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Leader (1850-1860), 28th May 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 680

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      which 'would exclude all really merchant ships from falling under them , they , especially the latter , are also susceptible of a -wide interpretation , which may bring almost any kind of ship ; and any kind of goods , conveyed for the use of Government , or persons claiming to exercise , the authority of Gpyemment , under the Act . We cannot be surprised , therefore , at the doubts and difficulties felt by our merchants and shipowners . At the same time it is useful to know that they are entirely the result of our own legislation . They are inflicted on us by ourselves , and it is in pur power to get rid of them . They all spring from the Foreign Enlistment Act , especially from the employment of the words we have quoted , and we must , therefore , remind our readers of some facts connected with the passing of that Act .

      was allied forty years ago with Castlereagh and Sidmouth .

      In 1819 our Government was extremely unpopular . The land was filled with distress and discontent , which our rulers chose to ascribe , not to our laws and commercial restrictions , but to the wickedness of the people . They did not reverence enough the solemnity of Sidmouth and the wisdom of Castlereagh . Their discontent expressed itself at seditious meetings , and the Governniept was actively engaged in putting them down with the strong hand . All the Governments of Europe were then similarly employed , and to hel p them in the work was then the pride of the Tories . For

      this purpose we had conquered , it was thought , at Waterloo , and made treaties at Vienna . Accordingly on May 13 , 1819 , the Attorney-General moved for leave to bring in a bill , which , he explained , was to prevent the people from fitting out armed vessels , or to supply ships intended for foreign service with warlike stores in any port of the empire . It was intended , nominally , for the preservation of neutrality ; it was directed to exclude the Spanish colonies from obtaining assistance , in our ports in their struggle against Ferdinand "VII . So adverse was the bill deemed to the principles of

      liberty that the motion for leave to bring it in was opposed , though the House did not go to a division , and at every other stage it was hotly contested . Feyr subjects were more eloquently debated ; but , in spite of the masterly speeches of Sir James Mackintosh , Mi-. Denman—afterwards Lord Chief Justice—and others , and in spite of petitions from the merchants of London and other places , it was carried through Parliament with all the rude power of the arbitrary ministry -which then

      crushed the land . In 1823 Lord Althorp , supported by Lord Folkstone , the present Earl of Radnor , Lord John Russell , and the whole Whig party , moved to repeal this Act , but he was -yehemently opposed by Mr . Canning , and was defeated . The Act was unpopular at its commencement , and in its continuance ; and now that it operates to impede our neutral trade , and throw this into the hands of nations , never leagued with despots to put down liberty , it is high time that the public took its provisions into consideration , and called the attention of the reformed Parliament to the propriety of repealing the Act .

      At present , the Legislature wi ll only move in obedience to public opinion ; and though the public was never more desirous than at present of observing a strict neutrality , it also desires to be free to trade with either or both belligerents , and to aflbrd sympathy and aid without committing the State to on , e or other of them . Why should English shipowners be prohibited from hiring their ships as transports or store-ships to either ^ belligerent , if they choose P They must take ttie risk on thempelyee ; and if the enemy of the Power they like to serve captures them , they must not expect , and cannot ask , the State to exonerate them from the

      consequences . If they are wee to act as they like , the State is not responsible for their success or their losses : it only makes itself responsible when it interferes with their business . Probably the public is now too much occupied by the events of the war , and by questions of ministerial changes and reform , to pay much attention to this particular business ; but we must , nevertheless , remind it that the repeal of this Act is a step towards that general freedom for individuals which was recognised as the great principle of social welfavet -when , the corn laws were repealed . To repeal it would . only be carrying out ' that principle . Such a proposition would bo sure to have the support of « H the Whig party , and might even receive the sanction and aid of Lord Pftlmewton , though he

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      OUR ENORMOUS TRADE . The declared value of our exports in the inonth of April was no less than LI , 330 , 7302 ., against 9 , 451 , 4332 . in April , 1858 , and 9 , 985 , 844 * . in April , 1857 . It exceeded the latter , which was at the time considered very large , by 1 , 344 , 886 / . In 1857 the total declared value of our exports was 122 , 066 , 1077 , the largest amount reached in any one year . The monthly average of that year was consequently 10 , 005 , 509 ^ ., so that the declared value in the present month exceeds the average monthly value of 1857 by 1 , 300 , 000 * . In the four months of the present . year the value of our exports exceeds that of the four months of 1858 by 9 , 889 , 8012 ., and

      of 1857 by 2 , 937 , 187 * . In 1857 , h o wever , prices were somewhat inflated ; so that the quantities of goods exported and the extent of employment for our manufacturers were still greater in 1858 than they appear to be in regard to 1857 , by the increase in declared value . The imports have been correspondingly large , having exceeded in value those of 1858 , in three months , by 5 , 265 , 350 * ., though they fell short of those of 1857 , when prices were much higher . The shippins , too , entered inwards and outwards , exceeded

      in the four months those of either of the two previous years . . Of ¦¦ some . articles paying Customs duties , as cocoa , fruits , tea , timber , tobacco , arid wine , the consumption has increased in the four first months of 1859 , as against the four first months of 1858 , but ofcoffee , spirits , sugar , &c , the quantities taken into consumption have decreased . Paper and malt paying . Excise duties have both been consumed in greater quantities than in 1858 and 1857 . We may be quite sure , therefore , had not war interfered in the fifth month that our

      trade would have far exceeded in 1859 its previous limits . How it will be affectedby the ' war , time will show . In the returns of the value of the articles imported from foreign countries in the first three months of the year , Frarce stands second on the list , . the value of our imports from her being only exceeded by the value of our imports from the United States . Itwas 3 , 992 , 401 * ., falling short of the value of all our imports from British possessions , which was 4 , 549 , 258 * ., only by 556 , 8571 . France is fourth on the list of the foreign countries to which our exports go , and she took , in three months , only 1 , 096 , 73 . 9 / ., while British

      possessions took 10 , 313 , 609 * . Her resources , however , and the resources of the other belligerent must be crippled by the war . Their industry is turned in a greatly increased degree from production to destruction . ' They may want more , but they will be able to buy less . Our manufacturers may be . called on to supply some deficiencies occasioned by hands abstracted from productive industry ; but on the whole we must be benefited by the decay or destruction of our customers . War in Europe is a common disaster ; it affects us all , and by all it ought , as much as possible , to be prevented . Were it

      honestl y and sincerely condemned from every pul p it in Europe by those who claim the high position of teaching the Divine Will to man , and guiding him in the path of his duties , it might come speedily to an end ; but as there id no prospect of all the clergy o Christendom denouncing it , and as the wildest passions are everywhere stimulated into activity by those who should assuage them , we can only expect that our expanding trade will not hereafter expand so fast as in the month of April .

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      ditional 1 per cent , occasions surprise and discnssi ™ We had no doubt , when the Bank adopted the rS * that it was fully justified by the state of its own affairs , and probably it is equall y justified now tw their condition in concluding that the ease in thf > money market is quite temporary , and does not justify any reduction of the rate of discount . Other authorities , we know , consider the' present ease as entirely the reaction of a momentary panic Five weeks ago there was a great apprehension of a want of money , and everybody exerted himself to get a sunply . IiOng-dated bills were discounted at considerable premium ; other bills , too , were freely discoxinted in order to make sure of a supply of money . There

      was not , in faet , such a deficiency as was expected and the bills which should have been discounted now ' having been discounted then , there is at present a want of short bills and an abundance of money . But as trade . is very large this want can scarcely continue . Very recently there have been large arrivals of gold from Australia , and unexpected remissions of gold from St . Petersburg , which make the present abundance to be considered exceptional , and not consistent with the general progress of business . We see from the Board of Trade returns , just published

      that the bullion exported in April was 4 , 942 , 000 ? ., or 3 , 759 , 000 Z . more than in April , 1858 . It was also 1 , 97 OTOOOZ . more than was imported in April , -which seems a feasible explanation of the deficiency of money then experienced . The demand for export , at present lulled , seems likely to revive . It is impossible to carry on the great war , now " going forward in Italy , without , an immense army chest . We hear of 20 , 000 , 000 fr . being required weekly for the French alone , and this sum is despatched from Paris . Much of if . will probably be at first hoarded in

