to be wholly unsatisfactory; moreover, that it was made known, unfortunately, just after the communication from the American Government, so long delayed, had been laid on the table, by which it appeared that Government was not, otherwise, prepared to make the proposed concessions on the subject of this trade.
Mr. Bouverie's amendment.
opposed by Ship-owners' Committee.
However, in the meantime, Mr. Bouverie, member
for Kilmarnock, a Free-trader, had given notice of a
long amendment[1] to the first clause of the Bill, which
was, substantially, to the effect that the several restrictions
and prohibitions contained in the Acts recited
in the 1st Clause (i. e. the old Navigation Laws),
with certain exceptions, should continue in full force,
till it should be shown that British ships were not
subjected in foreign countries to the like restrictions
and prohibitions. It might have been supposed that
the Shipowners would have consented to such a compromise:
but they showed no disposition to accept
this proposal. Indeed, their hostility to any alteration
mainly led to their ultimate discomfiture. At a
meeting of the Central Committee for upholding the
principle of the Navigation Laws, it was unanimously
resolved, "That the fatal consequences of the repealing
Clause, No. 1, in the Navigation Law Amendment
Bill, would not be removed by the amendment
of which Mr. Bouverie had given notice; and, as they
were convinced that this clause would still prove
destructive to British navigation, they trusted it
would not in any form receive the sanction of friends
to the shipping interest in Parliament."
- ↑ The Amendment would occupy two pages; it will be found in 'Hansard,' vol. ciii. p. 1206.
