ish merchants, estimated at upwards of 400,000l., nearly 200,000l. had been investigated and admitted, by the Spanish authorities he wished he could add, paid; but money was not easily obtained of late in that quarter. That the whole of the claims would be acknowledged he had no doubt, and he did not absolutely despair of their ultimate adjustment. This object had never been lost sight of by the British government; and had been retarded owing to the untoward circumstances which he had already explained. As to the expenses of the commissioners, they would not be ultimately defrayed by the public generally, but by a per centage levied upon the amount of claims, which was the object of the investigation.

Mr. Hume objected to the grant of 1,0347. to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, for cleaning and taking care of the monuments in that cathedral. He would submit to the committee, whether there was any possible pretence for making such a grant. The pretensions put forth by the Chapter were certainly of the most extraordinary description. They held, that they had a right to dispose of whatever monuments were placed in the cathedral. The public, for great national objects, had thought it advisable to expend some hundred thousand pounds in the erection of monuments to the memory of those who had achieved great actions, and had devoted themselves to the interests of the country, and the Chapter of St. Paul's arrogated to themselves the right of doing with the national monuments whatever their prejudices, their caprices, or their sordid interests might dictate. The pretensions of this body were certainly most modest. They would not admit that these national monuments, paid for out of the national funds, were in any respect public property; and assuming a right of ownership, they would not allow the public to see them, without paying a fee of admission. The contempt and indignation of the whole country at this paltry and arrogant conduct, had been expressed in every shape, by the press and otherwise; and as the public feeling had not, in the slightest manner, affected the conduct of the Chapter, he would take the sense of the committee upon this grant. He trusted, that the chancellor of the Exchequer would explain the grounds upon which the Chapter presumed to lay such a tax upon the community, and to what fund or account that tax was carried.

Whatever might be the amount of this imposition, the principle of it was most odious, and reflected the greatest disgrace upon the body that levied it, and upon the government that permitted the imposition.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed himself unable to account precisely for the application of this levy upon the public. It was incumbent upon the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's to maintain that cathedral in repair, and the keeping of such a building in repair was no small expensé. Lately, the building had undergone considerable repair, and from its altitude, it might be conceived that the expense had been considerable. The charge of cleaning and keeping in good condition the numerous monuments in that public edifice was very large. It did seem to him, that the monuments of the country, placed in the great national cathedral in consequence of addresses to the throne, to commemorate splendid actions, ought to be open to the public at large; otherwise the very object of erecting them was defeated. At the same time it was not proper, because such monuments were placed in St. Paul's, that the Dean and Chapter should have imposed upon them the expense of keeping them in repair. However, he was not bound to be responsible for the manner in which the Dean and Chapte" exercised their duty; and certainly he was very little inclined to take upon himself any such responsibility for their conduct with relation to the present subject. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster were bound to maintain the Abbey in a proper state; but he was very far from asserting, that they gave to the public the necessary facilities in viewing either the edifice or its monuments. He was aware that very serious complaints had been made in every direction upon this subject, and he was compelled to say, that when he had visited the cathedral with a view of looking at the national monuments, the exhibition had been conducted very carelessly, and in a manner that reflected no honour upon those who had the control of the arrangements. The whole system, at both cathedrals, was conducted in a manner that he by no means approved of: but he did not see that he had any power to require the Dean and Chapter either to reduce their fees, or to alter their management.

Mr. Hume was happy to hear so well-deserved a chastisement bestowed upon the

that may be roused, by the measures which it is now my duty to propose, I am sure the committee will forgive me if I dwell upon explanations and statements, which might, otherwise, appear to be uncalled-for by the occasion.

avarice of the Dean and Chapter. The explanation of the right hon. gentleman was not sufficient. They had ample revenues to keep up the church, allowances far beyond the intentions of the founders of any such buildings in any Christian community. They were literally wallow. ing in wealth. Why should the public be burthened with charges, on account of so rich a body of men?

Mr. W. Smith said, it was indeed high time to take up this subject of the exhibition of public monuments in a more serious way; and, if no other way offered, he advised that it should be done by a committee of the House.

Sir J. Sebright stated, that, whenever he had conducted foreigners through these splendid buildings, in order to shew them the monuments, so honourable to the country, he had felt thoroughly ashamed at the principle of pecuniary exaction established by the Dean and Chapter, and equally mortified at the whole system upon which these national exhibitions were conducted.

