Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/237

 number in favour of total and unconditional repeal being comparatively few. But as "Repeal," or "No Repeal," was the popular cry, it became more and more manifest that unless some pledge were given that foreign nations would reciprocate our concessions, it would be difficult, with all the influence of the Free-*trade party, to carry the Bill through Parliament, and especially through the Upper House.

It became, therefore, of the utmost importance to extract from Foreign Powers some intimation of their intentions. Hence Lord Palmerston, in his own name, addressed a circular from the Foreign Office, dated 22nd December, 1848, to her Majesty's diplomatic agents in various countries, requesting information on those points.

In this circular, Lord Palmerston informed his agents that the measure for modifying the Navigation Laws would be again submitted to Parliament on its re-assembling; and, as the principle of some modification had been practically accepted, there

were written in a homely style, commencing, "I am a plain man of business, daily to be found at my office in one of the City lanes, in the midst of my clerks, in the centre of a large dingy room. Business is my politics, not politics my business. If I have a leaning it is towards Free-trade principles," and so forth. But I soon learned that my "principles," as I laid them down, were, however plausible, fundamentally and radically wrong. Sound enough they no doubt were, if all nations had been prepared to adopt them; and if they could have been applied to the world at large, no system could have been more perfect. But, unfortunately, Foreign States were not prepared to adopt Free-*trade; and if we adopted retaliation against those which did not, we reverted to Protection in its most pernicious form. Consequently we pursued the policy most likely to suit our own interests, and very wisely did not attempt to enforce it on other nations. Therein Government was right and I was wrong.]
 * [Footnote: caused considerable excitement among shipowners at the time. They