Commons Sitting of 21 December 1812

PETITION FROM THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF EDINBURGH, RESPECTING THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S AFFAIRS.
A Petition of the chamber of commerce and manufactures of the city of Edinburgh, was presented and read; setting forth,
"That it hath been represented to the petitioners, in their corporate capacity, that in the present limited state of the commerce and manufactures of this country, owing to the continental restrictions laid thereon of late, the trading and manufacturing interests of Great Britain and Ireland have suffered greatly; and that many thousands of workmen employed in our manufactures are reduced to a state of poverty and idleness, without there being any immediate prospect of their being soon restored to their former situation; and that, by the act of 33 Geo. 3, c. 52, the East India Company are vested in the exclusive right of trade and navigation to all those countries comprehended between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan, containing a population of many millions of inhabitants; and that, although all the rest of his Majesty's subjects are thus excluded from trading to any of those extensive territories, yet, by the act of 37 Geo. 3, c. 57, the same is allowed to the subjects of all foreign nations in amity with his Majesty; and that the East India Company are not known to have hitherto traded to many of these extensive countries, their own settlements and China excepted; and that the private trade to the settlements of the East India Company, under the regulations of the year 1793, is laid under so many restraints as tend to deter many people, especially those who are at present unacquainted with India, and who reside at home, from engaging in it, while foreigners, who pay no part of the heavy taxes imposed on the subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, are entirely relieved from the restraint of these regulations, by which means they are enabled not only successfully to combat the exertions of the private traders from this country to India under the regulations of 1793, but also to compete with the East India Company itself, both in the east, and on the continent of Europe; and that, were the trade to the countries lying between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan laid open to the industry, exertion, and enterprize of the subjects of Great Britain and Ireland at large, it would afford employment to many thou-

337
sands of workmen employed in the manufactures of this kingdom, who are at present reduced to a state of idleness and consequent poverty; it would create an additional nursery for seamen, a set of men who have, especially of late years, eminently contributed to sustain the consequence, perhaps even the political existence of this kingdom, and would, at the same time, prove the means of adding to the riches, the revenue, and the national prosperity of the British empire; and praying the House to take the premises into consideration, and to grant such relief as to the House may seem necessary, in a matter of such great national concern; also to allow the petitioners to be heard, by themselves or their counsel, at the Bar of the House, in support of the objects of this Petition."

PETITION FROM THE LONDON WOOLLEN PRESSERS, RESPECTING THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S AFFAIRS.
A Petition of several pressers of London, employed by the East India Company, was also presented and read; setting forth,
"That the affairs of the East India Company are intended shortly to be brought before parliament, as signified by his royal highness the Prince Regent in his Speech from the throne; and the petitioners humbly presume to state to the House, that they, in common with a great number of other tradesmen employed by them, residing in and near the city of London, derive their support from the woollen trade which is there carried on by the East India Company; and that it is by the most strict attention to the various regulations which have been at different times made, and by the petitioners punctually attended to, that the East India Company's exports have secured the confidence with which they are received by the consumers in India; and that the petitioners being appointed pressers of woollen goods to the East India Company, have, in consequence, expended large sums of money in forming establishments suitable to those regulations in the different departments of the woollen trade which they respectively exercise, all which, in the event of the East India Company's trade being thrown open, would be the ruin of the petitioners, who would have no other means of employing their expensive implements, which would be rendered useless, and to them of no Value; and that the situation of the work-
338
men employed by the petitioners would be in the highest degree distressing, as they would be found incapable of adapting their habits to new modes of business, and consequently both themselves and their families would be deprived of the means of subsistence; and praying the House to take the circumstances into consideration, and prevent the dreadful consequences that must otherwise ensue."
Ordered to lie upon the table.

PETITION OF JAMES PHILIP INGLIS.
Sir F. Burdett presented a Petition from James Philip Inglis; setting forth,
"That the petitioner was appointed, on the 31st March 1812, to the command of the government colonial brig Emine, and ordered to proceed to New South Wales; and that the petitioner had used every exertion for the equipment of his vessel, and was on the point of sailing to his place of destination, when, on Thursday the 23d of July last, about six in the evening, a press galley belonging to the receiving ship off the Tower came alongside the Emine, commanded by Mr. Peachy, with four of his ship's company, to whom he had given permission to go on shore, but the midshipman not being in naval uniform, the petitioner did not suppose him to be a naval officer, although every respect was shewn him; Mr. Peachy demanded a sight of the ship's protection, which was instantly complied with, and, after looking it over, returned it in a most disrespectful manner to the petitioner, and said it was good for nothing, although it was an official document from the lords of the Admiralty protecting the crew of the said vessel; that the petitioner desired the men to go quietly in the galley, and that he would make immediate application for their release; that the petitioner immediately quitted the deck, supposing the men to have proceeded to the Tower, but was informed, whilst below, that part of the ship's company had gone into the jolly-boat, shoved off to rescue their shipmates, and returned with them on board; and that the petitioner begs to state to the House, that on the next day, Mr. Gatty, from the Thames Police Office, came on board with a warrant from Mr. Herriot for his apprehension; he immediately submitted himself, and underwent an examination before Mr. Herriot the same day, who ordered the petitioner to be committed to Clerkenwell Prison; he was then locked up in a place at the Thames

