Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/182

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prohibited by the imposition of the high duties. It appeared, however, that butter and cheese, and also the spirit named geneva, could be imported in foreign ships, but no advantage was taken of this privilege. The timber trade differed, as that article could be imported in a ship of the country where it grew, or in a ship of the country from which it was usually brought, but this privilege, with these exceptions, was given entirely to British vessels. Nevertheless, British ships did not generally bring timber from the Baltic ports to England; while in the unprotected trade of butter and cheese, which was considerable, British shipowners, by means of steamers, monopolised the chief part of it. The inference from these circumstances was drawn that Protection had very little to do in controlling the course of this trade. Russia was, however, an exception, as the vast proportion of that trade was carried on by British ships; and this, necessarily, arose from, Turkey, the Morea and Egypt, Tripoli, Barbary and Marocco, China, Sumatra and Java, the foreign West Indies, the United States of America, Mexico and the States of South America, the Ionian Islands, the Cape de Verde and the South Sea Islands. In these two categories, protected and unprotected, the whole of the British trade was then comprehended.]
 * factured goods were either positively or virtually