IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ^0^1^ m Uii i2.2 1^ IN2.0 I.I us lit u liL25 1111.4 iiy4 II 1.6 Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716) 873-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/iCIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Tachnieai and Bibliographic Nntaa/Notaa taehniquaa at bibliographiquaa Tha Instituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy avaiiabia for filming. 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Les cartes, planches, tabieeux. etc.. peuvent Atre filmte A des taux de reduction diff Arents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atra reproduit en un seui cliciiA. ii est fiimA A partir de I'engie supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut an baa. an pranant ie nombra d'imegea nAcessaira. Lea diagrammes suhrants iiiustrant hi mAthode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 S] /y ^^ /l.'^y-y- LETTER TO SIR HENRY PARNELL, BART. M.P. ON THE 0tto d 14s. -) rel0s.6d. > M. 3 } ( 7i. and 14s. ' average C per ^ 15s. & 12s. 6d. i average 14s. 3d. per M. £. s. 2 11 11 7 7 Average 9 9 3 12 Duty. i2iper Cent. 11 per Cent. 17 per Cent. 6 per Cent. Amount per Ton. Bulk. 5 Barrels to 1 Ton. 320 ft. per Ton. 2M. per Ton. 400 per Ton. Duty. 25s. per Ton. 7s. per Ton. 21s. per Ton. 4«. 9d.per Ton. 1? 4 ( 15 ) The amount ad valorem of the specific duty at the highest is but 17 per cent., and that is upon an article of less importance ; upon flour it is \2i per cent. ; upon boards it is but 1 1 per cent. ; upon staves 6 per cent. ; though we have seen the Schedule of 1825 had established 7j per cent, as the minimum of protection, even upon articles interfering least with British pro- duction, and had established upon all other articles the rate of 15, 20 and 30 per cent. As therefore the duty upon cotton and silk manufactures, haying been found inefficient at 15, has, since the Act of 1825, been raised to 20 and 30 per cent. ; so should the duties, which have proved far more inadequate, upon flour, boards and staves, articles more in need of protection, be on the same principle raised from I2h, and 10, and 6 per cent, to something nearer an effectual amount, or nearer to an equality with other articles ; lest a great par- tiality, or an unreasonable distinction, should appear in the law, if indeed manufactures from Great Britain of glass, cotton, and some others, are to be protected by a duty of 20 per cent. ; and the manufactures of silk, linen, ^ paper and leather, by a duty of 30 per cent; while the ^ood and corn of the North American Colonies are grudged the encouragement of more than I'M ( IG ) 6 or l2 per cent., though these articles are almost their sole dependence, and though their foreign competitor lies between them and their market. Next, let the same duties be compared with the amount they are equal to per ton. For the real object of competition between us and the Americans is one of navigation, as, if authority were wanting, the letters of Mr. M'Lean have confessed ; and the great disadvantage of the Northern Colonies is, that, besides the difficulty of producing as cheaply as the Americans, which is barely to be effected, and in few in- stances only, those provinces lie so much fur- ther frx)m the West Indies, that the average difference of freight is from 10 to 15 shillings a ton in favour of the Americans. To de- termine the efficiency of any duty, therefore, it is not enough to consider whether its amount ad valorem is sufficient to encourage produc- tion, it is necessary to view it in respect of bulk and transportation^ wiiether, when pro- duced, the artiele ctm be carried to market: for the ordinary advantage of having the market nearer the home producer than the foreign com^ petitor, and of adding the whole freight to the duty of protection, is here not only wanting, but is actually inverted. It will be seen, on T^. ( 17 ) reference to the table last preceding, that in point of freight, though the duties amount to a protection on flour and shingles, yet on boards and staves, two articles required to the amount perhaps of 100,000 tons of shipping, the duty is not more than equal to half the difference of freight in favour of the Americans by the shorter voyage. That is, the law which admits American wood and shipping at that duty gives them in fact a preference equal to the whole amount of the apparent protection it holds out to the Northern Colonists. Such duties may be very well for the purpose of raising a revenue, but they can hardly be called duties for the regulation of trade ; at least upon such regulations it is evidently im- possible for the North American Colonies to compete. There is yet another view to be taken of this question, which will also shew that these duties are not only inadequate to the object of the law and irreconcilable with its principle, but totally at variance with fair and impartial deal- ing between the Northern and Southern Colo- nies. For the specific duties laid to protect the produce of the Southern Colonies in the ports of the Northern are, compared with their amount ad valorem, as follows : c ( 18 ) Articles. Rate of Duty. Value. Amount of Duty Ad valorem. Sugar . . . 