Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/112

 to go further in that direction than perhaps any other member of the House. He was, indeed, at that time, one of the most formidable exponents of the Free-trade doctrines. His speech, delivered in a tone of much confidence, propounded, as indisputable facts, what were then rather startling assertions. After briefly recapitulating the history of the Navigation Act, which had been held to be perfect till 1821-22, he pointed out that Mr. Wallace in those years, and Mr. Huskisson in 1824-25, had broken into the exclusive principle on which the Navigation Act rested. He then referred, at great length, to the labours of the Committee on British Shipping in 1844, and boldly asserted that that inquiry was instituted by the shipowners to prove the efficacy of the existing laws, and was allowed to drop because they had no case for further encouragement. He specially singled out the opinions of the late Mr. Joseph Somes, one of the largest shipowners of that time, who went so far as to demand a tax on Colonial shipping; and he successfully combatted this by contending that the colonists already suffered severely by the Navigation Laws. Millions upon millions, he said, were spent upon internal communications; Parliament was looking with great jealousy lest a half-*penny or a penny too much should be charged for inland transit; yet, when goods arrived by sea, there was a law which increased the cost of carriage over the greater part of their journey. He then referred to the opinions expressed by Mr. G. F. Young, one