ABSTRACT
To the new men of the industrial north, and their allies the political economists, it was sufficient that it produced material loss, and that the material well-being of the community could best be promoted by leaving trade to take its own course. They were not attracted but repelled, indeed, by the traditional arguments for the maintenance of a strong colonial Empire. Cobden spoke of the colonies as expensive incumbrances, making dazzling appeals to the passions of the people. I The closest ties of industrial Britain were with the United States of America. 'The States supplied the material for the ruling British industry; they were the greatest purchasers of British exports; they were absorbing British capital and playing with it as a young country, with a continent in reserve, is tempted to play with any tool or toy.' 2 This being so, it is not surprising that the colonial system, like the other restrictions on trade, was coming in for an ever-growing volume of criticism. This criticism culminated in the Report of the Committee on Import Duties in 1840, which recommended 'that as speedily as possible the whole system of differential duties and of all restrictions should be reconsidered, and that a change therein be effected in such a manner that existing interests may suffer as little as possible in the transition to a more liberal and equitable state of things.'
