§ A Petition of several ship-owners in the port of London, was presented and read; setting forth,
§ "That the petitioners have, for some time past, observed, with very great regret, that ships and vessels built within the territories of the East India Company in Asia, have been admitted to registry in Great Britain, and, in consequence thereof, allowed to participate in the carrying trade of the country and its colonies; and that, if India-built ships continue to be admitted to British registry, and to participate in the carrying trade of the empire, the most injurious consequences will result to the maritime interests of the nation, and more especially so when the trade to the East Indies is opened generally to all his Majesty's subjects; and that the petitioners forbear to press on the attention of the House, by entering into any detail of observations on the impolicy of admitting India-built ships to the privileges of British-built ships, not only as affecting the interests of the petitioners, but also the landed, commercial, and manufacturing interests of the country, as well as those of the various classes of persons who are dependent on the building, repairing, and equipment of British-built ships: the petitioners, however, presume it will be admitted, on an impartial consideration of the subject, that to encourage the building and equipment of ships in Asia, for the purpose of being employed in the carrying trade of this empire, will be both impolitic and unjust: first, it will be impolitic, as the removal of a manufacture of such importance as the building and equipment of ships from this country to India (a manufacture of more importance than any other) will render more precarious the means of maintaining his Majesty's navy, and especially of fitting out with dispatch his Majesty's fleets on pressing emergencies, and will thereby undermine that great bulwark of our independence and greatness as a nation; and secondly, it will be unjust, as many of the stores and materials necessary to the building and equipment of ships in this country, are charged with considerable duties, and as the mechanics and others employed therein also, as well as the petitioners, contribute their proportion of the burthens imposed on the public from the exigencies of the state, to neither of which persons engaged as owners or builders of ships in Asia are subject or 718 liable; and that the petitioners respectfully submit to the House, that, from the heavy taxation of the country, there never was a period when it was so necessary to confine the carrying trade of the country to British-built shins, from the utter inability of the owners of them to enter into a competition with the owners of East India, or other foreign ships, upon terms at all like equality; and, for these and other reasons, which the petitioners flatter themselves must be obvious to the House, praying that, in future, East India-built ships may be prohibited by statute from being admitted to registry, and to the privileges of British-built ships."
§ A Petition of the mayor, burgesses and commonalty of the city of Bristol, was also presented and read; setting forth,
§ "That the petitioners, impressed with a deep sense of the great importance of, and the national as well as individual benefit which may be expected to arise from laying open to the capital skill and industry, and restoring the inherent right of his Majesty's subjects throughout the ports of the United Kingdom, to the full and free enjoyment of trade and commerce to all ports and places either in possession of, or in amity with his Majesty, observe, with the strongest feelings of regret, that a Petition from the East India Company has just been presented to the House, praying for a renewal of the charter granted in 1793; and that the petitioners observe, by the correspondence which has been carried on between the Chairman of the East India Company and the Commissioners for the Affairs of India, that the East India Company have conceded the general principle of a free trade from the out-ports of the kingdom to the East India settlements, still that their concession is coupled with propositions which (if adopted by parliament), must effectually exclude the merchants of this city, as well as those of every other part of the United Kingdom, except London, from any prospect of advantageous participation in the trade when so opened; and that it is a declared object of the East India Company to prevail upon parliament to continue in themselves the extensive possession of the British trade with China, under an apprehension that the greatest danger of quarrels, and the ultimate loss of the China trade, would be likely to ensue from a free commercial intercourse with that nation; whereas the experience of a long course of years, during which 719 the subjects of the United States of America have traded extensively with China, most completely sets aside all ground for such alarm; and that the petitioners humbly presume, that nothing can possibly tend, in a greater degree, to the increase of the revenue, and the prosperity of a nation, than the freedom of its commerce, and the genera) diffusion of the means of carrying it on; and that, from the recent and very extensive improvements which have been made in the harbour of Bristol, ships of very considerable burthen can receive and discharge their cargoes afloat, and the port is in every respect suitable for carrying on an extensive commerce with the countries comprized within the limits of the East India Company's present exclusive privilege, and the petitioners may add, with as much security to the due collection of the duties of customs and excise as in the port of London; and praying, that the House will not consent to a renewal of any of those exclusive commercial privileges which are contained in an act passed in the 33d year of his pie-sent Majesty, intituled, "An Act for continuing in the East India Company, for a further term, the possession of the British territories in India, together with their exclusive trade, under certain limitations; for establishing further regulations for the government of the said territories, and the better administration of justice within the same; for appropriating to certain uses the revenues and profits of the said Company, and for making provision for the good order and government of the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay;" but on the contrary, that at the expiration of that act, the trade to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, may be as fully and freely enjoyed by all his Majesty's subjects to and from every port of his Majesty's United Kingdom, as it is at present by the East India Company and the port of London exclusively."
