The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-17 00:00:00

:ntimation when the Commissioner will arrive or cause of
detention is admitted. These commissioners were to have
been in Canton early in December.
"I mention to you that the censure of the Plenipotentiary
is merited by the merchants, who, in smuggling opium' and
all other kinds of goods at Whampoa and at Canton, have
outraged all former precedents, and created much distrust
In the minds of the Chinese authorities. Few of the ves-
sels now pay port charges, although the consignees no doubt
Pay it, and the whole course of the proceedings in the Can-
ton river has been and is a disc,
"It is admitted that, in direct contravention of the PI
Potiary's authority, ships have been despatched secretly to
the new consular ports.
"At Canton business has not been interrupted. --- ---
as Commissioner Elepoo arrives, Sir H. Pottinger will pro-
ceed thither

cc to civilization

" The Chinese Government has bought some foreign
vessels, and is going to build some on European models for
war purposes. They want much some steamers, and will
Pay for them long prices. It was intimated to them, that if
the treaty was amicably arranged, it was not unlikely the
queen would present the Emperor with a fully.equipped war
steatne:. Were there a dozen steamers here adapted to coast
and river navigation, the Chinese would, I have no doubt,
take them."

It is seldom that the country derivesanfryonm those
material
benefit or any great access of information
obstructive motions, in either house
of parliament,
with which the opposition party are so much ena-
moured. We did hope, however, for something in the
Shane of information, at least, from the debate in the
11°11se of Lords on Tuesday night, upon the motion of
Lord
of the le-
Monteagle. Unlike the other branchneitself
to the
gislature, that house does ordinarily confine subject before it, instead of wavering into party and
Personal contentions ; and we, therefore, hoped on
l'llesday night to see some light thrown upon a sub-
ject of deep interest at the present moment '
to every
class of the community. We have 'been disappointed,
however, in part perhaps by the discursivee otim on was
and ram-
bling
speech of the noble lord by whom ti
introduced, and perhaps in a great measurel from the
absence
through indisposition, of the
President
hoard of Trade (Lord Ripon), in whose of the
department
the question lay.
The motion of Lord Monteagle was for the appoint-
Ment of a select committee of the house to enquire into
practical working of the corn-law measure passed
last year. The appointment of such a committee was,
°E course, out of the question ; and was very properly
refused, as tending still further to unsettle
Mind upon a topic already quite sufficiently
to the
the public
agitated.
Still, had the legitimate question proposed—as
working of the present law—been ever approached, the
Public must have' been placed in possession of many
valuable facts, and might have been able to arrive at
sornething calculated to point out the probable future
direction of legislation upon this subject. It was not
lin, however, for the worthy ex-Whig
ate
of confining C. Chancellor, in-
sent 1 himself to the working of the pre-
sent
of comparing its workint„dr,with that
which preceded it, or a fixed duty—entere instead,
into the wide question of the comparative merits of the
Principles of sliding scales and a fixed duty,and thus,
ineffect, heaped d evil re-
up all the imperfections an
Buts, real and allured, of past laws upon the
.head of
the present imperfectly tried law. His statistics, his
rglitnents his facts were all such, and such only, as
Might fairly have been introduced into any
Theyprepared
left
sPeech of the last or the preceding session. .
the
existing law untouched, or, whilst affectingntfo im •
ro-
Pugh its merits and demonstrate the propriety.
eteding to a fixed duty, only established, in fact,edPitnhge
foregone conclusion that the act of 1828 and preceding
s bad worked disadvantageously.
This it is
Plain is not the question most interesting
at
the present moment, and to which discussion and
e
tile watchful attention of impartial men mayfairly
directed Sir Robert Peel has distinctly told thde.sconusend-
Y"---and reasonably so, too—that he is not disposed
(to enter tiponPof the
further legislation upon the subject.
act of
until the modified principle contameld. in the
of last session shall have received a fair trial. Has
t had this ?
su We maintain not. A committee, had
ch ,
piV been
appointed, could have reported only the
must
Ceets of its introduction ; and those effects even
veerytalZit to. have been influenced in part, and indeed.
being eriallY, by the state of the trade previous to its
