§ Mr. Lytteltonnot seeing the Vice-President of the Board of Trade in his place, begged to ask of the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he was correct in certain information he had received, that there were at this moment ships in the river, having cargoes of rice on board, with licences to proceed with the same to ports in France.
§ No answer being given,
§ Mr. Whitbreadsaid, that though the Vice-President of the Board of Trade was not present, still he thought, when the appearance of scarcity was so alarming as it was at this moment, that it would be becoming in the right hon. gentleman to give some answer to the question which had been put to him by his hon. friend; or, if he was not prepared to do so now, that the matter should stand over till to-morrow, and that, in the mean time, the sailing of any vessels in such circumstances should be suspended.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, he understood the question to be, whether there were not some vessels in the river, having licences to France, with rice on board? He was not aware whether there were or were not any vessels in that situation. There, no doubt had been licences granted to export articles not prohibited, and as the law stood there being nothing to prohibit the exportation of rice, that article of course would be comprehended under the general licence. There had recently, he believed, been a communication made on the subject of the scarcity of this article, in consequence of which, in all licences since granted, the word "Rice" had been excluded. How far it would have been proper, as rice was not a prohibited article, to prevent the exportation of any cargo already shipped under a licence previously granted, he thought was a matter of serious consideration. It seemed to him to be extremely doubtful how far, in these circumstances, a merchant ought to be deprived of the best market he could get; and it even seemed to be of serious consideration, whether the knowledge of such a regulation might not prevent the importation of the article, particularly from America.
§ Mr. Whitbreadthought the first question was, what would be the best mode of applying the rice now in this country, whether to keep it to ourselves, or to export it for the use of our enemies? As to what had fallen from the right hon. gentleman in regard to America, he confessed he was surprised that the right hon. gentleman should have made any reference to that country, when he considered in what istuation he himself stood—who he was—and what had been his conduct in regard to America. He really thought, in the situation in which the right hon. gentleman stood, he needed not have applied any of his general principles to America.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, he had not forgotten who or what he was, but had thrown out what he had said only as reasons against interfering with licences already granted.
Mr. Lyttletonhoped he should have received a more pointed answer, whether licences were, in the present circumstances of the country, granted for the exportation of so necessary an article.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid he had already stated, that many licences had been granted generally, which comprehended rice, as not being a prohibited article. Since communications on the subject had been made to the Board of Trade, the article of rice had been uniformly excepted; but if the hon. gentleman meant to contend, that where the licences had been granted generally, and cargoes of rice had been shipped, the exportation ought still to be stopped, he had not the smallest doubt that the hon. gentleman would require an act of parliament for that purpose.
§ Here the matter ended.