Until the act of 1650, all nations at peace with England could introduce any kind of merchandise, under any flag. This act provided:

That no goods coming from Asia, Africa, or America, and, in particular, the English plantations, could be imported, except in English built ships. That certain goods, the produce of Europe, should be excepted, under certain restrictions and guarantees.

That no fish should be imported, except from English fisheries, and in English vessels.

This act, which went immediately into effect, brought on hostilities between England and the United Provinces; but finally compelled to make peace, the latter, on the Restoration, in 1660, saw, to their sorrow, Charles II. give his assent to an act confirming that of the Long Parliament, and containing a number of new, and still more rigorous regulations, in relation particularly to the colonies, which could, thereafter, trade with the mother country alone. Some branches of trade suffered, and the price of ships rose. But they multiplied, and ship-building was further encouraged by new acts passed in 1662 and 1663. England found herself in a condition to resist the attacks of Holland, renewed in 1667, and which, on the conclusion of peace, led to but trifling concessions.

Protective legislation was confirmed, and made more rigid still, in 1668 and 1672. A proclamation in 1675, and an act concerning the carrying trade n 1685, tended to the same end.

This system was kept up with vigor, after the revolution of 1688, and in 1696. The colonies and plantations were forbidden to export to, or to unlade their products even in Ireland or Scotland; for the union with the latter dates only from 1707, and its admission to common commercial privileges only from 1746.

During these one hundred and fifty years, numerous provisions regulated the operation of the Act of Navigation. Partial modifications, the dictate of necessity, have but confirmed the principle of the act.

The treaty of peace signed at Utrecht, 11th April, 1713, between France and Great Britain, led to a treaty of commerce between the two powers, which was signed the same day. The latter treaty, which was a first step in the direction of commercial reciprocity, caused such opposition among English merchants, that after a short contest, Parliament annulled it, by rejecting the two articles which contained the most liberal features.

The cession of Acadia, stipulated in the treaty of Utrecht, sadly signalized the last year but one of the long reign of Louis XIV., and was the prelude, as it were, to a whole century of reverses, during which, France kept on yielding, one after another, to her rivals, the establishments which French valor had, with much toil, spread over the globe.

As we approach the present period, we perceive, in all the acts of the English government, the ruling purpose of nourishing the opinion among English seamen, that they alone are called upon to supply the necessities of the kingdom. These acts are but a repeated confirmation of the Act of Navigation of 1660. Under George IV., (5th July, 1825;) under William IV., (28th August, 1833;) finally during the reign of the present Queen, Victoria, (4th August, 1845;) the acts consolidating the tariff of duties are acccompanied by a consolidation of the ancient navigation laws. But a different spirit pervaded the tariff, and it soon had to be acknowledged that these different laws no longer formed a harmonious whole.

III. It was the intention of the legislature that the cleven chapters of the

acts of August, 1845, should refer to and support each other, and they were considered, taken together, as the consolidation of provisions previously made; they recited and repealed 26 acts which had been in force since the last year of George IV., and substituted for them, under date of 4th August, 1845:1st. An act for the regulation of customs.

2d. A general regulation of custom-houses.

3d. An act for the suppression of smuggling.

4th. An act for the encouragement of shipping and navigation, properly called Act of Navigation.

5th. An act relating to the registry or enrollment of British ships.

6th. The tariff, or table of custom duties.

7th. An act regulating warehouses.

8th. An act relating to bounties and drawbacks on exports.

9th. An act relating to the trade of the British colonies out of the kingdom. 10th. An act relating to the trade with the Isle of Man.

The principal acts passed in England since these, are the following:— Act of 26th June, 1846, relating to the admission of cereal grains, wood, and staves.

Act of 4th September, 1848, the finishing stroke to English legislation on sugar.

Act of 5th September, 1848, relating to foreign copper and lead; abolishing the only remaining vestige of a duty clearly protective, of domestic production.

Lastly, the act of 1st August, 1849, designed to regulate a number of lesser details.

It was supposed by the legislature that these acts would aid each other, and would compose a body of laws in which might be found all the commercial regulations of England; but various causes have operated to break their harmony. The consolidation acts of 1833 confirmed the powers of the King in Council, to conclude commercial treaties, or conventions with foreign powers, with a view to reciprocity, and to carry them into effect by a simple order in council, communicating them to Parliament, but without being obliged to apply for its sanction.

