Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 331, May, 1843

It may, we conceive, be assumed from these citations of some few of the larger values exported to Spain under the head of "Foreign and Colonial Merchandise," that the total amount of such values, inclusive of all the commodities non-enumerated here, would not exceed L.150,000, which, added to the L.404,252 already stated as the "declared values" of "British and Irish produce" also exported, would give a total export for 1840 of L.554,250.

We come now to the imports from Spain and the Balearic Isles, direct also into the United Kingdom, as stated in the Board of Trade tables in quantities; selecting the chief articles only, however:—

Applying the same plan of calculation upon an average of the prices ruling in the London market, we arrive at the following approximate results:—

On several of the foregoing commodities the average rates of price on which they are calculated may be esteemed as moderate, such as wines, brandies, raisins, &c.; and several are exclusive of duty charge, as where the averages are estimated at the prices in bond. In other commodities the average rates are inclusive of duty. Wines, brandies, quicksilver, barilla, are exclusive of duty, for example; the others, duty paid, but in some instances duties scarcely more than nominal. On the other hand, it must be taken into the account, for the purpose of a fair comparison, that these average estimates of the prices of imported merchandise do include and are enhanced by the expense of freights and the profits of the importer, and therefore all the difference must be in excess of the cost price at which shipped, and by which estimated in Spain. The "declared values" of British exports to Spain embrace but a small proportion, perhaps, of these shipping charges, and are altogether irrespective of duties levied on arrival in Spanish ports. As not only a fair, but probably an outside allowance, let us, therefore, redress the balance by striking off 20 per cent from the total estimated values of imports from Spain to cover shipping charges, profits, and port-dues, whether included in prices or not. The account will then stand thus:—

The acceptation is so common, it has been so long received as a truism unquestionable as unquestioned, as well in Spain as in Great Britain, of British commerce being one-sided, and carrying a large yearly balance against the Peninsular state, that these figures of relative and approximate quantities can hardly fail to excite a degree of astonishment and of doubt also. It will be, as it ought to be, observed at once, that the trade with Spain direct represents one part of the question only; that the indirect trade through Gibraltar, and elsewhere, might, in its results, reverse the picture. The objection is reasonable, and we proceed to enquire how far it is calculated to affect the statement.

The total "declared value" of the exports of British and Irish produce, and manufactures to Gibraltar, for the year 1840, is stated at

It may be asserted as a fact, for, although not on official authority, yet we have it from respectable parties who have been resident on, and well conversant with the commerce of that rock, that, of the cotton goods thus imported into Gibraltar, the exports to Ceuta and the opposite coast of Africa amount, on the average, to L.70,000 per annum. Of linens and woollens a considerable proportion find their way there also, and to Italian ports. Of British and colonial merchandise exported to Gibraltar in the same year, the following may be considered to be mainly, or to some extent, designed for introduction into Spain:—

Some cotton piece-goods from India, and silk goods, such as bandannas, &c., pepper, cloves, &c., &c., were also exported there; say, inclusive of the quantities enumerated above, to the total value of L.100,000 of commodities, of which a considerable proportion was destined for Spain. Assuming the whole of the cotton goods to be for introduction into Spain, minus the quantity dispatched to the African coast, we have in round numbers the value of

Again, however, various products of Spain are also imported into the United Kingdom via Gibraltar, such as—

It may be fairly assumed, therefore, that to the extent of L.100,000 of Spanish products, consisting, besides the foregoing, of wines, skins, pig-lead, &c., &c., is brought here through Gibraltar, which, added to the amount of the imports from Spain direct, will sum up the account thus:—

—A sum nearly equal to the amount of the exports to Spain direct. As we remarked before, these figures and valuations, which are sufficiently approximative of accuracy for any useful purpose, will take public men and economists, both here and in Spain, by surprise. Amongst other of the more distinguished men of the Peninsula, Señor Marliani, enlightened statesman, and well studied in the facts of detail and the philosophy of commercial legislation as he undoubtedly is, does not appear to have exactly suspected the existence of evidence leading to such results.

From the incompleteness of the Spanish returns of foreign trade, it is unfortunately not possible to test the complete accuracy of those given here by collation. The returns before us, and they are the only ones yet undertaken in Spain, and in order, embrace in detail nine only of the principal ports:—

Although these are the principal ports of Spain, yet they are not the only ports open to foreign trade, although, comparatively, the proportion of foreign traffic shared by the others would be much less considerable. It is remarkable, under the circumstances, how closely these Spanish returns of exports to Great Britain approach to our own valuations of the total imports from Spain direct, as calculated from market prices upon the quantities alone rendered in the tables of the Board of Trade.

