Restraints of Naval and Military Stores. Arms, Ammu. nition. Saltpetre. by order in council, for any time limited therein, the exportation of all sorts of provisions or articles of food, either generally or particularly, and by name or description, under such restrictions and regulations as his majesty in council shall think proper; and in like manner to recal such order, in part or in the whole, or make such alteration therein, as he shall think proper. The exportation of provisions after such a prohibition exposes them to forfeiture; every person offending is liable to forfeit treble value, and the vessel is also forfeited and liable to be seized. (1) A due regard for the safety of the realm against its enemies has induced the legislature to invest his Majesty with power to prohibit by proclamation, for such time as shall be therein expressed, and whenever he shall think fit to do so, the exportation of gunpowder or any sort of arms or ammunition (2). Saltpetre also, on account of its peculiar utility in making gunpowder, is another article which his majesty is allowed to prohibit being exported, or even attempted to be exported, for such time as shall be expressed in his proclamation or order in council, and (1) 41 G. 3. c. 2. s. 2. The act does not extend to provisions necessary for the use of a vessel, &c. &c. section 4. and the vessel is not forfeited if it can be shown from the smallness of the quantity that it was on board without any want of care in the owner, sect. 5. The exportation of dried and wet ling, cod, &c. beef, pork, &c. is allowed by 38 G. 3. c. 89. s. 108. &c. under certain regulations. Pope, tit. 214. And see as to the exportation of corn, 44 G. 3. c. 69. post, tit. Encouragement of Export; and see as to exporting provisions in breach of an embargo, Delmada v. Motteaux, Park 357. (3) 12 Car. 2. c. 4. s. 12. no penalty is added. Sect. 10. of the act made it lawful to export by way of merchandize, any iron armour, bandeleers, bridle-bits, halbert heads, and sharps, holsters, muskets, carbines, fowling pieces, pistols, pike heads, sword or rapier blades, saddles, snaffles, and stir rups, paying the respective rates appointed for the same; and sect. 11. made it lawful to export gunpowder by way of merchandize when it did not exceed 51. per barrel, on paying the appointed rates. Pope, tit. 220. To encourage the working of the copper mines, it was made lawful by 5 & 6 W.3. c. 17. s. 2. to export iron, copper, or mundich metal. But the act does not extend to the exportation of pot-metal, gun-metal, shruff-metal, or any old metal, or any mixture therewith, or of any copper or other metal than what is made of English ore only. The 41 G. 3 c. 68. also enacted, that it should be lawful, after signing a definitive treaty of peace, to export copper from Great Britain and Ireland without obstruction from any person under any authority, not. withstanding 33 Geo. 3. c. 2. and 34 Geo. 3. c. 34. Naval Stores. in such manner and under such restraints as he shall think Restraints of Exportation. fit (1) Any saltpetre, gunpowder, or other sort of arms or am-' munition, shipped in order to be exported contrary to the king's proclamation or order in council, is forfeited and liable to be seized; and the owner is also to forfeit 100 for every cwt. of saltpetre and gunpowder, 100 for every twenty-five arms, and £100 for every 2 cwt. of any species of ammunition; any person aiding in the shipment being liable to forfeit 100 and treblę the value of the prohibited articles (2). His Majesty is also empowered by the statute 33 Geo. 3. c. 2. to issue his proclamation or order in council whenever he shall see cause, to prohibit the exporting, or attempting to export, pig iron, bar Iron, Hemp, iron (3), hemp, pitch, tar, rosin, turpentine, anchors, cables, Pitch, &c. and cordage (4), masts, yards, bowsprits, oars, oakum, oker, sheet copper, and other naval stores; and any such articles or stores, exported, or shipped in order to be exported, contrary to proclamation or order in council, are forfeited and may be seized by any officer of the customs; every person offending is to forfeit treble the value of the prohibited goods, and the ship with her furniture is also forfeited and liable to be seized (5). The statute Pot or Pearl Ash. 34 Geo. 3. c. 34. also empowers his majesty, when he shall see cause, to prohibit, by proclamation or order in council, for such time as shall be therein expressed, the exporting or carrying coastwise, or the attempting to export or carry coastwise, any pot or pearl ash, or other articles which his majesty may deem capable of being converted into naval or military stores, or made useful in increasing the quantity of such stores (6). Se- Decisions. veral decisions have taken place in our courts of justice in illustration of these provisions. In one case, after a proclamation had been issued by his majesty, allowing the exportation of arms and gunpowder, on condition that security should be given in treble the value, that they should be employed in trade (1) 29 G. 2. c. 16. s. 1. (2) 29 Geo.2. c. 17. s. 2, 3. The 'master of the vessel who allows them to be taken on board, forfeits 1001. s. 4. His Majesty may prohibit the shipping of saltpetre, gunpowder, arms, or ammunition, to be carried coastwise, s. 5. Pope, tit. 220. (3) Iron allowed to be exported by 12 Car. 2. c. 4. s. 10. note 3. of last page. c. 185. post, tit. encouragement (5) 33 G. 3. c. 2. s. 1, 2. Same (6) 34 G. 3. c. 34. s. 3. The articles and vessel are forfeited, Restraints of on the coast of Africa, it was agreed between the owner of a vessel which sailed from Liverpool, and had given the required security, and the owner of an American vessel bound for Charlestown, that the English vessel should deliver to the American, on the coast of Africa, a part of her cargo, which consisted of arms and gunpowder, and it was determined by the court of common pleas that the agreement was contrary to law, and that the American vessel could not be lawfully insured on her voyage from Africa to Charlestown (1). Instead of the stores being employed in commerce on the coast of Africa, they were, in the operation of this agreement, obtained by the Americans. If such an agreement could take place on the coast of Africa, it might also be put in practice even at the mouth of