HC Deb 12 May 1806 vol 7 cc107-9
Lord Henry Petty

moved the order of the day for the house to resolve itself into a Committee of Supply.

Mr. William Smith

then moved, that the petition of Messrs. Chalmers and Cowie, claiming a compensation for the loss they had sustained in the importation of Swedish herrings, be referred to the said committee.

Mr. Huskisson

thought the house ought to pause, before they admitted an uninvestigated claim to the amount of 35,000l. The whole of this case had been diligently examined by the late board of treasury, and his it. hon. friend (Mr. Pitt), now no more, after. taking great pains in the investigation, did not think himself justified in admitting the claim. He therefore hoped the hon. member would postpone submitting it to a committee of supply, in order to afford an opportunity for further examination. He said, that since he came into the house this day, he had put a copy of the minute of the board of treasury into the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he thought he should have time to consider of it before the motion was brought forward.

Mr. William Smith

said, that he meant to have stated the whole of the case before he made his motion in the committee. He had already put off this business three times, One of which was for the accommodation of hon. gent. himself. As to the paper which the hon. gent, put into the hands of one of the ministers, it consisted of only about twelve lines, and did not require much deliberation. However, if it were the wish both of the hon. gent. and the noble lord alluded to, that he should postpone it, he would do so, as he was aware he had little chance of success, if he had not their concurrence.

Mr. Long

said, that the lords of the treasury had considered themselves bound to resist the application, and had it been brought forward in the time of the late administration, the petitioners would have met with no encouragement.

Mr. Sturges Bourne

hoped, that as the attention of the house had not been turned to the subject, the noble lord would not press the matter now.

Lord Henry Petty

deprecated delays in such cases as the present as they were attended with great inconvenience. He wished, however, that the matter might be deferred till Wednesday.

Mr. Huskisson

said he wished for delay, as he did not know before, that there was any intention of submitting the clam, this day, to a committee of supply.

Mr. Rose

thought the house would do well to consider the matter maturely before they decided on a subject of so much importance. Probably all of them had not read the full report of the committee upon it; but they ought to do so before they came to a determination. It was a matter for the house at large to decide upon; for he maintained, that no board of treasury would be justified in deciding upon such a claim of its own authority.

Mr. Wilberforce

though it would be better to take sufficient time to consider of the subject. He had himself been a member of the committee to which the petition was referred, and he understood that the conduct of government in the affair, would, in a great measure, depend on their report. The difficulty, he believed, which the lords of the treasury had, was in not being able of find a precedent for allowing a demand of such extent. For his own part, he thought it an extremely hard case; and though the demand of the petitioners might not be founded in strict justice, yet, in his opinion, they had a very fair claim on the liberality of parliament. The peculiar hardships in their case was, that in ten days after the government brought in a bill to legalise the trade in which they were encouraged to embark in consequence of the dispute with the Northern powers, the embargo was laid on, which occasioned their cargo of Swedish herrings to be spoiled.

Mr. Rose

said, that he did not give it as his opinion, that no compensation should be given them, but that the treasury board could not allow such a claim by its own authority.

Mr. William Smith

explained, that by the ministers consenting to have the claim submitted to a committee of supply, he did not wish to be understood as saying, that they had agreed to his object in doing so. There was a great disadvantage in putting off things of this kind from time to time, as it caused great inconvenience to the parties, and it at last was liable to be considered as a thing which was not to be brought for ward at all. He should not, however, for the present, object to a delay till Friday next, in order that the subject might not be again deterred, and that no possible excuse might be received for the final determination of the house. It had been frequently the case, that when subjects were postponed from week to week, gentlemen considered that they were of no consequence: this could not apply to the present subject, which was of national importance, as it affected the confidence reposed by mercantile men in the government of the country; and it was of no inconsiderable magnitude to the individuals immediately concerned.—The house agreed to defer the consideration of the merits of the petition until Friday next.