The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-30 00:00:00

Had free trade been the rule, you

would have had no such results

Abolish your pro-

teoing duties altogether, throw open your market per-

manently to the foreigner, and he will make his ar-
rangements to afford you an adequate supply, and to
deal with you for your commodities in return. It is

your refusal to do this which drives him to the neces-
sity of manufacturing for himself, and of refusing to

sell you his corn, when_a scarcity compels you to re-

sort to him, except on cash terms. Such is the reply

of the invincible free traders ; but it rests entirely on

hypothesis—an hypothesis which, it may be shown, is

anything but a sound one.
Under existing circumstances, they admit that the
inconvenience spoken of by Mr. Gladstone might re-
sult ; but if the protecting duties were abolished, there
would be no reason, they say, to apprehend any such
consequence. But if foreigners derive an advantage
from protecting their own manufactures whilst a pro-
hibition is laid upon their corn trade, it is only fair to
ask, how that interest would be diminished if their
trade in corn were set free ? So far from that interest,
whatever it may be, being lessened by this circum-
stance, it would, we conceive,be considerably increased;
for the condition of the corn-grower being improved,
he necessarily becomes a better customer to the manu-
facturer, and therefore the manufacturer, so far from
having less interest in the protection of his trade from
the prosperity of the corn-grower, has necessarily and
obviously more. We ask, therefore, upon what foun-
dation of probability does this hypothesis of the free
traders rest ? Did they propose to make the matter
the subject of commercial treaty—did they require
that in consideration of the removal of restrictions on
our part, an equivalent should be conceded by the fo-
reigner—there would be some show of prudence in
their requisitions ; but when they propose to cut the
painter and launch out to sea, depending solely on the
common-sense principle for their guide, we are com-
pelled to say, that at least our common-sense principle
tells us that they must very soon be swamped, upset,
or wrecked. The common-sense principle, we take to
be this, that the foreigner will take all the advantage
we are kind enough to give him, and he much obliged
to us, but give us as little in exchange as he possibly
can; and we do not perceive how or why he should be
coaxed into giving up his infant domestic manufac-
tures merely because we afford them—indirectly, in-
deed, but certainly—additional encouragement, by en-
abling the corn-growers of his country to buy them.
But there is one country at least, says the free
trader, which would deal with us on equal terms,
namely, the United States—a country, too, which, if
we only give the necessary encouragement, will be
quite equal to supply all our wants. But we must
deal with things as they are; and Air. Gladstone re-
minds us that the United States have of late years
required foreign corn for their own consumption ;
" and," he adds, " even if they had corn to spare, they
would also be to pay for it in cash, as the large sup-
plies of cotton that we annually receive from them
alone require the cost of all our exports to pay for them,
nor is it long since a deficiency of funds to do so was
supplied to make it good by an export from hence.
South America, Asia, and the south of Europe, where
our goods are exported, have no corn to give us in
return, but pay us for them in other productions."
And thus the argument returns in full force, that the
free trade sought would only drsin away our gold, and
in a little time re'ave matters even worse than it found
them.

As to the memorial on the slave-grown sugar of
Cuba and Brazil, it suggests another strong argument
to shew, that however good and desirable "free trade"
may be in the abstract—and none admit the principle
more fully than we do—it is nevertheless quite impos-
sible to bring it into operation in all cases, without
either some gross injustice to particular interests, or
violation of some great and paramount principle of
religion or morals. The memorial has clearly shewn
that, in opening a trade with Brazil and Cuba on the
terms and in the articles proposed, flagrant injustice
and wrong would be done, in both these respects, to
our own colonies, and to that great principle of bene-
volence which we have, as a nation, made such vast
and honourable sacrifices to establish. We could not
speak too warmly in praise of this paper, and we are
confident that whatever apparent advantage we may
forego by refusing to take the sugar of countries in
which all the detestable wickedness and cruelty of
slavery continue in full commission, we shall find a
much greater in the end by persevering in our present
system.

A sum amounting to nearly £28,000 was Subscribed
at a meeting held on Tuesday last, for the purpose of
sending out bishops to the various colonies in which
this country has settlements, and where such officers
do not exist at present. The meeting was most nume-
rously attended, and dignified by the presence of the
archbishops, and a number of the bishops and other
dignitaries of the church, several of the nobility, of the
judges, and other laymen of rank and influence.
. .

It has long been a matter of regret to many that a
subject of such moment has. heretofore engaged so
little attention in high quarters. They were aware,
both from reflection and report, of the evils that re-
sulted from our colonies being left without episcopal
superintendance; and they saw but little to hope, in
the way of relief, from official persons, in the conduct
and feelings manifested by them towards the church at
home. British colonisation, they observed, was ex-
tending to the remotest parts of the globe, and the lan-
guage and civil institutions of England went abroad
also, but, strange to say, the Church of England, in her
discipline, polity, and government, and appointed
heads, went not along with them.

On this important subject no care was bestowed,
and no provision was made. It was a great neglect—
big with fatal consequences—and every day seemed only
to make the cure more difficult, and more hopeless.
It was clearly the duty of the government to consoli-
date the empire, and bind its•colonies and dependencies
firmly to it—if they would act from no higher motive—
by making the church establishment coextensive with
its possessions. But how long should we wait for our
rulers to become enlightened on this point? Too much
time has been already suffered to elapse without any-
thing being done, and the government seems still as
little disposed to move in the right course as ever.
Now the meeting of Tuesday was held for the pur-
pose of effecting that by voluntary effort which seemed
unlikely to be accomplished by any other means ; and
the beginning was indeed one of the most gratifying
and encouraging kind that it is possible to imagine.
On the importance and duty of giving our colonies and
dependencies the full benefit of the national church,
by giving them bishops to superintend, and ordain, as
well as ministers to baptise and teach, there could be
no difference of opinion in such a meeting; the won-
der would be, how any government could attempt to
palliate the omission. We can conceive it to have pro-
ceeded from only one or other of two causes—either an
absolute infidelity, which would, of course, make light
of all religious instruction ; or contempt for the Church
of England, as though religion could be as well cared
for without her instrumentality. The omission, we
conceive, amounted to a proclamation to all distant
lands, that religion was a matter of little consequence,
and that our national church was quite unnecessary;
and can it be supposed that such an act of foul impiety
would not be .repaid to us ? it was by such neglect
we lost America, and a continuance in the same course
now would endanger the adhesion of other possessions
similarly circumstanced, and in time re-act with terri-
ble disaster on the mother country. But the question
is no longer speculative, but practical. The meeting
of Tuesday has brought it to this point, and we hail it