The Sun.
London, England, 1822-04-02 00:00:00

jectionto state that he meant to submit to the House a practi-
cal measure arising out of the Report.
Mr. TIERNEY thought it would be improper to send the
Report into the country without stating whether it was the
basis of the intended measure.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY could only say that it
would be a practical measure.
Lord A. lIA MILTON said be could perfectly well under-
stand why all discussion upon the subject was deprecated at
piesent. He begged however to remind the Hon. Chairman,
that there had, been an Agricultural Committee last Session, of
which also the Hon. Member was Chairman. The Hon. Mem-
ber had net informed the House whether the present was in
..eolliaion with or in confirmation of the former Report; whether
the agriculturists were to hope or to despair. It was usual to
hear a Report read, or to hear to some account-of it from the
-Chairmtut who presented it. There was however but one Mem-
ber ii that House whoegenerally supported ;Ministers, and who
vet ?'poke of the agriaoltural distress in language similar,to that
-Which was used out of the Houhe. Ile alluded to the Hon.
''ember for Somersetshire ; and without wishing to offend any
alon. Member he must say, that the language in doors on the
-subject was very moderate compared to that without them. He
ecould not, however, sit down without stating his'perfect convic-
tion that the security of the Fundholder depended upon the
success of the Agriculturist.
Mr. GOOCH said, the fittest occasion for discussing the sub-
ject would, in his opinion, be when the report was in the hands
.cf Hon. Members. lie begged to state, hoWever, that his feel-
-4-dg for the distress-of the country was not less strong than that
cfedie Noble Lord:
Lied A. HAMILTON explained.
Mr. TIERNEY said, that the Hon. Chairman had abused
the kit Report.—(A laugh.)—As the House had therefore not
-.heard the present Report read, it could not be thought unrea-
sonable to call upon the Honouiable Chairman to say whether
he thought it worthy of approbation or not.
It was then ordered, on the motion of the Marquis of Lose-
etoostDE knee that the Muse should, on the 22d, resolve itself
into a Committee for considering the Report.
• Mr. ELLICE said it appeared the Hon. Chairman would
snot say whether he approved or disapproved of the Report.
He (Mr. Ellice) did not lenove whether, like the former, it was
the rumoured.prodUetion of the Right Hon. Member for Chi-
chester ; but as hie was convinced that the raising of price and
the rectuceion of taxation were, in his opinion, the only two re-
-medics, he should certainly oppose the former.
Tne Report was then ordered to berinted.
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY brought up papers con-
taining correspondence with foreign Powers, which were laid
.on the table, and ordered to be printed.
COLONIAL COMMERCE.
Mr. F. ROBINSON moved, that the House should resolve
into a Committee to consider our• Colonial Trade acts, and upon
the motion being agreed to, -
The Right Hon. Gentleman set out with saying, that an ac-
quiescencein the Resolutions which he should have the honour
to propose to the Committee,_ was not calculated in any degree
to pledge the Hoose as to what-it 'night think proper to finally
..adopt. But although his present. propositions were few, and
easily stated, he felt it his dtity to explain what was his ulti-
mate object. To those who were so anxious about the Naviga.
tion Law, or the principles upon which it was established, for.
• -maintaining colonial commerce with the mother country, he
could offer positive assurance that nothing more novel in ex-
tent or operation was intended upon this occasion than was
known to have taken place in other instances. The Naviga-
tion Law was, lie was aware, held by some perions as a thing
too sacred to be touched, because by such persons its rigid
maintenance was deemed indispensable to the commercial inte-
rests of the country. But the principle of monopoly which that
Act instilled, and which similar Acts had inforced, in other
-nations, had been frequently-relaxed, nay, in some cases, to-
tally ahondoned. Our Government had totally abandoned it
in its East India Possessions. At Ceylon and the Cape of
Good Hope, such a system was never known, and yet in In-
dia, in Ceylon, and at the Cape of Good Hope, our commer-
cial resources'. had been found most richly productive. But
the rigid principle of the Navigation Law was insisted upon
by its advocates as peculiarly applicable to our West Indira
'Colonies. What, however, was die fact ? Why, that this
-rigid principle had been very frequently and materially re-
laxed in those Colonies. It was found expedient to relax it
in the establishment of a free port at Bermuda, where Ame-
rican as well as British shipping were at liberty to import any
. articles of the produce of either country, or which one might
feel it as Convenient to purchase as the other to sell. There
were other free ports established in our Colonies, in contraven-
tion of the Navigationleaw ; but almost immediately after the
independence afthe United States was established, the wisdom
of Parliament was urged to make,a law, allowing a free inter-.
change of commodities between those States and our Colonies.
Fre.y ports had since been established at the Bahamas, in con-,
sequence of its trade in salt; at Halifax also, and at St. John's,
New Brunswick. But during the continuance of the late war,
'Abe commerce between our Colonies and the United States was
quite unrestricted, because we wanted provisions and lumber'
from the UniteeStates, and they wanted•our colonial produce.''
Through this principle, which was the great regulator of com-
merce, our colonies had long carried on trade with the United
;States. But as to the system of free trade, which was parti-
cularly sanctioned by the Acts of our own Parliathent, he
would appeal to any enlightened commercial man what must
have been the commercial state of this country if those Acts
had not passed ? Yet they were all in opposition to the spirit
and letter. of
,the Navigation Act. But What would it avail
this country at present to insist upon enforcing the Navigation
Act, considering the various inlets to our 'colonies which were
afforded by the independent States of South America by Cuba,
and by:other means, as well as by the free ports established by
ourselves in the immediate vicinity or those Colonies ? The
free port at Bermudas; for instance, afforded an opportimity
for commercial intercourse with our other Colonies, which could
not be easily interrupted. But the object which he had in
view was to establish a direct and Convenient commerce be-
. •tween our Colonies and America, instead of the circuitous, in-
-direct, and inconvenient mode of, intercourse which at present
existed. The alterations. which he intended to propose in-
volved mach less change than might perhaps be expected.
His first object would be to endeavour to simplify the laws re-
lating to this subject, by repealing a great number of usalees
and ccntradictory statutes, and by consolidating all the Acts
into two, one of 'which would embrace, the Continent and
Islands of Anierica, and the other the COntinent of Eu-
rope. It was his intention to permit the- exportation of
any articles, either the produce of our own Islands, or of
any articles legally imported, whether froth another Island or
this country, either in British ships, or in foreign ships built
in the countries to which they belonged, and navigated in the,
-way now permitted by law. This arrangeMent would apply
to the intercourse of our Colonies with the Continent and

Islands Of, America. It was necessary; that foreign ships should I
-be placed on the same footing as British ships ; for if it were
-attempted to put them on a different footing, the necessary con-
. sequence would be, that the foreign country, oti which any re-
-strietions were Imposed would impose similar restrictions an
out ships. There was one question connected with this mea-
sure of considerable importance, as it affecied our North Ame-
rican Colonies. The circumstances under which our West In-
dia Colonies had been pladed had led to a very extended
intercourse between those Colonies and North America—an
intercourse Which had been fostered by the system pursued in
Abe United States because the United States nad passed a law
prohibiting. Britisli ships from all trade between our Colonies
.and the United States. The United States had gone still fur-
ther, for they actually prevented American ships from doing
whtkt they were allowed to do by our laws. The policy pur- '
sued by the American Government had very materially cur-
tailed, and limited the commercial intercourse which had ante-
cedently subsisted between this country and the United States,
and naturally led to a more extended trade between our Colo-
nies and the North American Colonies than would otherwise
have taken place. The claims of the North American Colonies
were undoubtedly entitled to fair and liberal consideration. It
was peculiarly incumbent upon Parliament to extend its pro-
. tenon to those Colonies,' connected as they were with us by so
many ties, speaking the same language, governed by, the same
laws, influenced by the same feelings,'possessing, in short, all
the same characteristic traits as the people of this country.
The steadiness witlOwliiei -our North American Colonies had
uniformly supported the Mother Country demanded our pro-
tection, and that protection could only be given by reserving-a
duty on importatiOn into the West India Colonies of all those'
articles of foreign produce which came into direct competition
with those of the North American Colonies, such as flour, grain
-of every,description, lumber, &c. The details of the measure
would be matter for subsequent consideration when he brought
is his Bill. As the Object of the measure was to extend the
intercourse between our Colonies and the other parts of the
world as much as, possible,-itwould/be inconsistent with that
object to impose too high aduty; -on the other hand, be should
be sorry .to recommend any scale of duties which would
. not give a fair_protection to our North American Colonies. This
was in gentral terms- the nature of the proposition which it was
his intention to-submit to the fav6urable consideration of the
_House. By-referring to the existing laws, it would be found that
these arrangements did tot involve a greater change of system
than. was demanded'bYthe lapse of time and the change of cir-
-cumstances; and he trusted, therefore, that thcy.would be ap-
proved even by those who were accustomed to -look with the
greatest jealousy to any thing tretching upon the principle of
:the Navigation Laws. So far from considering this change as
„calculated to injure our navigation, he was satistied that,
looking at the question without reference to particular interests,
.or particular colonies, Cur navigation as well as-our commerce.
-.would ultimately derive the most essential benefit from
were some circumstances connected with the state of the