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Les diagrammes sulvants illustrent la mAthode. ata Jure. : 2X 1 2 3 1 r 2 3 4 5 6 give p perty : that pi of AI GEN] MOU CONVERSATIONS ON POLITICAL ECONOMY; on, A SERIES OF DIALOGUES, SVFFOSED TO TAKE PLACE BETWEEN A MINISTER OF STATE AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AGRICULTURAL, MANUFACTURING, SHIPPING, COLONIAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MONIED INTERESTS ; AS WELL AS OF THE LABOURING CLASSES OF SOCIETY : I REMARKS ON OUR PRESENT DISTRESSES, V ^v^'i:.:,u THEIR CAUSES, ---•"' '-^^ ^-^' AND THE REMEDIES APPLICABLE TO THEM. BY JOSEPH PINSENT, Author of Letters to the Earl of Liverpool und other Statesmen, «« AGRICULTURE," says Dr. Johnson, "not onlj gives riches to a nation, but the only riches we can call our own." Another Author says, «' To give profitable employment to a people, tbey must be protected in their pro- perty from foreign competition, in a degree equal to the respective valua of that property to the state; and then let COMMERCE have the FREEDOM of AIR." "^He adds, " that nothing is GOOD which does not tend to GENERAL GOOD, and that our duty to our COUNTRY is PARA- MOUNT." ■ *. PRINTED FOR J. M. RICHARDSON, 23, COBNHILL ; AND HATCUARD AND SON, pICCAl)ILLY. 1821, - fi i ■■« ADVICE TO THE READER. Read attentively ; think deeply; know perfectly; judge religiously, dispassionately ^ and patriotically ; as this tract is not intended for the meridian of superficial observation. ' ' \ ( " ■• ' ' MiitcnANT, Printer, logram-cbiut; Feocborch-atreet. CONTENTS. erfecily; otically; idian of t)ialogue between a Member of the Landed Interest and a Minister of State 2 Do. Manufacturer t jq Illustration of the Extent to which Manufactures can be carried iq Dialogue with a Ship Owner • • • 18 Superior Value to the Nation of Domestic and Colo- lonial Corn, Timber, and Ships, proved in a Calcu- lation recommended to the Notice of the Committee on Foreign Trade 30 tenant actually fall on the land. I answer, if lands and houses were sold or let free of parochial rates, would they not fetch the amount of tho:jo rates in addition to their existing price; and is not this a proof, that the landed interest pays all the poor-rates ? Again, should all the houses subject to the poor-rates become untenanted, would not the land be charged with the maintenance of the paupers. li m i 6 lated on tlie ratio of one penny per quartern loaf* on the com which it produces, during the time it is urrder crop, and even that penny we will expend in labour and in contribution to the revenue. This, then, being the amount of rent which we should claim, we could not, by making a present of it, lower the price of the quartern loaf more than one penny, and this reduction would be merely nominal, as you would, in that case, be charged with our maintenance, and with the pay- ment of those taxes and rates which we are now paying. I compare the present state of the agricultural interests of this country, as relates to its branches, to a once-flourishing tree, which had in spring and summer brought forth most luxuriant branches ; but in autumn, when the branches should have gratefully and duly returned their sap to the parent root, they bent the trunk until their ex- tremities touched the ground, when they sucked, like leeches, from the root of tiieir parent tree, what was intended, in the ensuing season, to sup- port them and their parent, consequently both * From their speeches, I never could ascertain, that any one of the opposers of the landed interest was sufficiently versed in agricultural concerns, to calculate the cost of producing a quarter of corn in England, or to estimate the value of the landed interest to the state, or to ascertain the root of their own prosperity cr subsistence; yet, with all their inexperience, those genuemen presume to dispense what they call protection, and to prescribe rules to practical men. How a country under the influence of such ignorance can prosper, 1 am unable to con- ceive; and it appears to me, that until legislators act from a sound practical knowledge of the state of things, the nation will be governed in subserviency to foreign interests, and to the destruction of its own. i irn loaf* ;ime it is expend revenue, hich we present af more ould be :ase, be he pay- ire now cultural 'anches, ing and anches ; d have to the leir ex- sucked, nt tree, to sup- ly both ; any one versed in ducjng a lie of the Jieir own ice, those tion, and inder the e to con- t from a ition will i to the perished. To the same predicament are we re- ducing the British empire, by permitting foreigners to compete with us, duty free, with the mistaken ' notion of thereby serving the branches of our in- dustry ; but, on the contrary, it tends to destroy both the root and branches of our prosperity. During the last agitation of the Corn Bill in Par- liament, it is said that a member opposed a duty on foreign corn, in nearly these emphatic words : — " Who would be hardy enough to lay a duty on foreign corn ? I at any rate would not." It is fair to suppose, that this member's meaning was, that such a duty would bear heavy on the la- bouring classes of society, and that they would remonstrate against it, if not oppose it by vio- lence ; or perhaps he had an idea of court- ing popularity with those classes of society, he not knowing or considering that he was doing it at the sacrifice of their vital interests. It is also reported, that he assigned another reason for his opposition, that he had heard no com- plaints from tenants. This was to be expected from a man nine-tenths of his time confined in Lon- don amongst placemen, courtiers, pensioners, &c. who are so ignorant, perhaps, of the root of their subsistence, that they did not know that their very meals came from the soil. Now, had he been a practical agriculturist and a political economist (as every member speaking on agri- I cultural subjects ought to be), he would have known the state of our agriculture, without the information of tenants, and would have addressed himself to the reason, and not to the bad pas- sions of the people, and said. Here is a calcula- tion (presenting one), showing you what a quarter 8 III h^ of English ' corn can be grown at ; a great part of which is composed of tithes, taxes, poor- rates, and labour. The latter will become chargeable in poor-rates, if not employed, and must be provided for to the state from other property, if we do not grow our own corn; and I will challenge any man, he would have said, to disprove the correctness of my state- ment. He would have said farther, how can any man be expected to lay out his money in agricul- ture, while he is exposed to the competition of fo- reigners in our market, ft-ee of these charges, unless a duty equal thereto be laid on foreign corn. If he do not lay out this capital, how can the labourer of England be employed? Where can the manufacturer find customers, the tax, tithe, jDOor-rate gatherers, payments ? For he should have said, our success in this country (where com is an exotic) depends much more for a crop, on skill and capital, than on the breadth of land sown. Again, he should have said, will not the protection required not only give employment to more labourers and manufacturers, but also be the means of increasing the quantity of corn ? And although the competition in the market will keep the price low, still, as the grower will be safe from competition duty free, the cultivator would go on increasing the growth, and be pre- pared for a short crop, and the people be em- ployed. He should also have said, that dear and cheap are but relative terms ; for if, by the de- mand created for labour, wages should be raised from l5. to 2*. per day, with constant in lieu of casual employment, and although bread should be raised from lOd. to 1*. 3d. the quartern loaf, I reat part s, poor- become ed, and m other n corn; |uld have y state- can any agricul- ion of fo- es, unless corn. If can the here can tax, tithe, le shouhl here com crop, on I of land II not the )yment to t also be of corn? irket will r will be cultivator I be pre- ; be em- dear and r the de- be raised [1 lieu of 1 should tern loaf, I D under such circumstances, will not the labourer be much richer in the latter cases than the for- mer? And should he not have said, that if the price of corn is lowered below what it can be grown at, through foreign corn being imported duty free, our people will be so fiar turned out of employment, while the landed interest has its present charges to pay, that if the quartern loaf were sold for Zd. the labourer would not have 2«?. to purchase it with ; therefore, he should have said, unless you protect the root, of which you are the branches, you cannot expect profitable employment. If he had been a political eco- nomist, he would have said to the people, in the same proportion that the aggregate productions of the 3oil, including mines and fisheries, sell for, so will be the velocity of the wheel, of which the industry of the British empire is composed. Such produce is first exchanged for labour in part, and other parts are exchanged for either gold or the representative of gold ; the money is then paid for labour, manufactures, taxes, tithes, and poor-rates, and ultimately turned into en- tire labour : but, unless it had first come from the land, no movement could have been made in any other branch of industry ; consequently, if the produce of our soil be destroyed, the axe will be found to be laid at the root of our poli- tical existence. Another member, as is reported, said, that it was a misfortune for the country that the landed interest had obtained a majority for going into a committee on the Com Bill. But how much greater, in the opinion of practical men, who know the effects of such measures, is c I K. i I , 10 the misfortune to tliis country, that this member should ever have had political existence. This shows how men, possessing the very acme of perfection in private life, recorded amongst the most sincere well-wishers to their country, and possessing the first talents for so- phistical argument, yet do, through ignorance of practical life, and of the science of po- litical economy, involve their country in more difticulties (through possessing political power) in one hour than they can extricaie it from in, twenty years ; and 1 much fear, the error com- mitted on the night in question and the follow- ing one, will prove what I have here said to be perfect in demonstration, unless an act be immedi- ately passed, giving protection to every species of property in the British empire from foreign compe- tition, equal to its respective value to the state. DIALOGUE II. Between a 3Iinister of State and an English ManufactMrer, 31. S. In what state is your interest ? M. 31, In a state of utter adversity ; for in an average of years we cannot give profitable em- ployment to more than about two-thirds of our labourers ? 31. S. What is the cause of your distress ? E. 31. Our own avidity in seeking, and the weakness of the legislature in granting, to ma- nufactures more protection against foreign com- petition than was granted to the main root of our welfare, the agricultural interest, and to other ^r I member the very recorded to their s for so- i^norance of po- in more power) from in ror com- follow- lid to be immedi- pecies of n compe- state. English for in an ible em- Js of our ess? and the ', to ma- gn com- 3t of our to other 11 vital parts of the body politic. This undue share of protection, together with the facilities open to us, of doing business with little capital {since part of the wages of labour, and the main- tenance of all our paupers, are derived princi- pally through the poor-rates from the landed interest), have attracted to our concerns such an influx from the unprotected classes of the comr munity, that what wc once deemed our nutriment lias proved onr bane. We behold our own ruin, in that of our supporters and best custo- mers, the landed interest, through the drain ex- torted from them for the payment of our la- bourers, the maintenance of our poor, and, through the want of protection from foreign com- petition, equal to their value to the state. You will agree with me in esteeming the landed in- terest our main support, as you must be aware that, notwithstanding all the importance attached to foreign trade with rival powers, this branch of our commerce bears only the proportion of about one to thirty, in comparison with our domestic and colonial trade, and only about one to sixty compared to the whole labour of the empire. Even that inconsiderable proportion is so pre- carious, that were it not for the resource already noticed, as secured to our labourers and poor, it would not be worth cultivating. M. S. What are the remedies you propose ? E. M. The same which are required for every other species of property in the empire ; namely, that our and every other property of the empire, shall have protection from foreign competition, only proportioned to our and their value to the state ; and a general regulation, by which every kind of internal property shall contribute its just :|: 'I '' IN II u 12 share to the public burdens, and maintain its own labourers. These remedies would not only in- crease the demand for manufactures, but would so occupy the several productive classes, and establish so just a proportion among them; that, like the spokes of a coach-wheel, when well re- gulated and protected by fellies and tire-irons, each part of the frame of society would give its due share of support, without over-straining or diminishing the efficacy of the others. Thus a fair equilibrium of burdens, payments, and pro- fits, would restore all the members of the com- munity to a state of prosperity. To prove the effect of protection to us against a foreign competition duty free; and to demon- strate the great support derived by the manufac- turer from the landed interest, through the poor^ rates, I shall observe, that, with our present na- tional debt and expenditure, not two-thirds of our manufactures would, without the protection al- ready specified, be able to compete with those of foreigners, in their markets, or even in our own ; and with regard to the goods fabricated from the cotton of the United States, were we to pay for the destruction of that political power which we are building up for America, and which, sooner or later, this nation will have to beat down, and to compensate the value of the national wealth and power, of which we deprive ourselves by taking cotton from the United States, and which might otherwise have accelerated the cultivation of our colonies, extended our trade, and given occupation to our unemployed population, we should become debtors to the public for some mil- lions annually. But, notwithstanding all the pro^ tection against foreign competition with which vre u\, . t in its own only in- ut would isesy and 3m; that, well re- tire-irons, d give its aining or Thus a and pro- the cora- js against ) demon- manufac- the poor^ esent na- rds of our action al- 1 those of our own ; I from the to pay for which we h, sooner own, and lal wealth selves by nd which ultivation md given ation, we some mil- il the prOf- which we 13 are favoured, we should be able to manufacture but very few articles for the foreign market, with- out the aid which we derive from the landed in- terest through the poor-rates. I must, the'^cfore, honestly declare to you, that we owe all that we gain, even as individuals, to an undue share of protection, as well as to the support we receive from the landed interest ; that for these favours^ from the nature of our laws, we make no fair compensation, either to individuals or to the na- tion ; and that it would be much better for the nation, as well as for ourselves, that every kind of property should receive only that degree of pro- tecti(m to which it is entitled, from its respective value to the state. By this you will perceive how much the benefit of manufactures to the nation is over-rated by superficial observers,* although individuals may be making fortunes at their coun- try's expense. Our rivals, Russia and the United States, take in the proportion of only about one-thirtieth of our manufactures, and put in action only about one-sixtieth of the labour of the kingdom; yet those two powers deprive our empire of improve- ment to