Mr. Hume observed, that as the chan cellor of the Exchequer had the power of putting a stop to the abuse by withholding the grant of the public money, his in serting this sum in the vote, was a proof that he encouraged the practice of an abuse, which he could not defend in the House.

The several resolutions were agreed to.

COLONIAL POLICY OF THE COUNTRY.] The House having resolved itself into a committee to consider of the acts 3rd Geo. IV. cap. 44 and 45,

I can assure the committee that if I am about to recommend alterations which are at variance with the ancient sentiments of this country, in respect to colonial policy and trade, it is not because I consider the views of our ancestors as necessarily erroneous, or that innovation must necessarily be improvement; but it is, because the circumstances and state of the world, in which we have to examine colonial interests, have changed; and it becomes us, as practical statesmen, to deal with those interests with a reference to that change. It is only in this sense, and with this qualification, that I desire to be looked upon as an innovator. I am not anxious to give effect to new principles where circumstances do not call for their application; feeling as I do, from no small experience in public business-and every day confirms that feeling-how much, in the vast and complex interests of this country, all general theories, however incontrovertible in the abstract, require to be weighed with a calm circumspection, to be directed by a temperate discretion, and to be adapted to all the existing relations of society, with a careful hand, and a due regard to the establishments and institutions which have grown up under those relations.

It was under these impressions, that, in conformity to the notice which I had given, I intended this evening to have requested the attention of the committee to the following subjects: First, The system of our commercial policy in respect to our colonies. Secondly, The expediency of revising many of the duties now payable upon the import of the raw materials used in our manufactures, and of relaxing the prohibitory duties, which, under the name of protection, are now, enforced against the manufactured productions of other countries; and, Thirdly, The means of affording some further degree of relief and assistance to the interests of our ship

From the original edition, printed for J. Hatchard & Son, Piccadilly.

of these subjects upon each other, it would certainly have been convenient to have taken them in connexion; but, considering the numerous topics which they embrace, I cannot hope, rising at this late hour, that the patience of the committee

can be sustained, whilst I advert to them all. I shall therefore, with your permission, confine myself this evening to the first, and in many respects, the most important, head of inquiry-our Colonial System-and postpone the two other branches till Friday next.

It must be well known to every gentleman who hears me, that the long-established policy of all the European powers possessing colonies in the New World, and of this country among the rest, was that of an entire and rigid exclusion of those colonies from all commercial intercourse, except with the mother country. To uphold this exclusion, and to forbid all such intercourse, seemed of the very essence of colonization. In the strict, and even inhospitable enforcement of this principle, Spain, with the largest colonial possessions in the world, shewed herself most determined, and, if I may use the expression, most exclusive. But, without being equally jealous, other powers were not less tenacious of the principle. I cannot give a stronger proof of this, than by reminding the committee, that this exclusive intercourse was held to be a part of the international law of Europe. In our Prize-courts it has been commonly referred to, and acted upon, as the rule of the Seven-years' War. Under this rule, the colony of a belligerent could not claim to carry on trade through the intervention of a neutral, because that neutral was not permitted to participate in such trade in time of peace. But if this has been the long-established basis of the colonial system, need I state the vast inroads which have been made upon this system within the last fifteen years? Let the committee look at the Brazils, that immense country, which was held by Portugal under a strict exclusion, till the migration of the royal family from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1808. Let them look at the large and fertile island of St. Domingo; to the present state of those extended regions on the continent of America, lately as colonies of Spain, shut out from all intercourse with the rest of the world. Again, let them look at Cuba, and the islands which have continued their allegiance to the Spanish crown, the trade with which is now open. Considering this almost general revolution in the system of colonial commerce-considering the influence of such a revolution upon the commerce of our own colonies, upon the commerce of rival nations, upon the views, and feel

ings, and speculations, of the mercantile part of the community, and of our own colonial population, is it not enough, of itself, to warrant, at least, the inquiry, whether so great a change in all around us does not call for some change on our part? I will not now examine how far this inquiry is become necessary, in consequence of our pretensions to participate in the commerce of these foreign colonies, and by the fact of our so participating; or how far, in fairness and impartiality, justice, and that duty, which power, above all, owes to weakness, require that we should reciprocate the benefits which we exact.

