The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-22 00:00:00

together
United States....
France, Continent, and
United States 76 70 74 781 751
,';o that you see we more than keep our place when compared
with the nations on the continent, that the United States
only has gained in some degree upon us; but that in the last
nine years they have made no nlay against us. The whole re-
•ult is, that having began with England as 100 is to 76 com-
pared with all the countries which I have mentioned, we, at
the end of this period of fifteen years, are at 100 still, end
they having begun at 76 are now at 751, so as to the whole
eianufacturing power of the world, England occupies the same
place which she did fifteen years ago. (Long and loud cheers.)
But, gentlemen, we cannot promise always to keep this place.
It is impossible to say that the result of continued peace, the
continued accumulation of capital, and all the energies
of foreign countries diverted to their internal improvement,
saall not ultimately in some degree prevent us from keeping
the power of manufacturing for the whole world which we en-
joy. Ido not say we have no right to expect it ; we cer-
tainly do keep our ground in a most wonderful manner, but
if we are not able to do so against all other nations, I do not
see what right we can have to complain. Gentlemen, if we
are to keep our trade and commerce in a healthy state, I think
we must have a steadier government than we have had for the
last ten years—(eheers)—a government upon whose pledges
and promises sonic reliance may be placed, who will not quiet
any one branch of trade one year by giving them reason to
think it will not be touched, and the next upsetting it root
and branch. (Hear, hear.) We must have a government
who know their own thoughts, who will not make pledges
and promises and then break them. (Cheers.) You must
have a government that will watch carefully the proceedings
of foreign countries, that will watch with more activity and
more closely than the present—the late government I was
going to say—(loud laughter)—but it ie all the same—the
proceedings of foreign countries, that will not allow British
navigation to be thrown out of the trade of Spain, Portugal,
or the Hayannah, that will not allow a blockade of Mexico
and Buenos Ayres to be established for two long years—
(cheers)—that will not allow the north-eastern boundary of
North America to remain unsettled for years at the imminent
peril of our peace, that will not allow the internal
affairs of the Canadas to be untouched until insurrection
breaks out, and our finances are burdened by the ex-
pense of an ultimately necessary, but in the beginning
perfectly unnecessary war. (Immense cheers.) We must
have a government that will not leave the representative
of the crown in China for two long years without instructions,
although he wrote time after time for instructions on the great
question of the introduction of opium, which he saw would
come on. (Hear, hear.) No; we must have a government
with foresights to see the cloud in the horizon before it bursts
out into a storm. (Loud cheers.) We must have a foreign
secretary who is not engrossed, by the political hobby of the
day, but who thinks it worth his while, as well as his duty,
to watch over the interests of British commerce. (Great
cheering.) Gentlemen, I need hardly go much further into
questions of this nature. They are not the questions which
will determine your rotes at the election. You will not, if
you should differ from me upon these questions, throw
over your conservative feelings ; you will not abandon
every other question of infinitely superior importance, be-
cause upon this one doubtful question of political economy
it is possible you may think us wrong. (Hear, hear.) I
have touched, in some degree, upon the corn question, but
in a place like this I must not forget two other question
which have been pressed upon your attentions. With regard
to the question of a reduction of the duty upon foreign
sugar, it is a painful thing for the representative of a mer-
cantile constituency to be compelled, by circumstances, to
place himself at variance with the opinions, interests, and
wishes of any portion of his constituents, to be obliged to
weigh in the balance two interests, both of which he repre-
sents, and to be compelled to give a preponderance to one in
some degree to the detriments of the other. Such cases will
arise, and when they do arise, we are bound to give a fair
and manly opinion on the question—(hear, hear,)—and not
for the sake of getting a few votes, or avoiding a little oppo-
sition, escape, if possible, from the responsibility which a
prominent policy upon great commercial questions involves.
