Turn now to the contrast afforded by the comparative progress of British and foreign shipping from 1823, when the reciprocity system was introduced with certain states, to 1847, when it was made universal by the suspension of the Navigation Laws in March of that year:—

Year.Tons inward,Tons inward,Total.
British.Foreign.
18231,740,859582,9962,323,855
18241,797,320759,4412,556,761
18252,144,598958,1323,102,730
18261,950,630694,1162,644,746
18272,086,898751,8642,839,762
18282,094,357634,6202,728,977
18292,184,525710,3032,894,828
18302,180,042758,8282,938,870
18312,367,322874,6053,241,927
18322,185,980639,9792,825,959
18332,183,814762,0852,945,899
18342,298,263833,9053,132,168
18352,442,734866,9903,309,724
18362,505,473988,8993,494,372
18372,617,1661,005,9403,623,106
18382,785,3871,211,6663,997,053
18393,101,6501,331,3654,433,015
18403,197,5011,460,2944,657,795
18413,361,2111,291,1654,652,376
18423,294,7251,205,3034,500,028
18433,545,3461,301,9504,847,296
18443,647,4631,402,1385,049,601
18454,310,6391,735,0796,045,718
18464,294,7331,806,2826,101,015
18474,942,0942,253,9397,196,033

—Porter's Progress of the Nation, 407, 2d edition;
and Parliamentary Paper, 3d April 1848.

Thus it appears that under the reciprocity system with some countries since 1823, and free trade in shipping with all in 1847, the foreign shipping employed in carrying on the British trade had so rapidly grown upon the British, that, while at the commencement of the period the British stood to the foreign as 174 to 58, or 3 to 1 exactly, at the close they stood as 49 to 22, or somewhat above 2 to 1 only. And observe the vast start of foreign shipping as compared with British, since free trade was introduced by Sir R. Peel in 1846. For while the British tonnage was to the foreign in 1845 as 43 to 17, or as 21⁄2 to 1; in the year 1847 it was as 49 to 229, or 21⁄3 to 1 only. So rapid has been the growth of foreign shipping over British in eighteen months of general free trade. In ten years of such a system, it is easy to see that the foreign tonnage employed in carrying on our trade will be equal to the British; and then our national independence is gone for ever, for we have nursed up in our harbours a body of foreign seamen equal to our own.

But we have not yet done with the parliamentary returns. From the return 3d April 1848, it appears that the total tonnage, British and foreign, employed in carrying on our trade was—

British Islands.Foreign.Total.
4,942,0942,253,9397,196,033 tons.
4,942,0942,253,9397,196,033 tons.

Deduct British and foreign tons employed in the colonial trade, viz.—

Tons Brit.Tons For.
inward.inward.
Brit. N. Amer. colonies953,4663,274
West Indies243,388
Channel islands131,8993,049
Gibraltar11,623
Malta33,5543,789
Ionian islands13,101
Africa203,8126,983
Asia and Australia379,5292,774
Total to colonies1,970,37219,847

Thus the British trade to our colonial settlements is about a hundred times the foreign, and constitutes nearly a third of the whole tonnage employed in carrying on our commerce, and about two-fifths of the total British tonnage,—(1,970,372 out of 4,942,094.)

But it is important to discover what proportion the British tonnage employed in conducting our trade with all the world, except our colonies, bears to the foreign tonnage employed in the same work. That is easily found:—