Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-05-18

duty of one dollar thousand dollars; while the
same may be carried to the northern provinces of
Nova Scotia or n. Brunswick, and be there re-
ccivcd without impost, and thence imported To tie
West Indies duty free. And SO of every other ar
tcle. The consequence is, that an American YES.
sci, laden at any port III the United States with
flour any other produce, destined for the w /.
whatever be her route, and, whatever places she
may have touched, must at her port of DISCHARGE
pay the whole amount of duties which the Bri
fish please to require, whether it be one or one
hundred thousand dollars; whilst a British vessel
with the same cargo, by merely touching and ia
King "a clearance, at Campo Bcllo or Halifax may
he wholly exempted from duties on her arrival in
the West Indies.
BY the unrcs:raincd use of this instrument. the
graduation of deties the British may, as with a
magic wand, direct, chlnyc, or stop the current
III pleasure; they have as complete control over it as
of water from Il reservoir conducted through arti.
neal tubes, to which they alone hold the KEYS
DO they wish to stop the direct trade as to all ar
barrier at duties upon every thing. DO they wish
to cause the current 10 flow, in British bottoms.
y the way of New Brunswick or Nova Scotia?
Remove the obstruction of imposts, in that direct
ION only, and its course will run freely. Or they
may allow part to pass in one direction and
force the residue in another. They may select a
list of articles for the West Indies, another for
Bermuda, and another for the Northern Provinces
This power is full complete, and unlimited. We
may he assured that they will exercise it from
time to time, as experience of their interests NAV
dictate, and as our endurance shall tolerate. Sir.
they have begun TO exercise it already, by the Act
of Parliament Of 22I April, 1881, the design OF
which cannot he misunderstood Under its enact
mcnts wheat flour, beef, pork hams, bacon wood
and lumber, when imported into the Yves, Indies,
through their Northern Provinces and of course
IN British vessels. pay no duty; while tho same ar
tlclcs, by other acts, when passing directly from
the United States, in which alone our vessels can
participate, are oppressed with imposts follows
Hour five shiliingS sterling the barrel; beef and
pork, twelve shillings sterling the hundred weight
wood and lumber, pound eight shillings the
thousand feet. The same act of 1881 h as i'm
posed additional duties, in the direct trade, upon
slaves and headings, from Is Sd 10 lis 3d. and upon
white or yellow pine lumber, from rs 10 Is sterling
We see the effects in the short time W Inch
has already elapsed and they will become more and
more alarming by future developments.
The trade instead ofbcing direct i'll American hot,
toms, as 1t ought Ia be- is circuitous in British as it
ought not To be- Look at the official document lust
laid upon cur table, which presents statements for
the year next following the arrangement during
which our exports to the British American Colonies
on our borders, were in value S4060, S96; and our
imports from the same only 1854, 1885, while to
Brush West Indies our exports were only |, HI
'O0, and our imports l,2S4,61S. The great mass
of these exports to the Northern provinces were
carried thence i'll British vessels To the West Indies
or other distant possessions orc. Britain for which
they were originally destined. And, even in the
short voyage, from the United States to the ada
cent provinces, separated from us only by an ina
ginary line, the British tonnage has erceeded the
american, the former being S3,055, and the latter
but G6 SO5.
But il the present cnacmemts should not accom-
pish all their purposes against navigation they
may increase the disparity, and enhance their adj
vaniagcs at pleasure. The whole magazine of le-
giSaton is open for the selection of their weapons
OF attack while we have laid down our arms and
Invested ourselves of the pannply Obedience.
And what aggravates still more these bitter
fruits of recent diplomacy, is the fact that we
have, heretofore, not only sternly refused per-
init our opponents 10 hold this controlling power,
OF taxing our produce higher in the direct than in
the circuitous voyage, but the British themselves
IN the negotiation Of 1918, unqualif,dly surrender
edit, and neUer presumed to claim it aftertrardS,
unttn ,cds conceded TO them in this ARRANGEMENT.
How can this sudden submission, to a long aban-
doncd British prctcnsion, be accounted for? On.
ly by the cagcrncss of our ncgotiators to swallow
any thing that was baited with the name arrange
ment. This rccklcssncss was so great that our
minister at London dd nat readthe negotGtiOns
N 1918; which followed our act of that year, &C
companied the renewal of the Convention of ISIS
and were so important, that two negotiators, on
part, Mr.. Gallatin and Mr.. Rush, were associa.
ted; nay, he did not even possess the documents
which contained them. although they had been
printed for more than seven years. We learn this
from his own letter of the l4lh of March, 1881.
Sir, we not only refused to permit produce to
be taxed higher i'll the direct than in the circuitous
voyage, but we at one time insisted that it should
the productions Of their domnions. This lat
ter has been dcnomitcd tho "eiScChc,e' principle,
and has attempted to be confounded with the form
or, from which it is widely different 1t was incor-
poratcd into the act of 1923, by the of the
word ''clscwhcre," insisted upon in MIR. Rushs
negotiations of 1924 upon which point alone they
broke Off and was subsequently waived through
MIR. Gal!atin, in 1896 But the principle that our
produce should be taxed no more directly than cir
cautiously, that is, when transported in our own
vessels, than in British bottoms, has never before
been, for moment, yielded by us, but was express
y conceded by Great Britain, not only in the pro-
toco and basis of 1875 but her acts OF Parliament
OF lS22, and the still more celebrated one of 1925
But Mr.. McIanc to consolc us for this umimit
cd concession of power, says, that we have "a
safe guarantee against excessive" exercise of it.
In what does it consist Where is it to be found?
In the interests of Great Britain alone. The
increase of duties, says he, will fall upon the plant
or. And is this an argument TO be addressed to
trecmenl Might not the slave SLY, it is for the in.
tcrcst of my master to treat me kindly? But who
would therefore submit to uncontrolled dominion?
The interests of Great Britain, What are they
Her darling primary interest is, to dcpress ma
riuc and elevate her own. sin commerce. in ravi.
CATION, in naval power, and maritime pretcnsions,
(says Mr. Huskisson) the United States are our most
formidable rival" The present Secretary Of State
would have told him, as he did in 1927, that "pro.
vidcd the Islands could get supplies England ca.
red not for what price, so it Of in
crcasing her navigation" "ThiS be.
ing the avowcd policy Of Great Britain the qucs.
ton is, (sayS MIR. Livingston,) whether we shall
play into her hands" Yes, says Mr. McIanc, be.
cause of this ''sac guarantee" the interests Of the
planters But where is even This miserable securi.
ty, when we see that however enormous the duties
i'll the direct they may be nothing i'll the crcuitous
trade, and when we know, too that the imposts
arc paid into the colonial treasury, for the benefit
of the planters themselves.
turn now, Sir, to another description of mcr.
chandize-