ies payable
upon the import of the raw materials used in our manufactures, and of
relaxing the prohibitory duties which, under the name of 'protection,'
were 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 shipping and navigation." The
alterations he proposed in our colonial system were explained by him on
the 23rd of March, when, by entering into historical details at
great length, he proved to demonstration that all those articles of
manufacture which had been most fostered had most languished; that
excessive duties made the smuggler's fortune, while the manufacturer was
disappointed, and the exchequer defrauded; that the apprehension which
guarded our fabrics with high duties was unfounded; and that the true
policy of the state, as well as the advantage of individuals, would
be consulted by the reduction of duties sufficiently to countervail
whatever might be imposed upon the raw material used in the different
manufactures. Having shown the ungrateful return made by the United
States of America, which had been allowed to trade with our colonies,
he proposed to open their ports to all friendly powers on the same
principle, though with some modifications, as that on which they now
traded with Jersey or Ireland. With the further view of encouraging our
own trade and that of our colonies with the countries of South America,
he proposed to extend to certain ports in those colonies the benefits
and regulations of our warehousing system as it was established in this
country, by allowing goods from all parts of the world to be bonded
and deposited in warehouses without payment of duty till proper
opportunities of selling or exporting them should occur. Another boon
proposed by him to our colonies and trade was, the abolition of the
large fees which were levied for the benefit of public officers in
almost all our colonial ports. He further proposed two alterations of
a local and specific nature; the one relating to the Mauritius, and
the other to Canada. That relating to the Mauritius lowered the duty on
sugar to the same rate as that from the West Indies, and that relating
to Canada admitted the importation of corn from thence on a fixed and
permanent duty. The resolutions embodying Mr. Huskisson's views were
adopted _nem. con._, and were afterwards, with one trifling exception,
carried into effect. Th