History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 3 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

By the various reciprocity treaties Mr. Young considered the Navigation Laws were virtually repealed with regard to those countries with whom we had concluded such conventions: but, while maintaining that these treaties had proved highly prejudicial to Great Britain, he did not recommend a retrograde policy; and we gladly admit that, whatever opinions might be entertained of the ardent Protectionist principles he propounded, his political adversaries bore full testimony to the ability with which he advocated his cause during the days he was under examination, and to the large amount of practical knowledge he brought to bear on the subject. He displayed, too, great tact, and, I must add, great patriotism, viewing the contemplated change in the light he did, when he wound up his evidence by asserting, unequivocally, that the Navigation Laws were framed for the paramount and political purpose of assisting in the defence of this country, as well as for encouraging maritime commerce; that these objects, in his judgment, could never have been obtained and maintained without these great Acts; and that he fully and completely declared his concurrence in the opinion given by Adam Smith, which we have already quoted. “I have no hesitation in declaring,” remarked Mr. Young, in concluding his evidence, “my perfect conviction, that it has been, through the operation of our navigation system entirely, that the maritime power of this country has been raised to its present height, that the country has been defended, and all the evils which would have resulted from its being made the seat of war have been providentially averted.”

Mr. Richmond’s evidence.

Asserts that shipping is a losing trade.

As considerable uneasiness had been felt by those who advocated the policy of Protection with reference to the competition which might be anticipated from the shipping of the three Hanse Towns—Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg—although on inquiry it was shown that the whole tonnage of sea-going ships belonging to these ports was only about 150,000 tons register, it is advisable here to refer to the testimony of Mr. William Richmond, who was deputed by the shipowners of the borough of Tynemouth to appear before the Committee.[66] This gentleman had been a shipowner for nearly fifty years, and, at his advanced age, was reluctant to appear: but zeal for a cause to which he had devoted great energy during a long life, together with the importance of the subject, induced him to come forward to rescue, so far as he could, the shipowners from “impending destruction.” It is unnecessary, however, here to follow him through his elaborate history of the Navigation Laws, but, as an exponent of the views of many shipowners in the north of England, the points he urged most strongly ought not to be overlooked. Strange, however, to say, his first contention was that, for the preceding twenty-five years, the shipping trade had been a losing one, those employed in the Baltic during the whole of that time having made no money whatever. When, naturally, he was asked to explain how it had come to pass that a losing trade should be so long maintained, Mr. Richmond entered into details, which, though not satisfying the Committee as to the whole force of his assertion, threw considerable light on the actual state of the merchant shipping at that period.[67]

Replies to charges against the ship owners.

It had been charged against shipowners, as we have seen,[68] that their ships were unseaworthy, while the masters had been condemned in no measured terms. These accusations he indignantly repelled; his explanation as to the permanence of a losing trade being substantially this—that a distinct class of men existed who were shipowners, and not merchants, whose fathers had been shipowners for successive generations, and had left them ships as their only inheritance; and that, as they could not readily divest themselves of this property, and had no means of buying ships of an improved description fit to compete with vessels of more modern date,[69] their commercial career generally ended with the Gazette.

Views as to captains of merchant ships.

With regard to the qualifications of captains of merchant vessels, Mr. Richmond said that sixty years ago, when he went to sea, very young in life, it was customary for respectable and even wealthy people, in the maritime districts, to send their children to sea: indeed, no matter whether they were shipowners or merchants, agriculturists or manufacturers, one of the family was sent to sea, because it was considered a line in which there was a fair chance of prospering. “But no respectable people send their children to sea now,” he exclaimed, “as it is a profession which, in all probability, would lead them to beggary.”

Praises their nautical skill and capacity.

In nautical skill, Mr. Richmond held the British captain of the present day fully equal to the captain of former days; while he, also, thought, that the ruder the man, on his admission into the hardy profession he was to adopt, the more advantageous it might be to him, at least in the discharge of the rougher part of his professional duties. In the pursuit of freights abroad, on the “seeking system,” these captains, he admitted, might be inferior to some continental captains; but the business of chartering a ship belonged more strictly to the shipbroker; the captain, in his opinion, being in a relation not unlike that of the driver of a coach.