an Act passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the third and fourth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, intituled, "An Act further to "regulate the Trade of Ships built and trading within the Limits of the "East India Company's Charter." 19. And be it Enacted, That this Act shall come into operation on the First day of January, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine. 20. And be it Enacted, That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in the present Session of Parliament. APPENDIX, B. Extracts from Statutes of the Realm, vol. ii., p, 18, translated from the Norman French, printed 1816, by Command of King George III., &c. ANNO 1381. -5 Ric. II., STAT. 1, c. iii. "Item, to increase the navy of England, which is now greatly diminished. It is assented and accorded, that none of the King's liege people do from henceforth ship any merchandise in going out or coming within the realm of England [in any port], but only in ships of the King's liegance; and every person of the said liegance which after the feast of Easter next ensuing, at which feast this ordinance shall first begin to hold place, do ship and merchandise in any other ship or vessels upon the sea than of the said liegance, shall forfeit to the King all his merchandises shipped in other vessels, wheresoever they be found hereafter, or the value of the same, of which forfeitures the King will and granteth, that he that duly espieth and duly proveth that any person hath anything forfeited against this ordinance, shall have the third part for his labour of the King's gift." ANNO 1382.- -6 RIC. II., STAT. 1, c. 8. "Item. Though late in the same Parliament it was ordained that none of the King's liege people, after the feast of Easter next coming, should in anywise ship any merchandises or goods to be carried out of the realm of England, or to be brought within the same realm in any ships, upon pain of forfeiture, except in ships of the King's liegance, yet of the assent aforesaid it is ordained and granted that the said ordinance only have place as long as ships of the said liegance in the ports where the said merchants shall happen to dwell be found able and sufficient: so that then they shall be bound to freight the same ships of the King's liegance with their merchandises, under the pain aforesaid, before all other ships; and otherwise it shall be lawful to the same merchants to hire other ships convenient, and then to freight them with their goods and merchandises, notwithstanding the said first statute." 14 RIc. II., c. 6.--A. D. 1390. "Item. That all merchants of the realm of England shall freight in the said realm the ships of the said realm, and not strange ships; so that the owners of the said ships take reasonable gains for the freight of the same [issint a les possesso's des ditz niefs preignent resonablement pr le frette dicelles]. APPENDIX, C. PAPER SUBMITTED BY MR. LEFEVRE, SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF TRADE, TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE NAVIGATION LAWS, 1847. A COMPARATIVE VIEW of the NAVIGATION LAW of 1660 and 1847. I. THE PLANTATION Trade. Law in 1660. Rule 1st. (Conf. 1, 2, 3, and 4, of 1847.) "No goods or commodities whatsoever shall be imported into or exported out of any islands, plantations, or territories to His Majesty belonging, or in his possession, or which may hereafter belong unto or be in the possession of His Majesty, his heirs and successors, in Asia, Africa, or America, in any other ship or ships, vessel or vessels whatsoever, but in such ships or vessels as do truly and without fraud belong only to the people of England or Ireland, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwickupon-Tweed, or are of the build of or belonging to any of the said lands, islands, plantations, or territories, as the proprietors and right owners thereof, and whereof the master and three-fourths of the mariners at least are English."-(12 Car. 2, c. 18, s. 1.) Law in 1847. Rule 1st. (Conf. 1, of 1660.) "No goods shall be exported from the United Kingdom to any British possession in Asia, Africa, or America, nor to the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, or Sark, except in British ships."-(8 & 9 Vict. c. 88, s. 7.) N.B.-But vessels belonging to the United States may carry goods from this country to the principal British settlements in the East Indies.-(59 G. 3, c. 54, s. 6.) And it is understood that the Queen may conclude treaties, allowing the same privilege to the ships of other foreign countries, and some such treaties have actually been concluded; e.g. with Austria and Russia. (See 8 & 9 Vict. c. 90, s. 9.) Rule 2nd. (Conf. 5, of 1847.) "No sugars, tobacco, cotton-wool, indigoes, ginger, fustic or other dyeing wood, of the growth, production, or manufacture of any English plantations in America, Asia, or Africa, shall be shipped, carried, conveyed, or transported from any of the said English plantations to any land, island, territory, dominion, port, or place whatsoever, other than to such other English plantations as do belong to His Majesty, his heirs and successors, or to the kingdom of England or Ireland, or principality of Wales, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, there to be laid on shore." "For every ship or vessel which shall set sail out or from England, Ireland, Wales, or town of Berwickupon-Tweed, for any English plantation in America, Asia, or Africa, sufficient bond shall be given with one surety to the chief officers of the Custom-house of such port or place from whence the said ship shall set sail, that in case the said ship or vessel shall load any of the said commodities at any of the said English plantations, that the said commodities shall be by the said ship brought to some port of England, Ireland, Wales, or to the port or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and shall there unload (sic) and put on shore the same, the danger of the seas only excepted; and for all ships coming from any other port or place to any of the aforesaid plantations, who (sic) by this Act are permitted to trade there, that the Governor of such English plantations shall, before the said ship or vessel be permitted Rule 2nd. (Conf. 1, of 1660.) "No goods shall be carried from any British possession in Asia, Africa, or America, to any other of such possessions, nor from one part of such possessions to another part of the same, except in British ships."