the amount of some millions per annum, and our people of profitable employment to the number of from one to two millions, thus derang- ing the system of our whole community. They also prevent us from selling double the amount of what they purchase from us, to our own colo- nists in the event of our taking from the latter our supplies of com, hemp, flax, wood, cotton, to- bacco, and rice. * This subject is farther illastrated in a subsequent dialogue between a minister of state and a political economist. '" ■ilf'f »'i{ I,: 111 I J I' 14 I must also candidly declare that, while we call on the landed interest to maintain our poor, and pay part of the wages of our labourers through the poor-rates, we are not independent members of the community, and have no stake in the country which might not be easily trans- ferred, if encouragement were offered us else- where; that we should have no hesitation in making such transfer, and that consequently we shall not be qualified to represent, as members of the legislature, the interest of the British empire in Parliament, until we are in a state to pay our labourers and maintain our poor. M. S. How shall we ascertain the value of manufactures to the state ? E. M. Exactly as you would the value of agricul- ture, with this additional proviso, that after giving credit to manufacturers for their value to the state, you charge them on the other hand with the amount of wealth and power which they cause to pass from this country to her rivals, from whom they purchase their raw materials ; and also with a quantum of national wealth and power propor- tioned to the number of labourers whom, by dealing with our rivals, they exclude from profit- able employment. You will thence perceive that while the indi- vidual manufacturer may be making a fortune, the British empire may be losing 100 or more per cent, by such manufacture: for instance, those who manufacture the cotton and tobacco of the United States, or the hemp and flax of Ri>ssia, occasion a loss to the nation of from 100 to 150 percent, consequently, they should be charged with an equivalent duty, as a protection to colo- nial articles of the same kind. This considera- ^w lile we ir poor, bourers »endent 3 stake r trans- is else- ition in ntly we nbers of I empire pay our /alue of 'agricul- er giving he state, vith the cause to II whom ilso with • propor- lom, by n profit- he indi- fortune, more per e, those CO of the f Russia, to 150 charged to colo- onsidera- lion apph'es also to foreign timber, com, ships, and freight, which are calculated in a letter to the President of tlie Board of Trade. liy this equal protection, the various interests of the British community will be adjusted and harmonized. They will then resemble, as it has been elsewhere observed, tne several spokes in a coach-wheel, fixed in a sound nave, well regu- lated by fellies, and protected by a sound tire- iron, enabling each part to perform its function. At present, the national interests resemble a wheel, in which the fellies and tire-iron are taken from some of tl)e spokes and superadded to others, or used for strengtiiening another wheel, so that the machine works with an unequal pressure, to the dislocation and destruction of its component parts, some of which are encumbered with the protection withheld from the rest. M. S. If I understand the case rightly, Mr. Manufacturer, tlie consequence of our manufac- turing from cotton and tobacco of the United States, and from Russian hemp and flax, and of our using their timber, rice, and corn, as well as ©f our giving their ships the carrying trade which belongs to our ships, and of conferring on them, through our East India charter, the privileges of w hich it deprives us, is, that our landed interest is compelled to pay, through the poor-rates, to the manufactui'ing labourer, for the building of navies and raising armies for the United States and Russia to break our power.* ' The navies and armies of those powers are paid priir- cipally by the duties levied on our manufactures in their ports; and when our supply is greater than their demand, the English 16 I^. M. The system not only causes the landed interest to suffer, as you observe ; but, in the event of a war, which is inevitable sooner or later, the landed interest will also have to pay for the destruction of those very navies and armies which our present foreign policy now creates in favour of Russia and the United States of America, to an extent likely to exceed in amount our present national debt, as well as cause the spilling of more blood than did our last twenty years' war. To illustrate the impossibility of carrying manu- factures beyond the consumption of our people, and our payments of foreign articles which we consume, I will suppose a man buys in England £5000 worth of British manufactures, sails to, and exchanges them for sugar and silver at the Havannah and Vera Cruz, returns to England, and finds the market glutted. (The market for silver to be glutted, to a theorist, may appear singular, still silver, in our market, is at present about 15 per cent, under what is called the stand- ard value, and if twenty millions worth were now to arrive, and we to continue at peace, and not import foreign European com, I should not be surprised at seeing it 40 per cent, under its stand- ard value. 1 will say more, that from the free access given to the gold and silver mines, by the revolution in South America, and the encourage- ment afforded to scientific men for introducing and applying machinery in those mines, no one ought to be surprised to see, before the end of 20 years, silver in this country, without our coin- exporter pa\s those duties, but first receives their amount from the lauded interest, through the poor-rates, in the payment of the manufacturers, labourers, and poor. att( tur fin( altl landed the event ater, the for the ies which in favour nerica, to ir present g of more ir. ng manu- ur people, which we England sails to, ver at the England, narket for ay appear at present the stand- were now f, and not aid not be r its stand- n the free les, by the encourage- Qtroducing es, no one end of 20 our coin- amount from e payment of 17 fltainp on it, so very plentifid, as to make the pro- prietors of our iron mines, thank their good for- tune, that their iron is not silver.) This adven- turer then sails to every port in Europe succes- sively for a market for his cargo, and finds one at every port he touches at, but can get nothing as a profitable remittance to this country, in con- sequence of England being already superabund- antly supplied with the produce of those countries: consequently, although this Havannah and Vera Cruz adventurer had the very thins^s which those foreigners wanted, and which articles he received in barter or exchange for British manufactures, still he could make no profit to himself, or extend the sale of his country's manufactures beyond the payments of her consumption, these being already made by others; therefore such an adventure ^ill not again be undertaken. Of course, those who manufactured his cargo were turned out of employment ; the only thing a person so circum- stanced could tlo, was to alienate himself from his own country, and sit down and spend or em- ploy his money in the country in which he dis- posed of his cargo ; but such measures deprive England of her wealthy population and political power, and prove, that our manufacturing inte- rest cannot be carried beneficially beyond the consumption of our people. But when protection is duly afforded against foreign competition, every property of the state, like the spokes of the coach- wheel, will be so regulated and balanced, that no attempt will be made to carry it beyond its na- tural line. But if the adventurer liad been con- fined to trade between England and her colonies, although the individual might have been unfor- 18 Innate, the country would have received no in- jury, lint Dr. A. Smith goes so far as to say, that such an adventurer would find relief from specu- lations in exchaujL^es, and that these, and not the balance of trade, {govern exchanges ; but I say, unless trade agitates tiie money market, the specu- lation in exchanges would be carried on but for a very short time, and even then on the average of years as a mere speculation only, to an incon- siderable extent, lor want of profit as an induce- ment. This shows, that our application to the legislature should be for measures to promote consumption ; and that can only be done by giving profitable employment to our people ; the latter can only be eflected by protecting every property according to its value to the state. ^*^04-^^0m0^00^^^ V m DIALOGUE III. Between a Minister of State and an English Ship Owner. M. S. In what state is the shipping interest of the British empire? S. O. Very unprosperous, with the exception of the whaling ships. These, being protected to an extent beyond their value to the state, are doing well for the present ; but as the rest of the shipping interest is not protected to an extent equal to its value, it will soon cause the former to be crowded and over-done ; when both, from the same cause, will share a fate similar to that ex- perienced by the West-India sugar-planter, from ^ I!) the want oi efjiiai protLction lelt by i\w cotton- pliinttr, or that cxptriciuxMl hy tht; British nianu- fartnnM*, iVoni tluj in\pr(>tt'cto, hemp, uire the it to the I would roduced mds, as t of ne- 'eigners, t of im- ps; and leet the littee of foreign tions to ground freight 3rs. in fact nee the it but a ^5 jhip for sea, to victual and man her, and after- wards to navigate her, at about one-half or two- lliirds of the charge incurred in the construction, futfit, and navigation of an English ship. Their jtten sailors do not cost them so much as our boys. Jheir naval architects, also, are not only as ikilful as our own, but they are free from the restraints imposed by law on the latter, which prevent the application of science in aid of their ■kill for the construction of ships. These facts l^eing so easy of proof, what man of common sense can believe (whoever may assert) that an English ship can be built and navigated on as cheap terms as those of the northern European powers ? . Not having seen the evidence laid before that ^mmittee, (though sought for from those who should feel interested in the developement of Iruth,) I can only presume that some part of it must have shown what English ship-owners or builders had done, who were on the verge of bankruptcy. But, however this may serve as ^ criterion to the cunning trafficker, it ought to be no criterion to a legislative body, which should calculate the cost of building and navigating a ship, allowing the owner and builder a fair profit to enable them to pay their taxes and be of service to their country. But, at all events, the question as to the cost of building and navigating an English ship does not enter into the com- mittee's inquiry ; they have only to act on the broad principle of ascertaining the value of the British shipping interest to the state, and of protecting, according to the measure of its value, E 26 :H fi that and every other interest in tlie empire from foreign competition. The President of the Board of Trade, who is a member of the Honourable Committee in question, can adduce Mr. Joseph Pinsent's cal- culations on the subject. I have to add, that, independently of other considerations, such a principle of calculation, as that which is said to be adopted by this Committee, would have to be modified every month ; but the principle of pro- tecting every kind of property according to its value to the state, would be comparatively ge- neral and permanent, and would moreover sup- press all things that were useless to the state. 31. S. I understand that the Committee insist very strongly, that, if we lower our duties, the fo- reigner will do the same, and the result will be a great increase of trade. S. O. With respect to such anticipations, I ask, how can they be realized, when, if you survey the whole country, you will find no per- son, consuming a foreign article, who has not two for one that he really wants? Then, if an hicrease of foreign trade should take place, it must be in such articles as our own people can produce at home, or in our colonies : this in- crease may be beneficial to foreigners, but how can England be benefited by having her people turned out of employ, to subsist on the poor-rates, for the sake of permitting the importation from foreigners of the very articles which our own people previously produced? In reply to all ap- plications for an increase of foreign trade, a statesman should say, ** Do you propose to in- troduce any article which our own people are ipire from |ide, who is imittee in fisent's cal- add, that, IS, such a is said to |have to be )le of pro- ding to its atively ge- reover sup- ( state, littee insist |ties, the fo- t will be a ;ipations, I en, if you nd no per- lio has not rhen, if an e place, it people can : this in- U but how her people poor-rates, ition from our own to all ap- trade, a ose to in- •eople are 27 %ble to j)roduce? If so, I cannot listen to yon ; for we must not turn our p(?ople out of profit- able employment, to subsist on the landed inte- rest through the poor-rates." But on this sub- let the clearest light will be thrown by the spe- cimen of political arithmetic annexed to the dia- logue on New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and by the illustration subjoined. Would not the Committee have shown more wisdom, if, ere they had made the Report which they are said to have made, they had ascertained the data for a sound conclusion, namely, that the means of supplying our wants, or of meeting our consumption, were those which generated and augmented commerce; and that the profitable employment of our own people not only produced those means, but contributed to our revenue, and gav" wealth and power to the nation r Besides, we can never import to an extent beyond con- sumption, nor export beyond the value of our imports ; and, in the very ratio in which we take from foreigners such goods as we can produce ourselves, in the same ratio we not only para- lyse the national industry, deprive our people of profitable employment, and diminish commerce, but we arm foreign rivals with the means of an- noying us. Therefore, by opening our ports on any other condition than that of protecting all native and colonial property according to its value to the state, we merely give to foreigners the profitable labour of our own people, and strengthen the hands of our rivals against us. I have to add, that, however sarcastically some members may have treated the subject, I am ready to prove, that while our foreign policy if i 1^ 'I ^k I- !::« 3f*t .1 i ''I 28 keeps our people and ship° unemployed, it would be of greater national advantage to occupy both in bringing coals from Newcsistle round by the Land's End to London, or timber home from Canada by way of the Cape of Good Hope, than suffer the ships to rot, and the men to become corrupt and demoralized, through want of profit- able employment, only allowing the extra freight to be paid by a public rate. In the above case, what we paid in extra freight we should save in poor- rates, promote good morals, augment our national wealth and power, diminish crime, and lessen the transportation of convicts. This would surely incline the balance in our favour. If this line of argument be correct, and I chal- lenge the world to refute it, how strongly does it prove the advantage of domestic and colonial trade, in augmenting the profitable employment of our ships and people, and its superiority to foreign trade, which tends to exclude both from employment. The right way of calculating the value to us of that foreign trade in those articles which we can produce in our own empire, the importation of which necessarily deprives our people of pro- fitable employment, is to ascertain the cost to the empire of maintaining those people whom that trade tends to turn out of employment, and who will then have to live on the landed interest, &c. &c. which cost should be added to the price at which the foreign article sells in our market ; for instance, ascertain how many quarters of English corn, the cultivation of which employs equal to one man for a year, then, as I think the pro- ducing of about seven quarters of wheat in £ng- lai pa wi wi tui tic Hi 1, it would cupy both nd by the ome from [ope, than 3 become of profit- i freight to ase, what ! in poor- r national nd lessen aid surely d I chal- igly does i colonial ployment riority to joth from lue to us which we portation 3 of pro- ! cost to le whom lent, and interest, the price market ; arters of employs ^thepro- t in Eng- land, from the time tho land is begun to be pre- pared, until the grain is delivered to the miller, will give employment equal to one man, what will such a man cost maintaining, who has been turned otit of emi)ioyment through the importa- tion of seven quarters of foreign corn? I say, ^20 per annum ; for every other calling being full of labourers, he cannot get re-employed without r< moving another man from employment, who will be of equal loss and cost to the state with himself 1 iK'lieve that, if foreigners had complete pos- session of our corn-market, they would charge on the average of years more than we pay now, and perhaps starve us ultimately; but at any rate they will not charge more than about £1 per quarter less than our own agriculturists would do, were they properly remunerated. Admitting this to be the case, the following is about a fair statement of the loss on our consumption of every seven quarters of foreign corn. 30 '■ r i k m m I *'ti j e o ©1 I* 91 ** 0) , a c8 *• &^"^ *4 n n S « H ^ 1 K 1 ^ 1^ «( ^ Ai' • ^2 ^' . o Q • o J s ! a ! V 4ad S o a; t8 ::= •J I. a 0) '3d • if> t: V (ij 1! O • 01 « * "2 ', , * ee • '^ oi O M s < o 1 S o o : - ~ a. s •s:l * a. . o • > "3 ' .Si a 5 Q ^ ■? hi \t t5 • s • e : « •c ; S- : ■a , ' -a a e S ; f. .x: 2 %» Q.