5s. per cwt. 27s. 18i percent. Molasses . . | 3.?. per cwt. 4Jid. per gallon. I U. Id. 34 Coffee . . . 5s. per cwt. 605. 8 Rum . . . 6d. per gallon. 2*. 25 Other Spirits . ]s. do. 3s. 33 s Thus while the Northern Colonies find in the ports of the Southern a protection on corn and wood, never above 17, and on a principal arti- cle as low ias 6 per cent., the Southern Colonies enjoy in the ports of the Northern a protection, (excepting upon one, not the most important article,) of 1 8, 25, 33, and 34 per cent., though they have no foreign competitor to meet in the Northern markets. Let it not be supposed that such comparisons with the protection re- served to the manufactures of the mother coun- try, and to the produce of the West Indies, are made for the purpose of odium or complaint : the only object is to show, that the duties on corn and wood have been measured by such a scale as has unwittingly produced a departure from the principle of the Act of 1 825, and has t of Duty tlorem. ler cent. I in the irn and al arti- olonies ection, jortant though ; in the posed ion re- coun- r [es, are [plaint : ties on I such a >arture Ind has \ ■^ , ( 19 ) frustrated its intention; and that the addition proposed to be made by the new Schedule is perfectly consistent with the policy of the Act, attains the same end, by slightly reinforcing the means, and completes that uniformity and impartiality of protection, which were undoubt- edly the objects contemplated. Though the American government never had the right, and is now understood to have relin- quished the pretension of interfering with these duties; and though informed, before the open- ing of the ports, that the duties would be raised and regulated according to the conveni- ence of British interests, without reference to those of other countries; yet as the minister of that country is now protesting against the alterations by the new Act and Schedule, it is well to consider the amount ad valorem of the specific duties levied by the United States on West India produce. By the Tariff of 1828, those duties were as follows : c2 j;;* Ml m ( 20 ) Articles. Rate of Duty. Value. Amount Ad valorem. Sugar . . ■\ 3 cents per lb. about 1 5s. per cwt. } 27». 56 per cent. Molasses * 10 cents, per gallon, 6d. |l*. Irf. 46 Coffee . . •1 Ct cents per lb. 25s. per cwt. i 60s. 41 Salt . . ■\ 200 Rum . . ■\ 53 to 85 cents per gall, say 3s. 8d. } 2,. 187 The American minister is therefore complain- ing of duties on their corn and wood in no case exceeding 17 per cent., while the duties levied on colonial produce in the United States, are in no case less than 40, and on the principal article exceed 180 per cent. Before the order in council for opening the colonial trade had been issued a month, so little difficulty does the American government feel apparently, in complaining of the very terms on which they desired and importuned to be admit- ted, that they have now alleged the importation of articles into the West Indies, duty free, /row the Northern Colonies, without inquiring into the origin, to be unfair, and new, and contrary ■5"i ( 21 ) Amount Ad valorem. 56 per cent. 46 41 200 187 omplain- ti no case es levied ates, are Iprincipal sning the L so little hent feel terms on ►e admit- (ortation 'ee,/row ing into Icontrary to the recent understanding. That this mea- sure is nothing new, nor contrary to the recent arrangement, may be shown by the dates of the Acts of Parliament introducing it, long subse- quently to which are these repeated applica- tions made by the American government; that there is nothing unfair in admitting articles to be warehoused duty free, may be proved, if proof be necessary, by the example of the American as well as of many other govern- ments. But upon what terms articles from warehouses in one part of the British dominions are to be admitted into any other parts of the British dominions, is no longer a question of foreign arrangement, but of internal regulation, with which no independent nation can suffer another to interfere. Do the United States in- quire, at New Orleans or New York, on which side of the lakes the flour, wood, and furs, they receive, originate? Duties, indeed, upon their first importation across their boundary, they may or may not impose, according to their own convenience ; but upon transportation from one part of their territories to another, whether from Lake Erie to New York, by rivers and canals, or from the St. Croix to the Missisippi, by sea, they have never thought of inquiring on which side of Lake Erie, or on which side the St. Croix, the article was produced. It is ( 22 ) not to be believed that this country will ever submit on such questions, to hear of foreign interference; this would be not more injurious to colonial interests, than to the interests and the sovereignty of the United Kingdom; this would be calling upon Great Britain not only to relinquish her colonies, but to renounce her independence. Since