New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-02-12
rpE INDEPENDENT AND FREE TRADE.

trade. Two of these matters we might let pass,
but as the third question vitality concerns the in
habitaDts Of this country az well as those Of Tur
key, we may be allowed once more to notice the
disquisitions Of our respected neghb0r. In SO
the same disregard Of the facts 10 the case which
We bave exposed in its previous articles and for
which h deisns neither apology nor explanation.
1t is true IL at it makes up the defcencyby asser
ton without proof and argument without reason,
procedure common enough with the ordinary
run of British Freetraders, and even better than
the false tables Of its allies, The JOnrsa! Of Com
m,rce and Mr.. Gouge but yet not exactly credit
able to journal whose religious character and
pIetensions entitle us to expect candid and man.
ly treatment Of every important subject it sees
Fl. to take up. For instance, in its article Of
Thursday lat, it states the following as among
the points it has settled 10 its former Essays:
"The development of the vast material resources of
Turkey dependt upon a wise, honest and thorough
home administration, giving security to property III
industry and lfe and not upon any foreign nterfer
ence or protection Whatsoever
The meaning of this is that Turkey can revive,
and her resources be developed under the system
of Free trade, which has always existed there,
and that the imposition Of protective duties on
imports is not at all essential to the revival-and
this our contemporary claims to have proved.
But before it puts forward such claim, The
Independent should at least attempt 10 explain the
history Of the Sutans endeavor to make iron,
to which we called lite attention early in the con.
kvn Tho CuI&ap hal TnrLa
could not thrive 80 long as abe had to 90 abroad
for the Decessares of life. determined to put her
in the way of producing iron at home. Rich ore
and good coal were dug chesply and in abundance,
and brought to Constantinople at little cost; an
ample furnace was erected, with all modern in.
provements, and managed by the best skill that
could be procured from France or England; the
iron was found to be Of good quality, bat it could
not be made quite 60 cheap as so plasters the
quiDtal, while English iron sold In the market at
AZ piasters, and thus the enterprise fell thr ough.
Now it is plain that duty of Is, 90 or %
piasters en- foreign iron would not only have
enabled this experimental furnace to con-
tnue, but would have led to the establish.
ment of many others, with such improve.
ments and advantages that Turkey no doubt
would, in due time, have been able 10 supply her.
self with this indispensable article, from her own
mines at cost defyipg foreign competition; aud
then the duty could have been abandoned, and Free
trade in foreign iron allowed. But we will
thank The Indeyendent to tell us how under any
honest and thorough home Administration,
iron making could ever be established in Tar-
key without duty or how could such al
Administration give "security to Industry"
except by protecting its infantile struggles
not emily against robbers at home, but against
competition abroad, and especially against the
competition of England, with her enormous
power and traditional determination to monopo-
lie the markets Of the world When The In
dspendent shall affori some satisfactory explana-
ton on these points, it may claim to hsve proved
that Protection is unnecessary, and that the ma
terial resources Of Turkey, or any other weak
and uncultivated power can be developed with
out it. Until then, our contemporary would do
itself moro honor by speaking of the subject in
less positive and presentious sort of language.
Equally disipgenuous lie The Independent in
regard to the position Of Messrs Bright and
Golden on this question. We showed last week
that Mr.. Cobdens reason for opposing the war
was that under the Russian Government, with its
protective tariff, Turkey would be able to buy
more English manufactures than under the effete
Turkish Government with the country worn out
by Free trade, Its artisans turned into beggars
and robbers BY British industrial competition,
ar1 10.
and ruined. These gentlemen differ from the
mass of their fellow-subjects; but the reason of
the difference 10 fatal to The independents Free
trade theory, and accordingly it must be passed
over in silence. We concur entirely In Mr.. Cob
den's view Of the fact, though our interest in the
welfare Of the Inhabitants of Turkey has another
motive. Like a true British Free-kader, he
views IT, matter as q shopmau seeking the most
profitable markets, regardless of principle or con-
sistency; while We, on the other hand, desire the
independence and progress-and the industrial
independence especially, as the basis Of every
thing elie--of the fifteen millions Of people who
now live under the Tnrkish rule.
The peroration of our contemporary We copy
entire 1" the only mode of doing itjustice:
1--WE limited at the ruinous policy which, under
the pretense Of protecting American labor allures
the cheaper labor Of foreigners to compete with it
side by side. Hersupon The TRIBUNE charges us
with opposing foreign immigration That which we
set forth Is runous was not the natural hov of i'm
migration which supplies our land with useful labor
and which s equalized by demand, but the artificial
stimulus applied to certain branches of industry for
the sake Of protecting these against foreign compe
tton which inevitably results In transferring that
ompe iition to the very side OF those Who were to be
b. nrotected from it, This policy would denstonalze
Turkey. There, as everywhere, men need only free