CHAPTER XIII.

"THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER."

THE opening of the case of the Merchants of London is now before the public, and that great Jury of opinion is now called upon by their verdict, to say whether the averments contained in the petition, which forms the basis of this inquiry, have been substantiated by the foregoing

cases.

This Committee is composed of individuals of every political denomination, and of all the great parties in the state. They have been associated by the urgency of a common wrong, and by the sense of a common danger. They believe that the mutual interests which bind them together, are of far greater importance to society, and to the welfare of the country, than the political principles by which they have hitherto been separated, and by which separation their natural social influence has been weakened. On whatever subjects they differ, they are all agreed upon this, that trade, shipping, and manufactures, are the sources, not only of the greatness and prosperity, but of the stability of the state. They feel assured that commerce is the mainspring, prop, and pillar of the whole social fabric, and that it is not only our pride and boast, but our very life, that we are a nation of shopkeepers. To stand by their order, and to vindicate not only the rights, but the paramount importance of their class, to the prosperity and security of every other, they are convinced is less a selfish aim, than a patriotic duty. However useful may have been an aristocracy in laying the basis of our history, or consolidating the foundation of the principles of our constitution, the relations of society have so far altered, that it is no longer safe to attempt to govern a commercial country by feudal institutions, or the ascendency of the feudal principle, in the practical administration of affairs, or in wielding the powers of Government. While some do not scruple to charge it upon the ruling classes, that they are actuated by an anticommercial spirit, it is sufficient for this Committee to have succeeded in proving, that they are not gifted with a mercantile capacity, and that they are educated in non-commercial habits. The atmosphere in which they are bred, removes them from the opportunities of inspiring the element and habitudes of trade, and unfits them to regulate the business of a trading people. It is not their fault that country squires and the

great owners of land, "whose talk is of bullocks," whose agricultural achievements are worthy of their patriotism, and whose services in the local admininistration of the country, in social example, and public spirit, contribute so much to the orderly government of the state, and to the promotion of useful and elevating objects in their respective neighbourhoods, are not competent to manage affairs, of which neither their previous habits, education, nor experience, have supplied them with a competent knowledge. It is rather the fault of the commercial classes that they have devoted themselves too exclusively to the mere practical pursuit of business-that they have failed to perceive the enormous influence Government and legislation exercise upon the successful prosecution of their calling, and that they have neglected to assert for themselves their right to that share in the administration of public affairs, which their great and growing influence are, if firmly claimed, certain to command, and the importance of their concerns renders essential to the proper government of the country. As a practical acquaintance with mercantile business is not to be acquired by intuition, it is not wonderful that a territorial aristocracy have not succeeded in making good intentions a satisfactory substitute for aptitude and wisdom of execution, in the conduct of commercial legislation, or the regulation of trade. The result is before the country. The Board of Customs is the creature of territorial not commercial patronage. None of its members have been in trade, or educated even in the details of the department over which they preside. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is a country squire, placed where he is by the powerful influences of great families. One peer is Vice-President of the Board of Trade, another regulates the commerce of our colonies: nor does an examination of the list of the Lords of the Treasury afford them any reason to anticipate the manifestation of superior experience or habits of business from that court of appeal from the awards of the Board of Customs. The Committee look in vain either for a merchant or manufacturer in the higher departments of the administration. Nor would they be misunderstood. They are not here discussing a constitutional, but a practical, question. It is from no jealousy of aristocratical encroachment, or envy of the share which the territorial interest has acquired in the power, emoluments, or honours of the state, but solely from doubts of their competency to regulate the affairs of commerce, that the Committee call the attention of the public to the actual state of mercantile administration. They are not ambitious of distinctions or responsibilities, which can only be acquired at the expense of distracting their attention from more congenial labours, and more profitable pursuits. But they have been painfully convinced of the necessity of commanding for their class a more active and larger share in the conduct of the business of the state, as the only means of

obviating evils which threaten the prosperity of their calling, and of reforming abuses which strike at the very sources of their profession.

