The debate contained in o...
The Times, 1824-03-10T00:00:00

The debate contained in our paper of yesterday on the opening of the silk trade as a financial measure, requires a few words. No one will dispute with Mr. HUSKISSON the honour of an excellent pleading for the measure; he brought a great deal of knowledge to bear on the subject: but we would beg leave to notice how much hc has been obliged to alter the original scheme. It was at first proposed to admit raw silk for a trifling duty, and to allow the im- portation of articles of French manufacture at an ad valoremn luty of 30 per cent.: but now the plan is to take off the linport dutv almost entirely upon raw silk, and not to admit foreign wrought silk till July, 1826! lVhat is now become )f the opening of our ports to foreign commerce ?-of the ,rinciple of a free trade? Why, that principle has been ost entirely in the conflicts and disputes upon the question: ror the measure, as it now stands, is simply the diminution )f the duties upon imported raw silk. This is the relief which is tendered to all the people of England in return for their past sufferings. The manufacturers, however, are now said to be con- Lent. We wish them to be so; but were they, we ask, liscontented before this measure was stirred? OthCerplans of general alleviation might have been pursued, and the 5ilk-_nanufacturers would never have expresse4 dissatisfac- tion at their existingcondition. On thecontrary, hadsuch plails been wisely selected, those ingenious mechanics must iave shared equally with others in theadvantages accruing, mnd would have found their condition yet more comfortable. Had the assessed taxes, for example, been partly repealed, the farmers, upon wvhom they still press heavuy, would have been uuder no such necessity as at presenit for having high markets; the landlords would have beei less xigent of high rents; the mechanics in question, as wel as all other mechanics, would have lived at a less expense; and the articles which thiey nanufacture, being produced at a less cost, the British vendors wouldl have been better able to contend with the foreign traders. It is absurd to talk of encouraging a free coimmerce, unless the comaneree in corn be free; and more absurd still to talk of a free corn trade, unless the burdens which press upon the English agricul- turist be removed or alleviated-unless he be placed more on a level with the foreign grower. In the present iustance we still assert, that Ministers, even under the total change above described of their first proposition, are directing their attentions to the wrong object; they are be iniing at that- which shoinld be the consummation of tleir measures. They are attempting to encourage a rich and spreadirig bloom at the head of the plant, whilst its root remains cramped and oppressed. Yesterday at two o'clock, a Cabinet Council wassheld at the Foreign Office, Downiung..treet, which was attended by the Lord Chancellor, andu most of the Cabinet Minis- ters, who continued in close deliberation tiU about 4 o'clock. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has been indisposed with a severe cold since Sunday. The Right Honourable Gentleman is conflne4 to the house, and, bas not seen any body on public busijess, with the cxception of yesterday, wvhen he went acrosls Dowuing-street, fr9n4 hE b'oi"to ti Foreign Office, to attend the C:abincrCouneil.-