The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1847-04-17
EDITORS CORRESPONDENCE.
FROM our European Correspondent.
No. XVI.
FrANkPoRr- oN-rHE- MAINE, February ~ ioH'

,Laq Il
e navigation laws In the course OF his speech he
..n mus, be obvious for every ton of shipping we
drive away from our ports f We Frgopd of AN advantge
te Merchant and his ship should in his opinion be IKE
the pedr and his d III bo would sell and must
P 6bvons that the more they nterered with ms ua
actions the they drlasRea wanted vine
che spaniard wanted earthenware and lhe frehch"
wanted sugar Let Them suppose Sor be Frencbman
cargo ~ shp a cargo of wine London for the Eng
sbnan When he arrived here our and
wI p not he would reoin; you want our wine ana
want your earthenware icannot he,P nm, ,ha MI o
the our country the wooden walls of Old England and
M ,ia sort of thing prohibit your bringing french we
u w. norts bur III tell what you may DO; you may
to our youT wine 10 Span and land it there, and then
hip and bring here again. and we WIZ tneh gye
YOU equal tue absurdiy Of this arrangement! There
gss actually ease, the other day. OF French snip wen
o to there took Amsterdam; and stl hhdlng
s, ,o customer brought it Liverpool. where it
wa ,, mi upon what condition Why, 10 add absurd
p absurtyoa the sole eondition that 1t should De ia
~ Bork 10 NeO York in the pesse This was the way
hicb hey destroyed that triangular TRADE,
Which was us he believed, the most profitable branch oil
nr commercial marine And IT II was the most prohabe,
o ~, sbonl thew enact laws obstruct II They might
GrS.nd upon it, that human wisdom could never make
with the natural regulations OF trade and com
sn,e without creating waste, losses and expense Let
them call what they pleased-a navigation lava chaftg
% trnose of protecting the shp-owner by raising ireghts
ber than Ihey need be- They had taken away the mo
s,nlv loln which the West Indies iancied that they
derived great advantage, and the eoionis's had now
a fair right TO say, that masmnch as the navl-
anon laws restricted them in their trade, and OPP
nosed an obstacle the Independence OF their com
nerce the trade in shipping ought to be as free as
the trade in sugar And he would mere REMIND ,ne mouse
that the system OF isoating colonies from the m9ier
onntry which had lost the Brazis TO Portugal and the
United States to Great Britain; which had len Ia Holland ,
With Java solitary possession; and Spain with Gioa
and Porto Rico out OF all her immense dependencies was
there then, any adequate motive OF poiiuca exPeency
10 Justify this mischief and oppression! Whg at ne present
,iS pns oar commercial marine INFERIOR TO THATOF
THE UNITED STArESa Some one would reply, be- be-
cause timber dearer here. Was that fact! He
,v much doubted whether, before commlttee the con-
try counot povedat least regarded oak and teak
mort however shpbuilders paid only As. Cd 10 Is.
Der day. in London where herevas combination against
masters they paid only Us day. whilst IN the United
States the average was two dollars nearly nine shings
a day
In my second letter upon reciprocity treaties, dated No
venber 80 stated shat for practical purposes, our SNIP
ping is more effective than the shipping of Great Britain,
or the shipping of all the remaining states OF Europe, and
that we have now, verify believe, The hrst mercdnfhe
nary on EARTH Little did imagine, at the timel express
ed this opinion that in less than sevenyve days would
M corroborated by eminent member OF the BRITISH FAR
lament and the significant inerrogatoy put to the people
of England Why, the present time, was our CONNER
ea marine inferior 10 that of the United Sates! Is 1t,
,hen avowed and taciiy admitted on all Sides among the
wpiyers of the 'Island GIANT that republic OF only
ee score and ten years. growth, have pucked from her
brow respects commercial navigation the laurel which
has adorned her for agesp'ond mistress OF the seas
What cause for graduation among our countrymen!
Freedom in navigation and commerce civizes and chris
nanize our race and that are the recognised head
Of nations on the ocean, we have additional important
al and political duties perio-ihe enlshtening and bet
tering the condition Of the human family.
In support of the motion of Mr. Ricardo, Sir Robert Peel
said;
al had been remarked in the course OF this debate
that the navigation laws had endured for two hundred
years he however, nppehenaan ,hha tie im
with the existence Of commercial ana maritime
marine, and of an earlier period than the Pro,ecolae, b
whatever had been It's antipathy to such course m.s
country had been compelled by necessity, 10 fefd1 nose s
In 1915 why had they been relaxed mot IN any specua
tive notions of any superior advantages to BE- ganedcW
because Ancricr had determined 10 introduce The same pn
c to lag duty British ships and British goods, and
point of fact, the question then was whether by gidy
maintaining the navigation laws, this country would cause
preference TO be given to the OF other
Taxation OF those laws, considerable portion OF the Amer
can trade would be secured Again in ISL when mr.,
luskisson made further relaxation he apprehended that
that right honorable gentleman did So because Prussia was
about Initiating he example Of The United tee , sses az w9nd
ping interests of the country when he explained his mo-
Norway s He anse s Ne in is2i eas The change
| aratoa Of these acs."
And here let me remark by way Of addcnda the
ment Of the greatest that England ever produced
that 'Nhe change in the commercial system last summer
Unnecessarily compels The adjustment of the remainder of
these laws" They wholly Incompatible with the salu
try reform auspicously commenced then. Their con-
Itinuance upon the code book would paralyze
extent the blessings which beginning to be
1penenced from the browning measure of the towering
Acxmnister. In my first letter upon reciprocity
ates dated November 30 remarked "These realiatory
measures establishing ditierenal import and tonnage du-
ties in favor Of our flag, enacted, and received the sig
nature OF George Washington, in july 1889 BY them the
gem was planted, which, in the incredibly short space of
Ihyevcn years. has been productive of the second frs
mercantile navy in the world The laws from which have
quoted and those of similar subsequently enacted
directed exclusively the navigation system of Great
ilin, as expressed in the famous of 1851 and the
nee OF them felt with great severity by persons enga
Xsim commerce. IN England At first disposition
anested by the British government to adhere rgdly TO
policy IN despite of them; but it perceived that
were rapidly growing people, the evils compla med of
multiplied from day to day instead of diminishing. Final
alter the war of 1872 terminated commercial treaty
Vas concluded between the countries 1t was signed
London on the 81 of July, 1915, and by its spulatons
we principles of the navigation abandoned as far
re- related to the United States.
4er concessions made us, other nations became
humorous for similar oues and threatened unless their de-
81 ahds were complied with, 10 precisely such
al easures as had used successfully. Great Britain
csated some time TO the it her
nrsne dutng which Prussia, wearied with delay put her
peats INTO practical execution At length, after repeated
IPcauons to the government by the merchants and ship
wner engaged in commercial intercourse with the north
III Europe, who represented their trade in langushng
Jhulon, Great Britain determined extend the prnci-
es OF reciprocity which she had covenanted with us to
sr @her powers"
1 ieei an ample justification for the heightened extract
p1 nch have thus introduced from my letter already pub
ed ned IN the Union, for it will be that perfect
pcdence in the views uttered by Sir Robert Peel Par
e on the 9th Of February instant, and those express
by mp the 2sh of November last They are substan-
~ lily Identical How honoraby the ex-prenier of England