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TUCKER, JOSf AH, D.D. 



TUCKER, JOSIAH, D.D. 



188 



the storm of opposition which it encountered. Nor did the ignorance 

 and prej udioes of tho merchants allow this valuable measure to be 

 carried iuto effect for more than half a century after the dean of 

 Gloucester bad most plainly pointed out its advantages. His argu- 

 ments and illustrations upon this point are hardly susceptible of 

 improvement after fifty years' experience of the practical effects of this 

 system. 



In 1774 he first published a tract which he had written sixteen 

 years before, entitled ' A Solution of the Important Question, whether 

 a Poor Country, where Raw Materials and Provisions are Cheap and 

 Wages Low, can Supplant the Trade of a Rich Manufacturing Country, 

 where Raw Materials and Provisions are Dear and the Price of Labour 

 llih.' The subject is very ably treated, and (as is usually the case 

 with tlie dean) in a plain and practical manner. This tract is well 

 worthy of attention, as the question is still one of great interest. 

 ' The Case of going to War for the Sake of Trade, considered in a new 

 Light,' is another valuable tract, first published in 1763, and repub- 

 lished with the last. It is an enlightened exposition of the evils of 

 war in regard to trade, and of the folly of engaging in the one for the 

 sake of promoting the other. M. Turgot thought so well of this tract 

 that he translated it into the French language, and wrote a very com- 

 plimentary letter to the author. Some years later he published a 

 work upon a similar plan, namely, 'Cui Bono? or an Enquiry what 

 Benefits can arise either to the English or the Americans, the French, 

 Spaniards, or Dutch, from the greatest Victories or Successes in the 

 Present War ; being a Series of Letters addressed to Monsieur Necker.' 

 It laboured by argument and by familiar illustrations to show the 

 impolicy of war, and to discourage jealousy and exclusiveness in 

 national commerce. 



But the most remarkable of all the commercial tracts of Dean 

 Tucker was published in 1785, being 'Reflections on the Present 

 Matters in Dispute between Great Britain and Ireland.' The object of 

 this tract was to point out the advantages that might be derived from 

 the commercial freedom of Ireland, and to suggest to the English 

 merchants a scheme for evading restrictions and monopolies by the 

 use of the free Irish ports for their commercial adventures. The ends 

 proposed to be accomplished by these means were 1st, "A free trade, 

 for the benefit of both kingdoms, to all the countries beyond the Cape 

 of Good Hope ; " in other words, an escape from the commercial mono- 

 poly of the East India Company : 2ndly, " A free trade to Egypt and 

 the Levant," at that time restricted by the charter of the Turkey 

 Company : 3rdly, " A free importation of sugars and of other products 

 of the warmer climates, from the cheapest market, wherever it can be 

 found:" 4thly, "A free navigation, exempted from those clogs and 

 restrictions which are required by the famous Act of Navigation : " 

 aud 5thly, " The fre* exportation and importation of grain." It is 

 interesting to observe that the first of these objects was not attained 

 until 1833, nor the second until 1825; and that the third, fourth, and 

 fifth have only been accomplished within the last ten years, and after 

 the most protracted and active political discussion. 



Even this brief notice of Dr. Tucker's commercial views will serve 

 to rank him amongst the highest of the political writers of the last 

 century, for it must be recollected that when he commenced his 

 inquiries the genius of Adam Smith had not yet enlightened the 

 world. The 'Wealth of Nations' was not published until 1776, and 

 the course of lectures from which were developed the foundations of 

 that great work did not begin sooner than 1752, or four years after 

 the publication of Dr. Tucker's ' Essay on Trade ; ' nor are we aware 

 that any of Adam Smith's lectures at Glasgow appeared in print 

 before the publication of the ' Wealth of Nations.' The value of Dr. 

 Tucker's smaller tracts and essays upon trade makes it a subject of 

 regret that he did not complete a more methodical and scientific work 

 which he had undertaken. This work was commenced at the desire 

 of Dr. Hayter, bishop of Norwich, and preceptor to the prince of 

 Wales, afterwards George III. The circumstances connected with this 

 work may be best explained in the words of the author : " His lord- 

 ship's design was to put into the hands of his royal pupil such a 

 treatise as would convey both clear and comprehensive ideas on the 

 subject of national commerce, freed from the narrow conceptions of 

 ignorant or the sinister views of crafty and designing men." " I there- 

 fore entered upon the work with all imaginable alacrity, and intended 

 to entitule my performance the Elements of Commerce and Theory 

 of Taxes ; but I had not made a great progress before I discovered 

 that such a work was by no means proper to be sheltered under the 

 protection of a royal patronage, on account of the many jealousies to 

 which it was liable, and the cavils which might be raised against it. 

 In fact, I soon found that there was scarcely a step I could take but 

 would bring to light some glaring absurdity which length of time had 

 rendered sacred, and which the multitude would have been taught to 

 contend for as if their all was at stake. Scarce a proposal could I 

 recommend for introducing a free, generous and impartial system of 

 national commerce, but it had such numbers of popular errors to com- 

 bat with as would have excited loud clamours and fierce opposition." 

 For these reasons he laid the scheme aside, and, unfortunately for his 

 own fame and for the interests of mankind, he never resumed it. 



While the concerns of trade were thus engaging his attention, other 

 measures of public policy aroused his interest and exercised his pen. 

