'V* IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I mi8 |2.5 |50 ■^" M^H H: 1^ 12.0 IE 1-25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 n d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ON COI.OXJAI. INTKRCOI'Hsjv I ii i-. UN ,i 1 I ( ;<)JJ ) N I A L IN TEHCU U USE. BY HENRY BLISS, ESQ. Ol HIE INNER lEMI'LE. llEnibLiaJIED I'ROM THE M0ll\[SO ilLKALD. LONDON : .lAMFS fUlXIWAV, PI('< AOn^.V ■ (A) 'JilARLliti WuUU AND S(j\^ i'UlNfEU^, rccpiii^ Lourt, Heel .Sintt. '■ "2 i f I s Ik :ic i\) t\( si I an in ov^ liu inc tht pr( lavi ma - 4 COLONIAL INTERCOUllSK. No. I. The coniiMcrcial intercourse between the United States and Uritisli Colonies in America is, it seems, again become tlie subject of negociation. It was bo])od, and believed, tbat this (juestion bad, by the act of 1825*, and tbc order in council, which followed it in July 182(j, been permanently set- tled ; not indeed upon the best terms to be de- sired, but perhaps upon the best to be obtained ; and in which all parties interested, the colonists in the West Indies and North America, the ship owners and British merchants, acquiesced, and have since been exerting themselves to make the most of the conditions established. For it is with the regulations of commerce, as with the rules of jiropertVj scarcely of more consequence that tho law be wise, than that it be certain and per- manent. Such u state of things however has been by no ' * Stftt. « Geo. IV, cap. 73. 2 tnoans equally af»reof\l)Io to tin* Aincriciuis. 'I'licy iiMiiU'diatcly, in 1K2(), att(Mn|)tr(l to open iic^ocia- tioDs tor a iliange. Fortunately tlurc lia|)|)(Mu>(i at that time to he in the torei^n depaituient a statesman, who, whatever might have heeu his other errors, was at least exempt from any niis- understandim; ol' American (piestions, or of the ])oliey aiul character of their government. His answer to Mr. (rallatin upon that occasion is much and deservedly celehrated, and gave the highest satistaction to all interested in colonial afl'airs, particularly for one sentence, most important to the present question, an exj)ress declaration, that, " after what had passed on the subject of colonial intercourse, the British government cannot consent to enter into am/ renewed neifociatinns upon the iw tercourse between the United States and the British colonies, so long as the pretensions recorded in the net of\823, and there applied to British colonies alone, remain part of the law of the United States*." This document, puhlished hy govern- ment, seemed designed to communicate their final resolutions, not only to the United States, hut also to the suhjects of (treat Ilritain, hy whom it was hailed as an additional assurance, that they were not mistaken in trusting to tie faith of the late act and order, (which had hecome a part and sup- plement of the same law), and in understanding * liPttcr from Mr. f'muiiiis t(» Mr. (iullnfin, dated lltli of Sept. IH2<>. a .3 tlir iH'w colonial sysliMii iis M'ttli'd and poniianiMit. But tliotln'nrorcicnH«Tretary declare, that, after having heen compelled to nppli/ to am/ countrii the interdict prescribed hij the act of 1825, the British government cannot hold itself hound to remove the interdict as a mat- ter of course, whenever it maif happen to suit the convenience of the foreign governtnenf, to reconsider the measures. In/ which the application of that in- terdict was occasioned*.'' Now, unless this was nicit'ly an empty threat, intended to irritate a foreign power hy the unnecessary denial of what could never have heen implied, it was intended as a warning to that power, and it operated, hy puh- lication, as an assurance to us, that government would constantly adhere to the new law, and ex- clude the Americans from the colonial trade, even though they should repeal their acts, and ask to accept of the conditions, on which that trade was offered to them, and which they had refused. What measure, what rule of commercial inter- course, unfettered hy foreign treaties, and disclaim- ing the idea of such arrangement, and depending I! \ 'i It 1 1 '^' i 1 * Same Fiftter. li I >f upon interiKil legislation alone, was ever before instituted with such promises, such pledges, of constancy and j)erniaiiencc ? Yet, in 1 827, the Americans, finding Mr. Can- dead, ;vved th d t( ite renewed tnenj)!oj)osai to ncgoci upon this (jiiestion. But it was in vain, that they had lowered no less the nature of their demands, than their tone and nnmner of tngiug them. It was in vain, that they offered une(|nivocally to re- peal their pretensions and laws, and to accejtt of the very terms they had formerly disdained. The pruj)osal was courteously declined i)v Lord Dud- lev ; who anaii. referred them to the letter (d Mr Canning, ahove cited, as for the final decision of the British cabinet. In the same letter his lord- ship reiterates the principle the British government had a(loj)ted, and in which the Americans have ac- quiesced, to regulate colonial intercourse by legis- lation, and not l)y treaty ; and rejects the proposal, then urged by Mr. Gallatin, and now l)y Mr. f.l'Lane, to adjust by any negociation the terms of our laws on colonial trade. — " //j" ^^ys he, " #//e terms of colonial intercourse are to be adjusted bij mutual laws, but those laws themselves are to be founded on informal agreements previousb/ entered into between the governments, it is ?nanifo'st that a coufse of proceeding is pursued, which JnUy en- sures, neither the certainti/ and notorietif of inter- national convention, nor the facilitif and indepen- (> fc! 5 denccof domestic legislation*" And he concludes by declaring, that the resolution of his Majesty's government is founded upon consideration?, general in their nature, and conclusive. A third time, in the year 1829, ^^ the indefa- tigal)le Americans renew the same request, vi^ith offers ])ossibly still more specious, and manner more conciliating. For truly the profits of the West India trade are too rich a portion to he lost l)y one or a second refusal. And, however unsuc- cessful, these repeated ap|)lications have at least the effect of alarming our ship-owners and colo- nists, disquieting the present investment of their capital and industry, and embarrassing all their efforts to extend the trade : so much has the result of former treaties taught them to abhor the very rumour of any negociation with the United States. The Americans arc right ; they understand their own interest ; we cannot complain that they j)nr- sue it. We are not astonished, that no repulse should prevent their again proposing to be ad- mitted to the West Indies. The subject of com- j)laint, of astonishment, of despair, to all who cherish colonial interests, is, that their proposal is now listened to; — that, after all which has passed, the olfer to ncgociate, having been twice rejected, is, upon the third time of asking, accepted; — ibut negociations are about to be begun, are * Li'ttor Ironi Lord Dudley to Mr. Ciallatiii, dated Ist of 0(t. 1S2;. ii i * 5 () to be hastened wc teiir with such iin patience, that though the ultimate cfttct is what none here can foresee, ministers apparently are to hear of when too late to be remedied, rather than wait till the colonists can represent. And yet the circumstances, under which government had intimated that they would still adhere to the new act and order, even though the Americans repealed their law of 1823, are un- changed, are far more favourable to such an ad- herence ; and stranger still, the American law of 1823, and the pretensions it asserts, till the repeal of which, and for the repeal of which, government declared they would not enter into any negocia- tion, are unrepealed, nay, are reinforced by acts interdicting the entrance into American j)orts, and departure therefrom, of any British colonial vessel. Nor is this njentioned merely to show the incon- stancy of our government, and the indignity ol entering into the present negociations ; but it oj)e- rates at the same time as a great grievance to the North American colonists, and a most unmerited surprise. For it having being understood rnd pub- lished by i)oth governments, that the trade was to be regulated by mutual legislation ; and ours having declared, that the first and preliminary stej) must be the repeal, on their j)i'"'t, of their act of 1823, and that there should previously be no underhand negociatioM; the colonists have naturally been look- ing only to the acts of the American government. I >' I 1 I and have been embarking in this trad vith the greater secnrity, as they saw, that even if any change were made, the mode prescribed would interpose so innch time, as to enable them to have their representations heard, and if unsuccessfully, enable them in some measure, to extricate them- selves, and prevent the distress arising from those sudden and extreme changes, by which they have formerly suffered so often and so much. What the temptation is, what irresistible allure- ment the Americans have invented, to bring government to this sudden revolution, and to parley with them about conceding rights of trade, upon which all negoeiation has been so repeatedly declined, cannot indeed be exactly known ; but from the publicity of the Republican government may be safely conjectured : and our present pur- pose is to discuss the probable nature of such in- ducements, and estimate the importance to the British dominions of the West India trade under the existing system, and the consequence of con- ceding that trade to the United States. But first it would be well to review our colonial inter- course with that country at former periods, and note the changes made, and their results hitherto. For the alteration now proposed is not one of those beautiful theories of free trade, which, no nation before having been so absurd as to apply, or apply by beginning at the wrong end, cannot be I ( ':. :i i^^r 8 contradicted by past experience ; but in tliis case, it is by observing how unhappily this trade has been sported with heretofore ; and how niucli the negligence of government has already cost us, how much their facility and concessions, their incon- stancy, their sudden and violent changes of policy ; it is by considering these, that we can best judge, what we have to gain or lose, by preserving the colonial intercourse upon its present footing, or again surrendering that source of wealth and ma- ritime power, to the most aspiring of our rivals. No. 11. The terms of our colonial intercourse with the United StJrtes, have from either policy or neces- sity, been at times so various and contradictory, that we have at least had the benefit of ample experi- ence ; and may now, by studying former regu- lations, and comparing the statistical returns which overv change has produced, most easily and clearly undcrstarid, what is tlie vyjne of the West India trade, what its most j)r<)Htal)le footing, and what the cburacter of the invitation, now so earnestly pressed upon us, to share it with a foreign power. And, to begin with the beginning, let us go back to the year l/B-'i, foJ" our mistakes in colonial in- I p ■I I U tcrconrse are dated tVoin that, tlic most untortuiiate and lmii)iliatiiig period in British history. Whatever were the advantages, which the United States gained hy their separation from Great Britain, there were also certain inconveniences, which, if not fully ecpial, less was owing to the natural consequences of their independence, than to the extraordinary concessions, of territory and fisheries, which attended it, and of commercial advantages, which followed. For while on the one hand, they had gained a i'ree trade with all the world, on the other, they had lost a protected trade with the British Empire. And not only did the British Empire afford them the best and cheapest supply of all their wants, but the surest, the nearest, and generally, indeed, the only market lor their produce ; of which produce also, scarce an article could be sold in the United Kins'^dom, without the protecting duties they could not hope to see continued ; and from the j)orts of every colony and dependency they found themselves ex- cluded, by the then inexorable rule of the empire, the laws of navigation. Had this state of things been contiimed, or been ever enforced, if it be too much to say, the revolted provinces would have soon become weary of their free trade and inde- pendence, it may iU least be asserted, that the loyal colonics which remained, would have so raj)i(llv advanced in wealth and |)opulation, as to have sue- ccedeil to alnios^t tbt whole colonial trade, which , I I. JO the United St.ites liad foiteitcd ; and would have received and letaiiunl witliin our own doniinions, that tstreain of gohl tVoni tlie West IiuHes, which was (H verted to their more tortunale rivals. The West India trade at that time gave einployinent to ahove 115,000 tons, and 9,700 seamen, for snj)- |)lies of wood and provisions ; the aimnal impor- tations of whieh amounted to ahove 700,000/., and the freights were computed at 245,000/. more *. This, before the war, had been almost entirely in the hands of the revolted Americans, who now finding they had been seven years fight- ing for its loss, became, at the peace, scarcely less (laniorous to retain the privileges of colonists, than they had before beenimj)atient of the restraints. In which clamours they were joined by the West Indians. These havinij of old an established correspondence with the now United States, were anxious to return to the usual course of trade. Supj)lies from the North American colonies and mother country they knew must be dearer, and said could never be sufficient. And the adminis- tration of that period, being disposed to conciliate the Americans, and satisfy the West India interest, on the one hand, and unwilling, on the other, to abandon altogether the laws of" navigation, adopted a middle course. In 17^^> im 29 tons to 525, 64f) ; and British tt)image to their j)orts declined during the same period, from 21(>,914 tons, to 27,097 -f. It is marvellous with what patience this was undergone by (ireat Britain. Forbearance and conciliation were the prineijiles upon which govern- ment seems to have slumbered for seven years ; when startled apparently at finding the Ame- rican commercial navy become second only to our own, some show of rct.diation was offered. The Lords of Trade had indeed, in 179I, drawn up a Report, full of useful information and sound policy, which concluded with a very dignified demonstration of countervailing measures, and pledged their advice to his Majesty, nevet- to make the IVest India trade even a subject of nego- * Anderson's Canada t Seybert's Statistics. Pitiiin's ditto. I? v. i I ^\ 14 iidthni. riic it'taliiitioii was iirvor fXtctiltMl ; the |)Ic(lm> violated witliin tliicc years. Ill l/fJ'J was signed the first cotninereial treaty with the United States. My this we ceded to tluit |)e<)])le, first, the trade to tlie West liidi«'s ; limited, however, to vessels of "o tons, and to the direct voyage, (to secure whicli latter stipulation, the Americans renounced the exportation of sugar, molasses, coffee, and cotton, to all foreign coun- tries from their own). Secondly, wo ceded also the trade to the East Indies ; and this without any equivahMit. Thirdly, the trade with the North American colonies, hy inland transportation ; with- out any ecjuivalent. Kcjuivalents, indeed, they as- sure US, are to be found in the nature of the trade itself to the East and West Indies ; in the former because they give us gold for produce ; and in tlie latter perl)aj)s because they give us jjroduce for gold. And with regard to the inland trade with the northern colonies, they drew us up such an article, and trimmed the treaty so fairly, that it really looked very like reciprocity. For after providing, for themselves that all articles, not pro- hibited, might be admitted into those colonies from the United States, on the same terms as such arti- cles from Europe, they added, that, " in like man- ner,''' all articles not prohi!)ited might be admitted into the United States from the colonies, on the same terms os such artirhs in their Atlantic ports 'I f ■f -H {' lie bfi Amerlran ships: wliicli, l)cing iiitcrpretod, means, that their articles shoiilil hu admitted, as artieles from the mother eoiintry, dntij free; ours should pay u (hity <»f ten |)er cent. ; and this tlie \\\y^\ Contracting^ l*arties call " in like manner ." So many and j^rcit concessions, oll'ercd in one treaty, made the Americans fastidious. The in- land colonial trade they j^raciously accepted ; tak- ing care, however, to give such instructions to their custom-house; olHcers, as introduced some small modification ; for while they charged their duties in the Atlantic ))orts, hy adding 10 per cent, to the invoice price ; on the same articles, hy in- land transportation from the colonies, they added .