No doubt, these northern maritime countries could be regarded in no other light than that of formidable rivals. Therefore Mr. Richmond and his fellow-shipowners saw with alarm any efforts made to throw open the trade of the Empire, as the increasing success of these foreign rivals must obviously dispossess English shipowners of an immense portion of the carrying trade. Mr. Richmond, therefore, demanded, that not only the Reciprocity Treaties should be annulled, but that the law of Charles II. should be adopted, which enacted that “no goods or commodities whatsoever of the growth, production, or manufacture of Africa, Asia, or America, or of any part thereof, or which are described, or laid down, in the usual maps or cards of those places, be imported into England, Ireland, or Wales, the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, or the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in any other ship or ships, but in such as do truly, and without fraud, belong only to the people of England,” &c.
Such were the extreme views promulgated by many of the advocates of Protection. Indeed, the majority of the shipowners, especially of the eastern ports, would not have hesitated to retaliate on the vessels of the northern nations with hostile tonnage duties. Nor was their feeling less hostile against France, though the trade with that country was insignificant except for the conveyance of coals; as, in all the French contracts, it was stipulated that coal should be transported thither in either French or English vessels. The extreme Protectionists asserted that the Spaniards and Italians were monopolising a large portion of the trade from Liverpool; and that American merchants, in sending an order for goods to be executed in England, “gave special orders that they should be shipped on board an American liner.”
Evidence of Mr. Braysher, Collector of Customs in London.
As, however, the object of this work is rather to show the practical working of the old Navigation Laws than to dwell on the political opinions propounded in this controversy, it is desirable to allude to the evidence given by Mr. Braysher, at that time the Collector of Customs in London,[73] who stated that in the discharge of his duties it was requisite to see that the Navigation Act was duly enforced.
General effect of the Navigation Laws on the Customs.
With the Northern ports,
Some curious results were developed in the course of his evidence with regard to the working of these laws. Thus the second clause of the Act relating to the trade between Europe and England gave certain privileges in the carrying of twenty-nine “enumerated” articles, all of which, with two exceptions, were raw materials, and, therefore, only importable from Europe in British ships. The intention of the law had been, originally, to permit the importation of raw materials only; and, till recently, all manufactured goods were either positively or virtually prohibited by the imposition of the high duties. It appeared, however, that butter and cheese, and also the spirit named geneva, could be imported in foreign ships, but no advantage was taken of this privilege. The timber trade differed, as that article could be imported in a ship of the country where it grew, or in a ship of the country from which it was usually brought, but this privilege, with these exceptions, was given entirely to British vessels. Nevertheless, British ships did not generally bring timber from the Baltic ports to England; while in the unprotected trade of butter and cheese, which was considerable, British shipowners, by means of steamers, monopolised the chief part of it.[74] The inference from these circumstances was drawn that Protection had very little to do in controlling the course of this trade. Russia was, however, an exception, as the vast proportion of that trade was carried on by British ships; and this, necessarily, arose from the provisions of the second clause of the Navigation Act, because tallow, hemp, flax and pitch, the chief produce of Russia, could only be brought in British or Russian ships; and, as there was not a sufficient Russian mercantile marine to maintain the trade, a virtual monopoly of it fell to British ships, partly through the Navigation Law and partly through the relative circumstances of the merchant marine of the two countries.
and America.
Much stress was laid on the fact that goods, the produce of “America,” could not be brought from Europe; thus, by this clause, American cotton once landed at Havre[76] could not be brought over for the consumption of the manufacturers, whatever demand might exist for the article. It was, however, proved that this clause was framed long prior to the American independence, and, hence, had no special reference to cotton, nor, indeed, any political tendency.
Difficulty about “manufactured” articles.