the admission of American vessels was conceded, the only question, the whole dispute between the two countries, has merely been whether Great Britain should or should not admit American productions into the West Indies on the same terms as productions from her other colonies, or from the United King- dom. And this question, so long and vigor- ously contested, the Americans are now on the point of obtaining, at the very moment they appear to have abandoned it ; and while Great Britain imagines that the United States have complied with all her terms, it is in fact she herself that has complied, or is about to comply, with theirs : because the difference between admitting American productions on the same terms as British, which is what they demanded, and admitting them on duties which are utterly inefficient to protect British, which is what is now about to be granted, is nothing. The Schedule of 1825, in makhig the discrimination m ' ^a 'ill ever foreign ijurious ists and m; this lot only nee her els was dispute ly been Lild not e West ns from King- vigor- on the t they Great s have ,ct she |omply, tween same anded, jutterly hat is The nation 'V ■ ! ( 23 ) between Colonial and American wood unequal to the difference of the voyage, makes in fact no discrimination. The American government should have known this in 1826; they were told of it by the best informed of their own country, and it was principally because they failed to comprehend and secure this that the Adam's party and administration was thrown out of office. The time since elapsed and the returns collected have made this fact better understood, and therefore it is that they have since been so importunate to retrace their steps and accept of the terms before offered ; having ascertained that though these terms were in- tended to be most contrary to their own, they are in effect most consistent and identical. To the second class of objections, derived from the principles of free trade, the answer must be limited to a bare summary of reasons. The present is neither the moment for discus- sing, nor the occasion for applying, a theory opposed to the opinions of most countries, and as yet unapproved by the experience of any. However sound may be that doctrine, the United States will have none of it. They created their marine by the old system ; they are creating, they have created, their manufac- tures by the old system; they have created distilleries and plantations sufficient for their :i1il ( 24 ) supply of sugar and spirits by the old system of protection, whicli they are therefore too wise, or too foolish, to abandon. The British Colonies are strongly imbued with the same prejudice, and for the same causes. By the old system, they have been enabled to ex- change their wood, corn and fish, for the ma- nufactures of Great Britain and the produce of the West Indies : by the old system, therefore, a country, which would otherwise have been uninhabited or stunted in poverty and want, has rapidly grown up into all the comforts and conveniences of life, and now teems with the industry and happiness of 1,000.000 of British subjects. The Northern Colonies, and the Southern also, cleave, as to the very character of their existence, to the old system of protec- tion; and though Great Britain (having here perhaps no better reason to preserve it, than that thereby the mutual trade and returns be- tween her colonies and herself exceeds in the aggregate £17,000,000 yearly, and the naviga- tion employed is nearly 700,000 tons,) seems now disposed to forsake the old system of pro- tection, and adopt the new and contrary doc- trine of free trade — why will she insist upon making the beginning, upon trying the first experiment, and to the extremest extent, in that quarter where opinions and interests and system fore too i British lie same By the to ex- the ma- )duce of lerefore, ve been d want, arts and i^ith the British nd the tiaracter protec- ng here it, than irns be- 3 in the naviga- ) seems of pro- ry doc- it upon le first :ent, in its and ft ( 25 ) circumstances are most opposed to it? For what purpose ? To supply the West Indies ? — They were never so abundantly supplied as now. To supply them cheaper ? — Their sup- plies were never before so cheap. To make them cheaper still, by taking off all duties and buying of the nearest producer? — The duties are paid to the Colonial Treasuries, which must be supplied from some quarter, and none is less inconvenient; and the nearer of two producers is not likely to sell the cheaper, when the more remote has withdrawn from the trade; and if by taxing one source of supply you introduce the competition of another, and those taxes are paid to yourselves, you can be no great loser. But a new market will be opened for the West Indies in the United States ? — A better market will be lost in the Northern Colonies, where the West Indies sell more under the restricted trade than they sold to both the Northern Colonies and the United States together, during the open trade of 1825. We may have half the carrying trade of West India supplies