>2 per cent. ; and always " in like manner*." The East India trade, also, they condescended to accept. IJut the admission to the West Indies, limited to ve!>sels of ^i) tons, they disdained and reject(>d ; not hecause the concession was not the«i worth the ( (juivalent, or that vessels of larger Innthen were re- (piired for that intercourse, or that their vessels and cargoes were not, in every other respect, placed on the same terms as British ; hut hecause they trusted to our imprudence for hetter terms. Of hctter, indeed, they were already in possesion. For the war of the French revolution breaking out in 1793, the trade of the North American co- lonies to the West Indies, in addition to the com- j)etition with American produce, already too nne- * Anderson's Ciniulii. Aniciican State I'iiiiors. 10 c|ii.il, bi'^.iii to l.iboiii (iiuicr :ili tlir risks aixi hiii tl lens, o r rapt uro and convoy. Tlie luttn was sufliciently lare ; the fornjcr l)y »«o means nnirr (|ncnt. Prices in the West Indies were conse- quently unetjual, and at times inucli advanced ; and the phmters took these occasions to persuade llieir (iovcrnors to open the islands, l)y prochiniation, tu American ships, witli |)ruduce duty free, as in a case ol necessity, It was contrary to al 1 iw, contrary to all policy, contrary to the faith and promise ot every act ot trade, contrary to the «)ath ot every colonial j;overn()r ; there was no such necessity; there was nothinir, to justify it, except an act ol" indenmity, first passed in April 17.0***) and after renewed annually. It is evident that no such necessity existed, hecanse the islands had heen suthciently supplied before, durin<; the first American war, and were abundantly supj)lied aftei', li irir.g the second, tlionuh (ie|)rived of all inter cou.se with the United States. While that inier- course therefore was o|)en to British ships, snp|)lies, though at times dearer, could never he inadeipiate to the whole yearly demand. These measures of government, in the year l?!)-*) biought sudden distress antl despair upon the North American colonies ; whose West India trade was thus rendered ruinous, fisheries worthless, and whose whole population so im|)overished and * Stat. ;{4 (ico. IV, oap. 33. 17 disluMitiiied, that many ot tlu> loyalists, who had lIuiT taken refuge since the year 17^'*. »•'i'l (*^ countervailing measures was en- acted |. A tonnage duty of 2.y. per ton was laid uj)()n American ships in the ports of the United Kingdom, and 1() per cent, upon the dutie>^ of tlu; cargo more than in British shij)s. This was verbally the same measure ot discrimination, in favour of our tonnage, that their laws made in favour oF Ameri- can ; but the bulk and value of cargoes outward, and the duties charged thereon in the United States, were so exceedingly disj)roportioned to those of the cargoes inward to the United Kingdom, that u more unequal and fallacious rule was never dis- guised under the same or similar expressions. For while the discriminating duties upon British ships in the United States, according to the average of their imports, amounted to .3/. 2s. per ton, the Bri- tish duties on American shij)s in the United King- dom, (for no duties were levied in the West Indies), amounted on the like average to only .i.v. QiL, leav- '' Aii(li!i>uii'^ ('iiniidii. i Stat. ;{" (iiH». ill. nqt. !»/ I 19 iiig a diifercncc in favour of the Americans of 2/. ISs. 3d. per ton*. This difference, equal to about half the freight, secured to the Americans the carriage of all our exports to that country, and C(msefjuently enabled them to bring hither our im- ports thence, at far cheaper rates than could be afforded by British ships. Such was the tardy re- taliation of our (iovernn.eut. Yet, as if even this were over-severe, it was tem])ercd by continuing, to several staj)les of American export, the protection against those of other foreign countries, allowed in and since the year 1783, and receiving them as colonial without certificate of origin-|~. With these measures both governments seemed to rest satisfied, till I806; excepting that, on our j)art, in 17f)8, a discrimination was made in favour of American indigo and cotton, by duties nearly one half less than if imported from other coun- tries, and one-third less than from our own colo- nies;!:; and in 1802 further and heavy discriminat- ing duties were laid in favour of American wood^ ; and except also that, on their part, the United States, rejecting the proposals in that year made by act of parliament ||, to equalize all duties in both countries, imposed in 1804 an additional light ^houM not bt' re- 11 '22 I garded as an old song. I'lie readmission of Ame- rican ships into llie West Indies, a (|Ucstion of rnilliuns, is again under discussion, and possibly resolved upon ; for acts of j)arlianient are on)ni|)i>- tent, and with ministers in American negotiations all things are possible. Some ot the general re- sults of former arrangements with the United States have been stated ; it remains to show more j)articularly the eft'ect upon colonial intercourse. For a period of fourteen years, from 17J)3 to I8O7, did the Americans enrich themselves with a mere monopoly of the West India trade. Iheir exj)orts to our islands were seldom less than 1,200,000/. yearly; they once reached the amount of 2,182,357/.*; and may be taken at an average of 1,400,000/.; and their imports at 1,000,000/. : the difference was paid in specie, or bills upon Eng- land. In addition to this, the freights were nearly all their own; and such was the proportion of bulk to value in their exports, that the ])rice of freight is computed to be about equal to the worth of the cargo f. The amount of their tonnage thus em- })loycd, on the average of three years, taken from near the middle of this period, was 131,123 tons|; retpiiring, pe'hajjs, 8000 seamen, and bringing yearly back in geld to the owners 1,400,000/. more. The illicit trade also, of which no certain estimate can be made, is known to bavt; added greatly to * I'itkin. Sovhert. id. I: Pitkin. Ij I 23 their jirofits. And hesidt"?, a'? their ships were permitted to take l)ack salt from Turk's Ihhiiul*, and to clear ont for the French and Spanish coh)- uies, whence they carried sugar and other produce to the United States, they earned a second freight hy the return voyage. And us this enahled them to re-export foreign sugars so clieaply, it was, in fact, hy underselling the Canadians in the W(^st Indies, that the Americans undersold the West Indians in foreign Europe. Nor were the advantaiies, which the Americans now possessed over our colonists, limited to the length of voyage (shorter hy nearly one-half), and the rate of insurance (which upon British hottoms had, since the war, risen to \.2\ per cent.), and the wages of seamen (which with neutrals were much less), hut, as if these were too few, another and still stranger was added. While British ships and British subjects were compelled to pay a duty, varying in the different islands, from 2\ to 5 per cent, upon their cargoes ; the Americans were exempted from this Imrthen, and admitted free of every dulvf*. Annex to all this the hounty, of nearly 20,v. a ton, which the United States tl)engaveto their fisheries |:; and the wonder is, not that the trade of our northern colonies declined, and the inhahi tants hecanie impoverished, l)ut that trade and coun- try both wt^re not abandoned. It is a fact, that their * "JS tJtu. Ill, cap, <■» 44 (n'(i. Ill, ca|). 101. I Alrliixm, \ Si'vliei't. Ji 1. i, U 24 best rishorinen were driven over to tlie United States, and their fish, their flour, and their hiiid)er, were actually transported thither, thence to he carried, in American bottoms, to the British Wist Indies *. The effect of these measures npoti British and American navigation, in the colonial trade, is shown in the following table: — Dates. l//^' The Americans be- ]ug admitted as Co- lonists [ 17H9. The Americans cx- chidcd as aliens} 1793. The Americans still excluded § 1804. The Americans liav- ini,' heen admitted from IJiKJil Rritish Toimajfe to the West Indies. From the U. States to the West Indies. Frojii tlie N. | AiiuTuan Co- lonies to the West Indies. ' Anierieftii Toiiiia|j;e to tlie West Indies. TONS. 107,730 131,123 A ilecreuse after 03 of British Shipping of 01,375 tons, and in- crease in American of 131,123. British navigation to, both the West Indies and North American colonies, and to the United States, decreased from the same date of l/O'*^' * Anderson. Atcheson. t Keport of the Lords of Trade. ^ Atrlieson. Id. Id. : I'itkin. ki 25 M own r, f '-■ Hiitish Toiinnfyc from the Onilcd Kiii^f(loin to • 1 -!)•->. 17'Jfi. Decrease. 'i'lif N. Aincriciui Colonics The West Indies 55,3(17 143,(i42 5(),!M)S 30,172 104,050 2,153 Tons. 25.105 30,502 'I'Ik! United States 43,815 A<1;1 tlic decrease in tlie West India Trade.... Total 113,002 91,375 204,077 This decrease may indeed be jiartly imputed to otlier events, but iseems mainly owing to tbe mea- sures before stated. If we take 1,400,000/. as the average vabie of the American supplies during this perioil ; and take tile freights they oiirned, as their writers com- pute, to be equal in value to these supplies ; the sum 2,800,000/. multijdied by the number of years, fourteen, gives an amount »)f 39,200,000/., which we j)r<)(]ii(c ill tlio United Kiiiudoiii) ; iitiii tli;i) tdiiclijsioii is tiirtlier (li'iiioiistratcd, hy u statc- iiiciit ol lilt! pticcs they actually ])ai(l tor tlicir ')ii|)|)liL's ijcforc this iiitci'conr>c beijaii and at its close. SiipplioH.* Avera((o of Throe \'('iirs, IVoin 171'2 t.» IT'M. Average of Thri'f Veins, t'iKliiijr with 180(i. J'loiir, per I'wt HI. to 15/. !♦/. to '221. 'Ms. I<..'(i O.ik StavTs, per I ()()()... \V\,',\? ditto ditto 221. to 30/. •2iS/. to ,'{2/. 'I'Ik^ coinnieicc carried on by American vessels between the hostile islands and iMiropc, (which, by nndersellin{4 onr snjiars in the toreiiiu markets, was ])erhaj)s, after our duties, the j;reat cause of the dejjression of West Indian interests, and which was nuiinly jironioted by admitting Americans to our islands), had now gone to such an extent, that (ireat Britain began at length, in 1805, to exert Inr maritime right and power to intercej)t their direct voyage. This was a great loss to the United States, who always considering every loss an in- jury, retaliated by an ict, in 18()0', prohibiting the importation ol a very large description of manU' • KvidiMicf ill tlie Puiiiumciitary Imiuiry, 180<>. M ' i 'M) fattiiri's (Vciin tlic Uiiitod Kiiii^'doiii *. In llir .saii'.^" year llu- AiiieritMii iiittirouisu hill waji cairic'd tliron^di |)ariiaMuiit, giving the sanction of law to nitasurcs, which hitherto were no less illegal than ini|M)litic; alter which did onr minis- ters, without rc(|nirin{i, or without ohtainlng, a r(>|)cal of the American prohihition, sit down to ncgociatc a tressed tiieir regret, that the l^th article of the treaty of I7IH, which admitted tiien' vessels uiuler /O tons, had not heen accepted hy the Auieiicans, as it would have removed j)rejudices here, and |)repared the way for the more complete admission of the United States into that trade 'j*. As this treaty was uot ratified hy that govern- ment, it needs no furthei' renuirk ; except for the inecpiality of that condition, in which ministers (uot for the first time nor for the last) placed themselves, hy signing an instrument, which was a treaty ohiigatory on their part, and hut a project unauthorized on the part of the American com- un>sioners. These — the treaty heing rejected hy their president — attempted to renew negociations * American SUte t'apcih. j Ainciicaii Stati' Papers. r 1 1 n \} li' ii|iiMi llu- basis (,iM llu'ir ciisioin is) ut rcliiiiiiiif; t'vt'iy tiling tliat treaty granted, and obtaining something more. lUit a change of ministry liad taken plaee, and tlioy fortunately eanic into col- lision with a statesman who was better ae(|nainted with their poliey and measures. The rorres|)on- di'iicc of Mr. Caufiing with the American en- voy, at this |)eri()d, asserted the dignity and real interest of (ireat Hritain, ami at the same time showed up the conduct of the United States with such wit and energy, a« to be neither didl to an inditlerent, nor humiliating to an interested readei. Kare (|Uidities both, in communications with America I No. IV. To this ruinous system of colonial intercourse, ai)()ve described, the American (lovernment itself, in I807, put a sudden and eft'ectual stop. 'J'he disputes u|)on neutral rights had risen to a crisis : (ireat Britain refused to abdicate tlie advantages of her supremacy at sea, which the enemy's conduct made it necessary to exert : and the United States, making virtually, if not expressly, a cou)mon causi; I V • Aiiiorican iStatc Papers. (I \ :i2 with France, laid their embargo. A second time did Rritisli ships and C()h)nies receive, from the hostile measures ot that (Government, tlie protection they '.ad expected in vain from the hiws of tlie mother country. It is the pride of the Americans to have enlic^ht- ened the world with many new lessons and ex- periments in political econoniy, of which a jier- manent endjargo upon their own shij)|)ini,'' is per- haps the most extraordinary. Whatever motive induced that j)eople to lay violent hands on their own revenues and commerce, and inflict n|)on them- selves all the evils of a war, without a chance of its successes ; whether it was the idea ot imj)overish- '.r.