CO885(1-2) — Page 249

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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in American ships only. A mutual repeal of the existing restrictions would therefore be more advantageous to us than to them.

Commerce.

The effects of the law upon our general com- Case of General merce, and upon our manufactures are sufficiently obvious. The prohibition against importing the produce of Asia, Africa, and America from Europe, and the restrictions upon its admission even from the other quarters of the globe, tend directly to deprive us of much valuable trade. The produce of the colonial possessions of Spain and Holland is naturally sent in the first instance to the mother-countries. Much of it might profitably be brought thence to England, but the law pre- vents it. Thus the sugar of Java, the hemp of Manilla, and the cochineal of the Canaries, are to a great extent excluded from our ports. Again, IIamburgh is a depôt for much merchan- dize from South America and elsewhere, but it cannot be brought here. Thus our merchants are prevented from buying such produce at its lowest price, when it happens, as it sometimes must, that it is cheaper at Hamburgh than here, and our foreign rivals buy cheaper than us, and

so are enabled to compete with us on unequal

terms.

But though we cannot bring the produce thus collected in its raw state, we can bring it if the Java sugar foreigner will manufacture it for us. can come through Holland, if refined there; and though Alpaca wool is not admitted from Ham- burgh, the cloth that may be made from it Thus our law there can be freely imported. encourages the foreign manufacturer.

It encourages him, too, in another way. Foreign ships may trade with our colonies, but they may not supply them with British manu- factures. The Hamburghers and others carry on a considerable trade with our possessions on the west coast of Africa, and they would be glad to supply them, if they might, with British goods; but this our law prohibits; they cannot even take them there to be warehoused for ex- portation to the neighbouring States, so they are forced to take German goods instead.

Upon another feature of our system, the diffi-

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culties which the law throws in the way of new enterprises, 1 may perhaps be allowed to repeat some remarks from the memorandum which I drew up in October last: "When a regular trade has been established between any two places, ships will be attracted into it, and if one class of ships alone is permitted to engage in it, that class will not be long in entering upon it;

so that though the monopoly will raise the rates of freight it will not necessitate the abandonment of the trade. But when a merchant desires to undertake a new enterprise, he does not find it always possible to meet with exactly the class of ships prescribed by law, and he cannot afford to hire them for the purpose; consequently he cannot always make the experiment he desires. Thus, when first this market was thrown open to sugars of Java", our merchants were anxious to avail themselves of the opportunity and to export cargoes from Batavia, but they could do so only in British or in Dutch vessels. There were no British vessels engaged in the trade, for it was a new one. The Dutch vessels at Batavia were the property of the Maatschappy,

the

or under contract with it, and had to being their cargoes to Holland. A chance British vessel took a cargo to England, and the im porter made a profit by it; but he had to bring away the rest of his purchases in an American vessel, which could not bring them to England, and which eventually took them to Amsterdam, whence they could not be brought to England in any vessel whatever, and where they were disposed of at a loss."

Besides the injuries thus directly inflicted by our own legislation, our commerce suffers to some extent, and may hereafter suffer more, from the retaliation which is provoked by our legislation. France, already prohibits the import- ation of Asiatic, African, and American produce from England, though she admits it from all other countries, simply on the ground that we prohibit its importation from France. Germany is inclining to follow the same course. The effect

• See Mr. Brooks' evidence before the Committee on the Navigation Laws.

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