cannot, sir, but observe that the powers conferred by this bill upon the
administration are larger than the nation can safely repose in any body
of men, and with which no man who considers to what purposes they may be
employed will think it convenient to invest the negotiators of the
convention.

Nor do my objections to this act, arise wholly from my apprehensions of
their conduct, who are intrusted with the execution of it, but from my
reflections on the nature of trade, and the conduct of those nations who
are most celebrated for commercial wisdom.

It is well known, sir, how difficult it is to turn trade back into its
ancient channel, when it has by any means been diverted from it, and how
often a profitable traffick has been lost for ever, by a short
interruption, or temporary prohibition. The resentment of disappointed
expectations inclines the buyer to seek another market, and the civility
to which his new correspondents are incited by their own interest,
detains him, till those by whom he was formerly supplied, having no
longer any vent for their products or their wares, employ their labours
on other manufactures, or cultivate their lands for other purposes.

Thus, sir, if those nations who have hitherto been supplied with corn
from Britain, should find a method of purchasing it from Denmark, or any
other of the northern regions, we may hereafter see our grain rotting in
our storehouses, and be burdened with provisions which we can neither
consume ourselves, nor sell to our neighbours.

The Hollanders, whose knowledge of the importance or skill in the arts
of commerce will not be questioned, are so careful to preserve the
inlets of gain from obstruction, that they make no scruple of supplying