The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 546 - 283: Liverpool, the Major Commercial Port

Britain, as an island nation founded on commercial trade, boasted countless good harbors nationwide, but during the medieval period, Britain’s most important ports came from the southeast region. The representative cities were the founding ports of the Cinque Ports: Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney, and Hastings.

The Cinque Ports, facing France across the English Channel, just a channel’s breadth away and backed by the fertile plains of south-eastern England with their gentle coastlines easy to dock at, naturally became Britain’s prime choice for foreign trade during the scientifically undeveloped Middle Ages.

By the time of the Renaissance, with the development of America, the rise of the slave trade, the merger of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain, the onset of the first industrial revolution, and the expansion of Far East transshipment trade, the small fishing village of Liverpool in the southwest of Britain finally welcomed its golden age of development.

Adjacent to the cotton textile industry centers of Lancashire County and Yorkshire, by the late 18th century, the industrial zone in the northwest of Liverpool underwent rapid development. The initial small fishing village was not just the former English base for the invasion of Ireland anymore, but had transformed, surpassing coal-centered Newcastle and import-export-focused Bristol, to become Britain’s second-largest economic center after London.

After the abolition of the slave trade, Liverpool quickly found its new role. Today, it principally engaged in trade between Britain and the West Indies, leading the country in the import volumes of tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, and textiles.

Thanks to the excavation of inland canals like the Mersey and Orwell Rivers and the subsequent construction of rail transportation to industrial areas such as Manchester, Liverpool’s role as a domestic transportation hub also became increasingly prominent.

The number of merchant ships registered in Liverpool now exceeded 1,200, with a total tonnage of over 160,000 tons and more than 18,000 registered sailors.

Such prosperous trade naturally also bred large-scale illegal activities; hot-tempered sailors from around the world brought with them a high crime rate; and robust commercial activities led to large-scale smuggling.

Plus, many of Liverpool’s commercial families that started from scratch were involved in slave trading or privateering. Expecting these people to follow the law obediently was simply wishful thinking, a pie in the sky.

In the meeting room of Liverpool Customs, Arthur stood up to read the document in his hands.

It was a directive just issued yesterday by the Cabinet, demanding strict enforcement of merchant ship quarantine measures and stringent suppression of smuggling during the cholera period at ports like Liverpool.

The sunlight outside the glass windows of the meeting room was bright, and one could vaguely see the blue Irish Sea. However, the faces of the gentlemen in the room did not show the slightest hint of sunshine; their expressions were changeable.

Before coming here today, Arthur had already collected background information on the gentlemen who were to meet him.

Although he had guessed early on that in a major port like Liverpool, the stakeholders would mostly be related to commercial trade, what Arthur had not anticipated was that merchants still occupied much higher proportions in the Liverpool City Council than he expected.

Merchants held over 76% of the seats in the Liverpool City Council, and among city officials, this ratio was even as high as 77%.

In other words, today’s meeting, rather than issuing administrative orders to Liverpool city officials, might better be described as representing the central government of Whitehall in London in business negotiations with Liverpool’s transnational trade associations.

Sure enough, as soon as Arthur finished speaking, someone immediately raised their hand to voice their doubts.

"I do not wish to criticize the decisions of the Privy Council and the Cabinet, but for Liverpool, commercial trade is the foundation of the city. We can understand and fully support the Cabinet’s decision to combat smuggling and prevent the importation of diseases. However, we do not understand why this should extend to the normal docking of ordinary merchant ships. A 40-day quarantine policy will deal a devastating blow to Liverpool’s trade prosperity and will further affect the normal production of the textile industries in Lancashire County and Yorkshire, as well as lead to rising prices of daily consumer goods in Britain."

At this point, the official suddenly asked, "Inspector Hastings, if I may ask, do you smoke?"

Arthur nodded slightly: "Of course, sometimes I need a bit of tobacco to relieve stress. Doctors say smoking is beneficial for the body; they even invented the intestinal smoke therapy device for this reason."

The official, hearing this, smiled and said, "You see, implementing a quarantine policy in Liverpool will also affect you. Liverpool accounts for forty percent of all tobacco imports in England. According to statistics, the average Briton consumes about eight ounces of tobacco. Can you really accept smoking half as much each day?"

Louis, acting as the meeting’s secretary, heard this, took up his pen, and wrote a few notes in the notebook in front of him, then turned his gaze back to Arthur.

He was curious to see how his superior would handle these difficult city officials.

Arthur simply waved his hand and said, "Mr. Will, I fully understand your concerns. However, I must emphasize one point: I am here today to announce the latest decisions of the Lord Chancellor’s office, the Home Office, the Customs, and the Central Health Committee, not to negotiate issues with you all. As is well known, the Royal High Chancellor holds the highest authority in the public health domain. This decision has also been approved in the Royal court meeting by His Majesty the King and formed through a unanimous vote by members of the Privy Council. We are not parliamentarians, but civil servants; thus, all we can do is execute the decisions from a higher level."