the river Thames; and the consequence would be, that a foreign nation might get a full loading of arms and gunpowder, in violation of the acts of parliament and the king's proclamation (1). When the king had issued a proclamation founded on the statute 33 G. 3. c. 2., prohibiting the exportation of naval stores, and a policy of insurance was made on goods "as should be afterwards specified," and the specification included naval stores amongst other articles, it was held that the voyage was illegal, being contrary to the proclamation; and that therefore the insured, who was the owner of all the goods on board, could not recover on the policy in respect of any part of the cargo (2). However, the statutes (3) only provide, that the articles illegally exported shall be forfeited, together with the vessel in which they are conveyed, and that the exporter shall be subject to certain penalties; but they do not enact that any other part of the cargo which may be contained in the same vessel shall be forfeited or liable to be seized: and in a late case, where the exportation of 150 barrels of gunpowder had been allowed by order in council, and 300 barrels were exported, it was held that the illegal exportation of 150 of the barrels did not render the whole adventure illegal, or preclude the exporter from recovering on a policy of insurance in respect of a loss of that part of the cargo which was protected by the order in coun cil (1). Where, however, an agreement had been made between Restraints of Exportation. two parties that they should be jointly interested in certain proportions in a voyage to be undertaken by a particular vessel, from Liverpool to Holland, with a cargo of rock salt; and also in a further voyage to South America, with a view of sending out military stores to that country at a time when the exportation of stores was prohibited by order in council, the agreement was considered as contemplating one entire and continued adventure, which was primâ facie illegal; and although the traffic might have become legal by the expiration of the time specified in the order in council, it was held, that it was necessary for a party who sought to establish a claim under the agreement, to adduce evidence to show that a legal adventure was in contemplation. (2) The methods that have been adopted for the encouragement of Encouragements of Exportation. exportation are, as we have seen, principally the following; namely, 1. Bounties, 2. Drawbacks, 3. The encouragements afforded by commercial treaties with other states, and 4. Colonial Monopolies. We shall treat of these in their order, reserving the last division, on account of the magnitude and importance of the considerations it embraces, to be discussed in a separate chapter. Drawbacks. Bounties and drawbacks may be considered the most obvious Bounties and and practicable of the encouragements afforded to exportation. I. Bounties. (3) Bounties however seem exposed to some objections in point of policy. The immediate effect of a bounty upon exportation, is to encourage a particular branch of industry at the expence of the rest. If, however, any particular trade be more deserving of encouragement than another, it will not fail to reward those engaged in it with a higher rate of profit, and consequently (1) Keir v. Andraade, 6 Taunt. 498. 2 Marsh. Rep. 196. S. C. a valued policy, 1 Stark. 222, 223. vide tamen 11 East, 502. (2) Holland v. Hall, 1 Barn. & Ald. 53. See ante as to the carrying of warlike stores by a neutral to a belligerent power, and what articles are to be deemed contraband of war. See also as to the goes, &c. ante. Delmada v. Mot- (3) As to bounties in general, Encouragements will not, in general, stand in need of any extrinsic assistance. of Exportation. If a bounty is granted in favour of a trade which would not be worth pursuing without it, it has the effect of diverting capital from a more advantageous employment, in favour of a branch of commerce which is not sufficiently productive to defray its own expences, and afford the ordinary return of profits: it is a tax paid by one part of the nation, not to enrich the other, but to injure the whole state. The bounty enables the merchant, at the expence of the state, to carry on an unprofitable trade, and to export his goods at a losing price.-If, on the other hand, a bounty is granted in favour of those trades, the profit of which is equal to that usually obtained in other branches of commerce, it seems equally objectionable. Let us suppose, for instance, that in a particular country the profit of the woolstapler is equal to that of the silk weaver, the flax dresser, and the generality of other capitalists; that this profit amounts to about 10 per cent. upon the capital employed; but that the legislature, for the sake of giving peculiar encouragement to the woolstapler, grants him a bounty of 5 per cent. to make his profits greater than those of his neighbours. The consequence is, that capitals which would have been employed in the other trades, and which in those trades would have cleared 10 per cent., will now be turned into the trade of the woolstapler, where greater profits will be attainable. The advantage naturally makes the competition so great, that in a short time the trade, instead of continuing to realize 10 per cent. profit, and 5 per cent. bounty, is reduced to the level of the other trades, and settles at a common mark, a little above 10 per cent.; thus realizing 5 per cent. bounty, and something more than 5 per cent. profit. Now the public in this case not only pay more than they would have paid, if they had been left at their natural rate of 10 per cent., but they pay the bounty also; nor does the woolstapler continue to gain the whole amount of that bounty, he realizes no more than the traders in the other branches. All trades, indeed, have gained something by the bounty; for the bounty, by the tendency of all profit to find its level, very quickly diffuses itself through all the channels of commerce; and what was meant as a peculiar encouragement to one trade, has the effect, in a limited degree indeed, of raising the prices in all: but what is that advantage compared to the incontrovertible fact, that all the capitals which have been turned into this channel by the bounty, instead of having been allowed to flow on |