The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-20 00:00:00

Cite ,s'Atett.

LONDON
FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 20, 1842.

The House of Commons is 'again to discuss the
tariff to-night, and we may therefore embrace the
opportunity of comparing some of our proposed duties
to those of Russia, which has recently published a
new tariff. Beginning with domestic animals : oxen
and bulls, which can only now, for the first time, be
imported into England on payment of a duty of 20s.
per head, may be imported into Russia on pay-
ing 70 copecks per head, or about 2s. 4d. For cows
we are to pay 155., the Russians pay only ls. Sheep,
when admitted, will in free England pay 3s. per head;
in despotic Russia the duty is little more than sd.
The duties on other animals are in proportion. It
must, however, be noticed that we cannot bring cattle
into England, without subjecting them to a sea voyage ;
they may imported into Russia by land.
We pass to fish, much of which, except turtle, lobsters,
and turbot, were prohibited to this time with vs, and
which is now to pay a duty of 10s. per cwt. on sal-
mon, ss. per cwt. on soles, and so on ; in Russia all
kinds of salt and fresh fish are to be freely imported,
and exempt from all duty, except Herrings, Sardinias,
and Anchovies. So far as flesh and fish, for the con-
s umption of the people, are concerned, the subjects of the
QUEEN may well envy those of the Czar. At the
same time, they have more than the Russians to give
for food, would a paternal Legislature allow them to
aes
buy it.
Though corn be not found in our tariff, that being
of such supereminent importc
especially for itself, we must, :: thatenhele it
s, has
notice law
it
for the comparison. Our sliding scale at present im-
poses a tax on wheat of about 13s. per quarter; the'
tax on wheat in Russia, when imported by sea, is a
fixed duty equivalent to 13s. 2d. per quarter, and
when imported by laid, less than 1 s. 6d. Other grains
are admitted, on paying proportional duties ; so that
the Russian Government is at least as liberal as our
own in respect to bread.
Let us notice on this point that macaroni, which

is a sort of luxury in both countries, has hitherto
been admitted into England on the payment of 2d.
per lb:, and is to be admitted hencefbiward on the
payment of Id. per lb.; in Russia. that substance is
charged 15s. 4d. the poud, or about sd. per lb. Po-
tatoes pay about 4d. per bushel, which is a higher rate
of duty than isfproposed by our new tariff, but not
more than half the tax levied by the yet existing
regulations.
Fruits, which follow next in our tariff, seem to
be rather worse treated in Russia than in England.
Raisins are to pay with us 15s. per cwt.; in Russia,
they are to pay 3 roubles, or 9s. 6d. per poud of 361 b.
Passing, however, to -the more important articles,
such as coffee, which is probably a luxury for the
rich in Russia, the Russian must pay 6 roubles and
15 copecks, or about 19s. Bd. for 36 lbs., or something
more than 6d. per pound, a less duty than hitherto
has been paid in England. Sugar, refined, is prohi-
bited in Russia ; raw sugar pays a duty of 3 roubles
80 copecks the poud, or about 4d per lb., or 375. per
cwt., which is 13s. more than we pay on our colo-
nial sugar, and 265. less than we pay on foreign su-
gar. Russia, then, levies a, lower tax than we levy
on either coffee or sugar.
Sir R. PEEL boasts very much of the reduction he
has made in duties on wood used to make furniture
—on mahogany, for example, from 1/. 10s. to 10s.
the ton ; the Russian tariff levies a duty of ls. 6d.
per poud on all foreign woods for the use of furni-
ture makers—that is exactly id. per lb., or 4s. Bd.
per cwt. It is about the same duty as up to this
time was levied on mahogany when imported by fo-
reign vessels into England. It is not much more
than half the duty that was till this time
levied on Amboyna wood. We do not see any dif-
ference in our tariff between such wood in logs and
veneers, in the Russian tariff; the latter pays a duty
of lls. 2d. per poud, a pretty effectual prohibition,
we -presume, to import the article. In like manner,
ready'made furniture, ouvrages de menuiserie, pay a
duty of 255. 4d. per poud, a tax which must make the
nobility contribute handsomely for their use of the
rnenuiserie of Paris.

The ores of metals in Russia are, as the rule,
exempt from a duty, the metals themselves are' partly
prohibited and partly subjected to a heavy duty,
Copper in bars and sheets, pays 5 roubles 80 copecks,
the berkovitz of 3601 b., or about Si. 16s. per ton ; iron
imported by sea is prohibited.
To advert to another important subject, the duties
on cotton yarn are 20s. 7d. per pond, or if dyed, 245. 7d.,
and on: woollen yarn 545. 7d. per poud, while the
duties on goods fully manufactured, match, or exceed,
our exorbitant duties.

We cannot avoid stating here, that the example of
England has been most pernicious to the rest of the
world. Unable to trace the source of her prosperity in
the freedom of her institutions, allowing the develop-
ment of the ingenuity of man, as the race
multiplies, and as population becomes condensed—
the other nations of the world have beheld
our extraordinary prosperity, and they have also known
that it has been accompanied by a great many re-
strictive regulations. Statesmen, whether in England
or abroad, are accustomed to attribute everything in
society to laws. They have no conception of any
cause of national welfare that is not inscribed in the
statute book. All foreign statesmen, with foreigners
in general, have accordingly attributed our wonder-
ful prosperity to our absurd restrictions and prohibi-
tions ; and they think they can by no means so surely
obtain prosperity as by imitating the commercial laws
which have done us an immense deal of mischief. Thus
the folly of .our law-makers has even made the won-
derful prosperity vouchsafed to us by the Almighty,
be as a stumbling block for the other nations of the
earth.

