ships have been employed in a circuitous conveyance of it through the continent; or that any quantity has been imported otherwise than in British ships, and directly from the place of its growth, except in a single instance, under very peculiar circum stances. The trade with the United States of America, it is said, is carried on principally in American shipping; but if, as is alleged, the American vessel has no advantage over the British one in point of cheapness, the competition in any other than the American trade cannot fail to be in favour of the British ship coming to the United Kingdom, in which the voyage is performed directly; while by that in the American ship the cargo can only reach its destination circuitously, subject to the additional inconvenience, delay, and expense of trans-shipment in a fo-. reign port. The danger, therefore, of a circuitous conveyance being generally substituted for the direct one, or the foreign for British shipping, in the trade with distant parts of the world, does not excite in your Committee any apprehension; and this observation, as well as the grounds on which it rests, in the opinion of your Committee, apply equally to foreign ships of the cheaper description, whether of the countries in the south or north of Europe, the Greeks and Genoese, not less than those of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It has been represented to your Committee, that the effect of the suggested alteration might be, partially to reverse the course of the trade as now conducted between India and Europe. A great proportion of this trade is at present confined to British ships. The cargoes consist in an assortment of light and heavy articles, of which the heavy form the largest though least valuable part; the former are chiefly consumed on the continent, the latter within the united kingdom. Owing to a market for the lighter and more valuable part of the cargo not being afforded except in Great Britain, the prohibition on the importation of the produce of Asia from any European port, and the necessity of an assortment of the cargo, such as described, the Continental supply of the more bulky articles has been hitherto, in a considerable degree, received through the United Kingdom. These articles, which are most affected by the rate of freight, may, it is feared, be conveyed directly to the continent by means of foreign navigation, if a market were opened to the lighter articles with which the cargo must be completed, by admitting their ulterior importation into this country. That this may happen occasionally, your Committee think far from improbable; but it is the permanent and habitual course of trade, and not the occasional or accidental deviations from it, that is the object to which the attention of the legislature should be directed. So far from feeling these occasional exceptions to be a matter of jealousy, your Committee are disposed to consider the denial of facilities of this kind to foreigners, as a policy of useless severity, which has already produced effects highly unfavourable to the general commercial interests of the country. The probability of the circuitous course of trade becoming habitual, must arise from the comparative advantages it promises to those who may engage in it. These must be sufficient to compensate for the inconvenience and additional expense of the circuitous conveyance of the most valuable part of the cargo, and also its liability, in the markets of the united kingdom, to certain competition with a supply brought directly in our own ships; this is a considerable risk. It may be at the same time matter of some doubt, whether the conveyance of the bulky articles to the continent in a foreign ship would be upon the whole much more economical than in a British one; and if to this, the inevitable risk described, bearing upon the most valuable part of the cargo, is added, there seems little reason to fear that such conveyance would be habitually preferred, even if no peculiar advantages existed in favour of British shipping in carrying on the commercial intercourse with India. In all the ports of the British possessions in India, (which include most of the principal ports of export,) it must be remembered that a difference in the duties imposed on the exportation of goods, to the amount of five per cent, exists in favour of the British ship. The ships from the continent are understood to be in general chiefly dependent on their return cargo to answer the whole charge of freight, whereas a British ship going out loaded with merchandize is enabled to divide the charge of freight between the outward and homeward voyage; a circumstance which gives an obvious advantage in the expense of homeward freight to a British ship. Nor must we forget that a considerable portion of the funds of the Indian trade are supplied by the remittance of the acquisitions of British subjects, to be realized or expended in their native country; that a great part of the export trade of India is through the East India Company; that the individuals through which the greatest proportion of the remainder is conducted, are sprung from the united kingdom, whose commercial connexions are with British houses and British merchants, and whose feelings and interests are exclusively British. When all these circumstances are considered, without giving to them more weight than is justly due, your Committee cannot find reason for presuming that the great tide of the trade from India will be diverted from its accustomed course; and that notwithstanding the proposed change in the law, the Continent will not continue still to receive the proportion of its supply hitherto furnished by British trade, through the ports of the united kingdom. No real danger, therefore, to British navigation is contemplated by your Committee as