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Police office, the most horrible to be conceived, till about eight in the evening, when he was taken out and handcuffed to a person of supposed despicable character, and in that state was conveyed to Clerkenwell Prison; and that, upon the 25th, the petitioner was brought down handcuffed, and underwent a similar examination as on the preceding day before Mr. Herriot, and remanded back to jail, handcuffed in the same manner as he was brought up, to remain till the 31st; and that the petitioner begs to state, that, during the time of his confinement in Clerkenwell Prison, he was locked up with every description of people, and obliged to submit to the indignity of taking half a bed with a man in irons, much injurious to his health, and most repugnant to his feelings; and that the petitioner was again ordered down on the 31st of the same month, before Mr. Herriot, when, upon examination of the surgeon of the receiving ship, he was admitted to bail, in consequence of the man belonging to the press-galley, who had been wounded in the scuffle, being considered out of danger, and for which the petitioner had been committed to Clerkenwell Prison; and that the petitioner, anxious to be brought to trial at the then impending assizes for the county of Kent, desired his attorney, Mr. Armam, to remonstrate against any delay in his trial, as the assizes were so near at hand, and the consequences of delay so ruinous to the petitioner; and that the solicitor for the Admiralty, Mr. Bicknell, would not acquiesce to his wishes, although the petitioner was willing to have remained in prison in order to expedite his trial; and that the petitioner bags leave to call the attention of the House to his extreme hard case, in being denied taking his trial at a time when he could have received the benefit of his witnesses, who are now absent from this country on their voyage to New South Wales, and who would have given every satisfactory evidence on his behalf, if his trial had been permitted to have come on at the last assizes; and that the petitioner humbly represents, that he has been subject to a very heavy expence in furnishing himself with the necessary articles for the intended service, and which, with incidental charges, amounts to upwards of 1,100 l. added to which, he has a wife and two children, one of whom is completely dumb, and for whose education he is at a great expence; and that
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the petitioner begs to say, that his remaining property is in tile East India Company's Funds at Madras, which is a circumstance that subjects him to great inconvenience in being so long detained in this country, and praying, that the House will take his case into their immediate consideration, and afford him such relief as they may judge proper."
Ordered to lie upon the table.

PETITION OF THE RELATIVES OF PERSONS CONFINED IN ILCHESTER GAOL FOR RIOTSAT BATH.
Sir F. Burdettrose to present a Petition from the friends and relatives of certain persons now confined in Ilchester gaol. The parties were resident at Bath, and the individuals in confinement had been committed in consequence of assembling riotously before the town hall, during the last election in that city, and demanding in a tumultuous manner that the doors of the hall should be opened. This was refused, and some windows were broken. The next day these persons were seized, and had been treated with a severity which nothing could justify. The particulars of that severity were set forth in the Petition which he held in his hand. The offence was certainly bailable, and bail to any amount had been offered, but was refused. They were then sent to Ilchester gaol, and being all of them people who maintained their families by their own labour, the greatest distress had ensued to them. One was a journeyman printer, another a journeyman carpenter, and another was a poor woman who earned her subsistence by carrying goods home from the markets. They were, of course, unable to obtain justice by any legal process. The petitioners set forth that they were confined in solitary cells and heavily ironed. All access to them by their friends or relations who might be disposed to alleviate the hardships of their lot, was denied. During this severe weather they had nothing to sleep on but a little straw in a stone dungeon, and covered with a scanty rug; and though some humane persons in the town had provided them with great coats, yet they were stripped of these every night before they were locked up in their cells. The ordinary hour of locking them up was about four o'clock. Their food was nothing but bread and water; and to convince the House that he was not dwelling upon feigned or imaginary distresses, he would shew them one of the loaves which had

