Now returning to the north side of the river, I would ask you to bear in mind my reference to the petition of the London merchants in 1674. But anything like redress from a Privy Council of which King Charles II. was the president, was by no means easy of attainment. The king wanted money. As is well known, his favours generally went to the highest bidder. Moreover, the wharf proprietary consisted for the most part of the leading City magnates, and to conciliate them—or, rather, not to do anything to offend them—was obviously a great point with this most worthless of merry monarchs. So the merchants petitioned in vain. But in spite of these serious drawbacks the trade of the port steadily increased. An immense impetus was given to the manufacturing industries of the country by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This measure had the effect of sending from 50,000 to 70,000 of the most skilled of the French artisans to this country, and some £10,000,000 of French money. The result was increased activity in the manufactures of the country, and a great accession in the trade of the port. Thus, while in the year 1613 the total value of the exports and imports had been a little over £4,800,000, in the year 1700 they represented a value of £13,272,891, of which London alone contributed £10,263,325. It will, of course, be readily understood that in the absence of easy and cheap means of internal communication, the only method by which the manufacturing districts could get their goods into the London markets would be by coasting-vessels. Hence this class of business constituted the bulk of the shipping frequenting the river. Thus, in the year 1728, while 1,839 British and 213 foreign vessels entered the river, the number of coasting-vessels, colliers, &c., was not less than 6,837. At this time most of the foreign trade was in the hands of the East India Company, the Russia Company, the Levant Company, the South Sea Company, the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the African Company. With the exception of the cargoes carried by the ships of the East India Company, much of the business conducted by these great companies could be accommodated at the Sufferance Wharves, and did not present the inducements to plunder offered by the valuable productions of the East and West Indies. The conquests of Clive in the East Indies resulted in an immense augmentation of the shipping of the East India Company, and the acquisition of many of the West India Islands about the same time led to a vast increase in the importations of sugar and rum, which, from their value and the high duties to which they were subject, offered tempting baits to the organised bands of river thieves which the crowded state of the port and the unprotected condition of the shipping and merchandise gradually called into existence. The Legal Quays could accommodate 32,000 hogsheads of sugar only; whereas, so early as 1756, the annual importations reached upwards of 60,200, and