likely to result from the suggestion they are about to offer; nor do they doubt that the preference our shipping possesses will be as extensively and securely, as well as much less invidiously, enjoyed, when arising from the advantages that fairly belong to it, than when apparently the effect of legislative protections and prohibitions. When they consider, too, that under the more general freedom it would establish, British merchants in every foreign port might make their purchases, assort their cargoes, and pursue their speculations, without any of the doubts and apprehensions by which they are now checked and embarrass→ ed; and the still greater advantage of the recognition of a principle that would tend so much to introduce clearness and simplicity into the regulations of our commercial system. Your Committee feel it their duty to recommend to the consideration of the House the relaxation of the principle of the Acts of the 12th, 13th, and 14th of Charles II., to the extent of admitting the importation into the united kingdom of the produce of every part of the world, from every part of the world, without reference to the place of their growth or produce, provided such importation be made in British ships. Notwithstanding your Committee are able to perceive no serious objec. tion to the adoption of this measure, yet feeling it impossible to calculate with certainty all the bearings and consequences of an alteration so extensive in its operation, they should offer it with more diffidence, if they were not convinced that it is easily susceptible of modification, should circumstances hereafter arise to render such a modification essential to the protection of any of the great objects which every consideration of the national safety and power imposes the duty of inflexibly maintaining. Flowing as this concession will do from the spontaneous and liberal feelings of the British legislature, neither granted as the condition of advantages obtained from other states, nor guarded by any pledge of the public faith, should it be attended with consequences inconsistent with the regard due to those objects, it may, without affording the slightest ground for reasonable complaint, or the impeachment of our justice or liberality, be subject at any time to such modifications as may be required, or even, if necessary, be absolutely revoked. The warehousing or bonding system appeared to your Committee so much connected with the subject of their preceding recommendation, that they have thought it right to include it in this part of their inquiry, as well as in their present Report. If, contrary to their expectation, any of the apprehensions created by the proposed relaxation of the navigation-laws should be realized, it is in the improvement and perfection of the warehousing system they confidently anticipate an ample compensation to every interest connected with the shipping of the United Kingdom. The origin and progress of the warehousing system is detailed at length in the evidence of Mr Frewin, to which your Committee beg to refer. From that statement it will appear, that the privilege of being warehoused for re exportation is confined to certain enumerated foreign articles; and that only certain ports of the united kingdom, and those unequally, are open to receive them. This distinction made in respect to ports, arises only from the degrees in which they possess the means of affording accommodation and security to the collection of the revenue. Whenever it appears to the Lords of the Treasury, that sufficient provision is made for these objects, every port be. comes eligible to receive the advan tage of having goods warehoused within it. Your Committee do not feel any alteration to be required on this point; as they are not aware that the exten sion of this privilege to each particular port, and the limitations under which it should be done, can be better regulated than by the discretion of those to whose superintendance and responsibility the collection of the public revenue is intrusted. To the Treasury also has been delegated the power of making addi tions to the list of such enumerated articles as may be admitted to warehouse; which they have occasionally exercised. The principle of the law is, however, restrictive; and, notwithstanding the articles admitted are numerous, has still a very extensive operation. The result of the evidence received by your Committee on this subject, has made a strong impression of the advantages that would arise from giving the most unlimited extension to the warehousing system. They do not conceive the ports of the united king. dom can be too widely opened to the importation of every description of foreign merchandize for re-exporta tion to any part of the world, exclusive of the British colonies; exempt (with few if any exceptions) from all duties in passing through them, as well as relieved from every charge and inconvenience, which the safety of the revenue, justice to individuals, and the interests of commerce itself, do not impose the necessity of continuing. While we preserve to our own manufactures a preference in the home market, and the supply of our colonial possessions, additional facilities will thus be furnished, and all practicable inducements tendered, to foreign as well as British capital, to collect in the depositaries of Great Britain, materials for every variety of traffic with every quarter of the world. The benefits the nation cannot fail to reap from such a measure, in the improvement of its commerce, and the augmented demand for its manufactures and shipping, are so obvious, that your Committee feel it unnecessary to occupy the attention of the House by dwelling upon them in any detail. In the examinations to this point, it is readily acknowledged, that great general advantage is likely to arise