It may be convenient here to dispose of the question of the Coasting clauses, which it will be remembered were withdrawn from the Bill of 1849. Notwithstanding the opposition brought to bear against this portion of the measure, and the continued reluctance of foreign Powers to reciprocate, the Coasting trade of the kingdom was, in 1854, unconditionally thrown open to vessels of all nations without any opposition from our Shipowners, indeed, some of them then expressed deep regret that this trade had not been opened to foreign shipping in 1849. [Sidenote: Americans, Oct. 1849, throw open all but their coasting trade.] The actual repeal of the Navigation Laws having, in the summer of 1849, become an accomplished fact, the consternation among all classes connected with British shipping was almost universal, mingled with feelings of curiosity and doubt as to the course which the Americans would now adopt. These doubts were, however, soon removed by a prompt notification of the Government of the United States,[131] issued on the 15th October, 1849, honestly and boldly putting the law of 1828 in motion, but _retaining the coasting trade of that country in all its integrity_; and, to this day they decline, on alleged constitutional grounds, to consider the voyage from New York to California as in any respect different from the voyage between New York and Baltimore, or as in any way resembling the trade between London and the Cape of Good Hope or Australia, though, in both cases alike, the voyage can only be made by passing the coasts of foreign nations! FOOTNOTES: [120] A much more likely reason has been already assigned for English hostility to the Dutch in and about 1652; and that is, their perceiving that the Dutch were gradually engrossing all the foreign trade, especially that on the other side the line. [121] The speech was published by Ridgway. Our space allows but a brief epitome of it. [122] I have referred to these in numberless places in the second volume of this work. [123] The particular quotation may not be strictly exact; but the ambition of Napoleon to possess ships, colonies, and commerce, cannot be for a moment doubted after the able exposition of M. Thiers. [124] This speech was also published by Ridgway. [125] The late (1875) Earl of Derby had been called up to the House of Peers during his father’s life, and sat as Lord Stanley. His speech was also published by Ridgway. [126] It occupies a whole column of ‘Hansard.’ [127] The discovery of large quantities of gold in California had attracted the enormous quantity of tonnage to that region. [128] _Vide_ ‘Hansard,’ vol. cv. pp. 883-5. It occupies two closely printed columns. [129] See ‘Hansard,’ vol. cvi. p. 48. [130] The Petition at length will be found in the ‘Shipping Gazette,’ 13th June, 1849. [131] See Hertslet’s ‘Treaties,’ &c., vol. viii. p. 968. CHAPTER XI.