[75] Gibraltar and Malta, although colonies of the British Crown, were considered as not in Europe, or foreign countries, with reference to the Navigation Laws, and our Customs Regulations.
[76] On April 3, 1848, Mr. Bright urged on Mr. Labouchere the propriety of importing cotton from Havre, then abundant there; but he replied that the Minister could not abrogate the Navigation Laws; Hansard, vol. xvii. p. 1202.
[77] See Tooke’s ‘History of Prices,’ vol. v. p. 95.
[78] Mr. Tooke says in a note that the highest price in Mark Lane had been reached on the 17th May, when 115s. per quarter was paid for wheat; a very fine parcel was sold in the Uxbridge Market, at 125s.
[79] The total quantity of grain imported of all kinds into this country was 3,790,957 quarters in 1846; but the total imports in 1847 reached 9,436,677 quarters, while the imports of meal and flour in these two years amounted to 3,347,565, and 8,633,991 cwts. respectively. That year my firm alone (W. S. Lindsay and Co.) chartered, in their capacity as shipbrokers, vessels to bring from the Black Sea, Egypt, America, and elsewhere, no less than 1,250,000 quarters of grain of different sorts.
CHAPTER VII.
New Parliament, November 18, 1847—Speech from Throne—Mr. Robinson and Shipowners deceived—Conversation between Mr. Bancroft and Lord Palmerston—Mr. Bancroft’s declaration—Official letter from Mr. Bancroft to Lord Palmerston, November 3, 1847—Lord Palmerston’s reply, November 17, practically giving prior information to the Americans—Lord Clarendon tells the Shipowners’ Society that the laws will not be altered, December 26, 1846; and repeats this assurance, March 15, 1847—Interview between Lord Palmerston and Mr. Bancroft, published in ‘Washington Union’—Excites great indignation when known in England, January 1848—Parliament re-assembles, February 3, 1848—Lord Palmerston admits the correspondence with America—The Earl of Hardwicke’s proposal, February 25, 1848—Earl Grey grants a Committee—Evidence of the Shipowners before the Lords’ Committee—Mr. Young proposes some modifications, the first concessions of the Anti-Repeal Party—Claim in favour of direct voyages—Government insists on Total Repeal—Detailed views of Admiral Sir George Byam Martin—Importance of keeping up the merchant navy—Arguments from his personal experience as to its value as a nursery for seamen—Working of the system of apprenticeship, and of impressment—Evidence of Admiral Berkeley, and of Mr. R. B. Minturn—Details about American ships—Reciprocity treaties so far as they affect Americans—Their whale fishery.
New Parliament, November 18, 1847.
On the 18th of November, 1847, the new Parliament was opened by commission. It had been thus early called together to consider the distress caused by the recent commercial embarrassments and the severe pressure still prevailing in Ireland, notwithstanding an abundant harvest, together with the importation of an unprecedented quantity of grain, flour, and provisions.
Speech from Throne.