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Leader (1850-1860), 18th September 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 977

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      bv freedom , from which is bora knowledge and still / the parents of cheapness . Though we cannot expect that free trade should be speediW allowed in % rance , we are confident that it must in a time , short in proportion as population is multiplied and communication betwixt -the different parts ^ of the earth increases , become the rule there , and in all other countries- . . As some of our contemporaries are very impatient in this matter , and scold and sneer at the French for backwardness , we may call attention to our own tariff . It is now upwards of sixteen years since a declining revenue , a dwindling trade , and ^ adiscontented people compelled a Conservative Minister , who hadfrom 1815 to 1 S 42 zealously upheld the

      products of our neighbour we levy duties that niay be fairly classed with his duties on our iron and our coaL The amount may be somewhat less , the principle and the jealous apprehensive spirit which dictate them are just the same . It is supposed to be politic to favour the produce of our colonies and of our own soil by discriminating duties , and , in spite of experience , we continue tp maintain such duties . As they now exist they were settled , but not originally imposed , by a Ministry composed of professing free traders ; and we can but think that in voluntarily lending themselves to the continuance ot such solecisms they were more reprehensible than the self-seeking and avowed protectionist iron-masters of Trance . Be the fault whose it may , the

      continuance on our statute-book of upwards pi threescore distinct customs duties levied for protection does not entitle us to complain very much of the French for still continuing absurd protective duties . They have been , let it be remembered ^ the prey of successive revolutions , while we have been able tranquilly to work out commercial improvements . Accordingly , we have gone far ahead ot them , and we should encourage them to go forward by perfecting what we have so successfully begun .

      , , corn-laws , to commence commercial reform . Sir Robert Peel then professed to be converted to free ^ trade principles ^ and now , at the end of sixteen years , after the reforming Whigs have been many successive years in office , in what condition is our tariff ? Customs duties levied on such articles as sup-ar , tea , and tobacco , which we cannot produce , and which do not come into competition with articles grown at home , are barely defensible . But , besides such duties , we levy a number of duties on articles which come directly into competition with articles grown or produced at home ; they are duties levied in a protective spirit , and make a discrimination generally between the produce of our colonies and other countries .

      Thus , for the benefit of our landowners , duties are still maintained of Is . per quarter on all kinds of grain ; of 4 £ per cwt . on flour , rice , arrowroot , tapioca , sago , and similar artiples ( on macaroni Is . per cwt . ) , which come into competition with their cereals ; of 5 s < per cwt . on butter , and 2 s . 6 d . per cwt . on cheese , which are shown to be anti-free-trade duties , by only 2 s . 6 d . being levied on butter from the colonies , of which just 4346 cwts . were imported in 1856 , and only Is . 6 d . levied on cheese from the colonies , of which exactly 244 cwts . were imported from them in the same year ; of 8 d . and 4 d .

      per cubic foot on eggs * as they are foreign or colonial produce , though -none come from the colonies except from the Channel Islands ; of 3 d . or 2 d . per bushel on apples ( dried apples , Is . ) , on grapes 2 d- > while walnuts , pears , plums , onions , &c , all pay toll , which enhances unfairly in proportion the price to the consumer of the homegrown commodities . So hops pay a oustouis duty of 2 / . 5 s . per cwt ., while the excise on home grown is about 19 s ., giving the landowner a benefit on the price of 1 / . 6 s . per cwt . While ornamental and hard woods which we do not admitted freethe wood and timber admitted iree ci

      erow are , grow are , me wuuu uuu um » which are grown here are subject to considerable duties , varying on the different kinds , arid generally double on foreign woods as against colonial . Foreign tallow , too , pays a duty of Is . 6 d . per cwt ., and colonial Id . All these are protective duties , still levied in behalf of the landowners , who so lpng safe , like the pld man of the sea , on the national industry . They keep up rent at the expense of the consumer ; while we boast of our free trade and sneer at those who protect their irPn-masters against competition with ours . Nor are the manufacturers unprotected by duties .

