stating, in his evidence in 1844-45, that he “considered the whole system of Navigation Laws as relating more to the encouragement of maritime commerce than to any other object, and that, therefore, many sacrifices of pecuniary interests ought to be made for it,” adding, “I have no doubt that private interests ought to be sacrificed for the general interests of the country. If the Legislature should decide that it was no longer necessary to keep up the Navigation Laws as a means of national security, no doubt the consumers of foreign articles could purchase at a cheaper rate, since this would be the natural consequence of admitting imports in the ships of foreign nations.” Fortified by these quotations from his opponent’s evidence, Mr. Ricardo boldly came to the point by asserting it must be clear that, by every ton of shipping driven from the ports of England, there was lost the benefit of the sale of an equivalent amount of our merchandise, and that, thereby, our workmen were deprived of their wages, our manufacturers of their profit, and our Government of revenue. If the Spaniards wanted earthenware, the French sugar, and we wine, “why on earth,” he exclaimed, “should we forbid the natural course of the transaction!” He pointed out the roundabout and expensive way whereby such exchanges of produce must be carried,[41] instancing a case where American hides brought from Marseilles to Rotterdam, not finding a market there, were taken back to Marseilles; and when sent thence to Liverpool, were seized as imported in a French bottom, and released only on the condition that they should be sent back to New York! Such interruptions of commerce, Mr. Ricardo rightly contended, were alike inconvenient and wasteful. He next pointed out discrepancies in the working of the Act, with the various Orders in Council made under it, asserting, at the same time, that freights were artificially enhanced by protection. He espoused, too, the cause of the colonists, who now demanded as a matter of justice, that trade should be as free in shipping as it was in sugar. Could, Mr. Ricardo demanded, any ground of political expediency or any national advantage be shown to justify the retention of these laws? He admitted that the authority of Adam Smith would be adduced against him,[44] but denied that Adam Smith had brought forward evidence to support his argument. He allowed that a defensive navy was of the first importance for the welfare of the country, and that the commercial marine was the nucleus and nursery of that branch of the public service; but he emphatically contended that the way to encourage the commercial navy was to free the commerce of the country from all restrictions, impediments, and obstructions. He held that England could compete successfully with the United States and all the world in building ships, and he produced a variety of statistical statements showing the difference between protected and