—(8 & 9 Vict. c. 88, s. 10.) Rule 3rd. (Conf. 1, of 1660.) "No goods shall be imported into any British possession in Asia, Africa, or America, in any foreign ships, unless they be ships of the country of which the goods are the produce, and from which the goods are imported."-(8 & 9 Vict. c. 88, s. 11.) N.B.-But Her Majesty may by Order in Council declare that goods, the growth, &c., of any foreign country, may be imported into Hong Kong from the same or any other foreign country in vessels belonging to the same or any other foreign country, and however navigated. (See 8 and 9 Vict. c. 88, s. 12.) N.B.-2. Her Majesty may by Order in Council declare that goods of any sort, or the produce of any place, not otherwise prohibited than by the Law of Navigation, may be imported into any port or ports of the British possessions abroad, to be named in such Order, from any place in a British ship, and from any place not being a part of the British dominions, in a foreign ship of any country, and however navigated, to be warehoused for exportation only."-(8 & 9 Vict c. 88, s. 23.) to load on board any of the said commodities, take bond, in manner and to the value aforesaid, for each respective ship or vessel, that such ship or vessel shall carry all the aforesaid goods that shall be laden on board in the said ship to some other of His Majesty's English plantations, or to England, Ireland, Wales, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed."—(12 Car. 2, c. 18, ss. 18, 19.) Rule 4th. (Conf. 1, of 1660.) The privileges of trading allowed to foreign ships, under Rule 3, are limited to "the ships of those countries which, having colonial possessions, shall grant the like privileges of trading with those possessions to British ships, or which, not having colonial possessions, shall place the commerce and navigation of this country and of its possessions abroad on the footing of the most favoured nation; unless Her Majesty, by Order in Council, shall in any case deem it expedient to grant the whole or any of such privileges to the ships of any foreign country, although the conditions aforesaid shall not in all respects be fulfilled by such foreign country."-(8 & 9 Vict. c. 93, s. 4.) Rule 5th. (Conf. 2, of 1660.) "No goods shall be imported into, nor shall any goods, except the produce of the fisheries, in British ships, be exported from any of the British possessions in America by sea, from or to any place other than the United Kingdom, or some other of such possessions, except into or from the several ports in such possessions called Free Ports.'"-(8 & 9 Vict. c. 93, s. 2.) N.B.-This applies to the Mauritius as well as the American possessions. (Ibid. s. 62.) The trade of other colonies is regulated by the Queen. (Ibid. s. 90.) Goods may be imported by inland navigation into any place where there is a Custom-house. (Ibid. s. 45. The rule is not to extend "to prohibit the importation or exportation of goods into or from any ports or places in Newfoundland or Labrador in British ships," and certain articles may be imported from Guernsey and Jersey into places whence the fishery is carried on, though the same be not free ports. (Ibid. s. 2.) INTERMEDIATE HISTORY OF THE LAW. The Act of 1660, as appears from the foregoing summary, established two rules applicable to the plantation trade: first, that the whole trade of the plantations should be carried on in British ships; and, secondly, that the principal productions of the plantations should be allowed to be exported only to the mother-country or some other plantation. A third general rule was introduced a year or two later by the Act 15 Car. 2, c. 7, s. 6; viz., that no goods of the produce of Europe should be imported into any of the plantations in Asia, Africa, or America (except Tangier), but such as were bonâ fide and without fraud laden and shipped in England, Wales, or the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in English-built shipping. The history of the Navigation Law, during the period which has elapsed since the Act of 1660, may most conveniently be collected under the heads of these three rules. RULE I. The principle of the exclusion of foreign ships from the plantation trade was maintained entire until the year 1766; but in the interval several alterations were made in the definition of English shipping, for which, as the subject is one that seems to require separate discussion, see Note (A). In the year 1766 the Act commonly called the "Free Port Act" (6 G. 3, c. 49) was passed, the intention of which is said to have been the legalising, so far as we were concerned, the illicit but profitable trade then carried on between some of our West India islands and the Spanish colonies. It permits, with certain exceptions, the produce (but not the manufactures) of foreign colonies in America to be imported into certain specified ports in Dominica and Jamaica respectively, in foreign one-decked vessels. It also permits the re-exportation from the same ports to foreign places, in foreign one-decked vessels, of any goods legally imported into the said islands from Great Britain, Ireland, or the British possessions in America, with, however, certain exceptions. The Act contains a variety of restrictions upon the trade of these two islands, as well with other colonies as with foreign ports, in order to prevent any general infringement of our colonial system through the exceptional treatment of these places. In 1773 the Act which was then expiring was continued so far as regarded Dominica, but not for Jamaica, till 1780, by statute 13 G. 3, c. 73, which also adds some regulations as to |