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OF

BRITISH LEGISLATION:

BEING

A CLASSIFIED AND ANALYSED SUMMARY OF PUBLIC BILLS, STATUTES,

ACCOUNTS AND PAPERS, REPORTS OF COMMITTEES AND OF COMMISSIONERS, AND OF SESSIONAL
PAPERS GENERALLY, OF

THE HOUSES OF LORDS AND COMMONS.

EDITED BY

LEONE LEVI, F.S.A., F.S.S., &c., &c.,

OF LINCOLN'S INN,

PROFESSOR OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF COMMERCE AT KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON;
AUTHOR OF "COMMERCIAL LAW OF THE WORLD," "MANUAL OF MERCANTILE LAW," ETC.

Dedicated by special permission to His Royal Highness the Prince Consort.

VOL. III. 1117

LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER & CO., 65, CORNHILL.

1862.5 for 10.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY SMITH, ELDER AND CO.,

LITTLE GREEN ARBOUR COURT.

PREFACE.

IN announcing the completion of the Third Volume of the ANNALS OF BRITISH LEGISLATION, it may be observed that it comprises many documents of more than ordinary interest. Under Series A, "Finance, Manufacture, and Commerce," the first Report of the Commissioners of her Majesty's Customs gives an interesting narrative of this branch of the public Revenue, the changes effected from time to time in the tariff, and the vast development of our trade and commerce. In the form of Annual Reports, the leading departments of the State are thus affording evidence of their labour and progress, and so furnish the best guarantee for their wise and economical administration. The Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on the Bank Acts is valuable, from the fact that it contains the opinions of the leading authorities on the various controverted questions of Finance and Banking, as well as Statistics of the Imports and Exports of Bullion, and much insight into the relation which exists between the Bank of England and the State.

Under Series B, "Diplomacy and War," the papers on the insults in China, on the proceedings of the Naval Force at Canton, and on the right of entrance into that place, furnish the necessary links for a proper understanding of our relations with the Celestial Empire since the Treaty of Nanking. The papers on the Opium Trade give full information on the cost and production of opium, and the effect of that narcotic on the health and morals of the Chinese. The papers on the affairs of Naples show the reasons which have led to the rupture of our

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