51 



to be remarked, that in not one of these statutes is 

 there the slightest recognition of a private right of 

 any sort ; and, surely had any such existed 

 in law, some notice of it (either as a reser- 

 vation of such right, or in some other manner) 

 would have been taken, particularly in some 

 of the late Navigation Acts relative to the 

 River Thames ; in which many of those who now 

 claim such exclusive rights are named as com- 

 missioners for carrying those Acts into execution, 

 yet have never ventured to obtain a legislative 

 sanction for them. And it is again asked, if 

 the River Thames is not naturally navigable, 

 what river in the kingdom is ? 



It is true, that that part of the river ex- 

 tending from Bercott to Oxford appears to 

 have been made navigable by the Statute 

 of Jac. I., but that statute, as well as those 

 of William and Mary, and Geo. II, expressly 

 state, that the other part of the river has 

 " time out of mind been navigable from Ber- 

 cott to London." We are also warranted in 

 concluding from these authorities, that it has 

 not been made navigable by art, but that 

 it was naturally so. 



In contradiction, however, to this, it has 

 D 2 



