The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-11-14 00:00:00

TAE BENEFITS OF FREE-TRADE

THE feeling in favour of the system of com-
mercial policy known as Free Trade, was a short
time since so generally diffused, that any attempt
to expose the hollowness of the pretensions on
which it was founded would not be listened to. It
is true that all were not convinced of its being un-
mixed good, and many ventured to question the
propriety of attributing to this cause the general
mercantile activity which prevailed ; but even
those who still clung to the old system, looked
upon the new as an accomplished fact, against
which it was impossible to contend, and, conse-
quently, the wisdom of experience fell into dis-
repute. Time, however, which rights many things,
has hail its effect upon this ; and now, with wheat
and flour at higher prices than during the
time of scarcity, it may not be inappropriate to
pay some little attention to the subject, and to ask
___ ther the great promises with which
Manchester School ushered in the successful
It of their agitation has been realised. In

ourselves wl

Trade

using tn.(

taken with much limitation

aware

I two great points—the

of the Navigal

lion L

icultural, and the oth(

With regard to the first

that it would prove no in.

farmer ; that it would has

corn at an equable price,

Corn Laws and

reefing ti

he Shipping interes

distinctly told

she fluctuations in the value of food whim
previously taken place, and that it would securt

reby preventing
ad

steady and abundant supply at moderate pricE
England would become the gra
That the farmer's interests were injured, was
shown in the great depression which took place in
agriculture for several years subsequent to the
passing of the Act ; but then the farmer was told
that it was the consequence of a state of transition
to which every change was liable. There was,
however, great discouragement to home cultiva-
tion ; and, notwithstanding the immense importa-
tions beyond all former precedent, the price of
wheat rose so high in 1853 that tillage took place
to a very considerable extent, and, by the blessing
of Providence, resulted in a harvest abundant
beyond any on record. This was a new phase of
the question which the prophets had not provided
for, as, notwithstanding the benefit to the agricul-
turist, it was only obtained as the result of scarcity
arising from its previous inactivity. This brings
us to the second point, with reference to the
absence of fluctuations in price, and so far from
this having been realised, the exact contrary has
been the case. For several years the price of
wheat was so low that it did not pay the expense
of cultivation, until the neglect produced the other
extreme, and it rose to double its former value.
From the middle of 1853 to about the same period
of 1854, we had to pay higher prices for bread
than during the whole time of the much maligned
sliding scale. Then followed the harvest, and a
drop, within a few days, of more than twenty
shillings a quarter ; so that, with one accord, the
nation joined in thanksgiving to the Author of all
good for the blessings of abundance which had
been showered upon them in such profusion. Not
a month elapsed before wheat rose in price all that
it had fallen,:and now it is dearer than it was at
any time during the greatest apprehension of
scarcity. If we look for a cause for this sudden
dearness, we are told that the country had been
previously exhausted of its stock of food, and,
therefore, in the absence of importations, the last
crop, notwithstanding its abundance, was inade-
quate to the demand. This brings us to the third
part of the promise, which has been falsified equally
with the others ; for England, so far from being

nary of the world

the granary of the world, has empty store-houses
and is carrying on a hand-to-mouth trade, sug-
gesting the most dismal ideas as to what might
have been our fate had it not been for that
abundant crop with which we were blegsed by
Providence. The people may well complain of the
price they have to pay for their food, and it may
induce the consideration whether Free Trade has
really conferred the benefits which its advocates
claimed for it.

We come now to the repeal of the Navigation
Laws, which, by some undefinable process, was to
benefit Shipping and Commerce, by throwing it
open to competition with all the rest of the world.
We say nothing of the frauds to which British
merchants have been exposed by entrusting their
goods to the vessels of irresponsible shipowners,
from whom no remedy can be obtained, but we will
confine our attention to one point with reference
to the War now being carried on with Russia. It
will be remembered that, at its commencement, a
proclamation was made contrary to former prece-
dents, that free bottoms made free goods, and,
therefore, that any,vesiel belonging to a neutral
state, provided she was not sailing to or from a
port of the enemy, incurred no risk of capture,
whatever might be the nature of her cargo, except-
ing only goods contraband of war. This proclama-
tion was hailed by philanthropists as a concession
to the interests of humanity, depriving war of
much of its terror and giving a boon to commerce,
which was thus rendered comparatively free from
interruption. But, mark the effect. No sooner
were the Russian ports in the Baltic closed by the
Allied Fleet, under Sir CHAS. NAPIER, and a blow
thus attempted to be struck' against the export
trade of Russia, which would alone enable her to
find -resources to prolong the war, than it was
completely frustrated by the crafty policy of
Prussia. That State has cunningly contrived to
avoid taking any part in the contest, assuming a
convenient neutrality, and under this pretence has
enabled Russia to carry on her export trade
through Prussian ports, and by Prussian vessels,
as though no war existed, and, by this means, to
render nugatory all the labours of the costly

armament in the Baltic Sea. The readiest solution
of the difficulty would be, an imperative demand on
Prussia to declare herself on the side of the Western
Powers, or on that of Russia, and, in the event of
the latter decision, to extend the blockade to
Prussian ports. Our Ministers have, however, as
yet refrained from this course through fear, we
suppose, of exciting the hostility of the rest of
Germany ; but it is clear that some course must be
taken, or Russia, with the resources derived from
her export trade through Prussia, will be enabled
to prolong the war indefinitely. This brings us to
the gist of the question. By the Navigation Laws,
as they stood before the column of Free Trade
obtained its crowning capitol, no foreign vessel
was allowed to import any cargo but the produce
of the country to which she belonged ; and had it
not been for the repeal, a vigilant exercise of the
law would have been sufficient to put a stop to the
manner in which, by Prussian connivance, Russia
evades the consequences of the blockade, which has
cost this country so vast an outlay.

TUESDA