The committee narrated at great length the various steps taken by Government since 1846 with regard to the Navigation Laws. In reviewing the evidence taken before both Houses, the shipowners made it appear that they were completely triumphant in establishing all the various points on which they took their ground; viz., that no evil susceptible of any remedy had been or could be proved, arising from the practical operation of the Navigation Laws: that the maintenance of the Protective principle on which those laws were founded was indispensable to the maintenance of an extensive mercantile marine: that the preservation of such a mercantile marine was equally necessary for the existence of a powerful navy: and that, hence, the repeal of the Navigation Laws would involve danger to the basis of our national defence. Having proclaimed their own triumph, they next turned their attention to the Bill then before the public, and, pointing out the unsparing criticism it had provoked, demanded the strenuous and uncompromising resistance, not only of every shipowner, but of every friend to his country. They accordingly denounced it “as fraught with consequences destructive to the shipping interest, and dangerous to the welfare and safety of the country;” in short, as one of the most unjust measures ever submitted to Parliament. The Committee next proceeded to analyse the Bill, justifying their censure of its provisions. It was said to be a concession to the demands of the West Indies and Canada. The demand having been made under an official stimulant, the West Indian interest, perceiving their error, they alleged, has now disclaimed it, and publicly declared that they have no desire for the repeal. Canada, with selfish and precipitate incaution, had put forward a similar demand; but the demand for free navigation was coupled in the same document with an inconsistent claim for the re-enactment of a Protective duty in favour of her agricultural produce. The expectation of benefit entertained by the Canadians from the repeal of the Navigation Laws had, in the opinion of the shipowners, as little real foundation as those the West Indians had first entertained, but subsequently abandoned. Their Committee expressed doubt of any beneficial reciprocity from the United States, especially as any commercial treaty must be controlled by two-thirds of the Senate.[108] They treated the power of re-imposing restrictions as in principle opposed to every prudent rule of State policy. The coasting-trade clauses, of course, met with condemnation. If, they asserted, the censure cast upon shipmasters was deserved, the injustice to the owner was flagrant. If unmerited, the measure was sustained by cruel calumny. [Sidenote: The manning-clause grievance.]