New-York daily tribune., 1862-05-05
THE BRITISH yIPlFF-ITS PRO1EC-
TIYE IEAJUHLH.
M px;.;s, con,oidated Customs Act of

Tho H,;tish Confoidated Customs Act OF
1850 cborres imrort duties upon fweniy-f"
articles of commerce, counting them by thor
,o,e,,I headings, or generic denominations.
All tbe remainder Of their imports of f're.en
GOODS, amounting TO about one i6ousdna 'ehis
ms they stand in the tariff tables, are made d"'!
free. That il, free from what are usually
called customs or import duties; but they are
all snbiect. the free as wen as lie duty-pay-
ING. TO certain charges, small in the particu-
Iars. but, in the aggregate Of an immense COM
mercc amounting to a very large sum.
The duties imposed by the act upon ten OF
these articIes--hops, beer, malt, paper, Sine-
ear. cards, dice, ohiccOry, essence of spruce,
md gold End silver patc--are abcut equivalent
to the tax levied by the internal revenue on
like articles manufactured or produced in the
United Kingdom. Several others Of tie dutia-
bic imports are very lightly charged and !le'"
trining amounts to the revenue, but are H.
cluded in the duty-paying lists on accouns u
the relation they bear to domestic a'uo'e'
which contribute largely to the re'enue' "'."'
M the authorities are won't TO say, 'snouu'
..,or tbis reason. be classed with those thal
"ore taxed merely for the purpose OF equehzlng
"tLe Government burdens upon foreign and
.. domestic commodities OF the same kinds -
q phrase intended to cover the tact tuat Sii
such inposts are as purely protective of the
domestic articles as if they were laid on for
anv other reason assigned. They have the
effect of carrying up the prices of the
foreign articles 10 such rates as glVe tlo COM
petipC domestic products with which they ere
said 10 be thus equalized, the actual possession
of the home market. Now this is all that Is
meant by protection anywhere. Eqaaf'-ed msy
be better word, but protection Is the effect
and il is the intention also. As an instance Of
the care that the British Government takes to
equalize-that is, protect--her home products
by duties upon foreign competing articles, up
f.. and If need be, above, the amount Of the
inland revenue rates, We have the fact that
the Government asked and obtained supple
mentary convention with France Oh the 2oth
Of February, 1860 to allow On alteration IN
the Cobden treaty of the 23d Of January pre-
viouslv, BY which French brandles and spirits
were TO be surcharged five pence per gallon
over and above tie excise upon the home made
spirits.
Thus it appears tlat free trade in En-
gland does not mean the surrender of her
homo market 10 the foreigner, as to any
article which she can produce or manufacture
fer herself, but means only the remission OF
sgCfI IecFfr frpf
for the protection of domestic industry, and
tie retention of all that are required.
This policy and this principle rule every ar.
tele in the duty-payiDg list of the English tar
if which is eataogued as under duties intended
merely to couDtervail the excise and inland
revenue charges upon similar commodities.
On al these articles the import duties ore
small, but large enough to answer tho intention.
But there remain fourteen other articles,
which in tie year 1859 yielded twenty-iour
millions sterling, being only one million and
sixty thousand pounds short Of the customs re-
cepts from all sources; and ttese, cay the e1-
ponents of the system, - are retained solely
- for fiscal purposes" and Of course have no
protection features in them. Let us see:
The duties imposed upon raw sugar, unmanu-
faetured tobacco, spices, coffee, and tea, which
are neither products Of Great Britain, nor act
rs substitutes for, or in any way compete with,
her native products in her own markets, are
purely tax upon consumption, and are IN ei
feet EXCISE duties collected at the Custom
House. These articles afford an immense reyc
nue., and, at first sight, the duties charged upo
them look as if they were laid only for Gsci
purposes, and had no reference whatever t
the protection Of domestic labor ana capital
but on looking closely into these duty-pa!io
articles We detect protection, simple uninixe
and unmitigated, TO an extent that may We'll sur
prise those who receive the late notifications il
the British commercial system as model free
trade policy.
Let us now examine in detail the chief o
those articles which yield Il hundred millions o
dollars Q year TO tie British revenue, and som,
of those which yield less, more generally.
Sugar, tobacco, and foreign spirits from
grain, are the most important imports Of Till
class. These three articles produced thirteer
and a half millions sterling to the revenue il
I657-about S65, COO, coo. Now, how much o
this vast sum was in effect, as well as in inten
ton, protective Of British manufactures from
raw materials, which must be manufacture,
before they find their way into their ultimate
market, or enter into consumption
Under the tariff OF 1860, now in force
Sugars are charged with the following in
port duties, viz: