The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-04 00:00:00

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TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 4, 1854.

EXTENSION OF BRITISH COMMERCE.

IN commenting last week on the means which
may be employed for the further extension of the
commerce of Liverpool, we referred more especially
to the colonies of Canada and Australia, two of the
most improving possessions of the empire of Great
Britain, and presenting facilities for the increase
both of imports and exports of which it is almost
impossible to over-estimate the importance. One
of the great advantages to be gained from the
settlement and more, general cultivation of the
fertile fields of Canada would be the establishment
of a source whence ample supplies might be drawn
of wheat and flour, and this country thereby ren-
dered more and more independent of other nations
—with whom we .may some time possibly be at
war—for the food of its population. There is no
system of policy more subversive of national safety
than that by which any portion of the people have
to rely for sustenance on the produce of other
countries ; for in that case a war, however occa-
sioned, would prove a far more serious affair than
the contest of rival powers, and. might lead to dis-
honourable concessions through the pressure of
dreaded scarcity.
Next in importance to independence in the
supply of food, is that of raw material for our staple
manufactures. This has been accomplished with
regard to wool, by the large production of superior
quality in the colony of Australia ; but of far
greater consequence would be a supply of cotton,
without the necessity of relying upon the growth
of the United States of America. It is true that
the supply hitherto has been abundant, equal with
that derived from other sources, to the vast require-
ments of our manufactures ; but the trade has
become of such magnitude as to render it one of
national interest, and should therefore be placed on
a more satisfactory basis than to be subject, as it
is at present, to contingencies which might prove
seriously detrimental to our commercial greatness.
Hitherto America has found in Liverpool a market
for the raw material superior to all the rest of the
world,-and has also drawn her supplies of the manu-
factured article chiefly from the looms of Manches-
ter ; but there are many circumstances which may
interfere, in a material degree, with the prospects
for the future. The planters, in the pride of their
recently acquired riches, from the productiveness
of two or three successive seasons, are already
looking with envious eyes on the small share of
profit enjoyed by the merchants of Liverpool, whose
capital and enterprise have given value and stability
to the trade. They would, if they knew how to
accomplish their object, monopolise all the profit;
and have more than once deliberated on the feasi-
bility of establishing some other mart, whence the
manufacturers might derive their supplies, inde-
pendent of the middlemen of Liverpool. Hitherto
they have been unsuccessful, but the contemplation
of such a project shows that it is want of means,
and not want of will, which prevents its accomplish-
ment, and which is only delayed until Liverpool
interests can safely be sacrificed to American cupi-
dity. One attempt of the kind resulted in the
enormous swindle of the United States Bank, by
which American credit was almost shaken to its
foundation ; and a similar one may again expose
the interests of commerce to the same monster
danger. Another contingency to which the cotton
trade is liable is the greater rivalry of other mar-
kets, owing to the increase of continental manu-
factures. This is already beginning to operate on
the comparative superiority of Great Britain in the
list of exports from America, which will only be
maintained by considerations of price ; so that we
may anticipate, as the means of manufacture on the
continent are extended, that our supplies will have
to be maintained at an enhanced cost of the raw
material. There is also the increasing consumption
of the United States for home manufacture, which
will operate in a twofold direction, not only in
diminishing the supply of raw cotton, but in les-
sening the demand for the manufactured article.
These considerations naturally excited attention,
some few years back, to the necessity of endeavour-
ing to provide new sources of supply for the
manufacturing industry of this country ; and the
Government was applied to in vain for official
investigation into the capabilities of India for the
production of cotton. The late two or three sea-
sons, however, proving favourable, the crops having
been unprecedentedly large, the question was for a
time allowed to rest ; but it is not the less impor-
tant, though its realisation may not be so appa-
rently urgent.
In the vast dominions of the East Indies, Great
Britain possesses a source of wealth which ought
to render her independent of every other state for
ample supplies of every natural production. Im-
mense extent of space, every possible variety of
soil and climate, and labour cheap and abundant,
would seem to require but littleto develope resources
bey and the wildest dreams of the imagination. In
the hands of its semi-barbarian rulers. Tndia was
the scene of almost fabulous splendour ; but, unfor-
tunately, its management has been entrusted to a
Company the genius of which is simply self-interest;
and while its native inhabitants are kept in the
lowest moral and social condition, its resources are
barely sufficient to pay the expenses of the enor-
mous establishment employed in keeping posses-
sion. Were India submitted to Imperial govern-
ment, and its resources thrown open to British
capital and enterprise, it would form a far wider
field for commerce than all we now enjoy; and
thence we might look for a supply of cotton, which
might at least place the manufacturers of Lanca-
shire far more in a position of independence with
reference to the United States than they are at
present. It may be urged, as it often has been,
that the quality of Indian cotton is not equal to
that grown in the southern states of America, nor
so well suited to the purposes of our manufactures.
This may be true with reference to particular
descriptions, but will not, therefore, apply to the
great bulk of our requirements. It should also be
remembered that little has been done for the im-
provement of cotton cultivation in India, in the
choice of the most favourable localities, and the
application of skill and industry to the most perfect

development of the means within our power. Had
the same pains been bestowed on the culture of
cotton as in this country are ordinarily devoted to
the growth of flowers and fruits, India might long
since have rivalled America, both in quality and
cheapness. This latter advantage has, however,
been seriously interfered with by that system of
government which has proved a heavy incubus on
all progression in India. While American cotton
is admitted to importation free of all duties, and
the revenue derives no gain from its transit either
to or fro, the East India Company is permitted to
saddle the growth of our own possessions with
taxation which, except in favourable seasons and
high markets, here operates as a prohibition. This
is not only impolitic but unjust, as it is evident
that if, without any further improvement in culti-
vation or conveniences of transit from the interior
to ports of shipment, Indian cotton were relieved
from the burden of the Company's taxation, it
might prove an important source of supply for our
manufacturers, as well as of profit for our mer-
chants. It was but a small step in advance, if,
indeed, it was any progress at all, when the Govern-
ment partially remodelled the East India Company,
by reducing the number of directors, and slightly
diminishing the enormous amount of patronage
which they had so long enjoyed ; but nothing
effectualwill be accomplished until India is governed
by a policy which perceives that the interests of
the present are best consulted by provision for the
future, a policy totally distinct from the present
narrow and selfish system which cares nothing for
the future, so long as present dividends and present
salaries can be paid. The East India Company
commenced their career as an association of mer-
chant adventurers for trading purposes. In process
of time they became military conquerors and poli-
tical rulers. They were deprived of their trading
functions, and now it only remains to restore into
the hands of the Imperial Government the power
which the directors have shown themselves so
incapable of wielding. The capital and en - *se
of Liverpool might then furnish a new Co 'y,
with the sole object of developing the commercial
resources of India, irrespective of any political
object ; and we might then hope to see a realisa-
tion of those anticipations which would render this
country really independent, not only for raw mate-
rial for our manufactures, but for a consuming
population, which would find abundant em ploy-
ment for all our manfacturing industry.