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I THINK it can be demonstrated that a final adoption by this country of the Declaration of Paris would not only be fatal to its maritime supremacy, but destructive of its very existence.

I will not confine myself to quoting authorities on this matter, but I will fortify those authorities by arguments drawn from the reason of the thing.

As for authorities, I claim the whole muster-roll of English statesmen from the time England became a maritime nation until Lord Clarendon put his signature to the Declaration of Paris.

Lord Eldon said—"The right of searching neutral vessels originated in the rights