^ Great Britain, or of starvini^; the West Indies ; the results were by no means such, that we either had reason to be dissatisfied then with their jxdicy, or in future to de|)rccate its renewal. From this date, a new era began in colonial inter- ("ourse. Within the three years following the Ame- rican restrictions, the exj)orts of the North Ame- rican colonies to the W^est Indies were more than doubled ; their tonnage thither more than doubled; their exports to Great IJritain niore than doul)led ; the tonnage so employed trebled ; their importa- tion of West India produce doubled; their iin|)or- tations from the United Kingdom doubled; and the importation and tonnage from the United Kingdom to the West Indies increased nearly a I 'V H I .1 I K f ^. f:l i» 33 lourtli. (^tlier causes indeed may have contii- hiited to some of these effects, hut they all relate to colonial trade, and the exclusion of the Ame- ricans is the principal. As no valuation of the exports, from the Nor- thern Colonies to the West Indies, is given in offi- cial returns, it is not easy, though very desirable, to measure their amount by money. But, if we nuiy take their freights to be, on the average, ecjual to the value of the cargo, as is believed ; and their itnj)orts to be generally equal to their exports, as ajtpcars to he the fact ; and the freights, uj)on the av( rage, to have been about ^l. a ton, which, until 1815, they were certainly worth ; we can by these means give a valuation sufficiently accurate, and which, however prices have altered since the peace, will yet, like the official value of our customs, ex- press ijuantities in money, and enable us to com- )>ajc the trade of different years, and measure its increase or decline. The following table, then, will best show the result of the American restric- tions. \ i J s: D n f i :i 34 > Ivxpnrts from, Average of 1^01,5,0, the AllUMifUlIM l>einm ivlmit- ti'il into the West Indies. Average of 1808, 9, 10, tlie Ame- ricans being I'd'clin/cfi. Increase llritish Nortli American (^oloiiins to the West Indies* 333,702 r)-),iu iH>,(;fi5 7,7;i{),i39 4,282,6fiO 1).'^7,447 250,572 7;K),83i? 7-2,9S!> 250,572 8,24f),52!> 5,204,679 1,572,577 130,907 liritisli North Amerieaii ('olouies to the United Kingdom! Hriti;.h Nortii Anu'rican Colonies to the Soutii of Europe J 40.3,1.30 7,H7r> 130,907 507,390 982,019 015,130 West Indies to the British North Araeriean Colo- nies;}: West Indies to the United Kinirdom II United Kingdom to the West Indies^ United Kingdom to tlie British Nortli Anieriean Colonies** ' 13,(517,392 M),454,750 2,837,358 Now, as our whole trade to Europe, upon the average of the same years, greatly increased, and our whole trade to all parts of America collectively (although considerably decreasing with the United • Computed from the Tonnage. f Official lieturns. X Computed from the Tonnage. II Official lieturns. % Id. •• Id. In see f •« 36 Slates) iprroased also*, if wo ilodnct the diminu- tion ot exports (Voni the West Indies to the United States about 438,545/., the remainder 3,298,813/. is, perhaj)s, the measure of the addition made to British commerce. And even if it be itisisted, that the decrease of our exports to tlie United States shouUi also be deducted, though owing to causes unconnected with our colonial intercourse with them, it will still be found, that the increase of colonial trade made up, not only for all decrease between the West Indies and the United States, but also for the decrease between the United States and Great Britain, and exceeded the loss on both, by half a million. Exports from, West Indies to the United Statest (ireat Hritain to the Unit- ed States J Averap^e of 1804, .^, *■>. £. 1,028,250 7,:^86,104 Average of 1808, 9, 10. £. 489,705 5,664,329 Decrease. £. 538,545 1,721,775 Total decrease 2,260,320 Deducting decrease from increase, as above . 2,837,358 Remains net increase o£'.577,038 * Moreau. t For want of better informatiou, we have taken the West India Trade to the United States, upon the average of 1802, 1H03, 1804, for the first period ; and have, for the second, com- puted the exports at 5-7tlis of the imports, the proportion they seem usually to have borne. j Moreau. D 2 I « 3G And this is exclusive of the increase of our fish- eries on the banks and shores ; exclusive of the coasting trade of the North American Colonies ; exclusive of the trade of the West Indies to other foreign countries; in all of which the increase was important, but of which no accurate account is at hand ; and exclusive also of the increase of freights, which are of more imj)ortance than all together, and of which some estimat ; can be formed from the following table. British Tonnage from, North American Colonies to the West Indies* ... North American Colonies to Great Britain f North American Colonies to South of Europe |... Great Kritain to the West lntiies§ Whole British tonnage to the United States 11 * Official Returns. I Official Keturns. II Seybert. \ver.igo of 1804,5,6, Ameiiccans (Hltnitte'l. 17,075 r.i,709 9,302 183,885 69,752 Averap;p of 1808, i),K), Americans f.vduded. De- crease. 35,796 66,824 10,427 235,045 52,881 Net Increase. i" Morean. § Morean. 16,871 In- creas c. 16,87 18,721 15,115 1,125 51,160 86,121 16,871 69,250 %4 37 Taking tlie value of these freights at the average 1)1' 7/. a ton*, tliey amount to 484,750/. to be added to tlic increase above given, and make a sum total of 1,061,788/. A similar improvement occurred in the coasting Made of the colonies, as may be collected from the following statement of their registered tonnage "j-. 1806. Americang admitted. 1810. Americans excluded. Increase. Rfffistered tonnage in tlie West Indies 111,857 71,943 131,303 84,080 19,446 12,137 Hegistered tonnage in the British North American Colonies Tons 183,800 215,383 31,583 The importation of West India produce Jn the northern provinces increased at the same time, as 1 ollows -^• Sugars lbs. Molasses gals. Toffee lbs. Hum gals. Average of 1804,5,6, Americans admitted. 1,596,062 215,129 73,286 782,450 Average of 1808,9, 10, Americana excluded. 3,227,877 329,743 553,332 1,198,783 Increase. 1,631,815 114,614 480,046 416,333 Anderson. \ Morcnu. { PaiTuinicntary Kcturnb. ji 1 ( W 38 Some part of these importations may have found their way into the United States, hut to no great amount perhaps, for the increase to Newfoundland was as great as to any other coh>iiy. The conchi- sions whieh the last tahlc tends to estahlish, and which we shall after find means to confirm, are, that the Canadian provinces not only import from the British West Indies far more than the United States, in proportion to either their population or exports ; hut even in point of (juantity, nearly, if not fully, as much; and furt'er that such importations, into the North American Colonies, depend upon their exportations to the West Indies ; for the co- lonies cannot buy of any but the West Indies, nor of them, unless they will buy of the colonies. This, the result of their commercial restrictions, was not witnessed by the Americans with much complacency; and in 1812, they resolved to pro- secute their complaints, or settle their differences with us, by war. The opportunity seemed favour- able for wresting from Great Britain her provinces in North America, the value of which to us, and the detriment to them, recent events had taught their Government, but not ours ; and the concjuest of which, they foresaw, would in future negocia- tions, add no little weight to ther claims and ar- guments, for sharing the West India trade. It proved, however, a bad sj)ecnlatioii ; not from any luck of mismanagement on the part of opu" (io- vcrnment, who very diligently verilied the obser- pr. aft po ■■•t v*. 30 valion of Miulison, when reluctantly conscnt- iilL' to til (• war, " ive know nothing about it : we shall mahc n fhnusaud blunders^ but Great Britain uill make more." And slie never made a greater, than when a bankrupt Government, defeated in every attem])t beyond its own frontier, ejected from its caj)ital, despised by the people its subjects (or, if tiiey please, its masters), without an army, with- out credit, without commerce, was saved from dis- solution, by such a treaty as that of Ghent. The ways of statesmen resemble those of Providence, whose place they supply, in darkness and mystery, at least, if less in beneficence. Here, however, the American publications* revealed a ujost egre- 1,'ioiis piece of diplomacy, " quo proposito, nemo erat, qui in ipso dolore risum posset continere.*' As a set-oft' to the British demand, of an interme- diate boundary for the Indian tribes in the West, and such a settlement of our confines in the north- oast, as shonld leave the connection of onr pro- vinces uninterrupted and undisputed, the Americans preferred, a claim for spoliations before the war and during the war, and a definition of blockade, now become merely an abstract (juestion of na- tional law. Of the British demands, one was afterwards as tamely abandoned as it had been ))()sitively repeated at first for a sine qua non ; the !>lhcr was left just as it jtood before; and as i( * AuiLTicai! Stati' Paittis. 40 neither ui the Amcriciin cliiiins appear in the treaty, it would seem, tliat we, lor their sj)oliutions (luring the war, reliiujuished them the Indians to spoil ever afterwards ; and they, for our north- eastern boundiiry, gave us up a definition. A Treaty of Commerce followed, in 1815; the third with the United States, and the least excep- tionable. For the first time, the navigation of both countries was placed upon equal terms, in the ])orts of either; and though the concession of the East India trade, which had now become habi- tual and almost a matter of course, was renewed ^ with regard to the West India trade, the treaty stipulated that each nation ivas to remain in the complete possession of its own rights. This was all British subjects had to desire; for the complete possession of our rights was, to have the whole trade to ourselves; the complete possession of the Americans, to have none. The United States being thus left to the com- })lete possession of their own rights, the West India trade continued, till 1822, as it had been from I807, in its legitimate channel; the reward of British industry, and extension of British power. Certain ports indeed were, in the course of this period, oj)ened for certain articles, with various rules and changes, little important to the present subject; except what were called the free ports of Halifax, St. John's, and Bermuda, through which, after 1818, the Aniericait trade was principally V* 41 coiKhuted. Hnt, Ik'Ioic tracing the coinincrcial nioasuitvs of cither country .snbsc(jiient to the war, lot us first cotnputu the gaitis and h)sses to British trade and navigation from 1810 till the |)eace ".k 1815. Dnringalniost the whole of this time, all com- mercial interconrse between the British dominions and the United States was interdicted, either by their acts of non-intereonrse, or by the war; and during the last year (181-i), their whole coast was btrictly i)l()ckaded. Yet, on comparing this last year with the average above given of three years ending in 1810, the exports of the northern colo- nies to the West Indies are found to have conti- nued increasing, by more than one-third ; the ton- nage em])loyed thereby, one-third; their tonnage and exports to the south of Europe more than doubled ; their registered tonnage advanced from 84,000 to 113,000 tons; their imports from Great Britain increased nearly llireefold ; and a conside- rable addition was made to the tonnage employed by their exports thither : although these provinces were at that time the seat of war, their produce, in good part, recjuired to sr.pport the navy and army, their ships sometimes caj)tured by American pri- vateers, and the inhabitants frequently called ofi' Ironj their labours, and never unsuccessfully, to drive the enemy beyond their borders. The in- crease in this and in the West Indian branch of coloni d trade and navigation, may, by the measure before mentioned, be stated thus. 'I 9. 1 I 1 ?l fl •h'l I) 42 I",l£]l01ts fVolll, Avcnip^o of 1908, IHO'.t, iinil IHIO. 'J'hc Vein- IHII. Di'crcaKO. Increanc. NoriliAinuiicaii Co- lonies to the Wost [lulics* 2r)0,r»72 790,832 72, mj 1,572,577 5,204,079 8,246,529 250,572 34f),00«) 322,8iMJ 200,543 4,093,062 0,315,073 8,496,850 349,00(5 473,933 118,434 NiiitliAiucruiiii Co- lonies to till' Unit- ed Kingdom! .... NoitliAmerican Co- lonies to thcSoutli ol FUiropi' 1 United Kingdom to the North Ameri- can Colonies § ... United Kingdom to the West Indies }- West Indies to the United Kingdom f West Indies to the North American ( !()li)nit's '**"*^ 127,554 2,520,485 1,050,394 250,321 98,434 £. 10,454,750 20,120,439 473,933 4,105,022 473,933 ;i ) • £.3,091,089 Hritisli Tomiatjfi! from ft 181C. 1814. Intreaae. North American ('olonies to the West Indies 35,790 49,858 14,002 North American Colonies to the United Kingdom . 00,824 81,939 15,115 North American Colonies to the South of Kurope... 10,427 28,049 18,222 U . Kingdom to the W. 1 ndies 235,045 280,200 51,101 348,092 446,652 98,500 Average value, at 7'. per ton c£'.089,920n- * Computed Iroiu tlu roiiiiiijic. + Coiiiputcd from the 'roniiajfc. * * ('(r,ni)\itL(liiiiin till- i'onnam' tt Anderson. t Olliii.il llolurus. § OlHciiii Ki'tunis. It Otliciu! Kettiiii-, Mou au ■«^ 43 Such was the ^'iiin to (iiiMt Bri^un Irom colo- nial trade (luring the war with ihe linitcd States. What was the loss of our Ainericaii trade ? 1 Avciiiffi' of 180H, :i, 10. Year 181 J. Decrease. Kx|)ort8 t'ruiii rn-oit Ht'it.Vm to the United Sfatcs "... Ditto fioin the West Indies to the United States |.,. £. u,<»(54,329 489,705 52,881 £. 7,303 £. 5,057, 02<5 489,705 Whole llritish tonnage ti> the United State h | 508 Total decrease 6,140,731 Add decrease of 52,313 tons, at "Jl. per ton 300,191 6,512,922 Add decrease before stated, 1806 to 1810... 2,360,320 Total , o£'.8,873,242 This was tlie loss of British trade and luiviga- tiou to the United States, on coinj)arin^ the years of its extreme |)rosj)erity and of its total interrnj)- tion hy war and hlockade. What did the increase of colonial trade and navigation towards rej)airing this loss r * Morcau. I Ante. Seybort. ^ 44 Tlio inn rise Iroin IHlo to IHIl, \vc liavc scrii, was — liiTriiHo i'.3,r>!)l,r)H{> Frciplits <58<»,«>-J() /'. 4,38 1, MM) Add incroiisc fiuiii IHOO tu 1 810: In Trade 2,8:57 ..ViS Freights 484,7:10 3,322,108 'I'otal incrcnflc (»f Colonliil Trade and Navigntion 7i703,7l7 Decrease of American 8,873,242 Nett decrease... jL'.l,\m},'f2Ct So nearly was the total iiiterrii|)tion of onr t'onwncrcc with the United States compensated, hy the men; increase of colonial trade ; and even this Irdance might he further reduced, if noi e(|nalle(l, were any exact account at hand of the increase of trade, at this time, hetween the West Indies and foreign ports. It may he remarked, in passing, that the com- merce and navigation of the United States were, (luring the same j)eriod, reduced from 22,90.9,112/. ex|)orts, to l,568,(i74/., and from 929,421 tons of American shipping in foreign trade, to 59,626*. So utterly impotent is that power to distress us by hostilities ; so destructive to their comnjcrce is our enmity with them ; and hoth owing to colonial trade and colonial possessions. * Seybert. , 4G I'hc West Indian islands, \\\c wliilc, wtTc fur iVoin suHi'iin^. It lins been nlivadv sliown ttiat their cxjmrtM, tliat i^, tlieir ])r()duce, to (irnat Britain and the cohinius, liad increased nearly I,0<)(),0()0/. ; and as men do not continne, nnuh less extend, the eidtivation of their estates, for so h)ng a ])eriod at a U)HS, tiu^ presninption is, that they yiehled a better proHt. llt)\v nineii the exportation of West India pro- duce to the Canadian provinces was angnitnted, (hning tlie same |)eriod, n»ay be better seen in tlie table subjoined. 11)8. 1810. 1811. Decrease. liu'i oa.se. Sugar MolilSSCH,,.. 3.227.H77 .•J2!),743 8.170.722 530,298 4.948,84.5 200.555 ....galls. lbs. Coffee 553,.'}32 284,.'i3r. 2()8,79G Rum .... galls. 