      Italy , and it will not speedily reappear in circulation . There will be a fresh , demand then for gold , and not again such an accession of supplies . These sudden changes in the market excite much attention , and it is generally concluded that too much depends on all the bullion being in oneplace . The whole bullion and coin in the country—not that exclusively in the Bank of England—should determine exchange operations ; and the law which makes the Bank of England exclusively the depository of gold is again called into question . Other banks , instead of

      keeping gold , can acquit their obligations in Bank of England paper , and thus the one Bank is made exclusively the depository of all the spare gold , which in the natural course of things would be distributed amongst many banks . Then a little additional demand for gold operating on a larger , surface would" not be so readily felt , and discount would not jump up and fall down merely as a small quantity of gold in the bank is affected . The war may then have the good effect of compelling us to look more closely to our own banking laws , which are quite inconsistent with free trade .

      Friday Evening . The great abundance of money , with the continued ease in the money market , is the only topic of groat interest ! ' All the joint-stock banks and the discount brokers have lowered their terms , both for money received on call and for discounting Wlla . They will now give only 24 per cent , for cash , and they discount the best bills at short dates at 8 per cent . The Bank of England has made no alteration in its rates , obviously from believing that the prosent abundance of money is not likely to be lasting . So sudden a change to abundance from great scarcity , it being now only a month since the Bank ; of England first raised its minimum rate of discount , and only three weeks since it raised ( he rate an

      ad-The Stock Market was somewhat animated in the early part of the day . Consols have tended upwards all the week , and to-day they reached 92 H . In the afternoon a slight reaction set in , and they closed both for money and the account at 92 H- T ' supply of stock was better to-day than of late , and there has been a little more acti , yjty . Jliulways and Shares of all kinds partake in a slight degree of the improvement in prices .

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      680 THE LEADER . [ Commercial

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      M 0 NBT MARKET & STOCK EXCHANGE .

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      GENERAL TRADE REPORT .

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      SYiday Evening . This corn market is u " at to-day . A good supply of wheat has come to hand s the weather is fine . J . ho jmj » of war has not yet begun to operate , and prlgj . rather contrary to expectation , again havein . w » dency downwards . Sugar , too , like ^^ i * " ^ downwards . Tea , on the contrary , U firmer , w » u

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      An Account . { £ & ? & » % 38 U * £ > Jg-g can . 32 , for the week ending- on Wednesday , tho ^ otuaay of May , 1809 : — ISSUE DEPARTMENT , MR 100 No ^ issued * ai , i « M » 6 gg ^ s ^ jsf ^ aaB QoUlColn &BwUlon 10 , 705 , 835 Silver Bullion .... : _ « 91 , 180 £ 3 fi £ 31 , 180 , 835 JJANRm « DEPARTMENT . P a ? ± ' ? : ? : c . r .: ^ , m , « a eoS :::.. 3 , 2 « , » m . oma w » ' «" v ,,. 01 , 370 'SffliS'ffie- j ^ SSSJaasivSgjgg , & , » : gffi" «\ rai « v m * slonors of Na- Coin ' tlonal Debt , ftnd Dividend Accounts ) 6 , 0 S * , 10 S Other Deposits .... 17 , 017 , 700 Seven Day ami other Bills 700 , 000 _ * 1 & ? MA » SHALL , Chief CnaMor . Dated May 20 . 1651 ) . ¦

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 28, 1859, page 680, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2296/page/24/