The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-05-18 00:00:00

all their energiesare directed : while the Marine that they
are assailing isdescribed, in their own words, as the most
. flourishing in the world—demanding no interference of
Venal"' r,unmeription: theirs to improve it, and provoking no complaint but from
au Aldriancz. t%91. ain Credit, 15s. grasping foreigners and their advocates in England. On
7., .. _- _ - =
- such grounds is the destruction of the Navigation system
TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 18, 1847. : sought ; nor is the shipping the only one that must fall
before the cottonolatory that wevails. In proportion .as
DISAPPOINTED, for the present, in their mad the task of forcing cotton into foreign countries i 3 hemmed
ernsade against the native agriculture of the coun- in with difficulties on every side, will the demands of the
b 7 in their attempts to force their . manufacturers, for the sacrifice of their interests, inerease
products into thole foreign countries already sup in boldness and in number ; and if one portion of the
- .
commercial community is contented to look calmly on at
plied by the cheaper industry of their own popula- , the demolition of another, while the paradise of calico is
Lion,—the manufacturers and free-traders are bent -as distant as before, they must be contented to perish in
Amon a fierce effort to advance their own selfish in- detail, for
terestss-at the expense of other bodies of the corn- "'Dam singuli pugnant omnes vincuntur.'
munitv.; and the first, marked for destruction, are" But it is not the commercial classes only who are in-
terested. in. this matter. In the present position of
the shipowners of Great Bidtain, already suf- {fairs in Europe, the question of national defence occu-
fering from former tampering with their inte- pies the first place in the minds of statesmen; and how
res.ts. •A committee, moved by Mr.' Ricardo, and are national defences to be maintained if we take a step
Seconded by Mr. Flame, is now sitting to inquire directly calculated to reduce the condition of our marl-
into the operation and policy of the navigation marl-
. Hers, drive.the younger men into the service of America,
and deter others fromentering ours ? We are informed
laws, with a view to their removal; and it may he by Alison, in his profound and statesmanlike ' History of
well, in drawing the attention of the public, and of Europe,' as welt as by other authorities, that some thirty
those most materially interested in this movement; thousand of the seamen .who manned the fleet of Amerca
in the late war were British ; and that, too, at a time when
to lay before them a few arguments and statistics
which will serve to show the ruinous effect which the men in our Navy were receiving unusually high wages.
lf, then, we are prepared now to reduce still further the
would follow its 'success. In this task we shall be condition of our mercantile seamen,
we cannot expect to
materially aided by a pamphlet* now before us, in have them at command, even if we should adopt the
the
-which the whole suthiect is very luminously treated, policy of waiting till the outbreak of a war before' seek-
and the fallacies of the free traders ably exposed. in!' for their aid. It is easy, indeed, to say that; whatever
The principle of our navigation lawS, it is suffi- the condition of the Mercantile Navy, the advantages