1.198,783 1.919,251 720,4<»8 Here, therefore, we have had befon us anex- trcmc case of the total suspension ol ( (donial in- tercourse with the United States, and have seen by the result, that the measures of that peoj)le to dejiress colonial trade, can injure none but them- selves ; nor have they any other means of wresting it from Us, but some imprudent negociation, or some impolitic act of Parliament : means to which the Americans immediately had the good sense to resort, and in 1B22, the good fortune to succeed. M-' 4G No. V. The treaties of 1814 aiul 1815 being obtained, the Americans lost no time in recommencing their commercial hostilities, which we met in the same spirit, as from 1783 to I8O7. First, in 18l(), thev made the third ueneral revision of their tariff, raising their duties upon manufaetnres and West India prodnce, by from 30 to 100 per cent, above their former rates ; the internal duties upon their own manufactures and distilled spirits expiring about the sanie time. Next, in 1817» their tonnage duties, whicii during the war had been increased to 8*. 8(/. upon foreign vessels, Avcre reduced upon other foreign ships to 6'*. 6d., and raised to lO.v. 10(1. uj)(m such as should come from British colonial ports, to which the United States were not admitted *. In 1818, they closed their ports against our vessels arriving from, or even touching at, any such colonial port ; and further, they prohibited British shi|)s, though entering their ports from the United Kingdom, to clear out for any colonial port, from whicii American ships were excluded : a measure vrithout example since colonies were planted, and most contrary to the treaty of 1815, in spirit at least, if not the letter. By this they reduced the whole British tonnage to their ports, • Scybert. 47 from 177 1^7^ (^''*^ average of the tliree years pre- ceding) to 45,557 tons, the average of the three sneceeding years*. In 1820, they close(f their ports against our vessels arriving from, or touching at, any colonial j)ort whatever in America, even those to wliic/i American vessels were admitted. Further, they prohihited the j)rodiic(; of any one colony to he imported, even in American vessels, from j)orts in any other colony. And, further, they prohii)ite(l British vessels, tiiough entering the United States from Cxreat Britain under the treaty of 1815, to clear out to any colonial port whatever in America, even to those to which American vessels were ad- mitted \ : a still grosser ahuse, if not infraction, of that treaty, and no less contrary to all terms of reciprocity, or even amity, hetween nations. It would have hcen easv for Cireat Britain to have devised some similar perversion of the treaty; and honour to her ministers that they did not. But shame to them, who in the midst of these inimical acts of the United States, could set their hands to another convention, " qiue et risus homi- mim et querelas moveret.''' The fisheries of British America, which train and support more seamen than any other hranch of commerce, except the trade in timher ; which may give food to half • Watterston's and Van Zandt's Statistics of the liiiitcd States, t Tazewall'H Review of the Negociations between tlie United States and Great Britai . f » 4H fi Cliristondoin for onc-fomtli of the yoar; winch have heen mines of silver and gold to us, nioio hurative than any in either hemisphere; the rights of taking and curing fish, on the waters and shores of Newfoundland and the Lahrador, toge- ther with liherty of entering any other parts ol" our coast for snniggling (whicii the treaty calls *^ getting wood and uuiter''), were in 1818, con- ceded (the treaty says, "/or ever") to the Ameri- cans, without eijuivalent ! unless our assigning as limits the most valuahle parts, or their giving u|) claims to all the rest, can he called an equivalent ; claims to which they had as little pretension, as their President to the crown of (ireat Britain. And this treaty of gratuity and concession was negociated with profound secrecy, no notice given, no inquiry made; and more, after our connnis- sioners at Cihent had expressly refused to include it in that negociation, and denounced to the United States, that it would not he granted with- out equivalent. How much tiiis liherality lias cost us, or heen worth to the Americans, no suffi- cient means of ascertaining are at hand ; hut some conjecture may he formed from the following facts. The amount of their tonnage emjjloyed in fisheries has increased nearly one halt, since the signing of that treaty ; the average till then, from the peace, having heen 51,110: since that treaty till 1826, it had ri-^en to "/ \ hGq. ton* atnniaiiy ; and since 182G, has increa-ed still fnither. I'liese not only s «i» 49 tiiriiisli food to a ii;ieat jiart of tlu'ir own popula- tion, u'liose consiiinption of fish is itninense, l)nt leave a surplus for eNj^ortatioii yearly, varying from the value of 300,000/. to 700,000/. A late (juebcc paper gives the subjoined statement of the proportion in which they have divided with us the Labrador fishery, during the present year. il* Vessels. Mon. Fish. Oil. Cwt. Hhds. 'Vitish r)08 9,110 ()7:j,ooo 0,730 American i,r)00 1.5,000 24,110 1,100,000 11,000 Total 2,108 1,773,000 17,730 .Net value on the coast. I'isli Oil 8eal skins and furs.. £ 1 ,002,000 95,000 7,000 o£ 1,1 14,000 Such were the commercial measures of the United States, and such the only retaliation on our part, till 1822. Let us see what was the con- dition of the colonial trade during this interval. *' The greater part of that period," says a Report of the American congress, " an annual trade of 11,000,000 of dollars (2,474,000/.), one half produced, and the other half consumed in the United States, — employing 100,000 tons of ship- ping, with five or six thousand seamen, and form- ing an aggregate freight or profit of 2,000,000 of I 'J. K i^' GO dollars (i5(),()Oo/.), was carried on by British imv' gatioii." From which it aj)|)ears, first, that tlu: colonial exports to the United States now equalled the imports, which had generally been far otherwise, when carried in Amerif a bottoms ; next, thai these exports aniounteu to 1,237,000/., which before had as rarely hap|)encd ; 3dly, that after j)aying the heavy exactions of their tariff and dis- criminating duties, there still remained to British navigation a net sur|)lus of freight of nearly half a million per aimum. During the three next years, I8I9, 1820, and 1821, this trade, in American articles to the West Indies, was principally con- ducted through the free ports of Bernuida and the northern colonies; the United States having, by the acts of 1818 and 1820, above stated, inter- dicted the direct voyage. A change, which did ns little injnry, and them much. For the abort freight which we thus lost, and they gained by bringing their articles to the free ports, was but about IOa', a ton, and less than the dis- crimin..ting duties imj)(>sed liy then) on colonial vessels ; and their exports to our islands and colonies decreased from 1,700,000/., in the year 1817, to 511,909/. in 1821, without increasing to the foreigiv islands *. Consequently American prices were much depressed ; and whatever was added to the cost of their articles by this circuitous * Wiitter.ituii ui\(l Villi Zuiidt's Statihtics of tlu' United Siatos. % voyage, and not <'()ni]>rii''at(Ml by lavingtlie tonnajj;c " eent. ; 24a. j)cr cwt. ecpial to 40 per eent. on eolVee ; 5//. per gaUon, being 30 })er eent. on molasses ; on salt 200 per eent. and, what is of njost im|)ortanee, on rum 3*. ^d. per gallon, more than eent. per eent., and e(|ual to a prohibition. Our means ot intormation are so limited, that we have i)ecn able to give i)ut a very inade(|uati- idea, either of the value to us ot the West India trade till 1822, or of its Icc. after, by the transfer- ence to the Arnerieans. The amount, of capital put without return, and of industry paralysed, by a change so sudden and extreme, and the effects upon private j)roperty and contracts, are things not easily collected or estimated, though known to he great, and of which accounts of iujports and ex|)orts afford an imperfect conception. But il seems, with the body politic as the huujan body, that there is in the nature of things a healing j)ower, which accommodates its(df to circumstances, and bears up against, and partly ieu*c;!i"s, most of the evils, which error or incaution inflict. Shocks there are however, whose repetition is the worst ot calamities; and ^uch will the measure of 1822 prove, il renewed in IH.iO. 1 he admission ol 4 1 m ... <>' 55 Atiioricim ships into tin; West Indies would now Ik- iiltended with far grctiter injury, than any hi- therto sutteied ; for reasons we shall give. No. VI. " There are three things which cannot he sa- lislied, and four which say not it is enough," as the wisdom of the olden tinje instructs ns ; and the advances of the new world seem likely to produce u fifth. This shall he hetter understood, hy sum- ming np the climax of American demands in ne- gociating and legislating on colonial intercourse, from the first of our concessions, to the last of their attempts. It was a great ohject for them, at the heginning, to have even their articles admitted into the Biitish islands. This was granted hy the act of 1783. Next, they required admission for their vessels under 70 tons, and offered, as an e(juivalent, no less than to give uj) all exportation of colonial produce to foreign countries from their own. It was granted hy the treaty of 1794- Then they refuse all equivalent, and are offered admis- sion for vessels of one deck (hy the negociations in I8I7*). After, they reject this limitation to vessels of one deck, and ask admission for vessels • TiizewcH's Review of the Negociiitions between t!ic United Stiite.s and Ciieat fJritain. j'-j (1 i ot tlic siiiiic (Ie8<;ri|)li()ii as Rritisli, to tlic same ports, and with the .same artieles. This, too, is e()in|)lii'(l with (by the negociations in 1K18*). All w hieh being obtained, the Amerieans lurtlier demand, that whatever articles are admitted to aivy one port, shall be admitte«l to all ; retnsing, at the same time, to receive from all ports, whatever articles they receive from any ; and demand also, that their articles shall be charged with no liighei duties, than it inn)orted from any other country. Their envoy was very j)ropeily directed, in com- ninnicating these last demands, to read, at the same lime, to the British minister, a lectnie n{)on plain dealing, and state " t/iat it is Jar bet/erf for the harmouif of two nations, to avoid anif Jxtrs^oin in which either parti/, after agreeing to it, shall hare, by the experience oj' its effects, the senti- ment of having been, overreached brought home to its councils'^ J" Here the negociation seems to liave given place to lcgi^latioll, and the same game continued. I'he act ot 1822 ;{;, opened Iree j)orts in the West Indies to American vessels, exclusive ol other mi- tions, Iree oi all discriminating duties on tonnage or goods, tor the imjiortation of their princi|)al sta|)les, wood and corn, under very low duties, * 'I'ii/.e well's Review u( the Ncgociatiotis betweoii llic I'nifed State.-, and (Jipiit Hiituin. I li»!tler iif iMr. Adamw to Mr. Kiibl), May 181'J. 1 8tat. 4 (ivAK IV. cai) 44. « .07 > loj^otlx r vvitli tlic liberty of cxpoilatioi), in ail irs|K'tts the siiiiie as in British ships. At about the same time (May, 1822), in antici- pation ot the above act of parliament, and in similar terms, an act of congress was j)a,sse(l*, j:iviii^ the president power to opcMi their ports fo British vessels from the colonies, so as to confer nj)on such vessels " like privileges'' to those con- ferred by (ireat Britain upon American. Accord- ingly, when the British act came into operation, the president, by his proclamation, ojjened tlieir ports. Here follows a rare ])iece of dealing, for which, between individuals, no epithet would be thought too severe. As the British act imposed no tonnage or discriminating duty on American vessels, and the American act offered British ves- sels the " like privileges,'' the conclusion of course was, that their tonnage and discriminating duties on our vessels had also ceased. The j)resident'8 procla- mation -j- said nothing to the contrary, though it enumerated other restrictions. But, after allowing three weeks to intervene, just enough for this pro- clamation to reach the islands and colonies, and for the adventures it invited to connnerce, instruc- tions are sent to the American customs, to exact the tonnage duty of C)S. 6(1. a toi2, and the discri- minating duties of 10 per cent, upon all such ves- sels as should arrive ;{:. • Ar. »kli Miiy, IS2-2. t Tazewell. 24tli Auguit, 1822. ."iK ^} It liiis been s!ii(l, tliiit (licy, who oltiMi (l(»rcive «)lliiMs, must practise, cither (lillhfut iiuaiis, or upon rcnt persons. I^'iioiicously ; there are who re- (jiiiru neither ; hut have heen ahle three times to overreaeii the same irovenimeiU hy the satiie eqni- v«)cation. First, ii,/()ii " /ike manmr" in the treaty of 179'* (exphiiiied in our second munl)er) : secondly, upon '* iilw articles'* in the treaty of 1815; contrary to which, their tarill immciMately ( haryed ahove loo per cent, more duties on liritisli har iron than on llahic, hccausc tlic forni(>r iieini;; rolled, and the latter hammered, into hars, the (U't'nU's were no longer like*: t! irdly, in 18*23, iij)«)n " like privileges" Vox it was in vain that we invoked hoth their act of 1815, which ha otiier or hiu:licr duties of tonnage, &c'. uj)om Anieiicau vessels, or nj)on the goods imported therein, are exacted in coK)nicil ports, tlian upon British vessels, or the like goods im|)orted " from clsfwhere," the j)resi(lent was authorized to issue Ids proclamation, dechiring that no otlier or liiijher duties of tonnage, &c. shall he levied upon r>rilish vessels coming tVom the colonial ports, and the gt)0(ls iu)j)orted therein, than uj)on American vessels, and the goods therein. The word " eLse- ivhcrc," in this act, was naturally sujtposed at first to meau^rom any foreign countri/, hut was after- wards explained to im])ly from any other country whatsoever, British or foreign. IJy this ecpiivocal dissyllal)lc (for the effect of this word, says a Ke|)ort of the Aiuericau Congress, " was discitsscd and well understood, and it was inserted beeause the most apt and expressive to meet the case:'' the discussion of which shows that the e(juivocation was remarked, its insertion, that it was pre- ferred :) — hut hy this most a{)t and expressive word, (hat government was found to have demanded, 1st, That our discriminating duties u|)on tomiagc * Aft (•( CunuiL^s of Iril ol .Miircli. \&2o. r/i 00 i sliould l)c rtiuoved ; (it was iiolorions that no sucli (Uitic's existed) ; 2(1, 'I'liat tlicir luamiractiires should be admitted into the colonies on the same terms as the manufactures from the mother country; .'^d, 1 hat their produce should he ad- milted into each colony upon the same terms as the produce of another C()lo!iy ; that is, that their provisions and lumber should be admitted into the West Indies on the same terms as those of the North American colonies, and that their sugars and rum should l)e admitted into the North Ame- rican colonies, uj)on the same tertns as those of the We't Indies. In consideration of all which they too would renu)ve their disciiminating duties; but would not remove their ])r()hibition \ij)on British ships arriving from the United Kingdom to clear out for colonial ))orts ; and would not remove their duties on colonial j)ro(luce, which the tarilf of 18l6 had made almost ])rohibitory. Yet, afler these demands, so extravagant, so arrogant, as to be hard!