Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/305

 a step, when it was admitted that, if taken, it must be irrevocable? Earl Grey, he said, treated the Navigation Laws as disadvantageous to the mercantile interests of the country. The merchants had not made this discovery, but the Queen's Government had made it for them. The whole case, as based on its assumed benefits to the commercial marine, therefore fell to the ground; and the objection to the Bill, founded on its injurious tendency, so far as the navy was concerned, remained unchallenged and unrefuted.

In Canada, as in all other colonies, the withdrawal of Protection was regarded as a great grievance, hence the repeal of the Navigation Laws was demanded by them only as a consequence of that event. But our North American colonies were not confined to Canada. The shipbuilding colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were opposed to repeal. The exceptional case of Canada might be met without entirely abrogating these laws. Having severely condemned Lord Palmerston for his circular, Lord Stanley then endeavoured to show that the warehousing system owed its origin to existing prohibitions, and that its increase or permanence depended upon their maintenance. He strongly objected to the proposal of admitting a foreign-built ship to British registry. It was essential, he maintained, to keep up the number and efficiency of our private building-yards, which would speedily decrease in number were such a proposal adopted. The question, indeed, could not be decided by one vote. The British merchants, the British Shipowners, the British seamen, and the British mechanics would not be satis