§ The order of the day being read for resuming the debate on the smuggling prevention bill, so far as concerned the islands of Guernsey and Jersey,
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed an amendment, which he hoped would do away the principal objection offered to the bill last night, by recognizing the internal jurisdiction of those islands, and clearly enacting, that crimes against this bill, committed within that jurisdiction, should be tried there; referring, however, any decision with respect to seizures of contraband goods, to the tribunal in England, where all such questions must be referred, namely, the court of exchequer. Still, however, he apprehended there were many precedents to uphold the right of trying persons in England for crimes committed in those countries. But without at all pressing that right now, he wished to consult the feelings of the inhabitants of both islands, and to urge nothing unnecessarily; but as to the right of legislation for those islands, the precedents he named last night placed the question beyond all doubt. The right hon. gent. concluded by moving his clause.
§ Mr. Grey said, that counsel had been heard at considerable length against this bill, and that they had produced a number of charters, by which the island of Guernsey was allowed to legislate for itself; he therefore thought it necessary that matters should be examined into, before the bill would become a law. He allowed that it could not be disputed, that smuggling was a very great evil; but then it was carried on from many other parts besides Guernsey and Jersey, so that, even though this bill was passed, the smuggling trade would be as extensive as it was before, and these people would he dissatisfied and discontented, conceiving that their rights had been encroached upon.
§ Mr. Sturges Bourne was confident, that when hon. members talked of a trivial or partial evil, they could not be aware of the enormous extent to which the revenues of 647 this country were injured by the smuggling trade from those islands. He was almost afraid to state it with any hope of credibility. It was a loss to he stated rather in millions than in thousands; estimating it at the duties payable on foreign spirits, it was at least from five to six millions; and at the rate paid on British spirits, from three to four millions annually. Surely, then, this was an object of importance, as well with respect to revenue, as to the protection of the fair trader.
§ Mr. Windham said, that from the arguments of counsel, it certainly was a doubtful question, whether this country had a right to legislate for Guernsey and Jersey, or not; he therefore thought it was most important, that an investigation should take place. There were also many reasons could be urged, which placed the bill in a very questionable point of view: one of which was, that it was to last only during the war. He hoped, therefore, for these reasons, that the measure would be well considered.
§ Dr. Laurence expressed his apprehensions of the mischiefs to which this country would be exposed under the operations of this act, in the latitude it gave to our commanders to visit all vessels found cruizing out at sea, within two leagues of those islands, and seizing such as they should think fit to denominate hovering smugglers. Was it not obvious that, in time of peace, numberless vessels, under neutral colours, would, in the course of their voyages to other ports, pass inadvertently within the limited distance of those islands? Might they not he driven there inevitably by stress of weather? And would it be reasonable that every ship in such circumstances, freighted in a manner not conformable to this act, with which they had nothing to do, should be seized as a lawful prize, and carried to the next port, and their owners involved in tedious law-suits, loss, inconvenience, and vexation? Would it not amount to a declaration of war upon all nations whose vessels might thus fall within the grasp of our cruizers for an extent of three hundred leagues of coast? If for no other reason, then, than the risk to which it would expose this country in quarrels with other nations, he should deprecate the bill as it now stood.
§ The Attorney General answered, that the designation of ships so seizable was not left so loose in the bill, as to give an opportunity for such consequences as those stated by the hon. and learned gent. The principle of the bill was nothing more than that of the hovering acts, as old almost as the revenue itself: 648 vessels having liquors on board in contraband packages, and found hovering or sailing to and fro, and not proceeding on their voyages, wind and weather permitting. But with respect to the argument of the independence of those islands upon the realm of England, upon the ground that they were annexed to the crown of England by the Norman conquest, as an inheritance of the duke of Normandy, he begged to remind gentlemen how that fact stood: Robert, duke of Normandy, quarrelled with his brother Henry the First; they went to war; Robert was conquered; and his dominions, by right of this new conquest, annexed to the British crown: so that there was an end to any claim of independence on that ground.—The clause was then brought up, read, committed, agreed to, reported, and added, by way of rider to the bill, which was read the third time, passed, and ordered to the lords.