thought, that they should best consult the intentions of the House by direct ing their immediate attention to those regulations which, under the name either of restrictions or protections, operate in controlling the commerce of the kingdom, in order to estimate their nature and effects; and to judge in what degree it may be prudent to retain them, and in what instances (subject to the considerations referred to) their removal or modification may be recommended with safety and advantage.

In contemplating the range of the duty assigned to them, and the variety and importance of the objects of inves tigation embraced by it, your Committee were of opinion, that the most convenient course they could adopt would be, to take the subjects up un der distinct heads, and report upon them in succession; by which the House might be enabled, not only to form its judgment more easily on each subject, as separately submitted to it, but also more readily to give effect to its judgment, when formed, by such legislative enactments as in the respective cases might seem expedient.

Before, however, your Committee proceed to advert to the points which have been the principal objects of their inquiry, they are anxious to call the observation of the House to the excessive accumulation and complexity of the laws under which the commerce of the country is regulated; with which they were forcibly impressed in the very earliest stage of their proceedings. These laws, passed at different periods, and many of them arising out of temporary circumstances, amount, as stated in a recent compilation of them, to upwards of 2900, of which no less than 1000 were in force in the year 1815, and many additions have been since made. After such a statement, it will not appear extraordinary that it should be matter of complaint

to the British merchant, that, so far from the course in which he is to guide his transactions being plain and simple; so far from being able to under take his operations, and to avail himself of favourable openings, as they arise, with promptitude and confidence, he is frequently reduced to the neces sity of resorting to the services of professional advisers, to ascertain what he may venture to do, and what he must avoid, before he is able to embark in his commercial adventures, with the assurance of being secure from the consequences of an infringement of the law. If this be the case (as is stated to your Committee) with the most experienced amongst the merchants, even in England, in how much greater a degree must the same perplexity and apprehension of danger operate in foreign countries and on foreign merchants, whose acquaintance with our statute-book must be supposed to be comparatively limited, and who are destitute of the professional authori ties which the merchant at home may at all times consult for his direction. When it is recollected, besides, that a trivial unintentional deviation from the strict letter of the acts of parliament, may expose a ship and cargo to the inconvenience of seizure, which (whether sustained or abandoned) is attended always with delay and expence, and frequently followed by litigation, it cannot be doubted that such a state of the law must have the most prejudicial influence both upon commercial enterprize in the country, and upon our mercantile relations and intercourse with foreign nations. And perhaps no service more valuable could be rendered to the trade of the empire, nor any measure more effectually contribute to promote the objects contemplated by the House, in the appointment of this Committee, than an accurate revision of this vast and confused mass of legis lation, and the establishment of some

certain, simple, and consistent principles, to which all the regulations of commerce might be referred, and under which the transactions of merchants, engaged in the trade of the united kingdom, might be conducted with facility, with safety, and with confidence.

The commercial restrictions, to which the intercourse of the united kingdom with foreign states is subjected, may be classed under three heads-first, those intended for the improvement of its navigation, and the support of its naval power; secondly, those which arise out of the necessity of drawing from commerce, in common with other resources, a proportion of the public revenue; and, lastly, those necessary to the protection afforded to various branches of our domestic industry, for the purpose of securing to them the internal supply of the country, and the export to its several colonies.

The head of restrictive protections, to which the attention and inquiry of your Committee has been in the first instance directed, is that which comprehends the acts intended for the support and extension of British shipping. It would be superfluous to pursue the history of our laws for the promotion of British commerce and navigation, from the earliest period at which the subject appears to have occupied the attention of the legislature, to the reign of Charles II., when they were brought nearly to that state in which, with some subsequent modifications, they have since continued.

Whatever may have been the principles which dictated, or the political benefits that have accrued to the country from the acts passed in the 12th, 13th, and 14th of Charles II., and known by the name of "The Navigation Law, and Statute of Frauds ;" it ran scarcely be denied, that they have a tendency to cramp the operations of commerce, and to impede the growth

of that opulence which may arise from foreign trade.

The provisions of these laws apply, first, to the regulation of the trade with Asia, Africa, and America, and the territories of the Grand Seignior and the Duke of Muscovy. Secondly, to that of the trade with the other states of Europe.

The leading principle in reference to the former is, that no goods, the produce of Asia, Africa, or America, and the territories specified, shall be im ported into this kingdom, but directly from the place of their growth, and exclusively in British ships, owned by British subjects, and navigated in a certain proportion by British seamen. To the latter, that goods enumerated, coming from different countries of Europe, shall be imported either in ships built in the states of which they are the produce, and owned and navigated by their subjects, or in ships of Great Britain, except from Germany and the Netherlands, which are by name par tially excluded. From these last-mentioned countries certain articles are prohibited from being imported into Great Britain, in any ship whatever, under the penalty of confiscation of the ship and cargo.

A just respect for the political wisdom from which the enactment of the navigation laws originated, and a sense of the great national advantages deri ved from them in their effects on the maritime greatness and power of the kingdom, have rendered them objects of attachment and veneration to every

British subject. Nor can your Committee suppose that any suggestions they may offer, can lead to a suspicion of their being disposed to recommend an abandonment of the policy from which they emanated; or to advise, in favour of the extension of commerce, a remission of that protecting vigilance under which the shipping and naviga tion of the kingdom have so eminently

grown and flourished. The only question which, on this subject, they have entertained, is, whether the advantages hitherto enjoyed by our shipping might not be compatible with increased facilities afforded to trade, and its relief from some of the restrictions which the provisions of these laws impose upon it. They are convinced, that every restriction on the freedom of commerce is in itself an evil, to be justified only by some adequate political expediency; and that every facility that can be extended to it is a benefit to the public interest, as leading, amidst the incalculable changes and accidents occurring in the circumstances of nations, and of society, to the certain consequence of laying open new means of exertion to mercantile ingenuity and enterprize, and disclosing to commerce new sources of eventual advantage, far beyond the power of human foresight distinctly to appreciate.

This being the admitted principle, it must be regarded as subject to all the precaution in its application which interests embarked under the faith of existing laws, and a due consideration of the difficulties attending an extensive change in a long-established, though defective system, ought prudentially to inspire.

The prohibition contained in the act of the 13th and 14th of Charles II. c. 2., in respect to Germany and the Netherlands, was the first direct object of your Committee's examination, with a view of ascertaining whether the distinction, applying to those parts of Europe, might not be safely and usefully abrogated. The purpose for which it was originally enacted has long been fulfilled; and from the evidence of the gentlemen examined, touching the different interests which such an alteration might affect, your Committee are of opinion, that certain benefit, without any probable chance of injury, would result from it, both to the com

merce and shipping of the united kingdom. Your Committee beg to refer to the examinations of Mr Frewin, Mr Buckle, Mr Lyall, Mr Bowden, Mr Hall, Mr Nichol, &c. on this subject. A doubt appeared to be entertained by the first of these gentlemen as to a possibility that the alteration in question might be attended with some trifling diminution of the revenue; and by others, that it might produce some prejudice to the British shipping employed in the commerce of the Mediterranean.

With respect to the first point, it is to be observed, that no diminution of revenue could arise, unless from importations taking place in British shipping which had hitherto been made in foreign vessels, and the reduced rate of duty in consequence to be received; as, however, this contingency involves in it a certain compensation in the increased employment of British shipping, your Committee do not consider it as a material objection to an alteration in other views appearing to be de sirable. In respect to the remaining objection, that it was possible the trade might be conducted through the medium of cheap Greek and Genoese shipping; and the merchandize of the Mediterranean be thus carried to the neighbouring ports of Holland or the Netherlands, for trans-shipment and conveyance to the united kingdom in Bri. tish vessels; it is an apprehension in which, for reasons to be stated in a subsequent part of their report (applicable to these as well as other ships of a cheap description,) your Committee cannot participate, or be induced by it to entertain any greater doubt of the commercial safety and convenience, than of the political justice and utility of placing our commercial intercourse with every European state in amity with Great Britain on a footing of equal facility and freedom.

Having satisfied themselves on the

expediency of permitting the importation into the united kingdom, in British ships, of articles the growth or produce of European states, from any European port, without reference to the place of their growth or production; the next subject which engaged the consideration of your Committee, was the extension of the same latitude of importation to articles the produce of Asia, Africa, and America, to which the restrictious of the Act of the 12th of Charles II. have been stated principally to apply.

The evidence adduced before your Committee, on this point, is more at variance than that on the point before adverted to. Although it cannot be denied that every additional degree of freedom is generally beneficial to commerce, and no alarm seemed to be entertained by merchants engaged in general trade who were examined, in respect to the probable effects of such a relaxation of the law on the navigation of Great Britain; yet those whose interests were more exclusively connected with British shipping, expressed considerable alarm lest the proposed alteration should be followed by a change in the existing course of trade, by which their interests might be eventually affected; and represented, that if any benefit accrued to commerce by the increased facility afforded, it might be chiefly to the commerce of foreigners; and that the participation of British shipping in the conveyance of the produce of the distant parts of the world, might be confined to the transport from the ports of the continent to those of the united kingdom, while the more valuable and extended na vigation devolved upon the shipping of foreign states. Your Committee have felt the importance of this representation, and examined it with the attention it appeared to deserve. They are conscious that the commercial results they sanguinely anticipate from

the establishment of a system more enlarged and liberal than that under which the British trade has been hitherto conducted (of which this relaxation of the navigation laws forms a part) could be deemed a satisfactory compensation for any serious hazard to which the inte rests of our shipping might be exposed; but they have found no reason to believe, that the probable consequences of adopting the measure under consi. deration would be, to incur the danger described, or to transfer to foreigners any of the advantages now possessed by British ships,

In proceeding to state the grounds of this impression, your Committee are desirous of recalling to the recollection of the House, that the laws in question have been subjected to alteration at different periods, and their principle r laxed whenever a new state of political circumstances appeared to Parliament to afford sufficient reasons for such a change. Under the regulations which the King in Council was authorized to make, by the 23d of Geo. III. cap. 39, and subsequently by the 49th of Geo. III. cap. 59, followed recently by the 59th of Gen. III. cap. 54, the manufactures and produce of the Us ted States of America have been ad mitted into the united kingdom, not only in British ships, but in ships of the United States, or condemned as prize to them, and owned and naviga ted by their subjects. By the 51st also of the late King, a similar relaxation of the law was made in favour of the produce and manufactures of the territo ries of the Crown of Portugal in Ame rica, during the continuance of the treaty concluded with that power in the year 1810. The latter arising out of the changes that had taken place in the political situation of the Brazil; as the former did out of the national character acquired by the United States of America, by their separation from Great Britain.

Both these relaxations may be said to have been a diminution of the protection afforded by the navigation law to British shipping; but à diminution which political considerations demand ed, and which was indispensable to the continuance of our commercial relations with those countries.

The navigation laws have been also relaxed in regard to the trade between the British colonies and the mother country, as well as in several instances with respect to particular articles of merchandize, which your Committee do not think it necessary here particu larly to enumerate.

The principle of restriction laid down in these laws having been relaxed from these considerations of political or commercial expediency, it will be for the wisdom of the House to judge whether the same considerations may not lead to a further relaxation of it, and authorize the withdrawing of a restric tion which, if not essential to the sup port of our shipping, is maintained not only unprofitably but injuriously to ourselves, as embarrassing the opera tions of our merchants, and contributing to the jealous and hostile feelings with which the prohibitory character of our commercial system has long been contemplated by foreign nations.

The danger stated in the evidence to be apprehended, seems chiefly to rest on the cheapness of foreign ships compared with those of the united kingdom, particularly the ships of the northern states of Europe, where labour, wages, and the materials of building and equip ment, are at a rate 'much lower than in Great Britain. If the question was to be determined by the comparative cheapness of the ship alone, this fact would be conclusive; but it appears to your Committee that other considera tions must have their share în deciding the preference likely to be given to the foreign ship; the effects of which, as detailed in the evidence of Mr Buckle,

appears to your Committee sufficient to balance the admitted cheapness of foreign construction and equipment.

The importation of the produce of Asia, Africa, and America, into the united kingdom, excepting the terri tories of Portugal and the United States, under the proposed alteration, is still reserved exclusively to British shipping, which infers the necessity of a previous importation into the conti nent, if it should be brought to Europe by foreign ships. The difference be tween a direct and a circuitous voyage, in the expenses and delays attending the entrance into, and trans-shipment of goods in, a foreign port, and a second voyage to be performed in a British ship; the increased time (estimated at one-fifth) required for the performance of a distant voyage in a foreign ship be yond that required in a British one; the difference in point of security, and consequent increased charge of insu rance on the cargo, appear to your Committee to attach a disadvantage to the employment of the foreign ship, fully equivalent to the difference of the rate of freight, as stated in favour of the cheaper ships of certain European states; and indeed it is repeatedly ad mitted, that wherever British ships are to be obtained, to them the preference (except under special circumstances is universally given.

If in any case the argument drawn from the comparative cheapness of the ship could apply, it would be in re spect to articles of great bulk in pro portion to their intrinsic value, on which the rate of freight operates most heavily; of these articles 'cot ton is one of the most considerable. Cotton, under the existing law, may be imported into the united kingdom from any place whatever in a British ship; but it does not appear to your Committee, notwithstanding the con stant demand for it in the manufac tures of this country, that foreign