[277] Moniteur, 18th Nov., 1810. At Hamburg, in 1811, under the bloody government of Davoust, an unhappy father was shot for having introduced into his house a small sugar-loaf, of which his family stood in need: yet at that very moment Napoleon was probably signing a licence for the importation of a million of such loaves. Smuggling on a small scale was punished with death; but the government carried it on upon the greatest scale. The same regulations filled the prisons with victims and the imperial coffers with revenue. Note by Alison, vol. xi. p. 173, from Bourrienne, vol. vii. p. 233.
[278] The freight on wheat from the Baltic rose to 50s. per quarter. The price of linseed advanced from 43s. to 150s. Hemp rose in price from 58l. to 108l. per ton; flax from 58l. per ton in 1807, to 118l. per ton in the following year. Memel timber, which, during 1806 and 1807, had varied from the extremes of 73s. to 170s. per load, advanced to 340s. per load; while deals rose in a similar proportion. Russian tallow rose from 53s. to 112s. per cwt. Freights on all these articles ranged exceedingly high. For instance, timber was charged at 10l. per load; tallow at 20l. and hemp at 30l. per ton; in fact, at ten to twenty times greater than the current rates of the present period (Tooke’s ‘History of Prices,’ vol. i. pp. 309-343).
[279] A copy of these warrants will be found in ‘Parl. Papers,’ 1808, vol. xi. p. 117. They were signed by the Lords of the Treasury.
[280] Many remarkable cases occurred of goods being sent by a circuitous route. On one occasion two parcels of silk were despatched from Bergamo, in Italy, to England at the same time. One was sent by the way of Smyrna, and the other by the way of Archangel. The former was a twelvemonth, and the latter two years on its passage. The expenses attending the importation of silk which was brought by these and similar routes through the north of Europe were enormous. Some silk likewise came through France, and the charges of conveyance from Italy to Havre, and duty of transit, amounted to nearly 100l. per bale of 240 lbs. net weight, exclusive of freight and insurance from Havre hither.
[281] For instance, the charge of freight and French licence on a vessel of very little more than fifty tons burthen have been known to amount to 50,000l. for the voyage, merely from London to Calais and back. In another instance a vessel, the whole cost of which, including the outfit, did not exceed 4,000l., earned a gross freight of 80,000l. on a voyage from Bordeaux to London and back (see Tooke’s ‘History of Prices,’ vol. i. p. 310).
[282] As an instance in our own experience of the effect of blockades in more recent times, it may be mentioned that England obtained, during the whole of the late war with Russia, her supplies of hemp, tallow, and other Russian produce in almost as great abundance from that country as she did during peace, but at greatly enhanced prices to the British consumer. These articles, instead of being shipped in the ordinary course of commerce direct from the Baltic ports, were carried across the frontiers into Germany, or Belgium, or France, and by railway rapidly found their way to the ports of neutral countries, and thence were exported to England, so that the modern means of transit would seem not only to render in a great measure nugatory the effect of blockades, but to greatly enhance the price of all articles to the nation which establishes them. Thus, while England was very heavily taxed to maintain an effective blockade of the Russian ports, her people paid at least one hundred per cent. more for numerous articles produced in that country, articles, too, be it remembered, necessary for their existence. Would it not be advisable for English statesmen to consider if, in the interests of this country, the right of blockade, as well as the capture of private property at sea, could not now be erased from the ancient laws of nations?
[283] The amount received in 1807 was 12,609l. 12s.
[284] ‘Parl. Papers,’ 27, 1808, vol. x. p. 359.
[285] Vide ‘Proceedings in the Privy Council on Licences to Trade and Navigate,’ vol. x. p. 1808.
[286] Vide Speeches of Mr. Brougham and Mr. Canning (‘Parl. Debates,’ vol. xxi. p. 1108, et seq.).