offered
to seamen will keep them in the Royal Navy; but
is it
ciently.known, was first introduced in a rude form,our policy,
a
lircy,s willthator
of any other nation, to- keep up
such am at the period when England,. tired for awhile ofrequire no additions in a time of
expending her strength upon continental wars, war ? To this absurdity, or that of expecting to depend
began to witness the gradual development of her on the chivalry of foreigners, or the enthusiasm of our
commerce. Previously to the fifth year of Richard own seamen, for a country which year by year makes their
ctiolendiAor2 hlwer, are the advoc ites of a Repeal of
end, the carrying trade between England and
about
zs
oretduovceedri_. But suppose
foreign countries had been exclusively in the lii v‘tielefduiffiri
culty
bands a foreign shipowners ; and it was with dif- foreign seamen trustworthy,g or ougruolTvonsc'ontented. , under
ficulty that that monarch or his predecessors had the new syAtem, where would be the naval artizAns that
: now occupy the dockyards of Britain ? Are they to re-
been Ole to collect the means of transport for
, miain:hetnhtheir w ,ges haveerto falleni two-thirds, and em_
their troops engaged in continental wars. Withthe
Icintrtnian.nfotarilnpsorut:?
.It
the view to rear a navy, and to give an impulse. to v‘P-a)sYtiheetworatdserof passed
theovworld, , with
commerce, an act was passed which enacted, what alacrity in her chargeable war with England, Holland
" That for increasing the shipping of England, of late built and fitted out shipping ; but we would present a
much diminished, none of the subjects shall hereafter wonder to the world of another kind—a country once pus-
ship any kind of merchandise, either outward or home- sessed of the greatest naval resourcesof any in the universe
ward, but only in ships of the king's subjects, on for- rendered powerless by her own act. Are not these con-
feiture of ships and merchandise, in which ships the siderations sufficient to make the country pause and con-
greater part of the crews shall be the king's subjects." sider whether or not the theorists are guiding 11.3 safely ?
This very stringent enactment was subsequently It would he little consolation for us to know, once a fierce
steam warfare in the. channel had commenced, how accn-
relaxed and modified, losing the greater portion of
rarely political economists could prove that we ought not
its effectiveness, until, in the 24th year of Eliza-
beth, the entire commercial shipping of England tthorolawvedotsttleonuarv7gaaemn
saynsdtem naval
w%r tihzaa,nes
our
history
ov etr -
amounted to only 135 sail, whilst the low coun- point to in support of the rules that have hithert?o preovrayilel
tries, on the authority of Sir Walter R sleigh, —ground sufficient to refuse to enter on a new career,
bad as many ships and vessels as eleven kingdoms while even a doubt of its success could be whispered ; but
how muc.hdemoureedfihy rma ground for refusing to adopt a
in Christendom had, let England be one. Theyits ownwkig
and
r„rcon
e attempted,iniene
built every year near one thousand ships, although thei'y'lrs e opinions of the most experienced,
all their native commodities did not require one I only by the facts that it is theoretical and new.
hundred ships to carry them at once. The low
countries, in fact, and the other powers which
fostered their own marine, had possessiorkpf the

