state of the intercourse with foreign nations. with regard to the unsatisfactory state of the laws then regulating international intercourse, not merely with the United States of America, but also with France, Spain, and Portugal; nor could they fail to perceive that every witness viewed with the greatest jealousy the restrictions still imposed by those nations on our shipping, and further, that we had not been met by them in that spirit of fairness and reciprocity we had a right to expect.
So far as regards the great question—the repeal of the Navigation Laws—into which the Committee inquired minutely and impartially, I may say that they were, unanimously, of opinion that it would be impossible to reverse the established policy of Free-trade, and that, in fact, it would not be to the interests of our Shipowners, if they had been able to do so. Indeed, the representatives of the then most conservative ports in the kingdom (Mr. Horsfall for Liverpool, and Mr. Liddell, now Lord Eslington, one of the members for Northumberland) were decidedly of opinion that any reversal of our policy would not merely be prejudicial to the great trading interests of this country, but, specially so, to those engaged in its maritime commerce; and, in fact, though they felt the advantages derivable by reciprocal advantages from foreign nations, they were not prepared to support an Order in Council against the admission to our ports of the ships of those nations which did not reciprocate.
The present depression beyond the influence of Government. While admitting the depressed state of the shipping interest during the previous two or three years, the Committee pointed out that this depression had arisen in great measure from causes beyond the
