Mr. Alderman Waithmanrose for the purpose of submitting to the House certain Resolutions connected with the trade and commerce of the country, and founded on parliamentary documents, which he conceived to be of the highest importance. On a former occasion, when 2 he introduced this subject to the notice of the House, his arguments were met by a preposterous statement of Mr. Huskisson, about the increase of our exports, to the amount of several millions per annum; but, happening to know that a great depreciation in the real value had taken place, he felt it his duty to contradict that statement. Unfortunately, Mr. Huskisson's authority in the House was so great, that his assertion passed current with it, and no attention was paid to the contradiction. The House was aware that he had, for several years, moved for returns connected with this subject; and he had endeavoured so to simplify those returns, that any one who would take the trouble might comprehend them. According to his view, the state of England was never so bad as it was at present. He had heard it said, that there was now less poverty among the working-classes than some years back; but he had not been able to make that discovery; and, if he had, there would be no reason for not submitting his Resolutions to the House. They were drawn up by him for the purpose of exposing at one view those general results which were connected with this subject. He had not pretended to give any opinions of his own in addition to the data which he had drawn from parliamentary documents. 3 He had confined himself entirely to incontrovertible facts, in order that the House might have no hesitation in giving its sanction to his propositions. He knew that the House objected to the reading of long documents; but he, nevertheless, trusted that it would indulge him while he brought before it the contents of the Resolutions to which he had already referred. His Resolutions, then, were these:—
1. That the trade, manufactures, and commerce of the country are so essentially connected with the interests and prosperity of the British empire, that a retrospect of their state, progress, and fluctuation is at all times highly important, but more particularly at the present moment, when various classes of the community are suffering embarrassment, distress, and privation.2. That it appears by a return made to this House on the 5th of April, 1830, that since the year 1798, the time when the declaration of the real value of goods exported was first required, great changes and fluctuations have taken place in the amount of Exports, and in the relative value of our produce and manufactures, as compared with the official value denoted by rates established at the Custom-house.3. That it should be borne in mind, that the official valuation is an estimate founded upon a rate of prices in the Custom-house books, formed at a remote period, and which, although corresponding with the actual value at the time they were formed, afford no criterion whatever of present value; but they are nevertheless highly useful, inasmuch as they serve to show the increase or decrease, as the same may he, in the quantity of goods exported, and the appreciation or depreciation in price, as compared with the real value.4. That it is material to observe, that not only do these official rates distinctly mark out the alteration and fluctuation in the value of goods exported, but they are of still higher importance, as they equally exhibit the alteration and fluctuation in price, and the appreciation and depreciation in the value of our produce and manufactures for home consumption, and afford means of accounting for national prosperity or depression, and the increase or decrease of the revenue.5. That it appears by the said Parliamentary Return, that in the year ending the 5th January, 1799, the amount of our Exports in real value, exceeded the official value by more than 12,500,000l. per annum; and in the year ending 5th January, 1803, the excess had increased to nearly 20,000,000l. in that one year, being as follows:—
Year, Ending. Official Value. Real Values; Excess of Real over Official. £. £. £. 5th Jan. 1799 18,556,891 31,252,836 12,695,945 — 1803 25,195,893 45,102,330 19,906,437
§ 6. That from the above period a rapid depreciation in the real compared with the official value of our manufactures took place, as will be seen by the yearly average amount of the following averages of five years:— 4
| Average of Five Years from | Yearly Average Official Value. | Yearly Average Real Value. | Yearly Excess of Real. | Yearly Excess of Official. | |
| £. | £. | £. | £. | ||
| Jan. 5, | 1799 | 22,674,252 | 37,193,736 | 15,019,482 | — |
| — | 1803 | ||||
| — | 1808 | 22,662,530 | 37,327,790 | 14,665,260 | — |
| — | 1813 | 28,113,513 | 39,908,466 | 11,794,933 | — |
| — | 1819 | 38,176,325 | 43,971,788 | 5,615,563 | — |
| — | 1824 | 39,554,638 | 35,282,152 | — | 4,262,486 |
| — | 1830 | 48,929,230 | 35,713,824 | — | 13,215,406 |
§ 7. Whereby it appears, that up to the year 1819, comprising a space of twenty years, during which time most of our inventions and improvements in machinery were in full operation, and had had, as well as the revulsion from war to peace, their full effect upon prices, the real, as compared with the official value, had depreciated, upon the average of the five latter years, to the amount of 9,403,919l. per annum; but it should be remarked, that notwithstanding such depreciation, the amount in real value, as compared with the real value of the Exports of the preceding years, had increased 6,778,052l. per annum on the same average.
§ 8. That from the 5th of January, 1819, to the 5th of January, 1830, the real value as compared with the official had depreciated, upon the average of the five latter years, to the further enormous amount of 18,830,968l. per annum, while the Exports in real value, compared with the real value up to 1819 had, as will subsequently appear, decreased several millions per annum.
| £. | £. | |
| 1803.—Exports in real value | 45,105,330 | |
| —official value. | 25,195,893 | |
| 19,906,437 | ||
| 1830.—Exports in official value | 55,465,723 | |
| —real value. | 35,212,873 | |
| 20,252,850 | ||
| Being a depreciation per annum of | 40,159,287 |
§ 9. That it appears by a subsequent return, that the Exports for the two last years were—
| Year Ending. | Official Value. | Real Value. | Excess of Official over Real Value. |
| £. | £. | £. | |
| 5th Jan. 1831 | 60,492,637 | 37,691,302 | 22,801,335 |
| —1832 | 60,090,123 | 36,652,694 | 23,437,429 |
§ Whereby it appears, that a further depreciation has taken place in the two last years, amounting to 3,184,579l. per annum; and although there has been an increase on the exportation of British produce, there has been a decrease in the report of foreign or colonial.
§ 10. That at the commencement of the Session of 1830, this House was assured by the Government, in the Speech from the Throne, "that the Exports had exceeded those of any former year, and afforded indications of active commerce;" although it was admitted "that distress existed in some of the agricultural and manufacturing districts." It appeared, however, by papers subsequently laid before this House, that although the Exports had exceeded those of the former year in quantity, as denoted by official valuation, to the 5
| amount of | £ 3,445,955 |
| Yet in real value they were below those of the former year by | 937,506 |
| Being a depreciation in that one year of | 4,383,461 |
§ 11. That the above is, therefore, a depreciation of about eight per cent upon the value of our manufactures in that year alone, and instead of being "an indication of active commerce," it shows that nearly four and a half millions of the labour of this country has not only been given to foreigners without any equivalent, but it also appears, that we received back in the way of Imports one million and a quarter less than those of the former year; which facts sufficiently account for existing distress, independently of other causes.