}' understood, had been ex{)lained ; after seeing the colonial trade, and British shipping, so reduced, as before shoun, and the Americans su|)planting both by the freights and cargoes of 1()0,()0() tons; while tb.e 20,000 tons of British vessels, thus ensnared into the United States, were forced to ])ay nearly tin; whole ])ro(its of tljeir voyage into the American treasury; yet, not even then, (ould the British (lovcrnment be i)ronght to put a stop to this une(pial inlertourbc, nor lo any ?, nuMsnres of retaliation, except one, tlie foel)lest ot all, and most fallacious. An order in conncil* directed ii tonnage duty of 4s. 4d. a ton to be levied nj)on American vessels, and 10 per cent. uj)on the duties on their cargoes, more than the duties j)aid by British vessels. Here, by following' verbally the American rate of duties, we were caught a second time in the same tra|), which had exj)osed us to so nmch loss and derision, after the year 17.98 : for our duties upon American articles were so light, and the articles so bulky, that this discri- mination made a very trifling and unavailing dif- ference in our favour; while the duties they levied uj)()ji West India produce were so high, and their amount upon a cargo so great, that the 10 per cent, addition was more than the whole freight, and amounted to a prohibition of importation in British ships-|~. Thus the West India merchant, in sending his ship to the United States for a cargo of their produce, was obliged to einploy an American vessel to carry thither his sugar and rum for ])ayment, while his own made the same voyage in ballast. Besides all this, not even was the tonnage duty, imposed by the order in council, cfjual to the American charges upon our tonnage, by a third. The British ships from the colonies were then paying upon their tonnage, in American j)orts, 'Is. id. tonnage, 2s. 2d. light, and about 3d. a ton • Order of 21 iit July, 18-23. t" Prooet'tiiiif^s <»1' tlu> lliinisbnrg Ctmvoiition. :ve ()2 jjilolat^o ; all discrimiiialini; ('liarii!:os, Ikud wliirli Amoricaii bottoms were exempt, and wliicli amounted to 6'*. 6(i. a ton. Fo counteract which 4s. All. seems on our part to have been computed the just e(|nivalent ; for American vessels in colo- nial ports were subjected to no other discrimi- natiiiii' charj^e. To suffer things to reiuain in this state was suffi- ciently ruinous, yet in 1824 such another conces- sion was invented, as would have made colonial and shipping interests still more desperate. For, to induce the Americans to rejieal their discrimina- ting duties, and their restrictions on the circuitous voyage, an offer was that year made to ])ermit them to exjjort on equal terms with ourselves, from the colonies to all foreign countries what- so(>ver. If the imj)()rtancc of the trade between the West Indies and foreign countries is con- sidered, one can hardly believe it was fully under- stood, either what might be lost by us, or gained by the Americans, when such a proposal was offered, and was rejected. Events however |)roved, that the Americans at least knew what they were about; for, in 1825, ministers advanced a stej) further, and a most important one. By an act that year*', not only was the above ])ri' ilege of trading between British colonies and all foreign countries granted, but in addition, ministers almost sub Stat, <> Cicn. IV. cai. 7.'}. (;:i ■ scriljcd to tlic Ainorlran (KmmuikIs oi" 182.'i, all cx- travagiuit and unequal as they wore. For l)y this act (which added largely to the articles of inijiort), American nianni'actures were a(hnitted into all the colonies and islands, not exactly upon the same terms as those ol the mother country, hut under a very low protecting duty, at the highest not ef|ual to the atnouut ot the costs and charges, at which the manufactures of the mother country could be there imported ; and, in many cases, not ecjual to the amount of such costs and charges hij nut. half'-, nor equal to one half the duty imposed upon British manufactures in American ports ; and theii- ])r<)dnce was admitted into the West Indies under low j)ro- tecting duties, in favour of the mother country and her North American colonies, equally insuthcient to cover the difference of freight by the shorter voyage, and the other advantages enjoyed by the United States. What madness or folly possessed the Americans that they hesitated at this offer r Did the mere ])hantom of a schedule and duties impose on their jicnetration ; or what further concessions had they to hope or desire ? They since accuse the obscurity of our law. Unjustly: ministers had translated their demands into the act of parliament, not indeed to the letter, but so faithfully to the spirit, 'hat they should have recognised their own mea- sures in a ditferent shape. Yet there was n singn- >> lar t];uise in that net, wliich discovered thai mitiisters IhuI still souk tiling more to concede, or had as yet no certain policy to pursne. 'J'hey were empowered to give, by an order in council, any country the whole j)rivileges the act conferred, and dispense witii all the conditions it exacted. This seemed p;ecisely suited to the United States. Here was an arriere-pensee, a something fur- ther, they knew not what, or knew not how worthless, to he wrung forth. The congress met. 'I'hc act and offers of Cneal Britain were laid i)c- fore them. An attempt was made by the mode rate party to repeal their act of 1823, and remove their discriminating duties, and ac>"ej)t of the colonial trade; but it was outvoted. The offer was rejected. The congress held out for some- thing more. For once, they were mistaken. For once, did the Americans speculate uj)on the facility and con- cession of our govrrnment, and fail. Knowing as they are, in the value of every (piestion, the time when, and the men with whom they nego- ciate, for once, they seem to have overrated the patience, or inditterence, or liberality, ot a British minister. An order in council at length came forth*, not to offer further concessions, but to re- voke those already granted. After having suffered the Wes> iiidies to be oj)en to them for four years, • Ortleiof .lulv, 1826. 65 on Inins most niiecjual, and ruinous to Britisli tiado iiiul slii|)])ing, the polls were finally closed. I'he Americans were astonisljed, At first they tried high and angry letters. " If the President dncs not require a revocation of that part of the order of council, which prohibits the admission of vessels of the United States, as a preliminary to all ncgociafion on this suhj?vt, it is hcM-ause, faithful to the desire which he anxiously entertains of pre- serving the harmony and amity hetween the two countries, he will not follow the unfriendly exatn- jtle which has heen exhibited by the British go- vernment*." So cheap, so easy, had the conces- sions of that government become, that the Ame- rican president takes credit to himself for so far moderating his indignation, as not to require for a preliminary to negociation, what would have heen srarce less disgraceful than injurious to the British emj)ire. This lofty tone was afterwards lowered to a much humbler key. They offered, in 1827, to allow British ships from the United Kingdom irriving in their ports, to clear out for our own colonies t; which was an injury even to have de- nied, and the small importance of which they j)ro- hal)ly had now ascertained. But all negociation njK)n the subject was, for a second time, decli>-ed. F»)r the third time, they are now, in 182J), asking )o renew it; !)eing shrewdly disposed to turn to * lictteiof Mr. Claj, -iStli of September, 1820. I liCttei (»f Mr. Gallatin, 4tii of .Tcine, 1827. F GO some account tlio prcsont llieoiics of" hoc trade, while the public and government are in the Ini- monr. And ministers, it is said, are hesitating. After having exhausted all means, just and unjust, to force open the islands, are the United States now to effect it by mere importunity, or some trifling concession ? For a little repentance, for a moment's humility, a few words of peiu:e and good will, are ihey now to be let into the West Indies, as they were let into the fisheries ? as though we hu'vl v ^vel• bofore seen Fartuife always biding his time to stu't \;]; •uk] exrJaim, " C'est ii vous ti'cii yortir, v;)ii-, (jifi jaili /. en niaitre, lia innisoii in'ajjpsrfifnt, ji- K- (."ai connsntre." No. VII. IthashecM ^hown, that, dnrnig the three ant India trade lias inviiriably trans- ferred to them fuillions of British wealth, wliiih their exihision hai? as invariably recovered. Hut since 182", the date of tlieir last exthibion, one would imagine the result to have been different, or government could not so soon be temjited to aban- don a jiiL'asurc, which was lately pronounred de- liberate and conclusive. What then has been the condition of the trade for the la^t two years r ()/ We sliall not complain, llial, ovon if the present system were merelj' an fxperinient, the time for ♦rial, in so important a measure, lias been but l»r!( I ; nor will v/e further compare the impatience, whuh no'.v h ir. "v waits the result of two years, uitli iliat i'*ng sv.'.ieriiig and abundant tenderness, sv'juh t(jlerated the admission of American ships on terms so untcjual for four. Although that very admission, u>lla. ed by the frightful decline of '■very BritiM'i trade, and the loss of 50 j)er cent, in shipj I ig:, h.)s so depressed and exhausted the Noiih American colonics, that there never was an unfairer time, for judging of their enterprize and resources to supply the West Indies, than tiie years 1827 and 182H. Notwitlistanding, on com- paring 1828, the year after the Americans were exchided, with 1825, the year before, the tonnage from these colonies to the West Indies has in- cieased by nearly 150 per cent., from .3(),()82 to |)0,7O.'i tons* ; their exports thither have increased in some articles from three to sevenfold ; and (lieir imjiorts thence, in sugar, molasses, and coffee, neaily threefold'! ; and upon the whole the increase of both export? and importb has ])rol)al)ly been in proportion to the increase of tonnage. At the same lime the export of such snpj)lies (corn, rice, and wood) froni the United Kingdom has advanced al)ont 50 per cent., and the British lon- *• Olhrlui HotMiis I wl G8 » nage between the foreign islands and onr own above 300 per cent., from 3(i,3()9 to 10<),o6*3 tons*; and tbe registered tonnage of botb «)ur islands and colonies lias increased from 214,375 tons, in 1825, to 279,3f>2 tons, in 1828 1. Ac- cording to tbe measure bitberto used for cxj)ress- ing t!>e anionnt of tbe intercolonial trade and navigation in money, and wbicb, tbougb prices bave fallen, is still tbe best and only means of comparing different years, tbe increase of 1S28 above 1825 is etjual to 1.1'1(),1'1 lA, and tbe wbole trade between tbe islands and Nortb American colonies for tbat year wortb 1,904,7<>3/. Tbe real value, bowever, measured by present prices is less. Let us add tbe value of tbe supplies senl from tbe United Kingdom in 1828, e(|ual to 345,159/. exclusive of freigbts ; and take tbe navi- gation between tbe foreign islands arid our own to bave earned 256'. a ton ; and we sball find tbe wbole value (jf tbe Britibb trade, in West India suj)j)lies of food and wood, to be now no less tban 2,387,375/. Here tben is given a sufficient reason for tbe assertion before made, tbat tbe jeadmission of tbe Americans would now \u- attended witb greater evili tjiiin any before experienced ; because I be amount of iiritisb ('a)utal and industry now in- vested in tbe trade is so mucli greater, tliMU at any * Official Uetiiiii^ I'arliiuncntary Abstracts. . 69 Inrmcr time, tliat the annual return amounts to nearly two millions an, iIm- |iriidii('c ol niucli ^icati'i, litlier, and clicai'i . » nitorics, tiian .sup|>lie(l West India exporls licrcloiore, and C()iiMC(|iicntly will be more enabled to drive the liritish producer and carrier out oi the islands, and engross the trade more entirely to them- selves. Ihirdly, greater exertions than ever iiave been made ot late in the Canadian jjiovinces, upon the tuitli or encouragement ot the present system, to increase their production, and lacilitate the transportation ot West India supplies; and large sums expended in undertakings, pul)lic and pri- vate, the return and result ot which have not yet come in, but which will sjieedily be perceived, or j)eihaps for ever loieclosed, accordingly as govern- ment adhere to, or change, existing regulations. Among such works, ot a public nature, may be mentioned the canals*, nothing interior in use and enterprise to those of the United Stat(!S ; as La Chine, constructed at an expense ot 116,000/. ; the (iranville, at 116,000/.; the Kideau, at 500,000/. ; the Wetland, at :2oo,000/. ; the Shu- benacadie, at 90,000/. All which sums either arc already, or soon to be, expended, and the w^rks either tinished, or uniler contract to be shortly opened ; and otliers, as the Hichlieu and he iiay Mac 'iaggiiit'b t uiiaila. Cro- ductive of return, as mills, wharfs, ships, &c. ; (though we cannot forbear to mention, that in the single port of St. Andrew's acre built, in the year 1828, for the West India trade, twelve vessels, measuring 2,240 tons ; and the tonnage thence to the West Indies seems to have nearly doubled in the ])resent year, as the returns give 4,251 tons outwards to the West Indies and Newfoundland, in the quarter ending 10th of October, 1828, and, in the corresponding quarter of 1839, 7)7^^ tons) : but such particulars are unnecessary, since, in a i^ 72 comitiy, whose wliolo industry is ciipif;of| in agri- ciilUire, iislicrics, or the loicst, the hilxxns uihI |)i()|>frty (»t every iii(livi(htal have an iiiiinediate ojieralion and dependence upon the West linha market. Kvery individual, tiierelore, has an in- terest, and a most vahiahK; one, vested in the per- numenee oi the present hiw ; and tlie rea(hnission of tlie Americans is un evil, which will he felt not only hy every 8hi|)owner and merchant, hut will search out every hushandman, penetrate into every hut in tlie forest, and enter the shallop of every fisherman around the shores. So far we have set forth the circumstances Irom which may he collected, what we have heretofore h»st hy surt'ering the Americans to intercept the West India trade, what gained hy reclaiming it for ourselves, and liow much more than ever wo shall jirohahly lose now, hy again transferring it to the United States. It remains to examine the reasons in favour of this concession usually offered hy the Americans, and hy those among us, if any such there he, who hold the same opinions : in doing which, some further statistics shall he given, to confirm what has already heen advanced. T/iuf the PVest Indium arc not so well supplied ivhen the Americans are excluded. — Suhjoined is a comparison of the amount of these supplies in 1825, the year hefore the Americans lost the trade, with 18128, the year after. It will he seen, that, in bome articles, the West Indies have had far more j 73 in siurn'. t|ir same ([uaiitity ; and in ^(nnu lallior lc's». ( H iK'i't', jtork, and lisli, tlunv is no (pustidii ; llu? Ia«t, liowevtT, liavc hren |)arti('nlarly' ahnndant and cheap. In ttonr there is an inerease. In corn and hread a dcliciency to n(» j;reat extent; and wliieh was j)rohal)ly snpplied in some incasnre hy the incieascd importation ot jjotatoes, and other ve^a'table food, from the North American cohinies. In himher of every kind the snpply in 18:28 has been i:reatly increased ; and particniarly in staves, the most (Hlhcnlt article to procnre, the quantity nearly doubled. TOTAL IMPORTS INTO THE Wf.ST INDIKS. 182,-). 1H28. Ameriians ii'/mitlid. Anioricnns f.Vclllitl'll. Dociviise. Iiicicasf. StiivcH, No '.>,K{9,;{2H ir),773,y92 20G,6:)3 ! 1 (» 934,(i(;4 Flour, bris 202,737 , 3,9 1(> Corn, biislu-lH.... 383,832 3.