The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-05-19 00:00:00

which the Guardian quot

..;ts is the following:—
" 2. That whilst this meeting has in view the ultimate

tablishment of free trade in ill, colony, it nevertheless,
f hereafter found necessary, will we its influence to en-
sure the continuance of such protective duties on our
produce going into the markets of Great Britain and
as the imperirl parliament, in its wisdom and
may now or hereafter see fit to enact for the
welfare and prosperity of this country in the meantime,
however, this meeting is of opinion the dangers appre-
hended from the change of system, may only be met by a
wise and timely adjustment of depending interests to suit
the altered circumstances of her relations with the mother

country."
Is this an utter repudiation of the doctrine of

Protection ? Why it absolutely
tertinn to the mnthPr entintry I

.ontemplates Pro-
enlnnial interests I

peculiarly. It points moreover to arrangements im-
peratively required to be made to avert the danger
to colonial interests anticipated as the result of our
resent policy. The very next passage quoted by
the Guardian points to one of those arrangements
which is a kind of retort upon the Free Traders of
the mother country, and is, moreover, precisely the
course which "Mr. Buchanan and other authori-
ties" laid down as that which would be adopted by
these colonies, and which would ultimately bring
about separation from Great Britain. We give the

"3. That, in order to render the application of Free
Trade principles thoroughly effec ual, it is necessary to
embrace them In all their comprehensiveness in this co-
lony ; that protection and regulation in every form should
be repudiated, and the commerce of the colony approxi-
mated as nearly to perfect freedom as the exigencies of the
public revenue will permit."

Clearly this is not a declaration which ought to
be very consolatory to the manufacturing interest,
of which the Guardian is the especial organ. Our
colonists are about to withdraw the protection,
hitherto afforded in their markets, to the woollens,
the cottons, the silks, the hardware, and other pro-
ductions of British industry, and to admit the
products of other countries to a participation in
their supply. The coarse fabrics of the United
States are to cross the frontier, and enter into the
consumption of the Canadas free from the imperial
duty at present levied upon them; and thus a tie—
the tie of increased commercial intercourse—is to
be established between two countries hitherto
estranged from and jealous of each other, which
may ultimately lead to a still closer connexion. The
imports of the Canadas are no longer to be drawn
exclusively from the mother country, to he carried
in British bottoms, to employ British capital and
British industry. These merchants and others of
Montreal tell us that they are about to become,
commercially, an independent people; and we ask
the Guardian to tell us how we are to prevent them
becoming, politically, an independent nation, or a
state of the neighbouring republic, which is pre-
pared, and will readily grasp at the opportunity to
bring them within the confederation.

We have warned the Legislature and the public
against placing too much dependence upon any
expression of opinion which might come to us from
these very parties, whose resolutions the Guardian
thinks are entitled to such vast weight. The mer-
chants and inhabitants of Montreal are not the
Canadian people. Their interests are not Canadian
interests. 'They are not entitled, above all, to be
considered as the exponents of either the opinions
or the wishes of the agricultural people of Canada
West, by far the most important interests in these
colonies. Happily, these very resolutions afford us
confirmation of the views which we have all along
expressed, and shadow very clearly the motives by
which the parties to them are actuated. We give
the next resolution to enable our readers to trace

these motives with us :
"4. That as a preliminary measure, it is highly ie-
sirable, nay indispensable, to obtain the immediate and
total repeal of all duties, imperial and provincial, on the
importation of American wheat, provisions, and corn
generally, as by this means a large share of the carrying
trade of the produce of the western states may be secured
to Canada, by the St. Lawrence, and will have become a

trade of some standing when the three years to which our
modified protection in the home market is limited, is ex-
pired ; and further, that the repeal of these duties may be

. .
stances, they do not, in the opinion of this meeting, afford
any protection to the colonial agriculturist 'inasmuch as

the prices obtainable for the -surplus produce of the
country rezulate the general price of the producer], whilst,
at the same time, they present one of the greatest ob.
stacles to our successfully competing with the United
States in the clnveyance of the produce of the interior to
a port of shipment, or a market for consumption."
The whole question is here resolved into a mer-

cantile question. The merchants of Montreal want
the carriage and the forwarding of the Western
States of America ; and the interests of the agri-
culturists of Canada West are as nothing in the
balance,as compared with the carrying out of this

great object

The Guardian concludes his article with the fol-

lowing cool assumption :

" We trust that the proceedings of this meeting will
put an end to the foolish cry about the dissatisfaction and
probable loss of the North American colonies."
• We can assure him, however, that the proceedings
of this meeting will effect no such thing ; and, for
the very best reason, that they are not conclusive
with respect to the opinions of the people of Canada.
If the Guardian had not been a little disingenuous,
he would probably have SEEN, and conveyed to his
readers, the following very opposite story, contained
in a memorial addressed to the throne, by the
merchants and others of Quebec, and which came
out for presentation by the Caledonia :

" Hum. b!), showeth,Z-That your petitioners view with
serious alarm the measures introduced by your Majesty's
ministers in the Imperial Parliament, affecting, as they
do, the principal exports of your Majesty's possessions in
British North America, by encouraging other nations
more favourably situated to enter into successful compe-
tition with them.

