Free Trade And The National Revenue

One of Ui ruost unreasonuble, und for tlmt verv renaon ono of the most unmanagaable, of tlio objections with wbiuli wo in thi.s country shull he forced to donl ia rcliuving lh.ö peojile and the treasury f rom the incubas of our actual tariff, is the notio that frce trade is incompatible ith a hngo debt and the uecessity ot' a largo and elastio nulioual reven ue. This notirn is held by multitudes of well-inoaning people, and it connnonly takes sorao süüIi iorui ou thoir lips as . Ibis: " We have nothiug to say to tbo " advautaga or disadvuntago of freo '■ trade when the country ia mt of debt, " but it is snrprWsg that auyborty " tihoukl propose freo trado nmv I" Agaiust sucb. a propositioa, so uttoreJ, of wlmt earthly use is analytie argu I mont 't One wastos tima and breath in soaking to provo to D nuui who needs prooi' Üiereof, that the fiuancial System v hich enriches a solvent nation i.s uot likely tn uipoverish nu insolveut O'ic. But the argument from exsiaple ma) posfibly be more oiï'eütivo; aud tho l.ist iive yeni's of Kuglish hitory lavd given us suoh a losson on tilia head aa tha vvorld had nevur beiora roceivod, und as the mast obtusa and perverso oí New Englaod prolectionists will seareely sueoeed in evftding, The expuriment of free tradu bas first been triod in our owtl times by the motjt heavily taxed nnd the most deeply iudebted of modern nations. It had, indeed, been tried long beforo on a very considerable soale by a ])ooplo sorely weigliod down by the burdeus ufa most awful and exhausting war, and wilh ex omplary suoeess. A curious traot laid before Qneon Elizabeth by Sir Waltor Raleigli, Ihrec centurias ngo, callod the attenüon of the Virgin Quecn to tlm decay of Euglieh indiistry aud eoni morce under the sevore imposts atended for theiir protection, as eontrasted with tho flourishmg (ouditiou of the citizens of Holland under a modified system of f'noe intercourf-e with foreign parts, whereby, notwithstanding the heavy lossea wliich the Notherlands had snffered in thair conflict with Spain, those thrifty burghers were fast mouopolizing the trade of Europe, and layiug the foundationa of a gréat maritimo state. It is to be hoped that the material for a similar and still more iuipressive contrast between the resulta of a wise and liberal and of a foolish and disablin legislation are not to be furnished to some future writer by the contempor ary iinannial history of Great Britain on the one hand, and of the Unitod States on the other. Yet, up to tho present moment it must be admitted the signa of the times are as mennoing for us as they are eucouragiug for our trans Atlantic cousius. During tha last eix years bofore the önal adoption of a free trade polioy in Great Britain the taxes imposed aud the taxes repealed by Parliainent very riearïy balauoed each othcr in amouüt, as follows : Yean. Tares Imposed. Taxes Rrpealcd. il L2,161227 L2,131,096 Oí tut) taxes repealed, the principal item was the reduction of tho postage to one pcDuy, being a stop toward easing the nalion of that barden vvhich the deelaimers ag:iinst free tvade persist in making the people regard as thu heaviest they havo to bear - the burdeu of direct laxatton. Of the taxes imposed, the prineipal item was a heavy lacréate in eiHstoms, duties being in the jargon of the proteotionists, a removal ot' burdeüs irom the Englisb nation upon tho shouMers of "foroiguers," and au '-ndirect" tay. Wli ut was the result? "Was the revouuo made moro elastic ? Wcro the exiciises of the ffovernnieat essened and ts reeeipts increased ? In other words, was tho nation helpad toward oarryiDg ts cebta moro lightly and comfortably f Srot at all. ïho revenues diminished ustead of increasing duriug these fivo Vears as follows : Yccrs. Revenue. 863 L48,591.180 811 .48,09,360 Me:iuvhile the natiouul dubt grew no maller; the iiational expenses aug mented, and a general l'eolijig of dintoonent and uneasiiiess grevv up tbroughout bc reul;n, which found vent iu agrartan utragas ia tho rural distiicts, in an inrease of oriine in thü great citiea, and n the agitation of tho most radical and evolu ion-iry schemes by the Chanists i'ree trade carno in, was estabüshed by ie repeal of the coru-laws, and in 1852 vas eonlirmed by a decisiva vote of tbc Jomtiions as the permanent pulicv of Sngland - England ia 1852 being sf 11 :ie mout heavily mdebted country ia GhrisendoiB, Let us novv see tlie couso of taxatiou nd of rfevenue under this new policy During the lust sis years the account f tases imposed and of taxas repealod ii (ircat Britain stands aa follows : Years. Taxes Imposed. Taxes Repealed. 1800-61 3,2ü;i,:il5 L1 'J,2u9,8G3 In other wurds, wo havo a difference of $16,030,6-18, or moro Iban $80,000,000, of taxea repealed or reduced over taxes imposed and augmented, witli the resalí upon the national revcnue of suoli an increase in elastioity that, though o much loss has been askod of it, it has given ns much as it yielded undor tho previous and severer pressure : Years. R venuc. 1&60 Cl L70,283.074 18Ü4-G5 70,313,486 i Aiid Mr. Gladstone, tho nble, and energetic. and courageous financial minister who has dared thus boldly to trust hitnself and tho resources of Eugland to tho ascertaiued laws of national woalth and powor, has just had the satisfaction of meeting an imperial Parliament iu tho last sessiou of it existence witli a surplus of L'2,000,000 ; wkh a reduction of oüc third n the floatjflg debt of England, and with a proposition for tUill further lightening the burdens imposed upon Eoglieb indaatry and onterprisc. And all thi has been done, observe, iu tho facu of a lioavier expondituro tban was ovor before made by any Brituh govoinmcDt duriug a timo oí ponec. The Earopean "peace" of the last five years has been "an arined poice." Tho uDcertainties atteuding tho Ameiican civil war auc! tho threatcuing aspect oi various political questious of the first importanuo in Europe - the queftioo of the E:iit, t!ic Polish question, the un question, tho Dano-Oermanic, o", na Mr. Soward iu one of bis charaetciis'.ic dispatohee thinks üt lo baptize, it the " Dánico Gemianía" questii n - heve cmnbinod to compel (Lo Bntish governlücnt iuto Iicmvv and inoossaut oullays on tho public aefenses. Tlie great debato betwccn. "arrnor" ind " artilleij" has hJbo üssunied oollossal proportiuns during ilieso five yeurs, aod luis gívon birth üonse]Uont]y to fresh and extraor dinary calis upou the Briiidb oxchequer. Vet sucli is tho vitikliíing forcé oí tho principie ef froe trade, sucli flie trñmBodoti.1 power foF good resultant from tho simple emancipa' ion of tho productiva aud tlie oonsnzniftg power ofa great people, that thu Britih ehancellor of the ezoheqaer, lo spitc of all these embarassing cirou'iistnncas, has been there liy enabled to.make for liiuifclf tho proudest record in tho mináis of lí t itish finanoo ! - New Yor7c H'oiIJ. Tho young king of üreeoo will Hoon marry, suya rumor, tho Princess Olga, dailghter oí' tho Grand Duke Constantino, oí ltugdia.