The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-06-19

Of Great Britain. The bill passed even tho Lords
by triumphant majority, and is now INC Va" VI
that land.
The corn-laws arc part Of great SYSTEM very
ancient SYSTEM the system OF CoaatAoAL ~
sTRcTIos. And this, in It's turn' Is oul ono " u;e
phases of that master error-ultra legislation IL 10
one of the numerous forms, in which the world has
been governed too mueh. 80 ...
Now Il is a thing as impossible TO perpetuate,
through coming time, this system OF Commefe'ai
Restriction, il is TO perpetuate the disiIanehlse
ment Of voters in France. IL is Fastening to It's de-
cav Already many Of its forms are eonfessedly an
tquAted and have fallen into disrepute and dsuse'
We may smile al of these rude old forms,
we find them in the annals Of the mother coun-
try; yet they, like the forms Of our own day, once
had their fair showing pleas, and their specious
apOlogsts There is ancient Scots Act OF Parma
ment, which, going forward, with laundering direct
ness, TO its audable obi ct, the increase OF wealth
among the liege subjects, forbade under heavy pen
ates the carrying gold or silver forth OF The KING
dom" France, England, Spain, Portugal, all, at
different times resorted to the crude expedient
To make times good and encourage domestic industry
We have outyed the idea, that these objects may
be attained by passing laws 10 detain money among
| us perforce.
The placing of embargoes on merchandise, for
| merly royal preTOgative, Is now out OF uate'
queen Mary frequently exercised it; and Elizabeth,
before her coronation send order TO the cus'om
house. prohibiting the sale Of all crimson silks unul
the court we're first supplied. Another OF this lat
ter soyereign's legal intsrmeddlngs appears sun
more whimsical. She took offence, II Hume may
be credited, at the smell Of woad; and issued, IN
consequence, an ediet, prohibiting the culture Of
that useful plant. The ingenuity Of modern times
has always hand, TO excuse the laws restraints
on commerce, some more plausible apology than
| the olfaetory snupathies OF a sovereign prince.
Thus too, in regard TO order in council, pro.
mulgated under Charles |, which commanded that
all shops in Cheapside and Lombard street, Londoo,
| except those Of goldsmiths, should be shut up,
that the avenue u st. Paul's might appear more
| splendid" So idle within would not now be
deemed legitimate cause why the law should IN
terfere and break up Iadesman's business
10 the fourteenth century law-givers thought Il
necessary TO interfere between the employers and
the employed, and determine the pree OF labor.
The statute of laborers," in 1850, fixed the wages
Of reapers at three pence day, (eqnal IN value to
, nearly a dollar and quarter Of our money! and
for other labor in proportion. At the present day
the farmer may complain Of high wages, and the la
borer Of low; but the statesman does not consider
the complaints Of either reason to justify his direct
| interference.
The morality of some portion Of the ancient Iegts-
! aton on contracts is longer very lntellgible TO
US ST. Louis, called the best Of French kings, is
sued an ordnance in which, "for the salvation OF
his own soul and that Of his ancestors, he released
TO all Christians third part OF what was owing by
them to Jews" When money is legislAied,
] ;
hcn decency demands that II should not be done IN
| so harefaced manner. We are scandaized for IN.
stance when we read, that Henry VIII, after eX-
tortng, by miscaled benevolence Tor forced loan,
to repay which he gave his written obligatory lone
sixth Of every mans substance, payable IN money,
plate or Jewels" obtained from his next Parliament
a statute, in which the Commons do for them
selves and all the whole body of the realm which
they represent freely literally, and absolutely, give
and grant unto the Kings highness all and every
sum sums Of money, which to them and every
of them is, ought or might be due by reason OF
any money or any other thing TO his Grace at any
time heretofore advanced, by way Of trust or loan.
We staggered, eyen at the boldness OF the early
Virginia councillors, who, when tobacco rose IN
value in consequence Of laws protecting Its culture,
scrupled not TO provide remedy, by enacting that
mo man need pay more than two-thirds Of his debt
during the STINT" and that "all creditors should take
forty pounds for hundred" And yet In this lat
ter case our scrupes of questionable consistency
Restricting laws first raised the price Of the staple,
and consequently the scale Of debts; and such
are tolerated in our day. Why, then, take offence
at the direct legislation, honest and not more
positive which lowered that scale to its original
standard agan'
| All! the politicians of our country civil and
a smooth-spoken race, with little Of the Tudor and
Stuart downrightness Of the oden time about them.
They scruple much to do inlustiee-in straight.
| forward way. They will not hear word said about
restraining or lettering trade, altering the scale OF
debts or impairing contracts. Interference is a
term not to be found in their vocabulary 1t has an
| offensive sound, and is acknowledgements
When the infant settlement Of jamestown lost,
by Indian massacre, half her colonsts the gallant
Captain Smith offered the London Company Of Ad-
venturers his services to overawe the natives and
provide for the safety Of the colony. The company
thereupon graciously declared, that che should have
| leave 10 go at his own expense, if he would grant
the CORPORATION one-half of the pillagew Similar to
| ,c1 nft he
is the protection which the law has usually afforded
| to commerce.
A common form Of such protection, in the Middle
Ages was that nf close corporations. Ii may be
that this system had its origin in desire to protect
| commerce from outrage. Bancroft calls it /" a par
of the bundle Of liberties gathered together in the
age of feudasm, and which formed the only bal
ance of the commercial and manufacturing interest:
against the arisocracy of the sword As such, the
custom, like other temporary expedients indefens-
BILE on Just principles, may have been useful in its
day Yet it would seem, that its natural and neces-
\ sary evils very showed themselves. When
we read, as we do in Hume, that at the commence
ment of the seventeenth century, nine eihs of the
commerce of England consisted In woollen goods, il
appears almost incredible, though it be true that
single privileged corporation, namely, the ''Compa
ny of Merchant Adventures" held, by their patent
exclusive possession of this branch of trade. Add
to this Elizabths patents, usually granted to he,
courters, to deal exclusively even in such necessa
RES OF lite as SALT IRON, leather, ana coa and we
shall have some conception what sort of protection
was afforded, in these days, the very saturnalia Of
monopoists, by operation of law, to the true inter
ests Of the commercial community.
The legislative records of England bear testimony
to the effects Of such system the national indus
try. When, during the session Of 1901 the list OF
articles assigned to the patentees read over in
Guiding not only the staples already enumerated but
paper, glass, tin, beer Irish yarn, train oil, and IF
! ty Others member exclaimed: ais not bread
among the number" The House seemed amazed.
Nay" said he, 'ifno remedy be found for these,
bread will be there before the next Parliament. "
"Every tongue" adds Hallam, "seemed now I'M
oosed, each as if emulously descanting on the in
jures of the place he represented" The queen,
yielding to the torrent Of opinion, sent for the
speaker and desired him to acquant the House, tina,
she would Immediately cancel the most grievous
and oppressive Of these patents upon the delivery
| of which gracious message, says Hume, ga men,
Der said with tears in his eyes, that If sentence OF
everlasting happiness had been pronounced IN his
L. .ts ;z,. L.