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9301. out of a total of 22,962,6107.; and of of local or temporary pressure, and may, by the remaining 1133 articles, we believe we precautionary measures, divert or alleviate may safely say that above 1000 would not its effect; but, above all, they may and are repay the expenses of collection. The ad- therefore bound to take care that no meajustment of these duties, and particularly sures of theirs shall increase the natural difof the large protective class of them, has ficulties, and add to providential vicissitudes always been a very complicated and diffi- the irregularities and partialities of human cult affair; every foreign power and every legislation. domestic interest availing itself of every natural, accidental, or even occasional influence, to obtain an advantage over their competitors. It is, therefore, not surprising that tariffs so frequently altered and modified, pro re natâ, and to satisfy this or that importunity, should be frequently erroneous in policy and principle, and inconsistent and anomalous in their operation.

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These are the principles on which we rest our humble support of Sir Robert Peel's measures-his maintenance of such a protection to the cultivation of corn as may ensure, as far as human means can, a certain and regular supply-and the diminishing, as far as circumstances permit, of duties on all articles of food or comfort not requiring so high a degree of protection -and on raw materials, the plenty and cheapness of which may develope additional industry, and thereby enlarge the means of subsistence for the great masses of the people.

It is a remarkable coincidence that just 130 years ago, after the treaty of Utrecht, the Tory ministry proposed a tariff for the reduction of duties, which was opposed and ultimately defeated by the Whigs upon exactly the same kind of objections which The new Tariff, in pursuance of these have been fortunately so ineffectually principles-which were powerfully exmade against the present arrangement. It pressed and elucidated by Sir Robert Peel was on that occasion that Addison wrote and Mr. Gladstone in the House of Comwith less, we think, than his usual good mons- - attempts for the first time, we besense and pleasantry, but with considera- lieve, a classification of the several articles ble party success-his Trial of Count it includes, and a systematic apportionment Tariff It is, also, curious that the main and application of the various duties which object of that tariff-the balancing our com- it imposes. mercial favours between France and Portugal-should be at this hour, as it was then, the subject of separate and conflicting negotiations with these countries.

Having stated that the protecting duties in favour of various branches of home produce were laid on from time to time, and under temporary and local influences, we need hardly say that the old tariff had little regard to consistency or system, and indi

tection, often delusive to themselves, and always in some degree injurious to their fellow-subjects: let us take, for instance, the question of the metallic ores, of which Sir Richard Vyvyan has made his stalkinghorse. Copper-ore is what we may call a natural monopoly of the Cornish peninsula

These negotiations and the prohibitory duties recently imposed by France on a great and growing branch of our manufac-vidual interests had obtained individual protures have necessarily prevented any reconstruction of the scale of wine duties; and considerations connected with the slavetrade have had the same effect on the sugar duties;-to both of which important subjects Sir Robert Peel has stated that he directs an anxious attention;—but he did not therefore postpone those measures of relief which were within his power. The first duty of a statesman is, to provide, as far as human means allow, for the cheap and regular subsistence of the people. Providence has indeed reserved to its own mysterious councils the chief share in the solution of this problem. The main elements of the demand and the supply of food man cannot command-nor on any very large scale regulate-the growth of population and the produce of harvests, though the result of human means, are practically beyond human control. Governments can do but little towards increasing the one or checking the other; but Governments may estimate the probable occurrence and extent

the only other considerable supply being, we believe, from the distant mines of Cuba, or those, still more distant, of Chili. Would not one suppose that the mere freight round half the globe of an article of which the available part is not, on an average, onefifth of its weight or bulk, would be a sufficient protection to the Cornish miner, who has his smelting-house at the pit's mouth? The mining interests of Cornwall, however, did not think so; and in the days in which it-with the private interests of the Crown representing the Duke of Cornwall at its head-was one of the most powerful interests in Parliament-a prohibitory duty was laid on copper-ore. This did not at first sight seem very important as a domestic

for one individual whose immediate income it may curtail, it will open or enlarge the sources of profitable industry to a hundred of his neighbours. We therefore should hardly on principle have complained if the protecting duty had been wholly repealed

but, as we have formerly and recently said, a violent recurrence to principles is almost as impolitic, and in general more immediately injurious, than the departure from them. The long and complicated discussions-in which Sir Richard Vyvyan declined to take any part-were employed, as we before stated, in adjusting between four or five important classes some common and equitable measure of protection, the Government being in fact little more than an umpire between them. Sir Robert Peel seems to us, in this case of the ores, as throughout the whole tariff, to have taken a most judicious practical coursehe has not abrogated existing protection, but moderated it to the degree that promises a considerable alleviation to the consumer, without materially disturbing the condition of the producer.