^ O be « *4 b a s s a a ' ^ : "? ^ c e < a i^M tf • (5 •2 « 11 a J ; o r <*> 1 en SI"? a J= ^5^ - - — 1) !/) .— a a.*; g 1, 3 a g o u *< 8 4- y s .S -B «J — 1, - X »- 2 ^ c 2 a « o a .tS I _ fc" ^9 o If- I o « o a <*- a o 'i ® - 5 "s; -3 - n a a 3 M Of iQ -a J — » S 1/ o ° s o to. * a -6 B-.2 « o "S «trf • mm CO . — — < H u a.M X S flj ^ - ^o,a 5 0) a jj "c ^ b ec "t^ a u ^ .J «^ .2 * S,«i: « .2 S^ o 4^ '/) a u i> 3 V ^ V. T| ■/) "•- M ^s a <1' u o 3 a b CO i> a > £ '/I OJ ^^ 'mm «rf u I/I o t •o "V o § a o B J3 l^il J a o 2 bo tn J2 s § 18 9* -N !• > ■ . !f -if ; I ■1 I 5 o • o a e 0) ■a .a n m 01 a o n u "^ U O t/> #«* u CO o a » S e .S 4) ,.a o a o >^ • • 1^ o in (1^ bt) a o. 5 • m^ 01 m 9 v «* .a fa HI iS o O 1 1 h a 'y a V 3 .i a ^ O bfi u a ex E .2 a* It 'S — J3 -a •- a >.''. in .5 : ■§ i u — ' a a. S '^ tiO s ^ a n *• .2 H b S ^ a.. a CO .t; o §• o a, sT-o .2 3 2 2 > ^ .S. O) -3 ^^ ^ es ^ aj fa *-* 2. O 4) _- .!: a « s .2 o T3 2 a> a a M « o V Z\ I/) 13 a fa ,o fcJD fa i a. 4» a es q S U 3 .2 •- o tS S jd s a- a if « a bjD V o -I- ' -a !3l On ihe employment of as many foreign ships as will give nominally ^500 profit over that of employint; English ships, the result will be just the same as in the above statement of foreign and colonial timber ; it will be a loss of about jt'3400 to the nation on every such ^£^500, al- though individuals may be gainers. This shows the Honourable Committee, that the considera- tion of the cost of things, and of existing usages, is quite foreign to their subject, for this sort of little matters is only necessary to be known to shop-keepers, ship-owners, and merchants ; and as they (the Committee) have put themselves into the character of statesmen, consequently, have only to inquire into the value of this or that particular interest to the state, their data of calculation should be, how much it increases or diminishes the profitable employment of our peo~ pie, and they should be guided in their mea- sures accordingly. The whole empire should be in their " mind's eye" when they make their decision, for on the employment of our people rests our prosperity, revenue, and defence. If our manufactures increase in the face of the loss of our foreign trade, it is a proof that the do- mestic and colonial trade, which took its place, is of more benefit to the nation ; and those ad- vocates for foreign trade ought to be satisfied, that, if our industry increase in the aggregate, the loss of our foreign trade is a gain to the na- tion, although it may be a loss to them. There should be practical men at the head of affairs, or a chamber of commerce to assist a theoretica;l administration ; for no minister who was a practical agriculturist, and felt the burden F I I 4 ,„-3p^ «;!Ji^i ri 34 of tithes, taxes, and poor-rates, would have formed a Com Bill, permitting foreign com to be imported duty free; nor would a practical ship-ov'ner have signed the East India charter in its , -esent form, ceded our conquered co- lonies, or made our existing treaties with Ame- rica, measures from which some men VvOuld have foreseen consequences fatal to the 15ritish em- pire,. it ti •r«#«i#<###<##«>^^#'^ Hi I I: I 'HI if. It fi I DIALOGUE IV. Between a Minister of State and a Merchant ColonLt of the Cape of Good Hope. M. S. What is the state of affairs at the Cape ? M.C. Not good M. SI. For what reason ? M. C. We want English laws to govern us, and of course an act of unioki constituting our colony an integral part of the British empire, with the right of sending representatives to Par- liament. Our territory, also, Ou^ht to be sur- veyed, divided into townships, and sold in lots in England, to attract a numerous influx of effective emigrants able to cultivate and defend the colony, while consuming the manufactures and augment- ing the commerce of the mother-country. M. S. The remedies, then, fr; your grievances are obvious ? M. C. Yes. I have shown that they consist in the adoption oi iilnglish laws, an union with the mother-country, a survey of the colony, and a d have com to )ractical charter red co- ;h Ame- ild have tish em- Merchant 76, le Cape t 35 sale of the landw. When our population, through these advantages, shall have increased, we, in common with our fellow subjects, shall claim pro- tection for every kind of British property in the ratio of its value to the state. We shall then have a certain market for our produce, and the home manufacturer will be sure of an increasing de- mand for his articles from us. The ship-owners also will derive great benefit from this change, since among other consequent advantages our corn will always be admitted in England on pay- ing a duty of a'uout 125. per quarter. On the other hand, if you close our natural home market against our produce, when subjected to proper duties, you will do your country no service by sending settlers to the Cape. A certain manu- facturing market for produce always acts as a bounty to cultivation and production. )verd us, utiug our empire, 3 to Par- be sur- in lots in f effective le colony, augment- • rievancea y consist lion with ny, and a ^^Si***-****^^^**^**** DIALOGUE V. Between a Minister of State and an East India Merchant and Planter, M. S, How is your trade ? E. M. Very bad. M, S. From what causes ^ E. M. One great cause is a certain part of the East India Company's ch?.rter, the more to be lamented from the circumstance, that although it prohibits us from doing what foreigners now do, and prevents us and the nation from gaining many millions per annum, it Ib of no service to the East 4 i I ;! it 'i If, II* ;•■* '. ■ 1^ I* :•■' :'•!' If k 36 India Company, or to any other lawfully trading British subjects. Another cause is, the want of protection against foreign competition to every kind of property in the British empire, according to its respective value to the state, in order to secure us a remunerating market for our produce. M, S. What are the remedies you propose t E. M. Either a repeal of the East India char- ter in tofo, or at least of that part which is of no service to the Company, and which is highly de- trimental to our and the national interests, and to the political influence of this state over foreigners. In the next place, I would of course recommend, that every kind of British property should, ac- cording to its respective value to the state, be* protected from foreign competition. By the lat- ter remedy, the present duty on our sugar will be lowered 5*. or more per cent. ; and additional protecting duties will be laid on foreign cotYon, in favour of our cotton, to the amount of at l&d^i ijd. per lb.; on foreign tobacco, in favour of our tobacco, ^d. per lb. ; in favour of our rice, an additional 5^. per cwt. ; and in fa- vour of other East India goods in the same proportion. It will also have the effect of aug- menting the demand for British manufactures in India, and for India merchandise at home, and by this augmentation will engage a greater pro- portioii of our shipping in the trade. The opera- tion of both remedies will tend to improve the revenue, to advance the prosperity of the empire, and insure to this nation the wealth and influ- ence which to our own wrong we are now bestow- ing on rival powers. m fading ant of every ording der to oduce. 36 t a, char- 3 of no hly de- and to iigners. amend, lid, ac- tate, bt* the lat- will be ditional cotYon, at X&d^i vour of of our in fa- ke same of aug- tures in ne, and iter pro- e opera- rove the empire, d influ- bestow- :) 37 DIALOGUE VI. Between a Minister of State and a Merchant Colonist of New South Wales and Van Die- men s Land. M. S. In what state is your beautiful colony ? M. C. Incoirparably good with respect to the bounties of nature, but capable of great improve- ment with regard to the condition of man. M. S. How is the improvement of your condi- tion retarded ? I M. C. By the want of an act of union consti- tuting us an integral part of the British empire, and efjapowering us to send representatives to Parlia- ment; by «..e want of that protection from foreign competition which would insure for our produce a market in the parent state ; and, lastly, by the East India charter, which should be repealed, either totally, or partially, so as to allow us to trade where our interest invites us. M. S. V7hat are the remedies ^ ,u propose? M. C. You have doubtless anticipated them U\f^, .le causes assigned. They are, the integra- tioi. vf jiur colony as well as all others with the British empire, and protection for our property against foreign competition, commensurate with its value to the state. Tiiese legislative measures v/ould provide us with a sure market, without which the most fertile land in the world is of little ' alue. I need not add, that the repeal of the iL Hst India Chaiter would open to us a free trade ^:M f.r ; 36 with all the world, as far as relates to British laws. I have to observe, that the territory of our coun- try should be explored ; the survey of our coast should be made (in boats) since, from the locking of the land, many large harbours and rivers may escape the surveyor's notice.* A chorographical description should be given ; and the townships, farms, and plantations, properly marked out in maps, should be sold in England to the highest bidder, on condition that they be located and cultivi ' apbical nships, outia highest ed and be for- rislative i steady •eate an 100,000 vho will out one* may re- sume, in ntity per r foreign I employ f 300 or 5 the na- mm, and nstead of iocs, our by Captain IS a lagoon ; object, that ■ies to conie» it man could 39 rivals for the offence and destruction of our em- pire. The sale of colonial land at home, in lots, is preferable to the present mode of taking out emi- grants, and assigning to the governor the distribu- tion of the allotments ; because, when a man buys his lot, he proves, in the first place, that he pos- sesses property ; he chooses, in the second place, the lot which best suits him ; and, in the third place, he emigrates on sme grounds, and hag nothing to apprehend from any mistake which may afterwards happen. M. S. I fear you have not sufficiently consider- ed the requisites for carrying out the emigrants, and for opening a market to their produce ; go- vernment have no funds to advance for such pur- poses. M. C. I am well aware that there are no funds at the disposal of government for those purposes; and, if there were, I should apprehend from them more harm than good, for the ministers of most governments are so circumstanced that they can- not forbear favouritism ; hence, in all probability, many of the emigrants would be called on to act parts to which they had never been accustomed, and for which they had not been qualified by nature. On the contrary, individuals who pur- chase their lots at home will take care to select proper persons for cultivating them ; they will know their dependence, and ,^o directly and without hesitation to their new purchases. Besides, I calculate that when every property is protected According to its value to the state, the relief thus effected in the poor-rates, the increase of indirect revenue, and the augmentation made to the na- |j| If 'X .' ! 40 tional wealth and power, will be such that colonial cotton produced by British white people in New Holland will be found entitled to a protecting duty of from dging, and uld accom- ishes would ige of their wn eJcpense. 41 Indeed, let the two acts I have suggested be passed, the East India charter be partially re- pealed, the land surveyed and sold in lots, and I will engage to carry the remaining measures into execution. I calculate that the land will sell at from 2*. 6d. to 7s. 6d. per acre, or, at an average, 55. ; that one million of acres per annum will be sold, and that the proceeds will not only pay all tlie expenses incurred hy government, but leave them a large residue, applicable to other purposes. M. S. But would not this regulation for ad- mitting cotton and other merchandise from our own colonies, favoured by protecting duties, de- ifange our present relations with the United States and Russia, and induce those powers to with- hold from us their produce in future? M. C. With due precautions it would occasion no perceptible derangement of our present sys- tem; for, until we had brought our plantations to a certain degree of improvement, we should not need to impose more than a small portion of the protecting duty in question, and might give the other part as a bounty to the importer of those colonial articles. In the next place, should the change be found likely to affect our foreign mar- ket, let a drawback be allowed on exportation equal to tlie protecting duty imposed. But re- flect, Sir, for a moment, on the little value of our foreign commerce compared with our colonial and domestic trade ; and, with respect to the in- crease of price, it would not be more than one penny per yard on cotton goods, and so in pro- portion on other merchandise. As to the possible cessation of supply from America and Russia, G 43 that is the very reason why we should begin to raise in our own colonies the produce we derive from those powers ; for it is a most serious dis- ad vantage to depend for the staple commodities used in our manufactures, and in the equipment of our fleets, on the whim or caprice of rival nations, and again expose ourselves to the treat- ment we have ah'cady experienced from them. The longer we remain in such a state of depend- ence the more difficulty we shall find in extricating ourselves ; and I am sure that the best way to enforce the respect of our rivals is to show that we have both the means and the will to attain in- dependence. I would beg you to consider which alternative is most to be dreaded — a refusal of supplies from those powers when we have not the means of iudenmifying ourselves, or the little temporary inconvenience which might result from the plan I have proposed for attaining indepen- dence. Added to which, on the score of justice to those powers, as we can produce nearly the whole of the articles which we purchase from them, they ought to feel obliged to us for our cour- tesy to them during so long a time, at the expense of our own empire, when they cannot get served from any other power on the same terms as from us ; under these circumstances, sound policy on their part will induce them to give you all they can spare, while you show yourselves independent. Upon the whole, I consider that if Russia and the United States of America were to shut their ports against our commerce, it would in effect be only doing what we ought long ago to have done ourselves : therefore, we ought to re- joice at, rather than regret, such measures, as it begin to ^e derive ioiis dis- imodities |iiipment of rival he treat- in