§ Mr. Whitbreadsaid, he held in his hand a Petition from the owners masters and mates in the merchant service, now prisoners of war in Prance, which though dated on the 15th of December, he had received; but the day be- 361 fore yesterday. He should not now enter into the discussion, whether the continued captivity of those unfortunate men was owing to the government of this country or to the enemy, but he hoped that some means would be taken to alleviate their distresses.
Lord Castlereaghsaid, the hon. gentleman could not be more anxious than him-self to give effect to the prayer of the Petition.
The Petition was then brought up and read, setting forth,
"That the undersigned owners masters and mates of British merchant vessels, prisoners of war in France, humbly beg leave, in behalf of themselves and fellow prisoners of the same class, to represent to the House the unhappy situation to which they and their families are reduced; and that the greater part of the petitioners have been deprived of their liberty for five six and seven years, some have been even eight years in captivity, during all which time they have received no more from the French government than twenty nine francs and fifteen centimes per month each, and that they have occasionally partaken of the charitable donations remitted from home for the relief of the prisoners in general, but in consequence of the great number of seamen soldiers and others to whom these distributions have been necessarily extended, the total sum received by the petitioners in different payments from the first general distribution in July 1808, and including the last payment on the 25th of November 1811, amounts only to 90 francs, except in cases of illness or particular distress, unless they include those masters captured in vessels under 80 tons register, who receive from this charitable fund a regular allowance of nine francs per month, as they are treated by the French government only as seamen; and that several of the petitioners were prisoners last war in France, and according to an ancient custom received a regular gratuity, said to be queen Anne's bounty, but even this bounty has been withheld from them, except one payment in 1804: under these painful circumstances they have been obliged to draw their chief subsistence from home, from the small resources which they had acquired by their former industry, and which they had hoped to have reserved for the support of their declining years, and for establishing their children in such branches of commerce as might be useful to them- 362 selves and country; and that the situation of the greater part of the petitioners, whose resources are now exhausted, is become truly deplorable, and many have been reduced to the necessity of entering into menial service for their present subsistence, not having any longer sufficient means of otherwise providing themselves with lodging clothing firing and other necessaries of life; and that their case is also more peculiarly discouraging, as they are not only without the consolation enjoyed by the prisoners of the royal navy of receiving an additional present support in consideration of their former services, but are obliged, from their diminished resources, to send occasional assistance to their apprentices captured with them; and that having dedicated their lives to a service of such acknowledged importance, both as a source of the public revenues and as a nursery for the royal navy, they humbly hope that the House will be graciously pleased to take their present distress into consideration, and afford them such relief for themselves and families as in their wisdom and goodness the House may deem expedient, until the return of peace or an exchange of prisoners, so ardently and so anxiously desired, shall release them from their long and unexampled detention, and enable them again to provide for their own support."
§ Ordered to lie upon the table.
§ Mr. Whitbreadgave notice, that he should, on the 4th of March, bring forward a distinct proposition on the subject of peace.