from the facility which would be afforded to British as well as to foreign merchants to make the assortment of their cargoes in this country; the effect of which, it is justly presumed, would be to render the united kingdom the place in which a great proportion of the commercial adventures of the world would take their origin. And while the assortment of British manufactures with foreign merchandize in the completion of cargoes for the respective adventures, whether on British or foreign account, would largely contribute to the demand for the productions of every branch of our own industry, the conduct of the enterprizes would be in a great measure through British intervention, and become the means of the increased employment of British shipping. It does not appear to your Committee, that so long as their own markets are preserved to them in the uni VOL. XIII. PART II. ted kingdom and its colonies, the free importation of articles of foreign manufacture, for re-exportation only, can affect the interests, or ought to excite the jealousy, of our manufacturers. British ingenuity and industry, machinery and capital, may confidently meet competition, wherever the field is impartially open to our manufac turers, in common with those of foreign states. Nor does that competition seem to your Committee to become more favourable to the foreigner in consequence of his goods being permitted to pass through the ports of the united kingdom; the effect of excluding him from them would not be to obviate his competition, although it might change the place in which it would occur, and by such a change possibly render it less propitious to the interests of the British manufacturer. A doubt has been expressed of the expediency of allowing articles actually prohibited from importation to be admitted and warehoused for exportation; and among the manufactures likely to be exposed to risk by it, that of silk goods has been mentioned to your Committee; but they do not find in the statements made in the evidence to which they refer sufficient reasons to induce them to recommend any exception to the general freedom of import and export in respect to the silkmanufactures of foreign states; or that the admission of the prohibited articles for exportation only will, if properly guarded, be productive of any dangerous consequence. The policy of remitting the existing duty on the entry and re-export of foreign linens, imposed for the protection of the British and Irish linen trade, has, in reference also to this part of their inquiry, naturally occupied the attention of your Committee; it will be observed, that the testimony 2 c tioning the wisdom of a restrictive or protective policy, as necessary to the state of our trade at an earlier period of our history, as applicable to the circumstances of the present day, it appears very doubtful. The time when monopolies could be successfully supported, or would be patiently endured, either in respect to subjects against subjects, or particular countries against the rest of the world, seems to have passed away. Commerce, to continue undisturbed and secure, must be, as it was intended to be, a source of reciprocal amity between nations, and an interchange of productions, to promote the industry, the wealth, and the happiness of mankind. If it be true that different degrees of advantage will be reaped from it, according to the natural and political circumstances, the skill and the industry of different countries; it is true also, that what ever be the advantages so acquired, though they may excite emulation and enterprize, they can rouse none of those sentiments of animosity, or that spirit of angry retaliation, naturally excited by them when attributed to prohibitions and restrictions, jealously enacted and severely maintained. Your Committee are, however, sensible, that at once to abandon the prohibitory system, would be of all things the most visionary and dangerous. It has long subsisted: it is the law not only of this kingdom, but of the rest of the European world; and any sudden departure from it is forbidden by every consideration of prudence, safety, and justice. No such sudden change and beneficially recommended, no less with a view to the interests of this country, than to the situation of surrounding nations. Upon them the policy of Great Britain has rarely been without its influence. The principles recognized and acted upon by her may powerfully operate in aiding the general progress towards the establishment of a liberal and enlightened system of national intercourse throughout the world, as they have too long done in supporting one of a contrary character, by furnishing the example and justification of various measures of commercial exclusion and restriction. To measures of this nature her pre-eminence and prosperity have been unjustly ascribed. It is not to prohibitions and protections we are indebted for our commercial greatness and maritime power; these, like every public blessing we enjoy, are the effects of the free principles of the happy constitution under which we live, which, by protecting individual liberty, and the security of property, by holding out the most splendid rewards to successful industry and merit, has, in every path of human exertion, excited the efforts, encouraged the genius, and called into action all the powers of an aspiring, enlightened, and enterprizing people. 18th July, 1820. SECOND REPORT is in the contemplation of your Com- Of the Commissioners on the Education mittee, nor indeed the adoption of any change, without the utmost circumspection and caution. But they still feel, that a principle of gradual and prospective approximation to a sounder system, as the standard of all future commercial regulations, may be wisely of the Poor. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE |