Star.
London, England, 1822-05-21 00:00:00

porting from the Nfeditertimean by way of Holland,
The next relaxation was as to Russia, and it was '
tended to abolish those distinctions which prevailed
hitherto as to that trade, and to put its ports upon
the same footing as those of the rest of Europe.—
Particular attention would be paid to tallow, which
‘va• an important article of commerce. He had onl
ele more alteration to mention, which was the
creased facilities which would be held out for ii
Forting thrown silk—(Hear, hear)..—He was aware
that a strong feeling prevailed on this subject, arid
the nuinber of persons about the doors of the House
testified the anxiety which was too apparent. It was
said that the thrown silk of this country should be
-rotected, and that numbers of hands would be put
-
out of employment, if it was at all trenched upon
foreign competition. But he wished Gentlemen
-.n allay their fears. The protection which the thrown
*ilk hitherto enjoyed would not be touched—the pro-1
:ecting duties would not be diminished—(Hear, hear).'
The only effect of the new measure would be to ex-
tend a power of introducing it here from certain ports
to others. By the 22d Geo. HI. thrown silks might
now- be imported from Italy and the States of Ger-
many, and this Bill would only extend this power
somewhat larger. It could not give any additional
facilities to smuggling, since the import duties still
remained. Under these circumstances, then, he cal-
culated upon the concurrence of the House in this
part of the plan, and he hoped they would not be
turned aside from their duty by any clamour or inti-
midation. Having, then, stated the details, he had
only to repeat, that the general effect of the relaxa-
tions as to Europe would be to establish one general
for every country, and thus get rid of the conn-
i iesity and confusion arising out of the particular
exceptions made in the Act of Charles the Second.
h was an important alteration, if it had no other
merit than that of simplifying these complicated
.Acts—(llenr, hear).—Then as to the second division
of the subject, namely, the alterations to be made as
to foreign Powers, not European, he had to state that
America was the first to be considered. It was un-
necessary now to remind the House of the important
changes which had taken place in South America,
and of the vast field for commercial enterprise which
wa., thus opened in that part of the world. As a great
~.:)annercial people, it was obviously the interest of
r.l)s country to take every advantage of this corn.
r.r.-:rce, and that as speedily as possible (Hear, hear).
He said as speedily as possible, because our great
commercial rival, the United States, was already
grasping at the trade with the greatest eagerness.
the House were aware that a Message had been sent
to Congress by the President. and perhaps by.this
time the independence of South America was recog-
nied. It was time for England to bestir herself.
Here was a valuable trade thrown open to the com-
petition of all the States of Europe. The terms upon
which these States were disposed to admit foreign ves-
sels were already known; as their declaratioa in that
respect had been made public. It was the interest of
this country to encourage the trade. But he was not
to be understood to say, that Government would go
the length of recognising the independence of these
States. The present measure did not pledge them to
tv.e course of proceeding or another, and the only
Sect of it would be, that if such a recognition took
place, the subject might have an opportunity of en-
gaging in the traffic with all the advantages of legal
provision without loss of time. His proposition, there-
lore, was, that by a clause in this Bill, the ships of
the States of South America should be admitted to
our ports upon precisely the same terms as those upon
which they admitted our ships to theirs—(Hear, hear).
They would be allowed to bring here the produce of
their country, in the same way that they allowed us
to carry thither our manufactures. And there was
no departure from the principle of the Navigation
Act by this regulation. Another arrangement would
be to allow British ships to import goods of any kind
froth any part of the world. Against this, however,
it was urged, that the carrying trade, however distant
the parts, would be entirely lost, as foreign vessels,
whose freight was lower, would be employed to trans-
port goods from countries where they were produced,
to ports near Great Britain, and the trans-shipment
would be all that would be gained by British shippers.
This might be true, if any other ships could come
in competition with British in the carrying trade.
The vessels of the North certainly had an advantage
from the extreme cheapness of their construction, but
this, if of any use, ought to have secured for them
the whole carrying trade. It was a fact, however,
that the ships in the North, even in the northern
trade, did not enjoy one-half of the carrying trade.
Since 1815, the increase in favour of this country
had been upwards of 400,000 tons. Their freights
were not ]ewer than those of British vessels. He had
compared the rate of freight of French and Dutch
ships with. those of England, and he found that the
rates were higher. The same was true as to Amen-
can ships. So long, therefore, as the British could
not be put out of the market by low freight, there was
no danger of our losing the carrying trade. The
Americans pursued the very same principle on which
our Navigation Laws were founded ; and all their
trade was carried on in American ships. He had
always thought that the transit trade should be se-
cured to this country for its benefit ; and to prevent
a direct importation from the ports of Europe in any
ether except British ships; and that foreign ships must
come for exportation only. His object, then, was to
educe die whole of our numerous Navigation Laws
into one or two simple Acts of Parliament. He con-
cluded with moving that the Speaker do leave the chair.
Mr. DAVENPORT vindicated the proceedings of
the deputation from the silk manufacturers, to which
:le thought the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Wallace)
:wished epithets not merited by their conduct. The
: ik trade was the only flourishing trade in the couri
try at the present moment. It was, as he understood,
thriving in every county in England. He crustedthat
full time would be allowed to those whose interests
were affected to be heard by Counsel.
Sir \V. DE CRESPIGNY protested against the
principle of the Bill. It militated against the best in-
tele Is of the country, and was equally prejudicial to
the British ship-owners and the British seamen.
Sir M. W. RIDLEY defended the shipping in-
terest against the animadversons thrown out against
them. They had been represented as a selfish
teiebted class, too apt to take alarm at any alteration
ff the law that affected their interests. He denied
they were more selfish than any other public body
who addressed their petitions to this House. He was,