The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-02-17 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 17, 1835.

•
sending wine, rum, tobacco, silk, corn, brandy, or any
other article liable to high duties, to Manchester, Bir-;
gingham, or Sheffield, to Leeds or Coventry, with the
intention of dragging them back, like a condemned man,,
to the place " from whence they came," to be reshipped
and transported beyond seas ? The bonded system had
no other object than to secure the carrying trade on the
high seas to British ships.
But our contemporary perhaps imagines, in unison with
the gentlemen who compose the " Chamber of Corn;
coerce" of Manchester, that the bonded system ought to
be made available to manufactures as well as to com-
merce.. We do not deny the reasonableness of the pro-
position ; but we contend that the manufacturers already
enjoy the full benefit of it. It can be of no advantage
to the public, or to the manufacturing interest generally,
that cotton, or foreign, or colonial produce, should be
bonded in one place more than another, provided that
Place be in the direct route from the original point of im-
portation. The public would not be benefited by Man-
chester being made a bonded station. On the contrary,
We contend that the public would suffer injury. If, for
instance, cotton were allowed to be bonded in ten places
instead of one, the inducement to speculation would be
increased, and a higher price for the raw material would
be the consequence. It is quite possible, we admit, that
certain private speculators would be enabled to realize
larger profits, and that the citizens of the United States
would be gainers by the more extended competition; but
'a'e must protest against the assumption that the great
body of consumers in this country would receive any ad-
Vantage. We think the contrary quite susceptible of
Proof.

If the manufacturers of Manchester would confine
themselves to the personal, and argue the policy of the
measure upon local grounds and individual interests, we
should then understand them, and be prepared to meet
them. But while they, continue to sound a higher note,
and profess to. be influenced by motives of pairiotisrh, we
must be excused,: without meaning any offence, if we
take leave
,to question' their' Sincerity. • As a' pri'Vate
question we shall never condescend to argue it—as a
Public one, even by their own concessions, it is pre-
posterous. -•- „,•<;:, • '

Our contemporary is pleased. to drag into discussion
the meritorious conduct and the good intentions of Mr.
•POHLETT THOMSON. It would have been more to the
credit of the late Vice-president of the Board of Trade
if he had preserved his good intentions for their proper
Place. At is quite scandalous to see how some people,
Professing to be conservatives, assert the pretensions of
as arrant a quack as ever was -permitted to tamper with
the interests of his country. True he has conferred some
benefits upon certain persons who can command certain
Votes in the parliamentary borough of Manchester.
.These people are no doubt grateful; but Manchester is
.nnt yet England—the spinners, weavers, and dyers of
that village are not the people of England—and until it
can be shown as that Mr. THOMSON, in relieving them
of certain duties upon foreign commodities, did not deeply
injure and ruin thousands of families in this country, we
Must clahm the right to think as meanly of his motives as
e do of his understanding.
Why was the duty on American cotton wool reduced
at the very time when the Americans had raised.the duty
upon British manufactures ? That gained the votes of
the cotton-spinners ! Why was the duty on dyestuff's re-
fluced when no portion of the people complained of their
Pressure, and when an universal complaint prevailed
against the window taxes? That gained the viites'Orthe
-worthy persons whose hands " are- pure !" Why was
.the duty .on foreign barilla reduced ? The former an-
Syr will.suffice but here we must be permitted to say
that a more partial, more vexatious, more cruel, or more
Unjust—flagrantly unjust—measure, never was proposed
by. a British statesman or sanctioned by a British senate.
It came upon the hardy fishermen who inhabit the stor•
miest parts of our island, and the western shores of lie-
land, like the voice, or wail, or the war-whoop of the In-
dian. It in one day extinguished the fires of a thousand
kelp furn.aces ; it rendered utterly useless fifty thousand
Pounds of property, and it consigned to beggary thirty
thousand persons, whc, by hard indtisfry, had previously
gained an bumble livelihood: Previous to the ill-fated
Measures of Mr. HUsICISSON and Mr. POULETT TIMM-
80N—men whose theories of wealth. were founded
VAQH tha.crude,raaxims of Mr: RimsAY MACMILLOCti
and the Edinburgh Reviiiv—who, in the pursuit of
mercantile and manufacturing policy were guided
by the shallow nostrums of a few Edinburgh lawyers
--who,. taking them with their teachers, knew as
little of the elements of sound policy, in a commercial
country, as an: apprenticetillor does of astronomy—but
previous, we .sav, to the measures alluded to, it had
been the wise policy or England never to procure from
foreign states what could be produced by native industry.
an evil hour we deviated from that policy. The em
Pirics of the Edinburgh Review told us that it was our
interest to procure from the cheapest market those arti-
Oss which were necessaries in our manufactures. The
theory was plausible,-the arguments were specious, the,
Proposition had the charm of novelty, and in support of
it all the mushroom philosophers of the day hailed it as
a discovery worthy of an enlightened age. But it is a
gross delusion. We believe that Mr. 'HusictssoN bit-
terly lamented, before he died, the errors into which he.
had been led. It was a pity to see so great a mind hum-
bled, as it was, by its own after reflections. Manchester
has reaped many advantages from this slip in policy. at
the expense of the whole nation ; and it is singular that
She alone cannot perceive, what is perceptible to the
eyes of every reflecting and intelligent man. Barilla is
cheaper than- kelp. How ? It is manufactured at leis
eon in Spain and other countries, than we, a heavily
taxed people, can manufacture kelp. But after all is
that any proof .olcheapness? IT the difference in price
and quality between the British and the foreign article. a
Proof that the latter is the cheaper —even admitting that
tile latter is nominally the cheaper-? We contend that
it, is not. The price of barilla, beit less or more, is not
Paid by the manufacturer, but by the consumer. The
Price paid to the foreigner is no gain,. The additional
Petrie paid to the home manufacturer is a positiVe advan-
tage; Thin, if "we pay five shillings to the foreigner for
an hundred weight 'of barilla, we would be, in a national
l'9int of view, more conservative in our policy if we were
t° Pay ten shillings to the home manufacturer. This is
a° Clear that we need 'not waste words in illustration.
Mr.-Tnontsok had, as time has proved, his own ob-
jects to advance., Rehas.gained ManclieSter. He is
Nappy,--theyare proud--we wish them joy; but, before
they can lay claim to any spark of patriotism beyond the
c°nfinea of the loom and' mill, the dye-tub. and. the
Lalender, they must turn over a new leaf, toss POULETT
THOMSON into the beautiful and limpid stream that me-
anders' thrOugh the village—learn the art of war as good
c°nservatives—sink the warehouse in matters of politics
and run in.the race towards the goal of fame, in which
s tßin; as in the olden time, fanned the flame of Lanca-
shire loyalty.
The last paragraph in the extract from the Manche:-
a" Chronicle is by far the most objectionable, inasmuch
6 its alleged grievance is so transparent that we feel
13133 e reluctance in exposing it. We suspect that some
road-brithnied friend of the " Friend RUSSELL" school,
Who has some shares at stake, and through whose influ-
ence the press of Manchester has been softened into kin-
dred friendship, for, very beautiful reasons which it
would be Unkind- to ndece, has been trying the effect of
_whig charm upon our young conservative brother. He
nnSt not be trailed in this way. We shall not allow one
of our order to be duped by persons for whom we have ft
arlicu/ar respect. But to the subject. The Manches-
ter Chronicle says, that all the advantages of the rail-
Y. have been conferred upon Liverpool. How ? No
e
it But
is given. This ischaracteristic, and we forgive
But may we be permitted to assert that the advantages
of the railway are greatly in favour of Manchester ? The
I°t. ten sent is sent cheaper to Manchester than formerly—
,r 4;e113001, therefore, derives no adiantage from this.
he cattle; sheep, pigs, &c. are conveyed at a
ehespec rate than formerly—we derive no' advattl•
tage fro . • -
front this. The bale goods of Manchester are
sew by the railway to Liverpool for exportation
what benefit can we derive from this? Every article