from the United States? — For which we give up the certainty of having in time the whole, and already, one half from the Northern Colonies. The Americans, for reasons too long to state, must always have three-fourths of the naviga- h i! ( 26 ) tion employed in carrying their own exports. They have now about that proportion in the intercourse with the United Kingdom. What one advantage therefore in trade or navigation is to result from this experiment ? For the disadvantages that are sure to follow, it ought not to be necessary to repeat, what is worthy of being ever in mind — that the trade from the Northern Colonies has increased from 36,000 tons, in 1825, to 90,000, in 1828, ex- ceeded 100,000 in 1830, and may be carried, perhaps, to double that amount ; that their ex- ports and imports increased during that period in the same proportion, and would undoubtedly have continued to increase under adequate pro- tection, as they will now more rapidly decline if protection be withheld. One of the most singular features in the whole business is, for the sake of how small a sum, how paltry an amount, all these interests are to be compromised. The whole foreign importations of wood and corn in 1825, when the trade was last open, and the whole amount of the duties to be levied upon them according to the new Schedule, were the following : — !i ( 27 ) exports. 3n in the 1. What avigation o folJow, what is he trade sed from ^28, ex- carried, heir ex- : period ubtedly ite pro- decline in the imall a terests oreign when nount rding "''t A^ Articles. Quantity. Duty. Amount. Flour and Meal . 183,058 brls. of which take Wheat at . 100,000 brls. 5s. £25,000 Pitch Pine Boards 4,000 M. ft. ns. 4,200 Other Boards . 9,000 M. ft. 28s. 12,600 Shingles . . . 11,000 M. \Qs. 6d. 5,775 Staves . , . 7,856 M. 1 26*. 10,216 £57,791 For £57,791, the whole of which is revenue to the West Indians, a trade is to be compro- mised, of which the articles exchanged cannot be less than £1,000,000 yearly, and the navi- gation employed is 100,000 tons. It may be insisted that the West Indians effectively pay the same duties upon all their supplies whencesoever imported, since those from the Northern Colonies and the United Kingdom are sold for the same rate as the American. If this be the fact, what is its value to the question ? Compute the same duty upon the whole supplies imported in 1825, from all parts, British and Foreign : ,<•» vTSi ( 28 ) Articles. Quantity. Duty. Amount. Flour .... 202,737 brls. say Wheat . . 120,000 brls. 5s. £30,000 Pitch Pine Boards 4,000 M. 2ls. 4,200 Other Boards . 16,700 M. 28s. 23,380 Shingles . . . 15,448 M. 10s. 6d. 8,110 Staves . . . 9,839 M. 26s. 12,790 £78,480 As this fact, therefore, is of so little value, it seems hardly worth while to contest it. Yet it is no less erroneous than unimportant; for if the price at which one competitor (the Ameri- cans) can sell, regulates the price at which the other (the Northern Colonies) will sell, and therefore whatever duty is imposed upon the sales of one goes into the pockets of the other ; it seems equally true, that the price at which the Northern Colonies can sell, regulates the price at which the Americans will sell, and that whatever duty is taken off of the latter, goes likewise into the pockets of the Americans. The fallacy lies in considering the Colonies and the Americans as two individual companies, whereas in truth the competion is so great, among the producers and carriers on both sides. ( 29 ) that all are obliged to sell for the smallest pro- fit, while the trade is so protected as to bring both to the market; but if by a free admission of the Americans the Northern Colonists with* draw from the trade, (as they will,) then the Americans will, on frequent occasions, have a monopoly and sell at exorbitant profits. Be- cause, in that case, the dep6ts at the neutral islands will cease, and the Americans will go from colony to colony, and look for a market, and take advantage of the distress or scarcity of each, and the price in the dearest will be the price in all the islands : but till now, American produce has lain accumulated at the neutral islands, and the West Indians being always certain of procuring it from thence, the price in all the islands has been the price in the cheapest and in a glutted market, with the addition in- deed of a short freight, which addition, how- ever, is not equal to the advantage of a certain supply and a glutted market, coupled with the other and greater advantages of inducing the Northern Colonies to bring down the same sup- plies, and barter them for rum and sugar. Of this the West Indians are so convinced, that no remonstrance, it is believed, no peti- tion for the proposed alteration has come home from any of their legislatures ; though their complaints on former occasions, and in other ( 30 ) respects, prove that they are not slow to make their grievances known to the Imperial Go- vernment; nor does any opinion appear to exist among them, that whatever may be their embarassments, such is to be a remedy. The Northern Colonies, on