These treaties have proved material departures from the Act of Navigation; and as such treaties have been concluded with the United States, Prussia, Hanover, Sweden, and Norway, Oldenburg, the three Hanseatic Cities, Colombia, and the Rio de la Plata, (or the states formed from them,) Mexico, Russia, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, Hayti, Chili, Mecklenburg, France, to a certain degree, and the Spanish Colonies, the result has been that the provisions of that act had become greatly modified, and its restrictions bore more heavily on English, than on foreign commerce.

The liberal concessions made by the tariff, which no longer prohibited articles of foreign manufacture, were still less in harmony with the Navigation Act; since, for example, an article manufactured in Belgium, of which the material was leather, on importation from Antwerp, or elsewhere, had to pay only 10 per cent on its value; while the raw material, which might be hides, from Buenos Ayres, could not be imported at all from Antwerp, however great might be the assistance to the English manufacturer, in sustaining competition, from obtaining them in that way. Hence arose ceaseless complaints of a system which freely admitted foreign manufactures, and, at the same time, excluded, by the Navigation Act, the raw material, in certain cases, and coming from the same country. These complaints made them

selves heard in Parliament, which took them into consideration, and, on the 9th of February, 1847, a committee of fifteen prominent members were appointed by the House of Commons, to enter upon an inquiry. The sittings began on the 2d of March, and ended the 13th July, 1847. Thirty-four individuals, from every occupation, were examined, and 8,060 interrogatories were put to them. The auswers, published in voluminous reports, to which is annexed an appendix of interesting documents, furnished the grounds for one of the greatest departures from the ancient courses that England has ever ventured upon.

A similar investigation, instituted by the House of Peers, began the 9th of March, and ended the 6th of July, 1818. Fifty-four witnesses were examined, and answered 8,745 questions. It was after this long and serious investigation, in which all interests had been represented, and their mutual relations considered, and after a profound discussion in both houses of Parliament, that the act of 26th of June, 1849, was adopted, which went into effect the first of January last.

Such, gentlemen, so far as, after a careful examination, we have been able to set them forth, are the different steps which have led England to a new position, which all at home, even, do not approach without apprehension, but from which she seems, to us, destined to secure a still greater increase of wealth and prosperity.

During these investigations, the English cabinet took occasion to examine into the probable effect of the proposed measures, as well in her own colonies, as among foreign powers. The results of the correspondence were submitted to the two houses of Parliament. It embraces every commercial country. The correspondendence with our government is valuable, and we re-produce it here.

The embassador of Great Britain at Paris, was directed to transmit to our Minister of Foreign Affairs, (at that time M. Drouyn de Lhuys,) a memorandum of the state of English legislation, and the modifications proposed. We copy it here, although what precedes gives almost all the details:

"The chief provisions of the Navigation Laws of the United Kingdom, are as follows:

"1st. Certain enumerated articles, the produce of Europe, cannot be imported into the United Kingdom for consumption, except on the following conditions:

"A. In British ships.

"B. In ships of the country of which the goods are the produce.

"C. Ships of the country from which the goods are imported.

"2d. No goods, the products of Asia, Africa, or America, can be imported for consumption in the United Kingdom, from Europe, in any vessel whatever; and these products can be imported for consumption, from any other places, only

"A. In British ships.

"B. In ships of the country of which the articles are the produce, and from which they are imported.

"3d. No goods can be carried from one port to another of the United Kingdom in other than British vessels, the carrying trade being confined

to them.

"4th. No goods can be exported from the United Kingdom to any of the British possessions in Asia, Africa, and America, in any but British vessels, with certain exceptions, with respect to India.

5th. No goods can be carried from one British possession in Asia, Africa, or America, to another possession, or from one place to another in the same possession, except in British vessels.

6th. No goods can be imported into any British possession in Asia, Africa, or America, except―

"A. In British ships.

"B. In ships of the country of which they are the products; and provided, in this case, that they are brought direct from the country of which they are produced.

"7th. No foreign ships are allowed to trade with sessions, without an authority by order in council.

any of the British poses

"The Queen in Council is clothed with power to establish differential duties on the ships of every foreign power which shall impose differential duties upon British vessels; and also to impose restrictions on imports from foreign countries, which shall impose restrictions on imports from Great Britain.

"In order clearly to understand the precise effect of these regulations, it is necessary to refer to the terms by which the Navigation Act defines British and foreign vessels:

"1st. As regards British ships, no vessel is admitted to the privileges they enjoy, unless:

66

A. Wholly built in the United Kingdom, or some British possession. "B. Wholly the property of British subjects.

"C. Manned by a certain proportion of British subjects.

