sure that the good sense and industry of those who carried on trades, for the more extensive exercise of which some of the companies had been formed, would in the end prevail, and that the trades would return to their natural channel. Many of the owners of shares, who might be considered as sleeping partners in trades of which they knew nothing but the name, but who expected to reap large profits without any care, activity, or exertion on their parts, would, he feared, find in the end their expectations disappointed, and that they could not compete with effect against individuals, who devoted their whole time and attention to the promotion of their respective trades. The high-raised hopes of many who embarked in such speculations would, ultimately, vanish into thin air, and leave those who entertained them nothing but regret and disappointment.

But at the same time that he gave this as his opinion with regard to many of the speculations now afloat, he did not see how Parliament could, with propriety, interfere. If, in any of the measures which came before them any thing illegal could be shown-if any particular evil could be pointed out-he should be willing to afford every remedy in his power; but, unless that was done, it would, he thought, be better to let these things take their course, and they would be found to come back, in a short time, to their natural level. Now this milk company, for instance -he saw nothing illegal in its formation, nor any thing in which the House could with propriety interfere; at the same time he felt satisfied that it would never succeed against the vigilance and activity of individual industry. He was sorry to perceive the extent to which these speculations had been carried; but, he repeated, that he thought it would be the best way to let the evil correct itself.

EXPOSITION OF THE COLONIAL POLICY OF THE

COUNTRY.

March 21.

The House having resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House, to consider of the Acts of the 3d of George IV. cap. 44 and 45-in pursuance of the notice he had given,

Mr. HUSKISSON rose, and spoke in substance as follows:

Although, Sir, the Resolutions with which I shall conclude the observations which I am now about to submit to the Committee, are in strict accordance with the recommendation in his Majesty's Speech from the Throne, and with the disposition of this House, in respect to the removal of restrictions upon Commerce, I am afraid that it will be necessary for me to trespass, more at length than I could wish, upon the indulgence of the Committee.

Considering the many important interests that may be affected, the alarms that may possibly be excited, the predilections that may be awakened, the prejudices that may be roused by the measures which it is now my duty to propose, I am sure the Committee will forgive me if I dwell upon explanations and statements, which might, otherwise, appear to be uncalled for by the occasion.

I can assure the Committee, that if I am about to recommend alterations which are at variance with the ancient sentiments of this country, in respect to Colonial policy and trade, it is not because I consider the views of our ancestors as necessarily erroneous, or that innovation must necessarily be improvement; but it is, because the circumstances and state of the world, in which we have to examine colonial interests, have changed; and it becomes us, as practical statesmen, to deal with those interests with

a reference to that change. It is only in this sense, and with this qualification, that I desire to be looked upon as an innovator. I am not anxious to give effect to new principles, where circumstances do not call for their application; feeling as I do, from no small experience in public business-and every day confirms that feeling-how much, in the vast and complex interests of this country, all general theories, however incontrovertible in the abstract, require to be weighed with a calm circumspection, to be directed by a temperate discretion, and to be adapted to all the existing relations of society, with a careful hand, and a due regard to the establishments and institutions which have grown up under those relations.

It was under these impressions, that, in conformity to the notice which I had given, I intended this evening to have requested the attention of the Committee to the following subjects: First,-The system of our commercial policy in respect to our Colonies. Secondly,―The expediency of revising many of the Duties now payable upon the import of the raw materials used in our manufactures, and of relaxing the Prohibitory Duties, which, under the name of protection, are now enforced against the manufactured productions of other countries; and, Thirdly,—The means of affording some further degree of relief and assistance to the interests of our Shipping and Navigation. From the bearing of these subjects upon each other, it would certainly have been convenient to have taken them in connection, but, considering the numerous topics which they embrace, I cannot hope, rising at this late hour, that the patience of the Committee can be sustained, whilst I advert to them all. I shall therefore, with your permission, confine myself this evening to the first, and in many respects, the most important head of inquiry-our Colonial System, -and postpone the two other branches till Friday next.

It must be well known to every gentleman who hears me, that the long-established policy of all the European powers possessing Colonies in the New World, and of this country among the rest, was that of an entire and rigid exclusion of those Colonies from all commercial intercourse, except with the mother country. To uphold this exclusion, and to forbid all such intercourse, seemed of the very essence of colonization. In the strict, and even inhospitable enforcement of this principle, Spain, with the largest colonial possessions in the world, shewed herself most determined, and, if I may use the expression, most exclusive. But without being equally jealous, other powers were not less tenacious of the principle. I cannot give a stronger proof of this, than by reminding the Committee, that this exclusive intercourse was held to be a part of the international law of Europe. In our prize courts it has been commonly referred to, and acted upon, as the rule of the Seven-years' War. Under this rule, the colony of a belligerent could not claim to carry on trade through the intervention of a neutral, because that neutral was not permitted to participate in such trade in time of peace.

But, if this has been the long-established basis of the Colonial system, need I state the vast inroads which have been made upon this system within the last fifteen years? Let the Committee look at the Brazils, that immense country, which was held by Portugal under a strict exclusion, till the migration of the Royal Family from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1808. Let them look at the large and fertile Island of St. Domingo; to the present state of those extended regions on the Continent of America, lately as Colonies of Spain, shut out from all intercourse with the rest of the world. Again, let them look at Cuba, and the Islands which have continued their allegiance to the Spanish crown, the trade with which is now open. Con

sidering this almost general revolution in the system of Colonial commerce,-considering the influence of such a revolution upon the commerce of our own Colonies, upon the commerce of rival nations, upon the views, and feelings, and speculations of the mercantile part of the community, and of our own Colonial population, is it not enough, of itself, to warrant, at least, the inquiry, whether so great a change in all around us does not call for some change on our part? I will not now examine how far this inquiry is become necessary, in consequence of our pretensions to participate in the commerce of these foreign Colonies, and by the fact of our so participating; or how far, in fairness and impartiality, justice, and that duty, which power, above all, owes to weakness, require that we should reciprocate the benefits which we exact.

These considerations, however important, do not perhaps immediately belong to the present discussion, viewed as a commercial question; but there is another inquiry which, in this point of view at least, it becomes us not to neglect. Have the Colonies, of which the trade has been thrown open, benefited by this enlargement of their intercourse? Are they likely to benefit still more? Rivals in the same productions, competitors in the same markets, can we, in the long-run, with our system of monopoly, stand against their freedom of trade? If we cannot, are we not risking the good-will and attachment of our Colonies, as well as the interests of our commerce? Is perseverance in such a system, politically wise, or practically safe? Is the great change, begun half a century ago, and still in progress, in the political and commercial state of the vast Continent of America, from the Gulph of St. Lawrence to Cape Horn, to lead to no change in our mode of administering the extensive possessions, both continental and insular, which remain under our dominion