The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-06-06 00:00:00

Jane 6, 1848.

THE RESULT OF FREE TRADE AS REGARDS
OUR COLONIES.

(From Fraser's Magazine.)
England sent out certain of her people to take posses-
sion of outlying territories in the West. These people re-
tained The character of English subjects, and their pro-
i*ediugs were governed by the English parliament, and
?egulated, checked, and circumscribed with the intent of
)I'ol:noting English interests. They were not permitted to
trifle with other nations, and were made peculiarly ame-
!able
Ito the provisions of our navigation code. The West
,11thes feel these restrictions severely. They are close to
rte continent of America. The natural trade of these
rasadLa would be with the United States ; but this trade
been prevented flowing into this, which we term its
natural channel, and has been forcibly brought to Eng-
land. In return, however, England said, We will make
you
v our exclusive suppliers of sugar. All other nations
can produce it shall be subject to a duty on its impor-
tation, Which will amount to a protective duty. We shall
thus forward our own interests as respects our marine,
the make a sacrifice for that benefit, by paying higher for
111:111egar we use than we should do were the trade open.
1 the restrictions and advantages were thus recipro-
ni, .the system at least was just. But the moment that
one-half of the old system is changed, the remainder be-
rtt,)ea a gross injustice. or example, if we determine
;have a free trade in sugar (to say nothing of the
;_lzent of injustice resulting from our legislation on
rerY), all the restrictions which then remain upon
west
0 Indian trade are violations of every principle
fairness and honesty. We hope, therefore, that
tivlerfY man who seeks for free trade in sugar is prepared at
to the same time to throw open the ports of the "West Indies
the world at large, and to allow the West Indian the
wselliole benefit of the rule of " buying in the cheapest,
wallgos in the dearest market.' Our colonial dominion
that'uell'be a thing wholly different in its nature from
arWhich it is at present. That which is just and neces-
ea regards the West Indies, is just and necessary also
regards the East, and Canada and the whole of British
I:la:America, Australasia, and the Cape of Good Hope;
l? of all our colonies and outlying possessions. They
terin'lwlaet, to be colonies in the old acceptation of the
byres" England can derive one only benefit from them
Prventling tier ominion over them. She will be able to
policy, She adoption bI. She will have
free
them of a restrictive commercial
a„,, access to her colonial ports,
her manufactures will not be subject to any exclusive
14;ur or in fact to any tax not sanctioned by herself. But
she will have to meet the most complete competition in
every branch of commerce. Her fabrics, her ships, her
shape, will have to meeth foreign fabrics,
ipital in every
pst and capital on terms of
perfect equality ; and if the
doctrine of free trade be fair and true as regards corn in
England, this large consequence from it is also true. Our
colonial empire goes to the ground—for who can say that
Canada, trading with the United States as she pleases for
all her cotton, woollen, iron; with France direct for her
Wines ; with the Brazils for her sugar and her rum ; who
will say that Canada is Enlish ? True, she may be just
as Profitable to us as at present. But if' there be any use
helde possession of coloies, such as we have hitherto
, we shall have them no longer; and again and again
we must warn all who are the advocates of a free trade,
that this is the fair and necessary deduction from the new
theory which has found supporters in the leaders of both
ae great parties of the State. There are persons, indeed,
L'" will accept the consequence we have here set forth
without shrinking—who, so far from lamenting over this
result, will openly avow such is the very end of all
their present endeavours that
that the description we have
bgi,,ven, of the condition of our present colonies under this
tegislation, is precisely that which they desire to see.
kith these hardy, unflinching reasoners, we have no guar-
1---vge understand them—differ, indeed, from their opi-
'ells, but admire their honest, open speaking. But we
bycurious to know whether such a result is contemplated
Sir Rotert Peel and Lord John Russell ; and if not,
unw do they draw the line ?r o
how can they deny the
deduction
we have described as that which is the fair
edaetiou from the celebrated rule laid down by Sir Ro-
hePeel hiras,if, of " buying in the cheapest, selling in
s dearest market." He at least must have seen that
MI:1a. awn! hilaYtsitoenta
4°ra destroyed with one blow our whole ancient co-
, and brought as a necessary result the utter
la But the •
statesmrcrw,
of the throw Of our old and dearly-maintained Navigation-
che is cast, and we must stand the hazard
; and all that remains for truly Conservative
humph is at once to accept the new doctrine as a
ant, though erroneous, creed; and by insisting
_opus its being consistently applied, to lessen its mischie-
doeffects. This statement may at first appear a para-
/4' bl;t upon reflection, we think, will be found accurate.
""zinty is the greatest evil which can visit the com-
wrce of any country. A long-protracted period of tran-
n?u is but a prolongation of misery. Half free trade, if
of „iic t,n
prih a thing can be, is worse than the complete application
e nciple.

