HC Deb 17 April 1812 vol 22 cc422-4
Mr. Wilberforce

presented a Petition from the master wardens searchers assistants and commonalty of the company of cutlers, within Hallamshire, in the county of York, setting forth,

"That the Petitioners are of opinion that a free trade to every part of his Majesty's dominions is the natural right of all his subjects; and that such trade ought to be liable to no restrictions which do not more evidently promote the advantage of the commonwealth, whence, in their very principle, restrictions are only temporary, and ought to be removed as soon as the balance of public interest between a free trade and a monopoly is restored in favour of the former: and that, on the 1st of March, 1814, the entire right of commerce in the seas and to the territories between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan, granted to the East India Company, will expire, when the free trade in those seas and to those territories will of course revert to all his Majesty's subjects, to whom it belongs, and from whom it ought not to be withheld, unless the paramount interest of the state itself requires a continuance of the afore-mentioned monopoly; and that, since the incorporation of the East India Company, the British dominions in that quarter of the globe have been so greatly enlarged, that it is impossible for the Company, in its present circumstances, to carry on a traffic throughout the East, commensurate to the extent of territory under the government or the controul of his Majesty, whence their monopoly is not even beneficial to themselves in proportion as it is detrimental to the general interests of British commerce; and that it is well known that the prosperity of the East India Company has not increased with the glorious progress of his Majesty's arms, which have left the enemies of Britain without a colony; and that the annual exports of our home manufactures to all the regions of the East, scarcely amount to one fifth of the ordinary exports to the United States of America, though the former countries exceed the latter sevenfold in extent, and fifty-fold in population; hence the Petitioners presume that, after the expiration of their charter, the Company still remaining a corporation, may fully, if not more profitably, employ their funds in the trade as heretofore, while the mother country will be benefited beyond what it has been or can be under the monopoly, to the extent of the additional commerce opened by the industry spirit and capital of enterprizing individuals; and that the intercourse with the East Indies, prohibited to the subjects of these realms, having been conceded to foreign powers in amity with his Majesty, the merchants of the United States of America have been enriching themselves commercially and politically, exalting their own nation, and supplying many parts of the world with East India produce, to the loss of this country: and that the Petitioners will not dwell here on the difficulties under which, as merchants and manufacturers, the numerous inhabitants of their district labour in the present circumstances of the country, but they look, with confidence, to their representatives in parliament for relief, under temporary calamities, by an unreserved grant of every facility to commerce which the interest of the whole state demands, and which the most liberal policy will justify; and they do most earnestly and respectfully intreat the House, not to deprive the whole body of British merchants of any part of their rightful inheritance, a free trade to every part of his Majesty's dominions, by renewing the charter of the East India Company; and they rely on the wisdom and virtue of parliament thus to turn to the utmost advantage the immense possessions of our sovereign in the East, to counterbalance, in some measure, the iniquitous and tyrannical prohibitions of our enemy on the continent of Europe, to compensate for the interruption of friendly intercourse, whether temporary or permanent, with the united States of America, and, above all, to render this country so far independent of commerce with rival nations, that, whether at war or at peace, we may have strength and resources within ourselves to conduct the former with glory and success, and to enjoy the latter with honour and security."

Ordered to lie upon the table.