"2d. As regards foreign ships, no vessel is considered as belonging to any given country, unless:-

"A. Either entirely built in that country, or British built.

"B. Wholly owned by citizens of that country, and—

"C. Commanded by a master of the same country, and manned by a crew, three-fourths of which, at least, are subjects of the same country. "By the proposed bill, it was designed to repeal all existing restrictions, except those relating to the carrying trade. It reserved to the crown the right of reestablishing differential duties, as against countries which failed to treat British shipping on the footing of entire reciprocity."

M. Drouyn de Lhuys answered the communication addressed to him by the Marquis of Normanby, by the following letter, dated 31st of January,

1849:

"Sir, I have received, under date of 12th of this month, accompanying a memorandum of the proposed reform of the maritime laws of England, a letter, in which your Excellency does me the honor to ask, in the name of this government, for information; 1st, as to the present state of our legislation bearing upon British navigation; 2d, as to the measures the government of the Republic m ght be disposed to adopt, in the case supposed; and, by way of reciprocity, in favor of that navigation.

It is with deep interest, sir, that I have considered so weighty a communication; and I should have been very glad to be able to comply at length, and immediately, with the request of Lord Palmerston. But while it is very easy to state the regulations now in force, at our ports, with respect to British ships, and to their cargoes, both imports and exports, it is by no means so, as to the changes in this system, as a whole, which we might be induced hereafter to introduce.

"As to the first point, in fact, there can be no uncertainty; the convention of 26th January, 1826, having formally designated the various cases in

which the flag of the United Kingdom, shall, or shall not, be admitted in French ports, and in those of our possessions abroad, to special favor. Now your Excellency is aware, that on our side, the stipulations of this treaty have always been scrupulously observed, although, on various occasions, I regret to say, and of late, especially, the partial failure to observe these mutual concessions, on the part of England, has called forth, and, as yet, without effect, the most just complaints, on our part.

"As to the second point, on the contrary-that is, any increase of the facilities already afforded by France to Brtish navigation, which, in the case supposed by your Excellency, we might be disposed to consent to, I must remark that the ultimate conclusion of the government of the Republic, in the premises, would not be confined in its scope to a single country, but would involve an entire remodeling of our maritime code, as respects foreign powers generally. This result, doubtless, would be in conformity with the enlightened tendencies of modern political economy; but it would be difficult, at present, to clearly estimate all its advantages, and, perhaps, its partial disadvantages, also. Before resolving upon a repeal of all the principal provisions of the Navigation Act, the British government deemed it, with justice, to be its duty to weigh the principles of this radical reform with the maturest deliberation. The government of the Republic, when called upon, in their turn, to enter upon the same liberal course, can hardly act otherwise, or with less circumspection.

"I have, sir, therefore, without delay, caused this subject to be submitted to the careful investigation of the proper departments, and I shall not fail, at as early a day as possible, to communicate the result to your Excellency. The liberal and friendly disposition of the government of the Republic, towards English navigation, in particular, is too well known to you, for you to doubt, for a moment, that everything in its power will be done, in this regard, to bring into harmony the obvious interests of our trade and navigation with those principles of rigid reciprocity recommended by the British government.

IV. We shall now, gentlemen, proceed to make a summary analysis of the new navigation act, which forms, Chap. XXIX. of the Statutes of the 12 and 13 Victoria, and bears date 26th January, 1849.

The first section repeals wholly, or in part, eleven previous acts, merely citing them in their order. On examining the several sections of this act, we find that the privileges they allow foreign shipping, are as follows:---

1st. That of importing, from all countries, all kinds of goods, and introducing them for consumption, on paying the duties imposed by the general tariff of England.

2d. That of trading with the English colonies; of carrying thither goods from any country, and exporting thither grain for any market.

3d. That of importing the products of the fisheries into England. 4th. That of trading freely with the possessions of the East India Company. 5th. That of being placed on the same footing as British subjects, with regard to drawbacks, &c.

By these various clauses of the act, England reserves to herself the carrying trade of the British Islands, and of those of the channel; the trade froin one port of her possessions abroad, to another port of the same colony; allows the Governor General of India the power to regulate the carrying trade within the dominions of the Company; allows the purchase of foreign built ships, and provides for the registry of them; regulates the rights of owners, and the composition of the crew, &c.