Chapter XLII: Appendix: No. 6

Letter to the Commercial Association, Lisbon.

Braganza Hotel, Lisbon,
28th January, 1863.

SIR,

My engagements have been such that it has not been in my power
till now to answer your letter of the 20th instant. I have,
however, in the interval been endeavouring to obtain statistical
information in regard to the amount of tonnage belonging to this
country, and the entrances and clearances of ships at its ports.
I have obtained that information so far as regards the commerce
of Lisbon and Oporto, but I cannot find that any returns are
published of the general commerce of Portugal or of its shipping.
I am therefore unable to offer an opinion to the members of your
association respecting the effect produced upon your shipping, and
on the sea-borne commerce, by your navigation and commercial laws.
The trade of Lisbon, however, so far as the entries inwards and
outwards are concerned, shows little or no increase these last six
years.

Considering the geographical position of Portugal and its natural
resources, you seem to have more to gain by free intercourse with
other nations than most other countries. The magnificent Tagus
offers facilities which few harbours in Europe possess. Yet, with
these great natural advantages, you do not appear to be doing
one-half the amount of trade you might do, and I believe this
arises in a great measure from the restrictive nature of your
Navigation Laws, and the cumbrous, slow, and harassing character
of your Customs’ regulations.

England maintained somewhat similar Navigation Laws up to 1869.
At that time the aggregate tonnage of the merchant navy of the
British Empire was 4,232,962 tons. It had risen from 2,681,276
tons in 1815, showing an increase of 1,551,686 tons in thirty-five
years of Protection, and it was, therefore, argued by many
persons that the repeal of those laws, while it would benefit the
Shipowners of other nations, would be suicidal to our own. But
our leading statesmen were of a very different opinion. They felt
that it was for the interest of the people of Great Britain to
have the freest possible intercourse with all nations; to import
what they required, and export what they had to sell at the lowest
cost; and, as shipping is not the parent but merely the child of
commerce, they foresaw that it must increase with the increased
intercourse with other nations. The result has proved the wisdom
of their opinions. A reference to our Board of Trade returns (a
copy of which I will send to you on my return to England) shows
the enormous increase of our commerce, and the consequent increase
of the wealth and prosperity of our people.

Since the 1st of January, 1850, ships of all nations have been
allowed to enter and leave our ports, and to trade to our colonies
and possessions on the same terms in all respects as our own
vessels. And while our people have been large gainers by the
repeal of the Navigation Laws, an Act which that year came into
operation, our Shipowners have been greatly benefited, for in
1860 we owned 5,710,968 tons of shipping, showing an increase in
ten years of Free-trade nearly as great as the increase during
thirty-five years of Protection.

But the increase in the amount of business carried on in British
ships to and from the ports of Great Britain is even more
remarkable.

In 1842 there were entered and cleared at our ports of British
shipping, 6,669,995 tons.

In 1850 there were entered and cleared at our ports of British
shipping, 9,442,544 tons.

In 1861 there were entered and cleared at our ports of British
shipping, 15,420,532 tons.

The increase being 2,772,549 tons during nine years of Protection,
while it was no less than 5,977,988 tons during eleven years of
Free-trade.

But experience has proved that restrictive laws are injurious to
all countries which maintain them. It is verified in your our own
case. See what the trade of the Tagus has become to that of the
Thames or Mersey, though the former affords much greater natural
facilities for shipping and commerce. It has long been apparent
in Spain; and though the wealth and great natural resources of
that country are now in course of development by means of railway
communication, its intercourse with other countries is still
very limited, and must remain so while they continue to maintain
high differential duties, which yield little or no revenue, and
seriously curtail their intercourse with the world.

Even France is a striking example of the loss a nation sustains
by endeavouring by means of Protection to shut herself up within
herself.

It is thus evident that every restriction a country imposes upon
its freedom of intercourse with other countries—while it curtails
the operations of its merchants, and enhances the price of the raw
material to its manufacturers, increasing also the cost of the
commodity to the people—must necessarily curtail the employment of
its Shipowners.