-) 1,832 32,000 Ih-ead, cwt 70,411 1fi,591 .')3,820 Ilice. cwt 41,614 39,822 1,792 DoitnU, feet 20,733,(108 23,r)02,837 2,8«9,229 Hoops, No Shingles, No 7,!)19,22r» 8,44fi,483 .■i27,258 3,7I7.«524 Il5,448,fi03 19,1«!«5,227 Upon the whole therefore it is clear, that the islands have been ! ! \ port ill tlirse articles, are elosed ; and wlien the lOOjOOO tons, emjdoyed in tlie carriage, arc thrown out of en)))U)ynieut ; it is clear tliat, other circum- stances e(|ual, the price hoth of the article and of the freight must decline. Then, compute the dif- ference of selling in tiie small and glutted market of St. Tliomas, and searching among our islands for the dearest (as the Aniericans were permitted to do till 1827); 'i"tl include the comj)etition of our own coU)nies, and ot other countries, now cm- barking largely in the trade; and there can be no doubt, that the Americans sell for much less in the circuitous trade, than they did or uould in a direct. In j)oint of fact, as we are inff>rmcd, American freights to the foreign islands have fallen to 2/. per ton, although in 1825 their freights to our islands were about 3/. The present freight from the United States (New York) to the northern colonies is 8a". 8(/. a ton, one half of which is the politic tonnage duty just mentioned. The freights no\v earned by British ships in the trade are, from the foreign islands to o^r own, from 2i)s. to 30*. — say 2;j.v. per ton; from the North American colonies bOs. and /()*. — say 3l. It is clear, therefore, that in the former voyage, by adding bs. to the freight, wc divide the whole amount with the Americans in the proportion of 5 to 8 ; and in the latter we add 8.v. 8^/. a ton to the freight, and divide with them in the propor- tion of about 14 to 2, or, (xcludiiig the tonnage duty, about 14 to 1 ; upon the whole iherefuie, 77 after declucting tlie addition, we save 2(),v. a Ion ill the one case, and 21. Ms. 4(1. in the other. It may he, that by endeavouring to give too exact an idea of these savings on freights, we lose some- thing in accnracy of vvliat we gain in precision, lint tlie error, if any, cannot be of such a degree as to alter the question. These figures, we are confi- dent, represent the real charact(!r of eacli voyage, and are not far from the actual prices. That prices are higher in the PVest Indies since American ships ivere excluded. That the ])ricc of flour and corn may have advanced is easily con- ceived, as the quantity supplied in 1828 is less than in 1825. The cause of this however must be ?50Ught in other reasons, than the exclusion of American vessels ; for, as the duty upon flour in the direct trade of 1825 was 5.v. per l)arrel, and the duty now charged through the warehousing j)orts is but is., and the freight from the United States to those ports but 2s. 2d. (one half of which is the tonnage duty), it follows of course, that, even taking the exj)ense of transhipment to be ecjual to Gd. more, American flour may now be im- ported into the West Indies at a cheaper rate, than in 1825. With regard to other articles, it is ditHcult to conceive how the rrice can be higher than in 1825, since we have seen that the supply has been far more abundant, ui;'ess there has been a great increase of demand, tliat is to say, of crops and production. Novv, it will hardly ix- pre- ^' > ^ll 7H tendid, tliat \hc I'criility of tlir soil, or the hniij; iiity of the season, or the extent oFenltivation, r, if they do, still the argnment is against it; for, since their exclusion, j)roduction seems to have in- creased. The fact is, we believe, that the croj) of 1825 was a great deal m^fe al)un(lant, than that of 1828; for cirtuinly the ' were 13,841 hogsheads of sugar sent to Lo? ' -, rrom Jamaica in the latter year more than "ri the tormer ; and the w'lole value of imjjorts from the West Indies into the Hulled Kingdom was more by 1,56*5,000/. * This advance of price, therefore, is owing to the increase of the croj). And as the amount of the crop camiot well he ascertained till Septemher, the price of the succeeding months is, for staves at least, the lair criterion of the year. Now in the list of prices hefoie ns for these two years, though in the other months, when the (|n()tations were perhaps in some measure nominal, the difference was greater; yet from Sejitember to December iii- clnsively, the price of white oak staves, the most valuable article, aj)jH'ars to have been only about five per cent, higher in 1828; though in red oak the advance was certainly nmch greater. Shingles also, nj)on the average of the whole year, notwith- standing the great increase of supply, have been considerably dearer ; but white pine boards, the ' Orticia! Ut'timis 7<) article most largely consmned, liavc, on the ave- rai^e of the whole year, remained within about lo per cent, of the same prices as in 1825. Pitch pine boards, indeed, liave risen most of all ; but it is an article of which little is required, nor is that little indispensable; for tliough the Canadas do not produce it, they have abundance of the red pine, which is next to the j)itch j)ine in point of dura- bility; and durability is the only advantage. In the table below will be found a comjjurison of prices, in Jamaica, for the years 1825, 1828 and 1829; the two former derived from nncjues- tionaole au^' Mity ; the last extracted from a colonial jo . *. 1825. 1828, )82:». Flour per barrel 54*. Ws. r)-2.v. W. 0. Staves per thousand. iy/.to2-V.KV. •20/. to 22/. 10s. 13/. lO.s. R. 0. Staves per tlioiisand. 11 /.tola/. 10,?. 17/. to 19/. 11/. l,v. W. P. Boards per tliousaiid feet 10/. •M. to 4/. 11/. 4/. to «/. Shingles per thousand 3/. .j.s. It is however no part of our case that prices have not risen in the West Indii.s ; considering the in- * rialifax (N. S.) Jounu.i, 14th Dec. 1829. The same paper ciuotcs the prices in Demerara as still lower ; flour 39,*. ; R. 0. staves (>/. lOs. ; lumber ()/. M),s. Demerara produces staves in abundaiu'i' tVoni its own forests. MO crease ot the crop in 1828, tlu> surprise is flial tliey were not liiglier in tliat year; and they seem to have since declined. It is not asserted that the ishmds can be supplied with British articles, as cheaply as American, at |)resent. Our case is, that ahundant supplies may he now hroujjht from British j)osses- sions in British ships ; that thus articles of British jiioduetion are now gradually, and will soon he entirely, substiirited for foreign ; that they will afterwards become as cheaj) ; and that in the mean time the advance of j)rice, besides producing so imj)ortan' icsult, is not etpnil to the saving in freights. No. VIII. i 'I There are other assertions, commonly made respecting the West India trade, which recpiire examination. 'J hat if the ^tniericans be admitted, they tuill huif and take away large (juantities of IVest Indict pro- duce. They will not probably take away more than the amount of their freights and jiroduce brought, for they never yet took so much. And as whatever is exchanged for American freights and produce, cannot be exchanged for British and colonial; and as the Canadas have nothing but like i)r()duce to give in return ; whatever is gained by West India exports to the United States, is lost in the exports !u 81 to tlu* liritish colonics. Now tliit rouise of trade, wliicli (liti'iises tl».e comforts of life among onr own subjects, ought certainly to be j)referred to that, which sliij)s them to foreigners. But it is a fact, and one which of itself should be sufficient to settle the uresent (juestion, that the Americans would noi did not, in 1825, when admitted to take away sugars, &c. in their own ships, buy or lake so much, as the British North American colo nies now lake. Kxported from the British West Indies to the United States, in 1825 •. Sugar. Rum. Molasses. Lbs. 2,727,872 Gallons, 819,916 Gallons. 2,104,044 Exported to the British North American Colonies, in 1827t. Sugar. Rum. Molasses. Lbs. 11,930,012 Gallons. 2,318,432 Galloas. 935,212 The following tables will also establish the posi- tion, that the West India exports to, as well as • Official Return.s. t Accounts puhlisited in the colonial journals, which how ever include the quantit)' imported from the United Kingdom, hut comprise part only ot the importations into New Brunswick, and none into Prince Edward's Island. 82 h imports troin the Northern r()U)nies, increase and decline, in j)roportion as the Americans are per initted, or forbidden, to intercept and supplant the trade. linpurted into the British West Indies from tlio Hritish North American Colonics. 17'J3«. Americans excluded. 1797 •. AmeiicanR. adinlttGd. 180C •. Anicricfiiis still nilinitt. 1B2S f. Americans I'XCludlMl. (lorn, bushels. . 171 847 2,578 45,4!»5 Flour, bushels.. 1 ,r)5« 1,589 1,176 38,046 liourds, feet 3/) 18,200 511,390 811,315 18,739,06.3 Shiii|?lcs, No.... '2,i>2SMr>0 464,200 295,225 11,5.58,111 Staves, No 151,060 41, .350 327,33aded such importations with (hities alnu ,. pro- hibitory, which can itself jiroduce sugar p.r. i^d. a ponnd, and which is rivalling ns in almost every indnstry, and in none faster than West India produce ? That the Americans^ if admitted, will in return s^ive us permissio)i to mahe the circuitous voi/age from the United Kini^dom to their ports, and thence to the West Indies. — This t' ;y oft'ered in 182/, and were refused. The imj ;)rtance which has been attached to that circuitous voyage, both by them and us, is greatly beyond its real value. Its origin was owing to the heavy duties imposed in the United States on British shi|)s from colonial ])orts, with which duties ships entering from the United Kingdom, and departing for the West Indies, could not be charged, by the treaty of 1815, while that treaty was observed. Yet not even the enormous saving of about 8*. iyd. a ton, could make that voyage sniiiciently profitable for many ships to pursue. What the exact numi)er was cannot easily be ascertained ; it has been stated in some American print at about ten siiips annually. Certain we may be that it coidd not have exceeded liOjOOO tons ; because the number of vessels de- parting from (ireat Britain to the United States, till I8I9, exceeded the nund)er entering inwards, N4 by al)ont tliat iiinopiit ; aiul the jMinlxir entering inwards tVom the West Indies oxittMlcd thr num- ber outwards, by nearly the same ; and the dc- trease of tonnage outwards to the United States, after 1818, was also of about the same (quantity. These, though conchisive evidences that the cir- cuitous tonnage could not have been more, are none that it was ever so much ; since the two Hrst diAerences still continue with no great variation, and the last has i)een recovereil, though tiie Great Britain, no ballast can be mose co-vvniiifht, than a cargo of wood and corn to Jamaica; fjom whence they are carried around by the current to the Mississip))i, and, there taking in the cotton, undersell and sup- plant our ships in either trade. Yet, whatevci were the advantages of the circuitous voyage to British ships from the United Kingdom, they do not dej)end upon, nor need l)e purchased of, the United States ; for they are still enjoyed now, and probably to an ecjual amount, through our own colonies : tor, as we are iiitormed, tbo ships pur- suing that coui'se tbiougb the port oi St. Andrew's m;") aloiu' amounted ill lK'i7 to <),oo() ions. And this is ;i far more jirolitabic voyaj^e, lor the distance is iioi'tened, and uli the cliai-gc» and dishurscmeiits ill foreign ports saved. That //" the AnwrUuiis null at last consent to put the ships oj both countries t> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 ? '- IIIIIM 1.4 1.6 <^ /a WJh ^^ /: oV ■ :» V /A Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 o i/.x ? p \\ it h til 8C both countries have been placed on equal duties, the Americans get employment for 194,135 tons an- nually, upon the average of three years ending with I827, and the British ship-owners for only 34,124 ♦ ; though before the duties were equalized the latter employed in that trade above 100,000 tons. For these reasons we think that our ship- owners would not be able to compete with tbc Americans, in carrying between the West Indies and t!ie United States, even though the duties should be made equal upon the ships of both countries. But, if these reasons were not suffi- cient, why should the Americans, who, we have seen, contribute little or nothing to increase the trade, be admitted by us, for the sake of dividing the carriage with them equally ? Why prefer the chance of obtaining half, to the certain posses- sion of the whole ? That the Canadian provinces are incapable of supplying the PVest Indies, — This objection mis- states, or mistakes, the (juestion ; which is, first, and principally, one of navigation and carriage ; and, secondly, of trade and production. In point of economy, the freights of West India supplies are nearly equal to the value of the cargo ; and besides, in point of policy, they support 12.000 seamen. The fact also, in this objection, is no less mis-stated or mistaken ; unless it is to be un- * VVattcrston. I ?) t tics, tlic OMS im- eiidinj^ or only ]ualize(l 100,000 ir ship- ^ith the ; Indies J duties jf botli >t suffi- ;^e have :ase the dividing efer the posses- 7able of on inis- s, first, irriage ; [n point supplies 50; and 12.000 1, is no 3 be un- H7 derstood only as asserting, that the Canadian j)ro- vinees, though ca|)able, have never yet been able, to sn])|)ly the West Indies; which indeed would be, a very good reason for continuing to their pro- duce an adequate protection, but a singular ground tor withdrawing it. That those provinces are capable of producing West India supplies to any amount, and within a few years sufficient for the tieniand, no one, v;ho has seen or read any thing of the country, can doubt. Even the limited and inconclusive assertion, that they never have yet produced and exported sufficient, must not pass without argument ; for in the same manner it was formerly asserted, that they could not supply the « West Indies with fish, and the Americans were allowed to carry thither half the (|uantity con- sumed, until it was shown that the British North American jnovinces actually exported double the amount required in British West India islands. Let the same course be adopted here, in corn and wood ; it cannot lead us far from the same result. The quantity of these articles imported into the West Indies, during the years 1825 and 1828, has been before stated. We may take the average of those years to represent the whole amount de- manded lor the supply of all those plantations. From which if the exports thither, upon the same average, from the United Kingdom be deducted, > / i r. rf ! 88 thu iviiiaiiuicr will ^liow linw miuli is i'0(|uii'c(l tVuiii the Canadian provinces. Artirles. Flour, Urcad, Sec. equal to bushels of wheat Other Oorn, bushels Boards, feet Hoops, No Shinjyles, No Staves, No Amount of the annual Importations into the West IndlevS. 803,418 367,832 22,I(?8,222 8,l82,8r)4 17,307,415 13,306,660 Amount sui)j)lic(l fiom tlie United Kingdom. 84,458 150,728 327,407 7,480,033 42,500 861,255 Amount re- (juired from the Nortlj American Colonies. 718,960 117,104 21,840,725 702,821 I7,2«4,