(Hear.) It no doubt was grievous to me to be obliged to
interpose in the way of the interests of the great Brazilian
trade, but at the same time, there were great and paramount
considerations in my mind, which made it impossible for me
to give those interests that predominance which, from their
importance, they naturally might demand. (Hear.) But
I think that we who took this part cannot fairly be blama-
ble for having maintained the ground which we all main-
tained unblamed last year, when there were circumstances
of greater temptations to depart from the principles we
asserted. (Loud cheers.) Last year the government laid
it down that the public feeling would not permit it whilst the
experiment of growing sugar by free hands in our own colo-
nies was going on, to give encouragement to slave-grown
sugar. (Hear, hear.) Are we to blame if we maintain that
opinion which the government maintained last year, but
which from circumstances of known but unexplained neces-
sity, they Wave departed from in the present session? (Hear.)
With regard to timber, I think a noble friend of mine has
said in an address to the electors of Lancashire, it appeared
to have slipped, by consent of ministers, through a hole in
the bottomless budget. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.)
It has slipped out of sight—it is no longer mentioned :it
was thrown out, and though a very heavy article, it did not
catch popular attention, and consequently it was allowed
quietly to drop. But I think we should not allow it to drop
into obscurity so very quietly. I think ministers should riot
be allowed to play with great questions, or disturb great in-
terests, unless they have made up their minds that they will
adhere to the principles they set out with ; and unless they
have some chance of carrying these principles, they should
not propose them. (Hear, hear, hear.) They should not
rashly unsettle great interests, or disturb the established
channels of industry ; for the first object of a com-
mercial man is to know whether the trade he has to
deal with is secure ; and it is of less consequence to
him what the principles of it are, than that those prin-
ciples should be steadily maintained, so that lie may
know what to reckon on in all his calculations. (Hear,
hear.) 1 think we should not disturb this timber question.
It is a question which shows more than the others the per-
fect incompetency of her Majesty's ministers to govern the
empire. (Hear, hear.) Whatever the abstract merits of
the question may be, if it is desirable to disturb such a vast
colonial interest, to ruin so important a branch of British
shipping, if it were desirable to throw out of employment so
many British sailors and so many British shipwrights, if it
were desirable to strip one half of your docks of so large
a portion of their activity, and to deprive the emigrants
from this country who, pressed by necessity, go to seek a
happier fortune in a country where there is more room for
expansion than in this, of that easy, cheap, and frequent
intercourse with our Canadian colonies which the timber
trade affords, yet, still I say the incapacity of these men to
govern the country is proved by their choosing a moment
like this for threatening to withdraw from the Canadas the
essential and great staple of their commerce with us. This,
I say, is the most convincing and damning proof of their
utter unfitness for their office. (Cheers.) Why, gentle-
men, when Lord John liussell mentioned it what did he say
himself? Ile said he had letters from Lord Sydenham,
the governor of the Canadas, and you know the circ -
stances of the Canadas, that we are trying there a new
constitution, that we have not yet launched the new as-
senibly, and that the united province is still suffering from
the withering effects of rebellion—yet this is the moment
chosen for endangering the safety of their great staple trade.
[Hear, hear, hear.) Lord John Russell, I say, said himself
that he had received letters from the Governor, in which he
stated that the touching of the timber trade would greatly
embarrass the government. (Hear. hear.) We have learned
since that that embarrassment is not a vision; we now know

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the feelings of the Canadas upon this point. Here is a report
from the Chamber of Commerce of Quebec, which thus ex•
presses the feeling of the colony :
" At a moment when the province is slowly recovering
from the withering effects of two attempts at rebellion, when
the experiment of a new form of constitutional government is
about to be tried, it seems most impolitic further to unsettle
men's minds by the agitation of measures which, if adopted,
would infallibly deprive many thousands of their daily bread.
Great and leading interests of those colonies, and of the
mother country, are encouraged and maintained by the tim-
ber trade. It affords extensive employment to British ship-
ping, is a nursery for British seamen, promotes emigration,
settlement, and agriculture, and opens an extensive market
for British manufacture."
Extensive indeed, for if we look at the calculations we shall
find that Canada consumes between £4. and £5. worth of
British manufactures ner head yearly, whilst France takes
only from 2s. to 35., and the rest of Europe a smaller por-
tion, not worth notice—(hear, hear,)—certainly, the portion
which the Baltic can take from us is not worth comparison.