the other hand, ar^ so conscious how much their whole prosperity and the property, the industry and comfort of every individual, depend upon a protected trade with the West Indies, that the most earnest petitions have been sent home from every one of their legislatures, offering the prayers of 1,000,000 of loyal and industrious subjects against the re-admission of American shipping, under the inefficient Schedule of 1825. If, however, contrary to these feelings and interests and circumstances, there still appear such a paramount advantage in the abstract theory of free trade, that the re-admission of American vessels is not enough, unless the duties on their articles also be greatly re- duced, a great reduction is in fact made by the new Schedule. The new Sched^^le on the ag- gregate amount of the whole duties, instead of adding any thing to the duties of 1825, has in fact reduced them 42 per cent. It has raised the charge indeed on some articles, but it has repealed it on others, and for every increase of one shilling, a decrease is made of four. Articles. kd ....••■ \tn Grain . • ■ our (Wheal) lOtber . . . • Ice bards angles • ■ " ives live Stock, 81 [posed Valu« ( 31 ) Articles. sad ....... rn Grain . . . our (Wheat) Other ce lards lingles aves Quantities. By the former Schedule. Rat . ive Stock posed Value , sup- ? due.. ) 61,844 cwts. 248,073 bthh. 100,000 M$. 83,058 28,103 civts. 12,671 mil. 11,000 mi7. 7,856 mil. £250,000 Is. 6d. Id. 5s. 2s. 6d. 25. 6d. 21s. I0s.6d 14s. 2d. 10 per Cent. Amount. £. 4,638 7,235 25,000 10,125 3,934 13,304 5,793 5,564 25,000 Amount by the Schedule of Mr. Herries. Kate. £100,593 Free. Free. 6s. Free. Free. 3\s.6d, 15s. 6d. 18s.9d. Free. Amount. 30,000 19,956 8,300 7,859 Increase. Decrease. Amount bv the Schedule of Lord Auckland. £. 5,000 £66,115 6,652 2.507 2,295 £. 4,638 7,235 10,125 3,934 £. 26,000 £16,454 25,000 £50,932 16,800 5,775 10,216 • • • • £67,791 So unjust are the objections that new re- strictions and new burthens are now imposed on the intercourse with the United States. If a free trade is so much wanted, here it is to be found. The whole world may be challenged to show a freer. There is no country whose whole industry has so low and scanty a pro- tection as the Northern Colonies are by the new Schedule to have in the parts of the South; yet there is no country which, from its cir- cumstances, requires more : there is no coun- try which has merited more ; if to have taken up this trade twice, when the Americans had twice interdicted it for the avowed purpose of ■ -— V4»IW«WIB.1, ( 32 ) compelling Great Britain to renounce at one time her belligerent rights, at another her co- lonial; if to have defeated both these attempts by embarking their property and industry in this trade, besides periling their lives to defeat the similar attempt through war and conquest ; if these services, commercial and defensive, and which may yet be required again, can be any merit, it is hard, it is distressing, no less to the feelings than the interests of the Northern Colo- nies, to see the trade, which they have, for a second time created for the supply of the West Indies, a second time taken away and given to the people who sought to starve them. J^ should not be overlooked, that the ex- pressions contained in Mr. Canning's Letter, 11th September, 1826, "that the British Go- vernment cannot consent to enter into any re- newed negociations upon the intercourse, so long as the pretensions of the Act (of Congress) of 1823 remain part of the law of the United States;" and that, ''after having applied the interdict to any country, the- British Govern- ment cannot hold itself bound to remove the interdict as a matter of course, whenever it may happen to suit the convenience of the foreign government to re-corisider its mea- sures;" and the refusal of Lord Dudley to adjust the laws on colonial intercourse by any informal agreement previously entered into ( 33 ) between the two governments ;" his declining all negotiation, and declaring that the resolu- tion of his Majesty's government was founded upon considerations general in their nature and conclusive ; these publications had induced the Colonies to believe, that the Order in Council of July, 1826, was to be a permanent and con- clusive measure; and therefore they invested their means and capital the more largely and securely in the West India trade. And though neither that order nor those official letters seem to have been considered by his Majesty's go- vernment as any pledge of its faith, yet the encouragement given by such a declaration of its feelings and intentions has produced in those Colonies nearly the same effect ; and all the interests which have thereby been created, the property implicated, contracts arranged, shipping, mills, warehouses, wharfs, canals, &c. made and in making, (which embrace much of capital and industry of the country,) all are in danger of being destroyed by the recent order in council, unless the principle of the Act of 1825 be maintained, and its provisions perma- nently reinforced by the new Schedule. But