The public writers and statesmen of Spain have long held, and still maintain the opinion, that the illicit introduction into that country of British manufactures whose legal import is prohibited, or greatly restricted by heavy duties, is carried on upon a much more extensive scale than what is, or can be, the case. In respect of cotton goods, the fact is particularly insisted upon. It may be confidently asserted, for it is susceptible of proof, that much exaggeration is abroad on the subject. We shall bring some evidence upon the point. There can be no question that, so far as British agency is directly concerned, or British interest involved, in the contraband introduction of cottons, or other manufactures, or tobacco, it is almost exclusively represented by the trade with Gibraltar. We are satisfied, moreover, that the Spanish consumption of cotton goods is overrated, as well as the amount of the clandestine traffic. Señor Marliani an authority generally worthy of great respect, errs on this head with many others of his countrymen. In a late work, entitled De la Influencia del Sistema prohibitiva en la Agricultura, Commercio, y rentas Publicas, he comes to the following calculation:—

Again, Great Britain imports annually into Italy to the amount of £2,005,785 in cotton goods, £500,000 worth of which, it is not too much to assume, go into Spain through the ports of Leghorn and Genoa. Adding together, then, these several items of cotton goods introduced from France and England into Spain by contraband, we arrive at the following startling result:—

An extravagant writer, of the name of Pebrer, carried the estimate up to £5,850,000. Señor Inclan, more moderate, still valued the import and consumption at £2,720,000. A "Cadiz merchant," with another anonymous writer of practical authority, calculated the amount, with more sagacity, at £2,000,000 and £2,110,000 respectively. Señor Marliani is, moreover, of opinion—considering the weight of tobacco, from six to eight millions of pounds, assumed to be imported into Gibraltar for illicit entrance into Spain, on the authority of Mr Porter, but the words and work not expressly quoted; the tobacco, dressed skins, corn, flour, &c. from France, with the illegal import of cottons—that the whole contraband trade carried on in Spain cannot amount to less than the enormous mass of one thousand millions of reals, or say ten millions sterling a-year. Conceding to the full the millions of pounds of tobacco here registered as smuggled from Gibraltar, of which, notwithstanding, we cannot stumble upon the official trace for half the quantity, we must, after due reflection, withhold our assent wholly to this very wide, if not wild, assumption of our Spanish friend. We are inclined, on no slight grounds, to come to the conclusion, that the amount of contraband trade really carried on is here surcharged by not far short of one-half; that it cannot in any case exceed six millions sterling—certainly still a bulk of illegitimate values sufficiently monstrous, and almost incredible. We shall proceed to deal conclusively, however, with that special branch of the traffic for which the materials are most accessible and irrecusable, and the verification of truth therefore scarcely left to the chances of speculation.

First, for the rectification for exact, or official, quantities and values, we give the returns of the total exports of cotton manufactures, taken from the tables of the Board of Trade:—

And for 1840 here are the exports to the countries specified:—

The discrepancies between some of the figures in these returns and those cited by Señor Marliani, arise probably from their respective reference to different years; they are, however, unimportant. We have already shown, that, deducting the re-exports of cottons to Ceuta and the coast of Africa opposite to Gibraltar, the value of those destined for Spain, by way of the Rock; in 1840, could not exceed

We have the official returns of the whole imports of cotton manufactures, with the exports, of the Sardinian States for 1840, now lying before us.

The whole of which to Tuscany, the Two Sicilies, the Roman States, Parma and Placentia, the Isle of Sardinia, and Austria. It will be observed that there had been a great falling off in the trade with the Sardinian States in 1840, as compared with 1838 and 1839; and here, for greater convenience, we make free to extract the following remarks and returns from our esteemed contemporary of the Morning Herald, with some slight corrections of our own, when appropriately correcting certain misrepresentations of Mr Henderson, similar to those of Señor Marliani, respecting the assumed clandestine ingress of British cotton goods into Spain from the Italian states:—

"Now the official customhouse returns of most of the Italian states are lying before us—the returns of the Governments themselves—but unfortunately none of them come down later than 1839, so that it is impossible, however desirable, to carry out fully the comparison for 1840. Not that it is of any signification for more than uniformity, because, on referring to years antecedent to 1839, the relation between imports of cottons and re-exports, with the places from which imported and to which re-exports took place, is not sensibly disturbed. The returns for the whole of Sardinia are not possessed later than 1838, but those for Genoa, its chief port, are for 1839, and nearly the whole imports into Sardinia, as well as exports, are effected at Genoa. Thus of the total imports of cotton goods into Sardinia in 1838, to the value of about L.843,000, the amount into Genoa alone was L.823,000. That year was one of excessive imports and 1839 one of equal depression, but this can only bear upon the facts of the case so far as proportionate quantities.

