Lord Halsbury said that nothing mattered compared with an injury
to the country. If the Bill was injurious it must certainly be rejected. He regarded the Bill as "the most mis- chievous and reckless proposal" ever placed before the House. Lord Lansdowne reminded the House that the majority for the Bill in the Commons at the third reading was only 47. The opinion of the Board of Admiralty was unknown. More- over the mercantile world was alarmed. He did not wish to discredit the Government, but it was necessary to vote against the Bill in order to secure that it should be reconsidered and improved. We are, on the whole, glad that the Lords threw out the Bill; it was full of uncertainties and therefore of perils. We shall be in a position of greater freedom without it. Our position as an island differentiates our dangers from those of all Continental countries, and in our opinion the Bill would have required us to fight with one hand tied behind our back.
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