      On window glass and sheet glass and on candles customs duties aro still levied , though the excise duties on these articles have with great advantage been abolished . Clocks and watches , manufactures of caoutchouc , of cotton , pf silk , of linen , of woollen , of goat's-hahy of leather , of copper , &c , aro all subjept , tp protecting . duties * , win ]? .... the ., raw , materials are admitted free . Sc laco , network , baskets , bopks , straw hats , porcelain , embroideries , artificial flowers , cpatcd brass , oilclpth , paper-hangings , toys , vinegar , aro subject to such duties which , withcut yielding any sum pf impprtanoo tp the revenue , impede trade and bestpw cpuntcraoting benefits , as

      is supposed , on the manufacturing classos for tho laxos levied on them in behoof pf the landed interest . JFor bpth the oonsumer is taxed . There arc two other articles tp which we must call special attention . To the bonoftt pf tho groat monopolist brewers of the metropplia and pthor b rowers wo le vy , duty pf no , leBa th i ftir T . fip _ fl ^ d-nn-iiQi ! niffHWino , and 2 s . 10 ^ a . pn ooloninl wino ; and for the benefit pf pur distillers wo levy a duty pn foreign spirits pvor and abpvo tho sum they pay lor exoise dutios of 7 s . per gallpn . The oustpms autoes ore 15 s . pn foreign spirits , the exoiso duties on tho homo made aro 8 s . That this qxcess is a preteqtivo duty is plain from tho oustpms duty loviod on oolpnial rum being only Sa . 3 d . per gallpn . Tims , on those two great

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      SALT FOE CHINA . There is in England a Chamber of Commerce , composed of Cheshire and Worcestershire salt-proprietors , and formed specially for the extension and protection of their own peculiar trade . It appears that this trading body has recently presented a memorial to our Government , " respectfully entreatixi ° - that free admission of British salt be made a stimulation in our future dealings with the Chinese authorities . " ¦ ¦ . . „ ,

      salt enough and to spare . Nor has there been any complaint among them as to its quality ; for our personal observations do not agree with the statement in the memorial that the salt in use is " an impure and deleterious article . " - There is no doubt that our British salt is superior , and , if introduced , would greatly , improve the . quality of this necessary of life in China ; but have the salt merchants of Great Britain sufficient reason for impeaching the traders in China as dealing in an article that is both "impure and deleterious ?"••; . Tliere is no doubt , as the Cheshire memorial states , that the sale of salt in the FloweryHLiand is put under " a fiscal system . " The whole departlock and ¦ arid

      ment is under Government key ; : , m proof of the importance which the Executive attaches to the salt trade , it is enough to point out that the directors of the monopoly are officers Pi high rank , appointed under the supreme Government ; that , in connexion with the department , there is a numerous and expensive establishment throughout the country ; that the duty on salt forms a considerable branch of the public revenue ; that the trade is let out to merchants , reputed among the most respectable and wealthy ; that the laws which regulate the traffic are very specific , as well as rigorous ; and that those who violate them are subject to heavy penalties . . must be to

      The monopoly , therefore , important the native Government . Yet , with all this array of restrictions or measures to promote arid protect the trade , what do we find ? Every now and then we read complaints written ; out by " Salt Commissioners , ' to the effect * that " we find salt but no merchants to conduct the sale of it ; " tf there is some hindrance to the consumption of salt prepared by Government ; " and " something hinders the Government salt from finding a market among the people . " And the same Chinese documents , in seeking out the cause of this falling off , trace it principally to " the smuggling of salt that is pnvatelv made" . , Under the circumstances which we have sought faithfullto representit is not likely that there is

      y , to come from China a demand or a cry for salt that will tempt the Cheshire and Worcestershire vendors thither ; we cannot see either that the salt proprietors of Great Britain will be able to send it a distance of 17 , 000 miles and produce it at a lower price than tlie Chinese farmers or smugglers , who doubtless would reduce their charges on the prospect of a frees trade in the article ; nor is there any prospect whatever of the Chinese Government renouncing so fruitful a source pf revenue ; and with our hearty detestation of cliques , cabals , and monopolies in any shape , we question very much the propriet y of the Cheshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce seeking Government influence to interfere with a native monopoly of salt , about w . hioh we knpw so little . ¦

      How glad we should be to see " free admission of British salt intp China" as well as pf every pther article ; it would be beneficial to commerce in both countries $ but , upon matters so serious to people here , and to the people there too , why not , at so important an era as the present , speak out for the purpose of giving informatipn P We have done so —with every mark of respect to tlie Chamber of Commerce in Cheshire and Worcestershire .