The total value of cottons introduced into the Roman states is stated for 1839 at L.108,640, of which the whole imported from France, Sardinia, and Tuscany—

"The total imports of woollen, cotton, and hempen goods together, in the same year, were to the amount of L.155,000.

"Of the imports and exports of Naples, unfortunately, no accounts are possessed; but the imports of cottons into the island of Sicily for 1839 were only to the extent of L.26,000, of which to the value of L.8,000 only from England. In 1838 the total imports of cottons were for L.170,720, but no re-exportation from the island. The whole of the inconsiderable exports of cottons from Malta are made to Turkey, Greece, the Barbary States, Egypt, and the Ionian Isles, according to the returns of 1839."

From these facts and figures, derived from official documents, of the existence of which it is probable Señor Marliani was not aware, it will be observed at once how extremely light and fallacious are the grounds on which he jumps to conclusions. What more preposterous than the vague assumption founded on data little better then guess-work, that one-fourth of the whole exports of British cottons to Italy and the Italian islands, say L.500,000 out of L.2,000,000, go to Spain, when, in point of fact, not one-tenth of the amount does, or can find its way there—or could, under any conceivable circumstances short of an absolute famine crop of fabrics in France and England. Neither prices nor commercial profits could support the extra charges of a longer voyage out, landing charges, transhipment and return voyage to the coasts of Spain. It has been shown that in the year 1840, not the shipment of a single yard of cottons took place from Genoa, the only port admitting of the probability of such an operation.

Not less preposterous is the allegation, that three-fourths of the whole exports of British cottons to Portugal are destined for, and introduced into Spain by contraband. Assuming that Spain, with thirteen and a half millions of people, consumes, in the whole, cotton goods to the value of

It is necessary for the interests of truth, for the interests also of both countries, that the popular mind, the mind of the public men of Spain also, should be disabused in respect of two important errors. The first is, that an enormous balance of trade against Spain, that is, of British exports, licit and illicit too, compared with imports from Spain—results annually in favour of this country, from the present state of our commercial exchanges with her. The second is, the greatly exaggerated notion of the transcendant amount of the illicit trade carried on with Spain in British commodities, cottons more especially. In correction of the latter misconception, we have shown that the amount of British cotton introduced by contraband cannot exceed, nor equal,

It is therefore Great Britain, and not Spain, which is entitled to demand that this adverse balance be redressed, and which would stand justified in retaliating the restrictions and prohibitions on Spanish products, with which, so unjustly, Spain now visits those of Great Britain. Far from us be the advocacy of a policy so harsh—we will add, so unwise; but at least let our disinterested friendship and moderation be appreciated, and provoke, in reason meet, their appropriate consideration.

The more formidable, because far more extensive and facile abuses, arising out of the unparalleled contraband traffic of which Spain is, and long has been, the theatre, and the attempted repression of which requires the constant employment of entire armies of regular troops, are elsewhere to be found in action and guarded against; they concern a neighbour nearer than Great Britain. According to an official report made to his Government by Don Mateo Durou, the active and intelligent consul for Spain at Bordeaux, and the materials for which were extracted from the customhouse returns of France, the trade betwixt France and Spain is thus stated, but necessarily abridged:—

France, therefore, exported nearly two and a half times as much as she imported from Spain; a result greatly the reverse of that established in the trade of Spain with Great Britain. In these exports from France, cotton manufactures figure for a total of

Among these imports from France, various other prohibited articles are enumerated besides cottons. As here exhibited, the illicit introduction of cotton goods from France into Spain is almost double in amount that of British cottons. The fact may be accounted for from the closer proximity of France, the superior facilities and economy of land transit, the establishment of stores of goods in Bayonne, Bordeaux, &c., from which the Spanish dealers may be supplied in any quantity and assortment to order, however small; whilst from Great Britain heavy cargoes only can be dispatched, and from Gibraltar quantities in bulk could alone repay the greater risk of the smuggler by sea.

