The only farther measure he had to submit, was an operation on the great sum of Exchequer bills now in circulation. This amounted to a little more than 34,000,000l., bearing an interest of 2d. per cent per day. He proposed to transfer four millions of these to the regular funded debt, and to reduce the interest on the rest d. per day. This would produce an annual

saving of between two and three hundred thousand pounds.

We may finally notice, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, almost spontaneously, came forward, and expressed his intention to remit the taxes on law-proceedings, a measure clearly just and expedient, and which gave general satisfaction.

THIS was a busy session, in regard to commerce. Those great principles of liberty, which had been avowedly adopted by the present ministry, but had hitherto been brought into action only by timid and incipient steps, were now brought forward on a great scale, and with intimations of their future more complete and unqualified adoption. As the leading members of the Whig, and even of the popular side, had either formed for themselves, or imbibed from Mr Ricardo, similar views as to this branch of policy, the measures of government were powerfully seconded, and their success could scarcely admit of doubt. At the same time, as the machinery of the new arrangements rolled on, a large mass of resistance, from various quarters, was insensibly collected. There were many, both old Whigs and old Tories, who stuck to the old English mercantile policy, and had many plausible common-places to urge in its defence. It was under this

VOL. XVII. PART I.

system that England had prospered for centuries; we had had experience of it, and we had none of those new-fangled notions which were now the rage. It was represented as a kind of madness to pay our money for the foreign fabrics which our own manufacturers, if they had only a little of what is called protection, could easily supply. These arguments and prejudices were second- . ed by the extensive private interests, which every such change unfavourably affected. Petition after petition was poured in, representing, in the most exaggerated and doleful terms, the evils to which British interests would be exposed from this foreign competition. Meantime, the benefits derived from the introduction of cheaper and better commodities, being diffused over the whole mass of the nation, were not the business or the benefit of any particular person. The public did not come forward in their own behalf; they had a tendency to think, that people

D

belonging to the trade would be the best judges, and were patriotically willing to sacrifice this small interest of their own, for what they might suppose to be the public benefit. For these causes, the opposition to the application of the improved system of political economy is not only powerful, but, perhaps, on the increase.

All these conflicting sentiments and principles were brought into play by the proposed change on the silk duties, one of the oldest and most decided theatres of commercial warfare between the rival nations of England and France. To exclude the silks of France, as the article in which alone we were obliged to confess a humbling inferiority, had been a favourite stroke of the old commercial policy. Under the prohibitory system thus prompted, there had grown up an extensive and extending manufacture. Silks were becoming a British staple, and had even begun to be exported. There were, therefore, large interests liable to be affected by its free import from a rival country, so long celebrated as the main seat of this manufacture.

Under these circumstances, it is not to be wondered, that when the plan of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was announced, it should excite a pretty strong sensation among all concerned with the trade in silk. On the 6th March, Mr Baring, in presenting a petition from Taunton, brought the subject before the notice of the house. He declared himself, though an advocate for free trade in general, an enemy to this measure. He suspected that the skill of the French in dying, produced by the application of chemistry to that art, and the cheapness of labour, would enable them decidedly to undersell our manufacturers. He laid down the broad principle, that no partial alterations of this nature should be made till the legislature should begin with the corn

laws, which raised the price of bread and the wages of labour. Mr Baring, in the course of the debate, greatly abated his professions of attachment to free trade, by stating, that he wished it only so far as that this country might become the entrepot of the world, but not to open a free entrance to the manufactures of the continent. Mr Denman urged, in preference, the repeal of taxes which would be sensibly and generally felt; and Mr Ellice, joining with Mr Baring in thinking, that the beginning ought to be made with the corn-laws, conceived also, that the first alteration of the system should be in some branch of our industry not so liable to the competition of foreigners. Mr Canuing and Mr Peel observed, that to delay till the corn-laws were repealed, was to put off to a period quite indefinite the removal of the restrictions on trade. Mr Hume, in the most decided manner, here joined ministers against the Whigs. By the evidence given before the committee, this fact seemed to be established, that if the raw material of silk could be obtained upon as easy terms as raw cotton, there was no reason why we should not excel other nations in the manufacture of silk as we did in cotton. What would be the effect of this wise measure? Why, to take 25 per cent off the price of the raw article, and to throw much more extensive employment into the hands of the manufacturer; for it could not be doubted that the immediate effect of this reduction would be an increased consumption; and that, therefore, every man now petitioning against it from a mistaken view of the case, would be immediately benefited by having full employment; and Mr Hume would venture to predict, that every silk-weaver's wages would be increased 25 per cent beyond what they had been for the last six months.

Notwithstanding the brisk opposition encountered in the outset, the bill made its way. To soften the objections made by the manufacturers, the Chancellor of the Exchequer agreed to grant a drawback on the silks actually on hand, provided they were bonded by the 25th of March. Finally, to break the immediate pressure of foreign competition, it was agreed, that the admission of foreign silks at 30 per cent, should not take place till July 1825. With these qualifications, although the opponents of the bill insisted on being heard by counsel against it, this did not prevent it from being ultimately carried in a manner tolerably harmonious. At the same time, the absurd regulations respecting the wages of the trade in London and Dublin, were done away with, and thus every part was left, or soon to be left, in that unshackled state which an enlightened policy dictated.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had stated the amount of the drawback to be paid on silk goods on hand as not likely to exceed 300,000l. On the 8th May, however, when bringing forward the budget, he mentioned that it would approach 500,000l. This certainly exceeded what he had flattered himself would be the amount, but it fell infinitely short of the enormous sum which it had been held out to them would be necessary, and so held out to terrify them out of a measure, which, sound in principle, far from realizing the evils which had been anticipated by some, would, he was confident, produce that great and general benefit which he and others who supported it had calculated might be expected. It was a subject of just congratulation to the House, that a measure of that kind, conflicting with so many established opinions and interests, should have been carried into effect as this had been. The individuals who had, in the first instance,

been alarmed at the proposition, had, in their efforts to induce Parliament to reject it, conducted themselves in that way which had always distinguished their proceedings, and which entitled them to the kindest attention of the House whenever aught which affected their interests might be brought into discussion. It was highly satisfactory to know that the change had been so quietly effected, and he begged to state it to be his opinion, that this might be regarded as the triumph of truth over prejudice, on which those by whom it had been achieved had a right to congratulate both the Parliament and the country. The 500,000l. repaid to effect this object, those who wished to act on sound principles, as well as talk of them, (which almost every one was given to do,) would consider to be money well laid out. It had the effect of keeping the silk trade in a constant state of activity in every part of the country, and had served to remove the prejudices of individuals who might otherwise have opposed the new measures.

Mr Robinson extended the system of free trade to that of wool, long considered the main staple of British manufacturing industry, and still its most genuine and native branch. Wool was also an extensive agricultural product; and in the conflict between the growers and the consumers, whom the legislature was equally anxious to favour, a sort of compromise had been formed, not of mutual freedom, but of mutual restriction. The prohibition of the exportation of British wool was a monopoly of the manufacturer against the agriculturist, in return for which, the latter received a duty of sixpence per pound on all wool imported. Trade, production, and manufacture, all suffered by this system. Mr Robinson, therefore, introduced a motion, by which expor