 But we cannot fail to observe, in reading hia various publications, that 



the principles of free trade aud the improvement of our commercial 

 laws were never absent from his mind. 



In 1751 a bill was brought into the House of Commons for the 

 naturalisation of foreign Protestants, aud after passing through its 

 other stages was lost on the third reading. This circumstance gave 

 rise to two very able pamphlets, in which the dean contended strongly 

 for the measure. Three years before, in his ' Essay on Trade,' he had 

 proposed to encourage the settling of foreigners in this country as one 

 of the means of increasing our wealth and advancing our trade and 

 manufactures; and on the rejection of the bill he published ' Reflec- 

 tions on the Expediency of a Law for the Naturalisation of Foreign 

 Protestants,' in two parts. In these he gave a most lucid and com- 

 plete historical review of the laws with regard to foreigners from the 

 earliest time ; and treated with severity and ridicule the jealous and 

 illiberal conduct of the English with regard to other nations. His 

 arguments in favour of inducing foreigners to give this country the 

 benefit of their skill and capital, and his enlightened analysis of our 

 history, in reference to their exclusion, are among the very best of 

 his writings. He was soon called upon to exert himself again in the 

 same cause. In 1753 a bill was brought into the Lords to permit 

 Jews to be naturalised by parliament, a privilege from which they 

 had been excluded by an act of the 7th James I. (c. 2), chiefly directed 

 against the Papists, and which required all persons applying for natu- 

 ralisation to have taken the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. This 

 bill was violently opposed in both houses of parliament, and through- 

 out the country, but being supported by the ministers, at length 

 received the royal assent. No sooner had it become the law than the 

 clamours with which it had been assailed were redoubled, and while 

 they were at their height, Dr. Tucker boldly undertook the defence 

 of the measure in two ' Letters to a Friend concerning Naturalisations.' 

 The act was nowhere more unpopular than at Bristol, aud the popu- 

 lace were so enraged at his opposition to their prejudices, that they 

 burned him in effigy in full canonicals ; and he is said to have wit- 

 nessed the ceremony from his own garden. The violence of public 

 feeling upon the subject at that time may be judged of from the facts 

 that on the last day of the winter session, in the same year, the Duke 

 of Newcastle was forced to move for the repeal of the act, and that 

 the obnoxious measure was actually repealed. 



At the very commencement of the disturbances in the American 

 colonies, the dean took a view of British interests at variance with 

 all parties, and published several tracts from time to time as the con- 

 test proceeded. He showed no sympathy with the Americans, nor 

 did he acknowledge the justice of their complaints. On the contrary 

 he vindicated the constitutional right of the mother country to tax 

 her colonies, and accused the Americans of ingratitude in resisting 

 the mild and liberal sway of England. Thus far he agreed with the 

 court party; but while they urged coercion and punishment, aud 

 while the opposition were seeking to conciliate and make concessions, 

 Dr. Tucker proposed to abandon the colonies altogether. He did not 

 doubt the power of England to coerce the Americans, but he asked, 

 in ' A Letter from a Merchant in London, to his Nephew in America,' 

 " How are we to be benefited by our victories ? And what fruits 

 are to result from. making you a conquered people ? Not an increase 

 of trade ; that is impossible : for a shopkeeper will never get the more 

 custom by beating his customer ; and what is true of a shopkeeper is 

 true of a shopkeeping nation." To these opinions he always adhered, 

 and took every occasion to enforce them. Writing so late as 1782, 

 he stated that he had held the opinion for upwards of five and twenty 

 years that colonies were detrimental to a country, and that he had 

 been " growing every clay more aud more convinced." These views 

 were consistent with his uniform advocacy of perfect freedom of trade 

 and navigation ; and were strengthened by his horror of the needless 

 wars which had too often been caused by distant colonial possessions. 



The warmth of the controversy led him to speak with much acri- 

 mony of the American people, their leaders and advocates, and some 

 of his statements brought him into collision with Mr. Burke, who 

 treated him with great disrespect. " This Dr. Tucker," he said in his 

 celebrated speech on American taxation (April 19, 1774), "is already 

 a dean, and his earnest endeavours in this vineyard will, I suppose, 

 raise him to a bishopric." In consequence of this reference to himself, 

 the dean addressed his next pamphlet, in the form of a letter, to Mr. 

 Burke, and dissected the speeches of that statesman upon the American 

 question, and again enforced his own opinions. 



His views of the American question led him frequently to oppose 

 the doctrines laid down by Mr. Locke, aud relied upon by the 

 Americans that the consent of the governed, given either by them- 

 selves or by their representatives chosen by them, is the only foundation 

 of civil government and the only justification of taxes. In many of 

 his pamphlets he combated these principles, aud at length devoted au 

 elaborate work to their refutation. In 1781 his ' Treatise concerning 

 Civil Government ' appeared. It consists of three parts. In the fir.- 1 

 examines the doctrines of Mr. Locke, and of his followers, Dr. Price, Dr. 

 Priestley, and Mr. Molyneux, as to the principles of civil aud political 

 liberty. In the second he offers a theory of his own as the true basis 

 of civil government, and suggests alterations in the British constitu- 

 tion. In the last he describes the former Gothic or feudal constitu- 

 tion of England, chiefly in order to show the gradual increase of 

 popular power and the limitation of the influence of the crown. The 