71.1 bit i-nanbarb.

Steadily the results of the measures, which have
thrown us into dependence upon foreign countries
for a supply of the staff of life, and for the employ-
ment of the industry of the country, are developing
themselves, notwithstanding the influence which
circumstances beyond the control or the fore-
thought of legislation have had in modifying
them. Cheapness we have not had, owing to the
circumstances in question. The home grower has
not suffered, therefore, as was anticipated by the
advocates of protection, the loss of the potato root
having created a demand beyond the power of the
foreign agriculturist, in his unprepared state, to
supply. But every other evil predicted as likely to
flow from the withdrawal of protection is precipi-
tating itself'up-on us. The foreigner, who is doing
his best to inundate our markets with bread stuffs,
is not taking our goods in return, but is rapidly
abstracting bullion from the country, crippling the
power of the Bank, and deranging all the opera-
tions of our commerce. The speculator has hold
of the stocks, both of the raw material of manu-
facture and of the supply of food; and the manu-
facturing operative, the artisan and the tradesman,
are placed in a position between the selfishness of
the capitalist and the necessities of the manufac-
turer. Our export trade, which was to have been
enormously increased, is diminishing—is prostrate ;
whilst our imports are increasing only to be
hoarded in our warehouses ; for the demand for
them is becoming daily more circumscribed. We
are, in short, as a nation, in the position of an
individual, who is expending beyond his means of
payment, and ordering beyond his means of con-
suming.
It is a well known fact that one of the objects
of free trade measures in the manufacturing dis-
tricts was the reduction of the wages of the work-
people employed by them. Cheap bread was to pro-
duce cheap labour. But cheap bread we have not as
yet succeeded in procuring. The stars in their
courses have fought against our philosophy. The
process of reduction of wages, however, has al-
ready commenced. We have recorded a com-
mencement of the movement, which we now tell
the working men of England will progress until
they are ground down to the dust. Three cotton
factories in Manchester are now turned out to
resist the imposition of low wages, with the neces-
saries of life extravagantly increased in price ; and
wherever we are destined to see the means of living
brought down to the low rates originally calculated
upon, we shall see further and further reductions
proposed and insisted upon. It was a sad delusion
which led even a portion of the working classes to
listen to the professions of those who assured them
that cheap bread was intended to be to them the
assurance of abundance of bread. That free trade
would be synonymous with a great trade. Experi-
ence has shown us that foreign nations are not
desirous of taking more of our goods than are re-
quired to meet their absolute necessities, however
largely we bribe them by receiving their products.
It has shown us moreover, that whenever a defi-
cient harvest at home drives us to resort to a foreign
market for our supply, we shall find that market
raised upon us, and the foreign grower aggrandized
by the pressure of our necessity. Flour, for in-
stance, was at the date of the last advices from
New York worth eight dollars per barrel, which is
almost precisely the price in this market, deducting
freight and charges of transmission.
Other circumstances—good harvests throughout
Europe, and the absence of the potato blight—
would undoubtedly have produced results very
different to those at present witnessed. We should
have had breadstuffs lower, and wages in further
course of being lowered ; for, in decency, the ma-
nufacturers have been compelled to abstain to a
great extent froni the adoption of measures of re-
duction. But that our foreign demand would have
been better is not by any means a certainty ; and
the demand from our agricultural population. (which
has aided in keeping up machinery operations),
could not have been materially greater. It exer-
cises little influence upon the power of the agricul-
turist to consume, whether he has 1000 quarters of
wheat to sell at 355. a quarter, or 500 quarters at
70s. The labourer may have less to spare out of
his earnings for the purchase of clothing ; but be-
yond that the low price of food, accompanied as it
will be by reduction of wages, will do little for us,
certain as we now are that no great increase of fo-
reign demand is likely to follow our increased im-
portations of foreign food.
Of course, we are well aware that in these few
observations we are outraging the notions of poli-
tical economists and perhaps we may be called to
account for so doing. Our object in making them
is, however, to elicit truth. We are not' disposed
to dogmatise ; and if any kind friend amongst our
contemporaries will oblige us with any satisfactory
solution of the present state of things in the Manu-
facturing Districts, we shall he happy to confess
our shortcomings and to make any amende within
our power.

carrying trade of the world.
In 1650, the Commonwealth passed the famous
act of ,navigation, which was confirmed by Charles
2nd, and termed by many writers Charta

Maritimes."
" The. prompt effect of this act upon the Dutch com-
merce fo England," Mr. Browne reminds us, " was tes-
tified by the embassy which Holland immediately de-
spatched to Cromwell. Mr. Mc. CulloCh is of opinion
that its effects were' not of the nature so long attributed
to it ; but De Witt, the pensionary of Holland, and a
man well Skilled in the nature of commerce: says,
.at that

time the English settlkd their rates of custom and convoy
money so well, to favour their own people as much as
possible, and to buOhen all foreign merchants and masters
of ships, that it is to be feared'the English merchants
may in time bereave the Dutch of much of their trade.'
Here then, the great officer of the state, against which
the navigation law: were levelled, not only sees in them
the bereaving of Holland of her trade into England, but
also of much of the general trade which she had mono-
polized. Now this latter object could be accomplished in
no, other way but by the groWth off-an English marine
ender the fostering influence of the navigation system,
for a special exclusion of Holland from English ports
could at best but give England that portion of trade
which the Dutch had theretofore caviled' on to Holland,

while De Witt might well see in a system, which, tended.
to create a great commercial navy, the foundation of that
mnaritinic power which finally swept away the commerce

of the Dutch."

