They import all the materials of shipbuilding. They cannot compete with us; we com THE SHIPS OF HOLLAND. Mr. Young gives the cost of Holland ships at £14. a ton ; and Mr. Samuel Browning says "In practice the English certainly do compete successfully with the Dutch. Last summer I was in Harlingen, and I went to a shipbuilding yard in company with a leading merchant of Harlingen, and I inquired the price of building a ship, and he said, 'We have to import all our materials; our copper, our wood, our coals, and everything; and the consequence is, that as this is a heavily taxed country, we find it quite impossible to compete with you in England." The best proof that we can compete successfully in shipbuilding is, mand their own that we in fact command the trade."-(843, 1182.) trade. Cost of French ships. A strict Navigation law. The tonnage has not increased. They cannot carry so cheaply as we do. THE COMMERCIAL MARINE OF FRANCE. The cost of French ships, as estimated by Mr. Young, is £13. 10s. a ton. "The French have a very strict Navigation Law, and have had ever since 1825; but the tonnage belonging to the ports of France has not increased at all; it has rather diminished than otherwise. The genius of the people is not so strong in favour of maritime pursuits as the genius of the people of this country; and whatever Navigation Law, they may have would not make so great a difference, for they do not depend upon trade and commerce as we do they have not the same enterprise nor the same capital.” Mr. Porter, in answer to the question, "Have you any notice of any transaction in which French vessels were to carry goods contracted for in this country?" says, “I have seen advertisements calling for a supply of coals, to be delivered in Algiers; one condition of the advertisement was, that they should be carried in French vessels; and I have heard, as the result of that condition, that the French government paid for the coals much dearer than they had paid the preceding year."-(7651, 7652, 7658, 7659.) The French ships could not carry them so cheaply as ours. Like every country but our own, France has to import almost the whole of every article used in the build and fitting of a ship. And the fact seems to be that France, with the strictest Navigation Law, has a most miserable commercial marine. In 7633. 1846 France had 13,679 ships, of the tonnage of 604,637 No. and tonnage of French ships. tons. That included vessels of all sizes; by far the largest G. R. Porter. proportion of them were under sixty tons, and, therefore, were simply coasting vessels, and not vessels employed in the foreign trade. The average of tonnage to the ships is rather under eighteen tons to each, so that the number must include the very fishing boats. In England, 11,128 ships classed on Lloyd's list, give 2,336,680 tons; being about 210 tons to each. This is enough to show that, from whatever quarter the overwhelming competition is to come, France is not in a condition, and has not yet shown the capability of taking much part in it. A further proof of our superiority is to be learned from the fact, that in 1846, of all the tonnage inwards at our ports, 70.39 per cent. was British, and 29.61 per cent. foreign. In 1844, of all the tonnage entering French ports, 33-34, or one-third, was French, and two-thirds foreign. FOREIGN SHIPS IN THE PORTS OF FRANCE. No. 11.-STATEMENT, showing the NUMBER and TONNAGE of French and Foreign Vessels that entered the ports of France in each Year, from 1825 to 1844, showing also the Centesimal Proportions of French to Foreign Tonnage : Foreign ships in G. R. Porter. 7600. 7650. Paper handed in by G. R. Porter. No. II. YEARS. 1828 FRENCH. FOREIGN. TOTAL. Centesimal Pro- Tons. Ships. Tons. French. Foreign. 414,670 7,605 744,405 44.29 55.71 899,458 39.55 60.45 828,611 42-61 57.39 60,36 63 73 66.30 58.06 64.12 63.49 65 13 65.25 64.71 60.90 60.67 58.12 61.82 65.45 68.92 68 30 66 66 Ships. Tons. Ships. 1825 3,387 329,735 4,218 1826 3,440 355,776 4,910 1827 3,350 353,102 4,439 3,465 346,591 4,728 1829 3,048 331,049 5,070 1830 3,236 340,171 5,169 1831 3,375 333,216 3,951 1832 4,290 399,948 5,651 1833 3,561 358,157 5,115 1834 3,965 394,486 6,124 1835 4,001 407,999 6,360 1836 4,692 484,986 7,099 1837 5,273 584,451 7,127 1838 6,081 657,084 8,006 1,014,740 14,087 1,671,824 39 33 1839 6,955 705,756 7,822 979,324 14,777 1,685,080 41.88 1840 6,764 665,178 8,676 1,076,737 15,440 1,741,915 38 18 1841 6,030 630,071 9,244 1,193,289 15,274 1,823,360 34:55 1842 5,712 610,265 10,372 1,353,261 16,084 1,963,526 31.08 1843 6,106 639,637 10,305 1,376,260 16,411 2,015,897 31.70 1844 6.392 679,066 10,070 1,357,789 16,462 2,036,855 33-34 FOREIGN SHIPS IN THE PORTS OF ENGLAND. No. 4.-STATEMENT of the TONNAGE of Vessels, distinguishing British from Foreign, and showing the Proportions of each that Entered and Cleared from Ports in the United Kingdom, in each Year, from 1820 to 1846. YEARS. 1820 Tons. Tons. Brit. For. 4,098,507 78.50 21.50 780,042 926,693 3,867,960 79-83 20-17 Tons. Tons. Tons. Brit. For. Tons. Tons. Tons. Brit. For. 28 67 28 35 30-07 We give a similar table as to the United States. There, as in our own case, the home tonnage entering exceeds the foreign; but in our case, year by year shows a greater proportion of British; in theirs, year by year, a less proportion of American. "The proportion of foreign ships to American ships, is greater than in our trade the proportion is between foreign and British ships; and there is this further remark, that the proportion of foreign tonnage, as compared with American, appears to be upon the increase. In 1821 it was 9.63, somewhat under ten per cent.; it is now 31.68 per cent., and it seems to have gone on increasing with tolerable regularity." FOREIGN SHIPS IN THE PORTS OF AMERICA. No. 10. STATEMENT of the TONNAGE of Vessels, American and Foreign, with the per-centage Proportions of each, which entered at Ports in the United States, in each Year, from 1821 to 1844. English tonnage in English ports increases foreign tonnage in American. G. R. Porter. Large proportion of British ships to whole foreign in ports of United States. British ships in the United States. "But with reference to British ships, the proportion which British tonnage bore to the whole foreign tonnage entering the ports of the United States, was very large; in no one year between 1821 and 1844, has it been less than 53:41 per cent., and sometimes above eighty per cent.; in the last year of the series, 1844, the proportion was 83.61 of the whole tonnage not American entering the ports of America."—(7647.) BRITISH SHIPS IN THE PORTS OF AMERICA. No. 9.-STATEMENT of the Amount of TONNAGE that Entered the Ports of the England has nothing to fear from a free sea. If this last table stood alone, it should be enough to satisfy every one that we have nothing to fear from a free sea. Of all the foreign vessels entering United States ports, more than five-sixths are English ships; and yet, as compared with most of those foreigners, our ships trade to the United States at a |