if the Colonies are alone to blame for relying so far on the constancy of government, and the continuance of the former Order in Council, they will consider, and in this in- i> ( 34 ) stance it is conceived most justly, the faith of his Majesty's government to have been dis- tinctly pledged to them, that in case of its revocation, a more efficient protection should be given to their trade by an amendment of the former Schedule. This has not only been understood in many communications with the Office of Trade, but letters to that effect are believed to have been despatched from the Colonial Department by the November packet to all the Northern Co- lonies. Such are the considerations in favour of the principle of the measure proposed by the late administration, and adopted, for a term at least, by their successors. Whatever reasons have been here offered will not be found to be limited to the year 1834, but are co-eval with the Co- lonial system of Great Britain, and will proba- bly be co-extensive with the duration of her Colonial power. It has been shown that no exclusion, no monopoly, is proposed for the Northern Colonies. To be able to bring their produce to market is all they expect. The duties contended for are in no case equal to the difference of freight in their rival's favour, with the exception only of flour and shingles, on the former of which, after the 15*. per ton to cover that difference, there remains 2*. a barrel. ts Id le ( 35 ) about five per cent, ad valorem ; on the latt« 1*. per M., about h per cent., to encourage production; and these are the duties of 1825, upon which no addition is now to be made. Compared with the value of commodities, this protection never exceeds, and in some instances it is far less than that which the Southern enjoy in the ports of the Northern. The protection thus given to the Southern Colonies is perma- nent ; why should that to the Northern be not only unequal in amount, but still more unequal in duration ? Or why should Parliament hamper itself with a limitation which no one can fore- tell may not before it expires be found and allowed inexpedient, but which in that case cannot be so easily changed, after expectations have been given to foreign powers, some of whom are already sufficiently troublesome by interfering upon less founded pretensions? The best understanding upon this* question is beginning to prevail between the Northern and Southern Colonies. Some of the former, on learning that their local duties on sugar, molasses, and coffee were considered so high as to check importation, are already making great reductions, and the example will probably be followed by the whole Canadian Provinces. The local feeling in the West Indies, though the proprietors in this country are not all aware ( 3G ) of its existence and reasons, is strongly in favour of encouraging the intercolonial trade. Preserve, in the present Bill, the limitation of two years and a half given to the new duties, and the decline of that trade will be less sudden indeed, but not the less certain, nor much less injurious, to the Canadas ; while the West Indians will only be more embarrassed between two competitors, one of whom is withdrawing from, the other delaying to engage in, the pro- duction and carrying of their necessary sup- plies. Omit that limitation, and the inter- colonial trade will so prosper, that in a few years no complaints shall be heard from any British colony or interest. That the American minister should, for reasons commercial and political, oppose himself to such policy, is per- fectly intelligible;— that, speculating upon the disposition and information of the new minis- ters, he should assert to them pretensions he never hoped would be listened to by the late administration, is perhaps excusable in diplo- macy at least. But what interest have Sir Henry Parnell and others in supporting the same attempts? what object to gain? what commerce, colony, shipping to serve ? what end to answer, except the end of disputants in a scholastic question of economy ? They con- stantly appeal to the Act and Schedule of 1825 ; ( 37 ) but let it be remembered that those at present proposed add nothing to the aggregate amount of the duties— that they diminish that amount by nearly one half— that upon two articles only, boards and staves, is any addition made, and when made, the whole duty will be about 19 per cent, on the former and about 13 on the latter. Does this appear too high to be per- manent ? It is impossible not to recognize the talent of an able minister in the measure of the late administration, which could at once make so important a reduction, and yet afford a more 6fficient protection to British industry, trade, and navigation. To these facts and considerations I again invite your attention; whether successfully or uut is less to me than to have endeavoured to engage it. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your very obedient and very humble servant, HENRY BLISS. Kino's Bench Walk, Tkmple. 17th March, 1831. K ? LONDON : C. ROWURTH AND SONS, BFLL YARD, TEMPtB BARi