The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-03 00:00:00

4e article of tea amongst
, and from which millions
was an article of consump-
Noired. who bad to enter
) obtained tea at one-third
hod tree trade, how were
,ay their debt? They
The noble
mputation on the British
rn, at the farmers of other
m agreed in that; but the
lot hare k hands tied behind him.
' The farmer

earl contended t

farmer to

I not me

British farmer rz
Did he meet the

1 terms?

on the shores of the Baltic had his labour at 6d. a-day to
compete with ►he farmer of this country with his labour at
2a. a-day. It required no skill in political economy to

id not meet each other

on equal

There 2

zst the leaguers them

be har

selves, who w

ly enough to deny the jus-
tice of these remarks. They apply equally to the
farmer and to other classes of producers. If we
are to submit the industry of the country to the

ordeal of co
countries, w

,e industry of other
its hands." A man

cannot t

It is the overweight in pro-
o bear it, which decides the

portion to ti
race.
Lord Mor

ever, cannot recognize this
vildered amongst the ques-

doctrir

tions of pr

and duties for re
g to reply, to the

In replying, or rather i
above, Lord Monteagli
" They
and tobac
maximum

duties upon tea
t they had passed the
si—but, until we were

revenue

by free trade we

'likewise, the tea and to-

bacca dut

tion to the doctrine

h In ha

r foreig,

n relations at

the on

(Hear, hear.)

free trade is to enable us to
become " producers of tobacco." It is to do great
things, no doubt; but scarcely this. To come,
howev

We cannot

high duty upon

which Lord Monteagle says does not militate against
the principle of free trade, or come within the
scope of the opponents of protection, we must con-
tend that his lordship perversely blind. The tea
and tobacco duties, he argues

are revenue duties
so, and remain intact,
of those articles ; aster
luce from his argument, that
med by our theorists. But have

and will,

we presume,

until we b

which, we are to
they will be conde

the lea,

ied these in their catalogue of
urse with foreign
We have been
ple article with which
return for our exports ;

restrictions upon extended intercot
nations? Undoubtedly they have
told that tea is the print
China can furnish us a
and that we must cliP

en it and increase ite con-
sumption in this country to enable China to increase
her imports of our goods. The decrease of the
duty upon tobacco has been urged upon the same
"grounds, and also upon the ground that it enters
largely into the comforts of the working man.
Neither Lord Monteagle, nor the ministry, must be
allowed to mislead themselves by the notion that
they are dealing only with protective duties. They
are dealing with the customs revenue of the country
They are biddi

for an in

crease in the consump--

~
tioni in this country, of every species of. foreign

produce, or manufacture, which can be made avail-
able, and profitable, as a return for exported Bri-
tish commodities. And moreover, they are driving
-the necessity, insisted upon
v class, which is called upon
f competition, being enabled
ing its hands tied behind its
bit by bit, every duty levied
whether for revenue or for
)me manufactures. The league,

us, by another cow:
by Mr. Baring, of e
to enter upon the rat

to do so " witho

back,

' to sweep away

upon article
the protection of 1
on the one hand, 1

upon its bond; the con-
on the other hand, will

sumer

d the labou

have and ought to have

As a proof that the stone once set a-rolling cannot
readily be arrested, and that the demand for further
reductions of duties is not likely to he confined to
any class or to any party, we beg to direct attention
to our report, in another column, of a meeting of
the East India and China Association of Liverpool,
held on Thursday, to demand from Sir Robert Peel's
Government a reduction of the duty upon tea.
Sure), no minister, entertaining the opinions with
respect to the advantages of free trade which Sir
Robert Peel has expressed, can long resist such
as the

#rgumen

K coming from a Conser-

erring to the great
and increasing export of manufactures to China, as
d out in a former memorial from the associa-
Mr. Nicol remarked, that
!turns could be found, they could
imit to the export of the manufacuire
t that the tra

native mercbar

don to go

oF this c

was very much &Jac-
ifined almost to silk and
e high duty on tea acted as
m, and also to the returns
; hey pointed out that an
)131(11:ad to a vast increase
consequently, the revenue
red by it, or if injured, i
They went upon general
► in large efforts, and they

tea; it v

as pointed oul
ieck to the co.

they had
importat
in the cc
would b

princi

net with som€ atten-
onlv had they been
but he•introduced
gs, the reduction of
leal more harm than
nts was, that China

passed

a great
the du

umber of

One of tt

British manufactures,
but still the duties
1. How did the
is regarded Russia ?
gh. One gentleman

China,

a pound cn manufac-
was only a halfpenny.
a ted to 100 per cent.,

Yet R

re his dut

sound sense and sterling justice in
these observations, and ultimately they must have
their proper weight with the legislature. That they
will influence Sir Robert Peel, however; to include
the article of tea amongst those affected by his
present mea,ures, we do not believe. The sugges-
tion comes from an influential body of British
merchants, with no party bias or combination to
influence them in the course they are pursuing, and
not from the members of a brawling conspiracy.
It is to he laid before him for consideration in the
respectful and constitutional form of a memorial,
not dictated as the "sic volo sic Tubed' of a body
which holds in its hands the power of swamping the
registries of the kingdom. It will be neglected
therefore, for the present, although capable of being
urged on the ground of morality, as affecting the
sobriety and the diminution of crime, of the masses
of consumers; but it may ultimately be conceded,
not for its beneficial tendency alone, but as leading

There is both

to the full carrying out of tk
Peel's present

ciple of Sir RObeii

s not on account of any importance which
attaches to the opinions of Lora Monteagle that we
have made his remarks serve as the text of these
observations. The most feeble of Chancellors of
the Exchequer is not, even after being pitchforked
into the peerage, an authority in our eyes. The
remarks in question, however, afford us an opportu-
nity of directing the attention of our readers to the
ltimatum of the Free Trade party, and the full
carrying out of their policy. Let it be borne in
mind that the original argument of the league—only
abandoned because it aroused the hostility of the
operative masses and was to transparently selfish—
Was that they must have repeal of the corn laws, to
enable them to cheapen the labour of their work.

real u