The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-22 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL REFORM.

On Thursday we gave an account of the interview
which Mr. Cripps, and Mr. Heard, of Nottingham, and
Mr. Mitchell, the High Sheriff of Leicestershire, had
with Sir Robert Peel, respecting the operation of the
Corn-law and Commercial Reform. The following ad-
ditional particulars, with the docutient which the Duke
of Rutland forwarded to Sir Robert on these subjects,
we extract from the Nottingham Mercury of this day :
The Deputation were:received by Sir Robert with the
utmost courtesy, and paid the greatest attention to their
statements ; at the close he expressed a strong desire to
be furnished with information and suggestions.
'Qe Deputation, in' a few brief and forcible remarks,
shows that the " sliding scale," under almost any mo-
dification, would be unfair towards distant countries, and
more especially injurious to the trade with the United
States of America • and, therefore, urged upon the at-
tention of the Right Honourable Baronet the adoption
of a moderate fixed duty, whereby the importation of
grain from America might be rendered a safe operation
for the merchant. The deputation proceeded to show
that if such fixed duty were adopted we should furnish
the Americans with the means of paying for an increased
amount of British goods, and thus accomplish two im-
portant objects—obtain a supply of food for our opera-
tives, and the employment of their labour in purchasingit.
Sir Robert Peel, after cautioning the members of
the Deputation against drawing any other inference
from such questions as he might put, than that he was
desirous of obtaining every possible information on the
subject, asked them whether an improved mode of taking
the averages, and such a modification of the sliding scale
as would lessen materially the extent and suddenness of
the fluctuations, would not meet the case ?

In reply, the Deputation assured the Right Hon.
Baronet, that it was the almost unanimous conviction
of those engaged in commerce, that a fluctuating duty
was essentially mischievous ; but at the same time sug-
gested that if Government were determined to adhere to
a fluctuating duty, its effects might to some extent be
counteracted, if time tvere allowed to exporters from dis-
tant countries to bring their corn into the British market
without being subjected to any higher rate of duty than
that charged on the earlier importations from the Con-
tinent of Europe.

Sir Robert Observed that such an arrangement might
be a contravention of existing treaties with Continental
Powers, with whom, as for instance with Denmark, it
had been stipulated " that no other duty should be
charged on their grain than was charged on that coming
froth the most favoured nation."

The Deputation replied that such a stipulation was
certainly a very conclusive argument in favour of a
moderate fixed duty.

Sir Robert gave expression to his strong desire to
encourage our trade with the United States—promised
to give his attention to the statements the deputation
had then made, as well as to any suggestions they might
hereafter think proper to make to him—and the Deputa-
tion then withdrew,

The very important document which Mr. Cripps read
to the Right Honourable Baronet, and which he sub-
sequently desired the Deputation to leave with him, is as
follows :

" The United States of America take as large a quan-
tity of our manufactured goods as they can pay for : if
we could increase their means of payment, we could
safely increase our exports to that country. At present,
their shipments of cotton, tobacco, ashes, &c., do not
furnish a sufficient supply of bills to meet the pay.-
meats for our manufactures. The consequence is
.that merchants are now remitting from thence in
gold. The last' Circular to Bankers' states the amount
to be about six millions of dollars within the last few
weeks. This, it is to be feared, will 'alarm the specie
paying banks, and induce them to contract their
discounts, thereby producing a renewal of recent em-
barrassments, and materially checking the demand for
our manufactures. If, however, in addition to their cot-
ton, toinlcoo, 49" e., n u outaltl s-,ec-ivAc their,ttour, the ople
of the United States would be thereby upplied wipe
th the
means of purchasing, and the merchant with the means
of remitting for our manufacturers. The ' sliding
scale' acts to a great extent as a prohibition of flour
from the United States, and our best customer is thus
placed on a worse footing than our manufacturing rivals
on the Continent ; the latter being near at hand can
bring their corn here before any material alteration can
take place in the averages, but flour cannot ordinarily
be received in this country from America, in much less
time than three months from the date of the order. To
show .the unfortunate operation a the sliding scale,' I
will adveit to my own experience, only premising that it
operates prejudicially to the American merchant in a
twofold manner; first, by the uncertainty in which he is
held as to the amount of duty he is to pay, and, secondly,
to the certainty that if he has to pay a high rate of duty,
it will be because he must submit to a low price for his
flour ; his gains or losses may by this means be increased
twenty-fold, and then that which is in itself one of the
most legitimate operations in which a merchant can en-
gage, is rendered a hazard fit only for the desperate spe-
culator or gambler. Between the 18th of April and 15th.
of May, last year, Messrs. Brown, Shipley, and Co.,
sold for my account 6,624 barrels of flour, received from
the United States; duty was Pala on 1,949 barrels,
amounting to 8011. 3s. sd. ; the remainder was sold in
bond, but at the same rate it would have amounted to
2,720/. Had a speculator been the owner of this flour,
he would probably have held it till the end of August or
beginning of September, when the duty would have been
only 5201. ; he thus has a great advantage over the mer-
chant, who, having received the flour as a remittance to
e
provide for his coming payments, cannot hold it for the
favourable turn in the market, by which the speculator
frequently obtains a much higher price, and consequently
pays a much lower duty.
"The duty, then, in May on the above lot of flour was
2,720/. ; in the first week in September it would have
been 5204 ; in the first week in October, 4,1121. Bs. ; in
the first week in December, 5,1331. 12s. ; so that if I'
had given orders in June for a similar quantity, in the
expectation that it would arrive early in September, and
I had accordingly received it at that time, the duty
would have been only 5201., but if from head winds or
any other cause the arrival of the ship had been delayed
till October, the duty would have been 4,1121. Bs. I
need not say that, with my past experience, I dare not
attempt to bring flour from America, subject to the ope-
artion of a sliding scale.' But if we cannot increase our
imports from thence, it is folly to look for an increase
of our experts, or for a profitable return on the amount