We will close by adverting to the export duty on
tallow, to contrast it with that which we are about to
levy on coals. The duty on tallow exported is 2
roubles, or 6s: 4d. per 10 pouds, or 3601b5., equiva-
lent to a fraction less than 2s. per cwt. The duty
proposed to be levied by Sir ROBERT PEEL on coals
exported, in imitation of the tax imposed by Russia
on tallow exported, is 4s. per ton. Tallow is worth
at St. Petersburgh about 40s. per cwt., while coal
per ton at Newcastle costs about ss. or 6s. ; some of
the small coal exported being half the price. Thus
the duty on Russian tallow, which is sometimes
described as exorbitant, is 5 per cent. on the value,
and the moderate duty proposed to be levied by Sir
ROBERT PEEL on coals exported varies from 80 to
160 per cent. on the value. Such is one of the methods
our Tory statesmen have fallen on to revive and in-
vigorate the crippled commerce of England.

We have long maintained that it is impossible to
administer the affairs of this country on the restric-
tive and narrow principles of the Tories. There is
something in human society which is stronger than
Government. Party loses its power when it comes to
battle with justice, and a cunning policy cannot make
bead against honesty. Mysticism and humbug dis-
tppear before facts and truth, and those who have
been bawling for Toryism find themselves, all at once,
they hardly know how, acting in the teeth of their
)wn professions.
At this moment, there is not a Tory merchant or
trader in the empire, who does not practically do
homage to our principles, and repudiate some of the
worst parts of Toryism. Though individuals con-
nected with the North American provinces object to
he particular relaxation in the timber duties proposed
by Sir R. PEEL, there is not one of them, and, as far

AS we can learn; not a trader in the empire, who does
aot anticipate advantages to trade, on the whole, from
the relaxations in our stringent tariff which Sir R.
?EEL proposes. From Mr. MASTERMAN, situated at
head-quarters, and representing the millionaires of
,he metropolis, to the owner of the sixteenth of a ship
at Liverpool or Shields, they are all impatient to have
the tariff passed, that they may reap the advantages
they expect from lowering our duties. The excep-
tion from this general rule—to be found amongst coal-
owners, and amongst those who have ships employed
to export coals—confirms our statements, for they are
ustly discontented, because they are scarcely to share
in the relaxation, and are to be subjected to a heavy
tdditional restriction. The mercantile Tories may
aot be ready to carry out our principles to the full
xtent, but the vast expectations they have formed of
)(merits from Sir R. PEEL'S trumpery diminutions of
luties, merely because they are diminutions and re-

laxations, are a practical, though tacit and unconscious,
homage to the great principles of complete free trade.
The state of parties is a still more striking

)roof of our assertion.

The strongest Parlia-

nentary Government which has existed since
!832;was formed on the principle of maintaining and
upholding the great monopolies of the landlords, the
iugar planters, and those who profited by the discri-
ninating timber .duties. On that ground an appeal
was made to the country, and the constituencies—
whose power is not omnipotent—so constituted the
Parliament, as to give an overwhelming majority to
`he monopolists. But the agents and , leaders of the
monopolists, who have some sense of responsibility,
were soon made sensible, by increasing distress and a
lecreasing revenue that to administer public affairs
rn the principles approved of by the majority of the
constituencies, and the majority of both Houses of
Parliament, is hopelessly impossible. There is some-
thing in society that is stronger even than majorities,
Ind Sir ROBERT PEEL, by his Corn-law and his Tstriff,
has been compelled, though in a small and petty-
fogging degree, to act contrary to the wishes of his
own supporters, contrary to what they expected of
him, and to separate himself in some measure from
them by giving up the impracticable Tory principles
'o which they adhere. The breaking up of the Tory
?arty, before Parliament has sat four months, is a very
yeedy realisation of our views, and it demonstrates
'low much more powerful are facts than schemes, and
circumstances than opinions.
The friends and representatives of the landed inter-
e;t in England, (said the Morning Post yesterday, an-
nouncing the sad fact that Peel is no longer trusted by
the Tories,) are now placed in a peculiarly trying posi-
tion. A union of the utmost good temper with the
steadiest good sense was never more required than at the
present moment. Not only do they find that the rules of
policy which they believe to be the safest and best, are
looked upon by the leading Ministers of the Crown as rules
which should be departed from, as far as circumstances will
permit ; but out of Parliament they find themselves in-
sulted by the assertion that they do not agree with the
Minister, only because they have not sufficient under-
standing to appreciate the enlightened liberality of his
views.

It was not until very lately that it was fully understood
how much a leader was required. It was known that a
new combination of parties had taken place on the new
basis of power and influence established by the Reform
Act ; but it certainly was not supposed that when a
Government had been carried triumphantly into power,