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been sent up to him from Ilchester, and which was the whole allowance for one man for a day. [Here the hon. baronet drew forth a little loaf from his pocket, and after holding it up for the inspection of the House, he dashed it indignantly on the floor, and it rolled towards the Treasury benches, where it was picked up by one of the members.] Mr. Burke, continued the hon. baronet, had once thrown down a dagger on the floor of that House, to produce effect, but he had produced something that was real, and not from the mere impulse of momentary feeling. He would ask, whether such a pittance was enough to sustain life? Before he concluded, also, he wished to advert to the present state of the gaols throughout England. He feared there was a degree of oppression exercised in them by the inferior officers of what was called justice, countenanced in some instances by the magistrates themselves (though he was far from intending to cast any imputation upon that body in general,) which were shocking in a civilized country. With regard to the Petition he held in his hand, he knew not exactly what mode of redress to suggest to the House, but he thought some relief ought surely to be afforded. The petitioners were too poor to remove their complaints to either of the courts at Westminster by writs of Habeas Corpus. He concluded by moving, That the Petition do lie on the table.
Mr. Harveythought it would be a dangerous precedent to grant the prayer of the Petition, which went either to liberation from prison, or to being admitted to bail. The prisoners had been committed for felony, the Riot Act having been duly read, and they had continued their tumultuous conduct notwithstanding. It was the province of a jury, therefore, to decide upon their guilt or innocence; and they would take their trial at the next assizes. He considered the allegations in the Petition as false.
Lord Palmerstonsuggested whether it would not be better to present the Petition when there was a fuller attendance of members.
Sir F. Burdettsaid, he had waited till the House was nearly upon the point of adjourning, in hopes that more members would be present.
The Petition was then read. It purported to be the Petition of several friends and relatives of John Hipwood, William Erry, William Taylor, Charles Pitt, Philip
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Millikin, and Elizabeth Lovett, now under confinement in the gaol of Ilchester, upon a charge of a riot committed at the late election for Bath; and set forth,
"That, on the 2nd day of the late election for the said city, held by virtue of the proclamation thereupon issued by Joseph Phillott esq. the returning officer thereof, a great number of the freemen and other inhabitants of Bath were peaceably assembled in the market place in front of the town hall of the said city, in order to continue the business of such election, in exercise of their lawful rights and privileges; and that the doors of such hall were then closed against the citizens, and guarded by an extraordinary number of constables, who prevented all access thereto, in despite of the repeated remonstrances made by John Allen, esq. one of the candidates, who insisted on the light of public admission thereto for the purpose of continuing the said election; and, in consequence of their persevering in such refusal, the suffrages of the freemen then present were about to be taken in the open street at a temporary hustings, when an immediate stop was put thereto (notwithstanding there was not the least appearance of riot or tumult) by three of the corporation of the said city, who violently rushed out of the said hail, attended by a number of constables, and not only seized the person of the said John Allen, esq. dragging him from the place on which he was then standing (and in the very act of exhorting the people to keep the peace) preventing thereby the unpolled freemen from tendering their votes, and also with their staves and bludgeons striking and compelling the people to disperse; and that, in consequence of such violent procedures on the part of the corporation and their officers, many of the persons so struck, and others who felt indignant thereat, attacked the officers in their turn by throwing at them dirt, oyster shells, &c. by which several windows of the town hall were demolished, but no personal damage whatever was sustained by the constables, although by their promiscuously striking at the people with their long staves more than 100 persons were severely wounded and bruised by them; and that, on pretext of such riot, the several persons above named (together with others who have since been admitted to bail) were seized by the officers, and dragged to the Bridewell of the said city, where they were kept for four days in