brought into operation. Vast losses, it is alleged, and tr ..
nIY alleged, have been sustained since its passing
3'
neatlY every party engaged in the importation of
corn. .
dieted Prices have fallen much below the limits pre-
th as likely to he established by it. Then, again,lalv
the introduction of foreign wheat, under the nevv
Oafs been very similar to its introduction under the act
Y 18!
---viz., a simultaneous introduction of nearlytha
oefaht'' itnportation in one month, and that the month
Init-,atvest• But how greatly have these, which are
ad-
by --erl evils, been precipitated or at least aggravated,hnd,
and in pre-existing state of the law on the one hand,
et experience inexperience of the working of the change
.on
the
debt:, band ? Upon these fair subjects of enquiry -
ducted Lord Monteartle's motion, legitimately con
rinirevd' 'ight have thrown important light ; but en-
to ' was not his lordship's object so much as it was
tietitaake a detnonstration in behalf of the pet proposi:
kr °I the ex-Whig administration; and for all usefulth-
le :uses, therefore, the debate itself was perfectly wo r
s.
tahbsi The public could have gathered all which it
thee
Year led
frurn any corn-law debate of last year or
precedinn.
A fair 6:
the act and dispassionate inquiry into the operation of
iti of 1842 will, we apprehend, establish the o .
tionelnteuLuating circumstances to he applied in oPP°sl-
- to
tue charges brought against that act. In the
108,,,i)lace, the importer, it is said, has suffered heavy Under ilrler its operation. But, we contend, he bought
benuser the impression that he bought under the appre-
stneklau a deficient harvest ;he bought part of his
law
ii arnid uncertainty as to what would be the cor.n-
that eternlined upon ; he bought under the impression
ofd,s e. °lnhination could still work up the averages ;
8 In addition to these circumstances, and as a cause
loss:sate of them, he bought in a dear market. Thed
at, a- of the importer arc not therefore to be wondered
his and the l
Ills ess so when we see the manner in which
:itivockswereofressed into consumption. Upwards
(4 t._ 0
millions
quarters of foreign corn paid duty
many ins the
space of a few weeks—a duty too which, in
henceY instances, compelled the holder to realize—and
~ the
ressure
14e4t fallen• upon the market, and the conse-
the prices; but does this, occurring during
refer Year, and under the pe,:aliar circumstances
iti
orrled to, warrant us in supposing that it will occur,
ittd
Years, when the operation of the law is better
Awe? We think not.
11oh all events, before the existing law is condemned
fixed d, or before it can fairly be compared with a
114 duty, the question ought to be asked, what would
thi e °eeri the operation of a fixed duty, introduced,
iltridi at htme, and under the existing circumstances,
featly the present scale was introduced ? It is mani-
jh its unjust to Sir Robert Peel's measure to place it,
/i9/18 4'i (491 imperfect operation and most unfavourable
slog is '4 the scales against a fixed duty, whose opera-
Nati? taken upon trust—upon merely theoretical spe-
glaniu-s-and in its most perfect operation ; for only
suchee what the working of such a duty, passed at
lin- titne, would have been. In the first place, the
co porter either had bought, or must have bought, his
tion,
.to be introduced at its first coming into opera-
ket in dear market. Then, there must have been a
and to realize his stocks before prices retrogaded,
not e°nsequently losses must have ensued, equal, if
b„...greater, than those complained of. In addition,
81;73e‘tier, so
soon as the demand in foreign markets
nunii„ ed' we must have had fresh importations, conti-
deer:' with an already overstocked home market and
a rilaaSed consumption, until there was no longer left
might of profit. What, under such circumstances,
Ati,
.•• oal,-
, u been the price of wheat now ? Let us see.
froninvnortation of white wheat, of superior quality,
bell at the duty .paid
sold
_tie Baltic, took place a few weeks ago, and was
price of 565. per quarter, the duty
lti,,!, 2135., and the imperial average throughout the
si,e's;'lll being about 48s. The wheat in question, we
ill
.i'nfortned
, by the Mark-lane Express, was bought
beittle foreign market at 325. per quarter, four shillings
Ding all that was allowed for freight and charges.,
girt • •
• in En -
1 }-sirc shillings, therefore, was the price g.
44' doty f
aPor4t; - -ree; and suppose a fixed duty Bs. in
tow, 4in, 4.15. would have been the price at which it
i 0.44 haVe been sold to the miller. Taking its quality
Into cons. . .
otie deration this would have given an average
hi
theor the British farmer of about 365. 6d
get the
of 565., at which it was sold, to 445.
.I—being
vetyttie reader draw his own conclusions from this
tagnificant fact.