§ A Petition of the merchants and traders composing the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Waterford, was also presented and read; sitting forth,
§ "That the petitioners would appear inattentive to their own and the interests of their fellow subjects, if, at this time of the East India Company's Charter being nearly expired, they did not submit to the consideration of the House, whether the interests of the empire would not be greatly promoted by opening that important trade 720 to the public; and that, if it has been found, on long trial, that the East India Company have not been successful as merchants, and that the North Americans, acting as individual traders, have, of late years, been supplying the islands and various distant dependencies of this empire with East India commodities, the petitioners humbly hope it will appear evident to the House, that a large Company is not useful or necessary to the carrying on of the said trade; and that the operation and consequence of the monopoly granted to the said Company has been to favour foreigners in the exercise and pursuit of this extensive and lucrative business, totally excluding, and thereby greatly injuring the people of the United Kingdom; and the petitioners humbly beg leave further to state, that a free commerce with the immense population of the East, carried on under the prudent economical management of individuals acting for themselves, would be most likely to find a profitable vent for very increased quantities of the produce and manufactures of the United Kingdom, and would bring the articles from thence into the home market with such fair competition, that the public would greatly benefit thereby; and that the present unfortunate state of the continent of Europe renders it, at this period of time, peculiarly necessary to open all possible new sources of industry to the people; and praying, that the House will take the premises under their serious consideration, and grant such relief as to them shall seem meet.
§ A Petition of the sovereign burgesses merchants manufacturers and other inhabitants of the town of Belfast, was also presented and read; setting forth,
§ "That the critical state of the manufactures and commerce of the United Kingdom demands the attention of the legislature to adopt the most effectual measures, consistent with national honour, for their relief; and that, by the 33d of his present Majesty, the intire right of commerce and navigation in the seas and to the territories between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan is vested in the East India Company until the 1st of March 1814, when, if not renewed, it will become open to all the subjects of the British empire; and that, by the 37th of the same reign, the privilege of trading to those countries, although denied to British subjects, is permitted to foreign nations in 721 amity with his Majesty, which permission the United States of America have availed themselves of, to their very great profit and advantage; and that, whatever good reasons might have existed at a former period for granting this monopoly to the East India Company, no such reasons now exist, as the enterprize and capital of individuals, as well as of private companies of merchants, are at this time fully sufficient for carrying on trade and commerce to those distant regions; and that, at all events, no satisfactory reasons can be assigned against opening the trade to China, because the supposed delicacy of allowing an intercourse with that people is completely removed by the success which has attended the American traffic; and that the system of confining the East India trade to the port of London is unjust and impolitic; unjust, as it abridges the natural rights of other sea-ports, and impolitic, as the duties might be collected with equal ease, and with superior economy and dispatch, in such of the out-ports as paid a large sum of customs, and had a sufficient number of active and intelligent officers; and praying, that, when the charter of the East India Company shall expire, it may not be renewed, to the exclusion of the other subjects of the British empire."
§ The said Petitions were ordered to lie upon the table.