"That the long and tedious navigation of the St. Law-
rence, the shortness of the shipping season, and the dan-
gers of the coast, especially in the months of October and
November, add materially to freights and insurances, and
render successful competition with the foreigner, either in
corn or timber, a matter of great difficulty, and of utter
impossibility.

That although a protection of 245. is now granted on
the timber provinces, the freights from the Baltic average
17s. 6d. per !oad, while those from Canada average 38s. 9d.,
making a difference in favour of the producer in the
north of Europe of 21s. 3d. per load, and when insurance
is considered, making the protection now given a mere
equivalent to the difference of freight. Moreover, should
the furthercontemplated reduction of.ss. in 1847. and ss. in
1848 take place, giving a direct boon to this extent to the
foreign producer, who, in comparison to the colonist,
gives little encouragement to the British manufacturer.
" That the effect of the changes in the tariff in the port
of Liverpool has been to increase the foreign tonnage em-
ployed in carrying deals and timber upwards of 300 per
cent. since 1842, while the British shipping employed in
the same trade with these colonies has only increased to
the same port about 30 per cent. ; and that if such are the
effects of the modifications in 1842, the inevitable result
of further relaxation will be ruinous to both the British
shipowner and colonists.

" That, independenly of the encouragement given to
the North of Europe to compete with your Majesty's
Colonial possessions in North America, the effect of the
changes now referred to will be to add another compe-
tition, namely, the United States of America, especially
in the article of pitch pine, (resembling the red pine of
the colonies, but superior to it,) staves, and oak timber,
the produce mostly, if not entirely, of slave labour.
" Your petitioners most humbly pray that your Ma-
jesty will consider favourably their petition, and allow the
duties to remain as they now are—viz,. 25s on foreign
timber, and l s on colonial ; that your Majesty will cause
to be levied a duty on staves, as this article affords con-
stant employment to colonial shipping on the inland
lakes; and further, that no alteration be made in the
duties on sawed timber, which, if altered as contemplated,
will ruinously affect many who have embarked large capi-
tal in the erection of saw mills, under the impression that,
in any change of duties, the situation of these provinces,
their distance from their mother country, the immense
employment they give to British shipping, and their
being such large consumers of British mmufactures,
would be duly considered, and that protection equivalent
to the difference of freight would at least be guaranteed
to them, as even then, they only meet the foreign pro-
ducer in the home markets on equal terms.
" That to a system of wise and judicious protection
your Majesty's empire is indebted for its proud attitude
among the nations of the earth ; and the present position
of your Majesty's colonial possessions, is mainly attri-
buted to the same source. _ _ _

" Wherefore your petitioners most humbly pray that
your Majesty will not sanction the contemplated modifi-
cations in the tariff on wood goods; and your Majesty's
petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray."
This document ought to he quite as conclusive
as the Montreal resolutions, which the Guardian
quotes with such an air of triumph. We can
scarcely conceive that our 'contemporary, if aware
of its existence, would have suppressed all mention
of it ;_ at all events, in pure kindness, we give him the
benefit of the doubt.

We presume it is because the public mind is oc-
cupied with the important questions connected with
the Commercial policy of the country, that blow af-
ter blow is levelled at the Constitution and against
its Protestant character, without even the semblance
of any popular dissatisfaction. Perhaps it is in part
also that we are amazed at the tergiversation of pub-
lic men that we cannot find language or leisure to
express our feeiings with respect to the measures
which they propound to us. The Bills of Lord
Lyndhurst in one House and Mr. Watson in the
other would, ii proposed whilst we were unoccupied
with the consciousness of betrayal and outrage
upon our feelings on the part of the Government
and of Parliament, have aroused a storm of
indignation throughout the land. They fall upon
us now as disasters predicted and expected. There
is no protest against them, although they tend to
sweep away the last relics of Protestantism from the
national character. Another bill, however, the Cha-
ritable Trusts Bill, we did expect to have stirred
the phlegm of our population, inasmuch as it pro-
poses to set up one of those unconstitutional tribu-