      It is with no little surprise , however , that we find a body of merchants , professedly united for the extension of their special trade , so dilatory in making their claims known—if they have any . On perusing their document , the first thought was , "Why , in the name of common sense , put off pressing these claims , not only till eighteen months after the British embassy had left England , but till that embassy was leaving tlie Pei-ho , and just when the final treaty with China—having been signed , sealed , and verified by the several parties at jPekin—was bein # brought to England for confirmation by our gracious Queen T Is this ' a fair sample of vigilance , alacrity , or promptness in the commercial Chambers of Great Britain P We think not . Or is it an exception in the case only of the Salt Chamber of Cheshire , &c . ? At least , so it appears . "

      Further , on examining said memorial , it suggested a few other inquiries . How has the demand for salt in China been hitherto supplied ? What kind of article is it that is in use among the natives there ? Is it not good enough and ample enough for all their wants P Is the salt trade a Government monopoly let out to native merchants alone ? and if so , is that trade of such a character that the salt , proprietors of Cheshire , &c , should seek the aid of foreign diplomacy to stop it or break it up P Without vouching to follow these queries in soquence or to answer them fully and satisfactorily , we shall attempt to lay before our readers what we know tp bo facts cennected with the salt trade in China .

      Of ccurse , among the Chinese , salt is a great necessary of life—an essential in cooking , pickling , preserving , eating , sacrificing , &c , &c . ; and , while they , aro . most economical , n > ,. its use ,. there .. must bo an enormous consumption of it , so that we cannot rely upon any calculation of the amount annually used by this " hive of nations . " It is true the Cheshire and Worcestershire salt farmers vonturo to affirm that from one tp two million tons aro consumed per annum in China , but what is that to 300 , 000 , 000 of people , as assumed in tho petition—not tp say 420 , 000 , 000 , as

      shown by the census made in 1842 P To meet the largo demand fpr this article , China has up to tho presont hour had tp look to her own resources . Sc , sailing alpng hor cpasts , ypu observe ^ iiuJiewslandSjJiPJGtluanaVo ^^ mouths pf hor principal rivers , salt pans and salt stacks , prpduood by the ovappratipn pf soa water ; and , travelling into tho interior , Pile meets with salt depots , salt springs , and , in the prpvinoe of 8 ze-ohuon , salt pits , which ( judging from what wo road ) , if properly wprked , might ; load to real and extensive salt mlnos . As far as wo knpw , then , tho overgrown population of that empire has hitherto had , and still has ,

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      THE TREATY WITH CHINA . An impulse undpubtedly willjbe given tp commerce , mercantile and , . manufaotu , ring , by the war \ yitlv China . We how possess an outline of the treaty just concluded , and though a good deal of uncertainty must be felt as to the precise terms and possible effects cf spine pf tho articles of tho treaty , enpugli is visible to satisfy us that a new and an almost illimitable outlet for our manufactures is suddenly and successfully opened up to . the trading interests pf this empire . Wero we disposed tp grumble , wo should ask why mpro was npt obtained . While wo were dictating terms , surel y wo might have added a few move articles that weuld have nad the effect pf clearing up opmmoroial dpubts and remeving well jU ^ rfltaftdl . AQn ^^ was tho passpprt system introduced uup a China treaty P- —this poouhar element pf opntinental oivihsatien— -the benefits pf whioh we are so praotioally impressed with that we have just , esoaP ° * a " positive estrangement from a faithful ally w 1 consequence of the aggravated pressure of ty ° Af * P 0 l J system . May wendt find in this matter the trace pf some European influence P The crafty , yet immovable Chinaman would surely never of himself have

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1858, page 977, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2260/page/25/