question, because Cornwall already sup-| cheapness may create. Sure we are that, plied more than enough for home use, and we did not seem to need importation from Cuba or Chili. But see how it worked. To the natural monopoly, this fiscal monopoly being superadded, the mine proprietors were enabled to put their own prices on the article, and to enter (as it is said to happen sometimes among the Coal proprietors) into a combination not to sell for home consumption under a certain priee-though obliged of course to send their surplus abroad for what it would fetch, where it had to meet the competition of foreign ores smelted in England; for ores were allowed to be imported and smelted under bond and then exported. By these means the foreigner obtained the article cheaper than ourselves -for instance, we are informed that a short time ago the French Government bought copper-sheathing for its navy at 127. the ton cheaper than the British Government was obliged to pay at the same moment for the same article, drawn from our own mines, and smelted in our own furnaces. Could it be a wholesome or rational system which made an article manufactured in Cornwall dearer at Plymouth than at Toulon? But this is not all. The prohibitory duties cut off the shipping interest from an obvious source of profit, while they increased the expenses of naval outfit, and they also deprived all the manufactures of the country of the additional outlet which the unrestricted exchange of their copper-ores might have created in Cuba and Chili.

England possesses facilities for the smelting of ores beyond any other country in the world-the prohibition of import deprived pro tanto our home consumption of this natural advantage. Consider also how much this prohibition must cramp that great portion of our internal industry that makes any use of copper-how much more, of all that are employed in it as a distinct manufacture; and how it must check the application of copper to new and experimental purposes. Iron has been made, chiefly from its cheapness, to supply the place of wood and stone-in fences, in houses, in ornamental architecture, in furniture, in roads, in carriages, and in ships-nay, we have iron substitutes for wool and horse-hair in cushions and mattresses! We believe copper to be capable of a-less general indeed, but still very extensive application to purposes for which it is at present rarely or sparingly applied; and we doubt whether the Cornish proprietors themselves will not find, on the long run, their own profits increased by the extended use of the article both at home and abroad which greater

Much alarm was felt, or at least expressed on the part of the agricultural interest, on the diminution of the duties on the importation of cattle and other articles of animal food. We have already alluded to that absurd panic-but we wish to say a few words on the subject to show that even in this case the principle of reduction is as just, as the application of it promises to be universally beneficial. Our first observation is, that while the duties on salt meats were protective, those on cattle and fresh meat, which would most affect our own people, were absolutely prohibitory, and they were imposed in former times when our population was, as compared with the present day, scanty and well fed. Surely the mere growth of our population would of itself have justified the repeal of a prohibitory duty on meat. And here, in reference to this point, as well as to the Corn Laws, it cannot be unimportant to exhibit the growth of our population in the five decennial periods of which we have any exact enumeration. The population of Great Britain was in

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many other articles of agricultural origin. might become much cheaper than we fear the tariff will render them, without doing any real injury to the agricultural interests. It has been tauntingly asked-how it is possible that the general consumer can be benefited without injuring the individual producer? In the article of meat, as well as of some others of analogous character, there is one preliminary answer-prices had risen, and were still rising so high that, if the tariff should only have the effect of keeping them where they are, or even of lowering them in some reasonable degree, the consumer will be benefited without any sensible change in the actual condition of the producer. But there is that still more important reason to which we before alluded, and which is of general application, affecting the income tax, corn duties, and the whole tariff-namely, that the PRODUCERS of the neglect of whose special interests we hear so much-form also the main body of the CONSUMERS, to whom Sir Robert Peel is reproached with being too partial.

Take, for instance, the case of the landowner-whether he farms himself or by the hands of a farmer, the result will be nearly the same-he is a seller of corn, of cattle, of wool, but he is a buyer (generally speaking) of bread, of meat, and of clothes. If he loses something by selling cheaper, does he not gain something, at least, by buying cheaper in their manufactured shape these articles of his own growth? To the class of farmers who are wholly agricultural, and deal little in cattle or wool, the cheapness of meat and clothes will be an unmixed advantage. So he, who does not rear but fattens cattle, will be proportionably benefited the cheaper he can buy the lean beast. All this, however, might, we admit, be an inadequate compensation; but if, in addition, spirits, coffee (by and bye, we hope, wine and sugar), furniture, and the whole apparel of himself, his family, and servants, are all reduced in cost, is there not reason to infer that he must receive a very considerable compensation, a compensation which in many, probably in most cases, will exceed the nominal loss of income, while there will be a real increase of comfort and enjoyment? And let us go a step further; a farm cannot be tilled for nothing-labour, buildings, repairs, implements, seeds, must all be paid for. If the diminished prices of provisions keep labour cheap-if the diminution of duties on timber, iron, copper, leather, seeds, make buildings, repairs, implements, and general culture cheaper--will there not be a further and very considerable benefit?

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In short, we are of opinion that the measures have been so cautiously selected, so carefully balanced, so judiciously combined, that no sudden shock or injury will be felt by any one of the various interests concerned. Those who hope as well as those who fear some very immediate and remarkable consequences, will be, we think, equally disappointed. The improvement will be general, but it will be gradual and progressive; the pressure on a few individual interests will be found to be slight in itself, and so distributed and compensated as to be, we trust, hardly perceptible. most early and probable result that we look to is, that, by the gradual operation of the Tariff and the blessing of God in a promising harvest, the prices of provisions may be reasonably lowered, and a feeling of comfort and a spirit of enterprise and industry revived throughout our manufacturing population, without any sensible injury to the agricultural interests. A bad harvest would, of course, have raised agricultural prices; yet no farmer wishes for a bad harvest; and though plenty may lower his prices, it must increase his profits; and fortunate it is, that, at the moment when some reduction in the value of farming produce may be expected from the season, the operation of the Tariff will effect a concomitant diminution in other articles of consumption, by which the farmer in common with every other class must be benefited.

