He was followed by Mr. Walpole against the Bill, who quoted the Venetian proverb,[117] and said—“Let us first be Englishmen, and then economists.” He considered the Navigation Law the wisest of our regulations. It had given us safety and independence at home; it had afforded security to our colonies abroad; it had protected our trade in every part of the world, and it would protect it, if the laws were not repealed, against all chances of war; and, while it had done this effectually and completely, it had also preserved for them the supremacy on the ocean, by which more than once they had been able to bid defiance to the whole world, when our honour and interests were assailed. Mr. Walpole concluded by borrowing the splendid peroration of Mr. Disraeli in that gentleman’s speech at the second reading. [Sidenote: Sir James Graham.] Sir James Graham next rose, and, differing much on some points from the supporters of the Bill, intimated, in an exhaustive speech, his intention of voting for the third reading. Pointing to Sir Francis T. Baring, who sat on the Treasury Bench as First Lord of the Admiralty, the head of the house of Baring, he expressed his disbelief that he would be an assenting party to a measure which, in his conscience, he felt would be injurious to the character and welfare of that commercial navy, to which he and his family for generations had been so much indebted, or that he would give the weight of his influence to a measure which, in his judgment, risked the power and greatness of the Royal Navy, more especially confided by her Majesty to his care. Liverpool had been mentioned. Why, the two members for Liverpool have voted for the Bill.[118] So also did the two members for Newcastle and Glasgow.