This inakitime power, increasing with the growth
of commerce, until the latter part of last century,
when the navigation laws were first• tampered with
in favour of America. It is well known how

rapidly the commerce and shipping
,of that country
had grown so long as she enjoyed as colonists the
protection which they afforded,: until we withdrew
that protection from her in favour of our home
shipping, when they suffered a partial :decline as
the result. In 1784-5, however, we relaxed the

navigation laws partially, and in, 1804 they were
suspended altogether, with the following result,
which '.we_ give from Acheson's "Encroachments of
America." _ _

British ships employed in the direct trade with
America :

36575 tons
11347

Li 1786
„ 1806

Entered inwards
216 ships
53 „
Entered outwards.
In 1786 213 ships 39651 tons
„ 1806 39 ~ 8731 „
Again, in 1794, we began to relax these laws as
between the British West Indies and our North
American possessions, and in 1804 we suspended
them altogether with the following result, as given
by Mr. Brown.
Ships belonging to the British West India Islands, ex-
dtisive of captured colonies, and employed in the
trade between those islands and the United States,
including their repeated voyages.
Ships. Tons. Men.

In 1791, when the Navigation Acts
began to be relaxed
In 1804, in consequence of the sus-
pension of the Navigation Laws 67 7,629 626

Decrease in ten years .. 639 78,381 4,486
Ships belonging to the British North American provinces,
and employed in the trade between those colonies
and the British West India Islands, including their
repeated voyages.

Ships. Tons.
In 1794, when the Navigation Acts
began to be suspended
In 1804, in consequence of the sus-
pension of the Navigation Laws 100 11,906 734

Decrease in ten years 129 12,994 718
Decrease of Ships belonging to and
employed in the trade of the
British West Itplia Islands in
ten years
Do.—The British North American
colonies

129 12,994 718

Total .decrease in the employment
of plantation ships in ten years,
under the suspension of the
Navigation Laws 768 91,375 5,207
Between the latter period, however, and 1815,
these injudicious concessions were withdrawn, ex-
cept as to some kinds of provisions and flour,
which were still permitted to be imported in Ame-
rican bottoms. To this source Mr. Brown traces
" the total destruction of the provision trade, pre-
viously so profitable from the west and south of
Ireland to the West India Colonies," with a great
portion of the distress, and utter absence of pro-
fitable industry which afflicts those provinces.
The effect of the further encroachments made by
the reciprocity treaties upon the prosperity of the
shipping interest is too recent to require referring
to here. In no one instance has our liberality been
met with a return from those foreign countries to
whose shipping it was extended ; and it is equally
certain what must be the effect of the entire re-
moval of protection now sought. The following
concluding remarks, by Mr. Brown, upon the
whole subject ought to be sufficient to arouse not
only our shipowners and shipwrights, but all those
who. have the interests and the integrity of the in-
stitution of the country at heart.
".in the speech of Mr. Ricardo,
who moved the com-
mittee that is now sitting,tiievigation Laws were
charged with doing injustice and injury to the English
manufacturer, whowisestocompeto with such countries
as Saxony. Has the English manufacturer a right to de-
mand that every inlerest.th shall be prostrated,
lest he he outstripped in
ptelleepoilancterYof competition with
nations where the working
t. areraat the lowest ebb
of wretchedness ? Must the conside orlis of national
population that
de-
fence, as well as of the interest of our wij; o
to thes t
ru undueggle
is employed in maritime affairs, give way
" PAOTECTION" and fostering of manufacturers in a
in which success is utterly unattainable ? Our seamen
shipwrights are certainly not more comfortable or and
better
paid than the people of the empire desire to see them,
and' if manufacturers require them to be reduced to
the standard of the Finlanders, it is surely time to in-
quire the advantages that Manchester offers us in return
for all these unconscionable demands. The defence of
the Navigation Law is talked of as the defence of a par-
ticular interest. If the trade of the nation—the naval
supremacy of the nation—the position of the nation
amongst foreign kingdoms be questions important only to
particular interest, then such are the Navition Laws.
But the repealers have declared, by the mouth of Mr.
Ricardo, that they are fighting for one interest—for Man-
chester. The injury of the manufacturers is their watch-
word, and the exportation of cotton is the object to which

* The Navigation Laws: their History and Operation. By
J. Houston Brown, Esq., L.L.B. of the Middle Tempe.
Smith, Elder, and Co. T. Kaye, Liverpool.