heir charter, to have full liberty
of buying and selling, which privilege was opposed by the citizens of
London, who disputed their right to buy and sell freely their woollens
in Blackwell Hall. The charter of the ports is one hundred years older
than that of London, but, notwithstanding this priority of right, the
citizens of London prevailed. The result was indeed calamitous, for
after the decay of the haven, the chief source of prosperity to the town
of Sandwich consisted in the woollen manufactures, and as the freedom of
buying and selling was now denied, the manufacturers immediately
removed, and were soon followed by the owners of the trading vessels,
and the merchants; and thus basely deprived of those advantages from
which arose their ancient opulence and splendour, they sank with
rapidity into that insignificance and poverty which have unfortunately
remained their inseparable companions up to the present hour. Among the
princes who have executed the high and honourable office of Lord Warden
of the Cinque Ports, we find the names of the brave and unfortunate
Harold, in the time of the Confessor, and Edward, Prince of Wales, in
the time of Henry III. Henry V., when Prince of Wales, held this office,
which was afterwards filled by Humphry, Duke of Gloucester. James II.,
when Duke of York, was Lord Warden, as was also Prince George of
Denmark, with many other princes of the royal blood. In celebrated names
among the nobility, the catalogue of Lords Warden is eminently rich.
The family of Fiennes occurs frequently, as does also that of Montfort.
Hugh Bigod; several of the family of Cobham, as well as the names of
Burghersh, De Grey, Beauchamp, Basset, and De Burgh, are studded over
the calendar, in the early reigns. Edward, Lord Zouch, and George, Duke
of Buckingham, were Lords Warden in the reign of James I.; since that
period the office has been filled by the Duke of Ormond; the Earl of
Holdernesse, whose attention to the advantages of the ports was great;
Lord North, the late Mr. Pitt, whose affability and condescension,
added to a real regard for the prosperity of the Cinque Ports, and
an unremitted attention to the duties of the Wardenship, gained him
universal esteem; and lastly, by that honest and respected stateman, the
late Earl of Liverpool. The mantle of the ports has now fallen on his
Grace the Duke of Wellington, than whose name there does not exist a
greater in the catalogue of Lords Warden. The public s