of consumption is sent cheaper to Manchester than for-
merly—we derive no benefit from this. In short, the
trade of Manchester is benefited, while that of Liver-
pool, as concerns the inhabitants of -Liverpool, is not
advanced, extended, or benefited in the slightest degree.
What do we derive from the reduced charge upon the
transit of cottons or dry goods which we did not possess
before the. railway was formed? The ship-brokers of
Liverpool put them on board the American packets. 'The
manufacturers would not export them from Liverpool if
they could do so more profitably elsewhere. It is foolish
to suppose that the facilities of the railway have
,increased
the imports of cotton wool. These are regulated by the
demand for yarn and manufactures, and the price of
transit on the raw material can enter but lightly into the
price of the manufactured article. -The merchants of
Liverpool do not envy the prosperity of the manufac-
turers of Manchester, but, on the contrary, are always
willing, in the most cordial- spirit, to advance and se-
cure that prosperity which is. the reward of industry.
Why, then, so much carping about the imaginary mono-
poly of the inhabitants of Liverpool ? It evinces a narrow
spirit, and betrays unpardonable ignorance. We have
no privileges or advantages here which-our locality has
not conferred, and of which it is impossible. to deprive
us. The millions of people who inhabit the manufactur-
ing districts never would have been collected together but
for thecommercial facilities of this port. If they consume
our sugar, coffee, rum, tea, and the' other valuable pro•
ducts.of the British colonies and of foreign countries, we
in return consume their 'prints, their shawls, their lace,
their hosiery, and their manufactures of every 'descrip-
tion. There is a perfect reciprocity of every kind; so
that Manchester has no right to complain Of. thebonding*
system any more than Coventry, Macclesfield, and Frome.
If an alteration be expedient, the extension of the system
must be-universal,' It is not the size of a place which
`entitles it te -*vantages which:have hitherto beeci'cOn-.
fined to the outports of Great Britain. If the bonding
system is to be extended, it must ,be extended 'to
every town 'and village in the kingdom, at a *frighttul.
,hazard to ,the. public revenue,' and ara:ii-exPense which
would swallow Up the whole of the imposts. A pieceof
brandy, would ltave• to be • placed under the care 'of two
officers,.like.a cieserter going to trial. A bok of sugar
or a bag of coffee would have to be escorted in the same
manner, from. Bristol to Frome,- from Liverpool to
Coventry, from London to Norwich. The thing 'is
absurd'. If the people of Manchester be tired of the
railway, or fully convinced that it is an obstacle to. their'
prosperity, why do they not subscribe their money, buy
it up, and burn it ? -We can have no objection- to this.
The railway system will never be rendered beneficial,
in a national point of view, until it is exposed to fair
competition, as gas works and water companies are.
What would the public say to one coach, and one coach
owner, in the communication between Liverpool and
Manchester ? They would not stand it a moment, or
if they did, most dearly would they pay for their soft•
ness. There must be twenty railways for one yet
formed, before the advantages of that mode of convey-
ance can be rendered conducive to the interests of the
people at large.