For nearly two centuries an opinion had prevailed in England, as well as in all foreign countries carrying on maritime commerce, that the English Navigation Laws, created originally to check, if not to annihilate, the maritime power of Holland, had been the means of raising Great Britain to her unquestioned superiority on the ocean. But this opinion is best answered by the fact that, long after the creation of these laws, the Dutch still remained more powerful at sea than any other nation;[23] while, on the other hand, the shipping of England, under a different policy, has become much more prosperous than it ever was at any period during which the laws of Cromwell were enforced. [Sidenote: Change necessary,] Other nations, however, could not fail to see that English shipowners upheld these laws with much tenacity; hence when, on the cessation of the wars of Napoleon, they had more time to devote their attention to individual pursuits, they asked themselves two questions: (1st) if protective laws had been beneficial to English ships, why should they not follow the example of that country and enact for themselves similar laws? and (2nd) if England persisted in excluding their ships from her ports, why should they not treat her vessels in the same manner? In other words, they were already prepared to act on the principle of retaliation, and adopt the course pursued by the United States of America in 1817, when Congress passed a law, the counterpart, if not the copy, of that in the English Statute-book, which was adopted with the declared intention of retaliating on Great Britain. [Sidenote: owing to the Independence of America.] In the case of the American States, so long as they were dependencies of the British Crown, their ships could trade with all British dependencies on the same footing as our own; but, when they became independent, their ships, like those of any other foreign Power, were excluded from every port where our laws prohibited the entry of such vessels. Previously they could freely trade with the British possessions in America and with the West Indies, with which they had hitherto carried on a profitable intercourse, supplying them with lumber for their houses, staves for their casks, corn, fish, and other provisions, together with horses and cattle for their plantations, besides affording our people there a sure market for their surplus produce of coffee, sugar, and rum. [Sidenote: Other nations at first Protectionist.] [Sidenote: Mr. Pitt’s proposals with reference to trade with America.] [Sidenote: Mr. Pitt resigns, and a temporary Act ensues.]