§ The House having resolved itself into a Committee on the Reprocity of Duties act,
§ Mr. Huskissonadverted to the object of the Bill of last session on this subject, enabling the king in council to place the shipping of a foreign state on the same footing as the shipping of Great Britain, provided in the ports of that foreign state British shipping experienced similar advantages. His majesty had been also empowered by the same statute to impose countervailing duties in case any foreign state imposed duties upon any goods or shipping of this country arriving in the ports of that foreign state. It had been found necessary to exercise this last power with regard to the United States. Notwithstanding the act of 1822 had settled the permanent intercourse between our West India Islands and the United States, it appeared that the latter had continued the alien duty on the tonnage of the vessels as well as on the cargo, and it became requisite, therefore, for our own protection, to impose countervailing duties to the extent of those enforced in America. An order in council had accordingly been issued, establishing a duty equal to 94 cents per ton upon the ship, and of 60 cents per ton upon the cargo. This step had certainly been taken by the British government with regret and reluctance, for it was of course very desirous that the duty should be abated in both countries. He was happy to say, however, that the difference was at this time a matter of negotiation between the two countries, and that it had been entered into on both sides in an amicable spirit, with a view merely to secure mutual interests. The step taken by the king in council had not been the result of, nor intended to produce, ill-will in the United States. It had been called for by the justice of the case, and would be gladly retraced whenever the opportunity was afforded. The right hon. gentleman proposed three resolutions, formally to effect the objects he had stated.
Mr. Robertsonexpressed his decided disapprobation of the whole system of reciprocity of duties. He insisted that the course ministers were pursuing would be the ruin of the shipping interest, and especially called the attention of the House to the opinions delivered by the late Mr. 155 Marryat, whose long experience had supplied him with practical knowledge of the utmost value upon this great question. To the visionary theories of a speculative cabinet he had opposed the clear deductions of fact, and had shewn incontrovertibly that in the years 1821 and 1822, 22,000 ton of shipping had been built less than in the two preceding years; that 125,000 ton less had been employed, and 8,000 fewer seamen employed as a school for our navy. The president of the Board of Trade had combated this statement by a reference to the arrivals in Great Britain, forgetting that the increase in those arrivals was to be attributed partly to the improved intercourse with Ireland, and partly to our connection with the Continent, which enabled hundreds of small vessels to make many short voyages in the course of the year. As to reciprocity of duties, Prussia, Russia, and the northern powers, might be happy to join in the scheme, because it promoted their interests essentially; they could find materials and labour for ship-building at half our expence, and yet their vessels would be admitted upon the same terms as our own. With America, however, the case was different; she had already seen that her interests drew the other way, and while she laughed at the simplicity of Great Britain, she was too wary not to avail herself of the advantage it afforded. It had from time immemorial been the politic practice of every nation to tax foreign shipping, in order to prevent interference in any particular branch of trade. The carrying trade was the life and soul of the British navy, and the system now pursued would cut it up root and branch, and it was astonishing that the president of the Board of Trade was not aware of the consequences of the course he recommended. He yet trusted to see the House roused to a sense of the danger of the country from gross inattention to the interests of our shipping and seamen.
§ Mr. Huskissonsaid, he had not expected that on this occasion the principle of the bill of last year would be disputed; and, though quite prepared to justify all that had been done, he did not think that he was now called upon to do so. What the resolutions proposed to do was, in fact, in favour of the system which the hon. member so strenuously advocated.
§ The resolutions were then agreed to.