them, depend - tricating way to how that ittain in- er which efusal of e not the :he little suit from indepen- >f justice early the ^se from our cour- 5 expense et served 3 as from )olicy on all they pendent. issia and to shut vould in ^ ago to jht to re- pes, as it 43 would drive us to do from necessity what we ought l6ng ago to have done from choice ; namely, to employ our now idle people in our own colo- nies to produce similar articles to what we take from those powers, and employ our idle ships to bring them home. India can supply us with cot- ton, tobacco, &c. in case of need. M. S. But how shall we manage to raise revenue ? M, C. You will have a protecting duty in ad- dition to your present regular duty ; and, from the indirect revenue which the employment and expenditure of so large an increase of population and shipping will create, you will derive treble the amount accruing from your present direct duties on articles of foreign growth ; besides, indirect revenue is always paid before direct revenue. M. S. But whence shall we procure such a supply of emigrants as you have mentioned ? M. C. You must be aware that when our po- pulation is in a sound and prosperous state, and when we have profitable employment for our peo- ple, its natural increase will be from five to seven hundred thousand in a year. 31. S. I think you have convinced me of the practicability of your plans, and I shall therefore lose no time in recommending their adoption. As an additional population of 200 millions will be wanted to do justice to our beautiful colonies, it will be time enough 300 years hence to discuss the arguments of Professor M althus for checking population to prevent famine. As to a colonial revolution in New Holland, it cannot take place these 50 or 100 years, during which time we shall be reaping all the advantages you have enumerated while we are checking the growth of n . -- %:l Is '1 <1 -P( i; 44 formidable rivals nearer home, to reduce which we might have to expend millions per annum in wars and subsidies. After our colonies shall have been united to the mother-country, and per- mitted to send representatives to Parliament, I see no more probability of a revolt in New Hol- land than in Devon or Cornwall, or even in the metropolis. Those colonists will have equal privilej^es with their fellow-subjects at home, and they will have for their produce a better market than was ever open to the American revolters. They will have no reason to wish for a separation from the mother-country. Besides, the climate of New Holland is so genial, that it permits white people to pursue agricultural labours without in- jury to their health, which they cannot do else- where in the same latitude, while the soil is more fertile and productive than any other. Cotton, tobacco, ricf, hemp, and tlax, are said to be indi- genous to tlie climates of New Holland; and these advantages give the colony peculiar claims to in- corporation with the parent state ; and, as a resi- dence, it is better suited to the constitution of an Englishman than any other part of the world out of the United Kingdom. The following calculation in political arithmetic may tend to illustrate the superiority of domestic and colonial trade over foreign commerce. Suppose we employ two labourers in a foreign ri al state to cultivate for us cotton, tobacco, hemp, and flax ; that state, in return, employs two labourers in England to manufacture articles that are then in demand. In a political view, this ex- change malces nothing in favour of Eikgland. But if, under a promise of protection commea- I , ; iirhicU anum in BS shall Mid per- *ment, I 6W Hol- m in the e equal me, and market evoltere. iparation limate of its white ithout in- do else- l is more Cotton, ) be indi- md these ms to in- as a resi- ion of an vorld out irithmetic domestic e. a foreign tobacco, ploys two ides that Vy this ex- England. commeB- 46 surate with tlieir value to the state, and a conse- quent ussurance of a remunerating price for their produce, we invite two paupers, or two men, who by emigrating (shall leave employment for two paupers, to jro and cultivate cotton, tobacco, hemp, and flax in JNew Holland, these two culti- vators will create <"nij)loyment for just as many manufacturers in Knj^lund as did the two rival foreigners ; then these two and two, in a political view, will make four in favour of England ; to this number add one as a carrier of merchandise in a British in lieu of a foreign vessel ; again, add one, as saved from the poor-rates, another as aug- uienting the national wealth by the cultivation of our colonies, two more as having diminished the power of a foreign rival to injure us; and, lastly, two families rising for our future defence, and for the consumption of oiu- manufactures. Take into the account also, the diminution of criminal pro- secutions, and of the transportation of convicts, lamentably frequent among a people deprived of profitable employment. From these data we may fairly conclude, that while, by employing rivals we gain nothing, but, on the contrary, sustain a great loss ; by giving work, either at home or in our colonies to our imemployed people, we gain in political power, (comparatively speaking,) in the ratio of 10 to ; in national wealth of 4 to ; and in purchasers of our manufactures, of 6 to 2. By under-rating our colonies and colonial trade, and by overlooking the distinction between a foreign trade which excludes our people from pro- fitable employment, and the foreign trade which gives increasing occupation to all, we have com- mitted the two great errors in political economy A 1 H id it ill m I . i 16 which liave caused our preHent diHtresstM. Ano- ther argument in favour of colonization, which obviatf'H also tlie fear of separation from the pa- rent state by rebellion, is, that what we give to the colonies, ])rovided it does not reduce the popula- tion of the parent state below what is necessary for its purposes, is the redundant produce of the parent state, which, under such circum- stances, goes to the colonies, and which would do more harm than good if it had remained at home. To those who say that our colonies will be lit- tle more used by Ministers than as mere places of patronage for governors and secretaries, I an- swer, that if they would but contemplate England as deprived of her colonies, they would be at a loss to discover any inducement for one-half of our present population to remain in the United Kingdom. But the expectation which they che- rish is that our colonies will take off our excess of population, and will thereby be the means of giv- ing profitable employment to every unemployed man in the empire ; yet this can only be realized when every property is protected as aforesaid, in order to give the colonist a market for his produce, without which, colonists and colonies can never prosper. They should be made a right use of or given up; I trust they will be always found too valuable for the latter purpose. Our colonies, in gratitude as well as in equity, from expense of colonization and naval protec- tion, should ask only for the privilege to trade in British or colonial ships ; nor should they ask to be allowed to import any foreign goods into the co- lonies not allowed to be consumed in England, 47 that will rival the sale of British or British colo- nial produce or manufactures in their markets. They should also (when able to hear it) levy suffi- cient duties on their imports to pay their civil and military establishments and protection; but be- yond this, as far as relates to trade and our laws, they oup:ht to be as free as air in their trading' to and from wherever foreigners will permit. DIALOGTJE VII. Between a Minister of State and a British Ame- rican Colonist. M, S. In what state are our colonists in your quarter ? A. C. They are not prosperous, but better than they will be if foreign interests should prevail over sound policy, by causing the reduction of our pro- tecting dutiea on foreign timber. Yet there is great room for improvement in our condition, and in that of the empire at large. M. S. How is such improvement to be ef- fected ? A. C. By giving protection to every kind of British property, commensurate with its value to the state. This general measure, as it affected us, would increasvi our present protecting duty on foreign timber by about 25s. per load, would aug- ment the annual demand for our timber, deals, masts, &c. by from 70,000 to 100,000 loads, and would give employment to about .300 additional I I i* 1 I (.» , 'S ,1 ,51 ,■■'' hi ■ i 48 sail of common-sized Britis^i sliips. U would also secure in the mother-country, a perpetual market for our corn, subject to a duty of about 12s. per quarter. The survey and divifsion of our lands, and the public sale of them in Jinyland by lots, to be located and cultivated in a given time, would attract purchasers with real capital (at pre- sent either vested in foreiijjn funds or remaining doiinant), wlio wouid select proj)er m.cn to set- lie here, and thu ; strengthen our me;ms of defence against our neighbours. Thus benehted with a protected market for our produce, and a thriving population, we should greatly alleviate the burden of your poor-rates, and rest secure from any at- tack on the part of the United Slates. You ought to give a c^hmial government to Newfoundland, and [)ernrittlje colonization of the interior ; you ought also to make treaties of reci- procity with Spain and Italy, on behalf of that island, siuiilar to that whicii you have concluded vv'iih Portugal ; nnd encourage the fishery, that i.Teat source of national wealtli, by *ikmg their wines, oil, and fruit, nt about 1/3 per ceht. duty, ind giving them our t'.sh cm the same terms. But tlie grand measiu'e whioh can insure prosperity to our colonies, is an act for incorporating them with the Britisli eni|)ire, and for allowing them a share in the representation. This, with the commercial protection already mentioned, would secure them to the mother-country, and restore confidence to ;ill })arties ; it would cause the consumption of }cur home manufactures in British America, to (xceed, in a tVnv y(>ars, the present consumption of them in the United States, and would extin- l^uish fhe competition between foreign com and ■'Ml 49 timber, and our own in the British markets, which now exists to the great prejudice of the empire. 31. S. But would not this protection, and the sale of colonial lands at home, tempt our people of property to -four qimrleni loaves; therefore, a penny on eacli quartern loaf \voiihl tiive a rental of £1 a,«. per acre, whereas the average nntal of our arable land is only about £1 ]>er acre, so that the rji.';lish landed interest only get about three farthings per quarleiii loaf; but foreigners, who pay fiune of our burdens, or ti^lit our battles, when we eat bread made of their corn, nx-eivi- iVci'i tlie Hrilish public equal to ithout sixpence on eadi qiiailcni loaf, at the same time they do not e«ij)loy so many English manufacturers as the Eng- lish agriculturist did, whom tiie foreigners turned out of em- ploy. 67 others may say, we shall be a blessing to our beautiful, extensive, and partially uncultivated etmpire. DIALOGUE XI. Between a Minister of State and a Planter in the Isle of France. M.S. What is the state of your island? P. Not so prosperous as I could wish. M. S. What are the causes of its adversity ? : P. The East India charter, and the want of a market for our produce. M. S. What are your proposed remedies? P. Protection to every kind of property in the British empire, equal to its respective value to the state, and an act of union to make our i.Jand an integral part of the empire, and authorize us to send members to the British Imperial Par- liament. These two acts will destroy the bad effects of the East India charter, place us on a footing with the West India planter in the British market, for the sale of our sugar, cotton, <:offeej &c. ; and the latter act, in particular, will pre- vent rebellion and alienation from the mothers- country, and give confidence to all parties. 10 f '\*- ^ # 60 H ' ' i m ^:■ / ])IAIX)GTU: XII. Between a Minister oJ'Stdte and an English Stock- Holder. M. S. In what state is your interest ? S. H. It is in a very tlniving one for tlie present, still I cannot look to the future without horror. M.S. Why so? S. H. Because every other property of the empire is falling in value, and is applied to prop up the funds ; and hence the prices of all articles are reduced below the prime cost to cultivators and manufacturers; still, for oiu- sake, the tax- gatherer is unbending in his demands. I do not like any thing that stands in jieed of props ; for when they are withdrawn what becomes of its stability ? M.S. What are your proposed remedies? S. H. That every property of the British em- pire be protected from foreign competition equal to its respective value to the state, and that all internal property be made to pay its due portion to church, king, and poor. These two laws will give profitable employment to every ship and to every industrious man in the British empire, re- lieve the landed interest (our root) of the poor- rates, and double our present consumption ; and as consumption and occupation pay the taxes, the revenue will increase without the forced and absurd measure of killing the goose which laid tlfe golden eggs. Then we shall have firm ground to stand on, and have no occasion for our pre- sent props to support us. 59 DIALOGUE XIII. lietween a Minister of Stale and a Representative of t/tc Mouied Interest. M. S. In wliat state is tlie monied interest, and how will you feel yourselves affected, when every kind of property is protected equal to its value to the state I M. I. Our interest is in a very bad state at present, for want of trust-wortliy parties to lend our money to ; but when you protect every pro- perty as aforesaid, that same act, by repealing the Usury I^aws, will cause money to find its true value ; and then, if we pay more for our provi- sions, we shall have more income and a better security, so that by such protection we shall be gainers. DIALOGUE XIV. Between a Minister of State and a Political Economist. 31. S. Are you not surprised that our revenue does not fall off" more, when our foreign trade is so stagnant ? How do you account for this ? P. E. I account for it in this way. Provi- dence has been bountiful to us during the last two or three years; we have had larger com crops from our own land than we usually have, more abundant indeed than any rational man K' I tt 1^ 0' I* lit MUr #1 Ml": 60 :| , 1 ..'1; '% 3 SI, m n\ had a right to expect ; for, from the little protec- tion given to agriculture compared with the burden it bears, no man in his senses could cal- culate on having corn cultivated in quantities adequate to our whole consumption. But Pro- vidence has given us, in corn and revenue, what our laws went to deprive us of, consequently, our legislature can take no credit for these favour- able events, as its arrangements were in direct opposition to what Providence has done for us; for, accordhig to th(; nature of things, our inter- nal revenue cannot increase when we are im- porters of foreign corn to any considerable ex- tent. But shoidd we send eight or ten millions per annum to continental Europe for corn as we have done, not onlv will our internal revenue fall off in the proportion of five to every ten pounds so sent out of tlu; coujitry, but the ex- changes will be as much deranged as if the Bul- lion Committee had never sat on the subject. We are therefore indebted to our late abundant do- mestic crops of corn, not only for preventing the falling off of an internal revenue to a greater extent, but also for keeping the balance of trade in our favour, and not to any measures recom- mended by the Bullion Committee. Hence the finance minister should consider that, however bad our revenue may be this year, unless pro- tection be given to every property ecjual to its respective value to the state, to enable the do- mestic and colonial corn growers to provide and hold a surplus stock to meet a short crop, or the exigencies of a war, we may, according to the nature of our climate, expect a short or spoiled crop once in about every four years. Then, if tlie precaution above named he not taken, and this calamity should take place next year, our predi^'uiikcnt will he dreadful, both in respect to finance and every other kind of distress. Our increase of population, had we been in a healthful state, morally and politically, ought, since 1815, to be at least three millions: the in- creased revenue of these ought to be one-seventh of the whole ; of course, if the profitable employ- ment of our people were made the ground-work of our prosperity, we ought on that principle to have, from the same sources, one-seventh more revenue \V\s year than in 1815. The amount of the falling off of this year's revenue, added to the said one-seventh, will make a large sum; and therefore, if the state of our revenue be a criterion of prosperity, it will not, when all things are considered, prove to be a very flat- tering one. It also proves, either that we are depriving: <^mu- people of a natural increase of about six hundred thousand individuals per an- num, or that nearly the same number, by some means or other, annually come to premature deaths, which is a subject of very serious con- sideration, both for the statesman and the phi- lanthropist. Moreover, a nation of bankrupts and paupers (to which condition our present mea- sures are fast leading us) ought to be a frightful picture for the contemplation of both government and people. To illustrate still further the superior advan- tages of domestic and colonial over foreign trade, I will suppose a nation, or society, to consist of twenty classes, disposed as the radii of a circle, and acting like so many spokes of a coach- Ik P ■M i 6-2 4i t^. 'i m \ij. I fl "i wheel ; govornnioiil being the nave, and thuse regiilatinu; principles of action, the fclHes and tire-iron;<. All lliese intm])ei's are to be snpposed of (iitiereni calling;, ; a,-, for instance, one a cultiva- tor of corn, one of cotton, ont; of tobacco, one of liomp, one of flax, one a .siijp-owiier, and so onto twenty, and racli contributing, his fair f^hare insns- tain.Mi j; tin; lunrlrns of the state, ^^lHcll bnrdens and expeiises sliall be heavy. Tn this connnunity every one of ti»e twf'Hty Avonid bo working for nineteen and hinisi'lf. Thus would tin; twenty find enough of protitabh^ t niploynienl, and the more each and the wh(»le increased, (so long as there was suf- ficient land to <;uhivate in order to ])roduce sub- sistence,) the better it would be for each indivi- dual, and for tlu^ whole, as they would have it in their power (o ciiai'gc; a price for their produce and inanufactiu'cs according to the cost of pro- duction. In that cost they would include their contriimtion to the state, aiul the more they in- creased dieir numbers, the less each individual would have to pay to the support of the state. This iiro\es that the best weaith of a nation consists in anmnerous, virtuous, and well-employed populat.xjU ; and that a nuuKious imemployed po- pulation, as is our present case, is ({uile j)ernicious. Now, while every one is going on well, we will suppose foreigners to makt; t\w\v \it;its, and offer the six following articles, say, corn, cotton, tobacco, hemp, flax, and ships, cheaper than the native cr coioniai agriculturist, manufacturer, or ship-owner couhl allord, in corise(»uUl always liave continued to do so. M. S. Although the foreigner turned those six members out of their employment, did not they jrot re-employed in the other fourteen classes Nsliich were left nntouched by the foreigners ; if so, were not the foreigners the means of causing a greater demand for the articles of their industry? P. E. To your fust question 1 answer, that the contrary m as the result, for you should re- collect that a connnunity can never purchase iL>eyond its consumption; now if the twenty mem- bers were fully supplied from amongst themselves to the extent of their consum[>tion, how could a It- it ii> i» IT » « ^1 m (>4 foreigner increase the demand for the produce* of their labour, when he only supplied a similar article, and to a similar extent, and received in payment a similar amount to what the native members did befoie they were turned out of em- ployment. Consumption gives limits to imports, and they give limits to exports. Profitable employ- ment to our people increases consumption, and protection gives profitable employuient. In reply to your second questicm as to the six members who were thrown idle, getting employ- ment amongst the remaining fourteen, I say, that could not be, for they were all fully provided vi^ith labour Lofore, and their foreign connexion giving them no additional, but less employment, and the foreigners only selling them goods falsely called cheap, without increasing the consumption and demand for those artic:les, but on the contrary lessening the general consumption of the nation. The consecjuence was, the fourteen were obliged to maintain, at their expense, the six members in idleness ; but this was not the worst, they were also obliged to take their place in the defence of their country, and maintain a force to repress the disaffection created in consecjuence of those six members being turned out of their employ- ment. This is just the state of England, and from the spme cause, with this exception ; that the landed interest in England, in lien of the fourteen members as aforesaid, is obliged through the poor-laws to maintain all that the foreigners deprived or keep out of employment : we are employing foreign rivals to grow corn, cotton, tobacco, hemp, and flax, and to cut timber, and their ships to be our carriers, while we are keep- ill CO lilar i in live ein- orts, >loy- and 66 ing our own colonies uncultivated, our own ships idle and rotting, and reducing about one-fourth of our people to a dreadful state of demoraliza- tion, and giving away employment and the nation's political power to rivals to destroy our own. M. S. It appears that your system, if I under- stand you rightly, condemns foreign trade. Give me leave to ask you, would Carthage and Venice have risen to eminence had it not been for foreign trade? P. E. In anwser to your first position, I avow myself a great admirer of foreign trade, but it must be that sort of foreign trade which does not injure domestic and colonial trade ; for as the profitable employment of our people is the means of in- creasing our population, of paying our revenue, defending our country, causing consumption, and, consequently, promoting commerce, every tiling that tends to lessen the profitable em- ployment of our own people generally is in- jurious to the best interest of the state : for in- stance, to admit the foreigner to turn the six members, as aforesaid, out of employment is injurious to the state ; but if foreigners had come to the twenty members, and said, here are articles which none of you can produce, they will be of service to you, and we will exchange them for the superabundant produce of your soil or industry, I flay, that would be good foreign trade, and the foreigner under such circumstances should not only be admitted but encouraged, as this would turn none of the twenty members out, but give to each and the whole of them addi- tional employment and wealth, as well as to their country wealth and political power. This, K if ,* ft i).' >!( [:h n 66 then, is the commeree I wish to cultivate, and owr trade with Portugal, Spain, Italy, Africa, Asia, South America, as well as many other trades, is of this desci4ption. The trade to Sweden, where it does not too much interfere wi^ oiur colonial trade, ought to be encouraged, as she may be a very useful auxiliary to us at some future period. In answer to what you say of Carthage and Venice, I beg to ask, what created those ten times greater cities of Egypt, Assyria, China, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany, that never knew what the bauble foreign trade was ? M. S. What is your remedy ? P. E. A protection to be given to every pro- perty of the British empire, equal to its respective value to the state, against foreign competition, and subject to these protections open the ports to all the world, and request the world to open their ports to us upon similar conditions, and then let commerce be as free as air. This is just asking every man to come and share with us our benefits and burdens; and it would be cruelty to ask the man who fights our battles and pays our burdens to put himself in a worse situation by our laws than the man who is always ready to take advantage of our weakness to destroy us. IVo public measure would redound so much to his Majesty's glory, or tend more to make his. government and his ministers popular, — in .short, nothii^ would more promote the prosperity of the empire than the proposing and cacrying into effect ; the four foUorvrlag measures of legislation. - JB'irst.-^To give protection toevery property of ■>f, tbe British empire commensurate vrith iii^ respec- tive value to the state. Secondly.-^ To incorporate all our colonies with the mother-country by an act of union^ making them integral parts of the British empire, and as such entitled to send representatives to the British Parliament. It was. for want of the latter act that we lost our late North i^.niericaa colonies, and have remained so long in ignorance respecting the value of our present colonies, with which indeed we are little acquainted. Had there been such an act in operation, our people would not now be starving at home for want of work, for they would have been employed there in producing that which we now take from rival foreigners. All the parts of our empire would thus become incorporated, all causes of com- plaint and all fear of disunion would be re- moved. Thirdly. — An act declaring that all those slave- children shall be free which may be born after the day of his Majesty's accession to the throne : this would be a noble example of humanity, and worthy the imitation of all the world ; at the same time, it would probably tend to promote th^ prosperity of our West India interest. A measure so humane may be opposed by the super- ficial and shallow reasoning of an unfeeling slave- proprietor; but no man of common sense will fail to perceive that, according to the nature of things^ if we continue our present policy towards our slaves, not many of the West Indian negroes will be under white masters in the British dominions, at the expiration of twenty-one years from the day when King George the fourth ascended the 4 .«' Jit I. '1 ■ ;!fi. m ff'. 68 throne of England. But if any measure cftn prevent such a change taking place, that which I have proposed is most likely to do it ; for the slave will then see limits set to the degradation of his family, and remain loyal and tractable for the good of his children. Another act may be passed, in order more effectually to provide for the maintenance, cloth- ing, and common education of such children as may be born of slave parents after the period aforesaid, ordaining that all children so born shall be indentured and made to serve as apprentices to the masters of their parents until they arrive at the age of twenty-one years, when, if they have behaved well, they shall receive two suits of clothes and three guineas, for their outset in life. There would be no violence offered to the cause of humanity or to liberty in permitting a levy in Africa of volunteers, for the limited service of seven or fourteen years, foi* the service of the West India planters, to be paid by the master an annual stipend in money, and to be gratuitously boarded and lodged during their time of servitude, as is the practice in regard to the green New- foundland fishermen when they first go to New- foundland. In reference to the above considera- tions, I am of opinion that that man is a super- ficial reasoner who thinks he can subvert the order of nature so far as to be able to establish any thing which will be permanent, on such a fallacious principle as slavery ; or that he him* self, after attempting it, can escape in the next (even if he does in this) world the punishment assigned to the worst of crimes. Fourthly. — To establish a chamber of com- GO m^rce, similar to what is established in France, to decide commercial matters and to assist minis- ters in their commercial measures. The nation requires that these four acts should obtain the earliest attention of parliament. I consider that three-fourths of the crimes and errors committed by the people of this country may be attributed to some or other of the follow- ing causes, viz. — First. — The want of profitable employment to insure subsistence. This can be remedied by giving protection to every property of the British empire, according to its respective value to the state. Secondly. — Bad example, set by the higher classes of society ; for it is well known that vices descend from the higher, but virtue seldom ascends from the lower to the higher classes of society. The remedy for this evil is to inflict on culprits punishments according to their rank, in addition to the general punishment of their crime, and to pass an act to class adultery and seduction among the offences recognised as criminal in our penal code. These latter crimes produce more beart-rending pangs and demolarizing effects in society than any of our other evils, and should be met by the legislature with the severest punish- ment. Nothing, I should suppose, can more x>freod our Maker than tlie monster who, by seduction, destroys the happiness of one of the principal objects he was sent into the world to protect. Thirdly. — The inexperience of the members of both Houses of Parliament in the science of political economy, and the sophistry which they i :|| vl ^^■A ^'fl l\',k 70 use in lieu of truth and sound argument. The remedy for these evils would be an act making it a transportable offence to be ignorant of the for- mer and guilty of the latter. The above proposed remedies will not only tend to promote the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation, but the adoption of them would immediately allow of our discharging one half of our military and police establishments and save to the nation the expense of many millions per annum. It would also lessen the expense of ciiminal justice, and very considerably diminish trans- portation. There is this consideration in favour of any one proposing new measures, that our present measures are fast sending us to destruc- tion. A representative of the Landed Interest, includ- ing mines and fisheries, should always trace to its ultimate consequences every measure proposed in relation to foreign commerce ; he should in- quire whether its tendency be to deprive the people of the Bvilish empire of profitable employ- ment before he gives it his sanction ; for if it should prove disadvantageous to them, the whole empire will not only suffer by the loss through in* direct revenue, demoralization, &c. ; but the landed interest will have to maintain those people so turned out of employment, through the poor-rates, and tlnne is no measure of foreign policy, how- ever promising, that can compensate the nation for the loss of profitable employment to her peo- ple. You should, when commercial measures are proposed, be on your guard against the advice of men who have no landed stake in the country, and who get their property principally by foreign m- 71 trade; while you, on the contrary, cannot do good to your own interest, unless you do good to the whole empire. The representative of the Manufacturing In^ terest should consider that interest to be only a branch of agriculture, and should remember that in proportion to the prosperity of our agriculture is the prosperity of his interest ; for in proportion to the aggregate amount for which the produce of the land, including mines and fisheries, is sold, so is the impetus and activity of every kind of labour in the empire. For instance, if the aggre- gate amount of the produce of the soil, mines, and fisheries sold for one hundred and thirty millions per annum, then there would be that sum laid out in other industry, which would set all the machinery of our industry to work ; but if it only sold for one hundred millions, (which is about its present value,) then only about three- fourths of the people would be set to work. But if you were to reduce the aggregate amount of agricultural produce to fifty millions, then, after one year, nearly the whole industry of the coun- try, together with the revenue, would stagnate ; for you can never carry foreign trade, excq)t for a short time, beyond your own consumption; consequently, there would be little or no con- sumption when agriculture was depressed in the manner I have described. The Mercantile member should not only con- sider of and do all that is recommended to be done by the manufacturing member, but he ahould recollect that his education as a merchant has a tendency to narrow the human mind and to corrupt the heart. He should remember that this * Ik i liii!