ABSTRACT
The financial measures of the early forties are naturally dwarfed by the great abolition bill of 1846; but their importance was, nevertheless, very great. In 1842 there were 1,090 articles and subdivisions of articles charged with distinct rates of import duty in the customs tariff; in 1846 the number was 424. 1 Moreover, many rates were reduced. The result was a state of affairs far different to that described by the committee appointed on the motion of the doughty philosophical radical, Joseph Hume. In 1840 that committee had said: “The tariff of the United Kingdom presents neither congruity nor unity of purpose: no general principles seem to have been applied. The tariff often aims at incompatible ends; the duties are sometimes meant to be both productive of revenue and for protection, objects which are frequently inconsistent with each other.”
