Commons Sitting of 19 March 1812

PETITION FROM GLASGOW RESPECTING THE EAST INDIA COMPANY.
A Petition of the directors of the chamber of commerce and manufactures, established by
90
royal charter, in the city of Glasgow, was presented and read; setting forth,
"That by the Act 33 Geo. 3, c. 52, the entire 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 body of merchants incorporated under the name of The East India Company, and that this exclusive right, if not renewed, will terminate on the 1st of March 1814, after which the company will still remain a corporation, on the same footing as to this trade as other British subjects; and that, by the Act 37 Geo. 3, c. 97, the privilege of trading to those countries, although denied to British subjects, is permitted to foreign nations in amity with his Majesty; and that the private trade which British merchants were allowed to prosecute under the regulations of the Act 1793, although fettered with vexatious restrictions, has continued to increase, and shews to what extent it might have attained, had it been left to its free and natural operation"; and that the merchants of the United States of America, availing themselves of the liberty which they have been allowed to enjoy, at the expence of our own people, have prosecuted the East India trade in a manner and to a degree which has enriched the individuals, increased the national wealth of that country, and supplied, as far as was possible, not only the continent of Europe, but South America, the West Indies, Turkey, the foreign ports of the Mediterranean, and even Malta, with East Indian commodities, thus, by their industry, economy, and dispatch, compelling the company to shrink from the competion, employing British capital in a trade which the laws of this country prevent its own subjects from using directly themselves, and possessing, in consequence of the monopoly, the incalculable advantage of having to contend not with the skill and resources of British merchants, but with the prodigality and negligence of a joint stock company; and that the actual operation of this monopoly thus appears to be directed not merely against British subjects, but in favour of foreign nations; and that no satisfactory reason can now be assigned against opening the trade to China, because the supposed delicacy of allowing a general intercourse with that people is completely removed by the success which has attended the American traffic; and the same means which have enabled the company to manage their affairs in China

91
may be established under the authority of government, because the ideal difficulty of the collection of taxes, in the event of the trade being divided, is fully obviated by the known safety with which the duties are levied on articles of West Indian and American produce, and because the imagined hardship of depriving the Company of the only lucrative branch of their monopoly will be alleviated by the wealth, influence, knowledge, and experience, which in their united capacity, they will still be enabled to oppose to the unassisted efforts of private merchants; and that the natural effect of throwing open the charter will be to excite a fair emulation to bring all the produce of the East to its proper level in this country, to enable our manufacturers, with more advantage, to exert their skill and industry to produce new sources of trade, and thus to give full employment to the operative classes of the community; and that the system of confining the East India trade to the port of London the petitioners would beg leave humbly to represent as unnecessary, unjust, and impolitic; unnecessary, because the duties may be collected with equal ease and less loss, by pilferage in the out ports; unjust, because every mercantile place in the united kingdom is entitled to the same privileges; and impolitic, because the superior economy and dispatch which prevail in the out ports, are requisite to secure an equality in the competition with foreign nations; and that the very existence of a beneficial prosecution of the East India trade, by this country, seems now to depend on the restoration of its freedom, as it is proved, by undeniable documents, that if it be allowed to continue, under its present restrictions, it will languish, decay, and pass into the bands of other states; and that the danger supposed to arise from excess of speculation at the commencement of an open commerce with India, the Petitioners would humbly represent to be imaginary, because the enterprize of individuals is uniformly circumscribed by their means and success; because any evil of this nature is temporary, and checks itself; and because the very worst that can occur, in the event of the abandonment of the trade by the public, would be, that matters again would return to their present state; and that, at a time when the anti-commercial system of France has been successfully exerted to exclude us from the continental markets; when the prosecution of an ex-
92
tensive war renders it necessary to adopt every means for augmenting the revenue; and when our existence as a nation depends, in a great degree, on the maintenance of our naval superiority, the Petitioners apprehend it to be not only highly expedient, but indispensibly requisite, to open up every legitimate channel of trade for the preservation of our commercial, maritime, and financial interests; and that the Petitioners, satisfied that the injury arising from every monopoly must be proportionate to the extent of the trade thus confined; convinced of the importance, and even the necessity, of a free intercourse with the rich, populous, and extensive countries in the East, as well those formerly acquired by the company, as those lately subdued by his Majesty's arms; and, disclaiming all interference with territorial rights and political privileges of the company, humbly pray, that the House would take this most important matter into their consideration, and, by allowing the monopoly to fall on the 1st of March 1814, open the commerce of the countries lying between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan on equal terms to the merchants trading from every port of the united kingdom."
Ordered to lie upon the table.

PETITION FROM LIVERPOOL RESPECTING WEST INDIA PRODUCE.
A Petition of the West India planters, merchants and others at the port of Liverpool, interested in the trade to the British West India colonies, was presented and read; setting forth,
"That, notwithstanding the temporary relief afforded to the growers and importers of sugar, by the Act of the present session of parliament prohibiting the distillation of spirits from grain, and the admission of sugar as a substitute, the Petitioners cannot but recollect their past distresses, nor contemplate without alarm, the period when this prohibition may cease, and the ruinous depression of the price of sugar that must, in all probability, ensue and be consequent thereupon; and that, in anticipation of this possible, and, in the minds of the Petitioners, not improbable event, they humbly beg leave to refer the House to the suggestion contained in the report of the committee who were appointed to take into consideration the commercial state of the West India colonies, and to report their proceedings from time to time, which report was ordered to be printed ort the 24th of July 1807, videlicet, 'To extend

93
the principle which has been adopted on the contingent increase of duty from 27 s. to 30 s. per hundred weight, so that, from the maximum of duty then fixed on a gross price of 80 s. per hundred weight affording 30 s. duty, and 50 s. to the planter and importer, the duty should be thrown back on a similar scale, in proportion to the depression of the market, till the price arrives at 60 s. gross, leaving 20 s. (the original duty) to government, and 40 s. to the planter and merchant, or, in other words, a reduction of one shilling duty on a reduction of two shillings gross price from the average then fixed for the imposition of the new duty, as far as 20 s. per hundred weight,' such regulation to continue until the conclusion of a general peace; and that the Petitioners also beg leave to call the attention of the House to the distresses under which the coffee planters have laboured for some time past, from the want of a market for that article, in consequence of which they have no other prospect before them than that of ruin to themselves and their families; and that, from these distresses, during the continuance of the war, the Petitioners see but one mode of relief, which is, to encourage, by every possible means, the consumption of coffee in this country; and, in looking to this object, the Petitioners have found considerable obstacles, not only in the still too high rate of duty charged on coffee taken for home consumption, but in the regulations which are adopted for the due collection of that portion of the duty which is placed under the superintendance of the board of excise, by obliging all retailers of coffee to lake out licences for their stocks, and all purchasers to take permits for its removal from place to place; and praying the House to take the case of the Petitioners into consideration, and to pass a Bill for levying the duties on sugar according to the scale suggested by the Committee in the report referred to, for repealing the Excise duty now payable on British plantation coffee taken for home consumption, and for removing the Excise regulations on the sale and removal of coffee, or to adopt such other measures, adequate to the permanent relief of the Petitioners in the premises, as to the House may seem meet."
Ordered to lie upon the table.