^^ ■if. .:t„' ■ \) "' 'i ■; -C iHi ■^'■■li ^1' 72 truth was so well known, even to the ancients, that they, in some degree, made commerce and policy synonymous terms, and constituted Mer- cury the God of Trade, and of a certain species of conveyancing not very creditable. He should be aware that the operations which procure to himself lawful profit promote the prosperity of his country ; whereas he very often arrives at a very opposite conclusion on this point. If his wish were to act as a true patriot, he ought, be- fore speaking or voting on any question of foreign policy, to consider whether he has a tract of forest trees, or plantations of com, cotton, to- bacco, or hemp, in foreign countries, or ships under foreign flags, (as many English merchants have,) and if so, whether he is not conscious of an inclination to procure for those artici' i mar- ket, or an occupation in England, even at the sacrifice of our domestic and colonial produc- tions, our industry, and our ships, and at the risk of depriving thousands of his countrymen of profitable employment, and of reducing them to a subsistence on the poor-rates payable by the landed interest. He should also consider if commissions or profits on imports and exports influence him, but he should free himself from that selfish bias, of that partiality to foreign interests, which so much beset him, ere he presume to give advice on subjects relative to foreign com- merce. A merchant, before venturing to profess disinterested patriotism, should ask himself whe- ther the mercantile creed imposes on him any prohibition from violating divine and human laws, by buying and selling his fellow men, and for the sake of sordid lucre to forego his duty to m 73 his country so far as to supply her enemies with cannon and shot, wherewith to batter the very walls of the metropolis. Or if he be a man of integrity, and cannot stifle the voice of con- science, he should consider whether he ou^ht to give an opinion at all on such subjects. Mer- chants, before they talk about the cultivation of our poor soilsy a subject which many of them dis- cuss like mere novices, ought to calculate on the means of providing employment or maintenance for the labourers now occupied in cultivating the lands so denominated. I have little hesitation in saying that were we to give up their cultivation, the maintenance of those people from the cha- rities or the poor-rates would cost at least from three to four millions per annum, independently of the detriment sustained by the empire through their demoralization, and the impoverishment of them as customers to the merchant and manu- facturer. The mercantile man would also do well to consider that, although he is a useful member when acting in his vocation, yet he is no more, compared with the community, than what the twig and foliage are to the root and branches of a tree. He is not, relatively speaking, a root, nor can he produce any thing of himself; for all that he receives he is solely dependent on agricul- ture and manufactures ; consequently, he should know, that when protection was given to every kind of British property, equal to its value to the state, such an impetus would be imparted to agriculture and manufactures that his own pros- perity would ensue as a natural consequence. L k k ft 9 »■ t r Ik L i 1 ■1 74 Another consideration is, that as the foreign mercantile interest has no root, the question is ^vhether such a member he a proper representa- tive of the people in Parliament, and whether a more adecpiate representative of its root and branches would not answer a better purpose: for the most illiberal mercantile measures in this country have been devised and carried into effect thron<;h the influence of the foreign mercantile interest ; auing such a coromaud unwor- thy of iuiinitc wisdom ? n Ji 7& sufficient wisdom to provide for the increase of the human species, made many men in this country repine at their existence ; and this too, while we wanted 200 millions of additional people to do justice to our own beautiful fertile colonies. The consequence was, that able men were and are seen starving in the streets for want of profitable employment, while they might be made the great- est wealth of the nation. Another modern writer makes manufactures the root, and agriculture, mining, and fisheries, the branches of our prosperity. He requires, that foreign exchanges siiould govern the balance of trade, and not tiie latter the former. But, not- withstanding the deiiciency of Dr. Adam Smith, in the principles above alluded to, as necessary for such calculations, and the inconsistency of the two last named authors, still, the doctrines of all three are followed by nearly the whole of our present statt;smen and ministers. As a proof of this, there is hardly an instance, in which you cannot discern, in the results of their measures, the ellects produced on the minds of ministers and statesmen, by the most objection- able parts of one or other of those doctrines. The consequence is, our present most distressed situation. On the deatii of poor Mr. Perceval, our minis- ters, with a view (I presume) to get credit for following the steps of the late immortal Mr. Pitt, fell into th<' latal error of adojithig that great statesman 8 war-expedients for their general and fundamental peace measures. That policy did very well during war, until they came to act for themselves ; this they began to do in their grant t ¥ 80 11 ■ :'t '1 i % I 'Vt of the East India cliarter : the siinie cnoi' pre- Auiled in their treaties of peace with France, Jlolland, and America; in their treaties^ of com merce Avith Auu'rica ; and in their negiecting; to pass an act, at the conclnsion of the war, to protect e'. eiy property of tlse liritish empire, ac- cording to its respect iv<' vahie to the state, against foreign competition dnty free. Here they not only de\iated from tlie steps of the great man whom they wished to imitate, hnt in those treaties, &c. according to my opinion, they, by a little neglect, unnecessarily and very inconsiilerately deprived our people of more prolitahle employ- ment, our nation of more wealth and ])olitical ])0wer, than were lost in all our wars dnring Mr. Pitt's administration ; and I will venture to say farther, that there is not a single one of tin.* above- named acts which is n{)t of five times more fatal conserpience to the empire than all their other acts condenmed iiy the AVhigs as corrupt and ex- travagant : still, if I rei'ollect rightly, the Whiffs rather approved than oppf)sed tht? above-named fatal errors i consecpiently, however great those erroi-R mav be, as atlectin"' the T Mies, thev are still greater on the side of tne Vvhigs, as the latter di , f.n n 82 The noble Marquis should prove what Juts or can be brought to perfection in this country with- out protection before he talks of dispensing with protection. I have never understood Ihat either Whig or Radical demanded retrenchment to a greater extent than from one to three millions per annum ; and I am not satisfied that, according to our pre- sent system, if this were granted, one man more would obtain profitable employment. If so, how much more advantageous as well as patriotic would it be to adopt a plan of giving protection to every kind of property in the British empire equal to its respective value to the state against foreign competition. I will engage to prove that not only from five to ten millions shall be saved in our expenditure, but that we may then raise what additional revenue we please without incon- venience to the people, and that every industrious person in the empire shall have profitable employ- ment ; therefore, if patriotism be the leading principle of parties, they should all agree to pass this act immediately, and the obtaining of parlia- mentary reform, if deemed necessary, may go on while our country is recovering her prosperuy : this would also show that the good of our coun- try, and not places and pensions, was the primary objects of the Whigs, Radicals, and Tories. The results of my theoretical and practical researches, to which 1 have devoted so much time and labour, and in which I have incurred so much expense, is the demonstration of the following important truths: that we cannot ex- tend commerce beyond what our use or consump- 83 tton requires ; that consumption produces reve- nue ; that consumption and revenue, as well as the demand for manufactures and commerce, are increased or diminished in the ratio of the pro- fitable employment which our people may ob- tain or lose ; and that nothing can so effectually give and secure to our people and our shipping profitable employment on an extended scale, and enable us to reduce our national debt and defray our expenditure, as an act to protect from fo- reign competition every kind of property in the British empire, to an extent commensurate with its value to the state ; and this value can more easily be ascertained than the average of com, and in much less time. I have also proved, that nothing will beneficially relieve our excess of population, but the emigration of our people to our own colonies to cultivate hemp, flax, to- bacco, cotton, and corn ; and that every foreign article imported, and consumiad in the British empire, which a« tide itself, or a good substitute for it, might be produced or manufactured at home, or in our colonies, so long as we have people unemployed, not only tends to deprive of profitable employment that portion of our popu- lation which would have been occupied in pro- ducing or manufacturing that article, but also lessens the general consumption of the enipu-e in nearly the same ratio as the value of such foreign goods imported. The consequent demoralization of persons thus thrown idle is progressive in the same fatal degree. Hence I also presume that I have ascertained the comparative value of such foreign articles to the empire, as well as their I ^1 84 I ! 'i;'i; .i,, ; •■ . ( ^m cheapness or dearness in comparison with a British article of the same description. The maintenance of the peopU; thus thrown idle, the loss to the revenue through diminished consump- tion thence arising, as well as the loss by their demoralization, must he taken into accoimt, as virtually eiiliaucing the nominal and selling- price of the foreign article in queslion. Hence it will be found, that few of such foreign articles can be imported without occasioning great loss to the empire, altliough the importation of them might be advantageous to a few self-interesled indivi- duals : consequently, an extension of domestic and colonial trade will considerably increase die demand for our manufactures, as well as the general industry of the empire; while that unna- tural foreign trade, which supplies us with what we might provide for ourselves, will on the con- trary have a tendency to decrease. If, therefore, it be desired that domestic manufactures should flourish, let all the [)eople have proHtable em- ployment; let nothing be taken from foreigners Avliich we can produce ourselves, so long as there shall be a perceptible excess of population, or an acre of ground left uncultivated. Ihave also ascertained, that the causes of our pre- sent distresses are our irregular and defective pro- tection of property, and that no benetit can be derived from i)artial protection; but individuals and the whole community are interested, and cannot do well, unless protection be given to every pio,)irty as aforesaid. If we repealed every law now existing, except such as protected property, morals, and revenue, 1 "4*i 85 it would come to nearly the same thing, as our unwise laws alone are the cause of our present distresses. To every intelligent and candid mind it will, 1 hope, l)e evident lliat the motives which induced me to this publication were to trace to its real origin the present distressed state of the British empire, and to define the remedies in a clear and distinct manner; to demonstrate to the sove- reign, the state, and the people, the superior value and attraction which truth, knowledge, candour, and virtue in our conduct to others, have ulti- mately over the opposite qualities, falsehood, cunning, sophistry, and vice, although the latter may succeed for the moment. Shoidd I fail to convince my countrymen of the advantage to be derived from giving protection against foreign competition to every kind of property in the British empire, commensurate with its value to the state, and should our present system con- tinue ; — a system (if it may be called one) which is extinguishing our political existence, and sap- ping the moral cliaiiuter of our people, — a sys- tem, which gives eii(.v>uragement to little else than gambling, sj)ecidation, sophistry, and de- ception ; — should this system continue, I shall have to lament my failure, and must console myself with having (although in vain) done my duty. Waiting the result, 1 shall continue to regard the present system as one that tempts every honest man with an excuse, if not an ab- solute license, for meeting and treating in their own way with those to whom gambling, specula- tion, sophistry, and deception, are the sole prin- ciples and springs of action. IT i i ;i w tf» m it 'II 86 The detail of my calculations is too extensive to be here inserted ; but from them, and from my practical knowledj^e of many of the interests which are here investigated, I am satisiied that the results in round numbers are ivithin the bounds of truth. Perfect accuracy I do not vouch for, but the principles on which the calcu- lations are founded J challenge the vhole world to refute. As the reader may possibly feel some interest in ascertaining the progressive steps which led to the system which I have here propounded, I take leave to inform him, that, since I was capable of reasoning, I have always considered that the whole human race was intended by our Almighty and all-beneficent Creator to be one family ; and that there must exist some discoverable and intel- ligible rule of government, which must, when acted upon, necessarily conduce to the reciprocal mterest of individuals, and to the general good of the wljole. I have also reasoned that, to enable us to discover this general rule, the Almighty and all-beneiicent Creator made us free agents on the ocean of life, and endowed each of us with reason to guide the helm of discretion. Therefore, I con- sidered all wars, robberies, chicanery, and sophis- try of every kind, as unnecessary ; and I agreed with the philanthropist, Mr. Roscoe, in his noble aphorism, that "nothing can justify the sacri- fice of a principle ; nor was a crime ever neces- sary in the course of human affairs." I considered every infringement of the rule, as injurious to the great fi^mily, and to every individual composing it ; and to descend from generals to particulars, I have found in my dealings both as principal and 87 a^ent^ that mankind in their eagerness for wliat they call wealth, defeat their own purpose. In- dulginii^ an uncontrolled exercise of my own pri- vate judgement, to which I and all men living- have a right, I thought and saw that there was a middle course which if pursued would give to each party his due, and leave nothing disputable. When 1 came to reflect that so many of our coun- trymen are starving for want of profitable employ- ment, while we have colonies which require 200 millions of people to do them justice, admitting that fertile cultivated land, as a source of wealth is the best inheritance in the world, I concluded that our policy must be wiong, for (thus 1 ar- gued) as we have all mutual wants, and mutual means of supplying those wants, and as it must be evident that the greater our numbers, the greater will be the demand for mutual assistance, there must, in the present system, exist some bar to the industry of mv t ountrvmen. Pursuinc this train of reasoning, I very soon found Ihat our laws had cramped the genius, talent, ;uid indus- trj of our people; because oui* legi '.itors per- suaded the ignorant that a direct duty on foreign articles returns a greater revenue to the state than domestic or colonial articles do in cn*- cuitous or indirect revenue ; whereas the case is quite contrary, for our indirect contribution to the state, on domestic and colonial articles, is not only greater than the direct revenue on foreign ar- ticles, but is sooner paid. Pursuing the same reasoning, I also very readily concluded that we are taking and consuming niai^y articles that are exotics to foreign lands, whiir ifiey are indigenous in our own empire ; that our people who might I*, ^>. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^ A c ^^% t/. C' 1.0 I.I m. 12.5 ■50 |tt|«- ^m 12.2 B^ U^ una— ^ L25 1.4 III— ^ 6" — ► % 71 /. 0^4 m %.^ % Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WeST MAIN STRUT WZBSTit.N.Y. 145S0 '716« «72-4503 «. ■^4^ .^.^. . i 88 cultivate those articles, are now starring. I con> eluded also, that the protection conceded by our government is not commensurate with the rela- tive value of each kind of property to the state, but adapted to the interests of individuals, or of parties who have influence sufficient to obtain such protection ; or, again, it is suited to the drowsiness, torpidity, or downright ignorance of the landed interest at tlie time when such protec- tion was granted, the landed interest being made accountable for the consequences of all such er- rors. From all these considerations, I inferred that we men in this country were not acting the part for which God established the human race upon earth, to replenish that earth and subdue it. I therefore set myself to devise a system which, as far as commerce was concerned would protect the whole world and make us one family. I trust that I have demonstrated fully the expedi- ency of protecting from foreign competition every kind of property in the world, according to its proportionate value to the state. This is the only policy which can preserve every state in politiccl health; yet, be it observed, I prescribe, in this system, no check to the intercourse of nations with nations. The people of every climate will be free to avail themselves of the produce raised in other countries, either far or near. In considering all the nations of tlie world as members of one family, we ought to feel just as much interested in the welfare of otiier nations as we are in our own prosperity. By entertaining and acting upon this notion we shall practise the divine ordinance " to do unto :ill men as we would that they should do unto us/' and 89 by acting justjly towards our neighbours; we shall carry into effect our self-preservation, the first law of all animal nature. I will further assert* that, until the protection here recommended be given to every property, our national debt and our pauperism will never be reduced. When England shall have answered her public claims, when she shall have redeemed iier pau- pers from a state worse than vassalage, this pro- tection to property will be little more than will be necessary for the protection of the people, as the guaranty of national wealth and political power to defend this mighty empire. Other governments there are in the world which require a similar system of protective policy, therefore we must proceed only on the ratio of the public burdens. Distinguished from others by the grand princi- ple that every person is alike interested in asking protection for his neighbour as for himself, this system will convince every intelligent man that unless his neighbour is equallv protected with himself he will very soon have to carry that neighbour's burden, or (to revert to a favourite similitude) he will be like one spoke of a wheel encumbered with the functions of a neighbouring spoke which is disabled. It is also apparent, that, although the system which I recommend may perfectly harmonize, no restraint will be im- posed on the exercise of genius, talent, skill, and industry, in any pursuit. The system will at the same time expand the human mind and elevate it above that petty, miserable, con- tracted, narrow-minded, intolerant, truckling, and unmercantile spirit which ^as pervaded and influenced many dealings in our markets. 90 ijiii^' 7 i m r. ■> P £very man who understands it mil endeavour tb carry into effect the system here proposed . And I must add, that I disclaim all intention of offence to any man or set of men ; I declare that in whatever I have said I have been strictly guided by what I conceive to be my duty to God, to my neighbour, and to myself, as a man ; my duty to my country and my love of truth have in- fluenced me, and I am not conscious of having written a word in this treatise except in obedience to their dictates. I had nearly finished this tract for the press, when I read the report of the Earl of Liveipoors speech in the House of Peers (23d January, 1821), in reply to Earl Grey, and I thought that his Lordship was never more at home than when he said, " Earl Grey had not told us what the errors of the system were, or what change was wanted in that system." I perfectly agree with his Lord- ship in the opinion that the Whigs have neither opposed the principal errors of the Tories, nor suggested any general and fundamental measure of their own for the benefit of the state. The utmost that they have done, has been to require a retrenchment of a few millions per annum. Now, I doubt whether even this, if granted, would have the effect of giving profitable employment to a single additional individual during the con- tinuance of our present system ; whereas, an act to give protection to every kind of property in the empire, commensurate with its value to the state, would not only cause a retrenchment of many millions per annum, give profitable em- ployment to every industrious man in the empire, but create the means of inci'easing our revenue Lir t6 And 91 simost to any extent that might be desirable. When, however, I came to that part of the noble Earl's speech which relates to agricultural distress, I was never more surprised and asto- jushed in my life. His Lordship is reported to have said he had provided a remedy five or six years ago which had failed ; I suppose his Lordr ship meant the late Corn-Bill. Now I mean to contend that ihat bill was not only no remedy, but that it was the cause of the present distress ; for it deprived the agriculturist of the confidence necessary to induce him either to cultivate more land, or to hold his corn for the public good, un- til he had short crops, so that it should rise to a remunerating price. His Lordship also infers that the protection has been the means of laying a greater number of acres under cultivation for com. This inference, I trust, is also erroneous. We have not so many acres in tillage for corn this year as we had five years ago. It is by an act of Providence that we have been favoured with abundance without the tillage of more acres, and without the aid of the legislature. That act of Providence, also, (though his Lordship seems not to be aware of such a consequence, and for which he should have no credit,) has prevented the diminution of our revenue to the extent which might have been anticipated, however deficient it may still be. My astonishment, however, was much greater when I came to that part of the speech where his Lordship appears to have said, " the best way is to leave those things to find their own level." In answer to this remark, I have no hesitation in saying, that if things be left to find their own level in their present irre- "!; i i''' \m m m M fi i 92 gular anrl finctuating state, nirith one kind of pro- perty over protected, another not sufficiently protected, and others not protected at all; one kind of property would be sacrificed to the other until the whole would be deteriorated and de- stroyed, unless either all our taxes were repealed, (and that would be doing a flagrant injustice to the public creditor,) or an act were passed to protect every kind of property in the empire against foreign competition according to its re- spective value to the state, (for such an act would make our present burdens as light as air, com- pared to what they now are.) If this passive en- durance of existing evils, in the hope that '* things will find their own level," be persisted in, the balance of the strength of our population will, in a few years, be on the side of pauperism, when neither taxes, rents, nor dividends will be paid, and then a tremendous crisis will be inevi- table. When his Lordship adverts to provision for the exigencies of the state, I conceive that he omits a very important item in the calculation. No al- lowance is made for that portion of our revenue which ought to have accrued from our increase of population since the termination of the late war, and which, had we been in a sound moral state, would have amounted to at least one- seventh of the whole : therefore, it is a fair inference that our present system has prevented the birth of five hundred thousand individuals per annum, or has caused the same number to be annu- ally deprived of moral and political existence. The institutors of such a system seem to me equal in guilt with those who destroy equal numbers oil • 03 the highway ; and especially in this empire where we are in want of two hundred millions of people to do justice to our beautiful colonies. I say further, that an English minister possessing a sound knowledge of political economy would endeavour so to act as to make it the theme of his first and highest boast that we had provided for a very considerable increase of our popula- tion by insuring profitable employment to every industrious man in the empire, and this he would regard as the best and surest source of the na- tion's wealth. Generally speaking, if our revenue, which is derived from the same source, be now only equal to that of 1815, we have, according to the above argument, fallen short by one-seventh of the due amount of our revenue as determina- ble by increase of population, and this deficit demands severe investigation. If the Supreme Being has commanded man to replenish the earth and subdue it, he will certainly not hold that nation guiltless which pursues a course of policy that by checking population, while so much of the earU« remains uncultivated, violates the duty imposed by that divine command. Before his Lordship had so highly extolled his own system, if such may be called a system, he should, instead of taking a confined and minute view of the subject, have considered the increase of pauperism among us, and have carefully ex- amined the state of our manufactures and com- merce ; he should have taken into consideration also the distress prevailing in all classes of so- ciety. He should not have calculated that be- cause there are a few orders for manufactures, or a few momentary shipments 'through the spe- n m '■i .' 1)4 ■l^^' h It m 84 culation of individuals, the prosperity of the country must be permanent ; but he ought, as a true statesman, to have ascertained the possibihty of increasing our industry through the possibility of increasing our consumption : he should have known and said that we cannot extend our ma- nufactures beyond our payments and consump- tion, and that nothing can increase the latter but the profitable employment of our people, secured to them by an act to protect against foreign com- petition every kind of property in the British em- pire, according to its respective value to the state. J assert, without fear of contradiction, that until such an act be passed neither our agriculture, our commerce, our revenue, nor our manufactures will be brought to a sound and prosperous state, but will be declining on the average of years. On the whole, 1 never read any speech, reported to have come from the Earl of Liverpool, so unlike what I always deemed to be his Lordship's reason- ing, as the one in question. Hence, with the high- est esteem for his Lordship's private character, and with every disposition to believe in his good in- tentions towards his country, I firmly believe, that if his Lordship had been so practically versed in agriculture as to have ascertained the quantum of tithes, taxes, poor-rates, and saving from poor-rates, as well as the quantum of national wealth and political power, which the production of a quarter of Euglish com contributes to the state, amounting to seven-eighths of the amount for which the com sells ; had he known that such contribution, if we do not grow £n|;lish com, must be taken from other property, even from the public creditor, the sinecurist, the pen- 95 sioner, &c. : had his Lordship also been sufficient- ly acquainted with the science of political econo- my, to have seen that we cannot carry commerce and manufactures beyond our payments and our consumption, and that nothing can increase the latter but an increase of profitable employment for our people, to which increase the first im- pulse and continued support must be derived from agriculture, which cannot thrive but under the equable protection of all kinds of property, as already pointed out ; and had his Lordship ap- preciated the ill effects produced on property through our irregular protection, and the exten- sive ruin occasioned to all classes of society by leaving these matters to balance themselves ; — his Lordship would sooner have consented to lose his right arm, than have recommended such a policy as that of letting things find their own level. Indeed, such a policy while it lasted would have the effect of setting to work the landed, commercial, and manufacturing interests as mere labourers to raise a mound for the public creditor, the sinecurist, the pensioner, the place- man, and the monied interest, which would be con- tinued until the want of a sufficient base would cause it to fall and overwhelm both its constructors and those for whom it was intended . Moreover, so va- luable are the above-named art and science, and so essential to a statesman, that when he possesses them he has only to ascertain the price of corn and the average crop during the preceding twelve months, when he might be able to decide on the state of every society in the empire, just as well as when we are told the state 6f a tree's root, we can then tellhow its branches are without examining the tree. ,' H. m J' Ml The public ought, 1 think, to be gratefal to his LordNhip for his candour^ if not for his mea* surest and to desire his I^ordship to abandon his proposed poHcy and to adopt, in preference, some such beneficial measures as those to ^vhich I have aUuded. If the latter be rejected, I see no alternative but that of looking on, and wit* nessing the gradual but assured destruction of our political existence ; or, to avert this crisis, every man vi^ho has a stake in the counti-y, whether whig, tory, or radical, must use his influence to bring forward in parliament the said measure of giving protection to every kind of property in the empire, according to its respective value to the state, or, in failure of that, to procure an act for repealing all taxes whatsoever. • ' t ;, Either of these acts would have a similar effect on the prosperity of the nation, with this diffe- rence; that, by the former, the property of the public creditor, sinecurist, &;c. would be preser- ved without injury to the state, and our present burdens hardly felt; but by the latter, the interest of those parties, as well as of the state in some measure, would be sacrificed; whei^ either of these measures are adopted, let the noble Lord's maxim of leaving things to find their owp level be acted on. This coalition of parties for the salvation of their country would also prove that whigs, tories, and radicals have more in view than places, pensions, or plunder, vr : ■ : -. If I were not satisfied of his Lordship's inte- grity, I should, as a mere practical man, con- clude from his public measures, that he was in league with the public creditor, sinecurist, and pensioner, to reduce the produce of the soil 1^ below its proper value, and with it the land, in order to enable those parties to live cheaply, and in the end to purchase the land when sacrificed by this course of policy. But even in this supposed case, his Lordship would show himself a shallow statesman, for, so soon as the root which yields these gentlemen their dividends and stipends ceased to throw foith shoots, they would cease to