2,545,405 an colo- s to the ed, our we have any one are for lat year ed ; yet whatever ses only a cotn- Janadas. le whole jllowiiiL' Articles. Amount re quired f'oi the \V. Indies from the N. American Colonies. Wlioiit, busliels OtlierConi, b, Hoards, feet.., Sliiiifrles, No. . IFoops, No. ... Staves, No. ... 718,960 117,104 21,840,725 17,204,915 702,821 12,545,405 .•\ mount exported from the N. .American Colonies to all i)art8*. 779,749 97,710 78,140,7(51 1 1 ,099,282 :54S,000 14,898,000 Deficiency. 19,488 5,565,033 354,821 Fi.xces.s. 60,789 50,30(>,o;)<; 2,341,295 With such exceptions, vvhicii are as nothing to tlie decision of the whole (jncstion, the colonies have actually exported more than the average de- mand in the West Indies requires. That a great part of these exports from the northern '^olonies come from the United States. — Considering the pro|)ortion of hulk to value iti these exports, this, if true, is neither any great oh- jection, nor if great, can it be remedied by admit- ting those articles directly in American ships. It is tiie freight, it is the carrying trade, that is mainly to be regarded ; the origin of the articles is nothing to the British ship which transports it. Freight is to these articles, what manufacture is to raw * Colonial joiirnals. An error occurred in the former publi- cation (in the Morning Hcruld), in conBe(|uence of supposing the minot of corn in Canada, to be equal to tiie niinot of Paris. It 18 here computed at unc-ninth more liian tlie Winchester bushel. I II ■i 90 iiiatcrials. An evil liowover it uii(|nestionaljly is, that West India .snpplies slionld be bunght of others any longer, than till they can be produced within our own dominions ; but it is an evil which is daily decreasing, and at present is greatly over- rated. What j)roportion of the colonial exports, in the table above given, was of American origin, we have no exact means of stating, as none of the returns in our possession make that distinction, ex- ce|)t those of St. Andrew's and (Quebec, lint in the others, by assuming the whole amount exported to be of American origin, in those articies of which an equal (juantity was imported frjni the United States, and in those of whic'i less was imported by deducting so much, we shall be able to ascertain the utmost amount of American articles that could have been mingled with the colonial exports. Flour, whoat. & lircail, ct|iml to bushels of wiieat Other corn, bushels.... lioariis, feet* Shingles, No Hoops, No Staves, No.* Exported from the North Ameri- can Colonies. Of American I'rodiiction 779,749 97,716 78,146,7<>1 11,699,282 348,000 14,898,060 160,000 34,50a 297,200 1,351,500 4,736,721 Of British Colonial I'ro- (luction. 619,749 03,202 77.859,501 10,347,782 348,000 10,161,339 * The Quebec rcturub contain no account of the iui|»ortatiou 91 Iliiviiig thus ascfitaint'd what part of ihcsc cxj)orts from tlie colonies was of American, wluit of Britisli production, let us now comj)are the latter (the fornier heing deducted), with the whole imports recjuircd by the West Indies to be supplied from the North American colonies. \Vhcat, bushels Other Corn, bushels..., IJoards, feet. Shing^les, No.. Hoo|»s, No. , Staves, No. , Reiiuired for the AVest In 718,900 117,104 •21,840,725 17,264,915 702,821 12,545,405 ExpoitPfl from the North Amori- can colonies, of British \no- (liiction. 619,749 63,202 77,859,561 10,347,782 348,000 10,161,339 Di'ficiency. 99,211 53,902 « •■■••••■••• 6,917,133 354,821 2,384,066 Excess. 56,018,836 The deficiency is inconsiderable, and in such supplies as the colonies can easily and speedily make up ; and in the article which furnishes most of the freights, there is a large excess. In these tables, beef, pork, and fish, are not in- erted, because British supplies of them are so '. boards and staves from the United States. Tlie amount probably is not great, nor very material in the present statement. Because, in staves, the Canadian being about one-third larger than the American, so mucii ought, in a fair comparison, to be added to the number exported from Quebec : and in boards, the export of britisli production, from the lower ports alone, ib F)early double ihc dcmaiid in tlu WtA Indies. 92 11 ' :»l)nti(lant, that toroigii aiv ]>i'()liil)itc>(i ; nor rice, lucauHe siifticient is mdw sent IVoin tlic United Kingdom nor cattle, because principally pro- cnred from South America. It appears therefore, that nearly all West India supj)lies may, even now, he procured from British |)ossossions, and carried in British ships ; and that the whole may soon he entirely of British origin and production ; for the Canadas are not only abun- dantly caj)al)le of supplying whatever is not pro- cured from the mother country, but have already, with unimportant exceptions, exported more, and have even produced nearly as much. If the word soon appear to any too indefinite, it may, we think, be limited to two or three years. The opening of the Welland Canal will bring down, it is asserted, 100,000 barrels of flour to the St. Lawrence, in 1 8.30. And when the other canals are finished, if it be any objection that some places in the colonies import American corn, that evil will have ceased. The partial accounts of exports, from Oncbec and Halifax, in 182y, which have just reached us, show a great increase, in other articles of wood, and in stave?, of more than .3,000,000. iyiat the prices of turn and staves hi the Cana- das are Jar higher than in the United States. (L<'tter in the yiorning Journal^ Jan. ft, 183o). For which cause, if the latter be admitted, they are sure to divert the trade to themselves ; but the difieronce of prices is les--- than generally supposed. Tbc llani>burg Convention in 1827? state the X t '■r 93 pro- jniro of wheat :it Montreal to ho, ou an avcra^^r, the same as at New York, 3.*. Wd. jK-r hnslicl The wheat in Ohio, they quote us 2*. 2il. In Upper Canada it is as cheap. Staves in New York may he taken as generally worth, white oak from 8/. to 9/. |)er thonsand, red oak 4/. to 5/, The price in Montreal is about the same. The 8anie articles in Halifax are about (jl to lo/. white oak, red 5/. to 7/. per thousand. In Upper Canada, whose staves and flour are now sent by the Erie Canal to New York, white oak staves may be procured at from 3/. \0s. to 4l. 10*. ibe thousand ; from the price of which, and of flour in that colony, some idea may be formed of the dif- ference which the Canadian canals, when opened, are likely to make in the Quebec market, and in the West Indies. The assertions, sometimes that red oak, sometimes that white, is not found in the British colonies, deserve the same resj)ect as would he paid to a statement, that neither coftee nor the sugar cane are grown in Jamaica. That the St. Lawrence is lucked up hy ice for six months of the year. (Letter in t - Morning Journal, 5th January, 1830.) For six, road five i and know, that this has not prevented a ship's leaving Quebec in November last, on her third voyage in one season to the United Kingdom. But the ])rincipal demand in the West Indies is not in winter, when the St. Lawrence is frozen ; and, if it were, the lower ])orts are then open, and ? I \ i i !)4 tlic trade always uiiintcrrnptod. Besides, is it not tlie part of a j^ood j^ovcriiinmt, if any of" its domi- nions lalmnr under difficulties of situation or cli- n»ate, rather to counteract these hy the operation of its hiws, than to make the existence of such disadvantages a reason for adding others? It is not the ice of tlie St. Lawrence which has oh- structed the trade to tlie West Indies ; it is, that an intermediate people, having got the start in wealth and production, have too long heen per- mitted to intercept the trade hetween the British islands and colonies, and attract to themselves the specie of hoth. No. IX. Our examination of the objections to the {jrc^ent system of colonial intercourse is here resumed and closed. That hy admitting the Americans theif may he induced to lower their duties on colonial produce. That their duties will not he lowered may he said with equal ease, and more prohahility : for neither were the additional duties of I8I6 laid in conse- quence of the exclusion of American ships ; nor, if they were, were they lowered hy their tariff of 1824, after American ships were readmitted; nor, if they should be lowered now, will any gieat in- crease of importations from the West Indies be ■ «l; 95 prol)al)Iy the consccincnrr. Vm, with regard to sugar, tlic long monopoly cMijoyed since ISUi liy Louisiana, and now also by Florida, by means ol the prohibitory duties of that year, is such, that in 1826 they produced 50,0{)(),()()() lbs., nearly half of the whole consumption of the United States. The Ilarrisburgh convention, held in 1827 for the protection of American manufactures, stated the duties levied uj)on sugar to be " prohibifon/, and its cultivation a moimpolif ;'" and that "if the whole sugar consumed in the United States was of domestic production {as it soon will he at the present duty upon the foreign article^ &c. We may therefore rest assured, that, if tSey are now willing to reduce those duties a little, it is because their own production is so far advanced as not to recjuire such protection : a supposition something confirmed by a statement, lately given in the morning papers, of the sugars exported to the United States from Cuba. Of above 400,000 cases which that island exported, about 14,000 only (equal, perhaps, to 23,000,000 lbs.) went to the United Slates ; although Cuba has to pay them about 1,.'>00,000/. annually for imjmrts, and exported thitfir-, in 182/, 44,000,000 lbs. of sugar. The papers of the same Ilarrisburgh con- vention inform us, that there are in Louisiana 2.')0,000 acres fitted for the cultivation of sugar. That the whole consumption of the United States is 120,000,000 lbs. That the 250,000 acres can produce 250,000,000 of pounds of sugar That i i t [ ■i'. r < 1 i f 1 1 t 1 \ ■ 1 • lilt! molasses alone pays tlir cxpciisc (»f culti- vation, and leaves the (itiuar net pioiit. /\t sn« li SI rate of jn'odnction, the present duties alone lire e(|ual to u homity of above 8/. per acre ujion its cultivation. Late American journals state the crop in 1828 at 80,000 hogslietuls, and that had nut the crop of 1821) hcen so injured hy rain and frost it would have amounted to 120,000. This is about e(pial to their whole consumption. With regard to ruuj, the most desirable artit le for the Weht Indian to export, the prtdiibitorv duties of the United States have long ago done what the duties njjon sugar nmst have nearly ac- complished. In 1810 there were 14,1.01 distille- ries in that country, whose animal |)roduction was 25,7'04,892 gallons of spirits* ; and, in 1827, the papers of the same Ilarrisburg Convention inform us, that '• It is thought that more than 40,000,000 gallons are distilled in the United States, tv/ikh is probably enough.'' Enough in ail conscience; for, taking their population at 11,000,000, ami tlie adult males at one-fourth, there will be about a pint every three days for each adult male; and there are, probably, as many of that description who will not drink this allowance, as of others who will. Such being the condition of the United States, with respect to the most important of West India productions, (for of coft'ee their importation from • St'vl)(M"t. -«(' niti HIK ll tloiir llpdil tiu- iiad ai)«l lis is tide ifoi V lone ' ac- iilc- wa^ the oriM 000 h is for, ttie It a and tioii leis tes, idia 'Olli I'f I' our islands litis ever been iiuou'^idcraMe, i(»rnj):ue(l U'illi that iVom ilic Frencli and Spanish; and its iidli- vation is nou also increasing in their southern states under a protecting duty oi' 2^(1. a pound) ; let the West Indians then consider, wliether, the probability of finding a good market among the Americms i^ vvorth the loss ol that idready found m the Canadas : whether, though they nuiv thus buy flcnii cheaper, they must not buy specie dearer, and sell f)rodnce for less ; whether, it can nlti inately answer their interest, to drive the northern colonists to distil whiskey from atnx, and extract sugar from trees or beot-root, or procure both from the United States. That, hi/ giving the Amerkatis the II est hulin trade, theif maif he induced to louxr theif tariff upon. British manufartures. — Anotlier gratuitous supposition, which no American minister can pro- mise, nor even their president foretel. Because, though the parties ibr and against the measure arc nearly erpial, they ire, as usual in sm h case. very violent ; and it is among the evils of a popu- lar government to make no account of the mino- rity, but carry and jiersist in the most important and disputable policy, upon the barest majority of voices. That the tarift lias proved an impolitic act, and Injured all other classes without inuch benefiting the manufacturers, we flo not doubt :; but that it will tlMMcfort^ be rcpeaK:d, is liy no means as certain and. wlu'lb' i i( will oi not, M 98 ^■) depends nothinpj upon the presoiu qncstion of c o louial intercourse, whichever way decided : j)artlv lor that the tariff has heen ever oppcjsed, in vain. by all who could be now benefited tVoin openina the West Indies, the agricultural and shippintr in terests ; and partly, that the tariff is founded, \ve fear, in deeper motives than those ot any interest, the pride and malice of those who passed it. ^hi^. like their embargo, non-intercourse, and war, seems to be one of those measures, from the observa tion of which Talleyrand first drew the re mark, that " mitvms are not ruled tircordhia to enlightened views of their own interest, but accord- ing to the pns.^iotis of their nders ;'' ot which, whoever will read tluit strange comj)ound of I)omi- bast, malignity, and intelligence, the Address oi the flarrisburg Convention, shall be more con- vinced. If however it be true, that they now find some parts of their tariff have been carried a JittK; too far, and are willing to sell such to us for a con sideration ; let it be well examined, whether it can ever prove a profitaljle business to hire peoj)lc to buy ot us, or to ])uy, by exthangmg tlie colonial for foreign trade. Why must we ever meet the inimical acts of the United States with only con- cession ? Why not look to their exports, and see if we may not better retaliate: We shall find in that table, that ot iheir whole piochice exj orted to all parts of the world, one halt is scnl to Ilritisli ports aufi consnu'ers ; and thui theie is scarcely ar^ I ■M' < ■ )n of ( o : j)aitly ill \aiii. I openiiiu ppintr ill ' iiitereNt, it. 'J'his. ur, seciDs the re rrdhiQ to it accord- \\ whiili, I of boiii- lI dress of lore con- now i\\\d ed a littlt; for a con liether it ire people e Colonial meet tlic only con- , and see ill find in jortcd to to lintiHli .