of July, 1827, had come to
a definitive resolution with respect to the future government of
Greece, and also that they were of entire accord as to the se.
lection of the prince to whom the future sovereignty of Greece
was to belong. Upon the future government and condition of
that country—which, as he had before stated, was to be one
of unqualified independence of the Porte, as well as with respect to
the future cover ign—le would repeat that all the three great parties
were in entire and cordial concert and co-operation, and up to the
present moment that state remained entire and uninterrupted ; there
were some minor points upon which their negotiations were sus-
pended, and until the conclusion of these, the noble lord would
concur with him that it would not be for the public interest that the
papers should be presented. He did expect, however, at no remote
period, to receive the commands of his majesty to lay them before
the house.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL asked whether the points alluded to,
as under discussion, referred to the allies or to the Porte.
Mr. Secretary PEEL said they could be hardly considered points
of difference. They were negotiations between the friends of the
Prince who was disposed to accept the Sovereignty of Greece, and
the allies. The negotiations were not between the powers them.
selves, who were of one mind, but between the Prince, who was
to be future Sovereign of Greece, and the allies.