William Huskisson
Published: 2015-07-21
Total Pages: 94
Get eBook
Excerpt from Substance of Two Speeches: Delivered in the House of Commons, on the 21st and 25th of March 1825, by the Right Hon. William Huskisson, Respecting the Colonial Policy, and Foreign Commerce of the Country I can assure the Committee that if I am about to recommend alterations which are at variance with the ancient sentiments of this country, in respect to Colonial policy and trade, it is not because I consider the views of our ancestors as necessarily erroneous, or that innovation must necessarily be improvement; but it is, because the circumstances and state of the world, in which we have to examine colonial interests, have changed; and it becomes us, as practical Statesmen, to deal with those interests with a reference to that change. It is only in this sense, and with this qualification, that I desire to be looked upon as an innovator. I am not anxious to give effect to new principles, where circumstances do not call for their application; feeling as I do, from no small experience in public business - and every day confirms that feeling - how much, in the vast and complex interests of this country, all general theories, however incontrovertible in the abstract, require to be weighed with a calm circumspection, to be directed by a temperate discretion, and to be adapted to all the existing relations of society, with a careful hand, and a due regard to the establishments and institutions which have grown up under those relations. It was under these impressions, that, in conformity to the notice which I had given, I intended this evening to have requested the attention of the Committee to the following subjects: First, - The system of our commercial policy in respect to our colonies. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.