reap their emo- luments : nor would there be the smallest justice in the case ; for under the old system, when the public creditor lent his money, or when the stipends were fixed for the sinecurist, &c. these persons paid to the other classes of society a remunerating price for their productions and in- dustry ; and why should those prices be lower- ed without proportionally reducing to the public the rates of interest and other charges. Therefore, if he had only a fair regard for those parties he would preserve and protect the root which gave them their support, even if his Lordship had an ^tipathy to the landed interest. The man who cannot see that by promoting agriculture we pro- mote every branch of industry and sustain the labouring classes, ought not to open his mouth on legislative measures. Agriculture should only be supported so far as it tends to the general good. From this speech, his Lordship might be sup- posed to have considered that a given number of bushels of corn might be produced with as much certainty as a given number of yards of cloth might be manufactured^ but when his Lordship comes to live in the natural world he will find himself much mistaken. Whoever al- o 98 temptpd to carry the artificial beyond the natural line of his conduct, never succeeded without the assistance of artificial props. Profitable employment for the population is the grand fulcrum on which every statesman should rest his lever, if he wishes to raise his country's prosperity. In parliamentary discus- sions the real point in question is oft3n lost sight of during: those long speeches which are made through the petty jealousy of parties, and of which the aim and tendency is to take a little more or less out of one Englishman's pocket and put it into that of another ; while, through our unwise laws, the foreigner runs away with a thousand times more than falls to the lot of our own people, yet no attempt is made to restore it to^the rightful owners. If the noble lord and his colleagues should think it derogatory from their dignity to take advice of practical Englishmen on tlie subject of their measures, they surely should not dis- dain to copy their wise neighbours the French, who, without the advantage of our line coIq- nies, (which, if they possessed them, would ad- vance their prosperity in a double ratio,) give, by their protecting system, profitable employ- ment to all their people comparatively speak- ing ; and hence they are rapidly advancing in pix>sperity and happiness. If they continue their system and we continue ours for twenty years, I think it may be fairly concluded, that from the greater protection they give to their shipping and other interests than we give to ours, their navy will be superior to our own ; whereas, if we were to .dopt their wise measures of protecting pro- 90 perty according to its value to the state, our means of increasing our navy would exceed theirs ten-fold. Considering their taxation relatively to ours, the protection they give to their shipping interest, by a duty charged on foreign vessels, is at the rate of about 40/. per register ton, while ours, calculated on the same ratio, is not more tliari 1*. per ton on foreign vessels. With regard to the reduction of our army, unless ministers adopt measures (which are quite in their power) for giving profitable employment to our people, that reduction will only relieve the public burdens of men who will be thrown on the landed interest to be maintained through the poor-rates. His Lordship should know, that it would be fair to consider agriculture as the mother of our prosperity, and manufactures and commerce as her progeny. When the latter are born and brought to maturity, they, with their mother, if protected, will give to the empire heaUh and prosperity. But if his Lordsiiip overwhelm the mother, in the hope of giving his country pros- perity, he will not show much wisdom as a states- man. It is a strange way of defraying our debt and expenditure, to destroy the property on which both depend. This absurdity, however, has been acted upon ever since the late war. Now, I presume hi;; Lordship knew little of practical life until he was a minister, and cannot have learned much since. In order to supply its deticiency, I would recommend him, on giving a cabinet dinner, to ask himself who provided it. The voice of truth would answer, the people of ft; ■. !i' J' St II: If! 100 the British empire. Then he should inquire whether those people are well employed, and well paid for their labour. The answer would be, that they are starving for want of profitable employment, when, were it not for our present unwise measures, not only they, but two hun- dred millions more might find employment within the scope of our beautiful empire. Then his Lordship would naturally advert to the map of the world, and tracing out our colonies in every habitable clime would say, they can produce every thing we consume ; and surely the advan- tage of deriving from them what we now procure from foreign rivals (as shown page 44) is obvious. His Lordship would then inquire why these peo-^ pie are not employed in our colonies. The an- swer would be, that our unnatural laws prevent it ; for had we laws only to protect our property, morals, and revenue, no foreigner could enter our ports without leave. His Lordship, supposing him to reflect with due experience, would not feast his friends again until he had made arrangements for repealing all our unnecessary laws ; and that repeal would immediately insure in our colonies profitable employment for our people in the cul- ture of hemp, flax, cotton, tobacco, corn, &c. : but, as his Lordship does not do this, I conclude that our present distresses are owing to our mi- nisters. They are too ignorant of practical life to know the real distress of the people; they know not enough of political economy to see the immense resources of cir extensive empire ; they know not the uses to which those resources might be converted, and they do not consult practical men. Some little allowance is to b6 made for mi- 101 nisters : in truth they are too much occupied in defendinisf themselves against the Whigs ; yet here they show too apparent an alarm for their places, for they must see that, until the Whigs propose some great general measure for the public good, they will never succeed. The Radicals, I be- lieve, want not a change of men, but a change of measures; and if truth must he said, the mea- sures of ministers, and not the strength of oppo- sition, will ultimately cause their own overthrow. Yet I cannot charge their errors to a wish to keep their places, for they might correct them for the good of their country, and be firmer in their places than ever. If his Lordship were to calculate the differ- ence between the average wages of our labourers and the cost of living in the most penurious way, the result would make their distresses more ma- nifest to him ; and that calculation is, as I pre- sume, his duty as well as that of every other mi- nister; its result would show them that their coun- try could not exist long under such circumstances. He ought also to provide a remedy, having so many in his power, ere the evil work fatally its own cure. Perhaps his Lordship is not aware of the num- ber of persons whom our present unnecessary measures are reducing to poverty and to a des- perate state of mind, leading them to think that it is better to take the property of another than to commit suicide from fear of starvation ; to a state of despair, which persuades them that mi- nisters, and not themselves, are not only answer- able to the Supreme Being for that atrocity, but also for every other crime occasioned by their 102 thus being deprived of profitable employment. But if his Lordship were to mingle in the natural world, he would find that such characters are not uncommon, and that they exhibit a fearful ex- ample to their fellow men. His Lordship should calculate no advantage from the high state of our public funds, as the cause is easily seen through ; for few men, possessing a thorough knowledge of the condition of our a0airs, will think property safe in the funds, until he sees far industrious people obtain profitable employ- ment ; and that can only be done by protecting every property of the empire from foreign competi- tion, commensurately with its value to the state. People are now sacrificing their property under an idea that our present measures will make the future worse than the present; we want mea- sures to give us confidence to hold our property, until prices improve. I wish to be understood as not charging his Lordship, or his colleagues generally, with the want of patriotism, talents, or private worth : but I consider their errdSts to arise from a want of knowledge of the science of poHtical economy, and of the natural practical world, which knowledge would enable them to apply their good intentions and talents to proper purposes for the benefit of their country. POSTSCRIPT. The late war, for the time being, liacl nearly the same effect in protecting our property from foreign competition and giving profitable em- ployment to our excess of population as would result from the colonization-system which 1 have here proposed ; and, although higher prices were then paid for subsistence, still proportionate wages (comparatively speaking) prevented distress : the former however made no return for what was ex- pended, but left us the burden ')f a public debt, whereas colonization, as aforesaid, would not only tend to give our people equal or more profitable employment than the war did, but lessen that public burden which the war created, as well as diminish the frequency of crimes, &c. and tiie superior final result of the latter would be that those colonies would be converted into highly-cultivated fields and plantations of corn, tobacco, hemp, flax, and cotton, the best wealth in the world, in lieu of remaining wild forests, as they now are. I will add further, that I consider the discovery 104 o<* wealth in New Holland and the adjacent islands, as no more compared with what they may be (I hope will be) than a farthing is to a ponnd. But they must be properly explored, and the policy adopted towards them which I have recommended : if to this 1 may add, as re- port says, that a certain scientific and in other respects able man, be appointed to the high situa^ tion of Governor of New South Wales, I have no doubt, if he be but properly supported, that in a very few years such wealth for this countiy will be discovered as will far exceed what the mind of the most enlightened Englishman ever contem^ plated. H 105 Substance of an Extract from Mr. Jos. Pinsenfs Letter to the Right Honourable F. J. Robinson^ President of the Board of Trade, ^. Dated lUh September, 1820. Cost of labour in raising a quarter of Englisli corn, or one third of an acre of English wheat, when the average crop s. is at three quarters per acre, say about ............ 20 Paid to the poor-rates, about equal to 5 Church and county rates, about 5 Tithe 8 Direct taxes • 5 National wealth and political power gained to the state in raising defenders for our country, (and no foreign trade can give an equal substilr *e,) about ^ 5 Paid to excise by labourers' consumption 5 By depriving our rivals of political power 5 Rent; which is afterwards laid out in labour and re- venue • 7 Profit to the tenant, which is ditto •• • 7 72 But the crop, during the average of the last twenty years, not having exceed about eighteen bushels per acre, re- quires that about eighteen shillings more should be added to assist in showing what ought to be the farmer's re- turns/or his skill and capital • • 18 90 1 conceive, from the above statement, that every quarter of corn raised in England is worth to the state about sixty shillings, and that it ought to have a protection equal thereto, for if corn be not raised in England that sixty shillings per quarter must be raised on some other property. When the cost to the grower is ascertained, other charges must be added. P 106 15 per cent. Cotton Manufactures from United States Cotton. Value to the slate, through labour and revenue 100 per cent. Deduct the lirst cost of the cotton, about Loss to the state by car- riage of the cotton in American in lieu of En- glish ships Paid by the landed interest to the manufacturers, la- bourers, and poor, out of the poor-rates Political power gained by the United States in the cultivation and sale of their cotton, and in their revenue from our manu- factures, in consequence of which we shall have to pay for destroying 60 per cent. 20 Loss to England of national wealth and political power by our colonies remaining uncultivated, and our people idle and demoralizing, and living on the poor-rates, while they might have produced the same article in New Holland, or other colonies 100 per cent. 50 per cent. loss to the nation by manufacturing from United States cotton. ^^00^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Value of ship building to the state, being com- posed of the produce of our soil and labour 100 per cent. Deucit by materials bought from foreign powers through mistaken policy 20 Add to which the value of political power which ship-building and sailors give us as a naval power ••••• • ••• 80 20 100 per cent. Ion. cent. 107 Value of cotton trade to tlie state, when mn nufactured from South American cotton • • • • 100 per cent. Deduct paid for raw material 15 per cent. Deduct for labour to the manufac- turer's labourer by the landed in- tciest out of the poor-rates, about 20 Deduct check to coIo''''^ation, by taking cotton from the Portuguese in lieu of colonial cotton 10 —45 Gain to the nation ) 55 per cent. cent. Woollens, hardware manufactures, and earthenware, as they only derive about 5 per cent, of their materials from foreign nations, are worth to the state about 95 per cent, less about 20 per cent, paid hy the landed interest out of ihe poor-rates. )» cent. »tates Manufactures from East India cotton are worth to the state about 65 per cent, on what they sell for. Do. from colonial cotton, produced by a slave population, about 80 per cent. Do. from colonial cotton, produced by a white population, are worth to the state about 100 per cent. cent. cent. Extract from Mr. Pinsent's Letter to Alexander Baring, Esq. M, P. Chairman of the Committee of the Honourable House of Commons on Foreign Trade, dated Dec. 14, 1820. " Having stated who I would not have, I will now tell you who I would have, on such Committees. I would have those who are not influenced by party or faction, and whose fortunes 108 would be subject to sacrifice by the fif\ilure of the meMuren recommended ; these, I believe, will bb foudd, first, to consist of members of the landed interest ; for if their meiiiures fail, the consequence would fall on their property through ikt pOor- rates; and if the Foreign Trade Committees are improperly, appointed, and the landed intei^st kre not at their post to defend themselves, they will soon haV(^ the whole of the income of their land taken from them tfirough the poor-rates, to maintain those very persons whom the foreign Twf^e Com- mittee will deprive of profitable employment ; for a ifi^re cannot happen, either to the state or to the undertakings of the people of this country, from the prince to the beggar, but what its fatal consequences will fall on the English landed interest, through the operation of the poor-laws. I should also consi- der the stock-holder a proper person for a member; for without a change of measures, he will soon cease to receive bis divi- dend. Colonial merchants are also proper men, for unless they guard the nation's rights the ^rcfgners will destroy their pro- perty. Well-informed ship-owners are also proper members; for unless the property of the whole empire is protected as afore- said/ the foreign ship-owner will deprive the English ship Of employment, and the owner of his fortune." .i<*. ^ - ,. .r '■*-;; •^■^^'■jr'^ •'' ■ ■ sif fV^;>-» iMiitI i.ifi 'il-:i ;V:i:'. ^^t'' .r1 }I - \:'l ^r.la m.-tivi^ 7: | i.) t;;.> jj i: "^ < ^ '•■•'-i ,t:.'.''-'> 'i',i:Urt 1/10."^. .cCl. * ' ■ 1 r " . ■ ■ ;*, , i; •'^ <.,.Mi i JSij 'J J:. ' '.J ' •f ;; - ; ; '•-' 'VI ,^>5ica fiii;:^ '. . i:: •.') ,uO ' ' ?• ... ,'., c'..:j '.. ili'iit;;.. ■ . » ' THE END. f •; * ■ ■ h../'- '■■-'<■■■■ ■.■:^ .\T. 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