1,4 PLEA FOR THE MOLES.—The Essex Herald pub-
c'ees the following letter from the Rev. G. Wilkins to a
artner, who wrote to him inquiring how the wireworm
!tad been exterminated in the rev. gentleman's land. It
tico_nt,ains much sound, though, we dare say, unpalatable
doctrine to the owners of smooth lawns and trim-bedded
tardens :—" Some 10
years since, wben I came to my
it was,
and commenced cultivating the little land I hold,
bewas, I may say, full of wireworms. Nothing could have
Won worse, for my crops were in some places ruined by
Oin entirely. What, then, did Ido ? I adopted a plan
hick I recommended and published in periodicals many
ears,s since, viz., encouragine moles and partridges on my
Ca • Instead of permitting a mole to be caught, I
aught all I could and turned them down alive • and soon
am
fields, one after another, were full of molehills, to the
1(11111-lsernent of all my neighbours, who at first set me
~iirwn for half a lunatic ; but now several adopt my plan,
7,141 are strenuous advocates of it. My fields became
:aetlY like a honeycomb ; and this continued even among
was standing and growing and ripening crops ; not a mole
rpolested, but I still bought more. This summer I
l 4 brought, which I turned down, but they were not
liv:l'ecl; I have nothing for them to eat—all that moles
stliPon is destroyed, and so, poor things, they must
b:tve, or emigrate to some distant land, and thus get
-awstringed by savage men whom they aim to serve.
iPt my plan, and it will be sure to answer. If you
aa" a nest of partridges, also encourage them ; all the
..!immer they live upon insects, wireworms, &c., and con-
fider how many millions a covey will destroy in a single
Pittner ! Again, always remember that moles feed upon
'Peas, and of which the wireworm is the chief ; if you
doubt this, open a mole and peep into his stomach.
Again, do not fear that moles injure your crops, either in
a field or in a garden ; it is a low and vulgar error to sup-
Pose that they root up young corn,—they never go any-
Where untill the wireworms have first destroyed the plants,
and then, innocent things, they are punished for others'
faults. If you do not like to see their hills, knock them
about with a hoe, as I did ; in is a healthful amusement,
and they will do your lands good. Do not despise any
plan because the farmers will not adopt it in your neigh-
bourhood ; farmers will adopt nothing till driven to it,
and nothing that is new and good."
WHAT AUSTRIA HAS DONE FOR HER ITALIAN PRO-
viNcEs.—Burke, in one of his prophetic anticipations,
Pronounced that the first ruin of Europe would be in its
finance, and that every kingdom was, even in his day,
wading into a boundless ocean of debt. Austria, of
course, had felt its share ; and after the desperate wars of
1805 and 1809, nothing is more wonderful in the history
finance, or more honourable to the great statesman
Who for forty years presided over her fate, than that she
Should have escaped bankruptcy. But her liberalty to
ner Italian provinces never failed. Some of the details,
Which have already reached the public, give an extraor-
dinary, conception of the almost prodigality with which
Austria has lavished her means upon the bridges, roads,
and general public communications of Lombardy. We
give those items in francs. Five millions spent in repair-
and constructing dikes in the Mantuan province.
our millions in completing the canal of the Naviglio.
million and a half for roads in the mountains of the
13ergamesque. A million and a half for the great corn-
Mercial road of the Splugen. Two millions and a half
kir the road over the Hiffer Jock. Three millions for
continuing it along the shore of the lake Como. Three
Vlaoris and a quarter for completing the cathedral of
'n. A million for improvements in the city. Half
million for the fine bridge over the Ticino. Twenty-
rLein' millions for cross-roads, between 1814 and 1831,
esides miscellaneous expenditure ;—the whole being not
Vs than sixty-six millions in the fifteen years preceding
11134, in the mere matter of keeping up the means of
tercourse in a country where, half a century ago, the
era '3u-roads were little more than goat tracks ; besides the
~.111111al expense of about a million and a quarter on the
Arses
of the roads since. And this munificent liberality
AreBn,e_lllended in Lombardy alone. The expenditure in
riearliee in the latter period of its possession has been
the ;15: equal. The first French conquest had given it
repubail.ne of constitution, and nothing else. The famous
setzur le was plundered to the last coin. On its second
eina e its treasury was again emptied by its French
181411 Its
; and when it was restored to Austria in
ittoi:s.ailitsap9pulation presented a pauper list of fifty-four
individuals. Its commerce was in a state of
decay; , its
its and public buildings were in a state of
its charitable establishments were without funds ;
reparationstreecakfevvyears more must have filled its canals with the
°f its houses. Within the next twenty years the
cost the Austrian treasury not less than fifty-
& e Millions of francs ! Thus Venice rose from a eon-
pelat?l,l_ which all our travellers, immediately after the
riew`..e.. of 1815, pronounced to be irreparable ruin, and is
kti,tuPe of the first commercial cities in Italy. But the
Ito, Mil government had not been contented with a mere
Iroe tof h soil of • t"
--it ha nte or the modes eommunica ion
thewhich extraordinary efforts in giving edu-
tio people. We are to remember the difficulties
,Where S'Ped9 all such efforts in Romish countries.
Jealous theo priest regulates the faith, he must always be
Iteverroze the education. But the German habits of the
and 14 predominated over the superstition of Rome,
6Pecies of military discipline was introduced, to
loot l'acni
,tho young
Italians to learn the use of their indo-
of 18,,uerstandings. Within a few years after the peace
Lbeaeinrce?,:ao nationalooontr school system was put in action in
whole Within a few more years it had spread over
The3', with such effect, that there was
seli_a_e, (immune without its public place of education.
!land th2:101: for boys amounted to upwards of two thou-
orindr4e.e hundred, and for girls to upwards of twelve
The
ve Nearly a. hundred of the schools for boys
!ue higher reT extensive course of practical knowledge.
s"l'aphy, dr_wiTes learned architecture, mechanics, geo-
iistiful way af..s:hg.loo. aisn,d
or
ratural history, in the vigorous,
P1g0,,11 dhigher" Nivihich German education is distinguished.
portions of the former, were
kluatol2_e,e_ thwns, for the practical acquirement
:7esr t knowledge most important for servants of public
:nathemaiiue:rehtne.chief studies were history, commerce,
,e emistry and French, German, and Italian.
the able sYstero, it. is'evident that very solid and vain-
Wanecrillik might be made : and those were solely
tne Austrian sovereignty.—Blackwood.