Señor Durou adds the following brief reflections upon this exposé of the French contraband trade. "Let the manufactures of Catalonia be protected; but there is no need to make all Spain tributary to one province, when it cannot satisfy the necessities of the others, neither in the quantity, the quality, nor the cost of its fabrics. What would result from a protecting duty? Why, that contraband trade would be stopped, and the premiums paid by the assurance companies established in Bayonne, Oleron, and Perpignan, would enter into the Exchequer of the State."

The active measures decreed by the Spanish Government in July and October 1841, supported by cordons of troops at the foot of the Pyrenees, have, indeed, very materially interfered with and checked the progress of this contraband trade. In consequence of ancient compact, the Basque, that is frontier provinces of Spain, enjoyed, among other exclusive privileges, that of being exempt from Government customhouses, or customs' regulations. For this privilege, a certain inconsiderable subsidy was periodically voted for the service of the State. Regent Espartero resolutely suspended first, and then abrogated, this branch of the fueros. He carried the line of the customhouses from the Ebro, where they were comparatively useless and scarcely possible to guard, to the very foot and passes of the Pyrenees. The advantageous effect of these vigorous proceedings was not long to wait for, and it may be found developed in the Report to the Chamber of Deputies in Paris, before referred to; in which M. Chégaray, the rapporteur on the part of the complaining petitioners of Bayonne, Bordeaux, &c., after stating that the general exports of France to Spain in

proceeds to say, that the general returns for 1842 were not yet (April 11) made up, but that "M. le directeur-général des douanes nous a declaré que la diminution avait été enorme." But although the general returns could not be given, those specially referring to the single customhouse of Bayonne had been obtained, and they amply confirmed the assertion of the enormous diminution. The export of cottons, woollens, silks, and linens, from that port to Spain, which in

A fall, really tremendous, of nearly two-thirds.

M. Chégaray, unfortunately, can find no other grievance to complain of but the too strict enforcement of the Spanish custom laws, by which French and Spanish contrabandists are harassed and damaged—can suggest no other remedy than the renewal of the "family compact" of the Bourbons—no hopes for the revival of smuggling prosperity from the perpetuation of the French reciprocity system of trade all on one side, but in the restoration of the commercial privileges so long enjoyed exclusively by French subjects and shipping, but now broken or breaking down under the hammering blows of Espartero—nor discover any prospect of relief until the Spanish customhouse lines are transferred to their old quarters on the other side of the Ebro, and the fueros of the Biscaiano provinces, which, by ancient treaty, he claims to be under the guarantee of France, re-established in all their pristine plenitude.

It is surely time for the intelligence, if not the good sense, of France to do justice by these day-dreams. The tutelage of Spain has escaped from the Bourbons of Paris, and the ward of full majority will not be allowed, cannot be, if willing, to return or remain under the trammels of an interested guardian, with family pretensions to the property in default of heirs direct. France, above all countries, has the least right to remonstrate against the reign of prohibitions and restrictions, being herself the classic land of both. Let her commence rather the work of reform at home, and render tardy justice to Spain, which she has drained so long, and redress to Great Britain, against whose more friendly commercial code she is constantly warring by differential preferences of duties in favour of the same commodities produced in other countries, which consume less of what she abounds in, and have less the means of consumption. Beyond all, let her cordially join this country in urging upon the Spanish Government, known to be nowise averse to the urgency of a wise revision and an enlightened modification of the obsolete principles of an absurd and impracticable policy both fiscal and commercial—a policy which beggars the treasury, whilst utterly failing to protect native industry, and demoralizes at the same time that it impoverishes the people. We are not of the number of those who would abandon the assertion of a principle quoad another country, the wisdom and expediency of which we have advocated, and are still prepared to advocate, in its regulated application to our own, from the sordid motive of benefiting British manufactures to the ruin of those of Spain. Rather, we say to the government of Spain, let a fair protection be the rule, restrictions the exceptions, prohibition the obsolete outcast, of your fiscal and commercial policy. We import into this country, the chief and most valuable products of Spain, those which compose the elements and a very considerable proportion of her wealth and industry, are either untaxed, or taxed little more than nominally. We may still afford, with proper encouragement and return in kind, to abate duties on such Spanish products as are taxed chiefly because coming into competition with those of our own colonial possessions, and on those highly taxed as luxuries, for revenue; and this we can do, and are prepared to do, although Spain is so enormously indebted to us already on the balance of commercial exchanges.