•ai'Ci-iv an 1)9 article of h, which might not have heen produced within tiic British dominions, equal in quantity, quality, and price, had a timely jirotection been given, which it is not yet too late to impose. Nine-tenths of their exports to the United King- dom consist of cotton and tobacco, of which the former might in time be procured from India, the latter to a great extent from Canada. The ex- ])ort of tobacco from the United States to the British doniinions, on the average of three years ending with 1827, was*, Hgds. To the United Kingdom 26,281 Other British Ports 0,320 Total 32,001 Yet the only protection, which government can afford to colonial tobacco, is but 3flf. a pound ; and even that is so imposed as to |)rodnce an inverse effect. For as no distinction is made between stemmed tobacco and unstemmed, and as the Ame- rican comes in the former state, paying 3s. a pound, the Canadian in the latter ])aying 2s. Qd. our duties in fact give the United States a protection against our own colonies, equal to the difference of weight, perhaps one third, or Qd. a pound, and against our own manufacturers, equal to the la- bour of stemming. A demonstration of counter- U'^aMorsttin, H -J ff i , . I 100 vailing measures is nindi more likely to bring the Americans to terms, than the sacrifice of the inter- colonial trade. Certainly, they are no less unc(|iui) to contend with a power, whose dominions are so vast and various as Great Britain, in commercial hostilities, than they proved in a maritime war ; but partial success, in either case, is told with such vaunting on their part, and surprise on ours, that the contempt, so idly entertained before, seems now succeeded by as idle a fear. That it h the selfish legislatUm of other nations ivhich has driven the Americans to their tariffs. {President's Message, 182})). Nothing can be more truly enviable, than the character of the American government, in an American state paper. It may be a reproach to a country, that it prefers its own interest to another's ; but we appeal to the statute book of both governments, whether it be one Great Britain has merited frouj the United States. Un- til 1808, for twenty-five years, their articles were received into the United Kingdom, under duties of protection against other foreigners, in most cases, and in some, against our own colonies ; while they raised half of their whole revenues by duties on British productions, till I807, and then ex- cluded them altogether. And it is remarkable, that the laws of either government, enacting measures so different, alleged reasons as contrary in the preambles ; the American tariff' beginning. I ''■■. » •ring the lie int(M- UllC{|lllli IS are S(> iiineiciiil ne war ; itli such lis, that , seems nations • tariffs. he more merican It may its own e statute le Great s. Un- les were Inties of st cases, ; while >y duties hen ex- arkahle, enacting Loiitrary ginning. lol ** tvhcreas it is necessary for the encouruqement of manufactures, that duties he laid*," and the British statute declaring the protection given, to be, " in order to encourage and promote the trade of the United States to this hingdom\" Even now, when the Americans have carried their duties upon British manufactures to such an ex- treme, as to have produced loud complaints and even threats of disobedience among themselves, they sell more of their home productions to British consumers, than to all other foreign nations toge- ther. The whole exports of native origin from the United States, on the average of three years end- ing with 1827, were;}:, To the British dominions 6 All otlicr countries 602,944 964,640 And the British dominions are as little incapable of jnoducing every article of those exports, as British ships of carrying. The consumj)lion of * Act of Congress, July 4, 1789. 1 Stat. 37tJeo. Ill, cap. 97- ! Wattcrston. ^ Id. I 1 \ ' 102 British articles in the United States bears a I'ar diftcrent j/ioportion to the whole exports from tlie British dominions ; and the amonnt ot British ton- nage employed by all the trade to that coniitry is upon the same average, but T4,\3^ tons*. Surely, with these tacts before them, the American govern- ment would never have carried so far their volun- tary hostilities against the trade of Great Britain, unless they had learned to apply to her commercial power, that maxim, which the French have found no longer applicable to her conduct in war, '^ plus a cra'mdre par ce (quelle pent, (jue par ce qttelle faitr That the Americans may re-establish a non- Intercourse with the whole British colonies. {Report to Congress in I827). Ihey will probably first consider the results of their former non-intercourse, and incjuire, whether there be any thing in the present condition of those colonies to render a measure, which proved not only harmless to us but advantageous in I8O7, more formidable in 1830. They will first look to the Canadian canals, and find there new means of communication and supj)ly opened, already sufficiently promising, without such further encouragement. There is no probability that the United States will enact a measure, which, if injurious to any bnt themselves, could never be enforced. Such threats, like the * Wiittcibtoii. 103 iissortioij in the sjiine Report, that the Canadus cannot increase their supplif of articles for the PVcst Indies, are addressed to distant ears, and deceive not any on that side of the water. Witliin a few years, neither the West Indian nor Canadian pro- vinces will want any thing they cannot procure from the niotlier country and each other. That the Anjcricans may again oj)en their ports to British ships from the West Indies, is much more to be apprehended, than any extension of the non- intercourse. That the trade ought to flow in its natural channel. — If by natural channel he meant any but the most profitable, we dissent; if the most profitable be intended, we appeal to statistical returns, whe- ther the ])resent course he not such. Imagine the West Indian, the ship-owner, and Canadian, to be one and the same j)erson ; would it not be more profitable for him to saw his own wood in Canada, and use his own ship to transport it, than leave his ship, mill, seamen, and sawyers idle, and hire others to do their work ? And can it nuvke any dift'erence to the commonweal and government, whether these he one person or several ? Uidess, perhaps, the Americans will do this work for nothing, or, what is no less improbable, the shij)- owner can find some better. That the capital and industri/ invested in the present system may he transferred to some other employment. — To what other? And how trans- ferred? If a .ship could be turned into a cotton- 104 l! h mill, and fishci'inen and scaiucn to spinners, we might incjiiirc whether more were wanted. But you can make nothing but a wreck or luilk of the one, and beggars or convicts of the others. That it must be more profitable to buy at the cheaper market. — But tliat which is cheaper to the individual may be dearer to the community ; and profit or loss is not determined by the balance of one partner, but the general account of the whole concern. That commerce ought to Jiow in that channel to ivhich individual enterprise mail direct it. (Pre- sidenfs message o/'l829.) — Even the metaphor, on which the argument runs, is unjust, for it may suit individual enter|)rize to divert the stream from that channel, on which the mills of others ought by law to be turned. If connnerce be like a watercourse, or if there be any argument, in api)lying to trade, terms peculiar to a river, we might as well say, that it ought to flow in that channel, which is most beneficiid to all, whose fortunes are staked on the use of the stream, and whose lives on the defence of its banks. The application of this rule seems to be verv different in different conditions. When a people, who have not yet removed the native forests out of sight from any one eminence in their country, so frame their laws of trade, as to divert their industry from agriculture, the most useful of occupations, to manufactures, oidy niade ])rofitable by excessive duties, Avhich, by reducing their foreign commerce, diminish the demand for neis, we But you the uiie, ly at the eaper to imuiiity ; J balance It of the innnel to . (Prc- iphor, on may suit From that It by law ercouise, to trade, well say, which is e staked [3s on the this rule iiditions. Dved the eminence trade, as he most ily made reducing nund for . I iP f ■ i' V ^ 105 iiiticles ol tlicir vns'wsi ami most general |»ro(luc- tioii ; they must U|)()ii the whole he the losers, if loreigii tountrieH retaliate, immediately, and even- tually, if they do not ; because they have preferred the less to the more henelicial em|)Ioyment. But to a peojde, whose ohjeets of industry are so few, or i)oj)ulation so great, whose resources so limited or so hurthened with taxation, that pro- duetion is in every department greatly beyond the demand, a system of exclusion is very difterent • for here a less profitable employment is not pre- ferred to a better, but new introduced, or the old extended. In such a state, to leave the directioti of foreign trade to the enterprizc of individuals, is like leaving to the enterprize of individuals the payment of taxes ; is giving to such individuals all the benefits of any empire, and leaving its burthens to their option. The exclusion of British manufactures from the United States, is therefore we think, impolitic ; unless it be pretended, that in a country where the wages of every labourer are so high, employment cannot otherwise be found. The exclusion of American ships from the West Indies is necessary, unless it be shown what other em|)loyment the sliij)-ovvners can find, and what better the Canadians. That the present system is robbing Peter to pau Paul. (Letter in the Morning Journal, 5th Jan. 1830.) — If to repeat a vulgar adage be any ar'-'u- nient, it would be enough to icj)ly that "exchange is no robbery ; " and no exchange can be fairer lor; \ h I i tliitii that hctWiiMi our CuiKuliaii and Woht liuliaii ,'jt to imply such wishes ; but theii' situation and circum- stances are such, that it is against their competi- tion, that we are in most need of protection. yhat the present si/stem is not a free trade. — 'lit %' 107 \.vi Us not Ik- «U('('ivt'il)l(; nntnher, — of wliom, lait Britibh suhjeetn^ for ihey slionid bo the sole or chief care of the Urilisli government? Now if this object can be better answered, by suffering the West Indian to exchange labour and produce with the Americans, ruther than with the Canadians, su let it be. After considering all the cncumstanc s and efJecis ot the present system of colonial inter- course, the real state of the (piestion seem- to be this. Great Britain, having within the ti >pics colonies, which produce sugar, rum, and c Ifee, and require corn, fish, and wood ; and having in the northern latitudes of America color ies, which produce corn, fish, and wood, and re- tiuire sugar, rum, and coffee ; and having, for he transport of these articles, more than suflicitut ships and seamen, tij)on whose support also her ])ower maiidy depends ; is deliberating, wliether she shall continue so to regulate her laws of trade, fUiit those two divisions of her empire, by exchang- ing the product?- of each other, m.iy satisfy the h \ (' r < lO.s wants ot boiii, mul at the same time promote the maritime wcahh ami power of the whole ; or whe- tlier she shall make in those laws such an altera- tion, as may induce tjjose dependencies, more or less, to prefer foreign ships, and suj)ply themselves from a foreign country, lying- between the two, and producing all the articles required by both, and re(|uiring few or none produced by either. The faith of the imperial government is, in a manner, pledged to make no such change; not merely be- cause the j)resent system was instituted with all the solemnities of a permanent law, hut because also, nuiiisters declared it, publicly to that foreign power, to he founded upon considerations general in their nature and conclusive, which no con- cessions must exj)cct to alter, and for altering which all negociation was tieclined. And if these assurances had been less solemn and repeated, or if their purport and effect has been misunderstood, the character of the imperial government, tor reso- lution and constancy, is no less concerned, and its interest in the confidence of distant subjects no less at stake. For after the many and sudden and extreme changes of former years, the last hopes of those most implicated have been fastened on the permanence of the present regulations ; and if these too are again reversed, the immediate loss will be scarcely more injurious, than the uncer- tainty, which must follow, and the despondency, and mistrust of every future measure. Upon reviewing our colonial policy for tin la^t •J 100 con- lii^f seven and forty years, cnongli soenis to have hren done for experiment, enough already suffered from vacillation, enough from concession. In almost every arrangement with the Americans, some im- portant interest has been sacrificed or neglected ; which is not to he injputed to any invidious com- parison of British ministers with theirs, but to the ap|)arent fact, that nothing is made of more conse- quence in the United States, than negociations with Great Britain, nothing of less in Great Britain, than negociations with the United States, The statistical returns, which former changes have produced, present nothing to encourage that now proposed. On the contrary, we may compute tlic millions, which were probably lost by a measure, the recurrence to which now has not even the pre- text of necessity, heretofore its sole excuse. Upon considering the present state of the northern colo- nies, and the amount to which, they have already carried the West India trade, and the efforts made among them further to extend it; it is clear, that injurious as the conse(|uences of such a measure have hitherto been, they would now prove more destructive than ever. The sole disadvantage of the present system apj)ears to be, that the West Indian ])ays something more for his supplies; an inconvenience which must daily diminish, because the demand is nearly stationary, and the su})|)ly fast increasing; and which, now the Mediterra- nean seas of Canada arc about to be connected with the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic, will within ft ... i no a few years have disappearod. It is in lliose colo- nies, that the West Indian ahcady finds tiic hest market, alter that of the United Kingdom, par- ticularly for his rnni, molasses, and coarser sui^ars, which it is so economical to make, and so dilVicnlt to dispose of elsewhere ; and that market, as the poj)nlation increases, and means of communication are improved, cannot fail to he most raj)i(lly ex- tended. The ship|)ing inteiest, of all perhaps the most important and the most depressed, are the while ac(juiriug: employment, which may l)e carried to the amount of 200,000 tons, and at the san^.e time keepinj; embodied a corps of sonje 12,000 mariiime militia uj)on that frontier, which, if not the most exposed, is perhaps the most threateneti. It ii in the West Indies, that the Canadians Hnd the hest market, after that of the United Kingdom, for the exuherant j>roductions of their lands and waters. To them no coinmerce can he more ne- cessary, none, in which the return is so immediate, and the profit so universally diffused. Every individual contributes and receives something of the articles mutually exchanged. Their imj)orts are the most agreeable and useful of luxuries, which their habits and climate have made the very necessaries of life, but which they cannot produce themselves. Their exports are such as require the smallest outlay, the rudest labour, the least risk, and arc tlie sole objects ol itulustry which those colonics allbrd. In fine, therefore, ihe conclusion to be driiun 4 nt iVorn ihc \)r('CO(Vu)u: reasons and sfatcrnents sceiiis <<» l)e, tliat tli(; U'lnis, upon which our (oh)nial intercourse is now settKd, arc more |irothable, than any which have before existed ; and niore proHtal)]e, than any the Americans can now oilei. Brief and unfavunrahh- as the time, since the pre- sent; .system was instituted, has been, tlie results ])rodnced are all that was desired, and more than expect{> oik purely of economy, and the arguments limitiul ti> a strict deduction from facts ; the larger views oi general ])olicy being left to tlio^e. win)se ai)iiitv to judge is greater, and whos<- judgment nun. im- portant. zVnd however bestowed the labour of rom[)iling these statistics, its motiAe has been nn)i'f derived Iroui feeling than int' rest; and more fiom conviction t!»an !)ey. and eii- deaviuir to nial-a tlie be>i nl whatever may be th* result. iiM!|.K> woiiii wii SON. r(i»N ('(Mil', ri.rt '^';ri I .' = ^'