These restrictive laws often compel merchants to buy what they
require, at greatly enhanced prices, articles not produced in the
country from whence they are imported; as is the case in your
importations from England of cotton, sugar, coffee, hemp, jute,
silk, foreign wool, and numerous other articles, all arising in
a great measure from the fact that the differential duties[315]
imposed by your Navigation Laws oblige you to import foreign
manufactures or produce, either in your own ships or in the ships
of the country where the articles were produced. Consequently the
people of Portugal pay much higher prices than we do for almost
every article they require to import from other countries, for
the exclusive benefit of your Shipowners, who do not increase
the number of their vessels. But these restrictive laws retard
the natural progress of commerce in ways too numerous to mention
within the limits of a letter, and they are as absurd as they
are pernicious. Their absurdity becomes apparent when you ask
yourself the question, why should the merchants of either France
or Portugal not be allowed, when it suits their purpose, to import
direct, in any ships they please, the produce of Europe, Asia,
Africa, or America, instead of importing it through England or
through any other country where it is _not_ grown?

France, as you are aware, has recently made great changes in her
commercial tariff, and ere long she will, I daresay, make as great
changes in her Navigation Laws. I can offer no opinion to your
Chamber of Commerce beyond advising its members in the interests
of their country to urge the Legislature by petitions and by
every constitutional means within their power _to remove every
restriction in your Customs’ regulations not absolutely necessary
for the protection of the revenue, to reduce the duties upon all
articles of large consumption, to abolish all differential duties
which yield little or no revenue, and to repeal your Navigation
Laws, which do the people great injury, and do not benefit your
Shipowners except in rare instances_.

I am thoroughly convinced that by some such changes as these much
of your ancient greatness and grandeur would be restored. Unwise
laws, combined with other matters too delicate for me to name,
have done perhaps more to retard your progress than the loss of
your possessions in the East, or your severance from the Brazils.
Indeed, had Portugal adopted Free-trade measures at the time of
that severance she would have retained the bulk of the Brazilian
commerce; but your Protection laws set up barriers at all your
ports, through which very few ships but your own could enter—they
drove trade from your cities, and the very bread from the mouths
of your children. No wonder that the glory of Portugal passed
away; and that your merchants, who were, indeed, princes in the
days of Vasco de Gama, are now almost unknown in the markets of
Europe.

Even, in spite of your restrictive laws, the natural facilities
of the Tagus are still so great and so many that vessels from
the Brazils are beginning to make it their port of call, and if
the changes I have ventured to name are carried into effect, I
am certain that Lisbon, from its position, is destined to carry
on a very extensive traffic with the world. It may even become
one of the great entrepôts for the supply of many of the European
markets, as the railways now in course of construction will afford
facilities for conveying its imports, not merely to the interior
of Portugal and to Spain, but also to more distant parts of Europe.

It is, indeed, sad to look, as I now do, from the window of my
hotel upon the beautiful but lifeless Tagus—to think what it
_is_ by nature, what it _was_ in commerce, and what it
might be under wise and liberal laws. The future is in the hands
of your own people, and the members of your chamber might become
instruments of great good by the dissemination of statistical
and other information bearing upon the questions on which you
have invited my opinion. You have happily a free press, which
will enable your chamber to do so to great advantage. I return to
England to-morrow. When I reach home I shall forward to you copies
of the works you desire to possess, as also other publications
which may be of service to you. Much useful information might also
be obtained from the various ministers and consuls resident in
this city; and I am sure they will only be too happy to assist you
in the laudable object you have in view, for the countries they
represent, especially England and France, are deeply interested in
every measure tending to create greater intercourse between your
country and their own.

I am, Sir,
Your very obedient and faithful servant,

W. S. LINDSAY.

To A. J. P. SERZEDELLO, junior, Esq.,
&c. &c. &c.,
Secretary to the Commercial Association, Lisbon.