Mr Porter himself tells us that the centesimal proportion of our trade with the European powers has declined (p. 410) from 65 to 52·38, while that of our colonies has increased thus,—
| 1802. | 1814. | 1835. | 1844. | |||||
| Tons. | Cent. prop. | Tons. | Cent. prop. | Tons. | Cent. prop. | Tons. | Cent. prop. | |
| America | 336,344 | 18·54 | 343,658 | 19·32 | 886,524 | 26·21 | 984,850 | 19·50 |
| Africa | 7,270 | 0·40 | 13,514 | 0·76 | 40,131 | 1·21 | 157,364 | 3·12 |
| India, &c. | 67,627 | 3·72 | 74,117 | 4·16 | 161,473 | 4·88 | 264,978 | 5·25 |
| Australia | ... | ... | 488 | ·02 | 16,019 | 0·48 | 36,454 | 0·74 |
| 411,241 | 19·66 | 431,727 | 24·26 | 1,104,147 | 32·78 | 1,443,646 | 28·61 | |
Such has been the working of the reciprocity system, as compared with the protective and colonial—in other words, free trade in shipping with some particular nations—in twenty years. And it is from this experience of the effects of the partial adoption of these principles that the Free-traders now propose to make it universal!
America is the country to which, in comparison with Great Britain, the Free-traders constantly refer for a demonstration of the justice and beneficial operation of their principles. We accept the instance, and proceed to inquire into the comparative value of the American protected trade with our own colonies, and the American free trade with the United States, both at this time and in the respective progress of each for the last twenty-five years.
The foreign and British tonnage with the United States, Canada, and the West Indies, in the year 1847, stood thus, viz.:—
| British tons. | Foreign tons. | Total. | |
| British North American Colonies | 953,466 | 3,724 | 954,190 |
| British West Indies | 243,388 | ....... | 243,388 |
| Total protected | 1,196,854 | ....... | 1,197,578 |
| United States of America (unprotected) | 437,095 | 651,189 | 1,088,284 |
—Parliamentary Paper, 3d April 1848.
So that, while our West India and North American colonies, under this Protective system, support 1,196,854 tons of British shipping against 3,724 of foreign, or 300 to 1 nearly; the American trade with the United States only maintains 437,095 of British against 651,189 of foreign; in other words, about 2 to 3 nearly! But the Free-traders think it better to adopt the system which makes the foreign shipping to the British as 3 to 2, than uphold the one which has brought the foreign shipping to the British, in the colonial trade, as 1 to 300!
Observe, too, the decisive proof which the same return affords of the vast superiority, in every point of view, of our colonial trade to our foreign, even in the hands of our best free-trade customers, the Americans. For while less than 3,000,000 of souls between the West India and North American colonies furnished employment to 1,197,000 tons of British and foreign shipping, of which 1,193,000 was British; twenty millions of Americans in the United States only furnished employment to 1,088,284 tons of shipping, in all of which no more than 437,095 were British! And this is the pet instance of the Free-traders—their favourite cheval de bataille—to demonstrate the great superiority of free and foreign over protected and colonial trade!