been brought in than was lying at Havre, at thirty per cent,
less than they have had it for two years, and they will not buy it.
It was not wanted; only an excuse was wanted to strike a blow--a most
unfair one--at the navigation laws, and the British commercial marine,
which all the little opponents throughout the country, in their gross
ignorance, have quoted and applauded."

Meanwhile, the agitation of the mariners and shipowners was exceeding
great, especially in the three grand centres of maritime activity--the
Thames, the Mersey, and the Tyne. Along the north-east coast of England,
the tidings that the government meant to repeal the navigation laws sped
with rapidity, and produced the most intense excitement. Public
meetings were called at Hull, Scarborough. Whitby, Sunderland,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Shields, and Berwick, which were attended by great
numbers, and which were eloquently addressed. The sailors attended these
meetings with boisterous enthusiasm. They were under the impression that
a great wrong was about to be perpetuated, and they were resolved to do
anything which loyalty allowed to defeat the meditated alterations in
the law. Under the guidance of a man less just and scrupulous, and less
jealous for the constitution than Mr. Mather was, much mischief might
have arisen from the sense of grievance which the sailors entertained.
That gentleman, however, so conducted the agitation as to gain a large
measure of public support, and to defeat, during that year, the proposed
alterations.

A convention of shipowners and seamen of the Tyne was held at Shields,
one of the largest and most important ever held in England. Mr. Mather
proposed the following resolutions, which were enthusiastically adopted:
they will disclose the purpose and opinion of that community:--

"Resolved--That we will resist, by every legal and constitutional means
in our power, the repeal of the navigation laws, so violently agitated
by theorists and self-interested men, which were adopted, and have been
sustained, by the wisest statesmen in all ages for the support of the
shipping and seamen of Britain, to prevent the cheap ships and ill-fed
and badly-paid foreigners from underselling and destroying the British
mercantile marine.

"Resolved--That we pledge ourselves, on arriving in London, to take
measures, in conjunction with all the seamen there, loyally and
respectfully, as becomes British seamen, to lay, personally, an urgent
memo