HC Deb 09 February 1813 vol 24 cc416-7

A Petition of the merchants, ship-owners, and traders of King's Lynn, was presented; setting forth,

"That, as it is expected that the approaching expiration of the E. I. Company's charter will occupy the early attention of the House, the petitioners beg leave respectfully to state their hopes and wishes on that important subject; and that they are fully persuaded, that if the trade to the British dominions in India and to the immense and populous countries included in the charter were laid open to the skill, industry, and capital of private merchants, it would be conducted with a degree of energy and economy of which a large public body is incapable, new channels of commerce would be discovered, the consumption of our manufactures would be extended, and our shipping increased to the advantage of the parties concerned, and the permanent augmentation of the wealth, power, and resources of the British empire; and that the extensive and flourishing commerce which the citizens of America have carried on for several years with India, and particularly with the Chinese empire, without any sort of restraint, is a proof that these expectations of the advantages to be obtained from the exertions of private individuals are not un founded; and that the petitioners beg leave respectfully to represent, that any partial modification of the trade would, in their opinion, fall extremely short of those advantages which would accrue from the total abolition of the existing monopoly, and they do therefore humbly and earnestly deprecate any continuation of the Company's exclusive privilege in the commerce with China; and that they are fully convinced that it cannot, in any degree, be necessary to the secure collection of the duties on tea, nor can they for a moment entertain an opinion (injurious as it is to the national character), that Britons are less competent than Americans or others to conduct themselves with propriety in their intercourse with the Chinese; and that the petitioners, relying on the justice and wisdom of the legislature, confidently expect that the out-ports will not be excluded from participating in an open trade, and they are well assured, that the town of Lynn, from its connection with so many distant parts of the kingdom by water carriage, possesses peculiar facilities for conducting it with economy and success; and praying the House to adopt such measures as they may think fit for granting to all his Majesty's subjects, after the expiration of the E. I. Company's Charter, a free trade to India and the other countries from which they are at present excluded."

Ordered to lie upon the table.