"I am fully sensible that, in selecting me from so many persons more worthy of your preference, you have looked to me rather as the friend of your late representative, than as possessing any merits of my own, which can entitle me to become his successor. The only other claim, indeed, which I can have to your support, is that of having, during a long political life, uniformly, however humbly, maintained those political principles, of which Mr. Canning has been the strenuous and eloquent defender;-principles which, as they first recommended him to your notice, are still, I am persuaded, in entire concurrence with your

own.

"More than once in the course of last year, as well as recently, it has been intimated to me, from Liverpool, that I should receive such an invitation as that with which I am now honoured, whenever Mr. Canning might retire. If, up to the present period, I have discouraged such intimations, I have done so from the hesitation which I feel to withdraw myself from that political connexion, to which, for the last ten years, I have been indebted for my seat in Parliament;—a connexion to which I was invited by the city of Chichester, at the same time when you first invited Mr. Canning to Liverpool, and which has been continued, ever since, in a manner the most gratifying to all my feelings. I am sure that when I add, that my friends in that city have, up to the present moment, given me fresh proofs of their partiality and attachment, I need not describe to the friends of Mr. Canning at Liverpool, the pain with which I am brought to the consideration of any proposal, even the most honourable, by the acceptance of which that connexion must be terminated.

"At the same time, I feel that, in a public man, it be comes something like a public duty not to refuse himself to such an invitation as I have now received from you. If, upon consideration, it is your deliberate wish that interests.

so extensive as those by which your local prosperity is connected with that of the whole kingdom, should be committed to my care, as one of your Representatives, however I may dissent from your judgment, I hold myself bound not to shrink from a trust of so much public importance.

"There is yet, however, one objection which I think myself bound to submit to your consideration. It has been suggested to me, that in the situation to which his Majesty has been graciously pleased to appoint me,—that of President of the Committee of Privy Council for the Affairs of Trade,-I may have to deal with cases, in which a conflict may arise between the commercial interests of Liverpool, and those of other parts of his Majesty's dominions. This objection is one, Gentlemen, which it behoves you to weigh before it be too late; because, if I know my own mind at all, I feel assured, that the risk, on every such occasion, would be that which your interests might perhaps incur, from an over anxiety to guard myself against, even the sus picion of, any improper bias in your favour.

"If, therefore, you think this suggestion entitled to any weight, I entreat you to reconsider your invitation, and to transfer it to some one, with better claims to your confidence, to whom the objection cannot apply.

"I have the honour to be, with the highest respect and acknowledgment,

"Gentlemen,

"Your very obliged and faithful servant,

"W. HUSKISSON."

The election commenced on the 14th of February, and finished on the following day, after a mock contest, in which Lord Molyneux, who declined appearing, polled twenty-three votes, and Dr. Crompton not one.

Mr. Huskisson had now reached an elevation whence he could beneficially exert, and call into activity, his unrivalled knowledge of commercial policy. Lord Bacon says, and the new President of the Board of Trade seemed to coincide in the justice of the maxim, that "merchants are vena porta, and if they flourish not, a kingdom may have good limbs, but will have empty veins, and flourish little taxes and imposts upon them do seldom good to the King's revenue, for that which he wins in the hundred, he loseth in the shire; the particular rates being increased, but the total bulk of trading rather decreased."*

Some preliminary steps had been already taken by Mr. Robinson and Mr. Wallace, for relaxing the restrictions which had formerly clogged our trade, and several new laws affecting it had been proposed by the Government in the session of 1822. On Mr. Huskisson's appointment, he immediately proceeded, firmly but cautiously, to take steps towards further and more important alterations. In these he found himself opposed and thwarted by the prejudices of an active and powerful party, who viewed all innovations with a jealous and unfriendly eye; and the fate of the first Bill for regulating the Silk Manufacture was an evident proof of the obstacles which he would have to encounter, before his measures could be crowned with success. This Bill, after it had passed the lower House, was returned from the Lords so

• Lord Bacon's Essay on Empire.

changed and mutilated, that Mr. Huskisson preferred abandoning it for the session, rather than to adopt the amendments. In the following year, he was more successful, and the Bill passed into a law without encountering any very formidable opposition.

The impediments which presented themselves at every step, towards a more liberal policy, are strikingly described in the following article extracted from a public Journal; which though there applied to a later period of his career, is equally true at the moment of which we are treating :

“The clamour raised against Mr. Huskisson, by the Agriculturists on the one hand, and the Manufacturers on the other, affords a lesson from which future Ministers will not fail to profit. It will be taken for granted, that it is the wisest course for men in office, in all cases, to stick to whatever is established,-" stare super antiquas vias," -to consent to a change only when it is loudly demanded by the great majority in Parliament, but never to recommend any innovation which is not so demanded: this is the system on which all former Ministers of this country have acted, and it is obvious that all Ministers, who wish to consult their own ease and advantage, cannot do better than follow it. The liberal part of the present Administration have erred in thinking too favourably of human nature, in thinking, that in departing from the old practice, and endeavouring to introduce substantial ameliorations into the Commercial System of the country, they would receive such support from the People, as the honesty of their intentions fairly entitled them to. We believe, in our conscience, that Mr. Huskisson approaches nearer to the character of a virtuous minister-a minister to whom

the welfare of the whole nation is more at heart than his own advantage,-than any man who has ever been in office in this country; but we question very much, whether, in the difficulties in which he has involved himself, he will be adequately supported against the attacks of his selfish enemies. Our approbation of ourselves is generally fervent enough; but our approbation of others is seldom so immoderate as to hurry us into any indiscretion in their support. We fear Mr. Huskisson is doomed to experience, to his cost, the difference, in point of zeal, between his disinterested admirers, and those who conceive their interests likely to be, in any way, affected by his measures.

"The head of a faction receives from the members the tribute of a clamorous admiration, because interest is the bond of union, and such admiration is supposed to be conducive to the ends in view. But the man who endeavours to distinguish himself by promoting the good of a whole nation, necessarily provokes the hostility of many, whose interests suffer from his measures, while he makes few warm partizans.

"It will give us sincere pleasure to find that we have taken too gloomy a view of human nature, and that, if the difficulty of Mr. Huskisson's position be great, he will find corresponding support from the friends of sound principles.'

In spite of this demonstration of hostility to the measures of the liberal portion of the Administration, as evinced in the fate of the Silk Bill, some important commercial alterations were effected in the course of 1823. Mr. Wallace's Warehousing Bill was passed, and two resolutions agreed to, which enabled the King in Council to place the Shipping of a foreign state on the same footing Morning Chronicle.