These considerations, however important, do not perhaps immediately belong to the present discussion, viewed as a commercial question; but there is another inquiry which, in this point of view at least, it becomes us not to neglect. Have the colonies, of which the trade has been thrown open, benefited by this enlargement of their intercourse? Are they likely to benefit still more? Rivals in the same productions, competitors in the same markets, can we, in the long-run, with our system of monopoly, stand against their freedom of trade? If we cannot, are we not risking the good-will and attachment of our colonies, as well as the interests of our commerce? Is perseverance in such a system, politically wise, or practically safe? Is the great change, begun half a century ago, and still in progress, in the political and commercial state of the vast continent of America, from the Gulph of St. Lawrence to Cape Horn, to lead to no change in our mode of administering the extensive possessions, both continental and insular, which remain under our dominion and protection in that quarter of the globe? Do the immense and rapidly growing commerce and navigation of the United States of America, suggest no matter for consideration, in reference to our own commercial and naval interests? These are important questions, which, in the department allotted to me in the public service, I have asked myself, as a minister of the Crown, and which I now feel it my duty to recommend to the most serious consideration of this committee.

Recollecting that, for centuries, it has been a settled maxim of public policy, in all great states having dependencies, to make the interests of those dependencies subservient to the interests, or the sup

vain: and in 1782, under the like pressure, these concessions, fortunately wise in themselves, were rendered irrevocable by the repeal of the statute of the 6th George 1.

I will not detain the committee with further details of the progressive measures by which, since that period, all the remaining restraints on the commerce, the agriculture, and the industry of Ireland, have been gradually removed, up to the termination of the Union Duties in the course of last year, and the placing of her commercial intercourse with Great Britain upon the footing of a coasting trade. Many of these restraints, now happily at an end, were too long retained by ignorance and prejudice, by violence and faction, sometimes on the one side, and sometimes on the other. But I would ask any man, the most devoted to the tenets of the old school of commerce, whether he is prepared to maintain that this relaxation, which it was so confidently predicted would be fatal to all the great interests of Great Britain, has not contributed at least as much to augment her wealth and power in agriculture, in shipping, in commerce, and in manufactures, as it has to promote, in all these branches, the advancement of Ireland? I would ask those, whom I am proud and happy to designate as my present enlightened constituents at Liverpool, to look back to the fears which agitated the generation which preceded them-to compare with the predictions of those fears the present life and bustle of their commerce-to estimate how much of its unparalleled prosperity, unparalleled in the rapidity of its growth, is due to the freedom of commercial intercourse with that country, from the first earnest of which their predecessors anticipated nothing short of annihilation?

The committee must be aware that, in tracing the advantages which both countries have derived from the removal of all exclusive restraints upon the commerce of Ireland, I am stating a case, in which the progress of relaxation, begun fortyfive years ago, and scarcely yet complete, had to encounter many peculiar disadvantages. Among other drawbacks, the committee will recollect the ravages of a rebellion, destructive alike of property and of confidence; the drains of a long and expensive foreign war, to which the resources of Ireland were inadequate :-and yet how much has been done towards

laying the foundations of her future, and, now I trust, not distant prosperity? How much for the mutual and concurrent advancement of both parts of the united kingdom in the scale of opulence and power, instead of leaving them in the state of disgraceful contrast to one another?-a contrast perilous to both, and most unjust to the weaker country-in which they must have remained, had Great Britain persevered, as at one time it was but too much her disposition to persevere, in her ancient system of commercial policy towards Ireland.

If from Ireland we turn our eyes to those provinces, which, little more than forty years ago, ceased to be colonial dependencies of Great Britain-whatever we may think of the proceedings which induced them to resort to arms against the mother country-whatever may have been the faults, on either side, which led to that appeal-whatever may, now, be our retrospective opinion of the justice, the policy, or the conduct of the American war - whatever feelings may have existed, at any time, of humiliation and regret, that, by the issue of that war, these fine provinces were, for ever, wrested from his majesty's crown-I would ask any man, whether, abstractedly from these feelings, the disseverance of the United States from the British empire, viewed as a mere question of commerce, has been an injury to this country?-Whether their emancipation from the commercial thraldom of the colonial system has really been prejudicial to the trade and industry of Great Britain? If the answer must be, that it has not been prejudicial, is there no useful admonition to be derived from this example ?-Contemplate the possibility of another set of provinces, emancipated from commercial thraldom, but firmly maintaining their political connexion→→→ their commercial marine a part of our commercial marine their seamen a part of our seamen their population a part of our strength.-Consider whether it be not worth while to attempt a course which promises, both to those provinces and to the mother country, all the commercial benefits of a free trade, together with all the political advantages of our continuing parts of one great empire, and enjoying alike, under the sway and protec tion of the same sovereign, all the rights and privileges of British subjects.

Looking to what the United States now are, as a political and maritime power in