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cells heavily ironed, and on the allowance of a twopenny loaf and water each per day, until they were fully committed on a charge of having unlawfully and riotously assembled in the market place of the said city, and having there feloniously remained with such persons so assembled one hour after proclamation had been made (as it is said) by one of the magistrates for their dispersion, pursuant to the act of the 1st of George J, although the riot and tumult was notoriously begun by the said three members of the corporation and the constables in manner above stated; and, although bail for the appearance of the said prisoners was tendered to the said Joseph Phillott by their friends, and also by vice admiral Graves and the said John Allen, esq. to the extent of 5,000 l. yet the said Joseph Phillott, in the most harsh and peremptory manner, refused to accept of any bail whatever, and committed the said prisoners to the county gaol of Ilchester, where they now remain, and must continue confined upon the same miserable allowance of bread and water as in the Bath prison (which is totally inadequate to the sustenance of human existence) until the next assizes (being six months from the time of their commitment) unless the House shall be pleased to interfere on their behalf, by ordering them to be released or admitted to bail; and that, in consequence of the imprisonment of the said John Hipwood, the business of his father as a boat builder, and of which he had the sole management, is at a stand, and his parents have sustained most serious pecuniary injury, as well as much mental affliction, thereby; and that the said W. Erry is by profession a journeyman printer, and by his labour supported his aged mother and infant brother and sister, who, in consequence of his confinement, are now thrown on the parish for relief; and that the said W. Taylor, another of the said prisoners, is by trade a carpenter, who by his industry has materially contributed to the support of his mother and an infant sister; and that the said Charles Pitt is by business a shee-maker, and by his labour as a journeyman maintains himself and his mother, who is a widow; and that the said Philip Millikin is by trade a journeyman printer, and has ever borne an irreproachable character for industry and integrity; and that the said Elizabeth Lovett the other of the said prisoners (who was apprehended in her bed on the night after the above tumult) is merely a poor industrious
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woman, who obtains her livelihood by carrying baskets from the market; and the petitioners have not only been informed, but some of them have actually seen, that, independent of the scantiness of their gaol allowance, the bodily sufferings of the prisoners above named are very considerable, inasmuch as they are fettered like felons of the worst description, precluded the sight and conversation of their friends, except at three stated times of the day, one hour only at each time, and then through two iron gratings, at the distance of six feet from each other; and, notwithstanding they have been supplied by the humanity of several gentlemen with a great coat each, to defend them against the inclemency of the season, their clothes, which might add to their warmth in the nights of this severe winter, are constantly taken from them on their retiring to their straw bed (about four of the clock in the afternoon) where they have nothing but a rug allowed them for a covering; and that the petitioners have been informed that all ends of public justice would have been answered, and the duration of the confinement of the said prisoners shortened at least one half, if the magistrates had chosen to commit them to the next quarter sessions of the peace, instead of the assizes, for the county, and to draw down a heavier judgment (if possible) upon the unfortunate relatives of the petitioners, the said corporation have already monopolized all the leading counsel on that circuit; and that the poverty of the prisoners has prevented their applying to any of his Majesty's courts of Westminster for writs of Habeas Corpus for the purpose of being admitted by a judge to bail, and by whom they would most probably have been relieved; and that, although they, as well as the petitioners, have been advised, that they will ultimately have legal redress by actions at law against the persons by whom they have been under these circumstances imprisoned, yet in the mean time, in consideration of the personal sufferings of the said prisoners, and of the great affliction of mind felt by the petitioners as their relatives and friends, and also in consequence of the severe privations and hardships sustained by their respective families by reason of their confinement; the petitioners pray, that under the whole of these circumstances, the House will, in its humanity and justice, be pleased to interpose herein for the relief of the above named prisoners, in

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such mode as to them shall seem meet."
Ordered to lie upon the table.

ARMY ESTIMATES.
The following is an Abstract of the sums voted for the Army Services for the year 1813.
ABSTRACT of the ESTIMATES of ARMY SERVICES, for the year 1813: presented to the House of Commons on the 11th and 21st December 1812.

Numbers.

Great Britain.

Ireland.

£

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

Land Forces (including various contingencies)

227,442

7,196,188

17

10

771,012

4

1

Regiments in the East Indies

28,009

876,649

15

0

Troops and Companies for recruiting ditto

533

30,236

10

10

Embodied Militia

93,210

1,983,961

8

0

1,095,529

13

5

staff and Garrisons

513,792

13

3

109,226

13

3

Full Pay to Supernumerary officers

32,088

8

8

940

19

8

Public Departments

308,201

9

5

11,960

7

9

Half Pay, &c

206,250

—

—

25,443

4

2

In-pensioners of Chelsea and Kalmainhan Hospital

39,284

2

1

18,332

11

1

Out-pensioners of Do.

432,695

9

9

91,239

6

0

Widows pensions

50,011

16

6

8,103

2

3

Volunteer corps

209,277

—

—

266,122

1

7

Local Militia

636,623

—

—

Foreign Corps

32,163

1,174,019

4

4

31,623

13

0

Royal Military college

38,937

10

1

Royal Military Asylum

27,096

11

11

Allowances to Retired Chaplains, &c

19,394

1

6

1,923

13

11

Medicines and Hospital Expences

103,000

—

—

22,081

11

3

Compassionate List

30,055

9

10

Barrack Department (Ireland)

460,587

6

4

Commissariat Department (Ireland)

295,605

6

4

Superannuated Allowances, &c.

11,670

18

9

4,334

18

5

Total

381,357

13,921,494

7

9

3,217,067

11

6

Deduct the Regiments in the East Indies

28,009

876,649

15

0

Remains to be provided for 1813

353,318

13,044,844

12

9

3,217,067

11

6