It is not on theory or conjecture that these conclusions are arrived at. The few practical merchants in the legislature who have not resigned the pursuits of trade for parliamentary honours or offices of state, daily experience, in their efforts to correct mercantile misgovernment, successful obstructions by a combination of non or anti-commercial interests, at the call of the Treasury, which overwhelm, by the machinery of faction, the best devised measures for the promotion of the pursuits of trade; and they have become painfully convinced that the opposition they encounter is the result, less of an interested antagonism, than of a somewhat natural (from such sources) want of appreciation of the paramount importance of commerce, and a real ignorance of the significancy of the changes they ignore by a mere blind force of votes. The only remedy, therefore, for the evils which have necessitated the formation of this and similar associations, is :—

1st. That merchants and manufacturers should prefer the interests of commerce, to the crotchets of politics, and the strength of faction.

2d. That they should duly appreciate the dignity and importance of their calling, and merge the distinctions of party, which have neutralized their influence, in the superior necessity of availing themselves of the power, for the common good of the country, which would be the certain attainment of a mutual understanding of their interests, and their more perfect combination as a class.

3d. That they should abandon their ease and their privacy for the advancement of measures necessary to the welfare of their order; and claim that share which, of right, belongs to them, in the representation and consequent government of the country.

4th. That they should claim the suffrages of electors rather on commercial, than on political and party grounds; and that they should enter Parliament with the determination to stand by their class rather than to dissipate their strength and scatter their numbers into the diffusions of party, and be ready to consult together and to co-operate in all measures which concern their common interests; or that, at all events, they should not "give up to party what was meant for mankind;" but, if political considerations are still to form an element of their parliamentary guidance, that they should confine them to purely political objects, and firmly exclude them from all questions involving the interests of trade and navigation.

On the utility-if not necessity-of an association of the trading classes, the Committee need not insist. The principle is recognized in the formation, not only of this society, but of the numerous bodies which have long been in active operation for the peculiar objects of various

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subdivisions of the mercantile classes. The East India, West India, Ship Owners', Steam Navigation, Colonial, American, Baltic, and other trading interests, have experienced the advantages of combination; and the wonder is, that it should not have been earlier discovered that societies pro re nata, are a clumsy, laborious, and imperfect substitute for those chambers and tribunals of commerce, which in the provinces, and more especially in the continental cities, bring the whole united strength, experience, and power of the trading classes, at once to bear upon every mercantile question. Mr. Masterman, and Baron Lionel Rothschild, at the instance of their constituents of the commercial classes, have laid before the chief houses of London, proposals submitted to them for the formation of a Chamber of Commerce for the metropolis; and the prin ciple, plan, and details, only await the decision of the traders of London, in order, should that encourage the prospect of support, to be carried fully into effect.

It had been the intention of the Committee to have discussed the following propositions, which have been submitted for their consideration by gentlemen of extensive business, as well as ample and varied experience.

1st. That delivery of goods should be proof of payment of duties; operating as a receipt therefore both to the merchant and warehousekeeper.

2d. Or at least that a prescription should run of claims for duties, except where fraud and smuggling can be positively proved, (the onus probandi to rest with the Crown) in favor of the merchant and warehousekeeper, in fiscal, as in private debts; and that in no case should duties be recoverable, except where evidence can be produced of a claim having been made for the same within three years of the date of the original entry-such claim operating as a renewal of the currency of prescription, unless challenged, and otherwise disposed of.

3. A list of all licensed agents, lightermen, carmen, docks, legal quays, and bonded warehouses, should be published annually.

4. All suspensions of either officers or agents should be published, and no individual once convicted of fraud, should be restored against such suspension.

5. An open court or board should be established to render, by the publicity of its reports, all officers of the Customs amenable to the discipline of public opinion, by making every complaint against them, the Commissioners, the Treasury, or the Board of Trade, notorious through the press.

6. The money amount of duties paid on each delivery of goods should be published, in the same way as the description and quantities, with the names of the parties paying.

7. Personal and individual responsibility should attach both to the officers and agents.

8. No person other than the principal should be allowed to transact business at the Custom-house who is not known, and cannot be easily traced.

The examination of these propositions must, for the present, be postponed; but in the meantime they are laid before the public for deliberate consideration.

The suggestions of the various provincial Chambers of Commerce, which have appeared in the twelve first Reports, will be more properly re-printed in part second, when the remedies required for existing fiscal evils, and the various plans for the reform of the constitution and management of the Board of Customs come to be investigated and proposed.

END OF PART 1.

M'KBWAN & CO., PRINTERS, 46, LONDON WALL.