The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-08-18

of the English system was "to raise up colonies
of customers--a project" he added, g fit only
for nation of shopkeepersn Indeed, he thought
il "unfit even for a nation Of shopkeepers, al
though extremely fit for a nation whose Gov
eminent was influenced by shopkeepers." That
was her portrait in profile, three quarters of a
century ago To give full-face view of the
nation, justice required that the beer and beef
should be laid in, that the bully side of her char
acter might fairly appear; but since that day
traffic has taken the tone out of her temper and
she has little left but the tricky pliablties of
confirmed huckster. A little while ago, she
had pluck enough to mingle the balance Of
power" somewhat bravely with the "balsnce
of interest" in her foreign policy, but now she
has 30 interviewer her own existence into the
web of universal commerce, that she dare not
for her life offend a customer Her policy has
long been to make herself the workshop of the
world, the sole buyer of all the raw products OF
the nations and sole seller of the manufactured
commodities to be exchanged for them with
the power to fix the prices of both.
By her treaty of Methuen with Portugal, in
1903, she obtained the control of the market oil
that country for the sale of her manufactures
agreeing to give in compensation the Portuguese |
wines great advantage over those Of France
The result is that the manufactures OF Portugal |
have sunk to nothing and her commerce. once
the medium for interchanging the products Of
the East and West, has become a mere shadow |
Her wool and salt go to England, her wines |
are monopolized there, and she has at last be-
come burden to her destroyer.
Turkey, also, has treaty with her, now
more than century old; by the terms of which,
that Government bound itself to charge no |
more than three per cent. duty on British i'm |
ports. Her industry has long been parslized |
| Up till the close Of the last century Turkey |
still exported cotton yarn in considerable guam,
tity; now, even its culture is abandoned, and |
her internal trade is in the hands of foreign |
pedlers. Mr. Golden has recently said that |
these ancient allies Of Great Britain have be. /
come curse to her, and are no longer worth |
preserving The fate of these two colonized |
customers Of John Bull is we'll illustrated by |
the story of an Irish tenant of an English alb
sentee landlord. The poor fellow had been for
series of years paying his rent out of his little
capital, until it was well nigh exhausted but
as he had no better choice and was still able
to meet the rent he asked new lease. He
was answered "You are no longer entirely
safe at quarter day, you have been growing
poorer year after year, and must have
sounder man,
India is another instance of the effects of the
British system of centralizing the trade of the
world in her own hands. Bengal was once
celebrated for the finest muslins the Coast Of
Coromandel for chintzes and calicoes and
Western India for the manufacture of strong
inferior goods Of every kind Nearly century
since, the battle of Plassey established the Brit
ish power over that wealthy, prosperous, and
happy country To suppress the native rival
ry of manufactures, every loom, anvil, BARRIERS
hone, cotton-beater's bow, carpenters tool oil
mill, potter's kiln, iron mandatory, fishing
boat, fishing net, was taxed to the utmost value
Of its productive power, and the result is told
in the language of Bishop Heber, Gan impene
trable Jungle now surrounds the once great man.
ufacturing city of Dacca" Mr.. George Thomp
son, not long SINCE in the House of Com
mons, reminded the Government that at the
close Of the last century cotton abounded and b.
30 great an extent was the labor of men, wom-
en- and children applied to its conversion into
cloth, that even with their imperfect machine
ry, they not only supplied the home demand
for the beautiful tissues Of Dacca, and the coars
er products of Western India, but they export
ed to other parts of the world no less than
200, DOC, 900 Of pieces per annum. After the
improvements in manufactures were fairly in
troduced into England the export of machine
~ and artisans to India being vigorously pro
hibited, and free trade in foreign commodities
established, SO as to expose the native manufac
turers to unlimited competition, the export Of
cottons from Bengal in 1927 sunk to f2S5, 12I;
and in 1s47, a whole year passed without the
export of a single piece of cotton from Calcutta.
Since 1918 the export of cottons from India
constantly declined, until it has at length ceas
ed altogether; and the export Of raw cotton
has, at corresponding pace, risen until it has
attained the height of sixty millions of pounds,
England sends back about twenty five millions
pounds of twist and of cloth two hundred and /
sixty millions of yards. Thus every pound Of |
raw cotton sent to England is returned manu- |
featured, after having travelled 90, 900 miles in
search of the spindle, and left nearly its whole |
value in the hands of brokers, transporters |
manufacturers, and operatives thus interposed |
between the producer and the consumer.
MIR. George Thompson, M. p, well-known
in this country as in England, in one of his lee
lures upon India, sums up the results of the /
British rule there in terms so striking that we
| cannot forbear a few extracts: Some of the /
finest tracts of land have been forsaken, and /
given up to the untamed beasts of the jungle,
The motives to industry have been destroyed
The soil seems to lie under curse. Instead Of
| yielding abundance for the wants of its own
population, and the inhabitants Of other re-
gons it does not keep in existence its own chill |
dren. 1t becomes the burying place Of millions
crying for bread This, in British India, in the |
reign of Victoria the First"
The same system extended to Ireland has
reduced her population TO exclusive agriculture
that they might be the purchasers Of English
manufactures. Ireland was prohibited from
exporting woolens and glass TO the colonies
In 1900, Dublin employed APIS hands in wool
en- manufactures in 1910, COZ! At Cork, in
| 1900, there were thousands of cotton-spinners,
blcachcrs, and calico-printcrs; in 1884, there
were none. This is fair sample of the con
| a;t;on N which the whole island has been re