Whether the population were to be estimated at 12 millions, or more or less, if the number created and supported by foreign commerce be three, or two, or one, what would be the consequence of its loss? However small the proportion of the population the destruction of which might be contemplated, it could not be annihilated by any process, however gradual, without the greatest suffering, not confined to that portion only, but at the same time inflicting miseries not to be described on the remaining portion. Whatever inquiry was instituted, whatever measure might be adopted, their Lordships must proceed upon the principle of protecting all those interests which had made the country a great agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing nation. No interest could be separated, for all the various classes of the community depended on each other; and it might be said of each, as the poet had finely said of man in society— "He, like the generous vine, supported lives,

"The strength he gains is from th' embrace he gives."

He was, however, aware that their Lordships must not proceed rashly, and that the investigation into which he trusted they would enter required the greatest deliberation, for there were many difficulties to be overcome. He remembered to have heard an anecdote relative to an interview between Dr. Adam Smith and Mr. Burke, which was very applicable to the present subject:-Dr. Smith reproached Mr. Burke for not at once proposing the abolition of the laws against forestalling, and asked what prevented Parliament from passing an act to declare forestalling free? Mr. Burke, in reply, remarked, "You Doctor, in your Professor's chair, may deal with these propositions as with the pure mathematics; we statesmen must lay our account to the resistance of prejudice and the force of error." He knew their Lordships would have much of prejudice to contend with in the course of their inquiry, and many interests to consider in connexion with the question of foreign commerce. He thought it therefore necessary to call their attention to the nature of the general distress, which formed the ground for their investigation. For a long period, owing to the nature of the warfare in which Europe had been involved, whether originating in the unbounded ambition of an individual, or the weakness and want of principle in governments, or some new and irresistible current in the opinions of mankind, every nation in Europe had made unusual exertions and undergone an unusual excitement; whatever had been the cause, the effect was, that nations had been induced to live on their capital instead of their revenue; and a consequence of this state of things was, that a numerous population had been called into existence by a great artificial demand for labor. It was, however, impossible that this state of expenditure could continue; but the population remained when the capital was gone, and the quantity of supply of labor, when the demand had ceased for it, was the

great cause of the existing distress. Those countries which, from their financial system and their geographical situation, were enabled to expend most of their capital, and for a time to give encouragement to the greatest quantities of productive labor, have mortgaged their revenues, and are in a situation to feel the general distress in a greater degree than poorer countries, which could not spend their capital. Such had been the effect produced by the great expenditure their Lordships had experienced. This he took to be the situation of the country, and it afforded a just, if not a satisfactory answer, to a question put to their Lordships by the petitioners of Birmingham-Why, when there was so much plenty in the land, so much distress was felt? The circumstances which he had mentioned, must be kept in view when their Lordships' attention was to be directed to find a remedy for the distress which he had described. The most obvious remedy then was, to create a demand for our labor and our manufactures, and the most obvious mode of creating that demand was, to encourage and to extend our foreign trade by removing some of those restrictions by which it was shackled. In looking towards such a relaxation, two things ought to be kept in view by their Lordships: first, the necessity of maintaining our revenue; and, secondly, the justice and expediency of consulting those interests which were vested in our existing trade, on the faith of the continuance of the regulations under which it was now carried on. But if those things were not to be lost sight of-they ought not to prevent changes which higher interests and a wiser policy demanded. With the necessity of attending to them, their Lordships ought to recollect that the policy which they involved was a departure from that which was dictated by sounder principles of political economy, and therefore ought to be limited to what the strict nature of the case required. They ought, in short, to recollect, that perfect freedom of trade should be the rule, and restraint only the exception. (Hear.) On this principle he would arrange the different points on which he meant to touch, and recommend the relaxations which he might venture to suggest. Without entering then into particular branches of our trade, or specifying particular articles, he would first of all venture to say, ifit were only for the sake of getting rid of a principle as obnoxious to other countries as it was unsuitable to our own policy, that there ought to be no prohibitory duties, as such-that where a manufacture could not be carried on, or a production raised, but under the protection of a prohibitory duty, that manufacture or that produce must be brought to market at a loss. The name of prohibition might therefore in commerce be got rid of altogether; but he did not see the same objection to protecting duties, which, while they admitted of the introduction of commodities from abroad, similar to those which

we ourselves manufactured, placed them so much on a level as to allow a competition between them. The next point to which he would advert was one of more practical and immediate importance, as it affected a principle on which the government of this country had long been carried on, and in the observance of which it had attained its present power and greatness-he meant the principle of the navigation-laws. The relaxation which he would propose in those laws was not of a nature, nor to an extent, which ought to excite any jealousy in those who looked to them as one of the sources of our national security, nor any, alarm in the ship-owners and others, whose interests were considered as so intimately connected with their strict maintenance. All the relaxation he would suggest would be, to allow produce from all parts of Europe to be imported, without making it necessary that it should be altogether in English-built ships, or in ships belonging to the nation whence the produce comes. At present a vessel which had taken part of its cargo in a French port, and which afterwards had proceeded to a Flanders port for the remainder, could not enter a British port. All that he would propose would be, to allow such a vessel to make good its assortment in different ports in Europe, and still to have the right of entering this country. He would make one exception to this relaxation of the navigation-laws--he would not allow the importation of colonial produce in this manner. The third point to which he would advert was one of no inconsiderable importance in itself, and of still greater consequence from the principle which it involved—he meant an entire freedom of the transit trade. Such a change would tend to encourage the warehousing system, and would thus promote the desirable object of rendering our ports the depôt of other foreign nations. Whatever brought the foreign merchant to this country, and made it a general mart-a depôt for the merchandise of the world, which might be done consistently with the levying of a small duty, was valuable to our trade, and enriched the industrious population of our ports. Such freedom of transit allowed of assortment of cargoes for foreign markets, and thus extended our trade in general. He was aware that the abolition of transit duties was formerly opposed by those who wished to protect the linen trade of Ireland, and he willingly allowed that that trade deserved peculiar protection. A duty of 15 per cent. on the importation of foreign linens was, during the war, thought necessary to protect the linen manufactures of Ireland. No injury resulted from that arrangement while we engrossed the commerce of the world, while no vessel could sail without a British convoy, and while we could force our own commodities into foreign markets in preference to others, for which there was a greater demand; but now

the case was altered, and many who were interested in the linen manufacture of Ireland thought a relaxation of the transit duty advisable. Indeed it could not be forgotten, that this manufacture had florished to as great an extent as ever before it was protected by any duty; but whatever was the policy of imposing that duty or continuing it during the war, the same reasons would not now justify its continuance. If we refused to admit German linen without the payment of a transit duty, the foreigner would rather go to Germany for the article; he would then either pay the duty which we imposed, or take a less valuable article as a substitute; and as linen might be a necessary article in the assortment of his cargo, this duty would drive him away altogether, even when desirous of obtaining other articles which our soil or industry could supply. He wished to see the linen trade of Ireland protected, but he was sure that a transit duty could not afford it that protection. He now came to a fourth point, which involved important interests-he meant the state of the trade with the north of Europe, and the duties imposed on the importation of timber from that quarter. But first of all, before he touched on the policy of such duties, and the grounds on which their continuance was defended, he must recall to the recollection of their Lordships the circumstances in which they originated. These high duties, then, were not imposed as a part of our permanent colonial system, nor were they imposed for the express advantage of the shipowners, who had now such an interest in their continuance. Neither was any pledge given, or hopes held out to the ship-owners, at the time, that the duties were to be maintained for their benefit. The measure was expressly of a temporary nature, and was necessarily to be brought under review in March next. The interests now vested in the timber-trade to our North American Colonies grew out of what was considered as a temporary arrangement, and bad of course no security against a change which the general interests of the nation might require. It would easily be allowed, that the shipping interest did feel, and were justified in feeling, a strong reluctance to the removal of a tax, which, by allowing the country to obtain timber nearer home, would throw many vessels out of employment belonging to that respectable body. The navigation-laws of the country, with which they connected their interests, he was by no means prepared to condemn in principle; but was prepared to submit, that however desirable a perfect freedom of trade might be, there might be found instances in which, from political considerations, advantage and security were to be purchased by promoting an expensive navigation of British vessels. But it was one thing to agree to the justness of a principle properly restricted, and another to admit its unlimited operation; and nothing,

it was allowed, could be more detrimental to commerce than the imposing of a heavy duty on a raw material. And what was the reasoning of the ship-owners in their petition against an abolition of this duty? He should be sorry to misrepresent their arguments, and would therefore read the statement from their own petition. They represent that, from the length and difficulty of the voyage to North America, the larger part of the value of the timber thence imported consists of freight; and that the mere circumstance of the proximity of the northern ports of Europe, by enabling ships to repeat their voyages frequently in the course of a year, would reduce the number of British vessels employed in the timbertrade to one-third. They therefore say, that whereas it is expedient that they should be employed-and whereas they cannot be so employed if they procure timber where it is cheapest and bestthey therefore should import it of the worst quality, and from the greatest distance. (Hear, hear.) This was the proposition they propounded when the question was, whether we should import our timber from our own colonies or from the Baltic. And let their Lordships consider what the article was, that was thus to be raised in price, while it was deteriorated in quality; it was the raw material of our houses, of our bridges, of our canals, and in some degree of our shipping itself: and so inconsistent were the petitioners, that they, asked to continue duties which increased the expense of their own trade. A great part of the capital which they had vested in their business, and of the expense which they incurred, was rendered necessary by the high price of the article which they thus wished to increase by heavy duties. But let the house observe to what consequences the principle laid down by the petitioners would go, if carried to its extreme length, and applied to other branches of trade. Suppose it were proposed, on the same plea, to bring our cotton from the East Indies instead of importing it from America, he did not see on what grounds those could resist such a proposition, who argued that we ought to import our timber from Canada rather than from Norway. The voyage would have the advantage of being thrice as long, and the article might be tripled in price. A petition from Newcastle had stated, that by resorting to the Baltic for timber, not one half the number of vessels would be employed that now sailed to America; which was just as good a reason for going to the latter country as we should have for employing double the number of horses for carrying the mails, when the present number was found, by the admirable system now established, to be sufficient. But if their Lordships did not lose sight of all principle, and allow that particular interests ought alone to be consulted, they would see that the general good would be better consulted by the employment of our shipping in a gene