(Cheers.) The report goes on :
" Abandon the timber establishments of the British North
American colonies, and England will at once become entirely
dependent on the will and pleasure of the northern powers
of Europe for her supply of timber—a fact which, in the
time of need, might jeopardise the very existence of her
right arm—her navy."
And again they say,
" The board has observed with deep regret and alarm cer-
tain evidence regarding the timber trade of the British North
American colonies given last session before a select com-
mittee of the House of Commons on import duties. Much
of that evidence is characterised by the grossest ignorance, or
what is worse, by the most shameful prejudice and partiality."
This is the feeling which the Canadians have themselves
shown before they knew the government proposed it—when
it was only threatened by the report of the Imports Com-
mittee of the House of Commons. (Hear, hear.) But at
this moment, in the present state of the colony, to withdraw
from it the great staple of their commercial existence, seems
to me an act of madness that even exceeds the folly of the
attempts they have made with regard to foreign sugar.
(Loud cheers.) The mention of the Import Duties Com-
mittee calls to my recollection the proceedings upon that
commitiee : it just reminds ins of the confidence you ought
to place in the predictions and assertions of these free trade
gentlemen. There were two gentlemen, very well known cer-
tainly, Dr. Bowring and Mr. M`Gregor, who gave evidence
before that committee upon the whole system of our com-
mittee, and I must say evidence more loose, more rambling,
more conversational, more varying within itself, and among
themselves, I never read upon any occasion. (Hear, hear.)
What are their statements ? To recur for a moment to the
corn laws, as incidental to what 1 have been saving. Dr.
Bowline tells us that lingland is taxed to the amount of
eleven millions by the corn laws; that sounds pretty well,
and it is a tolerably heavy imputation, but what says Mr.
M`Gregor? Why, he says that England is taxed to the
amount of more than one hundred millions by the corn
laws ! (Hear, hear, hear.) When doctors disagree among
themselves, Doctor Bowring from Mr. M`Gregor, who
ought, if he is not to be a doctor, he is so dogmatical,
who must decide the question. I, for my part, think the
best course is for every prudent man to say " I believe
neither one nor the other. (Laughter and cheers.) The
question before you with regard to commerce even, is not
the question of monopoly ; it is not the question of a sliding
scale of corn duties, nor one of a fixed duty, but the question
really at issue, with regard to commerce, is this,—will you,
or will you not, have any protection for domestic and colonial
industry? (Cheers.) Because, although government pretends
to maintain the practice of protection, the language they
themselves hold, and still more so, the language of their sup-
porters, must infallibly lead to the abolition of every ray of
protection. (Cheers.) They tell you, and you know it is
their language undisguised—" We will not rest till we have
torn every rag of protection both from our colonial and our
domestic industry." (Hear, hear.) You must be prepared,
if you embark in this crusade, to abandon your coasting
trade as well as every other branch of industry to the
foreigner, for upon what ground, if you say the protection of
any interest is only robbing one party for the benefit of ano-
ther, upon what principle, I ask, will you reserve your coast-
ing trade to British navigation ? (Hear, hear.) Upon what
principle is the consumer in London to have his goods
brought from the north of England in British vessels, when
he can have them so much cheaper by Norwegian vessels,
unless there is some reason in the argument of those who say
we have a right to protect our domestic interests, and that
the principles which concern the prosperity of the nation
are not those only of buying in the cheapest market and eel-
iing in the dearest ? (Cheers.) We must be prepared to
carry these principles into effect, and ask the silk manufac-
turers of Macclesfield and Manchester whether they are wil-
ling that the silk manufactures of France should
come in without any duty ;—(hear)—wo must then ask the
lace weavers of Nottingham, the hatters 'of Newcastle, and
the shoemakers of Stafford, and every other interest except
that of a portion of the cotton trade, are they prepared for this
free trade without protection ? You will find that they have
each some reason to assign for their.exception. . Now is it
not true, unless you arc prepared to go the whole length
either of a reduction of taxation or the abolition of the pay-
ment of the dividends upon the national debt, that if you do
away with protection eoPirely, you cannot carry ant the prin-
, ciple, unless, indeed, you earry it eat with most gross injury