which entered and cleared in French and Spanish ports respectively in the indirect trade in each year, from 1853 to 1857 inclusive, proves, to how small an extent, the shipping of these countries engaged in the indirect trade with the United Kingdom; the result being, that, in spite of the unequal restrictions, there was a larger amount of British tonnage employed in the indirect trade with those countries, than of the tonnage of such countries, respectively, in the indirect trade of the United Kingdom, to which they were admitted on equal terms with British ships. Further, the accounts accessible in Portugal, however imperfect, were sufficient to afford conclusive evidence that the British flag in no respect suffered from the competition of that country. Indeed, the total tonnage of Portuguese ships which entered and cleared in the direct and indirect trades of the United Kingdom in 1857 was only 56,606 tons, whereas the British tonnage employed in the direct trade alone with Portugal amounted in the same year to 234,423 tons.
If a comparison were made between the relative employment of British and French tonnage in the whole trade of France and the United Kingdom, respectively, direct as well as indirect, it would appear that, in 1857, the total amount of British tonnage in French ports was equal to two-thirds of the French tonnage in its own ports; while, in the same year, the total French tonnage in British ports was, of course, in a very small proportion, indeed, to the amount of British tonnage in British ports, and considerably less than one-half of the amount of British
