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the United Kingdom
With regard to the external trade of the Foreign Trade of United Kingdom, there are two sets of rules; one applicable to our trade with Europe, the other to our trade with the other quarters of the globe.
The rule as to the European trade is, that With Europe.
certain articles of European produce (about
thirty in number) are not to be imported into this country for consumption, except in British ships, or in ships of the country of which the goods are the produce, or in ships of the country from which they are imported.
of
There is no restriction upon the importation
any other classes of articles, nor is there any restriction upon the importation of the enu- merated articles for the purpose of being ware- housed for re-exportation. The Queen has, however, power to impose additional duties in certain cases upon foreign vessels, or goods im- ported in them, which power is now exercised only with respect to Belgian vessels; and she has also power to prohibit the importation of corn from any country which does not place British trade and navigation on the footing of the most favoured nation; but this has never been done.
Some very important exceptions to the rule affecting the European trade have been intro- duced in the course of the last ten years. They begin with the privilege granted to Austrian ships, under the Treaty of 1838, of importing goods not the produce of Austria from certain ports not situate within her dominions, but lying at the mouth of the Danube, which forms the natural outlet for great part of her commerce. 'The Act which was passed to give effect to this treaty, empowered the Queen to grant to the ships of other States the like privilege of import- ing goods not being the produce of those States from ports not situate within their dominions,
and this privilege has been granted to most of the States of Northern Germany with regard to the ports from the Elbe to the Meuse, and those from the Trave to the Memel, all inclusive; and the like privilege is claimed by Holland upon grounds which we have formally recognized as valid, though the present state of the law does
• Vide infrà, pp. 41 et 209.
With Asia, Africa,
and America.
Definition of Fo.
reign Ships.
}
5
not admit of our fulfilling the obligations which our treaty with that State imposes upon us. The result is, that the Navigation Law is vir- tually suspended as regards the whole range of ports above mentioned, in favour of the ships of Prussia and the Zollverein, Hanover, Oldenburg, the Mecklenburgs, and the Hanse Towns.
are
Next, with regard to our trade with countries in Asia, Africa, and America, our general rules are, first, that no produce of any of such coun- tries
may be imported into this country from any part of Europe; and secondly, that it can be imported in foreign ships, only when the ships those of the country of which the goods are the produce, and when the goods are imported directly from the country of their production.
The rules are, it will be observed, much more stringent than those which apply to the European trade. They are qualified by several exceptions, which are, however, hardly of sufficient import- ance to be here detailed.
It will be observed, that in all these regula- tions the right of importing is confined to ships of certain nations. The definition of a British ship has already been given. That of a Foreign ship follows its model. No ship can be recog- nized as the ship of a given foreign country, unless it be of the build of that country, or have been condemned as prize there, or be British built; nor unless it be wholly owned by subjects of that country, commanded by a national master, and manned by a crew of whom three- fourths are subjects of the country to which the ship belongs. These regulations are, however, very difficult to enforce. I am only aware of two exceptions to them.. We recognize as national the ships of some South American States, provided they be duly owned and navi- gated, without inquiring where they were built. We also admit ships of the Hanse Towns to be duly navigated, provided three-fourths of their crews are Germans, without requiring that they should be natives of the Hanse Towns.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON