The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-13 00:00:00

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lent perhaps be :temp veld* in strict propriety ought to be em-
ployed iiiilleviatingthe distress experienced in these districts.--
It was an error in the speech of the Hon. Member that his calcu.l
Wion of the distress only extended to Manchester. It was felt
throughout various branches of our population in Nottingham,
Cheshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and thence to the southern-
counties of Wilts and Sonierset, and all the western coasts of
.Scotland and the shores of the Clyde were alike liable to the'
influence of similar distress. Hence to deal fairly by those who
would not'w3it to direct their district committees to purchase
bonded corn to supply the distressed population, it would
be necessary to give to each district committee a sum equal to
that which they would have saved had the committee bought
bonded corn, and so entitled themselves to the drawback or
duty. In the Wisd of 'Engl4.ad it might not have .kern pnisible
to wait or promise such a supply of foreign cern in time. In
refusing, to agree to the,auiendment on these gronn4s, he con-
fessed he felt concerned that he could not aequiesee in a propo-
tithes Which he knew originated in the hest possible motives,
' and reflected honour' upon the:humane solicitude of the lloneur
able Mover.
Sir 3. WROTTESLEY was decidedly in favour of raising the
nee~ry sum to meet the present distreoues, by means of volun-
tary eeetribution alone. By the present mode of subscription, not
leSs than 200,000!. would be raised for this purpose.
Mr. Secretary" PETE. apprehended the proposed measure weal.
afford an opening to fraud. lie did not ice indeed bow fraud
enuld.be prevented if the Committees for "local relief, after pur-
Chasing of corn dealers, could procure certificates which would'
entitle them to a restitution of the duty, Ile could not but think also
that it would occasion a considerable derangement in the Corn
Market. The three grounds of objection which he stated yester-
day, still appeared to him to have great force.
Mr. BARING concurred in the opinions of the Right Hon.
Secretary.
Mr. STANLEY, finding that the sense of the Committee was
against him, would not press his motion to a division.
The clanee was then negatived.
The House then resumed, the Report was brought up, and
ordered to be taken into farther consideration on Wednesday next.
MACADAMIZING WESTMINSTER.
Mr.. ARBUTHNOT obtained leave to bring in a Bill for im-
proving the pavement of certain parts of Westminster.
DEBTOR AND CREDITOR ARRANGEMENT BILL.
Mr. BRIGHT was understood to say, in moving that the Re-
port on this Bill be brought up, that he would, at the Third
Reading of the Bill, move to add a clause by way of rider to
extend its provisions to Ireland.—The Report was then received,
va,l the Bill ordered to be mid a third time on Wednesday next.
Mr. ALRittyr lIN ur brought in the Westminster Pavement Im-
provement Bill, which, after a few words from Mr. Hume, was
read a let and 2d time, and ordered to be committed on Wednes-
day next.

ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.
Mr. MISOSSON,inoved that the House at its rising do ad.
journ till Wednesday next.
FOREIGN CORN.
Mr. HUSKISSON moved for a Itetnrn of the quantities of
Foreign Grain of every desCription imported into this country up
to the Ist of May 18';!5.—Ordered.
NAVIGATION LAWS. .
Mr. HUSKISSON rose and said, that iu the course of the
Tart Session of Parliament, when the Trade and commerce of the
country were nourishing, and when there was certainly plenty •
of employment for merchant ships, the Honourable Member for
Grampound had indulged himself in many oracular &militia-
tionisof ruin to the commerce and navigation of the country—
denunciations which, whether from the general prosperity which
then prevailed, or from the obscurity and mystery in which
they were clothed had not, either in that Howie or elsewhere
made mulch impression at the time when they were delivered. And
during tint present Session Petitions hail been presented from the
Shipping Interest of the-Port of London and of other ports, fore,
boding that the effeet• of the relaxation of our maritime code
- would.he. to undermine the .prosperity and destroy the pre-emi-
nence of our national navigation. When such forebodings had
been .addressed tq Parliament from such quarters, be might
euraly claim the natation of the House-004e, hear o—on
.subject. of so much importance, on a subject so closely allied to
the maritime power of this country. He should be obliged, in
order to make the subject intelligible, to enter upon particular
and minute details; but the importance of the subject was such,
that he felt no apology could be necessary for doing so. The
object or our policy had been twefold—lst, To obtain as great
NZ increase to our own commerce and navigation 'as was practi-
cable ; anti, Stdiy, to prevent any other state from engrossing too
large a share of the carrying trade of the world. In pursuance of
these obieets, We hail refused to every nation the privi,
loge of importing to this country tiny goods the produce of a
third power, and confined to each power the carrying trade
of its own produce, in order to produce a certain equality in
the division of the carrying trade, and to prevent any inordi-
nate proportion of that trade from being engrossed by. any One
lower; and in order also that we might secure to ourselves the
benefit of the carrying trade •in every case where the commercial,
.marine of the nation with which we traded was deficient or intic-
ties. When he stated that the great object of our policy was to
procure and support a great commercial marine,• he might safely
state, that no laws or regulations could accomplish this, without

•we had employment for shipping, or, in other words, unless we
Otisethiaed the advantage of a great national commerce. Without
this, laws or regulationscould be of no avail. Whatever, there..
foret taml4 to extend commerce, must tend likewise to the in-
ept:see of navigation, for commerce and navigation were insepara-
bly interwoven. Ile knew that this principle was subject to mo-
dificationa ; be knew that the principles of free trade, most whole-
some in their general tendency, were yet subject to restrictions;
tat Itmew that the interests of commerce were subordinate to the
bibtreats of navigation, if in any instance they could be sepa-
aided. Our preference to the interests of navigation was founded
upon the brat law of every state, upon the strong law of poll.
6441 necessity. It was dictated to us by the necessity of self-
protection, by the necessity of protecting our numerous and vain-
fiMe distant possessions, and our extensive commerce from
the fingers of which, in the vicissitudes of peace and war, tiler
mint ociAsionally be exposed. This preference was dictated to
rei by • the necessity of maintaining our ascendancy upon, the
,oexiao, without. which we could no longer hold that proud
station amongst the nations of the world which had hitherto been
tittrs.-411car, hear, hear.)—Haviug thus set himself right with
the House, having thus admitted that where conflict could
be,auppoied to exist the interests of navigation - were entitled
to the preference over every other national interest, lie must
:pirrnittol to say, thatany thing tending to cramp com-
merce beyond the necessity was injurious not to commerce
folly, but also to navigation itself. The questions then they
hard to consider were simply these, whether the alterations
which had taken place had exposed these great national interests
to jeopardy or hazard ; whether they had so operated to the
prejudice of any particular part of the shipping interest as to
entitle it to any special or peculiar consideration; and thirdly,
Whether the alterations had been adopted gratuitously, or
• whether the state of circumstances had not been such as to ren-
der them necessary with a view to avoid still greater inconvenience.
*gore however he joined issue with those who considered the al-
terations which haft bean adopted pernicious,he must trace a hasty.,
awl Imperfect outline of the system upon which our navigation
laws were founded, and of the alterations which those laws had
recently undergone. The Act of the 12th of Charles 11. was the
great charter of our navigation. Its provisions might be classed
molar five heads. The ,first, head was that which related to
lisheritsh It was enacted that all the property of the ocean,
*mimed by this country, should be obtained by the industry of
04r own Petplc• This provision was so obviously just and wise,
twat no idteration, had been made in it, nor was any contem-
plated. This aecond was that which gave the coasting trade
of the vountry exclusively to our own shipping. At the time
when this
,Act wait raiacd, it applied only to England ; sub-
sequent events had extemled its operation to Scotland and Ire-
imuL Every man Iv. old agree that, under this important
head, Ito alteration ought to be attempted. Thii valuable mono-
poly remained now in the possession of our own commercial
Thew, and must remain, so long as we wish to support our uteri.
tinge supremacy. The third bead related to our commercial hi-
to-Course with the European Hnatinns. The ships of every
state of Europe were permitted to bring any articles, the
produce of such state, or any other produce actually shipped iu
*oda finite, excepting Bolland,, of which he would say a wool
'and bye, and with the further exception Of certain articles,
Which were known under the denotninttion of enumeruted
The articles were generally of a' bulky deseriptiiM, and
be brought only in .British ships, or in the ships of tins
,otate actually pteducing them. Such was our maritime law with
_respect to Europe generally. It was, however, somewhat more
,eifformis with regard to Holland. The system was devised, not
ugly with a view 14 promote our own direct interest, het under
freliags of national jealousy, and with a desire to check the ad-
solexinent of our maritime rivals, the Dutch; the article accord-
itgiy which they were interdicted froin conveying .were the most
sturtwous.
The fourth head comprehended tour interintercoursewith
• Apia, Africa, and America. The produce of ese quarter* of
theglobe could only he brought hi British ships, and only from
• quarter as a sin„
ele country,
the particular, considering each
The fifth head was, due
where je we actually produced.
iwp Which we sought to avail ourselves of the utmost

tages which could arise from , our own colonies. They were
prohibited from sending any part of their productions any
where except to this country, or in any other way than in our
ships, and they w:•re equally prohibited from receiving any thing
except from as end in'our, ship*. This was a fair statement of the
'system, arm from the 'l2th of Charles 11. to the peace of 1783, it
hail not been in any degree invaded. But a great change of Or-
cumetances had since taken' place, and the issue of the American
wax had rendered it 'tees-emery materially to infringe upon that
syetem. In the year 1755, that war broke out which was gene-
rally known by the name of the Seven Years' War. France and
Spain at that time made war in support of their colonial claims.
The stake involved in that antest was that of colonial supremacy,
and it was won by British Valour and skill. It wag signalized
by the capture of the Havannah, and England attained to the
undisputed rank of mistress of the colonial possessions of the
Western World. Ile need not stop to describe the proeress
Which had since been made in extending our commerce Mal ex-
alting our greatnese. If they followed from this period the chain
of events, they might trace tae true causes of the war with our
American colonies. After the seven viers' war it becume,the great
object of our policy to enforce more rigidly and jealously than he-
ctares if it were possible, our navigation law. Every attempt made
hY the New England colonies to evade the existing restrictions and
to extend their commerce, was .met by new regulations ; such,
for instance, as that which compelled them to come to this coun-
try for every thing they wanted ; such its that which provided that
if a ship from New England was strandell on the coast of Ire-
land, far Ireland was then treated us a colony, they should send to
this country for a ship to convey whatever portion of the cargo
might be preserved. If the conduct of this country had been
inure prudent and less, jealous, the American war might probably
have been avoided, lie knew that the right of taxation was the
ostensible and declared ground of the war; but if they looked to
the events between 1763 and 1773, it would appear that the mine
was already charged, and the 'train laid by a perseverance in petty
vexations; and that when the explosion at length took place, it
was principally lieezuse the mind, of the colonists had been long I
in a state caltileted to produce it. This war was a disastrous '
one, and we were compelled to conclude it by a humiliating
peace, such a pities as, he hoped, the British Crown would never
again have to submit to. Then after having submitted to the fo-
reign enemy, this country found itself compelled to capitulate
with the Parliament of Ireland. Ireland then obtained all she
claimed, and was put upon the footing of a part of the empire.
The peace with America rendered a change of our Navigation Law
indispensable. A new State had arisen on the other side of the
Atleutic, which wise actuated by the natural desire of increasines
its commercial importance end its political power. The peace of
1783, although it had silenced the din of arms, bad not extin-
guished the feelings 'of hostility, and it had created or fostered the
spirit of commercial rivalry and iedependence on the part of the
Americans. Previous to the Congress, which did not assemble
till the year 1787, each separate state legislated in the spirit •of
hostility to England, and with a zeal proportioned to its sense of
interest or its feelings of exasperation. In sonic of the states we
were prevented front trailing altogether. In others our commerc!
was charged with heavy duties. They laid a tax upon the entry
of every British ship of half a dollar, which was afterwards
raised to a dollar, more then upon their own. They likewise im-
posed a duty of ten per cent. upon goods if imported in any other
than their own ships. They bad been taught this lesson by
the example of their aucestors, and they profited by it. It was
obvious to how great a degree these measures must have milit .ted
against the interests of our navigation. The Board of Trade of
that day adopted whets projects to counteract this mischief.—
First, they gave a bounty on all goods ',hipped for America,
equal to the duty with which they would be charged on their ar-
rival; they then imposed a duty upon the importation of all Ame-
rican produce equal to that charged upon goods imported into
America in British ships ; lastly, they adopted the principle of
full retaliation. But all these measures, when examined in detail,
and pursued to their consequences, were found to produce greater
mischief to ourselves than to the Americans, and they were finally
abandoned. The raw produce of America was necessary to our
manufactures, and after a long struggle the present systeuit of
equality of duty was finced upon us. The operation of our navi-
gation law, however, up to the period of the recent alteration, gave
the commerce of America a decided advantage over the commerce
of this country. That law prevented American shins from im-
porting European produce into England. The Americans
retaliated upon us, und prevented our ships from importing
European goods into America. The effect of these reciprocal
interdictions was altogether in favour of America. If an American
ships loaded at Liverpool, she could take in an assorted cargo for her
own country ; she might be loaded principally with the produce
of this country, and the rein of her cargo might consist
of wine or brandy. But a British ship loading for Amer:ea was
deprived of this advantage. lion cargo must be exclusively
British produce ; if she went to America with a singl , pipe of
wine on board she would he liable to confiscation. It was thus
that by adhering to the Navigation Act we lied clone an injury
to navigation. Then soon after the settlement with America ti
war broke out with revolutionary France. This war was of so
peculiar a character, that from its commencement in the year 1793
to its conclusion it Wits in vain to talk of system. The whole world
was in confusion, and the settled policy of nations in abeyance!.
During that war, America being the only safe neutral power,
made great advances in commerce and navigation. England
also, being enabled by means of her naval power to pro-
tect her commerce, extended her commercial marine, not-
Withstanding every disadvantnge. All other powers were left
without a marine ; so that from the year 1703 to 1815, there
was nothing on this sea but the marine of America and England. '
But after 1815 other powers began to show themselves upon the
,ocean, and checked in some degree the progress both of this
country Foul America. But other circumstances also hal inter-
vened of a nature calculated to diminish time commercial marine
of this country. Those who were old enough to recollect the
debates upon the Slave Trade, its unfortunately was time case
with him, muet remember that the advocates of that trade in-
sisted strongly upon the employment it afforded to our ship-
ping. The same argument was in fact applied to this traffic
as might with propriety he applied to the fishery on the
coast of Newfoun llanda viz. that it was of importance to time sup-
port of our Navigation. Fortunately for the cause of humanity
and of national honour these arguments did not prevail. But
there was so much of truth in the arguments, that in elllll..
pining the state of our navigation at distant periods, the aboli-
tion of the Slave Trade was a circumstance which ought not to
be forgotten. Another circumstance similar in some respects to
that he had mentioned to diminish our commercial marine, was
our treaty with the Algerines. This treaty had effected an en-
tire change in the commerce of the Mediterranean. Our inter-
terference to put down the piracies of the Barbary States was
not like the abolition of the Slave Traci./ a duty of such a high
moral obligation as to haee no alternative it was, however,
highly honourable to our national diameter ; that we had
interfered, and the more so, as the effect of our successful
interference must have been foreseen to he prejudicial to
our own snore distinct and immediate interests. We for-
merly possessed the monopoly of navigation in the Mediterranean,
as our flag was the only one respected by the piratical States.
Now all the little maritime States on the shorts of the Mediterra-
newt can navigate as safely es ourselves. He hid been told by a
late respected Member of that House, Mr. Marriott, who had the
"'hist Allis' of itiformatiorr, that the coasting trade of the Mediter-
ranean gave employmentlo eight oaten thousand British seamen.
But at the close of the war there were several other circumstances
which created a temporary pressure upnn our commercial marine.
During the latter period of the war Government had employed a
great many merchant vessels as transports, All these were now
to he disposed of, and to cuter into competition with the ships
previously engaged in commerce. , The number of transports dis-
charged was 1,226. 'Their tonnage mounted to 270,382, and they
had been manned 11,16,000 seamen; a number equal to all that were
employed its the military navy Of this country, and equal to one quar-
ter of the whole of our commercial navy at the breaking out of
the war in 1792. The Gorernment bad also to sell out of 'the
King's service a considerable nuniber of vessels. It was generally
known that the large ship; of, war were openly sold with the ex-
press condition that they should be !Token up. The ships he
spoke of were vessels; of from 150, to 4-00 tons, of these they sold
as many as 330, amounting to 94,000 tone. So that if these
numberis were added ' tegether, it Would niipear that they hull
sent into competition with the existing commercial marine, 1,556
ships, carrying 301,000 tons, being considerably more than one-
fourth of all the commercial marine at the commencement Of the
war. If in addition to these circumstances it was recollected
that now a,ship is dispatched as soon as laden, and that former-
ly she was not 'permitted to sail without convoy, and as the
Admiralty Could not make a convoy sail every day to every
separate destinatien, the merchant ships were subject to con-
Ciderable • detentior.ti ; and if the necessity . when 'sailing in
Gees of accommodating their progress to that of the slowest
Vietied -in the convoy was also taken into consideration, it
wnliiii . perhaps not be
_too much to compute that two.
thirds of any number of ships would do us ninth now as the
wilt number "could then have accomplished. The cessation of
the fereigneenn trade was also a circumstance not to be forgot-
tee. Coin was a bulky article. There bad recently been little
must of this trade, and whet there was naturally fell to the share of
foreign ehips. Our detrunul
for foreign corn, tinder the present
system,
seedingte
out be a
desultory, end
lYsh, end always hurried. So that instead
British to return with a cargo of corn, the

merchant would always send an order for the corn he scanted to
be shipped as speedily as possible in a foreign vessel. - Having
stated these circumstances, he felt called upon to enter into de-
tailed statements, in order to show the country what was its real
situation. He would first, however, call the attention of the
House to the situation of our commercial marine in the year
1792, the year which saw the commencement of that war in
which we were called upon to make such unparalleled efforts at
sea :—ln the year 1792 the number of our slips was 16,079, the
amount of tonnage 1,540,145; on the 25th of December last
year our ships were 24,174, the amount of tonnage 2,542,000.
That was, we have now a commercial marine two-fifths greater
than-we had in the year 1792. He now thought it right to state
what was the number of .qnr ships and amount of tonnage at
the close of the last war :—Ships 24,860 ; tonnage 2,690,000.
There had, therefore, it appeared, been a dithinntion since that
period of 62;000- tons. But the amount then in existence had
been greatly in excess of the wants of the country, in consequence
of the circumstances he had detailed. He now thought it neces-
sary to advert to the number of. ships built in this country at va-
rious periods. Ile had looked back to the year 1789; bait in
consequence of the unfortutate fire at the Custom-house, he had
not been able to procure such full or satisfactory information as he
• desired. • He would, however, compare the number bnilt last
year with the number built in the year 1813, the last year

of the war:-
1814 —No. of ships built
Tons - -
Last Year.--Ships -
Tons