This leads us to offer a few words on the new scale of corn-duties. We beg our readers to recollect that the strongest advocates of the agricultural interests do not dream, at this day, of a fixed protection. It is notorious and avowed, that the enemies of all protection propose a fixed duty only because it would be wholly illusory, and would lead directly to the removal of all protection. Hence the opposition of the Anti-Corn-Law League to the sliding-scale the best, nay, we will add, the only practicable safeguard that agriculture can rely on; hence also the arts by which it was endeavoured to raise popular prejudice against the principle of a sliding-scale, by exaggerating some inconveniences and anomalies with which the details of the old scale were chargeable, such as the mode of taking the averages, and some sudden and arbitrary transitions in the rates of duty. These objections, though not of the importance attached to them for party purposes, were not unfounded; and it therefore was not only justice but good policy in the friends of agricultural protection to amend those details, and thus take away from their adversaries one class of their pretences. But the main question was, what should be

the amount of the protection; and here the The following tables, compiled from sevstruggle lay between a formidable associa- eral parliamentary returns and public docution, acting on and by the strength of pop-ments, will not only elucidate the present ular prejudices and passions, and clamour- discussion, but afford some statistical data ing for the abolition of all duty-and that which are worth preserving, as well for the great and respectable body, including most facts they establish as for the doubts* they of the property and intelligence of the here and there excite. country, who-adhering to protecting duties as the best, and, indeed, only mode of insuring a constant and regular supply-are well aware that the rates ought to go no higher than will suffice for that object. We therefore believe that there are very few of even the most exclusive agriculturists who would contend that the rate of duties established in 1828 was not now fairly susceptible of some diminution, and that it would have been politic, or even possible, to have maintained them at so high a scale.

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We shall begin by exhibiting at one view the Old and New Scales of duty on wheat, to which all other grain is generally proportionate. Our readers will observe that 8d. appears in each rate of the old scale; this was not so at first ;-but 8d. was added to the scale in consequence of the change from the Winchester to the imperial measure, made subsequent to the original act.

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73 and upwards

There are many discrepancies as to details, and | even as to totals, in the various documents from which we have compiled these tables, arising, no doubt, from the different periods and different ob

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jects for which the accounts were made-some from different modes of computation-but none are considerable enough to disturb the general results.

We have begun the foregoing view of A vast proportion of the duties received the old scale at 36s. price and 27. 10s. 8d. under it was at the rates which are not alduty, because they were the extreme points tered-viz. 1s. and 2s. duty on 73s. price; practically attained during the operation of and the proportion received beyond the that scale, but by law there was an increase point where the new scale terminates-viz. of 1s. duty for every fall of 1s. in the price, 20s. duty on 50s. price-was, compared so that, if we could suppose the price to with the total amounts, inconsiderable. On have fallen to 10s. a quarter, the duty would the other hand, the protection afforded by have risen to 31. 16s. 8d. the new scale, though lower and more liSir Robert Peel intended by his new mited, will be found more steady, and, we scale to make a considerable diminution of believe, more effective-as it will greatly the duty, and has done so; but the differ-diminish, if it does not wholly prevent, those ence between the two scales is much greater frauds which were equally injurious to the in appearance than in reality-the higher producer and the consumer. protections of the old scale being in fact We next give a return of the nominal, and, we may almost say, delusive.

Average Prices and Total Quantities of Foreign Wheat and Wheat Flour entered for Home Consumption, with the Average Rate and Total Amount of Duties paid thereon, with the Average Prices of Flour for each year during the operation of the Act 9 Geo. IV., c. 60, from the 15th July, 1828, to the 29th April, 1842.

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This table shows that averages, spread over wide periods of time, may be very fallacious in several ways. The total import in fourteen years being about 15,000,000, writers have stated that we import annually somewhat more than a million of quarters of corn, and as our total annual consumption (for seed and food) is calculated at about 24,000,000, the import has been stated at a fortnight's consumption. Now this, if true, would imply both a regular import and a regular supply at home, and in that case something might be said for a fixed duty; but, in fact, we see that, in the first four years, the average importation was about 1,200,000 quarters; the next four,

only 700 quarters; and the last four, as much as 2,300,000 quarters. It is quite clear that, for a country that sometimes requires to import a tenth part of its annual consumption, and at other times needs little or no importation at all, a fixed duty would be an untenable absurdity, which would alternately ruin the producer and starve the consumer. The reader will also observe that the general average given by the sliding scale is 2s. 5d. less than the Ss. fixed duty proposed by the Whigs; so that this scheme for cheap bread would have raised the price of the loaf in the proportion of about one-third for the last fourteen years. We confess, however, that we do not much

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