§ A Petition of the provost magistrates and common council of the royal burgh of Dunfermline, in council assembled, was presented and read; setting forth,
§ "That, in the view of the approaching expiration of the Charter of the united company of merchants trading to the East Indies, by which a commercial monopoly is enjoyed by that company, in the humble opinion of the petitioners, highly prejudicial to the interests of the country at large, they beg leave respectfully to convey to the House their sentiments on a subject of such great and general importance, and especially at a crisis when, from the continental restrictions on the trade and manufactures of Great Britain and Ireland, the commercial interests of the empire have suffered incalculable injury; and that, far from presuming to obtrude any particular suggestions on a subject to which the united wisdom of the legislature is now called, the future government of British India, and disclaiming all interference with the East India trading company, 366 either in their corporate capacity or otherways, the petitioners, confiding in the liberal and enlightened views and wisdom of parliament, humbly hope and trust that the exclusive privileges of the company may not be renewed or continued, and that the East India trade may be made admissible to ail the subjects of the empire, a measure that will certainly afford an extensive field for the employment of mercantile talents and capital, now rendered nearly dormant through the tyrannic policy of a lawless despot, beyond whose iron grasp, the opening a field for a free and unfettered trade with so large a portion of the globe, comprehended under the exclusive grant to the East India company, holds out a fortunate substitute for the temporary loss of European commerce; and praying the House to adopt such measures as may render it lawful for any of his Majesty's subjects, from and after the 1st day of March 1814, to carry on, from any of the ports of the United Kingdom, a free and unlimited trade with the British pos-sessions in India, and other countries situated to the East of the Cape of Good Hope and to the West of Cape Horn."
§ A Petition of the guildry of Stirling, was also presented and read; setting forth,
§ "That, in the prospect of the East India company's charter being soon expired, the petitioners beg leave respectfully to address the House on this very important subject, so highly interesting to the empire at large; and that they humbly plead the natural right that every British subject has to exercise a free trade with every country dependent upon or in amity with the British empire; that the experience of past ages sufficiently proves the general inexpediency of commercial monopolies; that the monopoly hitherto enjoyed by the East India company, while it has excluded British subjects from any participation in the trade, so far from operating to the advantage of the company, has laid them under the necessity of frequently applying to government for enormous sums of the public money to support their establishment, so that even in this respect it is a national grievance; and that it is extremely discouraging, and in itself un natural, that the merchants of foreign nations should be allowed the benefit of a free trade to British possessions of such magnitude, which is denied to British merchants; and the circumstance of Americana and other foreign nations carrying 367 on trade with those countries comprehend-ed in the East India company's charter, completely refutes the arguments urged by those interested in the monopoly, of a free trade being prejudicial to private merchants, and that the petitioners humbly beg leave farther to state, that the continuance of this monopoly bears peculiarly hard on British merchants at present, when our inveterate foe is exerting all his power to shut out this nation from commercial intercourse with the continent of Europe, which renders the continuation of that system peculiarly inexpedient; and that, on the other hand, the admission of a free and unfettered trade with such a large proportion of the population of the globe most fortunately presents a very seasonable substitute for the loss of European commerce, the vast extent of countries and variety of climates, situated between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan, affording an extensive field for mercantile talents and capital, beyond the tyrannical grasp of the enemy; and such an opening cannot fail to prove highly gratifying and beneficial to the British empire at large, strengthen and secure its vital interests, by reviving languishing commerce and manufactures at home, and most effectually-defeating the grand object of our inveterate for on the continent; and praying the House neither to renew nor continue the exclusive privileges of the East India company, and in its wisdom to adopt such measures as may render it lawful for any of his Majesty's subjects, from and after the 1st day of March 1814, to carry on from all ports of the United Kingdom a free and unlimited trade with the British possessions in India, and with all other countries situated to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, and to the west of Cape Horn."
§ Ordered to lie upon the table.