HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
present wars* ; and upon one oc- 
casion the legislature had thought 
proper to declare, ‘‘ that the com- 
merce of the kingdom had been 
greatly benefited thereby+.” But, 
not only had the provisions of the 
Navigation act been set aside 
by these acts of parliament, but 
bills had been passed, repealing by 
mame, as far as the objects went 
which they embraced, the naviga- 
tion act itself, as well as the act of 
William I]. which is regarded as 
the basis and foundation of our co- 
donial system, and vesting in the 
privy council the same discretionary 
powers, which were given to it by 
‘the American intercourse bill} ; 
and yet there were persong found, 
high in the confidence of govern- 
ment when these bills were passed, 
of memory so treacherous, or coun- 
tenance so unblushing, as to assert 
in the debates on the American in- 
tercourse bill, that such extensive 
powers of regulation over our colo- 
pial system and nayigation laws had 
never been conferred at any former 
period by parliament. 
The fortola free port bill was 
another subject on which the late 
and present boards of trade were at 
issue. This was a bill to confer on 
89 
the port of Road harbour in Tor 
tola, the same privileges, which the 
late ministry had obtained for the 
harbour of Nassau in New Provi- 
dence. The object was in both 
cases to make the favoured harbour 
a place of deposit for foreign sugars, 
But Tortola being a sugar island, it 
was argued by the late board of 
trade, that foreign sugar onee im- 
ported into the island would beafter- 
wards exported as British sugar. 
it was answered, that no more sugar 
than the average produce of the 
Virgin islands was allowed by the 
bill to be exported, as British sugar, 
from Tortola. 
An important step was taken dur- 
ing this session of parliament to 
bring to a conclusion the dif. 
ferences, which had subsisted for 
some years between the woollen 
manufacturers of this kingdom and 
their employers, by the appoint- 
ment of a committee to take into 
consideration the various acts re- 
Jating to the woollen manufacture, 
to whom the petitions of the manu- 
facturers were referred, and who 
were empowered to report from- 
time to time theirobservations onthe 
subject. 
-* Such as the Dutch property acts, 35 Geo.3. cap. 15 and80—36 Geo. $. cap. 
76—S7 Geo. 3. cap 12—the act made during peace, 42 Geo. 3. cap. 30—renew~ 
ed 44 Geo. 8. cap. 30, and continued till eight months after the ratification of a 
definitive treaty of peace. 
_ F Preamble to the aet 42 Geo. 3. cap. 80. ; 
1 The bills alluded to are the Cape of Good Hope bills, 37 Geo. 3. cap. 21, and 
38 Geo. 3. cap.9—and more particularly the act 43 Geo. 8. cap. 153, which 
“trenches more deeply on the navigation act, and confers greater discretionary 
powers on the privy council, than the American intercourse bill, and yet was enact- 
ed when sir William Grant was master of the rolls, Mr. Percival attorney general, 
@ad lords Hawkesbury and Castlereagh secretaries of state. 
~~ 
44 
Ree 
‘\ 
”» 
' CHAP. 
