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

have and ought to have theirs

As a proof that the stone once set a-rolling cannot
be arrested, and that the demand for further
ties is not likely to be confined to

reductions of
any class

Jr 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.
--tertaining the opinions wish
respect to the auvantages of free trade which Sir
Robert Peel has expressed, can long resist such
arguments as the following coming from a Conner-
Mr. Nicol. Referring to the great
and increasing et, ort of manufactures to China, as
pointed out in a former memorial from the associa-
ion to government, Mr. Nicol remarked, that

Surely no minister, e

vative merc

hanS,

be found, they could

arcely I

lit to ti

ort of the manufactures

ntry, but that the trade was very truck shae7

of this

hied in finding retu

ilmost to silk and

pointed out that the high duty on tea acted as
eck t ) the consumption, and alto to the returns
lad for their manufactures; .hey pointed out that an
reduction in duty would lead to a vast increase
umption, and that, consequently, the revenue
ured by it, or if injured, i
.y went upon general
ge efforts, and they
e met with some atten-

tea; it
a great

ed men in I

1 from Sir R

lilt not only I.

ad they been

but he introduced
things, the reduction of
eat more harm than
nts was, that China
on British manufactures,
head, hut still the duties
f China. How did the
as regarded Russia?
dv high. One gent'

In Russia the d

great d

turgid twist
Yet Russia

e a pound cn manufac-
__
i__
..
reas n China it was only a halfpenny.
re his duty amounted to 100 per cent.,

i to b

bad his great-st consideration."
There is both 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 Jubeo" 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
to the full carrying out of the principle of Sir Robert
Peel's present policy. .

It is not on account of any importance which
attaches to the opinions of Lord Monteagle that we
remarks serve as the text of these

e made b

Ihe most feeble of Chancellors of
- be 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
real ultimatum 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 tof, transparently selfish—
was tint they must have repeal of the corn laws, to
enable them to cheapen the labour of their work-

servat ton